BDD Contract Job Trends in England

Behaviour-Driven Development (BDD)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring BDD skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 3 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
3 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 370 276 266
Rank change year-on-year -94 -10 +8
Contract jobs citing BDD 288 259 282
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.62% 0.92% 0.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.73% 1.02% 1.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 192 181 191
10th Percentile £306 £356 £363
25th Percentile £400 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -12.60% -1.90% -7.69%
75th Percentile £538 £638 £631
90th Percentile £650 £725 £763
UK median daily rate £450 £500 £520
% change year-on-year -9.98% -3.85% -5.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - -
Median hourly rate £45.00 - -
75th Percentile £46.88 - -
90th Percentile £48.00 - -
UK median hourly rate £45.00 £85.00 -
% change year-on-year -47.06% - -

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

BDD 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 England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 39,417 25,490 28,010
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.73% 90.96% 86.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,890 16,169 17,141
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £645
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,936 1,564 1,197
10th Percentile £13.85 £14.44 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.59 £17.87 £20.25
Median hourly rate £40.08 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.36% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.50 £47.00 £67.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £67.43 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £38.72 £25.15 £42.27
% change year-on-year +53.96% -40.49% -0.55%

BDD
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing BDD relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

BDD job vacancy trend in England

BDD
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BDD.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BDD

BDD
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing BDD in England over the 6 months to 3 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for BDD in England

BDD
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BDD.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing BDD

BDD
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing BDD within the England region over the 6 months to 3 October 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
London -59 133 £500 -7.41% 119
North of England -84 72 £448 -14.76% 77
Midlands -14 48 £438 -5.41% 51
West Midlands -3 47 £438 -12.50% 32
Yorkshire -46 33 £438 -17.65% 25
North West -51 25 £441 +4.56% 34
North East -44 18 £450 -7.69% 18
South East -69 15 £275 -4.51% 53
South West -39 12 £500 +21.21% 26
East of England -23 3 £600 +60.00% 18
BDD
UK

