Pharmaceutical Contract Job Trends in the North West

Pharmaceutical (Pharma)
England > North West

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Pharmaceutical in contract job vacancies in the North West. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Pharmaceutical over the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 118 60 53
Rank change year-on-year -58 -7 +95
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 27 61 91
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 1.07% 2.97% 3.39%
As % of the General category 1.77% 5.08% 6.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 21 27 76
10th Percentile - £450 £265
25th Percentile £500 £463 £404
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £545 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.50% +3.81% +5.00%
75th Percentile £713 £656 £538
90th Percentile £804 £693 £555
England median daily rate £528 £550 £525
% change year-on-year -4.09% +4.76% +1.74%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 16 5
10th Percentile - £17.00 £16.46
25th Percentile - £20.69 £17.14
Median hourly rate £18.87 £32.50 £17.50
Median % change year-on-year -41.94% +85.71% +37.25%
75th Percentile - £33.75 £17.75
90th Percentile - - £33.35
England median hourly rate £85.00 £32.50 £25.50
% change year-on-year +161.54% +27.45% +56.92%

All General Skills
North West

Pharmaceutical falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 1,522 1,201 1,456
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 60.59% 58.39% 54.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 982 645 947
10th Percentile £200 £260 £256
25th Percentile £350 £360 £399
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £643 £678 £700
England median daily rate £500 £530 £550
% change year-on-year -5.66% -3.64% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 125 87 117
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.74 £12.94
25th Percentile £18.50 £19.00 £16.25
Median hourly rate £29.60 £27.13 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.12% +23.30% +4.51%
75th Percentile £45.46 £40.75 £43.75
90th Percentile £67.84 £66.27 £52.78
England median hourly rate £23.00 £30.00 £30.49
% change year-on-year -23.33% -1.60% +18.58%

Pharmaceutical
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Pharmaceutical relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Pharmaceutical job vacancy trend in the North West

Pharmaceutical
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Pharmaceutical.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Pharmaceutical

Pharmaceutical
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Pharmaceutical in the North West over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the North West

Pharmaceutical
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Pharmaceutical.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Pharmaceutical

Pharmaceutical
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Pharmaceutical within the North West region over the 6 months to 14 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
Cheshire -35 18 £500 -8.26% 6
Manchester -17 6 £700 +33.33% 12
Lancashire -11 1 - - 6
Merseyside -12 1 £150 - 4
Pharmaceutical
England

Pharmaceutical
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (3.70%) Apache Airflow
Applications
1 1 (3.70%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 13 (48.15%) SAP S/4HANA
2 1 (3.70%) SAP ERP
2 1 (3.70%) SAP MDG
Cloud Services
1 2 (7.41%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (3.70%) AWS
2 1 (3.70%) Azure
2 1 (3.70%) OneDrive
2 1 (3.70%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 2 (7.41%) Network Security
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (7.41%) Data Lake
2 1 (3.70%) Data Warehouse
2 1 (3.70%) Metadata
2 1 (3.70%) Neo4j
2 1 (3.70%) Power BI
General
1 15 (55.56%) Social Skills
2 5 (18.52%) Finance
3 4 (14.81%) Manufacturing
4 1 (3.70%) Billing
Job Titles
1 7 (25.93%) Architect
2 6 (22.22%) Consultant
3 5 (18.52%) Analyst
4 4 (14.81%) Process Consultant
5 3 (11.11%) Business Process Analyst
5 3 (11.11%) Lead
5 3 (11.11%) Lean Consultant
5 3 (11.11%) Process Analyst
5 3 (11.11%) SAP Consultant
6 2 (7.41%) Data Architect
6 2 (7.41%) Information Architect
6 2 (7.41%) Network Architect
6 2 (7.41%) Network Security Architect
6 2 (7.41%) Process Mapping Consultant
6 2 (7.41%) Security Architect
6 2 (7.41%) Six Sigma Consultant
6 2 (7.41%) Supply Chain Consultant
7 1 (3.70%) Desktop Support
7 1 (3.70%) Support Analyst
7 1 (3.70%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (3.70%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 2 (7.41%) Data Fabric
1 2 (7.41%) Data Structures
2 1 (3.70%) Cloud Native
2 1 (3.70%) Data Protection Act
2 1 (3.70%) Enterprise Software
2 1 (3.70%) FMCG
2 1 (3.70%) Hybrid Cloud
2 1 (3.70%) Operational Technology
2 1 (3.70%) Taxonomies
2 1 (3.70%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 2 (7.41%) Mac OS
1 2 (7.41%) Windows
1 2 (7.41%) Windows 10
2 1 (3.70%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 9 (33.33%) Continuous Improvement
1 9 (33.33%) Lean Six Sigma
1 9 (33.33%) Process Improvement
1 9 (33.33%) Six Sigma
2 8 (29.63%) ERP
3 6 (22.22%) Migration
3 6 (22.22%) Stakeholder Management
4 5 (18.52%) Business Process Mapping
4 5 (18.52%) Coaching
4 5 (18.52%) Problem-Solving
4 5 (18.52%) Process Management
4 5 (18.52%) Workshop Facilitation
5 4 (14.81%) Data Modelling
5 4 (14.81%) Roadmaps
6 3 (11.11%) Data Governance
6 3 (11.11%) Data Strategy
6 3 (11.11%) SAP Implementation
6 3 (11.11%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 3 (11.11%) Supply Chain Planning
6 3 (11.11%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 1 (3.70%) Python
Qualifications
1 3 (11.11%) Six Sigma Green Belt
2 2 (7.41%) CCNP
2 2 (7.41%) CCSA
2 2 (7.41%) Cisco Certification
2 2 (7.41%) Degree
3 1 (3.70%) A+ Certification
3 1 (3.70%) ACCA
3 1 (3.70%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (7.41%) Data Quality
2 1 (3.70%) GMP
System Software
1 1 (3.70%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (3.70%) Microsoft Intune
1 1 (3.70%) SCCM
1 1 (3.70%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 13 (48.15%) SAP
2 2 (7.41%) LabWare
2 2 (7.41%) Palo Alto
2 2 (7.41%) ServiceNow
2 2 (7.41%) Zscaler
3 1 (3.70%) Apple
3 1 (3.70%) Ariba
3 1 (3.70%) CyberArk
3 1 (3.70%) Dell
3 1 (3.70%) HP
3 1 (3.70%) Microsoft
3 1 (3.70%) Siemens