Java Engineer Contract Job Trends

Java Engineer
UK

The median Java Engineer daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 August 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 371 335 300
Rank change year-on-year -36 -35 +172
Contract jobs requiring a Java Engineer 330 225 292
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.62% 0.68% 0.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.66% 0.75% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 198 166 209
10th Percentile £348 £400 £450
25th Percentile £450 £496 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £625 £713
Median % change year-on-year -16.00% -12.28% +19.75%
75th Percentile £600 £825 £850
90th Percentile £650 £875 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £508 £485 £500
% change year-on-year +4.64% -3.00% +3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 6 27
10th Percentile £61.25 £38.75 £66.25
25th Percentile £65.31 £49.38 -
Median hourly rate £70.00 £75.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +7.14% +9.38%
75th Percentile £73.75 £85.63 -
90th Percentile £76.30 £90.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £70.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year - - +6.87%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 the UK with a recognized job title 49,650 30,089 36,083
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.54% 91.30% 92.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,817 19,016 23,243
10th Percentile £326 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,489 1,535 2,025
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.60 £14.25
25th Percentile £20.69 £17.28 £20.30
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% +2.00%
75th Percentile £67.89 £53.81 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +20.00%

Java Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Java Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Java Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Java Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Java Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Java Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Java Engineer over the 6 months to 15 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Java Engineer in the UK

Java Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Java Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Java Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Java Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Java Engineer over the 6 months to 15 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Java Engineer in the UK

Java Engineer
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Java Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 15 August 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
England -25 300 £525 -30.00% 398
UK excluding London -2 153 £508 +4.64% 169
London -71 153 £540 -28.00% 303
Work from Home -74 99 £494 -34.17% 125
North of England -13 62 £523 +64.00% 33
North West -27 30 £555 - 21
South East -46 30 £500 - 12
South West -32 21 £563 +2.27% 26
Midlands -32 21 £469 -10.67% 21
Yorkshire -27 18 £500 +56.94% 7
West Midlands -33 17 £470 -11.42% 19
North East - 15 £640 - 5
East of England -11 14 £510 -15.00% 6
Scotland -23 5 £550 +18.92% 61
East Midlands -13 4 £400 +26.98% 2
Wales - 4 - - 3
Northern Ireland +2 2 £275 -36.78% 8

Java Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 15 August 2026, Java 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 featuring Java Engineer in the job title.

1 330 (100.00%) Java
2 188 (56.97%) Software Engineering
3 130 (39.39%) Spring
4 127 (38.48%) CI/CD
5 124 (37.58%) Spring Boot
6 107 (32.42%) AWS
7 106 (32.12%) Agile
7 106 (32.12%) Microservices
8 99 (30.00%) Kubernetes
9 84 (25.45%) Docker
9 84 (25.45%) Security Cleared
10 78 (23.64%) Kafka
11 77 (23.33%) SC Cleared
12 76 (23.03%) DevOps
13 71 (21.52%) SQL
14 56 (16.97%) Test Automation
15 49 (14.85%) Azure
16 47 (14.24%) Containerisation
16 47 (14.24%) Full-Stack Development
17 46 (13.94%) Event-Driven
18 42 (12.73%) PostgreSQL
18 42 (12.73%) Python
18 42 (12.73%) REST
19 39 (11.82%) Problem-Solving
20 38 (11.52%) TDD
21 37 (11.21%) Git
22 35 (10.61%) Event-Driven Architecture
23 34 (10.30%) QA
23 34 (10.30%) React
23 34 (10.30%) SDLC

