Backend Developer Contract Job Trends in London

Backend Developer
England > London

The median Backend Developer daily rate in London is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 October 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 382 319 344
Rank change year-on-year -63 +25 -11
Contract Backend Developer jobs 77 47 36
As % of all contract jobs in London 0.38% 0.35% 0.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.38% 0.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 25 25
10th Percentile £453 £368 £406
25th Percentile £500 £450 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £475
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% +10.53% -26.92%
75th Percentile £655 £588 £500
90th Percentile £771 £700 £544
England median daily rate £533 £540 £428
% change year-on-year -1.39% +26.32% -28.75%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 3 0
Median hourly rate - £73.50 -
England median hourly rate £71.00 £73.50 -
% change year-on-year -3.40% - -

All Contract IT Job Roles
London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts in London matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
23 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract job adverts in London matching a recognised job title 18,995 12,383 14,947
% of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title 92.85% 92.56% 94.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,338 8,242 9,687
10th Percentile £363 £333 £349
25th Percentile £450 £425 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £545 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.92% -0.91% -4.35%
75th Percentile £663 £663 £675
90th Percentile £775 £775 £800
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 436 215 167
10th Percentile £16.70 £17.00 £17.25
25th Percentile £21.93 £22.00 £23.98
Median hourly rate £41.00 £26.50 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year +54.72% -31.17% -4.94%
75th Percentile £64.44 £48.75 £59.38
90th Percentile £81.25 £66.73 £80.30
England median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +65.84% -40.82% -7.49%

Backend Developer Job Vacancy Trend in London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract Backend Developer job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in London.

Backend Developer job vacancy trend in London

Backend Developer Daily Rate Trend in London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Backend Developer job vacancies in London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Backend Developer job vacancies in London

Backend Developer Daily Rate Histogram in London

Daily rate distribution for Backend Developer jobs in London over the 6 months to 23 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Backend Developer in London

Backend Developer Hourly Rate Trend in London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Backend Developer job vacancies in London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Backend Developer job vacancies in London

Backend Developer Contract Job Locations in London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in Backend Developer jobs within the London region over the 6 months to 23 October 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months		 Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
Central London -21 9 £600 +14.29% 4
South London - 5 £550 -
East London -1 1 - -
West London -23 1 - - 2
Backend Developer
England

Backend Developer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London

For the 6 months to 23 October 2026, Backend Developer contract job ads cited the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract Backend Developer job ads across the London region.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Java61.0%47
2CI/CD46.8%36
3Spring42.9%33
4Kubernetes39.0%30
5Event-Driven32.5%25
6Python31.2%24
7Microservices28.6%22
8Docker27.3%21
9SQL26.0%20
10DevOps24.7%19
10Event-Driven Architecture24.7%19
12AWS23.4%18
12REST23.4%18
12Spring Boot23.4%18
15Agile20.8%16
15Azure20.8%16
15Security Cleared20.8%16
18GCP19.5%15
19Containerisation18.2%14
20.NET15.6%12
20Code Quality15.6%12
20Kafka15.6%12
20PostgreSQL15.6%12
24SC Cleared14.3%11
24Terraform14.3%11
24TypeScript14.3%11
27C#13.0%10
27Problem-Solving13.0%10
27RESTful13.0%10
27TDD13.0%10

Backend Developer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Java Developer41.6%32
2Senior Backend Developer24.7%19
3Senior Java Developer9.1%7
4GCP Developer7.8%6
5Python Developer6.5%5
6.NET Developer5.2%4
6AWS Developer5.2%4
6Integration Developer5.2%4
9.NET Web Developer3.9%3
9Artificial Intelligence Developer3.9%3
9Lead Developer3.9%3
9SC Cleared Java Developer3.9%3
13Azure Developer2.6%2
13DevOps Developer2.6%2
13Full-Stack Developer2.6%2
13Integration Specialist2.6%2
13NetSuite Developer2.6%2
13NetSuite Specialist2.6%2
13Senior Python Developer2.6%2
20AWS Engineer1.3%1
32 Backend Developer jobs in London