Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in the South West

Software Engineering
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 32 31
Rank change year-on-year +22 -1 -4
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 317 96 166
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 9.35% 5.70% 5.13%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.83% 6.27% 6.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 63 42 60
10th Percentile £442 £355 £432
25th Percentile £513 £413 £464
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £563 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.22% +7.14% -9.33%
75th Percentile £644 £648 £644
90th Percentile £700 £681 £725
England median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 188 34 78
10th Percentile £53.53 £62.15 £52.50
25th Percentile - £65.00 £61.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £67.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.70% -3.57% +6.87%
75th Percentile £67.25 £68.75 -
90th Percentile £68.00 £70.00 £71.13
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £62.50
% change year-on-year - +4.00% -3.85%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South West

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 West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,680 1,531 2,672
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 79.01% 90.86% 82.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,450 943 1,706
10th Percentile £325 £220 £236
25th Percentile £413 £388 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £606 £623 £625
90th Percentile £700 £688 £700
England median daily rate £513 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.25% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 469 153 352
10th Percentile £16.01 £18.13 £13.86
25th Percentile £25.15 £18.51 £29.75
Median hourly rate £57.50 £36.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.72% -34.55% -6.22%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.14 £70.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £46.43 £28.18 £36.50
% change year-on-year +64.76% -22.79% -2.46%

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

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

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in the South West

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

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

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

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Histogram in the South West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in the South West over the 6 months to 28 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Software Engineering in the South West

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

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

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

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Engineering in the South West over the 6 months to 28 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Engineering in the South West

Software Engineering
Contract Job Locations in the South West

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 West region over the 6 months to 28 May 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
Bristol +14 235 £525 +40.00% 95
Gloucestershire +12 29 £606 -9.21% 70
Dorset +5 16 £550 +15.79% 20
Wiltshire -9 13 £575 -1.71% 6
Somerset -7 11 £671 +45.08% 25
Devon -15 8 £613 +28.95% 17
Cornwall - 2 £628 -
Software Engineering
England

