Developer Contract Job Trends in the South East

Developer
England > South East

The median Developer daily rate in the South East is £515, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 July 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 19 12
Rank change year-on-year -4 -7 +1
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 469 265 515
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.15% 7.73% 9.43%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.76% 8.53% 10.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 315 194 375
10th Percentile £323 £320 £354
25th Percentile £413 £402 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £499 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.26% -0.25% -
75th Percentile £600 £575 £600
90th Percentile £654 £625 £660
England median daily rate £515 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 15 15
10th Percentile £28.53 - £35.00
25th Percentile £34.01 £32.94 £46.25
Median hourly rate £55.00 £33.89 £58.91
Median % change year-on-year +62.31% -42.48% -14.32%
75th Percentile £68.13 £54.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.38 £55.00 £74.00
England median hourly rate £55.00 £47.12 £65.00
% change year-on-year +16.72% -27.51% +8.33%

All Contract IT Job Roles
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 6,041 3,105 5,045
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.13% 90.52% 92.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,600 2,008 3,019
10th Percentile £304 £213 £255
25th Percentile £425 £375 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £514
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.72% +2.80%
75th Percentile £624 £600 £625
90th Percentile £713 £663 £697
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 665 243 466
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £13.25
25th Percentile £26.25 £15.50 £19.25
Median hourly rate £52.43 £27.50 £54.94
Median % change year-on-year +90.64% -49.94% +9.88%
75th Percentile £77.50 £62.24 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £80.00
England median hourly rate £45.56 £27.39 £41.27
% change year-on-year +66.34% -33.63% -6.22%

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 20 July 2026.

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 20 July 2026.

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 20 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 -16 171 £525 - 37
Hampshire +1 146 £525 +7.69% 39
Berkshire -22 90 £473 -10.85% 22
Buckinghamshire -5 76 £525 +11.94% 11
Surrey +11 74 £513 -0.29% 12
West Sussex +7 44 £425 +38.66% 9
Sussex - 13 £475 - 8
Kent +6 10 £450 +20.00% 21
East Sussex -3 7 £525 +16.67% 8
Oxfordshire -25 5 £625 +29.87% 4
Home Counties - 1 - -
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 20 July 2026, 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.

1 217 (46.27%) Security Cleared
2 175 (37.31%) SC Cleared
3 95 (20.26%) Agile
4 93 (19.83%) SQL
5 92 (19.62%) Azure
6 83 (17.70%) Oracle
7 80 (17.06%) CI/CD
8 75 (15.99%) Java
9 72 (15.35%) DevOps
10 69 (14.71%) .NET
11 62 (13.22%) Python
12 59 (12.58%) Git
13 58 (12.37%) Software Engineering
14 57 (12.15%) DV Cleared
15 54 (11.51%) Microservices
16 53 (11.30%) JavaScript
17 52 (11.09%) C#
18 51 (10.87%) RESTful
19 49 (10.45%) Problem-Solving
19 49 (10.45%) REST
20 48 (10.23%) Full-Stack Development
21 46 (9.81%) Scrum
21 46 (9.81%) ServiceNow
22 44 (9.38%) AWS
22 44 (9.38%) Data Modelling
23 43 (9.17%) ETL
24 42 (8.96%) Analytics
24 42 (8.96%) Kubernetes
25 41 (8.74%) Azure DevOps
26 39 (8.32%) Performance Tuning

