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 5 April 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 31 21 9
Rank change year-on-year -10 -12 +5
Contract jobs requiring a Developer 203 105 221
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 6.80% 7.81% 11.47%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.39% 8.66% 12.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 142 66 161
10th Percentile £364 £363 £259
25th Percentile £413 £407 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £466 £425
Median % change year-on-year +1.99% +9.59% -15.00%
75th Percentile £529 £540 £510
90th Percentile £599 £619 £611
England median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -7.08%
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 £60.00 £63.00 £58.91
% change year-on-year -4.76% +6.95% -1.83%

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 2,747 1,213 1,754
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.00% 90.25% 91.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,799 828 1,179
10th Percentile £305 £200 £255
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 £652 £688
England median daily rate £507 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.52% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 122 62 133
10th Percentile £14.00 £12.62 £11.97
25th Percentile £19.38 £14.00 £15.00
Median hourly rate £26.30 £18.00 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +46.13% -18.18% +15.79%
75th Percentile £47.50 £27.30 £40.00
90th Percentile £67.98 £33.55 £56.00
England median hourly rate £42.50 £33.00 £33.00
% change year-on-year +28.79% - -24.36%

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 5 April 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 5 April 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 69 £475 +4.40% 59
Warwickshire +5 30 £488 -15.22% 6
Coventry -5 30 £460 -2.13% 16
Shropshire -40 28 £478 +3.35% 2
Solihull +1 18 £438 +4.17% 3
Worcestershire -3 10 £700 - 7
Herefordshire -10 8 £700 - 1
Dudley - 3 £400 - 4
Staffordshire -2 2 £325 -18.75% 9
Wolverhampton -6 1 - - 2
Brierley Hill - 1 £390 -
Developer
England

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

For the 6 months to 5 April 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 69 (33.99%) SQL
2 55 (27.09%) CI/CD
3 53 (26.11%) Security Cleared
4 48 (23.65%) Azure
5 47 (23.15%) Agile
5 47 (23.15%) SC Cleared
6 46 (22.66%) Java
7 44 (21.67%) DevOps
8 43 (21.18%) AWS
9 38 (18.72%) Microsoft
10 35 (17.24%) Git
10 35 (17.24%) Problem-Solving
11 34 (16.75%) Docker
12 33 (16.26%) Containerisation
13 32 (15.76%) Full-Stack Development
13 32 (15.76%) Microservices
14 29 (14.29%) JavaScript
14 29 (14.29%) Python
14 29 (14.29%) REST
14 29 (14.29%) Spring
15 28 (13.79%) PostgreSQL
15 28 (13.79%) Scrum
16 27 (13.30%) Power Platform
16 27 (13.30%) Spring Boot
17 26 (12.81%) Node.js
17 26 (12.81%) React
18 24 (11.82%) Data Modelling
19 23 (11.33%) Business Intelligence
19 23 (11.33%) Grafana
20 21 (10.34%) AngularJS

