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 25 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 43 30
Rank change year-on-year +12 -13 +10
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,496 1,353 2,044
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.53% 4.94% 5.89%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.47% 5.44% 6.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,392 875 1,297
10th Percentile £400 £382 £406
25th Percentile £468 £463 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £555 £600 £615
Median % change year-on-year -7.50% -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £688 £775 £800
90th Percentile £788 £845 £888
UK median daily rate £550 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -4.35% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 406 81 323
10th Percentile £50.75 £31.25 £48.00
25th Percentile £60.00 £51.25 £54.68
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.13 £77.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

All Process & 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 38,549 24,860 29,801
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.39% 90.73% 85.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,182 15,935 19,502
10th Percentile £325 £300 £311
25th Percentile £420 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,381 1,342 1,889
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.26 £13.67
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.90 £17.50
Median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +86.88% -37.13% -6.98%
75th Percentile £69.50 £52.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £70.16 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -37.13% -5.88%

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 25 July 2026.

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 25 July 2026.

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 25 July 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 -2 1,119 £600 -7.69% 1,431
North of England +27 389 £538 +9.16% 379
South East +26 315 £525 +4.90% 388
South West +20 308 £550 +10.00% 205
East of England +26 215 £505 +3.48% 183
North West +1 184 £550 +10.00% 223
Yorkshire +15 142 £525 +7.14% 95
Midlands -11 108 £463 -7.50% 149
West Midlands -14 83 £459 -20.17% 80
North East +11 68 £650 +41.30% 64
East Midlands -9 24 £513 +7.89% 69
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 56 (2.24%) Confluence
2 47 (1.88%) Apache Spark
3 32 (1.28%) Apache Airflow
4 31 (1.24%) Apache
5 11 (0.44%) CMS
6 10 (0.40%) SAS
7 7 (0.28%) SharePoint
8 5 (0.20%) Ethereum
8 5 (0.20%) Hyperledger
8 5 (0.20%) nginx
9 4 (0.16%) Jupyter
9 4 (0.16%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
10 3 (0.12%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.080%) Apache Pulsar
11 2 (0.080%) Apache Solr
11 2 (0.080%) Apache Superset
11 2 (0.080%) IIS
11 2 (0.080%) MQSeries
11 2 (0.080%) WordPress
Applications
1 15 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 9 (0.36%) Chatbot
4 7 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
5 6 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
6 5 (0.20%) CPLEX
7 4 (0.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 4 (0.16%) Microsoft Project
7 4 (0.16%) Simulink
8 3 (0.12%) MS Visio
9 2 (0.080%) CATIA
9 2 (0.080%) Trello
10 1 (0.040%) Adobe After Effects
10 1 (0.040%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.040%) Blender
10 1 (0.040%) Maya
10 1 (0.040%) Notion
10 1 (0.040%) S-PLUS
Business Applications
1 7 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
2 6 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (0.24%) Payment Gateway
3 5 (0.20%) R3 Corda
4 4 (0.16%) Quorum
4 4 (0.16%) Ripple
5 3 (0.12%) Orchestrade
5 3 (0.12%) Primavera
5 3 (0.12%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.080%) Aladdin
6 2 (0.080%) Endur
6 2 (0.080%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.040%) Distributed Ledger
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.040%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 631 (25.28%) AWS
2 488 (19.55%) Azure
3 253 (10.14%) GCP
4 197 (7.89%) GitHub
5 123 (4.93%) Serverless
6 100 (4.01%) Azure DevOps
7 98 (3.93%) GitHub Actions
8 83 (3.33%) AWS Lambda