BDD
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 23 (7.99%) Confluence
2 3 (1.04%) CMS
2 3 (1.04%) Headless CMS
2 3 (1.04%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.35%) Apache
3 1 (0.35%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 3 (1.04%) Mingle
1 3 (1.04%) Notion
2 2 (0.69%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 12 (4.17%) Dynamics CRM
2 8 (2.78%) Payment Gateway
3 3 (1.04%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 100 (34.72%) Azure
2 99 (34.38%) AWS
3 73 (25.35%) GitHub
4 42 (14.58%) Azure DevOps
5 33 (11.46%) GitHub Actions
6 25 (8.68%) Serverless
7 23 (7.99%) GCP
8 17 (5.90%) GitHub Copilot
9 15 (5.21%) Dynamics 365
10 14 (4.86%) Amazon S3
10 14 (4.86%) Amazon SQS
10 14 (4.86%) AWS Lambda
11 13 (4.51%) Amazon EC2
11 13 (4.51%) Power Automate
12 9 (3.13%) Azure Functions
12 9 (3.13%) Power Platform
13 8 (2.78%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 8 (2.78%) Amazon EKS
14 7 (2.43%) OpenShift
14 7 (2.43%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.43%) RTP
1 7 (2.43%) Wireshark
2 6 (2.08%) 3GPP
2 6 (2.08%) Internet
3 3 (1.04%) DNS
3 3 (1.04%) Firewall
4 2 (0.69%) DSL
4 2 (0.69%) HTTP
5 1 (0.35%) BGP
5 1 (0.35%) Intrusion Detection
5 1 (0.35%) Network Security
5 1 (0.35%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.35%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.35%) VPN
5 1 (0.35%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (13.54%) MongoDB
2 27 (9.38%) PostgreSQL
3 18 (6.25%) SQL Server
4 16 (5.56%) NoSQL
5 11 (3.82%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (3.47%) DynamoDB
7 7 (2.43%) Data Lake
7 7 (2.43%) Relational Database
8 5 (1.74%) Amazon Aurora
8 5 (1.74%) Couchbase
8 5 (1.74%) MySQL
9 4 (1.39%) Apache Iceberg
9 4 (1.39%) Big Data
9 4 (1.39%) BigQuery
9 4 (1.39%) Data Warehouse
9 4 (1.39%) Power BI
9 4 (1.39%) ZAP BI
10 3 (1.04%) Neo4j
10 3 (1.04%) Pinecone
10 3 (1.04%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 127 (44.10%) Cucumber
2 98 (34.03%) Git
3 94 (32.64%) Selenium
4 63 (21.88%) JUnit
5 62 (21.53%) Jenkins
6 59 (20.49%) GitLab
7 45 (15.63%) REST Assured
8 43 (14.93%) JIRA
9 41 (14.24%) Postman
10 31 (10.76%) Gatling
11 30 (10.42%) SonarQube
12 29 (10.07%) WebDriver
13 27 (9.38%) Mockito
14 25 (8.68%) Cypress.io
15 19 (6.60%) Maven
16 18 (6.25%) SpecFlow
17 12 (4.17%) Gradle
17 12 (4.17%) TeamCity
18 11 (3.82%) JMeter
18 11 (3.82%) SoapUI
General
1 107 (37.15%) Social Skills
2 62 (21.53%) Finance
3 55 (19.10%) Public Sector
4 51 (17.71%) Analytical Skills
5 42 (14.58%) Banking
6 16 (5.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 7 (2.43%) Front Office
7 7 (2.43%) Military
7 7 (2.43%) Retail
8 5 (1.74%) Aviation
8 5 (1.74%) Fire and Rescue
8 5 (1.74%) Police
9 4 (1.39%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.04%) Investment Banking
10 3 (1.04%) Legal Technology
10 3 (1.04%) Local Government
11 2 (0.69%) Law
11 2 (0.69%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.35%) Automotive
12 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 67 (23.26%) Senior
2 64 (22.22%) Developer
3 51 (17.71%) Test Engineer
4 41 (14.24%) Java Developer
5 33 (11.46%) Software Engineer
6 28 (9.72%) Test Automation Engineer
7 27 (9.38%) Lead
8 23 (7.99%) Senior Developer
9 21 (7.29%) Quality Engineer
10 20 (6.94%) Analyst
10 20 (6.94%) Java Engineer
11 17 (5.90%) QA Engineer
12 15 (5.21%) Senior Java Developer
13 14 (4.86%) Test Leader
14 13 (4.51%) Automation Engineer
14 13 (4.51%) Senior Test Engineer
14 13 (4.51%) Test Analyst
15 11 (3.82%) Architect
16 10 (3.47%) Senior Software Engineer
17 9 (3.13%) Java Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 68 (23.61%) Playwright
2 59 (20.49%) Spring
3 56 (19.44%) REST
4 54 (18.75%) Kafka
5 53 (18.40%) Gherkin
6 48 (16.67%) Spring Boot
7 32 (11.11%) RESTful
8 30 (10.42%) .NET
9 27 (9.38%) Terraform
10 26 (9.03%) WireMock
11 25 (8.68%) React
