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

6 months to
30 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 30 42 31
Rank change year-on-year +12 -11 +10
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,522 1,348 1,993
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.58% 4.90% 5.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.55% 5.40% 6.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,413 874 1,272
10th Percentile £400 £381 £406
25th Percentile £468 £463 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £563 £600 £625
Median % change year-on-year -6.25% -4.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £688 £772 £800
90th Percentile £788 £850 £888
UK median daily rate £558 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -3.04% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 410 80 303
10th Percentile £51.15 £31.25 £47.60
25th Percentile £60.00 £51.81 £55.63
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £77.75 £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 38,532 24,959 29,249
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.26% 90.75% 85.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,105 15,999 19,151
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £512 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.54% -2.48% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £756
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,433 1,365 1,791
10th Percentile £15.05 £14.22 £13.87
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.88 £17.75
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year +78.93% -39.40% -2.35%
75th Percentile £68.75 £51.65 £65.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £70.10 £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 30 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 30 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 30 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 0 1,141 £600 -7.69% 1,580
North of England +24 388 £538 +8.28% 370
South East +27 315 £525 +4.90% 384
South West +20 313 £550 +10.00% 236
East of England +21 214 £505 +3.48% 173
North West +3 181 £550 +10.00% 228
Yorkshire +14 141 £510 +4.08% 83
Midlands -14 110 £464 -7.25% 140
West Midlands -21 84 £461 -19.87% 80
North East +9 71 £650 +42.86% 61
East Midlands -5 25 £513 +7.89% 60
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 55 (2.18%) Confluence
2 46 (1.82%) Apache Spark
3 32 (1.27%) Apache Airflow
4 30 (1.19%) Apache
5 11 (0.44%) CMS
6 10 (0.40%) SAS
7 8 (0.32%) 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%) Apache Solr
10 3 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
10 3 (0.12%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.079%) Apache Pulsar
11 2 (0.079%) Apache Superset
11 2 (0.079%) Cloud Foundry
11 2 (0.079%) Oracle SOA Suite
11 2 (0.079%) WordPress
Applications
1 14 (0.56%) 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%) MS Visio
7 4 (0.16%) Simulink
8 3 (0.12%) Trello
9 2 (0.079%) CATIA
9 2 (0.079%) Notion
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%) S-PLUS
Business Applications
1 7 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
1 7 (0.28%) Payment Gateway
2 6 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
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 (0.079%) Aladdin
6 2 (0.079%) Endur
6 2 (0.079%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.040%) Distributed Ledger
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.040%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 636 (25.22%) AWS
2 492 (19.51%) Azure
3 255 (10.11%) GCP
4 200 (7.93%) GitHub
5 117 (4.64%) Serverless
6 99 (3.93%) Azure DevOps
7 98 (3.89%) GitHub Actions
8 81 (3.21%) AWS Lambda
9 59 (2.34%) OpenShift
10 58 (2.30%) Amazon S3
11 48 (1.90%) Anthropic Claude
12 47 (1.86%) Amazon EKS
