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 28 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 23 14
Rank change year-on-year -1 -9 +10
Contract jobs citing Degree 473 234 450
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.15% 6.81% 8.71%
As % of the Qualifications category 15.68% 16.83% 19.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 245 140 239
10th Percentile £192 £262 £205
25th Percentile £325 £376 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £476 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.99% -4.75% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £708 £650 £638
England median daily rate £500 £500 £520
% change year-on-year - -3.85% -1.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 107 34 79
10th Percentile £26.04 £22.42 £18.35
25th Percentile £35.74 £34.48 £37.50
Median hourly rate £81.50 £62.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +31.45% +8.11% -2.51%
75th Percentile £86.33 £75.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £88.86 £74.00
England median hourly rate £45.50 £42.50 £55.63
% change year-on-year +7.06% -23.60% +5.95%

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 3,017 1,390 2,345
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 45.58% 40.45% 45.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,047 910 1,434
10th Percentile £325 £263 £351
25th Percentile £459 £415 £449
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £625 £600 £639
90th Percentile £725 £664 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 321 111 203
10th Percentile £18.32 - £17.84
25th Percentile £35.00 £18.87 £27.00
Median hourly rate £67.50 £32.05 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +110.61% -44.12% -6.94%
75th Percentile £85.00 £69.83 £70.39
90th Percentile £97.50 £83.00 £87.46
England median hourly rate £54.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +114.71% -41.51% -21.82%

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 28 July 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 28 July 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 28 July 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 +5 250 £525 +10.53% 202
Berkshire +7 144 £488 +2.09% 105
Hampshire -1 113 £550 +8.64% 107
Surrey +1 57 £310 -15.36% 81
Oxfordshire +1 56 £525 +16.67% 58
Buckinghamshire -10 50 £568 +8.10% 42
Kent +15 15 £445 +27.14% 22
West Sussex -30 14 £400 +37.93% 13
Sussex -1 4 £275 - 3
Home Counties +1 2 - -
East Sussex -1 2 £461 - 17
Middlesex - 2 £334 - 10
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 23 (4.86%) SharePoint
2 15 (3.17%) Confluence
3 7 (1.48%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.85%) FactoryTalk
5 2 (0.42%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 2 (0.42%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.21%) Apache Pulsar
6 1 (0.21%) CMS
6 1 (0.21%) Oracle Service Bus
6 1 (0.21%) Oracle Workflow
6 1 (0.21%) WebLogic
Applications
1 66 (13.95%) Microsoft Office
2 49 (10.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 31 (6.55%) Microsoft Project
4 23 (4.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 4 (0.85%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.21%) CATIA
6 1 (0.21%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.21%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 11 (2.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (1.48%) Primavera
2 7 (1.48%) Salesforce CRM
3 2 (0.42%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 2 (0.42%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.21%) ENOVIA
4 1 (0.21%) NEC Housing
4 1 (0.21%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.21%) SAP Hybris
Cloud Services
1 106 (22.41%) Azure
2 52 (10.99%) AWS
3 46 (9.73%) Entra ID
4 37 (7.82%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (4.65%) Power Platform
6 21 (4.44%) GCP
7 18 (3.81%) SaaS
8 16 (3.38%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (2.54%) OneDrive
10 8 (1.69%) Serverless
11 7 (1.48%) IaaS
12 6 (1.27%) Power Automate
13 5 (1.06%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
14 4 (0.85%) GitHub
14 4 (0.85%) PaaS
