Technical Debt Contract Job Trends

Technical Debt
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Technical Debt skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 325 448 475
Rank change year-on-year +123 +27 +51
Contract jobs citing Technical Debt 407 111 98
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.75% 0.34% 0.26%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.89% 0.37% 0.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 274 81 57
10th Percentile £428 £388 £385
25th Percentile £481 £419 £480
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £555 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.62% -4.55% +1.52%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £700
90th Percentile £775 £750 £756
UK excluding London median daily rate £533 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -3.18% +10.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 0 3
10th Percentile £81.83 - £29.69
25th Percentile £81.94 - £37.97
Median hourly rate £84.25 - £53.50
75th Percentile £86.94 - £56.25
90th Percentile £87.28 - £56.85
UK excluding London median hourly rate £84.25 - £55.00

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Technical Debt falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 45,839 29,816 32,769
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.46% 90.52% 85.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,855 18,531 20,147
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £425 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £730 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,070 1,799 1,460
10th Percentile £13.84 £14.25 £14.84
25th Percentile £17.36 £17.30 £20.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.50 £44.68 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.00 £67.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.56 £22.63 £43.00
% change year-on-year +83.63% -47.37% +5.81%

Technical Debt
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Technical Debt relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Technical Debt job vacancy trend in the UK

Technical Debt
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Technical Debt.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Technical Debt

Technical Debt
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Technical Debt over the 6 months to 16 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Technical Debt in the UK

Technical Debt
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Technical Debt.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Technical Debt

Technical Debt
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Technical Debt within the UK over the 6 months to 16 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 +76 338 £550 +0.92% 703
UK excluding London +27 172 £533 -3.18% 392
London +23 172 £566 +13.25% 370
Work from Home +24 117 £563 +5.63% 317
North of England -7 82 £519 +1.27% 121
Yorkshire +2 49 £500 -12.70% 40
South East -46 30 £575 +4.55% 87
North West -25 29 £600 +20.00% 69
Midlands -30 21 £475 -7.77% 56
West Midlands -35 17 £463 - 36
South West -38 14 £600 - 23
Scotland -14 12 £488 +8.33% 51
East of England -13 11 £550 -27.27% 28
North East -36 4 £425 - 12
Wales - 3 £600 - 12
East Midlands -16 1 £625 +21.36% 20

