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 30 September 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 377 347 324
Rank change year-on-year -30 -23 +166
Contract jobs requiring a Java Engineer 328 213 261
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.60% 0.65% 0.69%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.71% 0.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 211 159 189
10th Percentile £329 £373 £450
25th Percentile £425 £513 £520
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £750
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% -20.00% +25.00%
75th Percentile £600 £825 £850
90th Percentile £656 £850 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £525 £500
% change year-on-year - +5.00% +0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 6 27
10th Percentile - £38.75 £66.25
25th Percentile £70.00 £49.38 -
Median hourly rate £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year - +7.14% +12.00%
75th Percentile £77.00 £85.63 -
90th Percentile - £87.50 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £75.00 £70.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +7.14% - +12.00%

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 50,615 29,871 34,958
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.21% 90.97% 92.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,878 18,887 21,169
10th Percentile £325 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £630 £623 £638
90th Percentile £733 £725 £749
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,942 1,601 1,551
10th Percentile £14.50 £13.75 £14.85
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.30 £20.88
Median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.84% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.50 £51.25 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £68.55 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.74 £25.08 £43.00
% change year-on-year +66.44% -41.69% -2.16%

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 30 September 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 30 September 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 30 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
England -30 302 £525 -16.00% 479
UK excluding London +8 161 £525 - 312
London -85 145 £525 -30.00% 265
Work from Home -92 94 £470 -37.33% 212
North of England -22 69 £500 -13.04% 80
Midlands 0 48 £590 +12.38% 20
West Midlands -10 42 £593 +12.32% 15
North West -13 41 £540 +77.05% 51
South East -49 21 £500 +44.93% 16
East of England -11 18 £600 - 2
Yorkshire -27 18 £470 +47.52% 15
North East -32 10 £640 +11.30% 14
South West -35 7 £484 -12.05% 60
East Midlands -14 6 £400 +26.98% 5
Wales - 4 - - 7
Scotland -30 3 £550 +12.82% 112
Northern Ireland - 3 £275 - 15

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

For the 6 months to 30 September 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.