13 45 (1.78%) Power Platform
14 44 (1.74%) Amazon SQS
15 41 (1.63%) Amazon ECS
16 40 (1.59%) Azure AKS
17 36 (1.43%) GitHub Copilot
18 31 (1.23%) AWS CloudFormation
19 28 (1.11%) Amazon EC2
19 28 (1.11%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 25 (0.99%) Software-Defined Radio
2 24 (0.95%) Wireless
3 23 (0.91%) Ethernet
4 20 (0.79%) Firewall
5 18 (0.71%) Internet
5 18 (0.71%) TCP/IP
6 15 (0.59%) HTTP
6 15 (0.59%) VPN
7 10 (0.40%) Wi-Fi
8 9 (0.36%) 3GPP
9 8 (0.32%) Network Security
9 8 (0.32%) RTP
10 7 (0.28%) RS-232
10 7 (0.28%) Wireshark
11 6 (0.24%) RS-485
12 5 (0.20%) DNS
13 4 (0.16%) RS-422
14 3 (0.12%) HTTPS
14 3 (0.12%) IPv4
14 3 (0.12%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 157 (6.23%) PostgreSQL
2 97 (3.85%) Relational Database
3 78 (3.09%) SQL Server
4 76 (3.01%) NoSQL
5 53 (2.10%) MongoDB
6 38 (1.51%) Data Warehouse
7 36 (1.43%) DynamoDB
8 33 (1.31%) MySQL
9 30 (1.19%) Big Data
9 30 (1.19%) Power BI
10 23 (0.91%) Elasticsearch
10 23 (0.91%) Redis
11 21 (0.83%) BigQuery
11 21 (0.83%) Data Lake
11 21 (0.83%) Metadata
12 20 (0.79%) Amazon RDS
13 17 (0.67%) Amazon Redshift
13 17 (0.67%) Pinecone
14 16 (0.63%) Apache Cassandra
15 15 (0.59%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 254 (10.07%) Git
2 151 (5.99%) Jenkins
3 135 (5.35%) GitLab
4 111 (4.40%) JIRA
5 60 (2.38%) SonarQube
6 35 (1.39%) JUnit
7 34 (1.35%) Gradle
8 24 (0.95%) Visual Studio
9 22 (0.87%) Claude Code
10 21 (0.83%) Rational DOORS
11 20 (0.79%) Bitbucket
11 20 (0.79%) Cucumber
12 18 (0.71%) Rational Rhapsody
12 18 (0.71%) Selenium
13 17 (0.67%) Mockito
14 15 (0.59%) Liquibase
14 15 (0.59%) Maven
15 13 (0.52%) Cypress.io
16 12 (0.48%) IntelliJ
16 12 (0.48%) Mocha
General
1 471 (18.68%) Finance
2 451 (17.88%) Social Skills
3 185 (7.34%) Banking
4 169 (6.70%) Analytical Skills
5 168 (6.66%) Public Sector
6 103 (4.08%) Aerospace
7 100 (3.97%) Front Office
8 55 (2.18%) Retail
9 47 (1.86%) Manufacturing
10 44 (1.74%) Investment Banking
11 42 (1.67%) Law
12 31 (1.23%) Telecoms
13 30 (1.19%) Military
14 26 (1.03%) Automotive
14 26 (1.03%) Influencing Skills
15 25 (0.99%) Aviation
16 20 (0.79%) Electronics
17 19 (0.75%) Legal
18 18 (0.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
19 16 (0.63%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 1,201 (47.62%) Software Engineer
2 482 (19.11%) Developer
3 430 (17.05%) Senior
4 282 (11.18%) Lead
5 178 (7.06%) Senior Software Engineer
6 170 (6.74%) Java Engineer
7 142 (5.63%) Embedded Engineer
8 139 (5.51%) Java Software Engineer
9 135 (5.35%) Java Developer
10 134 (5.31%) Embedded Software Engineer
11 116 (4.60%) C++ Software Engineer
12 107 (4.24%) Lead Software Engineer
13 104 (4.12%) Python Engineer
14 103 (4.08%) Software Developer
15 102 (4.04%) Architect
16 88 (3.49%) Senior Developer
17 78 (3.09%) Python Developer
18 77 (3.05%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
19 75 (2.97%) DevOps Engineer
20 74 (2.93%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 289 (11.46%) React
2 201 (7.97%) .NET
3 195 (7.73%) REST
4 188 (7.45%) Spring
5 182 (7.22%) Node.js
6 180 (7.14%) Kafka
7 169 (6.70%) Spring Boot
8 118 (4.68%) RESTful
9 117 (4.64%) AngularJS
10 73 (2.89%) GraphQL
11 58 (2.30%) Redux
12 50 (1.98%) Next.js
13 48 (1.90%) CSS
13 48 (1.90%) Django
13 48 (1.90%) HTML
14 42 (1.67%) Quarkus
15 40 (1.59%) JSON
16 36 (1.43%) LangChain
17 35 (1.39%) .NET Core
17 35 (1.39%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 331 (13.12%) Cloud Native
2 217 (8.60%) Distributed Systems
3 133 (5.27%) Product Ownership
4 86 (3.41%) Algorithms
5 77 (3.05%) AI Agents
6 75 (2.97%) Fixed Income
7 51 (2.02%) Data Structures
8 47 (1.86%) Onboarding
9 44 (1.74%) Data Protection Act
10 43 (1.70%) Embedded Systems
11 38 (1.51%) Enterprise Software
12 36 (1.43%) Derivative