14 4 (0.85%) PowerApps
14 4 (0.85%) Smartsheet
14 4 (0.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 3 (0.63%) Azure Logic Apps
15 3 (0.63%) Lucidchart
Communications & Networking
1 26 (5.50%) TCP/IP
2 25 (5.29%) Firewall
3 22 (4.65%) DNS
4 18 (3.81%) Network Security
5 17 (3.59%) DHCP
6 11 (2.33%) LAN
7 10 (2.11%) WAN
8 9 (1.90%) SSH
9 8 (1.69%) VPN
10 7 (1.48%) BGP
10 7 (1.48%) OSPF
10 7 (1.48%) VLAN
11 6 (1.27%) HTTP
12 5 (1.06%) IPsec
13 4 (0.85%) Cisco Nexus
13 4 (0.85%) MQTT
13 4 (0.85%) RSVP
13 4 (0.85%) SD-WAN
14 3 (0.63%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 3 (0.63%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (4.23%) Power BI
1 20 (4.23%) SQL Server
2 8 (1.69%) Relational Database
3 7 (1.48%) MySQL
4 6 (1.27%) PostgreSQL
5 5 (1.06%) Tableau
6 4 (0.85%) Elasticsearch
7 3 (0.63%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (0.63%) Metadata
7 3 (0.63%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.42%) Big Data
8 2 (0.42%) Hadoop
9 1 (0.21%) Apache Iceberg
9 1 (0.21%) BigQuery
9 1 (0.21%) Data Mining
9 1 (0.21%) Oracle Database 11g
9 1 (0.21%) Oracle Database 12c
9 1 (0.21%) SQLite
9 1 (0.21%) Tableau Desktop
9 1 (0.21%) Tableau Server
Development Applications
1 31 (6.55%) Rational DOORS
2 29 (6.13%) JIRA
3 11 (2.33%) Git
4 8 (1.69%) GitLab
5 4 (0.85%) Gradle
5 4 (0.85%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.85%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.63%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.63%) Browser DevTools
6 3 (0.63%) CircleCI
6 3 (0.63%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.63%) JUnit
6 3 (0.63%) Xcode
7 2 (0.42%) Balsamiq
7 2 (0.42%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.21%) Burp Suite
8 1 (0.21%) Maven
8 1 (0.21%) MLflow
8 1 (0.21%) Selenium
8 1 (0.21%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 197 (41.65%) Social Skills
2 97 (20.51%) Analytical Skills
3 69 (14.59%) Finance
4 62 (13.11%) Aerospace
5 61 (12.90%) Public Sector
6 29 (6.13%) Documentation Skills
7 23 (4.86%) Organisational Skills
8 21 (4.44%) Manufacturing
9 17 (3.59%) Marketing
10 16 (3.38%) Influencing Skills
10 16 (3.38%) Military
11 14 (2.96%) Law
11 14 (2.96%) Presentation Skills
12 13 (2.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 13 (2.75%) Telecoms
13 9 (1.90%) Legal
14 8 (1.69%) French Language
14 8 (1.69%) Games
14 8 (1.69%) Retail
15 7 (1.48%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 64 (13.53%) Analyst
2 56 (11.84%) Senior
3 40 (8.46%) Lead
4 32 (6.77%) Product Manager
5 29 (6.13%) Delivery Manager
5 29 (6.13%) IT Manager
6 28 (5.92%) Product Delivery Manager
7 26 (5.50%) Project Manager
8 25 (5.29%) Architect
9 24 (5.07%) Senior Manager
10 22 (4.65%) Systems Delivery Manager
10 22 (4.65%) Systems Manager
11 17 (3.59%) Business Analyst
11 17 (3.59%) IT Support
12 16 (3.38%) Category Manager
12 16 (3.38%) Senior IT Manager
13 15 (3.17%) Data Analyst
13 15 (3.17%) IT Services Manager
13 15 (3.17%) Senior Category Manager
13 15 (3.17%) Senior Service Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (4.65%) OAuth
2 20 (4.23%) OpenID
3 19 (4.02%) LDAP
3 19 (4.02%) SAML
4 17 (3.59%) SailPoint
5 15 (3.17%) OAuth2
5 15 (3.17%) Oracle Fusion
6 13 (2.75%) Web Services
7 11 (2.33%) React
8 8 (1.69%) .NET
8 8 (1.69%) REST
9 7 (1.48%) CSS
9 7 (1.48%) RESTful
10 6 (1.27%) Kafka
11 5 (1.06%) AngularJS
11 5 (1.06%) GraphQL
11 5 (1.06%) gRPC
11 5 (1.06%) Middleware
12 4 (0.85%) ADO
12 4 (0.85%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 58 (12.26%) Product Ownership
2 54 (11.42%) Management Information System
3 37 (7.82%) Onboarding
4 27 (5.71%) Data Structures
5 26 (5.50%) Data Centre
6 15 (3.17%) Virtual Team
7 14 (2.96%) Operational Technology
7 14 (2.96%) Self-Motivation
8 11 (2.33%) Hybrid Cloud
8 11 (2.33%) SCADA
9 10 (2.11%) Cloud Native
9 10 (2.11%) PMI
10 9 (1.90%) Life Science
10 9 (1.90%) Security Posture
11 8 (1.69%) Animation
11 8 (1.69%) Data Protection Act
11 8 (1.69%) Graphic Design
11 8 (1.69%) Interactive Media
11 8 (1.69%) Robotics
12 7 (1.48%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 72 (15.22%) Windows
