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 14 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 72 50 83
Rank change year-on-year -22 +33 +5
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 206 137 97
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.12% 3.82% 2.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.84% 4.31% 2.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 143 77 60
10th Percentile £189 £170 £203
25th Percentile £192 £184 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £325 £453
Median % change year-on-year +38.46% -28.18% -9.50%
75th Percentile £588 £500 £525
90th Percentile £636 £574 £625
England median daily rate £450 £475 £550
% change year-on-year -5.26% -13.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 4 3
10th Percentile £51.25 £76.59 £21.64
25th Percentile £66.50 £84.97 £23.93
Median hourly rate £75.00 £89.63 £28.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.32% +214.49% -48.18%
75th Percentile £83.00 - £45.88
90th Percentile £87.16 - £55.85
England median hourly rate £41.71 £43.50 £52.50
% change year-on-year -4.11% -17.14% -13.22%

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 5,365 3,181 3,562
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.31% 88.76% 83.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,099 1,991 2,144
10th Percentile £275 £213 £255
25th Percentile £419 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £622 £588 £625
90th Percentile £713 £650 £688
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 697 328 181
10th Percentile £13.45 £13.50 £16.25
25th Percentile £16.38 £16.17 £30.00
Median hourly rate £47.50 £21.02 £58.49
Median % change year-on-year +125.98% -64.06% +7.58%
75th Percentile £70.00 £42.93 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.30 £69.65 £75.00
England median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +59.05% -40.82% -5.56%

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 14 October 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 14 October 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 14 October 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 +5 112 £565 +25.56% 172
Berkshire +13 73 £550 +20.55% 95
Surrey +12 43 £209 -1.07% 55
Oxfordshire -4 22 £592 - 55
Kent +13 18 £215 +11.55% 14
Buckinghamshire -17 17 £615 +83.57% 24
Hampshire -39 17 £305 +37.08% 81
West Sussex -27 13 £334 +17.93% 40
Middlesex - 2 £334 - 3
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 6 (2.91%) SharePoint
2 5 (2.43%) IIS
3 3 (1.46%) Confluence
4 2 (0.97%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.49%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.49%) CMS
5 1 (0.49%) Headless CMS
5 1 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 10 (4.85%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (3.88%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (2.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (1.46%) Microsoft Project
5 1 (0.49%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 3 (1.46%) Primavera
1 3 (1.46%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.49%) SAP CAR
2 1 (0.49%) SAP CRM
2 1 (0.49%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 66 (32.04%) Azure
2 27 (13.11%) AWS
3 23 (11.17%) Entra ID
4 21 (10.19%) GCP
5 16 (7.77%) SaaS
6 8 (3.88%) GitHub
7 6 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
7 6 (2.91%) GitHub Actions
7 6 (2.91%) Microsoft 365
8 4 (1.94%) Azure Data Factory
8 4 (1.94%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 4 (1.94%) Azure Monitor
8 4 (1.94%) Azure Sentinel
8 4 (1.94%) Power Platform
9 3 (1.46%) OpenShift
9 3 (1.46%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
