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

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 7 6 19
Rank change year-on-year -1 +13 -3
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 100 97 74
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 12.48% 12.88% 7.17%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 14.45% 14.88% 8.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 20 5 24
10th Percentile - £460 £333
25th Percentile £68 £475 £497
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year -27.27% -8.33% +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £688
90th Percentile £666 £600 £717
South West median daily rate £450 £600 £550
% change year-on-year -25.00% +9.09% -8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 69 48 40
10th Percentile £61.25 £61.10 £61.13
25th Percentile - £62.38 £65.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -0.76% -6.43% +6.87%
75th Percentile - £69.06 -
90th Percentile £67.25 £70.08 £80.13
South West median hourly rate £65.00 £66.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.26% +2.31% -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 692 652 897
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol 86.39% 86.59% 86.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 357 354 561
10th Percentile £257 £225 £308
25th Percentile £400 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -13.64% +10.00%
75th Percentile £600 £619 £650
90th Percentile £741 £750 £710
South West median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 163 90 119
10th Percentile £15.12 £46.35 £33.00
25th Percentile £18.87 £60.75 £56.25
Median hourly rate £62.50 £65.50 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.58% +0.77% -
75th Percentile £65.00 £70.25 £80.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £75.00 £83.40
South West median hourly rate £25.15 £65.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -61.31% +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 3 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 3 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 3 (3.00%) Apache
2 1 (1.00%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 3 (3.00%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (3.00%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.00%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (1.00%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (2.00%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 13 (13.00%) AWS
2 10 (10.00%) Azure
3 5 (5.00%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (5.00%) npm
4 4 (4.00%) GCP
5 2 (2.00%) Azure AKS
5 2 (2.00%) Azure Cosmos DB
5 2 (2.00%) Entra ID
6 1 (1.00%) GitHub
6 1 (1.00%) GitHub Actions
6 1 (1.00%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 1 (1.00%) Ethernet
1 1 (1.00%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (7.00%) PostgreSQL
2 6 (6.00%) GIS
3 3 (3.00%) NoSQL
4 2 (2.00%) ClickHouse
4 2 (2.00%) Elasticsearch
4 2 (2.00%) MongoDB
4 2 (2.00%) MySQL
4 2 (2.00%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 8 (8.00%) Rational Rhapsody
2 6 (6.00%) Jenkins
3 3 (3.00%) Git
3 3 (3.00%) GitLab
4 2 (2.00%) Artifactory
4 2 (2.00%) CMake
5 1 (1.00%) Eclipse
5 1 (1.00%) GoogleTest
5 1 (1.00%) Gradle
5 1 (1.00%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (1.00%) Visual Studio
General
1 8 (8.00%) Analytical Skills
2 7 (7.00%) Aerospace
2 7 (7.00%) Electronics
2 7 (7.00%) Law
3 5 (5.00%) Finance
3 5 (5.00%) Social Skills
4 4 (4.00%) Organisational Skills
4 4 (4.00%) Public Sector
5 2 (2.00%) Tech for Good
5 2 (2.00%) Telecoms
