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 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 3 17 9
Rank change year-on-year +14 -8 +7
Contract jobs citing Software Engineering 241 52 119
As % of all contract jobs in Bristol 18.01% 8.31% 10.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 23.00% 9.04% 13.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 47 14 14
10th Percentile £393 - £458
25th Percentile £500 £355 £489
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £373 £525
Median % change year-on-year +40.94% -29.05% -
75th Percentile £611 £475 £538
90th Percentile £644 £623 £653
South West median daily rate £550 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 166 29 81
10th Percentile £61.25 £64.50 £52.50
25th Percentile - £65.00 £65.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £67.50 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.70% -3.57% +6.87%
75th Percentile £68.00 £68.00 -
90th Percentile - £71.00 £70.25
South West median hourly rate £65.00 £68.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year -4.41% -2.86% +6.87%

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 1,048 575 904
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Bristol 78.33% 91.85% 80.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 519 297 492
10th Percentile £350 £235 £260
25th Percentile £416 £361 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £447 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.86% -10.60% -4.76%
75th Percentile £575 £562 £600
90th Percentile £638 £646 £675
South West median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 279 92 212
10th Percentile £19.31 £18.17 £40.00
25th Percentile £51.59 £18.87 £50.00
Median hourly rate £65.00 £44.65 £70.00
Median % change year-on-year +45.58% -36.21% +13.82%
75th Percentile £68.00 £68.00 £72.50
90th Percentile £70.51 £74.50 £77.50
South West median hourly rate £57.50 £28.55 £55.00
% change year-on-year +101.40% -48.09% -8.33%

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 2 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 2 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 (1.66%) Confluence
2 1 (0.41%) Apache
Applications
1 3 (1.24%) Simulink
2 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.41%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 12 (4.98%) AWS
2 9 (3.73%) Azure
3 6 (2.49%) GCP
4 2 (0.83%) dbt
4 2 (0.83%) Snowflake
5 1 (0.41%) AWS CloudFormation
5 1 (0.41%) Azure DevOps
5 1 (0.41%) Figma
5 1 (0.41%) OCI
5 1 (0.41%) OpenShift
5 1 (0.41%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.90%) Ethernet
2 6 (2.49%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.41%) RS-232
3 1 (0.41%) RS-422
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.66%) PostgreSQL
2 2 (0.83%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.41%) GIS
3 1 (0.41%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 14 (5.81%) Rational Rhapsody
2 12 (4.98%) GitLab
3 7 (2.90%) Visual Studio
4 6 (2.49%) Eclipse
4 6 (2.49%) Git
5 5 (2.07%) JIRA
6 3 (1.24%) Jenkins
6 3 (1.24%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.41%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.41%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.41%) JUnit
7 1 (0.41%) NUnit
7 1 (0.41%) Selenium
7 1 (0.41%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 23 (9.54%) Aerospace
2 16 (6.64%) Social Skills
3 12 (4.98%) Finance
4 11 (4.56%) Law
5 8 (3.32%) Military
6 2 (0.83%) Analytical Skills
6 2 (0.83%) Avionics
6 2 (0.83%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (0.83%) Legal
6 2 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
6 2 (0.83%) Public Sector
6 2 (0.83%) Telecoms
