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 May 2026.

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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 10 5
Rank change year-on-year -1 -5 +3
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 332 221 377
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 10.32% 11.29% 14.07%
As % of the Job Titles category 11.25% 12.18% 14.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 201 173 272
10th Percentile £343 £375 £307
25th Percentile £400 £400 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £458
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +9.29% -6.15%
75th Percentile £508 £563 £538
90th Percentile £572 £638 £625
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 2 2
10th Percentile £25.49 - £78.05
25th Percentile £36.32 - £78.88
Median hourly rate £41.06 £86.00 £81.50
Median % change year-on-year -52.26% +5.52% +106.33%
75th Percentile £46.18 - £82.88
90th Percentile £63.50 - £82.95
England median hourly rate £52.50 £59.88 £65.00
% change year-on-year -12.32% -7.88% +2.77%

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 2,951 1,815 2,533
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.76% 92.74% 94.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,707 1,203 1,645
10th Percentile £275 £250 £275
25th Percentile £379 £375 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £475 £493
Median % change year-on-year -2.11% -3.65% -1.40%
75th Percentile £575 £563 £585
90th Percentile £672 £656 £675
England median daily rate £513 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 294 114 270
10th Percentile £19.00 £13.00 £11.07
25th Percentile £25.49 £17.44 £13.50
Median hourly rate £50.00 £30.10 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year +66.11% +11.48% -17.88%
75th Percentile £71.91 £60.00 £46.91
90th Percentile £84.63 £84.17 £69.14
England median hourly rate £47.00 £30.26 £37.50
% change year-on-year +55.32% -19.31% -16.67%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 +3 254 £475 - 98
Cheshire -7 37 £387 -3.52% 21
Lancashire -1 20 £463 -14.03% 48
Merseyside -25 13 £475 -13.64% 20
Cumbria +5 5 - - 3
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 11 May 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.

1 137 (41.27%) Java
2 106 (31.93%) Agile
3 82 (24.70%) Microservices
4 81 (24.40%) AWS
4 81 (24.40%) CI/CD
5 72 (21.69%) Spring
6 68 (20.48%) Spring Boot
7 64 (19.28%) Azure
7 64 (19.28%) Problem-Solving
8 62 (18.67%) SQL
8 62 (18.67%) Test Automation
9 58 (17.47%) Full-Stack Development
10 57 (17.17%) DevOps
11 52 (15.66%) TDD
12 47 (14.16%) JavaScript
12 47 (14.16%) Node.js
12 47 (14.16%) React
13 43 (12.95%) Docker
14 42 (12.65%) Security Cleared
15 40 (12.05%) RESTful
16 38 (11.45%) Git
16 38 (11.45%) REST
16 38 (11.45%) TypeScript
17 37 (11.14%) Kubernetes
18 35 (10.54%) GitLab
19 30 (9.04%) Oracle
20 29 (8.73%) .NET
20 29 (8.73%) API Design
20 29 (8.73%) Microsoft
20 29 (8.73%) Python

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 (3.01%) Confluence
2 5 (1.51%) Apache Spark
3 3 (0.90%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 3 (0.90%) Apache
3 3 (0.90%) SAS
