Algorithms Contract Job Trends

Algorithms
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Algorithms in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Algorithms over the 6 months leading up to 17 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 395 266 265
Rank change year-on-year -129 -1 +48
Contract jobs citing Algorithms 306 331 343
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 1.00% 0.90%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.65% 2.83% 2.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 180 215 225
10th Percentile £281 £385 £375
25th Percentile £414 £463 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -5.14%
75th Percentile £700 £699 £725
90th Percentile £826 £850 £853
UK excluding London median daily rate £378 £525 £490
% change year-on-year -28.07% +7.14% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 24 18
10th Percentile £64.25 £22.29 £25.60
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.50 £32.25
Median hourly rate £70.00 £69.50 £48.75
Median % change year-on-year +0.72% +42.56% +39.29%
75th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £56.56
90th Percentile £88.75 £82.63 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £72.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year -2.78% +44.00% +42.86%

All Generic Skills
UK

Algorithms 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 18,579 11,706 11,640
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.99% 35.54% 30.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,149 7,155 7,137
10th Percentile £325 £299 £294
25th Percentile £425 £406 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £540
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -4.63% -1.82%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £675
90th Percentile £749 £756 £802
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,179 586 477
10th Percentile £14.07 £15.13 £14.41
25th Percentile £17.99 £18.87 £21.25
Median hourly rate £37.50 £30.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -40.00% +11.11%
75th Percentile £68.75 £55.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £30.05 £57.35
% change year-on-year +28.84% -47.60% +17.04%

Algorithms
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Algorithms job vacancy trend in the UK

Algorithms
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Algorithms.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Algorithms

Algorithms
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Algorithms over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Algorithms in the UK

Algorithms
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Algorithms.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Algorithms

Algorithms
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Algorithms over the 6 months to 17 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Algorithms in the UK

Algorithms
Top 15 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Algorithms within the UK over the 6 months to 17 September 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
England -115 279 £600 +9.09% 1,848
London -70 175 £675 +17.39% 1,134
UK excluding London -139 112 £378 -28.07% 828
Work from Home -46 85 £638 +27.50% 601
South East -65 34 £465 -7.00% 222
South West -25 23 - - 122
East of England -48 19 £193 -63.33% 172
North of England -86 17 £415 -27.83% 115
North West -39 12 £415 -24.55% 70
Scotland -32 11 £556 +8.39% 92
Midlands -60 7 £196 -62.22% 82
Yorkshire -55 5 £215 -64.04% 29
East Midlands -5 4 £180 -63.41% 37
West Midlands -66 3 £306 -43.02% 45
Wales -15 1 £550 -18.52% 15

