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 27 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 4 19 11
Rank change year-on-year +15 -8 +6
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 209 56 98
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 15.44% 8.12% 10.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 20.29% 8.86% 12.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 47 15 10
10th Percentile £456 £127 £449
25th Percentile £513 £355 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £370 £513
Median % change year-on-year +48.65% -27.80% -6.82%
75th Percentile £638 £488 £585
90th Percentile £647 £644 £676
South West median daily rate £550 £500 £538
% change year-on-year +10.00% -6.98% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 123 31 63
10th Percentile - £62.50 £63.00
25th Percentile £65.00 - £65.00
Median hourly rate £67.50 £65.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.85% -7.14% +7.69%
75th Percentile £68.00 £68.00 -
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.00 £70.25
South West median hourly rate £66.50 £65.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year +2.31% -7.14% +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 1,030 632 768
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol 76.07% 91.59% 82.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 533 325 431
10th Percentile £325 £241 £263
25th Percentile £425 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £447 £500
Median % change year-on-year +17.45% -10.60% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £590
90th Percentile £650 £650 £725
South West median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 259 113 152
10th Percentile £21.13 £12.82 £51.50
25th Percentile £46.25 £18.51 £65.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £26.00 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +150.00% -62.86% +7.69%
75th Percentile £68.75 £65.00 £74.44
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £80.00
South West median hourly rate £62.25 £25.15 £67.50
% change year-on-year +147.51% -62.74% +3.85%

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 27 August 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 27 August 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 3 (1.44%) Confluence
Applications
1 8 (3.83%) Spreadsheet
2 4 (1.91%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (1.44%) Simulink
4 1 (0.48%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (1.44%) Oracle Payroll
Cloud Services
1 14 (6.70%) AWS
2 9 (4.31%) Azure
3 7 (3.35%) OCI
4 6 (2.87%) GCP
5 2 (0.96%) dbt
5 2 (0.96%) Microsoft 365
5 2 (0.96%) Snowflake
6 1 (0.48%) AWS CloudFormation
6 1 (0.48%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.91%) Ethernet
2 3 (1.44%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.48%) RS-232
3 1 (0.48%) RS-422
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.87%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (0.96%) Data Warehouse
Development Applications
1 17 (8.13%) Rational Rhapsody
2 10 (4.78%) GitLab
2 10 (4.78%) JIRA
3 7 (3.35%) Rational DOORS
4 5 (2.39%) Git
5 4 (1.91%) Visual Studio
6 3 (1.44%) Eclipse
7 1 (0.48%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.48%) JUnit
7 1 (0.48%) NUnit
7 1 (0.48%) Selenium
General
1 21 (10.05%) Social Skills
2 14 (6.70%) Aerospace
2 14 (6.70%) Finance
3 8 (3.83%) Public Sector
4 7 (3.35%) Law
5 5 (2.39%) Military
6 4 (1.91%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.44%) Analytical Skills
7 3 (1.44%) Avionics
8 2 (0.96%) Influencing Skills
8 2 (0.96%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.48%) Aviation
9 1 (0.48%) Legal
Job Titles
1 165 (78.95%) Software Engineer
2 44 (21.05%) C++ Software Engineer
2 44 (21.05%) Embedded Engineer
3 43 (20.57%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 41 (19.62%) Ada Engineer
4 41 (19.62%) Ada Software Engineer
5 17 (8.13%) Applications Engineer
6 14 (6.70%) Lead
7 12 (5.74%) Developer
7 12 (5.74%) PHP Software Engineer
8 11 (5.26%) Algorithm Engineer
9 10 (4.78%) C# Software Engineer
10 7 (3.35%) Oracle Developer
10 7 (3.35%) Software Developer
11 6 (2.87%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
12 5 (2.39%) Lead Software Engineer
12 5 (2.39%) Senior
12 5 (2.39%) Software Team Leader
13 4 (1.91%) Team Leader
14 3 (1.44%) Technical Team Leader
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (6.22%) React
2 9 (4.31%) Oracle Fusion
2 9 (4.31%) REST
3 7 (3.35%) Node.js
4 6 (2.87%) .NET
4 6 (2.87%) Jest
4 6 (2.87%) Middleware
5 5 (2.39%) Quarkus
6 4 (1.91%) GraphQL
6 4 (1.91%) Terraform
6 4 (1.91%) Web Services
7 3 (1.44%) Qt
8 2 (0.96%) Flask
8 2 (0.96%) Playwright
8 2 (0.96%) pytest
8 2 (0.96%) Yocto
9 1 (0.48%) Bun
9 1 (0.48%) OLE
9 1 (0.48%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 22 (10.53%) Algorithms
2 6 (2.87%) Embedded Systems
3 5 (2.39%) Cloud Native
4 2 (0.96%) Device Driver
4 2 (0.96%) Legacy Systems
5 1 (0.48%) AI Agents
5 1 (0.48%) Data Structures
5 1 (0.48%) Distributed Systems
5 1 (0.48%) Onboarding
5 1 (0.48%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 32 (15.31%) Linux
2 6 (2.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 4 (1.91%) FreeRTOS
4 3 (1.44%) Windows
5 2 (0.96%) Embedded Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (14.35%) CI/CD
2 21 (10.05%) UML
3 18 (8.61%) DevOps
4 14 (6.70%) Stakeholder Management
4 14 (6.70%) Test Automation
5 12 (5.74%) Agile
6 11 (5.26%) Configuration Management
6 11 (5.26%) Information Security
6 11 (5.26%) TDD
7 10 (4.78%) Problem-Solving
7 10 (4.78%) Project Planning
7 10 (4.78%) Validation
8 9 (4.31%) Business Intelligence
8 9 (4.31%) Full-Stack Development
8 9 (4.31%) Multithreading
8 9 (4.31%) Project Management
8 9 (4.31%) SDLC
8 9 (4.31%) SysML
8 9 (4.31%) Technical Leadership
9 8 (3.83%) Integration Testing
Programming Languages
1 68 (32.54%) C++
2 61 (29.19%) Ada
3 24 (11.48%) C#
4 22 (10.53%) Java
5 18 (8.61%) C
6 17 (8.13%) Python
7 14 (6.70%) PHP
8 13 (6.22%) TypeScript
9 10 (4.78%) MATLAB
10 9 (4.31%) JavaScript
10 9 (4.31%) PL/SQL
10 9 (4.31%) SQL
11 2 (0.96%) Rust
12 1 (0.48%) Ada 95
Qualifications
1 46 (22.01%) Security Cleared
2 40 (19.14%) SC Cleared
3 9 (4.31%) BPSS Clearance
4 1 (0.48%) ISTQB
4 1 (0.48%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (3.83%) Def Stans
2 6 (2.87%) Accessibility
2 6 (2.87%) IEC 61508
2 6 (2.87%) MISRA
2 6 (2.87%) MISRA C
2 6 (2.87%) QA
2 6 (2.87%) WCAG
3 4 (1.91%) NCSC
4 2 (0.96%) GDPR
4 2 (0.96%) JSP 440
5 1 (0.48%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 15 (7.18%) Docker
Systems Management
1 11 (5.26%) Kubernetes
2 1 (0.48%) Ansible
2 1 (0.48%) PTC Integrity
Vendors
1 11 (5.26%) Oracle
2 8 (3.83%) IBM
3 7 (3.35%) Microsoft
4 5 (2.39%) MathWorks
5 3 (1.44%) Red Hat
6 1 (0.48%) F5
6 1 (0.48%) Google
6 1 (0.48%) Green Hills
6 1 (0.48%) PTC