Developer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Developer
England > West Midlands

The median Developer daily rate in the West Midlands is £493, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 12 February 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 32 19 9
Rank change year-on-year -13 -10 +4
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 152 111 226
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 5.95% 7.55% 12.05%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.65% 8.23% 13.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 106 66 160
10th Percentile £363 £363 £259
25th Percentile £413 £407 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £493 £470 £425
Median % change year-on-year +4.90% +10.47% -15.00%
75th Percentile £584 £564 £561
90th Percentile £650 £603 £675
England median daily rate £500 £538 £525
% change year-on-year -6.98% +2.38% -8.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 2
10th Percentile - - £17.16
25th Percentile - - £17.22
Median hourly rate - - £17.38
75th Percentile - - £17.47
90th Percentile - - £17.49
England median hourly rate £60.00 £65.00 £69.55
% change year-on-year -7.69% -6.54% +11.28%

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 2,287 1,348 1,734
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 89.58% 91.64% 92.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,478 862 1,135
10th Percentile £263 £200 £228
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year - +5.26% -2.56%
75th Percentile £588 £599 £588
90th Percentile £688 £700 £679
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 87 57 128
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.90 £11.86
25th Percentile £17.12 £16.26 £15.00
Median hourly rate £25.00 £22.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year +13.64% -2.22% +26.98%
75th Percentile £30.00 £30.68 £43.75
90th Percentile £44.00 £46.18 £67.50
England median hourly rate £31.36 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -10.41% - -6.67%

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 February 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 February 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
Birmingham -16 52 £481 +1.32% 48
Warwickshire +13 29 £485 -17.45% 13
Shropshire -20 26 £489 -6.86% 8
Coventry -13 16 £486 +6.87% 14
Worcestershire -4 14 £650 - 11
Herefordshire -8 14 £650 +18.18% 3
Solihull -4 5 £500 +19.05% 9
Staffordshire -4 1 £338 -28.95% 7
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 12 February 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 53 (34.87%) CI/CD
2 46 (30.26%) SQL
3 45 (29.61%) DevOps
4 42 (27.63%) Agile
4 42 (27.63%) Azure
5 40 (26.32%) Problem-Solving
6 36 (23.68%) Microsoft
6 36 (23.68%) Security Cleared
7 35 (23.03%) Python
8 32 (21.05%) SC Cleared
9 30 (19.74%) AWS
9 30 (19.74%) Containerisation
9 30 (19.74%) Git
10 27 (17.76%) JavaScript
10 27 (17.76%) Microservices
11 26 (17.11%) Java
11 26 (17.11%) React
12 25 (16.45%) Docker
12 25 (16.45%) PostgreSQL
12 25 (16.45%) REST
13 24 (15.79%) Serverless
14 22 (14.47%) Kubernetes
15 19 (12.50%) Azure DevOps
15 19 (12.50%) Grafana
15 19 (12.50%) HTML
15 19 (12.50%) Power Platform
15 19 (12.50%) Scrum
16 18 (11.84%) Data Modelling
16 18 (11.84%) Node.js
17 17 (11.18%) Business Intelligence

