SDLC Contract Job Trends in the South East

Systems or Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring SDLC skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 103 115 82
Rank change year-on-year +12 -33 +21
Contract jobs citing SDLC 147 52 100
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 2.23% 1.44% 2.33%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.75% 1.62% 2.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 71 29 65
10th Percentile £313 £325 £385
25th Percentile £394 £365 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £600
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -16.67% +9.09%
75th Percentile £577 £585 £650
90th Percentile £773 £684 £660
England median daily rate £530 £525 £550
% change year-on-year +0.95% -4.55% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 7 2
10th Percentile £35.94 - £58.45
25th Percentile £55.63 - £59.88
Median hourly rate £70.00 £50.00 £63.51
Median % change year-on-year +40.00% -21.27% +20.97%
75th Percentile - - £65.89
90th Percentile £77.60 £52.00 £66.57
England median hourly rate £70.00 £50.00 £67.02
% change year-on-year +40.00% -25.40% +27.66%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

SDLC falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 5,352 3,211 3,586
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.21% 88.87% 83.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,088 2,015 2,165
10th Percentile £275 £213 £259
25th Percentile £417 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £510
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -1.96% -2.86%
75th Percentile £620 £588 £625
90th Percentile £713 £650 £688
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 703 330 181
10th Percentile £13.45 £13.50 £16.25
25th Percentile £16.33 £16.17 £30.00
Median hourly rate £45.00 £20.79 £58.49
Median % change year-on-year +116.45% -64.46% +7.58%
75th Percentile £70.00 £41.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £88.00 £69.65 £75.00
England median hourly rate £38.72 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +53.96% -40.82% -5.56%

SDLC
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

SDLC job vacancy trend in the South East

SDLC
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SDLC.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SDLC

SDLC
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SDLC in the South East over the 6 months to 15 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for SDLC in the South East

SDLC
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SDLC.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing SDLC

SDLC
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SDLC in the South East over the 6 months to 15 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for SDLC in the South East

SDLC
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 SDLC within the South East region over the 6 months to 15 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
Thames Valley -26 44 £550 +30.02% 16
Hampshire -3 40 £725 +41.46% 7
Surrey +14 38 £455 -17.27% 6
Berkshire -18 25 £550 +4.76% 8
Buckinghamshire -16 18 £555 +70.77% 4
West Sussex -15 16 £295 -43.81% 2
Middlesex - 5 - -
East Sussex - 5 £652 - 2
Kent - 1 £625 - 2
Oxfordshire - 1 £330 - 4
SDLC
England

