Developer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Developer
England > North West

The median Developer daily rate in the North West is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 4 June 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 16 13 7
Rank change year-on-year -3 -6 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 299 207 345
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 8.91% 10.60% 12.67%
As % of the Job Titles category 9.73% 11.42% 13.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 170 169 261
10th Percentile £350 £358 £306
25th Percentile £408 £400 £371
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +5.56% -10.00%
75th Percentile £510 £550 £525
90th Percentile £575 £638 £575
England median daily rate £515 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -1.90% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 1 2
10th Percentile £25.49 - £78.05
25th Percentile £36.55 - £78.88
Median hourly rate £41.06 £86.00 £81.50
Median % change year-on-year -52.26% +5.52% -
75th Percentile £46.18 - £82.88
90th Percentile £63.50 - £82.95
England median hourly rate £51.50 £53.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -3.74% -17.69% -

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 3,073 1,813 2,577
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.57% 92.83% 94.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,718 1,208 1,625
10th Percentile £300 £263 £270
25th Percentile £400 £380 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £465 £488
Median % change year-on-year +2.15% -4.62% -2.50%
75th Percentile £588 £550 £580
90th Percentile £675 £656 £675
England median daily rate £518 £517 £525
% change year-on-year +0.10% -1.52% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 317 111 299
10th Percentile £18.34 £13.00 £11.13
25th Percentile £25.49 £14.13 £14.06
Median hourly rate £50.00 £28.75 £32.90
Median % change year-on-year +73.91% -12.60% +10.94%
75th Percentile £71.91 £60.00 £48.00
90th Percentile £84.25 £83.41 £71.02
England median hourly rate £45.00 £29.27 £38.00
% change year-on-year +53.74% -22.97% -15.56%

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 4 June 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 4 June 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 4 June 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 +1 229 £475 +2.43% 102
Cheshire -24 28 £397 +5.83% 23
Lancashire +7 22 £463 -11.90% 41
Merseyside -23 13 £450 -18.18% 22
Cumbria -2 6 £875 - 3
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 4 June 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.

1 117 (39.13%) Java
2 94 (31.44%) Agile
3 74 (24.75%) CI/CD
4 64 (21.40%) Microservices
5 61 (20.40%) AWS
6 58 (19.40%) Azure
7 55 (18.39%) Spring
8 52 (17.39%) DevOps
9 51 (17.06%) Full-Stack Development
9 51 (17.06%) Spring Boot
10 48 (16.05%) Test Automation
11 47 (15.72%) SQL
12 45 (15.05%) JavaScript
13 42 (14.05%) Problem-Solving
13 42 (14.05%) React
13 42 (14.05%) TDD
14 36 (12.04%) Node.js
14 36 (12.04%) REST
15 35 (11.71%) TypeScript
16 33 (11.04%) Docker
17 32 (10.70%) C#
17 32 (10.70%) RESTful
18 30 (10.03%) GitLab
18 30 (10.03%) Kubernetes
18 30 (10.03%) Security Cleared
19 29 (9.70%) Front End Development
20 27 (9.03%) Microsoft
21 26 (8.70%) .NET
21 26 (8.70%) Git
22 25 (8.36%) Data Modelling

