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 18 April 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 6 4
Rank change year-on-year -4 -2 -1
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 2,221 2,088 3,017
As % of all contract jobs in London 12.79% 16.44% 16.86%
As % of the Job Titles category 13.79% 17.59% 18.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,558 1,519 2,307
10th Percentile £384 £385 £385
25th Percentile £425 £450 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £650 £738 £738
90th Percentile £800 £850 £838
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 8
10th Percentile - £39.76 £44.25
25th Percentile £35.00 £47.47 £56.25
Median hourly rate £52.50 £53.50 £61.25
Median % change year-on-year -1.87% -12.65% +6.52%
75th Percentile £65.63 £56.81 £68.38
90th Percentile £95.00 £59.63 £72.50
England median hourly rate £60.00 £63.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year -4.76% +0.80% +4.17%

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 16,102 11,872 16,662
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.73% 93.49% 93.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,734 8,142 12,058
10th Percentile £350 £340 £325
25th Percentile £425 £430 £440
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% - -4.35%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £750 £800 £788
England median daily rate £508 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.33% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 260 142 344
10th Percentile £18.75 £21.21 £16.00
25th Percentile £25.11 £24.66 £20.00
Median hourly rate £37.50 £35.00 £27.81
Median % change year-on-year +7.14% +25.85% -20.54%
75th Percentile £63.10 £50.75 £44.00
90th Percentile £76.58 £64.88 £64.86
England median hourly rate £45.00 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year +38.46% -7.14% -18.60%

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 18 April 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 18 April 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 18 April 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 -4 298 £525 -10.26% 194
South London -1 46 £511 -44.73% 8
West London -25 18 £497 +21.52% 20
East London -5 7 £416 +0.24% 22
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 18 April 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.

1 541 (24.36%) Java
2 540 (24.31%) Agile
3 524 (23.59%) Python
4 506 (22.78%) CI/CD
5 483 (21.75%) SQL
6 472 (21.25%) Azure
7 446 (20.08%) AWS
8 399 (17.96%) Security Cleared
9 385 (17.33%) C#
10 375 (16.88%) JavaScript
11 347 (15.62%) DevOps
12 339 (15.26%) React
13 330 (14.86%) SC Cleared
14 308 (13.87%) .NET
15 287 (12.92%) Docker
16 284 (12.79%) Microservices
17 282 (12.70%) Problem-Solving
18 274 (12.34%) TypeScript
19 271 (12.20%) Full-Stack Development
20 257 (11.57%) Kubernetes
21 247 (11.12%) Microsoft
22 239 (10.76%) Software Engineering
23 232 (10.45%) REST
24 217 (9.77%) AI
25 211 (9.50%) Git
26 209 (9.41%) Analytics
27 206 (9.28%) Kafka
28 203 (9.14%) Power Platform
29 202 (9.10%) Node.js
30 195 (8.78%) RESTful

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 84 (3.78%) SharePoint
2 49 (2.21%) Confluence
3 22 (0.99%) IIS
4 21 (0.95%) Apache
5 17 (0.77%) Apache Spark
5 17 (0.77%) CMS
5 17 (0.77%) Microsoft Exchange
6 15 (0.68%) HCL Notes
7 13 (0.59%) Mendix
8 11 (0.50%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 9 (0.41%) Ethereum
9 9 (0.41%) JBoss
10 8 (0.36%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 7 (0.32%) CICS
11 7 (0.32%) WebLogic
12 6 (0.27%) Camunda
12 6 (0.27%) Headless CMS
12 6 (0.27%) SAS
12 6 (0.27%) WebSphere
13 5 (0.23%) Appian
Applications
1 42 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (0.23%) Chatbot
2 5 (0.23%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.14%) Adobe XD
3 3 (0.14%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.045%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 48 (2.16%) Dynamics CRM
2 20 (0.90%) Endur
3 14 (0.63%) Temenos T24
4 10 (0.45%) Fidessa
5 7 (0.32%) Payment Gateway
6 6 (0.27%) BusinessWorks
