Computer Science Contract Job Trends in the South East

Computer Science
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Computer Science skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 56 57 103
Rank change year-on-year +1 +46 +8
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 193 105 116
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.60% 3.57% 2.06%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.35% 3.88% 2.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 103 52 67
10th Percentile £179 £413 £263
25th Percentile £186 £463 £328
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £360 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -28.00% +5.26% -9.52%
75th Percentile £575 £538 £570
90th Percentile £678 £650 £629
England median daily rate £475 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -9.52% -4.55% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 1 11
10th Percentile £44.50 - £55.00
25th Percentile £80.75 £20.85 £56.75
Median hourly rate £84.00 £21.90 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +283.56% -66.31% +221.94%
75th Percentile £88.00 £22.95 £66.01
90th Percentile - - £67.50
England median hourly rate £83.00 £52.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year +58.10% -4.55% +4.76%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

Computer Science falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 4,440 2,703 4,886
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 82.91% 91.97% 86.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,914 1,720 2,915
10th Percentile £275 £257 £213
25th Percentile £406 £405 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £512 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.25% +2.30% -0.40%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £613
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
England median daily rate £503 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.19% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 384 149 390
10th Percentile £15.23 £14.84 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.46 £20.30 £18.20
Median hourly rate £33.75 £35.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -3.57% -6.67% -16.67%
75th Percentile £80.12 £62.50 £62.47
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £75.16
England median hourly rate £32.50 £33.26 £32.50
% change year-on-year -2.27% +2.32% -12.87%

Computer Science
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Computer Science relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Computer Science job vacancy trend in the South East

Computer Science
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Computer Science.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Computer Science

Computer Science
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Computer Science in the South East over the 6 months to 20 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Computer Science in the South East

Computer Science
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Computer Science.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Computer Science

Computer Science
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Computer Science in the South East over the 6 months to 20 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Computer Science in the South East

Computer Science
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Computer Science within the South East region over the 6 months to 20 March 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
Thames Valley +24 107 £413 -17.50% 62
Berkshire +18 76 £208 -58.50% 24
Hampshire -16 30 £575 +9.52% 40
Buckinghamshire - 23 £535 - 18
Kent +3 18 £205 -39.26% 13
West Sussex -5 14 £275 -21.43% 4
Surrey -24 13 £463 -7.50% 17
Oxfordshire -10 8 £550 -21.43% 20
East Sussex -9 6 £360 - 13
Home Counties - 4 - -
Computer Science
England

