Developer Contract Job Trends in London

Developer
England > London

The median Developer daily rate in London is £538, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 July 2026.

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

6 months to
31 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 8 4
Rank change year-on-year -9 -4 0
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 2,312 2,129 3,166
As % of all contract jobs in London 11.52% 15.65% 19.29%
As % of the Job Titles category 12.38% 16.84% 20.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,579 1,540 2,370
10th Percentile £385 £385 £375
25th Percentile £434 £425 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year -2.27% -4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £668 £750 £738
90th Percentile £800 £850 £850
England median daily rate £515 £515 £525
% change year-on-year - -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 9 5
10th Percentile £43.15 £33.06 £63.66
25th Percentile £51.25 £34.63 £67.00
Median hourly rate £55.00 £53.50 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.80% -28.67% +33.33%
75th Percentile £63.75 £72.00 £137.50
90th Percentile £82.75 £84.70 -
England median hourly rate £55.00 £52.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year +4.76% -19.23% +8.33%

All Contract IT Job Roles
London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in London. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in London with a recognized job title 18,676 12,645 15,472
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 93.05% 92.96% 94.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,225 8,575 10,996
10th Percentile £363 £326 £341
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 £651 £675 £688
90th Percentile £764 £785 £800
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 347 200 217
10th Percentile £17.60 £17.89 £17.25
25th Percentile £21.93 £22.75 £22.00
Median hourly rate £39.00 £30.00 £32.00
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -6.25% -14.48%
75th Percentile £59.36 £50.50 £52.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £63.88 £71.50
England median hourly rate £45.00 £26.30 £43.00
% change year-on-year +71.10% -38.84% -

Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in London

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

Developer job vacancy trend in London

Developer
Daily Rate Trend in London

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in London

Developer
Daily Rate Histogram in London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Developer in London over the 6 months to 31 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Developer in London

Developer
Hourly Rate Trend in London

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in London

Developer
Hourly Rate Histogram in London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Developer in London over the 6 months to 31 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Developer in London

Developer
Contract Job Locations in London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Developer within the London region over the 6 months to 31 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
Central London -9 271 £530 -7.83% 87
South London +4 48 £545 +2.83% 10
East London +4 13 £670 +48.89% 7
West London -38 6 £375 -21.05% 21
North London - 2 £550 - 4
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 31 July 2026, Developer contract job roles required 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 job ads across the London region featuring Developer in the job title.

1 631 (27.29%) Agile
2 559 (24.18%) CI/CD
3 546 (23.62%) Java
4 524 (22.66%) SQL
5 473 (20.46%) Azure
6 471 (20.37%) Python
7 459 (19.85%) Security Cleared
8 403 (17.43%) SC Cleared
9 401 (17.34%) AWS
10 395 (17.08%) DevOps
11 391 (16.91%) C#
12 374 (16.18%) JavaScript
13 326 (14.10%) React
14 317 (13.71%) REST
15 312 (13.49%) .NET
16 305 (13.19%) Full-Stack Development
16 305 (13.19%) TypeScript
17 280 (12.11%) Microservices
18 266 (11.51%) Problem-Solving
19 265 (11.46%) Microsoft
20 254 (10.99%) AI
20 254 (10.99%) Software Engineering
21 237 (10.25%) Docker
22 228 (9.86%) Power Platform
23 210 (9.08%) Kubernetes
24 209 (9.04%) Git
25 203 (8.78%) RESTful
26 195 (8.43%) Spring
27 193 (8.35%) Test Automation
28 192 (8.30%) Data Modelling

