Software Engineer Contract Job Trends in England
Software Engineer
UK > England
The median Software Engineer daily rate in England is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 122 | 130 | 77 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +8 | -53 | +39 |
| Contract jobs requiring a Software Engineer | 1,066 | 613 | 911 |
| As % of all contract jobs in England | 2.29% | 2.17% | 2.85% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 2.49% | 2.38% | 3.07% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 436 | 369 | 468 |
| 10th Percentile | £363 | £410 | £423 |
| 25th Percentile | £455 | £485 | £500 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £550 | £625 | £625 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -12.00% | - | +6.16% |
| 75th Percentile | £669 | £825 | £850 |
| 90th Percentile | £750 | £875 | £888 |
| UK median daily rate | £550 | £600 | £620 |
| % change year-on-year | -8.33% | -3.23% | +7.83% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 311 | 82 | 171 |
| 10th Percentile | £51.75 | £32.31 | £47.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £60.00 | £61.25 | £60.75 |
| Median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | -0.76% | +0.77% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £67.00 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £75.00 | £75.00 | £75.00 |
| UK median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.50 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -0.76% | +0.77% |
All Contract IT Job Roles
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.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies in England with a recognized job title | 42,761 | 25,748 | 29,713 |
| % of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title | 91.89% | 91.14% | 93.09% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 25,144 | 16,559 | 18,127 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £281 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £403 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £513 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.44% | -2.38% | -2.78% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £625 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £750 |
| UK median daily rate | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,817 | 1,470 | 1,228 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.45 | £13.84 | £15.10 |
| 25th Percentile | £20.00 | £17.30 | £21.25 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.71 | £25.15 | £43.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +65.84% | -41.51% | -6.89% |
| 75th Percentile | £68.00 | £50.94 | £68.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £70.00 | £75.00 |
| UK median hourly rate | £41.06 | £25.15 | £40.33 |
| % change year-on-year | +63.26% | -37.63% | -10.39% |
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 Daily Rate Trend 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 18 October 2026.
Software Engineer Hourly Rate Trend 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 18 October 2026.
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 18 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 | -65 | 337 | £625 | -10.71% | 1,316 |
| North of England | +5 | 199 | £523 | -0.38% | 363 |
| South West | +33 | 173 | £525 | +2.44% | 217 |
| South East | +40 | 141 | £530 | +11.58% | 332 |
| East of England | +9 | 141 | £505 | +1.00% | 278 |
| North West | +23 | 130 | £550 | - | 230 |
| Midlands | +6 | 68 | £470 | -10.48% | 170 |
| Yorkshire | -35 | 48 | £455 | -13.33% | 87 |
| West Midlands | -28 | 37 | £470 | -11.32% | 94 |
| East Midlands | +12 | 31 | £400 | -11.11% | 76 |
| North East | -25 | 21 | £470 | -18.26% | 46 |
| Software Engineer UK |
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Software Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England
For the 6 months to 18 October 2026, 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.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Engineering | 98.9% | 1,054 |
| 2 | CI/CD | 26.6% | 284 |
| 2 | Java | 26.6% | 284 |
| 4 | Agile | 26.1% | 278 |
| 5 | Python | 22.2% | 237 |
| 6 | Security Cleared | 21.1% | 225 |
| 7 | SC Cleared | 18.1% | 193 |
| 8 | AWS | 18.0% | 192 |
| 9 | C++ | 16.2% | 173 |
| 10 | DevOps | 12.7% | 135 |
| 11 | AI | 12.6% | 134 |
| 12 | Test Automation | 11.7% | 125 |
| 13 | C# | 11.5% | 123 |
| 14 | Microservices | 11.4% | 121 |
| 15 | TypeScript | 10.8% | 115 |
| 16 | SQL | 10.6% | 113 |
| 17 | React | 10.1% | 108 |
| 18 | Docker | 10.0% | 107 |
| 18 | Kubernetes | 10.0% | 107 |
| 20 | Full-Stack Development | 9.8% | 105 |
| 21 | Azure | 9.8% | 104 |
| 22 | Continuous Improvement | 8.7% | 93 |
| 23 | Spring | 8.6% | 92 |
| 24 | Spring Boot | 8.4% | 90 |
| 25 | .NET | 8.3% | 89 |
| 26 | JavaScript | 8.3% | 88 |
| 27 | REST | 8.2% | 87 |
| 28 | Linux | 8.1% | 86 |
| 28 | Problem-Solving | 8.1% | 86 |
| 30 | TDD | 7.3% | 78 |
Software Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Senior Software Engineer | 17.9% | 191 |
| 2 | Embedded Software Engineer | 11.8% | 126 |
| 3 | Java Software Engineer | 11.6% | 124 |
| 4 | C++ Software Engineer | 10.1% | 108 |
| 5 | Lead Software Engineer | 7.2% | 77 |
| 6 | Python Software Engineer | 6.5% | 69 |
| 7 | Principal Software Engineer | 3.9% | 42 |
| 8 | Developer/Software Engineer | 3.8% | 40 |
| 9 | Ada Software Engineer | 3.7% | 39 |
| 10 | C# Software Engineer | 3.6% | 38 |
| 11 | AWS Software Engineer | 3.3% | 35 |
| 11 | Software Developer | 3.3% | 35 |
| 13 | SC Cleared Software Engineer | 3.1% | 33 |
| 13 | Senior Java Software Engineer | 3.1% | 33 |
| 15 | C Software Engineer | 2.9% | 31 |
| 16 | .NET Software Engineer | 2.8% | 30 |
| 17 | Full-Stack Software Engineer | 2.6% | 28 |
| 18 | Software Development Engineer | 2.4% | 26 |
| 19 | Cloud Software Engineer | 2.1% | 22 |
| 20 | Artificial Intelligence Engineer | 1.9% | 20 |