Data Engineer Contract Job Trends in Bristol

Data Engineer
South West > Bristol

The median Data Engineer daily rate in Bristol is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 8 October 2026.

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

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 45 58
Rank change year-on-year +8 +13 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Data Engineer 53 20 20
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 3.92% 2.73% 2.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.23% 2.96% 2.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 35 13 15
10th Percentile £389 £415 £360
25th Percentile £463 £433 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% +11.11% -
75th Percentile £579 £575 £594
90th Percentile £675 £608 £635
South West median daily rate £525 £513 £531
% change year-on-year +2.44% -3.53% +1.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 2 0
10th Percentile £12.98 £24.01 -
25th Percentile £37.00 £33.34 -
Median hourly rate £51.25 £48.90 -
Median % change year-on-year +4.82% - -
75th Percentile £68.00 £64.45 -
90th Percentile - £73.78 -
South West median hourly rate £45.00 £48.90 -
% change year-on-year -7.97% - -

All Contract IT Job Roles
Bristol

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Bristol. 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 Bristol with a recognized job title 1,253 676 852
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.61% 92.35% 95.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 623 326 455
10th Percentile £381 £250 £216
25th Percentile £450 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £485 £475
Median % change year-on-year +8.36% +2.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £588
90th Percentile £688 £763 £700
South West median daily rate £535 £513 £508
% change year-on-year +4.39% +0.99% -5.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 316 147 154
10th Percentile £20.60 £12.82 £19.83
25th Percentile £46.52 £18.87 £55.75
Median hourly rate £65.00 £33.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +94.03% -52.14% +7.69%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £72.50
90th Percentile £75.48 £68.00 £75.00
South West median hourly rate £60.33 £25.15 £67.50
% change year-on-year +139.88% -62.74% +12.50%

Data Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in Bristol

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

Data Engineer job vacancy trend in Bristol

Data Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in Bristol

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in Bristol.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in Bristol

Data Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in Bristol

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Engineer in Bristol over the 6 months to 8 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Engineer in Bristol

Data Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in Bristol

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in Bristol.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in Bristol

Data Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in Bristol

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Engineer in Bristol over the 6 months to 8 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Engineer in Bristol

Data Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Bristol

For the 6 months to 8 October 2026, Data 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 Bristol region featuring Data Engineer in the job title.

1 25 (47.17%) dbt
2 24 (45.28%) SQL
3 23 (43.40%) Data Engineering
4 22 (41.51%) Data Modelling
5 19 (35.85%) AWS
6 18 (33.96%) Python
7 17 (32.08%) DevOps
8 14 (26.42%) Data Pipeline
9 13 (24.53%) Validation
10 12 (22.64%) AI
10 12 (22.64%) Analytics
11 11 (20.75%) GCP
11 11 (20.75%) Security Cleared
12 10 (18.87%) Platform Engineering
12 10 (18.87%) Snowflake
13 9 (16.98%) Agile
13 9 (16.98%) Google
14 8 (15.09%) Data Development
14 8 (15.09%) ETL
15 7 (13.21%) Data Validation
15 7 (13.21%) QA
16 6 (11.32%) Decision-Making
16 6 (11.32%) Master Data Management
17 5 (9.43%) Azure
17 5 (9.43%) Business Intelligence
17 5 (9.43%) Data Architecture
17 5 (9.43%) Degree
17 5 (9.43%) Microsoft
17 5 (9.43%) SC Cleared
17 5 (9.43%) Terraform

Data Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Bristol 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 3 (5.66%) Apache
1 3 (5.66%) Apache Airflow
2 2 (3.77%) Apache Spark
3 1 (1.89%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (1.89%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 25 (47.17%) dbt
2 19 (35.85%) AWS
3 11 (20.75%) GCP
4 10 (18.87%) Snowflake
5 5 (9.43%) Azure
6 4 (7.55%) Power Platform
7 3 (5.66%) GitHub
8 2 (3.77%) Azure Data Factory
8 2 (3.77%) Azure Databricks
8 2 (3.77%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 2 (3.77%) Google Workspace
8 2 (3.77%) Microsoft 365
9 1 (1.89%) Amazon S3
9 1 (1.89%) Dataform
9 1 (1.89%) Google Drive
9 1 (1.89%) OneDrive
9 1 (1.89%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 2 (3.77%) Wi-Fi
1 2 (3.77%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (7.55%) Power BI
2 3 (5.66%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (1.89%) Big Data
3 1 (1.89%) BigQuery
3 1 (1.89%) Hadoop
3 1 (1.89%) Metadata
3 1 (1.89%) MongoDB
3 1 (1.89%) Parquet
3 1 (1.89%) SQL Server
3 1 (1.89%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 2 (3.77%) GitLab
2 1 (1.89%) Git
General
1 8 (15.09%) Social Skills
2 2 (3.77%) Aerospace
2 2 (3.77%) Aviation
2 2 (3.77%) Marketing
2 2 (3.77%) Retail
3 1 (1.89%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (1.89%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (9.43%) Terraform
2 2 (3.77%) REST
3 1 (1.89%) Apache NiFi
3 1 (1.89%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 2 (3.77%) Cloud Native
1 2 (3.77%) Driving Licence
1 2 (3.77%) iPad
2 1 (1.89%) Algorithms
2 1 (1.89%) Product Ownership
2 1 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
Processes & Methodologies
1 23 (43.40%) Data Engineering
2 22 (41.51%) Data Modelling
3 17 (32.08%) DevOps
4 14 (26.42%) Data Pipeline
5 13 (24.53%) Validation
6 12 (22.64%) AI
6 12 (22.64%) Analytics
7 10 (18.87%) Platform Engineering
8 9 (16.98%) Agile
9 8 (15.09%) Data Development
9 8 (15.09%) ETL
10 7 (13.21%) Data Validation
11 6 (11.32%) Decision-Making
11 6 (11.32%) Master Data Management
12 5 (9.43%) Business Intelligence
12 5 (9.43%) Data Architecture
13 4 (7.55%) CI/CD
13 4 (7.55%) Infrastructure as Code
14 3 (5.66%) Problem-Solving
14 3 (5.66%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 24 (45.28%) SQL
2 18 (33.96%) Python
3 1 (1.89%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 11 (20.75%) Security Cleared
2 5 (9.43%) Degree
2 5 (9.43%) SC Cleared
3 4 (7.55%) DV Cleared
4 2 (3.77%) City & Guilds
5 1 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
5 1 (1.89%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (1.89%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (13.21%) QA
2 2 (3.77%) Data Quality
3 1 (1.89%) GDPR
3 1 (1.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
Systems Management
1 1 (1.89%) Ansible
1 1 (1.89%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 9 (16.98%) Google
2 5 (9.43%) Microsoft
3 4 (7.55%) Databricks
4 1 (1.89%) Alteryx