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 31 August 2026.

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

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 376 346 302
Rank change year-on-year -30 -44 +180
Contract jobs requiring a Java Engineer 330 225 295
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.68% 0.76%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.66% 0.75% 0.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 205 164 216
10th Percentile £335 £400 £450
25th Percentile £450 £498 £520
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £738
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% -18.64% +22.92%
75th Percentile £600 £825 £850
90th Percentile £650 £850 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £523 £493 £500
% change year-on-year +6.09% -1.50% +3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 6 26
10th Percentile £63.20 £38.75 £66.25
25th Percentile £66.25 £49.38 -
Median hourly rate £70.00 £75.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% +7.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £76.00 £85.63 -
90th Percentile £77.00 £90.00 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £70.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year - - +7.69%

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 49,691 30,076 35,928
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.46% 91.26% 93.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,638 19,002 22,670
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £620 £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 3,580 1,568 1,839
10th Percentile £14.96 £13.73 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.51 £17.00 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% +1.96%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.78 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.41 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £44.04
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.89% +13.95%

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 31 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 31 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 31 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 -12 303 £525 -22.22% 286
UK excluding London +22 163 £523 +6.09% 144
London -73 145 £525 -30.00% 194
Work from Home -74 95 £494 -34.17% 102
North of England -7 72 £511 +63.97% 39
North West -19 37 £555 +81.97% 22
Midlands -25 31 £585 +11.43% 16
South East -49 27 £500 - 11
West Midlands -23 26 £595 +12.26% 12
Yorkshire -25 21 £500 +56.94% 13
East of England -3 18 £570 -5.00% 4
North East - 15 £640 - 4
South West -32 12 £463 -15.91% 26
East Midlands -10 5 £400 +26.98% 4
Scotland -30 4 £550 +17.33% 41
Wales - 4 - - 1
Northern Ireland +2 3 £275 -36.78% 7

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

For the 6 months to 31 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
2 189 (57.27%) Software Engineering
3 140 (42.42%) Spring
4 136 (41.21%) CI/CD
5 132 (40.00%) Spring Boot
6 113 (34.24%) AWS
7 112 (33.94%) Agile
8 111 (33.64%) Microservices
9 107 (32.42%) Kubernetes
10 84 (25.45%) Docker
11 77 (23.33%) DevOps
12 76 (23.03%) Security Cleared
13 72 (21.82%) SQL
14 71 (21.52%) Kafka
15 69 (20.91%) SC Cleared
16 66 (20.00%) Test Automation
17 51 (15.45%) Event-Driven
18 44 (13.33%) REST
18 44 (13.33%) TDD
19 43 (13.03%) Azure
20 42 (12.73%) Containerisation
21 41 (12.42%) Full-Stack Development
21 41 (12.42%) Python
22 40 (12.12%) PostgreSQL
22 40 (12.12%) SDLC
23 39 (11.82%) Event-Driven Architecture
23 39 (11.82%) Git
23 39 (11.82%) Problem-Solving
23 39 (11.82%) QA
24 38 (11.52%) Scrum

