Space Skills Alliance (SPA0018)
UK Engagement with Space: Education and Skills
Space Skills Alliance overview
Space Skills Alliance is an independent think tank, consultancy, and backbone organisation. We help employers, policy makers, and training providers to tackle the space skills gap by offering data, tools, and advice covering skills needs, recruitment and retention, supply and demand for space training, workforce demographics and experiences.
We were commissioned by the UK Space Agency and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to deliver the Space Sector Skills Survey 2023 with know.space. In a report from DSIT, it was described as providing “more detail and insight than any previous surveys and a level of insight nearly-unmatched in international circles”.
Our other reports include analysis of skills demand, job advert quality, demographics, pay, the experiences of women, and how and why people join the UK space sector (largely based on the findings of our quadrennial Space Census).
We maintain a library of space skills literature, a landscape map of almost 200 space organisations and initiatives related to skills in the UK, a problem map of the challenges companies face when hiring, and a toolkit of resources for better recruiting. We also organise the Space Skills Summit.
We have developed SpaceCRAFT, an internationally recognised space competencies framework, and the Space Training Catalogue, a free directory of more than 600 space training opportunities across the UK and Europe. These were both supported by funding from the UK Space Agency.
We are part of ASTRAIOS, an EU Horizon project analysing space training and research across Europe.
Last year we published the Space Skills Roadmap 2030, a set of 26 recommendations to tackle the space skills gap over the next five years.
The skills gap in the UK space sector
The two most pressing barriers to growth to the UK space industry are recruitment (41%) and skills shortages (40%) (Size and Health of the UK Space Industry 2023).
52% of space organisations reported skills gaps in their current workforce, and 61% reported skills gaps in job applicants (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023).
There is a widely recognised STEM skills gap that goes well beyond the space sector. Though some of the space sector’s skills needs are space specific, the majority are more general STEM skills (particularly in maths, physics, and engineering). This means that the space sector is competing for talent with sectors such as tech/IT, engineering, and banking/finance. The main cause for space sector recruitment challenges is competition, both with other sectors (68% of respondents who faced recruitment challenges) and with other space companies (45%) (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023).
Some of the biggest skill gaps are not in space-specific skills, but in software & data (e.g., artificial intelligence and machine learning, software engineering, data processing & analysis), systems engineering, electronics engineering, and radio frequency & telecoms engineering. Skills gaps are not limited to technical skills only, with organisations highlighting skills gaps in strategy & leadership and project management (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023).
Half (50%) of organisations expect that their space skills needs will be different in three years’ time. 81% of these organisations expect that they will need software & data skills, and 70% highlight AI & machine learning in particular (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023).
Half of vacancies in the space sector are in software & data and systems engineering (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023). The most difficult roles to recruit for are in electronics, systems engineering, and spacecraft operations. Of these, systems engineering is the most challenging area, where demand is high and it is also very difficult to recruit.
Large organisations hire more people but find it harder to recruit and face more skills gaps in job applicants and their workforce. The median time to hire for larger organisations was 12 weeks, compared to 4 weeks for micro organisations (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023).
The greatest challenge is at the mid-career. 60% of vacancies in the sector are at the mid-career level and they are hard to hire for. By contrast, graduate schemes and internship programmes are oversubscribed, often with hundreds of applicants per position (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023). This suggests there is a bottleneck in retaining graduates to reach these mid-level positions, and the space sector needs better processes for upskilling and retraining.
We note Joshua Western (CEO of Space Forge)’s oral evidence to the committee on 24th March 2025 where he said “I do not recognise that skills challenge that we apparently have in the space sector. For lack of a better term, space is cool. It is difficult to make a space job not sound interesting. On average, we get about 50 applicants per post.”. Our analysis of space sector job adverts actually found that many space companies unfortunately do manage to make space jobs not sound interesting, and this is something that our recruitment toolkit specifically addresses as a result. Space Forge is one of the highest profile companies in the sector with a charismatic CEO, a good reputation, and a sensible approach to recruitment. Many space companies are not so fortunate.
When a space company receives 50 applicants for a single position, 49 of them will necessarily be turned down. For this reason, we have recommended the creation of a ‘no wrong door’ service that would channel capable but initially unsuccessful candidates to companies that are having a harder time recruiting.
Nearly half (45%) of space organisations reported having difficulties retaining their space staff (Space Sector Skills Survey 2023). The two most commonly cited causes of poor retention are poaching of staff by other space companies (57%), and low salaries (48%).
Our view is that generally salary and retention problems are on the companies to deal with, and do not require coordinated sector action beyond the need to grow the pool of candidates as a whole. Awareness, career pathways, and the skills pipeline on the other hand are generally a sector-wide problem.
Addressing the skills gap is not just about skills, but about the whole recruitment process. For someone to join the space workforce at any age and any career stage requires that they have five things:
Awareness – Knows about careers in space and how to access them.
Access – Able to pursue a career in space, and not prevented by discrimination, immigration or security restrictions, lack of available courses, jobs, housing, childcare, transport links, or other barriers to entry.
Motivation – Wants a career in space.
Self-belief – Believes that they personally can have a career in space.
Skills – Has the necessary skills, knowledge, and experience.
It is important that the sector addresses all five of these areas in ways that are appropriate for different groups. For example, development of self-belief in school may involve dispelling misconceptions about the need to be a genius to work in space, while at professional level it is more likely to involve mentoring programmes to build confidence and leadership abilities.
Different organisations lead on different areas. Universities and training providers are the main players for skills development, while careers and outreach organisations drive a lot of awareness and motivation.
We set out 26 recommendations last year based on five years of research into these problems. They cover:
Improving the public perception of space, particularly by deemphasising astronauts and launch, and instead emphasising the jobs that make up the vast majority of the sector. The UK Space Agency has an important role to play here in what education and outreach activities it funds and how it presents the space sector publicly.
Making routes into space visible and accessible, through good career resources, especially to those with high-demand skills (software and electronics) who are typically not aware of the sector.
Supporting young people’s career development through activities like UKSEDS (UK Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, the national student society) competitions, SPIN (Space Placements in INdustry, an internship programme) internships, Prospero placements, and ESERO-UK (European Space Education Resources Office - UK) and National Space Academy resources for teachers.
Breaking down opportunity barriers by tackling discrimination and addressing housing and transport problems.
Better aligning training with employer needs by gathering data about needs and encouraging collaboration between employers and education providers.
Ensuring space careers are attractive and rewarding by paying more, writing better job adverts, and creating opportunities for professional development.
Improving skills intelligence and coordination to ensure skills activities are effective and joined up.
The sector has already made a huge amount of progress in recent years in creating skills infrastructure and moving from discussion about problems to discussion about solutions. Work by us and by others has significantly increased understanding of the sector’s demographics and skills needs.
Projects such as UKSEDS, SpaceCareers.uk (a careers website and jobs board), and SPIN, combined with an increase in news coverage of space activities have meant that there is a good pipeline of undergraduates in physics and aerospace engineering and most companies do not typically struggle to recruit for junior roles.
10 April 2025