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 30 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 24 38
Rank change year-on-year +14 +14 -12
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 308 115 148
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 9.38% 6.83% 4.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.95% 7.56% 5.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 55 49 56
10th Percentile £403 £355 £400
25th Percentile £509 £463 £460
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £575 £525
Median % change year-on-year - +9.52% -9.33%
75th Percentile £644 £650 £675
90th Percentile £700 £694 £729
England median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 199 46 65
10th Percentile £61.25 £62.25 £52.50
25th Percentile - £65.00 £61.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £67.00 £67.02
Median % change year-on-year -2.99% -0.03% +2.32%
75th Percentile £67.25 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £68.75 £74.50
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 2,577 1,522 2,651
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 78.45% 90.38% 82.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,408 969 1,695
10th Percentile £313 £235 £217
25th Percentile £412 £400 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.97% -1.90% -4.37%
75th Percentile £613 £623 £625
90th Percentile £725 £688 £700
England median daily rate £508 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.33% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 451 145 332
10th Percentile £16.62 £18.33 £13.86
25th Percentile £25.46 £20.48 £27.44
Median hourly rate £60.00 £63.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +26.00% -18.70%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £45.00 £30.00 £35.68
% change year-on-year +50.00% -15.92% -4.85%

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 30 April 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 30 April 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 30 April 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 +6 240 £570 +54.05% 72
Gloucestershire +5 29 £606 -4.38% 48
Wiltshire -21 13 £575 -4.37% 10
Dorset 0 12 £550 -4.35% 12
Somerset -15 5 £542 +17.14% 23
Devon -22 5 £613 +22.50% 7
Cornwall - 1 £750 - 12
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 (2.27%) Apache
2 6 (1.95%) Confluence
3 1 (0.32%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (0.97%) Simulink
2 2 (0.65%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.32%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 33 (10.71%) AWS
2 22 (7.14%) Azure
3 7 (2.27%) GCP
4 4 (1.30%) GitHub
4 4 (1.30%) OpenShift
5 2 (0.65%) AWS CloudFormation
5 2 (0.65%) Azure DevOps
5 2 (0.65%) Power Platform
5 2 (0.65%) Serverless
6 1 (0.32%) Amazon EC2
6 1 (0.32%) Amazon S3
6 1 (0.32%) AWS Lambda
6 1 (0.32%) Entra ID
6 1 (0.32%) Figma
6 1 (0.32%) IaaS
6 1 (0.32%) Microsoft 365
6 1 (0.32%) Power Automate
6 1 (0.32%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.62%) TCP/IP
2 4 (1.30%) Ethernet
3 1 (0.32%) AMQP
3 1 (0.32%) Bluetooth
3 1 (0.32%) Network Security
3 1 (0.32%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.95%) PostgreSQL
2 5 (1.62%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (1.30%) Amazon Aurora
3 4 (1.30%) DynamoDB
3 4 (1.30%) MongoDB
3 4 (1.30%) MySQL
4 2 (0.65%) GIS
4 2 (0.65%) Power BI
5 1 (0.32%) Geospatial Data
5 1 (0.32%) InfluxDB
5 1 (0.32%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 20 (6.49%) GitLab
1 20 (6.49%) Rational Rhapsody
2 15 (4.87%) Git
3 12 (3.90%) Jenkins
4 7 (2.27%) JIRA
5 4 (1.30%) Eclipse
5 4 (1.30%) Oracle APEX
5 4 (1.30%) Visual Studio
6 3 (0.97%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.97%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.65%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.32%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.32%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.32%) JUnit
8 1 (0.32%) NUnit
8 1 (0.32%) Selenium
General
1 27 (8.77%) Aerospace
2 26 (8.44%) Social Skills
3 13 (4.22%) Analytical Skills
4 11 (3.57%) Law
5 7 (2.27%) Military
6 6 (1.95%) Electronics
6 6 (1.95%) Finance
7 5 (1.62%) Public Sector
8 2 (0.65%) Banking
8 2 (0.65%) Financial Institution
8 2 (0.65%) Investment Banking
8 2 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.32%) Automotive
9 1 (0.32%) Documentation Skills
9 1 (0.32%) Legal
9 1 (0.32%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.32%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 261 (84.74%) Software Engineer
2 69 (22.40%) C++ Software Engineer
3 50 (16.23%) Embedded Engineer
3 50 (16.23%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 29 (9.42%) Algorithm Engineer
