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

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 43 30
Rank change year-on-year +12 -13 +11
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 2,485 1,334 2,053
As % of all contract jobs in England 5.53% 4.88% 5.87%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.48% 5.38% 6.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,382 865 1,300
10th Percentile £400 £384 £404
25th Percentile £468 £463 £499
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £600 £615
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £688 £775 £800
90th Percentile £788 £850 £888
UK median daily rate £550 £575 £600
% change year-on-year -4.35% -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 410 79 329
10th Percentile £51.15 £36.25 £48.00
25th Percentile £60.08 £51.63 £54.36
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile £70.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.03 £78.00 £75.00
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 38,365 24,818 30,014
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.35% 90.70% 85.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,059 15,915 19,627
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £420 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £633 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £753
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,375 1,336 1,933
10th Percentile £15.38 £14.23 £13.60
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.98 £17.25
Median hourly rate £47.00 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +86.88% -37.13% -8.32%
75th Percentile £69.63 £52.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £71.35 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +74.79% -37.13% -6.98%

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 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 24 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 24 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 -2 1,103 £600 -7.69% 1,488
North of England +29 391 £538 +9.25% 408
South East +27 314 £525 +4.90% 390
South West +21 312 £550 +10.00% 227
East of England +24 216 £505 +3.48% 195
North West +9 185 £550 +10.00% 260
Yorkshire +17 143 £525 +7.14% 97
Midlands -11 107 £464 -7.25% 155
West Midlands -19 82 £461 -19.87% 80
North East +13 68 £650 +41.30% 54
East Midlands -6 24 £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 56 (2.25%) Confluence
2 46 (1.85%) Apache Spark
3 31 (1.25%) Apache Airflow
4 30 (1.21%) Apache
5 11 (0.44%) CMS
6 10 (0.40%) SAS
7 7 (0.28%) SharePoint
8 5 (0.20%) Ethereum
8 5 (0.20%) Hyperledger
8 5 (0.20%) nginx
9 4 (0.16%) Jupyter
9 4 (0.16%) WebLogic
10 3 (0.12%) Palantir Foundry
10 3 (0.12%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.080%) Apache Pulsar
11 2 (0.080%) Apache Solr
11 2 (0.080%) Apache Superset
11 2 (0.080%) IIS
11 2 (0.080%) MQSeries
11 2 (0.080%) WordPress
Applications
1 15 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
2 10 (0.40%) Adobe Creative Suite
3 9 (0.36%) Chatbot
4 7 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
5 6 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
6 5 (0.20%) CPLEX
7 4 (0.16%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 4 (0.16%) Microsoft Project
7 4 (0.16%) Simulink
8 3 (0.12%) MS Visio
9 2 (0.080%) CATIA
9 2 (0.080%) Trello
10 1 (0.040%) Adobe After Effects
10 1 (0.040%) Adobe XD
10 1 (0.040%) Blender
10 1 (0.040%) Maya
10 1 (0.040%) Notion
10 1 (0.040%) S-PLUS
Business Applications
1 7 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
2 6 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (0.24%) Payment Gateway
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 (0.080%) Aladdin
6 2 (0.080%) Endur
6 2 (0.080%) Remedy ITSM
7 1 (0.040%) Distributed Ledger
7 1 (0.040%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
7 1 (0.040%) Sprinklr
Cloud Services
1 626 (25.19%) AWS
2 481 (19.36%) Azure
3 249 (10.02%) GCP
4 196 (7.89%) GitHub
5 121 (4.87%) Serverless
6 99 (3.98%) GitHub Actions
7 98 (3.94%) Azure DevOps
8 82 (3.30%) AWS Lambda
