Developer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Developer
England > West Midlands

The median Developer daily rate in the West Midlands is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 29 March 2026.

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

6 months to
29 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 22 9
Rank change year-on-year -9 -13 +5
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 192 100 226
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 6.62% 7.52% 11.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.21% 8.34% 12.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 137 62 164
10th Percentile £367 £363 £259
25th Percentile £413 £409 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £470 £425
Median % change year-on-year +1.17% +10.47% -15.00%
75th Percentile £538 £548 £536
90th Percentile £625 £624 £621
England median daily rate £500 £530 £525
% change year-on-year -5.66% +0.95% -7.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 5
10th Percentile - - £38.50
25th Percentile - £56.88 £40.00
Median hourly rate - £58.75 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year - +6.82% +64.74%
75th Percentile - £60.63 £56.25
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £61.00 £61.00 £59.45
% change year-on-year - +2.60% -0.91%

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 2,664 1,199 1,807
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.83% 90.15% 91.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,750 823 1,219
10th Percentile £305 £200 £250
25th Percentile £402 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £488 £475
Median % change year-on-year -0.51% +2.63% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £588 £595
90th Percentile £675 £651 £688
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 112 61 136
10th Percentile £14.00 £12.62 £12.08
25th Percentile £18.83 £14.00 £15.00
Median hourly rate £25.89 £18.13 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +42.77% -17.59% +17.33%
75th Percentile £40.00 £28.18 £40.13
90th Percentile £67.98 £35.00 £56.25
England median hourly rate £40.92 £34.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +18.60% +6.15% -23.85%

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 29 March 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 29 March 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 -1 60 £475 - 59
Warwickshire +11 30 £488 -15.22% 6
Coventry -3 30 £460 -2.13% 16
Shropshire -35 27 £467 +0.86% 2
Solihull 0 17 £438 +4.17% 3
Worcestershire -6 11 £700 - 7
Herefordshire -9 9 £700 - 1
Dudley - 3 £400 - 4
Wolverhampton -7 1 - - 2
Staffordshire -7 1 £338 -15.63% 9
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 -
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 29 March 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 68 (35.42%) SQL
2 55 (28.65%) CI/CD
3 51 (26.56%) Security Cleared
4 48 (25.00%) Azure
5 45 (23.44%) Agile
5 45 (23.44%) Java
5 45 (23.44%) SC Cleared
6 43 (22.40%) DevOps
7 40 (20.83%) AWS
8 39 (20.31%) Microsoft
9 34 (17.71%) Problem-Solving
10 33 (17.19%) Containerisation
10 33 (17.19%) Docker
11 32 (16.67%) Git
12 31 (16.15%) Full-Stack Development
12 31 (16.15%) Microservices
13 30 (15.63%) JavaScript
13 30 (15.63%) Python
14 28 (14.58%) REST
14 28 (14.58%) Spring
15 27 (14.06%) PostgreSQL
15 27 (14.06%) Power Platform
15 27 (14.06%) Scrum
16 26 (13.54%) Spring Boot
17 25 (13.02%) React
18 24 (12.50%) Data Modelling
18 24 (12.50%) Node.js
19 23 (11.98%) Business Intelligence
19 23 (11.98%) Grafana
20 22 (11.46%) Kubernetes