Developer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London 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 74 (3.20%) SharePoint
2 43 (1.86%) Confluence
3 27 (1.17%) IIS
4 25 (1.08%) CMS
5 20 (0.87%) Apache
5 20 (0.87%) Apache Spark
6 16 (0.69%) Oracle Workflow
7 15 (0.65%) Anypoint
8 14 (0.61%) Mule
8 14 (0.61%) SAS
9 11 (0.48%) Ethereum
9 11 (0.48%) Microsoft Exchange
10 10 (0.43%) Camunda
11 9 (0.39%) nginx
12 8 (0.35%) CICS
13 6 (0.26%) Appian
13 6 (0.26%) JBoss
14 5 (0.22%) Headless CMS
14 5 (0.22%) Mendix
14 5 (0.22%) WebLogic
Applications
1 35 (1.51%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
3 4 (0.17%) Chatbot
4 3 (0.13%) Microsoft Office
5 2 (0.087%) Adobe XD
5 2 (0.087%) CPLEX
6 1 (0.043%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 1 (0.043%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.043%) Oracle Smart View
6 1 (0.043%) Sketch
6 1 (0.043%) S-PLUS
Business Applications
1 37 (1.60%) Dynamics CRM
2 13 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
3 11 (0.48%) NetSuite
4 10 (0.43%) Oracle Financials
5 9 (0.39%) Temenos T24
6 8 (0.35%) Endur
6 8 (0.35%) Findur
6 8 (0.35%) Oracle General Ledger
7 7 (0.30%) Aladdin
7 7 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
7 7 (0.30%) Oracle Receivables
7 7 (0.30%) ProductWriter
8 6 (0.26%) Oracle FAH
8 6 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
9 5 (0.22%) OpenText MBPM
9 5 (0.22%) Oracle Assets
9 5 (0.22%) Oracle BPM
9 5 (0.22%) Orchestrade
9 5 (0.22%) Shopify
10 4 (0.17%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 473 (20.46%) Azure
2 401 (17.34%) AWS
3 228 (9.86%) Power Platform
4 134 (5.80%) GitHub
5 129 (5.58%) Power Automate
6 126 (5.45%) Azure DevOps
6 126 (5.45%) PowerApps
7 125 (5.41%) GCP
8 100 (4.33%) Dynamics 365
8 100 (4.33%) Serverless
9 79 (3.42%) GitHub Actions
10 56 (2.42%) Amazon S3
11 52 (2.25%) AWS Lambda
12 48 (2.08%) Microsoft Copilot
13 46 (1.99%) Microsoft 365
14 44 (1.90%) Azure Service Bus
15 39 (1.69%) Copilot Studio
16 37 (1.60%) Entra ID
17 36 (1.56%) Azure Logic Apps
17 36 (1.56%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 19 (0.82%) FIX Connectivity
2 17 (0.74%) HTTP
3 13 (0.56%) Internet
4 8 (0.35%) Multicast
5 4 (0.17%) SMS
5 4 (0.17%) SSL
6 3 (0.13%) FTP
7 2 (0.087%) CTI
7 2 (0.087%) HTTPS
7 2 (0.087%) Intranet
7 2 (0.087%) NFC
7 2 (0.087%) RTP
8 1 (0.043%) 5G
8 1 (0.043%) Bluetooth
8 1 (0.043%) Ethernet
8 1 (0.043%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 184 (7.96%) SQL Server
2 147 (6.36%) Power BI
3 137 (5.93%) PostgreSQL
4 108 (4.67%) Relational Database
5 66 (2.85%) Data Warehouse
6 54 (2.34%) Oracle Database
7 53 (2.29%) MongoDB
8 52 (2.25%) NoSQL
9 35 (1.51%) Redis
10 32 (1.38%) DynamoDB
11 31 (1.34%) Azure SQL Database
12 30 (1.30%) KDB
13 28 (1.21%) MySQL
14 26 (1.12%) Power Query
15 25 (1.08%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 20 (0.87%) Amazon RDS
17 18 (0.78%) Kdb+
18 17 (0.74%) Data Lake
18 17 (0.74%) Elasticsearch