9 3 (1.46%) Sauce Labs
9 3 (1.46%) Serverless
9 3 (1.46%) Snowflake
9 3 (1.46%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 10 (4.85%) DNS
2 9 (4.37%) Firewall
2 9 (4.37%) TCP/IP
2 9 (4.37%) VPN
3 7 (3.40%) DHCP
4 6 (2.91%) Network Security
4 6 (2.91%) SSH
5 4 (1.94%) LAN
5 4 (1.94%) Software-Defined Networking
5 4 (1.94%) WAN
6 3 (1.46%) BGP
6 3 (1.46%) BIG-IP
6 3 (1.46%) Cisco ASA
6 3 (1.46%) Cisco Firepower
6 3 (1.46%) Cisco Nexus
6 3 (1.46%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 3 (1.46%) IPsec
6 3 (1.46%) MPLS
6 3 (1.46%) OSPF
6 3 (1.46%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (7.28%) Metadata
2 13 (6.31%) Relational Database
3 8 (3.88%) SQL Server
4 6 (2.91%) MySQL
4 6 (2.91%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (1.94%) Power BI
6 3 (1.46%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.49%) Apache Iceberg
7 1 (0.49%) BigQuery
7 1 (0.49%) DynamoDB
7 1 (0.49%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.49%) SAP BW
7 1 (0.49%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 9 (4.37%) Git
2 6 (2.91%) CircleCI
3 4 (1.94%) Rational DOORS
4 3 (1.46%) Android Studio
4 3 (1.46%) Browser DevTools
4 3 (1.46%) Eclipse
4 3 (1.46%) Gradle
4 3 (1.46%) Xcode
4 3 (1.46%) XCTest
4 3 (1.46%) XCUITest
5 2 (0.97%) JIRA
5 2 (0.97%) JUnit
5 2 (0.97%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.49%) GitLab
6 1 (0.49%) Octopus Deploy
6 1 (0.49%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 67 (32.52%) Social Skills
2 37 (17.96%) Aerospace
3 36 (17.48%) Analytical Skills
4 28 (13.59%) Public Sector
5 14 (6.80%) Documentation Skills
6 13 (6.31%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 12 (5.83%) Finance
8 11 (5.34%) Manufacturing
8 11 (5.34%) Military
9 7 (3.40%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (2.43%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (2.43%) Marketing
10 5 (2.43%) Telecoms
11 4 (1.94%) Legal
12 3 (1.46%) Advertising
12 3 (1.46%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.97%) Automotive
14 1 (0.49%) Retail
Job Titles
1 20 (9.71%) Senior
2 17 (8.25%) Analyst
2 17 (8.25%) Architect
2 17 (8.25%) Delivery Manager
2 17 (8.25%) Lead
3 11 (5.34%) Technical Leader
4 10 (4.85%) IAM Specialist
5 9 (4.37%) Change Manager
5 9 (4.37%) Product Delivery Manager
5 9 (4.37%) Product Manager
6 8 (3.88%) Developer
6 8 (3.88%) Support Engineer
7 7 (3.40%) Data Engineer
7 7 (3.40%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 7 (3.40%) Product Owner
7 7 (3.40%) Technical Engineer
7 7 (3.40%) Technical Support
7 7 (3.40%) Technical Support Engineer
8 6 (2.91%) Information Specialist
8 6 (2.91%) Knowledge Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (8.74%) OAuth
1 18 (8.74%) OpenID
2 17 (8.25%) SailPoint
3 15 (7.28%) OAuth2
4 13 (6.31%) LDAP
4 13 (6.31%) SAML
4 13 (6.31%) Web Services
5 12 (5.83%) React
6 11 (5.34%) CSS
7 9 (4.37%) Terraform
8 8 (3.88%) HTML
9 7 (3.40%) REST
9 7 (3.40%) RESTful
10 6 (2.91%) ARM Templates
11 5 (2.43%) Django
11 5 (2.43%) Middleware
12 4 (1.94%) .NET
12 4 (1.94%) AngularJS
12 4 (1.94%) GraphQL
12 4 (1.94%) RAML
Miscellaneous
1 39 (18.93%) Management Information System
2 24 (11.65%) Product Ownership
3 20 (9.71%) Onboarding
4 15 (7.28%) Cloud Native
5 13 (6.31%) Data Centre
5 13 (6.31%) Hybrid Cloud
6 10 (4.85%) Virtual Team
7 8 (3.88%) Mobile App
8 6 (2.91%) Embedded Systems
8 6 (2.91%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (2.43%) Mobile Payment
9 5 (2.43%) Public Cloud
9 5 (2.43%) Smartcard
10 4 (1.94%) ARM Cortex
10 4 (1.94%) Data Structures
10 4 (1.94%) Legacy Code
11 3 (1.46%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 3 (1.46%) Driving Licence
