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 20 July 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 22 13 10
Rank change year-on-year -9 -3 -2
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 266 221 295
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 7.20% 10.22% 11.32%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.90% 11.07% 12.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 161 190 227
10th Percentile £343 £313 £300
25th Percentile £400 £375 £359
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £457 £438
Median % change year-on-year +3.88% +4.51% -12.50%
75th Percentile £540 £545 £514
90th Percentile £625 £626 £575
England median daily rate £515 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 1 2
10th Percentile £25.49 - £40.70
25th Percentile £37.25 - £47.75
Median hourly rate £41.06 £47.12 £59.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.87% -20.81% +19.00%
75th Percentile £46.18 - £71.25
90th Percentile - - £78.30
England median hourly rate £55.00 £47.12 £65.00
% change year-on-year +16.72% -27.51% +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 3,367 1,997 2,453
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.20% 92.33% 94.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,890 1,300 1,524
10th Percentile £300 £249 £256
25th Percentile £400 £367 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £450 £480
Median % change year-on-year +8.89% -6.25% -4.00%
75th Percentile £594 £553 £576
90th Percentile £675 £663 £670
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 377 152 272
10th Percentile £17.25 £13.00 £11.19
25th Percentile £25.49 £17.30 £15.50
Median hourly rate £50.00 £28.75 £29.50
Median % change year-on-year +73.91% -2.54% +11.32%
75th Percentile £73.75 £56.44 £49.31
90th Percentile £85.00 £74.88 £70.90
England median hourly rate £45.56 £27.39 £41.27
% change year-on-year +66.34% -33.63% -6.22%

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 20 July 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 20 July 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 20 July 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 -2 193 £475 - 56
Cheshire -26 30 £394 +5.70% 18
Merseyside -17 19 £435 -20.91% 9
Lancashire -4 12 £463 -9.76% 22
Cumbria +2 7 £875 -
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 20 July 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.

1 102 (38.35%) Java
2 92 (34.59%) Agile
3 70 (26.32%) CI/CD
4 58 (21.80%) Microservices
5 53 (19.92%) DevOps
6 51 (19.17%) Azure
7 49 (18.42%) AWS
8 44 (16.54%) Security Cleared
8 44 (16.54%) SQL
9 43 (16.17%) TDD
10 40 (15.04%) Test Automation
11 39 (14.66%) Problem-Solving
11 39 (14.66%) Spring
12 36 (13.53%) Spring Boot
13 35 (13.16%) C#
13 35 (13.16%) React
14 34 (12.78%) JavaScript
15 32 (12.03%) Microsoft
16 30 (11.28%) Full-Stack Development
16 30 (11.28%) Node.js
16 30 (11.28%) SC Cleared
17 29 (10.90%) Mentoring
18 28 (10.53%) Data Modelling
19 27 (10.15%) .NET
19 27 (10.15%) Business Intelligence
20 26 (9.77%) AI
20 26 (9.77%) Power Platform
20 26 (9.77%) RESTful
21 25 (9.40%) Docker
21 25 (9.40%) Kubernetes

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 (5.64%) Confluence
