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

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 42 31
Rank change year-on-year +11 -11 +8
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,540 1,367 1,948
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.60% 4.92% 5.84%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.57% 5.42% 6.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,422 890 1,251
10th Percentile £400 £380 £413
25th Percentile £469 £463 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £565 £600 £625
Median % change year-on-year -5.83% -4.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £694 £772 £800
90th Percentile £788 £850 £888
UK median daily rate £563 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -2.17% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 411 81 283
10th Percentile £50.25 £31.25 £47.10
25th Percentile £60.00 £51.75 £56.88
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.00 £77.50 £77.50
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 38,664 25,206 28,667
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.24% 90.74% 85.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,131 16,135 18,803
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 £757
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,474 1,396 1,685
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £14.05
25th Percentile £20.69 £17.87 £18.16
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +78.93% -40.82% -
75th Percentile £68.75 £51.14 £65.00
90th Percentile £82.85 £70.08 £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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -3 1,153 £600 -7.69% 1,850
North of England +26 391 £538 +9.07% 400
South East +28 318 £525 +4.90% 429
South West +22 310 £550 +10.00% 283
East of England +27 216 £505 +3.48% 207
North West +9 182 £550 +10.00% 234
Yorkshire +15 143 £510 +4.08% 98
Midlands -6 110 £465 -7.46% 161
West Midlands -19 82 £463 -19.57% 93
North East +14 71 £650 +42.86% 70
East Midlands -7 27 £513 +7.89% 68
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 (2.17%) Confluence
2 47 (1.85%) Apache Spark
3 34 (1.34%) Apache Airflow
4 31 (1.22%) Apache
5 11 (0.43%) CMS
6 10 (0.39%) SAS
7 8 (0.31%) SharePoint
8 6 (0.24%) Jupyter
9 5 (0.20%) Ethereum
9 5 (0.20%) Hyperledger
9 5 (0.20%) nginx
10 4 (0.16%) WebLogic
11 3 (0.12%) Apache Solr
11 3 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
11 3 (0.12%) Tomcat
12 2 (0.079%) Apache Pulsar
12 2 (0.079%) Apache Superset
12 2 (0.079%) Cloud Foundry
12 2 (0.079%) WinCC
12 2 (0.079%) WordPress
Applications
1 14 (0.55%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.39%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 10 (0.39%) Chatbot
3 7 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
4 6 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
5 5 (0.20%) CPLEX
6 4 (0.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 4 (0.16%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.16%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.16%) Simulink
7 3 (0.12%) Trello
8 2 (0.079%) CATIA
8 2 (0.079%) Notion
9 1 (0.039%) Adobe After Effects
9 1 (0.039%) Adobe XD
9 1 (0.039%) Blender
9 1 (0.039%) Maya
9 1 (0.039%) 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 (0.039%) Distributed Ledger
7 1 (0.039%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.039%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 645 (25.39%) AWS
2 495 (19.49%) Azure
3 257 (10.12%) GCP
4 203 (7.99%) GitHub
5 116 (4.57%) Serverless
6 99 (3.90%) GitHub Actions
7 98 (3.86%) Azure DevOps
8 81 (3.19%) AWS Lambda
9 59 (2.32%) OpenShift
10 58 (2.28%) Amazon S3
11 51 (2.01%) Anthropic Claude
12 47 (1.85%) Amazon EKS
13 45 (1.77%) Amazon SQS
14 44 (1.73%) Power Platform