6 6 (0.27%) Oracle Financials
6 6 (0.27%) SAP S/4HANA
7 5 (0.23%) BASE24
7 5 (0.23%) Oracle ERP
8 4 (0.18%) Findur
8 4 (0.18%) Oracle General Ledger
8 4 (0.18%) Oracle Payables
8 4 (0.18%) ProductWriter
9 3 (0.14%) Distributed Ledger
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle 11i
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle Assets
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle Cash Management
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle EBS
9 3 (0.14%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 472 (21.25%) Azure
2 446 (20.08%) AWS
3 203 (9.14%) Power Platform
4 154 (6.93%) GitHub
5 137 (6.17%) Azure DevOps
6 130 (5.85%) Serverless
7 120 (5.40%) Power Automate
8 104 (4.68%) PowerApps
9 103 (4.64%) GCP
10 89 (4.01%) Dynamics 365
11 75 (3.38%) GitHub Actions
12 70 (3.15%) AWS Lambda
13 65 (2.93%) Amazon S3
14 62 (2.79%) Microsoft 365
15 53 (2.39%) Azure Logic Apps
16 51 (2.30%) Entra ID
17 50 (2.25%) Azure Functions
18 48 (2.16%) Azure Service Bus
19 43 (1.94%) Azure AKS
20 38 (1.71%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 29 (1.31%) HTTP
2 17 (0.77%) FIX Connectivity
3 13 (0.59%) Internet
4 8 (0.36%) Network Security
5 5 (0.23%) CTI
5 5 (0.23%) SMS
5 5 (0.23%) TCP/IP
5 5 (0.23%) VoIP
6 4 (0.18%) Multicast
6 4 (0.18%) SSL
7 3 (0.14%) 3GPP
7 3 (0.14%) DNS
7 3 (0.14%) Firewall
7 3 (0.14%) HTTPS
7 3 (0.14%) MVNO
7 3 (0.14%) RTP
7 3 (0.14%) SMPP
8 2 (0.090%) DHCP
8 2 (0.090%) Ethernet
8 2 (0.090%) FTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 164 (7.38%) SQL Server
2 137 (6.17%) PostgreSQL
3 116 (5.22%) Power BI
4 110 (4.95%) Relational Database
5 79 (3.56%) NoSQL
6 70 (3.15%) Oracle Database
7 61 (2.75%) MongoDB
8 39 (1.76%) Data Warehouse
9 35 (1.58%) Apache Cassandra
9 35 (1.58%) DynamoDB
10 27 (1.22%) KDB
10 27 (1.22%) MySQL
11 26 (1.17%) Amazon RDS
12 24 (1.08%) RDBMS
13 23 (1.04%) Data Lake
14 20 (0.90%) Metadata
15 19 (0.86%) DB2
15 19 (0.86%) Kdb+
15 19 (0.86%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 18 (0.81%) Elasticsearch
Development Applications
1 211 (9.50%) Git
2 107 (4.82%) Jenkins
3 104 (4.68%) JIRA
4 57 (2.57%) GitLab
5 51 (2.30%) JUnit
6 27 (1.22%) Mockito
7 26 (1.17%) Visual Studio
8 25 (1.13%) Maven
9 22 (0.99%) Bitbucket
10 19 (0.86%) Gradle
11 17 (0.77%) TeamCity
12 15 (0.68%) Cypress.io
13 14 (0.63%) Selenium
13 14 (0.63%) webpack
14 11 (0.50%) Cucumber
14 11 (0.50%) SonarQube
14 11 (0.50%) Team Foundation Server
14 11 (0.50%) Vite
15 10 (0.45%) Octopus Deploy
16 8 (0.36%) Android Studio
General
1 599 (26.97%) Finance
2 366 (16.48%) Social Skills
3 311 (14.00%) Banking
4 235 (10.58%) Public Sector
5 221 (9.95%) Front Office
6 142 (6.39%) Analytical Skills
7 117 (5.27%) Investment Banking
8 46 (2.07%) Financial Institution
9 23 (1.04%) Documentation Skills
10 21 (0.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 18 (0.81%) Marketing
12 15 (0.68%) Publishing
13 13 (0.59%) Back Office
13 13 (0.59%) Law
13 13 (0.59%) Local Government
14 12 (0.54%) Telecoms
15 9 (0.41%) Presentation Skills
16 8 (0.36%) Retail
17 6 (0.27%) Legal
17 6 (0.27%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 339 (15.26%) React
2 308 (13.87%) .NET
3 232 (10.45%) REST
4 206 (9.28%) Kafka
5 202 (9.10%) Node.js
6 195 (8.78%) RESTful
7 179 (8.06%) Spring
8 178 (8.01%) HTML
9 166 (7.47%) AngularJS
10 155 (6.98%) CSS
11 147 (6.62%) Spring Boot
12 87 (3.92%) Redux
13 85 (3.83%) .NET Framework
14 83 (3.74%) Web Services
15 71 (3.20%) SOAP
16 69 (3.11%) GraphQL
17 68 (3.06%) JSON
18 57 (2.57%) Vue
19 50 (2.25%) Pandas
19 50 (2.25%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 126 (5.67%) Equities
2 108 (4.86%) Derivative
3 107 (4.82%) Fixed Income
4 92 (4.14%) Distributed Systems
4 92 (4.14%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 86 (3.87%) Cloud Native
6 66 (2.97%) Algorithms
7 55 (2.48%) Data Structures
8 53 (2.39%) Product Ownership
9 45 (2.03%) Greenfield Project
10 41 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
11 37 (1.67%) AI Agents
12 36 (1.62%) Management Information System
13 34 (1.53%) Hedge funds
