Master's Degree Contract Job Trends in the South East

Master's Degree
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the South East with a requirement for Master's Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 17 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 207 131 146
Rank change year-on-year -76 +15 +23
Contract jobs citing Master's Degree 22 34 52
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.34% 1.00% 0.94%
As % of the Qualifications category 0.74% 2.49% 2.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 13 19 22
10th Percentile £426 £348 £350
25th Percentile £463 £400 £385
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £588 £537 £625
90th Percentile £690 £595 £709
England median daily rate £563 £550 £550
% change year-on-year +2.27% - -15.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 15
10th Percentile £25.36 - £41.20
25th Percentile £26.72 - £41.50
Median hourly rate £28.98 £87.05 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -66.71% +33.92% +44.44%
75th Percentile £31.24 - £85.00
90th Percentile £32.60 - £92.22
England median hourly rate £36.00 £60.00 £55.63
% change year-on-year -40.00% +7.87% +14.10%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
South East

Master's Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the South East.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 2,968 1,365 2,495
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 45.49% 40.16% 45.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,018 879 1,473
10th Percentile £325 £263 £350
25th Percentile £456 £413 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £544 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +3.57% -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £625 £600 £646
90th Percentile £725 £663 £725
England median daily rate £525 £525 £535
% change year-on-year - -1.87% -2.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 307 105 222
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.87 £17.80
25th Percentile £31.25 £24.66 £27.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £41.00 £57.35
Median % change year-on-year +58.54% -28.51% -5.70%
75th Percentile £85.00 £70.00 £71.62
90th Percentile £89.80 £85.43 £87.46
England median hourly rate £54.00 £27.13 £43.00
% change year-on-year +99.08% -36.92% -21.82%

Master's Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Master's Degree relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Master's Degree job vacancy trend in the South East

Master's Degree
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Master's Degree.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Master's Degree

Master's Degree
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Master's Degree in the South East over the 6 months to 17 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Master's Degree in the South East

Master's Degree
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Master's Degree.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Master's Degree

Master's Degree
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 Master's Degree within the South East region over the 6 months to 17 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 -61 11 £550 +15.79% 24
Surrey -15 6 £538 +7.50% 5
Berkshire -50 6 £550 +22.22% 8
Kent +3 4 - - 1
Oxfordshire - 4 £550 - 13
Buckinghamshire -36 1 - - 3
Hampshire -39 1 £650 +26.34% 8
Master's Degree
England

