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 14 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 187 312 305
Rank change year-on-year +125 -7 +53
Contract jobs citing Aerospace 809 262 280
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.49% 0.80% 0.73%
As % of the General category 2.69% 1.26% 1.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 131 83 56
10th Percentile £400 £314 £273
25th Percentile £500 £450 £344
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £550 £532
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% +3.43% -1.16%
75th Percentile £675 £650 £655
90th Percentile £713 £750 £721
UK excluding London median daily rate £575 £515 £463
% change year-on-year +11.65% +11.35% -13.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 504 91 135
10th Percentile £26.25 £22.63 £33.18
25th Percentile £35.54 £41.05 £45.00
Median hourly rate £52.43 £50.49 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.84% +0.97% -9.09%
75th Percentile £75.00 £67.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £75.00 £74.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.50 £50.49 £50.00
% change year-on-year +3.99% +0.97% -9.09%

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 30,059 20,818 22,215
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.53% 63.69% 57.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,649 12,901 13,405
10th Percentile £313 £275 £288
25th Percentile £419 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,459 1,196 1,125
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.50 £14.69
25th Percentile £16.38 £16.17 £17.25
Median hourly rate £29.96 £25.15 £37.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.13% -32.03% +34.55%
75th Percentile £53.87 £48.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.25 £70.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £21.30 £37.00
% change year-on-year +40.85% -42.43% +42.31%

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 14 September 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 14 September 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 14 September 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
England +117 749 £575 +4.55% 1,683
UK excluding London +98 743 £575 +11.65% 1,568
South East +91 341 £581 +12.93% 516
South West +22 164 £495 -12.00% 307
Work from Home +38 145 £550 +22.22% 1,082
East of England +12 99 £488 -30.36% 289
North of England -31 80 £600 +33.78% 161
North West -30 55 £600 +33.33% 113
London -85 34 £675 +12.50% 263
Midlands -40 27 £538 +19.44% 132
East Midlands -3 19 £500 -28.57% 48
Scotland -12 18 £438 +525.00% 156
Yorkshire -22 14 - - 36
Wales - 12 - - 31
North East - 11 - - 23
West Midlands -53 7 - - 83
Northern Ireland +5 2 £252 - 17

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 7 (0.87%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.37%) Apache Spark
3 2 (0.25%) Apache
3 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.25%) Apache Superset
3 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.25%) ThingWorx
4 1 (0.12%) Confluence
4 1 (0.12%) IIS
4 1 (0.12%) Jupyter
4 1 (0.12%) Kinematics
4 1 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
4 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Fuse
4 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 17 (2.10%) Simulink
2 16 (1.98%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (1.85%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (1.61%) CATIA
5 10 (1.24%) Windchill
6 9 (1.11%) Microsoft Office
7 4 (0.49%) Stateflow
8 3 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
8 3 (0.37%) OrCAD
9 2 (0.25%) Adobe Illustrator
9 2 (0.25%) Photoshop
9 2 (0.25%) Siemens NX
10 1 (0.12%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.12%) FrameMaker
10 1 (0.12%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 22 (2.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (0.99%) Teamcenter
3 6 (0.74%) Primavera
4 5 (0.62%) SAP GRC
4 5 (0.62%) SAP HR
4 5 (0.62%) SAP Payroll
5 4 (0.49%) SAP EHS
5 4 (0.49%) SAP PP
6 3 (0.37%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.37%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.25%) DELMIA
7 2 (0.25%) ENOVIA
7 2 (0.25%) SAP CO
