Developer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Developer
England > North West

The median Developer daily rate in the North West is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 25 September 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 12 11
Rank change year-on-year -11 -1 -1
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 287 232 239
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 7.35% 10.69% 9.93%
As % of the Job Titles category 8.12% 11.57% 10.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 175 190 168
10th Percentile £363 £313 £306
25th Percentile £428 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £425 £438
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -2.86% -12.50%
75th Percentile £594 £500 £525
90th Percentile £665 £575 £575
England median daily rate £520 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +2.46% -3.33% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 1 3
10th Percentile £25.49 - £41.80
25th Percentile £37.25 - £50.50
Median hourly rate £45.56 £47.12 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.32% -27.51% -10.34%
75th Percentile £46.80 - -
90th Percentile £71.50 - -
England median hourly rate £55.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - -15.38% +8.33%

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 3,536 2,005 2,253
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.50% 92.40% 93.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,993 1,328 1,234
10th Percentile £300 £268 £271
25th Percentile £408 £375 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £490
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.16% -2.00%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £575
90th Percentile £675 £680 £670
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 421 160 162
10th Percentile £15.93 £13.00 £15.49
25th Percentile £25.49 £17.30 £18.00
Median hourly rate £45.56 £25.15 £37.00
Median % change year-on-year +81.15% -32.03% +21.15%
75th Percentile £71.91 £45.37 £55.25
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.02 £74.37
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £46.18
% change year-on-year +68.99% -45.54% +2.62%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 0 204 £500 +21.21% 216
Cheshire -18 41 £513 +36.67% 37
Merseyside -26 16 £437 -13.56% 33
Lancashire -22 12 - - 57
Cumbria -19 9 £625 +32.98% 3
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 25 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 77 (26.83%) Agile
2 74 (25.78%) Java
3 70 (24.39%) CI/CD
4 46 (16.03%) AWS
4 46 (16.03%) SQL
5 44 (15.33%) DevOps
5 44 (15.33%) Microservices
6 43 (14.98%) Azure
7 41 (14.29%) Power Platform
8 36 (12.54%) Microsoft
9 35 (12.20%) Security Cleared
10 34 (11.85%) JavaScript
10 34 (11.85%) Software Engineering
10 34 (11.85%) Test Automation
11 33 (11.50%) TDD
12 32 (11.15%) AI
12 32 (11.15%) React
13 31 (10.80%) REST
14 30 (10.45%) Git
15 29 (10.10%) Problem-Solving
16 28 (9.76%) C#
16 28 (9.76%) SC Cleared
16 28 (9.76%) Spring Boot
17 27 (9.41%) Business Intelligence
18 26 (9.06%) Salesforce
18 26 (9.06%) Spring
19 25 (8.71%) Kafka
19 25 (8.71%) Mentoring
19 25 (8.71%) TypeScript
20 24 (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 15 (5.23%) SharePoint
2 14 (4.88%) Confluence
3 8 (2.79%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (2.79%) SharePoint Server
4 5 (1.74%) Camunda
5 3 (1.05%) WordPress
6 2 (0.70%) CMS
6 2 (0.70%) SAS
6 2 (0.70%) SharePoint 2013
7 1 (0.35%) Adobe Experience Manager
7 1 (0.35%) Drupal
7 1 (0.35%) JBoss
7 1 (0.35%) Mule
7 1 (0.35%) Mule ESB
7 1 (0.35%) Umbraco
7 1 (0.35%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 4 (1.39%) MIS ActiveH
2 1 (0.35%) Sage 200
2 1 (0.35%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 46 (16.03%) AWS
2 43 (14.98%) Azure
3 41 (14.29%) Power Platform
4 19 (6.62%) Power Automate
5 16 (5.57%) PowerApps
6 15 (5.23%) Microsoft Copilot
7 14 (4.88%) Microsoft 365
8 13 (4.53%) Azure DevOps
8 13 (4.53%) GitHub
9 10 (3.48%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (2.79%) Azure AI
10 8 (2.79%) OneDrive
11 7 (2.44%) Copilot Studio
11 7 (2.44%) Serverless
12 6 (2.09%) Dynamics 365
12 6 (2.09%) Google Gemini
12 6 (2.09%) OpenShift
13 5 (1.74%) Anthropic Claude
13 5 (1.74%) GitHub Copilot
13 5 (1.74%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.79%) SD-WAN
1 8 (2.79%) WAN
1 8 (2.79%) Wireless
2 2 (0.70%) Network Security
2 2 (0.70%) SNMP
2 2 (0.70%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.35%) Firewall
3 1 (0.35%) IPsec
3 1 (0.35%) SSL
3 1 (0.35%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (8.36%) Power BI
2 23 (8.01%) SQL Server
3 21 (7.32%) MongoDB
4 14 (4.88%) Power Query
4 14 (4.88%) Relational Database
5 12 (4.18%) Data Warehouse
6 8 (2.79%) NoSQL
7 6 (2.09%) PostgreSQL
8 5 (1.74%) DataStage