Software Engineering
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 (2.21%) Apache
1 7 (2.21%) Confluence
2 3 (0.95%) Apache Spark
3 2 (0.63%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (0.95%) Simulink
2 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 37 (11.67%) AWS
2 23 (7.26%) Azure
3 8 (2.52%) GCP
4 5 (1.58%) GitHub
5 3 (0.95%) Entra ID
5 3 (0.95%) OpenShift
5 3 (0.95%) Serverless
6 2 (0.63%) AWS CloudFormation
6 2 (0.63%) AWS Lambda
6 2 (0.63%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.32%) Amazon EC2
7 1 (0.32%) Amazon EventBridge
7 1 (0.32%) Amazon S3
7 1 (0.32%) Amazon SQS
7 1 (0.32%) Azure DevOps
7 1 (0.32%) Figma
7 1 (0.32%) GitHub Actions
7 1 (0.32%) Microsoft 365
7 1 (0.32%) Power Automate
7 1 (0.32%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.21%) TCP/IP
2 6 (1.89%) Ethernet
3 1 (0.32%) AMQP
3 1 (0.32%) Bluetooth
3 1 (0.32%) Firewall
3 1 (0.32%) Network Security
3 1 (0.32%) VPN
3 1 (0.32%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (2.21%) PostgreSQL
2 5 (1.58%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (1.26%) Amazon Aurora
3 4 (1.26%) DynamoDB
3 4 (1.26%) MongoDB
3 4 (1.26%) MySQL
4 3 (0.95%) Apache Cassandra
4 3 (0.95%) Big Data
4 3 (0.95%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.95%) HBase
4 3 (0.95%) NoSQL
4 3 (0.95%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.63%) Power BI
6 1 (0.32%) Geospatial Data
6 1 (0.32%) GIS
6 1 (0.32%) InfluxDB
6 1 (0.32%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 22 (6.94%) GitLab
2 18 (5.68%) Git
3 17 (5.36%) Rational Rhapsody
4 15 (4.73%) Jenkins
5 11 (3.47%) JIRA
6 7 (2.21%) Visual Studio
7 6 (1.89%) Eclipse
8 4 (1.26%) JUnit
8 4 (1.26%) Oracle APEX
8 4 (1.26%) Selenium
9 3 (0.95%) Artifactory
10 2 (0.63%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.63%) Sonatype Nexus
11 1 (0.32%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.32%) Bitbucket
11 1 (0.32%) NUnit
General
1 33 (10.41%) Aerospace
2 31 (9.78%) Social Skills
3 13 (4.10%) Finance
4 11 (3.47%) Law
5 10 (3.15%) Military
6 8 (2.52%) Analytical Skills
7 5 (1.58%) Automotive
7 5 (1.58%) Public Sector
8 4 (1.26%) Banking
9 3 (0.95%) Electronics
10 2 (0.63%) Documentation Skills
10 2 (0.63%) Financial Institution
10 2 (0.63%) Investment Banking
10 2 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.63%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.32%) Legal
11 1 (0.32%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 267 (84.23%) Software Engineer
2 60 (18.93%) C++ Software Engineer
3 51 (16.09%) Embedded Engineer
3 51 (16.09%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 30 (9.46%) Ada Engineer
4 30 (9.46%) Ada Software Engineer
5 29 (9.15%) Algorithm Engineer
6 21 (6.62%) Java Engineer
6 21 (6.62%) Java Software Engineer
7 20 (6.31%) Developer
7 20 (6.31%) Senior
8 17 (5.36%) Senior Software Engineer
9 13 (4.10%) Applications Engineer
10 12 (3.79%) C# Software Engineer
11 10 (3.15%) Lead
12 9 (2.84%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
13 8 (2.52%) Java Developer
14 6 (1.89%) C Software Engineer
14 6 (1.89%) C/C++ Software Engineer
14 6 (1.89%) PHP Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (9.78%) Middleware
2 17 (5.36%) Qt
3 15 (4.73%) REST
4 11 (3.47%) Node.js
5 9 (2.84%) React
6 8 (2.52%) Spring Boot
7 7 (2.21%) .NET
8 6 (1.89%) Web Services
9 5 (1.58%) AWS CDK
10 4 (1.26%) GraphQL
10 4 (1.26%) SOAP
11 3 (0.95%) Apache NiFi
11 3 (0.95%) Flask
11 3 (0.95%) Jest
11 3 (0.95%) Kafka
11 3 (0.95%) Spring
12 2 (0.63%) Playwright
12 2 (0.63%) pytest
12 2 (0.63%) Spring WebFlux
12 2 (0.63%) Yocto
Miscellaneous
1 45 (14.20%) Algorithms
2 10 (3.15%) Self-Motivation
3 9 (2.84%) Embedded Systems
3 9 (2.84%) Product Ownership
4 8 (2.52%) Cloud Native
5 7 (2.21%) Legacy Systems
6 5 (1.58%) Onboarding
7 3 (0.95%) Clustering
7 3 (0.95%) Distributed Systems
8 2 (0.63%) AI Agents
8 2 (0.63%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.63%) Device Driver
9 1 (0.32%) CUDA
9 1 (0.32%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (0.32%) Linux Command Line
9 1 (0.32%) Low-Code
9 1 (0.32%) Management Information System
9 1 (0.32%) Video\Live Streaming
9 1 (0.32%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 45 (14.20%) Linux
2 14 (4.42%) Windows
3 11 (3.47%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (1.26%) Debian
4 4 (1.26%) Rocky
4 4 (1.26%) Ubuntu
5 3 (0.95%) Embedded Linux
5 3 (0.95%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.32%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.32%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (17.98%) CI/CD
2 36 (11.36%) Agile
3 21 (6.62%) UML
4 20 (6.31%) Technical Leadership
5 19 (5.99%) SDLC
6 18 (5.68%) DevOps
6 18 (5.68%) Problem-Solving
7 17 (5.36%) Containerisation
7 17 (5.36%) Full-Stack Development
8 16 (5.05%) AI
8 16 (5.05%) Test Automation
9 15 (4.73%) Workflow
10 14 (4.42%) SysML
11 13 (4.10%) Configuration Management
11 13 (4.10%) Microservices
12 12 (3.79%) Computer Science
12 12 (3.79%) Continuous Improvement
12 12 (3.79%) Mentoring
12 12 (3.79%) TDD
12 12 (3.79%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 92 (29.02%) Ada
2 82 (25.87%) C++
3 52 (16.40%) Java
4 44 (13.88%) Python
5 31 (9.78%) C#
6 27 (8.52%) C
7 24 (7.57%) MATLAB
8 16 (5.05%) JavaScript
9 12 (3.79%) PowerShell
10 11 (3.47%) SQL
11 10 (3.15%) TypeScript
12 7 (2.21%) Bash
13 6 (1.89%) PHP
14 5 (1.58%) Go
15 4 (1.26%) PL/SQL
16 1 (0.32%) Fortran
16 1 (0.32%) Scala
16 1 (0.32%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 112 (35.33%) Security Cleared
2 80 (25.24%) SC Cleared
3 22 (6.94%) DV Cleared
4 17 (5.36%) Degree
5 10 (3.15%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (1.89%) BPSS Clearance
7 5 (1.58%) Chartered Engineer
8 2 (0.63%) AWS Certification
8 2 (0.63%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.32%) AWS Certified Developer
9 1 (0.32%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 1 (0.32%) CCNP
9 1 (0.32%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.32%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.32%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 1 (0.32%) Master's Degree
9 1 (0.32%) OCA
9 1 (0.32%) Oracle Certification
9 1 (0.32%) Postgraduate
9 1 (0.32%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (11.67%) Def Stans
2 35 (11.04%) IEC 61508
3 18 (5.68%) MISRA
4 15 (4.73%) MISRA C
5 14 (4.42%) QA
6 5 (1.58%) NCSC
7 4 (1.26%) Accessibility
8 3 (0.95%) DO-178B
8 3 (0.95%) JSP 440
8 3 (0.95%) WCAG
9 1 (0.32%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.32%) DICOM
9 1 (0.32%) GDPR
9 1 (0.32%) HL7
System Software
1 28 (8.83%) Docker
2 4 (1.26%) Oracle RAC
3 3 (0.95%) Firmware
4 2 (0.63%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.32%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 23 (7.26%) Kubernetes
2 15 (4.73%) Ansible
3 8 (2.52%) Terraform
4 4 (1.26%) Data Guard
5 3 (0.95%) Grafana
5 3 (0.95%) Progress Chef
5 3 (0.95%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.63%) Functional Safety
6 2 (0.63%) Puppet
6 2 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.32%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 1 (0.32%) Docker Swarm
Vendors
1 11 (3.47%) IBM
2 10 (3.15%) MathWorks
3 9 (2.84%) Oracle
3 9 (2.84%) Red Hat
4 7 (2.21%) Microsoft
5 1 (0.32%) Cloudera
5 1 (0.32%) Databricks
5 1 (0.32%) F5
5 1 (0.32%) Google
5 1 (0.32%) VMware