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 10 (3.34%) Confluence
2 4 (1.34%) Apache Spark
3 2 (0.67%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 2 (0.67%) Apache
3 2 (0.67%) CMS
3 2 (0.67%) JBoss
4 1 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.33%) Appian
4 1 (0.33%) Camunda
4 1 (0.33%) Headless CMS
4 1 (0.33%) Mule
4 1 (0.33%) Mule ESB
4 1 (0.33%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.33%) SAS
4 1 (0.33%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.33%) Tomcat
4 1 (0.33%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 7 (2.34%) Maximo
2 2 (0.67%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.33%) NEC Housing
3 1 (0.33%) Odoo
Cloud Services
1 61 (20.40%) AWS
2 58 (19.40%) Azure
3 20 (6.69%) Power Platform
3 20 (6.69%) Serverless
4 14 (4.68%) Azure DevOps
5 13 (4.35%) GitHub
6 11 (3.68%) GitHub Actions
7 10 (3.34%) AWS Lambda
8 9 (3.01%) Amazon S3
8 9 (3.01%) Dynamics 365
9 6 (2.01%) Azure Logic Apps
9 6 (2.01%) OpenShift
10 5 (1.67%) Amazon EC2
10 5 (1.67%) Amazon ECR
10 5 (1.67%) Amazon SQS
10 5 (1.67%) Power Automate
11 4 (1.34%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (1.34%) AWS Step Functions
11 4 (1.34%) Azure AKS
11 4 (1.34%) Azure Service Bus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (5.02%) PostgreSQL
2 14 (4.68%) Power BI
3 13 (4.35%) SQL Server
4 12 (4.01%) MongoDB
4 12 (4.01%) NoSQL
5 9 (3.01%) Relational Database
6 8 (2.68%) Data Warehouse
6 8 (2.68%) OLTP
7 7 (2.34%) Power Query
8 5 (1.67%) DocumentDB
8 5 (1.67%) MySQL
9 4 (1.34%) Elasticsearch
9 4 (1.34%) Hadoop
9 4 (1.34%) Oracle Database
10 3 (1.00%) DynamoDB
10 3 (1.00%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 2 (0.67%) DataStage
11 2 (0.67%) DB2
11 2 (0.67%) Metadata
11 2 (0.67%) WebFOCUS
Development Applications
1 30 (10.03%) GitLab
2 26 (8.70%) Git
3 20 (6.69%) JIRA
4 13 (4.35%) JUnit
5 11 (3.68%) Mockito
6 10 (3.34%) Cypress.io
7 8 (2.68%) Mocha
8 6 (2.01%) CircleCI
8 6 (2.01%) Jenkins
9 5 (1.67%) SonarQube
10 3 (1.00%) ClearCase
10 3 (1.00%) Gradle
11 2 (0.67%) fastlane
11 2 (0.67%) IntelliJ
11 2 (0.67%) Maven
11 2 (0.67%) XCTest
12 1 (0.33%) Claude Code
12 1 (0.33%) Crashlytics
12 1 (0.33%) Visual Studio Coded UI
12 1 (0.33%) Vite
General
1 70 (23.41%) Public Sector
2 45 (15.05%) Social Skills
3 35 (11.71%) Finance
4 20 (6.69%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (6.02%) Banking
6 7 (2.34%) Aviation
7 6 (2.01%) Aerospace
7 6 (2.01%) Manufacturing
7 6 (2.01%) Military
8 3 (1.00%) Local Government
9 2 (0.67%) Law
9 2 (0.67%) Legal
9 2 (0.67%) Retail
10 1 (0.33%) Advertising
10 1 (0.33%) Automotive
10 1 (0.33%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.33%) Front Office
10 1 (0.33%) Games
10 1 (0.33%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.33%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 55 (18.39%) Spring
2 51 (17.06%) Spring Boot
3 42 (14.05%) React
4 36 (12.04%) Node.js
4 36 (12.04%) REST
5 32 (10.70%) RESTful
6 26 (8.70%) .NET
7 22 (7.36%) AngularJS
8 19 (6.35%) HTML
9 17 (5.69%) Vue
10 16 (5.35%) Kafka
11 15 (5.02%) CSS
12 14 (4.68%) Jest
13 13 (4.35%) YAML
14 9 (3.01%) Playwright
15 8 (2.68%) GraphQL
16 7 (2.34%) .NET Core