13 34 (1.53%) Onboarding
14 32 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
15 29 (1.31%) Low-Code
16 26 (1.17%) Equity Derivative
17 24 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
17 24 (1.08%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 110 (4.95%) Linux
2 65 (2.93%) Windows
3 57 (2.57%) Unix
4 23 (1.04%) Android
5 22 (0.99%) Windows Server
6 21 (0.95%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.23%) AIX
7 5 (0.23%) zOS
8 4 (0.18%) Mac OS
9 2 (0.090%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.045%) Solaris
10 1 (0.045%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.045%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 540 (24.31%) Agile
2 506 (22.78%) CI/CD
3 347 (15.62%) DevOps
4 284 (12.79%) Microservices
5 282 (12.70%) Problem-Solving
6 271 (12.20%) Full-Stack Development
7 239 (10.76%) Software Engineering
8 217 (9.77%) AI
9 209 (9.41%) Analytics
10 190 (8.55%) Test Automation
11 188 (8.46%) Containerisation
12 167 (7.52%) Business Intelligence
13 160 (7.20%) Data Modelling
14 141 (6.35%) TDD
15 132 (5.94%) Front End Development
16 119 (5.36%) Scrum
17 118 (5.31%) Low Latency
18 117 (5.27%) Unit Testing
19 112 (5.04%) Design Patterns
20 110 (4.95%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 541 (24.36%) Java
2 524 (23.59%) Python
3 483 (21.75%) SQL
4 385 (17.33%) C#
5 375 (16.88%) JavaScript
6 274 (12.34%) TypeScript
7 83 (3.74%) Go
8 80 (3.60%) PL/SQL
9 72 (3.24%) C++
10 59 (2.66%) T-SQL
11 52 (2.34%) Apex Code
12 41 (1.85%) Shell Script
13 39 (1.76%) Kotlin
14 34 (1.53%) Ruby
15 31 (1.40%) PowerShell
16 27 (1.22%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 25 (1.13%) VBA
18 19 (0.86%) C
19 14 (0.63%) PHP
20 13 (0.59%) VB
Qualifications
1 399 (17.96%) Security Cleared
2 330 (14.86%) SC Cleared
3 106 (4.77%) Degree
4 42 (1.89%) Computer Science Degree
5 32 (1.44%) BPSS Clearance
6 30 (1.35%) DV Cleared
7 17 (0.77%) Master's Degree
8 10 (0.45%) Numerate Degree
9 7 (0.32%) AWS Certification
9 7 (0.32%) Azure Certification
10 6 (0.27%) Microsoft Certification
11 4 (0.18%) AWS Certified Developer
11 4 (0.18%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 4 (0.18%) Oracle Certification
11 4 (0.18%) PhD
12 3 (0.14%) CTC Cleared
13 2 (0.090%) OCP
13 2 (0.090%) Postgraduate
14 1 (0.045%) CISSP
14 1 (0.045%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 106 (4.77%) QA
2 70 (3.15%) Accessibility
3 38 (1.71%) WCAG
4 33 (1.49%) Data Quality
5 15 (0.68%) GDPR
6 7 (0.32%) ISO 8583
6 7 (0.32%) SLA
7 6 (0.27%) GRC
8 5 (0.23%) HL7
8 5 (0.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (0.18%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.18%) PMO
9 4 (0.18%) SEPA
10 3 (0.14%) ISO 20022
11 2 (0.090%) PSD2
12 1 (0.045%) DICOM
12 1 (0.045%) GAAP
12 1 (0.045%) HIPAA
System Software
1 287 (12.92%) Docker
2 23 (1.04%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.14%) GridGain
3 3 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.090%) HDFS
4 2 (0.090%) OpenAM
4 2 (0.090%) OpenDJ
4 2 (0.090%) OpenIDM
4 2 (0.090%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.090%) Postfix
5 1 (0.045%) FreeRADIUS
5 1 (0.045%) Varnish
5 1 (0.045%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 257 (11.57%) Kubernetes
2 93 (4.19%) Terraform
3 30 (1.35%) Grafana
4 29 (1.31%) Ansible
5 21 (0.95%) Prometheus
6 8 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
7 6 (0.27%) TIBCO Hawk
8 5 (0.23%) SCCM
9 4 (0.18%) Argo
10 2 (0.090%) CA Endevor
10 2 (0.090%) CloudHub
10 2 (0.090%) Control-M
10 2 (0.090%) Podman
11 1 (0.045%) HP ALM
11 1 (0.045%) Kibana
11 1 (0.045%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 247 (11.12%) Microsoft
2 186 (8.37%) Oracle
3 87 (3.92%) Salesforce
4 71 (3.20%) ServiceNow
5 39 (1.76%) Citrix
5 39 (1.76%) SAP
6 36 (1.62%) IBM
7 35 (1.58%) Databricks
8 30 (1.35%) OpenAI
9 26 (1.17%) Adobe
10 25 (1.13%) MuleSoft
11 24 (1.08%) Google
12 20 (0.90%) Guidewire
13 17 (0.77%) Pega
14 15 (0.68%) Foundry
14 15 (0.68%) Lotus
14 15 (0.68%) Sybase
15 14 (0.63%) Temenos
16 12 (0.54%) ForgeRock
16 12 (0.54%) OpenLink