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 2 February 2026.

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

 6 months to
2 Feb 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 112 112 99
Rank change year-on-year 0 -13 +22
Contract jobs requiring a Software Engineer 817 598 865
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.49% 2.28% 2.26%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.72% 2.45% 2.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 348 344 454
10th Percentile £384 £413 £416
25th Percentile £450 £500 £485
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £600
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £675 £713 £720
90th Percentile £750 £850 £788
UK median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - +1.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 266 60 252
10th Percentile £51.23 £47.50 £46.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £60.69 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year - +4.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £67.50 £68.00 £67.14
90th Percentile £70.00 £68.75 £80.90
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year - +4.00% -3.85%

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.

Contract vacancies in England with a recognized job title 30,066 24,417 35,598
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.62% 93.06% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,145 15,033 24,004
10th Percentile £300 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £644
90th Percentile £725 £750 £745
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,886 731 2,091
10th Percentile £14.96 £15.92 £13.25
25th Percentile £18.60 £21.25 £17.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £35.95
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -2.64% +2.71%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £61.69
90th Percentile £71.00 £75.00 £72.75
UK median hourly rate £29.61 £33.00 £35.95
% change year-on-year -10.27% -8.21% +2.71%

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 2 February 2026.

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 2 February 2026.

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 2 February 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 -34 268 £613 -2.00% 266
South West +5 160 £513 -12.02% 153
North of England +19 140 £525 +9.38% 168
East of England +26 121 £525 +3.45% 88
North West +4 64 £550 +22.22% 104
South East -16 64 £538 +2.38% 199
Yorkshire -9 62 £525 +1.20% 39
Midlands -36 30 £503 +4.25% 79
West Midlands -22 25 £528 +11.05% 31
North East -3 16 £550 - 26
East Midlands -21 5 £475 -4.04% 48
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 February 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.

1 807 (98.78%) Software Engineering
2 231 (28.27%) Agile
3 216 (26.44%) AWS
4 197 (24.11%) CI/CD
5 192 (23.50%) C++
6 190 (23.26%) Python
7 176 (21.54%) Security Cleared
8 168 (20.56%) Java
9 140 (17.14%) DevOps
10 137 (16.77%) Docker
11 135 (16.52%) SC Cleared
12 129 (15.79%) Kubernetes
13 127 (15.54%) Microservices
14 118 (14.44%) C#
15 116 (14.20%) Linux
16 110 (13.46%) JavaScript
17 105 (12.85%) SQL
18 103 (12.61%) TypeScript
19 101 (12.36%) React
20 95 (11.63%) Azure
20 95 (11.63%) Terraform
21 86 (10.53%) Containerisation
21 86 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
22 80 (9.79%) Degree
23 79 (9.67%) Serverless
24 78 (9.55%) AI
25 76 (9.30%) Test Automation
26 75 (9.18%) C
27 74 (9.06%) Git
28 73 (8.94%) Infrastructure as Code