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 (4.43%) Confluence
2 7 (3.45%) WebLogic
3 4 (1.97%) SharePoint
4 3 (1.48%) Apache
4 3 (1.48%) Drupal
5 2 (0.99%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.49%) ArcGIS
6 1 (0.49%) JBoss
6 1 (0.49%) OpenStack
6 1 (0.49%) Tuxedo
Applications
1 2 (0.99%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.49%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (2.46%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.49%) SAP EWM
2 1 (0.49%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.49%) SAP PSCD
Cloud Services
1 48 (23.65%) Azure
2 43 (21.18%) AWS
3 27 (13.30%) Power Platform
4 21 (10.34%) Azure DevOps
5 15 (7.39%) Amazon S3
5 15 (7.39%) Amazon SQS
5 15 (7.39%) Power Automate
5 15 (7.39%) Serverless
6 14 (6.90%) GitHub
7 12 (5.91%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 12 (5.91%) PowerApps
8 11 (5.42%) Amazon EC2
8 11 (5.42%) AWS KMS
8 11 (5.42%) Route 53
9 10 (4.93%) Azure Key Vault
9 10 (4.93%) GitHub Actions
10 7 (3.45%) Dynamics 365
11 6 (2.96%) GCP
12 5 (2.46%) Azure Data Factory
12 5 (2.46%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.97%) Firewall
2 1 (0.49%) SSL
2 1 (0.49%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (13.79%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (9.85%) Power BI
3 13 (6.40%) DynamoDB
4 12 (5.91%) Amazon RDS
4 12 (5.91%) Data Warehouse
5 11 (5.42%) Amazon Aurora
6 10 (4.93%) Relational Database
7 7 (3.45%) MongoDB
7 7 (3.45%) Redis
7 7 (3.45%) SQL Server
8 6 (2.96%) Power Query
9 5 (2.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
10 4 (1.97%) BusinessObjects
10 4 (1.97%) BusinessObjects XI
10 4 (1.97%) Metadata
10 4 (1.97%) WebFOCUS
11 3 (1.48%) MySQL
11 3 (1.48%) NoSQL
12 2 (0.99%) Data Hub
12 2 (0.99%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 35 (17.24%) Git
2 18 (8.87%) JUnit
3 17 (8.37%) Maven
3 17 (8.37%) Mockito
4 16 (7.88%) JIRA
5 14 (6.90%) Jenkins
6 11 (5.42%) SonarQube
7 9 (4.43%) DbUnit
7 9 (4.43%) jMock
8 7 (3.45%) Bitbucket Server
9 6 (2.96%) GitLab
10 5 (2.46%) Selenium
11 4 (1.97%) Cucumber
12 1 (0.49%) Atlassian Bamboo
12 1 (0.49%) CA Gen
12 1 (0.49%) Cypress.io
12 1 (0.49%) Eclipse
12 1 (0.49%) IntelliJ
12 1 (0.49%) MSTest
12 1 (0.49%) REST Assured
General
1 34 (16.75%) Public Sector
2 29 (14.29%) Social Skills
3 28 (13.79%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (4.93%) Finance
5 6 (2.96%) Banking
6 5 (2.46%) Presentation Skills
7 4 (1.97%) Marketing
8 3 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
9 2 (0.99%) Advertising
10 1 (0.49%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
10 1 (0.49%) Law
10 1 (0.49%) Legal
10 1 (0.49%) Police
10 1 (0.49%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (14.29%) REST
1 29 (14.29%) Spring
2 27 (13.30%) Spring Boot
3 26 (12.81%) Node.js
3 26 (12.81%) React
4 21 (10.34%) AngularJS
5 19 (9.36%) JPA
6 18 (8.87%) Flask
6 18 (8.87%) Web Services
7 17 (8.37%) RESTful
8 16 (7.88%) HTML
9 15 (7.39%) Hibernate
10 14 (6.90%) SOAP
11 13 (6.40%) Spring Batch
11 13 (6.40%) Spring Integration
12 12 (5.91%) CSS
13 11 (5.42%) ActiveMQ
13 11 (5.42%) Django
13 11 (5.42%) Spring Cloud
14 10 (4.93%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 11 (5.42%) Distributed Systems
2 9 (4.43%) Cloud Native
3 7 (3.45%) Product Ownership
4 5 (2.46%) Credit Risk
5 3 (1.48%) Algorithms
5 3 (1.48%) Legacy Systems
6 2 (0.99%) Derivative
6 2 (0.99%) Linux Command Line
6 2 (0.99%) Onboarding
7 1 (0.49%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (0.49%) BYOD
7 1 (0.49%) Client/Server
7 1 (0.49%) CMDB
7 1 (0.49%) Data Centre
7 1 (0.49%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (0.49%) Learning Management System
7 1 (0.49%) Legacy Applications
7 1 (0.49%) Mainframe
7 1 (0.49%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 14 (6.90%) Linux
2 3 (1.48%) Unix
3 2 (0.99%) Android
4 1 (0.49%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.49%) VME
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (27.09%) CI/CD
2 47 (23.15%) Agile
3 44 (21.67%) DevOps
4 35 (17.24%) Problem-Solving
5 33 (16.26%) Containerisation
6 32 (15.76%) Full-Stack Development
6 32 (15.76%) Microservices
7 28 (13.79%) Scrum
8 24 (11.82%) Data Modelling
9 23 (11.33%) Business Intelligence
10 21 (10.34%) Workflow
11 18 (8.87%) Decision-Making
11 18 (8.87%) TDD
12 17 (8.37%) Data Integration
13 15 (7.39%) Front End Development
14 14 (6.90%) Continuous Improvement
15 13 (6.40%) Analytics
15 13 (6.40%) API Integration
15 13 (6.40%) Kanban
16 12 (5.91%) Continuous Integration
Programming Languages
1 69 (33.99%) SQL
2 46 (22.66%) Java
3 29 (14.29%) JavaScript
3 29 (14.29%) Python
4 13 (6.40%) C#
5 8 (3.94%) Data Analysis Expressions
5 8 (3.94%) PL/SQL
6 6 (2.96%) Go
7 5 (2.46%) TypeScript
8 4 (1.97%) Scala
8 4 (1.97%) Shell Script
9 3 (1.48%) R
10 2 (0.99%) Kotlin
10 2 (0.99%) PHP
10 2 (0.99%) Ruby
11 1 (0.49%) ABAP
11 1 (0.49%) COBOL
11 1 (0.49%) Groovy
11 1 (0.49%) Perl
11 1 (0.49%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 53 (26.11%) Security Cleared
2 47 (23.15%) SC Cleared
3 7 (3.45%) BPSS Clearance
4 6 (2.96%) DV Cleared
5 3 (1.48%) AWS Certification
5 3 (1.48%) Azure Certification
5 3 (1.48%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (0.99%) Degree
7 1 (0.49%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (3.45%) QA
2 5 (2.46%) WCAG
3 3 (1.48%) Accessibility
4 2 (0.99%) GRC
5 1 (0.49%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.49%) SLA
System Software
1 34 (16.75%) Docker
2 8 (3.94%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 23 (11.33%) Grafana
2 21 (10.34%) Kubernetes
3 12 (5.91%) Prometheus
4 6 (2.96%) Kibana
4 6 (2.96%) Terraform
5 5 (2.46%) Ansible
6 3 (1.48%) Control-M
6 3 (1.48%) IBM Guardium
6 3 (1.48%) Nessus
7 1 (0.49%) Puppet
Vendors
1 38 (18.72%) Microsoft
2 11 (5.42%) Atlassian
2 11 (5.42%) Jaspersoft
3 8 (3.94%) ServiceNow
4 5 (2.46%) Siemens
5 4 (1.97%) Oracle
5 4 (1.97%) SAP
6 3 (1.48%) Google
6 3 (1.48%) Tenable
7 2 (0.99%) Calypso
7 2 (0.99%) IFS
7 2 (0.99%) NEC
8 1 (0.49%) Adobe
8 1 (0.49%) ICL
8 1 (0.49%) Infor
8 1 (0.49%) Pega
8 1 (0.49%) Red Hat
8 1 (0.49%) Salesforce
8 1 (0.49%) Splunk
8 1 (0.49%) webMethods