Developer Contract Job Trends in the South East

Developer
England > South East

The median Developer daily rate in the South East is £514, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 16 August 2026.

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

6 months to
16 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 23 18 12
Rank change year-on-year -5 -6 +1
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 485 263 459
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 7.17% 7.39% 9.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.77% 8.17% 10.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 310 188 328
10th Percentile £321 £320 £358
25th Percentile £421 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.75% - -
75th Percentile £599 £575 £600
90th Percentile £669 £625 £650
England median daily rate £513 £513 £525
% change year-on-year - -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 56 21 11
10th Percentile £32.06 £32.94 £35.00
25th Percentile £38.25 £33.05 £54.85
Median hourly rate £55.00 £52.50 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.76% -16.00% +6.67%
75th Percentile £61.88 £57.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 - £68.75
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 6,243 3,220 4,482
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.23% 90.50% 92.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,681 2,084 2,760
10th Percentile £303 £206 £250
25th Percentile £425 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £516
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -3.10% +3.20%
75th Percentile £625 £600 £635
90th Percentile £714 £663 £688
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 751 268 372
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.75 £16.00
25th Percentile £26.25 £15.50 £27.00
Median hourly rate £52.50 £25.15 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +108.75% -56.15% +16.18%
75th Percentile £73.25 £57.50 £72.69
90th Percentile £86.61 £75.00 £80.00
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.23 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.48% -43.94% +8.04%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 +11 167 £525 +7.14% 32
Thames Valley -24 158 £520 -0.95% 51
Surrey +1 84 £513 -6.82% 25
Berkshire -33 82 £473 -14.09% 30
Buckinghamshire -5 69 £525 +13.39% 11
West Sussex +2 41 £425 +47.57% 10
Kent +6 10 £450 +20.00% 23
East Sussex -1 9 £563 +50.00% 15
Sussex - 9 £600 - 7
Oxfordshire -26 7 £425 -2.86% 10
Middlesex -18 1 - - 6
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 16 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.

1 213 (43.92%) Security Cleared
2 171 (35.26%) SC Cleared
3 104 (21.44%) Agile
4 96 (19.79%) SQL
5 92 (18.97%) Oracle
6 89 (18.35%) Azure
7 82 (16.91%) CI/CD
8 78 (16.08%) .NET
9 73 (15.05%) DevOps
10 63 (12.99%) Java
11 62 (12.78%) C#
11 62 (12.78%) DV Cleared
12 60 (12.37%) Git
13 59 (12.16%) REST
13 59 (12.16%) Software Engineering
14 57 (11.75%) JavaScript
14 57 (11.75%) Python
15 53 (10.93%) Analytics
15 53 (10.93%) ServiceNow
16 52 (10.72%) Scrum
17 51 (10.52%) RESTful
18 50 (10.31%) Data Warehouse
19 49 (10.10%) Data Modelling
19 49 (10.10%) Full-Stack Development
20 48 (9.90%) Microservices
21 47 (9.69%) ETL
22 46 (9.48%) Azure DevOps
23 45 (9.28%) Microsoft
23 45 (9.28%) Problem-Solving
24 41 (8.45%) Business Intelligence

