Data Science Contract Job Trends in the City of London

Data Science
Central London > City of London

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the City of London requiring Data Science skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

	6 months to 16 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Rank	91	69	68
Rank change year-on-year	-22	-1	+55
Contract jobs citing Data Science	52	55	54
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London	2.42%	3.20%	2.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category	2.65%	3.38%	2.77%
Number of daily rates quoted	40	41	38
10^th Percentile	£425	£425	£421
25^th Percentile	£475	£519	£486
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£600	£563	£600
Median % change year-on-year	+6.67%	-6.25%	+7.62%
75^th Percentile	£753	£675	£713
90^th Percentile	£795	£709	£741
Central London median daily rate	£550	£556	£600
% change year-on-year	-1.12%	-7.29%	+6.19%
Number of hourly rates quoted	0	2	0
Median hourly rate	-	£45.00	-
Central London median hourly rate	-	£45.00	-

All Process & Methodology Skills
City of London

Data Science falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the City of London.

	6 months to 16 Oct 2026	Same period 2025	Same period 2024
Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills	1,961	1,625	1,948
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London	91.12%	94.42%	91.93%
Number of daily rates quoted	1,353	1,114	1,208
10^th Percentile	£368	£328	£363
25^th Percentile	£455	£424	£463
Median daily rate (50^th Percentile)	£550	£550	£575
Median % change year-on-year	-	-4.35%	-4.17%
75^th Percentile	£688	£675	£688
90^th Percentile	£775	£770	£788
Central London median daily rate	£550	£550	£575
% change year-on-year	-	-4.35%	-2.13%
Number of hourly rates quoted	20	18	17
10^th Percentile	£17.39	£16.90	£16.70
25^th Percentile	£17.60	£20.63	£23.13
Median hourly rate	£20.25	£27.04	£42.50
Median % change year-on-year	-25.10%	-36.39%	+36.00%
75^th Percentile	£27.35	£35.88	£112.00
90^th Percentile	£44.85	£63.75	£137.50
Central London median hourly rate	£24.50	£27.50	£35.00
% change year-on-year	-10.91%	-21.43%	+27.27%

Data Science Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Data Science relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London.

Data Science Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Data Science.

Data Science Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Science in the City of London over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Science in the City of London

Data Science Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the City of London citing Data Science.

Data Science Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of London

For the 6 months to 16 October 2026, contractor job vacancies citing Data Science also mentioned 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 City of London region with a requirement for Data Science.

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	AI	55.8%	29
2	Machine Learning	46.2%	24
3	Analytics	42.3%	22
3	Python	42.3%	22
5	Generative AI	26.9%	14
6	Azure	25.0%	13
6	CI/CD	25.0%	13
6	Decision-Making	25.0%	13
9	SQL	23.1%	12
10	Data Pipeline	21.2%	11
10	LLM	21.2%	11
12	Data Engineering	19.2%	10
13	Infrastructure as Code	15.4%	8
13	MLOps	15.4%	8
13	Roadmaps	15.4%	8
13	SC Cleared	15.4%	8
13	Security Cleared	15.4%	8
13	Terraform	15.4%	8
13	Visualisation	15.4%	8
20	Anomaly Detection	13.5%	7
20	Microsoft	13.5%	7
20	Stakeholder Management	13.5%	7
20	Validation	13.5%	7
24	Data Analytics	11.5%	6
24	Data Quality	11.5%	6
24	Databricks	11.5%	6
24	Observability	11.5%	6
24	Software Engineering	11.5%	6
24	Stakeholder Engagement	11.5%	6
30	Continuous Improvement	9.6%	5

Data Science Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of London by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Processes & Methodologies

Rank	Skill	Share	Job Ads
1	AI	55.8%	29
2	Machine Learning	46.2%	24
3	Analytics	42.3%	22
4	Generative AI	26.9%	14
5	CI/CD	25.0%	13
5	Decision-Making	25.0%	13
7	Data Pipeline	21.2%	11
7	LLM	21.2%	11
9	Data Engineering	19.2%	10
10	Infrastructure as Code	15.4%	8
10	MLOps	15.4%	8
10	Roadmaps	15.4%	8
10	Visualisation	15.4%	8
14	Anomaly Detection	13.5%	7
14	Stakeholder Management	13.5%	7
14	Validation	13.5%	7
17	Data Analytics	11.5%	6
17	Observability	11.5%	6
17	Software Engineering	11.5%	6
17	Stakeholder Engagement	11.5%	6