Developer Contract Job Trends in the South East

Developer
England > South East

The median Developer daily rate in the South East is £490, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 November 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 24 19 23
Rank change year-on-year -5 +4 -13
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 281 353 402
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 6.90% 8.57% 7.55%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.69% 9.24% 8.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 199 225 281
10th Percentile £313 £377 £350
25th Percentile £378 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £505 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.97% +1.00% -8.68%
75th Percentile £573 £638 £575
90th Percentile £615 £650 £650
England median daily rate £500 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -6.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 2 13
10th Percentile £32.94 £27.38 -
25th Percentile £43.13 £36.56 -
Median hourly rate £55.00 £53.75 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.33% +7.50% -25.65%
75th Percentile £57.50 £71.56 £70.00
90th Percentile - £81.13 -
England median hourly rate £55.00 £65.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -15.38% +8.33% +1.73%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 3,653 3,821 5,004
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 89.73% 92.79% 94.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,332 2,307 3,283
10th Percentile £206 £248 £208
25th Percentile £388 £400 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £513
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% - +2.50%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £613
90th Percentile £675 £686 £688
England median daily rate £508 £525 £534
% change year-on-year -3.33% -1.69% -2.91%
Number of hourly rates quoted 381 208 250
10th Percentile £13.75 £18.64 £16.00
25th Percentile £16.17 £26.81 £24.00
Median hourly rate £25.00 £57.52 £52.20
Median % change year-on-year -56.54% +10.19% +39.20%
75th Percentile £57.50 £74.03 £67.44
90th Percentile £81.00 £75.16 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year -37.13% -12.82% +43.38%

Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Developer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Developer job vacancy trend in the South East

Developer
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the South East

Developer
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Developer in the South East over the 6 months to 21 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Developer in the South East

Developer
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the South East

Developer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Developer in the South East over the 6 months to 21 November 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Developer in the South East

Developer
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 Developer within the South East region over the 6 months to 21 November 2025. 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 -20 124 £517 -1.52% 116
Berkshire -21 89 £550 - 48
Hampshire +11 76 £450 -27.24% 85
Surrey +19 49 £550 -5.58% 40
Buckinghamshire -2 28 £431 -10.39% 36
Kent +6 12 £338 -19.64% 37
East Sussex -7 10 £450 +12.50% 35
West Sussex -11 9 £438 -4.89% 24
Oxfordshire -20 7 £406 -9.72% 34
Sussex -4 1 £525 - 17
Middlesex - 1 £635 - 12
Developer
England

Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 21 November 2025, Developer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the South East region featuring Developer in the job title.

1 107 (38.08%) Agile
2 83 (29.54%) CI/CD
3 76 (27.05%) SQL
4 66 (23.49%) Java
5 58 (20.64%) AWS
6 57 (20.28%) Azure
6 57 (20.28%) DevOps
7 55 (19.57%) Problem-Solving
8 50 (17.79%) REST
9 48 (17.08%) Security Cleared
10 44 (15.66%) Python
11 43 (15.30%) Full-Stack Development
12 41 (14.59%) JavaScript
13 40 (14.23%) React
14 39 (13.88%) GitHub
14 39 (13.88%) PostgreSQL
14 39 (13.88%) RESTful
15 38 (13.52%) .NET
15 38 (13.52%) C#
16 37 (13.17%) Scrum
17 36 (12.81%) Microservices
17 36 (12.81%) TDD
18 35 (12.46%) Kubernetes
18 35 (12.46%) SC Cleared
19 33 (11.74%) Software Engineering
20 32 (11.39%) Spring
21 31 (11.03%) Git
22 30 (10.68%) Jenkins
23 29 (10.32%) Data Modelling
24 27 (9.61%) Microsoft