11 3 (1.46%) Private Cloud
12 2 (0.97%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 28 (13.59%) Linux
1 28 (13.59%) Windows
2 15 (7.28%) Windows Server
3 14 (6.80%) Unix
4 9 (4.37%) Android
5 7 (3.40%) Apple iOS
6 2 (0.97%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 60 (29.13%) Agile
2 51 (24.76%) Continuous Improvement
3 48 (23.30%) Stakeholder Management
4 47 (22.82%) ITIL
5 46 (22.33%) Problem-Solving
6 43 (20.87%) Roadmaps
7 39 (18.93%) Software Engineering
8 38 (18.45%) CI/CD
8 38 (18.45%) Service Management
9 35 (16.99%) Analytics
10 34 (16.50%) ITSM
11 33 (16.02%) DevOps
12 29 (14.08%) Cybersecurity
12 29 (14.08%) Information Security
13 28 (13.59%) Change Management
13 28 (13.59%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 27 (13.11%) PRINCE2
15 26 (12.62%) Change Control
16 25 (12.14%) Technical Leadership
17 24 (11.65%) Digital Engineering
Programming Languages
1 51 (24.76%) Python
2 34 (16.50%) PowerShell
3 18 (8.74%) SQL
4 14 (6.80%) JavaScript
5 12 (5.83%) Java
6 8 (3.88%) Bash
7 6 (2.91%) Bicep
8 5 (2.43%) Perl
9 4 (1.94%) Kotlin
10 3 (1.46%) Apex Code
10 3 (1.46%) C
10 3 (1.46%) C#
10 3 (1.46%) Lua
10 3 (1.46%) Objective-C
10 3 (1.46%) Swift
11 2 (0.97%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.97%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.49%) C++
12 1 (0.49%) X++
Qualifications
1 159 (77.18%) Degree
2 95 (46.12%) Security Cleared
3 72 (34.95%) Computer Science Degree
4 66 (32.04%) SC Cleared
5 22 (10.68%) DV Cleared
6 20 (9.71%) Azure Certification
7 16 (7.77%) CISSP
7 16 (7.77%) Microsoft Certification
8 13 (6.31%) Master's Degree
9 9 (4.37%) AWS Certification
9 9 (4.37%) Cisco Certification
9 9 (4.37%) PMI Certification
9 9 (4.37%) PMP
10 8 (3.88%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (3.40%) CISM
11 7 (3.40%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 6 (2.91%) CISA
12 6 (2.91%) TOGAF Certification
13 5 (2.43%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 5 (2.43%) IISP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (12.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (12.14%) NIST
3 19 (9.22%) QA
4 17 (8.25%) Data Quality
5 7 (3.40%) GDPR
5 7 (3.40%) GRC
5 7 (3.40%) ISO 9001
6 6 (2.91%) Accessibility
7 5 (2.43%) ISO 31000
7 5 (2.43%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 5 (2.43%) PCI DSS
8 3 (1.46%) NCSC
9 2 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.97%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.49%) DO-254
10 1 (0.49%) IEC 61508
10 1 (0.49%) ISO 22301
10 1 (0.49%) ISO 26262
10 1 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.49%) ITGC
System Software
1 26 (12.62%) Active Directory
2 12 (5.83%) Docker
3 10 (4.85%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (2.43%) VMware NSX
5 4 (1.94%) ISA Server
6 2 (0.97%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.97%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.97%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 12 (5.83%) Kubernetes
2 8 (3.88%) Ansible
3 7 (3.40%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (2.91%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (2.43%) CASB
6 4 (1.94%) SCCM
7 2 (0.97%) Istio
7 2 (0.97%) vRealize
7 2 (0.97%) vRealize Orchestrator
8 1 (0.49%) Argo
Vendors
1 64 (31.07%) Microsoft
2 14 (6.80%) VMware
3 13 (6.31%) Oracle
4 12 (5.83%) Google
5 9 (4.37%) Cisco
5 9 (4.37%) ServiceNow
6 8 (3.88%) CrowdStrike
6 8 (3.88%) CyberArk
7 7 (3.40%) BeyondTrust
7 7 (3.40%) F5
7 7 (3.40%) Splunk
8 5 (2.43%) Salesforce
9 4 (1.94%) Centrify
9 4 (1.94%) Databricks
9 4 (1.94%) IBM
9 4 (1.94%) Qualys
9 4 (1.94%) Tripwire
10 3 (1.46%) Okta
10 3 (1.46%) Ping Identity
10 3 (1.46%) SolarWinds