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 16 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 43 31 41
Rank change year-on-year -12 +10 -3
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 1,422 1,814 2,001
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.04% 5.66% 4.92%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.54% 6.54% 5.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 845 1,092 1,385
10th Percentile £375 £405 £425
25th Percentile £463 £488 £506
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £601 £607
Median % change year-on-year -4.25% -0.99% +1.08%
75th Percentile £725 £800 £738
90th Percentile £838 £888 £825
UK median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 132 199 229
10th Percentile £44.65 £46.18 £46.18
25th Percentile £52.50 £60.00 £51.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.76% +0.77% -
75th Percentile £67.63 £70.00 £69.00
90th Percentile £74.80 £75.00 £90.00
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 25,655 27,725 36,179
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 90.95% 86.47% 88.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,262 16,906 24,993
10th Percentile £296 £313 £313
25th Percentile £405 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.42% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,620 1,099 1,474
10th Percentile £14.64 £15.00 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £42.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.82% -5.56% +36.36%
75th Percentile £45.00 £66.80 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.55 £74.09 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -37.13% -10.11% +36.92%

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 16 October 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 16 October 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 16 October 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 -4 803 £625 -7.41% 508
North of England -11 186 £500 -5.88% 368
South West -12 113 £458 -18.67% 252
East of England -7 100 £556 +17.11% 217
Yorkshire -2 98 £513 -6.82% 96
South East -24 93 £475 -5.00% 456
North West -25 75 £500 +1.42% 216
Midlands -50 53 £525 +10.53% 147
West Midlands -30 38 £550 +19.57% 86
North East -10 15 £488 -18.41% 60
East Midlands -30 15 £421 -12.75% 61
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 85 (5.98%) Apache Airflow
2 71 (4.99%) Apache
3 50 (3.52%) Confluence
4 19 (1.34%) Apache Spark
5 10 (0.70%) JBoss
6 8 (0.56%) CMS
7 6 (0.42%) WebLogic
8 4 (0.28%) nginx
8 4 (0.28%) OpenStack
8 4 (0.28%) SAS
9 3 (0.21%) Appian
9 3 (0.21%) IIS
9 3 (0.21%) Oracle Workflow
9 3 (0.21%) SharePoint
10 2 (0.14%) CICS
10 2 (0.14%) Drupal
10 2 (0.14%) Headless CMS
10 2 (0.14%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.14%) WordPress
11 1 (0.070%) Mule
Applications
1 16 (1.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 13 (0.91%) Chatbot
3 12 (0.84%) Microsoft Office
4 11 (0.77%) Simulink
5 10 (0.70%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.35%) MS Visio
7 3 (0.21%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.14%) Stateflow
9 1 (0.070%) CANalyzer
9 1 (0.070%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (0.63%) FLEXCUBE
1 9 (0.63%) Oracle BPM
2 8 (0.56%) Aladdin
2 8 (0.56%) Temenos T24
3 3 (0.21%) Fidessa
3 3 (0.21%) thinkFolio
4 2 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.14%) Oracle 11i
5 1 (0.070%) ION Anvil
5 1 (0.070%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.070%) Primavera
5 1 (0.070%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 537 (37.76%) AWS
2 249 (17.51%) Azure
3 188 (13.22%) GCP
4 156 (10.97%) Serverless
5 116 (8.16%) GitHub
6 80 (5.63%) dbt
7 64 (4.50%) GitHub Actions
8 63 (4.43%) AWS Lambda
9 61 (4.29%) Snowflake
10 57 (4.01%) Azure DevOps
11 40 (2.81%) Amazon S3
12 34 (2.39%) Azure AKS
13 33 (2.32%) Amazon ECS
14 32 (2.25%) Power Platform
