Degree Contract Job Trends in the South East

Academic Degree
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 11 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 27 23 12
Rank change year-on-year -4 -11 +15
Contract jobs citing Degree 345 231 497
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.67% 7.72% 8.80%
As % of the Qualifications category 14.26% 20.09% 19.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 185 129 281
10th Percentile £275 £198 £205
25th Percentile £400 £350 £331
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - -
75th Percentile £580 £579 £608
90th Percentile £650 £657 £667
England median daily rate £500 £525 £513
% change year-on-year -4.76% +2.44% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 22 61
10th Percentile £22.16 £18.27 £17.60
25th Percentile £29.61 £41.25 £20.49
Median hourly rate £83.00 £55.13 £45.21
Median % change year-on-year +50.57% +21.93% +0.47%
75th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £65.00
90th Percentile - £78.02 £68.63
England median hourly rate £45.46 £51.25 £38.13
% change year-on-year -11.30% +34.43% -15.28%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South East

Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the South East.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 2,420 1,150 2,533
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 46.77% 38.42% 44.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,609 745 1,423
10th Percentile £300 £263 £250
25th Percentile £413 £416 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £540 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.81% -1.82% +3.77%
75th Percentile £610 £627 £638
90th Percentile £725 £688 £700
England median daily rate £520 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.42% -2.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 247 74 180
10th Percentile £15.62 £19.08 £17.80
25th Percentile £19.49 £25.64 £23.88
Median hourly rate £37.00 £56.75 £58.00
Median % change year-on-year -34.80% -2.15% +18.36%
75th Percentile £84.00 £67.50 £67.31
90th Percentile £90.09 £79.51 £83.14
England median hourly rate £26.22 £52.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -50.06% +31.25% -20.00%

Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Degree job vacancy trend in the South East

Degree
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Degree in the South East over the 6 months to 11 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Degree in the South East

Degree
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Degree
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Degree in the South East over the 6 months to 11 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Degree in the South East

Degree
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 Degree within the South East region over the 6 months to 11 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 -3 190 £450 -8.91% 173
Berkshire -2 140 £425 -10.99% 76
Hampshire +12 80 £525 - 118
Buckinghamshire +7 39 £488 -4.88% 59
Surrey -19 27 £525 +5.00% 66
West Sussex -8 17 £400 -11.11% 18
Kent -5 14 £445 +1.71% 48
Oxfordshire -16 11 £500 -28.57% 44
East Sussex +1 8 £565 -9.60% 21
Home Counties - 4 £700 -
Degree
England

