Senior Developer Contract Job Trends

Senior Developer
UK

The median Senior Developer daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 May 2026.

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

6 months to
1 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 170 165 141
Rank change year-on-year -5 -24 -10
Contract jobs requiring a Senior Developer 753 513 718
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.59% 1.75% 1.65%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.73% 1.89% 1.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 490 374 513
10th Percentile £409 £409 £410
25th Percentile £463 £480 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £600 £575
Median % change year-on-year -12.50% +4.35% -8.00%
75th Percentile £650 £738 £725
90th Percentile £850 £838 £838
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £545 £500
% change year-on-year -8.26% +9.00% -13.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 1 14
10th Percentile £39.55 - £40.00
25th Percentile £43.01 - £54.85
Median hourly rate £67.78 £77.19 £58.20
Median % change year-on-year -12.19% +32.62% -6.88%
75th Percentile £95.00 - £70.12
90th Percentile - - £79.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.53 £77.19 £58.91
% change year-on-year -44.91% +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 43,629 27,082 40,416
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.33% 92.55% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,928 17,690 26,310
10th Percentile £315 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £492
% change year-on-year +3.16% -3.46% -1.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,807 1,034 2,664
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.15 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £44.00 £29.00 £36.42
Median % change year-on-year +51.72% -20.37% -19.07%
75th Percentile £66.00 £62.50 £60.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £28.00 £39.55
% change year-on-year +62.36% -29.20% -6.94%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -18 635 £560 -7.82% 247
London +3 403 £625 -3.85% 97
UK excluding London -25 246 £500 -8.26% 185
Work from Home -12 214 £600 - 139
North of England -27 81 £575 -3.36% 54
Midlands -48 46 £513 -6.82% 27
Yorkshire -23 44 £575 -4.17% 14
South West +1 40 £475 -20.83% 14
North West -27 38 £505 -15.83% 30
West Midlands -40 38 £513 -6.82% 17
South East -46 38 £560 +5.66% 57
East of England -23 20 £500 -23.08% 19
Scotland -22 17 £475 +11.76% 12
East Midlands -25 7 £525 +14.13% 10
Northern Ireland +4 5 £638 +27.50% 2
Wales -8 2 £638 +6.25% 5
North East -21 1 £450 -23.73% 11

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

For the 6 months to 1 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.

1 233 (30.94%) Java
2 215 (28.55%) AWS
3 194 (25.76%) Agile
4 187 (24.83%) CI/CD
5 170 (22.58%) Python
6 149 (19.79%) Azure
6 149 (19.79%) Microservices
7 148 (19.65%) Security Cleared
8 141 (18.73%) SC Cleared
9 137 (18.19%) SQL
10 131 (17.40%) DevOps
11 127 (16.87%) Docker
12 119 (15.80%) Kubernetes
13 117 (15.54%) JavaScript
14 103 (13.68%) Kafka
15 100 (13.28%) React
16 93 (12.35%) Spring
17 89 (11.82%) Containerisation
18 84 (11.16%) Spring Boot
19 83 (11.02%) .NET
20 79 (10.49%) Test Automation
21 78 (10.36%) Problem-Solving
22 77 (10.23%) Git
23 76 (10.09%) Software Engineering
24 75 (9.96%) TypeScript
25 74 (9.83%) Full-Stack Development
26 73 (9.69%) C#
27 72 (9.56%) TDD
28 69 (9.16%) RESTful
29 62 (8.23%) Code Quality

