Developer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Developer
England > West Midlands

The median Developer daily rate in the West Midlands is £455, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 12 October 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 30 16
Rank change year-on-year +1 -14 -5
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 246 122 171
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 6.95% 6.50% 9.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.64% 7.27% 9.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 192 94 109
10th Percentile £393 £366 £312
25th Percentile £413 £413 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -9.10% - +11.11%
75th Percentile £548 £539 £575
90th Percentile £610 £645 £653
England median daily rate £525 £508 £525
% change year-on-year +3.45% -3.33% -4.55%

All Contract IT Job Roles
West Midlands

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the West Midlands. 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 West Midlands with a recognized job title 3,221 1,677 1,751
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.96% 89.39% 93.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,922 1,086 1,101
10th Percentile £325 £247 £213
25th Percentile £413 £382 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £594 £588 £612
90th Percentile £687 £683 £706
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -3.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 244 111 60
10th Percentile £14.09 £12.62 £12.58
25th Percentile £17.74 £15.40 £14.18
Median hourly rate £25.00 £25.15 £21.80
Median % change year-on-year -0.60% +15.39% -5.24%
75th Percentile £45.00 £36.75 £32.26
90th Percentile £67.84 £50.00 £48.88
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -6.89%

Developer
Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

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

Developer job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Developer
Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the West Midlands.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the West Midlands

Developer
Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Developer in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 12 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Developer in the West Midlands

Developer
Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the West Midlands.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Developer job vacancies in the West Midlands

Developer
Contract Job Locations in the West Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Developer within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 12 October 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
Shropshire +1 107 £488 +5.41% 18
Birmingham +4 54 £460 -8.00% 60
Coventry 0 40 £425 - 12
Solihull -7 16 £600 +4.35% 12
Warwickshire -11 12 £450 -2.70% 15
Herefordshire -5 3 - -
Wolverhampton - 3 £350 - 4
Dudley - 2 £400 - 8
Worcestershire -5 1 £450 -30.77% 6
Staffordshire -12 1 £725 +61.11% 23
Developer
England

Developer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands

For the 6 months to 12 October 2026, 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 across the West Midlands region featuring Developer in the job title.

1 104 (42.28%) Agile
2 87 (35.37%) Java
3 77 (31.30%) Security Cleared
4 69 (28.05%) SC Cleared
5 60 (24.39%) Microsoft
6 58 (23.58%) JavaScript
7 57 (23.17%) BPSS Clearance
8 51 (20.73%) CI/CD
9 50 (20.33%) SQL
10 46 (18.70%) Continuous Improvement
11 44 (17.89%) Front End Development
11 44 (17.89%) Git
12 40 (16.26%) Microservices
12 40 (16.26%) Scrum
12 40 (16.26%) SOAP
12 40 (16.26%) Sprint Planning
13 39 (15.85%) Power Platform
13 39 (15.85%) Problem-Solving
13 39 (15.85%) REST
14 38 (15.45%) Azure
14 38 (15.45%) DevOps
14 38 (15.45%) Spring
15 37 (15.04%) Spring Boot
16 35 (14.23%) Accessibility
16 35 (14.23%) AWS
17 34 (13.82%) React
18 33 (13.41%) Test Automation
19 30 (12.20%) C#
19 30 (12.20%) Power Automate
19 30 (12.20%) User Stories