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%) Confluence
3 3 (0.91%) Oracle SOA Suite
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
1 113 (34.24%) AWS
2 43 (13.03%) Azure
3 31 (9.39%) GCP
4 29 (8.79%) GitHub
5 22 (6.67%) GitHub Actions
6 18 (5.45%) OpenShift
7 14 (4.24%) Serverless
8 13 (3.94%) AWS Lambda
9 8 (2.42%) Amazon SQS
10 7 (2.12%) AWS CloudFormation
10 7 (2.12%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 6 (1.82%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 6 (1.82%) Amazon ECS
12 5 (1.52%) Amazon EKS
12 5 (1.52%) Amazon OpenSearch
12 5 (1.52%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (1.21%) Amazon S3
13 4 (1.21%) Cloud Run
13 4 (1.21%) GitHub Copilot
13 4 (1.21%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 10 (3.03%) Firewall
1 10 (3.03%) VPN
2 5 (1.52%) HTTP
3 4 (1.21%) Internet
4 1 (0.30%) DNS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (12.12%) PostgreSQL
2 23 (6.97%) Relational Database
3 17 (5.15%) NoSQL
4 13 (3.94%) MySQL
5 12 (3.64%) MongoDB
5 12 (3.64%) SQL Server
6 9 (2.73%) DynamoDB
6 9 (2.73%) Elasticsearch
7 8 (2.42%) Couchbase
8 7 (2.12%) Redis
9 5 (1.52%) Apache Cassandra
10 4 (1.21%) Big Data
10 4 (1.21%) Flink
10 4 (1.21%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 3 (0.91%) Data Lake
11 3 (0.91%) Power BI
12 2 (0.61%) HBase
12 2 (0.61%) Snowflake Schema
13 1 (0.30%) Delta Lake
13 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 39 (11.82%) Git
2 37 (11.21%) JUnit
3 28 (8.48%) GitLab
4 26 (7.88%) Jenkins
5 20 (6.06%) Maven
6 18 (5.45%) SonarQube
7 16 (4.85%) Mockito
8 14 (4.24%) Gradle
9 9 (2.73%) JIRA
10 8 (2.42%) Liquibase
11 6 (1.82%) Bitbucket
11 6 (1.82%) Cucumber
11 6 (1.82%) Selenium
12 4 (1.21%) IntelliJ
12 4 (1.21%) TeamCity
13 3 (0.91%) Flyway
13 3 (0.91%) Gatling
13 3 (0.91%) XCUITest
14 2 (0.61%) Katalon Studio
14 2 (0.61%) REST Assured
General
1 85 (25.76%) Finance
2 54 (16.36%) Banking
3 52 (15.76%) Social Skills
4 13 (3.94%) Public Sector
5 12 (3.64%) Manufacturing
6 10 (3.03%) Front Office
7 9 (2.73%) Law
7 9 (2.73%) Retail
8 7 (2.12%) Analytical Skills
8 7 (2.12%) Financial Institution
9 5 (1.52%) Military
10 4 (1.21%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.21%) Retail Banking
11 3 (0.91%) Automotive
11 3 (0.91%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.61%) Aerospace
12 2 (0.61%) Corporate Banking
12 2 (0.61%) iGaming
13 1 (0.30%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 140 (42.42%) Spring
2 132 (40.00%) Spring Boot
3 71 (21.52%) Kafka
4 44 (13.33%) REST
5 32 (9.70%) React
6 28 (8.48%) RESTful
7 23 (6.97%) AngularJS
8 21 (6.36%) Terraform
9 17 (5.15%) Quarkus
10 15 (4.55%) OpenAPI
11 11 (3.33%) Swagger
12 10 (3.03%) Node.js
13 9 (2.73%) JPA
13 9 (2.73%) OAuth
14 8 (2.42%) AWS CDK
15 7 (2.12%) Middleware
15 7 (2.12%) Next.js
15 7 (2.12%) RabbitMQ
15 7 (2.12%) Web Services
16 6 (1.82%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 71 (21.52%) Cloud Native
2 50 (15.15%) Distributed Systems
3 14 (4.24%) Greenfield Project
4 9 (2.73%) Enterprise Software
5 8 (2.42%) Product Ownership
6 7 (2.12%) Legacy Systems
6 7 (2.12%) Onboarding
7 6 (1.82%) AI Agents
7 6 (1.82%) Data Structures
7 6 (1.82%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
8 5 (1.52%) Data Protection Act
8 5 (1.52%) Legacy Applications
8 5 (1.52%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (1.21%) Low-Code
9 4 (1.21%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.21%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 4 (1.21%) TWAP
9 4 (1.21%) Virtual Team
9 4 (1.21%) VWAP
10 3 (0.91%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 17 (5.15%) Linux
2 9 (2.73%) 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
1 189 (57.27%) Software Engineering
2 136 (41.21%) CI/CD
3 112 (33.94%) Agile
4 111 (33.64%) Microservices
5 77 (23.33%) DevOps
6 66 (20.00%) Test Automation
7 51 (15.45%) Event-Driven
8 44 (13.33%) TDD
9 42 (12.73%) Containerisation
10 41 (12.42%) Full-Stack Development
11 40 (12.12%) SDLC
12 39 (11.82%) Event-Driven Architecture
12 39 (11.82%) Problem-Solving
13 38 (11.52%) Scrum
14 35 (10.61%) Observability
15 31 (9.39%) AI
16 30 (9.09%) Unit Testing
17 29 (8.79%) Front End Development
18 27 (8.18%) Clean Code
18 27 (8.18%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 330 (100.00%) Java
2 72 (21.82%) SQL
3 41 (12.42%) Python
4 27 (8.18%) TypeScript
5 24 (7.27%) Kotlin
6 22 (6.67%) JavaScript
7 14 (4.24%) Shell Script
8 5 (1.52%) C++
9 4 (1.21%) C#
9 4 (1.21%) Groovy
9 4 (1.21%) PL/SQL
9 4 (1.21%) PowerShell
10 3 (0.91%) Ada
10 3 (0.91%) Bash
10 3 (0.91%) Go
10 3 (0.91%) Ruby
11 2 (0.61%) Scala
11 2 (0.61%) Swift
12 1 (0.30%) Korn
12 1 (0.30%) Rust
Qualifications
1 76 (23.03%) Security Cleared
2 69 (20.91%) SC Cleared
3 20 (6.06%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (3.33%) Degree
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 39 (11.82%) QA
2 9 (2.73%) ISO 20022
3 7 (2.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 6 (1.82%) GDPR
5 5 (1.52%) SEPA
6 3 (0.91%) Accessibility
6 3 (0.91%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.91%) Def Stans
6 3 (0.91%) IEC 61508
6 3 (0.91%) ISO 15022
6 3 (0.91%) SLA
7 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.30%) PSD2
7 1 (0.30%) WCAG
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
1 107 (32.42%) Kubernetes
2 16 (4.85%) Argo
3 6 (1.82%) Kibana
3 6 (1.82%) Prometheus
4 5 (1.52%) Ansible
5 3 (0.91%) Grafana
5 3 (0.91%) HAProxy
6 1 (0.30%) Docker Swarm
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 9 (2.73%) 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
7 4 (1.21%) Dynatrace
8 3 (0.91%) Checkmarx
8 3 (0.91%) FIS
9 2 (0.61%) MKS
9 2 (0.61%) OpenAI
9 2 (0.61%) ServiceNow
10 1 (0.30%) Ariba
10 1 (0.30%) Concur
10 1 (0.30%) Solace
10 1 (0.30%) VMware