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 29 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 422 263 266
Rank change year-on-year -159 +3 +40
Contract jobs citing Algorithms 281 334 342
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.51% 1.02% 0.90%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.50% 2.86% 2.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 165 219 223
10th Percentile £240 £359 £375
25th Percentile £413 £439 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £725 £688 £725
90th Percentile £843 £850 £861
UK excluding London median daily rate £374 £525 £490
% change year-on-year -28.71% +7.25% -11.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 31 24 16
10th Percentile - £22.29 £25.60
25th Percentile £65.00 £53.38 £41.63
Median hourly rate £70.00 £67.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.48% +34.00% +42.86%
75th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £60.31
90th Percentile £88.75 £82.63 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £67.00 £50.00
% change year-on-year +4.48% +34.00% +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 18,695 11,683 11,559
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.23% 35.84% 30.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,200 7,152 6,961
10th Percentile £320 £293 £285
25th Percentile £425 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £519 £538
Median % change year-on-year +1.20% -3.49% -2.27%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £673
90th Percentile £750 £750 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,241 597 431
10th Percentile £14.04 £14.78 £15.34
25th Percentile £17.85 £18.87 £22.50
Median hourly rate £37.50 £29.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +29.31% -42.00% +11.73%
75th Percentile £67.50 £52.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.25 £72.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.25 £29.27 £57.35
% change year-on-year +30.68% -48.96% +14.70%

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 29 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 29 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Algorithms in the UK

Algorithms
Top 14 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 29 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 -130 260 £600 +9.09% 1,266
London -79 163 £675 +17.39% 760
UK excluding London -140 103 £374 -28.71% 569
Work from Home -61 73 £650 +27.08% 459
South East -70 28 £465 -7.00% 143
East of England -44 22 £225 -56.31% 119
South West -24 20 - - 80
North of England -78 17 £381 -35.01% 81
North West -43 11 £415 -12.63% 51
Scotland -42 9 £556 +23.44% 62
Midlands -54 7 £196 -62.22% 61
Yorkshire -50 6 £270 -57.62% 19
East Midlands -15 4 £180 -63.41% 22
West Midlands -58 3 £306 -43.02% 39

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 (3.20%) Apache Spark
2 8 (2.85%) Confluence
3 6 (2.14%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (1.78%) Apache
4 5 (1.78%) CMS
5 3 (1.07%) Jupyter
6 1 (0.36%) IIS
6 1 (0.36%) SAS
Applications
1 8 (2.85%) Simulink
2 6 (2.14%) CPLEX
3 3 (1.07%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.71%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.36%) Adobe Premiere
5 1 (0.36%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 5 (1.78%) ProductWriter
1 5 (1.78%) SAP IBP
2 2 (0.71%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
3 1 (0.36%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 46 (16.37%) Azure
2 43 (15.30%) GCP
3 39 (13.88%) AWS
4 18 (6.41%) GitHub
5 9 (3.20%) Cloud Computing
6 7 (2.49%) AWS Lambda
6 7 (2.49%) Serverless
7 6 (2.14%) Amazon EKS
7 6 (2.14%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.78%) Google Gemini