4 2 (0.60%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.60%) JBoss
5 1 (0.30%) Appian
5 1 (0.30%) Camunda
5 1 (0.30%) CMS
5 1 (0.30%) Headless CMS
5 1 (0.30%) Mule
5 1 (0.30%) Mule ESB
5 1 (0.30%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.30%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.30%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.30%) WebLogic
Applications
1 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 7 (2.11%) Maximo
2 5 (1.51%) Advent Geneva
3 2 (0.60%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.60%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.30%) Odoo
Cloud Services
1 81 (24.40%) AWS
2 64 (19.28%) Azure
3 26 (7.83%) Serverless
4 18 (5.42%) Power Platform
5 16 (4.82%) GitHub
6 15 (4.52%) Azure DevOps
7 14 (4.22%) AWS Lambda
8 11 (3.31%) Amazon S3
8 11 (3.31%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (3.01%) Dynamics 365
10 9 (2.71%) Amazon SQS
11 6 (1.81%) AWS Step Functions
11 6 (1.81%) Azure Logic Apps
11 6 (1.81%) OpenShift
11 6 (1.81%) Power Automate
12 5 (1.51%) Amazon EC2
12 5 (1.51%) Amazon ECR
13 4 (1.20%) Azure AKS
13 4 (1.20%) Azure Service Bus
13 4 (1.20%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.60%) HTTP
1 2 (0.60%) HTTPS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (6.02%) PostgreSQL
2 17 (5.12%) Relational Database
2 17 (5.12%) SQL Server
3 16 (4.82%) NoSQL
4 15 (4.52%) MongoDB
5 13 (3.92%) MySQL
6 12 (3.61%) Data Warehouse
6 12 (3.61%) Power BI
7 9 (2.71%) DocumentDB
8 8 (2.41%) OLTP
9 7 (2.11%) DB2
10 6 (1.81%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 5 (1.51%) DynamoDB
11 5 (1.51%) Hadoop
11 5 (1.51%) Power Query
11 5 (1.51%) Redis
12 4 (1.20%) Elasticsearch
12 4 (1.20%) Oracle Database
13 3 (0.90%) DataStage
14 2 (0.60%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 38 (11.45%) Git
2 35 (10.54%) GitLab
3 24 (7.23%) JIRA
4 14 (4.22%) JUnit
5 12 (3.61%) Mockito
6 10 (3.01%) Cypress.io
7 9 (2.71%) SonarQube
8 8 (2.41%) Mocha
9 7 (2.11%) Jenkins
10 6 (1.81%) CircleCI
11 3 (0.90%) ClearCase
11 3 (0.90%) Gradle
11 3 (0.90%) Jasmine
11 3 (0.90%) Postman
12 2 (0.60%) fastlane
12 2 (0.60%) IntelliJ
12 2 (0.60%) XCTest
13 1 (0.30%) Claude Code
13 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio Coded UI
13 1 (0.30%) Vite
General
1 88 (26.51%) Public Sector
2 49 (14.76%) Social Skills
3 47 (14.16%) Finance
4 26 (7.83%) Analytical Skills
5 20 (6.02%) Banking
6 7 (2.11%) Aviation
6 7 (2.11%) Manufacturing
7 6 (1.81%) Aerospace
8 4 (1.20%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (0.90%) Law
9 3 (0.90%) Local Government
9 3 (0.90%) Military
10 2 (0.60%) Legal
10 2 (0.60%) Retail
11 1 (0.30%) Advertising
11 1 (0.30%) Automotive
11 1 (0.30%) Games
11 1 (0.30%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.30%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 72 (21.69%) Spring
2 68 (20.48%) Spring Boot
3 47 (14.16%) Node.js
3 47 (14.16%) React
4 40 (12.05%) RESTful
5 38 (11.45%) REST
6 29 (8.73%) .NET
7 28 (8.43%) AngularJS
8 22 (6.63%) HTML
9 18 (5.42%) Kafka
10 17 (5.12%) CSS
10 17 (5.12%) Jest
10 17 (5.12%) Vue
11 13 (3.92%) YAML
12 11 (3.31%) Playwright
12 11 (3.31%) XML
13 10 (3.01%) JAX-RS
13 10 (3.01%) JSON
