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 22 June 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 324 342 311
Rank change year-on-year +18 -31 +192
Contract jobs requiring a Java Engineer 364 198 293
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 0.66% 0.67%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.78% 0.72% 0.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 218 139 197
10th Percentile £382 £398 £413
25th Percentile £450 £475 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £586 £600
Median % change year-on-year -10.41% -2.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £613 £825 £850
90th Percentile £667 £875 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £523 £485 £500
% change year-on-year +7.73% -3.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 8 27
10th Percentile £52.50 £40.25 £67.00
25th Percentile £65.00 £59.38 -
Median hourly rate £67.50 £67.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year - -3.57% +6.87%
75th Percentile £70.00 £72.50 -
90th Percentile £76.70 £83.75 £71.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £67.50 £70.00
% change year-on-year - -3.57% +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 46,870 27,596 40,750
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.38% 92.16% 92.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,487 17,727 26,108
10th Percentile £325 £288 £281
25th Percentile £414 £402 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.30% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,127 1,198 2,996
10th Percentile £15.38 £13.85 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.46 £16.39
Median hourly rate £43.61 £27.36 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.36% -27.03% -14.77%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -1.23%

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 22 June 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 22 June 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 22 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
England +4 319 £525 -22.22% 39
UK excluding London +14 171 £523 +7.73% 35
London -43 164 £545 -27.33% 21
Work from Home -29 114 £525 -30.00% 35
North of England -20 64 £523 +14.21% 7
South East -37 35 £500 -23.08% 12
South West -7 32 £484 -7.86% 3
North West -16 30 £540 - 3
North East -21 18 £478 +22.44%
Yorkshire -38 17 £523 -0.48% 4
Midlands -46 16 £542 +3.14% 1
Scotland 0 15 £600 +26.32% 3
West Midlands -49 14 £600 +14.29% 1
East of England -21 9 £505 -15.83% 2
Wales - 5 £388 -
East Midlands -18 2 £400 +26.98%
Northern Ireland -5 1 - - 7

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

For the 6 months to 22 June 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.

1 364 (100.00%) Java
2 194 (53.30%) Software Engineering
3 146 (40.11%) Spring
4 134 (36.81%) Spring Boot
5 110 (30.22%) AWS
6 109 (29.95%) CI/CD
7 104 (28.57%) Microservices
8 103 (28.30%) Agile
9 102 (28.02%) Kubernetes
10 81 (22.25%) Docker
10 81 (22.25%) Kafka
11 78 (21.43%) Security Cleared
12 70 (19.23%) SC Cleared
13 66 (18.13%) DevOps
14 59 (16.21%) SQL
15 58 (15.93%) Full-Stack Development
16 51 (14.01%) Azure
17 47 (12.91%) React
17 47 (12.91%) TDD
17 47 (12.91%) Test Automation
18 45 (12.36%) Containerisation
19 43 (11.81%) Event-Driven
20 41 (11.26%) Python
21 38 (10.44%) PostgreSQL
22 37 (10.16%) QA
23 35 (9.62%) Jenkins
24 34 (9.34%) JUnit
24 34 (9.34%) Problem-Solving
25 32 (8.79%) TypeScript
26 31 (8.52%) REST

