Python Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Python
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Python skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 21 15 26
Rank change year-on-year -6 +11 -2
Contract jobs citing Python 247 169 153
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 8.04% 10.05% 6.92%
As % of the Programming Languages category 44.67% 38.67% 31.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 158 102 104
10th Percentile £349 £350 £363
25th Percentile £436 £413 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +7.50% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £605 £564 £638
90th Percentile £731 £600 £650
South East median daily rate £545 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +9.00% -2.44% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 0 2
10th Percentile £43.81 - £32.23
25th Percentile £51.25 - £38.94
Median hourly rate £68.11 - £51.75
75th Percentile £77.50 - £65.44
90th Percentile £83.88 - £72.68
South East median hourly rate £67.47 £57.50 £29.00
% change year-on-year +17.34% +98.28% -53.60%

All Programming Languages
Thames Valley

Python falls under the Programming Languages category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring coding skills in the Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for coding skills 553 437 487
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 18.00% 25.98% 22.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 373 265 327
10th Percentile £327 £329 £370
25th Percentile £417 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -13.64% +4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £550 £625
90th Percentile £675 £600 £661
South East median daily rate £519 £500 £513
% change year-on-year +3.85% -2.44% -2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 1 11
10th Percentile £33.70 - £35.58
25th Percentile £43.81 £18.75 £55.87
Median hourly rate £67.00 £19.50 £58.49
Median % change year-on-year +243.59% -66.66% +20.85%
75th Percentile £77.50 £20.25 £76.18
90th Percentile £83.62 - £87.50
South East median hourly rate £60.00 £55.00 £69.69
% change year-on-year +9.09% -21.08% +26.70%

Python
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Python relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Python job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Python
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Python.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Python

Python
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Python in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 26 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Python in the Thames Valley

Python
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Python.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Python

Python
Hourly Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Python in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 26 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Python in the Thames Valley

Python
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Python within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 26 September 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
Berkshire 0 173 £525 +5.00% 174
Oxfordshire +6 46 £621 +38.00% 221
Buckinghamshire -27 28 £525 +16.67% 52
Python
South East

