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 17 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 6 6 17
Rank change year-on-year 0 +11 0
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 113 91 74
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 13.68% 12.82% 7.47%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 15.85% 14.54% 8.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 22 5 26
10th Percentile £68 £460 £338
25th Percentile £69 £475 £475
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -27.27% - -2.65%
75th Percentile £569 £600 £686
90th Percentile £654 £600 £716
South West median daily rate £447 £600 £550
% change year-on-year -25.50% +9.09% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 80 46 38
10th Percentile £61.25 £61.00 £61.25
25th Percentile - £62.00 £65.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.25 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year -0.38% -3.33% +3.05%
75th Percentile - £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.25 £70.00 -
South West median hourly rate £65.00 £65.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -0.76% +0.77% -0.76%

All Process and 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 713 626 853
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol 86.32% 88.17% 86.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 363 347 528
10th Percentile £259 £213 £300
25th Percentile £400 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £488 £533
Median % change year-on-year +4.62% -8.45% +6.50%
75th Percentile £600 £608 £646
90th Percentile £723 £740 £700
South West median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 171 86 117
10th Percentile £15.60 £41.75 £34.20
25th Percentile £18.87 £60.75 £56.25
Median hourly rate £62.50 £65.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% - -
75th Percentile £65.00 £70.19 £76.25
90th Percentile £68.00 £75.00 £83.40
South West median hourly rate £31.25 £65.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -51.92% +8.33% -7.69%

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 17 December 2025.

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 17 December 2025.