Algorithms
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 9 (2.94%) Apache Spark
2 8 (2.61%) Confluence
3 7 (2.29%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (1.63%) Apache
5 4 (1.31%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.33%) CMS
6 1 (0.33%) Ethereum
6 1 (0.33%) IIS
6 1 (0.33%) SAS
6 1 (0.33%) Solana
Applications
1 8 (2.61%) CPLEX
1 8 (2.61%) Simulink
2 3 (0.98%) Spreadsheet
3 2 (0.65%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.33%) Adobe Premiere
4 1 (0.33%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 10 (3.27%) SAP IBP
2 5 (1.63%) ProductWriter
3 2 (0.65%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
4 1 (0.33%) SAP APO
4 1 (0.33%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 47 (15.36%) Azure
2 44 (14.38%) GCP
3 38 (12.42%) AWS
4 18 (5.88%) GitHub
5 9 (2.94%) Cloud Computing
6 7 (2.29%) AWS Lambda
6 7 (2.29%) Serverless
7 6 (1.96%) Amazon EKS
7 6 (1.96%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.63%) Google Gemini
8 5 (1.63%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.31%) Akamai
9 4 (1.31%) Amazon MSK
9 4 (1.31%) Anthropic Claude
9 4 (1.31%) AWS Direct Connect
9 4 (1.31%) Azure Machine Learning
9 4 (1.31%) Cloudflare
9 4 (1.31%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (1.31%) Kong
9 4 (1.31%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 17 (5.56%) HTTP
2 7 (2.29%) DNS
2 7 (2.29%) Firewall
3 6 (1.96%) Multicast
4 4 (1.31%) HTTPS
4 4 (1.31%) SSL
5 3 (0.98%) BIG-IP
5 3 (0.98%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
5 3 (0.98%) Network Security
5 3 (0.98%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.33%) Broadband
6 1 (0.33%) DMZ
6 1 (0.33%) Ethernet
6 1 (0.33%) Radio Access Network
6 1 (0.33%) Reverse Proxy
6 1 (0.33%) S/MIME
6 1 (0.33%) SAN
6 1 (0.33%) VPN
6 1 (0.33%) X.509
Database & Business Intelligence
1 22 (7.19%) NoSQL
2 19 (6.21%) MongoDB
3 17 (5.56%) PostgreSQL
4 14 (4.58%) Relational Database
5 12 (3.92%) SQL Server
6 8 (2.61%) KDB
7 6 (1.96%) RDBMS
8 5 (1.63%) Big Data
8 5 (1.63%) BigQuery
8 5 (1.63%) Power BI
9 4 (1.31%) Data Mining
9 4 (1.31%) DuckDB
10 3 (0.98%) Kdb+
10 3 (0.98%) MySQL
10 3 (0.98%) Neo4j
10 3 (0.98%) Spark SQL
11 2 (0.65%) Apache Cassandra
11 2 (0.65%) Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.65%) Db2
11 2 (0.65%) Hadoop
Development Applications
1 34 (11.11%) Git
2 17 (5.56%) GitLab
3 12 (3.92%) Jenkins
4 7 (2.29%) Claude Code
5 4 (1.31%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.98%) JIRA
6 3 (0.98%) MLflow
7 2 (0.65%) JMeter
7 2 (0.65%) Postman
8 1 (0.33%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.33%) Gradle
8 1 (0.33%) Hardhat
8 1 (0.33%) Maven
8 1 (0.33%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.33%) QUnit
8 1 (0.33%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.33%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.33%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 67 (21.90%) Finance
2 57 (18.63%) Social Skills
3 55 (17.97%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (12.75%) Banking
5 16 (5.23%) Investment Banking
5 16 (5.23%) Public Sector
6 14 (4.58%) Front Office
7 10 (3.27%) Aerospace
7 10 (3.27%) Telecoms
8 8 (2.61%) Manufacturing
9 6 (1.96%) Automotive
10 5 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 4 (1.31%) Electronics
11 4 (1.31%) Financial Institution
11 4 (1.31%) Law
11 4 (1.31%) Publishing
12 3 (0.98%) Advertising
12 3 (0.98%) Military
12 3 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.65%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 76 (24.84%) Developer
2 48 (15.69%) Senior
3 31 (10.13%) Data Scientist
3 31 (10.13%) Software Engineer
4 18 (5.88%) Java Developer
4 18 (5.88%) Python Developer
5 16 (5.23%) Architect
6 15 (4.90%) Consultant
6 15 (4.90%) Data Engineer
7 14 (4.58%) Algorithm Engineer
8 13 (4.25%) C++ Software Engineer
8 13 (4.25%) Senior Developer
9 12 (3.92%) Lead
10 11 (3.59%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 10 (3.27%) SAP Consultant
12 9 (2.94%) Engineering Manager
12 9 (2.94%) Quantitative Developer
12 9 (2.94%) Software Engineering Manager
12 9 (2.94%) Software Manager
12 9 (2.94%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (8.82%) Kafka
2 24 (7.84%) React
