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

6 months to
15 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 400 265 269
Rank change year-on-year -135 +4 +46
Contract jobs citing Algorithms 306 322 337
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.99% 0.88%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.66% 2.79% 2.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 180 206 220
10th Percentile £281 £383 £375
25th Percentile £408 £463 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -4.00%
75th Percentile £703 £700 £728
90th Percentile £838 £850 £850
UK excluding London median daily rate £378 £525 £495
% change year-on-year -28.07% +6.06% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 24 19
10th Percentile £64.25 £22.29 £25.60
25th Percentile £65.00 £56.38 £32.25
Median hourly rate £70.00 £67.00 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.48% +41.05% +35.71%
75th Percentile £75.00 £74.06 £55.63
90th Percentile £88.75 £82.63 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £69.50 £50.00
% change year-on-year +0.72% +39.00% +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 18,406 11,527 11,576
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.83% 35.51% 30.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,053 7,036 7,123
10th Percentile £320 £299 £300
25th Percentile £423 £406 £419
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £543
Median % change year-on-year +1.95% -5.07% -1.36%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £675
90th Percentile £749 £760 £812
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,150 577 482
10th Percentile £14.07 £15.13 £14.41
25th Percentile £18.00 £18.87 £21.25
Median hourly rate £37.50 £30.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -40.00% +11.73%
75th Percentile £67.65 £55.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.43 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £30.00 £57.35
% change year-on-year +29.07% -47.69% +22.14%

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 15 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 15 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 15 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 -108 278 £600 +9.09% 1,771
London -66 173 £675 +17.39% 1,128
UK excluding London -127 112 £378 -28.07% 770
Work from Home -50 86 £625 +25.00% 598
South East -57 35 £428 -14.50% 203
South West -31 23 - - 122
East of England -47 19 £193 -63.33% 157
North of England -74 17 £415 -27.83% 97
North West -43 12 £415 -24.55% 60
Scotland -26 10 £556 +5.81% 103
Midlands -53 7 £196 -62.62% 70
Yorkshire -38 5 £215 -64.04% 24
East Midlands -9 4 £180 -63.41% 28
West Midlands -62 3 £306 -44.32% 42
Wales -14 1 £550 -18.52% 13