Python
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 14 (5.67%) OpenStack
2 5 (2.02%) Confluence
3 3 (1.21%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.21%) Microsoft Exchange
4 2 (0.81%) Apache
4 2 (0.81%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.81%) Apache Superset
4 2 (0.81%) JBoss
4 2 (0.81%) WebSphere
4 2 (0.81%) WebSphere Application Server
5 1 (0.40%) Palantir Foundry
Applications
1 6 (2.43%) CPLEX
2 5 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.81%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.81%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.81%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.40%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 1 (0.40%) Cloudability
1 1 (0.40%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 124 (50.20%) Azure
2 77 (31.17%) AWS
3 37 (14.98%) GCP
4 33 (13.36%) Entra ID
5 24 (9.72%) OpenShift
6 23 (9.31%) Azure DevOps
7 15 (6.07%) GitHub
7 15 (6.07%) GitHub Actions
8 13 (5.26%) Azure Monitor
9 11 (4.45%) Power Platform
10 10 (4.05%) Serverless
11 8 (3.24%) AWS CloudFormation
11 8 (3.24%) Azure AKS
11 8 (3.24%) Azure Key Vault
11 8 (3.24%) SaaS
12 7 (2.83%) AWS Lambda
12 7 (2.83%) Azure App Service
12 7 (2.83%) Azure Data Factory
13 6 (2.43%) AWS Step Functions
13 6 (2.43%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 18 (7.29%) DNS
2 17 (6.88%) TCP/IP
3 16 (6.48%) BGP
3 16 (6.48%) Firewall
4 11 (4.45%) DHCP
4 11 (4.45%) WAN
5 10 (4.05%) MPLS
5 10 (4.05%) VPN
6 9 (3.64%) LAN
6 9 (3.64%) Network Security
7 7 (2.83%) Radio Access Network
8 6 (2.43%) 5G
8 6 (2.43%) Diameter Protocol
8 6 (2.43%) DNSSEC
8 6 (2.43%) LTE
8 6 (2.43%) VoLTE
8 6 (2.43%) VoWiFi
8 6 (2.43%) VXLAN
8 6 (2.43%) Wireshark
9 5 (2.02%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (8.91%) SQL Server
2 15 (6.07%) NoSQL
3 11 (4.45%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (4.45%) Power BI
4 7 (2.83%) Azure SQL Database
4 7 (2.83%) MongoDB
4 7 (2.83%) Relational Database
5 5 (2.02%) MySQL
6 4 (1.62%) Data Warehouse
7 3 (1.21%) Amazon Redshift
7 3 (1.21%) Big Data
7 3 (1.21%) GIS
7 3 (1.21%) Hadoop
7 3 (1.21%) Spark SQL
7 3 (1.21%) Tableau
8 2 (0.81%) Amazon Athena
8 2 (0.81%) Metadata
8 2 (0.81%) Oracle Database
8 2 (0.81%) Parquet
8 2 (0.81%) Redis
Development Applications
1 26 (10.53%) Git
2 15 (6.07%) Jenkins
3 10 (4.05%) GitLab
4 5 (2.02%) JIRA
5 2 (0.81%) JMeter
5 2 (0.81%) MLflow
5 2 (0.81%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.40%) Burp Suite
6 1 (0.40%) Jaeger
6 1 (0.40%) LoadRunner
6 1 (0.40%) NeoLoad
6 1 (0.40%) Oracle Developer 2000
6 1 (0.40%) Oracle Forms
6 1 (0.40%) Selenium
General
1 79 (31.98%) Social Skills
2 58 (23.48%) Analytical Skills
3 35 (14.17%) Documentation Skills
4 34 (13.77%) Public Sector
5 24 (9.72%) Aerospace
6 14 (5.67%) Telecoms
7 12 (4.86%) Military
8 6 (2.43%) Finance
9 5 (2.02%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (2.02%) Pharmaceutical
10 4 (1.62%) Influencing Skills
11 2 (0.81%) Banking
11 2 (0.81%) Manufacturing
11 2 (0.81%) Marketing
11 2 (0.81%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.40%) Advertising
Job Titles
1 37 (14.98%) Developer
2 35 (14.17%) Senior
3 26 (10.53%) Data Engineer
3 26 (10.53%) Python Developer
4 21 (8.50%) Architect
5 13 (5.26%) IAM Specialist
6 12 (4.86%) Data Scientist
6 12 (4.86%) Network Architect
7 11 (4.45%) Analyst
8 10 (4.05%) Lead
8 10 (4.05%) Senior Data Engineer
8 10 (4.05%) Systems Engineer
9 9 (3.64%) Platform Engineer
10 8 (3.24%) Full-Stack Developer
11 6 (2.43%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 6 (2.43%) Consultant
11 6 (2.43%) DevSecOps Engineer
11 6 (2.43%) Technical Leader
12 5 (2.02%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 5 (2.02%) Network Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (21.46%) Terraform
2 22 (8.91%) REST
3 20 (8.10%) OAuth
4 18 (7.29%) LDAP
4 18 (7.29%) RESTful
4 18 (7.29%) SAML
5 17 (6.88%) OpenID
6 16 (6.48%) PySpark
7 15 (6.07%) .NET
7 15 (6.07%) SailPoint
8 14 (5.67%) OAuth2
8 14 (5.67%) Web Services
9 11 (4.45%) ARM Templates
9 11 (4.45%) FastAPI
10 10 (4.05%) NETCONF
11 8 (3.24%) Flask
11 8 (3.24%) YANG
12 7 (2.83%) Kafka
13 6 (2.43%) NumPy
13 6 (2.43%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 30 (12.15%) Onboarding
