DO-254 Contracts

RTCA DO-254/EUROCAE ED-80
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring DO-254 skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited DO-254 over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 514 - 696
Rank change year-on-year - - +158
Contract jobs citing DO-254 6 0 22
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.020% - 0.037%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.13% - 0.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 0 0 3
10th Percentile - - £440
25th Percentile - - £444
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) - - £450
75th Percentile - - £500
90th Percentile - - £523
UK excluding London median daily rate - - £488
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 0 6
10th Percentile £63.53 - £45.63
25th Percentile £67.69 - £47.19
Median hourly rate £79.00 - £50.00
75th Percentile £88.00 - £53.75
90th Percentile - - £60.87
UK excluding London median hourly rate £79.00 - £50.00
% change year-on-year - - -4.76%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

DO-254 falls under the Quality Assurance and Compliance category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring quality assurance or compliance skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for quality assurance or compliance skills 4,564 6,247 7,982
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 15.59% 14.34% 13.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,922 3,954 5,483
10th Percentile £265 £296 £275
25th Percentile £400 £403 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -2.86% +2.44%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £475
% change year-on-year -2.56% +2.63% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 179 382 225
10th Percentile £18.04 £10.95 £13.21
25th Percentile £22.21 £13.18 £18.70
Median hourly rate £34.50 £20.80 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +65.85% -44.53% +33.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £45.00 £62.00
90th Percentile £83.01 £67.14 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.78 £18.00 £36.25
% change year-on-year +126.53% -50.34% +72.21%

DO-254
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing DO-254 as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for DO-254 in the UK

DO-254
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing DO-254.

Daily rate trend for DO-254 in the UK

DO-254
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing DO-254.

Hourly rate trend for DO-254 in the UK

DO-254
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing DO-254 over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for DO-254 in the UK

DO-254
Top 4 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DO-254 within the UK over the 6 months to 1 May 2025. 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 - 6 - - 24
East of England - 5 - - 5
England - 5 - - 22
Scotland - 1 - - 1

DO-254
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Applications
1 4 (66.67%) Simulink
2 2 (33.33%) OrCAD
Communications & Networking
1 4 (66.67%) Ethernet
General
1 6 (100.00%) Electronics
2 5 (83.33%) Social Skills
3 3 (50.00%) Games
4 2 (33.33%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 2 (33.33%) Firmware Engineer
1 2 (33.33%) FPGA Engineer
1 2 (33.33%) Hardware Engineer
1 2 (33.33%) Principal Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 4 (66.67%) FPGA
1 4 (66.67%) PCIe
1 4 (66.67%) Verilog
2 3 (50.00%) Algorithms
3 2 (33.33%) Analogue Electronics
4 1 (16.67%) VHDL
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (66.67%) UVM
2 3 (50.00%) Artificial Intelligence
2 3 (50.00%) Computer Science
2 3 (50.00%) Cryptography
2 3 (50.00%) Customer Requirements
2 3 (50.00%) Machine Learning
2 3 (50.00%) Physics
3 2 (33.33%) Functional Testing
3 2 (33.33%) Schematic Capture
4 1 (16.67%) FPGA Design
Programming Languages
1 4 (66.67%) MATLAB
1 4 (66.67%) SystemVerilog
2 3 (50.00%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 6 (100.00%) Degree
2 3 (50.00%) HNC
2 3 (50.00%) HND
2 3 (50.00%) SC Cleared
2 3 (50.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (33.33%) DO-160
System Software
1 4 (66.67%) Firmware
Vendors
1 4 (66.67%) Altera
1 4 (66.67%) Microsemi
1 4 (66.67%) Xilinx
2 3 (50.00%) Actel
2 3 (50.00%) Intel