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 19 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 26 22 14
Rank change year-on-year -4 -8 +13
Contract jobs citing Degree 307 219 477
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.42% 6.93% 8.79%
As % of the Qualifications category 14.02% 18.58% 19.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 171 124 286
10th Percentile £239 £191 £190
25th Percentile £358 £326 £263
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - +2.77%
75th Percentile £573 £588 £608
90th Percentile £654 £685 £667
England median daily rate £500 £525 £515
% change year-on-year -4.76% +2.04% -6.45%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 10 49
10th Percentile £20.79 £17.25 £16.25
25th Percentile £22.50 £33.75 £27.50
Median hourly rate £29.61 £42.69 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -30.64% -22.38% +22.22%
75th Percentile £81.00 £74.21 £67.00
90th Percentile £84.98 £80.80 £72.33
England median hourly rate £35.00 £42.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -17.65% +6.25% -11.11%

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 2,189 1,179 2,397
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 45.79% 37.33% 44.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,462 747 1,354
10th Percentile £286 £263 £215
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -
75th Percentile £606 £626 £638
90th Percentile £725 £685 £700
England median daily rate £520 £525 £540
% change year-on-year -0.95% -2.78% -1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 217 65 172
10th Percentile £15.47 £18.58 £18.32
25th Percentile £19.34 £31.25 £38.75
Median hourly rate £25.77 £56.75 £59.50
Median % change year-on-year -54.59% -4.63% +32.22%
75th Percentile £67.50 £64.73 £70.00
90th Percentile £90.09 £80.06 £83.38
England median hourly rate £25.15 £47.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -47.05% +5.56% -0.55%

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 19 February 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 19 February 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 19 February 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 0 152 £435 -8.90% 183
Berkshire -3 109 £413 -11.05% 78
Hampshire +18 78 £523 -0.48% 122
Buckinghamshire +15 32 £475 +31.03% 55
Surrey -21 28 £500 - 70
West Sussex -4 17 £400 -20.00% 22
Kent -3 14 £445 -1.11% 34
Oxfordshire -13 11 £500 -28.57% 53
East Sussex +2 7 £565 -9.60% 19
Home Counties - 4 £700 -
Isle of Wight - 3 - - 3
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 19 (6.19%) Confluence
2 12 (3.91%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.30%) Apache Spark
3 4 (1.30%) GeoServer
3 4 (1.30%) Microsoft Exchange
3 4 (1.30%) Smallworld
4 3 (0.98%) Apache
4 3 (0.98%) MS Project Server
5 2 (0.65%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 2 (0.65%) CMS
5 2 (0.65%) Palantir Foundry
6 1 (0.33%) Apache Pulsar
6 1 (0.33%) SharePoint Server
6 1 (0.33%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 58 (18.89%) Microsoft Office
2 52 (16.94%) Microsoft Excel
3 36 (11.73%) Microsoft Project
4 21 (6.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (2.28%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.65%) MS Visio
7 1 (0.33%) PTC Creo
Business Applications
1 10 (3.26%) Primavera
2 5 (1.63%) SAP ERP
3 3 (0.98%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.65%) Payment Gateway
5 1 (0.33%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.33%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.33%) SAP Hybris
5 1 (0.33%) SAP WM
5 1 (0.33%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.33%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 53 (17.26%) Azure
2 36 (11.73%) AWS
3 18 (5.86%) Power Platform
4 16 (5.21%) Microsoft 365
5 13 (4.23%) GCP
5 13 (4.23%) GitHub
5 13 (4.23%) GitHub Actions
6 7 (2.28%) Entra ID
