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 30 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 52 44 91
Rank change year-on-year -8 +47 -1
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 230 140 122
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.66% 4.48% 2.15%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.51% 4.92% 2.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 124 55 70
10th Percentile £183 £283 £202
25th Percentile £189 £358 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £225 £478 £453
Median % change year-on-year -52.88% +5.52% -12.98%
75th Percentile £538 £525 £558
90th Percentile £625 £595 £631
England median daily rate £475 £505 £530
% change year-on-year -5.94% -4.72% -3.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 63 1 11
10th Percentile £39.95 - £20.12
25th Percentile £78.98 £20.85 £61.25
Median hourly rate £84.00 £21.90 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +283.56% -66.31% +217.54%
75th Percentile £88.00 £22.95 £66.01
90th Percentile - - £73.75
England median hourly rate £79.91 £43.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year +83.70% -20.91% -8.33%

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 5,101 2,844 4,692
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.10% 91.07% 82.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,221 1,770 2,720
10th Percentile £280 £250 £256
25th Percentile £413 £393 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -0.49%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £634
90th Percentile £700 £666 £700
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 501 228 460
10th Percentile £15.25 £13.43 £13.00
25th Percentile £23.00 £15.12 £18.20
Median hourly rate £53.90 £24.33 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +121.54% -48.78% -5.00%
75th Percentile £82.25 £55.00 £67.14
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £77.63
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.23 £38.12
% change year-on-year +86.32% -33.83% +1.65%

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 30 June 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 30 June 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 30 June 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 +27 125 £488 -0.26% 44
Berkshire +13 77 £209 -56.23% 19
Surrey -1 33 £209 -57.13% 17
Hampshire -17 33 £530 +6.00% 32
Oxfordshire -6 28 £550 - 10
Kent +14 20 £215 -36.21% 8
Buckinghamshire -18 20 £582 +10.76% 16
West Sussex -17 11 £275 -4.51% 7
Home Counties - 3 - -
East Sussex -16 2 £461 +139.03% 4
Middlesex - 2 £334 - 1
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 3 (1.30%) Confluence
1 3 (1.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (0.87%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.43%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 1 (0.43%) Apache Pulsar
3 1 (0.43%) CMS
Applications
1 6 (2.61%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.43%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.43%) Payment Gateway
1 1 (0.43%) Salesforce CRM
1 1 (0.43%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 47 (20.43%) Azure
2 22 (9.57%) AWS
3 18 (7.83%) Entra ID
4 15 (6.52%) GCP
5 10 (4.35%) SaaS
6 8 (3.48%) Power Platform
7 6 (2.61%) Microsoft 365
8 5 (2.17%) GitHub
8 5 (2.17%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (1.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 3 (1.30%) Power Automate
10 3 (1.30%) PowerApps
10 3 (1.30%) Sauce Labs
11 2 (0.87%) Azure Data Factory
11 2 (0.87%) Azure DevOps
11 2 (0.87%) Serverless
12 1 (0.43%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 1 (0.43%) Apigee
12 1 (0.43%) AWS CloudFormation
12 1 (0.43%) Azure Machine Learning
