SDLC Contracts in England

Systems or Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in England requiring SDLC skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited SDLC over the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 133 96 74
Rank change year-on-year -37 -22 +4
Contract jobs citing SDLC 524 835 1,609
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 2.15% 2.25% 3.19%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.36% 2.59% 3.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 362 594 1,080
10th Percentile £363 £390 £413
25th Percentile £436 £463 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £600
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - +4.35%
75th Percentile £734 £725 £738
90th Percentile £875 £846 £825
UK median daily rate £540 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -6.09% -4.17% +5.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 19 49
10th Percentile £29.65 £35.50 £44.92
25th Percentile £45.20 £47.13 £50.00
Median hourly rate £61.25 £48.00 £58.50
Median % change year-on-year +27.60% -17.95% +6.58%
75th Percentile £74.56 £53.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.10 £57.50 £66.50
UK median hourly rate £61.25 £48.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +27.60% -20.00% +9.09%

All Process and Methodology Skills
England

SDLC 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 22,202 32,193 45,529
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 91.16% 86.56% 90.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,534 21,105 31,969
10th Percentile £310 £300 £325
25th Percentile £413 £413 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +2.33%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £675
90th Percentile £750 £750 £765
UK median daily rate £520 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -0.95% -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 921 2,246 1,592
10th Percentile £14.42 £12.92 £10.87
25th Percentile £18.20 £16.01 £16.25
Median hourly rate £29.07 £36.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -19.25% -4.00% +53.06%
75th Percentile £63.75 £60.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £29.00 £35.65 £37.30
% change year-on-year -18.65% -4.42% +49.20%

SDLC
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings citing SDLC as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for SDLC in England

SDLC
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing SDLC in England.

Daily rate trend for SDLC in England

SDLC
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SDLC in England over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for SDLC in England

SDLC
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing SDLC in England.

Hourly rate trend for SDLC in England

SDLC
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SDLC in England over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for SDLC in England

SDLC
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 SDLC within the England region over the 6 months to 1 May 2025. 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 -41 318 £625 +2.88% 616
North of England +11 86 £471 -0.95% 206
North West +13 60 £466 +3.56% 131
South East +19 50 £538 -9.66% 244
Midlands +25 32 £537 -6.61% 105
Yorkshire +3 22 £520 +4.00% 47
West Midlands +9 20 £580 -14.15% 68
South West +23 17 £625 - 101
East of England +21 11 £600 +9.09% 70
East Midlands +17 11 £515 +15.73% 30
North East 0 4 £363 - 32
SDLC
UK

