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

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 264 390 256
Rank change year-on-year +126 -134 +142
Contract jobs citing Aerospace 439 130 406
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.00% 0.44% 0.92%
As % of the General category 1.76% 0.71% 1.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 96 36 83
10th Percentile £135 £363 £319
25th Percentile £425 £455 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £548 £648
Median % change year-on-year -8.68% -15.44% +17.73%
75th Percentile £613 £606 £700
90th Percentile £694 £665 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £545 £650
% change year-on-year -8.26% -16.15% +18.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 222 51 207
10th Percentile £28.53 £27.11 £24.00
25th Percentile £42.00 £41.25 £40.00
Median hourly rate £62.13 £55.25 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.45% +10.50% -22.78%
75th Percentile £82.25 £67.50 £66.25
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £76.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £62.50 £57.25 £50.00
% change year-on-year +9.18% +14.49% -20.00%

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 24,936 18,425 25,810
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.88% 62.82% 58.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,582 11,746 16,473
10th Percentile £300 £297 £266
25th Percentile £405 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £645 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £493
% change year-on-year - -3.60% -1.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,533 670 1,803
10th Percentile £13.72 £15.20 £12.81
25th Percentile £17.05 £20.12 £15.38
Median hourly rate £25.00 £30.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -16.67% +15.38% -25.71%
75th Percentile £57.50 £58.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £76.75 £75.03 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.50 £27.97 £25.00
% change year-on-year -15.98% +11.88% -16.67%

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 March 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 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Aerospace in the UK

Aerospace
Top 16 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 March 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 +106 400 £500 -8.26% 407
England +103 374 £500 -8.76% 408
South East +39 112 £600 +22.14% 134
South West +42 107 £500 -8.59% 82
East of England +30 80 £492 -18.00% 47
Work from Home +10 70 £495 -7.48% 109
North of England -46 37 £74 -87.27% 55
North West -13 30 £452 -22.46% 39
Scotland +28 24 £65 -84.71% 43
Midlands -53 24 £650 +23.81% 54
East Midlands -26 14 £650 - 16
London -56 13 £588 -8.91% 42
Wales +3 11 £550 - 7
West Midlands -60 10 - - 38
North East - 7 £70 - 10
Northern Ireland - 5 £447 - 2