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%) Apache Airflow
2 8 (2.61%) Confluence
3 5 (1.63%) Apache
4 4 (1.31%) Jupyter
5 1 (0.33%) CMS
5 1 (0.33%) Ethereum
5 1 (0.33%) IIS
5 1 (0.33%) SAS
5 1 (0.33%) Solana
Applications
1 9 (2.94%) CPLEX
2 8 (2.61%) Simulink
3 3 (0.98%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.98%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.33%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
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 48 (15.69%) Azure
2 43 (14.05%) GCP
3 38 (12.42%) AWS
4 18 (5.88%) GitHub
5 8 (2.61%) Cloud Computing
6 7 (2.29%) AWS Lambda
6 7 (2.29%) Azure DevOps
6 7 (2.29%) Serverless
7 6 (1.96%) Amazon EKS
8 5 (1.63%) GitHub Actions
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%) Amazon S3
9 4 (1.31%) Anthropic Claude
9 4 (1.31%) AWS Direct Connect
9 4 (1.31%) Cloudflare
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%) 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 23 (7.52%) NoSQL
2 20 (6.54%) MongoDB
3 18 (5.88%) PostgreSQL
4 15 (4.90%) Relational Database
5 12 (3.92%) SQL Server
6 8 (2.61%) KDB
7 7 (2.29%) Big Data
8 6 (1.96%) RDBMS
9 5 (1.63%) BigQuery
9 5 (1.63%) Power BI
10 4 (1.31%) Data Mining
10 4 (1.31%) DuckDB
10 4 (1.31%) Hadoop
10 4 (1.31%) Tableau
11 3 (0.98%) Kdb+
11 3 (0.98%) MySQL
11 3 (0.98%) Neo4j
11 3 (0.98%) Spark SQL
12 2 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
12 2 (0.65%) Couchbase
Development Applications
1 35 (11.44%) Git
2 17 (5.56%) GitLab
3 12 (3.92%) Jenkins
4 7 (2.29%) Claude Code
5 4 (1.31%) Bitbucket
5 4 (1.31%) MLflow
6 3 (0.98%) JIRA
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 66 (21.57%) Finance
2 57 (18.63%) Social Skills
3 56 (18.30%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (12.09%) Banking
5 17 (5.56%) Public Sector
6 16 (5.23%) Investment Banking
7 14 (4.58%) Front Office
8 10 (3.27%) Aerospace
9 9 (2.94%) Telecoms
10 8 (2.61%) Manufacturing
11 6 (1.96%) Automotive
12 5 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (1.31%) Electronics
13 4 (1.31%) Financial Institution
13 4 (1.31%) Law
13 4 (1.31%) Publishing
14 3 (0.98%) Advertising
14 3 (0.98%) Military
14 3 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
15 2 (0.65%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 77 (25.16%) Developer
2 48 (15.69%) Senior
3 33 (10.78%) Data Scientist
4 31 (10.13%) Software Engineer
5 19 (6.21%) Python Developer
6 18 (5.88%) Java Developer
7 16 (5.23%) Architect
8 15 (4.90%) Consultant
9 14 (4.58%) Algorithm Engineer
9 14 (4.58%) Data Engineer
10 13 (4.25%) C++ Software Engineer
10 13 (4.25%) Senior Developer
11 12 (3.92%) Lead
12 10 (3.27%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
12 10 (3.27%) SAP Consultant
13 9 (2.94%) Engineering Manager
13 9 (2.94%) Full-Stack Engineer
13 9 (2.94%) Quantitative Developer
13 9 (2.94%) Software Engineering Manager
13 9 (2.94%) Software Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (9.48%) Kafka
2 25 (8.17%) React
3 22 (7.19%) Pandas
4 19 (6.21%) JSON
4 19 (6.21%) NumPy
5 17 (5.56%) FIX Protocol
6 14 (4.58%) RESTful
7 13 (4.25%) PyTorch
8 12 (3.92%) PySpark
8 12 (3.92%) WebSockets
9 11 (3.59%) FastAPI
10 10 (3.27%) AngularJS
10 10 (3.27%) Redux
10 10 (3.27%) Spring
11 9 (2.94%) LangChain
11 9 (2.94%) RabbitMQ
11 9 (2.94%) scikit-learn
11 9 (2.94%) Spring Boot
12 8 (2.61%) Hugging Face
12 8 (2.61%) OpenAPI
Miscellaneous
1 86 (28.10%) Data Structures
2 55 (17.97%) Distributed Systems
3 20 (6.54%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 17 (5.56%) AI Agents
4 17 (5.56%) Cloud Native
4 17 (5.56%) Derivative
5 12 (3.92%) Robotics
6 11 (3.59%) Product Ownership
7 8 (2.61%) Equities
8 7 (2.29%) IoT
9 6 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (1.96%) Fixed Income
10 4 (1.31%) Clustering
10 4 (1.31%) Credit Risk
10 4 (1.31%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.31%) Distributed Architecture
10 4 (1.31%) Embedded Systems
10 4 (1.31%) Exotic Derivative
10 4 (1.31%) Onboarding
10 4 (1.31%) OTC Derivatives
Operating Systems
1 6 (1.96%) Linux
2 4 (1.31%) 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 98 (32.03%) AI
2 97 (31.70%) Machine Learning
3 85 (27.78%) Software Engineering
4 71 (23.20%) Computer Science
5 62 (20.26%) Problem-Solving
6 59 (19.28%) CI/CD
7 55 (17.97%) Data Science
8 48 (15.69%) Analytics
9 46 (15.03%) Mathematics
10 40 (13.07%) Agile
11 39 (12.75%) Low Latency
12 35 (11.44%) Validation
13 34 (11.11%) Multithreading
14 31 (10.13%) Containerisation
15 30 (9.80%) Observability
16 29 (9.48%) Data Pipeline
16 29 (9.48%) Microservices
17 27 (8.82%) Data Analysis
17 27 (8.82%) Performance Optimisation
18 26 (8.50%) LLM
Programming Languages
1 132 (43.14%) Python
2 84 (27.45%) Java
3 61 (19.93%) SQL
4 44 (14.38%) C++
5 37 (12.09%) C#
6 31 (10.13%) JavaScript
7 25 (8.17%) TypeScript
8 18 (5.88%) PowerShell
9 16 (5.23%) MATLAB
10 15 (4.90%) Rust
11 11 (3.59%) R
12 9 (2.94%) C
13 5 (1.63%) Ada
13 5 (1.63%) Scala
14 4 (1.31%) Kotlin
14 4 (1.31%) Shell Script
15 3 (0.98%) Embedded C++
15 3 (0.98%) Go
15 3 (0.98%) SPARQL
16 1 (0.33%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 61 (19.93%) Degree
2 40 (13.07%) Security Cleared
3 27 (8.82%) SC Cleared
4 21 (6.86%) Computer Science Degree
5 18 (5.88%) Master's Degree
6 13 (4.25%) 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%) CEH
12 1 (0.33%) Cisco Certification
12 1 (0.33%) HNC
12 1 (0.33%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (6.21%) Data Quality
2 7 (2.29%) Accessibility
2 7 (2.29%) NIST
3 5 (1.63%) QA
4 4 (1.31%) GDPR
4 4 (1.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.98%) Automotive SPICE
5 3 (0.98%) Basel III
5 3 (0.98%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.65%) Disclosure Scotland
6 2 (0.65%) HIPAA
6 2 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
6 2 (0.65%) MISRA
6 2 (0.65%) SOC 2
7 1 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.33%) DO-254
7 1 (0.33%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.33%) NCSC
System Software
1 25 (8.17%) Docker
2 2 (0.65%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.65%) Apache ZooKeeper
3 1 (0.33%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 26 (8.50%) 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 19 (6.21%) Microsoft
2 13 (4.25%) Databricks
3 11 (3.59%) SAP
4 9 (2.94%) Google
5 8 (2.61%) Solace
6 7 (2.29%) OpenAI
7 6 (1.96%) IBM
8 5 (1.63%) Dynatrace
8 5 (1.63%) Splunk
9 4 (1.31%) ForgeRock
9 4 (1.31%) IFS
9 4 (1.31%) MathWorks
9 4 (1.31%) Oracle
10 3 (0.98%) F5
10 3 (0.98%) Salesforce
11 2 (0.65%) Duck Creek
11 2 (0.65%) Guidewire
12 1 (0.33%) Infor
12 1 (0.33%) Sitecore
12 1 (0.33%) Xilinx