Quantum companies are being asked to scale in a market where the talent they need is highly specialised and difficult to access.

But does every capability require another permanent hire?

As quantum businesses move from research towards engineering, product development and commercialisation, their workforce requirements become more complex. Some capabilities will define the organisation for years. Others may only be critical for a particular project, development phase or technical challenge.

Treating every requirement as another permanent vacancy can be expensive, slow and unnecessarily restrictive.

The better question is:

What capability does the business need, for how long, and what is the most effective way to access it?

A growing market requires a flexible talent strategy

The quantum industry continues to expand.

According to QED-C's State of the Global Quantum Industry 2026, the global pure-play quantum workforce reached 16,482 people in 2025, up 14% from 2024, while there were 8,261 new quantum-related position openings, an increase of 11%.

Yet QED-C also identifies qualified talent as one of the industry's biggest constraints on scaling, particularly people capable of bridging disciplines such as quantum physics and engineering, or quantum and software development.

When specialist expertise is scarce, organisations cannot afford to approach every workforce requirement in the same way.

Instead, leaders should consider three broad approaches: build, borrow or buy.

Build: when the capability belongs inside the business

Permanent hiring makes sense when expertise is fundamental to the organisation's long-term direction.

These are the people who may develop intellectual property, own critical technical areas, retain knowledge or build future teams. In a quantum business, that could include core scientific and engineering specialists, technical leadership, product expertise or capabilities central to the technology roadmap.

Before starting a permanent search, consider:

• Will we still need this capability in two or three years?
• Does this expertise need to remain within the organisation?
• Could this position develop into a strategically important team or leadership function?

If the answer is yes, building the capability internally is likely to make sense.

But in a specialist market, defining the requirement correctly is critical. Separating essential expertise from desirable experience and understanding what the market can realistically provide should happen before the search begins.

Borrow: when you need expertise, not necessarily headcount

Sometimes a quantum company needs specialist capability immediately, but not indefinitely.

A development phase may require expertise the existing team does not possess. A technical programme may need additional capacity for six months. A business might need to reach its next milestone before its permanent organisational structure becomes clear.

Contractors, freelancers and interim specialists can provide access to expertise for the period in which it creates the greatest value.

This is particularly relevant in an emerging industry where technical priorities, funding milestones and commercial requirements can change quickly.

Borrowing expertise should not be seen simply as a temporary alternative to permanent recruitment.

Used correctly, it is a deliberate workforce decision.

Buy: when the requirement is bigger than one person

Sometimes the challenge is not finding an individual. It is building capability at scale.

A funding round, customer programme, technical milestone or expansion can create several hiring requirements simultaneously. Filling each vacancy independently may become inefficient.

Instead, organisations can take a coordinated project approach: mapping the market, identifying where relevant talent sits, prioritising critical hires and approaching the required individuals as part of a structured programme.

The same thinking applies to recruitment itself.

If hiring volume increases significantly, organisations need to consider whether their internal teams have the specialist knowledge, network and capacity to deliver.

An embedded recruitment model can provide dedicated recruitment resource and process management without requiring the business to build that capability internally.

At this point, the question is no longer:

"Who can fill this vacancy?"

It becomes:

"What hiring infrastructure do we need for our next stage of growth?"

What about leadership?

Senior appointments require a different approach.

A technical or commercial leader can influence technology strategy, investment, culture, future hiring and the direction of the company itself.

These searches require discretion, detailed market understanding and engagement with individuals who may not be actively looking for another position.

The objective of executive search is therefore not to create the largest shortlist. It is to understand the market well enough to identify the small number of individuals capable of delivering the required impact.

Start with the problem, not the hiring model

There is no single workforce model for a scaling quantum company.

The same organisation could have permanent employees developing its core technology, contractors supporting a specific engineering milestone, a project hiring programme building a new team and a retained search underway for a senior leader.

That can be a highly deliberate talent strategy.

The mistake is choosing the hiring model before fully understanding the business requirement.

At IntaQuantum, we start by understanding why the hire is being made, not simply which job title needs filling. From there, we help organisations define the requirement, structure the approach and determine the most effective way to access the expertise they need.

Because in a specialist market, access to talent matters.

Knowing how and when to access it matters just as much.

When Quantum Recruitment is Unclear, We Define the Way Forward.

Whether you need a permanent specialist, flexible contractor, complete project team, embedded recruitment support or your next senior leader, IntaQuantum provides specialist recruitment solutions built around the needs of the global quantum market.

Speak to IntaQuantum about the talent strategy behind your next stage of growth.

Source: Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), State of the Global Quantum Industry 2026, April 2026.