5 28 (9.09%) Ada Engineer
5 28 (9.09%) Ada Software Engineer
6 18 (5.84%) Java Engineer
6 18 (5.84%) Java Software Engineer
6 18 (5.84%) Senior
7 15 (4.87%) Senior Software Engineer
8 13 (4.22%) Developer
9 12 (3.90%) Lead
10 9 (2.92%) Applications Engineer
10 9 (2.92%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
11 8 (2.60%) C# Software Engineer
12 7 (2.27%) C Software Engineer
12 7 (2.27%) C/C++ Software Engineer
13 6 (1.95%) Full-Stack Engineer
13 6 (1.95%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (11.04%) Middleware
2 18 (5.84%) Qt
3 14 (4.55%) REST
4 9 (2.92%) Node.js
5 8 (2.60%) React
6 5 (1.62%) .NET
6 5 (1.62%) AWS CDK
6 5 (1.62%) Spring Boot
7 4 (1.30%) GraphQL
7 4 (1.30%) SOAP
7 4 (1.30%) Web Services
8 3 (0.97%) Apache NiFi
8 3 (0.97%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.65%) Flask
9 2 (0.65%) Jest
9 2 (0.65%) pytest
9 2 (0.65%) RESTful
10 1 (0.32%) JSON
10 1 (0.32%) OAuth
10 1 (0.32%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 43 (13.96%) Algorithms
2 10 (3.25%) Embedded Systems
3 8 (2.60%) Legacy Systems
3 8 (2.60%) Product Ownership
4 6 (1.95%) Onboarding
5 4 (1.30%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (0.97%) Cloud Native
6 3 (0.97%) CUDA
7 2 (0.65%) AI Agents
7 2 (0.65%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (0.65%) Management Information System
8 1 (0.32%) Distributed Systems
8 1 (0.32%) Legacy Applications
8 1 (0.32%) Linux Command Line
8 1 (0.32%) Low-Code
8 1 (0.32%) Video\Live Streaming
8 1 (0.32%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 40 (12.99%) Linux
2 10 (3.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 10 (3.25%) Windows
3 4 (1.30%) Debian
3 4 (1.30%) Rocky
3 4 (1.30%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.32%) Android
4 1 (0.32%) Embedded Linux
4 1 (0.32%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.32%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (15.58%) CI/CD
2 31 (10.06%) Agile
3 22 (7.14%) UML
4 17 (5.52%) Containerisation
4 17 (5.52%) DevOps
4 17 (5.52%) Full-Stack Development
4 17 (5.52%) Problem-Solving
5 16 (5.19%) Technical Leadership
6 15 (4.87%) AI
6 15 (4.87%) Configuration Management
6 15 (4.87%) Validation
6 15 (4.87%) Workflow
7 14 (4.55%) SysML
8 13 (4.22%) Continuous Improvement
8 13 (4.22%) SDLC
8 13 (4.22%) Test Automation
9 12 (3.90%) Integration Testing
9 12 (3.90%) Microservices
10 11 (3.57%) Cybersecurity
10 11 (3.57%) Workflow Management
Programming Languages
1 90 (29.22%) C++
2 86 (27.92%) Ada
3 45 (14.61%) Java
4 44 (14.29%) Python
5 31 (10.06%) C
6 25 (8.12%) C#
7 24 (7.79%) MATLAB
8 13 (4.22%) JavaScript
9 11 (3.57%) PowerShell
10 9 (2.92%) TypeScript
11 7 (2.27%) Bash
11 7 (2.27%) SQL
12 5 (1.62%) Go
13 4 (1.30%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.32%) Scala
14 1 (0.32%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 109 (35.39%) Security Cleared
2 78 (25.32%) SC Cleared
3 21 (6.82%) DV Cleared
4 14 (4.55%) Degree
5 9 (2.92%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (1.62%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (0.65%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.32%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.32%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 1 (0.32%) CCNP
8 1 (0.32%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.32%) CISSP
8 1 (0.32%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.32%) HND
8 1 (0.32%) ISTQB
8 1 (0.32%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
8 1 (0.32%) MCSE
8 1 (0.32%) Postgraduate
8 1 (0.32%) RHCA
8 1 (0.32%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (13.64%) Def Stans
2 35 (11.36%) IEC 61508
3 22 (7.14%) MISRA
4 16 (5.19%) MISRA C
5 12 (3.90%) QA
6 6 (1.95%) DO-178B
7 4 (1.30%) NCSC
8 3 (0.97%) Accessibility
9 2 (0.65%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.65%) WCAG
10 1 (0.32%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.32%) DICOM
10 1 (0.32%) GDPR
10 1 (0.32%) HL7
System Software
1 23 (7.47%) Docker
2 6 (1.95%) Firmware
3 4 (1.30%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.65%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.32%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 20 (6.49%) Kubernetes
2 16 (5.19%) Ansible
3 8 (2.60%) Terraform
4 4 (1.30%) Data Guard
4 4 (1.30%) Grafana
4 4 (1.30%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.97%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.65%) Puppet
7 1 (0.32%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 1 (0.32%) Docker Swarm
Vendors
1 11 (3.57%) IBM
2 10 (3.25%) MathWorks
3 9 (2.92%) Red Hat
4 6 (1.95%) Microsoft
5 5 (1.62%) Oracle
6 2 (0.65%) VMware
7 1 (0.32%) Databricks
7 1 (0.32%) F5
7 1 (0.32%) Google