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 24 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 45 27
Rank change year-on-year +13 -18 +13
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,377 1,195 2,305
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.47% 4.77% 6.17%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.42% 5.22% 7.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,277 789 1,321
10th Percentile £400 £400 £419
25th Percentile £463 £475 £493
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £601
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% -0.08% -0.83%
75th Percentile £688 £775 £763
90th Percentile £788 £838 £875
UK median daily rate £550 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -4.35% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 450 64 413
10th Percentile £52.50 £39.23 £46.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £51.81 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.03 £79.25 £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 37,051 22,887 31,886
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.28% 91.38% 85.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,430 14,787 20,644
10th Percentile £325 £300 £304
25th Percentile £415 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £730 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £502 £525
% change year-on-year +2.09% -4.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,322 1,108 2,367
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.78
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.87 £16.06
Median hourly rate £47.00 £26.50 £38.00
Median % change year-on-year +77.36% -30.26% +8.14%
75th Percentile £68.55 £55.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £82.25 £73.75 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +7.14%

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 24 June 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 24 June 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 24 June 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 -5 1,026 £593 -8.85% 599
North of England +21 358 £538 +7.50% 245
South West +27 342 £551 +5.00% 170
South East +26 291 £525 +4.90% 347
East of England +36 218 £498 +1.89% 155
North West +5 169 £525 +5.00% 146
Yorkshire +19 122 £538 +9.38% 49
Midlands -18 96 £462 -8.51% 95
West Midlands -24 76 £459 -17.67% 52
North East +19 72 £621 +35.05% 52
East Midlands -15 19 £513 +7.89% 43
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 (2.31%) Confluence
2 40 (1.68%) Apache Spark
3 27 (1.14%) Apache
3 27 (1.14%) Apache Airflow
4 8 (0.34%) SAS
5 7 (0.29%) CMS
6 6 (0.25%) SharePoint
7 5 (0.21%) nginx
8 4 (0.17%) Ethereum
8 4 (0.17%) Hyperledger
8 4 (0.17%) WebLogic
9 3 (0.13%) Camunda
9 3 (0.13%) Palantir Foundry
9 3 (0.13%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.084%) Cloud Foundry
10 2 (0.084%) IIS
10 2 (0.084%) MQSeries
10 2 (0.084%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 2 (0.084%) WinCC
11 1 (0.042%) Adobe Experience Manager
Applications
1 16 (0.67%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (0.29%) Chatbot
3 6 (0.25%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 5 (0.21%) CPLEX
5 4 (0.17%) Microsoft Excel
5 4 (0.17%) Simulink
6 2 (0.084%) CATIA
6 2 (0.084%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.084%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.042%) Adobe After Effects
7 1 (0.042%) Blender
7 1 (0.042%) Maya
7 1 (0.042%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.042%) Notion
7 1 (0.042%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 6 (0.25%) Dynamics CRM
1 6 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
1 6 (0.25%) Payment Gateway
2 4 (0.17%) Quorum
2 4 (0.17%) R3 Corda
2 4 (0.17%) Ripple
3 3 (0.13%) Orchestrade
4 2 (0.084%) Aladdin
4 2 (0.084%) LabWindows
4 2 (0.084%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.042%) Endur
5 1 (0.042%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.042%) Sprinklr
5 1 (0.042%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 586 (24.65%) AWS
2 454 (19.10%) Azure
3 209 (8.79%) GCP
4 166 (6.98%) GitHub
5 121 (5.09%) Serverless