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 (2.20%) Apache Spark
2 4 (1.10%) Apache
3 3 (0.82%) Confluence
3 3 (0.82%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 2 (0.55%) MQSeries
5 1 (0.27%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.27%) Apache Pulsar
5 1 (0.27%) Camunda
5 1 (0.27%) Ethereum
5 1 (0.27%) Hyperledger
5 1 (0.27%) nginx
5 1 (0.27%) Tomcat
5 1 (0.27%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.27%) Notion
Business Applications
1 2 (0.55%) Payment Gateway
1 2 (0.55%) Shopify
2 1 (0.27%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 110 (30.22%) AWS
2 51 (14.01%) Azure
3 26 (7.14%) GitHub
4 25 (6.87%) GCP
5 21 (5.77%) OpenShift
6 20 (5.49%) GitHub Actions
7 17 (4.67%) Serverless
8 16 (4.40%) AWS Lambda
9 12 (3.30%) Amazon S3
10 8 (2.20%) Amazon ECS
11 7 (1.92%) Amazon EC2
12 6 (1.65%) AWS Step Functions
12 6 (1.65%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 5 (1.37%) Azure DevOps
13 5 (1.37%) Cloud Run
14 4 (1.10%) AWS Fargate
15 3 (0.82%) AWS CloudFormation
15 3 (0.82%) Azure Service Bus
15 3 (0.82%) Power Platform
15 3 (0.82%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 6 (1.65%) HTTP
2 4 (1.10%) Firewall
2 4 (1.10%) Internet
2 4 (1.10%) VPN
3 3 (0.82%) MQTT
4 1 (0.27%) DNS
4 1 (0.27%) HTTPS
4 1 (0.27%) Kerberos
4 1 (0.27%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 38 (10.44%) PostgreSQL
2 18 (4.95%) MongoDB
3 16 (4.40%) Relational Database
4 14 (3.85%) MySQL
5 13 (3.57%) NoSQL
5 13 (3.57%) SQL Server
6 11 (3.02%) DynamoDB
7 10 (2.75%) Apache Cassandra
8 9 (2.47%) Big Data
9 8 (2.20%) Elasticsearch
10 7 (1.92%) Amazon RDS
11 6 (1.65%) Couchbase
12 4 (1.10%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 3 (0.82%) Data Lake
13 3 (0.82%) Hadoop
13 3 (0.82%) Power BI
14 2 (0.55%) Flink
14 2 (0.55%) HBase
14 2 (0.55%) Oracle Database
14 2 (0.55%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 35 (9.62%) Jenkins
2 34 (9.34%) JUnit
3 28 (7.69%) Git
4 24 (6.59%) Gradle
5 18 (4.95%) GitLab
5 18 (4.95%) SonarQube
6 12 (3.30%) Maven
6 12 (3.30%) Mockito
7 9 (2.47%) IntelliJ
7 9 (2.47%) JIRA
8 8 (2.20%) Liquibase
9 7 (1.92%) Selenium
10 5 (1.37%) Cucumber
11 3 (0.82%) Flyway
11 3 (0.82%) XCUITest
12 2 (0.55%) Appium
12 2 (0.55%) Artifactory
12 2 (0.55%) Gatling
12 2 (0.55%) Katalon Studio
12 2 (0.55%) Postman
General
1 81 (22.25%) Finance
2 44 (12.09%) Banking
3 33 (9.07%) Social Skills
4 21 (5.77%) Public Sector
5 20 (5.49%) Front Office
6 11 (3.02%) Law
7 10 (2.75%) Financial Institution
8 9 (2.47%) Retail
9 8 (2.20%) Analytical Skills
10 5 (1.37%) Investment Banking
10 5 (1.37%) Manufacturing
11 4 (1.10%) Military
12 3 (0.82%) Automotive
12 3 (0.82%) Back Office
12 3 (0.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.82%) Retail Banking
13 2 (0.55%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.55%) Corporate Banking
14 1 (0.27%) French Language
14 1 (0.27%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 146 (40.11%) Spring
2 134 (36.81%) Spring Boot
3 81 (22.25%) Kafka
4 47 (12.91%) React
5 31 (8.52%) REST
6 26 (7.14%) RESTful
7 25 (6.87%) AngularJS
8 18 (4.95%) GraphQL
8 18 (4.95%) Middleware
8 18 (4.95%) Node.js
8 18 (4.95%) Quarkus
9 14 (3.85%) OpenAPI
9 14 (3.85%) Swagger
10 12 (3.30%) Hibernate
11 9 (2.47%) Redux
12 8 (2.20%) Next.js
13 7 (1.92%) AWS CDK
13 7 (1.92%) FIX Protocol
13 7 (1.92%) Micronaut
13 7 (1.92%) Spring MVC
Miscellaneous
1 64 (17.58%) Cloud Native
2 43 (11.81%) Distributed Systems
3 10 (2.75%) Data Protection Act
3 10 (2.75%) Greenfield Project
4 9 (2.47%) Fixed Income