12 22 (7.64%) Node.js
13 20 (6.94%) AngularJS
14 18 (6.25%) HTML
15 17 (5.90%) pytest
15 17 (5.90%) SOAP
16 16 (5.56%) ActiveMQ
17 14 (4.86%) .NET Core
17 14 (4.86%) RabbitMQ
17 14 (4.86%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 29 (10.07%) Cloud Native
2 27 (9.38%) Product Ownership
3 24 (8.33%) Distributed Systems
4 19 (6.60%) Enterprise Software
5 12 (4.17%) Onboarding
6 11 (3.82%) Legacy Systems
7 9 (3.13%) AI Agents
8 8 (2.78%) Management Information System
8 8 (2.78%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (2.43%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.74%) Robotics
10 5 (1.74%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 5 (1.74%) Taxonomies
11 4 (1.39%) Distributed Architecture
11 4 (1.39%) NHS
12 3 (1.04%) Analytical Mindset
12 3 (1.04%) Data Protection Act
12 3 (1.04%) Legacy Applications
13 2 (0.69%) Fixed Income
13 2 (0.69%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 41 (14.24%) Linux
2 20 (6.94%) Unix
3 6 (2.08%) Mac OS X
4 5 (1.74%) Android
4 5 (1.74%) Apple iOS
5 3 (1.04%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (1.04%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 207 (71.88%) Agile
2 198 (68.75%) CI/CD
3 188 (65.28%) Test Automation
4 185 (64.24%) TDD
5 108 (37.50%) Microservices
6 106 (36.81%) DevOps
7 69 (23.96%) AI
7 69 (23.96%) Scrum
8 66 (22.92%) Software Testing
9 64 (22.22%) Continuous Improvement
10 63 (21.88%) Software Engineering
11 62 (21.53%) API Testing
11 62 (21.53%) Test Strategy
12 60 (20.83%) Problem-Solving
13 55 (19.10%) Stakeholder Management
14 45 (15.63%) SDLC
15 43 (14.93%) Integration Testing
16 41 (14.24%) Coaching
17 39 (13.54%) Continuous Integration
18 38 (13.19%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 177 (61.46%) Java
2 67 (23.26%) Python
2 67 (23.26%) SQL
3 62 (21.53%) JavaScript
4 58 (20.14%) C#
5 34 (11.81%) TypeScript
6 14 (4.86%) Bash
7 8 (2.78%) Ruby
8 7 (2.43%) Groovy
9 6 (2.08%) Apex Code
9 6 (2.08%) Kotlin
9 6 (2.08%) R
9 6 (2.08%) Scala
10 4 (1.39%) Go
11 3 (1.04%) Bicep
11 3 (1.04%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.69%) Cypher
12 2 (0.69%) PromQL
12 2 (0.69%) SHACL
13 1 (0.35%) VBA
Qualifications
1 69 (23.96%) Security Cleared
2 54 (18.75%) SC Cleared
3 22 (7.64%) BPSS Clearance
4 21 (7.29%) Degree
5 17 (5.90%) Computer Science Degree
5 17 (5.90%) ISTQB
6 9 (3.13%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 8 (2.78%) DV Cleared
7 8 (2.78%) Microsoft Certification
8 6 (2.08%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 5 (1.74%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.69%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 2 (0.69%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.69%) ISEB
10 2 (0.69%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 86 (29.86%) QA
2 60 (20.83%) Accessibility
3 41 (14.24%) WCAG
4 13 (4.51%) GDPR
5 4 (1.39%) Data Quality
5 4 (1.39%) ISO 20022
6 2 (0.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 2 (0.69%) SEPA
6 2 (0.69%) SOC 2
7 1 (0.35%) ISO 15022
7 1 (0.35%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 84 (29.17%) Docker
2 3 (1.04%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 72 (25.00%) Kubernetes
2 18 (6.25%) Grafana
3 12 (4.17%) Prometheus
4 6 (2.08%) Ansible
5 4 (1.39%) Kibana
6 3 (1.04%) Istio
7 2 (0.69%) Argo
7 2 (0.69%) Consul
7 2 (0.69%) Zipkin
8 1 (0.35%) Control-M
8 1 (0.35%) Docker Swarm
8 1 (0.35%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 33 (11.46%) Microsoft
2 17 (5.90%) Databricks
3 14 (4.86%) Salesforce
4 11 (3.82%) Oracle
5 10 (3.47%) Google
6 7 (2.43%) Conga
6 7 (2.43%) GoCardless
6 7 (2.43%) IBM
7 6 (2.08%) OpenAI
7 6 (2.08%) Splunk
8 5 (1.74%) Atlassian
9 4 (1.39%) CA Agile Central
9 4 (1.39%) ION Trading
9 4 (1.39%) Jaspersoft
10 3 (1.04%) Checkmarx
10 3 (1.04%) Guidewire
10 3 (1.04%) OutSystems
11 2 (0.69%) Dynatrace
11 2 (0.69%) FactSet
11 2 (0.69%) Solace