What Inspired Recruitment does

Inspired Recruitment Limited is a UK private technical recruitment agency founded around 2000 and headquartered in Handforth, Wilmslow (Stockport area). Originally trading as "Inspired IT!" and focused on IT and communications recruitment, the firm has rebranded and broadened into seven vertical sectors: Aerospace, Automotive & Motorsport, Defence, Engineering, IT & Communications, Manufacturing & Specialist Engineering, and Web Development. Each vertical is served by a dedicated consultant operating a dual recruitment desk covering both permanent and contract roles, with stated coverage spanning the UK and Europe and worldwide reach for the Manufacturing division. The company states 25 years of continuous operation, 899 cumulative candidates placed, 1,247 positions filled in the last year and a 400,000+ candidate portfolio in Web Development.

The firm operates a relationship-led services business with no proprietary technology platform: delivery is via direct inside and field sales to enterprise and mid-market clients, supported by a WordPress-based website, candidate and employer registration forms, click-to-call telephony, downloadable PDF timesheets, and a job-feed partnership with TotalJobs (cmpId=1387068). Revenue is generated through three streams — one-time permanent placement fees, recurring contract/temporary staffing margin (including multi-contractor managed-agency agreements such as a 30-contractor avionics engineering deployment at Curtiss Wright Controls), and project-based retained talent-strategy engagements. Pricing is quote-based, negotiated per assignment and not publicly disclosed, with billing cadences ranging from one-off placements to multi-year managed-agency contracts.

Named enterprise clients include Curtiss Wright Controls (5+ years, up to 30 contractors), Ultra Electronics PCS (7 years, preferred supplier), Parkeon, Endress & Hauser (10 years) and Denca Controls (20 years), supported by visible trade-body memberships (REC, NWAA) and compliance certifications (SMAS Worksafe, CHAS). A sister-company arrangement with CCS Recruitment Ltd handles construction and labouring trades, allowing Inspired Recruitment to remain focused on technical engineering verticals. No funding rounds, acquisitions, leadership changes, AI capabilities or API offerings are documented in the source material.

Name

Inspired Recruitment

Legal name

Inspired Recruitment Limited

Website

https://inspiredrecruitment.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Inspired Recruitment Limited is a UK technical recruitment agency founded in 2000 that places permanent and contract engineering, IT, defence, aerospace, automotive, manufacturing and web development professionals for enterprise and mid-market clients across the UK and Europe.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Technical Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Professional & Technical Direct Hire (IT, Engineering, Finance, Healthcare) (BPACAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

General Permanent Placement (Multi-Industry) (BPACAFAA)

Keywords

• Engineering recruitment
• Aerospace staffing
• Defence recruitment
• Contract engineering jobs
• Technical permanent placement

Headquarters

HQ city

Stockport

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Permanent placement fees: One-time placement fees earned when Inspired Recruitment successfully places a permanent candidate with a client. Covers the full engineering life cycle across all vertical sectors (Aerospace, Automotive, Defence, Engineering, IT, Manufacturing, Web Development).
2. Contract / temporary staffing (managed agency supply): Recurring revenue from supplying contract, interim and fixed-term engineering and IT personnel — including multi-contractor managed agency agreements (e.g., up to 30 contractors deployed on a single avionics engineering account). Margin earned on contractor bill rate versus pay rate.
3. Volume / retained talent strategy engagements: Higher-volume permanent and contract hiring projects plus collaborative talent strategy design and implementation work for clients with growth plans. Delivered on a project or retained basis.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Inspired Recruitment Limited operates a technical recruitment service connecting engineering professionals with permanent and contract roles across vertical sectors including Aerospace, Automotive & Motorsport, Defence, Engineering, IT & Communications, Manufacturing & Specialist Engineering, and Web Development. Consultants operate dual permanent and contract desks within their dedicated vertical, serving UK and European clients (with global reach in Manufacturing & Specialist Engineering) via direct sales, managed agency agreements, and online candidate registration. Revenue is earned from placement fees and contract bill-rate margins.