7 2 (0.25%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.25%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.12%) Remedy ITSM
8 1 (0.12%) SAP CCM
8 1 (0.12%) SAP FI-GL
8 1 (0.12%) SAP HCM
8 1 (0.12%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 81 (10.01%) Azure
2 34 (4.20%) AWS
3 24 (2.97%) Azure DevOps
4 22 (2.72%) GCP
5 20 (2.47%) Power Platform
6 14 (1.73%) GitHub
7 13 (1.61%) Dynamics 365
7 13 (1.61%) OpenShift
8 8 (0.99%) Entra ID
9 7 (0.87%) GitHub Actions
9 7 (0.87%) Power Automate
10 6 (0.74%) Azure Functions
10 6 (0.74%) Azure Logic Apps
10 6 (0.74%) Cloud Computing
10 6 (0.74%) Google Workspace
10 6 (0.74%) PowerApps
10 6 (0.74%) Serverless
11 4 (0.49%) Google Sheets
11 4 (0.49%) SaaS
12 3 (0.37%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 18 (2.22%) Wireless
2 14 (1.73%) Ethernet
3 13 (1.61%) DNS
4 12 (1.48%) Software-Defined Radio
5 11 (1.36%) DHCP
5 11 (1.36%) Firewall
6 8 (0.99%) TCP/IP
7 7 (0.87%) VPN
8 3 (0.37%) FTP
8 3 (0.37%) Network Security
8 3 (0.37%) Software-Defined Networking
9 2 (0.25%) HTTP
9 2 (0.25%) HTTPS
9 2 (0.25%) Kerberos
10 1 (0.12%) RS-232
10 1 (0.12%) RS-422
10 1 (0.12%) S/MIME
10 1 (0.12%) SpaceWire
10 1 (0.12%) SSL
10 1 (0.12%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.10%) Power BI
2 13 (1.61%) Metadata
3 11 (1.36%) NoSQL
4 5 (0.62%) Tableau
5 4 (0.49%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (0.49%) MS Access
5 4 (0.49%) SQL Server
6 3 (0.37%) Big Data
6 3 (0.37%) Hadoop
6 3 (0.37%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.25%) Qlik Sense
7 2 (0.25%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.12%) Amazon Redshift
8 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.12%) BusinessObjects
8 1 (0.12%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.12%) Power Query
8 1 (0.12%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.12%) SQLite
Development Applications
1 40 (4.94%) Rational DOORS
2 22 (2.72%) Git
3 12 (1.48%) JIRA
4 11 (1.36%) GitLab
5 9 (1.11%) Jenkins
6 3 (0.37%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.37%) Visual Studio
7 2 (0.25%) LabVIEW
8 1 (0.12%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.12%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.12%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.12%) eggPlant
8 1 (0.12%) PetaLinux
8 1 (0.12%) Postman
8 1 (0.12%) Rational Rhapsody
8 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 223 (27.56%) Manufacturing
2 132 (16.32%) Social Skills
3 64 (7.91%) Finance
4 45 (5.56%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (4.70%) Aviation
6 35 (4.33%) Electronics
7 34 (4.20%) Avionics
8 26 (3.21%) Automotive
9 23 (2.84%) Influencing Skills
10 17 (2.10%) Public Sector
11 15 (1.85%) Military
11 15 (1.85%) Telecoms
12 12 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
13 11 (1.36%) Documentation Skills
14 6 (0.74%) Presentation Skills
15 5 (0.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 5 (0.62%) Legal
16 4 (0.49%) Law
17 3 (0.37%) General Ledger
17 3 (0.37%) Pharmaceutical
Job Titles
1 95 (11.74%) Systems Engineer
2 94 (11.62%) Lead
3 53 (6.55%) Software Engineer
4 51 (6.30%) Architect
4 51 (6.30%) Senior
5 41 (5.07%) Delivery Manager
5 41 (5.07%) Test Engineer
6 36 (4.45%) Developer
7 34 (4.20%) Quality Engineer
8 33 (4.08%) Embedded Engineer
9 32 (3.96%) QA Engineer
10 29 (3.58%) Embedded Software Engineer
11 27 (3.34%) Administrator
12 24 (2.97%) Product Manager
12 24 (2.97%) Programmer
13 23 (2.84%) Analyst
13 23 (2.84%) Data Engineer
13 23 (2.84%) Product Delivery Manager
13 23 (2.84%) Test Technician
14 21 (2.60%) Change Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (2.97%) Terraform
2 15 (1.85%) Middleware
3 13 (1.61%) LDAP
4 10 (1.24%) AngularJS
5 8 (0.99%) React
5 8 (0.99%) Redux
5 8 (0.99%) Vue
6 7 (0.87%) .NET
6 7 (0.87%) ARM Templates
6 7 (0.87%) Backbone.js
6 7 (0.87%) OAuth
6 7 (0.87%) REST
6 7 (0.87%) SAML
7 5 (0.62%) Web Services
7 5 (0.62%) XML
8 4 (0.49%) OpenID
8 4 (0.49%) Yocto
9 3 (0.37%) RESTful
10 2 (0.25%) Hibernate
10 2 (0.25%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 32 (3.96%) Product Ownership
2 24 (2.97%) Management Information System
2 24 (2.97%) Self-Motivation
3 21 (2.60%) FPGA