SDLC
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 27 (5.15%) Confluence
2 13 (2.48%) Apache
3 10 (1.91%) Apache Spark
4 7 (1.34%) Tomcat
5 6 (1.15%) BizTalk Server
5 6 (1.15%) JBoss
5 6 (1.15%) nginx
5 6 (1.15%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 6 (1.15%) SharePoint
5 6 (1.15%) WebSphere
6 5 (0.95%) NetWeaver
6 5 (0.95%) WebLogic
7 4 (0.76%) Appian
7 4 (0.76%) CICS
7 4 (0.76%) CMS
7 4 (0.76%) OpenStack
8 3 (0.57%) FactoryTalk
9 1 (0.19%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.19%) Camunda
9 1 (0.19%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 16 (3.05%) Microsoft Excel
2 12 (2.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (1.53%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (0.76%) MS Visio
4 4 (0.76%) Spreadsheet
5 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.19%) Trello
Business Applications
1 7 (1.34%) Dynamics CRM
1 7 (1.34%) Endur
2 4 (0.76%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.38%) BASE24
3 2 (0.38%) FLEXCUBE
3 2 (0.38%) Misys Midas
3 2 (0.38%) Oracle General Ledger
3 2 (0.38%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.38%) SAP CRM
3 2 (0.38%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
4 1 (0.19%) Actimize
4 1 (0.19%) Adobe Campaign
4 1 (0.19%) IntelliMatch
4 1 (0.19%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.19%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.19%) Oracle Receivables
4 1 (0.19%) SAP APO
4 1 (0.19%) SAP GTS
4 1 (0.19%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 124 (23.66%) Azure
2 104 (19.85%) AWS
3 37 (7.06%) Azure DevOps
3 37 (7.06%) GCP
4 30 (5.73%) Serverless
5 27 (5.15%) GitHub
6 19 (3.63%) AWS Lambda
7 18 (3.44%) Power Platform
8 13 (2.48%) Azure Functions
8 13 (2.48%) SaaS
9 12 (2.29%) Azure Cosmos DB
9 12 (2.29%) GitHub Actions
10 11 (2.10%) Cloud Computing
11 10 (1.91%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 10 (1.91%) Amazon S3
12 9 (1.72%) AWS CloudFormation
13 8 (1.53%) Amazon EKS
13 8 (1.53%) Azure Data Factory
13 8 (1.53%) Azure Monitor
13 8 (1.53%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 15 (2.86%) HTTP
2 10 (1.91%) Firewall
3 6 (1.15%) Network Security
3 6 (1.15%) SSL
4 5 (0.95%) VPN
5 3 (0.57%) DHCP
5 3 (0.57%) DNS
5 3 (0.57%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.38%) ATM
6 2 (0.38%) FTP
6 2 (0.38%) Intrusion Detection
7 1 (0.19%) 2G
7 1 (0.19%) Ethernet
7 1 (0.19%) GSM
7 1 (0.19%) HTTPS
7 1 (0.19%) Packet Switching
7 1 (0.19%) PuTTY
7 1 (0.19%) SSH
7 1 (0.19%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.19%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (6.49%) MongoDB
2 32 (6.11%) Relational Database
3 28 (5.34%) SQL Server
4 25 (4.77%) DB2
5 19 (3.63%) NoSQL
6 16 (3.05%) Power BI
7 15 (2.86%) PostgreSQL
8 14 (2.67%) MySQL
9 13 (2.48%) DynamoDB
10 12 (2.29%) Big Data
11 8 (1.53%) Amazon RDS
11 8 (1.53%) Tableau
12 7 (1.34%) Data Warehouse
12 7 (1.34%) RDBMS
12 7 (1.34%) Redis
13 6 (1.15%) Azure SQL Database
13 6 (1.15%) Hadoop
13 6 (1.15%) SQL Server Reporting Services
14 5 (0.95%) KDB
14 5 (0.95%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 76 (14.50%) Jenkins
2 73 (13.93%) JIRA
3 70 (13.36%) Git
4 29 (5.53%) JUnit
5 22 (4.20%) GitLab
6 20 (3.82%) Selenium
7 14 (2.67%) Bitbucket
8 13 (2.48%) Subversion
9 9 (1.72%) Mockito
9 9 (1.72%) Postman
10 7 (1.34%) JMeter
10 7 (1.34%) Maven
11 5 (0.95%) Cucumber
11 5 (0.95%) Cypress.io
11 5 (0.95%) REST Assured
11 5 (0.95%) SoapUI
12 4 (0.76%) SonarQube
12 4 (0.76%) Visual Studio
13 3 (0.57%) ChangeMan
13 3 (0.57%) Eclipse
General
1 190 (36.26%) Social Skills
2 178 (33.97%) Finance
3 142 (27.10%) Analytical Skills
4 129 (24.62%) Banking
5 57 (10.88%) Investment Banking
6 25 (4.77%) Public Sector
7 22 (4.20%) Organisational Skills
7 22 (4.20%) Presentation Skills
8 18 (3.44%) Front Office
9 9 (1.72%) Legal
10 8 (1.53%) Manufacturing
11 7 (1.34%) Back Office
11 7 (1.34%) Billing
12 6 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 6 (1.15%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (0.95%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.95%) Marketing
14 4 (0.76%) Documentation Skills
14 4 (0.76%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.57%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 161 (30.73%) Developer
2 63 (12.02%) Analyst
3 60 (11.45%) Senior
4 52 (9.92%) Architect
5 43 (8.21%) Java Developer
6 33 (6.30%) Python Developer
7 30 (5.73%) Lead
8 27 (5.15%) Business Analyst
8 27 (5.15%) Solutions Architect
9 23 (4.39%) Artificial Intelligence Developer
9 23 (4.39%) Project Manager
10 22 (4.20%) Gen AI Developer
10 22 (4.20%) Senior Developer
11 17 (3.24%) Consultant
12 16 (3.05%) Full-Stack Developer
12 16 (3.05%) Senior Java Developer
12 16 (3.05%) Software Engineer
