Software Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

Software Engineer
UK > England

The median Software Engineer daily rate in England is £600, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 November 2025.

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

6 months to
20 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 123 86 126
Rank change year-on-year -37 +40 -14
Contract jobs requiring a Software Engineer 703 827 796
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.31% 2.66% 2.04%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.53% 2.86% 2.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 381 434 502
10th Percentile £400 £400 £413
25th Percentile £469 £483 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £625 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% +8.70% -4.17%
75th Percentile £800 £850 £700
90th Percentile £850 £888 £788
UK median daily rate £593 £600 £563
% change year-on-year -1.17% +6.67% -4.66%
Number of hourly rates quoted 136 129 171
10th Percentile £45.25 £42.25 £49.88
25th Percentile £61.25 £57.50 £54.44
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.76% +0.77% -
75th Percentile £67.00 £70.00 £69.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £90.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. 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 England with a recognized job title 27,794 28,871 36,520
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.21% 92.97% 93.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,815 17,661 25,211
10th Percentile £281 £300 £290
25th Percentile £404 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £508 £525 £534
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% -1.69% -2.91%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,691 1,070 1,414
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.22 £15.37
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.25 £19.99
Median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -37.13% -12.82% +49.84%
75th Percentile £56.47 £66.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.63 £45.00
% change year-on-year -29.40% -20.83% +55.17%

Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in England

Software Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in England

Software Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineer in England over the 6 months to 20 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Software Engineer in England

Software Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in England

Software Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Engineer in England over the 6 months to 20 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Engineer in England

Software Engineer
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 Software Engineer within the England region over the 6 months to 20 November 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 -30 330 £625 -7.41% 832
North of England -7 120 £550 +10.00% 205
East of England +3 100 £500 - 182
South West -37 70 £481 -12.50% 205
Yorkshire +8 61 £525 +2.44% 58
North West -25 50 £550 +18.92% 129
South East -50 36 £475 -5.00% 247
Midlands -38 26 £500 +5.26% 83
West Midlands -21 21 £525 +5.00% 47
North East -6 11 £575 - 18
East Midlands -39 5 £475 - 36
Software Engineer
UK

Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 20 November 2025, Software 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 England region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 694 (98.72%) Software Engineering
2 308 (43.81%) Agile
3 255 (36.27%) AWS
4 249 (35.42%) Python
5 214 (30.44%) Java
6 197 (28.02%) CI/CD
7 194 (27.60%) JavaScript
8 178 (25.32%) C++
9 159 (22.62%) TypeScript
10 143 (20.34%) DevOps
11 141 (20.06%) React
12 129 (18.35%) Docker
12 129 (18.35%) Microservices
13 126 (17.92%) Linux
14 124 (17.64%) C#
14 124 (17.64%) Node.js
15 112 (15.93%) Security Cleared
16 106 (15.08%) Kubernetes
17 103 (14.65%) SQL
18 95 (13.51%) SC Cleared
19 93 (13.23%) Azure
20 92 (13.09%) GCP
21 88 (12.52%) Terraform
22 86 (12.23%) Serverless
23 85 (12.09%) Problem-Solving
24 84 (11.95%) Containerisation
24 84 (11.95%) TDD
25 83 (11.81%) Full-Stack Development
26 81 (11.52%) Infrastructure as Code
27 78 (11.10%) Investment Management

