Developer Contract Job Trends in London

Developer
England > London

The median Developer daily rate in London is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 February 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 5 4
Rank change year-on-year -5 -1 -1
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 2,132 2,251 2,899
As % of all contract jobs in London 13.68% 16.62% 15.91%
As % of the Job Titles category 14.76% 17.75% 17.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,485 1,548 2,215
10th Percentile £382 £381 £400
25th Percentile £425 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £565 £575
Median % change year-on-year -7.08% -1.74% -8.00%
75th Percentile £650 £700 £750
90th Percentile £800 £838 £850
England median daily rate £500 £538 £525
% change year-on-year -6.98% +2.38% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 7 15
10th Percentile £34.27 £35.45 £36.33
25th Percentile £35.00 £36.25 £56.25
Median hourly rate £50.50 £39.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.49% -37.60% +8.70%
75th Percentile £73.44 £48.50 £72.25
90th Percentile £95.00 £57.75 £73.19
England median hourly rate £60.50 £65.00 £69.10
% change year-on-year -6.92% -5.93% +10.56%

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 14,448 12,681 16,978
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.69% 93.64% 93.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,636 8,215 12,242
10th Percentile £350 £331 £325
25th Percentile £425 £438 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% - -5.17%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £800 £778
England median daily rate £501 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.67% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 228 142 335
10th Percentile £18.25 £21.02 £16.00
25th Percentile £23.94 £24.66 £19.05
Median hourly rate £34.75 £37.25 £29.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.72% +28.45% -17.14%
75th Percentile £59.79 £53.75 £49.48
90th Percentile £76.58 £78.72 £66.60
England median hourly rate £33.00 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -5.71% - -12.50%

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 19 February 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 19 February 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 19 February 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 -8 268 £525 -8.70% 173
South London -1 46 £510 -44.86% 12
West London -28 15 £509 +24.45% 29
East London -4 11 £1,000 +150.00% 23
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 19 February 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.

1 536 (25.14%) Java
2 529 (24.81%) Python
3 517 (24.25%) Agile
4 510 (23.92%) SQL
5 499 (23.41%) CI/CD
6 445 (20.87%) Azure
7 433 (20.31%) AWS
8 384 (18.01%) JavaScript
9 380 (17.82%) C#
10 362 (16.98%) Problem-Solving
11 344 (16.14%) Security Cleared
12 331 (15.53%) React
13 329 (15.43%) DevOps
14 291 (13.65%) Full-Stack Development
15 288 (13.51%) .NET
15 288 (13.51%) Docker
16 287 (13.46%) Microservices
17 280 (13.13%) SC Cleared
18 272 (12.76%) Kubernetes
19 247 (11.59%) REST
19 247 (11.59%) TypeScript
20 243 (11.40%) Microsoft
21 233 (10.93%) Analytics
22 226 (10.60%) Git
23 220 (10.32%) Software Engineering
24 207 (9.71%) Kafka
25 197 (9.24%) Power Platform
26 190 (8.91%) RESTful
27 189 (8.86%) Node.js
28 187 (8.77%) HTML