Degree
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 18 (5.22%) Confluence
2 12 (3.48%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.16%) Apache Spark
3 4 (1.16%) GeoServer
3 4 (1.16%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.16%) Smallworld
4 3 (0.87%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 3 (0.87%) Apache
4 3 (0.87%) CMS
4 3 (0.87%) MS Project Server
5 2 (0.58%) Palantir Foundry
6 1 (0.29%) Apache Pulsar
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.29%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.29%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 56 (16.23%) Microsoft Office
2 49 (14.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 39 (11.30%) Microsoft Project
4 20 (5.80%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (2.03%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.58%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.29%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 13 (3.77%) Primavera
2 5 (1.45%) SAP ERP
3 4 (1.16%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.58%) Payment Gateway
4 2 (0.58%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.29%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.29%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.29%) SAP Hybris
5 1 (0.29%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.29%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 54 (15.65%) Azure
2 42 (12.17%) AWS
3 17 (4.93%) Power Platform
4 16 (4.64%) Microsoft 365
5 13 (3.77%) GCP
5 13 (3.77%) GitHub
5 13 (3.77%) GitHub Actions
6 8 (2.32%) Entra ID
7 6 (1.74%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.45%) SaaS
9 4 (1.16%) IaaS
10 3 (0.87%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (0.87%) Amazon S3
10 3 (0.87%) AWS CloudFormation
10 3 (0.87%) Lucidchart
10 3 (0.87%) PowerApps
11 2 (0.58%) Amazon EC2
11 2 (0.58%) Amazon ECS
11 2 (0.58%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.58%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 28 (8.12%) Firewall
2 16 (4.64%) WAN
3 15 (4.35%) Wireless
4 14 (4.06%) Network Security
5 13 (3.77%) LAN
6 10 (2.90%) BGP
6 10 (2.90%) OSPF
7 9 (2.61%) IPsec
7 9 (2.61%) Structured Cabling
8 8 (2.32%) DNS
8 8 (2.32%) TCP/IP
9 7 (2.03%) HTTP
9 7 (2.03%) Unified Communications
10 4 (1.16%) WebEx
11 3 (0.87%) Ethernet
11 3 (0.87%) SSH
11 3 (0.87%) VoIP
12 2 (0.58%) Internet
12 2 (0.58%) Radio Access Network
12 2 (0.58%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (4.35%) Power BI
2 13 (3.77%) Relational Database
3 11 (3.19%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (3.19%) SQL Server
4 10 (2.90%) MySQL
5 7 (2.03%) Data Warehouse
6 6 (1.74%) Big Data
6 6 (1.74%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
6 6 (1.74%) NoSQL
7 5 (1.45%) Apache Cassandra
7 5 (1.45%) Couchbase
8 4 (1.16%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (1.16%) GIS
8 4 (1.16%) Metadata
8 4 (1.16%) QGIS
9 3 (0.87%) Hadoop
9 3 (0.87%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.87%) Tableau
10 2 (0.58%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.58%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 25 (7.25%) JIRA
2 24 (6.96%) Rational DOORS
3 14 (4.06%) Git
4 13 (3.77%) Burp Suite
5 11 (3.19%) Metasploit
6 8 (2.32%) GitLab
6 8 (2.32%) Jenkins
7 7 (2.03%) CircleCI
7 7 (2.03%) Gradle
8 5 (1.45%) JUnit
9 3 (0.87%) Selenium
10 2 (0.58%) Balsamiq
10 2 (0.58%) Cypress.io
10 2 (0.58%) Visual Studio
10 2 (0.58%) WebDriver
11 1 (0.29%) Maven
11 1 (0.29%) MLflow
11 1 (0.29%) Postman
11 1 (0.29%) SoapUI
11 1 (0.29%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 137 (39.71%) Social Skills
2 64 (18.55%) Analytical Skills
3 43 (12.46%) Finance
4 40 (11.59%) Aerospace
5 22 (6.38%) Public Sector
6 18 (5.22%) Influencing Skills
6 18 (5.22%) Manufacturing
7 15 (4.35%) Documentation Skills
8 12 (3.48%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (2.90%) Marketing
10 9 (2.61%) Presentation Skills
11 8 (2.32%) Legal
12 7 (2.03%) Law
13 6 (1.74%) Retail
14 5 (1.45%) Military
15 4 (1.16%) Advertising
15 4 (1.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 4 (1.16%) Telecoms
16 3 (0.87%) Billing
16 3 (0.87%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 39 (11.30%) Analyst
2 29 (8.41%) Delivery Manager
2 29 (8.41%) Product Manager
2 29 (8.41%) Senior
3 24 (6.96%) Product Delivery Manager
3 24 (6.96%) Project Manager
4 20 (5.80%) Systems Delivery Manager
4 20 (5.80%) Systems Manager
5 18 (5.22%) Developer
5 18 (5.22%) Lead
6 16 (4.64%) Architect
7 14 (4.06%) Technical Support
8 13 (3.77%) Penetration Tester
8 13 (3.77%) Project Planner
8 13 (3.77%) Tester
9 10 (2.90%) SC Cleared Project Manager
10 9 (2.61%) Consultant
10 9 (2.61%) Network Engineer
11 8 (2.32%) IT Manager
11 8 (2.32%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (4.35%) REST
2 8 (2.32%) Kafka
3 7 (2.03%) RAML
4 6 (1.74%) RabbitMQ
5 5 (1.45%) Android Jetpack
