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 21 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 70 93 94
Rank change year-on-year +23 +1 +42
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 133 70 119
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 2.99% 2.13% 2.30%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.56% 2.39% 2.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 98 39 76
10th Percentile £170 £330 £207
25th Percentile £184 £471 £291
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £318 £500 £463
Median % change year-on-year -36.50% +8.11% -11.90%
75th Percentile £543 £556 £588
90th Percentile £678 £658 £638
England median daily rate £475 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -13.64% - -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 1 15
10th Percentile - - £39.39
25th Percentile £26.75 £27.75 £50.00
Median hourly rate £28.50 £28.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year - -48.18% +168.69%
75th Percentile £56.13 £29.25 £67.26
90th Percentile £71.65 - £71.25
England median hourly rate £33.50 £52.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year -36.19% -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 3,733 2,930 4,575
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 84.06% 89.36% 88.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,457 1,807 2,866
10th Percentile £250 £250 £213
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £501 £513
Median % change year-on-year -0.10% -2.34% +0.99%
75th Percentile £600 £618 £613
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £535
% change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 329 108 302
10th Percentile £14.50 £19.77 £15.48
25th Percentile £17.00 £25.56 £23.63
Median hourly rate £23.58 £43.94 £50.50
Median % change year-on-year -46.35% -12.99% +14.12%
75th Percentile £50.00 £62.76 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.91 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £38.16
% change year-on-year -28.14% -8.27% +9.67%

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 21 January 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 21 January 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 21 January 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 +10 54 £406 -18.75% 168
Berkshire +8 34 £365 -27.00% 115
Hampshire -1 29 £223 -61.30% 59
Surrey -10 20 £425 -15.00% 34
Buckinghamshire +10 17 £445 -19.09% 26
Kent +10 12 £205 -18.00% 30
West Sussex -3 11 £275 -54.17% 17
East Sussex +8 5 £463 +15.63% 20
Oxfordshire -11 3 £450 -35.71% 27
Home Counties - 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 7 (5.26%) Confluence
2 5 (3.76%) Smallworld
3 4 (3.01%) GeoServer
4 3 (2.26%) Apache
5 2 (1.50%) Apache Spark
5 2 (1.50%) Microsoft Exchange
5 2 (1.50%) nginx
6 1 (0.75%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.75%) CMS
6 1 (0.75%) Gunicorn
6 1 (0.75%) IIS
6 1 (0.75%) SharePoint
6 1 (0.75%) Tomcat
Applications
1 2 (1.50%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 4 (3.01%) SAP ERP
2 2 (1.50%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.75%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 20 (15.04%) Azure
2 16 (12.03%) AWS
3 11 (8.27%) GitHub
4 10 (7.52%) GitHub Actions
5 5 (3.76%) GCP
6 3 (2.26%) IaaS
6 3 (2.26%) SaaS
7 2 (1.50%) Amazon EC2
7 2 (1.50%) Amazon ECS
7 2 (1.50%) Amazon EKS
7 2 (1.50%) Amazon S3
7 2 (1.50%) AWS CloudFormation
7 2 (1.50%) Azure DevOps
