Aerospace Contract Job Trends

Aerospace
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Aerospace in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Aerospace over the 6 months leading up to 21 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 213 380 223
Rank change year-on-year +167 -157 +176
Contract jobs citing Aerospace 569 146 444
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.18% 0.50% 1.04%
As % of the General category 2.20% 0.79% 1.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 95 41 69
10th Percentile £340 £399 £321
25th Percentile £449 £513 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £650
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% -15.38% +23.81%
75th Percentile £675 £628 £700
90th Percentile £713 £675 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £650
% change year-on-year -4.76% -19.23% +30.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 340 57 257
10th Percentile £28.50 £34.30 £25.60
25th Percentile £40.53 £46.30 £45.00
Median hourly rate £60.00 £57.50 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +15.00% -18.70%
75th Percentile £80.00 £67.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £74.25 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.50 £58.04 £50.00
% change year-on-year +4.24% +16.08% -18.70%

All General Skills
UK

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

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 25,839 18,404 24,681
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.55% 63.23% 58.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,748 11,685 15,587
10th Percentile £311 £285 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £517 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.35% -1.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +3.16% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,662 799 1,924
10th Percentile £13.95 £13.89 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.50 £16.95 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.40 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.49% -8.67% -7.69%
75th Percentile £60.00 £55.25 £52.78
90th Percentile £79.90 £75.00 £66.59
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.00 £24.50 £28.25
% change year-on-year +18.37% -13.27% -2.59%

Aerospace
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Aerospace job vacancy trend in the UK

Aerospace
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Aerospace

Aerospace
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Aerospace over the 6 months to 21 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Aerospace in the UK

Aerospace
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Aerospace

Aerospace
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Aerospace over the 6 months to 21 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Aerospace in the UK

Aerospace
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Aerospace within the UK over the 6 months to 21 May 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
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
UK excluding London +116 530 £500 -4.76% 386
England +156 500 £510 -7.27% 392
South East +62 196 £653 +26.70% 123
South West +46 128 £500 -6.54% 92
East of England +31 91 £496 - 53
Work from Home +3 90 £495 -5.71% 143
North of England -32 53 £74 -87.27% 55
North West -12 42 £452 -22.46% 39
Scotland +20 27 £70 -83.53% 28
Midlands -48 20 £613 +16.67% 39
Wales -1 10 - - 9
East Midlands -22 10 £575 - 11
London -65 10 £638 +1.92% 41
West Midlands -54 9 - - 28
North East - 9 £70 - 12
Northern Ireland +3 5 £447 - 4
Yorkshire - 2 - - 4