9 62 (2.48%) Amazon S3
10 55 (2.20%) OpenShift
11 49 (1.96%) Anthropic Claude
12 48 (1.92%) Power Platform
13 46 (1.84%) Amazon EKS
14 45 (1.80%) Amazon SQS
15 44 (1.76%) Amazon ECS
16 39 (1.56%) Azure AKS
17 34 (1.36%) GitHub Copilot
18 32 (1.28%) AWS CloudFormation
19 30 (1.20%) Amazon EC2
20 28 (1.12%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 25 (1.00%) Software-Defined Radio
2 24 (0.96%) Wireless
3 23 (0.92%) Ethernet
4 19 (0.76%) Firewall
5 18 (0.72%) TCP/IP
6 17 (0.68%) Internet
7 15 (0.60%) HTTP
8 14 (0.56%) VPN
9 11 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
10 9 (0.36%) 3GPP
10 9 (0.36%) Network Security
11 8 (0.32%) RTP
12 7 (0.28%) Wireshark
13 6 (0.24%) RS-232
14 5 (0.20%) DNS
14 5 (0.20%) RS-485
15 4 (0.16%) RS-422
16 3 (0.12%) HTTPS
16 3 (0.12%) IPv4
16 3 (0.12%) IPv6
Database & Business Intelligence
1 156 (6.25%) PostgreSQL
2 96 (3.85%) Relational Database
3 76 (3.04%) SQL Server
4 74 (2.96%) NoSQL
5 51 (2.04%) MongoDB
6 37 (1.48%) Data Warehouse
7 36 (1.44%) DynamoDB
8 30 (1.20%) Big Data
8 30 (1.20%) MySQL
8 30 (1.20%) Power BI
9 23 (0.92%) Amazon RDS
9 23 (0.92%) BigQuery
9 23 (0.92%) Redis
10 22 (0.88%) Data Lake
10 22 (0.88%) Metadata
11 21 (0.84%) Elasticsearch
12 18 (0.72%) Apache Cassandra
13 17 (0.68%) Amazon Redshift
13 17 (0.68%) Pinecone
14 15 (0.60%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 251 (10.06%) Git
2 153 (6.13%) Jenkins
3 134 (5.37%) GitLab
4 109 (4.37%) JIRA
5 58 (2.32%) SonarQube
6 36 (1.44%) Gradle
7 34 (1.36%) JUnit
8 24 (0.96%) Visual Studio
9 23 (0.92%) Claude Code
10 22 (0.88%) Rational DOORS
11 20 (0.80%) Cucumber
12 19 (0.76%) Bitbucket
12 19 (0.76%) Rational Rhapsody
13 18 (0.72%) Maven
13 18 (0.72%) Selenium
14 16 (0.64%) Liquibase
14 16 (0.64%) Mockito
15 12 (0.48%) Cypress.io
15 12 (0.48%) Eclipse
15 12 (0.48%) Mocha
General
1 464 (18.59%) Finance
2 445 (17.83%) Social Skills
3 181 (7.25%) Banking
4 168 (6.73%) Analytical Skills
5 167 (6.69%) Public Sector
6 103 (4.13%) Aerospace
7 98 (3.93%) Front Office
8 58 (2.32%) Retail
9 45 (1.80%) Manufacturing
10 43 (1.72%) Investment Banking
11 42 (1.68%) Law
12 31 (1.24%) Telecoms
13 30 (1.20%) Military
14 27 (1.08%) Automotive
14 27 (1.08%) Influencing Skills
15 25 (1.00%) Aviation
16 20 (0.80%) Electronics
17 18 (0.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 17 (0.68%) Legal
19 15 (0.60%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 1,192 (47.76%) Software Engineer
2 470 (18.83%) Developer
3 426 (17.07%) Senior
4 279 (11.18%) Lead
5 176 (7.05%) Senior Software Engineer
6 169 (6.77%) Java Engineer
7 142 (5.69%) Embedded Engineer
8 139 (5.57%) Java Software Engineer
9 133 (5.33%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 132 (5.29%) Java Developer
11 116 (4.65%) C++ Software Engineer
12 106 (4.25%) Lead Software Engineer
13 103 (4.13%) Python Engineer
14 101 (4.05%) Architect
15 100 (4.01%) Software Developer
16 85 (3.41%) Senior Developer
17 81 (3.25%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
18 77 (3.08%) DevOps Engineer
19 76 (3.04%) Python Developer
20 73 (2.92%) Developer/Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 284 (11.38%) React
2 200 (8.01%) .NET
3 194 (7.77%) REST
4 189 (7.57%) Spring
5 185 (7.41%) Node.js
6 183 (7.33%) Kafka
7 171 (6.85%) Spring Boot
8 119 (4.77%) RESTful
9 111 (4.45%) AngularJS
10 77 (3.08%) GraphQL
11 58 (2.32%) Redux
12 48 (1.92%) Next.js
13 47 (1.88%) CSS
13 47 (1.88%) Django
13 47 (1.88%) HTML
14 44 (1.76%) JSON
15 39 (1.56%) Quarkus
16 36 (1.44%) .NET Core
16 36 (1.44%) LangChain
17 35 (1.40%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 324 (12.98%) Cloud Native
2 216 (8.65%) Distributed Systems
3 134 (5.37%) Product Ownership
4 83 (3.33%) Algorithms
5 77 (3.08%) AI Agents
6 75 (3.00%) Fixed Income
7 48 (1.92%) Data Structures
8 46 (1.84%) Onboarding
9 43 (1.72%) Data Protection Act
9 43 (1.72%) Embedded Systems
10 37 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
11 36 (1.44%) Derivative
12 34 (1.36%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 34 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
13 32 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
14 29 (1.16%) Equities
15 21 (0.84%) Greenfield Project
15 21 (0.84%) Robotics