15 26 (1.83%) AWS CloudFormation
15 26 (1.83%) Azure Functions
16 25 (1.76%) OpenShift
17 24 (1.69%) Amazon EC2
18 22 (1.55%) Amazon EKS
18 22 (1.55%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 27 (1.90%) Ethernet
2 20 (1.41%) TCP/IP
3 9 (0.63%) Internet
3 9 (0.63%) NFC
3 9 (0.63%) PPP
4 8 (0.56%) Firewall
4 8 (0.56%) HTTP
5 7 (0.49%) Wireless
6 5 (0.35%) Network Security
7 4 (0.28%) tcpdump
8 3 (0.21%) Bluetooth
8 3 (0.21%) Kerberos
8 3 (0.21%) VPN
8 3 (0.21%) Wi-Fi
9 2 (0.14%) DNS
9 2 (0.14%) HTTPS
9 2 (0.14%) MIMO
9 2 (0.14%) SSH
9 2 (0.14%) SSL
9 2 (0.14%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 145 (10.20%) PostgreSQL
2 80 (5.63%) NoSQL
3 75 (5.27%) Amazon Athena
4 71 (4.99%) Apache Arrow
4 71 (4.99%) Apache Cassandra
4 71 (4.99%) Apache Iceberg
4 71 (4.99%) Dremio
5 60 (4.22%) MongoDB
6 54 (3.80%) Data Lake
7 42 (2.95%) Apache Ignite
8 39 (2.74%) SQL Server
9 36 (2.53%) Big Data
10 34 (2.39%) MySQL
11 31 (2.18%) Hadoop
12 29 (2.04%) Elasticsearch
13 28 (1.97%) Relational Database
14 24 (1.69%) DynamoDB
14 24 (1.69%) Power BI
15 19 (1.34%) Amazon RDS
16 15 (1.05%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 162 (11.39%) Git
2 144 (10.13%) Jenkins
3 101 (7.10%) JIRA
4 90 (6.33%) GitLab
5 33 (2.32%) Liquibase
6 31 (2.18%) Eclipse
7 30 (2.11%) JUnit
7 30 (2.11%) Selenium
8 27 (1.90%) Cucumber
9 26 (1.83%) Cypress.io
10 25 (1.76%) SonarQube
11 24 (1.69%) Gradle
12 23 (1.62%) Visual Studio
13 16 (1.13%) Artifactory
14 15 (1.05%) Maven
14 15 (1.05%) Rational DOORS
15 14 (0.98%) Bitbucket
15 14 (0.98%) Mockito
16 13 (0.91%) TeamCity
17 11 (0.77%) CircleCI
General
1 377 (26.51%) Finance
2 316 (22.22%) Social Skills
3 189 (13.29%) Banking
4 146 (10.27%) Front Office
5 92 (6.47%) Investment Banking
5 92 (6.47%) Public Sector
6 79 (5.56%) Analytical Skills
7 39 (2.74%) Military
8 38 (2.67%) Financial Institution
9 26 (1.83%) Aerospace
10 23 (1.62%) Law
11 19 (1.34%) Presentation Skills
12 18 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 15 (1.05%) Electronics
13 15 (1.05%) Influencing Skills
14 14 (0.98%) Documentation Skills
14 14 (0.98%) Pharmaceutical
15 13 (0.91%) Retail
15 13 (0.91%) Telecoms
16 10 (0.70%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 610 (42.90%) Software Engineer
2 387 (27.22%) Developer
3 267 (18.78%) Senior
4 135 (9.49%) Senior Software Engineer
5 123 (8.65%) Python Engineer
6 114 (8.02%) Lead
7 103 (7.24%) AWS Engineer
8 99 (6.96%) Java Engineer
9 98 (6.89%) AWS Software Engineer
10 97 (6.82%) Java Software Engineer
11 94 (6.61%) Python Software Engineer
12 80 (5.63%) Developer/Software Engineer
13 76 (5.34%) C++ Software Engineer
14 73 (5.13%) Java Developer
15 72 (5.06%) Python Developer
16 62 (4.36%) Full-Stack Engineer
17 55 (3.87%) Senior Developer
18 52 (3.66%) Architect
19 51 (3.59%) AWS Developer
20 49 (3.45%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 261 (18.35%) React
2 215 (15.12%) Kafka
3 190 (13.36%) Node.js
4 138 (9.70%) REST
5 130 (9.14%) .NET
6 125 (8.79%) AngularJS
7 123 (8.65%) gRPC
8 106 (7.45%) RESTful
9 103 (7.24%) Pandas
10 98 (6.89%) NumPy
11 91 (6.40%) SciPy
12 80 (5.63%) Spring
13 75 (5.27%) Vue
14 61 (4.29%) Spring Boot
15 55 (3.87%) HTML
16 54 (3.80%) GraphQL
17 51 (3.59%) FastAPI
17 51 (3.59%) Redux
18 47 (3.31%) JSON
19 43 (3.02%) Protocol Buffers
Miscellaneous
1 150 (10.55%) Cloud Native
2 134 (9.42%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
3 130 (9.14%) Fixed Income
4 124 (8.72%) Distributed Systems
5 94 (6.61%) Equities
6 80 (5.63%) Hedge funds
7 54 (3.80%) Algorithms
8 52 (3.66%) Derivative
9 42 (2.95%) Pricing Data
10 39 (2.74%) Data Structures
11 35 (2.46%) Product Ownership
12 34 (2.39%) Public Cloud
13 31 (2.18%) Data Protection Act
13 31 (2.18%) Greenfield Project
13 31 (2.18%) Virtual Team
14 20 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
15 17 (1.20%) Embedded Systems
16 16 (1.13%) Onboarding
17 15 (1.05%) FPGA
