Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in the City of London
Software Engineering
Central London > City of London
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the City of London requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 21 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 21 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 46 | 40 | 62 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -6 | +22 | -7 |
| Contract jobs citing Software Engineering | 106 | 85 | 68 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the City of London | 4.96% | 5.01% | 3.23% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 5.41% | 5.30% | 3.51% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 70 | 56 | 39 |
| 10th Percentile | £424 | £413 | £461 |
| 25th Percentile | £463 | £525 | £486 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £600 | £650 | £568 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -7.69% | +14.54% | -15.93% |
| 75th Percentile | £738 | £738 | £738 |
| 90th Percentile | £863 | £838 | £885 |
| Central London median daily rate | £575 | £650 | £568 |
| % change year-on-year | -11.54% | +14.54% | -16.70% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Median hourly rate | - | £27.50 | - |
| Central London median hourly rate | - | £27.50 | - |
All Process & Methodology Skills
City of London
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 the City of London.
| 6 months to 21 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 1,958 | 1,603 | 1,936 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London | 91.54% | 94.52% | 91.88% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 1,355 | 1,099 | 1,194 |
| 10th Percentile | £375 | £325 | £375 |
| 25th Percentile | £456 | £421 | £463 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £550 | £550 | £575 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | -4.35% | -3.77% |
| 75th Percentile | £688 | £675 | £688 |
| 90th Percentile | £775 | £763 | £786 |
| Central London median daily rate | £550 | £550 | £575 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -4.35% | -2.13% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 20 | 17 | 17 |
| 10th Percentile | £17.39 | £16.85 | £16.70 |
| 25th Percentile | £17.60 | £20.18 | £23.13 |
| Median hourly rate | £20.25 | £26.57 | £42.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -23.79% | -37.48% | +54.55% |
| 75th Percentile | £27.35 | £36.00 | £112.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £44.85 | £63.75 | £137.50 |
| Central London median hourly rate | £24.50 | £27.04 | £35.00 |
| % change year-on-year | -9.38% | -22.76% | +30.84% |
Software Engineering Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London.
Software Engineering Daily Rate Trend in the City of London
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Software Engineering.
Software Engineering Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in the City of London over the 6 months to 21 October 2026.
Software Engineering Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Software Engineering.
Software Engineering Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of London by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CI/CD | 57.5% | 61 |
| 2 | AI | 38.7% | 41 |
| 3 | Agile | 28.3% | 30 |
| 4 | DevOps | 27.4% | 29 |
| 5 | Observability | 22.6% | 24 |
| 6 | Machine Learning | 19.8% | 21 |
| 6 | Test Automation | 19.8% | 21 |
| 8 | Infrastructure as Code | 18.9% | 20 |
| 8 | LLM | 18.9% | 20 |
| 10 | Containerisation | 17.9% | 19 |
| 11 | Data Engineering | 15.1% | 16 |
| 11 | Microservices | 15.1% | 16 |
| 11 | Stakeholder Management | 15.1% | 16 |
| 14 | Analytics | 13.2% | 14 |
| 14 | Continuous Improvement | 13.2% | 14 |
| 16 | Platform Engineering | 12.3% | 13 |
| 16 | Problem-Solving | 12.3% | 13 |
| 16 | SDLC | 12.3% | 13 |
| 19 | Generative AI | 11.3% | 12 |
| 19 | MLOps | 11.3% | 12 |