Developer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Developer
England > North West

The median Developer daily rate in the North West is £447, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 February 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 11 9 3
Rank change year-on-year -2 -6 +4
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 323 236 417
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 12.31% 11.18% 14.49%
As % of the Job Titles category 13.40% 12.06% 15.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 231 153 318
10th Percentile £343 £378 £325
25th Percentile £383 £400 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £447 £470 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.89% -1.05% -2.56%
75th Percentile £500 £538 £550
90th Percentile £540 £598 £641
England median daily rate £500 £545 £525
% change year-on-year -8.21% +3.76% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 4 4
10th Percentile £36.32 - £72.75
25th Percentile £47.41 £65.00 £75.00
Median hourly rate £61.00 £75.50 £78.75
Median % change year-on-year -19.21% -4.13% +112.84%
75th Percentile £72.13 £86.00 £82.50
90th Percentile £76.96 - -
England median hourly rate £55.00 £65.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year -15.38% - +4.00%

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 2,411 1,957 2,688
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.92% 92.75% 93.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,557 1,148 1,818
10th Percentile £213 £260 £300
25th Percentile £360 £380 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £572 £565 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £675
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 213 101 238
10th Percentile £17.31 £15.49 £12.50
25th Percentile £21.65 £19.00 £15.50
Median hourly rate £41.94 £29.23 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +43.48% -2.57% +13.21%
75th Percentile £57.50 £46.18 £46.18
90th Percentile £73.91 £73.56 £62.88
England median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £36.05
% change year-on-year -14.29% -2.90% +2.99%

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 1 February 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 1 February 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 1 February 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 +4 213 £450 - 125
Cheshire -3 61 £373 -25.50% 37
Merseyside -4 23 £488 +33.56% 22
Lancashire -5 22 £628 +17.23% 69
Cumbria - 1 £470 - 4
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 1 February 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.

1 120 (37.15%) Java
2 95 (29.41%) CI/CD
3 91 (28.17%) Agile
4 85 (26.32%) AWS
5 73 (22.60%) Azure
6 71 (21.98%) Spring
6 71 (21.98%) Spring Boot
7 70 (21.67%) SQL
8 69 (21.36%) Microservices
9 68 (21.05%) DevOps
10 64 (19.81%) Problem-Solving
11 63 (19.50%) Full-Stack Development
12 61 (18.89%) Test Automation
13 55 (17.03%) Docker
14 51 (15.79%) Git
15 50 (15.48%) JavaScript
16 48 (14.86%) REST
17 47 (14.55%) Security Cleared
18 46 (14.24%) Kubernetes
18 46 (14.24%) TypeScript
19 44 (13.62%) Node.js
19 44 (13.62%) React
20 40 (12.38%) GitLab
21 38 (11.76%) Containerisation
21 38 (11.76%) Unit Testing
22 37 (11.46%) Microsoft
22 37 (11.46%) Python
22 37 (11.46%) TDD
23 36 (11.15%) Accessibility
23 36 (11.15%) RESTful