Developer Skill Set
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 9 (3.20%) Confluence
2 5 (1.78%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.07%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.07%) nginx
4 2 (0.71%) Apache
4 2 (0.71%) CMS
4 2 (0.71%) SharePoint Server
4 2 (0.71%) Umbraco
5 1 (0.36%) Anypoint
5 1 (0.36%) ArcGIS
5 1 (0.36%) Camunda
5 1 (0.36%) Documentum
5 1 (0.36%) Gunicorn
5 1 (0.36%) HCL Domino
5 1 (0.36%) Headless CMS
5 1 (0.36%) Hyperledger
5 1 (0.36%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.36%) Smallworld
5 1 (0.36%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.36%) WordPress
Applications
1 6 (2.14%) Adobe Illustrator
1 6 (2.14%) Photoshop
2 3 (1.07%) 3ds Max
3 2 (0.71%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (1.07%) Oracle Assets
1 3 (1.07%) Oracle General Ledger
1 3 (1.07%) Oracle Payables
1 3 (1.07%) Oracle Receivables
1 3 (1.07%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
2 2 (0.71%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.71%) Maximo
2 2 (0.71%) Oracle Cash Management
2 2 (0.71%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.36%) Payment Gateway
3 1 (0.36%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 58 (20.64%) AWS
2 57 (20.28%) Azure
3 39 (13.88%) GitHub
4 23 (8.19%) GitHub Actions
5 22 (7.83%) Azure DevOps
6 15 (5.34%) GCP
7 13 (4.63%) OpenShift
8 12 (4.27%) Power Platform
9 11 (3.91%) Amazon S3
9 11 (3.91%) Serverless
10 9 (3.20%) AWS Lambda
10 9 (3.20%) Dynamics 365
11 8 (2.85%) Datadog
12 7 (2.49%) Azure Logic Apps
13 6 (2.14%) Amazon EC2
13 6 (2.14%) Boomi
14 5 (1.78%) AtomSphere
14 5 (1.78%) AWS CloudFormation
14 5 (1.78%) OCI
15 3 (1.07%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.78%) Kerberos
1 5 (1.78%) SAN
2 4 (1.42%) TCP/IP
3 3 (1.07%) HTTPS
3 3 (1.07%) VPN
4 2 (0.71%) Bluetooth
4 2 (0.71%) Firewall
4 2 (0.71%) HTTP
4 2 (0.71%) VoIP
5 1 (0.36%) Asterisk PBX
5 1 (0.36%) BGP
5 1 (0.36%) Ethernet VPN
5 1 (0.36%) MPLS
5 1 (0.36%) MQTT
5 1 (0.36%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (13.88%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (7.12%) Relational Database
3 19 (6.76%) NoSQL
4 14 (4.98%) MongoDB
5 13 (4.63%) MySQL
5 13 (4.63%) Oracle Reports
6 11 (3.91%) Oracle BI Publisher
7 8 (2.85%) SQL Server
8 7 (2.49%) HBase
9 6 (2.14%) DynamoDB
10 5 (1.78%) Apache Cassandra
10 5 (1.78%) Couchbase
10 5 (1.78%) Data Warehouse
10 5 (1.78%) Power BI
11 4 (1.42%) Oracle Database
11 4 (1.42%) SAP HANA
12 3 (1.07%) Azure SQL Database
12 3 (1.07%) Oracle BI EE
12 3 (1.07%) Redis
13 2 (0.71%) GIS
Development Applications
1 31 (11.03%) Git
2 30 (10.68%) Jenkins
3 21 (7.47%) Cucumber
4 19 (6.76%) JUnit
5 17 (6.05%) Gradle
6 16 (5.69%) JIRA
7 14 (4.98%) Sonatype Nexus
8 11 (3.91%) GitLab
9 9 (3.20%) JMeter
10 7 (2.49%) Artifactory
10 7 (2.49%) Maven
11 5 (1.78%) Bitbucket
11 5 (1.78%) Visual Studio
12 4 (1.42%) Android Studio
12 4 (1.42%) Subversion
13 3 (1.07%) Storybook
13 3 (1.07%) Visual Studio Code
14 2 (0.71%) Gatling
14 2 (0.71%) Vite
14 2 (0.71%) webpack
General
1 68 (24.20%) Social Skills
2 37 (13.17%) Finance
3 36 (12.81%) Analytical Skills
4 20 (7.12%) Public Sector
5 8 (2.85%) Telecoms
6 6 (2.14%) Manufacturing
7 5 (1.78%) Aerospace
8 4 (1.42%) Banking
8 4 (1.42%) Documentation Skills
8 4 (1.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 4 (1.42%) Military
9 3 (1.07%) Billing
9 3 (1.07%) Electronics
9 3 (1.07%) Marketing
10 2 (0.71%) Automotive
10 2 (0.71%) General Ledger
10 2 (0.71%) Retail
11 1 (0.36%) Aviation
11 1 (0.36%) Health Technology
11 1 (0.36%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (17.79%) REST
2 40 (14.23%) React
3 39 (13.88%) RESTful
4 38 (13.52%) .NET
5 32 (11.39%) Spring
6 26 (9.25%) HTML
7 25 (8.90%) Kafka
7 25 (8.90%) Spring Boot
8 23 (8.19%) CSS
9 22 (7.83%) AngularJS