Java Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 8 (2.42%) Apache Spark
2 7 (2.12%) Apache
2 7 (2.12%) WebLogic
3 3 (0.91%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.61%) Confluence
4 2 (0.61%) MQSeries
5 1 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.30%) Apache Pulsar
5 1 (0.30%) nginx
5 1 (0.30%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.30%) WebSphere
Applications
1 3 (0.91%) Trello
Business Applications
1 2 (0.61%) Payment Gateway
2 1 (0.30%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 107 (32.42%) AWS
2 49 (14.85%) Azure
3 29 (8.79%) GCP
3 29 (8.79%) GitHub
4 24 (7.27%) GitHub Actions
5 18 (5.45%) OpenShift
6 12 (3.64%) Serverless
7 11 (3.33%) AWS Lambda
8 8 (2.42%) Amazon SQS
9 7 (2.12%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 6 (1.82%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 6 (1.82%) Amazon ECS
10 6 (1.82%) Amazon EKS
10 6 (1.82%) AWS CloudFormation
11 5 (1.52%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (1.21%) Amazon S3
12 4 (1.21%) Cloud Run
12 4 (1.21%) Snowflake
13 3 (0.91%) Azure Service Bus
13 3 (0.91%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.42%) Firewall
1 8 (2.42%) VPN
2 4 (1.21%) HTTP
2 4 (1.21%) Internet
3 1 (0.30%) DNS
3 1 (0.30%) MQTT
3 1 (0.30%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 42 (12.73%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (5.76%) Relational Database
3 18 (5.45%) NoSQL
4 15 (4.55%) MongoDB
5 13 (3.94%) SQL Server
6 11 (3.33%) MySQL
7 10 (3.03%) DynamoDB
8 9 (2.73%) Elasticsearch
9 7 (2.12%) Couchbase
10 6 (1.82%) Apache Cassandra
10 6 (1.82%) Redis
11 4 (1.21%) Big Data
11 4 (1.21%) Flink
11 4 (1.21%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 3 (0.91%) Data Lake
12 3 (0.91%) Power BI
13 2 (0.61%) HBase
13 2 (0.61%) Snowflake Schema
14 1 (0.30%) Delta Lake
14 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 37 (11.21%) Git
2 32 (9.70%) JUnit
3 28 (8.48%) Jenkins
4 23 (6.97%) GitLab
5 17 (5.15%) SonarQube
6 15 (4.55%) Gradle
6 15 (4.55%) Maven
7 14 (4.24%) Mockito
8 8 (2.42%) JIRA
8 8 (2.42%) Liquibase
9 6 (1.82%) Cucumber
10 5 (1.52%) Bitbucket
10 5 (1.52%) Selenium
11 4 (1.21%) IntelliJ
11 4 (1.21%) TeamCity
12 3 (0.91%) Flyway
12 3 (0.91%) XCUITest
13 2 (0.61%) Gatling
13 2 (0.61%) Katalon Studio
13 2 (0.61%) REST Assured
General
1 89 (26.97%) Finance
2 54 (16.36%) Banking
3 38 (11.52%) Social Skills
4 18 (5.45%) Public Sector
5 15 (4.55%) Front Office
6 10 (3.03%) Law
7 9 (2.73%) Manufacturing
7 9 (2.73%) Retail
8 8 (2.42%) Analytical Skills
8 8 (2.42%) Financial Institution
9 5 (1.52%) Military
10 4 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.21%) Investment Banking
10 4 (1.21%) Retail Banking
11 3 (0.91%) Automotive
12 2 (0.61%) Aerospace
12 2 (0.61%) Back Office
12 2 (0.61%) Corporate Banking
12 2 (0.61%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.30%) Documentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 130 (39.39%) Spring
2 124 (37.58%) Spring Boot
3 78 (23.64%) Kafka
4 42 (12.73%) REST
5 34 (10.30%) React
6 28 (8.48%) RESTful
7 23 (6.97%) AngularJS
8 17 (5.15%) Quarkus
9 13 (3.94%) Node.js
10 11 (3.33%) Middleware
11 10 (3.03%) GraphQL
11 10 (3.03%) OpenAPI
12 9 (2.73%) Swagger
13 8 (2.42%) AWS CDK
13 8 (2.42%) Next.js
13 8 (2.42%) OAuth
14 7 (2.12%) OAuth2
14 7 (2.12%) Web Services
15 6 (1.82%) JSON
15 6 (1.82%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 67 (20.30%) Cloud Native
2 48 (14.55%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (4.24%) Greenfield Project