3 21 (6.86%) Pandas
4 19 (6.21%) JSON
5 17 (5.56%) FIX Protocol
5 17 (5.56%) NumPy
6 13 (4.25%) PySpark
6 13 (4.25%) PyTorch
6 13 (4.25%) RESTful
7 12 (3.92%) WebSockets
8 10 (3.27%) AngularJS
8 10 (3.27%) FastAPI
8 10 (3.27%) Redux
9 9 (2.94%) LangChain
9 9 (2.94%) Spring
10 8 (2.61%) RabbitMQ
10 8 (2.61%) scikit-learn
10 8 (2.61%) Spring Boot
10 8 (2.61%) Vue
10 8 (2.61%) XGBoost
Miscellaneous
1 85 (27.78%) Data Structures
2 54 (17.65%) Distributed Systems
3 19 (6.21%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 18 (5.88%) AI Agents
5 17 (5.56%) Cloud Native
5 17 (5.56%) Derivative
6 12 (3.92%) Robotics
7 11 (3.59%) Product Ownership
8 8 (2.61%) Equities
9 7 (2.29%) IoT
10 6 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.96%) Fixed Income
11 5 (1.63%) Credit Risk
11 5 (1.63%) Data Protection Act
11 5 (1.63%) Onboarding
12 4 (1.31%) Clustering
12 4 (1.31%) Distributed Architecture
12 4 (1.31%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 4 (1.31%) Embedded Systems
12 4 (1.31%) Exotic Derivative
Operating Systems
1 6 (1.96%) Linux
2 5 (1.63%) Unix
3 2 (0.65%) Windows
4 1 (0.33%) Android
4 1 (0.33%) Robot Operating System
4 1 (0.33%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (32.68%) AI
2 97 (31.70%) Machine Learning
3 84 (27.45%) Software Engineering
4 71 (23.20%) Computer Science
5 61 (19.93%) Problem-Solving
6 58 (18.95%) CI/CD
7 55 (17.97%) Data Science
8 50 (16.34%) Analytics
9 44 (14.38%) Mathematics
10 39 (12.75%) Agile
11 38 (12.42%) Low Latency
12 36 (11.76%) Validation
13 33 (10.78%) Multithreading
14 30 (9.80%) Observability
15 28 (9.15%) Containerisation
15 28 (9.15%) Data Pipeline
16 27 (8.82%) Microservices
17 26 (8.50%) Data Analysis
17 26 (8.50%) LLM
18 25 (8.17%) Performance Optimisation
Programming Languages
1 132 (43.14%) Python
2 85 (27.78%) Java
3 60 (19.61%) SQL
4 45 (14.71%) C++
5 37 (12.09%) C#
6 32 (10.46%) JavaScript
7 24 (7.84%) TypeScript
8 18 (5.88%) PowerShell
9 16 (5.23%) MATLAB
9 16 (5.23%) Rust
10 10 (3.27%) C
11 9 (2.94%) R
12 5 (1.63%) Ada
12 5 (1.63%) Scala
12 5 (1.63%) Shell Script
13 4 (1.31%) Kotlin
14 3 (0.98%) Embedded C++
14 3 (0.98%) Go
14 3 (0.98%) SPARQL
15 1 (0.33%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 62 (20.26%) Degree
2 40 (13.07%) Security Cleared
3 28 (9.15%) SC Cleared
4 21 (6.86%) Computer Science Degree
5 18 (5.88%) Master's Degree
6 14 (4.58%) PhD
7 12 (3.92%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (2.61%) DBS Check
9 4 (1.31%) CISSP
10 3 (0.98%) CISM
10 3 (0.98%) Numerate Degree
11 2 (0.65%) DV Cleared
12 1 (0.33%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 1 (0.33%) AWS Certification
12 1 (0.33%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 1 (0.33%) CEH
12 1 (0.33%) Cisco Certification
12 1 (0.33%) HNC
12 1 (0.33%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.54%) Data Quality
2 7 (2.29%) NIST
3 6 (1.96%) Accessibility
4 5 (1.63%) QA
5 4 (1.31%) Basel III
5 4 (1.31%) GDPR
5 4 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.98%) Automotive SPICE
6 3 (0.98%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.65%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.65%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 2 (0.65%) MISRA
7 2 (0.65%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.33%) DO-254
8 1 (0.33%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.33%) NCSC
System Software
1 23 (7.52%) Docker
2 2 (0.65%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.65%) Apache ZooKeeper
3 1 (0.33%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 25 (8.17%) Kubernetes
2 9 (2.94%) Ansible
3 4 (1.31%) Argo
3 4 (1.31%) Kubeflow
4 3 (0.98%) Functional Safety
4 3 (0.98%) Grafana
5 2 (0.65%) Istio
6 1 (0.33%) Kibana
6 1 (0.33%) logstash
6 1 (0.33%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 18 (5.88%) Microsoft
2 13 (4.25%) Databricks
3 11 (3.59%) SAP
4 9 (2.94%) Google
5 7 (2.29%) OpenAI
5 7 (2.29%) Solace
6 6 (1.96%) IBM
7 5 (1.63%) Dynatrace
7 5 (1.63%) Splunk
8 4 (1.31%) ForgeRock
8 4 (1.31%) IFS
8 4 (1.31%) MathWorks
8 4 (1.31%) Oracle
9 3 (0.98%) F5
9 3 (0.98%) Salesforce
10 2 (0.65%) Duck Creek
10 2 (0.65%) Guidewire
11 1 (0.33%) Infor
11 1 (0.33%) Microsemi
11 1 (0.33%) Xilinx