7 6 (1.95%) Azure DevOps
7 6 (1.95%) SaaS
8 4 (1.30%) IaaS
9 3 (0.98%) Amazon EKS
9 3 (0.98%) Amazon S3
9 3 (0.98%) AWS CloudFormation
9 3 (0.98%) Lucidchart
9 3 (0.98%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.65%) Amazon EC2
10 2 (0.65%) Amazon ECS
10 2 (0.65%) PaaS
10 2 (0.65%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 26 (8.47%) Firewall
2 16 (5.21%) WAN
3 15 (4.89%) Wireless
4 13 (4.23%) LAN
5 10 (3.26%) BGP
5 10 (3.26%) Network Security
5 10 (3.26%) OSPF
6 9 (2.93%) IPsec
6 9 (2.93%) Structured Cabling
7 7 (2.28%) TCP/IP
7 7 (2.28%) Unified Communications
8 6 (1.95%) DNS
9 5 (1.63%) WebEx
10 3 (0.98%) Ethernet
10 3 (0.98%) HTTP
10 3 (0.98%) SSH
10 3 (0.98%) VoIP
10 3 (0.98%) Wi-Fi
11 2 (0.65%) Internet
11 2 (0.65%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (5.21%) Power BI
2 13 (4.23%) Relational Database
3 9 (2.93%) MySQL
4 8 (2.61%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (2.61%) SQL Server
5 7 (2.28%) Data Warehouse
6 6 (1.95%) Big Data
6 6 (1.95%) BusinessObjects Business Intelligence
6 6 (1.95%) NoSQL
7 5 (1.63%) Apache Cassandra
7 5 (1.63%) Couchbase
7 5 (1.63%) Metadata
7 5 (1.63%) Tableau
8 4 (1.30%) Geospatial Data
8 4 (1.30%) GIS
8 4 (1.30%) QGIS
9 3 (0.98%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (0.65%) Oracle Reports
11 1 (0.33%) DynamoDB
Development Applications
1 25 (8.14%) JIRA
2 13 (4.23%) Burp Suite
2 13 (4.23%) Git
3 11 (3.58%) Metasploit
4 8 (2.61%) GitLab
5 7 (2.28%) CircleCI
5 7 (2.28%) Gradle
5 7 (2.28%) Jenkins
6 5 (1.63%) JUnit
7 4 (1.30%) Selenium
7 4 (1.30%) Visual Studio
8 2 (0.65%) Balsamiq
8 2 (0.65%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.65%) WebDriver
9 1 (0.33%) HP UFT
9 1 (0.33%) Katalon Studio
9 1 (0.33%) Maven
9 1 (0.33%) MLflow
9 1 (0.33%) SoapUI
9 1 (0.33%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 144 (46.91%) Social Skills
2 70 (22.80%) Analytical Skills
3 38 (12.38%) Finance
4 21 (6.84%) Manufacturing
4 21 (6.84%) Public Sector
5 15 (4.89%) Influencing Skills
6 14 (4.56%) Documentation Skills
7 11 (3.58%) Marketing
7 11 (3.58%) Organisational Skills
8 10 (3.26%) Aerospace
8 10 (3.26%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (2.28%) Legal
10 6 (1.95%) Law
10 6 (1.95%) Retail
11 5 (1.63%) Military
11 5 (1.63%) Telecoms
12 4 (1.30%) Advertising
12 4 (1.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 3 (0.98%) Banking
13 3 (0.98%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 39 (12.70%) Analyst
2 27 (8.79%) Senior
3 23 (7.49%) Project Manager
4 19 (6.19%) Developer
5 15 (4.89%) Architect
6 14 (4.56%) Lead
6 14 (4.56%) Technical Support
7 13 (4.23%) Penetration Tester
7 13 (4.23%) Project Planner
7 13 (4.23%) Tester
8 10 (3.26%) SC Cleared Project Manager
9 9 (2.93%) Network Engineer
10 8 (2.61%) Business Analyst
10 8 (2.61%) IT Analyst
11 7 (2.28%) Cisco Engineer
11 7 (2.28%) Consultant
11 7 (2.28%) Delivery Manager
11 7 (2.28%) Trainer
12 6 (1.95%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 6 (1.95%) Security Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (4.56%) REST
2 7 (2.28%) Kafka
2 7 (2.28%) RAML
3 5 (1.63%) Android Jetpack
3 5 (1.63%) Dagger
3 5 (1.63%) Jetpack Compose
3 5 (1.63%) OkHttp
3 5 (1.63%) RabbitMQ
3 5 (1.63%) RxJava
3 5 (1.63%) WireMock
4 4 (1.30%) React
5 3 (0.98%) ADO
5 3 (0.98%) HTML
5 3 (0.98%) Pandas
5 3 (0.98%) scikit-learn
5 3 (0.98%) Spring
5 3 (0.98%) Web Services
6 2 (0.65%) .NET
6 2 (0.65%) CSS
6 2 (0.65%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 26 (8.47%) Management Information System
2 18 (5.86%) Data Centre
3 14 (4.56%) Virtual Team
4 12 (3.91%) Data Protection Act
4 12 (3.91%) Security Posture
5 11 (3.58%) Product Ownership
6 10 (3.26%) Analytical Mindset
6 10 (3.26%) Driving Licence
6 10 (3.26%) Onboarding
6 10 (3.26%) Security Operations Centre
7 9 (2.93%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (2.61%) PMI
