Developer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Developer
England > North West

The median Developer daily rate in the North West is £476, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 3 September 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 26 12 12
Rank change year-on-year -14 0 -2
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 258 233 246
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 6.53% 10.75% 10.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.23% 11.65% 10.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 163 194 182
10th Percentile £363 £313 £308
25th Percentile £424 £363 £372
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £425 £450
Median % change year-on-year +12.00% -5.56% -9.09%
75th Percentile £600 £525 £522
90th Percentile £675 £575 £575
England median daily rate £520 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +1.96% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 1 1
10th Percentile £25.49 - -
25th Percentile £34.31 - -
Median hourly rate £41.06 £47.12 £36.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.87% +30.89% -28.00%
75th Percentile £46.18 - -
90th Percentile £48.79 - -
England median hourly rate £55.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - -15.38% +9.92%

All Contract IT Job Roles
North West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North West. 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 the North West with a recognized job title 3,570 2,000 2,278
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.43% 92.25% 95.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,060 1,296 1,345
10th Percentile £297 £268 £275
25th Percentile £403 £365 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £600 £556 £588
90th Percentile £687 £658 £675
England median daily rate £525 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +3.45% -3.33% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 394 158 187
10th Percentile £16.50 £13.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £25.38 £17.30 £16.58
Median hourly rate £45.56 £24.88 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +83.08% -28.91% +14.60%
75th Percentile £72.47 £49.28 £54.00
90th Percentile £83.60 £71.77 £70.90
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +2.86%

Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Developer job vacancy trend in the North West

Developer
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the North West

Developer
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Developer in the North West over the 6 months to 3 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Developer in the North West

Developer
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the North West

Developer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Developer in the North West over the 6 months to 3 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Developer in the North West

Developer
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Developer within the North West region over the 6 months to 3 September 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
Manchester -3 189 £500 +17.65% 143
Cheshire -33 32 £466 +24.13% 30
Merseyside -28 14 £437 -17.64% 11
Lancashire -16 11 - - 61
Cumbria -12 8 £875 +86.17% 3
Developer
England

Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West

For the 6 months to 3 September 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 North West region featuring Developer in the job title.

1 78 (30.23%) Java
2 75 (29.07%) Agile
3 58 (22.48%) CI/CD
4 47 (18.22%) Microservices
5 44 (17.05%) AWS
6 43 (16.67%) SQL
7 41 (15.89%) DevOps
8 35 (13.57%) Azure
9 34 (13.18%) Security Cleared
9 34 (13.18%) Spring
10 33 (12.79%) Spring Boot
10 33 (12.79%) TDD
11 32 (12.40%) Problem-Solving
12 30 (11.63%) JavaScript
12 30 (11.63%) Test Automation
13 29 (11.24%) AI
13 29 (11.24%) Power Platform
13 29 (11.24%) React
14 28 (10.85%) Business Intelligence
14 28 (10.85%) Mentoring
15 27 (10.47%) REST
16 26 (10.08%) Git
16 26 (10.08%) SC Cleared
16 26 (10.08%) SDLC
17 25 (9.69%) Data Modelling
17 25 (9.69%) Microsoft
17 25 (9.69%) Software Engineering
18 24 (9.30%) C#
18 24 (9.30%) Salesforce
19 23 (8.91%) Continuous Improvement