Technical Debt
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 19 (4.67%) Confluence
2 15 (3.69%) SharePoint
3 9 (2.21%) Apache Spark
4 7 (1.72%) Apache
5 3 (0.74%) IBM Transformation Extender
6 2 (0.49%) CMS
6 2 (0.49%) nginx
6 2 (0.49%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 2 (0.49%) SAS
7 1 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.25%) Apache Superset
7 1 (0.25%) ArcGIS
7 1 (0.25%) CICS
7 1 (0.25%) IIS
7 1 (0.25%) Mendix
7 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Exchange
7 1 (0.25%) NetWeaver
7 1 (0.25%) SharePoint Server
Applications
1 8 (1.97%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.98%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 12 (2.95%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (2.70%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.98%) Magento
4 2 (0.49%) SAP FI
4 2 (0.49%) SAP MM
5 1 (0.25%) Dynamics NAV
5 1 (0.25%) Finacle
5 1 (0.25%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.25%) Loan IQ
5 1 (0.25%) Remedy ITSM
5 1 (0.25%) SAP ECC
5 1 (0.25%) SAP HR
5 1 (0.25%) Shopify
5 1 (0.25%) Temenos T24
5 1 (0.25%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 142 (34.89%) AWS
2 133 (32.68%) Azure
3 77 (18.92%) GitHub
4 57 (14.00%) Serverless
5 54 (13.27%) GitHub Actions
6 46 (11.30%) Power Platform
7 36 (8.85%) Azure DevOps
8 35 (8.60%) AWS Lambda
8 35 (8.60%) SaaS
9 28 (6.88%) GCP
10 19 (4.67%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 18 (4.42%) Amazon ECS
11 18 (4.42%) AWS Step Functions
11 18 (4.42%) Dynamics 365
12 17 (4.18%) Amazon EKS
12 17 (4.18%) Azure Functions
13 16 (3.93%) Power Automate
14 15 (3.69%) Virtual Private Cloud
15 14 (3.44%) Entra ID
16 13 (3.19%) Amazon SQS
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.97%) Network Security
2 6 (1.47%) DNS
3 5 (1.23%) HTTP
3 5 (1.23%) TCP/IP
4 4 (0.98%) Firewall
5 3 (0.74%) DHCP
6 2 (0.49%) SSL
6 2 (0.49%) VPN
6 2 (0.49%) WAN
7 1 (0.25%) BGP
7 1 (0.25%) DMZ
7 1 (0.25%) EIGRP
7 1 (0.25%) Ethernet
7 1 (0.25%) Internet
7 1 (0.25%) MPLS
7 1 (0.25%) OSPF
7 1 (0.25%) RTP
7 1 (0.25%) VRRP
7 1 (0.25%) Wireless
7 1 (0.25%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 43 (10.57%) PostgreSQL
2 30 (7.37%) SQL Server
3 28 (6.88%) Power BI
4 25 (6.14%) NoSQL
5 23 (5.65%) Amazon Aurora
5 23 (5.65%) Amazon RDS
6 19 (4.67%) DynamoDB
7 16 (3.93%) Redis
8 15 (3.69%) Metadata
9 13 (3.19%) Data Lake
9 13 (3.19%) MongoDB
9 13 (3.19%) MySQL
10 11 (2.70%) Relational Database
11 10 (2.46%) Data Warehouse
12 7 (1.72%) BigQuery
13 5 (1.23%) Parquet
13 5 (1.23%) Power Query
14 4 (0.98%) Amazon Athena
14 4 (0.98%) Flink
14 4 (0.98%) Spark SQL
Development Applications
1 61 (14.99%) Git
2 43 (10.57%) Jenkins
3 41 (10.07%) JIRA
4 22 (5.41%) Claude Code
5 13 (3.19%) GitLab
6 7 (1.72%) Gatling
7 5 (1.23%) Maven
8 4 (0.98%) Artifactory
8 4 (0.98%) Selenium
8 4 (0.98%) Subversion
8 4 (0.98%) Vite
8 4 (0.98%) Xcode
8 4 (0.98%) XCTest
8 4 (0.98%) XCUITest
9 3 (0.74%) Cypress.io
10 1 (0.25%) Capybara
10 1 (0.25%) CMake
10 1 (0.25%) Gradle
10 1 (0.25%) Mockito
10 1 (0.25%) RSpec
General
1 131 (32.19%) Social Skills
2 80 (19.66%) Finance
3 70 (17.20%) Public Sector
4 39 (9.58%) Analytical Skills
5 24 (5.90%) Retail
6 21 (5.16%) Influencing Skills
7 18 (4.42%) Banking
7 18 (4.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (3.44%) Marketing
9 13 (3.19%) Manufacturing
9 13 (3.19%) Military
10 10 (2.46%) Aerospace
11 9 (2.21%) Billing
12 8 (1.97%) Legal
12 8 (1.97%) Pharmaceutical
13 7 (1.72%) Aviation
14 6 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
14 6 (1.47%) Local Government
15 5 (1.23%) Games
15 5 (1.23%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 123 (30.22%) Architect
2 80 (19.66%) Senior
3 63 (15.48%) Developer
4 59 (14.50%) Lead
5 38 (9.34%) Solutions Architect
6 34 (8.35%) Technical Architect
7 28 (6.88%) Senior Developer
8 21 (5.16%) Consultant
9 20 (4.91%) Product Manager
10 18 (4.42%) AWS Engineer
10 18 (4.42%) Product Owner
11 17 (4.18%) AWS Architect
12 14 (3.44%) Senior Architect
13 13 (3.19%) Cloud Architect
13 13 (3.19%) Data Engineer
13 13 (3.19%) Enterprise Architect
13 13 (3.19%) Full-Stack Engineer
13 13 (3.19%) Platform Engineer
14 12 (2.95%) Full-Stack Developer
14 12 (2.95%) Technical Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 73 (17.94%) Terraform
2 66 (16.22%) REST
3 32 (7.86%) React
4 30 (7.37%) Node.js
5 23 (5.65%) RESTful
6 22 (5.41%) .NET
7 17 (4.18%) Kafka
8 16 (3.93%) GraphQL
9 15 (3.69%) Playwright
9 15 (3.69%) SOAP
9 15 (3.69%) Spring
10 14 (3.44%) .NET Core
10 14 (3.44%) Jest
11 12 (2.95%) JSON
11 12 (2.95%) Middleware
11 12 (2.95%) OpenAPI
11 12 (2.95%) Spring Boot
11 12 (2.95%) Swagger
12 11 (2.70%) Apollo GraphQL