9 7 (2.28%) Algorithms
9 7 (2.28%) Legacy Code
10 5 (1.63%) Cloud Native
10 5 (1.63%) Handset
10 5 (1.63%) Legacy Systems
10 5 (1.63%) Mobile App
11 4 (1.30%) AI Agents
11 4 (1.30%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 54 (17.59%) Windows
2 30 (9.77%) Linux
3 14 (4.56%) Unix
4 7 (2.28%) Android
4 7 (2.28%) Windows 10
5 6 (1.95%) Windows Server
6 4 (1.30%) Apple iOS
6 4 (1.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.98%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.65%) Kali Linux
8 2 (0.65%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.65%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (36.81%) Computer Science
2 81 (26.38%) Problem-Solving
3 69 (22.48%) Agile
4 48 (15.64%) Cybersecurity
5 47 (15.31%) Project Management
6 38 (12.38%) Stakeholder Management
7 34 (11.07%) PRINCE2
8 32 (10.42%) Information Security
9 31 (10.10%) Continuous Improvement
9 31 (10.10%) Decision-Making
10 29 (9.45%) AI
11 27 (8.79%) DevOps
12 25 (8.14%) Migration
13 23 (7.49%) Analytics
13 23 (7.49%) Business Intelligence
13 23 (7.49%) Line Management
13 23 (7.49%) Project Delivery
14 22 (7.17%) CI/CD
14 22 (7.17%) Customer Service
14 22 (7.17%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 41 (13.36%) Python
2 26 (8.47%) SQL
3 21 (6.84%) Java
4 15 (4.89%) JavaScript
5 10 (3.26%) PowerShell
6 9 (2.93%) Perl
7 7 (2.28%) Kotlin
8 6 (1.95%) Go
9 5 (1.63%) C#
10 4 (1.30%) Bash
10 4 (1.30%) Shell Script
11 3 (0.98%) C
11 3 (0.98%) R
12 2 (0.65%) Ada
12 2 (0.65%) Assembly Language
12 2 (0.65%) MATLAB
13 1 (0.33%) C++
13 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.33%) Tcl
13 1 (0.33%) VB
Qualifications
1 104 (33.88%) Security Cleared
2 91 (29.64%) SC Cleared
3 81 (26.38%) Computer Science Degree
4 30 (9.77%) Master's Degree
5 20 (6.51%) CISSP
6 16 (5.21%) Cisco Certification
6 16 (5.21%) PMI Certification
6 16 (5.21%) PMP
7 15 (4.89%) CREST Certified
8 14 (4.56%) CCNP
9 13 (4.23%) DV Cleared
10 12 (3.91%) Postgraduate
11 11 (3.58%) CHECK Team Member
11 11 (3.58%) Cyber Scheme
12 10 (3.26%) CCNA
12 10 (3.26%) CISM
13 9 (2.93%) PhD
14 8 (2.61%) BPSS Clearance
15 6 (1.95%) CompTIA Security+
15 6 (1.95%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (13.68%) PMO
2 25 (8.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 25 (8.14%) QA
3 23 (7.49%) GDPR
4 17 (5.54%) NIST
5 15 (4.89%) PCI DSS
6 10 (3.26%) Data Quality
7 5 (1.63%) SLA
8 4 (1.30%) NCSC
8 4 (1.30%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 3 (0.98%) Accessibility
9 3 (0.98%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.98%) HIPAA
9 3 (0.98%) P3O
10 2 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
10 2 (0.65%) ISO 9001
10 2 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 19770
10 2 (0.65%) RMADS
11 1 (0.33%) EU AI Act
11 1 (0.33%) SOC 2
System Software
1 13 (4.23%) Docker
2 12 (3.91%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.63%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 14 (4.56%) Kubernetes
2 13 (4.23%) Nmap
3 9 (2.93%) Terraform
4 5 (1.63%) Ansible
5 4 (1.30%) Grafana
5 4 (1.30%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.98%) Nessus
6 3 (0.98%) Puppet
7 2 (0.65%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.65%) SCCM
8 1 (0.33%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.33%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.33%) Istio
8 1 (0.33%) Kubeflow
8 1 (0.33%) linkerd
8 1 (0.33%) Nagios
8 1 (0.33%) Podman
8 1 (0.33%) SCOM
Vendors
1 60 (19.54%) Microsoft
2 24 (7.82%) SAP
3 19 (6.19%) Oracle
4 17 (5.54%) Cisco
5 12 (3.91%) Palo Alto
6 11 (3.58%) Aruba
6 11 (3.58%) CheckPoint
7 9 (2.93%) Splunk
8 8 (2.61%) ServiceNow
9 7 (2.28%) PayPal
10 6 (1.95%) Atlassian
11 5 (1.63%) BeyondTrust
11 5 (1.63%) CyberArk
11 5 (1.63%) Google
11 5 (1.63%) Snow
12 4 (1.30%) Cellebrite
12 4 (1.30%) EMC
12 4 (1.30%) ESRI
12 4 (1.30%) Informatica
12 4 (1.30%) Tenable