15 41 (1.61%) Amazon ECS
16 39 (1.54%) Azure AKS
16 39 (1.54%) GitHub Copilot
17 31 (1.22%) AWS CloudFormation
18 30 (1.18%) Snowflake
19 28 (1.10%) Amazon EC2
Communications & Networking
1 25 (0.98%) Software-Defined Radio
2 24 (0.94%) Wireless
3 23 (0.91%) Ethernet
4 19 (0.75%) Firewall
5 18 (0.71%) Internet
5 18 (0.71%) TCP/IP
6 15 (0.59%) VPN
7 14 (0.55%) HTTP
8 10 (0.39%) Wi-Fi
9 9 (0.35%) 3GPP
10 8 (0.31%) Network Security
10 8 (0.31%) RTP
11 7 (0.28%) RS-232
11 7 (0.28%) Wireshark
12 6 (0.24%) RS-485
13 4 (0.16%) 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
1 159 (6.26%) PostgreSQL
2 96 (3.78%) Relational Database
3 81 (3.19%) NoSQL
4 79 (3.11%) SQL Server
5 54 (2.13%) MongoDB
6 39 (1.54%) Data Warehouse
7 37 (1.46%) DynamoDB
8 33 (1.30%) MySQL
9 30 (1.18%) Big Data
9 30 (1.18%) Power BI
10 23 (0.91%) Elasticsearch
10 23 (0.91%) Redis
11 22 (0.87%) Data Lake
11 22 (0.87%) Metadata
12 21 (0.83%) BigQuery
13 20 (0.79%) Amazon RDS
14 17 (0.67%) Amazon Redshift
14 17 (0.67%) Pinecone
15 16 (0.63%) Weaviate
16 14 (0.55%) Apache Cassandra
Development Applications
1 260 (10.24%) Git
2 155 (6.10%) Jenkins
3 139 (5.47%) GitLab
4 112 (4.41%) JIRA
5 60 (2.36%) SonarQube
6 35 (1.38%) Gradle
6 35 (1.38%) JUnit
7 24 (0.94%) Claude Code
7 24 (0.94%) Visual Studio
8 23 (0.91%) Rational DOORS
9 20 (0.79%) Bitbucket
9 20 (0.79%) Cucumber
10 19 (0.75%) Selenium
11 18 (0.71%) Rational Rhapsody
12 17 (0.67%) Mockito
13 16 (0.63%) Maven
14 15 (0.59%) Liquibase
15 13 (0.51%) Mocha
16 12 (0.47%) Cypress.io
16 12 (0.47%) Eclipse
General
1 474 (18.66%) Finance
2 459 (18.07%) Social Skills
3 188 (7.40%) Banking
4 176 (6.93%) Analytical Skills
5 170 (6.69%) Public Sector
6 102 (4.02%) Aerospace
6 102 (4.02%) Front Office
7 56 (2.20%) Retail
8 49 (1.93%) Manufacturing
9 45 (1.77%) Investment Banking
10 42 (1.65%) Law
11 30 (1.18%) Military
11 30 (1.18%) Telecoms
12 28 (1.10%) Automotive
13 27 (1.06%) Influencing Skills
14 26 (1.02%) Aviation
15 20 (0.79%) Electronics
16 18 (0.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 18 (0.71%) Legal
17 17 (0.67%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 1,203 (47.36%) Software Engineer
2 488 (19.21%) Developer
3 431 (16.97%) Senior
4 287 (11.30%) Lead
5 177 (6.97%) Senior Software Engineer
6 173 (6.81%) Java Engineer
7 145 (5.71%) Embedded Engineer
8 142 (5.59%) Java Software Engineer
9 136 (5.35%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 133 (5.24%) Java Developer
11 114 (4.49%) C++ Software Engineer
12 110 (4.33%) Lead Software Engineer
13 109 (4.29%) Python Engineer
14 104 (4.09%) Software Developer
15 103 (4.06%) Architect
16 90 (3.54%) Senior Developer
17 79 (3.11%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
17 79 (3.11%) Python Developer
18 77 (3.03%) Data Engineer
19 74 (2.91%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 289 (11.38%) React
2 206 (8.11%) .NET
3 201 (7.91%) REST
4 194 (7.64%) Spring
5 183 (7.20%) Node.js
6 181 (7.13%) Kafka
7 174 (6.85%) Spring Boot
8 117 (4.61%) AngularJS
8 117 (4.61%) RESTful
9 71 (2.80%) GraphQL
10 57 (2.24%) Redux
11 50 (1.97%) Django
11 50 (1.97%) Next.js
12 48 (1.89%) HTML
13 47 (1.85%) CSS
14 42 (1.65%) Quarkus
15 39 (1.54%) JSON
16 38 (1.50%) LangChain
17 36 (1.42%) .NET Core
18 35 (1.38%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 337 (13.27%) Cloud Native
2 218 (8.58%) Distributed Systems
3 133 (5.24%) Product Ownership
4 85 (3.35%) Algorithms
5 83 (3.27%) AI Agents
6 75 (2.95%) Fixed Income
7 52 (2.05%) Data Structures
8 47 (1.85%) Onboarding
9 44 (1.73%) Embedded Systems
10 43 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
11 39 (1.54%) Enterprise Software
12 36 (1.42%) Derivative
13 35 (1.38%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
14 34 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
