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 23 November 2025.

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

6 months to
23 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 125 87 124
Rank change year-on-year -38 +37 -10
Contract jobs requiring a Software Engineer 705 828 813
As % of all contract jobs in England 2.32% 2.63% 2.06%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.54% 2.84% 2.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 375 436 515
10th Percentile £393 £400 £424
25th Percentile £463 £495 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £618 £575
Median % change year-on-year -2.83% +7.39% -4.17%
75th Percentile £775 £850 £700
90th Percentile £850 £888 £787
UK median daily rate £585 £600 £575
% change year-on-year -2.50% +4.35% -2.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 143 130 171
10th Percentile £46.05 £44.29 £49.88
25th Percentile £61.25 £57.91 £54.75
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £67.25 £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 27,745 29,203 36,890
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.26% 92.93% 93.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,747 17,857 25,486
10th Percentile £281 £300 £290
25th Percentile £403 £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 1,697 1,114 1,429
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.22 £15.32
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.12 £19.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £45.21
Median % change year-on-year -37.13% -11.52% +41.28%
75th Percentile £57.50 £65.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £72.00 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +48.33%

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 23 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 23 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 23 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 -15 324 £625 -7.41% 175
North of England +1 121 £550 +11.39% 81
East of England +9 105 £500 - 122
South West -41 70 £450 -17.24% 153
Yorkshire +16 63 £525 +2.44% 30
North West -23 49 £550 +15.79% 42
South East -49 38 £475 -5.00% 203
Midlands -44 26 £500 +5.26% 65
West Midlands -10 21 £525 +5.00% 37
North East -2 11 £575 - 9
East Midlands -31 5 £475 - 28
Software Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 23 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.

1 697 (98.87%) Software Engineering
2 304 (43.12%) Agile
3 251 (35.60%) AWS
4 245 (34.75%) Python
5 208 (29.50%) Java
6 194 (27.52%) CI/CD
7 190 (26.95%) JavaScript
8 181 (25.67%) C++
9 153 (21.70%) TypeScript
10 141 (20.00%) DevOps
11 137 (19.43%) React
12 131 (18.58%) Docker
13 130 (18.44%) Linux
14 128 (18.16%) C#
15 126 (17.87%) Microservices
16 123 (17.45%) Node.js
17 116 (16.45%) Security Cleared
18 105 (14.89%) Kubernetes
19 103 (14.61%) SQL
20 99 (14.04%) SC Cleared
21 92 (13.05%) Azure
22 90 (12.77%) GCP
23 88 (12.48%) Terraform
24 87 (12.34%) Serverless
25 84 (11.91%) Problem-Solving
26 83 (11.77%) Containerisation
26 83 (11.77%) TDD
27 80 (11.35%) Infrastructure as Code
28 76 (10.78%) Full-Stack Development
28 76 (10.78%) Git

