Senior Contract Job Trends in Reading

Senior
Berkshire > Reading

The median Senior daily rate in Reading is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 4 January 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 28 16 30
Rank change year-on-year -12 +14 -6
Contract jobs requiring a Senior 53 95 64
As % of all contract jobs in Reading 7.28% 10.29% 6.48%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.75% 11.53% 6.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 41 31 36
10th Percentile £400 £422 £406
25th Percentile £423 £545 £500
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% - +5.77%
75th Percentile £606 £616 £628
90th Percentile £700 £713 £724
Berkshire median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 1 3
10th Percentile £71.50 - £60.20
25th Percentile £73.75 £61.58 £62.38
Median hourly rate £79.50 £63.15 £66.00
Median % change year-on-year +25.89% -4.32% +1.54%
75th Percentile £87.94 £64.73 £70.63
90th Percentile £91.43 - £73.40
Berkshire median hourly rate £75.00 £61.50 £60.00
% change year-on-year +21.96% +2.49% -7.69%

All Contract IT Job Roles
Reading

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Reading. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in Reading with a recognized job title 684 824 925
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 93.96% 89.27% 93.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 490 475 618
10th Percentile £325 £308 £213
25th Percentile £425 £431 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £565 £503
Median % change year-on-year -7.08% +12.33% -4.19%
75th Percentile £620 £644 £611
90th Percentile £663 £675 £675
Berkshire median daily rate £500 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 4 18
10th Percentile £14.68 £46.63 £56.50
25th Percentile £57.69 £52.81 £60.88
Median hourly rate £81.50 £60.33 £63.29
Median % change year-on-year +35.10% -4.68% -2.63%
75th Percentile £95.00 £67.26 £66.33
90th Percentile £105.65 £71.82 £67.58
Berkshire median hourly rate £59.50 £60.25 £61.25
% change year-on-year -1.24% -1.64% +11.36%

Senior
Job Vacancy Trend in Reading

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Senior' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Reading.

Senior job vacancy trend in Reading

Senior
Daily Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in Reading.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in Reading

Senior
Daily Rate Histogram in Reading

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Senior in Reading over the 6 months to 4 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Senior in Reading

Senior
Hourly Rate Trend in Reading

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in Reading.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior job vacancies in Reading

Senior
Hourly Rate Histogram in Reading

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Senior in Reading over the 6 months to 4 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Senior in Reading

Senior Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Reading

For the 6 months to 4 January 2026, Senior contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Reading region featuring Senior in the job title.

1 26 (49.06%) Azure
2 18 (33.96%) CI/CD
2 18 (33.96%) Python
3 17 (32.08%) DevOps
4 16 (30.19%) Agile
5 14 (26.42%) Azure DevOps
6 13 (24.53%) PowerShell
7 12 (22.64%) Microsoft
7 12 (22.64%) Security Cleared
8 11 (20.75%) Stakeholder Management
9 10 (18.87%) Bash
10 9 (16.98%) AWS
10 9 (16.98%) Cybersecurity
10 9 (16.98%) JavaScript
10 9 (16.98%) SIEM
11 8 (15.09%) DevSecOps
11 8 (15.09%) Infrastructure as Code
11 8 (15.09%) Kubernetes
11 8 (15.09%) Terraform
11 8 (15.09%) Waterfall
12 7 (13.21%) GitHub
12 7 (13.21%) Linux
12 7 (13.21%) SC Cleared
12 7 (13.21%) Windows
13 6 (11.32%) Active Directory
13 6 (11.32%) Containerisation
13 6 (11.32%) Docker
13 6 (11.32%) GitHub Actions
13 6 (11.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 6 (11.32%) Problem-Solving