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 64 (3.00%) SharePoint
2 41 (1.92%) Confluence
3 17 (0.80%) CMS
3 17 (0.80%) IIS
4 15 (0.70%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 14 (0.66%) HCL Notes
6 12 (0.56%) Mendix
7 11 (0.52%) Ethereum
8 10 (0.47%) Adobe Experience Manager
8 10 (0.47%) MQSeries
9 9 (0.42%) Apache
9 9 (0.42%) Apache Airflow
9 9 (0.42%) Microsoft Exchange
10 8 (0.38%) Hyperledger
11 7 (0.33%) Apache Spark
11 7 (0.33%) WebLogic
12 6 (0.28%) Headless CMS
12 6 (0.28%) JBoss
12 6 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
12 6 (0.28%) WebSphere
Applications
1 53 (2.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 10 (0.47%) Chatbot
3 6 (0.28%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.14%) Adobe XD
5 3 (0.14%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.047%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.047%) Trello
Business Applications
1 41 (1.92%) Dynamics CRM
2 18 (0.84%) Endur
3 13 (0.61%) Fidessa
4 11 (0.52%) Oracle ERP
5 7 (0.33%) SAP S/4HANA
6 6 (0.28%) BusinessWorks
6 6 (0.28%) Temenos T24
7 5 (0.23%) BASE24
7 5 (0.23%) Payment Gateway
8 4 (0.19%) Oracle 11i
8 4 (0.19%) ProductWriter
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle Financials
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle Payables
10 2 (0.094%) Adobe Campaign
10 2 (0.094%) Magento
10 2 (0.094%) Oracle Assets
10 2 (0.094%) Oracle Cash Management
10 2 (0.094%) Oracle General Ledger
10 2 (0.094%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 445 (20.87%) Azure
2 433 (20.31%) AWS
3 197 (9.24%) Power Platform
4 165 (7.74%) GitHub
5 132 (6.19%) Azure DevOps
6 115 (5.39%) Serverless
7 110 (5.16%) GCP
8 100 (4.69%) Power Automate
9 89 (4.17%) PowerApps
10 79 (3.71%) Dynamics 365
11 70 (3.28%) GitHub Actions
12 60 (2.81%) Azure Logic Apps
13 56 (2.63%) Azure Functions
14 54 (2.53%) AWS Lambda
15 48 (2.25%) Amazon S3
15 48 (2.25%) Entra ID
16 47 (2.20%) Azure Service Bus
17 43 (2.02%) Microsoft 365
18 36 (1.69%) Azure Monitor
19 34 (1.59%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 23 (1.08%) HTTP
2 12 (0.56%) FIX Connectivity
2 12 (0.56%) Internet
3 11 (0.52%) HTTPS
4 10 (0.47%) SSL
5 8 (0.38%) Network Security
6 7 (0.33%) TCP/IP
7 5 (0.23%) CTI
7 5 (0.23%) Firewall
7 5 (0.23%) SMS
7 5 (0.23%) VoIP
8 4 (0.19%) DNS
8 4 (0.19%) Multicast
9 3 (0.14%) 3GPP
9 3 (0.14%) MVNO
9 3 (0.14%) SMPP
10 2 (0.094%) DHCP
10 2 (0.094%) RTMP
10 2 (0.094%) SSH
10 2 (0.094%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 174 (8.16%) SQL Server
2 151 (7.08%) PostgreSQL
3 127 (5.96%) Power BI
4 122 (5.72%) Relational Database
5 83 (3.89%) NoSQL
6 68 (3.19%) Oracle Database
7 64 (3.00%) MongoDB
8 41 (1.92%) Apache Cassandra
9 37 (1.74%) Data Warehouse
10 36 (1.69%) MySQL
11 26 (1.22%) Data Lake
11 26 (1.22%) KDB
12 25 (1.17%) Kdb+
12 25 (1.17%) RDBMS
13 24 (1.13%) DB2
14 22 (1.03%) Amazon RDS
14 22 (1.03%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 21 (0.98%) DynamoDB
16 19 (0.89%) Azure SQL Database
16 19 (0.89%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 226 (10.60%) Git
2 101 (4.74%) JIRA
3 94 (4.41%) Jenkins
4 65 (3.05%) GitLab
5 55 (2.58%) JUnit
6 32 (1.50%) Maven
6 32 (1.50%) Visual Studio
7 23 (1.08%) Gradle
8 19 (0.89%) Bitbucket
8 19 (0.89%) Mockito
9 16 (0.75%) Sonatype Nexus
10 15 (0.70%) webpack
11 13 (0.61%) Cucumber
11 13 (0.61%) SonarQube
12 12 (0.56%) Cypress.io
12 12 (0.56%) Selenium
12 12 (0.56%) SpecFlow
13 11 (0.52%) Android Studio
13 11 (0.52%) Team Foundation Server
13 11 (0.52%) TeamCity
General
1 601 (28.19%) Finance
2 431 (20.22%) Social Skills
3 327 (15.34%) Banking
4 210 (9.85%) Front Office
5 187 (8.77%) Public Sector
6 154 (7.22%) Analytical Skills
7 128 (6.00%) Investment Banking
8 61 (2.86%) Financial Institution
9 21 (0.98%) Marketing
10 20 (0.94%) Documentation Skills
10 20 (0.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 19 (0.89%) Law
12 11 (0.52%) Back Office
12 11 (0.52%) Telecoms
13 9 (0.42%) Billing
13 9 (0.42%) Presentation Skills
14 8 (0.38%) Private Banking
14 8 (0.38%) Retail
15 7 (0.33%) Local Government
15 7 (0.33%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 331 (15.53%) React
2 288 (13.51%) .NET
3 247 (11.59%) REST
4 207 (9.71%) Kafka
5 190 (8.91%) RESTful
6 189 (8.86%) Node.js
7 187 (8.77%) HTML
8 179 (8.40%) CSS
9 174 (8.16%) Spring
10 165 (7.74%) AngularJS
11 128 (6.00%) Spring Boot
12 83 (3.89%) SOAP
13 82 (3.85%) .NET Framework
13 82 (3.85%) Web Services
14 77 (3.61%) JSON
15 73 (3.42%) XML
16 68 (3.19%) Vue
17 58 (2.72%) GraphQL
18 53 (2.49%) Redux
19 51 (2.39%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 126 (5.91%) Equities
