Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in Dorset

Software Engineering
South West > Dorset

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Dorset requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 18 15 20
Rank change year-on-year -3 +5 +6
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 11 5 9
As % of all contract jobs in Dorset 5.88% 5.62% 5.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 9.32% 6.02% 6.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 2 6
10th Percentile - £483 £398
25th Percentile £525 £513 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £400
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +43.75% -20.00%
75th Percentile £575 £638 £503
90th Percentile - £668 £588
South West median daily rate £575 £575 £525
% change year-on-year - +9.52% -9.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 2
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £61.25
Median hourly rate - - £62.50
75th Percentile - - £63.75
90th Percentile - - -
South West median hourly rate £65.00 £66.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year -2.26% -5.00% +6.87%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Dorset

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 Dorset.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 118 83 137
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Dorset 63.10% 93.26% 85.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 55 57 88
10th Percentile £350 £194 £174
25th Percentile £375 £363 £175
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £410 £475 £400
Median % change year-on-year -13.68% +18.75% -20.00%
75th Percentile £563 £575 £630
90th Percentile £688 £680 £769
South West median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 9 35
10th Percentile £21.00 £14.48 £11.87
25th Percentile £21.75 £15.16 £13.69
Median hourly rate £48.08 £18.25 £15.31
Median % change year-on-year +163.42% +19.20% -72.80%
75th Percentile £72.54 £67.50 £56.49
90th Percentile £74.47 - £61.25
South West median hourly rate £57.50 £60.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year -4.17% +9.09% -8.33%

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in Dorset

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

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in Dorset

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in Dorset

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

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

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in Dorset

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

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

Software Engineering
Contract Job Locations in Dorset

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 Dorset region over the 6 months to 15 May 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
Bournemouth -8 7 - - 4
Wareham - 3 - - 5
Dorchester 0 1 £550 -18.52%
Software Engineering
South West

Software Engineering
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Dorset 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (9.09%) AWS
Communications & Networking
1 1 (9.09%) TCP/IP
General
1 2 (18.18%) Banking
1 2 (18.18%) Finance
1 2 (18.18%) Financial Institution
1 2 (18.18%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 9 (81.82%) Software Engineer
2 5 (45.45%) Full-Stack Engineer
2 5 (45.45%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
3 3 (27.27%) Software Verification Engineer
4 2 (18.18%) Project Manager
5 1 (9.09%) Java Engineer
5 1 (9.09%) Java Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (45.45%) Spring Boot
2 1 (9.09%) React
2 1 (9.09%) React Native
2 1 (9.09%) REST
2 1 (9.09%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 2 (18.18%) Data Protection Act
1 2 (18.18%) Onboarding
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (45.45%) Full-Stack Development
2 3 (27.27%) Software Testing
3 2 (18.18%) Agile
3 2 (18.18%) Asset Management
3 2 (18.18%) Business Analysis
3 2 (18.18%) Data Protection
3 2 (18.18%) Decision-Making
3 2 (18.18%) Microservices
3 2 (18.18%) Project Management
3 2 (18.18%) Resource Allocation
4 1 (9.09%) Containerisation
4 1 (9.09%) DevOps
4 1 (9.09%) SOA
4 1 (9.09%) Technology Transformation
4 1 (9.09%) UML
4 1 (9.09%) Value Proposition
Programming Languages
1 6 (54.55%) Java
2 1 (9.09%) SQL
Qualifications
1 1 (9.09%) SC Cleared
1 1 (9.09%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 1 (9.09%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (9.09%) Kubernetes