Senior Contract Job Trends in the North West

Senior
England > North West

The median Senior daily rate in the North West is £575, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 September 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 24 22
Rank change year-on-year +9 -2 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Senior 357 163 154
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 9.09% 7.61% 6.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 10.04% 8.24% 6.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 205 103 86
10th Percentile £411 £400 £369
25th Percentile £488 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £500 £505
Median % change year-on-year +15.00% -0.99% -3.81%
75th Percentile £650 £638 £600
90th Percentile £685 £698 £614
England median daily rate £550 £559 £575
% change year-on-year -1.57% -2.83% -4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 11 24
10th Percentile £31.44 £38.63 £23.25
25th Percentile £44.93 £41.44 £24.79
Median hourly rate £60.00 £55.00 £42.91
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% +28.18% +7.28%
75th Percentile £72.66 £74.77 £46.51
90th Percentile £77.50 £84.50 £62.50
England median hourly rate £60.50 £50.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +21.00% - -13.41%

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 3,556 1,979 2,229
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.58% 92.39% 94.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,031 1,294 1,278
10th Percentile £300 £268 £275
25th Percentile £403 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £600 £550 £588
90th Percentile £675 £652 £675
England median daily rate £525 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +3.96% -3.81% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 408 157 163
10th Percentile £15.93 £13.00 £15.53
25th Percentile £25.46 £17.30 £18.00
Median hourly rate £46.18 £24.62 £37.00
Median % change year-on-year +87.56% -33.46% +8.82%
75th Percentile £73.25 £47.12 £54.63
90th Percentile £85.00 £70.68 £71.38
England median hourly rate £43.50 £25.15 £47.50
% change year-on-year +72.96% -47.05% +5.56%

Senior
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Senior' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Senior job vacancy trend in the North West

Senior
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in the North West

Senior
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Senior in the North West over the 6 months to 15 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Senior in the North West

Senior
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in the North West

Senior
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Senior in the North West over the 6 months to 15 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Senior in the North West

Senior
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 Senior within the North West region over the 6 months to 15 September 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 +3 213 £600 +22.45% 1,040
Lancashire +11 71 £625 +296.83% 78
Cheshire +11 40 £525 +2.68% 127
Merseyside -11 18 £300 -50.00% 101
Cumbria -25 7 £525 -16.00% 9
Senior
England

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

For the 6 months to 15 September 2026, Senior 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 Senior in the job title.

1 93 (26.05%) AWS
2 86 (24.09%) CI/CD
3 70 (19.61%) Agile
4 62 (17.37%) Security Cleared
5 61 (17.09%) DevOps
6 60 (16.81%) Python
7 59 (16.53%) Terraform
8 56 (15.69%) Azure
9 54 (15.13%) Infrastructure as Code
10 50 (14.01%) Software Engineering
11 45 (12.61%) Migration
12 44 (12.32%) AI
12 44 (12.32%) Stakeholder Management
13 41 (11.48%) SC Cleared
14 39 (10.92%) Ansible
14 39 (10.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 39 (10.92%) Java
15 38 (10.64%) Event-Driven
16 35 (9.80%) SAP
17 34 (9.52%) Continuous Improvement
17 34 (9.52%) Test Automation
18 33 (9.24%) SQL
19 32 (8.96%) Roadmaps
20 31 (8.68%) GitLab
21 30 (8.40%) Git
21 30 (8.40%) Mentoring
22 29 (8.12%) Linux
22 29 (8.12%) Microservices
23 27 (7.56%) Event-Driven Architecture
24 25 (7.00%) Analytics

