Developer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Developer
England > North West

The median Developer daily rate in the North West is £450, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 March 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 9 9 4
Rank change year-on-year 0 -5 +5
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 326 230 406
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 11.23% 11.41% 14.19%
As % of the Job Titles category 12.23% 12.28% 15.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 221 164 297
10th Percentile £344 £380 £313
25th Percentile £400 £405 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £491 £475
Median % change year-on-year -8.40% +3.42% -5.00%
75th Percentile £500 £549 £538
90th Percentile £572 £634 £625
England median daily rate £500 £538 £525
% change year-on-year -6.98% +2.38% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 4 5
10th Percentile £36.32 - £73.25
25th Percentile £40.53 £65.00 £76.25
Median hourly rate £61.00 £75.50 £80.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.21% -5.63% +102.53%
75th Percentile £70.00 £86.00 £82.50
90th Percentile £75.61 - £82.80
England median hourly rate £63.14 £65.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year -2.87% +4.00% -2.34%

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 2,665 1,873 2,679
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.80% 92.95% 93.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,612 1,191 1,788
10th Percentile £213 £250 £274
25th Percentile £374 £375 £391
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £475 £495
Median % change year-on-year -3.16% -4.04% -1.00%
75th Percentile £575 £570 £582
90th Percentile £650 £656 £674
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 260 106 283
10th Percentile £18.56 £15.00 £11.07
25th Percentile £22.81 £20.39 £14.00
Median hourly rate £42.84 £31.51 £25.60
Median % change year-on-year +35.96% +23.09% -13.66%
75th Percentile £64.06 £55.76 £46.18
90th Percentile £77.50 £82.00 £63.75
England median hourly rate £36.32 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +3.77% +7.69% -23.29%

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 11 March 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 11 March 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 11 March 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 +3 242 £450 -2.70% 135
Cheshire -13 44 £358 -29.28% 40
Lancashire -12 20 £548 +2.29% 51
Merseyside -15 17 £481 +16.67% 19
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 11 March 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.

1 125 (38.34%) Java
2 106 (32.52%) Agile
3 88 (26.99%) CI/CD
4 80 (24.54%) AWS
5 75 (23.01%) Microservices
6 69 (21.17%) Azure
7 68 (20.86%) Spring Boot
8 67 (20.55%) Problem-Solving
8 67 (20.55%) Spring
9 64 (19.63%) Test Automation
10 61 (18.71%) DevOps
11 59 (18.10%) SQL
12 53 (16.26%) Full-Stack Development
12 53 (16.26%) Security Cleared
13 46 (14.11%) TDD
14 43 (13.19%) Docker
14 43 (13.19%) JavaScript
14 43 (13.19%) React
15 42 (12.88%) REST
16 41 (12.58%) Node.js
17 40 (12.27%) GitLab
17 40 (12.27%) TypeScript
18 39 (11.96%) Kubernetes
18 39 (11.96%) Microsoft
19 38 (11.66%) Git
20 37 (11.35%) Python
21 36 (11.04%) RESTful
22 30 (9.20%) API Design
22 30 (9.20%) BPSS Clearance
23 29 (8.90%) .NET