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 7 (2.17%) Confluence
2 5 (1.55%) SAS
3 3 (0.93%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 3 (0.93%) Apache
3 3 (0.93%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (0.93%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.62%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.31%) CMS
5 1 (0.31%) Headless CMS
5 1 (0.31%) JBoss
5 1 (0.31%) nginx
5 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.31%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (1.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (2.79%) Advent Geneva
2 7 (2.17%) Maximo
3 2 (0.62%) Dynamics CRM
3 2 (0.62%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.62%) Oracle Applications
4 1 (0.31%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.31%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.31%) SAP PSCD
4 1 (0.31%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 85 (26.32%) AWS
2 73 (22.60%) Azure
3 26 (8.05%) Power Platform
4 23 (7.12%) GitHub
5 22 (6.81%) Serverless
6 21 (6.50%) Azure DevOps
7 14 (4.33%) AWS Lambda
8 13 (4.02%) Power Automate
9 10 (3.10%) Amazon S3
9 10 (3.10%) Amazon SQS
9 10 (3.10%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (3.10%) PowerApps
10 9 (2.79%) Dynamics 365
11 8 (2.48%) npm
12 7 (2.17%) Azure AKS
13 6 (1.86%) Figma
13 6 (1.86%) GCP
14 5 (1.55%) AWS Step Functions
14 5 (1.55%) Azure Logic Apps
15 4 (1.24%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.79%) HTTPS
2 4 (1.24%) HTTP
3 2 (0.62%) SSL
4 1 (0.31%) Internet
4 1 (0.31%) PABX
4 1 (0.31%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (6.81%) Relational Database
2 18 (5.57%) MySQL
3 17 (5.26%) NoSQL
3 17 (5.26%) PostgreSQL
3 17 (5.26%) Power BI
3 17 (5.26%) SQL Server
4 11 (3.41%) Data Warehouse
5 10 (3.10%) MongoDB
5 10 (3.10%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 9 (2.79%) DB2
6 9 (2.79%) Redis
7 8 (2.48%) DocumentDB
7 8 (2.48%) OLTP
8 5 (1.55%) Apache Cassandra
8 5 (1.55%) DynamoDB
9 4 (1.24%) Cognos Framework Manager
9 4 (1.24%) Cognos Report Studio
10 3 (0.93%) Cognos Transformer
10 3 (0.93%) OLAP
10 3 (0.93%) OLAP Cube
Development Applications
1 51 (15.79%) Git
2 40 (12.38%) GitLab
3 24 (7.43%) JIRA
4 19 (5.88%) Cypress.io
5 16 (4.95%) JUnit
6 12 (3.72%) Gradle
7 11 (3.41%) SonarQube
8 10 (3.10%) Jenkins
8 10 (3.10%) Xcode
9 9 (2.79%) Postman
10 8 (2.48%) Mocha
11 7 (2.17%) Mockito
12 6 (1.86%) CircleCI
13 5 (1.55%) Storybook
14 4 (1.24%) ESLint
15 3 (0.93%) Grunt
15 3 (0.93%) gulp
15 3 (0.93%) Jasmine
16 2 (0.62%) Android Studio
16 2 (0.62%) git-flow
General
1 74 (22.91%) Public Sector
2 47 (14.55%) Finance
3 38 (11.76%) Social Skills
4 24 (7.43%) Banking
5 21 (6.50%) Analytical Skills
6 7 (2.17%) Aviation
6 7 (2.17%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.24%) Publishing
8 3 (0.93%) Law
8 3 (0.93%) Local Government
8 3 (0.93%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.62%) Private Banking
10 1 (0.31%) Games
10 1 (0.31%) Legal
10 1 (0.31%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.31%) Marketing
10 1 (0.31%) Military
10 1 (0.31%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.31%) Retail
10 1 (0.31%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (21.98%) Spring
1 71 (21.98%) Spring Boot
2 48 (14.86%) REST
3 44 (13.62%) Node.js
3 44 (13.62%) React
4 36 (11.15%) RESTful
5 29 (8.98%) JSON
6 27 (8.36%) HTML
