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 6 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 43 31
Rank change year-on-year +12 -12 +10
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,555 1,353 1,956
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.61% 4.90% 5.85%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.59% 5.39% 6.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,424 884 1,244
10th Percentile £400 £380 £413
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 £694 £775 £800
90th Percentile £788 £850 £888
UK median daily rate £560 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -2.61% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 417 81 283
10th Percentile £50.85 £31.25 £47.10
25th Percentile £60.00 £51.75 £56.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £73.46 £77.50 £77.00
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 38,782 25,081 28,761
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.18% 90.77% 85.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,156 16,055 18,761
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £420
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 £760
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,506 1,391 1,691
10th Percentile £14.94 £14.20 £14.05
25th Percentile £20.31 £17.87 £18.21
Median hourly rate £44.23 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +75.86% -40.82% -
75th Percentile £68.75 £50.88 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.50 £70.16 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +74.79% -37.63% -5.12%

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 6 August 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 6 August 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 6 August 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 1,154 £600 -7.69% 2,610
North of England +33 396 £538 +7.50% 470
South East +34 321 £525 +4.90% 512
South West +19 313 £550 +10.00% 317
East of England +27 220 £505 +3.43% 274
North West +9 182 £550 +10.00% 293
Yorkshire +14 147 £500 - 106
Midlands -10 110 £465 -7.92% 212
West Midlands -16 82 £463 -19.57% 118
North East +11 72 £650 +42.86% 72
East Midlands +1 27 £513 +7.89% 94
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 54 (2.11%) Confluence
2 47 (1.84%) Apache Spark
3 37 (1.45%) Apache Airflow
4 32 (1.25%) Apache
5 11 (0.43%) CMS
6 10 (0.39%) SAS
7 8 (0.31%) SharePoint
8 6 (0.23%) Jupyter
9 5 (0.20%) Ethereum
9 5 (0.20%) Hyperledger
9 5 (0.20%) nginx
10 4 (0.16%) Apache Solr
11 3 (0.12%) Apache Superset
11 3 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
11 3 (0.12%) Tomcat
11 3 (0.12%) WebLogic
11 3 (0.12%) WordPress
12 2 (0.078%) Apache Pulsar
12 2 (0.078%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.078%) WinCC
Applications
1 13 (0.51%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.39%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 10 (0.39%) Chatbot
3 6 (0.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.23%) Spreadsheet
4 5 (0.20%) CPLEX
5 4 (0.16%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (0.16%) Simulink
6 3 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 3 (0.12%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.12%) Trello
7 2 (0.078%) CATIA
7 2 (0.078%) Notion
8 1 (0.039%) Adobe After Effects
8 1 (0.039%) Adobe XD
8 1 (0.039%) Blender
8 1 (0.039%) Maya
8 1 (0.039%) S-PLUS
Business Applications
1 7 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
1 7 (0.27%) Payment Gateway
2 6 (0.23%) 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 (0.078%) Aladdin
6 2 (0.078%) Endur
6 2 (0.078%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.039%) Distributed Ledger
7 1 (0.039%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.039%) SAP ERP
7 1 (0.039%) Shopify
7 1 (0.039%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 645 (25.24%) AWS
2 500 (19.57%) Azure
3 256 (10.02%) GCP
4 209 (8.18%) GitHub
5 118 (4.62%) Serverless
6 102 (3.99%) GitHub Actions
7 100 (3.91%) Azure DevOps
8 83 (3.25%) AWS Lambda
9 61 (2.39%) Amazon S3
10 59 (2.31%) OpenShift
