Software Engineering Contract Job Trends in Bristol

Software Engineering
South West > Bristol

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in Bristol requiring Software Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 30 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 20 12
Rank change year-on-year +16 -8 +3
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 220 53 101
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 16.88% 7.58% 10.25%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 21.70% 8.27% 12.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 50 16 11
10th Percentile £427 £198 £450
25th Percentile £501 £355 £494
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £370 £525
Median % change year-on-year +41.89% -29.52% -
75th Percentile £612 £425 £569
90th Percentile £644 £609 £675
South West median daily rate £550 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +10.00% -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 133 27 73
10th Percentile £61.25 - £61.50
25th Percentile - £65.00 £65.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.41% -2.86% +7.69%
75th Percentile £68.00 - -
90th Percentile - £72.00 £70.25
South West median hourly rate £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year -4.41% -2.86% +7.69%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Bristol

Software Engineering falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in Bristol.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,014 641 815
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol 77.82% 91.70% 82.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 519 336 447
10th Percentile £325 £235 £259
25th Percentile £423 £361 £384
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% -2.44%
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £638 £644 £713
South West median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 247 102 193
10th Percentile £19.33 £17.35 £43.75
25th Percentile £46.25 £18.87 £55.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £32.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +100.00% -53.57% +7.69%
75th Percentile £68.00 £67.13 £72.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.38 £79.60
South West median hourly rate £57.50 £25.15 £65.00
% change year-on-year +128.63% -61.31% -

Software Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in Bristol

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol.

Software Engineering job vacancy trend in Bristol

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in Bristol

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing Software Engineering.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Daily Rate Histogram in Bristol

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software Engineering in Bristol over the 6 months to 30 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Software Engineering in Bristol

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in Bristol

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing Software Engineering.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in Bristol citing Software Engineering

Software Engineering
Hourly Rate Histogram in Bristol

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software Engineering in Bristol over the 6 months to 30 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Software Engineering in Bristol