Developer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands 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 (6.10%) Confluence
2 11 (4.47%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.03%) SAS
4 4 (1.63%) WebLogic
5 2 (0.81%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.41%) CMS
6 1 (0.41%) IIS
6 1 (0.41%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.41%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 1 (0.41%) Chatbot
1 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 11 (4.47%) Dynamics CRM
2 6 (2.44%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.41%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 39 (15.85%) Power Platform
2 38 (15.45%) Azure
3 35 (14.23%) AWS
4 30 (12.20%) Power Automate
5 25 (10.16%) PowerApps
6 23 (9.35%) Azure DevOps
7 21 (8.54%) Dynamics 365
8 11 (4.47%) Microsoft 365
9 10 (4.07%) Serverless
10 9 (3.66%) OCI
10 9 (3.66%) Oracle Service Cloud
11 8 (3.25%) Azure Functions
11 8 (3.25%) Microsoft Copilot
12 6 (2.44%) Amazon S3
12 6 (2.44%) Amazon SQS
13 5 (2.03%) Amazon CloudWatch
13 5 (2.03%) Amazon EC2
13 5 (2.03%) AWS KMS
13 5 (2.03%) Figma
13 5 (2.03%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.81%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (8.54%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (8.13%) Relational Database
3 18 (7.32%) MongoDB
4 15 (6.10%) SQL Server
5 12 (4.88%) Power BI
6 7 (2.85%) NoSQL
7 6 (2.44%) Amazon RDS
7 6 (2.44%) DynamoDB
8 5 (2.03%) Amazon Aurora
8 5 (2.03%) Data Warehouse
9 3 (1.22%) Base SAS
9 3 (1.22%) Oracle Reports
9 3 (1.22%) SAS Enterprise Guide
10 2 (0.81%) Data Hub
10 2 (0.81%) Data Mining
10 2 (0.81%) MySQL
10 2 (0.81%) Oracle Database
10 2 (0.81%) Star Schema
11 1 (0.41%) DataStage
11 1 (0.41%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 44 (17.89%) Git
2 24 (9.76%) Maven
3 21 (8.54%) Mockito
4 20 (8.13%) JUnit
5 17 (6.91%) Jenkins
6 15 (6.10%) JIRA
6 15 (6.10%) SonarQube
7 14 (5.69%) Team Foundation Server
7 14 (5.69%) Visual Studio
8 8 (3.25%) GitLab
9 5 (2.03%) Storybook
10 4 (1.63%) Bitbucket Server
10 4 (1.63%) DbUnit
10 4 (1.63%) jMock
11 2 (0.81%) Hudson
12 1 (0.41%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.41%) NUnit
12 1 (0.41%) Oracle Forms
12 1 (0.41%) Rational Rhapsody
12 1 (0.41%) Selenium
General
1 86 (34.96%) Public Sector
2 51 (20.73%) Social Skills
3 29 (11.79%) Finance
4 26 (10.57%) Analytical Skills
5 20 (8.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 6 (2.44%) Banking
6 6 (2.44%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.63%) Manufacturing
8 3 (1.22%) Legal
8 3 (1.22%) Retail
9 2 (0.81%) Military
9 2 (0.81%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.41%) Front Office
10 1 (0.41%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.41%) Marketing
10 1 (0.41%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (16.26%) SOAP
2 39 (15.85%) REST
3 38 (15.45%) Spring
4 37 (15.04%) Spring Boot
5 34 (13.82%) React
6 24 (9.76%) XML
7 20 (8.13%) AngularJS
7 20 (8.13%) JPA
7 20 (8.13%) JSON
7 20 (8.13%) Web Services
8 17 (6.91%) ActiveMQ
8 17 (6.91%) CSS
8 17 (6.91%) Hibernate
8 17 (6.91%) HTML
9 16 (6.50%) RESTful
10 15 (6.10%) Node.js
11 14 (5.69%) ActiveX
11 14 (5.69%) Spring Cloud
12 13 (5.28%) .NET
13 12 (4.88%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 23 (9.35%) Product Ownership
2 21 (8.54%) Cloud Native
3 9 (3.66%) Management Information System
4 8 (3.25%) Taxonomies
5 7 (2.85%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (2.44%) Distributed Systems
6 6 (2.44%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (1.63%) Linux Command Line
7 4 (1.63%) Virtual Team
8 2 (0.81%) Greenfield Project
8 2 (0.81%) Legacy Systems
8 2 (0.81%) Mobile App
9 1 (0.41%) CMDB
9 1 (0.41%) Equities
9 1 (0.41%) Fixed Income
9 1 (0.41%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 1 (0.41%) Legacy Applications
9 1 (0.41%) Legacy Code
9 1 (0.41%) LIMS
9 1 (0.41%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 12 (4.88%) Linux
2 7 (2.85%) Unix
3 1 (0.41%) macOS
3 1 (0.41%) Windows
3 1 (0.41%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (42.28%) Agile
2 51 (20.73%) CI/CD
3 46 (18.70%) Continuous Improvement
4 44 (17.89%) Front End Development
5 40 (16.26%) Microservices
5 40 (16.26%) Scrum
5 40 (16.26%) Sprint Planning
6 39 (15.85%) Problem-Solving
7 38 (15.45%) DevOps
8 33 (13.41%) Test Automation
9 30 (12.20%) User Stories
10 28 (11.38%) Backlog Refinement
11 27 (10.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 26 (10.57%) TDD
13 24 (9.76%) Data Modelling
13 24 (9.76%) SDLC
14 23 (9.35%) Technical Leadership
15 22 (8.94%) Containerisation
16 21 (8.54%) User Experience
17 20 (8.13%) Digital Transformation Programme
Programming Languages
1 87 (35.37%) Java
2 58 (23.58%) JavaScript
3 50 (20.33%) SQL
4 30 (12.20%) C#
5 26 (10.57%) TypeScript
6 15 (6.10%) VB
6 15 (6.10%) VB6
7 14 (5.69%) VBA
8 11 (4.47%) PL/SQL
8 11 (4.47%) Python
9 9 (3.66%) Shell Script
10 8 (3.25%) Scala
11 5 (2.03%) COBOL
12 2 (0.81%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.81%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.41%) ABAP
13 1 (0.41%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.41%) Bash
13 1 (0.41%) Bicep
13 1 (0.41%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 77 (31.30%) Security Cleared
2 69 (28.05%) SC Cleared
3 57 (23.17%) BPSS Clearance
4 19 (7.72%) Microsoft Certification
5 9 (3.66%) DBS Check
6 6 (2.44%) Azure Certification
6 6 (2.44%) Degree
7 2 (0.81%) AWS Certification
7 2 (0.81%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.41%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (14.23%) Accessibility
2 18 (7.32%) WCAG
3 9 (3.66%) QA
4 8 (3.25%) GDPR
5 5 (2.03%) Data Quality
6 3 (1.22%) Basel III
7 1 (0.41%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 1 (0.41%) GMP
7 1 (0.41%) GxP
7 1 (0.41%) HL7
7 1 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 19 (7.72%) Docker
2 3 (1.22%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 15 (6.10%) Grafana
1 15 (6.10%) Kubernetes
2 12 (4.88%) Prometheus
3 10 (4.07%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (1.63%) Kibana
Vendors
1 60 (24.39%) Microsoft
2 27 (10.98%) Oracle
3 9 (3.66%) ServiceNow
4 8 (3.25%) Talend
4 8 (3.25%) UiPath
5 5 (2.03%) Jaspersoft
6 4 (1.63%) Atlassian
7 2 (0.81%) Adobe
7 2 (0.81%) Databricks
7 2 (0.81%) Google
7 2 (0.81%) Informatica
7 2 (0.81%) SAP
8 1 (0.41%) Denodo
8 1 (0.41%) Dynatrace
8 1 (0.41%) IBM
8 1 (0.41%) NEC
8 1 (0.41%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.41%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud