Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in England

Software Engineering
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 5 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 41 34 44
Rank change year-on-year -7 +10 -7
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 1,559 1,639 1,706
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.00% 5.34% 4.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.59% 6.08% 5.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 882 1,002 1,129
10th Percentile £375 £403 £425
25th Percentile £463 £500 £504
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £610
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% -1.64% +1.67%
75th Percentile £688 £775 £738
90th Percentile £825 £861 £810
UK median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 213 136 221
10th Percentile £46.25 £45.34 £46.18
25th Percentile £54.55 £56.78 £52.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £67.25 £70.00 £69.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £72.50 £85.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

All Process and Methodology Skills
England

Software Engineering 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 27,877 26,975 33,843
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 89.47% 87.88% 88.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,778 16,586 23,069
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £405 £418 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £545
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -3.67% -0.91%
75th Percentile £625 £649 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,797 956 1,438
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.24 £14.72
25th Percentile £17.88 £20.23 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +18.67%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.04 £75.00 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.75 £42.50
% change year-on-year -23.21% -22.94% +21.43%

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in England

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Engineering.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in England over the 6 months to 5 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Software Engineering in England

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Engineering.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Engineering in England over the 6 months to 5 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Engineering in England

Software Engineering
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 Engineering within the England region over the 6 months to 5 December 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 -10 825 £625 -7.41% 330
North of England -5 219 £525 +1.20% 301
East of England +4 138 £500 +5.26% 242
South West -16 125 £450 -25.00% 212
Yorkshire -3 114 £523 -5.00% 105
South East -27 104 £475 -5.00% 442
North West -8 84 £550 +15.79% 171
Midlands -34 77 £525 +10.06% 135
West Midlands -14 62 £525 +10.06% 81
North East +3 24 £488 -18.41% 28
East Midlands -30 15 £450 -8.16% 51
Software Engineering
UK