2 4 (1.50%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.13%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.75%) CMS
4 2 (0.75%) SharePoint 2013
4 2 (0.75%) WordPress
5 1 (0.38%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.38%) Apache
5 1 (0.38%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.38%) Appian
5 1 (0.38%) Camunda
5 1 (0.38%) Drupal
5 1 (0.38%) JBoss
5 1 (0.38%) Mule
5 1 (0.38%) Mule ESB
5 1 (0.38%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.38%) SAS
5 1 (0.38%) Umbraco
5 1 (0.38%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.38%) NEC Housing
1 1 (0.38%) Odoo
1 1 (0.38%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 51 (19.17%) Azure
2 49 (18.42%) AWS
3 26 (9.77%) Power Platform
4 15 (5.64%) Serverless
5 13 (4.89%) Azure DevOps
6 7 (2.63%) AWS Lambda
6 7 (2.63%) Copilot Studio
6 7 (2.63%) GitHub
6 7 (2.63%) Microsoft Copilot
7 6 (2.26%) Dynamics 365
7 6 (2.26%) GitHub Actions
7 6 (2.26%) OpenShift
7 6 (2.26%) Power Automate
8 5 (1.88%) Amazon S3
9 4 (1.50%) Amazon EC2
9 4 (1.50%) Amazon ECR
9 4 (1.50%) Amazon SQS
9 4 (1.50%) Azure AKS
9 4 (1.50%) Azure Service Bus
9 4 (1.50%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.75%) Network Security
1 2 (0.75%) SD-WAN
1 2 (0.75%) TCP/IP
1 2 (0.75%) WAN
1 2 (0.75%) Wireless
2 1 (0.38%) IPsec
2 1 (0.38%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (8.65%) MongoDB
2 22 (8.27%) Power BI
3 18 (6.77%) SQL Server
4 14 (5.26%) Power Query
4 14 (5.26%) Relational Database
5 12 (4.51%) PostgreSQL
6 11 (4.14%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (3.01%) NoSQL
8 6 (2.26%) MySQL
9 4 (1.50%) DataStage
9 4 (1.50%) Db2
9 4 (1.50%) DocumentDB
9 4 (1.50%) Elasticsearch
9 4 (1.50%) Hadoop
10 3 (1.13%) Oracle Database
10 3 (1.13%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 2 (0.75%) Metadata
11 2 (0.75%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.75%) WebFOCUS
12 1 (0.38%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
Development Applications
1 23 (8.65%) Git
1 23 (8.65%) GitLab
2 17 (6.39%) JIRA
3 14 (5.26%) Mockito
4 9 (3.38%) Jenkins
5 7 (2.63%) Claude Code
5 7 (2.63%) JUnit
6 5 (1.88%) SonarQube
7 3 (1.13%) ClearCase
8 2 (0.75%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.75%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.75%) Mocha
9 1 (0.38%) Eclipse
9 1 (0.38%) Hudson
9 1 (0.38%) IntelliJ
9 1 (0.38%) Maven
9 1 (0.38%) Rational Robot
9 1 (0.38%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.38%) Team Foundation Server
9 1 (0.38%) Visual Studio
General
1 66 (24.81%) Public Sector
2 48 (18.05%) Social Skills
3 31 (11.65%) Finance
4 20 (7.52%) Banking
5 18 (6.77%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (3.76%) Military
7 7 (2.63%) Manufacturing
8 6 (2.26%) Aerospace
9 4 (1.50%) Retail
10 2 (0.75%) Front Office
10 2 (0.75%) Investment Banking
11 1 (0.38%) Advertising
11 1 (0.38%) Automotive
11 1 (0.38%) Documentation Skills
11 1 (0.38%) Law
11 1 (0.38%) Legal
11 1 (0.38%) Legal Technology
11 1 (0.38%) Local Government
11 1 (0.38%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (14.66%) Spring
2 36 (13.53%) Spring Boot
3 35 (13.16%) React
4 30 (11.28%) Node.js
5 27 (10.15%) .NET
6 26 (9.77%) RESTful
7 24 (9.02%) Kafka