6 99 (4.16%) Azure DevOps
7 76 (3.20%) AWS Lambda
7 76 (3.20%) GitHub Actions
8 61 (2.57%) Amazon S3
9 60 (2.52%) OpenShift
10 44 (1.85%) Power Platform
11 39 (1.64%) Amazon SQS
12 38 (1.60%) Azure AKS
13 37 (1.56%) Anthropic Claude
14 36 (1.51%) Amazon EKS
15 35 (1.47%) Amazon ECS
16 31 (1.30%) Amazon EC2
17 30 (1.26%) SaaS
18 27 (1.14%) Entra ID
19 26 (1.09%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 30 (1.26%) Software-Defined Radio
2 24 (1.01%) Ethernet
3 22 (0.93%) Wireless
4 17 (0.72%) TCP/IP
5 15 (0.63%) HTTP
6 13 (0.55%) Firewall
6 13 (0.55%) Internet
7 12 (0.50%) Wi-Fi
8 10 (0.42%) 3GPP
9 9 (0.38%) VPN
10 7 (0.29%) Network Security
10 7 (0.29%) RTP
11 6 (0.25%) Wireshark
12 4 (0.17%) DNS
12 4 (0.17%) RS-232
12 4 (0.17%) RS-422
13 3 (0.13%) Bluetooth
13 3 (0.13%) IPv4
13 3 (0.13%) IPv6
13 3 (0.13%) RS-485
Database & Business Intelligence
1 143 (6.02%) PostgreSQL
2 85 (3.58%) Relational Database
3 70 (2.94%) SQL Server
4 65 (2.73%) NoSQL
5 54 (2.27%) MongoDB
6 34 (1.43%) DynamoDB
7 33 (1.39%) Apache Cassandra
8 32 (1.35%) MySQL
9 30 (1.26%) Power BI
10 29 (1.22%) Data Warehouse
11 28 (1.18%) Amazon RDS
12 25 (1.05%) Big Data
13 24 (1.01%) Data Lake
14 22 (0.93%) BigQuery
14 22 (0.93%) Metadata
15 19 (0.80%) Redis
16 18 (0.76%) Pinecone
17 16 (0.67%) Weaviate
18 15 (0.63%) Amazon Redshift
18 15 (0.63%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 236 (9.93%) Git
2 144 (6.06%) Jenkins
3 124 (5.22%) GitLab
4 108 (4.54%) JIRA
5 55 (2.31%) SonarQube
6 40 (1.68%) Gradle
7 34 (1.43%) JUnit
8 29 (1.22%) Rational DOORS
8 29 (1.22%) Rational Rhapsody
9 26 (1.09%) Visual Studio
10 23 (0.97%) Cucumber
11 21 (0.88%) Bitbucket
11 21 (0.88%) Maven
12 20 (0.84%) Selenium
13 16 (0.67%) Cypress.io
13 16 (0.67%) IntelliJ
13 16 (0.67%) Liquibase
13 16 (0.67%) Mockito
14 15 (0.63%) Claude Code
15 12 (0.50%) Eclipse
General
1 416 (17.50%) Finance
2 382 (16.07%) Social Skills
3 160 (6.73%) Banking
4 149 (6.27%) Analytical Skills
5 141 (5.93%) Public Sector
6 101 (4.25%) Aerospace
7 83 (3.49%) Front Office
8 46 (1.94%) Retail
9 45 (1.89%) Law
10 43 (1.81%) Manufacturing
11 41 (1.72%) Investment Banking
12 26 (1.09%) Influencing Skills
12 26 (1.09%) Military
13 25 (1.05%) Automotive
13 25 (1.05%) Aviation
14 23 (0.97%) Telecoms
15 18 (0.76%) Financial Institution
16 17 (0.72%) Electronics
17 16 (0.67%) Documentation Skills
18 14 (0.59%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 1,214 (51.07%) Software Engineer
2 432 (18.17%) Developer
3 411 (17.29%) Senior
4 231 (9.72%) Lead
5 187 (7.87%) Senior Software Engineer
6 169 (7.11%) Java Engineer
7 143 (6.02%) Embedded Engineer
8 139 (5.85%) Java Software Engineer
9 132 (5.55%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 131 (5.51%) C++ Software Engineer
11 125 (5.26%) Java Developer
12 104 (4.38%) Architect
13 83 (3.49%) Senior Developer
14 82 (3.45%) Lead Software Engineer
14 82 (3.45%) Python Engineer
15 76 (3.20%) Software Developer
16 74 (3.11%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
17 71 (2.99%) Python Developer
18 70 (2.94%) Developer/Software Engineer
19 66 (2.78%) Full-Stack Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 266 (11.19%) React
2 188 (7.91%) .NET
3 181 (7.61%) Kafka
4 173 (7.28%) Spring
5 169 (7.11%) Node.js
6 163 (6.86%) REST
7 161 (6.77%) Spring Boot
8 109 (4.59%) RESTful
9 107 (4.50%) AngularJS
10 72 (3.03%) GraphQL
11 59 (2.48%) Redux
12 48 (2.02%) CSS
13 47 (1.98%) HTML
14 40 (1.68%) Middleware
15 39 (1.64%) Next.js
16 38 (1.60%) JSON
17 37 (1.56%) LangChain
18 34 (1.43%) Quarkus
18 34 (1.43%) Web Services
19 32 (1.35%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 267 (11.23%) Cloud Native
2 180 (7.57%) Distributed Systems
3 119 (5.01%) Product Ownership
4 93 (3.91%) Algorithms
5 71 (2.99%) Fixed Income
6 65 (2.73%) AI Agents
7 42 (1.77%) Embedded Systems
8 41 (1.72%) Onboarding
9 37 (1.56%) Data Protection Act
10 36 (1.51%) Data Structures
11 34 (1.43%) Derivative
12 33 (1.39%) Legacy Systems
13 28 (1.18%) Self-Motivation
14 26 (1.09%) Equities
14 26 (1.09%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 23 (0.97%) Enterprise Software
15 23 (0.97%) Robotics