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 (1.33%) Confluence
2 7 (0.93%) Apache Spark
3 6 (0.80%) Apache
3 6 (0.80%) CMS
3 6 (0.80%) nginx
4 5 (0.66%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.53%) Ethereum
5 4 (0.53%) Headless CMS
5 4 (0.53%) Hyperledger
6 3 (0.40%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.40%) IIS
6 3 (0.40%) Mendix
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.40%) Oracle Workflow
6 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
7 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Exchange
7 2 (0.27%) SAS
7 2 (0.27%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.27%) WordPress
8 1 (0.13%) LiveCycle
Applications
1 9 (1.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 17 (2.26%) Teamcenter
2 5 (0.66%) Endur
3 3 (0.40%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 2 (0.27%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.13%) Aladdin
5 1 (0.13%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.13%) IBM Planning Analytics
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Assets
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Cash Management
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle General Ledger
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Payables
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Retail
5 1 (0.13%) R3 Corda
5 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
5 1 (0.13%) SAP BRIM
5 1 (0.13%) SAP S/4HANA
5 1 (0.13%) SDL Web 8
5 1 (0.13%) SimCorp Dimension
Cloud Services
1 215 (28.55%) AWS
2 149 (19.79%) Azure
3 53 (7.04%) Azure DevOps
4 52 (6.91%) GitHub
5 39 (5.18%) Serverless
6 38 (5.05%) Power Platform
7 29 (3.85%) GitHub Actions
8 26 (3.45%) GCP
9 24 (3.19%) Amazon SQS
9 24 (3.19%) Power Automate
10 21 (2.79%) AWS Lambda
11 18 (2.39%) Azure Service Bus
11 18 (2.39%) PowerApps
12 16 (2.12%) Amazon EC2
13 14 (1.86%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 14 (1.86%) Amazon S3
14 13 (1.73%) Amazon EKS
14 13 (1.73%) Copilot Studio
15 12 (1.59%) Dynamics 365
15 12 (1.59%) Microsoft Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.06%) HTTP
2 4 (0.53%) Reverse Proxy
3 3 (0.40%) Multicast
4 2 (0.27%) Ethernet
4 2 (0.27%) Firewall
4 2 (0.27%) NFC
4 2 (0.27%) RTP
4 2 (0.27%) SSL
4 2 (0.27%) VPN
5 1 (0.13%) DNS
5 1 (0.13%) FTP
5 1 (0.13%) Kerberos
5 1 (0.13%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 52 (6.91%) PostgreSQL
2 39 (5.18%) SQL Server
3 38 (5.05%) MongoDB
4 32 (4.25%) NoSQL
4 32 (4.25%) Power BI
4 32 (4.25%) Relational Database
5 28 (3.72%) Apache Cassandra
6 18 (2.39%) DynamoDB
7 17 (2.26%) MySQL
8 16 (2.12%) Data Hub
9 14 (1.86%) Data Warehouse
10 10 (1.33%) Amazon RDS
11 8 (1.06%) KDB
12 7 (0.93%) Oracle BI EE
13 6 (0.80%) Kdb+
14 5 (0.66%) Amazon Aurora
14 5 (0.66%) Big Data
14 5 (0.66%) Oracle Database
15 4 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
15 4 (0.53%) DB2
Development Applications
1 77 (10.23%) Git
2 33 (4.38%) Jenkins
3 23 (3.05%) GitLab
4 22 (2.92%) JIRA
4 22 (2.92%) JUnit
4 22 (2.92%) Maven
5 20 (2.66%) Oracle APEX
6 17 (2.26%) Mockito
7 14 (1.86%) SonarQube
8 11 (1.46%) Gradle
9 5 (0.66%) Bitbucket
9 5 (0.66%) Cypress.io
10 3 (0.40%) Snyk
10 3 (0.40%) Sonatype Nexus
10 3 (0.40%) TeamCity
10 3 (0.40%) webpack
11 2 (0.27%) Bitbucket Server
11 2 (0.27%) fastlane
11 2 (0.27%) Storybook
11 2 (0.27%) Vite
General
1 129 (17.13%) Finance
2 119 (15.80%) Public Sector
3 114 (15.14%) Social Skills
4 98 (13.01%) Banking
5 37 (4.91%) Investment Banking
6 33 (4.38%) Analytical Skills
7 32 (4.25%) Front Office
8 16 (2.12%) Financial Institution
9 8 (1.06%) Retail
10 7 (0.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (0.66%) Military
11 5 (0.66%) Telecoms
12 4 (0.53%) Games
12 4 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
13 3 (0.40%) Health Technology
13 3 (0.40%) Law
13 3 (0.40%) Legal
13 3 (0.40%) Manufacturing
13 3 (0.40%) Police
13 3 (0.40%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 103 (13.68%) Kafka
2 100 (13.28%) React
3 93 (12.35%) Spring
4 84 (11.16%) Spring Boot
