Senior Developer Contract Job Trends

Senior Developer
UK

The median Senior Developer daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 November 2025.

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

6 months to
22 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 177 121 177
Rank change year-on-year -56 +56 -67
Contract jobs requiring a Senior Developer 576 731 671
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.60% 1.99% 1.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.76% 2.14% 1.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 421 482 481
10th Percentile £402 £390 £425
25th Percentile £450 £466 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -5.88%
75th Percentile £688 £683 £720
90th Percentile £813 £811 £850
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% -12.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 3 7
10th Percentile - £40.29 £53.25
25th Percentile - £48.22 £56.25
Median hourly rate - £61.43 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year - +2.38% -
75th Percentile - £74.47 £68.13
90th Percentile - £82.29 £75.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £60.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year - +14.29% -

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 32,680 34,083 43,648
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.96% 92.77% 93.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,712 20,554 29,563
10th Percentile £281 £300 £292
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £647
90th Percentile £725 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £494 £500
% change year-on-year -3.85% -1.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,932 1,297 1,552
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.21 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +50.00%
75th Percentile £56.25 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.92 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -26.03% -24.44% +83.97%

Senior Developer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Senior Developer job vacancy trend in the UK

Senior Developer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior Developer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior Developer job vacancies in the UK

Senior Developer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Senior Developer over the 6 months to 22 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Senior Developer in the UK

Senior Developer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior Developer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior Developer job vacancies in the UK

Senior Developer
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 Senior Developer within the UK over the 6 months to 22 November 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 -41 522 £550 - 460
London -40 298 £650 +8.38% 206
UK excluding London -41 222 £500 - 296
Work from Home -29 219 £586 +6.59% 314
North of England -34 65 £550 +9.18% 88
South West +33 61 £475 -9.52% 26
South East -3 46 £500 -4.76% 101
Yorkshire -27 37 £638 +18.60% 20
Midlands -35 25 £513 +2.50% 36
North West -32 24 £505 +1.00% 64
West Midlands -28 17 £525 +5.00% 21
East of England -12 15 £535 +42.67% 18
Scotland -28 10 £481 -3.75% 16
North East -2 8 £544 +27.94% 4
East Midlands -9 8 £510 +11.78% 13
Wales -6 3 £638 +21.43% 15
Northern Ireland -5 2 £544 -1.14% 3

Senior Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 22 November 2025, Senior Developer 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 Senior Developer in the job title.

1 239 (41.49%) Agile
2 201 (34.90%) Java
3 177 (30.73%) SQL
4 174 (30.21%) Azure
5 168 (29.17%) AWS
6 166 (28.82%) DevOps
7 160 (27.78%) Microservices
8 155 (26.91%) CI/CD
9 140 (24.31%) Problem-Solving
10 133 (23.09%) Python
11 122 (21.18%) Kafka
12 115 (19.97%) Security Cleared
13 110 (19.10%) Docker
14 103 (17.88%) JavaScript
15 100 (17.36%) C#
16 99 (17.19%) Kubernetes
17 98 (17.01%) SC Cleared
18 96 (16.67%) Spring
19 85 (14.76%) RESTful
20 84 (14.58%) .NET
20 84 (14.58%) Scrum
21 79 (13.72%) TDD
22 74 (12.85%) Git
22 74 (12.85%) React
22 74 (12.85%) Spring Boot
23 72 (12.50%) Software Engineering
24 71 (12.33%) Azure DevOps
24 71 (12.33%) PostgreSQL
25 70 (12.15%) Analytics
26 66 (11.46%) Full-Stack Development

