Developer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Developer
England > West Midlands

The median Developer daily rate in the West Midlands is £460, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 September 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 28 13
Rank change year-on-year -1 -15 -2
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 253 125 186
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 7.10% 6.81% 9.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.77% 7.65% 10.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 186 95 121
10th Percentile £394 £363 £313
25th Percentile £413 £408 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% +5.26% +5.56%
75th Percentile £548 £529 £575
90th Percentile £618 £625 £650
England median daily rate £520 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +1.96% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - - £40.50
Median hourly rate - - £43.00
75th Percentile - - £45.50
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £55.00 £55.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year - -15.38% +8.33%

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 3,256 1,635 1,768
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.36% 89.10% 93.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,925 1,057 1,117
10th Percentile £337 £234 £220
25th Percentile £413 £380 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.00% - +4.17%
75th Percentile £600 £588 £613
90th Percentile £688 £671 £713
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 250 109 62
10th Percentile £14.00 £12.62 £12.60
25th Percentile £17.75 £14.00 £14.44
Median hourly rate £29.60 £25.15 £22.05
Median % change year-on-year +17.69% +14.08% -0.25%
75th Percentile £53.75 £37.50 £33.23
90th Percentile £67.84 £50.00 £49.88
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% -1.13%

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 28 September 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 28 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
Shropshire +6 103 £490 +5.95% 17
Birmingham 0 65 £475 -5.00% 61
Coventry +2 39 £425 - 8
Solihull -4 17 £600 +4.35% 13
Warwickshire -19 10 £450 -6.49% 7
Herefordshire -4 3 - -
Wolverhampton - 3 £350 - 11
Staffordshire -13 2 £519 +15.28% 35
Dudley - 2 £400 - 5
Worcestershire -4 1 £450 -30.77% 4
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 28 September 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.

1 108 (42.69%) Agile
2 84 (33.20%) Java
3 78 (30.83%) Security Cleared
4 71 (28.06%) SC Cleared
5 58 (22.92%) JavaScript
6 57 (22.53%) Microsoft
7 56 (22.13%) BPSS Clearance
8 54 (21.34%) CI/CD
9 51 (20.16%) SQL
10 48 (18.97%) Continuous Improvement
11 47 (18.58%) Git
12 43 (17.00%) Front End Development
12 43 (17.00%) Microservices
12 43 (17.00%) REST
13 42 (16.60%) DevOps
13 42 (16.60%) Scrum
14 41 (16.21%) Problem-Solving
14 41 (16.21%) SOAP
14 41 (16.21%) Spring
15 40 (15.81%) Spring Boot
15 40 (15.81%) Sprint Planning
16 39 (15.42%) AWS
16 39 (15.42%) Azure
17 36 (14.23%) Power Platform
18 35 (13.83%) Accessibility
19 34 (13.44%) React
19 34 (13.44%) Test Automation
20 30 (11.86%) Power Automate
20 30 (11.86%) User Stories
21 29 (11.46%) Migration

