Solutions Architect Contract Job Trends in the South East

Solution Architect
England > South East

The median Solution Architect daily rate in the South East is £613, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 12 January 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 66 97 62
Rank change year-on-year +31 -35 +2
Contract jobs requiring a Solutions Architect 133 69 162
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 3.09% 2.05% 3.22%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.41% 2.22% 3.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 87 42 115
10th Percentile £462 £500 £508
25th Percentile £500 £563 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £613 £650 £643
Median % change year-on-year -5.77% +1.08% +0.68%
75th Percentile £691 £772 £675
90th Percentile £738 £800 £706
England median daily rate £625 £625 £650
% change year-on-year - -3.85% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 0 2
10th Percentile - - £75.54
25th Percentile £77.55 - £80.09
Median hourly rate £83.82 - £88.94
75th Percentile £94.77 - £96.53
90th Percentile £95.00 - £100.33
England median hourly rate £83.82 £66.00 £75.00
% change year-on-year +27.00% -12.00% +7.14%

All Contract IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 3,901 3,108 4,704
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.53% 92.56% 93.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,532 1,944 3,023
10th Percentile £231 £238 £205
25th Percentile £400 £400 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
75th Percentile £600 £613 £608
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £503 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.24% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 349 113 283
10th Percentile £13.88 £18.82 £16.00
25th Percentile £16.50 £24.18 £24.42
Median hourly rate £25.15 £41.00 £54.56
Median % change year-on-year -38.66% -24.85% +28.63%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.50 £65.55
90th Percentile £84.68 £67.40 £76.53
England median hourly rate £27.50 £35.00 £43.42
% change year-on-year -21.43% -19.38% +24.04%

Solutions Architect
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Solutions Architect' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Solutions Architect job vacancy trend in the South East

Solutions Architect
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Solutions Architect job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Solutions Architect job vacancies in the South East

Solutions Architect
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Solutions Architect in the South East over the 6 months to 12 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Solutions Architect in the South East

Solutions Architect
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Solutions Architect job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Solutions Architect job vacancies in the South East

Solutions Architect
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 Solutions Architect within the South East region over the 6 months to 12 January 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 +16 78 £550 -15.38% 14
Berkshire +21 64 £536 -15.26% 7
Hampshire -7 25 £638 +2.00% 8
Surrey +4 13 £500 -33.33% 4
Buckinghamshire +2 11 £500 -28.57% 5
West Sussex -4 7 £720 -10.00% 1
Kent - 6 £625 - 2
Oxfordshire -11 3 £550 -29.03% 2
Solutions Architect
England

Solutions Architect Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 12 January 2026, Solutions Architect contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the South East region featuring Solutions Architect in the job title.

1 43 (32.33%) Azure
2 32 (24.06%) Roadmaps
3 26 (19.55%) Security Cleared
4 23 (17.29%) Agile
5 20 (15.04%) Microsoft
6 18 (13.53%) AWS
6 18 (13.53%) Salesforce
7 17 (12.78%) Architectural Design
7 17 (12.78%) Migration
8 15 (11.28%) Microservices
8 15 (11.28%) Stakeholder Management
9 14 (10.53%) DevOps
9 14 (10.53%) TOGAF
10 13 (9.77%) SC Cleared
10 13 (9.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 12 (9.02%) DV Cleared
11 12 (9.02%) Enterprise Architecture
11 12 (9.02%) SAP
12 10 (7.52%) Containerisation
13 9 (6.77%) Analytics
13 9 (6.77%) Cybersecurity
13 9 (6.77%) Integration Patterns
14 8 (6.02%) AI
14 8 (6.02%) CRM
14 8 (6.02%) Data Modelling
14 8 (6.02%) GCP
14 8 (6.02%) Git
14 8 (6.02%) IBM
15 7 (5.26%) .NET
15 7 (5.26%) Azure DevOps