Product overview

Inspired Recruitment operates a single, unified technical recruitment service organised around vertical sector specialisations rather than a software product suite. The core offering is the Inspired Recruitment Limited recruitment brand, delivered through dual-recruitment-desk consultants operating within dedicated sector streams — Aerospace, Automotive & Motorsport, Defence, Engineering, IT & Communications, Manufacturing & Specialist Engineering, and Web Development — complemented by a separate sister brand, CCS Recruitment Ltd, covering construction, building, labouring and white/blue collar work. The candidate-facing Candidate Registration & Job Search Services and the employer-facing Employer Recruitment Services sit alongside these vertical recruitment desks as the engagement mechanisms, with current jobs surfaced via an integration-style listing on the TotalJobs.com job board. Inspired Recruitment does not offer a software platform, APIs, or AI-driven product features; it is a service business.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Aerospace Recruitment Dedicated recruitment desk covering the Aerospace sector from systems architecture and systems engineering & design through niche electronics & software to launch, manufacturing and quality engineering. Supports primes and system integrators (rotorcraft, commercial fixed wing, composite and metallic complex assembly) on design-to-build and build-to-print bases with permanent and contract staff.
• Automotive & Motorsport Recruitment Specialist recruitment stream serving OEMs and their supply chain across styling, design & engineering, launch, manufacturing, quality, electronics and software systems opportunities. Delivered through managed agency agreements with world-class automotive consultancies.
• Defence Recruitment Dual permanent and temporary recruitment service for the Defence sector covering aerospace, land, marine, munitions and homeland security projects, with established client relationships across the majority of UK defence primes and tiers.
• Engineering Recruitment Generalist engineering recruitment service covering CAD design, project management, manufacturing, safety/reliability/maintainability, technical support, procurement, contract & sub-contract management, systems engineering, software development & design, and electrical & electronic design roles across multiple industry sectors.
• IT & Communications Recruitment Engineering technology division bridging the convergence between traditional engineering and IT skillsets, providing contract and permanent opportunities in electronics, software, systems, automation, networking, helpdesk, systems administration and integration, and ERP consultancy (SAP, MS Dynamics, Lawson M3, Infor, Oracle).
• Manufacturing & Specialist Engineering Recruitment Division supplying specialist engineering, manufacturing, workshop and site personnel worldwide across industrial automation, special purpose machinery, power, FMCG machinery, energy & renewables, water treatment, building services, industrial controls, industrial software, chemical, oil & gas, nuclear, robotics and pharmaceutical sectors.
• Web Development Recruitment Specialist web development recruitment service placing front-end developers, .Net, PHP and other web technology candidates into permanent and contract roles across start-up digital agencies through to FTSE 100 end clients, drawing from a pool of over 400,000 candidates.
• Employer Recruitment Services B2B service enabling client employers to advertise permanent or temporary roles with Inspired Recruitment via phone or call-back request, supporting one-off placements, urgent multi-role fills, and full talent strategy design for growth plans across the UK and Europe.
• Candidate Registration & Job Search Services Candidate-facing offering providing CV and interview guidance, access to live job opportunities, CPD/training alerts, legislative updates and reliable payroll, accessed via phone registration, call-back or online account setup with job alerts and applications.

Quantifiable outcome

• 899 candidates placed (cumulative counter on homepage)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments8 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CCS Recruitment LtdcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCCS Recruitment Ltd is described on the Inspired Recruitment website as a sister company. Inspired Recruitment refers construction, building industry, labouring and white & blue collar work to CCS Recruitment Ltd, allowing Inspired to focus on technical engineering verticals while CCS handles construction trades. The two companies share a website footer and cross-link (ccsrecruitment.co.uk).
• REC (Recruitment & Employment Confederation)minorOthersIndustry trade body membership; the REC logo is displayed on the Inspired Recruitment homepage as a credibility signal and source of industry standards/affiliation.
• NWAA (North West Aerospace Alliance)minorOthersRegional aerospace industry body; NWAA logo is displayed on the Inspired Recruitment homepage, reflecting affiliation with the North West aerospace cluster — a key target vertical for the business.
• TotalJobscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorTotalJobs hosts Inspired Recruitment's live job feed and company profile (cmpId=1387068), distributing vacancies to candidate search traffic across the UK. TotalJobs links are embedded on the homepage, Candidates page and site navigation as 'Current Jobs Available'.
• SMAS (Safety Management Advisory Services)minorOthersHealth & safety accreditation body; Inspired Recruitment holds an SMAS Worksafe Certificate, referenced in the company footer, supporting client compliance vetting.
• CHAS (Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme)minorOthersHealth & safety compliance scheme; Inspired Recruitment holds a CHAS Certificate, referenced in the company footer, supporting pre-qualification for construction/manufacturing clients.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Solutions Driven (now part of Morson): UK engineering and technical recruitment firm focused on contract and permanent engineering placements; historically competed head-to-head with Inspired Recruitment for engineering contractors across UK and European industrial clients.
• Morson Group: UK-headquartered technical recruitment and workforce solutions provider supplying engineers, technical specialists and project teams to defence, aerospace, rail and infrastructure clients; larger but highly comparable in vertical mix and contract-led model.
• Coyle Personnel: UK recruitment specialist supplying trades, technical and engineering personnel to construction, manufacturing and industrial clients; comparable to Inspired Recruitment's Manufacturing & Specialist Engineering division and its sister CCS Recruitment Ltd construction offering.
• Jonathan Lee Recruitment: UK-based engineering and technical recruitment specialist with a permanent and contract offering across multiple engineering sectors; closest direct comparable to Inspired Recruitment's vertical dual-desk model serving aerospace, automotive, defence and manufacturing clients.
• Airswift: Global STEM workforce solutions provider placing engineers and technical specialists into aerospace, defence, energy and process industries; comparable to Inspired Recruitment's Manufacturing & Specialist Engineering global reach and contract supply capabilities.
• Matchtech: UK engineering and technology recruitment specialist owned by Gattaca; places engineers and technical professionals into permanent and contract roles across aerospace, defence, energy and infrastructure, overlapping directly with Inspired Recruitment's core verticals.

Broad incumbents

• Reed Technology: UK division of Reed Global operating a technology and engineering recruitment desk; serves engineering and IT candidates with comparable permanent and contract offerings though at materially larger scale and broader sector coverage.
• Michael Page Engineering: UK engineering and manufacturing recruitment arm of PageGroup; overlaps with Inspired Recruitment on engineering permanent and contract placements but as part of a broad multi-sector portfolio rather than a dedicated specialist.
• SThree (SThree plc): International specialist STEM recruiter operating brands such as Computer Futures and Real Staffing; comparable in technical/engineering contract and permanent placement though at significantly larger scale and with global rather than UK/Europe primary focus.
• Hays Engineering: UK division of global recruiter Hays plc with a dedicated engineering desk covering aerospace, automotive, defence and manufacturing; competes for the same client base as Inspired Recruitment but operates as one desk within a much larger generalist portfolio.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/inspired.recruitment
• Xx.com/inspired_rec
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/inspired-recruitment-ltd

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Inspired Recruitment