Senior Developer 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 15 (2.60%) Confluence
2 9 (1.56%) CMS
3 8 (1.39%) SharePoint
4 4 (0.69%) Jupyter
5 3 (0.52%) Anypoint
6 2 (0.35%) Alfresco
6 2 (0.35%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.35%) Camunda
6 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.17%) Apache
7 1 (0.17%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.17%) SAS
7 1 (0.17%) Smallworld
Applications
1 9 (1.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.17%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (0.87%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.69%) Endur
3 2 (0.35%) Remedy ITSM
3 2 (0.35%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.17%) Payment Gateway
4 1 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.17%) SAP BRIM
4 1 (0.17%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.17%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 174 (30.21%) Azure
2 168 (29.17%) AWS
3 71 (12.33%) Azure DevOps
4 52 (9.03%) GitHub
5 39 (6.77%) GCP
6 35 (6.08%) Power Platform
6 35 (6.08%) Serverless
7 22 (3.82%) AWS Lambda
8 20 (3.47%) GitHub Actions
9 19 (3.30%) Amazon S3
10 18 (3.13%) Power Automate
11 17 (2.95%) PowerApps
12 15 (2.60%) SaaS
13 14 (2.43%) Azure AKS
13 14 (2.43%) Dynamics 365
14 13 (2.26%) Amazon EC2
14 13 (2.26%) Azure Service Bus
15 12 (2.08%) Amazon ECS
15 12 (2.08%) Amazon SQS
16 11 (1.91%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 5 (0.87%) Kerberos
2 4 (0.69%) SAN
2 4 (0.69%) TCP/IP
3 3 (0.52%) HTTP
3 3 (0.52%) SSL
3 3 (0.52%) VPN
4 2 (0.35%) Firewall
5 1 (0.17%) BGP
5 1 (0.17%) Ethernet
5 1 (0.17%) Ethernet VPN
5 1 (0.17%) FTP
5 1 (0.17%) Internet
5 1 (0.17%) MPLS
5 1 (0.17%) Multicast
Database & Business Intelligence
1 71 (12.33%) PostgreSQL
2 59 (10.24%) Relational Database
3 54 (9.38%) MongoDB
4 42 (7.29%) SQL Server
5 33 (5.73%) NoSQL
6 20 (3.47%) Apache Cassandra
6 20 (3.47%) DB2
6 20 (3.47%) Power BI
7 17 (2.95%) DynamoDB
8 15 (2.60%) Redis
9 14 (2.43%) MySQL
10 12 (2.08%) Amazon RDS
10 12 (2.08%) Data Lake
11 11 (1.91%) RDBMS
12 10 (1.74%) Azure SQL Database
13 9 (1.56%) Data Hub
14 7 (1.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 6 (1.04%) Data Warehouse
15 6 (1.04%) HBase
16 5 (0.87%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 74 (12.85%) Git
2 52 (9.03%) JUnit
3 43 (7.47%) Jenkins
4 34 (5.90%) Oracle APEX
5 30 (5.21%) JIRA
6 29 (5.03%) GitLab
7 26 (4.51%) Mockito
8 15 (2.60%) Gradle
8 15 (2.60%) Maven
9 10 (1.74%) Cucumber
9 10 (1.74%) SpecFlow
10 9 (1.56%) Artifactory
11 8 (1.39%) Postman
12 7 (1.22%) Bitbucket
12 7 (1.22%) Sonatype Nexus
13 6 (1.04%) Mocha
14 5 (0.87%) Cypress.io
14 5 (0.87%) Liquibase
15 4 (0.69%) TeamCity
15 4 (0.69%) webpack
General
1 170 (29.51%) Finance
2 165 (28.65%) Social Skills
3 93 (16.15%) Banking
4 66 (11.46%) Analytical Skills
5 65 (11.28%) Public Sector
6 50 (8.68%) Investment Banking
7 34 (5.90%) Front Office
8 9 (1.56%) Marketing
9 7 (1.22%) Manufacturing
10 5 (0.87%) Back Office
10 5 (0.87%) Military
11 4 (0.69%) Financial Institution
11 4 (0.69%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (0.69%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.52%) Electronics
12 3 (0.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 3 (0.52%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.35%) Automotive
13 2 (0.35%) Health Technology
13 2 (0.35%) Law
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 122 (21.18%) Kafka
2 96 (16.67%) Spring
3 85 (14.76%) RESTful
4 84 (14.58%) .NET
5 74 (12.85%) React
5 74 (12.85%) Spring Boot
6 63 (10.94%) REST
7 48 (8.33%) AngularJS
8 47 (8.16%) Node.js
9 39 (6.77%) HTML
10 33 (5.73%) Web Services
11 31 (5.38%) CSS
12 27 (4.69%) .NET Core
13 25 (4.34%) JSON
14 23 (3.99%) .NET Framework
14 23 (3.99%) RabbitMQ
15 20 (3.47%) JMS
16 19 (3.30%) Playwright
17 18 (3.13%) Jest
18 15 (2.60%) JAX-RS
Miscellaneous
1 40 (6.94%) Cloud Native
2 36 (6.25%) Distributed Systems
3 34 (5.90%) Derivative
4 29 (5.03%) Equities
5 24 (4.17%) Data Structures
6 23 (3.99%) Product Ownership
