Systems or Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for SDLC skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited SDLC over the 6 months to 10 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
10 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 94 74 79
Rank change year-on-year -20 +5 +3
Contract jobs citing SDLC 1,006 1,842 2,744
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 2.34% 3.18% 3.14%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.71% 3.54% 3.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 709 1,212 1,903
10th Percentile £387 £413 £401
25th Percentile £450 £494 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £600 £560
Median % change year-on-year -4.17% +7.14% +12.00%
75th Percentile £700 £725 £675
90th Percentile £817 £825 £757
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £525 £500
% change year-on-year - +5.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 23 51 54
10th Percentile £35.50 £45.00 £35.00
25th Percentile £47.13 £50.00 £40.25
Median hourly rate £48.00 £58.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.95% +6.36% -
75th Percentile £53.75 £65.00 £65.54
90th Percentile £57.50 £65.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £48.00 £59.03 £55.00
% change year-on-year -18.69% +7.33% -

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

SDLC is in the Processes and Methodologies category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 37,090 51,996 79,100
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.26% 89.82% 90.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,884 36,030 55,497
10th Percentile £300 £325 £343
25th Percentile £413 £438 £427
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +3.77% +8.72%
75th Percentile £638 £650 £638
90th Percentile £750 £750 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% +8.57%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,438 1,721 1,893
10th Percentile £12.75 £11.00 £12.50
25th Percentile £16.00 £16.13 £15.50
Median hourly rate £36.50 £36.25 £25.68
Median % change year-on-year +0.69% +41.16% +4.82%
75th Percentile £60.00 £65.00 £49.50
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.06 £35.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year +8.74% +75.00% -6.98%

SDLC
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing SDLC as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for SDLC in the UK

SDLC
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing SDLC.

Daily rate trend for SDLC in the UK

SDLC
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing SDLC over the 6 months to 10 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for SDLC in the UK

SDLC
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing SDLC.

Hourly rate trend for SDLC in the UK

SDLC
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing SDLC over the 6 months to 10 May 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for SDLC in the UK

SDLC
Top 17 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing SDLC within the UK over the 6 months to 10 May 2024. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -23 854 £594 -1.00% 578
London -16 551 £600 -7.69% 207
UK excluding London -12 359 £525 - 433
Work from Home -15 354 £575 -0.95% 326
North of England +27 95 £475 -9.52% 104
South East -5 88 £575 +11.11% 86
Scotland +8 72 £463 -15.91% 43
North West +21 67 £463 -10.84% 61
South West +9 39 £625 +4.17% 62
Midlands -36 33 £575 +15.00% 79
Yorkshire +11 25 £493 -9.63% 33
West Midlands -28 24 £656 +21.98% 48
East of England -5 18 £550 +4.76% 39
Wales +15 15 £515 +9.57% 15
East Midlands +6 9 £514 +14.17% 31
North East +11 3 - - 10
Isle of Man - 2 - -

