Large employers in the West Midlands

The West Midlands offers a great variety of careers working in small and medium sized companies but these are some of the largest employers in the regionthat are generally looking to recruit staff:

National Health Service  (https://www.jobs.nhs.uk)

The NHS is the biggest employer in the UK; it employs approximately 126,000 staff  in the West Midlands region.

Birmingham City Council (https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/info/20102/job_vacancies)

The local authority has approximately 24,000 employees including 10,500 school staff.

The University of Birmingham (http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/staff/index.aspx)

With over 7,000 employees, the university is one of the largest employers in the West Midlands.

University of Warwick (https://warwick.ac.uk/services/humanresources/vacancies)

The university employs over 6,800 people and its campus is located in Coventry.

British Telecom (https://www.bt.com/careers)

BT has a regional hub at Three Snowhill Birmingham’s central business district and directly employs 5,470 people in the West Midlands, with a further 600 employed as contractors.

Aldi Stores (https://www.aldirecruitment.co.uk)

Aldi has multiple outlets across the region and is building more stores.

Amazon (https://www.aboutamazon.co.uk/working-at-amazon)

The online retailer has logistics hubs across the region including in Rugeley, Birmingham, Daventry, Coventry and Rugby.

Costa Coffee (https://www.costacareers.co.uk)

The retail chain operates many coffee shops across the region.

Whitbread (https://www.whitbread.co.uk/careers/index.html)

Whitbread owns several recognisable hospitality brands that stretch across the region, including Beefeater, Brewers Fayre and Premier Inn.

JCB Service (https://careers.jcb.com/home)

Major global engineering company based in Staffordshire that manufactures construction equipment and agricultural machinery

Jaguar Land Rover (http://www.jaguarlandrovercareers.com)

JLR has its headquarters in Coventry and five manufacturing plants across the region.

Coventry University (https://www.coventry.ac.uk/the-university/working-at-coventry-university)

Coventry University employ approximately 4,000 staff in a wide range of roles. 

Barchester Healthcare (https://jobs.barchester.com)

The company runs many care and nursing homes across the region and is always looking to recruit staff.

Balfour Beatty (https://www.balfourbeattycareers.com)

Balfour Beatty is the largest UK construction contractor. Its construction business and its HS2 joint venture with VINCI are based in the West Midlands with offices in Birmingham and Solihull.

National Grid (https://careers.nationalgrid.com)

The National Grid employs over 6,000 people in the UK, and most employees are based at its operational headquarters in Warwick. The energy company has a smaller office in Solihull.

Mitie (https://careers.mitie.com)

One of the UK’s largest facility management and technical services companies, Mitie employs staff across the region.

Coventry Building Society (https://www.coventrycareers.co.uk)

It is the UK's second largest building society with around 2,700 employees across the UK. Its head office is based in Coventry. 

Compass Group (https://www.compass-group.co.uk/jobs)

Large provider of contract catering, hospitality, and business support services with many job vacancies across the region

Birmingham City University (https://www.bcu.ac.uk/about-us/job-hunters)

The university employs 3,200 staff at two main campuses and four other sites across Birmingham.

Aston University (https://jobs.aston.ac.uk/Vacancies.aspx)

The university employs over 1,700 people at its campus in Birmingham.

Serco (https://www.serco.com/uk/careers)

Large UK contractor working in defence, health, immigration, justice, transport, employment services and local government. Serco has an office in Solihull but its staff is spread across the region.

Nuffield Health (https://www.nuffieldhealthcareers.com)

Private healthcare provider running a large hospital in Wolverhampton and four smaller hospitals as well as gyms, fitness and wellbeing services across the region

GKN Aerospace (https://careers.gknaerospace.com​)

Global engineering business with headquarters in the West Midlands and strong presence in Birmingham and Solihull

Mondelez International (http://www.mondelezinternational.com/careers)

The iconic West Midlands brand Cadbury’s, now owned by American corporation Mondelez, still has its main manufacturing base in Bournville.

National Express (https://careers.nationalexpress.com)

This UK wide business has its headquarters in Birmingham from which it runs both its national coach service and the primary local bus service, West Midlands Travel.

Specialist Computer Centres (http://www.scc-careers.com/)

SCC is an IT integration company with bases across Europe.

McKesson (https://careers.mckessonjobs.uk)

The group specialises in community pharmacies (Lloyds Pharmacies), pharmaceutical wholesale (AAH Pharmaceuticals) and homecare services. With a support centre based in Coventry, it offers a range of jobs for pharmacists, dispensers, customer support assistants, homecare nurses and warehouse operatives across the region.

Last updated: 31 August 2023