13 35 (1.39%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
14 34 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
15 32 (1.27%) Self-Motivation
16 30 (1.19%) Equities
17 22 (0.87%) Robotics
18 21 (0.83%) Greenfield Project
19 17 (0.67%) NHS
19 17 (0.67%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 185 (7.34%) Linux
2 58 (2.30%) Windows
3 32 (1.27%) Unix
4 30 (1.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (0.75%) Embedded Linux
6 15 (0.59%) Android
7 11 (0.44%) 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 (0.079%) VxWorks
13 1 (0.040%) Tizen
13 1 (0.040%) webOS
13 1 (0.040%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 816 (32.36%) CI/CD
2 795 (31.52%) Agile
3 581 (23.04%) DevOps
4 444 (17.61%) AI
5 379 (15.03%) Microservices
6 325 (12.89%) Test Automation
7 289 (11.46%) Problem-Solving
8 280 (11.10%) Full-Stack Development
9 266 (10.55%) Continuous Improvement
10 262 (10.39%) Infrastructure as Code
11 249 (9.87%) Containerisation
12 215 (8.52%) Observability
13 214 (8.49%) Machine Learning
14 212 (8.41%) SDLC
15 210 (8.33%) Mentoring
16 196 (7.77%) TDD
17 190 (7.53%) Scrum
18 189 (7.49%) Platform Engineering
19 183 (7.26%) Technical Leadership
20 175 (6.94%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 727 (28.83%) Python
2 661 (26.21%) Java
3 329 (13.05%) SQL
4 315 (12.49%) TypeScript
5 292 (11.58%) C#
6 251 (9.95%) JavaScript
7 212 (8.41%) C++
8 117 (4.64%) Go
9 113 (4.48%) Ada
10 108 (4.28%) C
11 60 (2.38%) Kotlin
12 43 (1.70%) Rust
13 36 (1.43%) PowerShell
14 34 (1.35%) Bash
14 34 (1.35%) Scala
15 24 (0.95%) PL/SQL
16 20 (0.79%) Ruby
17 18 (0.71%) Bicep
17 18 (0.71%) Embedded C
18 17 (0.67%) PHP
Qualifications
1 600 (23.79%) Security Cleared
2 499 (19.79%) SC Cleared
3 189 (7.49%) Degree
4 81 (3.21%) Computer Science Degree
5 79 (3.13%) DV Cleared
6 54 (2.14%) BPSS Clearance
7 36 (1.43%) Master's Degree
8 35 (1.39%) AWS Certification
9 21 (0.83%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 18 (0.71%) PhD
11 14 (0.56%) Azure Certification
12 7 (0.28%) 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 4 (0.16%) GIAC
14 4 (0.16%) MBA
14 4 (0.16%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 155 (6.15%) QA
2 54 (2.14%) Data Quality
3 49 (1.94%) Accessibility
4 23 (0.91%) Def Stans
5 20 (0.79%) GDPR
6 15 (0.59%) NIST
7 14 (0.56%) IEC 61508
8 13 (0.52%) WCAG
9 12 (0.48%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 12 (0.48%) MISRA
10 10 (0.40%) DO-178B
11 8 (0.32%) NCSC
12 7 (0.28%) 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
15 3 (0.12%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 363 (14.39%) Docker
2 23 (0.91%) Firmware
3 12 (0.48%) 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 (0.079%) SRDF
9 1 (0.040%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 419 (16.61%) Kubernetes
2 246 (9.75%) Terraform
3 75 (2.97%) Ansible
4 56 (2.22%) Grafana
5 43 (1.70%) Argo
6 37 (1.47%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.44%) Kibana
7 11 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
8 9 (0.36%) Puppet
9 7 (0.28%) Progress Chef
10 5 (0.20%) HAProxy
10 5 (0.20%) Kubeflow
11 3 (0.12%) Consul
11 3 (0.12%) Functional Safety
12 2 (0.079%) Cilium
12 2 (0.079%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.079%) HP Fortify
13 1 (0.040%) CASB
13 1 (0.040%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
13 1 (0.040%) PTC Integrity
Vendors
1 126 (5.00%) Microsoft
2 86 (3.41%) Google
3 75 (2.97%) Oracle
4 53 (2.10%) Red Hat
5 51 (2.02%) Databricks
6 39 (1.55%) OpenAI
7 19 (0.75%) Informatica
7 19 (0.75%) Splunk
8 18 (0.71%) IBM
8 18 (0.71%) Salesforce
9 17 (0.67%) ServiceNow
10 12 (0.48%) Adobe
11 11 (0.44%) Foundry
11 11 (0.44%) SAP
12 10 (0.40%) Checkmarx
12 10 (0.40%) ForgeRock
12 10 (0.40%) Okta
12 10 (0.40%) Siemens
13 9 (0.36%) Dynatrace
13 9 (0.36%) Solace