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 11 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 12 18
Rank change year-on-year +9 +6 +5
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 223 55 78
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 18.85% 10.38% 7.48%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 23.50% 11.25% 9.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 25 11 18
10th Percentile £190 - £459
25th Percentile £400 £355 £489
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £370 £525
Median % change year-on-year +35.14% -29.52% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £444 £550
90th Percentile £644 £575 £720
South West median daily rate £570 £575 £525
% change year-on-year -0.87% +9.52% -9.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 182 36 45
10th Percentile £61.25 £61.25 £52.50
25th Percentile - - £56.25
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
75th Percentile - £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £68.38 -
South West median hourly rate £65.00 £66.50 £65.00
% change year-on-year -2.26% +2.31% -0.76%

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 949 489 857
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol 80.22% 92.26% 82.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 468 296 503
10th Percentile £321 £213 £251
25th Percentile £400 £361 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £452 £513
Median % change year-on-year +10.62% -11.80% +2.50%
75th Percentile £571 £588 £625
90th Percentile £650 £675 £688
South West median daily rate £511 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.62% - -3.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 259 67 149
10th Percentile £18.11 £25.55 £36.25
25th Percentile £61.25 £58.75 £45.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £65.00 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year - +4.00% +1.63%
75th Percentile £67.25 £68.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £80.00
South West median hourly rate £60.00 £65.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -7.69% +36.84% -22.76%

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 11 April 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 11 April 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 (1.35%) Apache
2 1 (0.45%) Confluence
Applications
1 3 (1.35%) Simulink
2 2 (0.90%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (0.90%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 8 (3.59%) Azure
2 6 (2.69%) AWS
3 3 (1.35%) Azure DevOps
3 3 (1.35%) OpenShift
4 2 (0.90%) GCP
5 1 (0.45%) Figma
5 1 (0.45%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.79%) Ethernet
1 4 (1.79%) TCP/IP
2 1 (0.45%) Bluetooth
2 1 (0.45%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.45%) GIS
1 1 (0.45%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 23 (10.31%) Rational Rhapsody
2 14 (6.28%) GitLab
3 5 (2.24%) Git
3 5 (2.24%) Jenkins
4 4 (1.79%) Eclipse
4 4 (1.79%) Visual Studio
5 3 (1.35%) Artifactory
5 3 (1.35%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.90%) JIRA
6 2 (0.90%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.45%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.45%) JUnit
7 1 (0.45%) NUnit
7 1 (0.45%) Selenium
General
1 24 (10.76%) Aerospace
2 12 (5.38%) Law
3 9 (4.04%) Social Skills
4 7 (3.14%) Analytical Skills
5 6 (2.69%) Electronics
5 6 (2.69%) Military
6 3 (1.35%) Finance
7 2 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
7 2 (0.90%) Telecoms
8 1 (0.45%) Automotive
8 1 (0.45%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (0.45%) Legal
8 1 (0.45%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 192 (86.10%) Software Engineer
2 74 (33.18%) C++ Software Engineer
3 40 (17.94%) Embedded Engineer
3 40 (17.94%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 27 (12.11%) Algorithm Engineer
5 24 (10.76%) Ada Engineer
5 24 (10.76%) Ada Software Engineer
6 15 (6.73%) Java Engineer
6 15 (6.73%) Java Software Engineer
7 9 (4.04%) Lead
8 8 (3.59%) C Software Engineer
8 8 (3.59%) C# Software Engineer
8 8 (3.59%) C/C++ Software Engineer
9 7 (3.14%) Developer
9 7 (3.14%) Senior
10 5 (2.24%) Java Developer
10 5 (2.24%) Lead Software Engineer
11 4 (1.79%) Applications Engineer
11 4 (1.79%) DevOps Engineer
11 4 (1.79%) Senior Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (17.94%) Middleware
2 21 (9.42%) Qt
3 6 (2.69%) Node.js
4 5 (2.24%) REST
5 4 (1.79%) .NET
5 4 (1.79%) Web Services
6 3 (1.35%) Apache NiFi
6 3 (1.35%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.90%) Flask
7 2 (0.90%) GraphQL
7 2 (0.90%) pytest
7 2 (0.90%) React
8 1 (0.45%) OLE
Miscellaneous
1 38 (17.04%) Algorithms
2 10 (4.48%) Embedded Systems
3 7 (3.14%) CUDA
4 6 (2.69%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (1.35%) Onboarding
6 1 (0.45%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (0.45%) Management Information System
6 1 (0.45%) Product Ownership
6 1 (0.45%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 33 (14.80%) Linux
2 9 (4.04%) Windows
3 6 (2.69%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.90%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.45%) Embedded Linux
5 1 (0.45%) FreeRTOS
5 1 (0.45%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 34 (15.25%) CI/CD
2 21 (9.42%) UML
3 14 (6.28%) Validation
3 14 (6.28%) Workflow
4 12 (5.38%) Agile
4 12 (5.38%) Configuration Management
4 12 (5.38%) Integration Testing
4 12 (5.38%) SysML
5 11 (4.93%) DevOps
5 11 (4.93%) Systems Engineering
6 10 (4.48%) Containerisation
6 10 (4.48%) SDLC
6 10 (4.48%) Software Delivery
6 10 (4.48%) Test Automation
6 10 (4.48%) Workflow Management
7 9 (4.04%) Continuous Improvement
8 8 (3.59%) Software Testing
9 7 (3.14%) Continuous Integration
9 7 (3.14%) Project Management
9 7 (3.14%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 95 (42.60%) C++
2 84 (37.67%) Ada
3 32 (14.35%) C
4 28 (12.56%) Java
5 24 (10.76%) MATLAB
6 19 (8.52%) C#
7 15 (6.73%) Python
8 6 (2.69%) JavaScript
9 4 (1.79%) PowerShell
10 2 (0.90%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.90%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.45%) Bash
11 1 (0.45%) Embedded C++
11 1 (0.45%) Scala
11 1 (0.45%) SQL
Qualifications
1 69 (30.94%) Security Cleared
2 58 (26.01%) SC Cleared
3 8 (3.59%) Degree
4 5 (2.24%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (1.79%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (0.90%) DV Cleared
7 1 (0.45%) CISSP
7 1 (0.45%) HND
7 1 (0.45%) ISTQB
7 1 (0.45%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
7 1 (0.45%) MCSE
7 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (20.63%) Def Stans
2 39 (17.49%) IEC 61508
3 25 (11.21%) MISRA
4 19 (8.52%) MISRA C
5 8 (3.59%) QA
6 6 (2.69%) DO-178B
7 2 (0.90%) NCSC
8 1 (0.45%) DICOM
8 1 (0.45%) GDPR
8 1 (0.45%) HL7
System Software
1 12 (5.38%) Docker
2 6 (2.69%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 10 (4.48%) Kubernetes
2 5 (2.24%) Ansible
3 4 (1.79%) Terraform
4 3 (1.35%) Grafana
4 3 (1.35%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.45%) Progress Chef
5 1 (0.45%) Puppet
Vendors
1 11 (4.93%) Red Hat
2 10 (4.48%) IBM
3 9 (4.04%) MathWorks
4 5 (2.24%) Microsoft
5 1 (0.45%) Databricks
5 1 (0.45%) NVIDIA