Emerging Trends

TALENT Emerging Trends

The Battery Workforce Landscape: Rising Demand in High Growth Sub Sectors The battery industryʼs long-term trajectory is no longer anchored solely to EVs. Fast-growing segments, including battery recycling, energy storage and advanced chemistries, are expanding rapidly and reshaping where workforce needs are emerging.

Market Segment

Trend in 2025

Roles Affected

Electric Vehicles

Temporarily softening of EV sales, policy, and capital, complicate near-term role creation.

EV assembly technicians, vehicle-integrated pack engineers, automotive battery designers, test technicians

Grid Storage & Integration

Accelerating as renewables penetrate global power systems and AI data demand surges.

Systems & BESS integration engineers, controls/software engineers, safety & compliance specialists

Battery Recycling & Circularity

New roles driven by materials scarcity, stricter regulation, and materials scarcity.

Recycling process engineers, materials recovery specialists, environmental & sustainability analysts

Advanced Chemistries

New material developments enable new applications & shifting manufacturing needs.

Materials scientists & electrochemists, cell R&D and prototyping engineers, validation/QA specialists

Gigafactory Operations & Ramp-Up

Mass industrialisation beyond prototype stages requires new skill pipelines.

Manufacturing process engineers, production engineers, equipment maintenance, validation/QA specialists

Cross-Functional and Hybrid Roles

Multi-disciplinary teams blending chemistry, engineering, software, are sought after.

Systems engineers, techno-economic analysts, hybrid electrochemistry-software-automation specialists

Digital Manufacturing & Automation

Smart factories and digital twins enable further cost-downs necessary for competition.

Automation engineers, simulation/digital-twin specialists, MES/data engineers, APC experts

Battery Management & Software

Increasing system complexity and lifetime demands warrant advanced diagnostics.

Embedded software, firmware, diagnostics and sensor-integration engineers

Source: 1. Bulbat, 2. BloombergNEF Distinguished Partner), 3. McKinsey, 4. IEA, 5. Capgemini, 6. S&P Global, 7. UKRI, 8. McKinsey

Extracted from the PDF; charts and images may read imperfectly.