Software Engineer Contract Job Trends in Southampton

Software Engineer
Hampshire > Southampton

The median Software Engineer daily rate in Southampton is £679, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 January 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 15 19 28
Rank change year-on-year +4 +9 -10
Contract jobs requiring a Software Engineer 7 1 2
As % of all contract jobs in Southampton 4.12% 0.90% 1.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.96% 0.90% 1.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 1 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £620 £563 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £679 £575 -
Median % change year-on-year +18.04% - -
75th Percentile £726 £588 -
90th Percentile - - -
Hampshire median daily rate £700 £600 £540
% change year-on-year +16.67% +11.11% -6.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £56.75 - £65.00
Median hourly rate £58.50 - £70.00
75th Percentile £60.25 - £75.00
90th Percentile - - -
Hampshire median hourly rate £47.50 £57.75 £61.25
% change year-on-year -17.75% -5.71% +17.75%

All Contract IT Job Roles
Southampton

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Southampton. 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 Southampton with a recognized job title 141 111 159
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 82.94% 100.00% 91.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 88 72 113
10th Percentile £190 £208 £201
25th Percentile £327 £313 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £394 £517
Median % change year-on-year +20.63% -23.84% +3.40%
75th Percentile £546 £531 £650
90th Percentile £653 £588 £687
Hampshire median daily rate £525 £535 £550
% change year-on-year -1.87% -2.73% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 0 9
10th Percentile £22.50 - £15.88
25th Percentile £25.00 - £16.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 - £34.00
Median % change year-on-year - - +68.46%
75th Percentile £40.00 - £60.00
90th Percentile £73.67 - £75.50
Hampshire median hourly rate £24.29 £35.00 £51.96
% change year-on-year -30.61% -32.64% +26.50%

Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in Southampton

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Southampton.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in Southampton

Software Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in Southampton

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in Southampton.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in Southampton

Software Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in Southampton

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in Southampton.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in Southampton

Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Southampton

For the 6 months to 30 January 2026, Software Engineer 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 Southampton region featuring Software Engineer in the job title.

1 7 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 6 (85.71%) Security Cleared
3 5 (71.43%) C#
3 5 (71.43%) C++
3 5 (71.43%) DevOps
3 5 (71.43%) SC Cleared
4 4 (57.14%) Agile
4 4 (57.14%) Docker
4 4 (57.14%) Git
4 4 (57.14%) Windows
5 3 (42.86%) Continuous Integration
5 3 (42.86%) Embedded C++
5 3 (42.86%) REST
6 2 (28.57%) AngularJS
6 2 (28.57%) Bash
6 2 (28.57%) CI/CD
6 2 (28.57%) Clean Code
6 2 (28.57%) Configuration Management
6 2 (28.57%) Containerisation
6 2 (28.57%) Digital Signal Processing
6 2 (28.57%) IIS
6 2 (28.57%) Java
6 2 (28.57%) JavaScript
6 2 (28.57%) Jenkins
6 2 (28.57%) JIRA
6 2 (28.57%) Kubernetes
6 2 (28.57%) Linux
6 2 (28.57%) PowerShell
6 2 (28.57%) Prototyping
6 2 (28.57%) Python

Software Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Southampton 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 2 (28.57%) IIS
Communications & Networking
1 2 (28.57%) Software-Defined Radio
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (28.57%) Relational Database
1 2 (28.57%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (57.14%) Git
2 2 (28.57%) Jenkins
2 2 (28.57%) JIRA
General
1 1 (14.29%) Aerospace
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (42.86%) REST
2 2 (28.57%) AngularJS
2 2 (28.57%) React
2 2 (28.57%) Vue
3 1 (14.29%) WebSockets
3 1 (14.29%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 2 (28.57%) CAN bus
2 1 (14.29%) Algorithms
2 1 (14.29%) Embedded Systems
2 1 (14.29%) FPGA
2 1 (14.29%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 4 (57.14%) Windows
2 2 (28.57%) Linux
2 2 (28.57%) Windows Server
3 1 (14.29%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 5 (71.43%) DevOps
3 4 (57.14%) Agile
4 3 (42.86%) Continuous Integration
5 2 (28.57%) CI/CD
5 2 (28.57%) Clean Code
5 2 (28.57%) Configuration Management
5 2 (28.57%) Containerisation
5 2 (28.57%) Digital Signal Processing
5 2 (28.57%) Prototyping
5 2 (28.57%) Secure Coding
5 2 (28.57%) Signal Processing
5 2 (28.57%) SysML
5 2 (28.57%) UML
5 2 (28.57%) User Research
6 1 (14.29%) Full-Stack Development
6 1 (14.29%) System Testing
6 1 (14.29%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 5 (71.43%) C#
1 5 (71.43%) C++
2 3 (42.86%) Embedded C++
3 2 (28.57%) Bash
3 2 (28.57%) Java
3 2 (28.57%) JavaScript
3 2 (28.57%) PowerShell
3 2 (28.57%) Python
4 1 (14.29%) C
4 1 (14.29%) MATLAB
4 1 (14.29%) SQL
Qualifications
1 6 (85.71%) Security Cleared
2 5 (71.43%) SC Cleared
System Software
1 4 (57.14%) Docker
2 2 (28.57%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (14.29%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 2 (28.57%) Kubernetes