12 11 (2.70%) AWS CDK
Miscellaneous
1 63 (15.48%) Product Ownership
2 57 (14.00%) Cloud Native
3 28 (6.88%) Legacy Systems
4 25 (6.14%) Onboarding
5 19 (4.67%) Distributed Systems
5 19 (4.67%) Enterprise Software
5 19 (4.67%) Management Information System
6 17 (4.18%) Data Protection Act
7 14 (3.44%) CMDB
8 12 (2.95%) Public Cloud
9 11 (2.70%) Data Centre
9 11 (2.70%) Virtual Team
10 10 (2.46%) AI Agents
10 10 (2.46%) Analytical Mindset
11 9 (2.21%) Data Structures
12 8 (1.97%) Low-Code
12 8 (1.97%) Taxonomies
13 7 (1.72%) Life Science
14 6 (1.47%) Hybrid Cloud
14 6 (1.47%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 20 (4.91%) Linux
2 15 (3.69%) Windows
3 11 (2.70%) Unix
4 7 (1.72%) Apple iOS
5 6 (1.47%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.98%) Solaris
7 3 (0.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 2 (0.49%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.25%) Android
9 1 (0.25%) VMS
9 1 (0.25%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.25%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 165 (40.54%) Roadmaps
2 154 (37.84%) Agile
3 153 (37.59%) CI/CD
4 123 (30.22%) DevOps
5 96 (23.59%) Continuous Improvement
6 95 (23.34%) Stakeholder Management
7 83 (20.39%) Infrastructure as Code
8 80 (19.66%) AI
8 80 (19.66%) Microservices
8 80 (19.66%) Technical Leadership
9 72 (17.69%) Data Modelling
9 72 (17.69%) Migration
10 68 (16.71%) Event-Driven
11 66 (16.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 63 (15.48%) Observability
13 60 (14.74%) Mentoring
14 59 (14.50%) Enterprise Architecture
15 57 (14.00%) Integration Patterns
16 54 (13.27%) Analytics
16 54 (13.27%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 70 (17.20%) Python
2 58 (14.25%) Java
3 50 (12.29%) SQL
4 43 (10.57%) JavaScript
5 42 (10.32%) TypeScript
6 29 (7.13%) C#
7 16 (3.93%) Scala
8 13 (3.19%) PowerShell
9 11 (2.70%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 7 (1.72%) Bash
10 7 (1.72%) Kotlin
11 5 (1.23%) Apex Code
11 5 (1.23%) C++
12 4 (0.98%) Bicep
12 4 (0.98%) Swift
13 3 (0.74%) Go
13 3 (0.74%) R
13 3 (0.74%) T-SQL
14 2 (0.49%) Groovy
15 1 (0.25%) COBOL
Qualifications
1 96 (23.59%) Security Cleared
2 77 (18.92%) SC Cleared
3 29 (7.13%) Degree
4 20 (4.91%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (3.93%) Azure Certification
6 11 (2.70%) PMP
7 9 (2.21%) Microsoft Certification
8 8 (1.97%) PMI Certification
9 7 (1.72%) CISSP
9 7 (1.72%) PRINCE2 Certification
10 6 (1.47%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.23%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 5 (1.23%) CCSP
11 5 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (0.98%) DV Cleared
12 4 (0.98%) TOGAF Certification
13 3 (0.74%) AWS Certification
13 3 (0.74%) CSPO
13 3 (0.74%) DBS Check
13 3 (0.74%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (8.11%) Accessibility
2 26 (6.39%) Data Quality
3 25 (6.14%) GDPR
3 25 (6.14%) QA
4 20 (4.91%) WCAG
5 12 (2.95%) NIST
6 11 (2.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 7 (1.72%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 7 (1.72%) GxP
8 5 (1.23%) Actionable Recommendations
8 5 (1.23%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (0.98%) GRC
10 3 (0.74%) NCSC
10 3 (0.74%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.74%) SLA
11 2 (0.49%) Government Security Classifications
11 2 (0.49%) ISO 20022
12 1 (0.25%) GAMP
12 1 (0.25%) PSD2
12 1 (0.25%) SEPA
System Software
1 54 (13.27%) Docker
2 9 (2.21%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.25%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
4 1 (0.25%) Time Sharing Option
4 1 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.25%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 65 (15.97%) Kubernetes
2 19 (4.67%) Grafana
3 15 (3.69%) Prometheus
4 14 (3.44%) Ansible
5 9 (2.21%) Single Sign-On
6 8 (1.97%) HAProxy
7 3 (0.74%) Tivoli
7 3 (0.74%) Tivoli Monitoring
8 2 (0.49%) Istio
8 2 (0.49%) ITRS Geneos
8 2 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
8 2 (0.49%) MOM
8 2 (0.49%) Rancher
9 1 (0.25%) Argo
9 1 (0.25%) Control-M
9 1 (0.25%) Kustomize
9 1 (0.25%) Network Intrusion Detection System
9 1 (0.25%) Opsgenie
9 1 (0.25%) Oracle RMAN
9 1 (0.25%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 87 (21.38%) Microsoft
2 39 (9.58%) ServiceNow
3 20 (4.91%) Salesforce
4 17 (4.18%) SAP
5 16 (3.93%) Databricks
6 11 (2.70%) Oracle
7 10 (2.46%) Google
8 8 (1.97%) Splunk
9 7 (1.72%) VMware
10 5 (1.23%) Cisco
10 5 (1.23%) Dynatrace
10 5 (1.23%) Informatica
11 4 (0.98%) IBM
11 4 (0.98%) Planview
12 3 (0.74%) Red Hat
12 3 (0.74%) UiPath
12 3 (0.74%) Workday
13 2 (0.49%) Bloomberg
13 2 (0.49%) MuleSoft
13 2 (0.49%) Refinitiv