15 32 (1.26%) Self-Motivation
16 30 (1.18%) Equities
17 23 (0.91%) Robotics
18 21 (0.83%) Greenfield Project
19 17 (0.67%) NHS
19 17 (0.67%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 183 (7.20%) Linux
2 57 (2.24%) Windows
3 30 (1.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 29 (1.14%) Unix
5 19 (0.75%) Embedded Linux
6 14 (0.55%) Android
7 11 (0.43%) FreeRTOS
8 10 (0.39%) Apple iOS
8 10 (0.39%) Windows Server
9 8 (0.31%) 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 (0.039%) Tizen
13 1 (0.039%) webOS
13 1 (0.039%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 831 (32.72%) CI/CD
2 803 (31.61%) Agile
3 585 (23.03%) DevOps
4 452 (17.80%) AI
5 385 (15.16%) Microservices
6 332 (13.07%) Test Automation
7 294 (11.57%) Problem-Solving
8 281 (11.06%) Full-Stack Development
9 276 (10.87%) Continuous Improvement
10 266 (10.47%) Infrastructure as Code
11 249 (9.80%) Containerisation
12 219 (8.62%) Observability
13 218 (8.58%) Machine Learning
14 215 (8.46%) SDLC
15 214 (8.43%) Mentoring
16 198 (7.80%) TDD
17 189 (7.44%) Platform Engineering
17 189 (7.44%) Scrum
18 187 (7.36%) Technical Leadership
19 179 (7.05%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 738 (29.06%) Python
2 667 (26.26%) Java
3 335 (13.19%) SQL
4 316 (12.44%) TypeScript
5 294 (11.57%) C#
6 253 (9.96%) JavaScript
7 212 (8.35%) C++
8 118 (4.65%) Go
9 110 (4.33%) Ada
9 110 (4.33%) C
10 61 (2.40%) Kotlin
11 43 (1.69%) Rust
12 37 (1.46%) PowerShell
13 35 (1.38%) Bash
14 34 (1.34%) Scala
15 24 (0.94%) PL/SQL
16 20 (0.79%) Embedded C
16 20 (0.79%) Ruby
17 19 (0.75%) Bicep
18 17 (0.67%) PHP
Qualifications
1 604 (23.78%) Security Cleared
2 504 (19.84%) SC Cleared
3 195 (7.68%) Degree
4 87 (3.43%) Computer Science Degree
5 81 (3.19%) DV Cleared
6 54 (2.13%) BPSS Clearance
7 38 (1.50%) Master's Degree
8 36 (1.42%) AWS Certification
9 21 (0.83%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 19 (0.75%) PhD
11 13 (0.51%) Azure Certification
12 7 (0.28%) CISSP
12 7 (0.28%) ISTQB
12 7 (0.28%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 6 (0.24%) Chartered Engineer
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
1 154 (6.06%) QA
2 58 (2.28%) Data Quality
3 49 (1.93%) Accessibility
4 23 (0.91%) Def Stans
5 19 (0.75%) GDPR
6 15 (0.59%) NIST
7 14 (0.55%) IEC 61508
8 13 (0.51%) WCAG
9 12 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 12 (0.47%) MISRA
10 10 (0.39%) DO-178B
11 8 (0.31%) 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%) MISRA C
15 3 (0.12%) Software Quality Assurance
16 2 (0.079%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 368 (14.49%) Docker
2 23 (0.91%) 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 (0.079%) SRDF
9 1 (0.039%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 419 (16.50%) Kubernetes
2 246 (9.69%) Terraform
3 76 (2.99%) Ansible
4 56 (2.20%) Grafana
5 43 (1.69%) Argo
6 37 (1.46%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.43%) Kibana
7 11 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
8 9 (0.35%) Puppet
9 7 (0.28%) Progress Chef
10 5 (0.20%) HAProxy
10 5 (0.20%) Kubeflow
11 4 (0.16%) Functional Safety
12 3 (0.12%) Consul
13 2 (0.079%) Cilium
13 2 (0.079%) Docker Swarm
13 2 (0.079%) HP Fortify
14 1 (0.039%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
14 1 (0.039%) Kustomize
14 1 (0.039%) Podman
Vendors
1 124 (4.88%) Microsoft
2 87 (3.43%) Google
3 73 (2.87%) Oracle
4 55 (2.17%) Databricks
5 53 (2.09%) Red Hat
6 40 (1.57%) OpenAI
7 19 (0.75%) Informatica
7 19 (0.75%) Salesforce
7 19 (0.75%) Splunk
8 18 (0.71%) IBM
8 18 (0.71%) ServiceNow
9 12 (0.47%) Adobe
10 11 (0.43%) SAP
11 10 (0.39%) Checkmarx
11 10 (0.39%) ForgeRock
11 10 (0.39%) Foundry
11 10 (0.39%) Okta
12 9 (0.35%) Dynatrace
12 9 (0.35%) Siemens
12 9 (0.35%) Solace