Lead Java Engineer Contract Job Trends

Lead Java Engineer
UK

The median Lead Java Engineer daily rate in the UK is £533, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 October 2025.

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

6 months to
11 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 549 545 624
Rank change year-on-year -4 +79 +168
Contract jobs requiring a Lead Java Engineer 5 25 8
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.015% 0.066% 0.017%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.017% 0.071% 0.018%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 24 7
10th Percentile £516 £536 £504
25th Percentile £516 £684 £509
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £533 £825 £625
Median % change year-on-year -35.45% +32.00% -10.71%
75th Percentile £850 £888 £694
90th Percentile - - £730
UK excluding London median daily rate £533 £500 £625
% change year-on-year +6.50% -20.00% -1.96%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 30,072 35,229 45,163
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.81% 92.98% 94.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,990 21,282 30,872
10th Percentile £275 £300 £300
25th Percentile £400 £413 £414
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £493 £500
% change year-on-year -3.65% -1.40% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,645 1,471 1,523
10th Percentile £13.75 £14.85 £14.69
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £41.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -39.40% -7.78% +73.08%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £74.37 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £42.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -41.18% -4.49% +97.78%

Lead Java Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Lead Java Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Lead Java Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Lead Java Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Lead Java Engineer over the 6 months to 11 October 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Lead Java Engineer in the UK

Lead Java Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Lead Java Engineer
Top 6 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Lead Java Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 11 October 2025. 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 -3 5 £533 -35.45% 7
UK excluding London -14 3 £533 +6.50% 9
Midlands - 3 £533 -
West Midlands - 3 £533 -
Work from Home +13 2 £800 -3.03% 10
London -3 2 £800 -3.03% 3

Lead Java Engineer Skill Set
Top 27 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 11 October 2025, Lead 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 Lead Java Engineer in the job title.

1 5 (100.00%) Java
1 5 (100.00%) React
2 3 (60.00%) Kubernetes
2 3 (60.00%) Front End Development
2 3 (60.00%) Spring
3 2 (40.00%) Software Engineering
3 2 (40.00%) QA
3 2 (40.00%) Investment Management
3 2 (40.00%) AWS
3 2 (40.00%) JavaScript
3 2 (40.00%) Python
3 2 (40.00%) Front Office
3 2 (40.00%) Finance
3 2 (40.00%) Fixed Income
3 2 (40.00%) Agile
3 2 (40.00%) GraphQL
3 2 (40.00%) Redux
3 2 (40.00%) Collaborative Working
3 2 (40.00%) Amazon ECS
3 2 (40.00%) Architectural Design
3 2 (40.00%) Order Management
3 2 (40.00%) Full-Stack Development
3 2 (40.00%) Node.js
3 2 (40.00%) Portfolio Management
3 2 (40.00%) Kafka
3 2 (40.00%) Go
3 2 (40.00%) TypeScript

Lead 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:

Cloud Services
1 2 (40.00%) Amazon ECS
1 2 (40.00%) AWS
General
1 2 (40.00%) Finance
1 2 (40.00%) Front Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (100.00%) React
2 3 (60.00%) Spring
3 2 (40.00%) GraphQL
3 2 (40.00%) Kafka
3 2 (40.00%) Node.js
3 2 (40.00%) Redux
Miscellaneous
1 2 (40.00%) Fixed Income
Processes & Methodologies
1 3 (60.00%) Front End Development
2 2 (40.00%) Agile
2 2 (40.00%) Architectural Design
2 2 (40.00%) Collaborative Working
2 2 (40.00%) Full-Stack Development
2 2 (40.00%) Investment Management
2 2 (40.00%) Order Management
2 2 (40.00%) Portfolio Management
2 2 (40.00%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 5 (100.00%) Java
2 2 (40.00%) Go
2 2 (40.00%) JavaScript
2 2 (40.00%) Python
2 2 (40.00%) TypeScript
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (40.00%) QA
Systems Management
1 3 (60.00%) Kubernetes