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 2 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 28 19
Rank change year-on-year +5 -9 0
Contract jobs citing Degree 462 212 376
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.02% 6.05% 7.94%
As % of the Qualifications category 15.89% 15.28% 18.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 243 122 201
10th Percentile £191 £208 £203
25th Percentile £309 £359 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £475 £485
Median % change year-on-year +8.95% -2.06% -2.52%
75th Percentile £592 £588 £608
90th Percentile £713 £650 £638
England median daily rate £500 £500 £512
% change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.08%
Number of hourly rates quoted 96 25 66
10th Percentile £22.75 £21.35 £19.71
25th Percentile £33.70 £25.15 £41.85
Median hourly rate £60.00 £60.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year - +4.62% -4.42%
75th Percentile £84.00 £81.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £88.00 £89.63 £75.00
England median hourly rate £39.11 £41.00 £57.35
% change year-on-year -4.61% -28.51% +20.74%

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 2,908 1,387 2,086
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 44.17% 39.59% 44.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,969 892 1,305
10th Percentile £334 £238 £350
25th Percentile £463 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £638 £600 £650
90th Percentile £730 £663 £723
England median daily rate £525 £525 £538
% change year-on-year - -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 311 119 173
10th Percentile £18.25 - £18.38
25th Percentile £37.52 £18.87 £38.00
Median hourly rate £61.50 £25.15 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +144.53% -56.15% -4.42%
75th Percentile £83.13 £66.51 £70.39
90th Percentile £96.00 £81.00 £87.46
England median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £50.00
% change year-on-year +108.75% -49.70% -8.36%

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 2 September 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 2 September 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 2 September 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 +10 247 £550 +22.22% 549
Berkshire +13 149 £550 +18.92% 248
Hampshire -1 105 £550 +10.00% 259
Surrey +9 64 £350 +62.79% 135
Oxfordshire -1 56 £396 -11.94% 173
Buckinghamshire -3 42 £564 +110.75% 135
Kent +10 12 £201 -52.63% 61
West Sussex -25 11 £300 +4.17% 54
Sussex -1 4 £275 - 15
Middlesex - 2 £334 - 23
Home Counties 0 1 - -
East Sussex -4 1 £600 - 31
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 27 (5.84%) SharePoint
2 13 (2.81%) Confluence
3 6 (1.30%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.87%) FactoryTalk
5 2 (0.43%) Apache Airflow
6 1 (0.22%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.22%) IIS
6 1 (0.22%) Oracle Service Bus
6 1 (0.22%) WebLogic
Applications
1 62 (13.42%) Microsoft Office
2 55 (11.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 31 (6.71%) Microsoft Project
4 24 (5.19%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (1.08%) MS Visio
6 1 (0.22%) CATIA
6 1 (0.22%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.22%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 11 (2.38%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (1.52%) Salesforce CRM
3 5 (1.08%) Primavera
4 3 (0.65%) NEC Housing
5 2 (0.43%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
5 2 (0.43%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.22%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.22%) ENOVIA
Cloud Services
1 107 (23.16%) Azure
2 47 (10.17%) AWS
3 43 (9.31%) Entra ID
4 40 (8.66%) Microsoft 365
5 24 (5.19%) Power Platform
6 23 (4.98%) GCP
7 22 (4.76%) SaaS
8 17 (3.68%) Azure DevOps
9 12 (2.60%) OneDrive
10 10 (2.16%) Serverless
11 8 (1.73%) IaaS
12 7 (1.52%) Power Automate
13 6 (1.30%) PowerApps
14 5 (1.08%) Azure Functions
14 5 (1.08%) Azure Logic Apps
14 5 (1.08%) Dynamics 365