7 2 (1.50%) Power Platform
8 1 (0.75%) Amazon SageMaker
8 1 (0.75%) AWS Lambda
8 1 (0.75%) Entra ID
8 1 (0.75%) PowerApps
8 1 (0.75%) Serverless
8 1 (0.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 5 (3.76%) Network Security
2 4 (3.01%) DNS
2 4 (3.01%) TCP/IP
3 3 (2.26%) Firewall
3 3 (2.26%) VoIP
3 3 (2.26%) Wireless
4 2 (1.50%) Internet
4 2 (1.50%) LAN
4 2 (1.50%) VPN
4 2 (1.50%) WAN
5 1 (0.75%) BGP
5 1 (0.75%) Cisco IOS
5 1 (0.75%) Intranet
5 1 (0.75%) IPsec
5 1 (0.75%) MGCP
5 1 (0.75%) OSPF
5 1 (0.75%) SCCP
5 1 (0.75%) Structured Cabling
5 1 (0.75%) Telepresence
5 1 (0.75%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (11.28%) Relational Database
2 11 (8.27%) MySQL
3 8 (6.02%) PostgreSQL
4 5 (3.76%) Apache Cassandra
4 5 (3.76%) Couchbase
4 5 (3.76%) Data Warehouse
4 5 (3.76%) GIS
4 5 (3.76%) NoSQL
5 4 (3.01%) Big Data
5 4 (3.01%) Geospatial Data
5 4 (3.01%) QGIS
5 4 (3.01%) SQL Server
6 3 (2.26%) Metadata
7 2 (1.50%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (1.50%) Hadoop
7 2 (1.50%) Power BI
7 2 (1.50%) Redis
8 1 (0.75%) Oracle Database
8 1 (0.75%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.75%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 14 (10.53%) Git
2 8 (6.02%) JIRA
3 6 (4.51%) GitLab
3 6 (4.51%) Jenkins
4 4 (3.01%) CircleCI
4 4 (3.01%) Visual Studio
5 3 (2.26%) Gradle
5 3 (2.26%) JUnit
6 2 (1.50%) Cypress.io
6 2 (1.50%) Selenium
7 1 (0.75%) Appium
7 1 (0.75%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.75%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.75%) Burp Suite
7 1 (0.75%) WebDriver
7 1 (0.75%) XCTest
7 1 (0.75%) XCUITest
General
1 47 (35.34%) Social Skills
2 35 (26.32%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (4.51%) Influencing Skills
4 5 (3.76%) Finance
4 5 (3.76%) Public Sector
5 4 (3.01%) Manufacturing
5 4 (3.01%) Military
6 3 (2.26%) Aerospace
6 3 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
7 2 (1.50%) Electronics
7 2 (1.50%) Legal
8 1 (0.75%) Advertising
8 1 (0.75%) Digital Healthcare
8 1 (0.75%) Law
8 1 (0.75%) Marketing
8 1 (0.75%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 23 (17.29%) Developer
2 11 (8.27%) Senior
2 11 (8.27%) Technical Support
3 9 (6.77%) Analyst
4 7 (5.26%) Architect
4 7 (5.26%) Senior Developer
5 5 (3.76%) Android Developer
5 5 (3.76%) Lead
6 4 (3.01%) Informatica Developer
7 3 (2.26%) Android Engineer
7 3 (2.26%) Data Scientist
7 3 (2.26%) IT Analyst
7 3 (2.26%) Principal Developer
7 3 (2.26%) SOC Analyst
7 3 (2.26%) Software Developer
7 3 (2.26%) Software Engineer
8 2 (1.50%) Asset Management Analyst
8 2 (1.50%) Data Centre Analyst
8 2 (1.50%) GIS Architect
8 2 (1.50%) iOS Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (9.77%) REST
2 6 (4.51%) HTML
3 5 (3.76%) Kafka
3 5 (3.76%) RabbitMQ
3 5 (3.76%) RESTful
4 4 (3.01%) CSS
4 4 (3.01%) RAML
5 3 (2.26%) Android Jetpack
5 3 (2.26%) Dagger
5 3 (2.26%) Jetpack Compose
5 3 (2.26%) Material Design
5 3 (2.26%) Node.js
5 3 (2.26%) OkHttp
5 3 (2.26%) Pandas
5 3 (2.26%) RxJava
5 3 (2.26%) scikit-learn
5 3 (2.26%) Web Services
5 3 (2.26%) WireMock
5 3 (2.26%) XML
6 2 (1.50%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 8 (6.02%) Management Information System
2 6 (4.51%) Virtual Team
3 5 (3.76%) Algorithms
3 5 (3.76%) Mobile App
4 4 (3.01%) Analytical Mindset
4 4 (3.01%) Cloud Native
4 4 (3.01%) Data Centre
4 4 (3.01%) Legacy Code
4 4 (3.01%) Legacy Systems
4 4 (3.01%) Product Ownership
5 3 (2.26%) Cyberattack