16 17 (0.68%) Virtual Team
17 16 (0.64%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 185 (7.41%) Linux
2 57 (2.28%) Windows
3 34 (1.36%) Unix
4 30 (1.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (0.76%) Embedded Linux
6 14 (0.56%) Android
6 14 (0.56%) Apple iOS
7 11 (0.44%) FreeRTOS
8 10 (0.40%) Windows Server
9 8 (0.32%) Ubuntu
10 4 (0.16%) Debian
10 4 (0.16%) VMS
10 4 (0.16%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.12%) Rocky
11 3 (0.12%) Solaris
11 3 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.080%) VxWorks
13 1 (0.040%) Tizen
13 1 (0.040%) webOS
13 1 (0.040%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 808 (32.37%) CI/CD
2 783 (31.37%) Agile
3 579 (23.20%) DevOps
4 441 (17.67%) AI
5 377 (15.10%) Microservices
6 319 (12.78%) Test Automation
7 287 (11.50%) Problem-Solving
8 276 (11.06%) Full-Stack Development
9 262 (10.50%) Continuous Improvement
10 261 (10.46%) Infrastructure as Code
11 249 (9.98%) Containerisation
12 217 (8.69%) Machine Learning
13 214 (8.57%) Observability
14 205 (8.21%) Mentoring
15 204 (8.17%) SDLC
16 194 (7.77%) TDD
17 186 (7.45%) Technical Leadership
18 183 (7.33%) Platform Engineering
19 182 (7.29%) Scrum
20 175 (7.01%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 719 (28.81%) Python
2 646 (25.88%) Java
3 329 (13.18%) SQL
4 312 (12.50%) TypeScript
5 296 (11.86%) C#
6 245 (9.82%) JavaScript
7 212 (8.49%) C++
8 122 (4.89%) Go
9 113 (4.53%) Ada
10 106 (4.25%) C
11 54 (2.16%) Kotlin
12 42 (1.68%) Rust
13 35 (1.40%) Bash
13 35 (1.40%) PowerShell
14 31 (1.24%) Scala
15 24 (0.96%) PL/SQL
16 20 (0.80%) Ruby
17 18 (0.72%) Bicep
17 18 (0.72%) Embedded C
18 17 (0.68%) PHP
Qualifications
1 588 (23.56%) Security Cleared
2 488 (19.55%) SC Cleared
3 193 (7.73%) Degree
4 85 (3.41%) Computer Science Degree
5 77 (3.08%) DV Cleared
6 54 (2.16%) BPSS Clearance
7 37 (1.48%) Master's Degree
8 35 (1.40%) AWS Certification
9 20 (0.80%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 18 (0.72%) PhD
11 16 (0.64%) Azure Certification
12 8 (0.32%) CISSP
13 6 (0.24%) Chartered Engineer
13 6 (0.24%) ISTQB
13 6 (0.24%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 6 (0.24%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 6 (0.24%) PMP
14 5 (0.20%) TOGAF Certification
15 4 (0.16%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
15 4 (0.16%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 152 (6.09%) QA
2 55 (2.20%) Data Quality
3 48 (1.92%) Accessibility
4 24 (0.96%) Def Stans
5 21 (0.84%) GDPR
6 15 (0.60%) NIST
7 14 (0.56%) IEC 61508
8 13 (0.52%) WCAG
9 12 (0.48%) MISRA
10 11 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 10 (0.40%) DO-178B
12 8 (0.32%) NCSC
13 6 (0.24%) GRC
13 6 (0.24%) PCI DSS
14 5 (0.20%) JSP 440
14 5 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 3 (0.12%) DO-254
15 3 (0.12%) FATCA
15 3 (0.12%) MISRA C
16 2 (0.080%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 366 (14.66%) Docker
2 22 (0.88%) Firmware
3 11 (0.44%) Embedded Firmware
4 10 (0.40%) Active Directory
5 7 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
6 6 (0.24%) VMware Infrastructure
7 3 (0.12%) HDFS
8 2 (0.080%) SRDF
9 1 (0.040%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 413 (16.55%) Kubernetes
2 248 (9.94%) Terraform
3 73 (2.92%) Ansible
4 58 (2.32%) Grafana
5 40 (1.60%) Argo
6 38 (1.52%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.44%) Kibana
7 11 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (0.32%) Puppet
9 6 (0.24%) Kubeflow
9 6 (0.24%) Progress Chef
10 5 (0.20%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.12%) Consul
11 3 (0.12%) Functional Safety
12 2 (0.080%) Cilium
12 2 (0.080%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.080%) HP Fortify
12 2 (0.080%) HP Quality Center
12 2 (0.080%) Istio
13 1 (0.040%) Data Guard
Vendors
1 125 (5.01%) Microsoft
2 88 (3.53%) Google
3 76 (3.04%) Oracle
4 50 (2.00%) Red Hat
5 45 (1.80%) Databricks
6 43 (1.72%) OpenAI
7 20 (0.80%) Splunk
8 19 (0.76%) Informatica
9 18 (0.72%) IBM
10 17 (0.68%) Salesforce
10 17 (0.68%) ServiceNow
11 15 (0.60%) Foundry
12 12 (0.48%) Adobe
13 11 (0.44%) SAP
13 11 (0.44%) Siemens
14 10 (0.40%) Checkmarx
14 10 (0.40%) ForgeRock
14 10 (0.40%) Okta
15 9 (0.36%) Dynatrace
16 8 (0.32%) Confluent