Communications & Networking
1 7 (3.04%) DNS
2 6 (2.61%) Firewall
2 6 (2.61%) TCP/IP
3 5 (2.17%) BGP
3 5 (2.17%) LAN
3 5 (2.17%) OSPF
3 5 (2.17%) SSH
3 5 (2.17%) WAN
4 4 (1.74%) Cisco Nexus
4 4 (1.74%) IPsec
4 4 (1.74%) Network Security
5 3 (1.30%) BIG-IP
5 3 (1.30%) Cisco ASA
5 3 (1.30%) Cisco Firepower
5 3 (1.30%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 3 (1.30%) MPLS
5 3 (1.30%) SD-WAN
5 3 (1.30%) VLAN
5 3 (1.30%) VPN
6 1 (0.43%) Ethernet VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (6.96%) SQL Server
2 10 (4.35%) Relational Database
3 9 (3.91%) MySQL
4 8 (3.48%) Power BI
5 3 (1.30%) PostgreSQL
5 3 (1.30%) Tableau
6 2 (0.87%) Big Data
6 2 (0.87%) Hadoop
7 1 (0.43%) Apache Iceberg
7 1 (0.43%) BigQuery
7 1 (0.43%) Data Mining
7 1 (0.43%) Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.43%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 28 (12.17%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (2.61%) Git
3 5 (2.17%) CircleCI
3 5 (2.17%) Gradle
4 4 (1.74%) GitLab
4 4 (1.74%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.74%) JIRA
4 4 (1.74%) JUnit
5 3 (1.30%) Android Studio
5 3 (1.30%) Browser DevTools
5 3 (1.30%) Eclipse
5 3 (1.30%) Xcode
6 2 (0.87%) Selenium
6 2 (0.87%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.43%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.43%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.43%) Maven
7 1 (0.43%) TestNG
7 1 (0.43%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.43%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 55 (23.91%) Social Skills
2 52 (22.61%) Aerospace
3 33 (14.35%) Public Sector
4 30 (13.04%) Analytical Skills
5 20 (8.70%) Documentation Skills
6 16 (6.96%) Finance
7 8 (3.48%) Influencing Skills
8 7 (3.04%) Manufacturing
9 6 (2.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (2.61%) Military
9 6 (2.61%) Organisational Skills
10 5 (2.17%) Marketing
10 5 (2.17%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (2.17%) Telecoms
11 3 (1.30%) Avionics
11 3 (1.30%) Law
12 2 (0.87%) Electronics
12 2 (0.87%) Legal
13 1 (0.43%) Banking
13 1 (0.43%) Humanities
Job Titles
1 32 (13.91%) Product Manager
2 29 (12.61%) Delivery Manager
3 28 (12.17%) Product Delivery Manager
4 22 (9.57%) Systems Delivery Manager
4 22 (9.57%) Systems Manager
5 16 (6.96%) Lead
6 14 (6.09%) Analyst
6 14 (6.09%) Architect
7 10 (4.35%) Developer
7 10 (4.35%) Technical Support
8 9 (3.91%) Senior
9 8 (3.48%) IAM Specialist
10 7 (3.04%) Product Owner
10 7 (3.04%) Support Engineer
10 7 (3.04%) Technical Architect
10 7 (3.04%) Technical Engineer
10 7 (3.04%) Technical Support Engineer
11 6 (2.61%) Engineering Manager
12 5 (2.17%) Consultant
12 5 (2.17%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (5.65%) SailPoint
2 12 (5.22%) OAuth
3 11 (4.78%) OpenID
3 11 (4.78%) React
4 10 (4.35%) LDAP
4 10 (4.35%) SAML
4 10 (4.35%) Web Services
5 9 (3.91%) OAuth2
5 9 (3.91%) REST
6 6 (2.61%) CSS
7 5 (2.17%) AngularJS
7 5 (2.17%) GraphQL
7 5 (2.17%) RAML
8 4 (1.74%) .NET
8 4 (1.74%) Android Jetpack
9 3 (1.30%) Dagger
9 3 (1.30%) HTML
9 3 (1.30%) Jetpack Compose
9 3 (1.30%) OkHttp
9 3 (1.30%) WireMock
Miscellaneous
1 43 (18.70%) Product Ownership
2 26 (11.30%) Onboarding
3 25 (10.87%) Data Structures
4 23 (10.00%) Management Information System
5 14 (6.09%) Virtual Team
6 8 (3.48%) Cloud Native
6 8 (3.48%) Data Centre
7 7 (3.04%) Algorithms
7 7 (3.04%) Mobile App
8 6 (2.61%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (2.17%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (2.17%) Legacy Code
10 4 (1.74%) Enterprise Software
11 3 (1.30%) Cyberattack
11 3 (1.30%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 3 (1.30%) Distributed Systems