11 51 (2.00%) Anthropic Claude
12 47 (1.84%) Amazon EKS
13 46 (1.80%) Power Platform
14 45 (1.76%) Amazon SQS
15 44 (1.72%) Amazon ECS
16 40 (1.57%) Azure AKS
17 39 (1.53%) GitHub Copilot
18 32 (1.25%) Snowflake
19 31 (1.21%) AWS CloudFormation
20 29 (1.14%) Amazon CloudWatch
Communications & Networking
1 25 (0.98%) Software-Defined Radio
2 24 (0.94%) Wireless
3 23 (0.90%) Ethernet
4 19 (0.74%) Firewall
4 19 (0.74%) Internet
4 19 (0.74%) TCP/IP
5 15 (0.59%) HTTP
5 15 (0.59%) VPN
6 10 (0.39%) Wi-Fi
7 9 (0.35%) 3GPP
8 8 (0.31%) Network Security
8 8 (0.31%) RTP
9 7 (0.27%) RS-232
9 7 (0.27%) Wireshark
10 6 (0.23%) RS-485
11 5 (0.20%) DNS
12 4 (0.16%) RS-422
12 4 (0.16%) SSL
13 3 (0.12%) IPv4
13 3 (0.12%) IPv6
Database & Business Intelligence
1 152 (5.95%) PostgreSQL
2 94 (3.68%) Relational Database
3 81 (3.17%) NoSQL
4 76 (2.97%) SQL Server
5 51 (2.00%) MongoDB
6 41 (1.60%) Data Warehouse
7 38 (1.49%) DynamoDB
8 33 (1.29%) MySQL
9 32 (1.25%) Power BI
10 30 (1.17%) Big Data
11 25 (0.98%) Metadata
12 23 (0.90%) Data Lake
13 22 (0.86%) Elasticsearch
13 22 (0.86%) Redis
14 21 (0.82%) Amazon RDS
14 21 (0.82%) BigQuery
15 17 (0.67%) Amazon Redshift
15 17 (0.67%) Pinecone
16 16 (0.63%) Weaviate
17 14 (0.55%) Apache Cassandra
Development Applications
1 268 (10.49%) Git
2 159 (6.22%) Jenkins
3 142 (5.56%) GitLab
4 112 (4.38%) JIRA
5 60 (2.35%) SonarQube
6 36 (1.41%) Gradle
7 35 (1.37%) JUnit
8 25 (0.98%) Rational DOORS
8 25 (0.98%) Visual Studio
9 24 (0.94%) Claude Code
10 20 (0.78%) Rational Rhapsody
10 20 (0.78%) Selenium
11 19 (0.74%) Bitbucket
12 18 (0.70%) Cucumber
13 17 (0.67%) Maven
13 17 (0.67%) Mockito
14 15 (0.59%) Liquibase
15 13 (0.51%) Cypress.io
16 12 (0.47%) MLflow
16 12 (0.47%) Mocha
General
1 469 (18.36%) Finance
2 466 (18.24%) Social Skills
3 187 (7.32%) Banking
4 183 (7.16%) Analytical Skills
5 173 (6.77%) Public Sector
6 102 (3.99%) Aerospace
7 101 (3.95%) Front Office
8 56 (2.19%) Retail
9 50 (1.96%) Manufacturing
10 44 (1.72%) Law
11 43 (1.68%) Investment Banking
12 31 (1.21%) Telecoms
13 30 (1.17%) Military
14 28 (1.10%) Automotive
15 26 (1.02%) Aviation
15 26 (1.02%) Influencing Skills
16 21 (0.82%) Electronics
16 21 (0.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 20 (0.78%) Marketing
18 18 (0.70%) Legal
Job Titles
1 1,205 (47.16%) Software Engineer
2 486 (19.02%) Developer
3 437 (17.10%) Senior
4 285 (11.15%) Lead
5 180 (7.05%) Senior Software Engineer
6 172 (6.73%) Java Engineer
7 147 (5.75%) Embedded Engineer
8 141 (5.52%) Java Software Engineer
9 137 (5.36%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 130 (5.09%) Java Developer
11 113 (4.42%) C++ Software Engineer
12 108 (4.23%) Python Engineer
12 108 (4.23%) Software Developer
13 107 (4.19%) Lead Software Engineer
14 106 (4.15%) Architect
15 91 (3.56%) Senior Developer
16 84 (3.29%) Data Engineer
17 81 (3.17%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
18 80 (3.13%) Python Developer
19 75 (2.94%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 277 (10.84%) React
2 207 (8.10%) .NET
3 201 (7.87%) REST
4 190 (7.44%) Spring
5 181 (7.08%) Kafka
6 177 (6.93%) Node.js
7 170 (6.65%) Spring Boot
8 116 (4.54%) RESTful
9 113 (4.42%) AngularJS
10 70 (2.74%) GraphQL
11 53 (2.07%) Redux
12 51 (2.00%) Django
13 49 (1.92%) Next.js
14 46 (1.80%) HTML
15 44 (1.72%) CSS
16 42 (1.64%) Quarkus
17 39 (1.53%) LangChain
18 38 (1.49%) JSON
19 35 (1.37%) .NET Core
19 35 (1.37%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 341 (13.35%) Cloud Native
2 217 (8.49%) Distributed Systems
3 133 (5.21%) Product Ownership
4 86 (3.37%) AI Agents
5 83 (3.25%) Algorithms
6 70 (2.74%) Fixed Income
7 53 (2.07%) Data Structures
8 49 (1.92%) Onboarding
9 44 (1.72%) Embedded Systems
10 42 (1.64%) Data Protection Act
11 40 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
12 33 (1.29%) Derivative
12 33 (1.29%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 33 (1.29%) Legacy Systems
13 31 (1.21%) Self-Motivation
14 27 (1.06%) Equities
15 23 (0.90%) Robotics
16 20 (0.78%) Greenfield Project
17 19 (0.74%) NHS
18 17 (0.67%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 188 (7.36%) Linux