9 61 (2.45%) Amazon S3
10 55 (2.21%) OpenShift
11 49 (1.97%) Anthropic Claude
12 48 (1.93%) Power Platform
13 46 (1.85%) Amazon EKS
14 45 (1.81%) Amazon SQS
15 44 (1.77%) Amazon ECS
16 39 (1.57%) Azure AKS
17 32 (1.29%) AWS CloudFormation
17 32 (1.29%) GitHub Copilot
18 30 (1.21%) Amazon EC2
19 28 (1.13%) Entra ID
Communications & Networking
1 25 (1.01%) Software-Defined Radio
2 24 (0.97%) Wireless
3 23 (0.93%) Ethernet
4 19 (0.76%) Firewall
5 18 (0.72%) TCP/IP
6 17 (0.68%) Internet
7 15 (0.60%) HTTP
8 14 (0.56%) VPN
9 11 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
10 9 (0.36%) 3GPP
10 9 (0.36%) Network Security
11 8 (0.32%) RTP
12 7 (0.28%) Wireshark
13 6 (0.24%) RS-232
14 5 (0.20%) DNS
14 5 (0.20%) RS-485
15 4 (0.16%) RS-422
16 3 (0.12%) HTTPS
16 3 (0.12%) IPv4
16 3 (0.12%) IPv6
Database & Business Intelligence
1 156 (6.28%) PostgreSQL
2 96 (3.86%) Relational Database
3 76 (3.06%) SQL Server
4 73 (2.94%) NoSQL
5 50 (2.01%) MongoDB
6 37 (1.49%) Data Warehouse
7 36 (1.45%) DynamoDB
8 30 (1.21%) Big Data
8 30 (1.21%) MySQL
8 30 (1.21%) Power BI
9 23 (0.93%) BigQuery
9 23 (0.93%) Redis
10 22 (0.89%) Amazon RDS
10 22 (0.89%) Metadata
11 21 (0.85%) Data Lake
11 21 (0.85%) Elasticsearch
12 18 (0.72%) Apache Cassandra
13 17 (0.68%) Amazon Redshift
13 17 (0.68%) Pinecone
14 15 (0.60%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 251 (10.10%) Git
2 154 (6.20%) Jenkins
3 132 (5.31%) GitLab
4 109 (4.39%) JIRA
5 58 (2.33%) SonarQube
6 36 (1.45%) Gradle
7 34 (1.37%) JUnit
8 24 (0.97%) Visual Studio
9 22 (0.89%) Claude Code
9 22 (0.89%) Rational DOORS
10 20 (0.80%) Cucumber
11 19 (0.76%) Bitbucket
11 19 (0.76%) Rational Rhapsody
12 18 (0.72%) Maven
12 18 (0.72%) Selenium
13 16 (0.64%) Liquibase
13 16 (0.64%) Mockito
14 12 (0.48%) Cypress.io
14 12 (0.48%) Eclipse
14 12 (0.48%) Mocha
General
1 455 (18.31%) Finance
2 435 (17.51%) Social Skills
3 179 (7.20%) Banking
4 167 (6.72%) Analytical Skills
5 166 (6.68%) Public Sector
6 103 (4.14%) Aerospace
7 96 (3.86%) Front Office
8 58 (2.33%) Retail
9 45 (1.81%) Manufacturing
10 43 (1.73%) Investment Banking
11 42 (1.69%) Law
12 31 (1.25%) Telecoms
13 30 (1.21%) Military
14 27 (1.09%) Automotive
15 26 (1.05%) Influencing Skills
16 25 (1.01%) Aviation
17 20 (0.80%) Electronics
18 17 (0.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 17 (0.68%) Legal
19 14 (0.56%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 1,192 (47.97%) Software Engineer
2 471 (18.95%) Developer
3 427 (17.18%) Senior
4 276 (11.11%) Lead
5 176 (7.08%) Senior Software Engineer
6 167 (6.72%) Java Engineer
7 142 (5.71%) Embedded Engineer
8 137 (5.51%) Java Software Engineer
9 133 (5.35%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 132 (5.31%) Java Developer
11 118 (4.75%) C++ Software Engineer
12 106 (4.27%) Lead Software Engineer
13 101 (4.06%) Python Engineer
14 100 (4.02%) Architect
14 100 (4.02%) Software Developer
15 85 (3.42%) Senior Developer
16 80 (3.22%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
17 77 (3.10%) DevOps Engineer
17 77 (3.10%) Python Developer
18 73 (2.94%) Developer/Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 283 (11.39%) React
2 196 (7.89%) .NET
3 193 (7.77%) REST
4 187 (7.53%) Spring
5 185 (7.44%) Node.js
6 182 (7.32%) Kafka
7 169 (6.80%) Spring Boot
8 118 (4.75%) RESTful
9 109 (4.39%) AngularJS
10 75 (3.02%) GraphQL
11 58 (2.33%) Redux
12 48 (1.93%) Next.js
13 47 (1.89%) CSS
13 47 (1.89%) HTML
14 46 (1.85%) Django
15 44 (1.77%) JSON
16 39 (1.57%) Quarkus
17 35 (1.41%) LangChain
18 34 (1.37%) .NET Core
18 34 (1.37%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 320 (12.88%) Cloud Native
2 213 (8.57%) Distributed Systems
3 132 (5.31%) Product Ownership
4 83 (3.34%) Algorithms
5 75 (3.02%) AI Agents
5 75 (3.02%) Fixed Income
6 46 (1.85%) Data Structures
6 46 (1.85%) Onboarding
7 43 (1.73%) Data Protection Act
7 43 (1.73%) Embedded Systems
8 36 (1.45%) Derivative
8 36 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
9 35 (1.41%) Legacy Systems
10 34 (1.37%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 32 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
