Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in the South East

Software Engineering
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 37 59 35
Rank change year-on-year +22 -24 +35
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 297 106 262
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 4.71% 3.37% 4.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.80% 3.70% 5.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 65 129
10th Percentile £280 £333 £400
25th Percentile £403 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £501 £538
Median % change year-on-year +4.90% -6.88% +2.38%
75th Percentile £650 £600 £638
90th Percentile £725 - £688
England median daily rate £550 £600 £603
% change year-on-year -8.33% -0.50% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 12 78
10th Percentile £47.00 £44.51 £45.00
25th Percentile £48.64 £45.82 £51.06
Median hourly rate £60.00 £53.69 £65.43
Median % change year-on-year +11.76% -17.94% +13.78%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.00 £75.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £64.52 -
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

Software Engineering 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 5,122 2,865 4,692
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 81.22% 91.10% 82.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,228 1,785 2,720
10th Percentile £280 £250 £256
25th Percentile £413 £387 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -2.44% -0.49%
75th Percentile £610 £600 £634
90th Percentile £700 £664 £700
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 505 233 460
10th Percentile £15.44 £13.30 £13.00
25th Percentile £23.00 £15.13 £18.20
Median hourly rate £53.90 £24.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +124.58% -49.47% -5.00%
75th Percentile £82.25 £55.00 £67.14
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £77.63
England median hourly rate £46.90 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +86.48% -34.02% +1.65%

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in the South East

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in the South East over the 6 months to 1 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Software Engineering in the South East

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

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

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Engineering in the South East over the 6 months to 1 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Engineering in the South East

Software Engineering
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 Software Engineering within the South East region over the 6 months to 1 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
Hampshire +30 131 £550 +5.77% 99
Thames Valley -18 70 £518 +3.50% 88
Surrey +9 56 £513 +7.89% 24
Berkshire -18 42 £510 +2.00% 32
Buckinghamshire -19 19 £361 -31.18% 21
West Sussex -5 17 £280 -2.78% 16
East Sussex - 12 £525 - 4
Oxfordshire -22 9 £800 +85.51% 35
Kent +2 5 £550 +15.79% 12
Sussex - 3 £323 - 6
Middlesex - 1 £470 - 2
Home Counties - 1 - -
Software Engineering
England

