Will the Software Engineering job market scart to scale in Q2 2024?

As we move through Q2, our Scotland based Senior Consultant Greg Gavin offers you his view on the current state of the Software Engineering job world, with a focus on the Scottish market.

The market across Software Engineering in Q1 2024 started similarly to how it ended in 2023 – relatively quiet. Whilst this fluctuation is expected as we transition into a new year, the market was hesitant to revert to the `usual volume’ of vacancies quickly.

Within the Scottish market, contract roles remain somewhat elusive, with more companies seeking to hire permanent staff where possible. This has been evident in the number of engineers on the contract market spending much greater periods looking for new roles. We expect the contract market to improve as the year progresses, as clients recognise urgent needs to reach deadlines.

The start of Q2 has seen a positive upturn in permanent vacancies. There have been significant opportunities for DevOps & Site Reliability Engineers (AWS appears to be the Cloud provider of choice). We’re also working with clients on a number of opportunities for full stack Software Engineers with wide ranging tech (specifically Node, TypeScript, JavaScript as well as backend tech like Python).

Additionally, we’re working with clients on several leadership roles (Head of Software Development, Engineering Manager, Head of Site Reliability Engineering etc.). Successful candidates in these roles will be busy from a recruitment perspective, as their immediate responsibilities will involve growing and scaling their teams.

If you’re interested to find out more as well as wanting to gain a deeper understanding of Technology and Digital job market as a whole this quarter, click here to download your copy of our latest Technology & Digital Insight Report today.

Our Talent Insights team are available to help you to understand more about talent trends, challenges and opportunities to make data-driven hiring decisions. Get in touch today if you would like to discuss the production of a bespoke report.