SDLC
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 7 (4.76%) Confluence
2 5 (3.40%) FactoryTalk
3 2 (1.36%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.68%) Apache
Applications
1 4 (2.72%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (2.04%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (2.04%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (2.04%) Primavera
2 2 (1.36%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 1 (0.68%) Oracle Payroll
Cloud Services
1 41 (27.89%) AWS
2 26 (17.69%) Azure
3 21 (14.29%) OpenShift
4 12 (8.16%) GCP
5 8 (5.44%) Azure DevOps
6 5 (3.40%) GitHub
7 4 (2.72%) GitHub Actions
7 4 (2.72%) Power Platform
8 3 (2.04%) Entra ID
8 3 (2.04%) Microsoft 365
9 2 (1.36%) AWS CloudFormation
9 2 (1.36%) Power Automate
10 1 (0.68%) Azure AI
10 1 (0.68%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (0.68%) BrowserStack
10 1 (0.68%) Microsoft Copilot
10 1 (0.68%) Microsoft Purview
10 1 (0.68%) Serverless
10 1 (0.68%) Smartsheet
10 1 (0.68%) Tricentis Tosca
Communications & Networking
1 5 (3.40%) Broadband
1 5 (3.40%) Firewall
1 5 (3.40%) HTTPS
1 5 (3.40%) TCP/IP
1 5 (3.40%) VLAN
2 1 (0.68%) MQTT
2 1 (0.68%) Network Security
2 1 (0.68%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (10.88%) Relational Database
2 3 (2.04%) PostgreSQL
2 3 (2.04%) SQL Server
3 2 (1.36%) MySQL
3 2 (1.36%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.68%) Couchbase
4 1 (0.68%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.68%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.68%) Elasticsearch
4 1 (0.68%) Metadata
4 1 (0.68%) MongoDB
4 1 (0.68%) Oracle Reports
4 1 (0.68%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 24 (16.33%) Git
2 22 (14.97%) JIRA
3 21 (14.29%) SonarQube
4 16 (10.88%) Selenium
5 6 (4.08%) GitLab
5 6 (4.08%) Jenkins
6 5 (3.40%) Visual Studio
7 4 (2.72%) JMeter
8 3 (2.04%) Gatling
8 3 (2.04%) LoadRunner
9 2 (1.36%) Rational DOORS
9 2 (1.36%) REST Assured
10 1 (0.68%) Artifactory
10 1 (0.68%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.68%) JUnit
10 1 (0.68%) Mockito
10 1 (0.68%) Postman
10 1 (0.68%) SoapUI
10 1 (0.68%) TestRail
10 1 (0.68%) tSQLt
General
1 61 (41.50%) Social Skills
2 30 (20.41%) Analytical Skills
3 21 (14.29%) Aerospace
4 19 (12.93%) Finance
5 13 (8.84%) Manufacturing
5 13 (8.84%) Public Sector
6 10 (6.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 6 (4.08%) Influencing Skills
7 6 (4.08%) Pharmaceutical
8 2 (1.36%) Banking
8 2 (1.36%) Military
8 2 (1.36%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.36%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.68%) Automotive
9 1 (0.68%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 25 (17.01%) Developer
2 17 (11.56%) Senior
3 14 (9.52%) Analyst
4 13 (8.84%) Architect
4 13 (8.84%) Business Analyst
4 13 (8.84%) Java Developer
5 10 (6.80%) Consultant
5 10 (6.80%) Lead
6 9 (6.12%) Project Manager
6 9 (6.12%) Senior Analyst
6 9 (6.12%) Senior Business Analyst
7 7 (4.76%) Delivery Manager
7 7 (4.76%) Java Engineer
7 7 (4.76%) Software Developer
8 6 (4.08%) Security Architect
8 6 (4.08%) Technical Manager
8 6 (4.08%) Technical Project Manager
9 5 (3.40%) SC Cleared Java Developer
9 5 (3.40%) Tester
10 4 (2.72%) SC Cleared Business Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (14.29%) AngularJS
2 18 (12.24%) Quarkus
3 11 (7.48%) RESTful
4 8 (5.44%) .NET
4 8 (5.44%) REST
5 7 (4.76%) Spring
5 7 (4.76%) Web Services
6 6 (4.08%) Spring Boot
6 6 (4.08%) Terraform
7 5 (3.40%) Hibernate
7 5 (3.40%) Kafka
7 5 (3.40%) LDAP
7 5 (3.40%) OAuth
7 5 (3.40%) OpenID
7 5 (3.40%) SAML
8 4 (2.72%) OAuth2
8 4 (2.72%) XML
9 3 (2.04%) ARM Templates
9 3 (2.04%) Node.js
10 2 (1.36%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 17 (11.56%) Product Ownership
2 10 (6.80%) Cloud Native
3 9 (6.12%) Distributed Systems
4 7 (4.76%) Enterprise Software
5 6 (4.08%) Life Science
6 5 (3.40%) Operational Technology
6 5 (3.40%) SCADA
6 5 (3.40%) Security Posture
7 4 (2.72%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (2.72%) Social Media
8 3 (2.04%) Hybrid Cloud
8 3 (2.04%) PKI
9 2 (1.36%) Enterprise Cloud
9 2 (1.36%) Mobile App
9 2 (1.36%) Self-Motivation
10 1 (0.68%) AI Agents
10 1 (0.68%) Data Protection Act
10 1 (0.68%) Distributed Applications
10 1 (0.68%) Driving Licence
10 1 (0.68%) Genomics
Operating Systems
1 5 (3.40%) Windows
1 5 (3.40%) Windows Server
2 4 (2.72%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (69.39%) Agile
2 60 (40.82%) Test Automation
3 53 (36.05%) CI/CD
3 53 (36.05%) Scrum
4 47 (31.97%) Continuous Improvement
5 45 (30.61%) DevSecOps
6 41 (27.89%) Stakeholder Management
7 39 (26.53%) Problem-Solving
7 39 (26.53%) Software Engineering
8 33 (22.45%) Software Testing
9 32 (21.77%) Containerisation
9 32 (21.77%) Vulnerability Management
10 31 (21.09%) Sprint Planning
10 31 (21.09%) Validation
11 28 (19.05%) Defect Management
12 26 (17.69%) Cybersecurity
13 25 (17.01%) DevOps
13 25 (17.01%) Regression Testing
14 23 (15.65%) Coaching
14 23 (15.65%) Security Testing
Programming Languages
1 42 (28.57%) Java
2 30 (20.41%) Python
3 22 (14.97%) SQL
4 11 (7.48%) PowerShell
5 7 (4.76%) C#
5 7 (4.76%) C++
6 6 (4.08%) Bash
7 5 (3.40%) JavaScript
8 4 (2.72%) Bicep
8 4 (2.72%) VB.NET
9 2 (1.36%) Go
9 2 (1.36%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.68%) Ada
10 1 (0.68%) C
10 1 (0.68%) Groovy
10 1 (0.68%) Kotlin
10 1 (0.68%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.68%) Rust
10 1 (0.68%) Shell Script
10 1 (0.68%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 88 (59.86%) Security Cleared
2 70 (47.62%) SC Cleared
3 22 (14.97%) Degree
4 19 (12.93%) DV Cleared
5 17 (11.56%) CISSP
6 11 (7.48%) ISTQB
7 10 (6.80%) CISM
8 9 (6.12%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 9 (6.12%) Cisco Certification
9 8 (5.44%) ISEB
10 7 (4.76%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
11 6 (4.08%) CompTIA Security+
11 6 (4.08%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 5 (3.40%) CEH
12 5 (3.40%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
13 4 (2.72%) DBS Check
13 4 (2.72%) ISO 27001 Lead Auditor
14 3 (2.04%) AWS Certification
14 3 (2.04%) CBAP
14 3 (2.04%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (27.21%) QA
2 14 (9.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (9.52%) NIST
3 8 (5.44%) NCSC
4 5 (3.40%) 21 CFR Part 11
4 5 (3.40%) GxP
5 4 (2.72%) Cyber Essentials
5 4 (2.72%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 4 (2.72%) Def Stans
5 4 (2.72%) GDPR
5 4 (2.72%) NIST 800
6 2 (1.36%) Accessibility
6 2 (1.36%) GRC
7 1 (0.68%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 1 (0.68%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.68%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.68%) PMO
7 1 (0.68%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 8 (5.44%) VMware Infrastructure
2 7 (4.76%) Docker
3 5 (3.40%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 37 (25.17%) Kubernetes
2 20 (13.61%) Argo
3 5 (3.40%) Ansible
4 4 (2.72%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 1 (0.68%) Grafana
5 1 (0.68%) Podman
5 1 (0.68%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.68%) Puppet
5 1 (0.68%) QRadar
5 1 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 20 (13.61%) Red Hat
2 16 (10.88%) Microsoft
3 9 (6.12%) VMware
4 5 (3.40%) Rockwell
5 3 (2.04%) Oracle
6 2 (1.36%) CA Agile Central
6 2 (1.36%) Google
6 2 (1.36%) SAP
6 2 (1.36%) Sparx
7 1 (0.68%) ForgeRock
7 1 (0.68%) Foundry
7 1 (0.68%) IBM
7 1 (0.68%) MuleSoft
7 1 (0.68%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.68%) Okta
7 1 (0.68%) Ping Identity
7 1 (0.68%) Salesforce
7 1 (0.68%) Splunk
7 1 (0.68%) Tenable