18 17 (0.74%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 209 (9.04%) Git
2 125 (5.41%) Jenkins
3 108 (4.67%) JIRA
4 58 (2.51%) GitLab
5 40 (1.73%) JUnit
6 36 (1.56%) Gradle
7 34 (1.47%) Maven
8 29 (1.25%) Visual Studio
9 23 (0.99%) Mockito
10 20 (0.87%) Cypress.io
10 20 (0.87%) TeamCity
11 16 (0.69%) SonarQube
12 15 (0.65%) Bitbucket
13 14 (0.61%) Vite
14 11 (0.48%) Octopus Deploy
15 9 (0.39%) REST Assured
15 9 (0.39%) Selenium
15 9 (0.39%) webpack
16 8 (0.35%) CircleCI
17 7 (0.30%) Mocha
General
1 652 (28.20%) Finance
2 383 (16.57%) Social Skills
3 363 (15.70%) Banking
4 241 (10.42%) Public Sector
5 233 (10.08%) Front Office
6 168 (7.27%) Analytical Skills
7 164 (7.09%) Investment Banking
8 45 (1.95%) Marketing
9 44 (1.90%) Financial Institution
10 42 (1.82%) Retail
11 34 (1.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 22 (0.95%) Publishing
13 19 (0.82%) Documentation Skills
14 18 (0.78%) Back Office
14 18 (0.78%) Law
15 14 (0.61%) Local Government
16 11 (0.48%) Games
16 11 (0.48%) Manufacturing
17 10 (0.43%) Advertising
17 10 (0.43%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 326 (14.10%) React
2 317 (13.71%) REST
3 312 (13.49%) .NET
4 203 (8.78%) RESTful
5 195 (8.43%) Spring
6 180 (7.79%) Node.js
7 165 (7.14%) Kafka
8 155 (6.70%) Spring Boot
9 140 (6.06%) HTML
10 130 (5.62%) CSS
11 118 (5.10%) AngularJS
12 111 (4.80%) Redux
13 97 (4.20%) SOAP
14 92 (3.98%) Web Services
15 85 (3.68%) JSON
16 82 (3.55%) .NET Framework
17 77 (3.33%) GraphQL
18 62 (2.68%) XML
19 57 (2.47%) Django
19 57 (2.47%) Lightning Web Components
Miscellaneous
1 126 (5.45%) Derivative
2 112 (4.84%) Cloud Native
2 112 (4.84%) Fixed Income
3 110 (4.76%) Distributed Systems
4 98 (4.24%) Equities
4 98 (4.24%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 67 (2.90%) Product Ownership
6 61 (2.64%) Data Structures
7 46 (1.99%) Greenfield Project
8 44 (1.90%) Algorithms
9 37 (1.60%) Enterprise Software
9 37 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
10 35 (1.51%) Onboarding
11 32 (1.38%) Mobile App
12 31 (1.34%) Management Information System
13 30 (1.30%) AI Agents
13 30 (1.30%) CMDB
13 30 (1.30%) Data Protection Act
13 30 (1.30%) Hedge funds
13 30 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 84 (3.63%) Linux
2 57 (2.47%) Unix
3 55 (2.38%) Windows
4 37 (1.60%) Apple iOS
5 21 (0.91%) Android
6 13 (0.56%) Windows Server
7 7 (0.30%) zOS
8 4 (0.17%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.043%) Solaris
9 1 (0.043%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 631 (27.29%) Agile
2 559 (24.18%) CI/CD
3 395 (17.08%) DevOps
4 305 (13.19%) Full-Stack Development
5 280 (12.11%) Microservices
6 266 (11.51%) Problem-Solving
7 254 (10.99%) AI
7 254 (10.99%) Software Engineering
8 193 (8.35%) Test Automation
9 192 (8.30%) Data Modelling
10 181 (7.83%) Analytics
11 178 (7.70%) Business Intelligence
12 175 (7.57%) Containerisation
13 149 (6.44%) Continuous Improvement
13 149 (6.44%) Scrum
14 142 (6.14%) Code Quality
14 142 (6.14%) TDD
15 132 (5.71%) Event-Driven