5 3 (2.26%) Security Operations Centre
6 2 (1.50%) AI Agents
6 2 (1.50%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (1.50%) Distributed Computing
6 2 (1.50%) Mixed Reality
6 2 (1.50%) Replication
6 2 (1.50%) Security Posture
6 2 (1.50%) Virtual Reality
7 1 (0.75%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 24 (18.05%) Linux
2 22 (16.54%) Windows
3 11 (8.27%) Unix
4 7 (5.26%) Android
5 5 (3.76%) Apple iOS
6 3 (2.26%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.75%) Kali Linux
7 1 (0.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.75%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 39 (29.32%) Problem-Solving
2 34 (25.56%) Agile
3 18 (13.53%) DevOps
4 14 (10.53%) Continuous Integration
4 14 (10.53%) Process Improvement
5 13 (9.77%) CI/CD
6 12 (9.02%) AI
6 12 (9.02%) Migration
7 11 (8.27%) Analytics
7 11 (8.27%) Data Science
7 11 (8.27%) Mathematics
7 11 (8.27%) OO
7 11 (8.27%) OOP
8 10 (7.52%) Continuous Improvement
8 10 (7.52%) Data Governance
8 10 (7.52%) Software Engineering
9 9 (6.77%) Cybersecurity
9 9 (6.77%) Open Source
9 9 (6.77%) Software Testing
9 9 (6.77%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 36 (27.07%) Python
2 23 (17.29%) Java
3 20 (15.04%) SQL
4 17 (12.78%) JavaScript
5 11 (8.27%) Perl
6 6 (4.51%) Kotlin
7 5 (3.76%) Go
7 5 (3.76%) PowerShell
8 4 (3.01%) Bash
8 4 (3.01%) C#
8 4 (3.01%) Objective-C
8 4 (3.01%) Shell Script
8 4 (3.01%) Swift
9 2 (1.50%) Ada
9 2 (1.50%) Assembly Language
9 2 (1.50%) C
9 2 (1.50%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.75%) C++
10 1 (0.75%) Magik
10 1 (0.75%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 96 (72.18%) Degree
2 76 (57.14%) Computer Science Degree
3 21 (15.79%) Security Cleared
4 15 (11.28%) SC Cleared
5 12 (9.02%) DBS Check
6 10 (7.52%) Master's Degree
7 5 (3.76%) DV Cleared
8 4 (3.01%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (3.01%) CISSP
9 3 (2.26%) CCNP
9 3 (2.26%) CompTIA CySA+
9 3 (2.26%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (1.50%) AWS Certification
10 2 (1.50%) CCNA
10 2 (1.50%) Network+ Certification
11 1 (0.75%) A+ Certification
11 1 (0.75%) CCIE
11 1 (0.75%) CCSP
11 1 (0.75%) GIAC
11 1 (0.75%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (6.77%) QA
2 8 (6.02%) Data Quality
3 6 (4.51%) GDPR
4 2 (1.50%) HIPAA
4 2 (1.50%) ISO/IEC 19770
4 2 (1.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (1.50%) PMO
5 1 (0.75%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.75%) Def Stans
5 1 (0.75%) ISO/IEC 17025
5 1 (0.75%) JSP 440
5 1 (0.75%) NCSC
5 1 (0.75%) NIST
System Software
1 10 (7.52%) Docker
2 2 (1.50%) Firmware
3 1 (0.75%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.75%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (0.75%) VMware NSX
3 1 (0.75%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 7 (5.26%) Kubernetes
2 4 (3.01%) Ansible
2 4 (3.01%) Terraform
3 2 (1.50%) Grafana
3 2 (1.50%) Puppet
4 1 (0.75%) FortiGate
4 1 (0.75%) Nessus
4 1 (0.75%) Nmap
4 1 (0.75%) vRealize
4 1 (0.75%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 13 (9.77%) Oracle
2 9 (6.77%) Microsoft
3 6 (4.51%) Atlassian
3 6 (4.51%) SAP
4 4 (3.01%) Cisco
4 4 (3.01%) ESRI
4 4 (3.01%) Informatica
4 4 (3.01%) Intergraph
4 4 (3.01%) ServiceNow
4 4 (3.01%) Splunk
5 3 (2.26%) Apple
5 3 (2.26%) Snow
6 2 (1.50%) Google
6 2 (1.50%) PagerDuty
6 2 (1.50%) Palo Alto
7 1 (0.75%) ArcSight
7 1 (0.75%) Fortinet
7 1 (0.75%) LogRhythm
7 1 (0.75%) Pega
7 1 (0.75%) Workday