Developer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Developer
England > North West

The median Developer daily rate in the North West is £420, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 October 2025.

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

6 months to
13 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 14 10 10
Rank change year-on-year -4 0 -5
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 218 253 346
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.92% 10.49% 12.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 10.85% 11.18% 13.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 181 172 289
10th Percentile £313 £308 £325
25th Percentile £363 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £420 £438 £488
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% -10.26% -7.14%
75th Percentile £500 £515 £583
90th Percentile £551 £575 £676
England median daily rate £508 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -3.33% -4.55% -5.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 3 4
10th Percentile - £41.80 £56.38
25th Percentile - £50.50 £65.94
Median hourly rate £47.12 £65.00 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.51% -13.33% +7.14%
75th Percentile - - £79.69
90th Percentile - - £81.38
England median hourly rate £55.00 £65.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -15.38% +8.33% -7.69%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 2,010 2,263 2,630
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.45% 93.82% 92.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,327 1,207 1,819
10th Percentile £250 £267 £270
25th Percentile £363 £390 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +2.83%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £595
90th Percentile £685 £650 £674
England median daily rate £510 £525 £542
% change year-on-year -2.86% -3.14% -1.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 165 158 177
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.58 £16.00
25th Percentile £17.30 £18.00 £18.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £30.54
Median % change year-on-year -28.16% +14.60% +34.24%
75th Percentile £47.12 £55.25 £46.18
90th Percentile £70.10 £73.80 £65.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £43.00 £46.18
% change year-on-year -41.51% -6.89% +68.69%

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 13 October 2025.

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
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 13 October 2025. 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 -6 109 £416 -8.01% 145
Cheshire -8 66 £375 +0.81% 34
Merseyside -2 25 £500 +25.00% 20
Lancashire +2 15 £525 +40.00% 103
Cumbria +12 1 £470 -6.00% 1
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 13 October 2025, 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 75 (34.40%) Java
2 66 (30.28%) Agile
3 58 (26.61%) SQL
4 51 (23.39%) Git
5 49 (22.48%) JavaScript
6 47 (21.56%) CI/CD
7 45 (20.64%) AWS
7 45 (20.64%) DevOps
7 45 (20.64%) Problem-Solving
8 44 (20.18%) Azure
9 43 (19.72%) Spring Boot
9 43 (19.72%) HTML
10 42 (19.27%) Microsoft
11 41 (18.81%) Spring
12 40 (18.35%) Microservices
13 38 (17.43%) REST
14 37 (16.97%) React
15 36 (16.51%) TDD
15 36 (16.51%) Finance
15 36 (16.51%) Social Skills
16 35 (16.06%) CSS
16 35 (16.06%) Banking
17 34 (15.60%) Public Sector
18 31 (14.22%) Accessibility
18 31 (14.22%) JIRA
19 30 (13.76%) Full-Stack Development
20 28 (12.84%) Test Automation
20 28 (12.84%) Security Cleared
21 27 (12.39%) Jenkins
21 27 (12.39%) Node.js