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 8 (2.45%) Confluence
2 5 (1.53%) Apache Spark
3 4 (1.23%) Apache Airflow
4 3 (0.92%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 3 (0.92%) Apache
4 3 (0.92%) SAS
4 3 (0.92%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.31%) Appian
5 1 (0.31%) CMS
5 1 (0.31%) Headless CMS
5 1 (0.31%) JBoss
5 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.31%) Tomcat
Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (2.45%) Advent Geneva
2 7 (2.15%) Maximo
3 2 (0.61%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.61%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.61%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.31%) Odoo
4 1 (0.31%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.31%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 80 (24.54%) AWS
2 69 (21.17%) Azure
3 24 (7.36%) Power Platform
4 23 (7.06%) Serverless
5 16 (4.91%) Azure DevOps
6 14 (4.29%) GitHub
6 14 (4.29%) Power Automate
7 12 (3.68%) AWS Lambda
7 12 (3.68%) Dynamics 365
7 12 (3.68%) PowerApps
8 9 (2.76%) Amazon S3
8 9 (2.76%) Amazon SQS
8 9 (2.76%) GitHub Actions
9 7 (2.15%) Azure Logic Apps
10 6 (1.84%) GCP
11 5 (1.53%) AWS Step Functions
11 5 (1.53%) npm
11 5 (1.53%) OpenShift
12 4 (1.23%) Azure Data Factory
12 4 (1.23%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.15%) HTTPS
2 4 (1.23%) HTTP
3 1 (0.31%) Internet
3 1 (0.31%) PABX
3 1 (0.31%) SSL
3 1 (0.31%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (6.13%) Relational Database
2 17 (5.21%) SQL Server
3 16 (4.91%) PostgreSQL
4 15 (4.60%) MongoDB
5 14 (4.29%) NoSQL
6 13 (3.99%) MySQL
6 13 (3.99%) Power BI
7 9 (2.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 8 (2.45%) Data Warehouse
8 8 (2.45%) DB2
8 8 (2.45%) DocumentDB
8 8 (2.45%) OLTP
8 8 (2.45%) Redis
9 5 (1.53%) DynamoDB
9 5 (1.53%) Hadoop
10 4 (1.23%) Elasticsearch
11 2 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
11 2 (0.61%) Apache Cassandra
11 2 (0.61%) Azure SQL Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.61%) WebFOCUS
Development Applications
1 40 (12.27%) GitLab
2 38 (11.66%) Git
3 19 (5.83%) JIRA
4 15 (4.60%) Cypress.io
5 12 (3.68%) JUnit
5 12 (3.68%) Mockito
6 8 (2.45%) Jenkins
6 8 (2.45%) Mocha
6 8 (2.45%) SonarQube
7 6 (1.84%) CircleCI
8 5 (1.53%) Postman
9 4 (1.23%) ESLint
9 4 (1.23%) Gradle
10 3 (0.92%) Jasmine
11 2 (0.61%) Android Studio
11 2 (0.61%) fastlane
11 2 (0.61%) Xcode
11 2 (0.61%) XCTest
12 1 (0.31%) IntelliJ
12 1 (0.31%) Vite
General
1 86 (26.38%) Public Sector
2 44 (13.50%) Social Skills
3 43 (13.19%) Finance
4 21 (6.44%) Analytical Skills
5 17 (5.21%) Banking
6 7 (2.15%) Aviation
6 7 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.23%) Publishing
8 3 (0.92%) Law
8 3 (0.92%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.61%) Aerospace
9 2 (0.61%) Local Government
9 2 (0.61%) Private Banking
9 2 (0.61%) Retail
10 1 (0.31%) Advertising
10 1 (0.31%) Games
10 1 (0.31%) Legal
10 1 (0.31%) Marketing
10 1 (0.31%) Military
10 1 (0.31%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 68 (20.86%) Spring Boot
2 67 (20.55%) Spring
3 43 (13.19%) React
4 42 (12.88%) REST
5 41 (12.58%) Node.js
6 36 (11.04%) RESTful
7 29 (8.90%) .NET
8 22 (6.75%) HTML
8 22 (6.75%) Jest
9 20 (6.13%) AngularJS
10 19 (5.83%) JSON
11 16 (4.91%) Kafka
12 15 (4.60%) CSS