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 29 (3.55%) Apache
2 14 (1.71%) Apache Spark
3 12 (1.47%) Apache Airflow
4 10 (1.22%) Confluence
5 4 (0.49%) SAS
6 3 (0.37%) IIS
6 3 (0.37%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.24%) Camunda
7 2 (0.24%) JBoss
8 1 (0.12%) Apache Synapse
8 1 (0.12%) CMS
8 1 (0.12%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.12%) WordPress
Applications
1 4 (0.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.12%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.12%) MS Visio
3 1 (0.12%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.24%) LabWindows
2 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
2 1 (0.12%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 216 (26.44%) AWS
2 95 (11.63%) Azure
3 79 (9.67%) Serverless
4 72 (8.81%) GCP
5 55 (6.73%) GitHub
6 38 (4.65%) AWS Lambda
7 29 (3.55%) Amazon S3
8 28 (3.43%) Amazon ECS
8 28 (3.43%) GitHub Actions
9 27 (3.30%) Azure DevOps
10 19 (2.33%) Amazon EC2
11 16 (1.96%) Amazon EKS
11 16 (1.96%) Amazon SQS
11 16 (1.96%) AWS CloudFormation
12 14 (1.71%) OpenShift
13 12 (1.47%) dbt
14 11 (1.35%) Azure Functions
14 11 (1.35%) Cloud Computing
14 11 (1.35%) Power Platform
15 10 (1.22%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 17 (2.08%) Ethernet
2 9 (1.10%) TCP/IP
3 5 (0.61%) Software-Defined Radio
4 4 (0.49%) Firewall
5 3 (0.37%) BGP
5 3 (0.37%) Network Security
5 3 (0.37%) NFC
5 3 (0.37%) PPP
5 3 (0.37%) Software-Defined Networking
5 3 (0.37%) VLAN
6 2 (0.24%) Bluetooth
6 2 (0.24%) HTTP
6 2 (0.24%) SSL
6 2 (0.24%) Wireless
7 1 (0.12%) 3GPP
7 1 (0.12%) LTE
7 1 (0.12%) Modbus
7 1 (0.12%) Multicast
7 1 (0.12%) Profibus
7 1 (0.12%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (5.26%) PostgreSQL
2 41 (5.02%) NoSQL
3 27 (3.30%) MongoDB
4 26 (3.18%) Apache Cassandra
5 25 (3.06%) Data Lake
6 24 (2.94%) Amazon RDS
7 23 (2.82%) Amazon Athena
7 23 (2.82%) SQL Server
8 18 (2.20%) MySQL
9 16 (1.96%) Relational Database
10 13 (1.59%) Metadata
11 12 (1.47%) Apache Arrow
11 12 (1.47%) Apache Iceberg
11 12 (1.47%) Dremio
11 12 (1.47%) DynamoDB
11 12 (1.47%) Mixpanel
12 11 (1.35%) Power BI
13 8 (0.98%) Amazon Aurora
13 8 (0.98%) Apache Ignite
13 8 (0.98%) BigQuery
Development Applications
1 74 (9.06%) Git
2 53 (6.49%) GitLab
3 42 (5.14%) Jenkins
4 39 (4.77%) JIRA
5 24 (2.94%) Rational DOORS
6 18 (2.20%) Gradle
6 18 (2.20%) Liquibase
7 17 (2.08%) Rational Rhapsody
8 14 (1.71%) Cypress.io
8 14 (1.71%) Eclipse
8 14 (1.71%) IntelliJ
8 14 (1.71%) Visual Studio
9 9 (1.10%) Selenium
10 8 (0.98%) Cucumber
10 8 (0.98%) Maven
10 8 (0.98%) Postman
10 8 (0.98%) PVCS
11 7 (0.86%) JUnit
11 7 (0.86%) Oracle APEX
11 7 (0.86%) SonarQube
General
1 109 (13.34%) Social Skills
2 107 (13.10%) Finance
3 45 (5.51%) Public Sector
4 41 (5.02%) Banking
5 36 (4.41%) Aerospace
6 35 (4.28%) Analytical Skills
7 33 (4.04%) Electronics
8 23 (2.82%) Law
9 22 (2.69%) Military
10 19 (2.33%) Front Office
11 18 (2.20%) Financial Institution
12 14 (1.71%) Investment Banking
12 14 (1.71%) Manufacturing
13 9 (1.10%) Influencing Skills
14 8 (0.98%) Pharmaceutical
14 8 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.73%) Automotive
15 6 (0.73%) Retail
16 5 (0.61%) Health Technology
16 5 (0.61%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 101 (12.36%) React
2 69 (8.45%) .NET
2 69 (8.45%) Kafka
2 69 (8.45%) Node.js
3 61 (7.47%) REST
4 51 (6.24%) RESTful
5 44 (5.39%) Spring
5 44 (5.39%) Spring Boot
6 37 (4.53%) AngularJS
7 34 (4.16%) Middleware
8 28 (3.43%) gRPC
9 26 (3.18%) Qt
10 20 (2.45%) CSS
11 19 (2.33%) JSON
12 17 (2.08%) Elastic Stack
12 17 (2.08%) FastAPI
12 17 (2.08%) HTML
12 17 (2.08%) Next.js
12 17 (2.08%) Web Services
12 17 (2.08%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 77 (9.42%) Cloud Native
2 52 (6.36%) Distributed Systems
3 37 (4.53%) Algorithms
4 23 (2.82%) Product Ownership
5 19 (2.33%) Public Cloud
6 18 (2.20%) Embedded Systems
