Defence Recruitment Outsourcing & RPO
Specialist recruitment for safety-critical industries
Ejection seats. Radar systems. Mission-critical components. When the stakes are this high, finding the right talent matters.
ResourceBank combines specialist defence and engineering recruitment expertise, proven RPO delivery and intelligent recruitment technology to help UK defence and aerospace organisations attract and recruit hard-to-find technical talent.
Our experience supporting Martin-Baker demonstrates how the right combination of people, process and technology can deliver results in demanding engineering environments.
Month partnership with Martin-Baker
Senior engineering roles filled
Average time-to-hire, against a 90-180 day industry norm
Candidate retention
The Challenge of Recruiting Talent in UK Defence
The UK defence sector is growing, but competition for specialist engineering and technical talent is intensifying. Skills shortages, security requirements and increasing programme demands make attracting experienced candidates more challenging than ever.
Workers
Projected additional and replacement demand across 14 priority defence occupations by 2035 (Skills England, 2026).
Employment Growth
Across UK aerospace, defence, security and space industries over the past decade (ADS Group, 2026).
Of Manufacturers
identify skills shortages as their biggest barrier to growth (Make UK, 2026).
Tackling the UK Defence Skills Shortage
The UK defence sector is growing, but competition for specialist engineering and technical talent is intensifying. Skills shortages, security requirements and increasing programme demands make attracting experienced candidates more challenging than ever.
Martin Baker
AI-enabled candidate sourcing and LinkedIn Recruiter integration
97% candidate satisfaction rates
Significant improvement in Hiring manager satisfaction
Recruitment partnership expanded from 25% to 50% of hiring activity
"My experience of the ResourceBank team has been very positive. The team has been organised, responsive and proactive, making the whole process straightforward and well managed. Dee, in particular, has been excellent — super responsive, professional and consistently focused on maintaining momentum at each step. I don't think we could have done it without her, especially not in the same timeframe.”
Real results for Real Organisations.
See how we’ve transformed recruitment for leading UK employers.
Why Defence HR Leaders Choose ResourceBank.
Defence recruitment demands more than finding technically qualified candidates. HR and Talent Acquisition teams need a recruitment partner who understands complex hiring requirements, delivers consistent processes and can adapt to changing business needs.
Control and visibility
Live reporting across roles, security clearance stages and hiring pipeline, so you always know where a safety-critical vacancy stands.
Consistency under pressure
Every candidate goes through a process built for AS9100 and ISO 9001 environments, so nothing is left to chance on roles where compliance isn’t optional.
Flexible capacity
Scale technical and engineering recruitment support up and down with programme demand, without increasing permanent overhead.
Technology that fits
Work with your existing ATS, or let us strengthen the process around it, while keeping export control and clearance requirements built in.
Human accountability
Automation speeds up sourcing and screening, but experienced recruiters remain responsible for decisions, relationships and judgement calls on safety-critical hires.
Hi-Tech, Hi-Touch defence recruitment.
Finding specialist defence and engineering talent requires more than advertising vacancies.
ResourceBank combines experienced recruiters with AI-enabled sourcing technology to identify candidates with the technical skills and experience defence employers need.
Our recruitment technology, including Avature and LinkedIn Recruiter integration, helps us search beyond traditional candidate databases and engage experienced professionals who may not be actively looking for a new role.
But technology is only part of the solution. Our dedicated recruiters manage candidate relationships, assess suitability and work closely with hiring managers to deliver high-quality shortlists and a positive candidate experience.
It’s an approach we’ve successfully implemented with Martin-Baker, demonstrating how intelligent technology and personal recruitment expertise work together.
Defence & Aerospace Hires
Average cost saving
Hiring accuracy improvement
Faster hiring
Flexible Recruitment Outsourcing for Defence Employers.
Discover the best approach below and see which one fits your recruitment goals best.
Strategic RPO
Full end-to-end outsourced recruitment. We manage your entire talent acquisition function as a strategic partner.
Department RPO
Dedicated recruitment support for specific business functions – from engineering to customer service.
Project RPO
Recruitment support for high-volume hiring projects with defined timelines and outcomes.
On-Demand RPO
Flexible recruitment capacity during peak periods. Scale up instantly without long-term commitment.
Struggling to Recruit Specialist Engineering Talent?
Whether you’re planning a new programme, expanding your engineering team or struggling to fill hard-to-recruit technical roles, we’d welcome the opportunity to discuss your challenges.
Find out how ResourceBank’s experience, technology and flexible recruitment solutions could support your business.
Talk to our Defence Recruitment expert
Speak directly with Ed Longhurst, who leads ResourceBank's recruitment partnership with Martin-Baker. Ed can share how we've helped Martin-Baker overcome specialist engineering recruitment challenges and discuss whether a similar approach could work for you.
Defence Recruitment Outsourcing FAQs
We already have an internal recruitment team. Why would we need ResourceBank?
ResourceBank doesn’t have to replace your internal recruitment team. We can work alongside them, providing additional capacity, specialist expertise or support where your team needs it most.
Whether you need help managing a recruitment surge, accessing hard-to-reach engineering talent, improving candidate pipelines or taking on specific parts of the recruitment process, we can flex around your existing team. This gives you extra resource without the cost and commitment of building a larger permanent recruitment function.
We're not sure we need a full RPO model.
You don’t have to commit to a full RPO model. ResourceBank can provide as much or as little support as you need, from targeted recruitment support through to a fully embedded RPO solution.
We can support a specific programme, department, location or hiring challenge, then scale our involvement up or down as your requirements change. The aim is to give you the recruitment support you actually need, rather than fitting your business into a fixed model.
How do you handle security-cleared and compliance-heavy hiring?
We understand that defence engineering recruitment often involves additional security, compliance and eligibility requirements. Our recruitment processes can be structured around these requirements from the outset, helping to identify the right candidates while ensuring the appropriate checks and processes are followed.
We work closely with your team to understand the clearance levels, eligibility criteria, documentation and compliance requirements relevant to each role. This means candidates can be assessed against both the technical requirements of the position and the practical requirements of working within a security-sensitive environment.