Life Science Contract Job Trends in the City of London

Life Sciences
Central London > City of London

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Life Science in contract job vacancies in the City of London. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Life Science over the 6 months leading up to 4 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 130 112 121
Rank change year-on-year -18 +9 +39
Contract jobs citing Life Science 9 3 4
As % of all contract jobs in the City of London 0.40% 0.17% 0.19%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.10% 0.45% 0.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 0 1
10th Percentile £372 - -
25th Percentile £395 - £743
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £444 - £755
Median % change year-on-year - - -5.63%
75th Percentile £495 - £768
90th Percentile £521 - -
Central London median daily rate £444 - £755
% change year-on-year - - -5.63%

All Generic Skills
City of London

Life Science falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in the City of London.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 816 669 634
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the City of London 35.92% 37.93% 30.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 565 458 396
10th Percentile £365 £346 £350
25th Percentile £463 £463 £479
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £565 £600 £599
Median % change year-on-year -5.83% +0.21% -0.21%
75th Percentile £688 £700 £725
90th Percentile £775 £813 £838
Central London median daily rate £550 £600 £591
% change year-on-year -8.29% +1.48% -1.46%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 9 5
10th Percentile £19.34 £16.96 £18.40
25th Percentile £21.00 £19.79 £22.00
Median hourly rate £26.13 £27.50 £27.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.98% +1.85% -25.00%
75th Percentile £37.17 £65.57 -
90th Percentile £43.00 £91.00 £66.30
Central London median hourly rate £33.53 £26.98 £25.79
% change year-on-year +24.31% +4.59% -26.31%

Life Science
Job Vacancy Trend in the City of London

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

Life Science job vacancy trend in the City of London

Life Science
Daily Rate Trend in the City of London

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

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

Life Science
Daily Rate Histogram in the City of London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Life Science in the City of London over the 6 months to 4 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Life Science in the City of London

Life Science
Hourly Rate Trend in the City of London

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

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

Life Science
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:

Applications
1 1 (11.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (11.11%) Oracle Payables
1 1 (11.11%) Oracle Receivables
Cloud Services
1 2 (22.22%) GCP
1 2 (22.22%) GitHub
2 1 (11.11%) Cloud Run
2 1 (11.11%) Figma
2 1 (11.11%) Microsoft 365
Development Applications
1 2 (22.22%) Git
2 1 (11.11%) Cypress.io
General
1 6 (66.67%) Social Skills
2 5 (55.56%) Pharmaceutical
3 3 (33.33%) Finance
4 2 (22.22%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (22.22%) Manufacturing
5 1 (11.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (11.11%) Influencing Skills
5 1 (11.11%) Local Government
5 1 (11.11%) Organisational Skills
5 1 (11.11%) Retail
Job Titles
1 2 (22.22%) Analyst
1 2 (22.22%) Product Owner
2 1 (11.11%) Business Analyst
2 1 (11.11%) Consultant
2 1 (11.11%) Developer
2 1 (11.11%) ERP Analyst
2 1 (11.11%) ERP Business Analyst
2 1 (11.11%) Full-Stack Engineer
2 1 (11.11%) Full-Stack Software Engineer
2 1 (11.11%) IT Analyst
2 1 (11.11%) Junior
2 1 (11.11%) Junior Analyst
2 1 (11.11%) Programme Manager
2 1 (11.11%) Project Manager
2 1 (11.11%) Python Developer
2 1 (11.11%) Senior
2 1 (11.11%) Senior Analyst
2 1 (11.11%) Senior Business Analyst
2 1 (11.11%) Software Engineer
2 1 (11.11%) Transformation Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (22.22%) FastAPI
1 2 (22.22%) React
2 1 (11.11%) LangGraph
2 1 (11.11%) Playwright
2 1 (11.11%) pytest
2 1 (11.11%) RESTful
2 1 (11.11%) Terraform
Miscellaneous
1 2 (22.22%) Analytical Mindset
1 2 (22.22%) Onboarding
1 2 (22.22%) Product Ownership
2 1 (11.11%) AI Agents
2 1 (11.11%) Cloud Native
2 1 (11.11%) Genomics
2 1 (11.11%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 1 (11.11%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (55.56%) Agile
1 5 (55.56%) AI
2 4 (44.44%) Continuous Improvement
2 4 (44.44%) Machine Learning
2 4 (44.44%) Problem-Solving
3 3 (33.33%) Data Engineering
3 3 (33.33%) Roadmaps
3 3 (33.33%) Scrum
3 3 (33.33%) Software Engineering
3 3 (33.33%) Stakeholder Management
4 2 (22.22%) Business Analysis
4 2 (22.22%) Data Governance
4 2 (22.22%) DevOps
4 2 (22.22%) Kanban
4 2 (22.22%) Product Management
4 2 (22.22%) Product Requirements
4 2 (22.22%) Project Management
4 2 (22.22%) Test Automation
4 2 (22.22%) User Stories
4 2 (22.22%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 2 (22.22%) Python
2 1 (11.11%) JavaScript
2 1 (11.11%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 2 (22.22%) CSPO
1 2 (22.22%) Degree
2 1 (11.11%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (22.22%) 21 CFR Part 11
1 2 (22.22%) GxP
1 2 (22.22%) QA
System Software
1 2 (22.22%) Docker
2 1 (11.11%) Active Directory
Vendors
1 2 (22.22%) Google
2 1 (11.11%) Microsoft
2 1 (11.11%) Oracle
2 1 (11.11%) SAP