Principal Engineer Contract Job Trends in Bedfordshire

Principal Engineer
East of England > Bedfordshire

The median Principal Engineer daily rate in Bedfordshire is £63, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 January 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 29 33
Rank change year-on-year -3 +4 -1
Contract jobs requiring a Principal Engineer 4 2 3
As % of all contract jobs in Bedfordshire 1.77% 1.33% 1.21%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.96% 1.52% 1.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 0 0
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £63 - -
East of England median daily rate £63 - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 3
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £30.70
Median hourly rate £80.00 £80.00 £31.80
Median % change year-on-year - +151.57% -44.21%
75th Percentile - - £47.95
90th Percentile - - £56.98
East of England median hourly rate £75.00 £80.00 £31.80
% change year-on-year -6.25% +151.57% -44.21%

All Contract IT Job Roles
Bedfordshire

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Bedfordshire. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in Bedfordshire with a recognized job title 204 132 228
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.27% 88.00% 91.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 139 64 157
10th Percentile £313 £180 £285
25th Percentile £413 £344 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £525
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% +2.38% +6.06%
75th Percentile £584 £689 £550
90th Percentile £650 £709 £600
East of England median daily rate £475 £454 £475
% change year-on-year +4.63% -4.42% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 14 8
10th Percentile £25.15 £22.28 £19.40
25th Percentile £41.56 £29.45 £28.03
Median hourly rate £80.00 £52.50 £42.15
Median % change year-on-year +52.38% +24.56% -24.50%
75th Percentile - £63.08 £58.88
90th Percentile £90.45 £76.40 £63.60
East of England median hourly rate £25.15 £50.00 £39.55
% change year-on-year -49.70% +26.42% +92.93%

Principal Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in Bedfordshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Principal Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Bedfordshire.

Principal Engineer job vacancy trend in Bedfordshire

Principal Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in Bedfordshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Principal Engineer job vacancies in Bedfordshire.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Principal Engineer job vacancies in Bedfordshire

Principal Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in Bedfordshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Principal Engineer job vacancies in Bedfordshire.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Principal Engineer job vacancies in Bedfordshire

Principal Engineer
Contract Job Locations in Bedfordshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Principal Engineer within the Bedfordshire region over the 6 months to 13 January 2026. 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
Luton -5 4 £63 - 7
Principal Engineer
East of England

Principal Engineer Skill Set
Top 24 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Bedfordshire

For the 6 months to 13 January 2026, Principal Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Bedfordshire region featuring Principal Engineer in the job title.

1 4 (100.00%) Actel
1 4 (100.00%) AI
1 4 (100.00%) Altera
1 4 (100.00%) Computer Science
1 4 (100.00%) Cryptography
1 4 (100.00%) Degree
1 4 (100.00%) DO-254
1 4 (100.00%) Ethernet
1 4 (100.00%) Firmware
1 4 (100.00%) HNC
1 4 (100.00%) HND
1 4 (100.00%) Intel
1 4 (100.00%) Machine Learning
1 4 (100.00%) MATLAB
1 4 (100.00%) Microsemi
1 4 (100.00%) Physics
1 4 (100.00%) SC Cleared
1 4 (100.00%) Security Cleared
1 4 (100.00%) Simulink
1 4 (100.00%) SystemVerilog
1 4 (100.00%) Tcl
1 4 (100.00%) UVM
1 4 (100.00%) Xilinx
2 1 (25.00%) Customer Requirements

Principal Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Bedfordshire 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 4 (100.00%) Simulink
Communications & Networking
1 4 (100.00%) Ethernet
General
1 4 (100.00%) Electronics
1 4 (100.00%) Games
2 1 (25.00%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 4 (100.00%) Algorithms
1 4 (100.00%) FPGA
1 4 (100.00%) PCIe
1 4 (100.00%) Verilog
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (100.00%) AI
1 4 (100.00%) Computer Science
1 4 (100.00%) Cryptography
1 4 (100.00%) Machine Learning
1 4 (100.00%) Physics
1 4 (100.00%) UVM
2 1 (25.00%) Customer Requirements
Programming Languages
1 4 (100.00%) MATLAB
1 4 (100.00%) SystemVerilog
1 4 (100.00%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 4 (100.00%) Degree
1 4 (100.00%) HNC
1 4 (100.00%) HND
1 4 (100.00%) SC Cleared
1 4 (100.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (100.00%) DO-254
System Software
1 4 (100.00%) Firmware
Vendors
1 4 (100.00%) Actel
1 4 (100.00%) Altera
1 4 (100.00%) Intel
1 4 (100.00%) Microsemi
1 4 (100.00%) Xilinx