Software Engineer Skill Set
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 53 (7.54%) Apache Airflow
2 46 (6.54%) Apache
3 11 (1.56%) Confluence
4 8 (1.14%) JBoss
5 7 (1.00%) Apache Spark
6 5 (0.71%) WebLogic
7 4 (0.57%) SAS
8 2 (0.28%) nginx
8 2 (0.28%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.14%) CICS
9 1 (0.14%) CMS
9 1 (0.14%) Mule
9 1 (0.14%) Mule ESB
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle Workflow
9 1 (0.14%) Tuxedo
9 1 (0.14%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (0.85%) Simulink
2 2 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.14%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.14%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 8 (1.14%) Temenos T24
2 5 (0.71%) FLEXCUBE
2 5 (0.71%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.14%) Aladdin
Cloud Services
1 255 (36.27%) AWS
2 93 (13.23%) Azure
3 92 (13.09%) GCP
4 86 (12.23%) Serverless
5 53 (7.54%) dbt
5 53 (7.54%) GitHub
6 41 (5.83%) AWS Lambda
7 36 (5.12%) Snowflake
8 30 (4.27%) GitHub Actions
9 26 (3.70%) Amazon ECS
10 25 (3.56%) Amazon S3
11 23 (3.27%) Azure DevOps
12 15 (2.13%) Amazon SQS
13 13 (1.85%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 13 (1.85%) Amazon EC2
13 13 (1.85%) Amazon EKS
14 12 (1.71%) AWS CloudFormation
14 12 (1.71%) AWS Step Functions
15 10 (1.42%) Amazon Cognito
16 9 (1.28%) Azure Cosmos DB
Communications & Networking
1 28 (3.98%) Ethernet
2 21 (2.99%) TCP/IP
3 8 (1.14%) NFC
3 8 (1.14%) PPP
4 3 (0.43%) BGP
4 3 (0.43%) Firewall
4 3 (0.43%) Network Security
4 3 (0.43%) Software-Defined Networking
4 3 (0.43%) VLAN
5 2 (0.28%) SSL
5 2 (0.28%) X.509
6 1 (0.14%) 3GPP
6 1 (0.14%) Bluetooth
6 1 (0.14%) FTP
6 1 (0.14%) HTTP
6 1 (0.14%) Internet
6 1 (0.14%) Multicast
6 1 (0.14%) VPN
6 1 (0.14%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.14%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 56 (7.97%) Amazon Athena
1 56 (7.97%) PostgreSQL
2 53 (7.54%) Apache Arrow
2 53 (7.54%) Apache Iceberg
2 53 (7.54%) Dremio
3 44 (6.26%) NoSQL
4 41 (5.83%) Data Lake
5 34 (4.84%) Apache Ignite
6 28 (3.98%) MongoDB
7 16 (2.28%) DynamoDB
7 16 (2.28%) SQL Server
8 14 (1.99%) Amazon RDS
8 14 (1.99%) Apache Cassandra
8 14 (1.99%) Big Data
8 14 (1.99%) MySQL
9 9 (1.28%) Elasticsearch
9 9 (1.28%) GIS
9 9 (1.28%) Relational Database
10 7 (1.00%) DocumentDB
10 7 (1.00%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 75 (10.67%) Git
2 54 (7.68%) Jenkins
3 44 (6.26%) GitLab
4 37 (5.26%) JIRA
5 31 (4.41%) Eclipse
6 28 (3.98%) Visual Studio
7 21 (2.99%) Liquibase
8 16 (2.28%) Rational DOORS
9 11 (1.56%) Cypress.io
10 9 (1.28%) Artifactory
10 9 (1.28%) SonarQube
11 8 (1.14%) Gradle
11 8 (1.14%) JUnit
11 8 (1.14%) Valgrind
12 7 (1.00%) Rational Rhapsody
13 6 (0.85%) Selenium
14 5 (0.71%) Maven
15 4 (0.57%) Postman
16 3 (0.43%) LabVIEW
16 3 (0.43%) Locust
General
1 189 (26.88%) Finance
2 140 (19.91%) Social Skills
3 96 (13.66%) Banking
4 95 (13.51%) Front Office
5 50 (7.11%) Investment Banking
6 40 (5.69%) Public Sector
7 38 (5.41%) Military
8 35 (4.98%) Analytical Skills
9 20 (2.84%) Aerospace
9 20 (2.84%) Presentation Skills
10 17 (2.42%) Financial Institution
10 17 (2.42%) Law
11 15 (2.13%) Electronics
12 9 (1.28%) Manufacturing
12 9 (1.28%) Pharmaceutical
13 7 (1.00%) Games
14 6 (0.85%) Automotive
15 5 (0.71%) Back Office
15 5 (0.71%) Organisational Skills
15 5 (0.71%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 141 (20.06%) React
2 124 (17.64%) Node.js
3 74 (10.53%) Kafka
4 65 (9.25%) .NET
5 60 (8.53%) AngularJS
6 57 (8.11%) REST
7 55 (7.82%) NumPy
7 55 (7.82%) SciPy
8 53 (7.54%) Pandas
9 49 (6.97%) RESTful
10 44 (6.26%) gRPC
11 37 (5.26%) Spring
12 36 (5.12%) Web Services
13 34 (4.84%) Protocol Buffers
14 33 (4.69%) Vue
15 30 (4.27%) Spring Boot
16 29 (4.13%) Redux
17 28 (3.98%) JSON
18 24 (3.41%) HTML
18 24 (3.41%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 82 (11.66%) Fixed Income
2 72 (10.24%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
3 64 (9.10%) Cloud Native
4 63 (8.96%) Equities