4 20 (2.47%) Embedded Systems
5 16 (1.98%) Hybrid Cloud
6 14 (1.73%) Data Structures
7 12 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
7 12 (1.48%) PCIe
8 11 (1.36%) Cyber Threat
8 11 (1.36%) Virtual Team
9 10 (1.24%) Algorithms
9 10 (1.24%) Onboarding
10 9 (1.11%) Cloud Native
10 9 (1.11%) VHDL
11 8 (0.99%) Verilog
12 7 (0.87%) Operational Technology
13 5 (0.62%) Analogue Electronics
13 5 (0.62%) Enterprise Cloud
14 4 (0.49%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 28 (3.46%) Linux
2 20 (2.47%) Windows
3 12 (1.48%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (0.74%) Embedded Linux
6 5 (0.62%) CentOS
6 5 (0.62%) FreeRTOS
7 3 (0.37%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.37%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.12%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (15.20%) Stakeholder Management
2 112 (13.84%) Agile
3 98 (12.11%) Continuous Improvement
4 89 (11.00%) Software Engineering
5 73 (9.02%) Roadmaps
6 71 (8.78%) Cybersecurity
7 66 (8.16%) Problem-Solving
8 58 (7.17%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 53 (6.55%) Digital Engineering
10 51 (6.30%) DevOps
11 50 (6.18%) Risk Management
11 50 (6.18%) Validation
12 48 (5.93%) Technical Leadership
13 44 (5.44%) Systems Engineering
14 43 (5.32%) Digital Transformation Programme
15 40 (4.94%) Computer Science
16 38 (4.70%) CI/CD
16 38 (4.70%) ITIL
17 34 (4.20%) PRINCE2
17 34 (4.20%) Scaled Agile Framework
Programming Languages
1 52 (6.43%) Python
2 30 (3.71%) SQL
3 25 (3.09%) C
4 21 (2.60%) MATLAB
4 21 (2.60%) PowerShell
5 20 (2.47%) Ada
6 16 (1.98%) C++
7 15 (1.85%) Java
7 15 (1.85%) JavaScript
8 11 (1.36%) Bash
9 9 (1.11%) C#
10 8 (0.99%) Bicep
10 8 (0.99%) SystemVerilog
11 4 (0.49%) Shell Script
11 4 (0.49%) X++
12 2 (0.25%) Rust
13 1 (0.12%) Ada 95
13 1 (0.12%) Assembly Language
13 1 (0.12%) Embedded C++
13 1 (0.12%) Scala
Qualifications
1 310 (38.32%) Security Cleared
2 239 (29.54%) SC Cleared
3 108 (13.35%) Degree
4 40 (4.94%) BPSS Clearance
5 33 (4.08%) CISSP
6 26 (3.21%) Azure Certification
7 24 (2.97%) DV Cleared
8 15 (1.85%) Computer Science Degree
8 15 (1.85%) HNC
9 13 (1.61%) PMP
10 12 (1.48%) Microsoft Certification
10 12 (1.48%) PMI Certification
11 11 (1.36%) Cisco Certification
11 11 (1.36%) CISM
12 10 (1.24%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 10 (1.24%) Chartered Engineer
12 10 (1.24%) TOGAF Certification
13 9 (1.11%) CEH
13 9 (1.11%) NVQ Level 4
14 8 (0.99%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (5.32%) QA
2 34 (4.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (3.09%) NIST
4 23 (2.84%) Def Stans
5 16 (1.98%) GRC
6 14 (1.73%) Data Quality
6 14 (1.73%) GDPR
7 12 (1.48%) NCSC
8 9 (1.11%) DO-254
8 9 (1.11%) NIST 800
9 8 (0.99%) IEC 61508
9 8 (0.99%) SLA
10 6 (0.74%) ISO 9001
11 5 (0.62%) PMO
12 4 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials
12 4 (0.49%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 3 (0.37%) DO-160
13 3 (0.37%) JSP 440
14 2 (0.25%) ARP4761
14 2 (0.25%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 20 (2.47%) Active Directory
2 16 (1.98%) Docker
3 15 (1.85%) Firmware
4 10 (1.24%) VMware Infrastructure
5 7 (0.87%) Hyper-V
6 6 (0.74%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.25%) vSphere
8 1 (0.12%) IAG
8 1 (0.12%) NFS
Systems Management
1 25 (3.09%) Kubernetes
2 21 (2.60%) Ansible
3 6 (0.74%) Functional Safety
4 4 (0.49%) Grafana
5 3 (0.37%) Check_MK
5 3 (0.37%) Istio
5 3 (0.37%) Jamf Pro
5 3 (0.37%) MOM
5 3 (0.37%) Podman
5 3 (0.37%) Red Hat Satellite
6 2 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 2 (0.25%) Argo
6 2 (0.25%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.25%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.12%) PTC Integrity
7 1 (0.12%) RSA Archer
7 1 (0.12%) SolarWinds Orion
Vendors
1 85 (10.51%) Microsoft
2 71 (8.78%) SAP
3 23 (2.84%) EMC
4 16 (1.98%) Google
5 13 (1.61%) VMware
6 11 (1.36%) Xilinx
7 8 (0.99%) Red Hat
8 7 (0.87%) Altera
8 7 (0.87%) Microsemi
9 6 (0.74%) Adobe
9 6 (0.74%) Intel
9 6 (0.74%) PTC
9 6 (0.74%) ServiceNow
9 6 (0.74%) Siemens
10 5 (0.62%) IBM
10 5 (0.62%) Oracle
11 4 (0.49%) Okta
11 4 (0.49%) Ping Identity
12 3 (0.37%) Palantir
12 3 (0.37%) Workday