8 5 (1.78%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.42%) Amazon MSK
9 4 (1.42%) Amazon S3
9 4 (1.42%) Anthropic Claude
9 4 (1.42%) AWS Direct Connect
9 4 (1.42%) Azure Key Vault
9 4 (1.42%) Cloudflare
9 4 (1.42%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (1.42%) Kong
9 4 (1.42%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 14 (4.98%) HTTP
2 6 (2.14%) Firewall
3 5 (1.78%) DNS
4 4 (1.42%) H.323
4 4 (1.42%) WebEx
5 3 (1.07%) Multicast
5 3 (1.07%) SSL
6 2 (0.71%) HTTPS
6 2 (0.71%) VPN
6 2 (0.71%) X.509
7 1 (0.36%) BIG-IP
7 1 (0.36%) DMZ
7 1 (0.36%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
7 1 (0.36%) NetScaler
7 1 (0.36%) Network Security
7 1 (0.36%) Radio Access Network
7 1 (0.36%) Reverse Proxy
7 1 (0.36%) S/MIME
7 1 (0.36%) SAN
7 1 (0.36%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (7.12%) NoSQL
2 17 (6.05%) MongoDB
3 16 (5.69%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (4.27%) Relational Database
4 12 (4.27%) SQL Server
5 5 (1.78%) Big Data
5 5 (1.78%) BigQuery
5 5 (1.78%) KDB
5 5 (1.78%) Power BI
5 5 (1.78%) RDBMS
6 4 (1.42%) Data Mining
6 4 (1.42%) DuckDB
7 3 (1.07%) Kdb+
7 3 (1.07%) MySQL
7 3 (1.07%) Neo4j
7 3 (1.07%) Spark SQL
8 2 (0.71%) Apache Iceberg
8 2 (0.71%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.71%) Metadata
8 2 (0.71%) TigerGraph
Development Applications
1 35 (12.46%) Git
2 17 (6.05%) GitLab
3 12 (4.27%) Jenkins
4 7 (2.49%) Claude Code
5 4 (1.42%) Bitbucket
6 3 (1.07%) JIRA
6 3 (1.07%) MLflow
7 2 (0.71%) QUnit
8 1 (0.36%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.36%) Gradle
8 1 (0.36%) JMeter
8 1 (0.36%) Maven
8 1 (0.36%) Postman
8 1 (0.36%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.36%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.36%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 65 (23.13%) Finance
2 52 (18.51%) Social Skills
3 46 (16.37%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (12.46%) Banking
5 15 (5.34%) Public Sector
6 12 (4.27%) Investment Banking
7 10 (3.56%) Front Office
8 9 (3.20%) Aerospace
9 8 (2.85%) Telecoms
10 7 (2.49%) Manufacturing
11 6 (2.14%) Automotive
12 5 (1.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (1.42%) Financial Institution
13 4 (1.42%) Law
13 4 (1.42%) Publishing
14 3 (1.07%) Electronics
14 3 (1.07%) Military
14 3 (1.07%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.71%) Documentation Skills
15 2 (0.71%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 60 (21.35%) Developer
2 47 (16.73%) Senior
3 30 (10.68%) Data Scientist
4 27 (9.61%) Software Engineer
5 15 (5.34%) Architect
5 15 (5.34%) Data Engineer
5 15 (5.34%) Lead
6 13 (4.63%) C++ Software Engineer
6 13 (4.63%) Java Developer
6 13 (4.63%) Python Developer
7 12 (4.27%) Senior Developer
8 11 (3.91%) Algorithm Engineer
8 11 (3.91%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
9 9 (3.20%) Engineering Manager
9 9 (3.20%) Machine Learning Engineer
9 9 (3.20%) Software Engineering Manager
9 9 (3.20%) Software Manager
9 9 (3.20%) Systems Engineer
10 8 (2.85%) Consultant
10 8 (2.85%) Quantitative Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (9.25%) Kafka
2 23 (8.19%) React
3 18 (6.41%) Pandas
4 17 (6.05%) JSON
5 15 (5.34%) NumPy
6 14 (4.98%) PyTorch
7 13 (4.63%) PySpark
8 11 (3.91%) FIX Protocol
8 11 (3.91%) RESTful
8 11 (3.91%) WebSockets
9 10 (3.56%) AngularJS
9 10 (3.56%) LangChain
10 9 (3.20%) FastAPI
10 9 (3.20%) Hugging Face
10 9 (3.20%) Redux
10 9 (3.20%) TensorFlow
11 8 (2.85%) RabbitMQ
11 8 (2.85%) Vue
11 8 (2.85%) XGBoost
12 7 (2.49%) OAuth
Miscellaneous
1 78 (27.76%) Data Structures
2 46 (16.37%) Distributed Systems
3 17 (6.05%) AI Agents
3 17 (6.05%) Cloud Native
4 15 (5.34%) Derivative
4 15 (5.34%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 11 (3.91%) Product Ownership