13 10 (3.01%) OAuth
14 9 (2.71%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 26 (7.83%) Cloud Native
2 16 (4.82%) Mobile App
3 15 (4.52%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.52%) Product Ownership
4 9 (2.71%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (2.11%) Data Structures
5 7 (2.11%) NHS
6 6 (1.81%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 5 (1.51%) Data Protection Act
7 5 (1.51%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (0.90%) IoT
8 3 (0.90%) Legacy Code
8 3 (0.90%) Virtual Team
9 2 (0.60%) AI Agents
9 2 (0.60%) FMCG
9 2 (0.60%) Legacy Systems
10 1 (0.30%) Algorithms
10 1 (0.30%) Blog
10 1 (0.30%) Reinsurance
10 1 (0.30%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 17 (5.12%) Unix
2 16 (4.82%) Linux
3 8 (2.41%) Mac OS X
4 5 (1.51%) Apple iOS
5 4 (1.20%) Android
5 4 (1.20%) Windows
6 3 (0.90%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.60%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.60%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (31.93%) Agile
2 82 (24.70%) Microservices
3 81 (24.40%) CI/CD
4 64 (19.28%) Problem-Solving
5 62 (18.67%) Test Automation
6 58 (17.47%) Full-Stack Development
7 57 (17.17%) DevOps
8 52 (15.66%) TDD
9 29 (8.73%) API Design
10 27 (8.13%) Containerisation
10 27 (8.13%) Front End Development
10 27 (8.13%) SDLC
11 26 (7.83%) Data Modelling
12 25 (7.53%) Code Quality
12 25 (7.53%) Continuous Improvement
12 25 (7.53%) Unit Testing
13 23 (6.93%) Mentoring
13 23 (6.93%) User Experience
14 22 (6.63%) API Development
14 22 (6.63%) BDD
Programming Languages
1 137 (41.27%) Java
2 62 (18.67%) SQL
3 47 (14.16%) JavaScript
4 38 (11.45%) TypeScript
5 29 (8.73%) Python
6 28 (8.43%) C#
7 19 (5.72%) Kotlin
8 7 (2.11%) PL/SQL
8 7 (2.11%) Shell Script
9 6 (1.81%) Apex Code
9 6 (1.81%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.90%) C++
10 3 (0.90%) ProC
10 3 (0.90%) Swift
10 3 (0.90%) VB
10 3 (0.90%) VB6
11 2 (0.60%) Objective-C
11 2 (0.60%) PowerShell
11 2 (0.60%) Ruby
11 2 (0.60%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 42 (12.65%) Security Cleared
2 25 (7.53%) BPSS Clearance
3 22 (6.63%) SC Cleared
4 17 (5.12%) Degree
5 7 (2.11%) Computer Science Degree
6 4 (1.20%) DV Cleared
7 1 (0.30%) CTC Cleared
7 1 (0.30%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (5.72%) Accessibility
1 19 (5.72%) QA
2 10 (3.01%) WCAG
3 8 (2.41%) Data Quality
4 6 (1.81%) ISO 20022
4 6 (1.81%) PSD2
4 6 (1.81%) SEPA
5 3 (0.90%) GRC
6 1 (0.30%) GDPR
System Software
1 43 (12.95%) Docker
2 3 (0.90%) ISA Server
Systems Management
1 37 (11.14%) Kubernetes
2 20 (6.02%) Terraform
3 7 (2.11%) Grafana
4 5 (1.51%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.90%) Ansible
6 1 (0.30%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 30 (9.04%) Oracle
2 29 (8.73%) Microsoft
3 15 (4.52%) Salesforce
4 8 (2.41%) Virgin Media
5 6 (1.81%) Automation Anywhere
5 6 (1.81%) ServiceNow
6 5 (1.51%) Advent
6 5 (1.51%) Pega
6 5 (1.51%) Splunk
7 4 (1.20%) Adobe
7 4 (1.20%) IFS
8 3 (0.90%) Atlassian
8 3 (0.90%) Dynatrace
8 3 (0.90%) IBM
8 3 (0.90%) SAP
8 3 (0.90%) Veracode
9 2 (0.60%) NEC
9 2 (0.60%) Sage
9 2 (0.60%) Teradata
10 1 (0.30%) Ab Initio