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 51 (7.23%) Apache Airflow
2 46 (6.52%) Apache
3 11 (1.56%) Confluence
4 8 (1.13%) JBoss
5 7 (0.99%) Apache Spark
6 5 (0.71%) WebLogic
7 4 (0.57%) SAS
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%) nginx
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 (1.13%) Temenos T24
2 3 (0.43%) FLEXCUBE
2 3 (0.43%) Oracle BPM
3 1 (0.14%) Aladdin
Cloud Services
1 251 (35.60%) AWS
2 92 (13.05%) Azure
3 90 (12.77%) GCP
4 87 (12.34%) Serverless
5 53 (7.52%) GitHub
6 51 (7.23%) dbt
7 41 (5.82%) AWS Lambda
8 34 (4.82%) Snowflake
9 30 (4.26%) GitHub Actions
10 26 (3.69%) Amazon ECS
11 24 (3.40%) Amazon S3
12 23 (3.26%) Azure DevOps
13 14 (1.99%) Amazon SQS
14 13 (1.84%) Amazon EC2
14 13 (1.84%) Amazon EKS
15 12 (1.70%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 11 (1.56%) AWS CloudFormation
16 11 (1.56%) AWS Step Functions
17 9 (1.28%) Amazon Cognito
17 9 (1.28%) Cloud Run
Communications & Networking
1 28 (3.97%) Ethernet
2 21 (2.98%) TCP/IP
3 8 (1.13%) NFC
3 8 (1.13%) 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%) LTE
6 1 (0.14%) VPN
6 1 (0.14%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.14%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 57 (8.09%) PostgreSQL
2 54 (7.66%) Amazon Athena
3 51 (7.23%) Apache Arrow
3 51 (7.23%) Apache Iceberg
3 51 (7.23%) Dremio
4 43 (6.10%) NoSQL
5 39 (5.53%) Data Lake
6 32 (4.54%) Apache Ignite
7 27 (3.83%) MongoDB
8 19 (2.70%) SQL Server
9 15 (2.13%) Big Data
9 15 (2.13%) DynamoDB
10 14 (1.99%) Amazon RDS
10 14 (1.99%) Apache Cassandra
11 12 (1.70%) MySQL
12 9 (1.28%) Elasticsearch
12 9 (1.28%) GIS
12 9 (1.28%) Relational Database
13 7 (0.99%) DocumentDB
13 7 (0.99%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 76 (10.78%) Git
2 52 (7.38%) Jenkins
3 44 (6.24%) GitLab
4 39 (5.53%) JIRA
5 31 (4.40%) Eclipse
6 28 (3.97%) Visual Studio
7 21 (2.98%) Liquibase
8 17 (2.41%) Rational DOORS
9 11 (1.56%) Cypress.io
10 9 (1.28%) Artifactory
10 9 (1.28%) SonarQube
11 8 (1.13%) Gradle
11 8 (1.13%) JUnit
11 8 (1.13%) Rational Rhapsody
11 8 (1.13%) Valgrind
12 6 (0.85%) Maven
12 6 (0.85%) Selenium
13 4 (0.57%) Postman
14 3 (0.43%) Bitbucket
14 3 (0.43%) Locust
General
1 184 (26.10%) Finance
2 139 (19.72%) Social Skills
3 91 (12.91%) Front Office
4 90 (12.77%) Banking
5 47 (6.67%) Investment Banking
6 40 (5.67%) Public Sector
7 36 (5.11%) Military
8 33 (4.68%) Analytical Skills
9 20 (2.84%) Aerospace
9 20 (2.84%) Presentation Skills
10 17 (2.41%) Electronics
10 17 (2.41%) Financial Institution
10 17 (2.41%) Law
11 9 (1.28%) Manufacturing
11 9 (1.28%) Pharmaceutical
12 7 (0.99%) Games
13 6 (0.85%) Automotive
14 5 (0.71%) Back Office
14 5 (0.71%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.71%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 137 (19.43%) React
2 123 (17.45%) Node.js
3 75 (10.64%) Kafka
4 69 (9.79%) .NET
5 57 (8.09%) REST
6 56 (7.94%) AngularJS
7 53 (7.52%) NumPy
7 53 (7.52%) SciPy
8 51 (7.23%) Pandas
9 49 (6.95%) RESTful
10 42 (5.96%) gRPC
11 36 (5.11%) Web Services
12 35 (4.96%) Spring
13 32 (4.54%) Protocol Buffers
13 32 (4.54%) Vue
14 28 (3.97%) JSON
14 28 (3.97%) Redux
14 28 (3.97%) Spring Boot
15 25 (3.55%) XML
16 24 (3.40%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 79 (11.21%) Fixed Income
