Data Scientist Contract Job Trends in the City of London

Data Scientist
Central London > City of London

The median Data Scientist daily rate in the City of London is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 December 2025.

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

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 106 101 133
Rank change year-on-year -5 +32 +51
Contract jobs requiring a Data Scientist 18 21 4
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 0.99% 1.02% 0.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.06% 1.09% 0.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 15 13 1
10th Percentile £385 £560 -
25th Percentile £444 £606 £520
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £700 £540
Median % change year-on-year -21.43% +29.63% -2.92%
75th Percentile £656 - £560
90th Percentile £738 £723 -
Central London median daily rate £550 £650 £540
% change year-on-year -15.38% +20.37% -2.92%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 0
Median hourly rate - £22.00 -
Central London median hourly rate - £22.00 -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
City of London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the City of 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 the City of London with a recognized job title 1,706 1,922 2,383
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 93.58% 93.03% 94.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,197 1,182 1,714
10th Percentile £328 £363 £350
25th Percentile £423 £463 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £575 £575
Median % change year-on-year -6.09% - -
75th Percentile £675 £685 £688
90th Percentile £775 £788 £800
Central London median daily rate £550 £575 £569
% change year-on-year -4.35% +1.05% -1.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 13 14
10th Percentile £19.98 £15.60 £17.00
25th Percentile £24.36 £22.00 £19.51
Median hourly rate £31.00 £57.50 £24.50
Median % change year-on-year -46.09% +134.69% -30.00%
75th Percentile £43.33 £112.00 £44.56
90th Percentile £55.25 £132.40 £66.25
Central London median hourly rate £26.11 £35.00 £24.99
% change year-on-year -25.40% +40.08% -23.12%

Data Scientist
Job Vacancy Trend in the City of 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 the City of London.

Data Scientist job vacancy trend in the City of London

Data Scientist
Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the City of London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the City of London

Data Scientist
Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Scientist in the City of London over the 6 months to 21 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Data Scientist in the City of London

Data Scientist
Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the City of London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the City of London

Data Scientist Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of London

For the 6 months to 21 December 2025, 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 City of London region featuring Data Scientist in the job title.

1 18 (100.00%) Data Science
2 16 (88.89%) AI
3 14 (77.78%) Python
4 13 (72.22%) Analytics
5 12 (66.67%) Visualisation
6 11 (61.11%) Machine Learning
7 10 (55.56%) Generative AI
7 10 (55.56%) Power Platform
8 9 (50.00%) Actionable Insight
8 9 (50.00%) Azure
8 9 (50.00%) scikit-learn
9 8 (44.44%) Business Intelligence
9 8 (44.44%) Pandas
9 8 (44.44%) Power BI
10 7 (38.89%) Data Analysis
10 7 (38.89%) Data Visualisation
11 6 (33.33%) Agile
11 6 (33.33%) NumPy
11 6 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
11 6 (33.33%) Tableau
12 5 (27.78%) GCP
13 4 (22.22%) AWS
13 4 (22.22%) Azure Machine Learning
13 4 (22.22%) Computer Science
13 4 (22.22%) Data Modelling
13 4 (22.22%) Degree
13 4 (22.22%) Google
13 4 (22.22%) LLM
13 4 (22.22%) Natural Language Processing
13 4 (22.22%) Software Engineering

Data Scientist Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the City of 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 10 (55.56%) Power Platform
2 9 (50.00%) Azure
3 5 (27.78%) GCP
4 4 (22.22%) AWS
4 4 (22.22%) Azure Machine Learning
5 3 (16.67%) Amazon SageMaker
5 3 (16.67%) Google Gemini
6 2 (11.11%) Cloud Computing
6 2 (11.11%) IBM Watson
6 2 (11.11%) Snowflake
7 1 (5.56%) Azure AI
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (44.44%) Power BI
2 6 (33.33%) Tableau
3 2 (11.11%) Geospatial Data
3 2 (11.11%) Spatial Data
4 1 (5.56%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 1 (5.56%) Git
1 1 (5.56%) MLflow
General
1 11 (61.11%) Analytical Skills
2 9 (50.00%) Social Skills
3 6 (33.33%) Finance
4 4 (22.22%) Banking
5 3 (16.67%) Public Sector
6 1 (5.56%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (5.56%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (50.00%) scikit-learn
2 8 (44.44%) Pandas
3 6 (33.33%) NumPy
4 3 (16.67%) Matplotlib
4 3 (16.67%) Seaborn
5 2 (11.11%) PyTorch
5 2 (11.11%) TensorFlow
6 1 (5.56%) CSS
6 1 (5.56%) Flask
6 1 (5.56%) HTML
6 1 (5.56%) LangChain
6 1 (5.56%) LangGraph
6 1 (5.56%) Semantic Kernel
Miscellaneous
1 7 (38.89%) Algorithms
2 2 (11.11%) Product Ownership
3 1 (5.56%) Clustering
3 1 (5.56%) NHS
3 1 (5.56%) Onboarding
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (100.00%) Data Science
2 16 (88.89%) AI
3 13 (72.22%) Analytics
4 12 (66.67%) Visualisation
5 11 (61.11%) Machine Learning
6 10 (55.56%) Generative AI
7 9 (50.00%) Actionable Insight
8 8 (44.44%) Business Intelligence
9 7 (38.89%) Data Analysis
9 7 (38.89%) Data Visualisation
10 6 (33.33%) Agile
10 6 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
11 4 (22.22%) Computer Science
11 4 (22.22%) Data Modelling
11 4 (22.22%) LLM
11 4 (22.22%) Natural Language Processing
11 4 (22.22%) Software Engineering
11 4 (22.22%) Storytelling
12 3 (16.67%) Data Governance
12 3 (16.67%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 14 (77.78%) Python
2 4 (22.22%) SQL
3 1 (5.56%) JavaScript
3 1 (5.56%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 4 (22.22%) Degree
2 3 (16.67%) Security Cleared
3 1 (5.56%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (5.56%) Data Quality
1 1 (5.56%) NIST
System Software
1 1 (5.56%) Docker
Vendors
1 4 (22.22%) Google
2 3 (16.67%) Microsoft
3 2 (11.11%) Cognos
3 2 (11.11%) IBM
3 2 (11.11%) Sage
4 1 (5.56%) Alteryx
4 1 (5.56%) Bloomberg
4 1 (5.56%) Cloudera
4 1 (5.56%) Foundry
4 1 (5.56%) Oracle