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 18 (3.84%) Oracle Application Server
2 6 (1.28%) Apache Spark
2 6 (1.28%) Confluence
2 6 (1.28%) Oracle Workflow
3 5 (1.07%) CMS
3 5 (1.07%) Documentum
4 4 (0.85%) Umbraco
5 3 (0.64%) IIS
5 3 (0.64%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.43%) Apache
6 2 (0.43%) SAS
7 1 (0.21%) Kentico
7 1 (0.21%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.21%) WordPress
Applications
1 9 (1.92%) CPLEX
2 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.43%) Oracle Smart View
2 2 (0.43%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.21%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 15 (3.20%) Siebel CRM
2 10 (2.13%) Oracle ERP
3 5 (1.07%) Oracle 11i
3 5 (1.07%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.43%) ProductWriter
5 1 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.21%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.21%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 92 (19.62%) Azure
2 44 (9.38%) AWS
3 41 (8.74%) Azure DevOps
4 25 (5.33%) Power Platform
5 24 (5.12%) GCP
6 17 (3.62%) Dynamics 365
6 17 (3.62%) OpenShift
7 16 (3.41%) Serverless
8 15 (3.20%) GitHub
8 15 (3.20%) OCI
9 13 (2.77%) Power Automate
10 11 (2.35%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (2.13%) Amazon S3
12 9 (1.92%) Azure Functions
13 8 (1.71%) PowerApps
13 8 (1.71%) SaaS
14 7 (1.49%) Azure Logic Apps
15 6 (1.28%) AWS Lambda
15 6 (1.28%) Google App Engine
15 6 (1.28%) Oracle CX
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.35%) BGP
1 11 (2.35%) IPsec
1 11 (2.35%) LAN
1 11 (2.35%) MPLS
1 11 (2.35%) WAN
2 6 (1.28%) HTTPS
3 2 (0.43%) Firewall
3 2 (0.43%) Software-Defined Radio
3 2 (0.43%) Wireless
4 1 (0.21%) HTTP
4 1 (0.21%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (8.10%) Data Warehouse
2 35 (7.46%) Oracle Reports
3 34 (7.25%) PostgreSQL
4 23 (4.90%) Oracle ODI
4 23 (4.90%) SQL Server
5 21 (4.48%) NoSQL
6 16 (3.41%) Power BI
7 15 (3.20%) Oracle BI Publisher
7 15 (3.20%) Relational Database
8 13 (2.77%) MongoDB
9 11 (2.35%) Siebel EIM
10 7 (1.49%) Big Data
10 7 (1.49%) DynamoDB
11 6 (1.28%) DataStage
11 6 (1.28%) Oracle Database
12 5 (1.07%) MySQL
13 4 (0.85%) GIS
13 4 (0.85%) SQL Server Integration Services
14 3 (0.64%) Azure SQL Database
14 3 (0.64%) DocumentDB
Development Applications
1 59 (12.58%) Git
2 21 (4.48%) JIRA
3 15 (3.20%) Jenkins
4 10 (2.13%) GitLab
4 10 (2.13%) SonarQube
4 10 (2.13%) Visual Studio
5 9 (1.92%) Maven
6 7 (1.49%) JUnit
7 6 (1.28%) Bitbucket
8 5 (1.07%) Gradle
8 5 (1.07%) Subversion
9 4 (0.85%) Eclipse
9 4 (0.85%) NUnit
9 4 (0.85%) Postman
10 3 (0.64%) Mockito
11 2 (0.43%) fastlane
11 2 (0.43%) Team Foundation Server
12 1 (0.21%) Crashlytics
12 1 (0.21%) Cucumber
12 1 (0.21%) Storybook
General
1 38 (8.10%) Social Skills
2 35 (7.46%) Finance
3 29 (6.18%) Public Sector
4 20 (4.26%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (3.20%) Aerospace
6 10 (2.13%) Manufacturing
7 9 (1.92%) Law
7 9 (1.92%) Telecoms
8 7 (1.49%) Automotive
8 7 (1.49%) Billing
9 6 (1.28%) Local Government
10 5 (1.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.07%) Legal
11 4 (0.85%) Police
12 2 (0.43%) Banking
12 2 (0.43%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.43%) Publishing
12 2 (0.43%) Retail
13 1 (0.21%) Advertising
13 1 (0.21%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 69 (14.71%) .NET
2 51 (10.87%) RESTful
3 49 (10.45%) REST
4 39 (8.32%) React
5 30 (6.40%) Kafka
6 28 (5.97%) JSON
7 27 (5.76%) AngularJS
8 25 (5.33%) Spring
9 22 (4.69%) Spring Boot
10 21 (4.48%) .NET Framework
11 18 (3.84%) CSS
11 18 (3.84%) SOAP