14 5 (1.08%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
15 4 (0.87%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 4 (0.87%) Azure Monitor
15 4 (0.87%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 25 (5.41%) TCP/IP
2 23 (4.98%) DNS
3 22 (4.76%) Firewall
4 20 (4.33%) DHCP
5 16 (3.46%) Network Security
6 11 (2.38%) VPN
7 10 (2.16%) LAN
8 8 (1.73%) WAN
9 7 (1.52%) SSH
9 7 (1.52%) VLAN
10 5 (1.08%) BGP
10 5 (1.08%) OSPF
11 4 (0.87%) Cisco Nexus
11 4 (0.87%) MQTT
11 4 (0.87%) RSVP
11 4 (0.87%) SD-WAN
11 4 (0.87%) Software-Defined Networking
12 3 (0.65%) Cisco Firepower
12 3 (0.65%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 3 (0.65%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (4.76%) Power BI
2 13 (2.81%) Metadata
2 13 (2.81%) Relational Database
2 13 (2.81%) SQL Server
3 6 (1.30%) MySQL
3 6 (1.30%) PostgreSQL
3 6 (1.30%) Tableau
4 4 (0.87%) Data Warehouse
4 4 (0.87%) Elasticsearch
5 1 (0.22%) Big Data
5 1 (0.22%) BusinessObjects
5 1 (0.22%) Data Mining
5 1 (0.22%) GIS
5 1 (0.22%) Hadoop
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database 10g
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database 11g
5 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database 12c
5 1 (0.22%) SQLite
5 1 (0.22%) Text Mining
Development Applications
1 25 (5.41%) JIRA
2 18 (3.90%) Rational DOORS
3 13 (2.81%) Git
4 8 (1.73%) GitLab
5 4 (0.87%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.65%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.65%) Browser DevTools
6 3 (0.65%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.65%) Xcode
7 2 (0.43%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.43%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.22%) JUnit
8 1 (0.22%) MSI
8 1 (0.22%) Octopus Deploy
8 1 (0.22%) Selenium
8 1 (0.22%) TestNG
8 1 (0.22%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 199 (43.07%) Social Skills
2 109 (23.59%) Analytical Skills
3 66 (14.29%) Aerospace
3 66 (14.29%) Finance
4 59 (12.77%) Public Sector
5 28 (6.06%) Manufacturing
6 24 (5.19%) Organisational Skills
7 23 (4.98%) Documentation Skills
8 16 (3.46%) Marketing
9 15 (3.25%) Military
10 14 (3.03%) Law
11 13 (2.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 12 (2.60%) Influencing Skills
12 12 (2.60%) Telecoms
13 9 (1.95%) French Language
13 9 (1.95%) Pharmaceutical
13 9 (1.95%) Presentation Skills
14 8 (1.73%) Games
14 8 (1.73%) Retail
15 7 (1.52%) Legal
Job Titles
1 61 (13.20%) Analyst
2 56 (12.12%) Senior
3 42 (9.09%) Lead
4 31 (6.71%) Delivery Manager
5 28 (6.06%) Product Manager
6 27 (5.84%) Product Delivery Manager
7 25 (5.41%) IT Manager
8 24 (5.19%) Senior Manager
9 22 (4.76%) Architect
9 22 (4.76%) Project Manager
10 19 (4.11%) IT Support
11 16 (3.46%) Senior IT Manager
12 15 (3.25%) Business Analyst
12 15 (3.25%) Category Manager
12 15 (3.25%) Data Analyst
12 15 (3.25%) IT Services Manager
12 15 (3.25%) Senior Category Manager
12 15 (3.25%) Senior Service Manager
13 14 (3.03%) Systems Manager
14 13 (2.81%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (5.19%) OAuth
2 23 (4.98%) OpenID
3 19 (4.11%) SAML
4 18 (3.90%) LDAP
4 18 (3.90%) SailPoint
5 17 (3.68%) OAuth2
6 15 (3.25%) Oracle Fusion
7 13 (2.81%) Terraform
7 13 (2.81%) Web Services
8 10 (2.16%) .NET
8 10 (2.16%) CSS
8 10 (2.16%) React
8 10 (2.16%) RESTful
9 7 (1.52%) HTML
9 7 (1.52%) Middleware
10 6 (1.30%) ARM Templates
11 5 (1.08%) Django
12 4 (0.87%) GraphQL
12 4 (0.87%) gRPC
12 4 (0.87%) Keycloak
Miscellaneous
1 56 (12.12%) Management Information System
2 42 (9.09%) Product Ownership
3 31 (6.71%) Onboarding
4 21 (4.55%) Data Centre
5 20 (4.33%) Data Structures
6 16 (3.46%) Hybrid Cloud
7 15 (3.25%) Operational Technology
8 14 (3.03%) Self-Motivation
9 13 (2.81%) Cloud Native
9 13 (2.81%) Life Science
9 13 (2.81%) SCADA
10 11 (2.38%) Virtual Team
11 9 (1.95%) Security Posture
12 8 (1.73%) Animation
12 8 (1.73%) Graphic Design
12 8 (1.73%) Interactive Media
12 8 (1.73%) PMI
13 7 (1.52%) CCTV
14 6 (1.30%) Legacy Systems