1 328 (100.00%) Java
2 176 (53.66%) Software Engineering
3 158 (48.17%) Spring
4 147 (44.82%) CI/CD
5 143 (43.60%) Spring Boot
6 120 (36.59%) AWS
7 119 (36.28%) Agile
8 113 (34.45%) Microservices
9 110 (33.54%) Kubernetes
10 81 (24.70%) Docker
11 75 (22.87%) DevOps
11 75 (22.87%) Kafka
12 73 (22.26%) Security Cleared
12 73 (22.26%) SQL
13 70 (21.34%) Test Automation
14 66 (20.12%) SC Cleared
15 59 (17.99%) Event-Driven
15 59 (17.99%) REST
16 47 (14.33%) Git
16 47 (14.33%) TDD
17 45 (13.72%) AI
18 43 (13.11%) Azure
18 43 (13.11%) JUnit
19 42 (12.80%) Python
19 42 (12.80%) QA
20 41 (12.50%) Containerisation
20 41 (12.50%) Event-Driven Architecture
21 40 (12.20%) GitLab
21 40 (12.20%) Problem-Solving
21 40 (12.20%) 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 7 (2.13%) Apache
1 7 (2.13%) WebLogic
2 5 (1.52%) Apache Spark
3 3 (0.91%) Confluence
4 2 (0.61%) MQSeries
4 2 (0.61%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 1 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.30%) Apache Pulsar
5 1 (0.30%) Ethereum
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
1 120 (36.59%) AWS
2 43 (13.11%) Azure
3 31 (9.45%) GCP
4 28 (8.54%) GitHub
5 19 (5.79%) GitHub Actions
6 18 (5.49%) Serverless
7 17 (5.18%) AWS Lambda
8 12 (3.66%) OpenShift
9 9 (2.74%) Amazon SQS
10 8 (2.44%) Amazon ECS
10 8 (2.44%) AWS CloudFormation
11 7 (2.13%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 7 (2.13%) Amazon EKS
12 6 (1.83%) Amazon S3
12 6 (1.83%) GitHub Copilot
13 5 (1.52%) Amazon OpenSearch
13 5 (1.52%) Azure DevOps
13 5 (1.52%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 4 (1.22%) AWS Fargate
14 4 (1.22%) Cloud Run
Communications & Networking
1 11 (3.35%) Firewall
1 11 (3.35%) VPN
2 5 (1.52%) HTTP
3 4 (1.22%) Internet
4 1 (0.30%) DNS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (11.28%) PostgreSQL
2 25 (7.62%) Relational Database
3 20 (6.10%) NoSQL
4 15 (4.57%) MongoDB
5 13 (3.96%) MySQL
6 9 (2.74%) DynamoDB
7 8 (2.44%) Couchbase
7 8 (2.44%) Elasticsearch
7 8 (2.44%) Redis
7 8 (2.44%) SQL Server
8 6 (1.83%) Apache Cassandra
8 6 (1.83%) Flink
9 3 (0.91%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.91%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.91%) Power BI
10 2 (0.61%) Big Data
10 2 (0.61%) HBase
10 2 (0.61%) Snowflake Schema
10 2 (0.61%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 1 (0.30%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 47 (14.33%) Git
2 43 (13.11%) JUnit
3 40 (12.20%) GitLab
4 30 (9.15%) Maven
5 21 (6.40%) Mockito
6 18 (5.49%) Jenkins
7 16 (4.88%) Gradle
8 13 (3.96%) SonarQube
9 10 (3.05%) Cucumber
10 8 (2.44%) JIRA
10 8 (2.44%) Selenium
11 6 (1.83%) Bitbucket
12 5 (1.52%) Liquibase
12 5 (1.52%) TeamCity
13 4 (1.22%) Gatling
14 3 (0.91%) Cypress.io
14 3 (0.91%) Flyway
15 2 (0.61%) Appium
15 2 (0.61%) IntelliJ
15 2 (0.61%) XCUITest
General
1 84 (25.61%) Finance
2 64 (19.51%) Social Skills
3 57 (17.38%) Banking
4 16 (4.88%) Public Sector
5 13 (3.96%) Manufacturing
6 12 (3.66%) Front Office
7 11 (3.35%) Retail
8 8 (2.44%) Analytical Skills
9 6 (1.83%) Financial Institution
9 6 (1.83%) Military
10 4 (1.22%) iGaming
10 4 (1.22%) Investment Banking
10 4 (1.22%) Law
10 4 (1.22%) Retail Banking
11 3 (0.91%) Automotive
11 3 (0.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 3 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.61%) Corporate Banking
13 1 (0.30%) Aerospace
13 1 (0.30%) International Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 158 (48.17%) Spring
2 143 (43.60%) Spring Boot
3 75 (22.87%) Kafka
