Developer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Developer
England > West Midlands

The median Developer daily rate in the West Midlands is £450, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 July 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 33 19 10
Rank change year-on-year -14 -9 +3
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 223 124 194
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 6.50% 7.62% 9.67%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.98% 8.45% 10.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 158 87 148
10th Percentile £379 £344 £260
25th Percentile £409 £403 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £463 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.70% +2.78% -
75th Percentile £519 £500 £503
90th Percentile £575 £575 £611
England median daily rate £515 £520 £525
% change year-on-year -0.96% -0.95% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 6
10th Percentile - - £38.75
25th Percentile - £56.88 £40.13
Median hourly rate - £58.75 £49.00
Median % change year-on-year - +19.90% +46.77%
75th Percentile - £60.63 £55.94
90th Percentile - - £56.25
England median hourly rate £52.50 £47.12 £65.00
% change year-on-year +11.42% -27.51% +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 3,195 1,468 1,832
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 93.15% 90.23% 91.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,005 925 1,252
10th Percentile £325 £220 £250
25th Percentile £410 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £469 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.94% -6.20% -
75th Percentile £580 £575 £600
90th Percentile £677 £650 £700
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 195 113 111
10th Percentile £15.30 £12.62 £11.92
25th Percentile £20.31 £14.00 £14.19
Median hourly rate £33.00 £24.34 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +35.58% +28.11% -5.00%
75th Percentile £53.75 £34.75 £37.50
90th Percentile £70.14 £50.00 £56.25
England median hourly rate £45.50 £27.50 £40.33
% change year-on-year +65.45% -31.80% -8.35%

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 19 July 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 19 July 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 -9 74 £475 +2.15% 26
Coventry +10 44 £450 +12.50% 8
Shropshire -36 36 £438 -4.23% 22
Solihull -5 22 £438 -4.89%
Warwickshire -7 19 £508 -11.74% 10
Herefordshire 0 7 £700 - 2
Worcestershire -3 6 £700 - 6
Dudley - 4 £400 - 2
Wolverhampton -1 3 - - 4
Staffordshire -3 1 £313 -30.56% 8
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 -
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 19 July 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 76 (34.08%) SQL
2 65 (29.15%) Security Cleared
3 62 (27.80%) Java
4 61 (27.35%) SC Cleared
5 56 (25.11%) Agile
6 53 (23.77%) Azure
7 50 (22.42%) CI/CD
8 48 (21.52%) DevOps
9 44 (19.73%) Microsoft
10 37 (16.59%) AWS
10 37 (16.59%) JavaScript
11 36 (16.14%) Microservices
12 35 (15.70%) Docker
13 33 (14.80%) PostgreSQL
13 33 (14.80%) REST
14 32 (14.35%) Spring
14 32 (14.35%) Spring Boot
15 31 (13.90%) Git
15 31 (13.90%) Scrum
16 30 (13.45%) Node.js
17 29 (13.00%) TDD
18 28 (12.56%) Migration
19 27 (12.11%) Azure DevOps
19 27 (12.11%) Problem-Solving
19 27 (12.11%) SOAP