Senior 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 (2.24%) Confluence
2 5 (1.40%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.84%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.28%) CMS
5 1 (0.28%) Drupal
5 1 (0.28%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.28%) nginx
5 1 (0.28%) SAS
5 1 (0.28%) Traefik
5 1 (0.28%) Umbraco
5 1 (0.28%) WordPress
Applications
1 3 (0.84%) MS Visio
2 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.56%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.28%) AutoCAD
3 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.28%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 5 (1.40%) SAP HR
2 4 (1.12%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.56%) SAP APO
3 2 (0.56%) SAP IBP
4 1 (0.28%) Primavera
4 1 (0.28%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 93 (26.05%) AWS
2 56 (15.69%) Azure
3 24 (6.72%) GitHub
4 21 (5.88%) SuccessFactors
5 20 (5.60%) OCI
6 16 (4.48%) SaaS
7 14 (3.92%) GitHub Actions
8 11 (3.08%) GCP
9 10 (2.80%) Power Platform
9 10 (2.80%) Serverless
10 8 (2.24%) Azure DevOps
11 7 (1.96%) AWS Lambda
11 7 (1.96%) GitHub Copilot
12 6 (1.68%) Amazon ECS
12 6 (1.68%) Anthropic Claude
12 6 (1.68%) dbt
12 6 (1.68%) Google Gemini
12 6 (1.68%) Microsoft 365
13 5 (1.40%) Amazon S3
13 5 (1.40%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 22 (6.16%) Firewall
2 18 (5.04%) BGP
2 18 (5.04%) OSPF
3 16 (4.48%) WAN
4 14 (3.92%) BIG-IP
5 13 (3.64%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 13 (3.64%) VPN
6 12 (3.36%) Ethernet VPN
6 12 (3.36%) VXLAN
6 12 (3.36%) Wi-Fi
7 10 (2.80%) DNS
7 10 (2.80%) SD-WAN
8 9 (2.52%) WLAN
9 8 (2.24%) Network Security
10 7 (1.96%) Wireless
11 4 (1.12%) LAN
11 4 (1.12%) MPLS
11 4 (1.12%) Multicast
12 3 (0.84%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
12 3 (0.84%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (3.64%) Oracle Database
1 13 (3.64%) Relational Database
2 12 (3.36%) MongoDB
2 12 (3.36%) RDBMS
3 9 (2.52%) Oracle Exadata
4 8 (2.24%) Power BI
4 8 (2.24%) SQL Server
5 7 (1.96%) Data Warehouse
5 7 (1.96%) Metadata
6 6 (1.68%) Looker
6 6 (1.68%) NoSQL
6 6 (1.68%) Semantic Layer
6 6 (1.68%) Snowflake Schema
7 5 (1.40%) MySQL
8 4 (1.12%) Delta Lake
8 4 (1.12%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (1.12%) Star Schema
9 2 (0.56%) Amazon QuickSight
9 2 (0.56%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 2 (0.56%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (8.68%) GitLab
2 30 (8.40%) Git
3 9 (2.52%) Claude Code
4 7 (1.96%) JIRA
5 6 (1.68%) Mockito
6 4 (1.12%) Cucumber
6 4 (1.12%) Jenkins
6 4 (1.12%) Selenium
7 3 (0.84%) Cypress.io
7 3 (0.84%) Postman
8 2 (0.56%) ClearCase
8 2 (0.56%) JMeter
9 1 (0.28%) Appium
9 1 (0.28%) Balsamiq
9 1 (0.28%) JUnit
9 1 (0.28%) Maven
9 1 (0.28%) MLflow
9 1 (0.28%) Robot Framework
9 1 (0.28%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.28%) XCUITest
General
1 64 (17.93%) Social Skills
2 46 (12.89%) Finance
3 37 (10.36%) Public Sector
4 19 (5.32%) Retail
5 18 (5.04%) Banking
5 18 (5.04%) Military
6 15 (4.20%) Manufacturing
7 13 (3.64%) Analytical Skills
8 6 (1.68%) Legal
9 5 (1.40%) Local Government
10 4 (1.12%) Aerospace
10 4 (1.12%) iGaming
10 4 (1.12%) Influencing Skills
10 4 (1.12%) Presentation Skills
11 3 (0.84%) Automotive
11 3 (0.84%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (0.84%) Games
11 3 (0.84%) Marketing
12 2 (0.56%) Front Office
12 2 (0.56%) Investment Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 59 (16.53%) Terraform
2 22 (6.16%) Kafka
3 21 (5.88%) REST
4 15 (4.20%) Spring
5 14 (3.92%) React
5 14 (3.92%) Spring Boot
6 12 (3.36%) Node.js
7 9 (2.52%) .NET
7 9 (2.52%) Oracle GoldenGate
8 8 (2.24%) RESTful
9 6 (1.68%) ActiveMQ
9 6 (1.68%) JAX-RS
9 6 (1.68%) Next.js
9 6 (1.68%) PySpark
10 5 (1.40%) JSON
10 5 (1.40%) Pandas
11 4 (1.12%) Lightning Web Components
11 4 (1.12%) MACH
11 4 (1.12%) Playwright
11 4 (1.12%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 42 (11.76%) Cloud Native
2 20 (5.60%) Distributed Systems
3 17 (4.76%) Data Centre
4 14 (3.92%) Hybrid Cloud
5 11 (3.08%) Product Ownership
6 9 (2.52%) Legacy Systems
6 9 (2.52%) Public Cloud
7 8 (2.24%) Onboarding
8 5 (1.40%) AI Agents
9 4 (1.12%) Data Structures
9 4 (1.12%) Greenfield Project
9 4 (1.12%) NHS
10 3 (0.84%) Blackberry
10 3 (0.84%) Culture of Ownership