2 59 (2.31%) Windows
3 30 (1.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 30 (1.17%) Unix
4 19 (0.74%) Embedded Linux
5 13 (0.51%) Android
6 11 (0.43%) FreeRTOS
7 10 (0.39%) Apple iOS
7 10 (0.39%) Windows Server
8 9 (0.35%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.20%) Debian
10 4 (0.16%) Rocky
10 4 (0.16%) VMS
10 4 (0.16%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.12%) Solaris
11 3 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.078%) VxWorks
13 1 (0.039%) Tizen
13 1 (0.039%) webOS
13 1 (0.039%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 840 (32.88%) CI/CD
2 802 (31.39%) Agile
3 595 (23.29%) DevOps
4 457 (17.89%) AI
5 383 (14.99%) Microservices
6 339 (13.27%) Test Automation
7 298 (11.66%) Problem-Solving
8 281 (11.00%) Continuous Improvement
9 277 (10.84%) Full-Stack Development
10 268 (10.49%) Infrastructure as Code
11 252 (9.86%) Containerisation
12 221 (8.65%) Observability
13 218 (8.53%) Machine Learning
13 218 (8.53%) SDLC
14 208 (8.14%) Mentoring
15 197 (7.71%) TDD
16 193 (7.55%) Platform Engineering
17 192 (7.51%) Scrum
17 192 (7.51%) Technical Leadership
18 179 (7.01%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 745 (29.16%) Python
2 662 (25.91%) Java
3 337 (13.19%) SQL
4 305 (11.94%) TypeScript
5 295 (11.55%) C#
6 244 (9.55%) JavaScript
7 213 (8.34%) C++
8 120 (4.70%) Go
9 113 (4.42%) C
10 110 (4.31%) Ada
11 61 (2.39%) Kotlin
12 42 (1.64%) Rust
13 39 (1.53%) Bash
13 39 (1.53%) PowerShell
14 36 (1.41%) Scala
15 23 (0.90%) PL/SQL
16 21 (0.82%) Embedded C
17 20 (0.78%) Bicep
17 20 (0.78%) Ruby
18 17 (0.67%) PHP
Qualifications
1 613 (23.99%) Security Cleared
2 513 (20.08%) SC Cleared
3 195 (7.63%) Degree
4 89 (3.48%) Computer Science Degree
5 81 (3.17%) DV Cleared
6 54 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
7 37 (1.45%) Master's Degree
8 36 (1.41%) AWS Certification
9 20 (0.78%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 19 (0.74%) PhD
11 16 (0.63%) Azure Certification
12 8 (0.31%) CISSP
13 7 (0.27%) ISTQB
14 6 (0.23%) Chartered Engineer
14 6 (0.23%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
14 6 (0.23%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 6 (0.23%) PMP
15 5 (0.20%) TOGAF Certification
16 4 (0.16%) Cisco Certification
16 4 (0.16%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 155 (6.07%) QA
2 60 (2.35%) Data Quality
3 48 (1.88%) Accessibility
4 25 (0.98%) Def Stans
5 19 (0.74%) GDPR
6 15 (0.59%) NIST
7 14 (0.55%) IEC 61508
7 14 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 13 (0.51%) WCAG
9 12 (0.47%) MISRA
10 10 (0.39%) DO-178B
11 9 (0.35%) NCSC
12 7 (0.27%) GRC
13 6 (0.23%) PCI DSS
14 5 (0.20%) JSP 440
14 5 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 3 (0.12%) DO-254
15 3 (0.12%) HL7
15 3 (0.12%) MISRA C
15 3 (0.12%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 372 (14.56%) Docker
2 23 (0.90%) Firmware
3 12 (0.47%) Embedded Firmware
4 10 (0.39%) Active Directory
5 9 (0.35%) Virtual Machines
6 8 (0.31%) VMware Infrastructure
7 3 (0.12%) HDFS
8 2 (0.078%) SRDF
9 1 (0.039%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 426 (16.67%) Kubernetes
2 248 (9.71%) Terraform
3 80 (3.13%) Ansible
4 57 (2.23%) Grafana
5 43 (1.68%) Argo
6 37 (1.45%) Prometheus
7 12 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
8 11 (0.43%) Kibana
9 9 (0.35%) Puppet
10 7 (0.27%) Progress Chef
11 5 (0.20%) HAProxy
11 5 (0.20%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.16%) Consul
12 4 (0.16%) Functional Safety
13 2 (0.078%) Cilium
13 2 (0.078%) Docker Swarm
13 2 (0.078%) HP Fortify
13 2 (0.078%) Packer
13 2 (0.078%) ZABBIX
14 1 (0.039%) logstash
Vendors
1 129 (5.05%) Microsoft
2 91 (3.56%) Google
3 71 (2.78%) Oracle
4 58 (2.27%) Databricks
5 52 (2.04%) Red Hat
6 43 (1.68%) OpenAI
7 21 (0.82%) Splunk
8 20 (0.78%) Salesforce
9 19 (0.74%) Informatica
9 19 (0.74%) ServiceNow
10 18 (0.70%) IBM
11 12 (0.47%) Adobe
12 11 (0.43%) Foundry
12 11 (0.43%) SAP
13 10 (0.39%) Checkmarx
13 10 (0.39%) Dynatrace
13 10 (0.39%) ForgeRock
13 10 (0.39%) Okta
14 9 (0.35%) Siemens
14 9 (0.35%) VMware