4 59 (17.99%) REST
5 30 (9.15%) React
6 29 (8.84%) RESTful
7 21 (6.40%) OpenAPI
8 20 (6.10%) AngularJS
9 19 (5.79%) Terraform
10 17 (5.18%) JPA
11 12 (3.66%) JSON
11 12 (3.66%) OAuth
11 12 (3.66%) Swagger
12 11 (3.35%) RabbitMQ
13 10 (3.05%) Quarkus
14 8 (2.44%) Hibernate
14 8 (2.44%) Node.js
14 8 (2.44%) Spring MVC
14 8 (2.44%) Web Services
15 7 (2.13%) HTML
Miscellaneous
1 72 (21.95%) Cloud Native
2 58 (17.68%) Distributed Systems
3 13 (3.96%) Greenfield Project
4 12 (3.66%) Enterprise Software
4 12 (3.66%) Product Ownership
5 9 (2.74%) AI Agents
6 8 (2.44%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (2.44%) Onboarding
7 7 (2.13%) Data Structures
8 6 (1.83%) Linux Command Line
8 6 (1.83%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.52%) Data Protection Act
9 5 (1.52%) Legacy Applications
10 4 (1.22%) Algorithms
10 4 (1.22%) Client/Server
10 4 (1.22%) Low-Code
10 4 (1.22%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.22%) SWIFT Messaging Network
10 4 (1.22%) TWAP
10 4 (1.22%) VWAP
Operating Systems
1 20 (6.10%) Linux
2 12 (3.66%) Unix
3 2 (0.61%) Android
3 2 (0.61%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 176 (53.66%) Software Engineering
2 147 (44.82%) CI/CD
3 119 (36.28%) Agile
4 113 (34.45%) Microservices
5 75 (22.87%) DevOps
6 70 (21.34%) Test Automation
7 59 (17.99%) Event-Driven
8 47 (14.33%) TDD
9 45 (13.72%) AI
10 41 (12.50%) Containerisation
10 41 (12.50%) Event-Driven Architecture
11 40 (12.20%) Problem-Solving
11 40 (12.20%) Scrum
12 39 (11.89%) SDLC
13 37 (11.28%) Full-Stack Development
13 37 (11.28%) Observability
14 34 (10.37%) Clean Code
15 30 (9.15%) Front End Development
16 29 (8.84%) Unit Testing
17 26 (7.93%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 328 (100.00%) Java
2 73 (22.26%) SQL
3 42 (12.80%) Python
4 28 (8.54%) JavaScript
4 28 (8.54%) Kotlin
5 27 (8.23%) TypeScript
6 19 (5.79%) Shell Script
7 5 (1.52%) C#
8 4 (1.22%) Bash
8 4 (1.22%) Groovy
8 4 (1.22%) PowerShell
8 4 (1.22%) Ruby
9 3 (0.91%) Go
9 3 (0.91%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.61%) C++
10 2 (0.61%) Swift
11 1 (0.30%) Korn
11 1 (0.30%) Perl
11 1 (0.30%) Rust
11 1 (0.30%) Scala
Qualifications
1 73 (22.26%) Security Cleared
2 66 (20.12%) SC Cleared
3 28 (8.54%) BPSS Clearance
4 12 (3.66%) Degree
5 8 (2.44%) Computer Science Degree
6 3 (0.91%) DV Cleared
7 2 (0.61%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.30%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.30%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 1 (0.30%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 42 (12.80%) QA
2 9 (2.74%) ISO 20022
3 5 (1.52%) Accessibility
3 5 (1.52%) SEPA
4 4 (1.22%) GDPR
4 4 (1.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 3 (0.91%) ISO 15022
5 3 (0.91%) SLA
5 3 (0.91%) WCAG
6 2 (0.61%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.30%) PSD2
System Software
1 81 (24.70%) Docker
Systems Management
1 110 (33.54%) Kubernetes
2 12 (3.66%) Argo
2 12 (3.66%) Kibana
3 5 (1.52%) Prometheus
4 4 (1.22%) Ansible
5 2 (0.61%) Grafana
5 2 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.30%) Docker Swarm
6 1 (0.30%) HAProxy
Vendors
1 29 (8.84%) Oracle
2 9 (2.74%) Red Hat
3 8 (2.44%) Microsoft
4 5 (1.52%) Confluent
4 5 (1.52%) Google
4 5 (1.52%) Splunk
5 4 (1.22%) Databricks
5 4 (1.22%) Dynatrace
5 4 (1.22%) SAP
6 3 (0.91%) FIS
6 3 (0.91%) IBM
6 3 (0.91%) Spotify
7 2 (0.61%) Checkmarx
7 2 (0.61%) MKS
7 2 (0.61%) OpenAI
7 2 (0.61%) ServiceNow
8 1 (0.30%) Ariba
8 1 (0.30%) Concur
8 1 (0.30%) Okta
8 1 (0.30%) Solace