6 10 (3.56%) Robotics
7 6 (2.14%) Credit Risk
7 6 (2.14%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (2.14%) Fixed Income
7 6 (2.14%) IoT
7 6 (2.14%) Onboarding
8 4 (1.42%) Clustering
8 4 (1.42%) Distributed Architecture
8 4 (1.42%) Embedded Systems
8 4 (1.42%) Equities
8 4 (1.42%) OTC Derivatives
8 4 (1.42%) PKI
8 4 (1.42%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 9 (3.20%) Linux
2 6 (2.14%) Unix
3 3 (1.07%) Windows
4 2 (0.71%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.36%) Android
5 1 (0.36%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (34.16%) AI
2 91 (32.38%) Machine Learning
3 77 (27.40%) Software Engineering
4 68 (24.20%) Computer Science
5 57 (20.28%) CI/CD
6 55 (19.57%) Data Science
7 54 (19.22%) Problem-Solving
8 47 (16.73%) Analytics
9 38 (13.52%) Mathematics
9 38 (13.52%) Validation
10 36 (12.81%) Agile
11 33 (11.74%) Low Latency
12 32 (11.39%) Data Pipeline
13 29 (10.32%) Observability
14 27 (9.61%) Containerisation
14 27 (9.61%) LLM
15 25 (8.90%) Data Analysis
15 25 (8.90%) DevOps
15 25 (8.90%) Performance Optimisation
16 24 (8.54%) Microservices
Programming Languages
1 120 (42.70%) Python
2 75 (26.69%) Java
3 56 (19.93%) SQL
4 42 (14.95%) C++
5 31 (11.03%) C#
6 30 (10.68%) JavaScript
7 23 (8.19%) TypeScript
8 16 (5.69%) PowerShell
9 14 (4.98%) MATLAB
9 14 (4.98%) Rust
10 9 (3.20%) C
11 8 (2.85%) R
12 6 (2.14%) Shell Script
13 5 (1.78%) Scala
14 3 (1.07%) Ada
14 3 (1.07%) Embedded C++
14 3 (1.07%) Go
14 3 (1.07%) Kotlin
14 3 (1.07%) SPARQL
15 1 (0.36%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 59 (21.00%) Degree
2 42 (14.95%) Security Cleared
3 32 (11.39%) SC Cleared
4 20 (7.12%) Computer Science Degree
4 20 (7.12%) Master's Degree
5 14 (4.98%) PhD
6 9 (3.20%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (3.20%) DBS Check
7 5 (1.78%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (1.42%) CCNP
8 4 (1.42%) CCNP Voice
8 4 (1.42%) CISSP
9 3 (1.07%) CISM
10 2 (0.71%) DV Cleared
10 2 (0.71%) Numerate Degree
11 1 (0.36%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 1 (0.36%) AWS Certification
11 1 (0.36%) CEH
11 1 (0.36%) HNC
11 1 (0.36%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (7.83%) Data Quality
2 7 (2.49%) NIST
3 6 (2.14%) Accessibility
4 5 (1.78%) Basel III
4 5 (1.78%) QA
5 4 (1.42%) GDPR
5 4 (1.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (1.07%) Automotive SPICE
6 3 (1.07%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.71%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.71%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 2 (0.71%) MISRA
7 2 (0.71%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.36%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.36%) DO-254
8 1 (0.36%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.36%) NCSC
System Software
1 25 (8.90%) Docker
2 4 (1.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.07%) Active Directory
4 2 (0.71%) Apache ZooKeeper
5 1 (0.36%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 26 (9.25%) Kubernetes
2 9 (3.20%) Ansible
3 4 (1.42%) Argo
3 4 (1.42%) Cisco CUCM
4 3 (1.07%) Functional Safety
4 3 (1.07%) Grafana
4 3 (1.07%) Kubeflow
5 2 (0.71%) Istio
6 1 (0.36%) Kibana
6 1 (0.36%) logstash
6 1 (0.36%) Podman
6 1 (0.36%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 18 (6.41%) Microsoft
2 11 (3.91%) Databricks
3 8 (2.85%) Google
4 7 (2.49%) OpenAI
5 6 (2.14%) SAP
5 6 (2.14%) Solace
6 5 (1.78%) Dynatrace
6 5 (1.78%) IBM
6 5 (1.78%) Splunk
7 4 (1.42%) Cisco
7 4 (1.42%) ForgeRock
7 4 (1.42%) IFS
7 4 (1.42%) VMware
8 3 (1.07%) MathWorks
8 3 (1.07%) Oracle
8 3 (1.07%) Salesforce
9 2 (0.71%) Duck Creek
9 2 (0.71%) Guidewire
10 1 (0.36%) Hootsuite
10 1 (0.36%) Palo Alto