7 1 (0.41%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 208 (86.31%) Software Engineer
2 67 (27.80%) C++ Software Engineer
3 47 (19.50%) Embedded Engineer
3 47 (19.50%) Embedded Software Engineer
4 32 (13.28%) Ada Engineer
4 32 (13.28%) Ada Software Engineer
5 26 (10.79%) Algorithm Engineer
6 16 (6.64%) Applications Engineer
7 15 (6.22%) Java Engineer
7 15 (6.22%) Java Software Engineer
8 14 (5.81%) C# Software Engineer
9 12 (4.98%) PHP Software Engineer
10 11 (4.56%) Developer
11 8 (3.32%) Lead
12 5 (2.07%) Java Developer
12 5 (2.07%) Lead Software Engineer
13 4 (1.66%) C Software Engineer
13 4 (1.66%) C/C++ Software Engineer
13 4 (1.66%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
13 4 (1.66%) Senior
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (10.37%) Middleware
2 12 (4.98%) Qt
3 10 (4.15%) Node.js
4 9 (3.73%) React
5 8 (3.32%) REST
6 6 (2.49%) .NET
6 6 (2.49%) Web Services
7 4 (1.66%) GraphQL
7 4 (1.66%) Jest
8 3 (1.24%) Quarkus
9 2 (0.83%) Flask
9 2 (0.83%) Oracle Fusion
9 2 (0.83%) Playwright
9 2 (0.83%) pytest
9 2 (0.83%) Yocto
10 1 (0.41%) Apache NiFi
10 1 (0.41%) Bun
10 1 (0.41%) Elastic Stack
10 1 (0.41%) OLE
10 1 (0.41%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 40 (16.60%) Algorithms
2 6 (2.49%) Embedded Systems
3 4 (1.66%) Legacy Systems
4 2 (0.83%) Cloud Native
4 2 (0.83%) Device Driver
4 2 (0.83%) Onboarding
4 2 (0.83%) Product Ownership
5 1 (0.41%) AI Agents
5 1 (0.41%) CUDA
5 1 (0.41%) Distributed Systems
5 1 (0.41%) Legacy Applications
5 1 (0.41%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 38 (15.77%) Linux
2 9 (3.73%) Windows
3 6 (2.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.83%) Embedded Linux
5 1 (0.41%) FreeRTOS
5 1 (0.41%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (15.35%) CI/CD
2 20 (8.30%) UML
3 17 (7.05%) Agile
4 15 (6.22%) DevOps
5 14 (5.81%) SysML
5 14 (5.81%) Test Automation
6 13 (5.39%) TDD
7 11 (4.56%) Workflow
8 10 (4.15%) Configuration Management
8 10 (4.15%) SDLC
8 10 (4.15%) Validation
8 10 (4.15%) Workflow Management
9 9 (3.73%) Containerisation
9 9 (3.73%) Full-Stack Development
9 9 (3.73%) Multithreading
9 9 (3.73%) Stakeholder Management
10 8 (3.32%) Wealth Management
11 7 (2.90%) Continuous Integration
11 7 (2.90%) Integration Testing
11 7 (2.90%) Unit Testing
Programming Languages
1 86 (35.68%) C++
2 83 (34.44%) Ada
3 38 (15.77%) Java
4 31 (12.86%) C#
5 22 (9.13%) MATLAB
6 21 (8.71%) C
7 17 (7.05%) Python
8 12 (4.98%) PHP
9 10 (4.15%) JavaScript
10 9 (3.73%) TypeScript
11 3 (1.24%) SQL
12 2 (0.83%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.83%) PowerShell
13 1 (0.41%) Ada 95
13 1 (0.41%) Bash
13 1 (0.41%) Scala
Qualifications
1 63 (26.14%) Security Cleared
2 55 (22.82%) SC Cleared
3 7 (2.90%) BPSS Clearance
4 2 (0.83%) Degree
5 1 (0.41%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (0.41%) ISTQB
5 1 (0.41%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (12.03%) Def Stans
2 27 (11.20%) IEC 61508
3 12 (4.98%) MISRA
4 11 (4.56%) MISRA C
5 6 (2.49%) QA
6 4 (1.66%) Accessibility
6 4 (1.66%) NCSC
6 4 (1.66%) WCAG
7 2 (0.83%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.41%) DO-178B
8 1 (0.41%) GDPR
8 1 (0.41%) MIL-STD-1553
System Software
1 15 (6.22%) Docker
2 1 (0.41%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 11 (4.56%) Kubernetes
2 5 (2.07%) Terraform
3 3 (1.24%) Ansible
4 1 (0.41%) Grafana
4 1 (0.41%) Progress Chef
4 1 (0.41%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.41%) PTC Integrity
4 1 (0.41%) Puppet
Vendors
1 10 (4.15%) IBM
2 9 (3.73%) MathWorks
3 7 (2.90%) Microsoft
4 5 (2.07%) Red Hat
5 2 (0.83%) Oracle
6 1 (0.41%) Databricks
6 1 (0.41%) F5
6 1 (0.41%) Google
6 1 (0.41%) Green Hills
6 1 (0.41%) PTC