12 15 (3.20%) Entity Framework
12 15 (3.20%) OAuth
13 14 (2.99%) .NET Core
14 13 (2.77%) HTML
14 13 (2.77%) Swagger
15 12 (2.56%) ASP.NET
15 12 (2.56%) Web Services
16 11 (2.35%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 23 (4.90%) Data Structures
2 21 (4.48%) Distributed Systems
3 19 (4.05%) Algorithms
3 19 (4.05%) Cloud Native
4 17 (3.62%) Product Ownership
5 16 (3.41%) Enterprise Software
6 8 (1.71%) Data Centre
7 7 (1.49%) Mobile App
8 6 (1.28%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.07%) Distributed Architecture
10 3 (0.64%) CMDB
10 3 (0.64%) FMCG
10 3 (0.64%) Onboarding
11 2 (0.43%) AI Agents
11 2 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
11 2 (0.43%) Device Driver
11 2 (0.43%) Embedded Systems
11 2 (0.43%) MicroBlaze
11 2 (0.43%) RISC-V
11 2 (0.43%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 23 (4.90%) Linux
2 13 (2.77%) Unix
2 13 (2.77%) Windows
3 9 (1.92%) Android
4 3 (0.64%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.43%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (20.26%) Agile
2 80 (17.06%) CI/CD
3 72 (15.35%) DevOps
4 58 (12.37%) Software Engineering
5 54 (11.51%) Microservices
6 49 (10.45%) Problem-Solving
7 48 (10.23%) Full-Stack Development
8 46 (9.81%) Scrum
9 44 (9.38%) Data Modelling
10 43 (9.17%) ETL
11 42 (8.96%) Analytics
12 39 (8.32%) Performance Tuning
13 38 (8.10%) Unit Testing
14 36 (7.68%) Business Intelligence
15 31 (6.61%) Containerisation
16 30 (6.40%) Test Automation
17 26 (5.54%) TDD
18 25 (5.33%) Workflow
19 24 (5.12%) CRM
20 23 (4.90%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 93 (19.83%) SQL
2 75 (15.99%) Java
3 62 (13.22%) Python
4 53 (11.30%) JavaScript
5 52 (11.09%) C#
6 27 (5.76%) TypeScript
7 23 (4.90%) Go
8 13 (2.77%) PL/SQL
9 11 (2.35%) C
10 9 (1.92%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 9 (1.92%) Kotlin
11 8 (1.71%) C++
11 8 (1.71%) X++
12 4 (0.85%) Apex Code
12 4 (0.85%) Bash
12 4 (0.85%) PowerShell
13 3 (0.64%) PHP
13 3 (0.64%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.64%) VB
14 2 (0.43%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 217 (46.27%) Security Cleared
2 175 (37.31%) SC Cleared
3 57 (12.15%) DV Cleared
4 9 (1.92%) Degree
5 7 (1.49%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (0.64%) Azure Certification
6 3 (0.64%) Microsoft Certification
7 2 (0.43%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (0.21%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.21%) AWS Certified Developer
8 1 (0.21%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.21%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (5.97%) QA
2 7 (1.49%) Data Quality
3 4 (0.85%) Accessibility
3 4 (0.85%) GDPR
3 4 (0.85%) WCAG
4 2 (0.43%) COBIT
4 2 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.43%) NIST
5 1 (0.21%) GRC
System Software
1 34 (7.25%) Docker
2 8 (1.71%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.43%) Embedded Firmware
3 2 (0.43%) Firmware
3 2 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 42 (8.96%) Kubernetes
2 13 (2.77%) Terraform
3 10 (2.13%) Argo
4 2 (0.43%) Grafana
4 2 (0.43%) Prometheus
4 2 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.21%) Ansible
5 1 (0.21%) Podman
Vendors
1 83 (17.70%) Oracle
2 46 (9.81%) ServiceNow
3 34 (7.25%) Microsoft
4 28 (5.97%) Siebel
5 12 (2.56%) Salesforce
6 9 (1.92%) Red Hat
7 8 (1.71%) SAP
8 7 (1.49%) Google
9 6 (1.28%) IBM
10 5 (1.07%) Atlassian
10 5 (1.07%) Splunk
11 4 (0.85%) ESRI
12 3 (0.64%) Ab Initio
12 3 (0.64%) Teradata
13 2 (0.43%) Blue Prism
13 2 (0.43%) CA Agile Central
13 2 (0.43%) Dynatrace
13 2 (0.43%) HP
13 2 (0.43%) MuleSoft
13 2 (0.43%) Talend