Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in Hertfordshire

Software Engineering
East of England > Hertfordshire

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Hertfordshire requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 5 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 5 13 10
Rank change year-on-year +8 -3 0
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 93 40 82
As % of all contract jobs in Hertfordshire 14.88% 9.03% 11.31%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 16.94% 10.64% 12.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 3 10
10th Percentile - £465 £368
25th Percentile £544 £469 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £563 £481 £425
Median % change year-on-year +17.07% +13.06% -27.47%
75th Percentile £675 £506 £461
90th Percentile - £518 £519
East of England median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -14.68%
Number of hourly rates quoted 67 14 64
10th Percentile £62.50 £58.63 -
25th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 -
Median hourly rate £66.50 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.31% - -
75th Percentile £70.00 - £90.00
90th Percentile - £67.50 -
East of England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

All Process and Methodology Skills
Hertfordshire

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 Hertfordshire.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 549 376 641
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Hertfordshire 87.84% 84.88% 88.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 211 149 350
10th Percentile £190 £267 £275
25th Percentile £403 £325 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -9.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £675
90th Percentile £713 £665 £751
East of England median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 204 96 156
10th Percentile £16.50 £15.30 £23.50
25th Percentile £18.50 £35.00 £42.25
Median hourly rate £44.00 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.31% - +3.17%
75th Percentile £67.00 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £86.25 £90.00
East of England median hourly rate £21.00 £27.50 £21.00
% change year-on-year -23.64% +30.95% -6.67%

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in Hertfordshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Hertfordshire.

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in Hertfordshire

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in Hertfordshire

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Hertfordshire citing Software Engineering.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Hertfordshire citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in Hertfordshire

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Hertfordshire citing Software Engineering.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Hertfordshire citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Histogram in Hertfordshire

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Engineering in Hertfordshire over the 6 months to 5 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Engineering in Hertfordshire

Software Engineering
Contract Job Locations in Hertfordshire

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 Hertfordshire region over the 6 months to 5 December 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
Stevenage +6 83 - - 109
Watford +2 2 £675 +42.11% 28
Welwyn Garden City -2 1 - -
Hemel Hempstead - 1 £550 - 27
Software Engineering
East of England

Software Engineering
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Hertfordshire 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:

Applications
1 7 (7.53%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 4 (4.30%) AWS
1 4 (4.30%) Azure
2 3 (3.23%) Azure DevOps
2 3 (3.23%) npm
3 2 (2.15%) Azure Logic Apps
3 2 (2.15%) Power Automate
3 2 (2.15%) SaaS
4 1 (1.08%) GitHub
4 1 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 23 (24.73%) Ethernet
2 19 (20.43%) TCP/IP
3 2 (2.15%) MIMO
3 2 (2.15%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.08%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 22 (23.66%) Visual Studio
2 19 (20.43%) Eclipse
3 14 (15.05%) Git
3 14 (15.05%) Rational DOORS
4 8 (8.60%) JIRA
5 4 (4.30%) PVCS
6 3 (3.23%) Artifactory
6 3 (3.23%) GitLab
7 1 (1.08%) Cypress.io
7 1 (1.08%) Jenkins
7 1 (1.08%) Selenium
7 1 (1.08%) TestRail
General
1 26 (27.96%) Social Skills
2 21 (22.58%) Military
3 19 (20.43%) Presentation Skills
4 13 (13.98%) Law
5 12 (12.90%) Aerospace
6 10 (10.75%) Electronics
7 6 (6.45%) Manufacturing
8 4 (4.30%) Analytical Skills
9 2 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (1.08%) Finance
10 1 (1.08%) Financial Institution
10 1 (1.08%) Retail
Job Titles
1 84 (90.32%) Software Engineer
2 29 (31.18%) Embedded Engineer
2 29 (31.18%) Embedded Software Engineer
3 26 (27.96%) C++ Software Engineer
4 25 (26.88%) C# Software Engineer
5 12 (12.90%) Ada Engineer
5 12 (12.90%) Ada Software Engineer
6 10 (10.75%) C Software Engineer
6 10 (10.75%) Embedded C Engineer
6 10 (10.75%) Embedded C Software Engineer
7 4 (4.30%) C/C++ Embedded Software Engineer
7 4 (4.30%) C/C++ Software Engineer
7 4 (4.30%) Embedded C/C++ Engineer
7 4 (4.30%) Embedded C/C++ Software Engineer
7 4 (4.30%) Embedded C++ Engineer
7 4 (4.30%) Embedded C++ Software Engineer
8 3 (3.23%) Full-Stack Engineer
8 3 (3.23%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
9 2 (2.15%) Integration Engineer
9 2 (2.15%) Senior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (23.66%) Node.js
2 19 (20.43%) Web Services
3 4 (4.30%) .NET
3 4 (4.30%) .NET Framework
4 3 (3.23%) AngularJS
4 3 (3.23%) CSS
4 3 (3.23%) HTML
4 3 (3.23%) React
4 3 (3.23%) Svelte
4 3 (3.23%) Vue
5 2 (2.15%) REST
5 2 (2.15%) SOAP
5 2 (2.15%) Vulkan
6 1 (1.08%) Playwright
6 1 (1.08%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 10 (10.75%) PCIe
2 8 (8.60%) FPGA
3 6 (6.45%) State Machine
4 3 (3.23%) Algorithms
4 3 (3.23%) Data Structures
4 3 (3.23%) Distributed Systems
5 2 (2.15%) CUDA
5 2 (2.15%) Device Driver
5 2 (2.15%) Embedded Systems
5 2 (2.15%) Low-Code
5 2 (2.15%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 30 (32.26%) Linux
2 25 (26.88%) Windows
3 4 (4.30%) FreeRTOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 33 (35.48%) Validation
2 30 (32.26%) CI/CD
3 28 (30.11%) Unit Testing
4 24 (25.81%) Agile
5 23 (24.73%) Visualisation
6 21 (22.58%) Synthetic Environment
6 21 (22.58%) TDD
6 21 (22.58%) Verification and Validation
7 20 (21.51%) Continuous Integration
8 18 (19.35%) Continuous Delivery
8 18 (19.35%) Digital Twin
9 12 (12.90%) Multithreading
10 9 (9.68%) SysML
10 9 (9.68%) Test Scripting
10 9 (9.68%) UML
11 8 (8.60%) Hardware-in-the-Loop
11 8 (8.60%) Memory Management
11 8 (8.60%) Software Testing
11 8 (8.60%) Test Automation
12 6 (6.45%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 49 (52.69%) C++
2 39 (41.94%) C#
3 26 (27.96%) JavaScript
4 25 (26.88%) C
5 14 (15.05%) Ada
6 11 (11.83%) Embedded C
7 7 (7.53%) MATLAB
8 4 (4.30%) Embedded C++
8 4 (4.30%) Python
8 4 (4.30%) TypeScript
9 1 (1.08%) Java
9 1 (1.08%) Perl
Qualifications
1 28 (30.11%) Security Cleared
2 23 (24.73%) SC Cleared
3 3 (3.23%) Degree
4 2 (2.15%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (4.30%) QA
2 1 (1.08%) Accessibility
System Software
1 4 (4.30%) Docker
1 4 (4.30%) Virtual Machines
1 4 (4.30%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (4.30%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 19 (20.43%) Microsoft
2 4 (4.30%) ANSYS
2 4 (4.30%) IBM
2 4 (4.30%) VMware
3 3 (3.23%) ServiceNow
4 2 (2.15%) MuleSoft
4 2 (2.15%) Pega
4 2 (2.15%) Salesforce
4 2 (2.15%) SAP
5 1 (1.08%) Oracle