12 15 (4.60%) Vue
13 14 (4.29%) XML
13 14 (4.29%) YAML
14 13 (3.99%) OAuth
14 13 (3.99%) React Native
15 12 (3.68%) JAX-RS
15 12 (3.68%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 23 (7.06%) Cloud Native
2 18 (5.52%) Mobile App
3 16 (4.91%) Onboarding
4 12 (3.68%) Product Ownership
5 9 (2.76%) Enterprise Software
6 8 (2.45%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 6 (1.84%) Data Structures
7 6 (1.84%) Virtual Team
8 5 (1.53%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.23%) Legacy Code
9 4 (1.23%) Low-Code
10 3 (0.92%) Blog
10 3 (0.92%) Greenfield Project
10 3 (0.92%) IoT
10 3 (0.92%) Legacy Systems
11 2 (0.61%) Distributed Systems
11 2 (0.61%) FMCG
11 2 (0.61%) IVR
11 2 (0.61%) NHS
12 1 (0.31%) CUDA
Operating Systems
1 19 (5.83%) Linux
2 17 (5.21%) Unix
3 10 (3.07%) Mac OS X
4 8 (2.45%) Android
4 8 (2.45%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.23%) Windows
6 3 (0.92%) Windows Server
7 1 (0.31%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.31%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (32.52%) Agile
2 88 (26.99%) CI/CD
3 75 (23.01%) Microservices
4 67 (20.55%) Problem-Solving
5 64 (19.63%) Test Automation
6 61 (18.71%) DevOps
7 53 (16.26%) Full-Stack Development
8 46 (14.11%) TDD
9 30 (9.20%) API Design
10 29 (8.90%) Containerisation
11 28 (8.59%) Continuous Improvement
12 26 (7.98%) User Experience
13 25 (7.67%) Data Modelling
14 24 (7.36%) Unit Testing
15 23 (7.06%) Front End Development
16 21 (6.44%) API Development
16 21 (6.44%) Design Patterns
16 21 (6.44%) Performance Optimisation
17 20 (6.13%) Code Quality
17 20 (6.13%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 125 (38.34%) Java
2 59 (18.10%) SQL
3 43 (13.19%) JavaScript
4 40 (12.27%) TypeScript
5 37 (11.35%) Python
6 29 (8.90%) C#
7 16 (4.91%) Kotlin
8 6 (1.84%) T-SQL
9 5 (1.53%) Shell Script
10 4 (1.23%) Apex Code
10 4 (1.23%) C++
10 4 (1.23%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.92%) ABAP
11 3 (0.92%) Groovy
11 3 (0.92%) ProC
11 3 (0.92%) Ruby
11 3 (0.92%) Swift
12 2 (0.61%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 2 (0.61%) Objective-C
13 1 (0.31%) PHP
Qualifications
1 53 (16.26%) Security Cleared
2 30 (9.20%) BPSS Clearance
3 27 (8.28%) SC Cleared
4 17 (5.21%) Degree
5 10 (3.07%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (1.23%) CTC Cleared
6 4 (1.23%) DV Cleared
7 1 (0.31%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (7.98%) Accessibility
2 15 (4.60%) WCAG
3 14 (4.29%) QA
4 8 (2.45%) ISO 20022
4 8 (2.45%) PSD2
4 8 (2.45%) SEPA
5 4 (1.23%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.31%) GDPR
System Software
1 43 (13.19%) Docker
2 3 (0.92%) ISA Server
Systems Management
1 39 (11.96%) Kubernetes
2 19 (5.83%) Terraform
3 7 (2.15%) Grafana
4 4 (1.23%) Ansible
4 4 (1.23%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.31%) Argo
5 1 (0.31%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 39 (11.96%) Microsoft
2 26 (7.98%) Oracle
3 11 (3.37%) Virgin Media
4 9 (2.76%) Salesforce
5 8 (2.45%) Advent
6 7 (2.15%) SAP
6 7 (2.15%) Splunk
7 6 (1.84%) Automation Anywhere
7 6 (1.84%) ServiceNow
8 5 (1.53%) Adobe
9 4 (1.23%) IFS
9 4 (1.23%) Xamarin
10 3 (0.92%) Dynatrace
10 3 (0.92%) IBM
10 3 (0.92%) Veracode
11 2 (0.61%) Google
11 2 (0.61%) NEC
11 2 (0.61%) Sage
11 2 (0.61%) Software AG
11 2 (0.61%) webMethods