SDLC
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 39 (3.88%) Confluence
2 24 (2.39%) Apache Spark
3 13 (1.29%) Apache
4 11 (1.09%) CMS
4 11 (1.09%) SharePoint
5 10 (0.99%) IIS
6 9 (0.89%) BizTalk Server
7 8 (0.80%) Drupal
8 7 (0.70%) Apache Airflow
8 7 (0.70%) Apache Solr
8 7 (0.70%) nginx
9 6 (0.60%) SAS
10 5 (0.50%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 5 (0.50%) WordPress
11 4 (0.40%) SharePoint 2013
12 3 (0.30%) Gunicorn
12 3 (0.30%) OpenEdge
12 3 (0.30%) WebLogic
12 3 (0.30%) WebSphere
13 2 (0.20%) MQSeries
Applications
1 36 (3.58%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (2.09%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (1.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (0.80%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.60%) Spreadsheet
6 5 (0.50%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.099%) Camtasia
7 1 (0.099%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.099%) PlantUML
Business Applications
1 14 (1.39%) Endur
2 13 (1.29%) Dynamics CRM
3 10 (0.99%) SAP S/4HANA
4 7 (0.70%) Loan IQ
4 7 (0.70%) SAP PM
5 5 (0.50%) Magento
6 4 (0.40%) SAP CO
6 4 (0.40%) SAP FI
6 4 (0.40%) SAP FI/CO
7 3 (0.30%) Remedy ITSM
7 3 (0.30%) SAP Hybris
7 3 (0.30%) Shopify
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle BPM
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle Cash Management
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle General Ledger
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle Payables
8 2 (0.20%) Oracle Receivables
8 2 (0.20%) SAP EWM
8 2 (0.20%) SAP R/3
8 2 (0.20%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 241 (23.96%) Azure
2 205 (20.38%) AWS
3 74 (7.36%) Serverless
4 62 (6.16%) GCP
5 57 (5.67%) GitHub
6 53 (5.27%) Azure DevOps
7 35 (3.48%) Azure Data Factory
8 34 (3.38%) SaaS
9 33 (3.28%) Azure Functions
10 31 (3.08%) Azure Cosmos DB
11 28 (2.78%) Azure Monitor
11 28 (2.78%) Power Platform
12 26 (2.58%) PaaS
13 25 (2.49%) Entra ID
13 25 (2.49%) Microsoft 365
14 23 (2.29%) AWS Lambda
15 19 (1.89%) Azure Logic Apps
15 19 (1.89%) Dynamics 365
16 17 (1.69%) AWS CloudFormation
16 17 (1.69%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 12 (1.19%) DNS
2 10 (0.99%) Firewall
3 9 (0.89%) Internet
3 9 (0.89%) TCP/IP
4 8 (0.80%) ATM
5 7 (0.70%) SNA
5 7 (0.70%) SSH
5 7 (0.70%) VSAN
6 6 (0.60%) WAN
7 5 (0.50%) Fibre Channel
7 5 (0.50%) iSCSI
7 5 (0.50%) SD-WAN
7 5 (0.50%) SSL
8 4 (0.40%) HTTPS
8 4 (0.40%) IPsec
8 4 (0.40%) Network Security
8 4 (0.40%) SAN
9 3 (0.30%) BGP
9 3 (0.30%) Cisco IOS
9 3 (0.30%) IOS XR
Database & Business Intelligence
1 85 (8.45%) SQL Server
2 60 (5.96%) Relational Database
3 54 (5.37%) NoSQL
4 36 (3.58%) MySQL
5 31 (3.08%) Data Lake
5 31 (3.08%) PostgreSQL
6 29 (2.88%) Big Data
7 26 (2.58%) MongoDB
8 19 (1.89%) Azure SQL Database
8 19 (1.89%) Data Warehouse
8 19 (1.89%) Power BI
9 18 (1.79%) Oracle Database
10 13 (1.29%) KDB
11 10 (0.99%) DB2
12 8 (0.80%) Couchbase
13 7 (0.70%) Delta Lake
13 7 (0.70%) Metadata
13 7 (0.70%) Sybase ASE
14 6 (0.60%) Apache Cassandra
14 6 (0.60%) Redis
Development Applications
1 117 (11.63%) JIRA
2 109 (10.83%) Git
3 79 (7.85%) Jenkins
4 37 (3.68%) Selenium
5 35 (3.48%) GitLab
6 29 (2.88%) Cucumber
7 28 (2.78%) JUnit
8 17 (1.69%) TeamCity
8 17 (1.69%) Visual Studio
9 16 (1.59%) Mockito
10 15 (1.49%) Maven
