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 1 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 36 40 33
Rank change year-on-year +4 -7 +8
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,095 1,215 2,025
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.19% 4.99% 5.44%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.11% 5.47% 6.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,095 807 1,191
10th Percentile £400 £405 £419
25th Percentile £453 £488 £491
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £600
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £670 £775 £750
90th Percentile £775 £838 £850
UK median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 462 79 340
10th Percentile £52.50 £42.90 £46.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £56.44 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year - +4.00% -3.85%
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £68.75 £80.00
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year - +4.00% -2.56%

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 34,314 22,202 32,201
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.00% 91.20% 86.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,947 14,537 21,107
10th Percentile £318 £310 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.95% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £617 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,131 918 2,248
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.69 £12.92
25th Percentile £20.38 £18.50 £16.02
Median hourly rate £45.46 £30.00 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year +51.53% -16.67% -4.00%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £79.50 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £41.56 £29.00 £35.65
% change year-on-year +43.29% -18.65% -4.42%

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 1 May 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 1 May 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 1 May 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 -9 858 £596 -11.70% 642
South West +16 308 £575 - 182
North of England +17 302 £500 - 266
South East +20 256 £525 +2.44% 399
East of England +41 217 £475 -2.72% 177
North West +2 135 £488 -2.55% 152
Yorkshire +10 117 £520 +4.00% 72
Midlands -36 96 £498 +3.11% 117
West Midlands -17 85 £492 -7.38% 60
North East +21 54 £538 +16.85% 42
East Midlands -35 10 £513 +4.59% 57
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 (2.63%) Confluence
2 48 (2.29%) Apache Spark
3 38 (1.81%) Apache
4 21 (1.00%) Apache Airflow
5 9 (0.43%) CMS
6 7 (0.33%) SAS
7 5 (0.24%) IIS
7 5 (0.24%) Palantir Foundry
7 5 (0.24%) SharePoint
7 5 (0.24%) WebLogic
8 4 (0.19%) nginx
9 3 (0.14%) Camunda
9 3 (0.14%) OpenStack
10 2 (0.095%) MQSeries
10 2 (0.095%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 2 (0.095%) Sitecore CMS
10 2 (0.095%) Tomcat
10 2 (0.095%) WinCC
11 1 (0.048%) Microsoft Exchange
11 1 (0.048%) Smallworld
Applications
1 12 (0.57%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.24%) Chatbot
4 4 (0.19%) Simulink
5 3 (0.14%) CPLEX
5 3 (0.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 2 (0.095%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.048%) Adobe After Effects
7 1 (0.048%) Adobe Creative Suite
7 1 (0.048%) Blender
7 1 (0.048%) Maya
7 1 (0.048%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.048%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.048%) OrCAD
Business Applications
1 6 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
3 2 (0.095%) Aladdin
3 2 (0.095%) LabWindows
3 2 (0.095%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 1 (0.048%) Orchestrade
4 1 (0.048%) Primavera
4 1 (0.048%) Sprinklr
4 1 (0.048%) Temenos T24
Cloud Services
1 548 (26.16%) AWS
2 393 (18.76%) Azure
3 192 (9.16%) GCP
4 144 (6.87%) GitHub
5 119 (5.68%) Serverless
6 79 (3.77%) Azure DevOps
7 68 (3.25%) AWS Lambda
8 66 (3.15%) Amazon S3
9 63 (3.01%) GitHub Actions
10 52 (2.48%) Power Platform
11 51 (2.43%) OpenShift