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 (4.59%) Confluence
1 10 (4.59%) Tomcat
2 7 (3.21%) JBoss
3 5 (2.29%) SharePoint
4 4 (1.83%) Apache
4 4 (1.83%) nginx
5 3 (1.38%) SAS
6 2 (0.92%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.92%) CMS
6 2 (0.92%) FactoryTalk
6 2 (0.92%) SharePoint Server
7 1 (0.46%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.46%) CICS
7 1 (0.46%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.46%) Mule
Applications
1 4 (1.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.46%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.46%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.38%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.46%) Advent Geneva
2 1 (0.46%) Dynamics NAV
2 1 (0.46%) IBM Planning Analytics
2 1 (0.46%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 45 (20.64%) AWS
2 44 (20.18%) Azure
3 23 (10.55%) Power Platform
4 22 (10.09%) GitHub
5 17 (7.80%) Azure DevOps
6 10 (4.59%) Power Automate
6 10 (4.59%) Serverless
7 9 (4.13%) Figma
8 8 (3.67%) npm
9 7 (3.21%) AWS Lambda
9 7 (3.21%) OpenShift
9 7 (3.21%) PowerApps
10 6 (2.75%) SaaS
11 5 (2.29%) Azure AKS
12 4 (1.83%) Amazon S3
12 4 (1.83%) Azure Service Bus
12 4 (1.83%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (1.38%) Amazon SQS
13 3 (1.38%) Azure Data Factory
13 3 (1.38%) Dynamics 365
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.83%) HTTPS
2 2 (0.92%) HTTP
2 2 (0.92%) Intranet
2 2 (0.92%) SSL
2 2 (0.92%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (8.26%) Power BI
2 14 (6.42%) SQL Server
3 12 (5.50%) MySQL
3 12 (5.50%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (4.13%) MongoDB
4 9 (4.13%) NoSQL
5 7 (3.21%) Data Warehouse
6 5 (2.29%) Redis
7 4 (1.83%) Apache Cassandra
7 4 (1.83%) DB2
7 4 (1.83%) Relational Database
8 3 (1.38%) Cognos Framework Manager
8 3 (1.38%) Cognos Report Studio
8 3 (1.38%) Metadata
8 3 (1.38%) Siebel EIM
8 3 (1.38%) Snowflake Schema
8 3 (1.38%) WebFOCUS
9 2 (0.92%) Cognos Transformer
9 2 (0.92%) OLAP Cube
9 2 (0.92%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 51 (23.39%) Git
2 31 (14.22%) JIRA
3 27 (12.39%) Jenkins
4 25 (11.47%) JUnit
5 22 (10.09%) Gradle
6 21 (9.63%) GitLab
7 13 (5.96%) Xcode
8 12 (5.50%) SonarQube
9 11 (5.05%) Maven
9 11 (5.05%) Sonatype Nexus
10 10 (4.59%) Cypress.io
11 9 (4.13%) Cucumber
12 7 (3.21%) gulp
12 7 (3.21%) Mockito
13 6 (2.75%) Bitbucket
13 6 (2.75%) Grunt
13 6 (2.75%) Storybook
14 5 (2.29%) Postman
14 5 (2.29%) Subversion
15 3 (1.38%) Selenium
General
1 36 (16.51%) Finance
1 36 (16.51%) Social Skills
2 35 (16.06%) Banking
3 34 (15.60%) Public Sector
4 17 (7.80%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (2.75%) Manufacturing
6 5 (2.29%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (1.38%) Retail
8 2 (0.92%) Documentation Skills
8 2 (0.92%) Military
8 2 (0.92%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (0.92%) Private Banking
9 1 (0.46%) Digital Healthcare
9 1 (0.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.46%) Law
9 1 (0.46%) Local Government
9 1 (0.46%) Marketing
9 1 (0.46%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (19.72%) HTML
1 43 (19.72%) Spring Boot
2 41 (18.81%) Spring
3 38 (17.43%) REST
4 37 (16.97%) React
5 35 (16.06%) CSS
6 27 (12.39%) Node.js
7 22 (10.09%) RESTful
8 21 (9.63%) JSON
9 18 (8.26%) AngularJS
10 17 (7.80%) Kafka
11 16 (7.34%) SOAP
12 15 (6.88%) Jest