2 69 (9.79%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
3 63 (8.94%) Cloud Native
4 61 (8.65%) Equities
5 50 (7.09%) Distributed Systems
6 37 (5.25%) Hedge funds
7 34 (4.82%) Derivative
8 32 (4.54%) Pricing Data
9 22 (3.12%) Public Cloud
10 21 (2.98%) Algorithms
11 16 (2.27%) Data Structures
12 14 (1.99%) Embedded Systems
13 13 (1.84%) Data Protection Act
13 13 (1.84%) Greenfield Project
14 12 (1.70%) CUDA
15 11 (1.56%) PCIe
15 11 (1.56%) Self-Motivation
16 9 (1.28%) Product Ownership
16 9 (1.28%) Virtual Reality
17 8 (1.13%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 130 (18.44%) Linux
2 63 (8.94%) Windows
3 20 (2.84%) Unix
4 19 (2.70%) 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
7 5 (0.71%) Windows Server
8 3 (0.43%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.14%) Debian
9 1 (0.14%) Robot Operating System
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Embedded Compact
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.14%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 697 (98.87%) Software Engineering
2 304 (43.12%) Agile
3 194 (27.52%) CI/CD
4 141 (20.00%) DevOps
5 126 (17.87%) Microservices
6 84 (11.91%) Problem-Solving
7 83 (11.77%) Containerisation
7 83 (11.77%) TDD
8 80 (11.35%) Infrastructure as Code
9 76 (10.78%) Full-Stack Development
9 76 (10.78%) Test Automation
10 75 (10.64%) Investment Management
11 66 (9.36%) Mentoring
11 66 (9.36%) Unit Testing
12 65 (9.22%) Asset Management
13 57 (8.09%) Continuous Integration
14 56 (7.94%) Computer Science
15 55 (7.80%) Clean Code
16 54 (7.66%) AI
17 49 (6.95%) Continuous Delivery
Programming Languages
1 245 (34.75%) Python
2 208 (29.50%) Java
3 190 (26.95%) JavaScript
4 181 (25.67%) C++
5 153 (21.70%) TypeScript
6 128 (18.16%) C#
7 103 (14.61%) SQL
8 54 (7.66%) Go
9 50 (7.09%) C
10 26 (3.69%) Ada
11 14 (1.99%) PHP
12 13 (1.84%) Embedded C++
13 11 (1.56%) Bicep
13 11 (1.56%) Embedded C
13 11 (1.56%) MATLAB
14 10 (1.42%) PowerShell
15 9 (1.28%) Shell Script
16 8 (1.13%) Bash
17 7 (0.99%) Kotlin
17 7 (0.99%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 116 (16.45%) Security Cleared
2 99 (14.04%) SC Cleared
3 74 (10.50%) Degree
4 37 (5.25%) Computer Science Degree
5 20 (2.84%) Master's Degree
6 14 (1.99%) DV Cleared
7 9 (1.28%) AWS Certification
8 8 (1.13%) 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 22 (3.12%) QA
2 14 (1.99%) Def Stans
2 14 (1.99%) MISRA
3 8 (1.13%) IEC 61508
3 8 (1.13%) 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
System Software
1 131 (18.58%) Docker
2 9 (1.28%) Virtual Machines
3 7 (0.99%) Firmware
4 5 (0.71%) Active Directory
5 3 (0.43%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.14%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 105 (14.89%) Kubernetes
2 88 (12.48%) Terraform
3 27 (3.83%) Ansible
4 23 (3.26%) Prometheus
5 19 (2.70%) Grafana
6 6 (0.85%) Kibana
7 4 (0.57%) Argo
8 3 (0.43%) 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 (6.95%) Microsoft
2 28 (3.97%) Oracle
3 25 (3.55%) Google
4 19 (2.70%) Splunk
5 10 (1.42%) Temenos
6 8 (1.13%) Red Hat
7 6 (0.85%) Databricks
7 6 (0.85%) 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
9 4 (0.57%) VMware
10 3 (0.43%) ANSYS
10 3 (0.43%) Brio
10 3 (0.43%) Cisco
10 3 (0.43%) Foundry
10 3 (0.43%) NVIDIA
10 3 (0.43%) webMethods