Software Engineering
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 70 (4.49%) Apache
2 63 (4.04%) Apache Airflow
3 53 (3.40%) Confluence
4 34 (2.18%) Apache Spark
5 13 (0.83%) JBoss
6 11 (0.71%) CMS
6 11 (0.71%) WebLogic
7 6 (0.38%) OpenStack
8 4 (0.26%) SAS
8 4 (0.26%) WordPress
9 3 (0.19%) Appian
9 3 (0.19%) Sitecore CMS
10 2 (0.13%) Magnolia
10 2 (0.13%) nginx
10 2 (0.13%) SharePoint
10 2 (0.13%) Tomcat
11 1 (0.064%) Drupal
11 1 (0.064%) Microsoft Exchange
11 1 (0.064%) Oracle Workflow
11 1 (0.064%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 17 (1.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 11 (0.71%) Chatbot
3 10 (0.64%) Microsoft Office
3 10 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 10 (0.64%) Simulink
4 3 (0.19%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.13%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.064%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.064%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 8 (0.51%) Temenos T24
2 7 (0.45%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.19%) Fidessa
3 3 (0.19%) thinkFolio
4 2 (0.13%) FLEXCUBE
4 2 (0.13%) Oracle BPM
4 2 (0.13%) Primavera
5 1 (0.064%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.064%) ION Anvil
5 1 (0.064%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.064%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 536 (34.38%) AWS
2 263 (16.87%) Azure
3 165 (10.58%) GCP
4 163 (10.46%) Serverless
5 130 (8.34%) GitHub
6 78 (5.00%) GitHub Actions
7 70 (4.49%) AWS Lambda
8 68 (4.36%) Azure DevOps
9 57 (3.66%) Amazon S3
10 53 (3.40%) dbt
11 52 (3.34%) Snowflake
12 47 (3.01%) Power Platform
13 45 (2.89%) Amazon ECS
14 37 (2.37%) Azure AKS
15 35 (2.25%) AWS CloudFormation
16 33 (2.12%) Amazon EKS
17 30 (1.92%) Azure Functions
17 30 (1.92%) OpenShift
18 28 (1.80%) Amazon EC2
19 24 (1.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 29 (1.86%) Ethernet
2 20 (1.28%) TCP/IP
3 10 (0.64%) Firewall
3 10 (0.64%) Network Security
4 8 (0.51%) Internet
5 7 (0.45%) NFC
5 7 (0.45%) PPP
6 6 (0.38%) Wireless
7 4 (0.26%) HTTP
7 4 (0.26%) Software-Defined Networking
7 4 (0.26%) tcpdump
7 4 (0.26%) VPN
8 3 (0.19%) BGP
8 3 (0.19%) Kerberos
8 3 (0.19%) VLAN
9 2 (0.13%) DNS
9 2 (0.13%) MIMO
9 2 (0.13%) MQTT
9 2 (0.13%) SSH
9 2 (0.13%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 115 (7.38%) PostgreSQL
2 88 (5.64%) NoSQL
3 73 (4.68%) Apache Cassandra
4 69 (4.43%) MongoDB
5 50 (3.21%) Amazon Athena
5 50 (3.21%) Data Lake
6 49 (3.14%) SQL Server
7 43 (2.76%) Apache Arrow
7 43 (2.76%) Apache Iceberg
7 43 (2.76%) Dremio
8 37 (2.37%) Big Data
8 37 (2.37%) Relational Database
9 35 (2.25%) Power BI
10 31 (1.99%) Hadoop
11 29 (1.86%) Amazon RDS
11 29 (1.86%) MySQL
12 28 (1.80%) Apache Ignite
13 24 (1.54%) Elasticsearch
14 22 (1.41%) DynamoDB
15 21 (1.35%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 178 (11.42%) Git
2 145 (9.30%) Jenkins
3 103 (6.61%) JIRA
4 102 (6.54%) GitLab
5 36 (2.31%) JUnit
5 36 (2.31%) Selenium
6 35 (2.25%) Eclipse
7 34 (2.18%) Liquibase
8 29 (1.86%) Cypress.io
9 27 (1.73%) Cucumber
9 27 (1.73%) SonarQube
10 25 (1.60%) Visual Studio
11 21 (1.35%) Gradle
12 20 (1.28%) Rational DOORS
13 19 (1.22%) Mockito
14 16 (1.03%) Maven
15 15 (0.96%) Artifactory
16 14 (0.90%) Bitbucket
17 13 (0.83%) Postman
18 11 (0.71%) CircleCI
General
1 340 (21.81%) Social Skills
2 339 (21.74%) Finance
3 152 (9.75%) Banking
4 111 (7.12%) Public Sector
5 94 (6.03%) Front Office
6 85 (5.45%) Analytical Skills
7 75 (4.81%) Investment Banking
8 40 (2.57%) Financial Institution
9 38 (2.44%) Military
10 31 (1.99%) Aerospace
11 27 (1.73%) Electronics
12 25 (1.60%) Law
13 23 (1.48%) Presentation Skills
14 19 (1.22%) Influencing Skills
15 18 (1.15%) Pharmaceutical
16 15 (0.96%) Documentation Skills
16 15 (0.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 12 (0.77%) Manufacturing
17 12 (0.77%) Telecoms
18 11 (0.71%) Games
Job Titles
1 718 (46.06%) Software Engineer
2 340 (21.81%) Developer
3 313 (20.08%) Senior
4 152 (9.75%) Senior Software Engineer
5 124 (7.95%) Lead
6 111 (7.12%) Python Engineer
7 109 (6.99%) C++ Software Engineer
8 87 (5.58%) AWS Engineer
9 80 (5.13%) Java Engineer
10 74 (4.75%) AWS Software Engineer
10 74 (4.75%) Python Software Engineer
11 73 (4.68%) Java Software Engineer
12 69 (4.43%) Java Developer
13 68 (4.36%) Python Developer
14 67 (4.30%) Senior Developer
15 53 (3.40%) Embedded Engineer
16 51 (3.27%) Embedded Software Engineer
17 50 (3.21%) Data Engineer
18 49 (3.14%) Architect
18 49 (3.14%) Developer/Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 239 (15.33%) Kafka
2 219 (14.05%) React
3 178 (11.42%) Node.js
4 141 (9.04%) .NET
5 129 (8.27%) REST
6 111 (7.12%) RESTful
7 110 (7.06%) gRPC
8 95 (6.09%) AngularJS
9 83 (5.32%) Spring
10 77 (4.94%) Pandas
11 76 (4.87%) NumPy