13 13 (5.96%) .NET
13 13 (5.96%) JMS
14 12 (5.50%) React Native
15 11 (5.05%) jQuery
16 10 (4.59%) OAuth
16 10 (4.59%) Redux
17 9 (4.13%) HTML5
Miscellaneous
1 22 (10.09%) Mobile App
2 12 (5.50%) Data Protection Act
3 11 (5.05%) Cloud Native
4 9 (4.13%) Low-Code
5 8 (3.67%) Mobile Banking
6 7 (3.21%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 6 (2.75%) Distributed Systems
7 6 (2.75%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (2.75%) Legacy Systems
8 5 (2.29%) Manufacturing Execution System
9 4 (1.83%) Greenfield Project
9 4 (1.83%) Virtual Team
10 3 (1.38%) Data Structures
10 3 (1.38%) Mainframe
10 3 (1.38%) Management Information System
10 3 (1.38%) Product Ownership
10 3 (1.38%) Shadow IT
11 2 (0.92%) Onboarding
11 2 (0.92%) SCADA
11 2 (0.92%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 19 (8.72%) Linux
2 18 (8.26%) Android
3 15 (6.88%) Apple iOS
4 10 (4.59%) Unix
5 2 (0.92%) Mac OS X
5 2 (0.92%) MVS
5 2 (0.92%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.46%) VME
6 1 (0.46%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 66 (30.28%) Agile
2 47 (21.56%) CI/CD
3 45 (20.64%) DevOps
3 45 (20.64%) Problem-Solving
4 40 (18.35%) Microservices
5 36 (16.51%) TDD
6 30 (13.76%) Full-Stack Development
7 28 (12.84%) Test Automation
8 25 (11.47%) Unit Testing
9 24 (11.01%) Business Intelligence
10 23 (10.55%) Scrum
11 22 (10.09%) Migration
12 19 (8.72%) Containerisation
12 19 (8.72%) User Experience
13 18 (8.26%) Front End Development
14 17 (7.80%) SDLC
15 16 (7.34%) API Development
15 16 (7.34%) Data Modelling
15 16 (7.34%) Performance Optimisation
16 15 (6.88%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 75 (34.40%) Java
2 58 (26.61%) SQL
3 49 (22.48%) JavaScript
4 23 (10.55%) Python
4 23 (10.55%) TypeScript
5 15 (6.88%) C#
6 12 (5.50%) Kotlin
7 9 (4.13%) C++
8 8 (3.67%) Ruby
9 7 (3.21%) C
9 7 (3.21%) Objective-C
9 7 (3.21%) Scala
9 7 (3.21%) Shell Script
9 7 (3.21%) Swift
10 6 (2.75%) T-SQL
11 5 (2.29%) PHP
12 4 (1.83%) Apex Code
12 4 (1.83%) Bash
12 4 (1.83%) PL/SQL
13 3 (1.38%) JCL
Qualifications
1 28 (12.84%) Security Cleared
2 22 (10.09%) BPSS Clearance
3 17 (7.80%) SC Cleared
4 7 (3.21%) Degree
5 6 (2.75%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (0.92%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.46%) CTC Cleared
7 1 (0.46%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.46%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.46%) MCSA
7 1 (0.46%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (14.22%) Accessibility
2 15 (6.88%) QA
3 7 (3.21%) ISO 20022
3 7 (3.21%) PSD2
3 7 (3.21%) SEPA
3 7 (3.21%) WCAG
4 6 (2.75%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.46%) GRC
System Software
1 26 (11.93%) Docker
2 2 (0.92%) Time Sharing Option
Systems Management
1 21 (9.63%) Kubernetes
2 7 (3.21%) Terraform
3 3 (1.38%) Ansible
4 2 (0.92%) CA Endevor
4 2 (0.92%) Grafana
4 2 (0.92%) Progress Chef
5 1 (0.46%) Argo
5 1 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 42 (19.27%) Microsoft
2 19 (8.72%) Oracle
3 9 (4.13%) Salesforce
4 6 (2.75%) Perforce
4 6 (2.75%) Siebel
5 5 (2.29%) AVEVA
5 5 (2.29%) IBM
5 5 (2.29%) ServiceNow
6 4 (1.83%) Cognos
6 4 (1.83%) SAP
7 3 (1.38%) Google
7 3 (1.38%) Nintex
7 3 (1.38%) Veracode
7 3 (1.38%) webMethods
8 2 (0.92%) Axway
8 2 (0.92%) Red Hat
8 2 (0.92%) Rockwell
8 2 (0.92%) Software AG
8 2 (0.92%) Syncsort
8 2 (0.92%) Virgin Media