10 3 (0.84%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (0.84%) Distributed Computing
10 3 (0.84%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (0.84%) FMCG
10 3 (0.84%) Handset
10 3 (0.84%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 29 (8.12%) Linux
2 13 (3.64%) Unix
3 10 (2.80%) AIX
3 10 (2.80%) Windows
4 8 (2.24%) Android
5 7 (1.96%) Windows Server
6 6 (1.68%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 5 (1.40%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.84%) Ubuntu
9 2 (0.56%) CentOS
10 1 (0.28%) HPUX
10 1 (0.28%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.28%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.28%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.28%) Solaris
10 1 (0.28%) SUSE
10 1 (0.28%) VMS
10 1 (0.28%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2003
10 1 (0.28%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 86 (24.09%) CI/CD
2 70 (19.61%) Agile
3 61 (17.09%) DevOps
4 54 (15.13%) Infrastructure as Code
5 50 (14.01%) Software Engineering
6 45 (12.61%) Migration
7 44 (12.32%) AI
7 44 (12.32%) Stakeholder Management
8 39 (10.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 38 (10.64%) Event-Driven
10 34 (9.52%) Continuous Improvement
10 34 (9.52%) Test Automation
11 32 (8.96%) Roadmaps
12 30 (8.40%) Mentoring
13 29 (8.12%) Microservices
14 27 (7.56%) Event-Driven Architecture
15 25 (7.00%) Analytics
16 23 (6.44%) Problem-Solving
17 21 (5.88%) Observability
18 20 (5.60%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 60 (16.81%) Python
2 39 (10.92%) Java
3 33 (9.24%) SQL
4 16 (4.48%) PowerShell
5 15 (4.20%) TypeScript
6 14 (3.92%) Bash
7 11 (3.08%) JavaScript
8 8 (2.24%) C#
9 5 (1.40%) Bicep
9 5 (1.40%) Shell Script
10 4 (1.12%) Apex Code
10 4 (1.12%) C++
10 4 (1.12%) Kotlin
11 3 (0.84%) Go
11 3 (0.84%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.56%) Perl
12 2 (0.56%) VB
12 2 (0.56%) VB6
13 1 (0.28%) Lisp
13 1 (0.28%) PHP
Qualifications
1 62 (17.37%) Security Cleared
2 41 (11.48%) SC Cleared
3 25 (7.00%) BPSS Clearance
4 15 (4.20%) Degree
5 9 (2.52%) Cisco Certification
6 7 (1.96%) CCNP
7 5 (1.40%) CCIE
8 4 (1.12%) AWS Certification
8 4 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (0.84%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.56%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 2 (0.56%) Chartered Engineer
10 2 (0.56%) CISSP
10 2 (0.56%) DBS Check
10 2 (0.56%) HNC
10 2 (0.56%) HND
11 1 (0.28%) CRISC
11 1 (0.28%) DV Cleared
11 1 (0.28%) IIBA
11 1 (0.28%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (6.16%) QA
2 19 (5.32%) Data Quality
3 8 (2.24%) Accessibility
4 4 (1.12%) WCAG
5 3 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.84%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 3 (0.84%) SLA
6 2 (0.56%) Actionable Recommendations
6 2 (0.56%) GDPR
6 2 (0.56%) GRC
6 2 (0.56%) GxP
6 2 (0.56%) NCSC
6 2 (0.56%) NIST
7 1 (0.28%) COBIT
7 1 (0.28%) IEC 61508
7 1 (0.28%) ITGC
7 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
7 1 (0.28%) PMO
System Software
1 21 (5.88%) Docker
2 9 (2.52%) Oracle RAC
2 9 (2.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.68%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.68%) VMware NSX
4 4 (1.12%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (1.12%) VMware ESXi
4 4 (1.12%) vSphere
5 1 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
5 1 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 39 (10.92%) Ansible
2 25 (7.00%) Kubernetes
3 9 (2.52%) Data Guard
3 9 (2.52%) Oracle RMAN
4 5 (1.40%) Microsoft Intune
5 3 (0.84%) PowerCLI
6 2 (0.56%) Grafana
6 2 (0.56%) Packer
6 2 (0.56%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.56%) SCCM
7 1 (0.28%) Argo
7 1 (0.28%) Functional Safety
7 1 (0.28%) HAProxy
7 1 (0.28%) Istio
7 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.28%) linkerd
7 1 (0.28%) vCenter Server
7 1 (0.28%) vMotion
7 1 (0.28%) WSUS
7 1 (0.28%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 35 (9.80%) SAP
2 19 (5.32%) Microsoft
3 17 (4.76%) F5
4 16 (4.48%) Oracle
4 16 (4.48%) Salesforce
5 14 (3.92%) Arista
5 14 (3.92%) Palo Alto
6 12 (3.36%) VMware
7 11 (3.08%) Aruba
7 11 (3.08%) Cisco
8 8 (2.24%) Databricks
8 8 (2.24%) Qualtrics
9 5 (1.40%) Citrix
9 5 (1.40%) Splunk
10 4 (1.12%) Google
11 3 (0.84%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.84%) McAfee
11 3 (0.84%) Rockwell
11 3 (0.84%) ServiceNow
12 2 (0.56%) Meraki