20 26 (11.66%) Containerisation
20 26 (11.66%) Power Platform
21 24 (10.76%) Full-Stack Development
21 24 (10.76%) React
22 23 (10.31%) Grafana

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 (4.04%) Confluence
2 6 (2.69%) SAS
2 6 (2.69%) WebLogic
3 2 (0.90%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.45%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.45%) IIS
4 1 (0.45%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 1 (0.45%) Oracle Workflow
4 1 (0.45%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.45%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 2 (0.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.45%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.45%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 16 (7.17%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.45%) SAP EWM
2 1 (0.45%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 53 (23.77%) Azure
2 37 (16.59%) AWS
3 27 (12.11%) Azure DevOps
4 26 (11.66%) Power Platform
5 22 (9.87%) Amazon S3
5 22 (9.87%) Amazon SQS
6 18 (8.07%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 17 (7.62%) Amazon EC2
7 17 (7.62%) AWS KMS
7 17 (7.62%) Route 53
8 11 (4.93%) GitHub
9 10 (4.48%) Dynamics 365
9 10 (4.48%) Microsoft Copilot
9 10 (4.48%) Power Automate
10 9 (4.04%) Serverless
11 8 (3.59%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (3.59%) PowerApps
12 4 (1.79%) Azure Data Factory
12 4 (1.79%) Azure Key Vault
12 4 (1.79%) GCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 33 (14.80%) PostgreSQL
2 19 (8.52%) Amazon RDS
2 19 (8.52%) DynamoDB
3 17 (7.62%) Amazon Aurora
4 16 (7.17%) Power BI
5 9 (4.04%) Relational Database
6 8 (3.59%) Data Warehouse
7 6 (2.69%) MongoDB
7 6 (2.69%) SQL Server
8 5 (2.24%) Metadata
9 4 (1.79%) Redis
9 4 (1.79%) WebFOCUS
10 3 (1.35%) Base SAS
10 3 (1.35%) Power Query
10 3 (1.35%) SAS Enterprise Guide
11 2 (0.90%) Azure SQL Database
11 2 (0.90%) IDMS
11 2 (0.90%) NoSQL
11 2 (0.90%) Star Schema
12 1 (0.45%) GIS
Development Applications
1 31 (13.90%) Git
2 21 (9.42%) Mockito
3 19 (8.52%) Jenkins
3 19 (8.52%) JUnit
3 19 (8.52%) Maven
4 17 (7.62%) SonarQube
5 13 (5.83%) DbUnit
5 13 (5.83%) JIRA
5 13 (5.83%) jMock
6 11 (4.93%) Bitbucket Server
7 7 (3.14%) Team Foundation Server
7 7 (3.14%) Visual Studio
8 4 (1.79%) GitLab
9 1 (0.45%) Artifactory
9 1 (0.45%) Atlassian Bamboo
9 1 (0.45%) CA Gen
9 1 (0.45%) Cypress.io
9 1 (0.45%) Hudson
9 1 (0.45%) MSTest
9 1 (0.45%) NUnit
General
1 47 (21.08%) Public Sector
2 26 (11.66%) Analytical Skills
3 24 (10.76%) Social Skills
4 23 (10.31%) Finance
5 12 (5.38%) Banking
6 6 (2.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (2.24%) Marketing
8 3 (1.35%) Presentation Skills
9 2 (0.90%) Advertising
9 2 (0.90%) Manufacturing
9 2 (0.90%) Retail
10 1 (0.45%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.45%) Front Office
10 1 (0.45%) Investment Banking
10 1 (0.45%) Law
10 1 (0.45%) Legal
10 1 (0.45%) Pharmaceutical
10 1 (0.45%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (14.80%) REST
2 32 (14.35%) Spring
2 32 (14.35%) Spring Boot
3 30 (13.45%) Node.js
4 27 (12.11%) SOAP
5 24 (10.76%) React
6 22 (9.87%) AngularJS
6 22 (9.87%) Web Services
7 21 (9.42%) JPA
8 19 (8.52%) ActiveMQ
8 19 (8.52%) Hibernate
8 19 (8.52%) Spring Batch
8 19 (8.52%) Spring Integration
9 16 (7.17%) RESTful
9 16 (7.17%) Spring Cloud