12 67 (4.30%) Spring Boot
13 62 (3.98%) SciPy
14 54 (3.46%) HTML
15 53 (3.40%) FastAPI
16 52 (3.34%) Vue
17 51 (3.27%) JSON
18 47 (3.01%) GraphQL
19 42 (2.69%) CSS
19 42 (2.69%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 183 (11.74%) Cloud Native
2 135 (8.66%) Distributed Systems
3 87 (5.58%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 79 (5.07%) Fixed Income
5 60 (3.85%) Hedge funds
6 55 (3.53%) Algorithms
7 53 (3.40%) Equities
8 52 (3.34%) Product Ownership
9 42 (2.69%) Data Structures
10 41 (2.63%) Derivative
11 36 (2.31%) Public Cloud
12 34 (2.18%) Data Protection Act
13 33 (2.12%) Greenfield Project
14 32 (2.05%) Virtual Team
15 28 (1.80%) Pricing Data
16 21 (1.35%) Embedded Systems
16 21 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
17 19 (1.22%) Mobile App
17 19 (1.22%) Onboarding
17 19 (1.22%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 244 (15.65%) Linux
2 80 (5.13%) Windows
3 49 (3.14%) Unix
4 26 (1.67%) Android
5 21 (1.35%) Ubuntu
6 15 (0.96%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.64%) Windows Server
8 8 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 6 (0.38%) FreeRTOS
9 6 (0.38%) Mac OS
10 4 (0.26%) VMS
11 1 (0.064%) Debian
11 1 (0.064%) Robot Operating System
11 1 (0.064%) Windows 10
11 1 (0.064%) Windows Embedded Compact
11 1 (0.064%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.064%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 604 (38.74%) Agile
2 487 (31.24%) CI/CD
3 351 (22.51%) DevOps
4 308 (19.76%) Microservices
5 225 (14.43%) Problem-Solving
6 210 (13.47%) Containerisation
6 210 (13.47%) Infrastructure as Code
7 184 (11.80%) Test Automation
8 178 (11.42%) AI
9 166 (10.65%) Computer Science
10 158 (10.13%) Mentoring
11 146 (9.36%) TDD
12 142 (9.11%) Scrum
13 141 (9.04%) Full-Stack Development
14 139 (8.92%) Machine Learning
15 117 (7.50%) Open Source
16 109 (6.99%) Clean Code
17 108 (6.93%) Continuous Integration
18 97 (6.22%) Data Pipeline
19 93 (5.97%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 527 (33.80%) Python
2 383 (24.57%) Java
3 275 (17.64%) JavaScript
4 265 (17.00%) SQL
5 261 (16.74%) C++
6 230 (14.75%) C#
7 228 (14.62%) TypeScript
8 155 (9.94%) Go
9 85 (5.45%) C
10 43 (2.76%) Ada
11 31 (1.99%) Bash
11 31 (1.99%) Shell Script
12 30 (1.92%) Rust
13 21 (1.35%) Ruby
14 20 (1.28%) VB
15 18 (1.15%) PowerShell
16 17 (1.09%) PHP
16 17 (1.09%) Scala
17 15 (0.96%) Embedded C++
17 15 (0.96%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 289 (18.54%) Security Cleared
2 238 (15.27%) SC Cleared
3 203 (13.02%) Degree
4 96 (6.16%) Computer Science Degree
5 57 (3.66%) Master's Degree
6 51 (3.27%) DV Cleared
7 20 (1.28%) AWS Certification
8 18 (1.15%) MCP
8 18 (1.15%) PhD
9 17 (1.09%) BPSS Clearance
10 16 (1.03%) CISSP
11 14 (0.90%) CISM
12 11 (0.71%) Azure Certification
13 10 (0.64%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 10 (0.64%) TOGAF Certification
14 7 (0.45%) Postgraduate
15 6 (0.38%) ISTQB
16 4 (0.26%) HND
16 4 (0.26%) Microsoft Certification
17 3 (0.19%) EMC Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 77 (4.94%) QA
2 32 (2.05%) Data Quality
3 26 (1.67%) Accessibility
4 22 (1.41%) Def Stans
5 19 (1.22%) GDPR
5 19 (1.22%) WCAG
6 18 (1.15%) MISRA
7 17 (1.09%) IEC 61508
8 13 (0.83%) EU AI Act
9 12 (0.77%) NIST
10 10 (0.64%) MISRA C
11 9 (0.58%) DO-178B
12 7 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
13 5 (0.32%) Software Quality Assurance
14 4 (0.26%) HL7
14 4 (0.26%) ISO 26262
14 4 (0.26%) MiFID
14 4 (0.26%) SLA
15 3 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 15288
15 3 (0.19%) SEPA
System Software
1 356 (22.84%) Docker
2 15 (0.96%) Active Directory
3 10 (0.64%) Firmware
3 10 (0.64%) Virtual Machines
4 6 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
5 3 (0.19%) zsh
6 2 (0.13%) Embedded Firmware
7 1 (0.064%) KVM
7 1 (0.064%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.064%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 341 (21.87%) Kubernetes
2 214 (13.73%) Terraform
3 83 (5.32%) Grafana
4 76 (4.87%) Ansible
5 67 (4.30%) Prometheus
6 21 (1.35%) Puppet
7 12 (0.77%) Argo
7 12 (0.77%) Kibana
8 9 (0.58%) Progress Chef
9 8 (0.51%) Podman
10 7 (0.45%) Single Sign-On
11 4 (0.26%) Functional Safety
12 3 (0.19%) Cilium
12 3 (0.19%) Kubeflow
12 3 (0.19%) Rsyslog
12 3 (0.19%) SCOM
12 3 (0.19%) SELinux
13 2 (0.13%) Packer
13 2 (0.13%) rkt
14 1 (0.064%) Consul
Vendors
1 132 (8.47%) Microsoft
2 57 (3.66%) Google
3 52 (3.34%) Oracle
4 39 (2.50%) Splunk
5 34 (2.18%) Databricks
6 31 (1.99%) Foundry
6 31 (1.99%) Red Hat
7 15 (0.96%) Palantir
8 13 (0.83%) Cloudera
9 12 (0.77%) Atlassian
9 12 (0.77%) BiZZdesign
9 12 (0.77%) SAP
10 11 (0.71%) Salesforce
11 10 (0.64%) OpenAI
11 10 (0.64%) Temenos
12 9 (0.58%) webMethods
13 8 (0.51%) CyberArk
13 8 (0.51%) IBM
13 8 (0.51%) ServiceNow
13 8 (0.51%) VMware