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 16 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 14 22 41
Rank change year-on-year +8 +19 -15
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 252 125 141
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 8.66% 7.53% 4.39%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 10.81% 8.35% 5.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 37 54 58
10th Percentile £68 £355 £400
25th Percentile £400 £500 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £580 £550
Median % change year-on-year -13.79% +5.45% -8.33%
75th Percentile £606 £669 £688
90th Percentile £644 £684 £750
England median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 171 43 56
10th Percentile £61.25 £61.40 £49.24
25th Percentile - £65.00 £52.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £66.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.26% +2.31% -0.76%
75th Percentile - £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £68.75 -
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 2,331 1,497 2,700
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 80.10% 90.18% 83.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,255 993 1,751
10th Percentile £305 £232 £263
25th Percentile £410 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.37%
75th Percentile £606 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £700 £713
England median daily rate £504 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.05% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 419 106 340
10th Percentile £16.62 £19.50 £14.00
25th Percentile £23.33 £53.13 £27.13
Median hourly rate £57.50 £65.00 £48.72
Median % change year-on-year -11.54% +33.42% -20.78%
75th Percentile £65.00 £68.00 £67.53
90th Percentile £68.00 £70.00 £77.50
England median hourly rate £30.15 £34.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year -11.32% +4.62% -12.16%

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 16 March 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 16 March 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 16 March 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 +5 202 £418 +12.84% 89
Gloucestershire -12 22 £606 +1.00% 69
Dorset +6 13 £550 -18.52% 16
Wiltshire -15 12 £589 -4.66% 14
Somerset -12 2 £413 +6.45% 27
Devon -14 1 - - 18
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 5 (1.98%) Apache
2 3 (1.19%) Confluence
Applications
1 4 (1.59%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.19%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.79%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.40%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (0.79%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 15 (5.95%) AWS
2 10 (3.97%) Azure
3 3 (1.19%) Azure DevOps
3 3 (1.19%) OpenShift
4 2 (0.79%) GCP
4 2 (0.79%) GitHub
5 1 (0.40%) Cloud Computing
5 1 (0.40%) Figma
5 1 (0.40%) IaaS
5 1 (0.40%) npm
5 1 (0.40%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.98%) TCP/IP
2 4 (1.59%) Ethernet
3 1 (0.40%) Bluetooth
3 1 (0.40%) Internet
3 1 (0.40%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (2.78%) PostgreSQL
2 6 (2.38%) MongoDB
3 4 (1.59%) Amazon Aurora
3 4 (1.59%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (1.59%) DynamoDB
3 4 (1.59%) MySQL
4 2 (0.79%) GIS
4 2 (0.79%) NoSQL
4 2 (0.79%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.40%) Geospatial Data
5 1 (0.40%) ObjectStore
5 1 (0.40%) Power BI
5 1 (0.40%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 19 (7.54%) Rational Rhapsody
2 13 (5.16%) GitLab
2 13 (5.16%) Jenkins
3 7 (2.78%) Git
4 4 (1.59%) Artifactory
4 4 (1.59%) Eclipse
4 4 (1.59%) JIRA
4 4 (1.59%) Oracle APEX
4 4 (1.59%) Visual Studio
5 3 (1.19%) Bitbucket
5 3 (1.19%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.79%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.40%) NUnit
7 1 (0.40%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.40%) SonarQube
General
1 28 (11.11%) Aerospace
2 15 (5.95%) Social Skills
3 14 (5.56%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (5.56%) Law
4 10 (3.97%) Electronics
5 8 (3.17%) Finance
6 7 (2.78%) Military
7 5 (1.98%) Public Sector
8 4 (1.59%) Organisational Skills
9 2 (0.79%) Banking
9 2 (0.79%) Financial Institution
9 2 (0.79%) Investment Banking
9 2 (0.79%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.79%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.40%) Automotive
10 1 (0.40%) Aviation