5 83 (11.02%) .NET
6 69 (9.16%) RESTful
7 58 (7.70%) Node.js
7 58 (7.70%) REST
8 51 (6.77%) AngularJS
9 49 (6.51%) HTML
10 45 (5.98%) CSS
11 30 (3.98%) Redux
12 28 (3.72%) Web Services
13 27 (3.59%) gRPC
14 20 (2.66%) .NET Core
15 19 (2.52%) .NET Framework
15 19 (2.52%) Django
16 17 (2.26%) SOAP
17 16 (2.12%) HTML5
18 15 (1.99%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 58 (7.70%) Distributed Systems
2 53 (7.04%) Cloud Native
3 25 (3.32%) Product Ownership
4 23 (3.05%) Derivative
5 21 (2.79%) Fixed Income
6 19 (2.52%) Greenfield Project
7 18 (2.39%) Equities
8 15 (1.99%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 13 (1.73%) Algorithms
10 12 (1.59%) Management Information System
10 12 (1.59%) Market Risk
11 11 (1.46%) Mobile App
12 9 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
12 9 (1.20%) Onboarding
13 7 (0.93%) Equity Derivative
14 6 (0.80%) AI Agents
14 6 (0.80%) Data Structures
15 4 (0.53%) Legacy Applications
15 4 (0.53%) Low-Code
15 4 (0.53%) Sports Betting
Operating Systems
1 43 (5.71%) Linux
2 26 (3.45%) Unix
3 18 (2.39%) Windows
4 13 (1.73%) Android
5 9 (1.20%) Mac OS
6 6 (0.80%) Apple iOS
7 5 (0.66%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.27%) Windows Server
9 1 (0.13%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 194 (25.76%) Agile
2 187 (24.83%) CI/CD
3 149 (19.79%) Microservices
4 131 (17.40%) DevOps
5 89 (11.82%) Containerisation
6 79 (10.49%) Test Automation
7 78 (10.36%) Problem-Solving
8 76 (10.09%) Software Engineering
9 74 (9.83%) Full-Stack Development
10 72 (9.56%) TDD
11 62 (8.23%) Code Quality
12 55 (7.30%) Scrum
13 52 (6.91%) Analytics
14 51 (6.77%) Data Modelling
15 49 (6.51%) Mentoring
16 48 (6.37%) Infrastructure as Code
17 46 (6.11%) Front End Development
18 45 (5.98%) Migration
19 44 (5.84%) Business Intelligence
19 44 (5.84%) Event-Driven
Programming Languages
1 233 (30.94%) Java
2 170 (22.58%) Python
3 137 (18.19%) SQL
4 117 (15.54%) JavaScript
5 75 (9.96%) TypeScript
6 73 (9.69%) C#
7 41 (5.44%) Go
8 27 (3.59%) Kotlin
9 26 (3.45%) Ruby
10 24 (3.19%) PL/SQL
11 14 (1.86%) C++
12 9 (1.20%) PowerShell
12 9 (1.20%) Shell Script
13 8 (1.06%) Data Analysis Expressions
14 7 (0.93%) Bash
15 6 (0.80%) Apex Code
16 4 (0.53%) PHP
16 4 (0.53%) T-SQL
16 4 (0.53%) VBA
17 3 (0.40%) C
Qualifications
1 148 (19.65%) Security Cleared
2 141 (18.73%) SC Cleared
3 25 (3.32%) BPSS Clearance
4 20 (2.66%) Degree
5 8 (1.06%) Computer Science Degree
6 6 (0.80%) DV Cleared
7 4 (0.53%) AWS Certification
7 4 (0.53%) Numerate Degree
8 3 (0.40%) AWS Certified Developer
9 2 (0.27%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.13%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
10 1 (0.13%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.13%) CISSP
10 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (0.13%) OCP
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (4.25%) Accessibility
2 29 (3.85%) QA
3 19 (2.52%) WCAG
4 11 (1.46%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.27%) GDPR
5 2 (0.27%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 127 (16.87%) Docker
2 3 (0.40%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.27%) GridGain
3 2 (0.27%) Oracle RAC
3 2 (0.27%) Postfix
4 1 (0.13%) OpenAM
4 1 (0.13%) OpenDJ
4 1 (0.13%) OpenIDM
4 1 (0.13%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 119 (15.80%) Kubernetes
2 50 (6.64%) Terraform
3 21 (2.79%) Grafana
4 15 (1.99%) Ansible
4 15 (1.99%) Prometheus
5 8 (1.06%) Single Sign-On
6 2 (0.27%) Argo
7 1 (0.13%) CloudHub
7 1 (0.13%) Control-M
7 1 (0.13%) HAProxy
7 1 (0.13%) Kibana
7 1 (0.13%) SELinux
7 1 (0.13%) Sysdig
7 1 (0.13%) systemd
Vendors
1 48 (6.37%) Oracle
2 42 (5.58%) Microsoft
3 18 (2.39%) ServiceNow
4 15 (1.99%) Salesforce
5 13 (1.73%) Google
6 10 (1.33%) Databricks
7 9 (1.20%) Avaloq
7 9 (1.20%) SAP
8 6 (0.80%) Guidewire
8 6 (0.80%) Sybase
9 5 (0.66%) ForgeRock
10 4 (0.53%) Jaspersoft
10 4 (0.53%) Okta
10 4 (0.53%) Pega
11 3 (0.40%) Apple
11 3 (0.40%) Cognizant
11 3 (0.40%) New Relic
11 3 (0.40%) Splunk
12 2 (0.27%) Dynatrace
12 2 (0.27%) IBM