Master's Degree
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 2 (9.09%) Apache Spark
2 1 (4.55%) SharePoint
Applications
1 2 (9.09%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (4.55%) Chatbot
2 1 (4.55%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (4.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (4.55%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 11 (50.00%) Azure
2 7 (31.82%) AWS
2 7 (31.82%) GCP
3 4 (18.18%) Entra ID
4 3 (13.64%) Power Platform
5 1 (4.55%) Azure DevOps
5 1 (4.55%) Dialogflow
5 1 (4.55%) Google Workspace
5 1 (4.55%) SaaS
5 1 (4.55%) Serverless
5 1 (4.55%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 1 (4.55%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (13.64%) PostgreSQL
1 3 (13.64%) Power BI
1 3 (13.64%) Relational Database
2 2 (9.09%) Big Data
2 2 (9.09%) Hadoop
2 2 (9.09%) Tableau
3 1 (4.55%) MySQL
3 1 (4.55%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (13.64%) JIRA
2 2 (9.09%) Git
General
1 11 (50.00%) Social Skills
2 7 (31.82%) Analytical Skills
2 7 (31.82%) Finance
3 4 (18.18%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 4 (18.18%) Public Sector
4 2 (9.09%) Aerospace
4 2 (9.09%) Legal
4 2 (9.09%) Presentation Skills
5 1 (4.55%) Aviation
5 1 (4.55%) Law
Job Titles
1 5 (22.73%) Lead
2 3 (13.64%) Technology Manager
3 2 (9.09%) Architect
3 2 (9.09%) Business Manager
3 2 (9.09%) Business Relationship Manager
3 2 (9.09%) Data Scientist
3 2 (9.09%) Relationships Manager
3 2 (9.09%) Senior
3 2 (9.09%) Technical Leader
4 1 (4.55%) Consultant
4 1 (4.55%) Developer
4 1 (4.55%) Information Assurance Officer
4 1 (4.55%) Integration Project Manager
4 1 (4.55%) IT Manager
4 1 (4.55%) Portfolio Manager
4 1 (4.55%) Programme Manager
4 1 (4.55%) Project Manager
4 1 (4.55%) Security Manager
4 1 (4.55%) Senior Architect
4 1 (4.55%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (22.73%) OAuth
1 5 (22.73%) OpenID
2 3 (13.64%) CSS
2 3 (13.64%) HTML
2 3 (13.64%) LDAP
2 3 (13.64%) React
2 3 (13.64%) SAML
3 2 (9.09%) .NET
3 2 (9.09%) Django
3 2 (9.09%) Matplotlib
3 2 (9.09%) OAuth2
3 2 (9.09%) PyTorch
3 2 (9.09%) REST
3 2 (9.09%) RESTful
3 2 (9.09%) Seaborn
3 2 (9.09%) TensorFlow
4 1 (4.55%) HTML5
4 1 (4.55%) Middleware
4 1 (4.55%) Node.js
4 1 (4.55%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 5 (22.73%) Security Posture
2 3 (13.64%) Legacy Systems
2 3 (13.64%) Management Information System
2 3 (13.64%) PKI
3 2 (9.09%) Algorithms
3 2 (9.09%) Cloud Native
3 2 (9.09%) Cyber Threat
3 2 (9.09%) Enterprise Software
4 1 (4.55%) Analytical Mindset
4 1 (4.55%) CESG
4 1 (4.55%) Distributed Systems
4 1 (4.55%) Driving Licence
4 1 (4.55%) Hybrid Cloud
4 1 (4.55%) Onboarding
Processes & Methodologies
1 11 (50.00%) Computer Science
2 10 (45.45%) Agile
3 8 (36.36%) Stakeholder Management
4 7 (31.82%) Cybersecurity
4 7 (31.82%) Problem-Solving
4 7 (31.82%) Roadmaps
5 6 (27.27%) Analytics
5 6 (27.27%) Continuous Improvement
5 6 (27.27%) DevOps
5 6 (27.27%) ITIL
5 6 (27.27%) Technical Leadership
5 6 (27.27%) User-Centered Design (UCD)
6 5 (22.73%) Decision-Making
6 5 (22.73%) Digital Transformation Programme
6 5 (22.73%) Information Security
6 5 (22.73%) Microservices
7 4 (18.18%) Business Continuity
7 4 (18.18%) CI/CD
7 4 (18.18%) Risk Management
7 4 (18.18%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 6 (27.27%) Python
2 3 (13.64%) JavaScript
3 2 (9.09%) Java
3 2 (9.09%) R
3 2 (9.09%) SQL
4 1 (4.55%) Bash
4 1 (4.55%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 22 (100.00%) Degree
2 7 (31.82%) Computer Science Degree
3 4 (18.18%) MBA
3 4 (18.18%) PMI Certification
3 4 (18.18%) PMP
4 3 (13.64%) CISSP
4 3 (13.64%) SC Cleared
4 3 (13.64%) Security Cleared
5 2 (9.09%) CISA
6 1 (4.55%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 1 (4.55%) AWS Certification
6 1 (4.55%) Azure Certification
6 1 (4.55%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (4.55%) CCSP
6 1 (4.55%) CESG Certified Professional
6 1 (4.55%) Cisco Certification
6 1 (4.55%) CISM
6 1 (4.55%) CISMP
6 1 (4.55%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (13.64%) GRC
1 3 (13.64%) NIST
1 3 (13.64%) PMO
1 3 (13.64%) QA
2 2 (9.09%) Accessibility
2 2 (9.09%) Data Quality
3 1 (4.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (4.55%) ITGC
3 1 (4.55%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 4 (18.18%) Docker
2 3 (13.64%) Active Directory
2 3 (13.64%) OpenAM
Systems Management
1 4 (18.18%) Kubernetes
2 3 (13.64%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 1 (4.55%) CASB
Vendors
1 6 (27.27%) Microsoft
2 2 (9.09%) SAP
3 1 (4.55%) Google
3 1 (4.55%) Infor
3 1 (4.55%) JDA
3 1 (4.55%) Oracle
3 1 (4.55%) Planview
3 1 (4.55%) ServiceNow