11 14 (1.39%) Cypress.io
11 14 (1.39%) git-flow
12 13 (1.29%) SonarQube
13 12 (1.19%) JMeter
14 11 (1.09%) TestRail
15 10 (0.99%) Team Foundation Server
16 9 (0.89%) Subversion
17 8 (0.80%) Artifactory
17 8 (0.80%) WebDriver
General
1 298 (29.62%) Social Skills
2 279 (27.73%) Finance
3 157 (15.61%) Analytical Skills
4 134 (13.32%) Banking
5 64 (6.36%) Public Sector
6 44 (4.37%) Investment Banking
7 35 (3.48%) Front Office
7 35 (3.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 35 (3.48%) Marketing
8 29 (2.88%) Presentation Skills
9 27 (2.68%) Influencing Skills
10 24 (2.39%) Aerospace
11 20 (1.99%) Retail
12 17 (1.69%) Telecoms
13 15 (1.49%) Manufacturing
14 9 (0.89%) Documentation Skills
15 7 (0.70%) Automotive
15 7 (0.70%) Electronics
15 7 (0.70%) Organisational Skills
15 7 (0.70%) Tech for Good
Job Titles
1 294 (29.22%) Developer
2 147 (14.61%) Senior
3 111 (11.03%) Analyst
4 85 (8.45%) Architect
5 79 (7.85%) Java Developer
6 71 (7.06%) Lead
7 70 (6.96%) Software Engineer
8 67 (6.66%) Business Analyst
9 57 (5.67%) Full Stack Developer
10 55 (5.47%) Project Manager
11 53 (5.27%) Senior Developer
12 47 (4.67%) Solutions Architect
13 37 (3.68%) Consultant
14 33 (3.28%) DevOps Engineer
14 33 (3.28%) Python Developer
15 30 (2.98%) Data Engineer
16 25 (2.49%) Azure Developer
17 24 (2.39%) Senior Java Developer
18 21 (2.09%) C# Developer
18 21 (2.09%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 100 (9.94%) .NET
1 100 (9.94%) React
2 67 (6.66%) REST
3 66 (6.56%) Spring
4 59 (5.86%) Spring Boot
5 57 (5.67%) AngularJS
5 57 (5.67%) HTML
6 50 (4.97%) CSS
7 45 (4.47%) Web Services
8 44 (4.37%) JSON
9 41 (4.08%) RESTful
9 41 (4.08%) XML
10 39 (3.88%) .NET Framework
10 39 (3.88%) Kafka
11 33 (3.28%) JPA
12 27 (2.68%) SOAP
13 26 (2.58%) Node.js
14 24 (2.39%) Middleware
15 23 (2.29%) Hibernate
15 23 (2.29%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 66 (6.56%) Product Ownership
2 42 (4.17%) Management Information System
3 41 (4.08%) Distributed Systems
4 39 (3.88%) Mobile App
5 34 (3.38%) Cloud Native
5 34 (3.38%) Enterprise Software
6 26 (2.58%) Public Cloud
7 24 (2.39%) Algorithms
8 23 (2.29%) Data Structures
8 23 (2.29%) Legacy Systems
9 22 (2.19%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 20 (1.99%) Derivative
10 20 (1.99%) IoT
11 18 (1.79%) Linux Command Line
12 15 (1.49%) Fixed Income
12 15 (1.49%) SWIFT Messaging Network
13 14 (1.39%) Data Protection Act
13 14 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
14 12 (1.19%) Credit Derivative
14 12 (1.19%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 89 (8.85%) Linux
2 67 (6.66%) Windows
3 39 (3.88%) Unix
4 24 (2.39%) Android
5 13 (1.29%) Apple iOS
6 12 (1.19%) Windows Server
7 5 (0.50%) Windows 10
8 4 (0.40%) CentOS
8 4 (0.40%) Data ONTAP
8 4 (0.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 4 (0.40%) SafeRTOS
9 2 (0.20%) VMS
9 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2016
9 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 501 (49.80%) Agile
2 262 (26.04%) DevOps
3 243 (24.16%) CI/CD
4 200 (19.88%) Software Engineering
5 178 (17.69%) Scrum
6 177 (17.59%) Problem-Solving
7 131 (13.02%) Microservices
8 117 (11.63%) Test Automation
9 93 (9.24%) Full Stack Development
10 92 (9.15%) Project Management
11 85 (8.45%) Continuous Improvement