Aerospace
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 3 (0.53%) Apache
1 3 (0.53%) Apache Spark
2 2 (0.35%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.35%) ThingWorx
3 1 (0.18%) Confluence
3 1 (0.18%) Jupyter
3 1 (0.18%) Tomcat
Applications
1 15 (2.64%) CATIA
2 14 (2.46%) Simulink
3 10 (1.76%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (0.88%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.53%) Microsoft Office
5 3 (0.53%) Stateflow
5 3 (0.53%) Windchill
6 2 (0.35%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.35%) Photoshop
6 2 (0.35%) Siemens NX
7 1 (0.18%) FrameMaker
7 1 (0.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 1 (0.18%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 15 (2.64%) Teamcenter
2 12 (2.11%) SAP S/4HANA
3 9 (1.58%) SAP EHS
4 4 (0.70%) SAP EWM
5 3 (0.53%) SAP GRC
6 2 (0.35%) DELMIA
6 2 (0.35%) ENOVIA
6 2 (0.35%) Remedy ITSM
6 2 (0.35%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.35%) SAP MM
6 2 (0.35%) SAP WM
7 1 (0.18%) Demantra
7 1 (0.18%) Primavera
7 1 (0.18%) SAP CCM
7 1 (0.18%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.18%) SAP FI-GL
7 1 (0.18%) SAP HCM
7 1 (0.18%) SAP HR
7 1 (0.18%) SAP Payroll
7 1 (0.18%) SAP QM
Cloud Services
1 25 (4.39%) Azure
2 14 (2.46%) Azure DevOps
3 11 (1.93%) AWS
4 6 (1.05%) Power Platform
5 5 (0.88%) Dynamics 365
6 3 (0.53%) GCP
6 3 (0.53%) Google Workspace
6 3 (0.53%) SaaS
7 2 (0.35%) Entra ID
7 2 (0.35%) Figma
7 2 (0.35%) Google Sheets
7 2 (0.35%) SuccessFactors
8 1 (0.18%) Azure Functions
8 1 (0.18%) Azure Logic Apps
8 1 (0.18%) Boomi
8 1 (0.18%) OpenShift
8 1 (0.18%) Power Automate
8 1 (0.18%) PowerApps
8 1 (0.18%) Serverless
8 1 (0.18%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 11 (1.93%) Ethernet
2 10 (1.76%) Software-Defined Radio
2 10 (1.76%) Wireless
3 4 (0.70%) Firewall
4 3 (0.53%) DNS
4 3 (0.53%) SpaceWire
5 2 (0.35%) DHCP
5 2 (0.35%) Network Security
5 2 (0.35%) TCP/IP
5 2 (0.35%) VPN
6 1 (0.18%) 3GPP
6 1 (0.18%) Cisco ASA
6 1 (0.18%) FTP
6 1 (0.18%) HTTPS
6 1 (0.18%) MPLS
6 1 (0.18%) Multicast
6 1 (0.18%) OSPF
6 1 (0.18%) SAN
6 1 (0.18%) VLAN
6 1 (0.18%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.70%) Power BI
2 3 (0.53%) Hadoop
2 3 (0.53%) NoSQL
2 3 (0.53%) SAP HANA
3 2 (0.35%) Big Data
3 2 (0.35%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (0.35%) MS Access
3 2 (0.35%) Tableau
4 1 (0.18%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.18%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 50 (8.79%) Rational DOORS
2 13 (2.28%) Git
3 11 (1.93%) GitLab
4 8 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.41%) Rational Rhapsody
5 4 (0.70%) JIRA
6 2 (0.35%) Artifactory
6 2 (0.35%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.18%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.18%) Hudson
7 1 (0.18%) LabVIEW
7 1 (0.18%) PetaLinux
7 1 (0.18%) Postman
7 1 (0.18%) SonarQube
General
1 136 (23.90%) Manufacturing
2 62 (10.90%) Social Skills
3 42 (7.38%) Aviation
4 36 (6.33%) Finance
5 28 (4.92%) Analytical Skills
6 22 (3.87%) Automotive
7 19 (3.34%) Documentation Skills
8 18 (3.16%) Electronics
9 11 (1.93%) Avionics
9 11 (1.93%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (1.41%) Military
11 4 (0.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (0.70%) Legal
11 4 (0.70%) Public Sector
11 4 (0.70%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
13 2 (0.35%) Agriculture
13 2 (0.35%) General Ledger
13 2 (0.35%) Pharmaceutical
14 1 (0.18%) Law
Job Titles
1 65 (11.42%) Software Engineer
2 48 (8.44%) Systems Engineer
3 42 (7.38%) Senior
4 39 (6.85%) Lead
4 39 (6.85%) Product Manager
5 35 (6.15%) Architect
6 34 (5.98%) Delivery Manager
6 34 (5.98%) Embedded Engineer
6 34 (5.98%) Product Delivery Manager
7 29 (5.10%) Principal Engineer
8 28 (4.92%) Systems Manager
9 27 (4.75%) Technical Support
10 26 (4.57%) Test Engineer
11 25 (4.39%) Embedded Software Engineer
12 24 (4.22%) Administrator
13 22 (3.87%) Systems Delivery Manager
13 22 (3.87%) Technical Engineer
14 21 (3.69%) Support Engineer
15 20 (3.51%) Technical Support Engineer
16 19 (3.34%) Engineering Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.64%) Middleware
2 11 (1.93%) LDAP
3 6 (1.05%) REST
4 5 (0.88%) Apache NiFi
5 3 (0.53%) Qt
5 3 (0.53%) XML
5 3 (0.53%) Yocto
6 2 (0.35%) .NET
6 2 (0.35%) Flash
6 2 (0.35%) OAuth
6 2 (0.35%) OpenID
6 2 (0.35%) RESTful
6 2 (0.35%) SAML
6 2 (0.35%) SAP Fiori
6 2 (0.35%) SOAP