16 20 (0.84%) Greenfield Project
17 19 (0.80%) Mobile App
18 15 (0.63%) FPGA
Operating Systems
1 185 (7.78%) Linux
2 58 (2.44%) Windows
3 39 (1.64%) Unix
4 30 (1.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 16 (0.67%) Embedded Linux
6 15 (0.63%) Android
6 15 (0.63%) Apple iOS
7 11 (0.46%) FreeRTOS
8 9 (0.38%) Ubuntu
8 9 (0.38%) Windows Server
9 5 (0.21%) Debian
10 4 (0.17%) Rocky
10 4 (0.17%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.13%) Solaris
11 3 (0.13%) VMS
11 3 (0.13%) Windows Server 2008
12 2 (0.084%) VxWorks
13 1 (0.042%) Tizen
13 1 (0.042%) webOS
13 1 (0.042%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 707 (29.74%) CI/CD
2 706 (29.70%) Agile
3 496 (20.87%) DevOps
4 380 (15.99%) AI
5 350 (14.72%) Microservices
6 286 (12.03%) Test Automation
7 261 (10.98%) Problem-Solving
8 257 (10.81%) Full-Stack Development
9 221 (9.30%) Containerisation
10 215 (9.05%) Infrastructure as Code
11 208 (8.75%) Continuous Improvement
12 183 (7.70%) SDLC
12 183 (7.70%) TDD
13 178 (7.49%) Machine Learning
14 177 (7.45%) Observability
15 176 (7.40%) Scrum
16 173 (7.28%) Mentoring
17 162 (6.82%) Platform Engineering
18 157 (6.60%) Technical Leadership
19 150 (6.31%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 629 (26.46%) Python
2 608 (25.58%) Java
3 309 (13.00%) SQL
4 301 (12.66%) C#
5 289 (12.16%) TypeScript
6 245 (10.31%) JavaScript
7 229 (9.63%) C++
8 134 (5.64%) Ada
9 131 (5.51%) Go
10 116 (4.88%) C
11 42 (1.77%) Kotlin
12 35 (1.47%) Rust
13 31 (1.30%) PowerShell
14 29 (1.22%) Bash
15 26 (1.09%) MATLAB
16 24 (1.01%) Embedded C
16 24 (1.01%) Scala
17 23 (0.97%) PL/SQL
18 18 (0.76%) Ruby
19 17 (0.72%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 576 (24.23%) Security Cleared
2 466 (19.60%) SC Cleared
3 171 (7.19%) Degree
4 77 (3.24%) Computer Science Degree
5 70 (2.94%) DV Cleared
6 50 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
7 27 (1.14%) AWS Certification
7 27 (1.14%) Master's Degree
8 18 (0.76%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 12 (0.50%) Azure Certification
9 12 (0.50%) PhD
10 9 (0.38%) CISSP
11 7 (0.29%) ISTQB
11 7 (0.29%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 6 (0.25%) Chartered Engineer
12 6 (0.25%) TOGAF Certification
13 4 (0.17%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
13 4 (0.17%) CISM
13 4 (0.17%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 4 (0.17%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 128 (5.38%) QA
2 46 (1.94%) Def Stans
3 41 (1.72%) Data Quality
4 37 (1.56%) Accessibility
5 33 (1.39%) IEC 61508
6 21 (0.88%) MISRA
7 20 (0.84%) GDPR
8 13 (0.55%) MISRA C
9 12 (0.50%) NIST
10 11 (0.46%) NCSC
11 10 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 10 (0.42%) WCAG
12 9 (0.38%) DO-178B
13 6 (0.25%) PCI DSS
14 5 (0.21%) GRC
14 5 (0.21%) JSP 440
15 4 (0.17%) DO-254
15 4 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 3 (0.13%) FATCA
17 2 (0.084%) EMIR
System Software
1 323 (13.59%) Docker
2 25 (1.05%) Firmware
3 10 (0.42%) Embedded Firmware
4 9 (0.38%) Active Directory
4 9 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
5 6 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.17%) Oracle RAC
7 3 (0.13%) HDFS
8 2 (0.084%) SRDF
Systems Management
1 380 (15.99%) Kubernetes
2 218 (9.17%) Terraform
3 65 (2.73%) Ansible
3 65 (2.73%) Grafana
4 39 (1.64%) Prometheus
5 37 (1.56%) Argo
6 11 (0.46%) Kibana
7 8 (0.34%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.29%) Puppet
9 6 (0.25%) Progress Chef
10 5 (0.21%) HAProxy
11 4 (0.17%) Data Guard
11 4 (0.17%) HP Quality Center
12 3 (0.13%) Docker Swarm
12 3 (0.13%) Functional Safety
12 3 (0.13%) Kubeflow
13 2 (0.084%) Cilium
13 2 (0.084%) Consul
13 2 (0.084%) HP ALM
13 2 (0.084%) HP Fortify
Vendors
1 122 (5.13%) Microsoft
2 74 (3.11%) Google
3 70 (2.94%) Oracle
4 54 (2.27%) Red Hat
5 42 (1.77%) Databricks
6 36 (1.51%) OpenAI
7 21 (0.88%) IBM
8 18 (0.76%) ServiceNow
8 18 (0.76%) Splunk
9 16 (0.67%) Informatica
10 13 (0.55%) Salesforce
11 12 (0.50%) Siemens
12 11 (0.46%) Foundry
13 10 (0.42%) Checkmarx
13 10 (0.42%) ForgeRock
13 10 (0.42%) MathWorks
13 10 (0.42%) Okta
13 10 (0.42%) SAP
14 9 (0.38%) VMware
15 8 (0.34%) Atlassian