9 22 (7.83%) SOAP
10 17 (6.05%) Web Services
11 16 (5.69%) Oracle Fusion
12 15 (5.34%) Node.js
13 14 (4.98%) Lightning Web Components
13 14 (4.98%) RabbitMQ
14 11 (3.91%) .NET Core
14 11 (3.91%) Hibernate
14 11 (3.91%) JSON
15 8 (2.85%) .NET Framework
Miscellaneous
1 8 (2.85%) Algorithms
2 7 (2.49%) Cloud Native
2 7 (2.49%) Mobile App
2 7 (2.49%) Onboarding
3 6 (2.14%) 3D Graphics
3 6 (2.14%) Vector Graphics
4 5 (1.78%) Data Structures
5 3 (1.07%) Analytical Mindset
5 3 (1.07%) Animation
5 3 (1.07%) Client/Server
5 3 (1.07%) e-Learning
6 2 (0.71%) CSOC
6 2 (0.71%) Distributed Systems
6 2 (0.71%) Enterprise Software
6 2 (0.71%) Greenfield Project
6 2 (0.71%) IoT
6 2 (0.71%) Product Ownership
6 2 (0.71%) Renewable Energy
6 2 (0.71%) Robotics
7 1 (0.36%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 19 (6.76%) Linux
2 13 (4.63%) Android
3 12 (4.27%) Windows
4 9 (3.20%) Apple iOS
5 7 (2.49%) Unix
6 5 (1.78%) Debian
6 5 (1.78%) Ubuntu
6 5 (1.78%) Windows Server
6 5 (1.78%) Windows Server 2016
7 2 (0.71%) CentOS
8 1 (0.36%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (38.08%) Agile
2 83 (29.54%) CI/CD
3 57 (20.28%) DevOps
4 55 (19.57%) Problem-Solving
5 43 (15.30%) Full-Stack Development
6 37 (13.17%) Scrum
7 36 (12.81%) Microservices
7 36 (12.81%) TDD
8 33 (11.74%) Software Engineering
9 29 (10.32%) Data Modelling
10 26 (9.25%) AI
11 25 (8.90%) Data Integration
12 24 (8.54%) Business Intelligence
13 23 (8.19%) Test Automation
13 23 (8.19%) Workflow
14 22 (7.83%) Computer Science
15 21 (7.47%) Containerisation
16 20 (7.12%) Front End Development
17 19 (6.76%) Acceptance Criteria
17 19 (6.76%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 76 (27.05%) SQL
2 66 (23.49%) Java
3 44 (15.66%) Python
4 41 (14.59%) JavaScript
5 38 (13.52%) C#
6 18 (6.41%) VB
7 15 (5.34%) Apex Code
8 12 (4.27%) TypeScript
9 10 (3.56%) Go
10 9 (3.20%) PL/SQL
11 7 (2.49%) Shell Script
12 6 (2.14%) C++
13 5 (1.78%) ABAP
13 5 (1.78%) C
13 5 (1.78%) PowerShell
13 5 (1.78%) X++
14 4 (1.42%) Ruby
15 3 (1.07%) Objective-C
15 3 (1.07%) SOQL
15 3 (1.07%) Swift
Qualifications
1 48 (17.08%) Security Cleared
2 35 (12.46%) SC Cleared
3 22 (7.83%) Degree
4 19 (6.76%) Computer Science Degree
5 9 (3.20%) OCP
5 9 (3.20%) Oracle Certification
6 8 (2.85%) DV Cleared
7 7 (2.49%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.36%) CEH
8 1 (0.36%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.36%) ECSA
8 1 (0.36%) GCFA
8 1 (0.36%) GCIA
8 1 (0.36%) GCIH
8 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (0.36%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (4.63%) QA
2 7 (2.49%) Data Quality
3 4 (1.42%) GDPR
4 3 (1.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.07%) NIST
4 3 (1.07%) SLA
5 2 (0.71%) COBIT
6 1 (0.36%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.36%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.36%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.36%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 24 (8.54%) Docker
2 4 (1.42%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 35 (12.46%) Kubernetes
2 10 (3.56%) Ansible
3 9 (3.20%) Grafana
4 7 (2.49%) Progress Chef
5 4 (1.42%) Terraform
6 3 (1.07%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.71%) Argo
7 2 (0.71%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 1 (0.36%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.36%) Rsyslog
8 1 (0.36%) SCOM
Vendors
1 27 (9.61%) Microsoft
2 25 (8.90%) Oracle
3 23 (8.19%) Salesforce
4 13 (4.63%) VMware
5 12 (4.27%) SAP
6 10 (3.56%) Virgin Media
7 9 (3.20%) Databricks
8 7 (2.49%) Adobe
8 7 (2.49%) Atlassian
9 6 (2.14%) Autodesk
9 6 (2.14%) MuleSoft
9 6 (2.14%) Red Hat
10 4 (1.42%) Apple
10 4 (1.42%) IBM
10 4 (1.42%) Informatica
10 4 (1.42%) Splunk
11 3 (1.07%) CA Agile Central
12 2 (0.71%) Blue Prism
12 2 (0.71%) Google
12 2 (0.71%) Teradata