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 14 (5.53%) Confluence
2 11 (4.35%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.37%) SAS
4 2 (0.79%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 2 (0.79%) Oracle Workflow
4 2 (0.79%) WebLogic
5 1 (0.40%) CMS
5 1 (0.40%) IIS
5 1 (0.40%) OpenStack
5 1 (0.40%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 1 (0.40%) Chatbot
1 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 16 (6.32%) Teamcenter
2 9 (3.56%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.40%) SAP EWM
3 1 (0.40%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 39 (15.42%) AWS
1 39 (15.42%) Azure
2 36 (14.23%) Power Platform
3 30 (11.86%) Power Automate
4 25 (9.88%) PowerApps
5 24 (9.49%) Azure DevOps
6 19 (7.51%) Dynamics 365
7 12 (4.74%) Serverless
8 11 (4.35%) Microsoft 365
9 10 (3.95%) Amazon S3
9 10 (3.95%) Amazon SQS
10 8 (3.16%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 8 (3.16%) Azure Functions
10 8 (3.16%) Microsoft Copilot
11 7 (2.77%) Amazon EC2
11 7 (2.77%) AWS KMS
11 7 (2.77%) Route 53
12 6 (2.37%) OCI
12 6 (2.37%) Oracle Service Cloud
13 5 (1.98%) Figma
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.79%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (9.49%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (7.91%) Relational Database
3 18 (7.11%) MongoDB
4 14 (5.53%) SQL Server
5 9 (3.56%) Amazon RDS
5 9 (3.56%) DynamoDB
5 9 (3.56%) Power BI
6 8 (3.16%) NoSQL
7 7 (2.77%) Amazon Aurora
8 3 (1.19%) Base SAS
8 3 (1.19%) Data Warehouse
8 3 (1.19%) Oracle Reports
8 3 (1.19%) SAS Enterprise Guide
9 2 (0.79%) Data Hub
9 2 (0.79%) Data Mining
9 2 (0.79%) MySQL
9 2 (0.79%) Oracle Database
10 1 (0.40%) IBM InfoSphere
10 1 (0.40%) Metadata
10 1 (0.40%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 47 (18.58%) Git
2 24 (9.49%) Maven
3 23 (9.09%) Mockito
4 22 (8.70%) JUnit
5 19 (7.51%) Jenkins
6 17 (6.72%) SonarQube
7 14 (5.53%) JIRA
8 13 (5.14%) Team Foundation Server
8 13 (5.14%) Visual Studio
9 7 (2.77%) GitLab
10 5 (1.98%) Bitbucket Server
10 5 (1.98%) DbUnit
10 5 (1.98%) jMock
10 5 (1.98%) Storybook
11 2 (0.79%) Hudson
12 1 (0.40%) Artifactory
12 1 (0.40%) NUnit
12 1 (0.40%) Oracle Forms
12 1 (0.40%) Rational Rhapsody
12 1 (0.40%) Selenium
General
1 90 (35.57%) Public Sector
2 53 (20.95%) Social Skills
3 29 (11.46%) Finance
4 28 (11.07%) Analytical Skills
5 20 (7.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 9 (3.56%) Banking
7 6 (2.37%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (1.58%) Manufacturing
9 3 (1.19%) Legal
10 2 (0.79%) Military
10 2 (0.79%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.79%) Retail
11 1 (0.40%) Front Office
11 1 (0.40%) Investment Banking
11 1 (0.40%) Marketing
11 1 (0.40%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.40%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (17.00%) REST
2 41 (16.21%) SOAP
2 41 (16.21%) Spring
3 40 (15.81%) Spring Boot
4 34 (13.44%) React
5 23 (9.09%) XML
6 22 (8.70%) AngularJS
6 22 (8.70%) JPA
6 22 (8.70%) Web Services
7 20 (7.91%) JSON
8 19 (7.51%) ActiveMQ
8 19 (7.51%) Hibernate
9 18 (7.11%) Node.js
9 18 (7.11%) RESTful
10 17 (6.72%) CSS
10 17 (6.72%) HTML
11 16 (6.32%) Spring Cloud
12 13 (5.14%) ActiveX
13 12 (4.74%) Kafka
14 11 (4.35%) Playwright
Miscellaneous
1 23 (9.09%) Cloud Native
2 21 (8.30%) Product Ownership
3 9 (3.56%) Management Information System
4 8 (3.16%) Distributed Systems
4 8 (3.16%) Taxonomies
5 7 (2.77%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (2.37%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (1.58%) Virtual Team
8 3 (1.19%) Linux Command Line
9 2 (0.79%) BYOD
9 2 (0.79%) Greenfield Project
9 2 (0.79%) Legacy Systems
9 2 (0.79%) Mobile App
10 1 (0.40%) CMDB
10 1 (0.40%) Data Structures
10 1 (0.40%) Legacy Applications
10 1 (0.40%) Legacy Code
10 1 (0.40%) Low-Code
10 1 (0.40%) Onboarding
10 1 (0.40%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 12 (4.74%) Linux
2 7 (2.77%) Unix
3 1 (0.40%) Mac OS X
3 1 (0.40%) Windows
3 1 (0.40%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (42.69%) Agile
2 54 (21.34%) CI/CD
3 48 (18.97%) Continuous Improvement
4 43 (17.00%) Front End Development
4 43 (17.00%) Microservices
5 42 (16.60%) DevOps
5 42 (16.60%) Scrum
6 41 (16.21%) Problem-Solving
7 40 (15.81%) Sprint Planning
8 34 (13.44%) Test Automation
9 30 (11.86%) User Stories
10 29 (11.46%) Migration
11 28 (11.07%) Backlog Refinement
11 28 (11.07%) TDD
12 26 (10.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
13 24 (9.49%) SDLC
13 24 (9.49%) Technical Leadership
14 22 (8.70%) Containerisation
14 22 (8.70%) Data Modelling
15 21 (8.30%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 84 (33.20%) Java
2 58 (22.92%) JavaScript
3 51 (20.16%) SQL
4 28 (11.07%) C#
5 27 (10.67%) TypeScript
6 14 (5.53%) VB
6 14 (5.53%) VB6
7 13 (5.14%) VBA
8 11 (4.35%) PL/SQL
8 11 (4.35%) Python
9 10 (3.95%) Scala
10 6 (2.37%) Shell Script
11 5 (1.98%) COBOL
12 2 (0.79%) C
12 2 (0.79%) C++
12 2 (0.79%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.79%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.40%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.40%) Bash
13 1 (0.40%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 78 (30.83%) Security Cleared
2 71 (28.06%) SC Cleared
3 56 (22.13%) BPSS Clearance
4 19 (7.51%) Microsoft Certification
5 6 (2.37%) Azure Certification
5 6 (2.37%) DBS Check
5 6 (2.37%) Degree
6 2 (0.79%) AWS Certification
6 2 (0.79%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.40%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (13.83%) Accessibility
2 18 (7.11%) WCAG
3 10 (3.95%) QA
4 8 (3.16%) GDPR
5 3 (1.19%) Basel III
5 3 (1.19%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.40%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 1 (0.40%) GMP
6 1 (0.40%) GxP
6 1 (0.40%) HL7
6 1 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 17025
System Software
1 22 (8.70%) Docker
2 4 (1.58%) Postfix
3 1 (0.40%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 17 (6.72%) Grafana
2 13 (5.14%) Kubernetes
2 13 (5.14%) Prometheus
3 9 (3.56%) Single Sign-On
4 4 (1.58%) Kibana
Vendors
1 57 (22.53%) Microsoft
2 22 (8.70%) Oracle
3 9 (3.56%) ServiceNow
4 8 (3.16%) Talend
4 8 (3.16%) UiPath
5 7 (2.77%) Jaspersoft
6 5 (1.98%) Atlassian
7 3 (1.19%) SAP
8 2 (0.79%) Adobe
8 2 (0.79%) Databricks
8 2 (0.79%) Google
8 2 (0.79%) Informatica
8 2 (0.79%) Pega
9 1 (0.40%) Denodo
9 1 (0.40%) Dynatrace
9 1 (0.40%) IBM
9 1 (0.40%) Infor
9 1 (0.40%) NEC
9 1 (0.40%) Salesforce
9 1 (0.40%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud