UK Food Manufacturing Recruitment Market Update – Autumn 2025

Over the past few months, we’ve seen clear trends in both permanent and interim hiring, as well as in the types of roles businesses are prioritising. Below is an update on where we’ve been this summer, how autumn has started, and what we can expect moving into winter.

A Strong Summer for Permanent Recruitment

Permanent hiring was very strong through the summer months. Demand for leadership and senior management roles was high, with companies across the food manufacturing sector investing in strategic hires. Recruitment briefs we delivered included:

• Multi-Site and Site Manufacturing Directors
• General Managers
• Heads of Commercial and Heads of Technical
• Senior functional leads across operations and supply chain

Alongside these strategic hires, there was also steady demand for core management roles,  including technical managers, production managers, and shift managers. This broad based demand created one of the busiest summers we’ve had in recent years.

A Quiet Start to Autumn, Followed by a Rebound

September was relatively quiet. Many employers and candidates were still in “holiday mode,” which often results in slower hiring cycles and decision making. However, as we moved into October, activity picked up significantly.

We’re currently working on several executive briefs, including single and multi-site Manufacturing Director roles, and have seen a wave of national account manager, production manager, and technical manager vacancies coming online. October has exceeded our budgeted forecasts, indicating renewed confidence from employers.

Interestingly, while total job postings across the UK are down year on year, we’re seeing a shift in focus in Food Manuacturing.   The number of vacancies may be lower, but the quality and seniority of roles being recruited has increased. Strategic leadership hires are on the rise, a sign that businesses are investing in experienced talent to steer them through an uncertain economic landscape.

The Key Hiring Challenges Facing Employers

While demand is strong, employers face several consistent challenges when attracting and retaining talent in this sector.

1. Location, Location, Location

Many food manufacturing sites are in rural areas, where attracting senior talent can be a real challenge. High housing costs, cost of living pressures, poor transport links, or simply low population density all contribute to a smaller candidate pool. Businesses in more remote areas need to think creatively about their attraction strategies.

2. The Limits of the Contingent Model

A significant number of employers have been burnt by the traditional contingent “no win, no fee” model. When multiple agencies race to submit CV’s, cultural fit and long term retention often take a back seat to speed. This results in poor cultural fit, high dropout rates and counteroffer challenges.

In fact, three of our last six retained recruitment briefs were the direct result of failed contingent hires. Businesses are increasingly recognising that strategic, partnership led recruitment delivers better outcomes.

3. Rising Employment Costs and Legislative Change

The upcoming Employment Rights Bill is another major factor changing hiring strategies. With day one employment rights set to increase the cost and complexity of hiring, getting it right first time has never been more important.

While some believed that the departure of Angela Rayner might weaken or delay the bill, this has proven not to be the case. The legislation has cleared the House of Lords and is making its final passage through the House of Commons. Business groups, supported by Recruitment and Employment Confederation CEO Neil Carberry, are pushing for more workable secondary legislation to ensure balanced dismissal procedures.

This shows the importance of getting your hiring strategy right from the outset. A clear, well-structured approach to recruitment, combined with strong onboarding, effective induction processes, and robust appraisal system, can significantly reduce the risk of early leavers and costly mis-hires.

Interim Recruitment: A Summer Surge, but a Slow Autumn Start

On the interim side, the summer was exceptionally strong. June and July were two of our busiest months, driven by high seasonal demand for summer eating products. Interim technical and operational roles were key in helping businesses maintain quality standards and service levels.

We also saw a significant rise in interim operations assignments focused on improvement projects. Many businesses were looking to mitigate the increased labour costs driven by rises in the minimum wage and Employers National Insurance.

However, autumn hasn’t delivered the usual increase in interim demand we expected. Normally, we see high demand around the winter eating products e.g.  ready meals, soups, and other seasonal products.

Two key factors are driving this slowdown.

1. The milder weather has delayed the seasonal shift in consumer eating habits, easing immediate pressure on production capacity.
2. Budget uncertainty has created a temporary pause in decision making. With Rachel Reeves delaying the budget announcement until late November, many businesses are holding back on major projects and interim hiring until there’s greater financial clarity.

Despite this lull, I’m not overly concerned. Many of the interims placed earlier in the year had their contracts extended, a clear indication that businesses still need interim leadership and expertise to deliver critical initiatives.

We’ve seen this pattern before. In 2023, autumn interim demand slowed for similar reasons, with all the volume dropping in through the winter. I expect a similar bounce this year as there will be a back log of projects and strategies that need to be delivered.

Looking Ahead: What to Expect Over Winter

Based on current indicators, we anticipate:

• A continued focus on strategic leadership hires as businesses look to strengthen their operational resilience.
• Renewed interim demand later in Q4, particularly in operational, technical, and CI roles as projects are greenlit and the budget has been announced.
• A shift from transactional to strategic recruitment for a sustainable, right first time fit, driven by new employment rules and rising costs.

If you’d like to discuss the trends shaping the market or explore how to position your business to attract and retain top talent, we’d be happy to have a conversation.