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 May 2026.

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

6 months to
22 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 162 160 145
Rank change year-on-year -2 -15 -14
Contract jobs requiring a Senior Developer 768 505 706
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.59% 1.75% 1.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.72% 1.90% 1.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 481 365 515
10th Percentile £405 £400 £409
25th Percentile £475 £469 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% - -8.00%
75th Percentile £675 £725 £741
90th Percentile £888 £825 £863
UK excluding London median daily rate £513 £525 £488
% change year-on-year -2.38% +7.69% -13.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 1 11
10th Percentile £37.25 - £40.00
25th Percentile £44.93 - £47.42
Median hourly rate £45.56 £77.19 £58.91
Median % change year-on-year -40.98% +31.04% -5.75%
75th Percentile £46.18 - £72.50
90th Percentile £95.00 - £82.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.56 £77.19 £58.91
% change year-on-year -40.98% +31.04% -5.75%

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 44,606 26,623 39,417
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.40% 92.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,281 17,328 25,680
10th Percentile £325 £290 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.49% -2.86% -3.31%
75th Percentile £615 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,914 1,023 2,675
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.82
25th Percentile £20.36 £18.17 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.69 £28.15 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.63% -22.88% -18.89%
75th Percentile £66.50 £60.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.74
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.13 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.90% -32.19% -5.88%

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 May 2026.

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
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Senior Developer over the 6 months to 22 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Senior Developer 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 May 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 -6 644 £575 -4.17% 237
London +8 419 £625 -3.85% 80
UK excluding London -36 240 £513 -2.38% 176
Work from Home -20 204 £581 -3.13% 122
North of England -10 95 £525 - 61
Yorkshire -10 52 £575 +9.52% 15
North West -23 43 £494 -10.23% 34
Midlands -46 40 £513 -6.82% 18
South East -42 38 £560 +8.74% 52
West Midlands -39 32 £513 -6.82% 10
South West -18 24 £410 -31.67% 17
East of England -19 21 £500 -23.08% 17
Scotland -25 18 £411 -3.24% 4
East Midlands -20 7 £525 +28.05% 8
Northern Ireland +1 6 £650 +30.00% 6
North East -27 2 £538 +43.33% 13
Wales -17 1 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 22 May 2026, 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 (31.12%) Java
2 221 (28.78%) AWS
3 199 (25.91%) CI/CD
4 184 (23.96%) Agile
5 170 (22.14%) Python
6 144 (18.75%) Azure
6 144 (18.75%) Microservices
7 135 (17.58%) SQL
8 125 (16.28%) Security Cleared
9 124 (16.15%) Docker
10 118 (15.36%) SC Cleared
11 117 (15.23%) DevOps
12 115 (14.97%) Kubernetes
13 106 (13.80%) JavaScript
14 102 (13.28%) React
15 95 (12.37%) Spring
16 93 (12.11%) Kafka
17 90 (11.72%) .NET
18 88 (11.46%) Containerisation
19 84 (10.94%) Spring Boot
20 83 (10.81%) Full-Stack Development
21 82 (10.68%) C#
22 79 (10.29%) TDD
23 78 (10.16%) Git
24 77 (10.03%) Test Automation
24 77 (10.03%) TypeScript
25 76 (9.90%) Software Engineering
26 72 (9.38%) RESTful
27 68 (8.85%) Problem-Solving
28 62 (8.07%) REST

