Engineering & Technical Recruitment in Gloucester

Gloucester and Cheltenham form a distinct engineering corridor defined by the presence of GCHQ, a cluster of cyber and defence technology businesses that have established themselves in the area to serve the intelligence and national security market, and a broader Gloucestershire engineering base that includes aerospace, manufacturing, and civil engineering. The area's engineering employment is more security-conscious and less publicly visible than other UK engineering clusters, but it is significant and growing.

The Gloucester engineering market

GCHQ's Cheltenham Doughnut and the cyber and intelligence technology businesses that cluster around it create demand for systems, software, and electronic engineers with UK security clearance. This is a specialist and relatively closed market but one with consistent recruitment activity for the right technical profiles. Gloucestershire Airport and the aerospace maintenance businesses operating there provide conventional aviation engineering employment. GE Power's Gloucester facility, producing gas turbines and compressor components, is one of the county's larger manufacturing engineering employers. Gloucester's regeneration programme and the wider county's infrastructure create civil and structural engineering demand.

Cyber and systems engineers with SC or DV clearance in Gloucestershire command £52,000 to £80,000. GE Power and aerospace maintenance engineers achieve £40,000 to £60,000. Civil and structural engineers on county infrastructure earn £38,000 to £56,000. Contract rates for cleared systems engineers in the Cheltenham corridor run £450 to £700 per day.

Key employers

GCHQ and its technology supply chain of companies including Leidos, CGI, SAIC, and Raytheon UK are the dominant technical employers in the Cheltenham and Gloucester corridor. GE Power in Gloucester, Cobham at Staverton, and a range of manufacturing and engineering businesses across Gloucestershire provide conventional engineering employment alongside the defence and intelligence sector.

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