6 18 (2.20%) Greenfield Project
7 17 (2.08%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 14 (1.71%) Data Protection Act
8 14 (1.71%) Equities
8 14 (1.71%) Fixed Income
8 14 (1.71%) Life Science
9 11 (1.35%) AI Agents
10 10 (1.22%) Legacy Systems
11 9 (1.10%) Data Structures
11 9 (1.10%) Derivative
12 8 (0.98%) CUDA
12 8 (0.98%) Mobile App
12 8 (0.98%) Pricing Data
12 8 (0.98%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 116 (14.20%) Linux
2 55 (6.73%) Windows
3 24 (2.94%) Unix
4 13 (1.59%) Android
5 12 (1.47%) Apple iOS
6 9 (1.10%) Windows Server
7 6 (0.73%) Ubuntu
8 5 (0.61%) FreeRTOS
8 5 (0.61%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.24%) Debian
9 2 (0.24%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.24%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.12%) Rocky
10 1 (0.12%) VMS
10 1 (0.12%) Windows Embedded Compact
Processes & Methodologies
1 807 (98.78%) Software Engineering
2 231 (28.27%) Agile
3 197 (24.11%) CI/CD
4 140 (17.14%) DevOps
5 127 (15.54%) Microservices
6 86 (10.53%) Containerisation
6 86 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
7 78 (9.55%) AI
8 76 (9.30%) Test Automation
9 73 (8.94%) Infrastructure as Code
10 72 (8.81%) Full-Stack Development
11 64 (7.83%) TDD
12 58 (7.10%) Mentoring
13 57 (6.98%) Clean Code
14 50 (6.12%) Machine Learning
15 49 (6.00%) Validation
16 47 (5.75%) Computer Science
17 45 (5.51%) Software Testing
18 44 (5.39%) Continuous Integration
18 44 (5.39%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 192 (23.50%) C++
2 190 (23.26%) Python
3 168 (20.56%) Java
4 118 (14.44%) C#
5 110 (13.46%) JavaScript
6 105 (12.85%) SQL
7 103 (12.61%) TypeScript
8 75 (9.18%) C
9 72 (8.81%) Ada
10 61 (7.47%) Go
11 23 (2.82%) Embedded C++
12 22 (2.69%) Embedded C
13 18 (2.20%) PowerShell
14 17 (2.08%) Kotlin
15 15 (1.84%) Rust
16 14 (1.71%) MATLAB
17 9 (1.10%) Bash
17 9 (1.10%) Shell Script
18 7 (0.86%) Bicep
18 7 (0.86%) R
Qualifications
1 176 (21.54%) Security Cleared
2 135 (16.52%) SC Cleared
3 80 (9.79%) Degree
4 37 (4.53%) Computer Science Degree
5 23 (2.82%) DV Cleared
6 18 (2.20%) Master's Degree
7 7 (0.86%) AWS Certification
8 6 (0.73%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (0.49%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (0.37%) AWS Certified Developer
10 3 (0.37%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 3 (0.37%) Postgraduate
11 1 (0.12%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.12%) CCNA
11 1 (0.12%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (4.77%) Def Stans
2 30 (3.67%) MISRA
3 29 (3.55%) IEC 61508
4 21 (2.57%) QA
5 20 (2.45%) MISRA C
6 13 (1.59%) Data Quality
7 10 (1.22%) DO-178B
8 8 (0.98%) GDPR
9 7 (0.86%) Accessibility
10 6 (0.73%) HL7
11 2 (0.24%) NCSC
11 2 (0.24%) Software Quality Assurance
12 1 (0.12%) AUTOSAR
12 1 (0.12%) DICOM
12 1 (0.12%) ISO 26262
12 1 (0.12%) WCAG
System Software
1 137 (16.77%) Docker
2 15 (1.84%) Firmware
3 14 (1.71%) Virtual Machines
4 8 (0.98%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.61%) Active Directory
6 4 (0.49%) Oracle RAC
7 1 (0.12%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 129 (15.79%) Kubernetes
2 95 (11.63%) Terraform
3 31 (3.79%) Grafana
4 24 (2.94%) Ansible
5 19 (2.33%) Prometheus
6 5 (0.61%) Argo
7 4 (0.49%) Data Guard
7 4 (0.49%) Kibana
7 4 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.24%) Functional Safety
8 2 (0.24%) Puppet
9 1 (0.12%) Bitnami
9 1 (0.12%) Podman
Vendors
1 37 (4.53%) Microsoft
2 27 (3.30%) Google
3 22 (2.69%) Databricks
3 22 (2.69%) Red Hat
4 17 (2.08%) Oracle
4 17 (2.08%) Splunk
5 15 (1.84%) IBM
6 8 (0.98%) ANSYS
6 8 (0.98%) VMware
7 7 (0.86%) Spotify
8 5 (0.61%) MathWorks
9 4 (0.49%) Atlassian
9 4 (0.49%) Brio
9 4 (0.49%) Siemens
10 3 (0.37%) OpenAI
10 3 (0.37%) Salesforce
11 2 (0.24%) Cisco
11 2 (0.24%) NVIDIA
11 2 (0.24%) Ping Identity
11 2 (0.24%) webMethods
915 Software Engineer jobs in England