Developer Contract Job Trends in the South East

Developer
England > South East

The median Developer daily rate in the South East is £513, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 August 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 24 19 12
Rank change year-on-year -5 -7 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 475 263 459
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.07% 7.44% 9.46%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.67% 8.23% 10.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 303 184 328
10th Percentile £321 £319 £358
25th Percentile £416 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% - -
75th Percentile £599 £570 £600
90th Percentile £669 £625 £650
England median daily rate £516 £512 £525
% change year-on-year +0.78% -2.43% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 24 9
10th Percentile £32.06 £32.94 £32.25
25th Percentile £38.25 £33.05 £54.85
Median hourly rate £55.00 £55.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year - -15.38% +10.94%
75th Percentile £65.63 £57.50 -
90th Percentile £70.00 - £69.50
England median hourly rate £55.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - -15.38% +11.98%

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 6,190 3,196 4,477
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.17% 90.44% 92.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,653 2,062 2,740
10th Percentile £305 £205 £250
25th Percentile £425 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £520
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -3.85% +4.00%
75th Percentile £625 £600 £634
90th Percentile £715 £663 £688
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 741 277 369
10th Percentile £15.72 £13.75 £16.00
25th Percentile £26.00 £15.50 £27.00
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +108.75% -56.15% +14.70%
75th Percentile £71.43 £57.50 £73.75
90th Percentile £86.61 £75.00 £80.00
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +7.40%

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 19 August 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 19 August 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 19 August 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 +8 163 £525 +7.14% 41
Thames Valley -23 155 £515 +1.23% 69
Surrey +4 84 £513 -6.82% 36
Berkshire -30 79 £465 -12.26% 38
Buckinghamshire -4 69 £525 +13.39% 16
West Sussex +6 39 £425 +47.57% 13
Kent +3 9 £450 +20.00% 30
Sussex - 9 £600 - 6
East Sussex -2 8 £525 +40.00% 23
Oxfordshire -28 7 £425 - 15
Middlesex -19 1 - - 6
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 19 August 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.

1 209 (44.00%) Security Cleared
2 167 (35.16%) SC Cleared
3 102 (21.47%) Agile
4 93 (19.58%) SQL
5 88 (18.53%) Azure
5 88 (18.53%) Oracle
6 80 (16.84%) CI/CD
7 76 (16.00%) .NET
8 73 (15.37%) DevOps
9 62 (13.05%) DV Cleared
10 61 (12.84%) C#
10 61 (12.84%) Java
11 58 (12.21%) REST
11 58 (12.21%) Software Engineering
12 57 (12.00%) Git
13 56 (11.79%) JavaScript
13 56 (11.79%) Python
14 53 (11.16%) Analytics
14 53 (11.16%) ServiceNow
15 50 (10.53%) Data Warehouse
15 50 (10.53%) RESTful
15 50 (10.53%) Scrum
16 49 (10.32%) Data Modelling
16 49 (10.32%) Full-Stack Development
17 47 (9.89%) ETL
17 47 (9.89%) Microservices
18 46 (9.68%) Azure DevOps
19 45 (9.47%) Microsoft
20 43 (9.05%) Problem-Solving
21 40 (8.42%) Kubernetes

