Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in Bedfordshire

Software Engineering
East of England > Bedfordshire

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Bedfordshire requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 23 18 31
Rank change year-on-year -5 +13 -4
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 13 11 9
As % of all contract jobs in Bedfordshire 6.05% 6.67% 3.61%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.91% 7.69% 4.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 12 6 2
10th Percentile - £325 £404
25th Percentile £413 £369 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £577 £438
Median % change year-on-year -21.98% +31.83% -
75th Percentile £500 £675 £484
90th Percentile £538 £684 £501
East of England median daily rate £475 £467 £500
% change year-on-year +1.66% -6.55% -14.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £80.00 -
East of England median hourly rate £67.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +3.08% - -

All Process and Methodology Skills
Bedfordshire

Software Engineering falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in Bedfordshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 188 143 223
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bedfordshire 87.44% 86.67% 89.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 115 72 155
10th Percentile £313 £213 £350
25th Percentile £413 £441 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - +3.96%
75th Percentile £588 £675 £550
90th Percentile £638 £700 £600
East of England median daily rate £486 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.21% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 18 4
10th Percentile £25.15 £24.98 £51.63
25th Percentile £37.50 £30.20 £52.19
Median hourly rate £71.00 £52.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +35.24% -4.55% -3.51%
75th Percentile £90.75 £59.69 £58.88
90th Percentile £91.50 £71.60 £61.35
East of England median hourly rate £20.75 £30.00 £21.46
% change year-on-year -30.83% +39.79% -2.45%

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in Bedfordshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Bedfordshire.

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in Bedfordshire

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in Bedfordshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Bedfordshire citing Software Engineering.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Bedfordshire citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in Bedfordshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Bedfordshire citing Software Engineering.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Bedfordshire citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
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 Software Engineering within the Bedfordshire region over the 6 months to 21 December 2025. 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
Shefford - 12 £450 - 8
Software Engineering
East of England

Software Engineering
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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (7.69%) SAS
General
1 1 (7.69%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (7.69%) Automotive
1 1 (7.69%) Finance
1 1 (7.69%) Organisational Skills
1 1 (7.69%) Social Skills
Job Titles
1 6 (46.15%) Lead
1 6 (46.15%) Senior
2 4 (30.77%) Software Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 1 (7.69%) Credit Risk
Processes & Methodologies
1 12 (92.31%) Platform Engineering
2 1 (7.69%) Agile
2 1 (7.69%) Analytical Modelling
2 1 (7.69%) Credit Risk Management
2 1 (7.69%) Decision-Making
2 1 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
2 1 (7.69%) Regulatory Compliance
2 1 (7.69%) Risk Management
2 1 (7.69%) Scorecard
2 1 (7.69%) System Testing
2 1 (7.69%) Test Strategy
2 1 (7.69%) Translating Business Requirements
Programming Languages
1 1 (7.69%) Java
1 1 (7.69%) Python
1 1 (7.69%) R
1 1 (7.69%) SQL