5 5 (1.45%) Dagger
5 5 (1.45%) Jetpack Compose
5 5 (1.45%) OkHttp
5 5 (1.45%) React
5 5 (1.45%) RxJava
5 5 (1.45%) WireMock
6 4 (1.16%) ADO
7 3 (0.87%) HTML
7 3 (0.87%) Pandas
7 3 (0.87%) scikit-learn
7 3 (0.87%) Spring
7 3 (0.87%) Web Services
8 2 (0.58%) Oracle GoldenGate
8 2 (0.58%) Spring Boot
8 2 (0.58%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 36 (10.43%) Product Ownership
2 35 (10.14%) Management Information System
3 22 (6.38%) Data Centre
4 21 (6.09%) Data Structures
5 17 (4.93%) Virtual Team
6 12 (3.48%) Security Posture
7 11 (3.19%) Data Protection Act
7 11 (3.19%) Security Operations Centre
8 10 (2.90%) Onboarding
8 10 (2.90%) PMI
9 9 (2.61%) Analytical Mindset
9 9 (2.61%) Self-Motivation
10 7 (2.03%) Algorithms
10 7 (2.03%) BYOD
10 7 (2.03%) Cloud Native
10 7 (2.03%) Driving Licence
10 7 (2.03%) Legacy Code
11 6 (1.74%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (1.45%) Cyberattack
12 5 (1.45%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 52 (15.07%) Windows
2 31 (8.99%) Linux
3 15 (4.35%) Unix
4 7 (2.03%) Android
4 7 (2.03%) Windows 10
4 7 (2.03%) Windows Server
5 6 (1.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.87%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.87%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.58%) Kali Linux
7 2 (0.58%) Mac OS
7 2 (0.58%) OpenVMS
7 2 (0.58%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 144 (41.74%) Computer Science
2 103 (29.86%) Agile
3 73 (21.16%) Problem-Solving
4 63 (18.26%) Continuous Improvement
5 59 (17.10%) Cybersecurity
5 59 (17.10%) PRINCE2
6 51 (14.78%) Project Management
7 43 (12.46%) Stakeholder Management
8 39 (11.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 38 (11.01%) Information Security
10 35 (10.14%) Change Control
11 34 (9.86%) AI
11 34 (9.86%) Systems Engineering
12 32 (9.28%) ITIL
13 31 (8.99%) Programme Management
14 30 (8.70%) Decision-Making
15 29 (8.41%) Scaled Agile Framework
16 28 (8.12%) DevOps
16 28 (8.12%) Migration
17 27 (7.83%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 38 (11.01%) Python
2 24 (6.96%) SQL
3 20 (5.80%) Java
4 15 (4.35%) JavaScript
5 11 (3.19%) PowerShell
6 9 (2.61%) Perl
7 7 (2.03%) Go
7 7 (2.03%) Kotlin
8 6 (1.74%) Shell Script
9 5 (1.45%) Bash
10 3 (0.87%) C#
10 3 (0.87%) Korn
11 1 (0.29%) C
11 1 (0.29%) C++
11 1 (0.29%) Objective-C
11 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.29%) R
11 1 (0.29%) Tcl
11 1 (0.29%) VB
11 1 (0.29%) X++
Qualifications
1 147 (42.61%) Security Cleared
2 105 (30.43%) SC Cleared
3 82 (23.77%) Computer Science Degree
4 30 (8.70%) Master's Degree
5 24 (6.96%) CISSP
6 20 (5.80%) PMI Certification
7 19 (5.51%) PMP
8 16 (4.64%) Cisco Certification
9 15 (4.35%) CREST Certified
9 15 (4.35%) DV Cleared
10 14 (4.06%) CCNP
10 14 (4.06%) CISM
11 12 (3.48%) Postgraduate
12 11 (3.19%) CHECK Team Member
12 11 (3.19%) Cyber Scheme
13 10 (2.90%) CCNA
14 9 (2.61%) PhD
15 8 (2.32%) BPSS Clearance
16 7 (2.03%) CompTIA Security+
17 6 (1.74%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (12.75%) PMO
2 32 (9.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 27 (7.83%) GDPR
4 24 (6.96%) NIST
4 24 (6.96%) QA
5 19 (5.51%) PCI DSS
6 12 (3.48%) Data Quality
7 10 (2.90%) NCSC
8 8 (2.32%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 5 (1.45%) SLA
10 4 (1.16%) Accessibility
10 4 (1.16%) Government Security Classifications
10 4 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
11 3 (0.87%) Actionable Recommendations
11 3 (0.87%) DO-254
11 3 (0.87%) HIPAA
11 3 (0.87%) IEC 61508
11 3 (0.87%) ISO 26262
11 3 (0.87%) NIST 800
11 3 (0.87%) P3O
System Software
1 15 (4.35%) Docker
2 13 (3.77%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.58%) Firmware
3 2 (0.58%) Oracle RAC
4 1 (0.29%) Citrix Hypervisor
4 1 (0.29%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 15 (4.35%) Kubernetes
2 13 (3.77%) Nmap
3 9 (2.61%) Terraform
4 5 (1.45%) Ansible
5 4 (1.16%) Grafana
5 4 (1.16%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.87%) Nessus
6 3 (0.87%) Puppet
7 2 (0.58%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 2 (0.58%) Oracle RMAN
7 2 (0.58%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.58%) SCCM
8 1 (0.29%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 1 (0.29%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.29%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.29%) Istio
8 1 (0.29%) Kubeflow
8 1 (0.29%) linkerd
8 1 (0.29%) Podman
8 1 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 60 (17.39%) Microsoft
2 24 (6.96%) SAP
3 21 (6.09%) IBM
3 21 (6.09%) Oracle
4 17 (4.93%) Cisco
5 12 (3.48%) Palo Alto
6 11 (3.19%) Aruba
6 11 (3.19%) CheckPoint
7 10 (2.90%) Splunk
8 7 (2.03%) PayPal
8 7 (2.03%) ServiceNow
9 6 (1.74%) Atlassian
10 5 (1.45%) BeyondTrust
10 5 (1.45%) CyberArk
10 5 (1.45%) Google
11 4 (1.16%) ESRI
11 4 (1.16%) Informatica
11 4 (1.16%) Intergraph
11 4 (1.16%) Salesforce
11 4 (1.16%) Tenable