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 5 (4.42%) Apache
2 1 (0.88%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 3 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (2.65%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.77%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.88%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (1.77%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 13 (11.50%) AWS
2 10 (8.85%) Azure
3 5 (4.42%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (4.42%) npm
4 4 (3.54%) GCP
5 2 (1.77%) Azure AKS
5 2 (1.77%) Azure Cosmos DB
5 2 (1.77%) Entra ID
5 2 (1.77%) OpenShift
6 1 (0.88%) GitHub
6 1 (0.88%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.88%) Ethernet
1 1 (0.88%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (6.19%) PostgreSQL
2 6 (5.31%) GIS
3 3 (2.65%) NoSQL
4 2 (1.77%) ClickHouse
4 2 (1.77%) Elasticsearch
4 2 (1.77%) MongoDB
4 2 (1.77%) MySQL
4 2 (1.77%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 10 (8.85%) GitLab
1 10 (8.85%) Rational Rhapsody
2 7 (6.19%) Jenkins
3 4 (3.54%) Artifactory
4 3 (2.65%) Git
5 2 (1.77%) CMake
5 2 (1.77%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.88%) Eclipse
6 1 (0.88%) GoogleTest
6 1 (0.88%) Gradle
6 1 (0.88%) Visual Studio
General
1 10 (8.85%) Analytical Skills
2 9 (7.96%) Aerospace
2 9 (7.96%) Electronics
3 7 (6.19%) Law
4 5 (4.42%) Finance
4 5 (4.42%) Social Skills
5 4 (3.54%) Organisational Skills
5 4 (3.54%) Public Sector
6 2 (1.77%) Military
6 2 (1.77%) Tech for Good
6 2 (1.77%) Telecoms
7 1 (0.88%) Automotive
7 1 (0.88%) Aviation
7 1 (0.88%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 72 (63.72%) Software Engineer
2 45 (39.82%) C++ Software Engineer
3 15 (13.27%) Embedded Engineer
3 15 (13.27%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 12 (10.62%) Documentation Officer
5 9 (7.96%) Product Engineer
5 9 (7.96%) Products Support Engineer
5 9 (7.96%) Software Support Engineer
5 9 (7.96%) Support Engineer
6 6 (5.31%) Lead
7 5 (4.42%) DevOps Engineer
8 4 (3.54%) Senior
9 3 (2.65%) Data Engineer
10 2 (1.77%) Administrator
10 2 (1.77%) C/C++ Software Engineer
10 2 (1.77%) Engineering Manager
10 2 (1.77%) Full-Stack Engineer
10 2 (1.77%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
10 2 (1.77%) Senior Manager
10 2 (1.77%) Software Engineering Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (23.89%) Middleware
2 16 (14.16%) Qt
3 11 (9.73%) Node.js
4 9 (7.96%) React
5 5 (4.42%) REST
6 4 (3.54%) Apache NiFi
7 2 (1.77%) .NET
7 2 (1.77%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (1.77%) Express.js
7 2 (1.77%) Next.js
8 1 (0.88%) Bazel
8 1 (0.88%) Boost C++ Libraries
8 1 (0.88%) Django
8 1 (0.88%) GraphQL
8 1 (0.88%) JWT
8 1 (0.88%) OAuth
8 1 (0.88%) OAuth2
8 1 (0.88%) OpenCV
8 1 (0.88%) Web Services
8 1 (0.88%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 10 (8.85%) Embedded Systems
2 8 (7.08%) CUDA
3 6 (5.31%) Video\Live Streaming
4 3 (2.65%) Algorithms
4 3 (2.65%) Cloud Native
5 2 (1.77%) Greenfield Project
5 2 (1.77%) IoT
5 2 (1.77%) Legacy Systems
5 2 (1.77%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.88%) Management Information System
6 1 (0.88%) Raspberry Pi
6 1 (0.88%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 18 (15.93%) Linux
2 12 (10.62%) Windows
3 9 (7.96%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.88%) Android
4 1 (0.88%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 15 (13.27%) CI/CD
2 14 (12.39%) Project Management
3 13 (11.50%) Validation
4 12 (10.62%) DevOps
5 11 (9.73%) Configuration Management
5 11 (9.73%) Systems Engineering
6 10 (8.85%) Agile
6 10 (8.85%) Software Delivery
7 8 (7.08%) Collaborative Culture
7 8 (7.08%) Integration Testing
8 7 (6.19%) Project Delivery
8 7 (6.19%) Software Testing
8 7 (6.19%) Test Automation
9 6 (5.31%) Computer Science
9 6 (5.31%) Information Security
9 6 (5.31%) Mentoring
9 6 (5.31%) UML
9 6 (5.31%) Workflow
10 5 (4.42%) SDLC
10 5 (4.42%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 58 (51.33%) C++
2 24 (21.24%) C
3 19 (16.81%) Ada
4 18 (15.93%) JavaScript
5 12 (10.62%) Python
6 11 (9.73%) TypeScript
7 9 (7.96%) Shell Script
8 5 (4.42%) SQL
9 4 (3.54%) C#
9 4 (3.54%) PowerShell
10 2 (1.77%) Bicep
10 2 (1.77%) Java
10 2 (1.77%) MATLAB
11 1 (0.88%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 42 (37.17%) Security Cleared
2 37 (32.74%) SC Cleared
3 9 (7.96%) Degree
4 6 (5.31%) Computer Science Degree
5 3 (2.65%) DV Cleared
6 1 (0.88%) BPSS Clearance
6 1 (0.88%) CISSP
6 1 (0.88%) HND
6 1 (0.88%) MCSE
6 1 (0.88%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (19.47%) Def Stans
2 19 (16.81%) MISRA
3 13 (11.50%) IEC 61508
4 10 (8.85%) MISRA C
5 9 (7.96%) DO-178B
6 5 (4.42%) QA
7 1 (0.88%) GDPR
System Software
1 9 (7.96%) Firmware
2 8 (7.08%) Docker
3 2 (1.77%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 9 (7.96%) Terraform
2 8 (7.08%) Kubernetes
3 4 (3.54%) Ansible
4 2 (1.77%) Grafana
4 2 (1.77%) Kibana
4 2 (1.77%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 15 (13.27%) Red Hat
2 5 (4.42%) Microsoft
3 2 (1.77%) Databricks
3 2 (1.77%) NVIDIA
4 1 (0.88%) Google
4 1 (0.88%) IBM