Software Engineer Contract Job Trends in the West Midlands

Software Engineer
England > West Midlands

The median Software Engineer daily rate in the West Midlands is £470, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 October 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 115 100
Rank change year-on-year -20 -15 +1
Contract jobs requiring a Software Engineer 36 15 11
As % of all contract jobs in the West Midlands 1.01% 0.76% 0.59%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.11% 0.85% 0.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 14 11 5
10th Percentile £385 £429 £388
25th Percentile £457 £508 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £530 £500
Median % change year-on-year -11.32% +6.00% -16.67%
75th Percentile £497 £719 £588
90th Percentile £561 £892 £670
England median daily rate £550 £625 £625
% change year-on-year -12.00% - +5.93%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 0 1
Median hourly rate £55.00 - £50.00
England median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.50
% change year-on-year - -0.76% +0.77%

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.

6 months to
21 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract vacancies in the West Midlands with a recognized job title 3,236 1,758 1,736
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.98% 89.56% 92.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,946 1,137 1,097
10th Percentile £325 £250 £213
25th Percentile £413 £396 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.80% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £599 £588 £612
90th Percentile £688 £675 £706
England median daily rate £525 £513 £525
% change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 245 110 59
10th Percentile £14.10 £12.62 £12.58
25th Percentile £17.74 £15.69 £14.10
Median hourly rate £24.53 £25.15 £21.59
Median % change year-on-year -2.47% +16.49% +1.36%
75th Percentile £40.03 £35.75 £31.78
90th Percentile £65.10 £50.00 £45.00
England median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +65.84% -41.51% -6.28%

Software Engineer Job Vacancy Trend in the West Midlands

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Software Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the West Midlands.

Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the West Midlands

Software Engineer Daily Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands

Software Engineer Daily Rate Histogram in the West Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineer in the West Midlands over the 6 months to 21 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Software Engineer in the West Midlands

Software Engineer Hourly Rate Trend in the West Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineer job vacancies in the West Midlands

Software Engineer 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 Software Engineer within the West Midlands region over the 6 months to 21 October 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 +7 22 £470 -11.32% 17
Shropshire -36 7 £455 +6.06%
Coventry - 4 £275 - 1
Staffordshire - 2 - - 4
Software Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 21 October 2026, Software Engineer 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 Software Engineer in the job title.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Software Engineering100.0%36
2Security Cleared47.2%17
3SC Cleared41.7%15
4Java25.0%9
5Agile19.4%7
5SQL19.4%7
5TDD19.4%7
8Python16.7%6
8Stakeholder Management16.7%6
10C13.9%5
10Django13.9%5
10Kotlin13.9%5
10Oracle13.9%5
10Problem-Solving13.9%5
10TypeScript13.9%5
16Continuous Improvement11.1%4
16Git11.1%4
16Validation11.1%4
19.NET8.3%3
19.NET Core8.3%3
19AWS8.3%3
19Azure8.3%3
19C#8.3%3
19Hardware-in-the-Loop8.3%3
19Performance Engineering8.3%3
19Runbook8.3%3
19Software Testing8.3%3
19Verification and Validation8.3%3
29ADO5.6%2
29Azure Functions5.6%2

Software Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the West Midlands by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Senior Software Engineer25.0%9
2Automation Engineer22.2%8
2Java Software Engineer22.2%8
4Lead Software Engineer16.7%6
5Embedded Software Engineer13.9%5
5Senior Java Software Engineer13.9%5
7.NET Software Engineer8.3%3
7C# Software Engineer8.3%3
9Python Software Engineer5.6%2
9Qt Software Engineer5.6%2
9Senior .NET Software Engineer5.6%2
9Senior C# Software Engineer5.6%2
13Lead Java Engineer2.8%1
13Principal Software Engineer2.8%1
29 Software Engineer jobs in the West Midlands