Software Engineering
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 5 (1.68%) Confluence
2 3 (1.01%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.34%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.34%) CMS
3 1 (0.34%) IIS
3 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.34%) SAS
Applications
1 7 (2.36%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.68%) CPLEX
3 2 (0.67%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 38 (12.79%) Azure
2 28 (9.43%) AWS
3 24 (8.08%) OpenShift
4 15 (5.05%) Azure DevOps
4 15 (5.05%) GitHub
5 12 (4.04%) GCP
5 12 (4.04%) Serverless
6 8 (2.69%) SaaS
7 7 (2.36%) GitHub Actions
8 6 (2.02%) Amazon S3
8 6 (2.02%) Azure Functions
9 4 (1.35%) Amazon EKS
9 4 (1.35%) Azure API Management
9 4 (1.35%) Azure Data Factory
9 4 (1.35%) Azure Storage
9 4 (1.35%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.35%) Snowflake
10 3 (1.01%) Amazon ECS
10 3 (1.01%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (1.01%) Azure AI
Communications & Networking
1 14 (4.71%) Wireless
2 10 (3.37%) Software-Defined Radio
3 1 (0.34%) HTTP
3 1 (0.34%) HTTPS
3 1 (0.34%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (7.07%) PostgreSQL
2 17 (5.72%) NoSQL
3 10 (3.37%) Relational Database
4 7 (2.36%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (2.02%) Big Data
5 6 (2.02%) DynamoDB
5 6 (2.02%) SQL Server
6 5 (1.68%) Azure SQL Database
6 5 (1.68%) Data Lake
6 5 (1.68%) MongoDB
7 4 (1.35%) Amazon Redshift
8 3 (1.01%) Geospatial Data
8 3 (1.01%) Metadata
9 2 (0.67%) Apache Iceberg
9 2 (0.67%) BigQuery
9 2 (0.67%) Pinecone
9 2 (0.67%) Power BI
9 2 (0.67%) Redis
9 2 (0.67%) Weaviate
10 1 (0.34%) Parquet
Development Applications
1 32 (10.77%) Git
2 20 (6.73%) SonarQube
3 17 (5.72%) GitLab
4 16 (5.39%) Jenkins
5 7 (2.36%) JIRA
6 3 (1.01%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.67%) JUnit
7 2 (0.67%) LabVIEW
7 2 (0.67%) Postman
7 2 (0.67%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.34%) Android Studio
8 1 (0.34%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.34%) MLflow
8 1 (0.34%) Mockito
8 1 (0.34%) NUnit
8 1 (0.34%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.34%) Selenium
8 1 (0.34%) Subversion
8 1 (0.34%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.34%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 49 (16.50%) Social Skills
2 41 (13.80%) Aerospace
3 24 (8.08%) Finance
4 19 (6.40%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (6.06%) Manufacturing
6 10 (3.37%) Public Sector
7 9 (3.03%) Law
8 6 (2.02%) Avionics
9 5 (1.68%) Aviation
10 3 (1.01%) Electronics
11 2 (0.67%) Automotive
11 2 (0.67%) Military
12 1 (0.34%) Advertising
12 1 (0.34%) Banking
12 1 (0.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.34%) Legal
12 1 (0.34%) Marketing
12 1 (0.34%) Retail Banking
12 1 (0.34%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 159 (53.54%) Software Engineer
2 57 (19.19%) Developer
3 46 (15.49%) Senior
4 38 (12.79%) Embedded Engineer
4 38 (12.79%) Embedded Software Engineer
5 21 (7.07%) Senior Software Engineer
6 18 (6.06%) Lead
7 17 (5.72%) Java Engineer
8 14 (4.71%) Engineering Manager
8 14 (4.71%) Java Developer
8 14 (4.71%) Software Engineering Manager
9 13 (4.38%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
10 12 (4.04%) Senior Developer
10 12 (4.04%) Software Developer
10 12 (4.04%) Software Manager
11 10 (3.37%) C++ Software Engineer
12 8 (2.69%) DevOps Engineer
12 8 (2.69%) Python Developer
12 8 (2.69%) Senior Manager
13 7 (2.36%) SC Cleared Java Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (7.74%) .NET
1 23 (7.74%) AngularJS
2 22 (7.41%) React
2 22 (7.41%) REST
3 18 (6.06%) Quarkus
4 14 (4.71%) Kafka
5 13 (4.38%) JSON
5 13 (4.38%) RESTful
6 10 (3.37%) WPF
7 8 (2.69%) WinForms
8 7 (2.36%) FastAPI
8 7 (2.36%) Flask
8 7 (2.36%) GraphQL
9 6 (2.02%) Node.js
9 6 (2.02%) pytest
9 6 (2.02%) RabbitMQ
9 6 (2.02%) Yocto
10 5 (1.68%) .NET Framework
10 5 (1.68%) Django
10 5 (1.68%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 26 (8.75%) Cloud Native
2 16 (5.39%) Algorithms
3 11 (3.70%) Distributed Systems
3 11 (3.70%) Product Ownership
4 10 (3.37%) Data Structures
5 9 (3.03%) Data Protection Act
6 8 (2.69%) Embedded Systems
7 6 (2.02%) Device Driver
8 5 (1.68%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.68%) MicroBlaze
8 5 (1.68%) RISC-V
8 5 (1.68%) Robotics
8 5 (1.68%) Social Media
9 4 (1.35%) Onboarding
9 4 (1.35%) Virtual Team
10 3 (1.01%) AI Agents
10 3 (1.01%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (1.01%) ARM Cortex
10 3 (1.01%) Distributed Architecture
10 3 (1.01%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 22 (7.41%) Linux
2 7 (2.36%) Embedded Linux
3 6 (2.02%) Android
4 5 (1.68%) Windows
5 2 (0.67%) Unix
6 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.34%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.34%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (25.93%) Agile
2 59 (19.87%) CI/CD
3 52 (17.51%) DevOps
4 38 (12.79%) Scrum
5 36 (12.12%) Test Automation
6 35 (11.78%) Problem-Solving
7 32 (10.77%) DevSecOps
8 29 (9.76%) AI
9 28 (9.43%) SDLC
9 28 (9.43%) Unit Testing
10 26 (8.75%) Containerisation
10 26 (8.75%) Front End Development
11 25 (8.42%) Microservices
12 23 (7.74%) Computer Science
12 23 (7.74%) Sprint Planning
13 18 (6.06%) Continuous Improvement
13 18 (6.06%) Sprint Review
14 17 (5.72%) Stakeholder Management
15 15 (5.05%) Machine Learning
15 15 (5.05%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 64 (21.55%) Java
2 52 (17.51%) Python
3 35 (11.78%) C
4 34 (11.45%) C#
5 30 (10.10%) SQL
6 28 (9.43%) JavaScript
7 27 (9.09%) C++
8 21 (7.07%) TypeScript
9 14 (4.71%) Go
10 10 (3.37%) Embedded C
11 6 (2.02%) Bash
12 5 (1.68%) Ada
12 5 (1.68%) PowerShell
13 4 (1.35%) PL/SQL
13 4 (1.35%) Scala
14 3 (1.01%) Rust
15 2 (0.67%) R
16 1 (0.34%) Apex Code
16 1 (0.34%) Embedded C++
16 1 (0.34%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 110 (37.04%) Security Cleared
2 90 (30.30%) SC Cleared
3 28 (9.43%) Degree
4 12 (4.04%) Computer Science Degree
5 8 (2.69%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.35%) DV Cleared
7 3 (1.01%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.67%) Master's Degree
9 1 (0.34%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 1 (0.34%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.34%) CCSP
9 1 (0.34%) CISA
9 1 (0.34%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.34%) CISSP
9 1 (0.34%) ISTQB
9 1 (0.34%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 1 (0.34%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.73%) QA
2 3 (1.01%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.67%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
4 1 (0.34%) GRC
4 1 (0.34%) ITGC
4 1 (0.34%) NIST
4 1 (0.34%) PMO
4 1 (0.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 26 (8.75%) Docker
2 7 (2.36%) Firmware
3 5 (1.68%) Embedded Firmware
4 4 (1.35%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 42 (14.14%) Kubernetes
2 19 (6.40%) Argo
3 15 (5.05%) Terraform
4 6 (2.02%) Ansible
5 5 (1.68%) Grafana
6 4 (1.35%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.67%) Kibana
7 2 (0.67%) Kubeflow
7 2 (0.67%) Puppet
8 1 (0.34%) CASB
8 1 (0.34%) HP Quality Center
8 1 (0.34%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 19 (6.40%) Red Hat
2 8 (2.69%) Microsoft
3 6 (2.02%) Databricks
3 6 (2.02%) Oracle
4 5 (1.68%) SAP
4 5 (1.68%) Workday
5 4 (1.35%) OpenAI
5 4 (1.35%) Siemens
6 3 (1.01%) Google
7 2 (0.67%) Ab Initio
7 2 (0.67%) Atlassian
7 2 (0.67%) Foundry
7 2 (0.67%) Salesforce
7 2 (0.67%) Teradata
8 1 (0.34%) Apple
8 1 (0.34%) Ariba
8 1 (0.34%) Coverity
8 1 (0.34%) Informatica
8 1 (0.34%) Thales
8 1 (0.34%) VMware