Digital & IT Contractor Trends & Insights

Contract Job Market Index

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There is a choice between 3 and 6 months to 27 October 2026 with year-over-year comparisons.

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Results 1 - 50 of 4,056

Contract Job Market Index
Description	Rank 6 Months to 27 Oct 2026	Rank YoY Change	Median Daily Rate	Median Daily Rate YoY Change	Historical Absolute & Relative Jobs Vacancies	Live Jobs
Social Skills	1	No change0	£510	+2.00%	13,213 24.07%	4,473
Security Cleared	2	Up 1 place+1	£550	+2.61%	12,170 22.17%	2,162
Finance	3	Down 1 place-1	£550	+4.76%	10,299 18.76%	2,438
Stakeholder Management	4	Up 12 places+12	£550	+4.76%	9,337 17.01%	1,574
SC Cleared	5	Up 2 places+2	£550	+4.76%	9,263 16.88%	1,532
Agile	6	Down 2 places-2	£514	-0.19%	8,712 15.87%	1,592
Azure	7	Down 2 places-2	£530	+1.92%	8,431 15.36%	2,039
Microsoft	8	No change0	£495	+4.21%	7,811 14.23%	2,791
CI/CD	9	Up 5 places+5	£520	+1.46%	6,554 11.94%	1,187
AWS	10	Down 1 place-1	£550	+4.76%	6,488 11.82%	1,306
Problem-Solving	11	Down 5 places-5	£495	+2.59%	6,185 11.27%	3,026
Architect	12	Up 8 places+8	£620	-0.80%	6,086 11.09%	791
Senior	13	Up 9 places+9	£550	-	5,782 10.53%	2,197
Python	14	Down 4 places-4	£538	+2.49%	5,765 10.50%	1,589
DevOps	15	Down 3 places-3	£525	-	5,763 10.50%	1,043
AI	16	Up 24 places+24	£555	+0.90%	5,555 10.12%	2,222
Continuous Improvement	17	Up 12 places+12	£520	+4.00%	5,340 9.73%	2,298
Public Sector	18	No change0	£525	+5.00%	5,296 9.65%	909
SQL	19	Down 4 places-4	£500	-	5,266 9.59%	1,116
Developer	20	Down 7 places-7	£507	+1.30%	5,204 9.48%	833
Migration	21	Down 2 places-2	£538	+4.36%	5,117 9.32%	638
Analyst	22	Down 11 places-11	£468	+3.88%	5,097 9.29%	908
Analytical Skills	23	Down 6 places-6	£500	-	4,871 8.87%	1,622
Lead	24	Up 7 places+7	£575	+2.22%	4,610 8.40%	1,351
Stakeholder Engagement	25	No change0	£540	+2.85%	4,434 8.08%	752
Analytics	26	Up 2 places+2	£537	+4.27%	4,056 7.39%	1,080
Roadmaps	27	Up 14 places+14	£595	+9.67%	3,568 6.50%	1,110
Decision-Making	28	Up 25 places+25	£550	+10.00%	3,386 6.17%	1,445
Validation	29	Up 38 places+38	£500	-0.59%	3,364 6.13%	1,097
Banking	30	Down 6 places-6	£550	+0.91%	3,302 6.02%	334
Windows	31	Down 10 places-10	£425	+7.59%	3,281 5.98%	779
Consultant	32	Down 9 places-9	£550	-	3,250 5.92%	620
Software Engineering	33	Up 10 places+10	£550	-	3,152 5.74%	1,480
Kubernetes	34	Down 2 places-2	£538	+2.38%	3,073 5.60%	517
Data Modelling	35	Up 16 places+16	£525	-	2,996 5.46%	463
Infrastructure as Code	36	Up 14 places+14	£550	+2.08%	2,992 5.45%	645
Java	37	Down 11 places-11	£515	+0.48%	2,989 5.45%	482
Terraform	38	Down 2 places-2	£538	+2.47%	2,979 5.43%	568
Cybersecurity	39	Up 3 places+3	£550	+2.42%	2,871 5.23%	1,597
Oracle	40	Down 7 places-7	£525	+0.96%	2,853 5.20%	351
SAP	41	Down 11 places-11	£557	-1.50%	2,847 5.19%	352
Test Automation	42	Up 4 places+4	£475	-5.00%	2,703 4.92%	746
Degree	43	Down 16 places-16	£510	+2.00%	2,613 4.76%	2,410
Data Quality	44	Up 52 places+52	£515	+3.00%	2,604 4.74%	527
Power Platform	45	No change0	£500	+2.04%	2,555 4.65%	598
Business Intelligence	46	Down 8 places-8	£500	-	2,389 4.35%	635
JIRA	47	Down 12 places-12	£500	-	2,386 4.35%	350
QA	48	Up 13 places+13	£475	-	2,371 4.32%	611
Project Delivery	49	Up 11 places+11	£525	-	2,362 4.30%	829
GCP	50	Up 2 places+2	£550	+2.42%	2,359 4.30%	480

The figures above represent demand-side skills and capabilities across the digital and IT contractor job market.
The statistics are not representative of specific organisations.