17 15 (1.05%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 234 (16.46%) Linux
2 66 (4.64%) Windows
3 50 (3.52%) Unix
4 28 (1.97%) Ubuntu
5 19 (1.34%) Android
6 10 (0.70%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.42%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.35%) FreeRTOS
9 4 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.28%) VMS
9 4 (0.28%) Windows Server
10 2 (0.14%) AIX
10 2 (0.14%) zOS
11 1 (0.070%) Amazon Linux
11 1 (0.070%) Robot Operating System
11 1 (0.070%) Windows Embedded Compact
11 1 (0.070%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 612 (43.04%) Agile
2 422 (29.68%) CI/CD
3 327 (23.00%) DevOps
4 287 (20.18%) Microservices
5 208 (14.63%) Problem-Solving
6 174 (12.24%) Containerisation
7 168 (11.81%) Test Automation
8 165 (11.60%) Infrastructure as Code
9 163 (11.46%) Full-Stack Development
10 160 (11.25%) Computer Science
10 160 (11.25%) TDD
11 147 (10.34%) Mentoring
12 137 (9.63%) AI
12 137 (9.63%) Scrum
13 121 (8.51%) Investment Management
14 116 (8.16%) Machine Learning
15 111 (7.81%) Clean Code
16 106 (7.45%) Asset Management
17 105 (7.38%) Open Source
18 104 (7.31%) Fintech
Programming Languages
1 527 (37.06%) Python
2 416 (29.25%) Java
3 332 (23.35%) JavaScript
4 264 (18.57%) TypeScript
5 243 (17.09%) SQL
6 229 (16.10%) C++
7 202 (14.21%) C#
8 144 (10.13%) Go
9 66 (4.64%) C
10 45 (3.16%) Shell Script
11 41 (2.88%) Ada
12 30 (2.11%) Rust
13 27 (1.90%) Bash
14 20 (1.41%) VB
15 19 (1.34%) PL/SQL
15 19 (1.34%) Scala
16 16 (1.13%) Bicep
16 16 (1.13%) PowerShell
16 16 (1.13%) Ruby
17 15 (1.05%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 226 (15.89%) Security Cleared
2 190 (13.36%) Degree
3 179 (12.59%) SC Cleared
4 94 (6.61%) Computer Science Degree
5 49 (3.45%) DV Cleared
6 41 (2.88%) Master's Degree
7 20 (1.41%) BPSS Clearance
8 15 (1.05%) MCP
9 14 (0.98%) AWS Certification
10 12 (0.84%) PhD
11 10 (0.70%) CISSP
12 9 (0.63%) CISM
13 8 (0.56%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 7 (0.49%) Azure Certification
14 7 (0.49%) Postgraduate
14 7 (0.49%) TOGAF Certification
15 4 (0.28%) ISTQB
15 4 (0.28%) PMP
16 3 (0.21%) HNC
16 3 (0.21%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (4.92%) QA
2 26 (1.83%) Accessibility
3 23 (1.62%) Data Quality
4 19 (1.34%) Def Stans
5 18 (1.27%) IEC 61508
5 18 (1.27%) WCAG
6 17 (1.20%) MISRA
7 13 (0.91%) MISRA C
8 12 (0.84%) GDPR
8 12 (0.84%) NIST
9 11 (0.77%) EU AI Act
10 9 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 5 (0.35%) SLA
11 5 (0.35%) Software Quality Assurance
12 4 (0.28%) DO-178B
12 4 (0.28%) ISO 26262
12 4 (0.28%) MiFID
12 4 (0.28%) SEPA
13 3 (0.21%) NCSC
13 3 (0.21%) SOC 2
System Software
1 317 (22.29%) Docker
2 13 (0.91%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
4 5 (0.35%) Firmware
4 5 (0.35%) zsh
5 2 (0.14%) VMware Infrastructure
6 1 (0.070%) Embedded Firmware
6 1 (0.070%) KVM
6 1 (0.070%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.070%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 302 (21.24%) Kubernetes
2 158 (11.11%) Terraform
3 66 (4.64%) Ansible
4 57 (4.01%) Grafana
5 53 (3.73%) Prometheus
6 12 (0.84%) Kibana
7 10 (0.70%) Podman
7 10 (0.70%) Puppet
8 6 (0.42%) Argo
8 6 (0.42%) Progress Chef
9 5 (0.35%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (0.28%) Functional Safety
11 3 (0.21%) Cilium
11 3 (0.21%) Docker Swarm
11 3 (0.21%) Kubeflow
11 3 (0.21%) Rsyslog
11 3 (0.21%) SCOM
11 3 (0.21%) SELinux
12 2 (0.14%) CA Endevor
12 2 (0.14%) logstash
Vendors
1 113 (7.95%) Microsoft
2 59 (4.15%) Oracle
3 47 (3.31%) Google
4 36 (2.53%) Splunk
5 29 (2.04%) Foundry
6 28 (1.97%) Red Hat
7 23 (1.62%) Databricks
8 15 (1.05%) Palantir
9 14 (0.98%) Atlassian
9 14 (0.98%) Cloudera
10 11 (0.77%) CA Agile Central
11 10 (0.70%) Temenos
12 9 (0.63%) BiZZdesign
12 9 (0.63%) OpenAI
12 9 (0.63%) Salesforce
13 8 (0.56%) SAP
14 7 (0.49%) Cisco
14 7 (0.49%) IBM
14 7 (0.49%) Xilinx
15 6 (0.42%) ServiceNow