7 22 (3.82%) Market Risk
8 21 (3.65%) Greenfield Project
9 19 (3.30%) Fixed Income
9 19 (3.30%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 19 (3.30%) Management Information System
10 16 (2.78%) Algorithms
11 12 (2.08%) Legacy Systems
12 8 (1.39%) Mobile App
13 6 (1.04%) Linux Command Line
14 5 (0.87%) Enterprise Software
14 5 (0.87%) Hedge funds
14 5 (0.87%) Legacy Applications
15 4 (0.69%) Equity Derivative
15 4 (0.69%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 62 (10.76%) Linux
2 27 (4.69%) Unix
3 17 (2.95%) Android
4 14 (2.43%) Mac OS X
5 12 (2.08%) Apple iOS
6 8 (1.39%) Windows
7 4 (0.69%) Debian
7 4 (0.69%) Ubuntu
7 4 (0.69%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.69%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.35%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.17%) CentOS
9 1 (0.17%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.17%) tvOS
9 1 (0.17%) watchOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 239 (41.49%) Agile
2 166 (28.82%) DevOps
3 160 (27.78%) Microservices
4 155 (26.91%) CI/CD
5 140 (24.31%) Problem-Solving
6 84 (14.58%) Scrum
7 79 (13.72%) TDD
8 72 (12.50%) Software Engineering
9 70 (12.15%) Analytics
10 66 (11.46%) Full-Stack Development
11 65 (11.28%) Containerisation
12 62 (10.76%) Test Automation
13 55 (9.55%) Mentoring
14 52 (9.03%) Open Source
15 49 (8.51%) Event-Driven
16 47 (8.16%) Clean Code
17 45 (7.81%) SDLC
18 44 (7.64%) Performance Tuning
19 42 (7.29%) Infrastructure as Code
19 42 (7.29%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 201 (34.90%) Java
2 177 (30.73%) SQL
3 133 (23.09%) Python
4 103 (17.88%) JavaScript
5 100 (17.36%) C#
6 61 (10.59%) TypeScript
7 38 (6.60%) PL/SQL
8 22 (3.82%) Go
9 19 (3.30%) Kotlin
9 19 (3.30%) Shell Script
10 16 (2.78%) C++
11 15 (2.60%) Ruby
12 10 (1.74%) PowerShell
13 9 (1.56%) PHP
14 8 (1.39%) Bash
15 6 (1.04%) Apex Code
16 5 (0.87%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 5 (0.87%) Swift
17 4 (0.69%) Objective-C
18 3 (0.52%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 115 (19.97%) Security Cleared
2 98 (17.01%) SC Cleared
3 45 (7.81%) Degree
4 26 (4.51%) Computer Science Degree
5 13 (2.26%) BPSS Clearance
6 7 (1.22%) AWS Certification
7 6 (1.04%) Master's Degree
7 6 (1.04%) OCP
7 6 (1.04%) Oracle Certification
8 4 (0.69%) Numerate Degree
9 3 (0.52%) AWS Certified Developer
9 3 (0.52%) DBS Check
9 3 (0.52%) DV Cleared
9 3 (0.52%) MCP
9 3 (0.52%) Microsoft Certification
10 2 (0.35%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 2 (0.35%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.17%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 1 (0.17%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (4.86%) Accessibility
2 27 (4.69%) QA
3 13 (2.26%) Data Quality
4 11 (1.91%) WCAG
5 4 (0.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.52%) EU AI Act
6 3 (0.52%) NIST
7 1 (0.17%) GDPR
7 1 (0.17%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 1 (0.17%) ISO 22301
7 1 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 110 (19.10%) Docker
2 5 (0.87%) zsh
3 1 (0.17%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.17%) GridGain
3 1 (0.17%) Lustre
3 1 (0.17%) OpenAM
3 1 (0.17%) OpenDJ
3 1 (0.17%) OpenIDM
3 1 (0.17%) Postfix
3 1 (0.17%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 99 (17.19%) Kubernetes
2 39 (6.77%) Terraform
3 15 (2.60%) Grafana
4 8 (1.39%) Ansible
5 5 (0.87%) Prometheus
5 5 (0.87%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (0.69%) Kibana
7 2 (0.35%) CloudHub
8 1 (0.17%) Argo
8 1 (0.17%) Packer
8 1 (0.17%) Rundeck
Vendors
1 52 (9.03%) Oracle
2 35 (6.08%) Microsoft
3 21 (3.65%) Databricks
3 21 (3.65%) Sybase
4 20 (3.47%) Google
5 15 (2.60%) ServiceNow
6 14 (2.43%) Salesforce
7 11 (1.91%) Atlassian
8 7 (1.22%) SAP
9 6 (1.04%) Dataiku
9 6 (1.04%) Red Hat
10 5 (0.87%) Apple
10 5 (0.87%) Virgin Media
11 4 (0.69%) CA Agile Central
11 4 (0.69%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
11 4 (0.69%) VMware
12 3 (0.52%) Foundry
12 3 (0.52%) HP
12 3 (0.52%) MuleSoft
12 3 (0.52%) Remedy