5 50 (7.11%) Distributed Systems
6 39 (5.55%) Hedge funds
7 36 (5.12%) Derivative
8 34 (4.84%) Pricing Data
9 22 (3.13%) Public Cloud
10 21 (2.99%) Algorithms
11 16 (2.28%) Data Structures
12 14 (1.99%) Embedded Systems
13 13 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
13 13 (1.85%) Greenfield Project
14 11 (1.56%) CUDA
14 11 (1.56%) PCIe
14 11 (1.56%) Self-Motivation
15 9 (1.28%) Product Ownership
15 9 (1.28%) Virtual Reality
16 8 (1.14%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 126 (17.92%) Linux
2 60 (8.53%) Windows
3 20 (2.84%) Unix
4 18 (2.56%) Android
5 11 (1.56%) Apple iOS
6 9 (1.28%) Ubuntu
7 5 (0.71%) FreeRTOS
7 5 (0.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 4 (0.57%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.43%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.14%) Debian
10 1 (0.14%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.14%) Windows Embedded Compact
10 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.14%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 694 (98.72%) Software Engineering
2 308 (43.81%) Agile
3 197 (28.02%) CI/CD
4 143 (20.34%) DevOps
5 129 (18.35%) Microservices
6 85 (12.09%) Problem-Solving
7 84 (11.95%) Containerisation
7 84 (11.95%) TDD
8 83 (11.81%) Full-Stack Development
9 81 (11.52%) Infrastructure as Code
10 78 (11.10%) Investment Management
11 77 (10.95%) Test Automation
12 68 (9.67%) Asset Management
13 66 (9.39%) Mentoring
14 65 (9.25%) Unit Testing
15 59 (8.39%) Computer Science
16 57 (8.11%) Continuous Integration
17 56 (7.97%) Clean Code
18 54 (7.68%) AI
19 50 (7.11%) Continuous Delivery
Programming Languages
1 249 (35.42%) Python
2 214 (30.44%) Java
3 194 (27.60%) JavaScript
4 178 (25.32%) C++
5 159 (22.62%) TypeScript
6 124 (17.64%) C#
7 103 (14.65%) SQL
8 54 (7.68%) Go
9 48 (6.83%) C
10 24 (3.41%) Ada
11 12 (1.71%) Embedded C++
12 11 (1.56%) Bicep
12 11 (1.56%) MATLAB
12 11 (1.56%) PHP
12 11 (1.56%) PowerShell
13 9 (1.28%) Bash
13 9 (1.28%) Embedded C
13 9 (1.28%) PL/SQL
13 9 (1.28%) Shell Script
14 7 (1.00%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 112 (15.93%) Security Cleared
2 95 (13.51%) SC Cleared
3 76 (10.81%) Degree
4 38 (5.41%) Computer Science Degree
5 20 (2.84%) Master's Degree
6 13 (1.85%) DV Cleared
7 9 (1.28%) AWS Certification
8 8 (1.14%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (0.57%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 4 (0.57%) MCP
9 4 (0.57%) Postgraduate
10 3 (0.43%) AWS Certified Developer
10 3 (0.43%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 1 (0.14%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (3.41%) QA
2 14 (1.99%) Def Stans
2 14 (1.99%) MISRA
3 8 (1.14%) IEC 61508
3 8 (1.14%) MISRA C
4 6 (0.85%) DO-178B
5 5 (0.71%) Software Quality Assurance
6 4 (0.57%) Accessibility
6 4 (0.57%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.43%) WCAG
8 2 (0.28%) GDPR
8 2 (0.28%) HL7
8 2 (0.28%) PMO
9 1 (0.14%) AUTOSAR
9 1 (0.14%) ISO 26262
9 1 (0.14%) SEPA
System Software
1 129 (18.35%) Docker
2 8 (1.14%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (1.00%) Firmware
4 5 (0.71%) Active Directory
5 2 (0.28%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.14%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 106 (15.08%) Kubernetes
2 88 (12.52%) Terraform
3 28 (3.98%) Ansible
4 24 (3.41%) Prometheus
5 19 (2.70%) Grafana
6 6 (0.85%) Kibana
7 4 (0.57%) Argo
7 4 (0.57%) Podman
8 3 (0.43%) SELinux
8 3 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.28%) Puppet
10 1 (0.14%) Bitnami
10 1 (0.14%) CA Endevor
10 1 (0.14%) Functional Safety
10 1 (0.14%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 49 (6.97%) Microsoft
2 30 (4.27%) Oracle
3 25 (3.56%) Google
4 19 (2.70%) Splunk
5 10 (1.42%) Temenos
6 8 (1.14%) Red Hat
7 6 (0.85%) Databricks
8 5 (0.71%) IBM
8 5 (0.71%) Salesforce
8 5 (0.71%) SAP
8 5 (0.71%) Workday
9 4 (0.57%) Atlassian
9 4 (0.57%) OpenAI
10 3 (0.43%) Brio
10 3 (0.43%) Cisco
10 3 (0.43%) Foundry
10 3 (0.43%) NVIDIA
10 3 (0.43%) VMware
10 3 (0.43%) webMethods
11 2 (0.28%) ANSYS