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 22 (4.63%) Oracle Application Server
2 10 (2.11%) Confluence
3 6 (1.26%) Oracle Workflow
4 5 (1.05%) Apache Spark
4 5 (1.05%) CMS
4 5 (1.05%) Documentum
4 5 (1.05%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.84%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.42%) IIS
6 2 (0.42%) SAS
7 1 (0.21%) Apache
7 1 (0.21%) Kentico
7 1 (0.21%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.21%) WordPress
Applications
1 8 (1.68%) CPLEX
2 2 (0.42%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.42%) Oracle Smart View
3 1 (0.21%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 15 (3.16%) Siebel CRM
2 9 (1.89%) Oracle ERP
3 4 (0.84%) Oracle 11i
3 4 (0.84%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.42%) ProductWriter
5 1 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.21%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.21%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 88 (18.53%) Azure
2 46 (9.68%) Azure DevOps
3 36 (7.58%) AWS
4 31 (6.53%) Power Platform
5 20 (4.21%) GCP
5 20 (4.21%) Power Automate
5 20 (4.21%) Serverless
6 19 (4.00%) Dynamics 365
7 17 (3.58%) GitHub
7 17 (3.58%) OpenShift
8 15 (3.16%) OCI
8 15 (3.16%) PowerApps
9 14 (2.95%) Azure Functions
10 11 (2.32%) Azure Logic Apps
10 11 (2.32%) GitHub Actions
11 10 (2.11%) Azure Monitor
12 9 (1.89%) SaaS
13 8 (1.68%) Entra ID
14 7 (1.47%) Amazon S3
14 7 (1.47%) Google App Engine
Communications & Networking
1 12 (2.53%) BGP
1 12 (2.53%) IPsec
1 12 (2.53%) LAN
1 12 (2.53%) MPLS
1 12 (2.53%) WAN
2 5 (1.05%) HTTPS
3 2 (0.42%) Firewall
3 2 (0.42%) Software-Defined Radio
3 2 (0.42%) Wireless
4 1 (0.21%) Broadband
4 1 (0.21%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (10.53%) Data Warehouse
2 31 (6.53%) Oracle Reports
3 30 (6.32%) Oracle ODI
4 26 (5.47%) PostgreSQL
5 24 (5.05%) SQL Server
6 23 (4.84%) NoSQL
7 21 (4.42%) Power BI
8 15 (3.16%) Relational Database
9 12 (2.53%) MongoDB
10 11 (2.32%) Siebel EIM
11 7 (1.47%) Azure SQL Database
11 7 (1.47%) Oracle BI Publisher
12 6 (1.26%) DataStage
12 6 (1.26%) Oracle Database
13 5 (1.05%) Big Data
13 5 (1.05%) DynamoDB
13 5 (1.05%) MySQL
14 4 (0.84%) DocumentDB
14 4 (0.84%) GIS
15 3 (0.63%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 57 (12.00%) Git
2 22 (4.63%) JIRA
3 14 (2.95%) Jenkins
4 12 (2.53%) SonarQube
5 10 (2.11%) GitLab
6 8 (1.68%) Visual Studio
7 5 (1.05%) Bitbucket
7 5 (1.05%) JUnit
7 5 (1.05%) Maven
8 4 (0.84%) Gradle
8 4 (0.84%) NUnit
9 3 (0.63%) Postman
9 3 (0.63%) Subversion
10 2 (0.42%) Eclipse
10 2 (0.42%) fastlane
10 2 (0.42%) Mockito
10 2 (0.42%) Team Foundation Server
11 1 (0.21%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.21%) Cucumber
11 1 (0.21%) Liquibase
General
1 38 (8.00%) Social Skills
2 32 (6.74%) Finance
3 28 (5.89%) Public Sector
4 23 (4.84%) Aerospace
5 17 (3.58%) Analytical Skills
6 15 (3.16%) Manufacturing
7 9 (1.89%) Law
7 9 (1.89%) Local Government
7 9 (1.89%) Telecoms
8 7 (1.47%) Automotive
8 7 (1.47%) Billing
9 5 (1.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.05%) Legal
10 4 (0.84%) Police
11 3 (0.63%) Aviation
11 3 (0.63%) Banking
11 3 (0.63%) Publishing
12 2 (0.42%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.42%) Retail
13 1 (0.21%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 76 (16.00%) .NET
2 58 (12.21%) REST
3 50 (10.53%) RESTful
4 34 (7.16%) React
5 29 (6.11%) AngularJS
6 27 (5.68%) Kafka
7 24 (5.05%) .NET Framework
7 24 (5.05%) JSON
8 21 (4.42%) SOAP
9 20 (4.21%) .NET Core
9 20 (4.21%) OAuth
10 18 (3.79%) Entity Framework
10 18 (3.79%) Spring
11 16 (3.37%) CSS