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 (4.54%) Oracle Application Server
2 10 (2.06%) Confluence
3 6 (1.24%) Oracle Workflow
4 5 (1.03%) Apache Spark
4 5 (1.03%) CMS
4 5 (1.03%) Documentum
4 5 (1.03%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.82%) Umbraco
6 2 (0.41%) IIS
6 2 (0.41%) SAS
7 1 (0.21%) Apache
7 1 (0.21%) Kentico
7 1 (0.21%) OpenStack
7 1 (0.21%) WordPress
Applications
1 8 (1.65%) CPLEX
2 2 (0.41%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.41%) Oracle Smart View
3 1 (0.21%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 15 (3.09%) Siebel CRM
2 10 (2.06%) Oracle ERP
3 5 (1.03%) Oracle 11i
3 5 (1.03%) Oracle EBS R12
4 2 (0.41%) ProductWriter
5 1 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.21%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.21%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 89 (18.35%) Azure
2 46 (9.48%) Azure DevOps
3 36 (7.42%) AWS
4 31 (6.39%) Power Platform
5 20 (4.12%) GCP
5 20 (4.12%) Power Automate
5 20 (4.12%) Serverless
6 19 (3.92%) Dynamics 365
7 17 (3.51%) GitHub
7 17 (3.51%) OpenShift
8 15 (3.09%) OCI
8 15 (3.09%) PowerApps
9 14 (2.89%) Azure Functions
10 12 (2.47%) Azure Logic Apps
11 11 (2.27%) GitHub Actions
12 10 (2.06%) Azure Monitor
13 9 (1.86%) SaaS
14 8 (1.65%) Entra ID
15 7 (1.44%) Amazon S3
15 7 (1.44%) Google App Engine
Communications & Networking
1 12 (2.47%) BGP
1 12 (2.47%) IPsec
1 12 (2.47%) LAN
1 12 (2.47%) MPLS
1 12 (2.47%) WAN
2 6 (1.24%) HTTPS
3 2 (0.41%) Firewall
3 2 (0.41%) Software-Defined Radio
3 2 (0.41%) Wireless
4 1 (0.21%) Broadband
4 1 (0.21%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 50 (10.31%) Data Warehouse
2 35 (7.22%) Oracle Reports
3 30 (6.19%) Oracle ODI
4 26 (5.36%) PostgreSQL
5 24 (4.95%) SQL Server
6 23 (4.74%) NoSQL
7 21 (4.33%) Power BI
8 15 (3.09%) Relational Database
9 12 (2.47%) MongoDB
10 11 (2.27%) Oracle BI Publisher
10 11 (2.27%) Siebel EIM
11 7 (1.44%) Azure SQL Database
11 7 (1.44%) Oracle Database
12 6 (1.24%) DataStage
13 5 (1.03%) Big Data
13 5 (1.03%) DynamoDB
13 5 (1.03%) MySQL
14 4 (0.82%) DocumentDB
14 4 (0.82%) GIS
15 3 (0.62%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 60 (12.37%) Git
2 23 (4.74%) JIRA
3 14 (2.89%) Jenkins
4 12 (2.47%) SonarQube
5 10 (2.06%) GitLab
6 9 (1.86%) Visual Studio
7 5 (1.03%) Bitbucket
7 5 (1.03%) JUnit
7 5 (1.03%) Maven
8 4 (0.82%) Gradle
8 4 (0.82%) NUnit
9 3 (0.62%) Postman
9 3 (0.62%) Subversion
10 2 (0.41%) Eclipse
10 2 (0.41%) fastlane
10 2 (0.41%) Mockito
10 2 (0.41%) Team Foundation Server
11 1 (0.21%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.21%) Cucumber
11 1 (0.21%) SpecFlow
General
1 38 (7.84%) Social Skills
2 33 (6.80%) Finance
3 29 (5.98%) Public Sector
4 24 (4.95%) Aerospace
5 17 (3.51%) Analytical Skills
6 15 (3.09%) Manufacturing
7 9 (1.86%) Law
7 9 (1.86%) Local Government
7 9 (1.86%) Telecoms
8 7 (1.44%) Automotive
8 7 (1.44%) Billing
9 5 (1.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.03%) Legal
10 4 (0.82%) Police
11 3 (0.62%) Aviation
11 3 (0.62%) Banking
11 3 (0.62%) Publishing
12 2 (0.41%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.41%) Retail
13 1 (0.21%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 78 (16.08%) .NET
2 59 (12.16%) REST
3 51 (10.52%) RESTful
4 35 (7.22%) React
5 29 (5.98%) AngularJS
6 27 (5.57%) Kafka
