ECSS Contract Job Trends

European Cooperation for Space Standardization (ESA ECSS)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring ECSS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 31 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 560 - 625
Rank change year-on-year - - +198
Contract jobs citing ECSS 6 0 2
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.017% - 0.004%
As % of the Quality Assurance & Compliance category 0.099% - 0.030%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 0 1
10th Percentile £403 - -
25th Percentile £406 - £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 - £500
75th Percentile £419 - £550
90th Percentile £423 - -
UK excluding London median daily rate £413 - £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £65.00 - -
Median hourly rate £70.00 - £70.00
75th Percentile £75.00 - -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 - £70.00
% change year-on-year - - -6.50%

All Quality Assurance and Compliance Skills
UK

ECSS 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 6,055 4,846 6,717
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 17.65% 13.23% 14.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,875 2,835 4,515
10th Percentile £303 £275 £313
25th Percentile £402 £390 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year - -4.76% -
75th Percentile £612 £623 £650
90th Percentile £700 £731 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £472 £500
% change year-on-year +0.74% -5.70% +4.28%
Number of hourly rates quoted 299 216 261
10th Percentile £13.58 £13.26 £14.54
25th Percentile £16.50 £15.50 £20.00
Median hourly rate £27.54 £27.50 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year +0.15% -23.61% +44.00%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.24 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £27.50 £36.75
% change year-on-year -16.36% -25.17% +62.00%

ECSS
Job Vacancy Trend

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

ECSS job vacancy trend in the UK

ECSS
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

ECSS
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

ECSS
Top 5 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing ECSS within the UK over the 6 months to 31 October 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
England - 6 £413 - 11
UK excluding London - 4 £413 - 8
South East - 3 £413 - 8
London - 2 - - 1
East of England - 1 - -

ECSS
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:

Applications
1 3 (50.00%) Microsoft Excel
Development Applications
1 1 (16.67%) JIRA
1 1 (16.67%) Redmine
1 1 (16.67%) Subversion
General
1 3 (50.00%) Aerospace
1 3 (50.00%) Analytical Skills
2 1 (16.67%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 3 (50.00%) Auditor
1 3 (50.00%) Quality Auditor
2 1 (16.67%) FPGA Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 1 (16.67%) FPGA
1 1 (16.67%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 3 (50.00%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (33.33%) Configuration Management
1 2 (33.33%) Continuous Improvement
2 1 (16.67%) Test Automation
2 1 (16.67%) Test Scripting
Programming Languages
1 1 (16.67%) Python
Qualifications
1 1 (16.67%) BPSS Clearance
1 1 (16.67%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (50.00%) ISO 9001
2 2 (33.33%) QA
Vendors
1 3 (50.00%) Google
1 3 (50.00%) Microsoft