11 3 (1.30%) Driving Licence
11 3 (1.30%) Private Cloud
11 3 (1.30%) Security Operations Centre
11 3 (1.30%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 33 (14.35%) Windows
2 31 (13.48%) Linux
3 25 (10.87%) Unix
4 11 (4.78%) Android
5 10 (4.35%) Windows Server
6 5 (2.17%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.87%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (32.17%) Agile
2 50 (21.74%) Change Control
3 46 (20.00%) Systems Engineering
4 45 (19.57%) Continuous Improvement
5 37 (16.09%) PRINCE2
6 35 (15.22%) ITSM
6 35 (15.22%) Problem-Solving
7 34 (14.78%) Cybersecurity
7 34 (14.78%) Scaled Agile Framework
7 34 (14.78%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 30 (13.04%) Programme Management
9 28 (12.17%) Information Security
10 27 (11.74%) CI/CD
10 27 (11.74%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
11 26 (11.30%) Configuration Management
12 25 (10.87%) AI
12 25 (10.87%) Requirements Management
12 25 (10.87%) Runbook
13 24 (10.43%) Stakeholder Management
14 23 (10.00%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 51 (22.17%) Python
2 27 (11.74%) PowerShell
3 20 (8.70%) SQL
4 15 (6.52%) Java
4 15 (6.52%) JavaScript
5 8 (3.48%) Perl
6 6 (2.61%) Kotlin
7 4 (1.74%) C++
8 3 (1.30%) C#
8 3 (1.30%) TypeScript
9 2 (0.87%) Ada
9 2 (0.87%) Bash
9 2 (0.87%) C
9 2 (0.87%) Go
9 2 (0.87%) R
9 2 (0.87%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.43%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.43%) Objective-C
10 1 (0.43%) Swift
10 1 (0.43%) X++
Qualifications
1 169 (73.48%) Degree
2 109 (47.39%) Security Cleared
3 62 (26.96%) Computer Science Degree
4 56 (24.35%) SC Cleared
5 14 (6.09%) DV Cleared
6 11 (4.78%) BPSS Clearance
7 10 (4.35%) Master's Degree
8 9 (3.91%) Microsoft Certification
9 7 (3.04%) CISSP
10 6 (2.61%) AWS Certification
10 6 (2.61%) Azure Certification
10 6 (2.61%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (2.17%) CCNP
11 5 (2.17%) PMI Certification
11 5 (2.17%) PMP
12 4 (1.74%) DBS Check
13 3 (1.30%) CompTIA CySA+
13 3 (1.30%) CompTIA Security+
13 3 (1.30%) CSPO
13 3 (1.30%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (15.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 31 (13.48%) NIST
3 11 (4.78%) Data Quality
4 10 (4.35%) QA
5 9 (3.91%) NCSC
6 7 (3.04%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 7 (3.04%) NIST 800
7 5 (2.17%) Government Security Classifications
8 4 (1.74%) Accessibility
9 3 (1.30%) DO-254
9 3 (1.30%) GRC
9 3 (1.30%) IEC 61508
9 3 (1.30%) ISO 26262
9 3 (1.30%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 2 (0.87%) ISO 9001
11 1 (0.43%) DICOM
11 1 (0.43%) HL7
11 1 (0.43%) ISO 20022
11 1 (0.43%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 29 (12.61%) Active Directory
2 9 (3.91%) Docker
3 4 (1.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.74%) VMware NSX
4 2 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.43%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 9 (3.91%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.61%) Terraform
3 3 (1.30%) Grafana
3 3 (1.30%) Prometheus
3 3 (1.30%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (0.87%) Ansible
4 2 (0.87%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.43%) CASB
5 1 (0.43%) Istio
5 1 (0.43%) Kubeflow
5 1 (0.43%) linkerd
Vendors
1 32 (13.91%) Microsoft
2 25 (10.87%) IBM
3 22 (9.57%) Oracle
4 15 (6.52%) BeyondTrust
4 15 (6.52%) CyberArk
5 7 (3.04%) Cisco
5 7 (3.04%) Splunk
6 6 (2.61%) Google
6 6 (2.61%) ServiceNow
6 6 (2.61%) VMware
7 5 (2.17%) Palo Alto
8 4 (1.74%) F5
9 3 (1.30%) Dell
9 3 (1.30%) ForgeRock
9 3 (1.30%) Okta
9 3 (1.30%) Ping Identity
9 3 (1.30%) SolarWinds
10 2 (0.87%) Databricks
10 2 (0.87%) HP
11 1 (0.43%) Hitachi