12 41 (1.96%) AWS CloudFormation
13 38 (1.81%) Azure AKS
14 37 (1.77%) Amazon EKS
15 36 (1.72%) Amazon ECS
16 29 (1.38%) Amazon EC2
16 29 (1.38%) SaaS
17 27 (1.29%) Amazon SQS
18 26 (1.24%) Azure Functions
19 21 (1.00%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 27 (1.29%) Software-Defined Radio
2 25 (1.19%) Ethernet
3 16 (0.76%) Wireless
4 14 (0.67%) TCP/IP
5 12 (0.57%) HTTP
6 10 (0.48%) Network Security
7 9 (0.43%) 3GPP
8 7 (0.33%) Firewall
9 5 (0.24%) Modbus
9 5 (0.24%) RTP
9 5 (0.24%) Wi-Fi
10 4 (0.19%) DNS
10 4 (0.19%) RS-232
10 4 (0.19%) RS-485
10 4 (0.19%) Wireshark
11 3 (0.14%) Bluetooth
11 3 (0.14%) IPv4
11 3 (0.14%) IPv6
11 3 (0.14%) RS-422
11 3 (0.14%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 130 (6.21%) PostgreSQL
2 64 (3.05%) Relational Database
2 64 (3.05%) SQL Server
3 59 (2.82%) NoSQL
4 54 (2.58%) Apache Cassandra
5 50 (2.39%) MongoDB
6 37 (1.77%) Power BI
7 35 (1.67%) Amazon RDS
8 32 (1.53%) Data Lake
9 28 (1.34%) Big Data
10 27 (1.29%) BigQuery
11 26 (1.24%) DynamoDB
11 26 (1.24%) MySQL
12 21 (1.00%) Data Warehouse
12 21 (1.00%) Metadata
13 18 (0.86%) Amazon Redshift
14 15 (0.72%) Amazon Athena
15 14 (0.67%) Elasticsearch
15 14 (0.67%) Redis
16 13 (0.62%) Mixpanel
Development Applications
1 212 (10.12%) Git
2 138 (6.59%) Jenkins
3 117 (5.58%) GitLab
4 110 (5.25%) JIRA
5 45 (2.15%) SonarQube
6 35 (1.67%) Gradle
7 34 (1.62%) Rational DOORS
8 32 (1.53%) Rational Rhapsody
9 30 (1.43%) JUnit
10 23 (1.10%) Bitbucket
10 23 (1.10%) IntelliJ
11 22 (1.05%) Cucumber
12 20 (0.95%) Cypress.io
13 19 (0.91%) Maven
14 18 (0.86%) Selenium
14 18 (0.86%) Visual Studio
15 15 (0.72%) Mockito
16 12 (0.57%) Artifactory
16 12 (0.57%) Eclipse
16 12 (0.57%) Liquibase
General
1 316 (15.08%) Finance
2 306 (14.61%) Social Skills
3 127 (6.06%) Public Sector
4 115 (5.49%) Analytical Skills
5 113 (5.39%) Banking
6 87 (4.15%) Aerospace
7 66 (3.15%) Front Office
8 38 (1.81%) Law
9 37 (1.77%) Electronics
10 36 (1.72%) Manufacturing
11 32 (1.53%) Retail
12 29 (1.38%) Military
13 27 (1.29%) Investment Banking
14 24 (1.15%) Influencing Skills
15 22 (1.05%) Presentation Skills
16 21 (1.00%) Telecoms
17 16 (0.76%) Financial Institution
18 13 (0.62%) Automotive
18 13 (0.62%) Documentation Skills
19 12 (0.57%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 1,137 (54.27%) Software Engineer
2 370 (17.66%) Developer
3 368 (17.57%) Senior
4 178 (8.50%) Senior Software Engineer
5 162 (7.73%) Embedded Engineer
6 154 (7.35%) Lead
7 150 (7.16%) Embedded Software Engineer
8 142 (6.78%) Java Engineer
9 124 (5.92%) C++ Software Engineer
10 115 (5.49%) Java Software Engineer
11 98 (4.68%) Java Developer
12 88 (4.20%) Architect
13 73 (3.48%) Senior Developer
14 66 (3.15%) Developer/Software Engineer
15 62 (2.96%) Data Engineer
15 62 (2.96%) Full-Stack Engineer
15 62 (2.96%) Python Engineer
16 60 (2.86%) Software Developer
17 57 (2.72%) Lead Software Engineer
17 57 (2.72%) Python Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 233 (11.12%) React
2 190 (9.07%) Kafka
3 173 (8.26%) Node.js
4 148 (7.06%) .NET
5 142 (6.78%) REST
5 142 (6.78%) Spring
6 130 (6.21%) Spring Boot
7 101 (4.82%) AngularJS
8 93 (4.44%) RESTful
9 75 (3.58%) GraphQL
10 53 (2.53%) gRPC
11 52 (2.48%) Middleware
11 52 (2.48%) Redux
12 49 (2.34%) CSS
13 43 (2.05%) HTML
14 37 (1.77%) JSON
14 37 (1.77%) Playwright
15 36 (1.72%) Web Services
16 34 (1.62%) OpenTelemetry
17 30 (1.43%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 218 (10.41%) Cloud Native
2 144 (6.87%) Distributed Systems
3 96 (4.58%) Product Ownership
4 82 (3.91%) Algorithms
5 58 (2.77%) Fixed Income
6 41 (1.96%) AI Agents
7 33 (1.58%) Data Protection Act
7 33 (1.58%) Embedded Systems
8 32 (1.53%) Onboarding
9 27 (1.29%) Derivative
9 27 (1.29%) Legacy Systems
10 26 (1.24%) Mobile App
10 26 (1.24%) Robotics
11 25 (1.19%) Data Structures
12 20 (0.95%) Equities
13 19 (0.91%) Greenfield Project
14 18 (0.86%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 14 (0.67%) FPGA
15 14 (0.67%) NHS
16 13 (0.62%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 198 (9.45%) Linux