Developer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 14 (5.43%) Confluence
2 6 (2.33%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.55%) Camunda
4 3 (1.16%) WordPress
5 2 (0.78%) CMS
5 2 (0.78%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (0.78%) SAS
5 2 (0.78%) SharePoint 2013
5 2 (0.78%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.39%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.39%) Drupal
6 1 (0.39%) JBoss
6 1 (0.39%) Mule
6 1 (0.39%) Mule ESB
6 1 (0.39%) Umbraco
6 1 (0.39%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 4 (1.55%) MIS ActiveH
2 1 (0.39%) Odoo
2 1 (0.39%) Sage 200
2 1 (0.39%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 44 (17.05%) AWS
2 35 (13.57%) Azure
3 29 (11.24%) Power Platform
4 10 (3.88%) Azure DevOps
4 10 (3.88%) Microsoft Copilot
5 9 (3.49%) GitHub
5 9 (3.49%) Power Automate
5 9 (3.49%) Serverless
6 8 (3.10%) Copilot Studio
6 8 (3.10%) GitHub Actions
7 6 (2.33%) Google Gemini
7 6 (2.33%) PowerApps
8 5 (1.94%) OpenShift
9 4 (1.55%) Anthropic Claude
9 4 (1.55%) GitHub Copilot
9 4 (1.55%) Microsoft 365
9 4 (1.55%) SaaS
10 3 (1.16%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (1.16%) Azure AI
10 3 (1.16%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.55%) SD-WAN
1 4 (1.55%) WAN
1 4 (1.55%) Wireless
2 2 (0.78%) Network Security
2 2 (0.78%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.39%) Firewall
3 1 (0.39%) IPsec
3 1 (0.39%) SNMP
3 1 (0.39%) SSL
3 1 (0.39%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.91%) Power BI
2 22 (8.53%) SQL Server
3 21 (8.14%) MongoDB
4 14 (5.43%) Power Query
5 13 (5.04%) Relational Database
6 12 (4.65%) Data Warehouse
7 10 (3.88%) NoSQL
7 10 (3.88%) PostgreSQL
8 5 (1.94%) DataStage
8 5 (1.94%) Db2
8 5 (1.94%) MySQL
9 3 (1.16%) Oracle Database
9 3 (1.16%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 2 (0.78%) Amazon QuickSight
10 2 (0.78%) DocumentDB
10 2 (0.78%) RDBMS
10 2 (0.78%) SAS Visual Analytics
10 2 (0.78%) Star Schema
11 1 (0.39%) SAP BW
11 1 (0.39%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 26 (10.08%) Git
2 14 (5.43%) JIRA
3 13 (5.04%) GitLab
3 13 (5.04%) Jenkins
4 11 (4.26%) Mockito
5 9 (3.49%) Claude Code
6 7 (2.71%) JUnit
7 6 (2.33%) Maven
7 6 (2.33%) SonarQube
8 4 (1.55%) Gradle
9 3 (1.16%) Bitbucket Server
9 3 (1.16%) ClearCase
9 3 (1.16%) Cucumber
9 3 (1.16%) REST Assured
9 3 (1.16%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.39%) Eclipse
10 1 (0.39%) Hudson
10 1 (0.39%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.39%) Rational Robot
10 1 (0.39%) Visual Studio
General
1 52 (20.16%) Social Skills
2 38 (14.73%) Public Sector
3 28 (10.85%) Finance
4 23 (8.91%) Banking
5 17 (6.59%) Analytical Skills
6 11 (4.26%) Military
7 5 (1.94%) Legal
7 5 (1.94%) Legal Technology
7 5 (1.94%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.55%) Aerospace
8 4 (1.55%) Retail
9 2 (0.78%) Front Office
9 2 (0.78%) Investment Banking
9 2 (0.78%) Law
10 1 (0.39%) Automotive
10 1 (0.39%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.39%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.39%) Local Government
10 1 (0.39%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (13.18%) Spring
2 33 (12.79%) Spring Boot
3 29 (11.24%) React
4 27 (10.47%) REST
5 23 (8.91%) Kafka
5 23 (8.91%) Node.js
