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 5 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 42 29
Rank change year-on-year +9 -13 +11
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,388 1,286 2,288
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.42% 4.85% 6.14%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.35% 5.33% 7.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,298 841 1,364
10th Percentile £400 £400 £419
25th Percentile £463 £475 £493
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £607
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% -1.07% +1.08%
75th Percentile £688 £775 £788
90th Percentile £788 £850 £875
UK median daily rate £550 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -4.35% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 435 76 394
10th Percentile £52.50 £34.38 £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 £74.00 £76.25 £76.75
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 37,627 24,117 31,905
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.34% 90.98% 85.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,684 15,510 20,711
10th Percentile £325 £300 £305
25th Percentile £419 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £523 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.55% -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £730 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £515 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +1.98% -3.81% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,363 1,203 2,295
10th Percentile £15.26 £14.20 £12.79
25th Percentile £20.79 £17.93 £16.18
Median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +86.88% -34.02% +1.65%
75th Percentile £68.55 £55.00 £61.80
90th Percentile £82.25 £72.30 £72.95
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.75
% change year-on-year +74.79% -33.38% +0.67%

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 5 July 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 5 July 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 5 July 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 -4 1,037 £600 -7.69% 1,034
North of England +23 364 £538 +9.16% 371
South West +27 323 £550 +4.76% 265
South East +23 298 £525 +4.90% 434
East of England +27 223 £500 +2.40% 216
North West +9 174 £525 +5.00% 200
Yorkshire +16 126 £538 +9.69% 99
Midlands -27 98 £459 -8.20% 149
West Midlands -28 77 £459 -17.67% 74
North East +16 69 £650 +41.30% 74
East Midlands -14 20 £513 +7.89% 75
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 53 (2.22%) Confluence
2 41 (1.72%) Apache Spark
3 28 (1.17%) Apache
3 28 (1.17%) Apache Airflow
4 9 (0.38%) 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%) 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
11 1 (0.042%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 14 (0.59%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (0.34%) Adobe Creative Suite
2 8 (0.34%) Chatbot
3 5 (0.21%) CPLEX
4 4 (0.17%) Simulink
5 3 (0.13%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.084%) CATIA
6 2 (0.084%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 1 (0.042%) Adobe After Effects
7 1 (0.042%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.042%) Blender
7 1 (0.042%) Maya
7 1 (0.042%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.042%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.042%) Notion
7 1 (0.042%) S-PLUS
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%) Endur
4 2 (0.084%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.042%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.042%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.042%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 587 (24.58%) AWS
2 458 (19.18%) Azure
3 217 (9.09%) GCP
4 166 (6.95%) GitHub
5 117 (4.90%) Serverless
6 97 (4.06%) Azure DevOps
7 78 (3.27%) GitHub Actions
8 76 (3.18%) AWS Lambda
9 61 (2.55%) Amazon S3