10 15 (6.73%) Flask
11 13 (5.83%) .NET
11 13 (5.83%) PowerMock
12 12 (5.38%) Django
13 11 (4.93%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (7.17%) Distributed Systems
2 14 (6.28%) Product Ownership
3 12 (5.38%) Cloud Native
4 3 (1.35%) Algorithms
4 3 (1.35%) Credit Risk
5 2 (0.90%) BYOD
5 2 (0.90%) Enterprise Software
5 2 (0.90%) Legacy Applications
5 2 (0.90%) Legacy Systems
5 2 (0.90%) Mobile App
6 1 (0.45%) Client/Server
6 1 (0.45%) Data Centre
6 1 (0.45%) Data Structures
6 1 (0.45%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 1 (0.45%) Greenfield Project
6 1 (0.45%) Learning Management System
6 1 (0.45%) Legacy Code
6 1 (0.45%) Linux Command Line
6 1 (0.45%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.45%) Reference Data
Operating Systems
1 18 (8.07%) Linux
2 7 (3.14%) Unix
3 2 (0.90%) Android
4 1 (0.45%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.45%) Mac OS X
4 1 (0.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (25.11%) Agile
2 50 (22.42%) CI/CD
3 48 (21.52%) DevOps
4 36 (16.14%) Microservices
5 31 (13.90%) Scrum
6 29 (13.00%) TDD
7 28 (12.56%) Migration
8 27 (12.11%) Problem-Solving
9 26 (11.66%) Containerisation
10 24 (10.76%) Full-Stack Development
11 21 (9.42%) Continuous Improvement
12 19 (8.52%) Business Intelligence
12 19 (8.52%) Kanban
12 19 (8.52%) Workflow
13 18 (8.07%) BDD
13 18 (8.07%) ETL
14 15 (6.73%) Data Integration
14 15 (6.73%) Data Modelling
14 15 (6.73%) Test Automation
15 14 (6.28%) Continuous Integration
Programming Languages
1 76 (34.08%) SQL
2 62 (27.80%) Java
3 37 (16.59%) JavaScript
4 19 (8.52%) Python
5 16 (7.17%) C#
6 11 (4.93%) PL/SQL
7 8 (3.59%) TypeScript
7 8 (3.59%) VB
7 8 (3.59%) VB6
8 7 (3.14%) VBA
9 5 (2.24%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 4 (1.79%) Go
11 3 (1.35%) Shell Script
12 2 (0.90%) C
12 2 (0.90%) Kotlin
12 2 (0.90%) Scala
12 2 (0.90%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.90%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.45%) Bicep
13 1 (0.45%) Swift
Qualifications
1 65 (29.15%) Security Cleared
2 61 (27.35%) SC Cleared
3 14 (6.28%) BPSS Clearance
4 6 (2.69%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (2.24%) AWS Certification
5 5 (2.24%) Azure Certification
5 5 (2.24%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.45%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.45%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (4.04%) Accessibility
2 7 (3.14%) QA
3 3 (1.35%) Basel III
3 3 (1.35%) Data Quality
4 2 (0.90%) GRC
5 1 (0.45%) WCAG
System Software
1 35 (15.70%) Docker
2 11 (4.93%) Postfix
3 1 (0.45%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 23 (10.31%) Grafana
2 15 (6.73%) Kubernetes
3 11 (4.93%) Prometheus
4 7 (3.14%) Single Sign-On
5 3 (1.35%) Control-M
5 3 (1.35%) IBM Guardium
5 3 (1.35%) Nessus
5 3 (1.35%) Terraform
6 2 (0.90%) Kibana
Vendors
1 44 (19.73%) Microsoft
2 17 (7.62%) Jaspersoft
3 15 (6.73%) Atlassian
4 13 (5.83%) Oracle
5 8 (3.59%) Talend
6 7 (3.14%) UiPath
7 5 (2.24%) Siemens
8 3 (1.35%) ServiceNow
8 3 (1.35%) Tenable
9 2 (0.90%) Google
9 2 (0.90%) Informatica
9 2 (0.90%) NEC
9 2 (0.90%) Pega
9 2 (0.90%) SAP
10 1 (0.45%) Databricks
10 1 (0.45%) Infor
10 1 (0.45%) Red Hat
10 1 (0.45%) Salesforce
10 1 (0.45%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
10 1 (0.45%) Splunk