4 8 (2.42%) Data Protection Act
4 8 (2.42%) Enterprise Software
5 6 (1.82%) Data Structures
5 6 (1.82%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 6 (1.82%) Legacy Systems
5 6 (1.82%) Product Ownership
6 5 (1.52%) AI Agents
6 5 (1.52%) Fixed Income
6 5 (1.52%) Legacy Applications
6 5 (1.52%) Linux Command Line
6 5 (1.52%) Onboarding
6 5 (1.52%) Public Cloud
7 4 (1.21%) Low-Code
7 4 (1.21%) SWIFT Messaging Network
7 4 (1.21%) TWAP
7 4 (1.21%) VWAP
8 3 (0.91%) Distributed Architecture
Operating Systems
1 20 (6.06%) Linux
2 10 (3.03%) Unix
3 2 (0.61%) Android
3 2 (0.61%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.30%) Solaris
4 1 (0.30%) Windows
4 1 (0.30%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2008
4 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2016
4 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 188 (56.97%) Software Engineering
2 127 (38.48%) CI/CD
3 106 (32.12%) Agile
3 106 (32.12%) Microservices
4 76 (23.03%) DevOps
5 56 (16.97%) Test Automation
6 47 (14.24%) Containerisation
6 47 (14.24%) Full-Stack Development
7 46 (13.94%) Event-Driven
8 39 (11.82%) Problem-Solving
9 38 (11.52%) TDD
10 35 (10.61%) Event-Driven Architecture
11 34 (10.30%) SDLC
12 31 (9.39%) Scrum
13 30 (9.09%) AI
13 30 (9.09%) Unit Testing
14 27 (8.18%) Migration
14 27 (8.18%) Observability
15 25 (7.58%) Clean Code
15 25 (7.58%) Code Quality
Programming Languages
1 330 (100.00%) Java
2 71 (21.52%) SQL
3 42 (12.73%) Python
4 28 (8.48%) TypeScript
5 22 (6.67%) JavaScript
6 19 (5.76%) Kotlin
7 11 (3.33%) Shell Script
8 7 (2.12%) Ada
8 7 (2.12%) PL/SQL
9 6 (1.82%) Go
10 5 (1.52%) C++
11 4 (1.21%) Groovy
12 3 (0.91%) C#
12 3 (0.91%) PowerShell
13 2 (0.61%) Scala
13 2 (0.61%) Swift
14 1 (0.30%) Korn
Qualifications
1 84 (25.45%) Security Cleared
2 77 (23.33%) SC Cleared
3 13 (3.94%) Degree
4 10 (3.03%) BPSS Clearance
5 6 (1.82%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (0.91%) DV Cleared
6 3 (0.91%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.30%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.30%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 1 (0.30%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (10.30%) QA
2 9 (2.73%) ISO 20022
3 7 (2.12%) Def Stans
3 7 (2.12%) IEC 61508
3 7 (2.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 6 (1.82%) GDPR
5 5 (1.52%) SEPA
6 3 (0.91%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.91%) ISO 15022
7 2 (0.61%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.61%) SLA
8 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.30%) PSD2
System Software
1 84 (25.45%) Docker
2 1 (0.30%) Oracle RAC
2 1 (0.30%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
2 1 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
2 1 (0.30%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 99 (30.00%) Kubernetes
2 20 (6.06%) Terraform
3 16 (4.85%) Argo
4 4 (1.21%) Ansible
4 4 (1.21%) Prometheus
5 3 (0.91%) HAProxy
5 3 (0.91%) Kibana
6 1 (0.30%) Docker Swarm
6 1 (0.30%) Grafana
6 1 (0.30%) Oracle RMAN
6 1 (0.30%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.30%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 23 (6.97%) Oracle
2 15 (4.55%) Red Hat
3 13 (3.94%) Microsoft
4 10 (3.03%) Google
5 6 (1.82%) Spotify
6 5 (1.52%) Confluent
6 5 (1.52%) IBM
6 5 (1.52%) SAP
6 5 (1.52%) Splunk
7 4 (1.21%) Databricks
8 3 (0.91%) Checkmarx
8 3 (0.91%) FIS
8 3 (0.91%) ServiceNow
9 2 (0.61%) Dynatrace
9 2 (0.61%) MKS
9 2 (0.61%) Solace
10 1 (0.30%) Ariba
10 1 (0.30%) Concur
10 1 (0.30%) Sonatype
10 1 (0.30%) VMware