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 5 (1.14%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.68%) Apache
2 3 (0.68%) CMS
2 3 (0.68%) Confluence
3 1 (0.23%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.23%) Jupyter
Applications
1 16 (3.64%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (1.37%) CATIA
4 5 (1.14%) Simulink
5 3 (0.68%) Siemens NX
6 2 (0.46%) Windchill
7 1 (0.23%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.23%) PTC Creo
7 1 (0.23%) SOLIDWORKS
7 1 (0.23%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 13 (2.96%) Teamcenter
2 9 (2.05%) SAP EHS
3 7 (1.59%) SAP S/4HANA
4 4 (0.91%) SAP EWM
5 3 (0.68%) SAP MM
6 2 (0.46%) SAP GRC
6 2 (0.46%) SAP Oil and Gas
6 2 (0.46%) SAP Payroll
6 2 (0.46%) SAP WM
7 1 (0.23%) Demantra
7 1 (0.23%) Primavera
7 1 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.23%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.23%) SAP FI
7 1 (0.23%) SAP HCM
7 1 (0.23%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 10 (2.28%) Azure
2 7 (1.59%) AWS
3 5 (1.14%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (1.14%) Google Workspace
3 5 (1.14%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (0.91%) OpenShift
4 4 (0.91%) Power Platform
5 3 (0.68%) GitHub
5 3 (0.68%) GitHub Actions
6 2 (0.46%) SuccessFactors
7 1 (0.23%) AWS CloudFormation
7 1 (0.23%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 1 (0.23%) Azure Monitor
7 1 (0.23%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.23%) Boomi
7 1 (0.23%) Entra ID
7 1 (0.23%) iPaaS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.82%) Firewall
2 5 (1.14%) Ethernet
3 4 (0.91%) DHCP
3 4 (0.91%) DNS
3 4 (0.91%) PABX
4 3 (0.68%) VPN
5 2 (0.46%) Cisco ASA
5 2 (0.46%) Network Security
5 2 (0.46%) SpaceWire
5 2 (0.46%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.23%) BGP
6 1 (0.23%) Cisco Wireless
6 1 (0.23%) HTTPS
6 1 (0.23%) MPLS
6 1 (0.23%) Multicast
6 1 (0.23%) NX-OS
6 1 (0.23%) OSPF
6 1 (0.23%) SAN
6 1 (0.23%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.23%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.91%) Power BI
2 3 (0.68%) MongoDB
2 3 (0.68%) SAP HANA
3 1 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.23%) Elasticsearch
3 1 (0.23%) Hadoop
3 1 (0.23%) Metadata
3 1 (0.23%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 45 (10.25%) Rational DOORS
2 11 (2.51%) GitLab
3 10 (2.28%) Git
4 7 (1.59%) Rational Rhapsody
5 6 (1.37%) Jenkins
6 4 (0.91%) JIRA
7 3 (0.68%) Maven
8 2 (0.46%) Artifactory
8 2 (0.46%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.23%) Hudson
9 1 (0.23%) Rational Team Concert
9 1 (0.23%) SonarQube
General
1 86 (19.59%) Manufacturing
2 68 (15.49%) Social Skills
3 27 (6.15%) Aviation
4 21 (4.78%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (4.33%) Finance
6 17 (3.87%) Automotive
6 17 (3.87%) Documentation Skills
7 16 (3.64%) Electronics
8 10 (2.28%) Organisational Skills
9 8 (1.82%) Military
10 6 (1.37%) Avionics
11 5 (1.14%) Pharmaceutical
12 4 (0.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (0.91%) Influencing Skills
12 4 (0.91%) Legal
12 4 (0.91%) Public Sector
13 3 (0.68%) Publishing
14 2 (0.46%) Telecoms
15 1 (0.23%) Environmental Health
15 1 (0.23%) General Ledger
Job Titles
1 48 (10.93%) Systems Engineer
2 45 (10.25%) Senior
3 44 (10.02%) Software Engineer
4 38 (8.66%) Product Manager
5 34 (7.74%) Delivery Manager
5 34 (7.74%) Product Delivery Manager
6 26 (5.92%) Lead
6 26 (5.92%) Technical Support
7 24 (5.47%) Architect
7 24 (5.47%) Principal Engineer
7 24 (5.47%) Support Engineer
8 22 (5.01%) Systems Delivery Manager
8 22 (5.01%) Systems Manager
9 20 (4.56%) Technical Engineer
10 19 (4.33%) Administrator
10 19 (4.33%) Technical Support Engineer
11 18 (4.10%) Consultant
12 16 (3.64%) Senior Manager
13 15 (3.42%) Embedded Engineer
14 13 (2.96%) Electrical Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.51%) Middleware
2 5 (1.14%) LDAP
2 5 (1.14%) REST
3 4 (0.91%) Elastic Stack
3 4 (0.91%) Flash
3 4 (0.91%) Kafka
3 4 (0.91%) SAP Fiori
3 4 (0.91%) Spring Boot
3 4 (0.91%) XML
4 3 (0.68%) Apache NiFi
4 3 (0.68%) HTML
4 3 (0.68%) ModSecurity
4 3 (0.68%) Qt
5 2 (0.46%) SOAP
5 2 (0.46%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 2 (0.46%) Unreal Engine
5 2 (0.46%) Web Services
6 1 (0.23%) Hibernate
6 1 (0.23%) SAML
6 1 (0.23%) Spring
Miscellaneous
1 36 (8.20%) Product Ownership
2 22 (5.01%) Data Structures
3 21 (4.78%) Management Information System