5 7 (1.92%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 7 (1.92%) Legacy Applications
6 6 (1.65%) Legacy Systems
6 6 (1.65%) Public Cloud
7 5 (1.37%) Onboarding
7 5 (1.37%) SWIFT Messaging Network
8 4 (1.10%) Low-Code
8 4 (1.10%) TWAP
8 4 (1.10%) VWAP
9 3 (0.82%) Clustering
9 3 (0.82%) Mobile App
9 3 (0.82%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.55%) AI Agents
10 2 (0.55%) Replication
10 2 (0.55%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 21 (5.77%) Linux
2 10 (2.75%) Unix
3 2 (0.55%) Android
3 2 (0.55%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.27%) Solaris
4 1 (0.27%) SUSE
4 1 (0.27%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 1 (0.27%) VMS
4 1 (0.27%) Windows
4 1 (0.27%) Windows Server
4 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2008
4 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2016
4 1 (0.27%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (53.30%) Software Engineering
2 109 (29.95%) CI/CD
3 104 (28.57%) Microservices
4 103 (28.30%) Agile
5 66 (18.13%) DevOps
6 58 (15.93%) Full-Stack Development
7 47 (12.91%) TDD
7 47 (12.91%) Test Automation
8 45 (12.36%) Containerisation
9 43 (11.81%) Event-Driven
10 34 (9.34%) Problem-Solving
11 31 (8.52%) Scrum
12 29 (7.97%) Event-Driven Architecture
12 29 (7.97%) Migration
13 28 (7.69%) SDLC
14 27 (7.42%) Unit Testing
15 25 (6.87%) Clean Code
15 25 (6.87%) Front End Development
16 24 (6.59%) Observability
17 22 (6.04%) AI
Programming Languages
1 364 (100.00%) Java
2 59 (16.21%) SQL
3 41 (11.26%) Python
4 32 (8.79%) TypeScript
5 23 (6.32%) JavaScript
6 20 (5.49%) Kotlin
7 11 (3.02%) Ada
7 11 (3.02%) Go
8 7 (1.92%) PL/SQL
9 5 (1.37%) Shell Script
10 4 (1.10%) Groovy
11 3 (0.82%) C#
11 3 (0.82%) C++
11 3 (0.82%) Scala
12 2 (0.55%) Swift
13 1 (0.27%) Korn
13 1 (0.27%) Rust
13 1 (0.27%) Solidity
Qualifications
1 78 (21.43%) Security Cleared
2 70 (19.23%) SC Cleared
3 11 (3.02%) Degree
4 5 (1.37%) BPSS Clearance
4 5 (1.37%) Computer Science Degree
5 4 (1.10%) DV Cleared
6 3 (0.82%) Master's Degree
7 2 (0.55%) AWS Certification
7 2 (0.55%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 1 (0.27%) Numerate Degree
8 1 (0.27%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (10.16%) QA
2 11 (3.02%) Def Stans
2 11 (3.02%) IEC 61508
3 8 (2.20%) ISO 20022
4 7 (1.92%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 6 (1.65%) GDPR
6 5 (1.37%) SEPA
7 2 (0.55%) Accessibility
7 2 (0.55%) Data Quality
7 2 (0.55%) ISO 15022
8 1 (0.27%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.27%) PSD2
System Software
1 81 (22.25%) Docker
2 1 (0.27%) Oracle RAC
2 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
2 1 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
2 1 (0.27%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 102 (28.02%) Kubernetes
2 22 (6.04%) Terraform
3 16 (4.40%) Argo
4 8 (2.20%) Grafana
5 5 (1.37%) Ansible
6 3 (0.82%) HAProxy
7 2 (0.55%) Kibana
8 1 (0.27%) Docker Swarm
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle RMAN
8 1 (0.27%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.27%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.27%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 18 (4.95%) Oracle
2 16 (4.40%) Red Hat
3 13 (3.57%) Google
4 11 (3.02%) Microsoft
5 6 (1.65%) Splunk
5 6 (1.65%) Spotify
6 5 (1.37%) IBM
7 4 (1.10%) Dynatrace
7 4 (1.10%) SAP
8 3 (0.82%) ServiceNow
9 2 (0.55%) Checkmarx
9 2 (0.55%) Confluent
9 2 (0.55%) MKS
9 2 (0.55%) New Relic
9 2 (0.55%) Solace
10 1 (0.27%) Ab Initio
10 1 (0.27%) Actian
10 1 (0.27%) Ariba
10 1 (0.27%) Teradata
10 1 (0.27%) VMware