Software Engineering
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Bristol 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 4 (1.82%) Confluence
2 1 (0.45%) Apache
Applications
1 4 (1.82%) Spreadsheet
2 3 (1.36%) Simulink
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 13 (5.91%) AWS
2 10 (4.55%) Azure
3 6 (2.73%) GCP
4 4 (1.82%) OCI
5 2 (0.91%) Azure DevOps
5 2 (0.91%) dbt
5 2 (0.91%) Snowflake
6 1 (0.45%) AWS CloudFormation
6 1 (0.45%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 7 (3.18%) Ethernet
2 6 (2.73%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.45%) RS-232
3 1 (0.45%) RS-422
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.73%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (0.91%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.45%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 11 (5.00%) GitLab
1 11 (5.00%) Rational Rhapsody
2 7 (3.18%) Visual Studio
3 6 (2.73%) Eclipse
3 6 (2.73%) Git
4 5 (2.27%) JIRA
5 2 (0.91%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.91%) Rational DOORS
6 1 (0.45%) Artifactory
6 1 (0.45%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.45%) JUnit
6 1 (0.45%) NUnit
6 1 (0.45%) Selenium
General
1 24 (10.91%) Aerospace
2 17 (7.73%) Social Skills
3 13 (5.91%) Finance
4 8 (3.64%) Law
4 8 (3.64%) Military
5 3 (1.36%) Avionics
5 3 (1.36%) Public Sector
6 2 (0.91%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (0.91%) Legal
6 2 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
6 2 (0.91%) Telecoms
7 1 (0.45%) Analytical Skills
7 1 (0.45%) Aviation
7 1 (0.45%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 186 (84.55%) Software Engineer
2 51 (23.18%) C++ Software Engineer
3 46 (20.91%) Ada Engineer
3 46 (20.91%) Ada Software Engineer
4 44 (20.00%) Embedded Engineer
4 44 (20.00%) Embedded Software Engineer
5 18 (8.18%) Algorithm Engineer
6 17 (7.73%) Applications Engineer
7 14 (6.36%) C# Software Engineer
8 12 (5.45%) PHP Software Engineer
9 10 (4.55%) Developer
10 8 (3.64%) Lead
11 7 (3.18%) Java Engineer
11 7 (3.18%) Java Software Engineer
12 6 (2.73%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
13 5 (2.27%) Lead Software Engineer
13 5 (2.27%) Senior
14 4 (1.82%) Software Developer
15 3 (1.36%) Coordinator
15 3 (1.36%) Oracle Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (5.45%) React
2 11 (5.00%) Middleware
3 10 (4.55%) Node.js
3 10 (4.55%) REST
4 7 (3.18%) Web Services
5 6 (2.73%) .NET
5 6 (2.73%) Jest
6 5 (2.27%) Oracle Fusion
6 5 (2.27%) Quarkus
7 4 (1.82%) GraphQL
8 3 (1.36%) Qt
9 2 (0.91%) Flask
9 2 (0.91%) Playwright
9 2 (0.91%) pytest
9 2 (0.91%) Yocto
10 1 (0.45%) Apache NiFi
10 1 (0.45%) Bun
10 1 (0.45%) OLE
10 1 (0.45%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 29 (13.18%) Algorithms
2 6 (2.73%) Embedded Systems
3 4 (1.82%) Cloud Native
4 3 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
5 2 (0.91%) Device Driver
6 1 (0.45%) AI Agents
6 1 (0.45%) Distributed Systems
6 1 (0.45%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (0.45%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.45%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 38 (17.27%) Linux
2 8 (3.64%) Windows
3 6 (2.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.91%) Embedded Linux
5 1 (0.45%) FreeRTOS
5 1 (0.45%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (15.91%) CI/CD
2 19 (8.64%) DevOps
2 19 (8.64%) UML
3 18 (8.18%) Agile
4 14 (6.36%) SysML
4 14 (6.36%) TDD
5 13 (5.91%) Test Automation
6 11 (5.00%) Stakeholder Management
7 9 (4.09%) Configuration Management
7 9 (4.09%) Full-Stack Development
7 9 (4.09%) Validation
8 8 (3.64%) Containerisation
8 8 (3.64%) SDLC
8 8 (3.64%) Technical Leadership
8 8 (3.64%) Wealth Management
9 7 (3.18%) Continuous Improvement
9 7 (3.18%) Problem-Solving
9 7 (3.18%) Unit Testing
9 7 (3.18%) Virtual Environments
10 6 (2.73%) Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 74 (33.64%) Ada
2 68 (30.91%) C++
3 28 (12.73%) C#
4 27 (12.27%) Java
5 17 (7.73%) Python
6 15 (6.82%) MATLAB
7 13 (5.91%) C
7 13 (5.91%) PHP
8 12 (5.45%) JavaScript
8 12 (5.45%) TypeScript
9 6 (2.73%) SQL
10 5 (2.27%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.91%) PowerShell
11 2 (0.91%) Rust
12 1 (0.45%) Ada 95
12 1 (0.45%) Bash
12 1 (0.45%) Scala
Qualifications
1 51 (23.18%) Security Cleared
2 45 (20.45%) SC Cleared
3 8 (3.64%) BPSS Clearance
4 2 (0.91%) Degree
5 1 (0.45%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (0.45%) ISTQB
5 1 (0.45%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (5.00%) Def Stans
1 11 (5.00%) IEC 61508
2 6 (2.73%) Accessibility
2 6 (2.73%) QA
2 6 (2.73%) WCAG
3 4 (1.82%) NCSC
4 3 (1.36%) MISRA
4 3 (1.36%) MISRA C
5 2 (0.91%) JSP 440
6 1 (0.45%) GDPR
6 1 (0.45%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 15 (6.82%) Docker
Systems Management
1 12 (5.45%) Kubernetes
2 5 (2.27%) Terraform
3 3 (1.36%) Ansible
4 1 (0.45%) Progress Chef
4 1 (0.45%) PTC Integrity
4 1 (0.45%) Puppet
Vendors
1 8 (3.64%) Microsoft
2 6 (2.73%) IBM
2 6 (2.73%) Oracle
3 5 (2.27%) MathWorks
4 4 (1.82%) Red Hat
5 1 (0.45%) Databricks
5 1 (0.45%) F5
5 1 (0.45%) Google
5 1 (0.45%) Green Hills
5 1 (0.45%) PTC