Solutions Architect Skill Set
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 6 (4.51%) ArcGIS
2 3 (2.26%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (2.26%) SharePoint
3 2 (1.50%) Documentum
4 1 (0.75%) Confluence
4 1 (0.75%) ThingWorx
Business Applications
1 7 (5.26%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (4.51%) Maximo
3 5 (3.76%) Workday HCM
4 3 (2.26%) SAP PM
5 2 (1.50%) Dynamics AX
5 2 (1.50%) SAP HR
6 1 (0.75%) Oracle Retail
6 1 (0.75%) Salesforce CRM
Cloud Services
1 43 (32.33%) Azure
2 18 (13.53%) AWS
3 8 (6.02%) GCP
4 7 (5.26%) Azure DevOps
5 6 (4.51%) Dynamics 365
6 5 (3.76%) Entra ID
6 5 (3.76%) OpenShift
7 4 (3.01%) Microsoft 365
7 4 (3.01%) Microsoft Purview
7 4 (3.01%) SaaS
7 4 (3.01%) Serverless
8 3 (2.26%) OneDrive
8 3 (2.26%) PaaS
8 3 (2.26%) Salesforce Service Cloud
9 2 (1.50%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 2 (1.50%) Amazon S3
9 2 (1.50%) AWS Lambda
9 2 (1.50%) CloudFront
9 2 (1.50%) Datadog
9 2 (1.50%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 3 (2.26%) DWDM
1 3 (2.26%) IPsec
1 3 (2.26%) SD-WAN
2 2 (1.50%) Firewall
2 2 (1.50%) SDH
3 1 (0.75%) 4G
3 1 (0.75%) ADSL
3 1 (0.75%) MQTT
3 1 (0.75%) Network Security
3 1 (0.75%) RFID
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (3.76%) GIS
2 3 (2.26%) Electronic Patient Records
2 3 (2.26%) SQL Server
2 3 (2.26%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (0.75%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 8 (6.02%) Git
2 7 (5.26%) JIRA
3 6 (4.51%) Jenkins
4 2 (1.50%) Postman
4 2 (1.50%) Rational DOORS
4 2 (1.50%) Visual Studio Code
5 1 (0.75%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.75%) GitLab
General
1 36 (27.07%) Social Skills
2 15 (11.28%) Retail
3 12 (9.02%) Finance
4 8 (6.02%) Public Sector
5 6 (4.51%) Presentation Skills
5 6 (4.51%) Telecoms
6 4 (3.01%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (3.01%) Legal
7 3 (2.26%) Billing
7 3 (2.26%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (2.26%) Marketing
8 2 (1.50%) Banking
8 2 (1.50%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.75%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.75%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (5.26%) .NET
2 4 (3.01%) SOAP
3 3 (2.26%) Lightning Web Components
3 3 (2.26%) REST
3 3 (2.26%) RESTful
3 3 (2.26%) Visualforce
4 2 (1.50%) .NET Core
4 2 (1.50%) JSON
4 2 (1.50%) SAP PI
4 2 (1.50%) Swagger
4 2 (1.50%) WSDL
4 2 (1.50%) XML
4 2 (1.50%) XSLT
5 1 (0.75%) .NET Framework
5 1 (0.75%) ADO
5 1 (0.75%) Ajax
5 1 (0.75%) COM
5 1 (0.75%) COM+
5 1 (0.75%) Middleware
5 1 (0.75%) MSMQ
Miscellaneous
1 12 (9.02%) Legacy Systems
2 9 (6.77%) Cloud Native
3 6 (4.51%) Onboarding
3 6 (4.51%) Operational Technology
4 4 (3.01%) Product Ownership
4 4 (3.01%) SCADA
5 3 (2.26%) Data Centre
5 3 (2.26%) LIMS
5 3 (2.26%) NHS
5 3 (2.26%) PACS
5 3 (2.26%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (2.26%) Smart Meter
6 2 (1.50%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.50%) CMDB
6 2 (1.50%) IoT
6 2 (1.50%) Management Information System
6 2 (1.50%) Marketing Technology
6 2 (1.50%) PKI
6 2 (1.50%) Security Operations Centre
7 1 (0.75%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 7 (5.26%) Linux
1 7 (5.26%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 32 (24.06%) Roadmaps
2 23 (17.29%) Agile
3 17 (12.78%) Architectural Design
3 17 (12.78%) Migration
4 15 (11.28%) Microservices
4 15 (11.28%) Stakeholder Management
5 14 (10.53%) DevOps
5 14 (10.53%) TOGAF
6 13 (9.77%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 12 (9.02%) Enterprise Architecture
8 10 (7.52%) Containerisation
9 9 (6.77%) Analytics
9 9 (6.77%) Cybersecurity
9 9 (6.77%) Integration Patterns
10 8 (6.02%) AI
10 8 (6.02%) CRM
10 8 (6.02%) Data Modelling
11 7 (5.26%) Data Migration
11 7 (5.26%) Data Visualisation
11 7 (5.26%) Visualisation
Programming Languages
1 4 (3.01%) Java
1 4 (3.01%) JavaScript
1 4 (3.01%) SQL
2 3 (2.26%) Apex Code
2 3 (2.26%) C#
3 2 (1.50%) Python
4 1 (0.75%) Perl
4 1 (0.75%) PHP
Qualifications
1 26 (19.55%) Security Cleared
2 13 (9.77%) SC Cleared
3 12 (9.02%) DV Cleared
4 5 (3.76%) Azure Certification
4 5 (3.76%) RHCE
4 5 (3.76%) TOGAF Certification
5 4 (3.01%) AWS Certification
5 4 (3.01%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (2.26%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
6 3 (2.26%) CISSP
6 3 (2.26%) Degree
7 1 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (5.26%) GDPR
2 4 (3.01%) NCSC
2 4 (3.01%) NIST
3 2 (1.50%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.75%) GRC
4 1 (0.75%) HIPAA
4 1 (0.75%) HL7
4 1 (0.75%) NIST 800
4 1 (0.75%) PMO
System Software
1 3 (2.26%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.75%) Docker
Systems Management
1 6 (4.51%) Kubernetes
2 5 (3.76%) Ansible
2 5 (3.76%) Terraform
3 2 (1.50%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.75%) Netcool
4 1 (0.75%) Netcool/OMNIbus
4 1 (0.75%) SCCM
Vendors
1 20 (15.04%) Microsoft
2 18 (13.53%) Salesforce
3 12 (9.02%) SAP
4 8 (6.02%) IBM
5 7 (5.26%) OpenAI
6 6 (4.51%) Virgin Media
6 6 (4.51%) Workday
7 5 (3.76%) Red Hat
8 3 (2.26%) Cisco
8 3 (2.26%) ESRI
8 3 (2.26%) Nokia
8 3 (2.26%) Oracle
8 3 (2.26%) Palantir
8 3 (2.26%) Palo Alto
8 3 (2.26%) ServiceNow
9 2 (1.50%) F5
9 2 (1.50%) HubSpot
9 2 (1.50%) Juniper
9 2 (1.50%) Sitecore
9 2 (1.50%) VMware