2 116 (5.44%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
3 109 (5.11%) Derivative
4 86 (4.03%) Cloud Native
5 85 (3.99%) Algorithms
6 82 (3.85%) Fixed Income
7 78 (3.66%) Distributed Systems
8 70 (3.28%) Data Structures
9 63 (2.95%) Product Ownership
10 43 (2.02%) Data Protection Act
10 43 (2.02%) Greenfield Project
10 43 (2.02%) Management Information System
11 42 (1.97%) Mobile App
12 39 (1.83%) Legacy Systems
13 35 (1.64%) AI Agents
14 31 (1.45%) Equity Derivative
14 31 (1.45%) Hedge funds
15 29 (1.36%) Low-Code
16 28 (1.31%) Market Risk
17 26 (1.22%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 150 (7.04%) Linux
2 72 (3.38%) Windows
3 55 (2.58%) Unix
4 36 (1.69%) Android
5 33 (1.55%) Apple iOS
6 19 (0.89%) Windows Server
7 6 (0.28%) Mac OS
8 5 (0.23%) AIX
8 5 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.19%) CentOS
9 4 (0.19%) zOS
10 3 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.047%) VMS
11 1 (0.047%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 517 (24.25%) Agile
2 499 (23.41%) CI/CD
3 362 (16.98%) Problem-Solving
4 329 (15.43%) DevOps
5 291 (13.65%) Full-Stack Development
6 287 (13.46%) Microservices
7 233 (10.93%) Analytics
8 220 (10.32%) Software Engineering
9 184 (8.63%) AI
10 181 (8.49%) Business Intelligence
11 180 (8.44%) Test Automation
12 174 (8.16%) Containerisation
13 141 (6.61%) TDD
14 138 (6.47%) Scrum
15 128 (6.00%) Data Modelling
15 128 (6.00%) Front End Development
16 119 (5.58%) Design Patterns
17 118 (5.53%) Unit Testing
18 115 (5.39%) Low Latency
19 111 (5.21%) Computer Science
Programming Languages
1 536 (25.14%) Java
2 529 (24.81%) Python
3 510 (23.92%) SQL
4 384 (18.01%) JavaScript
5 380 (17.82%) C#
6 247 (11.59%) TypeScript
7 115 (5.39%) C++
8 78 (3.66%) PL/SQL
9 77 (3.61%) Go
10 51 (2.39%) T-SQL
11 48 (2.25%) Kotlin
12 41 (1.92%) Apex Code
13 38 (1.78%) Shell Script
14 37 (1.74%) PowerShell
15 33 (1.55%) Ruby
15 33 (1.55%) VB
16 32 (1.50%) VBA
17 27 (1.27%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 23 (1.08%) C
19 22 (1.03%) PHP
Qualifications
1 344 (16.14%) Security Cleared
2 280 (13.13%) SC Cleared
3 121 (5.68%) Degree
4 54 (2.53%) Computer Science Degree
5 27 (1.27%) DV Cleared
6 25 (1.17%) BPSS Clearance
7 23 (1.08%) Master's Degree
8 13 (0.61%) Numerate Degree
9 6 (0.28%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (0.23%) AWS Certification
10 5 (0.23%) Azure Certification
10 5 (0.23%) PhD
11 4 (0.19%) Oracle Certification
12 3 (0.14%) CTC Cleared
13 2 (0.094%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
13 2 (0.094%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 2 (0.094%) OCP
14 1 (0.047%) AWS Certified Developer
14 1 (0.047%) CISSP
14 1 (0.047%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 97 (4.55%) QA
2 66 (3.10%) Accessibility
3 38 (1.78%) Data Quality
4 28 (1.31%) WCAG
5 15 (0.70%) GDPR
6 7 (0.33%) ISO 8583
6 7 (0.33%) SLA
7 6 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 5 (0.23%) SEPA
9 4 (0.19%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.14%) GRC
10 3 (0.14%) ISO 20022
10 3 (0.14%) PSD2
11 2 (0.094%) HL7
12 1 (0.047%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.047%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.047%) MiFID
System Software
1 288 (13.51%) Docker
2 30 (1.41%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.28%) zsh
4 4 (0.19%) HDFS
5 3 (0.14%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.094%) GridGain
6 2 (0.094%) OpenAM
6 2 (0.094%) OpenDJ
6 2 (0.094%) OpenIDM
6 2 (0.094%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.094%) VMware Infrastructure
7 1 (0.047%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 272 (12.76%) Kubernetes
2 82 (3.85%) Terraform
3 30 (1.41%) Ansible
4 21 (0.98%) Grafana
5 16 (0.75%) Prometheus
6 15 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
7 12 (0.56%) Argo
8 7 (0.33%) Control-M
9 6 (0.28%) TIBCO Hawk
10 4 (0.19%) SCCM
11 3 (0.14%) Kibana
11 3 (0.14%) Podman
12 2 (0.094%) CloudHub
12 2 (0.094%) Docker Swarm
12 2 (0.094%) Progress Chef
12 2 (0.094%) rkt
13 1 (0.047%) CA Endevor
13 1 (0.047%) IBM Guardium
13 1 (0.047%) Nessus
13 1 (0.047%) Oracle Identity Management
Vendors
1 243 (11.40%) Microsoft
2 179 (8.40%) Oracle
3 72 (3.38%) Salesforce
4 59 (2.77%) ServiceNow
5 37 (1.74%) Google
5 37 (1.74%) IBM
6 36 (1.69%) Databricks
6 36 (1.69%) SAP
7 31 (1.45%) Citrix
8 29 (1.36%) OpenAI
9 26 (1.22%) Adobe
10 22 (1.03%) Guidewire
10 22 (1.03%) MuleSoft
11 18 (0.84%) Red Hat
12 16 (0.75%) Sybase
13 14 (0.66%) Lotus
14 13 (0.61%) Foundry
14 13 (0.61%) Solace
15 12 (0.56%) OpenLink
16 11 (0.52%) VMware