6 16 (6.20%) .NET
7 14 (5.43%) HTML
8 13 (5.04%) RESTful
9 12 (4.65%) AngularJS
10 11 (4.26%) CSS
10 11 (4.26%) JSON
11 10 (3.88%) Terraform
12 7 (2.71%) XML
13 6 (2.33%) ActiveMQ
13 6 (2.33%) JAX-RS
13 6 (2.33%) Lightning Web Components
13 6 (2.33%) Nunjucks
14 5 (1.94%) Django
14 5 (1.94%) Redux
Miscellaneous
1 12 (4.65%) Data Structures
2 10 (3.88%) Cloud Native
3 9 (3.49%) Enterprise Software
4 8 (3.10%) NHS
5 7 (2.71%) AI Agents
5 7 (2.71%) Mobile App
6 6 (2.33%) Algorithms
6 6 (2.33%) Product Ownership
7 5 (1.94%) Legacy Systems
7 5 (1.94%) Onboarding
7 5 (1.94%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (1.55%) Distributed Systems
9 3 (1.16%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (1.16%) IoT
10 2 (0.78%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.78%) Equities
10 2 (0.78%) Fixed Income
10 2 (0.78%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 2 (0.78%) Greenfield Project
11 1 (0.39%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 15 (5.81%) Linux
2 14 (5.43%) Unix
3 4 (1.55%) Apple iOS
4 3 (1.16%) Android
5 2 (0.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.78%) VMS
6 1 (0.39%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.39%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.39%) Windows
6 1 (0.39%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (29.07%) Agile
2 58 (22.48%) CI/CD
3 47 (18.22%) Microservices
4 41 (15.89%) DevOps
5 33 (12.79%) TDD
6 32 (12.40%) Problem-Solving
7 30 (11.63%) Test Automation
8 29 (11.24%) AI
9 28 (10.85%) Business Intelligence
9 28 (10.85%) Mentoring
10 26 (10.08%) SDLC
11 25 (9.69%) Data Modelling
11 25 (9.69%) Software Engineering
12 23 (8.91%) Continuous Improvement
13 22 (8.53%) Full-Stack Development
14 18 (6.98%) BDD
14 18 (6.98%) Code Quality
14 18 (6.98%) ETL
15 17 (6.59%) Analytics
16 15 (5.81%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 78 (30.23%) Java
2 43 (16.67%) SQL
3 30 (11.63%) JavaScript
4 24 (9.30%) C#
5 18 (6.98%) TypeScript
6 16 (6.20%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 15 (5.81%) Python
8 8 (3.10%) Kotlin
9 7 (2.71%) PowerShell
9 7 (2.71%) Shell Script
10 6 (2.33%) Apex Code
10 6 (2.33%) Go
10 6 (2.33%) PL/SQL
11 4 (1.55%) Swift
11 4 (1.55%) T-SQL
12 3 (1.16%) PHP
12 3 (1.16%) VB
12 3 (1.16%) VB6
13 1 (0.39%) ABAP
13 1 (0.39%) Objective-C
Qualifications
1 34 (13.18%) Security Cleared
2 26 (10.08%) SC Cleared
3 14 (5.43%) BPSS Clearance
3 14 (5.43%) Degree
4 7 (2.71%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (0.39%) CTC Cleared
5 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (4.65%) Data Quality
1 12 (4.65%) QA
2 10 (3.88%) Accessibility
3 4 (1.55%) GRC
4 2 (0.78%) WCAG
5 1 (0.39%) NCSC
5 1 (0.39%) NIST
System Software
1 22 (8.53%) Docker
2 3 (1.16%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 17 (6.59%) Kubernetes
2 9 (3.49%) Ansible
3 1 (0.39%) Grafana
3 1 (0.39%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 25 (9.69%) Microsoft
2 24 (9.30%) Salesforce
3 14 (5.43%) ServiceNow
4 12 (4.65%) Oracle
5 8 (3.10%) IBM
6 5 (1.94%) Pega
6 5 (1.94%) Teradata
7 4 (1.55%) Atlassian
7 4 (1.55%) OpenAI
8 3 (1.16%) Google
8 3 (1.16%) SAP
8 3 (1.16%) Splunk
8 3 (1.16%) Veracode
9 2 (0.78%) Adobe
9 2 (0.78%) Blue Prism
9 2 (0.78%) Cisco
10 1 (0.39%) Foundry
10 1 (0.39%) MuleSoft
10 1 (0.39%) Sage