2 70 (3.34%) Windows
3 43 (2.05%) Unix
4 26 (1.24%) Android
5 24 (1.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 19 (0.91%) Apple iOS
7 12 (0.57%) Embedded Linux
8 11 (0.53%) Windows Server
9 10 (0.48%) FreeRTOS
10 7 (0.33%) Ubuntu
11 6 (0.29%) Debian
12 4 (0.19%) Rocky
12 4 (0.19%) VMS
13 2 (0.095%) Robot Operating System
13 2 (0.095%) Solaris
13 2 (0.095%) Windows Server 2008
13 2 (0.095%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.048%) Mac OS
14 1 (0.048%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 590 (28.16%) CI/CD
2 587 (28.02%) Agile
3 421 (20.10%) DevOps
4 326 (15.56%) Microservices
5 279 (13.32%) AI
6 227 (10.84%) Problem-Solving
7 225 (10.74%) Full-Stack Development
8 218 (10.41%) Containerisation
9 216 (10.31%) Test Automation
10 204 (9.74%) Infrastructure as Code
11 161 (7.68%) Observability
12 156 (7.45%) Computer Science
12 156 (7.45%) SDLC
13 152 (7.26%) Machine Learning
14 149 (7.11%) Continuous Improvement
15 147 (7.02%) Mentoring
16 142 (6.78%) Scrum
17 140 (6.68%) TDD
18 136 (6.49%) Technical Leadership
19 122 (5.82%) Platform Engineering
Programming Languages
1 537 (25.63%) Python
2 507 (24.20%) Java
3 274 (13.08%) SQL
4 261 (12.46%) C#
5 247 (11.79%) TypeScript
6 230 (10.98%) C++
7 221 (10.55%) JavaScript
8 150 (7.16%) Go
9 133 (6.35%) Ada
10 124 (5.92%) C
11 35 (1.67%) Embedded C
11 35 (1.67%) Kotlin
11 35 (1.67%) PowerShell
12 33 (1.58%) Bash
13 26 (1.24%) MATLAB
14 25 (1.19%) Ruby
14 25 (1.19%) Rust
15 22 (1.05%) Shell Script
16 20 (0.95%) Scala
17 17 (0.81%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 515 (24.58%) Security Cleared
2 402 (19.19%) SC Cleared
3 174 (8.31%) Degree
4 90 (4.30%) Computer Science Degree
5 63 (3.01%) DV Cleared
6 38 (1.81%) Master's Degree
7 30 (1.43%) BPSS Clearance
8 24 (1.15%) AWS Certification
9 14 (0.67%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 13 (0.62%) Azure Certification
11 12 (0.57%) CISSP
12 11 (0.53%) PhD
13 9 (0.43%) CISM
14 8 (0.38%) TOGAF Certification
15 6 (0.29%) ISTQB
15 6 (0.29%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
16 4 (0.19%) HND
16 4 (0.19%) Microsoft Certification
17 3 (0.14%) Cisco Certification
17 3 (0.14%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 114 (5.44%) QA
2 51 (2.43%) Def Stans
3 39 (1.86%) Data Quality
4 36 (1.72%) IEC 61508
5 28 (1.34%) Accessibility
6 27 (1.29%) GDPR
7 22 (1.05%) MISRA
8 16 (0.76%) MISRA C
9 9 (0.43%) NCSC
10 8 (0.38%) WCAG
11 7 (0.33%) DO-178B
11 7 (0.33%) HL7
11 7 (0.33%) NIST
12 6 (0.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
13 4 (0.19%) PCI DSS
13 4 (0.19%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.14%) EMIR
14 3 (0.14%) FATCA
14 3 (0.14%) JSP 440
14 3 (0.14%) MiFID
System Software
1 309 (14.75%) Docker
2 21 (1.00%) Firmware
3 16 (0.76%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (0.48%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (0.38%) Active Directory
5 8 (0.38%) Embedded Firmware
6 4 (0.19%) Oracle RAC
7 3 (0.14%) HDFS
8 2 (0.095%) SRDF
Systems Management
1 349 (16.66%) Kubernetes
2 214 (10.21%) Terraform
3 91 (4.34%) Grafana
4 62 (2.96%) Ansible
5 51 (2.43%) Prometheus
6 35 (1.67%) Argo
7 15 (0.72%) Puppet
8 12 (0.57%) Progress Chef
9 6 (0.29%) Istio
9 6 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
10 5 (0.24%) HAProxy
10 5 (0.24%) Kibana
10 5 (0.24%) Kubeflow
11 4 (0.19%) Data Guard
11 4 (0.19%) Docker Swarm
11 4 (0.19%) HP Quality Center
12 3 (0.14%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
13 2 (0.095%) Consul
13 2 (0.095%) HP ALM
13 2 (0.095%) Podman
Vendors
1 139 (6.63%) Microsoft
2 77 (3.68%) Google
3 61 (2.91%) Oracle
4 58 (2.77%) Red Hat
5 46 (2.20%) Databricks
6 24 (1.15%) IBM
7 21 (1.00%) OpenAI
8 20 (0.95%) Splunk
9 17 (0.81%) VMware
10 13 (0.62%) Foundry
11 12 (0.57%) SAP
11 12 (0.57%) ServiceNow
12 11 (0.53%) Informatica
12 11 (0.53%) Okta
13 10 (0.48%) Atlassian
13 10 (0.48%) Dynatrace
13 10 (0.48%) ForgeRock
13 10 (0.48%) MathWorks
13 10 (0.48%) PagerDuty
13 10 (0.48%) Siemens