2 27 (10.93%) Hybrid Cloud
3 24 (9.72%) Cloud Native
4 14 (5.67%) Algorithms
4 14 (5.67%) Distributed Systems
4 14 (5.67%) Management Information System
5 9 (3.64%) AI Agents
5 9 (3.64%) Data Structures
6 8 (3.24%) Security Posture
7 7 (2.83%) Data Centre
7 7 (2.83%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 7 (2.83%) Product Ownership
8 5 (2.02%) Greenfield Project
9 4 (1.62%) Distributed Computing
9 4 (1.62%) Life Science
9 4 (1.62%) Private Cloud
10 3 (1.21%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (1.21%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.21%) Enterprise Cloud
10 3 (1.21%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 51 (20.65%) Linux
2 38 (15.38%) Windows
3 28 (11.34%) Unix
4 15 (6.07%) Windows Server
5 7 (2.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (31.17%) DevOps
2 74 (29.96%) CI/CD
3 58 (23.48%) Problem-Solving
4 57 (23.08%) Analytics
5 50 (20.24%) Runbook
6 47 (19.03%) Infrastructure as Code
7 37 (14.98%) Computer Science
7 37 (14.98%) SIEM
8 36 (14.57%) Agile
9 34 (13.77%) ITSM
10 33 (13.36%) AI
10 33 (13.36%) Machine Learning
11 32 (12.96%) Change Control
12 31 (12.55%) Continuous Improvement
12 31 (12.55%) Platform Engineering
13 30 (12.15%) Data Science
14 28 (11.34%) Cybersecurity
14 28 (11.34%) Data Pipeline
15 27 (10.93%) Data Engineering
16 25 (10.12%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 96 (38.87%) PowerShell
2 58 (23.48%) SQL
3 40 (16.19%) Bash
4 13 (5.26%) C#
4 13 (5.26%) Go
5 11 (4.45%) Java
6 10 (4.05%) Bicep
7 5 (2.02%) Shell Script
8 4 (1.62%) JavaScript
9 3 (1.21%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.81%) Perl
10 2 (0.81%) T-SQL
10 2 (0.81%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.40%) Groovy
11 1 (0.40%) PHP
11 1 (0.40%) R
11 1 (0.40%) Scala
Qualifications
1 115 (46.56%) Security Cleared
2 103 (41.70%) SC Cleared
3 45 (18.22%) Degree
4 21 (8.50%) Cisco Certification
5 17 (6.88%) CISSP
6 15 (6.07%) Azure Certification
7 12 (4.86%) CCIE
8 11 (4.45%) Microsoft Certification
9 10 (4.05%) AWS Certification
9 10 (4.05%) JNCIE
10 9 (3.64%) BPSS Clearance
10 9 (3.64%) Computer Science Degree
11 7 (2.83%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 6 (2.43%) CEH
12 6 (2.43%) DV Cleared
13 5 (2.02%) CISM
13 5 (2.02%) RHCE
13 5 (2.02%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 4 (1.62%) CompTIA Security+
15 3 (1.21%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (18.22%) NIST
2 43 (17.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 25 (10.12%) Data Quality
4 8 (3.24%) GDPR
5 6 (2.43%) NCSC
5 6 (2.43%) QA
5 6 (2.43%) SLA
6 3 (1.21%) Cyber Essentials
6 3 (1.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.40%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.40%) GRC
7 1 (0.40%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 1 (0.40%) JTAG
7 1 (0.40%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 48 (19.43%) Active Directory
2 24 (9.72%) Docker
3 8 (3.24%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (2.43%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.81%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.81%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.81%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.40%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 57 (23.08%) Kubernetes
2 42 (17.00%) Ansible
3 6 (2.43%) Grafana
3 6 (2.43%) Single Sign-On
4 5 (2.02%) QRadar
5 4 (1.62%) Istio
5 4 (1.62%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.21%) Progress Chef
6 3 (1.21%) Puppet
7 2 (0.81%) CASB
7 2 (0.81%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.40%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.40%) Data Guard
8 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.40%) Oracle RMAN
8 1 (0.40%) Rancher
8 1 (0.40%) SCOM
8 1 (0.40%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 67 (27.13%) Microsoft
2 29 (11.74%) CyberArk
3 25 (10.12%) BeyondTrust
4 23 (9.31%) Databricks
5 16 (6.48%) Oracle
6 15 (6.07%) Google
7 12 (4.86%) VMware
8 11 (4.45%) Cisco
8 11 (4.45%) Red Hat
9 10 (4.05%) Splunk
10 8 (3.24%) Nokia
11 7 (2.83%) F5
12 6 (2.43%) BT
12 6 (2.43%) Ericsson
12 6 (2.43%) Huawei
12 6 (2.43%) Infoblox
13 5 (2.02%) Fortinet
13 5 (2.02%) Juniper
14 3 (1.21%) Proofpoint
14 3 (1.21%) SolarWinds