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 6 (3.95%) Apache
1 6 (3.95%) Confluence
2 4 (2.63%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.97%) Apache Spark
3 3 (1.97%) Drupal
3 3 (1.97%) JBoss
3 3 (1.97%) SugarCRM
3 3 (1.97%) WebLogic
4 2 (1.32%) CMS
5 1 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
5 1 (0.66%) CICS
Applications
1 7 (4.61%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.66%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.66%) SAP HR
1 1 (0.66%) SAP PSCD
1 1 (0.66%) VisionPLUS
Cloud Services
1 42 (27.63%) Azure
2 30 (19.74%) AWS
3 24 (15.79%) Serverless
4 19 (12.50%) Azure DevOps
4 19 (12.50%) Power Platform
5 16 (10.53%) GitHub
6 15 (9.87%) Power Automate
7 13 (8.55%) Azure Key Vault
7 13 (8.55%) GitHub Actions
7 13 (8.55%) PowerApps
8 11 (7.24%) GCP
9 9 (5.92%) Apigee
9 9 (5.92%) Cloud Functions
10 7 (4.61%) Dynamics 365
11 6 (3.95%) Azure Functions
11 6 (3.95%) Azure Logic Apps
12 5 (3.29%) Azure Service Bus
12 5 (3.29%) SaaS
13 4 (2.63%) Azure Cosmos DB
13 4 (2.63%) Azure Monitor
Communications & Networking
1 5 (3.29%) Firewall
2 1 (0.66%) SSL
2 1 (0.66%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (16.45%) PostgreSQL
2 14 (9.21%) MySQL
2 14 (9.21%) Relational Database
3 13 (8.55%) Power BI
4 11 (7.24%) MongoDB
5 10 (6.58%) Redis
6 6 (3.95%) SQL Server
7 5 (3.29%) BusinessObjects
7 5 (3.29%) Data Warehouse
7 5 (3.29%) NoSQL
7 5 (3.29%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 4 (2.63%) BusinessObjects XI
8 4 (2.63%) Metadata
8 4 (2.63%) WebFOCUS
9 3 (1.97%) Power Query
10 2 (1.32%) Amazon Aurora
10 2 (1.32%) Amazon RDS
10 2 (1.32%) Data Hub
10 2 (1.32%) DynamoDB
10 2 (1.32%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 30 (19.74%) Git
2 14 (9.21%) JIRA
2 14 (9.21%) JUnit
3 9 (5.92%) GitLab
4 8 (5.26%) Maven
4 8 (5.26%) Mockito
5 7 (4.61%) Selenium
6 6 (3.95%) Jenkins
7 4 (2.63%) Cucumber
8 3 (1.97%) Eclipse
8 3 (1.97%) IntelliJ
8 3 (1.97%) SonarQube
9 2 (1.32%) Cypress.io
9 2 (1.32%) DbUnit
9 2 (1.32%) Jaeger
9 2 (1.32%) jMock
10 1 (0.66%) ChangeMan
10 1 (0.66%) MSTest
10 1 (0.66%) REST Assured
General
1 38 (25.00%) Social Skills
2 24 (15.79%) Analytical Skills
3 23 (15.13%) Public Sector
4 13 (8.55%) Finance
5 7 (4.61%) Banking
6 4 (2.63%) Marketing
6 4 (2.63%) Presentation Skills
7 3 (1.97%) Influencing Skills
7 3 (1.97%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (1.32%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.66%) Law
9 1 (0.66%) Legal
9 1 (0.66%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.66%) Police
9 1 (0.66%) Retail Banking
9 1 (0.66%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (17.11%) React
2 25 (16.45%) REST
3 19 (12.50%) HTML
4 18 (11.84%) Node.js
5 16 (10.53%) Spring
6 14 (9.21%) CSS
6 14 (9.21%) RESTful
7 13 (8.55%) FastAPI
8 12 (7.89%) AngularJS
9 11 (7.24%) Flask
10 10 (6.58%) .NET
10 10 (6.58%) Spring Boot
11 9 (5.92%) GraphQL
11 9 (5.92%) JSON
11 9 (5.92%) WebSockets
12 8 (5.26%) gRPC
12 8 (5.26%) JPA
12 8 (5.26%) SOAP
13 7 (4.61%) Gherkin
13 7 (4.61%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 18 (11.84%) Cloud Native
2 6 (3.95%) Product Ownership
3 5 (3.29%) Credit Risk
3 5 (3.29%) Legacy Systems
4 3 (1.97%) Data Protection Act
4 3 (1.97%) Onboarding
5 2 (1.32%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (1.32%) CMDB
5 2 (1.32%) Derivative
5 2 (1.32%) Distributed Systems
5 2 (1.32%) Linux Command Line
5 2 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (0.66%) Hybrid Cloud
6 1 (0.66%) IoT
6 1 (0.66%) Learning Management System
6 1 (0.66%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (0.66%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 9 (5.92%) Linux
2 4 (2.63%) Unix
3 2 (1.32%) Android
4 1 (0.66%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.66%) VME
4 1 (0.66%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (34.87%) CI/CD
2 45 (29.61%) DevOps
3 42 (27.63%) Agile
4 40 (26.32%) Problem-Solving
5 30 (19.74%) Containerisation
6 27 (17.76%) Microservices
7 19 (12.50%) Scrum
8 18 (11.84%) Data Modelling
9 17 (11.18%) Business Intelligence
9 17 (11.18%) Full-Stack Development
10 15 (9.87%) Front End Development
11 12 (7.89%) Clean Code
11 12 (7.89%) Decision-Making
12 11 (7.24%) API Management
12 11 (7.24%) Continuous Improvement
12 11 (7.24%) ETL
12 11 (7.24%) Mentoring
12 11 (7.24%) Software Engineering
12 11 (7.24%) User Experience
12 11 (7.24%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 46 (30.26%) SQL
2 35 (23.03%) Python
3 27 (17.76%) JavaScript
4 26 (17.11%) Java
5 14 (9.21%) C#
6 12 (7.89%) TypeScript
7 11 (7.24%) Go
8 6 (3.95%) PHP
8 6 (3.95%) VBA
9 5 (3.29%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 5 (3.29%) Scala
10 4 (2.63%) Shell Script
11 3 (1.97%) R
12 2 (1.32%) Kotlin
12 2 (1.32%) PL/SQL
12 2 (1.32%) Ruby
13 1 (0.66%) ABAP
13 1 (0.66%) Bash
13 1 (0.66%) COBOL
13 1 (0.66%) Swift
Qualifications
1 36 (23.68%) Security Cleared
2 32 (21.05%) SC Cleared
3 9 (5.92%) DV Cleared
4 7 (4.61%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (2.63%) Azure Certification
5 4 (2.63%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (1.32%) AWS Certification
6 2 (1.32%) Degree
7 1 (0.66%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.66%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (5.26%) QA
2 5 (3.29%) WCAG
3 4 (2.63%) Accessibility
4 2 (1.32%) SLA
System Software
1 25 (16.45%) Docker
2 2 (1.32%) Postfix
3 1 (0.66%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 22 (14.47%) Kubernetes
2 19 (12.50%) Grafana
3 14 (9.21%) Prometheus
4 6 (3.95%) Kibana
5 5 (3.29%) Ansible
6 4 (2.63%) Terraform
7 3 (1.97%) Control-M
7 3 (1.97%) IBM Guardium
7 3 (1.97%) Nessus
7 3 (1.97%) Puppet
8 1 (0.66%) CA Endevor
8 1 (0.66%) Hadoop YARN
Vendors
1 36 (23.68%) Microsoft
2 12 (7.89%) Google
3 7 (4.61%) ServiceNow
4 4 (2.63%) SAP
5 3 (1.97%) Tenable
5 3 (1.97%) webMethods
6 2 (1.32%) Atlassian
6 2 (1.32%) Calypso
6 2 (1.32%) IFS
6 2 (1.32%) Jaspersoft
6 2 (1.32%) MuleSoft
6 2 (1.32%) Oracle
7 1 (0.66%) Adobe
7 1 (0.66%) ICL
7 1 (0.66%) Salesforce
7 1 (0.66%) VMware