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 18 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 97 | 121 | 84 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +24 | -37 | +18 |
| Contract jobs citing SDLC | 147 | 51 | 100 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the South East | 2.24% | 1.41% | 2.34% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 2.75% | 1.58% | 2.79% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 72 | 28 | 65 |
| 10th Percentile | £297 | £325 | £385 |
| 25th Percentile | £388 | £403 | £425 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £513 | £600 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.44% | -14.58% | +9.09% |
| 75th Percentile | £576 | £586 | £650 |
| 90th Percentile | £769 | £688 | £660 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £525 | £550 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -4.55% | -8.33% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 38 | 7 | 2 |
| 10th Percentile | £35.66 | - | £58.45 |
| 25th Percentile | £55.31 | - | £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 | £82.78 | £52.00 | £66.57 |
| England median hourly rate | £70.00 | £50.00 | £67.02 |
| % change year-on-year | +40.00% | -25.40% | +28.02% |
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.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 5,339 | 3,219 | 3,586 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East | 81.31% | 88.78% | 84.02% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,058 | 2,020 | 2,170 |
| 10th Percentile | £275 | £219 | £260 |
| 25th Percentile | £418 | £385 | £400 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £510 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -1.96% | -2.86% |
| 75th Percentile | £622 | £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 | 719 | 337 | 184 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.50 | £16.25 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.38 | £16.17 | £30.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £45.00 | £20.71 | £58.43 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +117.29% | -64.56% | +9.22% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £40.65 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £88.08 | £69.11 | £75.00 |
| England median hourly rate | £38.25 | £25.15 | £42.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +52.09% | -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 Daily Rate Trend in the South East
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 18 October 2026.
SDLC Hourly Rate Trend in the South East
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 18 October 2026.
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 18 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 | -17 | 44 | £550 | +30.02% | 50 |
| Hampshire | -4 | 40 | £725 | +41.46% | 40 |
| Surrey | +15 | 37 | £455 | -17.27% | 17 |
| Berkshire | -18 | 25 | £550 | +4.76% | 27 |
| Buckinghamshire | -10 | 18 | £555 | +70.77% | 8 |
| West Sussex | -14 | 17 | £290 | -44.76% | 10 |
| Middlesex | - | 5 | - | - | |
| East Sussex | - | 4 | £652 | - | 7 |
| Kent | - | 1 | £625 | - | 7 |
| Oxfordshire | - | 1 | £330 | - | 15 |
| Isle of Wight | - | 1 | - | - | 2 |
| SDLC England |
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SDLC 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.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agile | 70.1% | 103 |
| 2 | Test Automation | 40.8% | 60 |
| 3 | CI/CD | 36.7% | 54 |
| 4 | Scrum | 36.1% | 53 |
| 5 | Continuous Improvement | 32.7% | 48 |
| 6 | DevSecOps | 29.9% | 44 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Management | 27.9% | 41 |
| 8 | Problem-Solving | 26.5% | 39 |
| 8 | Software Engineering | 26.5% | 39 |
| 10 | Software Testing | 23.1% | 34 |
| 11 | Containerisation | 22.4% | 33 |
| 12 | Vulnerability Management | 21.8% | 32 |
| 13 | Validation | 21.1% | 31 |
| 14 | Sprint Planning | 20.4% | 30 |
| 15 | Defect Management | 19.7% | 29 |
| 16 | Cybersecurity | 17.7% | 26 |
| 16 | Regression Testing | 17.7% | 26 |
| 18 | Acceptance Criteria | 16.3% | 24 |
| 18 | DevOps | 16.3% | 24 |
| 20 | Application Security | 15.6% | 23 |