6 1 (1.00%) Automotive
6 1 (1.00%) Aviation
6 1 (1.00%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.00%) Military
Job Titles
1 62 (62.00%) Software Engineer
2 41 (41.00%) C++ Software Engineer
3 13 (13.00%) Embedded Engineer
3 13 (13.00%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 12 (12.00%) Documentation Officer
5 9 (9.00%) Product Engineer
5 9 (9.00%) Products Support Engineer
5 9 (9.00%) Software Support Engineer
5 9 (9.00%) Support Engineer
6 6 (6.00%) Lead
7 3 (3.00%) Data Engineer
7 3 (3.00%) Senior
8 2 (2.00%) C Software Engineer
8 2 (2.00%) C/C++ Software Engineer
8 2 (2.00%) DevOps Engineer
8 2 (2.00%) Engineering Manager
8 2 (2.00%) Full-Stack Engineer
8 2 (2.00%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
8 2 (2.00%) Senior Project Manager
8 2 (2.00%) Software Engineering Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (25.00%) Middleware
2 15 (15.00%) Qt
3 11 (11.00%) Node.js
4 9 (9.00%) React
5 3 (3.00%) REST
6 2 (2.00%) .NET
6 2 (2.00%) Apache NiFi
6 2 (2.00%) Express.js
6 2 (2.00%) Next.js
7 1 (1.00%) Bazel
7 1 (1.00%) Boost C++ Libraries
7 1 (1.00%) Django
7 1 (1.00%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (1.00%) GraphQL
7 1 (1.00%) JWT
7 1 (1.00%) OAuth
7 1 (1.00%) OAuth2
7 1 (1.00%) OpenCV
7 1 (1.00%) Web Services
7 1 (1.00%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 8 (8.00%) CUDA
1 8 (8.00%) Embedded Systems
2 6 (6.00%) Video\Live Streaming
3 3 (3.00%) Cloud Native
4 2 (2.00%) Greenfield Project
4 2 (2.00%) IoT
4 2 (2.00%) Legacy Systems
5 1 (1.00%) Management Information System
5 1 (1.00%) Onboarding
5 1 (1.00%) Raspberry Pi
5 1 (1.00%) Renewable Energy
5 1 (1.00%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 18 (18.00%) Linux
2 10 (10.00%) Windows
3 9 (9.00%) Ubuntu
4 1 (1.00%) Android
4 1 (1.00%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 14 (14.00%) Project Management
2 11 (11.00%) Validation
3 10 (10.00%) Agile
3 10 (10.00%) Configuration Management
4 9 (9.00%) DevOps
4 9 (9.00%) Software Delivery
4 9 (9.00%) Systems Engineering
5 8 (8.00%) CI/CD
6 7 (7.00%) Integration Testing
6 7 (7.00%) Project Delivery
6 7 (7.00%) Software Testing
6 7 (7.00%) Test Automation
7 6 (6.00%) Collaborative Culture
7 6 (6.00%) Information Security
7 6 (6.00%) Mentoring
7 6 (6.00%) UML
8 5 (5.00%) Full-Stack Development
9 4 (4.00%) Continuous Improvement
10 3 (3.00%) Continuous Integration
10 3 (3.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 53 (53.00%) C++
2 21 (21.00%) C
3 18 (18.00%) Ada
3 18 (18.00%) JavaScript
4 11 (11.00%) TypeScript
5 10 (10.00%) Python
6 9 (9.00%) Shell Script
7 5 (5.00%) SQL
8 4 (4.00%) C#
9 2 (2.00%) Bicep
9 2 (2.00%) Java
9 2 (2.00%) MATLAB
9 2 (2.00%) PowerShell
10 1 (1.00%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 35 (35.00%) Security Cleared
2 32 (32.00%) SC Cleared
3 6 (6.00%) Degree
4 3 (3.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (1.00%) BPSS Clearance
5 1 (1.00%) CISSP
5 1 (1.00%) DV Cleared
5 1 (1.00%) HND
5 1 (1.00%) MCSE
5 1 (1.00%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (18.00%) Def Stans
2 16 (16.00%) MISRA
3 11 (11.00%) IEC 61508
4 9 (9.00%) MISRA C
5 7 (7.00%) DO-178B
6 2 (2.00%) QA
7 1 (1.00%) GDPR
System Software
1 7 (7.00%) Firmware
2 4 (4.00%) Docker
3 2 (2.00%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 7 (7.00%) Terraform
2 5 (5.00%) Kubernetes
3 2 (2.00%) Ansible
3 2 (2.00%) Kibana
4 1 (1.00%) Grafana
4 1 (1.00%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 12 (12.00%) Red Hat
2 5 (5.00%) Microsoft
3 2 (2.00%) Databricks
3 2 (2.00%) NVIDIA
4 1 (1.00%) Google