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 10 (1.30%) Confluence
2 9 (1.17%) Apache Spark
3 8 (1.04%) Apache
4 6 (0.78%) CMS
4 6 (0.78%) nginx
5 4 (0.52%) Ethereum
5 4 (0.52%) Headless CMS
5 4 (0.52%) Hyperledger
5 4 (0.52%) Mendix
5 4 (0.52%) Oracle Workflow
6 3 (0.39%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.39%) IIS
6 3 (0.39%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.26%) Cloud Foundry
7 2 (0.26%) SAS
7 2 (0.26%) SharePoint
7 2 (0.26%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.26%) WordPress
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Application Server
Applications
1 9 (1.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (2.21%) Teamcenter
2 5 (0.65%) Endur
3 3 (0.39%) Aladdin
3 3 (0.39%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 3 (0.39%) SimCorp Dimension
4 1 (0.13%) Adobe Campaign
4 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.13%) FLEXCUBE
4 1 (0.13%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Assets
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Cash Management
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle General Ledger
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
4 1 (0.13%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.13%) R3 Corda
4 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.13%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 221 (28.78%) AWS
2 144 (18.75%) Azure
3 59 (7.68%) GitHub
4 46 (5.99%) Serverless
5 38 (4.95%) Power Platform
6 37 (4.82%) Azure DevOps
7 34 (4.43%) GitHub Actions
8 31 (4.04%) GCP
9 30 (3.91%) Amazon SQS
10 25 (3.26%) AWS Lambda
11 24 (3.13%) Power Automate
12 21 (2.73%) Amazon EC2
13 19 (2.47%) PowerApps
14 18 (2.34%) Amazon S3
14 18 (2.34%) Azure Service Bus
15 16 (2.08%) Amazon CloudWatch
16 15 (1.95%) Amazon EKS
17 14 (1.82%) Amazon ECS
17 14 (1.82%) Copilot Studio
18 13 (1.69%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.04%) HTTP
2 6 (0.78%) Multicast
3 4 (0.52%) Reverse Proxy
4 2 (0.26%) Ethernet
4 2 (0.26%) NFC
4 2 (0.26%) RTP
4 2 (0.26%) SSL
5 1 (0.13%) DNS
5 1 (0.13%) Firewall
5 1 (0.13%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.13%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 57 (7.42%) PostgreSQL
2 41 (5.34%) SQL Server
3 39 (5.08%) Relational Database
4 38 (4.95%) MongoDB
5 33 (4.30%) Power BI
6 31 (4.04%) NoSQL
7 24 (3.13%) Apache Cassandra
8 21 (2.73%) DynamoDB
9 17 (2.21%) MySQL
10 15 (1.95%) Amazon RDS
11 14 (1.82%) Data Warehouse
12 10 (1.30%) KDB
13 7 (0.91%) Amazon Aurora
13 7 (0.91%) Azure SQL Database
13 7 (0.91%) Data Hub
13 7 (0.91%) Kdb+
13 7 (0.91%) Oracle BI EE
14 6 (0.78%) Oracle Database
14 6 (0.78%) Redis
14 6 (0.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 78 (10.16%) Git
2 38 (4.95%) Jenkins
3 26 (3.39%) GitLab
4 25 (3.26%) Maven
5 24 (3.13%) JIRA
6 23 (2.99%) JUnit
7 20 (2.60%) Mockito
8 18 (2.34%) SonarQube
9 13 (1.69%) Gradle
10 5 (0.65%) Snyk
11 4 (0.52%) Bitbucket
11 4 (0.52%) Cypress.io
11 4 (0.52%) git-flow
12 3 (0.39%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 3 (0.39%) Cucumber
12 3 (0.39%) DbUnit
12 3 (0.39%) jMock
12 3 (0.39%) Team Foundation Server
12 3 (0.39%) TeamCity
12 3 (0.39%) Xcode
General
1 136 (17.71%) Finance
2 121 (15.76%) Public Sector
3 102 (13.28%) Social Skills
4 100 (13.02%) Banking
5 39 (5.08%) Investment Banking
6 36 (4.69%) Analytical Skills
7 34 (4.43%) Front Office
8 22 (2.86%) Financial Institution
9 12 (1.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 11 (1.43%) Retail
11 9 (1.17%) Military
12 7 (0.91%) Legal
13 6 (0.78%) Manufacturing
14 5 (0.65%) Law
14 5 (0.65%) Telecoms
15 4 (0.52%) Games
15 4 (0.52%) Health Technology
15 4 (0.52%) Organisational Skills
16 3 (0.39%) Documentation Skills
16 3 (0.39%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 102 (13.28%) React
2 95 (12.37%) Spring
3 93 (12.11%) Kafka
4 90 (11.72%) .NET
5 84 (10.94%) Spring Boot
6 72 (9.38%) RESTful
7 62 (8.07%) REST
8 60 (7.81%) Node.js
9 55 (7.16%) AngularJS
