PhD Contract Job Trends in Essex

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil, EngD, Doctorate)
East of England > Essex

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in Essex with a requirement for PhD qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered over the 6 months leading up to 2 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 35 - -
Rank change year-on-year - - -
Contract jobs citing PhD 1 0 0
As % of all contract jobs in Essex 0.37% - -
As % of the Qualifications category 3.23% - -
Number of daily rates quoted 1 0 0
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £72 - -
East of England median daily rate £186 £650 £800
% change year-on-year -71.38% -18.75% -

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Essex

PhD falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in Essex.

Contract vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 31 26 44
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in Essex 11.36% 24.76% 19.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 14 6 20
10th Percentile £342 £153 £105
25th Percentile £406 £171 £339
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £225 £525
Median % change year-on-year +100.00% -57.14% +5.00%
75th Percentile £521 - £613
90th Percentile £605 £281 £675
East of England median daily rate £507 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +1.40% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 8 19
10th Percentile £16.17 - £15.18
25th Percentile £23.47 £18.87 £38.20
Median hourly rate £55.00 £19.94 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +175.90% -63.75% -15.38%
75th Percentile £60.00 £24.10 £74.13
90th Percentile £66.00 £29.46 £80.00
East of England median hourly rate £49.42 £35.37 £41.38
% change year-on-year +39.73% -14.54% +97.06%

PhD
Job Vacancy Trend in Essex

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing PhD relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Essex.

PhD job vacancy trend in Essex

PhD
Contract Job Locations in Essex

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing PhD within the Essex region over the 6 months to 2 July 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
Basildon - 1 £72 -
PhD
East of England

PhD
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Essex 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 (100.00%) Simulink
Communications & Networking
1 1 (100.00%) Ethernet
General
1 1 (100.00%) Electronics
1 1 (100.00%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 1 (100.00%) Electronics Engineer
1 1 (100.00%) Principal Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 1 (100.00%) Analogue Electronics
1 1 (100.00%) FPGA
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Electronic Design Automation
1 1 (100.00%) Physics
1 1 (100.00%) Process Improvement
1 1 (100.00%) Schematic Capture
Programming Languages
1 1 (100.00%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 1 (100.00%) Degree
1 1 (100.00%) Master's Degree
1 1 (100.00%) SC Cleared
1 1 (100.00%) Security Cleared
Vendors
1 1 (100.00%) Siemens
1 1 (100.00%) Xilinx