4 13 (2.96%) Operational Technology
5 11 (2.51%) FPGA
5 11 (2.51%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (1.82%) Algorithms
6 8 (1.82%) VHDL
7 7 (1.59%) Security Posture
8 6 (1.37%) Data Centre
8 6 (1.37%) Legacy Systems
8 6 (1.37%) Onboarding
8 6 (1.37%) SCADA
8 6 (1.37%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.14%) PCIe
10 4 (0.91%) Smartphone
11 3 (0.68%) CAN bus
11 3 (0.68%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (0.68%) Taxonomies
11 3 (0.68%) Verilog
Operating Systems
1 20 (4.56%) Windows
2 16 (3.64%) Linux
3 6 (1.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (1.14%) CentOS
4 5 (1.14%) Windows 10
4 5 (1.14%) Windows Server
5 3 (0.68%) Windows Server 2016
5 3 (0.68%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.46%) Debian
6 2 (0.46%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2003
7 1 (0.23%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (16.40%) Continuous Improvement
2 70 (15.95%) Software Engineering
3 67 (15.26%) Systems Engineering
4 56 (12.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 54 (12.30%) Configuration Management
6 53 (12.07%) Agile
7 50 (11.39%) Validation
8 47 (10.71%) Computer Science
9 46 (10.48%) Problem-Solving
10 41 (9.34%) PRINCE2
11 39 (8.88%) Roadmaps
12 38 (8.66%) Scaled Agile Framework
13 36 (8.20%) Change Control
13 36 (8.20%) Cybersecurity
13 36 (8.20%) Programme Management
13 36 (8.20%) Stakeholder Management
14 33 (7.52%) SysML
14 33 (7.52%) UML
15 32 (7.29%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
15 32 (7.29%) Verification and Validation
Programming Languages
1 31 (7.06%) Ada
2 20 (4.56%) C
3 19 (4.33%) C++
4 17 (3.87%) MATLAB
4 17 (3.87%) Python
5 7 (1.59%) Java
5 7 (1.59%) PowerShell
6 5 (1.14%) Shell Script
6 5 (1.14%) SystemVerilog
7 3 (0.68%) Bash
7 3 (0.68%) C#
8 2 (0.46%) ABAP
8 2 (0.46%) SQL
9 1 (0.23%) Embedded C++
9 1 (0.23%) Fortran
9 1 (0.23%) Google Apps Script
9 1 (0.23%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 237 (53.99%) Security Cleared
2 123 (28.02%) SC Cleared
3 68 (15.49%) Degree
4 48 (10.93%) BPSS Clearance
5 21 (4.78%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.59%) PMP
7 5 (1.14%) CISSP
7 5 (1.14%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (1.14%) PMI Certification
8 4 (0.91%) AWS Certification
8 4 (0.91%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.91%) CISM
8 4 (0.91%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (0.91%) HNC
9 3 (0.68%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (0.68%) CompTIA Security+
9 3 (0.68%) NVQ Level 4
9 3 (0.68%) TOGAF Certification
10 2 (0.46%) CCNA
10 2 (0.46%) Chartered Engineer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (5.24%) Def Stans
2 21 (4.78%) NIST
3 19 (4.33%) QA
4 15 (3.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 10 (2.28%) Data Quality
6 9 (2.05%) NIST 800
7 8 (1.82%) IEC 61508
8 7 (1.59%) Cyber Essentials
8 7 (1.59%) DO-254
8 7 (1.59%) SLA
9 5 (1.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 5 (1.14%) NCSC
10 4 (0.91%) ECSS
10 4 (0.91%) ISO 9001
11 3 (0.68%) GRC
11 3 (0.68%) ISO 26262
11 3 (0.68%) JSP 440
11 3 (0.68%) MISRA
11 3 (0.68%) MISRA C
12 2 (0.46%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 12 (2.73%) Active Directory
2 6 (1.37%) Firmware
3 5 (1.14%) Docker
3 5 (1.14%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.91%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.46%) QEMU
6 1 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 1 (0.23%) Terminal Services
6 1 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 12 (2.73%) Ansible
2 9 (2.05%) Kubernetes
3 8 (1.82%) Podman
4 5 (1.14%) Check_MK
4 5 (1.14%) Red Hat Satellite
4 5 (1.14%) Terraform
5 4 (0.91%) Grafana
5 4 (0.91%) Prometheus
6 3 (0.68%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
7 2 (0.46%) Cisco Prime
8 1 (0.23%) Argo
8 1 (0.23%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.23%) Iperf
8 1 (0.23%) Kibana
8 1 (0.23%) logstash
8 1 (0.23%) Nessus
8 1 (0.23%) Nmap
8 1 (0.23%) PingFederate
8 1 (0.23%) SCCM
Vendors
1 43 (9.79%) SAP
2 29 (6.61%) IBM
3 21 (4.78%) VMware
4 16 (3.64%) ServiceNow
5 10 (2.28%) Red Hat
6 9 (2.05%) Microsoft
7 8 (1.82%) Cisco
7 8 (1.82%) Siemens
8 5 (1.14%) Altera
8 5 (1.14%) Google
8 5 (1.14%) Microsemi
8 5 (1.14%) Xilinx
9 3 (0.68%) HubSpot
9 3 (0.68%) Lauterbach
9 3 (0.68%) Oracle
9 3 (0.68%) Palo Alto
9 3 (0.68%) Salesforce
9 3 (0.68%) Veeam
10 2 (0.46%) Fortinet
10 2 (0.46%) PTC