12 29 (1.17%) Equities
13 21 (0.85%) Greenfield Project
13 21 (0.85%) Robotics
14 17 (0.68%) Virtual Team
15 16 (0.64%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 185 (7.44%) Linux
2 57 (2.29%) Windows
3 34 (1.37%) Unix
4 30 (1.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 19 (0.76%) Embedded Linux
6 14 (0.56%) Android
6 14 (0.56%) Apple iOS
7 11 (0.44%) FreeRTOS
8 10 (0.40%) Windows Server
9 8 (0.32%) 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 (0.080%) VxWorks
13 1 (0.040%) Tizen
13 1 (0.040%) webOS
13 1 (0.040%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 800 (32.19%) CI/CD
2 777 (31.27%) Agile
3 574 (23.10%) DevOps
4 434 (17.46%) AI
5 376 (15.13%) Microservices
6 319 (12.84%) Test Automation
7 283 (11.39%) Problem-Solving
8 276 (11.11%) Full-Stack Development
9 259 (10.42%) Infrastructure as Code
10 257 (10.34%) Continuous Improvement
11 244 (9.82%) Containerisation
12 214 (8.61%) Observability
13 212 (8.53%) Machine Learning
14 204 (8.21%) Mentoring
15 201 (8.09%) SDLC
16 194 (7.81%) TDD
17 183 (7.36%) Platform Engineering
18 182 (7.32%) Scrum
18 182 (7.32%) Technical Leadership
19 174 (7.00%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 710 (28.57%) Python
2 643 (25.88%) Java
3 323 (13.00%) SQL
4 310 (12.47%) TypeScript
5 292 (11.75%) C#
6 243 (9.78%) JavaScript
7 214 (8.61%) C++
8 122 (4.91%) Go
9 114 (4.59%) Ada
10 107 (4.31%) C
11 53 (2.13%) Kotlin
12 42 (1.69%) Rust
13 35 (1.41%) Bash
13 35 (1.41%) PowerShell
14 31 (1.25%) Scala
15 24 (0.97%) PL/SQL
16 19 (0.76%) Embedded C
16 19 (0.76%) Ruby
17 18 (0.72%) Bicep
18 17 (0.68%) PHP
Qualifications
1 587 (23.62%) Security Cleared
2 488 (19.64%) SC Cleared
3 190 (7.65%) Degree
4 83 (3.34%) Computer Science Degree
5 77 (3.10%) DV Cleared
6 54 (2.17%) BPSS Clearance
7 36 (1.45%) Master's Degree
8 35 (1.41%) AWS Certification
9 20 (0.80%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 18 (0.72%) PhD
11 15 (0.60%) Azure Certification
12 8 (0.32%) CISSP
13 6 (0.24%) Chartered Engineer
13 6 (0.24%) ISTQB
13 6 (0.24%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
13 6 (0.24%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 6 (0.24%) PMP
14 5 (0.20%) TOGAF Certification
15 4 (0.16%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
15 4 (0.16%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 152 (6.12%) QA
2 51 (2.05%) Data Quality
3 48 (1.93%) Accessibility
4 24 (0.97%) Def Stans
5 21 (0.85%) GDPR
6 15 (0.60%) NIST
7 14 (0.56%) IEC 61508
8 13 (0.52%) WCAG
9 12 (0.48%) MISRA
10 10 (0.40%) DO-178B
10 10 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 8 (0.32%) NCSC
12 6 (0.24%) GRC
12 6 (0.24%) PCI DSS
13 5 (0.20%) JSP 440
13 5 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.12%) DO-254
14 3 (0.12%) FATCA
14 3 (0.12%) MISRA C
15 2 (0.080%) Actionable Recommendations
System Software
1 363 (14.61%) Docker
2 22 (0.89%) Firmware
3 11 (0.44%) Embedded Firmware
4 10 (0.40%) Active Directory
5 7 (0.28%) Virtual Machines
6 6 (0.24%) VMware Infrastructure
7 3 (0.12%) HDFS
8 2 (0.080%) SRDF
9 1 (0.040%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 411 (16.54%) Kubernetes
2 247 (9.94%) Terraform
3 73 (2.94%) Ansible
4 58 (2.33%) Grafana
5 40 (1.61%) Argo
6 38 (1.53%) Prometheus
7 11 (0.44%) Kibana
7 11 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (0.32%) Puppet
9 6 (0.24%) Kubeflow
9 6 (0.24%) Progress Chef
10 5 (0.20%) HAProxy
11 3 (0.12%) Consul
11 3 (0.12%) Functional Safety
12 2 (0.080%) Cilium
12 2 (0.080%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.080%) HP Fortify
12 2 (0.080%) HP Quality Center
12 2 (0.080%) Istio
13 1 (0.040%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 126 (5.07%) Microsoft
2 88 (3.54%) Google
3 76 (3.06%) Oracle
4 50 (2.01%) Red Hat
5 43 (1.73%) Databricks
5 43 (1.73%) OpenAI
6 20 (0.80%) Splunk
7 19 (0.76%) Informatica
8 18 (0.72%) IBM
9 17 (0.68%) Salesforce
9 17 (0.68%) ServiceNow
10 15 (0.60%) Foundry
11 12 (0.48%) Adobe
12 11 (0.44%) SAP
12 11 (0.44%) Siemens
13 10 (0.40%) Checkmarx
13 10 (0.40%) ForgeRock
13 10 (0.40%) Okta
14 9 (0.36%) Dynatrace
15 8 (0.32%) Confluent