Aerospace Contract Job Trends in the South West

Aerospace
England > South West

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Aerospace in contract job vacancies in the South West. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Aerospace over the 6 months leading up to 25 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

	6 months to 25 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	35	60	77
Rank change year-on-year	+25	+17	+17
Contract jobs citing Aerospace	181	68	57
As % of all contract jobs in the South West	4.94%	3.33%	2.32%
As % of the General category	10.35%	5.83%	4.43%
Number of daily rates quoted	23	28	6
10^th Percentile	£352	£225	£331
25^th Percentile	£425	£339	£375
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£500	£525	£400
Median % change year-on-year	-4.76%	+31.25%	-36.00%
75^th Percentile	£565	£653	£549
90^th Percentile	£655	£660	£596
England median daily rate	£575	£540	£526
% change year-on-year	+6.48%	+2.76%	-4.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted	90	24	33
10^th Percentile	£30.00	£22.63	£28.79
25^th Percentile	£38.72	£32.88	£31.97
Median hourly rate	£48.50	£60.00	£65.50
Median % change year-on-year	-19.17%	-8.40%	+30.49%
75^th Percentile	£75.00	£69.06	£72.50
90^th Percentile	£80.00	£73.75	£75.00
England median hourly rate	£60.00	£51.49	£60.00
% change year-on-year	+16.52%	-14.18%	+9.09%

All General Skills
South West

Aerospace falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies citing general skills in the South West.

	6 months to 25 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Contract vacancies citing general skills	1,748	1,166	1,287
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South West	47.67%	57.07%	52.27%
Number of daily rates quoted	892	670	721
10^th Percentile	£310	£203	£215
25^th Percentile	£430	£363	£406
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£525	£500	£500
Median % change year-on-year	+5.00%	-	-9.09%
75^th Percentile	£638	£619	£638
90^th Percentile	£730	£715	£737
England median daily rate	£525	£500	£525
% change year-on-year	+5.00%	-4.76%	-4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted	358	145	114
10^th Percentile	£13.50	£13.50	£14.41
25^th Percentile	£15.39	£15.48	£28.00
Median hourly rate	£35.86	£24.00	£62.50
Median % change year-on-year	+49.40%	-61.60%	+13.64%
75^th Percentile	£63.75	£38.94	£72.50
90^th Percentile	£75.00	£65.60	£75.00
England median hourly rate	£27.50	£25.00	£33.00
% change year-on-year	+10.00%	-24.24%	+10.00%

Aerospace Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Aerospace relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Aerospace Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Aerospace.

Aerospace Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Aerospace in the South West over the 6 months to 25 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Aerospace in the South West

Aerospace Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Aerospace.

Aerospace Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution for jobs citing Aerospace in the South West over the 6 months to 25 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Aerospace in the South West

Aerospace Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Aerospace within the South West region over the 6 months to 25 October 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location	Rank Change on Same Period Last Year	Job Ads Past 6 Months	Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months	Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year	Live Jobs
Bristol	+20	80	£485	-2.95%	77
Gloucestershire	+19	46	£340	-46.88%	106
Wiltshire	+4	20	£550	-12.35%	34
Somerset	-19	18	£550	+120.00%	60
Dorset	-	12	-	-	36
Devon	-11	2	-	-	53
Aerospace England

Aerospace Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West

For the 6 months to 25 October 2026, contractor job vacancies citing Aerospace also mentioned the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the South West region citing Aerospace.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	Security Cleared	25.4%	46
2	Rational DOORS	16.0%	29
3	SC Cleared	15.5%	28
4	Degree	10.5%	19
4	DV Cleared	10.5%	19
4	Software Engineering	10.5%	19
7	Stakeholder Management	9.9%	18
8	Microsoft	9.4%	17
8	Problem-Solving	9.4%	17
8	Requirements Management	9.4%	17
8	Validation	9.4%	17
12	SAP	7.7%	14
13	Continuous Improvement	7.2%	13
14	Ada	6.6%	12
14	BPSS Clearance	6.6%	12
14	Project Management	6.6%	12
14	Systems Engineering	6.6%	12
18	Analytics	6.1%	11
18	Risk Management	6.1%	11
20	Cybersecurity	5.5%	10
20	Data Management	5.5%	10
20	Technical Leadership	5.5%	10
20	Time Management	5.5%	10
24	Active Directory	5.0%	9
24	C++	5.0%	9
24	Configuration Management	5.0%	9
24	LDAP	5.0%	9
24	Security Architecture	5.0%	9
24	Stakeholder Engagement	5.0%	9
30	C	4.4%	8

Aerospace Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

General

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	Avionics	23.2%	42
2	Social Skills	19.3%	35
3	Manufacturing	12.2%	22
4	Aviation	11.0%	20
5	Analytical Skills	7.7%	14
5	Finance	7.7%	14
7	Automotive	5.0%	9
8	Documentation Skills	3.3%	6
9	Electronics	2.8%	5
10	Aeronautics	2.2%	4
10	Inclusion and Diversity	2.2%	4
10	Pharmaceutical	2.2%	4
10	Presentation Skills	2.2%	4
14	Banking	1.7%	3
14	General Ledger	1.7%	3
14	Influencing Skills	1.7%	3
14	Military	1.7%	3
14	Public Sector	1.7%	3
19	Marketing	1.1%	2
19	Telecoms	1.1%	2