Data Scientist Contract Job Trends in Central London

Data Scientist
London > Central London

The median Data Scientist daily rate in Central London is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 September 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 108 116 160
Rank change year-on-year +8 +44 +28
Contract jobs requiring a Data Scientist 19 14 3
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Central London 0.97% 0.60% 0.093%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.05% 0.64% 0.099%
Number of daily rates quoted 16 8 1
10th Percentile £497 £450 -
25th Percentile £530 £563 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £619 £400
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% +54.69% -31.91%
75th Percentile £638 £716 £425
90th Percentile £719 £725 -
London median daily rate £550 £600 £606
% change year-on-year -8.33% -1.03% +3.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £61.25 - -
Median hourly rate £62.50 - -
75th Percentile £63.75 - -
90th Percentile - - -
London median hourly rate £62.50 £52.50 -
% change year-on-year +19.05% - -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
Central London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Central London. 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 Central London with a recognized job title 1,817 2,183 3,044
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 93.13% 94.09% 94.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,234 1,408 2,117
10th Percentile £315 £363 £329
25th Percentile £424 £463 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £575 £585
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% -1.71% +3.54%
75th Percentile £675 £688 £700
90th Percentile £775 £781 £800
London median daily rate £543 £550 £575
% change year-on-year -1.27% -4.35% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 26 13
10th Percentile £18.51 £20.36 £16.69
25th Percentile £22.75 £24.20 £17.00
Median hourly rate £28.15 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.57% - -15.66%
75th Percentile £43.75 £42.13 £42.32
90th Percentile £64.11 £115.00 £65.50
London median hourly rate £30.25 £35.00 £37.34
% change year-on-year -13.57% -6.27% +14.89%

Data Scientist
Job Vacancy Trend in Central London

Job postings that featured Data Scientist in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in Central London.

Job vacancy trend for Data Scientist in Central London

Data Scientist
Daily Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in Central London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in Central London

Data Scientist
Daily Rate Histogram in Central London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Scientist in Central London over the 6 months to 18 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Data Scientist in Central London

Data Scientist
Hourly Rate Trend in Central London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in Central London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in Central London

Data Scientist
Contract Job Locations in Central London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Data Scientist within the Central London region over the 6 months to 18 September 2025. 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
City of London +17 19 £550 -12.00% 50
Data Scientist
London

Data Scientist Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Central London

For the 6 months to 18 September 2025, Data Scientist contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Central London region featuring Data Scientist in the job title.

1 19 (100.00%) Data Science
2 15 (78.95%) Python
3 14 (73.68%) Machine Learning
4 12 (63.16%) SQL
5 11 (57.89%) Visualisation
6 10 (52.63%) Analytical Skills
6 10 (52.63%) Social Skills
7 9 (47.37%) Algorithms
7 9 (47.37%) Actionable Insight
7 9 (47.37%) Analytics
7 9 (47.37%) Statistics
8 8 (42.11%) Artificial Intelligence
8 8 (42.11%) Problem-Solving
8 8 (42.11%) Pandas
9 7 (36.84%) scikit-learn
9 7 (36.84%) Decision-Making
9 7 (36.84%) Finance
10 6 (31.58%) R
10 6 (31.58%) Data Visualisation
10 6 (31.58%) Tableau
10 6 (31.58%) Azure
10 6 (31.58%) Mathematics
10 6 (31.58%) TensorFlow
10 6 (31.58%) Statistical Modelling
11 5 (26.32%) Power BI
11 5 (26.32%) Power Platform
11 5 (26.32%) Analytical Modelling
11 5 (26.32%) LLM
11 5 (26.32%) Degree
11 5 (26.32%) Computer Science

Data Scientist Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Central London 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 4 (21.05%) Apache Spark
2 1 (5.26%) Apache
2 1 (5.26%) SAS
Cloud Services
1 6 (31.58%) Azure
2 5 (26.32%) Power Platform
3 3 (15.79%) AWS
3 3 (15.79%) GCP
4 2 (10.53%) Amazon SageMaker
4 2 (10.53%) Azure Machine Learning
4 2 (10.53%) Snowflake
5 1 (5.26%) Azure AI
5 1 (5.26%) Azure Data Factory
5 1 (5.26%) Azure Key Vault
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (31.58%) Tableau
2 5 (26.32%) Power BI
3 2 (10.53%) Geospatial Data
3 2 (10.53%) Spatial Data
4 1 (5.26%) Apache Hive
4 1 (5.26%) Data Lake
4 1 (5.26%) Data Mining
4 1 (5.26%) Hadoop
4 1 (5.26%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 2 (10.53%) MLflow
2 1 (5.26%) Git
General
1 10 (52.63%) Analytical Skills
1 10 (52.63%) Social Skills
2 7 (36.84%) Finance
3 4 (21.05%) Police
3 4 (21.05%) Presentation Skills
3 4 (21.05%) Public Sector
4 2 (10.53%) Banking
4 2 (10.53%) Documentation Skills
5 1 (5.26%) Financial Institution
5 1 (5.26%) Influencing Skills
5 1 (5.26%) Legal
5 1 (5.26%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (42.11%) Pandas
2 7 (36.84%) scikit-learn
3 6 (31.58%) TensorFlow
4 2 (10.53%) NumPy
4 2 (10.53%) PySpark
5 1 (5.26%) CSS
5 1 (5.26%) Flask
5 1 (5.26%) HTML
5 1 (5.26%) LangChain
5 1 (5.26%) LangGraph
5 1 (5.26%) Semantic Kernel
5 1 (5.26%) XGBoost
Miscellaneous
1 9 (47.37%) Algorithms
2 2 (10.53%) Credit Risk
2 2 (10.53%) Product Ownership
3 1 (5.26%) Analytical Mindset
3 1 (5.26%) Distributed Computing
3 1 (5.26%) Multi-touch
3 1 (5.26%) NHS
3 1 (5.26%) Onboarding
Processes & Methodologies
1 19 (100.00%) Data Science
2 14 (73.68%) Machine Learning
3 11 (57.89%) Visualisation
4 9 (47.37%) Actionable Insight
4 9 (47.37%) Analytics
4 9 (47.37%) Statistics
5 8 (42.11%) Artificial Intelligence
5 8 (42.11%) Problem-Solving
6 7 (36.84%) Decision-Making
7 6 (31.58%) Data Visualisation
7 6 (31.58%) Mathematics
7 6 (31.58%) Statistical Modelling
8 5 (26.32%) Analytical Modelling
8 5 (26.32%) Business Intelligence
8 5 (26.32%) Computer Science
8 5 (26.32%) Data Analysis
8 5 (26.32%) LLM
8 5 (26.32%) Predictive Modelling
9 4 (21.05%) Data-Driven Decision Making
9 4 (21.05%) Generative AI
Programming Languages
1 15 (78.95%) Python
2 12 (63.16%) SQL
3 6 (31.58%) R
4 1 (5.26%) JavaScript
4 1 (5.26%) MATLAB
4 1 (5.26%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 5 (26.32%) Degree
2 4 (21.05%) Security Cleared
3 3 (15.79%) Master's Degree
4 2 (10.53%) PhD
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (10.53%) Data Quality
1 2 (10.53%) NIST
System Software
1 1 (5.26%) Docker
Vendors
1 1 (5.26%) Alteryx
1 1 (5.26%) Bloomberg
1 1 (5.26%) Cloudera
1 1 (5.26%) Databricks
1 1 (5.26%) Foundry
1 1 (5.26%) Oracle