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Deeptech jobs in the UK

Quantum, chips, robotics, space and defence. Startups selling technology that had to be invented first.

See 411 open roles

411 roles are open at 17 deeptech startups. That is 14 fewer (3.6%) than on 4 October, as roles came down faster each week: 21, 28, 36, 44.

Steady. Deeptech posted 13% of new startup roles in the last four weeks and holds 17% of open ones.

Hiring momentum

Roles added and taken down each week, ignoring reposts.

AddedTaken down

Who is driving it

Change in open roles since 4 October.

Inside deeptech

  • QuantumNu Quantum, Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC), Phasecraft, Quantum Motion, Riverlane, Universal Quantum145+4%
  • Robotics and autonomyDexory, Humanoid130+2%
  • Chips and photonicsFractile, OLIX, Orbital Industries, Salience Labs58−16%
  • SpaceNewOrbit Space, Open Cosmos, SatVu55−10%
  • DefenceGreenjets17−15%
  • Advanced materialsiGii6−14%

What it hires for

35% of roles posted in the last four weeks were engineering and data, against 31% of what is open. Sales and customer roles: 10%, against 12%.

  • Open roles today
  • Posted in the last 4 weeks
  • Engineering and data
  • Sales and customers
  • Science and hardware
  • Operations and support
  • Product and design

Before you apply

54 days

Typical open role

Half of open roles have been up for longer. Across all startups it is 47 days.

33%

Open for 90 days or more

137 of 411 roles. Some are hard to fill, some may already be filled.

29%

In London

38% are elsewhere in the UK and 33% abroad.

4%

List a salary

Across all startups it is 14%. Ask about the range early.

Get smart on deeptech

Deeptech in five minutes

Deeptech companies sell something that had to be invented first: a new kind of chip, a quantum computer, a robot, a satellite. Products take years, need specialist people and often have governments or defence among their first customers. Much of the UK's deeptech comes out of its universities, which is why so many of these startups sit in Oxford, Cambridge and Bristol as well as London.

The areas, explained

Quantum

Computers that use quantum physics to tackle problems ordinary machines cannot, such as simulating molecules and materials. The hard part is errors: qubits are fragile, so much of the work is correcting mistakes and scaling up. The government's National Quantum Strategy, published in 2023, commits £2.5bn of public money to the field over ten years from 2024.

Companies to know: OQC, Universal Quantum, Quantum Motion, Riverlane, Phasecraft, Nu Quantum

Chips and photonics

New processors built for AI, especially for running trained models quickly and cheaply. Some use light instead of electricity to move or process data. A new chip takes years of design before the first one is made.

Companies to know: Fractile, OLIX, Salience Labs, Optalysys

Robotics and autonomy

Machines that sense and act in the real world, from warehouse scanners to humanoid robots and self-driving cars. The work blends AI software with mechanical and electrical engineering, and a lot of testing.

Companies to know: Humanoid, Dexory, Wayve, CloudNC

Space

Satellites and the services built on them: Earth observation, communications and even manufacturing in orbit. Cheaper launches mean young companies can now build and fly their own spacecraft.

Companies to know: Open Cosmos, SatVu, NewOrbit Space, Space Forge

Defence

Drones, uncrewed boats and advanced manufacturing for armed forces and governments. Much of it is dual-use, serving civilian customers too. Some roles need UK security clearance, which takes time and looks at your background.

Companies to know: Greenjets, Kraken Technology Group, Isembard, StirlingX

Advanced materials

New materials with useful properties, from carbon nanomaterials to chemical sensors. Mostly lab science, with a long road from discovery to factory.

Companies to know: iGii, Apoha

Words you will hear

Qubit
The basic unit of a quantum computer. Powerful, but easily disturbed, which causes errors.
Error correction
Combining many fragile qubits into fewer reliable ones. Widely seen as the key step to useful quantum computers.
Inference
Running a trained AI model to get answers, as opposed to training it. Most AI chip startups target this.
Photonics
Using light instead of electricity to carry or process information.
Tape-out
The moment a finished chip design is sent off to be manufactured. A big milestone.
TRL
Technology readiness level: a 1 to 9 scale from lab idea to proven product. Common in grant and defence work.
Dual-use
Technology with both civilian and military uses, often subject to export controls.
Spinout
A company founded to commercialise university research, usually with the university as a shareholder.

How deeptech hires differently

  1. 01Software catches up with sciencePhDs are common early on. As products get closer to market, engineering, manufacturing and operations roles grow. The role mix chart above shows where this sector is today.
  2. 02Hiring follows milestones, not the calendarA big funding round does not always mean an instant hiring spree. Teams often grow after a technical milestone, such as a working prototype or a first customer.
  3. 03It is not just LondonOxford, Cambridge, Bristol and Reading are hubs, often close to the university labs the companies came from.
  4. 04Roles stay open longerSpecialist roles are hard to fill, so they stay up longer than average. A strong, specific application stands out.
  5. 05Pay is rarely publishedFew deeptech roles list a salary. Ask about the range early in the process.

Questions worth asking in an interview

  • How long is your runway, and what does the next round depend on?
  • Who pays you today: customers, grants or partners?
  • Where are you on the path from prototype to product?
  • Does this role need security clearance or involve export-controlled work?

Sources

  1. UK Government, National Quantum Strategy (March 2023)
  2. UK Government, National security vetting: clearance levels
  3. RoleCount company data: themes, funding rounds and job boards for the startups named

Written by RoleCount. Last reviewed 3 November 2026.

Raised in the last six months

Money in, and how many roles each has open today.

  • Universal QuantumSeries A, October 2026, $100M36 open
  • FractileSeries C, October 2026, £577m25 open
  • Salience LabsSeries B, October 2026, $125M6 open
  • Circuit MindSeries A, October 2026, £18.8mnot tracked yet
  • Living OpticsGrowth, October 2026, $20M (£15.1m)0 open
  • Open CosmosGrowth, September 2026, €300m43 open
  • iGiiSeries B, September 2026, £22.7m (€26.5m)6 open
  • CloudNCSeries B, September 2026, $20mnot tracked yet
  • OLIXSeries B, August 2026, $312m (£231.8m)20 open
  • HumanoidSeries A, July 2026, $152m96 open

In the news

The last three weeks, from trusted publishers only.

Latest deeptech roles

Search all 411

Change compares the same companies on 4 October and 1 November. Companies whose job boards we can't read yet are left out.