14 6 (1.30%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 67 (14.50%) Windows
2 46 (9.96%) Linux
3 27 (5.84%) Unix
4 21 (4.55%) Windows Server
5 13 (2.81%) Apple iOS
6 11 (2.38%) Mac OS
7 8 (1.73%) Windows 10
8 7 (1.52%) Android
9 1 (0.22%) Solaris
9 1 (0.22%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 161 (34.85%) Computer Science
2 126 (27.27%) Agile
3 119 (25.76%) Continuous Improvement
4 114 (24.68%) Problem-Solving
5 101 (21.86%) Stakeholder Management
6 85 (18.40%) ITIL
7 71 (15.37%) ITSM
7 71 (15.37%) Project Management
8 70 (15.15%) Cybersecurity
9 68 (14.72%) PRINCE2
10 60 (12.99%) Decision-Making
11 51 (11.04%) Change Control
11 51 (11.04%) Information Security
11 51 (11.04%) Roadmaps
12 48 (10.39%) AI
12 48 (10.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 47 (10.17%) Service Management
14 45 (9.74%) DevOps
15 42 (9.09%) Analytics
16 41 (8.87%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 67 (14.50%) Python
2 46 (9.96%) PowerShell
3 24 (5.19%) SQL
4 17 (3.68%) JavaScript
5 14 (3.03%) Java
6 8 (1.73%) Bash
7 7 (1.52%) C#
8 6 (1.30%) Bicep
8 6 (1.30%) Shell Script
9 5 (1.08%) C
9 5 (1.08%) Perl
10 4 (0.87%) Rust
11 3 (0.65%) Apex Code
11 3 (0.65%) C++
11 3 (0.65%) Lua
11 3 (0.65%) X++
12 2 (0.43%) Ada
13 1 (0.22%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.22%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.22%) R
Qualifications
1 184 (39.83%) Security Cleared
2 113 (24.46%) SC Cleared
3 61 (13.20%) Computer Science Degree
4 30 (6.49%) Microsoft Certification
4 30 (6.49%) PMI Certification
5 28 (6.06%) DV Cleared
6 26 (5.63%) PMP
7 24 (5.19%) CISSP
8 23 (4.98%) Master's Degree
9 20 (4.33%) BPSS Clearance
10 17 (3.68%) Azure Certification
10 17 (3.68%) Cisco Certification
10 17 (3.68%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 13 (2.81%) CISM
12 11 (2.38%) ISTQB
13 10 (2.16%) ACCA
13 10 (2.16%) CIMA
14 8 (1.73%) AWS Certification
14 8 (1.73%) CCNP
14 8 (1.73%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 48 (10.39%) NIST
2 46 (9.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 24 (5.19%) Data Quality
4 16 (3.46%) PMO
5 15 (3.25%) QA
6 12 (2.60%) GDPR
6 12 (2.60%) NCSC
7 7 (1.52%) SLA
8 6 (1.30%) Accessibility
8 6 (1.30%) ISO 31000
9 5 (1.08%) Cyber Essentials
9 5 (1.08%) GRC
9 5 (1.08%) GxP
9 5 (1.08%) NIST 800
9 5 (1.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.87%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 4 (0.87%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 2 (0.43%) ISO 9001
12 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 58 (12.55%) Active Directory
2 19 (4.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (3.46%) Docker
4 7 (1.52%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.30%) Firmware
6 4 (0.87%) Embedded Firmware
6 4 (0.87%) Hyper-V
7 3 (0.65%) OpenAM
8 1 (0.22%) ISA Server
8 1 (0.22%) Oracle RAC
8 1 (0.22%) UAG
8 1 (0.22%) Virtual Desktop
8 1 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.22%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 18 (3.90%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (3.46%) Kubernetes
3 11 (2.38%) Ansible
4 10 (2.16%) Jamf Pro
5 7 (1.52%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.08%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 5 (1.08%) Grafana
6 5 (1.08%) Prometheus
7 4 (0.87%) Podman
7 4 (0.87%) Puppet
7 4 (0.87%) SCCM
8 2 (0.43%) CASB
8 2 (0.43%) Istio
8 2 (0.43%) MOM
8 2 (0.43%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.22%) Argo
9 1 (0.22%) Dell DRAC
9 1 (0.22%) Oracle RMAN
9 1 (0.22%) vRealize
9 1 (0.22%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 137 (29.65%) Microsoft
2 38 (8.23%) Oracle
3 36 (7.79%) ServiceNow
4 32 (6.93%) SAP
5 25 (5.41%) VMware
6 18 (3.90%) IBM
7 15 (3.25%) Ariba
7 15 (3.25%) CyberArk
8 14 (3.03%) BeyondTrust
8 14 (3.03%) Salesforce
9 13 (2.81%) Google
10 9 (1.95%) Cisco
11 5 (1.08%) F5
11 5 (1.08%) Palo Alto
11 5 (1.08%) Workday
12 4 (0.87%) CrowdStrike
12 4 (0.87%) Dell
12 4 (0.87%) NVIDIA
12 4 (0.87%) Rockwell
12 4 (0.87%) Splunk