8 5 (1.74%) Db2
9 4 (1.39%) MySQL
9 4 (1.39%) Oracle Database
10 3 (1.05%) RDBMS
10 3 (1.05%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 2 (0.70%) Amazon QuickSight
11 2 (0.70%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.70%) DocumentDB
11 2 (0.70%) SAS Visual Analytics
11 2 (0.70%) Star Schema
12 1 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 30 (10.45%) Git
2 15 (5.23%) GitLab
2 15 (5.23%) Jenkins
3 13 (4.53%) JIRA
4 12 (4.18%) Mockito
5 9 (3.14%) Claude Code
6 8 (2.79%) JUnit
7 7 (2.44%) Maven
8 6 (2.09%) SonarQube
9 5 (1.74%) Gradle
10 4 (1.39%) Bitbucket Server
10 4 (1.39%) ClearCase
10 4 (1.39%) Cucumber
10 4 (1.39%) REST Assured
10 4 (1.39%) Sonatype Nexus
11 2 (0.70%) MSTest
11 2 (0.70%) NUnit
11 2 (0.70%) Rational Robot
11 2 (0.70%) Team Foundation Server
11 2 (0.70%) Visual Studio
General
1 59 (20.56%) Social Skills
2 33 (11.50%) Public Sector
3 26 (9.06%) Finance
4 22 (7.67%) Banking
5 21 (7.32%) Analytical Skills
6 11 (3.83%) Military
7 4 (1.39%) Legal
7 4 (1.39%) Legal Technology
7 4 (1.39%) Manufacturing
7 4 (1.39%) Retail
8 3 (1.05%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.70%) Front Office
9 2 (0.70%) Investment Banking
9 2 (0.70%) Law
10 1 (0.35%) Automotive
10 1 (0.35%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.35%) Local Government
10 1 (0.35%) Marketing
10 1 (0.35%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (11.15%) React
2 31 (10.80%) REST
3 28 (9.76%) Spring Boot
4 26 (9.06%) Spring
5 25 (8.71%) Kafka
6 23 (8.01%) Node.js
7 19 (6.62%) .NET
8 15 (5.23%) HTML
9 14 (4.88%) JSON
10 12 (4.18%) CSS
11 11 (3.83%) AngularJS
11 11 (3.83%) RESTful
12 9 (3.14%) Terraform
13 8 (2.79%) Django
13 8 (2.79%) XML
14 6 (2.09%) ActiveMQ
14 6 (2.09%) JAX-RS
14 6 (2.09%) JPA
14 6 (2.09%) Lightning Web Components
14 6 (2.09%) Redux
Miscellaneous
1 12 (4.18%) Data Structures
2 11 (3.83%) Cloud Native
3 10 (3.48%) Enterprise Software
4 8 (2.79%) NHS
4 8 (2.79%) Onboarding
4 8 (2.79%) Product Ownership
5 7 (2.44%) AI Agents
6 6 (2.09%) Algorithms
6 6 (2.09%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (2.09%) Mobile App
7 5 (1.74%) Legacy Systems
7 5 (1.74%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.05%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 3 (1.05%) IoT
9 2 (0.70%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.70%) Equities
9 2 (0.70%) Fixed Income
9 2 (0.70%) Greenfield Project
9 2 (0.70%) Low-Code
10 1 (0.35%) CSOC
Operating Systems
1 18 (6.27%) Linux
2 14 (4.88%) Unix
3 6 (2.09%) Apple iOS
4 5 (1.74%) Android
5 2 (0.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.70%) VMS
5 2 (0.70%) Windows
6 1 (0.35%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.35%) Mac OS X
6 1 (0.35%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (26.83%) Agile
2 70 (24.39%) CI/CD
3 44 (15.33%) DevOps
3 44 (15.33%) Microservices
4 34 (11.85%) Software Engineering
4 34 (11.85%) Test Automation
5 33 (11.50%) TDD
6 32 (11.15%) AI
7 29 (10.10%) Problem-Solving
8 27 (9.41%) Business Intelligence
9 25 (8.71%) Mentoring
10 24 (8.36%) Data Modelling
10 24 (8.36%) Full-Stack Development
11 22 (7.67%) Continuous Improvement
11 22 (7.67%) Observability
11 22 (7.67%) SDLC
12 19 (6.62%) Code Quality
13 17 (5.92%) Analytics
13 17 (5.92%) Clean Code
13 17 (5.92%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 74 (25.78%) Java
2 46 (16.03%) SQL
3 34 (11.85%) JavaScript
4 28 (9.76%) C#
5 25 (8.71%) TypeScript
6 19 (6.62%) Python
7 16 (5.57%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 10 (3.48%) Go
9 7 (2.44%) Shell Script
10 6 (2.09%) Apex Code
10 6 (2.09%) PL/SQL
10 6 (2.09%) PowerShell
10 6 (2.09%) Swift
11 5 (1.74%) Kotlin
12 4 (1.39%) T-SQL
12 4 (1.39%) VB
12 4 (1.39%) VB6
13 3 (1.05%) Objective-C
13 3 (1.05%) PHP
14 2 (0.70%) C++
Qualifications
1 35 (12.20%) Security Cleared
2 28 (9.76%) SC Cleared
3 21 (7.32%) Degree
4 18 (6.27%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (2.79%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.35%) Azure Certification
6 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (4.18%) Data Quality
2 10 (3.48%) QA
3 8 (2.79%) Accessibility
4 3 (1.05%) GRC
5 1 (0.35%) NCSC
5 1 (0.35%) NIST
5 1 (0.35%) WCAG
System Software
1 22 (7.67%) Docker
2 3 (1.05%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 17 (5.92%) Kubernetes
2 9 (3.14%) Ansible
3 1 (0.35%) Grafana
3 1 (0.35%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 36 (12.54%) Microsoft
2 26 (9.06%) Salesforce
3 12 (4.18%) Oracle
3 12 (4.18%) ServiceNow
4 9 (3.14%) IBM
5 6 (2.09%) Splunk
6 5 (1.74%) Teradata
7 4 (1.39%) Blue Prism
7 4 (1.39%) Google
7 4 (1.39%) OpenAI
7 4 (1.39%) Veracode
8 3 (1.05%) Atlassian
8 3 (1.05%) Pega
9 2 (0.70%) Adobe
9 2 (0.70%) Cisco
9 2 (0.70%) SAP
10 1 (0.35%) MuleSoft
10 1 (0.35%) Sage
10 1 (0.35%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud