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 17 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 38 | 83 | 57 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +45 | -26 | +6 |
| Contract jobs citing Software Engineering | 346 | 90 | 150 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the South East | 5.24% | 2.49% | 3.51% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 6.45% | 2.80% | 4.18% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 130 | 49 | 78 |
| 10th Percentile | £282 | £271 | £357 |
| 25th Percentile | £372 | £325 | £425 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £475 | £500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +10.53% | -5.00% | -5.66% |
| 75th Percentile | £609 | £550 | £625 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £600 | £663 |
| England median daily rate | £550 | £575 | £601 |
| % change year-on-year | -4.35% | -4.25% | -1.27% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 108 | 22 | 45 |
| 10th Percentile | £48.64 | - | £52.20 |
| 25th Percentile | £53.34 | £52.50 | £61.28 |
| Median hourly rate | £60.75 | £55.00 | £70.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +10.45% | -21.43% | +27.27% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £57.50 | £75.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £91.31 | - | - |
| England median hourly rate | £65.00 | £65.00 | £65.50 |
| % change year-on-year | - | -0.76% | +0.77% |
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.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 5,366 | 3,209 | 3,587 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East | 81.33% | 88.82% | 83.99% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 3,081 | 2,012 | 2,172 |
| 10th Percentile | £273 | £213 | £260 |
| 25th Percentile | £415 | £381 | £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 | 721 | 334 | 183 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.45 | £13.50 | £16.25 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.38 | £16.17 | £30.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £45.00 | £20.71 | £58.49 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +117.29% | -64.59% | +9.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £70.00 | £40.09 | £70.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £88.00 | £68.75 | £75.00 |
| England median hourly rate | £38.00 | £25.15 | £42.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +51.09% | -40.82% | -5.56% |
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 Daily Rate Trend in the South East
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 17 October 2026.
Software Engineering Hourly Rate Trend in the South East
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 17 October 2026.
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 17 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hampshire | +34 | 118 | £500 | +17.65% | 198 |
| Thames Valley | +56 | 116 | £550 | +7.32% | 328 |
| Berkshire | +37 | 71 | £550 | +4.76% | 114 |
| Surrey | -5 | 51 | £525 | +10.53% | 84 |
| West Sussex | +1 | 40 | £296 | +2.60% | 47 |
| Oxfordshire | +1 | 31 | £625 | +38.89% | 174 |
| Buckinghamshire | - | 14 | £550 | - | 45 |
| East Sussex | - | 7 | £430 | - | 29 |
| Middlesex | -17 | 6 | £600 | -5.51% | 4 |
| Kent | - | 4 | - | - | 14 |
| Sussex | - | 3 | £325 | - | 9 |
| Isle of Wight | - | 1 | - | - | 5 |
| Software Engineering England |
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Software Engineering 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 | 33.5% | 116 |
| 2 | CI/CD | 24.3% | 84 |
| 3 | Test Automation | 17.9% | 62 |
| 4 | DevOps | 17.6% | 61 |
| 5 | Scrum | 16.5% | 57 |
| 6 | Continuous Improvement | 15.3% | 53 |
| 7 | Stakeholder Management | 13.6% | 47 |
| 8 | Problem-Solving | 13.0% | 45 |
| 9 | DevSecOps | 12.7% | 44 |
| 10 | Computer Science | 12.1% | 42 |
| 11 | SDLC | 11.3% | 39 |
| 12 | AI | 11.0% | 38 |
| 12 | Roadmaps | 11.0% | 38 |
| 14 | Validation | 10.1% | 35 |
| 15 | Mentoring | 9.5% | 33 |
| 16 | Technical Leadership | 9.0% | 31 |
| 17 | Digital Engineering | 8.7% | 30 |
| 18 | Infrastructure as Code | 8.4% | 29 |
| 19 | Unit Testing | 7.8% | 27 |
| 20 | Sprint Planning | 7.2% | 25 |