8 22 (8.27%) REST
9 19 (7.14%) AngularJS
10 16 (6.02%) HTML
11 13 (4.89%) YAML
12 12 (4.51%) CSS
12 12 (4.51%) JSON
13 10 (3.76%) ActiveMQ
13 10 (3.76%) JAX-RS
14 9 (3.38%) XML
15 6 (2.26%) .NET Core
15 6 (2.26%) Lightning Web Components
15 6 (2.26%) Nunjucks
15 6 (2.26%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 18 (6.77%) Cloud Native
2 11 (4.14%) Product Ownership
3 10 (3.76%) Data Structures
3 10 (3.76%) Enterprise Software
4 9 (3.38%) NHS
5 6 (2.26%) AI Agents
5 6 (2.26%) Algorithms
5 6 (2.26%) Legacy Systems
5 6 (2.26%) Mobile App
5 6 (2.26%) Onboarding
6 5 (1.88%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (1.50%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.75%) Distributed Systems
8 2 (0.75%) Equities
8 2 (0.75%) Fixed Income
8 2 (0.75%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 2 (0.75%) Greenfield Project
8 2 (0.75%) IoT
9 1 (0.38%) CSOC
9 1 (0.38%) Reinsurance
Operating Systems
1 18 (6.77%) Linux
1 18 (6.77%) Unix
2 8 (3.01%) Mac OS X
3 3 (1.13%) Windows
4 2 (0.75%) Mac OS
4 2 (0.75%) VMS
4 2 (0.75%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.38%) Android
5 1 (0.38%) Apple iOS
5 1 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (34.59%) Agile
2 70 (26.32%) CI/CD
3 58 (21.80%) Microservices
4 53 (19.92%) DevOps
5 43 (16.17%) TDD
6 40 (15.04%) Test Automation
7 39 (14.66%) Problem-Solving
8 30 (11.28%) Full-Stack Development
9 29 (10.90%) Mentoring
10 28 (10.53%) Data Modelling
11 27 (10.15%) Business Intelligence
12 26 (9.77%) AI
13 24 (9.02%) BDD
13 24 (9.02%) SDLC
14 21 (7.89%) Code Quality
14 21 (7.89%) ETL
15 20 (7.52%) Software Engineering
16 19 (7.14%) Analytics
16 19 (7.14%) Continuous Improvement
16 19 (7.14%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 102 (38.35%) Java
2 44 (16.54%) SQL
3 35 (13.16%) C#
4 34 (12.78%) JavaScript
5 25 (9.40%) TypeScript
6 20 (7.52%) Python
7 16 (6.02%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 7 (2.63%) Kotlin
8 7 (2.63%) PowerShell
9 6 (2.26%) Apex Code
9 6 (2.26%) Go
10 5 (1.88%) PL/SQL
11 4 (1.50%) Shell Script
12 3 (1.13%) VB
12 3 (1.13%) VB6
13 2 (0.75%) C++
13 2 (0.75%) PHP
13 2 (0.75%) T-SQL
14 1 (0.38%) ABAP
14 1 (0.38%) Scala
Qualifications
1 44 (16.54%) Security Cleared
2 30 (11.28%) SC Cleared
3 19 (7.14%) BPSS Clearance
4 8 (3.01%) Degree
5 4 (1.50%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.38%) CTC Cleared
6 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (5.26%) Accessibility
2 12 (4.51%) QA
3 9 (3.38%) Data Quality
4 5 (1.88%) WCAG
5 4 (1.50%) GRC
6 1 (0.38%) ISO 20022
6 1 (0.38%) NCSC
6 1 (0.38%) NIST
6 1 (0.38%) PSD2
6 1 (0.38%) SEPA
System Software
1 25 (9.40%) Docker
Systems Management
1 25 (9.40%) Kubernetes
2 17 (6.39%) Terraform
3 10 (3.76%) Ansible
4 3 (1.13%) Grafana
5 1 (0.38%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 32 (12.03%) Microsoft
2 17 (6.39%) Salesforce
3 14 (5.26%) Oracle
4 12 (4.51%) ServiceNow
5 5 (1.88%) Pega
6 4 (1.50%) Atlassian
6 4 (1.50%) Google
6 4 (1.50%) IBM
6 4 (1.50%) OpenAI
6 4 (1.50%) Teradata
7 3 (1.13%) SAP
7 3 (1.13%) Veracode
8 2 (0.75%) Adobe
8 2 (0.75%) Cisco
9 1 (0.38%) Dell
9 1 (0.38%) Foundry
9 1 (0.38%) NEC
9 1 (0.38%) Sage
9 1 (0.38%) Sitecore
9 1 (0.38%) Virgin Media