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 26 September 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 38 46 55
Rank change year-on-year +8 +9 0
Contract jobs requiring a Data Engineer 50 21 21
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 3.68% 2.84% 2.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.97% 3.07% 2.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 33 14 15
10th Percentile £385 £416 £360
25th Percentile £450 £440 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £488 £450
Median % change year-on-year +12.82% +8.33% -5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £566 £594
90th Percentile £675 £605 £635
South West median daily rate £525 £500 £531
% change year-on-year +5.00% -5.88% +3.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 0
10th Percentile £12.98 £24.01 -
25th Percentile £28.99 £33.34 -
Median hourly rate £45.00 £48.90 -
Median % change year-on-year -7.97% - -
75th Percentile £68.00 £64.45 -
90th Percentile - £73.78 -
South West median hourly rate £37.50 £48.90 -
% change year-on-year -23.31% - -

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 1,261 685 853
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.93% 92.69% 95.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 633 344 454
10th Percentile £381 £250 £226
25th Percentile £450 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £480
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -1.04% -8.57%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £588
90th Percentile £675 £743 £700
South West median daily rate £525 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -4.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 318 150 159
10th Percentile £21.35 £12.82 £17.50
25th Percentile £46.61 £18.87 £56.50
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 £75.14 £68.00 £75.00
South West median hourly rate £62.00 £25.15 £67.50
% change year-on-year +146.52% -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 26 September 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 26 September 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 26 September 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 23 (46.00%) dbt
2 20 (40.00%) Data Modelling
2 20 (40.00%) SQL
3 19 (38.00%) Data Engineering
4 17 (34.00%) AWS
4 17 (34.00%) DevOps
5 16 (32.00%) Python
6 11 (22.00%) Data Pipeline
6 11 (22.00%) Validation
7 10 (20.00%) AI
7 10 (20.00%) Platform Engineering
8 9 (18.00%) Analytics
8 9 (18.00%) GCP
8 9 (18.00%) Security Cleared
9 8 (16.00%) Agile
9 8 (16.00%) Snowflake
10 7 (14.00%) Data Architecture
10 7 (14.00%) Data Development
10 7 (14.00%) ETL
10 7 (14.00%) Google
10 7 (14.00%) QA
11 6 (12.00%) Azure
11 6 (12.00%) Data Validation
11 6 (12.00%) Decision-Making
12 5 (10.00%) Databricks
12 5 (10.00%) Master Data Management
12 5 (10.00%) Microsoft
13 4 (8.00%) Business Intelligence
13 4 (8.00%) Data Warehouse
13 4 (8.00%) Degree

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 2 (4.00%) Apache
1 2 (4.00%) Apache Airflow
2 1 (2.00%) Apache Spark
2 1 (2.00%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 1 (2.00%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 23 (46.00%) dbt
2 17 (34.00%) AWS
3 9 (18.00%) GCP
4 8 (16.00%) Snowflake
5 6 (12.00%) Azure
6 4 (8.00%) Power Platform
7 3 (6.00%) Azure Data Factory
7 3 (6.00%) Azure Databricks
8 2 (4.00%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 2 (4.00%) GitHub
8 2 (4.00%) Google Workspace
8 2 (4.00%) Microsoft 365
9 1 (2.00%) Azure DevOps
9 1 (2.00%) Google Drive
9 1 (2.00%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 2 (4.00%) Wi-Fi
1 2 (4.00%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (8.00%) Data Warehouse
1 4 (8.00%) Power BI
2 1 (2.00%) Data Lake
2 1 (2.00%) Data Vault
2 1 (2.00%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
2 1 (2.00%) MongoDB
2 1 (2.00%) SQL Server
2 1 (2.00%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 1 (2.00%) Git
1 1 (2.00%) GitLab
General
1 8 (16.00%) Social Skills
2 2 (4.00%) Aerospace
2 2 (4.00%) Aviation
2 2 (4.00%) Finance
2 2 (4.00%) Marketing
2 2 (4.00%) Retail
3 1 (2.00%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (2.00%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (6.00%) Terraform
2 1 (2.00%) Kafka
2 1 (2.00%) PySpark
2 1 (2.00%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 2 (4.00%) Cloud Native
1 2 (4.00%) Driving Licence
1 2 (4.00%) iPad
2 1 (2.00%) Product Ownership
2 1 (2.00%) Self-Motivation
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (40.00%) Data Modelling
2 19 (38.00%) Data Engineering
3 17 (34.00%) DevOps
4 11 (22.00%) Data Pipeline
4 11 (22.00%) Validation
5 10 (20.00%) AI
5 10 (20.00%) Platform Engineering
6 9 (18.00%) Analytics
7 8 (16.00%) Agile
8 7 (14.00%) Data Architecture
8 7 (14.00%) Data Development
8 7 (14.00%) ETL
9 6 (12.00%) Data Validation
9 6 (12.00%) Decision-Making
10 5 (10.00%) Master Data Management
11 4 (8.00%) Business Intelligence
12 3 (6.00%) Infrastructure as Code
12 3 (6.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 3 (6.00%) Stakeholder Management
12 3 (6.00%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 20 (40.00%) SQL
2 16 (32.00%) Python
3 1 (2.00%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 9 (18.00%) Security Cleared
2 4 (8.00%) Degree
2 4 (8.00%) SC Cleared
3 3 (6.00%) DV Cleared
4 2 (4.00%) City & Guilds
5 1 (2.00%) BPSS Clearance
5 1 (2.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (2.00%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (14.00%) QA
2 2 (4.00%) Data Quality
2 2 (4.00%) GDPR
3 1 (2.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
Vendors
1 7 (14.00%) Google
2 5 (10.00%) Databricks
2 5 (10.00%) Microsoft
3 1 (2.00%) Alteryx