10 57 (2.39%) OpenShift
11 46 (1.93%) Power Platform
12 40 (1.68%) Amazon SQS
13 39 (1.63%) Azure AKS
14 37 (1.55%) Anthropic Claude
15 36 (1.51%) Amazon ECS
15 36 (1.51%) Amazon EKS
16 31 (1.30%) SaaS
17 30 (1.26%) Amazon EC2
18 28 (1.17%) Entra ID
19 27 (1.13%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 30 (1.26%) Software-Defined Radio
2 24 (1.01%) Ethernet
3 22 (0.92%) Wireless
4 17 (0.71%) TCP/IP
5 15 (0.63%) HTTP
6 14 (0.59%) Firewall
6 14 (0.59%) Internet
7 12 (0.50%) Wi-Fi
8 10 (0.42%) 3GPP
8 10 (0.42%) VPN
9 8 (0.34%) 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%) IPv4
13 3 (0.13%) IPv6
13 3 (0.13%) Modbus
13 3 (0.13%) RS-485
Database & Business Intelligence
1 145 (6.07%) PostgreSQL
2 86 (3.60%) Relational Database
3 71 (2.97%) SQL Server
4 66 (2.76%) NoSQL
5 55 (2.30%) MongoDB
6 35 (1.47%) DynamoDB
7 32 (1.34%) Data Warehouse
8 30 (1.26%) Power BI
9 29 (1.21%) MySQL
10 27 (1.13%) Amazon RDS
10 27 (1.13%) Apache Cassandra
11 25 (1.05%) Big Data
12 23 (0.96%) BigQuery
12 23 (0.96%) Data Lake
13 21 (0.88%) Metadata
14 20 (0.84%) Redis
15 18 (0.75%) Elasticsearch
15 18 (0.75%) Pinecone
16 16 (0.67%) Amazon Redshift
16 16 (0.67%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 237 (9.92%) Git
2 146 (6.11%) Jenkins
3 123 (5.15%) GitLab
4 107 (4.48%) JIRA
5 55 (2.30%) SonarQube
6 36 (1.51%) Gradle
7 32 (1.34%) JUnit
8 28 (1.17%) Rational DOORS
9 27 (1.13%) Rational Rhapsody
10 24 (1.01%) Visual Studio
11 20 (0.84%) Cucumber
11 20 (0.84%) Selenium
12 19 (0.80%) Bitbucket
12 19 (0.80%) Maven
13 16 (0.67%) Liquibase
14 14 (0.59%) Claude Code
14 14 (0.59%) Cypress.io
14 14 (0.59%) IntelliJ
14 14 (0.59%) Mockito
15 12 (0.50%) Eclipse
General
1 428 (17.92%) Finance
2 404 (16.92%) Social Skills
3 160 (6.70%) Banking
4 152 (6.37%) Analytical Skills
5 149 (6.24%) Public Sector
6 101 (4.23%) Aerospace
7 85 (3.56%) Front Office
8 50 (2.09%) Retail
9 45 (1.88%) Law
10 44 (1.84%) Manufacturing
11 41 (1.72%) Investment Banking
12 28 (1.17%) Military
13 27 (1.13%) Automotive
14 26 (1.09%) Aviation
15 25 (1.05%) Telecoms
16 24 (1.01%) Influencing Skills
17 20 (0.84%) Electronics
18 17 (0.71%) Legal
19 16 (0.67%) Documentation Skills
20 14 (0.59%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 1,203 (50.38%) Software Engineer
2 439 (18.38%) Developer
3 399 (16.71%) Senior
4 246 (10.30%) Lead
5 175 (7.33%) Senior Software Engineer
6 171 (7.16%) Java Engineer
7 146 (6.11%) Embedded Engineer
8 141 (5.90%) Java Software Engineer
9 135 (5.65%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 132 (5.53%) Java Developer
11 130 (5.44%) C++ Software Engineer
12 104 (4.36%) Architect
13 93 (3.89%) Lead Software Engineer
14 84 (3.52%) Python Engineer
15 82 (3.43%) Senior Developer
15 82 (3.43%) Software Developer
16 73 (3.06%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
16 73 (3.06%) Python Developer
17 70 (2.93%) Developer/Software Engineer
18 67 (2.81%) DevOps Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 269 (11.26%) React
2 185 (7.75%) .NET
3 179 (7.50%) Kafka
4 175 (7.33%) Spring
5 174 (7.29%) Node.js
6 165 (6.91%) REST
7 157 (6.57%) Spring Boot
8 109 (4.56%) RESTful
9 104 (4.36%) AngularJS
10 77 (3.22%) GraphQL
11 59 (2.47%) Redux
12 46 (1.93%) CSS
13 45 (1.88%) HTML
14 40 (1.68%) JSON
14 40 (1.68%) Next.js
15 36 (1.51%) Django
16 35 (1.47%) Quarkus
16 35 (1.47%) Web Services
17 34 (1.42%) OAuth
18 33 (1.38%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 270 (11.31%) Cloud Native
2 183 (7.66%) Distributed Systems
3 121 (5.07%) Product Ownership
4 83 (3.48%) Algorithms
5 71 (2.97%) Fixed Income
6 63 (2.64%) AI Agents
7 43 (1.80%) Embedded Systems
8 40 (1.68%) Onboarding
9 37 (1.55%) Data Protection Act
10 35 (1.47%) Data Structures
11 34 (1.42%) Legacy Systems
12 33 (1.38%) Derivative
13 31 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
14 27 (1.13%) Equities
14 27 (1.13%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 25 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