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 9 (4.69%) Confluence
2 7 (3.65%) WebLogic
3 4 (2.08%) SharePoint
4 3 (1.56%) Apache
4 3 (1.56%) Drupal
5 2 (1.04%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.52%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.52%) JBoss
6 1 (0.52%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.52%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 2 (1.04%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.52%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.52%) SAP HR
1 1 (0.52%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 48 (25.00%) Azure
2 40 (20.83%) AWS
3 27 (14.06%) Power Platform
4 21 (10.94%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (7.81%) Power Automate
6 14 (7.29%) GitHub
6 14 (7.29%) Serverless
7 12 (6.25%) Amazon S3
7 12 (6.25%) Amazon SQS
7 12 (6.25%) PowerApps
8 11 (5.73%) Azure Key Vault
8 11 (5.73%) GitHub Actions
9 10 (5.21%) Amazon CloudWatch
9 10 (5.21%) Amazon EC2
9 10 (5.21%) AWS KMS
9 10 (5.21%) Route 53
10 7 (3.65%) Dynamics 365
11 6 (3.13%) GCP
12 5 (2.60%) Azure Data Factory
12 5 (2.60%) Azure Functions
Communications & Networking
1 4 (2.08%) Firewall
2 1 (0.52%) SSL
2 1 (0.52%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 27 (14.06%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (10.42%) Power BI
3 12 (6.25%) Data Warehouse
4 11 (5.73%) DynamoDB
5 10 (5.21%) Amazon Aurora
5 10 (5.21%) Amazon RDS
6 9 (4.69%) Relational Database
7 8 (4.17%) Redis
8 7 (3.65%) MongoDB
8 7 (3.65%) SQL Server
9 6 (3.13%) Power Query
10 5 (2.60%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 4 (2.08%) BusinessObjects
11 4 (2.08%) BusinessObjects XI
11 4 (2.08%) Metadata
11 4 (2.08%) WebFOCUS
12 3 (1.56%) MySQL
13 2 (1.04%) Data Hub
13 2 (1.04%) NoSQL
13 2 (1.04%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 32 (16.67%) Git
2 17 (8.85%) JUnit
3 16 (8.33%) JIRA
3 16 (8.33%) Maven
3 16 (8.33%) Mockito
4 13 (6.77%) Jenkins
5 10 (5.21%) SonarQube
6 8 (4.17%) DbUnit
6 8 (4.17%) jMock
7 6 (3.13%) Bitbucket Server
7 6 (3.13%) GitLab
8 5 (2.60%) Selenium
9 4 (2.08%) Cucumber
10 1 (0.52%) Atlassian Bamboo
10 1 (0.52%) CA Gen
10 1 (0.52%) Cypress.io
10 1 (0.52%) Eclipse
10 1 (0.52%) IntelliJ
10 1 (0.52%) MSTest
10 1 (0.52%) REST Assured
General
1 33 (17.19%) Public Sector
2 27 (14.06%) Analytical Skills
2 27 (14.06%) Social Skills
3 10 (5.21%) Finance
4 5 (2.60%) Banking
4 5 (2.60%) Presentation Skills
5 4 (2.08%) Marketing
6 3 (1.56%) Organisational Skills
7 2 (1.04%) Advertising
8 1 (0.52%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (0.52%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (0.52%) Law
8 1 (0.52%) Legal
8 1 (0.52%) Police
8 1 (0.52%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 28 (14.58%) REST
1 28 (14.58%) Spring
2 26 (13.54%) Spring Boot
3 25 (13.02%) React
4 24 (12.50%) Node.js
5 20 (10.42%) AngularJS
6 19 (9.90%) Flask
7 18 (9.38%) JPA
7 18 (9.38%) Web Services
8 16 (8.33%) HTML
9 15 (7.81%) RESTful
10 14 (7.29%) Hibernate
11 13 (6.77%) CSS
11 13 (6.77%) SOAP
12 12 (6.25%) Spring Batch
12 12 (6.25%) Spring Integration
13 11 (5.73%) Django
13 11 (5.73%) FastAPI
14 10 (5.21%) Spring Cloud
14 10 (5.21%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 9 (4.69%) Distributed Systems
2 8 (4.17%) Cloud Native
3 7 (3.65%) Product Ownership
4 5 (2.60%) Credit Risk
5 3 (1.56%) Algorithms
5 3 (1.56%) Legacy Systems
6 2 (1.04%) CMDB
6 2 (1.04%) Derivative
6 2 (1.04%) Linux Command Line
6 2 (1.04%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.52%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (0.52%) Client/Server
7 1 (0.52%) Data Centre
7 1 (0.52%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (0.52%) Learning Management System
7 1 (0.52%) Legacy Applications
7 1 (0.52%) Mainframe
7 1 (0.52%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 13 (6.77%) Linux
2 3 (1.56%) Unix
3 2 (1.04%) Android
4 1 (0.52%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.52%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (28.65%) CI/CD
2 45 (23.44%) Agile
3 43 (22.40%) DevOps
4 34 (17.71%) Problem-Solving
5 33 (17.19%) Containerisation
6 31 (16.15%) Full-Stack Development
6 31 (16.15%) Microservices
7 27 (14.06%) Scrum
8 24 (12.50%) Data Modelling
9 23 (11.98%) Business Intelligence
10 21 (10.94%) Workflow
11 17 (8.85%) Data Integration
11 17 (8.85%) Decision-Making
11 17 (8.85%) TDD
12 15 (7.81%) Front End Development
13 13 (6.77%) Analytics
13 13 (6.77%) API Integration
13 13 (6.77%) Continuous Improvement
14 12 (6.25%) Kanban
14 12 (6.25%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 68 (35.42%) SQL
2 45 (23.44%) Java
3 30 (15.63%) JavaScript
3 30 (15.63%) Python
4 13 (6.77%) C#
5 8 (4.17%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 8 (4.17%) PL/SQL
6 7 (3.65%) Go
7 4 (2.08%) Shell Script
7 4 (2.08%) TypeScript
8 3 (1.56%) R
8 3 (1.56%) Scala
9 2 (1.04%) Kotlin
9 2 (1.04%) PHP
9 2 (1.04%) Ruby
10 1 (0.52%) ABAP
10 1 (0.52%) COBOL
10 1 (0.52%) Perl
10 1 (0.52%) Swift
10 1 (0.52%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 51 (26.56%) Security Cleared
2 45 (23.44%) SC Cleared
3 7 (3.65%) DV Cleared
4 6 (3.13%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (1.56%) AWS Certification
5 3 (1.56%) Azure Certification
5 3 (1.56%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (1.04%) Degree
7 1 (0.52%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (3.13%) QA
2 5 (2.60%) WCAG
3 3 (1.56%) Accessibility
4 2 (1.04%) GRC
4 2 (1.04%) SLA
5 1 (0.52%) Data Quality
System Software
1 33 (17.19%) Docker
2 7 (3.65%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 23 (11.98%) Grafana
2 22 (11.46%) Kubernetes
3 12 (6.25%) Prometheus
4 6 (3.13%) Kibana
4 6 (3.13%) Terraform
5 5 (2.60%) Ansible
6 3 (1.56%) Control-M
6 3 (1.56%) IBM Guardium
6 3 (1.56%) Nessus
7 1 (0.52%) Puppet
Vendors
1 39 (20.31%) Microsoft
2 10 (5.21%) Atlassian
2 10 (5.21%) Jaspersoft
3 9 (4.69%) ServiceNow
4 5 (2.60%) Siemens
5 4 (2.08%) Oracle
6 3 (1.56%) Google
6 3 (1.56%) SAP
6 3 (1.56%) Tenable
7 2 (1.04%) Calypso
7 2 (1.04%) IFS
7 2 (1.04%) NEC
8 1 (0.52%) Adobe
8 1 (0.52%) ICL
8 1 (0.52%) Red Hat
8 1 (0.52%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.52%) Splunk
8 1 (0.52%) webMethods