Computer Science
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 (3.63%) Confluence
2 5 (2.59%) Smallworld
3 4 (2.07%) Apache Spark
3 4 (2.07%) GeoServer
4 3 (1.55%) Apache
5 2 (1.04%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 2 (1.04%) CMS
5 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Exchange
6 1 (0.52%) Apache Pulsar
6 1 (0.52%) SharePoint
Applications
1 5 (2.59%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.52%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 4 (2.07%) SAP ERP
2 2 (1.04%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.52%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.52%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.52%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 30 (15.54%) Azure
2 22 (11.40%) AWS
3 13 (6.74%) GitHub
3 13 (6.74%) GitHub Actions
4 12 (6.22%) GCP
5 6 (3.11%) Power Platform
6 4 (2.07%) Entra ID
7 3 (1.55%) Amazon EKS
7 3 (1.55%) AWS CloudFormation
7 3 (1.55%) PowerApps
8 2 (1.04%) Amazon EC2
8 2 (1.04%) Amazon ECS
8 2 (1.04%) Amazon S3
8 2 (1.04%) Azure DevOps
8 2 (1.04%) IaaS
8 2 (1.04%) Power Automate
8 2 (1.04%) SaaS
8 2 (1.04%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 1 (0.52%) Microsoft 365
9 1 (0.52%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 5 (2.59%) DNS
1 5 (2.59%) Firewall
1 5 (2.59%) Network Security
1 5 (2.59%) TCP/IP
2 3 (1.55%) LAN
2 3 (1.55%) SSH
2 3 (1.55%) WAN
2 3 (1.55%) Wireless
3 2 (1.04%) BGP
3 2 (1.04%) Internet
3 2 (1.04%) IPsec
3 2 (1.04%) OSPF
3 2 (1.04%) Structured Cabling
4 1 (0.52%) 5G
4 1 (0.52%) Intranet
4 1 (0.52%) Radio Access Network
4 1 (0.52%) Telepresence
4 1 (0.52%) VoIP
4 1 (0.52%) VPN
4 1 (0.52%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (6.22%) Relational Database
2 9 (4.66%) MySQL
3 8 (4.15%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (3.63%) SQL Server
5 6 (3.11%) Big Data
5 6 (3.11%) Power BI
6 5 (2.59%) Apache Cassandra
6 5 (2.59%) Couchbase
6 5 (2.59%) GIS
6 5 (2.59%) NoSQL
7 4 (2.07%) Geospatial Data
7 4 (2.07%) Hadoop
7 4 (2.07%) QGIS
8 3 (1.55%) Data Warehouse
9 2 (1.04%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (1.04%) Metadata
9 2 (1.04%) Tableau
10 1 (0.52%) Oracle Database
10 1 (0.52%) RDBMS
10 1 (0.52%) Redis
Development Applications
1 28 (14.51%) Rational DOORS
2 14 (7.25%) Git
3 9 (4.66%) GitLab
3 9 (4.66%) Jenkins
4 8 (4.15%) JIRA
5 7 (3.63%) CircleCI
5 7 (3.63%) Gradle
6 5 (2.59%) JUnit
7 2 (1.04%) Cypress.io
7 2 (1.04%) Selenium
7 2 (1.04%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.52%) Appium
8 1 (0.52%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.52%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.52%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.52%) Maven
8 1 (0.52%) MLflow
8 1 (0.52%) WebDriver
8 1 (0.52%) XCTest
8 1 (0.52%) XCUITest
General
1 56 (29.02%) Social Skills
2 45 (23.32%) Aerospace
3 31 (16.06%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (6.22%) Finance
4 12 (6.22%) Public Sector
5 9 (4.66%) Influencing Skills
6 8 (4.15%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (4.15%) Manufacturing
7 4 (2.07%) Marketing
7 4 (2.07%) Military
8 3 (1.55%) Law
8 3 (1.55%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (1.04%) Legal
9 2 (1.04%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.52%) Advertising
10 1 (0.52%) Avionics
10 1 (0.52%) Banking
10 1 (0.52%) Electronics
10 1 (0.52%) Humanities
10 1 (0.52%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 32 (16.58%) Product Manager
2 30 (15.54%) Delivery Manager
3 28 (14.51%) Product Delivery Manager
4 22 (11.40%) Systems Delivery Manager
4 22 (11.40%) Systems Manager
5 16 (8.29%) Developer
6 12 (6.22%) Architect
6 12 (6.22%) Senior
7 11 (5.70%) Analyst
7 11 (5.70%) Lead
8 9 (4.66%) Technical Support
9 6 (3.11%) Senior Developer
10 5 (2.59%) Android Engineer
10 5 (2.59%) Consultant
10 5 (2.59%) Designer
10 5 (2.59%) Engineering Manager
10 5 (2.59%) Service Designer
10 5 (2.59%) Software Engineer
11 4 (2.07%) Data Scientist
11 4 (2.07%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (7.77%) REST
2 7 (3.63%) Kafka
2 7 (3.63%) RAML
3 6 (3.11%) RabbitMQ
4 5 (2.59%) Android Jetpack
4 5 (2.59%) Dagger
4 5 (2.59%) Jetpack Compose
4 5 (2.59%) OkHttp
4 5 (2.59%) React
4 5 (2.59%) RxJava
4 5 (2.59%) WireMock
5 3 (1.55%) HTML
5 3 (1.55%) Web Services
6 2 (1.04%) CSS
6 2 (1.04%) JSR 170
6 2 (1.04%) RESTful
6 2 (1.04%) scikit-learn
6 2 (1.04%) Spring
6 2 (1.04%) TensorFlow
6 2 (1.04%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 37 (19.17%) Product Ownership
2 23 (11.92%) Data Structures
3 15 (7.77%) Management Information System
4 13 (6.74%) Virtual Team
5 11 (5.70%) Onboarding
6 8 (4.15%) Algorithms
7 7 (3.63%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (3.63%) Legacy Code
8 5 (2.59%) Cloud Native
8 5 (2.59%) Cyberattack
8 5 (2.59%) Security Operations Centre
9 4 (2.07%) AI Agents
9 4 (2.07%) Data Centre
9 4 (2.07%) Legacy Systems
9 4 (2.07%) Mobile App
10 3 (1.55%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (1.55%) Taxonomies
11 2 (1.04%) PKI
11 2 (1.04%) Replication
11 2 (1.04%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 25 (12.95%) Windows
2 24 (12.44%) Linux
3 13 (6.74%) Unix
4 7 (3.63%) Android
5 4 (2.07%) Windows Server
6 3 (1.55%) Apple iOS
7 2 (1.04%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.52%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (37.82%) Agile
2 40 (20.73%) Continuous Improvement
2 40 (20.73%) Systems Engineering
3 36 (18.65%) Problem-Solving
4 33 (17.10%) PRINCE2
4 33 (17.10%) Scaled Agile Framework
5 31 (16.06%) Change Control
5 31 (16.06%) Programme Management
5 31 (16.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 28 (14.51%) Configuration Management
7 27 (13.99%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
8 25 (12.95%) Requirements Management
9 24 (12.44%) AI
10 23 (11.92%) SysML
10 23 (11.92%) UML
11 21 (10.88%) Cybersecurity
11 21 (10.88%) DoDAF
12 20 (10.36%) DevOps
13 19 (9.84%) CI/CD
14 18 (9.33%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 36 (18.65%) Python
2 18 (9.33%) SQL
3 17 (8.81%) Java
4 16 (8.29%) JavaScript
5 9 (4.66%) Perl
6 8 (4.15%) PowerShell
7 7 (3.63%) Go
7 7 (3.63%) Kotlin
8 3 (1.55%) Bash
8 3 (1.55%) Shell Script
9 2 (1.04%) C#
9 2 (1.04%) R
10 1 (0.52%) Bicep
10 1 (0.52%) C++
10 1 (0.52%) Magik
10 1 (0.52%) Objective-C
10 1 (0.52%) Swift
10 1 (0.52%) Tcl
10 1 (0.52%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 154 (79.79%) Degree
2 80 (41.45%) Security Cleared
3 79 (40.93%) Computer Science Degree
4 34 (17.62%) SC Cleared
5 13 (6.74%) Master's Degree
6 11 (5.70%) DBS Check
7 8 (4.15%) DV Cleared
8 5 (2.59%) Cisco Certification
8 5 (2.59%) CompTIA CySA+
8 5 (2.59%) CompTIA Security+
9 4 (2.07%) CCNP
9 4 (2.07%) CISSP
10 3 (1.55%) AWS Certification
10 3 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
10 3 (1.55%) CCNA
10 3 (1.55%) PMI Certification
10 3 (1.55%) PMP
11 2 (1.04%) Azure Certification
11 2 (1.04%) PhD
12 1 (0.52%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.74%) Data Quality
2 11 (5.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (5.18%) NIST
3 10 (5.18%) QA
4 7 (3.63%) NCSC
5 5 (2.59%) GDPR
5 5 (2.59%) Government Security Classifications
5 5 (2.59%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 5 (2.59%) NIST 800
6 3 (1.55%) Accessibility
6 3 (1.55%) DO-254
6 3 (1.55%) IEC 61508
6 3 (1.55%) ISO 26262
7 2 (1.04%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.52%) ISO 20022
8 1 (0.52%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.52%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.52%) PMO
System Software
1 13 (6.74%) Docker
2 5 (2.59%) Active Directory
3 2 (1.04%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 12 (6.22%) Kubernetes
2 8 (4.15%) Terraform
3 5 (2.59%) Grafana
4 4 (2.07%) Ansible
5 3 (1.55%) Prometheus
6 2 (1.04%) Puppet
7 1 (0.52%) FortiGate
7 1 (0.52%) Istio
7 1 (0.52%) Kubeflow
7 1 (0.52%) linkerd
7 1 (0.52%) Nessus
7 1 (0.52%) Nmap
Vendors
1 25 (12.95%) IBM
2 14 (7.25%) Oracle
3 13 (6.74%) Microsoft
4 7 (3.63%) Splunk
5 6 (3.11%) Atlassian
5 6 (3.11%) SAP
6 4 (2.07%) BeyondTrust
6 4 (2.07%) Cisco
6 4 (2.07%) CyberArk
6 4 (2.07%) ESRI
6 4 (2.07%) Google
6 4 (2.07%) Intergraph
7 3 (1.55%) Informatica
7 3 (1.55%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.55%) ServiceNow
8 2 (1.04%) Adobe
8 2 (1.04%) Aruba
8 2 (1.04%) CheckPoint
8 2 (1.04%) PagerDuty
9 1 (0.52%) CA Agile Central