7 26 (8.05%) Jest
8 22 (6.81%) .NET
9 21 (6.50%) AngularJS
10 19 (5.88%) CSS
11 18 (5.57%) OAuth
11 18 (5.57%) React Native
12 16 (4.95%) JMS
13 15 (4.64%) Vue
13 15 (4.64%) XML
14 13 (4.02%) Hibernate
14 13 (4.02%) Playwright
15 12 (3.72%) Redux
Miscellaneous
1 26 (8.05%) Cloud Native
2 23 (7.12%) Mobile App
3 15 (4.64%) Onboarding
4 13 (4.02%) SWIFT Messaging Network
5 11 (3.41%) Product Ownership
6 7 (2.17%) Data Structures
6 7 (2.17%) Virtual Team
7 6 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
7 6 (1.86%) Distributed Systems
8 5 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.55%) Low-Code
9 4 (1.24%) Legacy Code
10 3 (0.93%) Blog
10 3 (0.93%) Greenfield Project
10 3 (0.93%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (0.93%) Mobile Banking
11 2 (0.62%) FMCG
11 2 (0.62%) IoT
11 2 (0.62%) IVR
11 2 (0.62%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 16 (4.95%) Android
1 16 (4.95%) Apple iOS
2 13 (4.02%) Linux
3 9 (2.79%) Unix
4 4 (1.24%) Mac OS X
5 2 (0.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.62%) Windows
5 2 (0.62%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.31%) VME
6 1 (0.31%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (29.41%) CI/CD
2 91 (28.17%) Agile
3 69 (21.36%) Microservices
4 68 (21.05%) DevOps
5 64 (19.81%) Problem-Solving
6 63 (19.50%) Full-Stack Development
7 61 (18.89%) Test Automation
8 38 (11.76%) Containerisation
8 38 (11.76%) Unit Testing
9 37 (11.46%) TDD
10 28 (8.67%) API Design
11 25 (7.74%) API Development
11 25 (7.74%) Front End Development
11 25 (7.74%) User Experience
12 24 (7.43%) Data Modelling
12 24 (7.43%) Performance Optimisation
13 23 (7.12%) Continuous Improvement
14 22 (6.81%) Business Intelligence
15 21 (6.50%) Analytics
15 21 (6.50%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 120 (37.15%) Java
2 70 (21.67%) SQL
3 50 (15.48%) JavaScript
4 46 (14.24%) TypeScript
5 37 (11.46%) Python
6 21 (6.50%) C#
7 17 (5.26%) Kotlin
8 6 (1.86%) C++
8 6 (1.86%) Ruby
8 6 (1.86%) Swift
8 6 (1.86%) T-SQL
9 5 (1.55%) Objective-C
9 5 (1.55%) Shell Script
10 4 (1.24%) ABAP
10 4 (1.24%) Apex Code
10 4 (1.24%) Bash
10 4 (1.24%) C
10 4 (1.24%) PL/SQL
11 3 (0.93%) PHP
11 3 (0.93%) Scala
Qualifications
1 47 (14.55%) Security Cleared
2 26 (8.05%) BPSS Clearance
3 22 (6.81%) SC Cleared
4 18 (5.57%) Degree
5 13 (4.02%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (1.55%) CTC Cleared
7 2 (0.62%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (11.15%) Accessibility
2 18 (5.57%) QA
3 15 (4.64%) WCAG
4 13 (4.02%) ISO 20022
4 13 (4.02%) PSD2
4 13 (4.02%) SEPA
5 4 (1.24%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.31%) GDPR
System Software
1 55 (17.03%) Docker
2 3 (0.93%) ISA Server
Systems Management
1 46 (14.24%) Kubernetes
2 13 (4.02%) Terraform
3 7 (2.17%) Grafana
4 4 (1.24%) Ansible
4 4 (1.24%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.31%) Argo
5 1 (0.31%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 37 (11.46%) Microsoft
2 29 (8.98%) Oracle
3 10 (3.10%) Virgin Media
4 9 (2.79%) Advent
4 9 (2.79%) Salesforce
4 9 (2.79%) SAP
5 7 (2.17%) ServiceNow
5 7 (2.17%) Splunk
6 6 (1.86%) Automation Anywhere
7 5 (1.55%) Adobe
7 5 (1.55%) IBM
8 4 (1.24%) Cognos
8 4 (1.24%) IFS
8 4 (1.24%) webMethods
8 4 (1.24%) Xamarin
9 3 (0.93%) Dynatrace
9 3 (0.93%) Perforce
9 3 (0.93%) Software AG
9 3 (0.93%) Veracode
10 2 (0.62%) Red Hat