13 15 (2.86%) Tester
14 14 (2.67%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
15 13 (2.48%) SQL Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 63 (12.02%) .NET
2 58 (11.07%) React
3 54 (10.31%) REST
4 44 (8.40%) Spring
5 41 (7.82%) Web Services
6 36 (6.87%) HTML
6 36 (6.87%) Kafka
7 34 (6.49%) AngularJS
7 34 (6.49%) RESTful
8 31 (5.92%) SOAP
9 29 (5.53%) CSS
10 28 (5.34%) Django
10 28 (5.34%) FastAPI
11 24 (4.58%) JMS
11 24 (4.58%) Spring Boot
12 17 (3.24%) Node.js
13 16 (3.05%) XML
14 15 (2.86%) Middleware
15 14 (2.67%) HTML5
16 12 (2.29%) .NET Core
Miscellaneous
1 46 (8.78%) Product Ownership
2 27 (5.15%) Algorithms
3 25 (4.77%) Distributed Systems
3 25 (4.77%) Public Cloud
4 21 (4.01%) Cloud Native
4 21 (4.01%) Equities
5 17 (3.24%) Data Structures
5 17 (3.24%) Onboarding
6 15 (2.86%) Data Protection Act
7 13 (2.48%) Virtual Team
8 12 (2.29%) Management Information System
8 12 (2.29%) Private Cloud
8 12 (2.29%) Self-Motivation
9 10 (1.91%) Legacy Applications
9 10 (1.91%) Mainframe
10 8 (1.53%) Enterprise Software
10 8 (1.53%) Greenfield Project
11 7 (1.34%) IoT
11 7 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
12 6 (1.15%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 55 (10.50%) Linux
2 33 (6.30%) Unix
3 23 (4.39%) Windows
4 4 (0.76%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.76%) zOS
5 3 (0.57%) Android
6 2 (0.38%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 333 (63.55%) Agile
2 170 (32.44%) CI/CD
3 144 (27.48%) Problem-Solving
4 140 (26.72%) DevOps
5 84 (16.03%) Scrum
6 77 (14.69%) Continuous Improvement
7 72 (13.74%) Artificial Intelligence
8 62 (11.83%) Microservices
8 62 (11.83%) Test Automation
9 53 (10.11%) LLM
9 53 (10.11%) Machine Learning
9 53 (10.11%) Software Engineering
10 51 (9.73%) Generative AI
10 51 (9.73%) Project Management
10 51 (9.73%) Stakeholder Management
11 40 (7.63%) Change Management
12 39 (7.44%) Analytics
13 37 (7.06%) Use Case
14 36 (6.87%) Decision-Making
15 35 (6.68%) Full-Stack Development
Programming Languages
1 159 (30.34%) Python
2 140 (26.72%) SQL
3 139 (26.53%) Java
4 76 (14.50%) JavaScript
5 64 (12.21%) C#
6 46 (8.78%) TypeScript
7 35 (6.68%) Shell Script
8 24 (4.58%) Scala
9 18 (3.44%) PL/SQL
10 15 (2.86%) Go
11 14 (2.67%) C++
12 11 (2.10%) Bash
12 11 (2.10%) PowerShell
13 10 (1.91%) Groovy
14 9 (1.72%) Rust
15 7 (1.34%) C
15 7 (1.34%) Clojure
15 7 (1.34%) Perl
16 6 (1.15%) ABAP
16 6 (1.15%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 56 (10.69%) Degree
2 41 (7.82%) Security Cleared
3 31 (5.92%) SC Cleared
4 19 (3.63%) Computer Science Degree
5 14 (2.67%) Master's Degree
6 10 (1.91%) CISSP
6 10 (1.91%) ISTQB
7 5 (0.95%) Oracle Certification
7 5 (0.95%) PMI Certification
7 5 (0.95%) PMP
8 4 (0.76%) Azure Certification
8 4 (0.76%) CEH
8 4 (0.76%) DV Cleared
8 4 (0.76%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 3 (0.57%) AWS Certification
9 3 (0.57%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.57%) CBAP
9 3 (0.57%) CISM
10 2 (0.38%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.38%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (10.88%) QA
2 12 (2.29%) Data Quality
3 11 (2.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (2.10%) NIST
4 9 (1.72%) PMO
5 8 (1.53%) PCI DSS
6 6 (1.15%) Accessibility
6 6 (1.15%) GDPR
7 5 (0.95%) GRC
8 4 (0.76%) Basel II
9 3 (0.57%) ISO 20022
9 3 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 3 (0.57%) Software Quality Assurance
10 2 (0.38%) ISO 8583
10 2 (0.38%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 2 (0.38%) SEPA
11 1 (0.19%) Basel III
11 1 (0.19%) HIPAA
11 1 (0.19%) SLA
11 1 (0.19%) TARGET2
System Software
1 80 (15.27%) Docker
2 10 (1.91%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.15%) Firmware
4 3 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.19%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 88 (16.79%) Kubernetes
2 38 (7.25%) Ansible
3 28 (5.34%) Terraform
4 5 (0.95%) Prometheus
5 4 (0.76%) CASB
5 4 (0.76%) Grafana
5 4 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.38%) Kibana
6 2 (0.38%) PTC Integrity
7 1 (0.19%) CA Endevor
7 1 (0.19%) CloudHub
7 1 (0.19%) HP ALM
7 1 (0.19%) HP Fortify
7 1 (0.19%) Nessus
7 1 (0.19%) OPNET
7 1 (0.19%) Opsgenie
7 1 (0.19%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.19%) Puppet
Vendors
1 64 (12.21%) Oracle
2 60 (11.45%) Microsoft
3 22 (4.20%) SAP
4 20 (3.82%) ServiceNow
4 20 (3.82%) Sybase
5 13 (2.48%) Databricks
6 10 (1.91%) Google
6 10 (1.91%) Splunk
7 9 (1.72%) Dynatrace
8 7 (1.34%) MuleSoft
8 7 (1.34%) OpenAI
8 7 (1.34%) OpenLink
9 6 (1.15%) IBM
10 5 (0.95%) OpenText
10 5 (0.95%) Qualtrics
10 5 (0.95%) Salesforce
10 5 (0.95%) Siebel
10 5 (0.95%) Zend
11 4 (0.76%) Atlassian
11 4 (0.76%) Cisco