Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in Manchester
Software Engineering
North West > Manchester
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Manchester citing Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 30 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 30 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 13 | 33 | 47 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +20 | +14 | -6 |
| Contract jobs citing Software Engineering | 226 | 59 | 36 |
| As % of all contract jobs in Manchester | 10.97% | 5.49% | 3.12% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 12.83% | 6.15% | 3.58% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 97 | 32 | 21 |
| 10th Percentile | £396 | £310 | £413 |
| 25th Percentile | £456 | £425 | £425 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £557 | £550 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +1.27% | +10.00% | -11.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £625 | £650 | £575 |
| 90th Percentile | £707 | £699 | £600 |
| North West median daily rate | £550 | £550 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | - | +15.79% | -11.63% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 61 | 3 | 2 |
| 10th Percentile | £62.50 | £70.70 | £63.20 |
| 25th Percentile | £65.00 | £71.75 | £64.25 |
| Median hourly rate | £71.00 | £79.00 | £69.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -10.13% | +13.67% | +11.20% |
| 75th Percentile | £77.00 | £89.75 | £73.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £78.75 | £92.90 | £74.20 |
| North West median hourly rate | £69.00 | £55.85 | £42.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +23.54% | +31.42% | -7.97% |
All Process & Methodology Skills
Manchester
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 citing process or methodology skills in Manchester.
| 6 months to 30 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills | 1,762 | 960 | 1,006 |
| As % of all contract jobs advertised in Manchester | 85.49% | 89.30% | 87.10% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 1,049 | 623 | 580 |
| 10th Percentile | £342 | £300 | £313 |
| 25th Percentile | £418 | £385 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £510 | £450 | £475 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +13.33% | -5.26% | -5.00% |
| 75th Percentile | £618 | £588 | £575 |
| 90th Percentile | £703 | £678 | £675 |
| North West median daily rate | £500 | £450 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | +11.11% | -5.26% | -5.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 184 | 76 | 33 |
| 10th Percentile | £15.56 | £16.43 | £21.25 |
| 25th Percentile | £30.00 | £19.07 | £29.50 |
| Median hourly rate | £60.00 | £22.63 | £35.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +165.13% | -35.34% | +79.49% |
| 75th Percentile | £73.19 | £33.00 | £62.50 |
| 90th Percentile | £77.00 | £64.38 | £73.90 |
| North West median hourly rate | £43.96 | £27.00 | £40.33 |
| % change year-on-year | +62.81% | -33.04% | +13.59% |
Software Engineering Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester.
Software Engineering Daily Rate Trend in Manchester
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Software Engineering.
Software Engineering Daily Rate Histogram in Manchester
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in Manchester over the 6 months to 30 October 2026.
Software Engineering Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Manchester citing Software Engineering.
Software Engineering Hourly Rate Histogram in Manchester
Hourly rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in Manchester over the 6 months to 30 October 2026.
Software Engineering Contract Job Locations in Manchester
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 Manchester region over the 6 months to 30 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bury | - | 6 | £744 | - | 1 |
| Bolton | - | 5 | - | - | 6 |
| Stockport | - | 1 | - | - | 6 |
| Software Engineering North West |
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Software Engineering Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester 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.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CI/CD | 41.6% | 94 |
| 2 | Agile | 35.8% | 81 |
| 3 | Test Automation | 25.7% | 58 |
| 4 | Microservices | 22.6% | 51 |
| 5 | Full-Stack Development | 20.8% | 47 |
| 6 | AI | 19.0% | 43 |
| 7 | DevOps | 18.6% | 42 |
| 7 | Event-Driven | 18.6% | 42 |
| 7 | Infrastructure as Code | 18.6% | 42 |
| 10 | Observability | 18.1% | 41 |
| 11 | Continuous Improvement | 17.7% | 40 |
| 12 | Event-Driven Architecture | 16.4% | 37 |
| 13 | User Experience | 12.8% | 29 |
| 14 | Migration | 12.4% | 28 |
| 15 | Problem-Solving | 11.5% | 26 |
| 16 | SDLC | 11.1% | 25 |
| 16 | Stakeholder Management | 11.1% | 25 |
| 18 | E-Commerce | 10.6% | 24 |
| 18 | Technical Leadership | 10.6% | 24 |
| 20 | TDD | 10.2% | 23 |