12 14 (2.95%) ASP.NET
12 14 (2.95%) Spring Boot
13 13 (2.74%) HTML
14 12 (2.53%) Quarkus
14 12 (2.53%) Swagger
14 12 (2.53%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 20 (4.21%) Distributed Systems
2 18 (3.79%) Data Structures
3 17 (3.58%) Cloud Native
3 17 (3.58%) Product Ownership
4 16 (3.37%) Algorithms
4 16 (3.37%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (1.47%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (1.26%) Mobile App
7 5 (1.05%) Onboarding
8 4 (0.84%) AI Agents
8 4 (0.84%) Data Centre
8 4 (0.84%) Distributed Architecture
9 3 (0.63%) CMDB
9 3 (0.63%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (0.63%) FMCG
10 2 (0.42%) Device Driver
10 2 (0.42%) Embedded Systems
10 2 (0.42%) MicroBlaze
10 2 (0.42%) RISC-V
10 2 (0.42%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 18 (3.79%) Linux
2 12 (2.53%) Unix
3 11 (2.32%) Windows
4 4 (0.84%) Android
5 2 (0.42%) Apple iOS
5 2 (0.42%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (21.47%) Agile
2 80 (16.84%) CI/CD
3 73 (15.37%) DevOps
4 58 (12.21%) Software Engineering
5 53 (11.16%) Analytics
6 50 (10.53%) Scrum
7 49 (10.32%) Data Modelling
7 49 (10.32%) Full-Stack Development
8 47 (9.89%) ETL
8 47 (9.89%) Microservices
9 43 (9.05%) Problem-Solving
10 40 (8.42%) Unit Testing
11 38 (8.00%) Performance Tuning
12 37 (7.79%) Business Intelligence
12 37 (7.79%) Test Automation
13 29 (6.11%) Workflow
14 27 (5.68%) CRM
15 25 (5.26%) Containerisation
16 24 (5.05%) SDLC
17 23 (4.84%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 93 (19.58%) SQL
2 61 (12.84%) C#
2 61 (12.84%) Java
3 56 (11.79%) JavaScript
3 56 (11.79%) Python
4 24 (5.05%) TypeScript
5 19 (4.00%) Go
6 16 (3.37%) PL/SQL
7 10 (2.11%) C
8 9 (1.89%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 9 (1.89%) X++
9 7 (1.47%) C++
9 7 (1.47%) PowerShell
10 6 (1.26%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.05%) Kotlin
12 4 (0.84%) Bash
12 4 (0.84%) Bicep
13 3 (0.63%) Shell Script
13 3 (0.63%) VB
14 2 (0.42%) PHP
Qualifications
1 209 (44.00%) Security Cleared
2 167 (35.16%) SC Cleared
3 62 (13.05%) DV Cleared
4 12 (2.53%) Degree
5 7 (1.47%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.26%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (1.05%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.42%) BPSS Clearance
9 1 (0.21%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.21%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (0.21%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (6.74%) QA
2 11 (2.32%) Data Quality
3 4 (0.84%) Accessibility
3 4 (0.84%) GDPR
3 4 (0.84%) WCAG
4 1 (0.21%) COBIT
4 1 (0.21%) GRC
4 1 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.21%) NIST
System Software
1 30 (6.32%) Docker
2 11 (2.32%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.42%) Embedded Firmware
3 2 (0.42%) Firmware
3 2 (0.42%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 40 (8.42%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.79%) Terraform
3 12 (2.53%) Argo
4 1 (0.21%) Ansible
4 1 (0.21%) Grafana
4 1 (0.21%) Podman
4 1 (0.21%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.21%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 88 (18.53%) Oracle
2 53 (11.16%) ServiceNow
3 45 (9.47%) Microsoft
4 28 (5.89%) Siebel
5 17 (3.58%) Salesforce
6 11 (2.32%) Red Hat
7 8 (1.68%) Google
7 8 (1.68%) SAP
8 6 (1.26%) IBM
9 5 (1.05%) MuleSoft
9 5 (1.05%) Splunk
10 4 (0.84%) ESRI
11 3 (0.63%) Atlassian
12 2 (0.42%) Ab Initio
12 2 (0.42%) Blue Prism
12 2 (0.42%) CA Agile Central
12 2 (0.42%) Dynatrace
12 2 (0.42%) HP
12 2 (0.42%) Talend
12 2 (0.42%) Teradata