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 27 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 33 25
Rank change year-on-year +23 -8 -5
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 334 89 202
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 9.40% 5.08% 6.14%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 11.78% 5.59% 7.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 84 45 56
10th Percentile £469 £355 £418
25th Percentile £513 £413 £458
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £551 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -7.00%
75th Percentile £620 £644 £608
90th Percentile £691 £679 £688
England median daily rate £550 £600 £601
% change year-on-year -8.33% -0.08% -0.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 178 28 94
10th Percentile £53.53 £64.25 £52.50
25th Percentile - £65.00 £65.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.41% -2.86% +6.87%
75th Percentile £67.25 £68.75 -
90th Percentile £68.00 £72.25 £73.75
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00

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 2,835 1,591 2,713
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 79.75% 90.81% 82.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,527 963 1,699
10th Percentile £325 £217 £260
25th Percentile £413 £363 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £606 £613 £625
90th Percentile £700 £688 £700
England median daily rate £520 £515 £525
% change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 476 173 379
10th Percentile £16.62 £17.40 £13.86
25th Percentile £32.19 £18.51 £29.75
Median hourly rate £57.50 £28.55 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +101.40% -48.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £65.00 £66.00 £70.46
90th Percentile £72.54 £70.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £47.00 £25.50 £38.12
% change year-on-year +84.31% -33.11% +1.87%

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 27 June 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 27 June 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 27 June 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 +17 239 £525 +40.94% 75
Gloucestershire +11 33 £550 -17.60% 69
Somerset -5 16 £611 +32.00% 27
Dorset +4 14 £550 +15.79% 11
Wiltshire -11 14 £575 -1.71% 1
Devon -15 11 £613 +36.11% 13
Cornwall - 3 £750 -
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 (2.10%) Confluence
2 5 (1.50%) Apache
3 3 (0.90%) Apache Spark
4 2 (0.60%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (0.90%) Simulink
2 2 (0.60%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 44 (13.17%) AWS
2 25 (7.49%) Azure
3 8 (2.40%) GCP
4 5 (1.50%) GitHub
4 5 (1.50%) Serverless
5 4 (1.20%) Entra ID
6 3 (0.90%) AWS CloudFormation
6 3 (0.90%) AWS Lambda
6 3 (0.90%) OpenShift
7 2 (0.60%) Amazon S3
7 2 (0.60%) Amazon SQS
7 2 (0.60%) dbt
7 2 (0.60%) Microsoft 365
7 2 (0.60%) Power Platform
7 2 (0.60%) Snowflake
8 1 (0.30%) Amazon EventBridge
8 1 (0.30%) GitHub Actions
8 1 (0.30%) Power Automate
8 1 (0.30%) PowerApps
8 1 (0.30%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.10%) Ethernet
1 7 (2.10%) TCP/IP
2 1 (0.30%) AMQP
2 1 (0.30%) Bluetooth
2 1 (0.30%) Firewall
2 1 (0.30%) Network Security
2 1 (0.30%) RS-232
2 1 (0.30%) RS-422
2 1 (0.30%) VPN
2 1 (0.30%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.69%) PostgreSQL
2 5 (1.50%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (1.50%) DynamoDB
2 5 (1.50%) MongoDB
3 4 (1.20%) Amazon Aurora
3 4 (1.20%) MySQL
4 3 (0.90%) Apache Cassandra
4 3 (0.90%) Big Data
4 3 (0.90%) Elasticsearch
4 3 (0.90%) HBase
4 3 (0.90%) NoSQL
4 3 (0.90%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.60%) Data Warehouse
5 2 (0.60%) Geospatial Data
5 2 (0.60%) Power BI
6 1 (0.30%) GIS
6 1 (0.30%) InfluxDB
6 1 (0.30%) QGIS
6 1 (0.30%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 20 (5.99%) Git
2 18 (5.39%) GitLab
3 15 (4.49%) Jenkins
4 14 (4.19%) Rational Rhapsody
5 11 (3.29%) JIRA
6 8 (2.40%) Visual Studio
7 6 (1.80%) Eclipse
8 4 (1.20%) JUnit
8 4 (1.20%) Oracle APEX
8 4 (1.20%) Selenium
9 3 (0.90%) Rational DOORS
10 2 (0.60%) Bitbucket
11 1 (0.30%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.30%) Atlassian Bamboo
11 1 (0.30%) NUnit
11 1 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 33 (9.88%) Social Skills
2 30 (8.98%) Aerospace
3 15 (4.49%) Finance
4 11 (3.29%) Law
5 8 (2.40%) Military
6 7 (2.10%) Analytical Skills
6 7 (2.10%) Public Sector
7 6 (1.80%) Automotive
8 4 (1.20%) Banking
9 2 (0.60%) Avionics
9 2 (0.60%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (0.60%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.60%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.30%) Electronics
10 1 (0.30%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.30%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.30%) Legal
10 1 (0.30%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 275 (82.34%) Software Engineer
2 67 (20.06%) C++ Software Engineer
3 47 (14.07%) Embedded Engineer
