Digital & IT Contractor Trends & Insights

Contract Job Market Index

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There is a choice between 3 and 6 months to 30 October 2026 with year-over-year comparisons.

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Results 1 - 50 of 4,046

Contract Job Market Index
Description	Rank 6 Months to 30 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	£513	+2.50%	13,255 24.18%	4,456
Security Cleared	2	Up 1 place+1	£550	+2.80%	12,181 22.22%	2,460
Finance	3	Down 1 place-1	£550	+4.76%	10,316 18.82%	2,519
Stakeholder Management	4	Up 12 places+12	£550	+4.76%	9,452 17.24%	1,566
SC Cleared	5	Up 2 places+2	£550	+4.76%	9,274 16.92%	1,755
Agile	6	Down 2 places-2	£514	+0.24%	8,726 15.92%	1,682
Azure	7	Down 2 places-2	£530	+1.92%	8,410 15.34%	2,060
Microsoft	8	No change0	£500	+5.26%	7,877 14.37%	2,804
CI/CD	9	Up 5 places+5	£520	+1.76%	6,543 11.94%	1,200
AWS	10	Down 1 place-1	£550	+4.76%	6,480 11.82%	1,359
Problem-Solving	11	Down 5 places-5	£495	+2.59%	6,210 11.33%	3,074
Architect	12	Up 8 places+8	£620	-0.80%	6,074 11.08%	903
Senior	13	Up 9 places+9	£550	-	5,787 10.56%	2,270
Python	14	Down 4 places-4	£538	+2.38%	5,760 10.51%	1,631
DevOps	15	Down 3 places-3	£525	+0.19%	5,745 10.48%	1,057
AI	16	Up 23 places+23	£560	+1.81%	5,572 10.16%	2,313
Continuous Improvement	17	Up 12 places+12	£520	+4.00%	5,358 9.77%	2,254
Public Sector	18	No change0	£525	+5.00%	5,338 9.74%	926
SQL	19	Down 4 places-4	£500	-	5,240 9.56%	1,155
Developer	20	Down 7 places-7	£500	-	5,172 9.43%	828
Migration	21	Down 2 places-2	£538	+4.36%	5,117 9.33%	631
Analyst	22	Down 11 places-11	£473	+5.16%	5,071 9.25%	913
Analytical Skills	23	Down 6 places-6	£500	-	4,904 8.95%	1,662
Lead	24	Up 7 places+7	£575	+2.22%	4,610 8.41%	1,272
Stakeholder Engagement	25	No change0	£540	+2.85%	4,483 8.18%	843
Analytics	26	Up 2 places+2	£538	+3.66%	4,060 7.41%	1,128
Roadmaps	27	Up 14 places+14	£600	+10.85%	3,600 6.57%	1,212
Decision-Making	28	Up 25 places+25	£550	+10.00%	3,398 6.20%	1,477
Validation	29	Up 36 places+36	£500	-	3,397 6.20%	1,153
Banking	30	Down 6 places-6	£550	-	3,322 6.06%	340
Consultant	31	Down 8 places-8	£550	-	3,272 5.97%	612
Windows	32	Down 11 places-11	£425	+8.97%	3,271 5.97%	783
Software Engineering	33	Up 10 places+10	£550	-	3,144 5.74%	1,509
Kubernetes	34	Down 2 places-2	£538	+2.42%	3,059 5.58%	533
Infrastructure as Code	35	Up 14 places+14	£550	+2.37%	2,994 5.46%	665
Data Modelling	36	Up 16 places+16	£525	-	2,986 5.45%	488
Terraform	37	Down 1 place-1	£538	+2.38%	2,984 5.44%	591
Java	38	Down 12 places-12	£515	+0.48%	2,973 5.42%	485
Cybersecurity	39	Up 3 places+3	£550	+2.61%	2,899 5.29%	1,673
Oracle	40	Down 7 places-7	£525	+0.96%	2,868 5.23%	345
SAP	41	Down 11 places-11	£557	-1.06%	2,845 5.19%	351
Test Automation	42	Up 4 places+4	£475	-5.00%	2,725 4.97%	756
Data Quality	43	Up 53 places+53	£513	+2.50%	2,632 4.80%	516
Degree	44	Down 17 places-17	£510	+2.00%	2,626 4.79%	2,453
Power Platform	45	Down 1 place-1	£500	+2.56%	2,542 4.64%	593
Project Delivery	46	Up 14 places+14	£525	-	2,384 4.35%	862
Business Intelligence	47	Down 9 places-9	£500	-	2,381 4.34%	615
JIRA	48	Down 13 places-13	£500	-	2,380 4.34%	342
QA	49	Up 12 places+12	£475	-1.04%	2,377 4.34%	589
GCP	50	Up 1 place+1	£550	+3.77%	2,376 4.33%	483

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.