7 25 (5.15%) JSON
8 24 (4.95%) .NET Framework
9 21 (4.33%) SOAP
10 20 (4.12%) .NET Core
10 20 (4.12%) OAuth
11 19 (3.92%) Spring
12 18 (3.71%) Entity Framework
13 16 (3.30%) CSS
14 15 (3.09%) Spring Boot
15 14 (2.89%) ASP.NET
16 13 (2.68%) HTML
16 13 (2.68%) Web Services
17 12 (2.47%) Quarkus
17 12 (2.47%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 21 (4.33%) Distributed Systems
2 20 (4.12%) Data Structures
3 17 (3.51%) Algorithms
3 17 (3.51%) Cloud Native
3 17 (3.51%) Product Ownership
4 16 (3.30%) Enterprise Software
5 7 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (1.24%) Mobile App
7 5 (1.03%) Onboarding
8 4 (0.82%) AI Agents
8 4 (0.82%) Data Centre
8 4 (0.82%) Distributed Architecture
9 3 (0.62%) CMDB
9 3 (0.62%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (0.62%) FMCG
10 2 (0.41%) Device Driver
10 2 (0.41%) Embedded Systems
10 2 (0.41%) MicroBlaze
10 2 (0.41%) RISC-V
10 2 (0.41%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 18 (3.71%) Linux
2 12 (2.47%) Unix
2 12 (2.47%) Windows
3 4 (0.82%) Android
4 2 (0.41%) Apple iOS
4 2 (0.41%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (21.44%) Agile
2 82 (16.91%) CI/CD
3 73 (15.05%) DevOps
4 59 (12.16%) Software Engineering
5 53 (10.93%) Analytics
6 52 (10.72%) Scrum
7 49 (10.10%) Data Modelling
7 49 (10.10%) Full-Stack Development
8 48 (9.90%) Microservices
9 47 (9.69%) ETL
10 45 (9.28%) Problem-Solving
11 41 (8.45%) Business Intelligence
11 41 (8.45%) Performance Tuning
11 41 (8.45%) Unit Testing
12 38 (7.84%) Test Automation
13 29 (5.98%) Workflow
14 27 (5.57%) CRM
15 26 (5.36%) SDLC
16 25 (5.15%) Containerisation
17 23 (4.74%) Front End Development
Programming Languages
1 96 (19.79%) SQL
2 63 (12.99%) Java
3 62 (12.78%) C#
4 57 (11.75%) JavaScript
4 57 (11.75%) Python
5 25 (5.15%) TypeScript
6 20 (4.12%) Go
7 17 (3.51%) PL/SQL
8 11 (2.27%) C
9 9 (1.86%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 9 (1.86%) X++
10 8 (1.65%) C++
11 7 (1.44%) PowerShell
12 6 (1.24%) Apex Code
12 6 (1.24%) Kotlin
13 4 (0.82%) Bash
13 4 (0.82%) Bicep
14 3 (0.62%) Shell Script
14 3 (0.62%) VB
15 2 (0.41%) PHP
Qualifications
1 213 (43.92%) Security Cleared
2 171 (35.26%) SC Cleared
3 62 (12.78%) DV Cleared
4 12 (2.47%) Degree
5 7 (1.44%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.24%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (1.03%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.41%) 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 (6.60%) QA
2 11 (2.27%) Data Quality
3 4 (0.82%) Accessibility
3 4 (0.82%) GDPR
3 4 (0.82%) 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 (6.19%) Docker
2 11 (2.27%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.41%) Embedded Firmware
3 2 (0.41%) Firmware
3 2 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 40 (8.25%) Kubernetes
2 18 (3.71%) Terraform
3 12 (2.47%) 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 92 (18.97%) Oracle
2 53 (10.93%) ServiceNow
3 45 (9.28%) Microsoft
4 28 (5.77%) Siebel
5 17 (3.51%) Salesforce
6 11 (2.27%) Red Hat
7 8 (1.65%) Google
7 8 (1.65%) SAP
8 6 (1.24%) IBM
9 5 (1.03%) MuleSoft
9 5 (1.03%) Splunk
10 4 (0.82%) ESRI
11 3 (0.62%) Atlassian
12 2 (0.41%) Ab Initio
12 2 (0.41%) Blue Prism
12 2 (0.41%) CA Agile Central
12 2 (0.41%) Dynatrace
12 2 (0.41%) HP
12 2 (0.41%) Talend
12 2 (0.41%) Teradata