16 7 (2.34%) JAX-RS
16 7 (2.34%) JSON
16 7 (2.34%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 24 (8.03%) Cloud Native
2 13 (4.35%) Product Ownership
3 12 (4.01%) Mobile App
4 10 (3.34%) Enterprise Software
4 10 (3.34%) Onboarding
5 7 (2.34%) NHS
6 5 (1.67%) Data Protection Act
6 5 (1.67%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (1.34%) Data Structures
8 3 (1.00%) Legacy Code
8 3 (1.00%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (1.00%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 2 (0.67%) AI Agents
9 2 (0.67%) IoT
10 1 (0.33%) Algorithms
10 1 (0.33%) Blog
10 1 (0.33%) Distributed Systems
10 1 (0.33%) FMCG
10 1 (0.33%) Greenfield Project
10 1 (0.33%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 15 (5.02%) Unix
2 14 (4.68%) Linux
3 7 (2.34%) Mac OS X
4 5 (1.67%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.34%) Android
5 4 (1.34%) Windows
6 3 (1.00%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.67%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.67%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (31.44%) Agile
2 74 (24.75%) CI/CD
3 64 (21.40%) Microservices
4 52 (17.39%) DevOps
5 51 (17.06%) Full-Stack Development
6 48 (16.05%) Test Automation
7 42 (14.05%) Problem-Solving
7 42 (14.05%) TDD
8 29 (9.70%) Front End Development
9 25 (8.36%) Data Modelling
10 23 (7.69%) Code Quality
10 23 (7.69%) User Experience
11 22 (7.36%) Mentoring
12 20 (6.69%) API Design
12 20 (6.69%) API Development
13 19 (6.35%) Analytics
13 19 (6.35%) Business Intelligence
13 19 (6.35%) Continuous Improvement
13 19 (6.35%) ETL
13 19 (6.35%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 117 (39.13%) Java
2 47 (15.72%) SQL
3 45 (15.05%) JavaScript
4 35 (11.71%) TypeScript
5 32 (10.70%) C#
6 23 (7.69%) Python
7 15 (5.02%) Kotlin
8 9 (3.01%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 7 (2.34%) PL/SQL
10 6 (2.01%) Apex Code
10 6 (2.01%) Shell Script
11 5 (1.67%) Go
12 3 (1.00%) ProC
12 3 (1.00%) Swift
12 3 (1.00%) VB
12 3 (1.00%) VB6
13 2 (0.67%) C++
13 2 (0.67%) Objective-C
13 2 (0.67%) PowerShell
13 2 (0.67%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 30 (10.03%) Security Cleared
2 21 (7.02%) BPSS Clearance
3 19 (6.35%) SC Cleared
4 9 (3.01%) Degree
5 4 (1.34%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.33%) CTC Cleared
6 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.69%) Accessibility
2 14 (4.68%) QA
3 10 (3.34%) WCAG
4 7 (2.34%) Data Quality
5 3 (1.00%) GRC
5 3 (1.00%) ISO 20022
5 3 (1.00%) PSD2
5 3 (1.00%) SEPA
6 1 (0.33%) GDPR
System Software
1 33 (11.04%) Docker
2 1 (0.33%) ISA Server
Systems Management
1 30 (10.03%) Kubernetes
2 20 (6.69%) Terraform
3 6 (2.01%) Grafana
4 4 (1.34%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.00%) Ansible
Vendors
1 27 (9.03%) Microsoft
2 23 (7.69%) Oracle
3 16 (5.35%) Salesforce
4 6 (2.01%) ServiceNow
5 5 (1.67%) Automation Anywhere
5 5 (1.67%) Pega
5 5 (1.67%) Virgin Media
6 3 (1.00%) Adobe
6 3 (1.00%) Atlassian
6 3 (1.00%) Dynatrace
6 3 (1.00%) Veracode
7 2 (0.67%) IBM
7 2 (0.67%) SAP
7 2 (0.67%) Teradata
8 1 (0.33%) Dell
8 1 (0.33%) Foundry
8 1 (0.33%) Google
8 1 (0.33%) NEC
8 1 (0.33%) Sage
8 1 (0.33%) Sitecore