Data Scientist Contract Job Trends in Central London

Data Scientist
London > Central London

The median Data Scientist daily rate in Central London is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 25 January 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 110 103 135
Rank change year-on-year -7 +32 +42
Contract jobs requiring a Data Scientist 21 23 6
As % of all contract jobs in Central London 1.02% 1.07% 0.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.08% 1.16% 0.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 16 15 3
10th Percentile £389 £474 £541
25th Percentile £456 £530 £573
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £625 £650
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% -3.85% +33.33%
75th Percentile £647 £700 £675
90th Percentile £738 £715 -
London median daily rate £538 £600 £550
% change year-on-year -10.42% +9.09% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 0
Median hourly rate - £22.00 -
London median hourly rate - £37.25 £45.00
% change year-on-year - -17.22% -

All Contract IT Job Roles
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 1,942 1,989 2,511
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 94.23% 92.73% 94.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,343 1,256 1,809
10th Percentile £344 £363 £340
25th Percentile £431 £463 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £575 £563
Median % change year-on-year -6.52% +2.22% -2.17%
75th Percentile £675 £675 £688
90th Percentile £775 £775 £800
London median daily rate £525 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -4.55% - -6.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 19 32
10th Percentile £19.24 £17.28 £17.19
25th Percentile £25.47 £23.70 £21.25
Median hourly rate £26.11 £35.00 £26.91
Median % change year-on-year -25.40% +30.09% +7.62%
75th Percentile £41.94 - £36.88
90th Percentile £50.30 £55.80 £63.53
London median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £29.00
% change year-on-year -2.86% +20.69% -10.77%

Data Scientist
Job Vacancy Trend in Central London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Data Scientist' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Central London.

Data Scientist job vacancy trend 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 25 January 2026.

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 25 January 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
City of London -1 20 £500 -28.57% 11
Data Scientist
London

Data Scientist Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Central London

For the 6 months to 25 January 2026, Data Scientist 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 Central London region featuring Data Scientist in the job title.

1 21 (100.00%) Data Science
2 18 (85.71%) AI
3 16 (76.19%) Analytics
3 16 (76.19%) Generative AI
4 14 (66.67%) Python
5 12 (57.14%) Machine Learning
5 12 (57.14%) Power Platform
5 12 (57.14%) Visualisation
6 11 (52.38%) scikit-learn
7 10 (47.62%) Business Intelligence
7 10 (47.62%) Power BI
8 8 (38.10%) Actionable Insight
8 8 (38.10%) Agile
8 8 (38.10%) Azure
8 8 (38.10%) Data Analysis
8 8 (38.10%) Data Visualisation
8 8 (38.10%) Pandas
9 7 (33.33%) NumPy
9 7 (33.33%) Security Cleared
9 7 (33.33%) Tableau
10 6 (28.57%) Google
10 6 (28.57%) Natural Language Processing
10 6 (28.57%) Software Engineering
11 5 (23.81%) GCP
11 5 (23.81%) LLM
11 5 (23.81%) Model Validation
11 5 (23.81%) Problem-Solving
11 5 (23.81%) Storytelling
12 4 (19.05%) AWS
12 4 (19.05%) Exploratory Data Analysis

Data Scientist Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Central London 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:

Cloud Services
1 12 (57.14%) Power Platform
2 8 (38.10%) Azure
3 5 (23.81%) GCP
4 4 (19.05%) AWS
4 4 (19.05%) Google Gemini
5 3 (14.29%) Amazon SageMaker
5 3 (14.29%) Azure Machine Learning
5 3 (14.29%) Cloud Computing
5 3 (14.29%) IBM Watson
6 1 (4.76%) Azure AI
6 1 (4.76%) Snowflake
6 1 (4.76%) Vertex AI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (47.62%) Power BI
2 7 (33.33%) Tableau
3 1 (4.76%) Geospatial Data
3 1 (4.76%) Oracle Database
3 1 (4.76%) Spatial Data
General
1 12 (57.14%) Analytical Skills
2 6 (28.57%) Finance
2 6 (28.57%) Social Skills
3 5 (23.81%) Public Sector
4 4 (19.05%) Banking
5 2 (9.52%) Marketing
6 1 (4.76%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (52.38%) scikit-learn
2 8 (38.10%) Pandas
3 7 (33.33%) NumPy
4 4 (19.05%) Matplotlib
4 4 (19.05%) Seaborn
5 3 (14.29%) PyTorch
5 3 (14.29%) TensorFlow
6 1 (4.76%) LangChain
6 1 (4.76%) LangGraph
6 1 (4.76%) Semantic Kernel
Miscellaneous
1 8 (38.10%) Algorithms
2 2 (9.52%) Marketing Technology
3 1 (4.76%) Clustering
3 1 (4.76%) NHS
3 1 (4.76%) Onboarding
3 1 (4.76%) Product Ownership
Processes & Methodologies
1 21 (100.00%) Data Science
2 18 (85.71%) AI
3 16 (76.19%) Analytics
3 16 (76.19%) Generative AI
4 12 (57.14%) Machine Learning
4 12 (57.14%) Visualisation
5 10 (47.62%) Business Intelligence
6 8 (38.10%) Actionable Insight
6 8 (38.10%) Agile
6 8 (38.10%) Data Analysis
6 8 (38.10%) Data Visualisation
7 6 (28.57%) Natural Language Processing
7 6 (28.57%) Software Engineering
8 5 (23.81%) LLM
8 5 (23.81%) Model Validation
8 5 (23.81%) Problem-Solving
8 5 (23.81%) Storytelling
9 4 (19.05%) Exploratory Data Analysis
10 3 (14.29%) Data Engineering
10 3 (14.29%) SDLC
Programming Languages
1 14 (66.67%) Python
2 4 (19.05%) SQL
3 1 (4.76%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 7 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 4 (19.05%) SC Cleared
3 3 (14.29%) Degree
Vendors
1 6 (28.57%) Google
2 3 (14.29%) Cognos
2 3 (14.29%) IBM
2 3 (14.29%) Microsoft
2 3 (14.29%) Sage
3 1 (4.76%) Alteryx
3 1 (4.76%) Foundry
3 1 (4.76%) Oracle