16 21 (0.88%) Robotics
17 19 (0.80%) Greenfield Project
18 17 (0.71%) Mobile App
19 14 (0.59%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 186 (7.79%) Linux
2 59 (2.47%) Windows
3 37 (1.55%) Unix
4 30 (1.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 15 (0.63%) Apple iOS
5 15 (0.63%) Embedded Linux
6 13 (0.54%) Android
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%) VMS
10 4 (0.17%) Windows Server 2019
11 3 (0.13%) Solaris
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
1 724 (30.32%) CI/CD
2 719 (30.11%) Agile
3 509 (21.31%) DevOps
4 379 (15.87%) AI
5 344 (14.41%) Microservices
6 296 (12.40%) Test Automation
7 260 (10.89%) Problem-Solving
8 251 (10.51%) Full-Stack Development
9 222 (9.30%) Containerisation
10 220 (9.21%) Infrastructure as Code
11 217 (9.09%) Continuous Improvement
12 189 (7.91%) TDD
13 186 (7.79%) Observability
13 186 (7.79%) SDLC
14 184 (7.71%) Machine Learning
15 178 (7.45%) Mentoring
16 176 (7.37%) Scrum
17 163 (6.83%) Platform Engineering
18 156 (6.53%) Technical Leadership
19 154 (6.45%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 644 (26.97%) Python
2 611 (25.59%) Java
3 310 (12.98%) SQL
4 293 (12.27%) TypeScript
5 289 (12.10%) C#
6 239 (10.01%) JavaScript
7 228 (9.55%) C++
8 129 (5.40%) Ada
9 125 (5.23%) Go
10 114 (4.77%) C
11 43 (1.80%) Kotlin
12 37 (1.55%) Rust
13 31 (1.30%) Bash
13 31 (1.30%) PowerShell
14 28 (1.17%) Scala
15 25 (1.05%) PL/SQL
16 22 (0.92%) MATLAB
17 21 (0.88%) Embedded C
18 17 (0.71%) Ruby
18 17 (0.71%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 586 (24.54%) Security Cleared
2 477 (19.97%) SC Cleared
3 177 (7.41%) Degree
4 77 (3.22%) Computer Science Degree
5 73 (3.06%) DV Cleared
6 50 (2.09%) BPSS Clearance
7 28 (1.17%) AWS Certification
7 28 (1.17%) Master's Degree
8 18 (0.75%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 13 (0.54%) Azure Certification
10 12 (0.50%) PhD
11 10 (0.42%) CISSP
12 7 (0.29%) ISTQB
12 7 (0.29%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 6 (0.25%) Chartered Engineer
13 6 (0.25%) TOGAF Certification
14 5 (0.21%) PMP
15 4 (0.17%) CISM
15 4 (0.17%) GIAC
15 4 (0.17%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 130 (5.44%) QA
2 46 (1.93%) Data Quality
3 42 (1.76%) Accessibility
3 42 (1.76%) Def Stans
4 27 (1.13%) IEC 61508
5 21 (0.88%) GDPR
6 19 (0.80%) MISRA
7 15 (0.63%) NIST
8 11 (0.46%) DO-178B
8 11 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 11 (0.46%) WCAG
9 9 (0.38%) MISRA C
9 9 (0.38%) NCSC
10 6 (0.25%) GRC
10 6 (0.25%) PCI DSS
11 5 (0.21%) JSP 440
11 5 (0.21%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.17%) DO-254
13 3 (0.13%) FATCA
14 2 (0.084%) EMIR
System Software
1 327 (13.69%) Docker
2 24 (1.01%) Firmware
3 10 (0.42%) Active Directory
4 9 (0.38%) Embedded Firmware
5 7 (0.29%) VMware Infrastructure
6 6 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.17%) Oracle RAC
8 3 (0.13%) HDFS
9 2 (0.084%) SRDF
Systems Management
1 382 (16.00%) Kubernetes
2 222 (9.30%) Terraform
3 66 (2.76%) Ansible
4 63 (2.64%) Grafana
5 40 (1.68%) Prometheus
6 37 (1.55%) Argo
7 11 (0.46%) Kibana
8 10 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (0.29%) Puppet
10 6 (0.25%) Progress Chef
11 5 (0.21%) HAProxy
12 4 (0.17%) Data Guard
12 4 (0.17%) HP Quality Center
13 3 (0.13%) Consul
13 3 (0.13%) Docker Swarm
13 3 (0.13%) Functional Safety
13 3 (0.13%) Kubeflow
14 2 (0.084%) Cilium
14 2 (0.084%) HP Fortify
14 2 (0.084%) Istio
Vendors
1 124 (5.19%) Microsoft
2 77 (3.22%) Google
3 73 (3.06%) Oracle
4 50 (2.09%) Red Hat
5 42 (1.76%) Databricks
6 37 (1.55%) OpenAI
7 19 (0.80%) IBM
8 18 (0.75%) Informatica
8 18 (0.75%) ServiceNow
8 18 (0.75%) Splunk
9 14 (0.59%) Salesforce
10 13 (0.54%) Foundry
11 12 (0.50%) SAP
11 12 (0.50%) Siemens
12 10 (0.42%) Adobe
12 10 (0.42%) Checkmarx
12 10 (0.42%) ForgeRock
12 10 (0.42%) Okta
13 8 (0.34%) Dynatrace
14 7 (0.29%) Confluent