Senior Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Reading 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 (5.66%) SharePoint
2 2 (3.77%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (1.89%) Apache Spark
3 1 (1.89%) Confluence
3 1 (1.89%) Smallworld
Applications
1 2 (3.77%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (3.77%) Microsoft Office
1 2 (3.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (1.89%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (1.89%) Oracle EBS
1 1 (1.89%) Oracle Payroll
1 1 (1.89%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 26 (49.06%) Azure
2 14 (26.42%) Azure DevOps
3 9 (16.98%) AWS
4 7 (13.21%) GitHub
5 6 (11.32%) GitHub Actions
6 5 (9.43%) AWS CloudFormation
7 4 (7.55%) Azure Functions
7 4 (7.55%) GCP
7 4 (7.55%) Serverless
8 3 (5.66%) Azure Monitor
8 3 (5.66%) Entra ID
9 2 (3.77%) Azure AKS
9 2 (3.77%) Azure API Management
9 2 (3.77%) Azure Sentinel
9 2 (3.77%) Google Workspace
9 2 (3.77%) Microsoft 365
9 2 (3.77%) Oracle CX
9 2 (3.77%) Power Platform
10 1 (1.89%) Azure Key Vault
10 1 (1.89%) Contentstack
Communications & Networking
1 5 (9.43%) Firewall
1 5 (9.43%) TCP/IP
2 4 (7.55%) DHCP
2 4 (7.55%) DNS
3 2 (3.77%) 5G
3 2 (3.77%) Network Security
3 2 (3.77%) Wireless
4 1 (1.89%) Broadband
4 1 (1.89%) Cisco Nexus
4 1 (1.89%) Fibre Channel
4 1 (1.89%) iSCSI
4 1 (1.89%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.77%) Delta Lake
1 2 (3.77%) Power BI
2 1 (1.89%) Big Data
2 1 (1.89%) GIS
Development Applications
1 4 (7.55%) Jenkins
2 3 (5.66%) Git
2 3 (5.66%) JIRA
3 2 (3.77%) Cucumber
3 2 (3.77%) Selenium
General
1 20 (37.74%) Social Skills
2 6 (11.32%) Finance
3 5 (9.43%) Analytical Skills
4 4 (7.55%) Public Sector
5 3 (5.66%) Billing
6 2 (3.77%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (3.77%) Organisational Skills
6 2 (3.77%) Retail
7 1 (1.89%) Aerospace
7 1 (1.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (1.89%) Marketing
7 1 (1.89%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (9.43%) .NET
1 5 (9.43%) .NET Core
1 5 (9.43%) REST
2 4 (7.55%) ADO
2 4 (7.55%) GraphQL
2 4 (7.55%) React
3 3 (5.66%) Node.js
4 2 (3.77%) AngularJS
4 2 (3.77%) ARM Templates
4 2 (3.77%) HTML
4 2 (3.77%) jQuery
4 2 (3.77%) OAuth
4 2 (3.77%) OAuth2
4 2 (3.77%) OpenID
4 2 (3.77%) SAML
4 2 (3.77%) Web Services
5 1 (1.89%) FastAPI
5 1 (1.89%) Loki
5 1 (1.89%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (1.89%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 5 (9.43%) Onboarding
2 4 (7.55%) Operational Technology
2 4 (7.55%) PKI
3 2 (3.77%) IoT
3 2 (3.77%) Linux Command Line
3 2 (3.77%) Management Information System
3 2 (3.77%) Virtual Team
4 1 (1.89%) Cloud Native
4 1 (1.89%) Data Centre
4 1 (1.89%) Distributed Systems
4 1 (1.89%) FlexPod
4 1 (1.89%) PMI
4 1 (1.89%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 7 (13.21%) Linux
1 7 (13.21%) Windows
2 2 (3.77%) Android
2 2 (3.77%) Apple iOS
2 2 (3.77%) Mac OS
2 2 (3.77%) Unix
3 1 (1.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 1 (1.89%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (33.96%) CI/CD
2 17 (32.08%) DevOps
3 16 (30.19%) Agile
4 11 (20.75%) Stakeholder Management
5 9 (16.98%) Cybersecurity
5 9 (16.98%) SIEM
6 8 (15.09%) DevSecOps
6 8 (15.09%) Infrastructure as Code
6 8 (15.09%) Waterfall
7 6 (11.32%) Containerisation
7 6 (11.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 6 (11.32%) Problem-Solving
8 5 (9.43%) AI
8 5 (9.43%) Platform Engineering
8 5 (9.43%) Process Improvement
8 5 (9.43%) SDLC
8 5 (9.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 4 (7.55%) Data Analysis
9 4 (7.55%) Scrum
9 4 (7.55%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 18 (33.96%) Python
2 13 (24.53%) PowerShell
3 10 (18.87%) Bash
4 9 (16.98%) JavaScript
5 5 (9.43%) C#
5 5 (9.43%) Java
6 4 (7.55%) PHP
7 2 (3.77%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (1.89%) Go
8 1 (1.89%) Magik
8 1 (1.89%) Scala
8 1 (1.89%) SQL
Qualifications
1 12 (22.64%) Security Cleared
2 7 (13.21%) SC Cleared
3 4 (7.55%) AWS Certification
3 4 (7.55%) PMI Certification
4 3 (5.66%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
4 3 (5.66%) PMP
4 3 (5.66%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
5 2 (3.77%) (ISC)2 CCSP
5 2 (3.77%) CCSP
5 2 (3.77%) Cisco Certification
5 2 (3.77%) CISM
5 2 (3.77%) CISSP
5 2 (3.77%) GCFA
5 2 (3.77%) GCFE
5 2 (3.77%) GCIH
5 2 (3.77%) GREM
6 1 (1.89%) ACCA
6 1 (1.89%) Degree
6 1 (1.89%) DV Cleared
6 1 (1.89%) ICAEW
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (7.55%) PMO
2 3 (5.66%) QA
3 2 (3.77%) Data Quality
4 1 (1.89%) Accessibility
4 1 (1.89%) GDPR
4 1 (1.89%) GRC
4 1 (1.89%) IFRS
4 1 (1.89%) IFRS 9
4 1 (1.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (1.89%) NIST
4 1 (1.89%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 6 (11.32%) Active Directory
1 6 (11.32%) Docker
1 6 (11.32%) VMware Infrastructure
2 4 (7.55%) Hyper-V
3 1 (1.89%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 8 (15.09%) Kubernetes
1 8 (15.09%) Terraform
2 4 (7.55%) Ansible
3 2 (3.77%) EnCase
3 2 (3.77%) FTK
4 1 (1.89%) Argo
4 1 (1.89%) Cisco CUCM
4 1 (1.89%) Grafana
4 1 (1.89%) Kustomize
4 1 (1.89%) Prometheus
4 1 (1.89%) SCCM
Vendors
1 12 (22.64%) Microsoft
2 6 (11.32%) VMware
3 4 (7.55%) Oracle
4 3 (5.66%) Databricks
5 2 (3.77%) Cisco
5 2 (3.77%) CrowdStrike
5 2 (3.77%) Darktrace
5 2 (3.77%) LogRhythm
5 2 (3.77%) ServiceNow
6 1 (1.89%) Aruba
6 1 (1.89%) Commvault
6 1 (1.89%) Fortinet
6 1 (1.89%) NetApp
6 1 (1.89%) Palo Alto
6 1 (1.89%) Red Hat
6 1 (1.89%) Remedy
6 1 (1.89%) Virgin Media