10 50 (6.51%) HTML
11 45 (5.86%) CSS
12 30 (3.91%) Redux
13 29 (3.78%) Web Services
14 24 (3.13%) Django
15 23 (2.99%) gRPC
16 19 (2.47%) .NET Core
16 19 (2.47%) OAuth
16 19 (2.47%) SOAP
17 16 (2.08%) .NET Framework
18 15 (1.95%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 61 (7.94%) Distributed Systems
2 55 (7.16%) Cloud Native
3 28 (3.65%) Product Ownership
4 23 (2.99%) Greenfield Project
5 20 (2.60%) Derivative
5 20 (2.60%) Fixed Income
5 20 (2.60%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 17 (2.21%) Equities
7 16 (2.08%) Algorithms
8 14 (1.82%) Mobile App
9 11 (1.43%) Onboarding
10 10 (1.30%) Management Information System
11 8 (1.04%) Market Risk
12 7 (0.91%) Data Structures
12 7 (0.91%) Equity Derivative
13 6 (0.78%) AI Agents
13 6 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
14 5 (0.65%) NHS
15 4 (0.52%) Low-Code
15 4 (0.52%) Sports Betting
Operating Systems
1 45 (5.86%) Linux
2 27 (3.52%) Unix
3 17 (2.21%) Windows
4 10 (1.30%) Android
5 9 (1.17%) Apple iOS
5 9 (1.17%) Mac OS
6 5 (0.65%) Mac OS X
7 2 (0.26%) Windows Server
8 1 (0.13%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 199 (25.91%) CI/CD
2 184 (23.96%) Agile
3 144 (18.75%) Microservices
4 117 (15.23%) DevOps
5 88 (11.46%) Containerisation
6 83 (10.81%) Full-Stack Development
7 79 (10.29%) TDD
8 77 (10.03%) Test Automation
9 76 (9.90%) Software Engineering
10 68 (8.85%) Problem-Solving
11 58 (7.55%) Data Modelling
12 57 (7.42%) Code Quality
13 55 (7.16%) Mentoring
14 51 (6.64%) Event-Driven
15 50 (6.51%) Migration
16 49 (6.38%) Infrastructure as Code
17 48 (6.25%) Front End Development
18 47 (6.12%) Business Intelligence
19 46 (5.99%) Analytics
20 45 (5.86%) Scrum
Programming Languages
1 239 (31.12%) Java
2 170 (22.14%) Python
3 135 (17.58%) SQL
4 106 (13.80%) JavaScript
5 82 (10.68%) C#
6 77 (10.03%) TypeScript
7 36 (4.69%) Go
8 28 (3.65%) Ruby
9 22 (2.86%) Kotlin
10 19 (2.47%) C++
11 9 (1.17%) Apex Code
11 9 (1.17%) PL/SQL
12 8 (1.04%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 8 (1.04%) Shell Script
13 7 (0.91%) Bash
13 7 (0.91%) PowerShell
14 6 (0.78%) Swift
15 4 (0.52%) R
15 4 (0.52%) T-SQL
15 4 (0.52%) VBA
Qualifications
1 125 (16.28%) Security Cleared
2 118 (15.36%) SC Cleared
3 28 (3.65%) Degree
4 25 (3.26%) BPSS Clearance
5 12 (1.56%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (0.91%) DV Cleared
7 5 (0.65%) AWS Certification
8 4 (0.52%) AWS Certified Developer
8 4 (0.52%) Numerate Degree
9 3 (0.39%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 2 (0.26%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 1 (0.13%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.13%) CISSP
11 1 (0.13%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Certification
11 1 (0.13%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (3.91%) Accessibility
2 25 (3.26%) QA
3 18 (2.34%) WCAG
4 11 (1.43%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.26%) GDPR
5 2 (0.26%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 1 (0.13%) Solvency II
System Software
1 124 (16.15%) Docker
2 3 (0.39%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.26%) GridGain
3 2 (0.26%) Oracle RAC
3 2 (0.26%) Postfix
4 1 (0.13%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 115 (14.97%) Kubernetes
2 54 (7.03%) Terraform
3 25 (3.26%) Grafana
4 19 (2.47%) Prometheus
5 16 (2.08%) Ansible
6 7 (0.91%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.52%) Argo
8 2 (0.26%) Consul
8 2 (0.26%) Zipkin
9 1 (0.13%) Control-M
9 1 (0.13%) HAProxy
9 1 (0.13%) SELinux
9 1 (0.13%) Sysdig
9 1 (0.13%) systemd
Vendors
1 48 (6.25%) Microsoft
2 31 (4.04%) Oracle
3 17 (2.21%) Salesforce
4 14 (1.82%) ServiceNow
5 11 (1.43%) Avaloq
5 11 (1.43%) Databricks
6 10 (1.30%) Google
7 9 (1.17%) SAP
8 6 (0.78%) Guidewire
8 6 (0.78%) Jaspersoft
8 6 (0.78%) Sybase
9 4 (0.52%) ForgeRock
9 4 (0.52%) Okta
9 4 (0.52%) Pega
9 4 (0.52%) Solace
10 3 (0.39%) Apple
10 3 (0.39%) Atlassian
10 3 (0.39%) Cognizant
10 3 (0.39%) New Relic
10 3 (0.39%) Splunk