Developer Contract Job Trends in the South East
Developer
England > South East
The median Developer daily rate in the South East is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 17 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 32 | 24 | 19 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -8 | -5 | +2 |
| Contract jobs requiring a Developer | 381 | 259 | 369 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the South East | 5.77% | 7.17% | 8.64% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 6.34% | 8.01% | 9.36% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 239 | 179 | 244 |
| 10th Percentile | £306 | £313 | £363 |
| 25th Percentile | £411 | £378 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £500 | £480 | £509 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +4.17% | -5.65% | -0.83% |
| 75th Percentile | £603 | £574 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £700 | £605 | £650 |
| England median daily rate | £520 | £510 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +1.96% | -2.86% | -4.55% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 56 | 30 | 3 |
| 10th Percentile | £35.16 | £32.94 | £30.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £43.75 | £50.63 | £43.13 |
| Median hourly rate | £55.00 | £55.00 | £65.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | -15.38% | +8.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £57.50 | £76.25 |
| 90th Percentile | - | - | £83.00 |
| England median hourly rate | £55.00 | £55.00 | £65.00 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -15.38% | +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.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title | 6,010 | 3,232 | 3,941 |
| % of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title | 91.09% | 89.45% | 92.27% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,348 | 2,090 | 2,360 |
| 10th Percentile | £275 | £204 | £250 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £375 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £506 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -1.23% | -0.74% |
| 75th Percentile | £625 | £597 | £625 |
| 90th Percentile | £725 | £663 | £688 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £513 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +2.44% | -2.38% | -2.78% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 862 | 306 | 234 |
| 10th Percentile | £15.00 | £13.00 | £16.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £20.43 | £15.91 | £27.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £48.77 | £21.32 | £58.43 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +128.73% | -63.51% | +11.30% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.44 | £50.00 | £74.59 |
| 90th Percentile | £88.00 | £71.00 | £77.75 |
| England median hourly rate | £41.71 | £25.15 | £43.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +65.84% | -41.51% | -6.89% |
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 Daily Rate Trend 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 17 October 2026.
Developer Hourly Rate Trend 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 17 October 2026.
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 17 October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hampshire | +11 | 137 | £525 | +10.99% | 47 |
| Thames Valley | -39 | 100 | £465 | -11.43% | 106 |
| Surrey | +2 | 77 | £580 | +5.45% | 39 |
| Berkshire | -33 | 63 | £460 | -16.36% | 52 |
| West Sussex | +2 | 38 | £422 | +46.35% | 21 |
| Buckinghamshire | -23 | 31 | £525 | +21.74% | 38 |
| East Sussex | -1 | 10 | £325 | -27.78% | 30 |
| Sussex | - | 7 | £625 | - | 2 |
| Oxfordshire | -28 | 6 | £525 | +29.23% | 17 |
| Kent | -12 | 4 | £500 | +48.15% | 16 |
| Middlesex | -22 | 1 | - | - | |
| Developer England |
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Developer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East
For the 6 months to 17 October 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.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Security Cleared | 37.8% | 144 |
| 2 | SC Cleared | 28.9% | 110 |
| 3 | Agile | 22.8% | 87 |
| 4 | SQL | 19.9% | 76 |
| 5 | Azure | 17.8% | 68 |
| 6 | Oracle | 15.2% | 58 |
| 7 | DevOps | 14.7% | 56 |
| 7 | Software Engineering | 14.7% | 56 |
| 9 | CI/CD | 14.4% | 55 |
| 10 | Java | 14.2% | 54 |
| 11 | DV Cleared | 13.6% | 52 |
| 11 | Microsoft | 13.6% | 52 |
| 13 | .NET | 13.4% | 51 |
| 13 | Full-Stack Development | 13.4% | 51 |
| 15 | REST | 13.1% | 50 |
| 16 | Test Automation | 11.8% | 45 |
| 17 | Problem-Solving | 11.3% | 43 |
| 18 | C# | 11.0% | 42 |
| 18 | JavaScript | 11.0% | 42 |
| 18 | Scrum | 11.0% | 42 |
| 21 | RESTful | 10.8% | 41 |
| 22 | ServiceNow | 10.5% | 40 |
| 23 | Git | 10.2% | 39 |
| 24 | Analytics | 10.0% | 38 |
| 25 | Python | 9.7% | 37 |
| 25 | QA | 9.7% | 37 |
| 27 | Data Warehouse | 9.4% | 36 |
| 28 | Power Platform | 9.2% | 35 |
| 29 | Azure DevOps | 8.7% | 33 |
| 29 | Kubernetes | 8.7% | 33 |
Developer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Software Developer | 11.5% | 44 |
| 2 | Full-Stack Developer | 11.0% | 42 |
| 3 | ServiceNow Developer | 10.5% | 40 |
| 4 | Java Developer | 8.7% | 33 |
| 5 | Oracle Developer | 7.6% | 29 |
| 6 | Senior Developer | 6.8% | 26 |
| 7 | Data Warehouse Developer | 6.6% | 25 |
| 8 | Siebel Developer | 6.0% | 23 |
| 9 | .NET Developer | 5.5% | 21 |
| 10 | Oracle Data Warehouse Developer | 5.0% | 19 |
| 10 | Python Developer | 5.0% | 19 |
| 12 | React Developer | 4.7% | 18 |
| 13 | Systems Developer | 3.4% | 13 |
| 14 | C Developer | 2.9% | 11 |
| 14 | Full-Stack .NET Developer | 2.9% | 11 |
| 14 | Microsoft Developer | 2.9% | 11 |
| 17 | Business Intelligence Developer | 2.6% | 10 |
| 18 | Linux Developer | 2.4% | 9 |
| 18 | Salesforce Developer | 2.4% | 9 |
| 20 | Senior Java Developer | 2.1% | 8 |