16 125 (5.41%) Mentoring
17 121 (5.23%) Front End Development
Programming Languages
1 546 (23.62%) Java
2 524 (22.66%) SQL
3 471 (20.37%) Python
4 391 (16.91%) C#
5 374 (16.18%) JavaScript
6 305 (13.19%) TypeScript
7 91 (3.94%) PL/SQL
8 67 (2.90%) T-SQL
9 62 (2.68%) Apex Code
10 50 (2.16%) Go
11 45 (1.95%) Shell Script
12 41 (1.77%) Kotlin
13 38 (1.64%) C++
13 38 (1.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 26 (1.12%) Swift
15 24 (1.04%) PowerShell
16 23 (0.99%) Ruby
17 19 (0.82%) VBA
18 16 (0.69%) Scala
19 15 (0.65%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 459 (19.85%) Security Cleared
2 403 (17.43%) SC Cleared
3 105 (4.54%) Degree
4 47 (2.03%) Computer Science Degree
5 39 (1.69%) DV Cleared
6 27 (1.17%) BPSS Clearance
7 18 (0.78%) Master's Degree
8 13 (0.56%) Microsoft Certification
9 10 (0.43%) PhD
10 6 (0.26%) AWS Certification
10 6 (0.26%) Azure Certification
11 3 (0.13%) AWS Certified Developer
11 3 (0.13%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 3 (0.13%) Numerate Degree
12 2 (0.087%) DBS Check
12 2 (0.087%) Postgraduate
13 1 (0.043%) ITIL Certification
13 1 (0.043%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 1 (0.043%) PMI Certification
13 1 (0.043%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 133 (5.75%) QA
2 91 (3.94%) Accessibility
3 47 (2.03%) Data Quality
4 38 (1.64%) WCAG
5 11 (0.48%) GDPR
6 6 (0.26%) GRC
6 6 (0.26%) HL7
7 5 (0.22%) PMO
8 4 (0.17%) SLA
9 3 (0.13%) ISO 20022
9 3 (0.13%) Solvency II
10 2 (0.087%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 2 (0.087%) Basel III
10 2 (0.087%) GMP
10 2 (0.087%) GxP
10 2 (0.087%) IEC 62304
10 2 (0.087%) ISO 13485
10 2 (0.087%) ISO/IEC 17025
10 2 (0.087%) SEPA
10 2 (0.087%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 237 (10.25%) Docker
2 9 (0.39%) Active Directory
3 4 (0.17%) Apache ZooKeeper
4 3 (0.13%) GridGain
4 3 (0.13%) Postfix
5 2 (0.087%) Varnish
6 1 (0.043%) FreeRADIUS
6 1 (0.043%) HDFS
6 1 (0.043%) Oracle RAC
6 1 (0.043%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.043%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 210 (9.08%) Kubernetes
2 87 (3.76%) Terraform
3 32 (1.38%) Ansible
4 22 (0.95%) Grafana
5 11 (0.48%) Control-M
6 10 (0.43%) Prometheus
7 5 (0.22%) SCCM
8 4 (0.17%) Kibana
9 3 (0.13%) Argo
9 3 (0.13%) Bosun
9 3 (0.13%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.087%) CA Endevor
10 2 (0.087%) CloudHub
11 1 (0.043%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.043%) HP Fortify
11 1 (0.043%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 265 (11.46%) Microsoft
2 192 (8.30%) Oracle
3 135 (5.84%) Salesforce
4 100 (4.33%) ServiceNow
5 40 (1.73%) MuleSoft
6 39 (1.69%) Google
7 38 (1.64%) Citrix
7 38 (1.64%) SAP
8 34 (1.47%) IBM
9 33 (1.43%) Databricks
10 23 (0.99%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
11 20 (0.87%) UiPath
12 17 (0.74%) OpenAI
13 14 (0.61%) Sybase
14 12 (0.52%) Adobe
14 12 (0.52%) Avaloq
14 12 (0.52%) Okta
14 12 (0.52%) Splunk
15 11 (0.48%) ForgeRock
16 10 (0.43%) Pega