Junior Software Engineer Contract Job Trends

Junior Software Engineer
UK

The median Junior Software Engineer daily rate in the UK is £400, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 March 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 601 521 597
Rank change year-on-year -80 +76 -
Contract jobs requiring a Junior Software Engineer 8 6 2
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.018% 0.020% 0.005%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.020% 0.022% 0.005%
Number of daily rates quoted 8 5 1
10th Percentile £340 - -
25th Percentile - £225 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £270 £500
Median % change year-on-year +48.15% -46.00% -
75th Percentile - - -
90th Percentile - £295 -
UK excluding London median daily rate - £270 £500
% change year-on-year - -46.00% -

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 the UK with a recognized job title 40,867 27,187 41,091
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.04% 92.82% 92.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,444 17,883 26,923
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.67%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +2.11% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,559 948 2,529
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.08 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.52 £20.99 £16.25
Median hourly rate £38.63 £32.50 £32.90
Median % change year-on-year +18.86% -1.20% -24.60%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.53 £71.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £32.25 £32.90
% change year-on-year +24.03% -1.96% -20.57%

Junior Software Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Junior Software Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Junior Software Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Junior Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Junior Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Junior Software Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Junior Software Engineer over the 6 months to 30 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Junior Software Engineer in the UK

Junior Software Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Junior Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Junior Software Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Junior Software Engineer
Top 2 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Junior Software Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 30 March 2026. 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
London -45 8 £400 - 3
England -104 8 £400 +28.62% 10

Junior Software Engineer Skill Set
Top 13 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 30 March 2026, Junior Software Engineer 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 featuring Junior Software Engineer in the job title.

1 8 (100.00%) REST
1 8 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 7 (87.50%) .NET
2 7 (87.50%) C#
2 7 (87.50%) Clean Code
2 7 (87.50%) Computer Science
2 7 (87.50%) OO
2 7 (87.50%) OOP
2 7 (87.50%) Relational Database
2 7 (87.50%) SQL
3 1 (12.50%) Java
3 1 (12.50%) Spring
3 1 (12.50%) Spring Boot

Junior Software Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (87.50%) Relational Database
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (100.00%) REST
2 7 (87.50%) .NET
3 1 (12.50%) Spring
3 1 (12.50%) Spring Boot
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (100.00%) Software Engineering
2 7 (87.50%) Clean Code
2 7 (87.50%) Computer Science
2 7 (87.50%) OO
2 7 (87.50%) OOP
Programming Languages
1 7 (87.50%) C#
1 7 (87.50%) SQL
2 1 (12.50%) Java