10 1 (0.40%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.40%) Legal
Job Titles
1 202 (80.16%) Software Engineer
2 71 (28.17%) C++ Software Engineer
3 30 (11.90%) Embedded Engineer
3 30 (11.90%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 21 (8.33%) Algorithm Engineer
5 17 (6.75%) Ada Engineer
5 17 (6.75%) Ada Software Engineer
6 14 (5.56%) Java Engineer
6 14 (5.56%) Java Software Engineer
7 12 (4.76%) Product Engineer
7 12 (4.76%) Products Support Engineer
7 12 (4.76%) Senior
7 12 (4.76%) Software Support Engineer
7 12 (4.76%) Support Engineer
8 9 (3.57%) Senior Software Engineer
9 8 (3.17%) C Software Engineer
9 8 (3.17%) C# Software Engineer
9 8 (3.17%) C/C++ Software Engineer
9 8 (3.17%) Developer
10 7 (2.78%) Documentation Officer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (19.05%) Middleware
2 22 (8.73%) Qt
3 9 (3.57%) REST
4 7 (2.78%) Node.js
5 5 (1.98%) Spring Boot
6 4 (1.59%) React
6 4 (1.59%) SOAP
6 4 (1.59%) Web Services
7 3 (1.19%) .NET
7 3 (1.19%) Apache NiFi
7 3 (1.19%) Elastic Stack
8 2 (0.79%) RESTful
9 1 (0.40%) .NET Compact Framework
9 1 (0.40%) .NET Framework
9 1 (0.40%) LangChain
9 1 (0.40%) OAuth
9 1 (0.40%) OAuth2
9 1 (0.40%) OpenID
9 1 (0.40%) OpenMP
9 1 (0.40%) React Native
Miscellaneous
1 29 (11.51%) Algorithms
2 12 (4.76%) Embedded Systems
3 7 (2.78%) CUDA
4 6 (2.38%) Legacy Systems
5 5 (1.98%) Onboarding
5 5 (1.98%) Product Ownership
6 2 (0.79%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.40%) AI Agents
7 1 (0.40%) Contactless
7 1 (0.40%) Legacy Applications
7 1 (0.40%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.40%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 37 (14.68%) Linux
2 14 (5.56%) Ubuntu
3 11 (4.37%) Windows
4 4 (1.59%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.79%) Android
5 2 (0.79%) Debian
5 2 (0.79%) Rocky
6 1 (0.40%) Embedded Linux
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Embedded Compact
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (11.90%) CI/CD
2 21 (8.33%) Agile
3 17 (6.75%) UML
3 17 (6.75%) Validation
4 15 (5.95%) Systems Engineering
5 12 (4.76%) DevOps
5 12 (4.76%) Problem-Solving
5 12 (4.76%) Software Testing
5 12 (4.76%) Workflow
6 11 (4.37%) Continuous Improvement
6 11 (4.37%) Full-Stack Development
6 11 (4.37%) Project Management
7 10 (3.97%) Configuration Management
7 10 (3.97%) Containerisation
7 10 (3.97%) Integration Testing
7 10 (3.97%) Technical Leadership
8 9 (3.57%) AI
8 9 (3.57%) Computer Science
8 9 (3.57%) SDLC
8 9 (3.57%) Software Delivery
Programming Languages
1 99 (39.29%) C++
2 80 (31.75%) Ada
3 41 (16.27%) C
4 32 (12.70%) Java
5 28 (11.11%) Python
6 23 (9.13%) JavaScript
7 18 (7.14%) MATLAB
8 17 (6.75%) C#
9 12 (4.76%) PowerShell
9 12 (4.76%) Shell Script
10 9 (3.57%) SQL
11 7 (2.78%) Bash
12 4 (1.59%) PL/SQL
13 3 (1.19%) TypeScript
14 2 (0.79%) Go
15 1 (0.40%) Embedded C++
15 1 (0.40%) Fortran
15 1 (0.40%) Scala
Qualifications
1 83 (32.94%) Security Cleared
2 64 (25.40%) SC Cleared
3 15 (5.95%) Degree
4 13 (5.16%) DV Cleared
5 8 (3.17%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (1.19%) Master's Degree
7 2 (0.79%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (0.79%) Postgraduate
8 1 (0.40%) CCNP
8 1 (0.40%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.40%) CISSP
8 1 (0.40%) DBS Check
8 1 (0.40%) HND
8 1 (0.40%) MCSE
8 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Certification
8 1 (0.40%) OCA
8 1 (0.40%) Oracle Certification
8 1 (0.40%) RHCA
8 1 (0.40%) RHCE
8 1 (0.40%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (19.44%) Def Stans
2 38 (15.08%) IEC 61508
3 30 (11.90%) MISRA
4 20 (7.94%) MISRA C
5 10 (3.97%) DO-178B
6 9 (3.57%) QA
7 1 (0.40%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.40%) DICOM
7 1 (0.40%) GDPR
7 1 (0.40%) HL7
7 1 (0.40%) NCSC
7 1 (0.40%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 11 (4.37%) Docker
2 10 (3.97%) Firmware
3 4 (1.59%) Oracle RAC
4 2 (0.79%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 14 (5.56%) Ansible
2 13 (5.16%) Kubernetes
3 7 (2.78%) Terraform
4 4 (1.59%) Data Guard
5 3 (1.19%) Grafana
5 3 (1.19%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.79%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.79%) Puppet
7 1 (0.40%) Packer
7 1 (0.40%) PowerCLI
Vendors
1 20 (7.94%) Red Hat
2 7 (2.78%) IBM
3 6 (2.38%) MathWorks
4 5 (1.98%) Microsoft
4 5 (1.98%) Oracle
5 2 (0.79%) VMware
6 1 (0.40%) Atlassian
6 1 (0.40%) Databricks
6 1 (0.40%) NVIDIA
6 1 (0.40%) Xamarin