3 47 (14.07%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 32 (9.58%) Ada Engineer
4 32 (9.58%) Ada Software Engineer
5 27 (8.08%) Algorithm Engineer
6 24 (7.19%) Developer
7 22 (6.59%) Java Engineer
8 21 (6.29%) Java Software Engineer
9 17 (5.09%) Applications Engineer
9 17 (5.09%) Senior
10 14 (4.19%) C# Software Engineer
11 13 (3.89%) Lead
11 13 (3.89%) SC Cleared Software Engineer
11 13 (3.89%) Senior Software Engineer
12 11 (3.29%) PHP Software Engineer
13 9 (2.69%) Software Developer
14 8 (2.40%) Java Developer
15 5 (1.50%) Technical Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (7.49%) Middleware
2 16 (4.79%) REST
3 13 (3.89%) Qt
4 11 (3.29%) Node.js
5 10 (2.99%) React
6 8 (2.40%) Spring Boot
7 7 (2.10%) .NET
8 6 (1.80%) AWS CDK
8 6 (1.80%) Web Services
9 4 (1.20%) GraphQL
9 4 (1.20%) Jest
9 4 (1.20%) SOAP
9 4 (1.20%) Spring
10 3 (0.90%) Flask
10 3 (0.90%) Kafka
10 3 (0.90%) Quarkus
11 2 (0.60%) FastAPI
11 2 (0.60%) Playwright
11 2 (0.60%) RabbitMQ
11 2 (0.60%) Spring WebFlux
Miscellaneous
1 41 (12.28%) Algorithms
2 15 (4.49%) Cloud Native
3 11 (3.29%) Self-Motivation
4 10 (2.99%) Legacy Systems
5 8 (2.40%) Product Ownership
6 7 (2.10%) Embedded Systems
7 3 (0.90%) Clustering
7 3 (0.90%) Distributed Systems
7 3 (0.90%) Onboarding
8 2 (0.60%) AI Agents
8 2 (0.60%) Device Driver
9 1 (0.30%) CUDA
9 1 (0.30%) Data Protection Act
9 1 (0.30%) Greenfield Project
9 1 (0.30%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (0.30%) Linux Command Line
9 1 (0.30%) Low-Code
9 1 (0.30%) Management Information System
9 1 (0.30%) Video\Live Streaming
9 1 (0.30%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 47 (14.07%) Linux
2 12 (3.59%) Windows
3 11 (3.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (1.20%) Debian
4 4 (1.20%) Rocky
4 4 (1.20%) Ubuntu
5 3 (0.90%) Embedded Linux
5 3 (0.90%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.60%) Android
7 1 (0.30%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.30%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (15.87%) CI/CD
2 41 (12.28%) Agile
3 22 (6.59%) UML
4 21 (6.29%) SDLC
5 19 (5.69%) DevOps
5 19 (5.69%) Problem-Solving
6 18 (5.39%) Technical Leadership
6 18 (5.39%) Test Automation
7 17 (5.09%) AI
7 17 (5.09%) Containerisation
8 16 (4.79%) Full-Stack Development
9 14 (4.19%) SysML
9 14 (4.19%) TDD
10 13 (3.89%) Configuration Management
10 13 (3.89%) Microservices
11 11 (3.29%) Continuous Improvement
11 11 (3.29%) Mentoring
11 11 (3.29%) Synthetic Environment
11 11 (3.29%) Validation
11 11 (3.29%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 89 (26.65%) Ada
2 87 (26.05%) C++
3 54 (16.17%) Java
4 47 (14.07%) Python
5 34 (10.18%) C#
6 22 (6.59%) C
6 22 (6.59%) MATLAB
7 17 (5.09%) JavaScript
8 11 (3.29%) PHP
8 11 (3.29%) SQL
8 11 (3.29%) TypeScript
9 10 (2.99%) PowerShell
10 7 (2.10%) Bash
11 6 (1.80%) Go
12 4 (1.20%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.30%) Ada 95
13 1 (0.30%) Fortran
13 1 (0.30%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.30%) Rust
13 1 (0.30%) Scala
Qualifications
1 116 (34.73%) Security Cleared
2 88 (26.35%) SC Cleared
3 21 (6.29%) DV Cleared
4 15 (4.49%) Degree
5 9 (2.69%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (2.10%) Computer Science Degree
7 6 (1.80%) Chartered Engineer
8 2 (0.60%) AWS Certification
8 2 (0.60%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.30%) AWS Certified Developer
9 1 (0.30%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
9 1 (0.30%) CCNP
9 1 (0.30%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.30%) DBS Check
9 1 (0.30%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 1 (0.30%) Master's Degree
9 1 (0.30%) OCA
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle Certification
9 1 (0.30%) Postgraduate
9 1 (0.30%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (8.98%) IEC 61508
2 29 (8.68%) Def Stans
3 12 (3.59%) MISRA
4 11 (3.29%) MISRA C
4 11 (3.29%) QA
5 5 (1.50%) Accessibility
5 5 (1.50%) NCSC
6 4 (1.20%) WCAG
7 3 (0.90%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.30%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.30%) DICOM
8 1 (0.30%) DO-178B
8 1 (0.30%) GDPR
8 1 (0.30%) HL7
8 1 (0.30%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 27 (8.08%) Docker
2 4 (1.20%) Oracle RAC
3 2 (0.60%) Active Directory
4 1 (0.30%) Firmware
4 1 (0.30%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 24 (7.19%) Kubernetes
2 14 (4.19%) Ansible
3 10 (2.99%) Terraform
4 4 (1.20%) Data Guard
5 3 (0.90%) Functional Safety
5 3 (0.90%) Progress Chef
5 3 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.60%) Docker Swarm
6 2 (0.60%) Grafana
6 2 (0.60%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.60%) Puppet
7 1 (0.30%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
7 1 (0.30%) PTC Integrity
Vendors
1 10 (2.99%) IBM
1 10 (2.99%) Oracle
2 9 (2.69%) MathWorks
3 8 (2.40%) Microsoft
4 6 (1.80%) Red Hat
5 1 (0.30%) Cloudera
5 1 (0.30%) Databricks
5 1 (0.30%) F5
5 1 (0.30%) Google
5 1 (0.30%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.30%) PTC
5 1 (0.30%) VMware