6 2 (0.35%) Unity (Game Engine)
6 2 (0.35%) Unreal Engine
6 2 (0.35%) Web Services
7 1 (0.18%) Flask
7 1 (0.18%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 39 (6.85%) Product Ownership
2 23 (4.04%) Data Structures
3 22 (3.87%) Management Information System
4 18 (3.16%) FPGA
5 15 (2.64%) Operational Technology
6 12 (2.11%) Embedded Systems
7 11 (1.93%) PCIe
8 10 (1.76%) VHDL
9 9 (1.58%) Algorithms
10 8 (1.41%) Data Centre
10 8 (1.41%) Virtual Team
11 7 (1.23%) Onboarding
11 7 (1.23%) Security Posture
11 7 (1.23%) Verilog
12 5 (0.88%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (0.88%) SCADA
13 3 (0.53%) CAN bus
13 3 (0.53%) Device Driver
13 3 (0.53%) Self-Motivation
13 3 (0.53%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 23 (4.04%) Linux
2 14 (2.46%) Windows
3 9 (1.58%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 8 (1.41%) CentOS
5 5 (0.88%) FreeRTOS
6 4 (0.70%) Embedded Linux
7 2 (0.35%) Debian
7 2 (0.35%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.35%) Windows Server
8 1 (0.18%) Unix
8 1 (0.18%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (17.22%) Software Engineering
2 79 (13.88%) Continuous Improvement
3 73 (12.83%) Systems Engineering
4 71 (12.48%) Agile
5 65 (11.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 62 (10.90%) Validation
7 56 (9.84%) Stakeholder Management
8 53 (9.31%) Computer Science
8 53 (9.31%) Configuration Management
9 52 (9.14%) Problem-Solving
10 48 (8.44%) Roadmaps
11 44 (7.73%) Cybersecurity
12 42 (7.38%) PRINCE2
12 42 (7.38%) Programme Management
13 37 (6.50%) Scaled Agile Framework
14 36 (6.33%) Change Control
14 36 (6.33%) Verification and Validation
15 35 (6.15%) SysML
15 35 (6.15%) UML
16 32 (5.62%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 35 (6.15%) Ada
2 29 (5.10%) MATLAB
3 27 (4.75%) C
4 21 (3.69%) Python
5 18 (3.16%) C++
6 9 (1.58%) SystemVerilog
7 8 (1.41%) Shell Script
8 6 (1.05%) SQL
9 5 (0.88%) Java
10 3 (0.53%) C#
10 3 (0.53%) PowerShell
11 2 (0.35%) ABAP
11 2 (0.35%) Bash
12 1 (0.18%) Bicep
12 1 (0.18%) Embedded C++
12 1 (0.18%) JavaScript
12 1 (0.18%) Tcl
12 1 (0.18%) X++
Qualifications
1 258 (45.34%) Security Cleared
2 145 (25.48%) SC Cleared
3 72 (12.65%) Degree
4 46 (8.08%) BPSS Clearance
5 20 (3.51%) DV Cleared
6 12 (2.11%) CISSP
7 11 (1.93%) NVQ Level 4
8 10 (1.76%) HNC
9 7 (1.23%) PMP
10 5 (0.88%) Azure Certification
10 5 (0.88%) Chartered Engineer
10 5 (0.88%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.88%) PMI Certification
11 4 (0.70%) CEH
11 4 (0.70%) TOGAF Certification
12 3 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
12 3 (0.53%) Microsoft Certification
13 2 (0.35%) CCNA
13 2 (0.35%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (5.45%) QA
2 24 (4.22%) NIST
3 20 (3.51%) Def Stans
4 14 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.93%) Data Quality
5 11 (1.93%) SLA
6 9 (1.58%) DO-254
7 8 (1.41%) IEC 61508
7 8 (1.41%) NIST 800
8 7 (1.23%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (0.88%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 4 (0.70%) GRC
11 3 (0.53%) GDPR
11 3 (0.53%) ISO 26262
11 3 (0.53%) MIL-STD-1553
11 3 (0.53%) MISRA
11 3 (0.53%) MISRA C
12 2 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.35%) NCSC
13 1 (0.18%) HAZOP
System Software
1 13 (2.28%) Firmware
2 11 (1.93%) Active Directory
3 9 (1.58%) Docker
4 5 (0.88%) Embedded Firmware
5 2 (0.35%) QEMU
5 2 (0.35%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.18%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 16 (2.81%) Ansible
2 11 (1.93%) Podman
3 8 (1.41%) Check_MK
3 8 (1.41%) Red Hat Satellite
4 6 (1.05%) Kubernetes
4 6 (1.05%) Terraform
5 1 (0.18%) Argo
5 1 (0.18%) Cisco Prime
5 1 (0.18%) Grafana
5 1 (0.18%) HP ALM
5 1 (0.18%) Iperf
5 1 (0.18%) Kibana
5 1 (0.18%) logstash
5 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
5 1 (0.18%) Nessus
5 1 (0.18%) Nmap
5 1 (0.18%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.18%) SCCM
5 1 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 57 (10.02%) SAP
2 29 (5.10%) IBM
3 22 (3.87%) Microsoft
4 16 (2.81%) VMware
5 13 (2.28%) ServiceNow
6 12 (2.11%) Red Hat
7 11 (1.93%) Siemens
8 9 (1.58%) Xilinx
9 8 (1.41%) Microsemi
10 7 (1.23%) Altera
11 4 (0.70%) Adobe
11 4 (0.70%) Cisco
11 4 (0.70%) Google
11 4 (0.70%) Lauterbach
12 3 (0.53%) Palo Alto
12 3 (0.53%) PTC
13 2 (0.35%) ForgeRock
13 2 (0.35%) Fortinet
13 2 (0.35%) Okta
13 2 (0.35%) Ping Identity