12 84 (8.35%) Computer Science
13 77 (7.65%) Stakeholder Management
14 71 (7.06%) Continuous Integration
15 68 (6.76%) Waterfall
16 67 (6.66%) Analytics
16 67 (6.66%) User Acceptance Testing
17 66 (6.56%) Migration
18 60 (5.96%) TDD
19 59 (5.86%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 245 (24.35%) Java
2 208 (20.68%) SQL
3 194 (19.28%) Python
4 126 (12.52%) C#
5 113 (11.23%) JavaScript
6 68 (6.76%) PowerShell
7 62 (6.16%) TypeScript
8 30 (2.98%) C
9 29 (2.88%) Kotlin
10 28 (2.78%) Go
11 26 (2.58%) C++
11 26 (2.58%) Scala
12 25 (2.49%) PL/SQL
12 25 (2.49%) T-SQL
13 23 (2.29%) Shell Script
14 19 (1.89%) Perl
15 17 (1.69%) PHP
16 14 (1.39%) VB
17 12 (1.19%) Bash
18 10 (0.99%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 166 (16.50%) Degree
2 114 (11.33%) Security Cleared
3 88 (8.75%) SC Cleared
4 53 (5.27%) Computer Science Degree
5 37 (3.68%) DV Cleared
6 27 (2.68%) Master's Degree
7 18 (1.79%) PMP
8 17 (1.69%) AWS Certification
9 16 (1.59%) PMI Certification
10 14 (1.39%) ISTQB
11 11 (1.09%) CISSP
12 10 (0.99%) CISM
13 8 (0.80%) Azure Certification
14 6 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
15 5 (0.50%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
16 4 (0.40%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
16 4 (0.40%) CBAP
17 3 (0.30%) AWS Certified Developer
17 3 (0.30%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
17 3 (0.30%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 100 (9.94%) QA
2 27 (2.68%) NIST
3 23 (2.29%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (1.49%) Data Quality
5 13 (1.29%) PCI DSS
6 12 (1.19%) Accessibility
7 11 (1.09%) PMO
8 8 (0.80%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
9 7 (0.70%) EMIR
10 6 (0.60%) MiFID
10 6 (0.60%) SEPA
11 4 (0.40%) Disclosure Scotland
11 4 (0.40%) GDPR
11 4 (0.40%) HIPAA
11 4 (0.40%) HL7
11 4 (0.40%) IFRS
12 3 (0.30%) Basel III
12 3 (0.30%) SLA
13 2 (0.20%) GAAP
13 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 12207
System Software
1 67 (6.66%) Docker
2 35 (3.48%) Active Directory
3 10 (0.99%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (0.99%) VMware NSX
4 7 (0.70%) VMware ESXi
5 6 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
6 5 (0.50%) NFS
7 4 (0.40%) GPFS
8 3 (0.30%) vCloud
8 3 (0.30%) vSphere
9 2 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.099%) GridGain
10 1 (0.099%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 96 (9.54%) Kubernetes
2 78 (7.75%) Terraform
3 58 (5.77%) Ansible
4 29 (2.88%) Puppet
5 14 (1.39%) Grafana
6 11 (1.09%) Prometheus
7 10 (0.99%) Argo
8 9 (0.89%) Progress Chef
9 8 (0.80%) vRealize
10 7 (0.70%) vCenter Server
10 7 (0.70%) Zipkin
11 6 (0.60%) Kibana
12 4 (0.40%) Veritas Storage Foundation
12 4 (0.40%) vRealize Orchestrator
13 3 (0.30%) Autotask
13 3 (0.30%) HP Fortify
13 3 (0.30%) Netcool
14 2 (0.20%) logstash
14 2 (0.20%) Rancher
14 2 (0.20%) SCOM
Vendors
1 125 (12.43%) Microsoft
2 86 (8.55%) Oracle
3 47 (4.67%) SAP
4 32 (3.18%) ServiceNow
5 28 (2.78%) Databricks
6 26 (2.58%) Salesforce
7 25 (2.49%) VMware
8 23 (2.29%) Google
9 21 (2.09%) IBM
10 14 (1.39%) Atlassian
11 13 (1.29%) MuleSoft
12 11 (1.09%) Bloomberg
12 11 (1.09%) Sybase
13 9 (0.89%) Adobe
13 9 (0.89%) OpenLink
13 9 (0.89%) Refinitiv
14 8 (0.80%) Red Hat
15 7 (0.70%) Solace
15 7 (0.70%) TOWER Software
16 6 (0.60%) Splunk