2 49 (10.36%) Linux
3 32 (6.77%) Unix
4 22 (4.65%) Windows Server
5 14 (2.96%) Apple iOS
6 11 (2.33%) Mac OS
7 10 (2.11%) Android
8 9 (1.90%) Windows 10
9 4 (0.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.42%) OpenVMS
10 2 (0.42%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.42%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.21%) Solaris
11 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 186 (39.32%) Computer Science
2 133 (28.12%) Agile
3 110 (23.26%) Continuous Improvement
4 107 (22.62%) Problem-Solving
5 90 (19.03%) Stakeholder Management
6 80 (16.91%) Cybersecurity
7 78 (16.49%) ITIL
8 73 (15.43%) ITSM
9 65 (13.74%) Change Control
9 65 (13.74%) Decision-Making
10 63 (13.32%) Project Management
11 61 (12.90%) PRINCE2
12 59 (12.47%) Information Security
13 56 (11.84%) AI
14 53 (11.21%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 47 (9.94%) Systems Engineering
16 43 (9.09%) CI/CD
17 41 (8.67%) Scaled Agile Framework
18 39 (8.25%) Project Delivery
18 39 (8.25%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 64 (13.53%) Python
2 48 (10.15%) PowerShell
3 21 (4.44%) SQL
4 18 (3.81%) Java
5 15 (3.17%) JavaScript
6 8 (1.69%) Bash
6 8 (1.69%) Shell Script
7 6 (1.27%) C
8 5 (1.06%) Kotlin
8 5 (1.06%) Perl
9 4 (0.85%) Bicep
9 4 (0.85%) C#
9 4 (0.85%) Rust
10 3 (0.63%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.63%) C++
10 3 (0.63%) Korn
10 3 (0.63%) Lua
10 3 (0.63%) X++
11 2 (0.42%) Ada
11 2 (0.42%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 198 (41.86%) Security Cleared
2 118 (24.95%) SC Cleared
3 59 (12.47%) Computer Science Degree
4 30 (6.34%) PMI Certification
5 28 (5.92%) DV Cleared
6 26 (5.50%) CISSP
6 26 (5.50%) PMP
7 24 (5.07%) BPSS Clearance
7 24 (5.07%) Microsoft Certification
8 22 (4.65%) Master's Degree
9 19 (4.02%) Cisco Certification
10 14 (2.96%) CISM
11 12 (2.54%) Azure Certification
12 11 (2.33%) CCNP
13 10 (2.11%) ACCA
13 10 (2.11%) CIMA
13 10 (2.11%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
14 9 (1.90%) CESG Certified Professional
15 8 (1.69%) AWS Certification
16 6 (1.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (12.05%) NIST
2 56 (11.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 21 (4.44%) Data Quality
4 17 (3.59%) NCSC
4 17 (3.59%) PMO
5 14 (2.96%) GDPR
6 13 (2.75%) QA
7 8 (1.69%) NIST 800
7 8 (1.69%) PCI DSS
7 8 (1.69%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 8 (1.69%) SLA
8 7 (1.48%) Cyber Essentials
9 6 (1.27%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 5 (1.06%) Government Security Classifications
10 5 (1.06%) GxP
10 5 (1.06%) ISO 31000
11 4 (0.85%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 4 (0.85%) Accessibility
11 4 (0.85%) GRC
12 3 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 61 (12.90%) Active Directory
2 18 (3.81%) Docker
3 16 (3.38%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.27%) VMware NSX
5 5 (1.06%) Firmware
6 4 (0.85%) Embedded Firmware
7 3 (0.63%) OpenAM
7 3 (0.63%) Oracle RAC
8 2 (0.42%) Hyper-V
9 1 (0.21%) Citrix Hypervisor
9 1 (0.21%) UAG
9 1 (0.21%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 18 (3.81%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (3.17%) Kubernetes
3 13 (2.75%) Terraform
4 10 (2.11%) Jamf Pro
5 9 (1.90%) Ansible
6 8 (1.69%) Single Sign-On
7 7 (1.48%) Grafana
7 7 (1.48%) Prometheus
8 6 (1.27%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (0.85%) Podman
9 4 (0.85%) Puppet
9 4 (0.85%) SCCM
10 3 (0.63%) Oracle RMAN
11 2 (0.42%) Nessus
11 2 (0.42%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
11 2 (0.42%) vCenter Server
12 1 (0.21%) CASB
12 1 (0.21%) HP ALM
12 1 (0.21%) Istio
12 1 (0.21%) Kubeflow
Vendors
1 122 (25.79%) Microsoft
2 44 (9.30%) Oracle
3 34 (7.19%) ServiceNow
4 31 (6.55%) SAP
5 28 (5.92%) IBM
6 20 (4.23%) VMware
7 18 (3.81%) BeyondTrust
7 18 (3.81%) CyberArk
8 15 (3.17%) Ariba
9 12 (2.54%) Cisco
9 12 (2.54%) Salesforce
10 9 (1.90%) Google
11 8 (1.69%) Palo Alto
12 6 (1.27%) Tenable
13 5 (1.06%) CheckPoint
13 5 (1.06%) Dell
13 5 (1.06%) Splunk
13 5 (1.06%) Workday
14 4 (0.85%) Adobe
14 4 (0.85%) Rockwell