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

6 months to
20 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 399 270 262
Rank change year-on-year -129 -8 +47
Contract jobs citing Algorithms 298 331 341
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.55% 1.01% 0.89%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.61% 2.82% 2.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 173 215 227
10th Percentile £296 £383 £375
25th Percentile £425 £458 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £600 £550 £600
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -6.25%
75th Percentile £701 £700 £725
90th Percentile £835 £850 £852
UK excluding London median daily rate £381 £525 £495
% change year-on-year -27.43% +6.06% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 23 17
10th Percentile £64.25 £22.21 £25.60
25th Percentile £65.00 £61.25 £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 £75.00 £53.75
90th Percentile £88.75 £83.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £69.50 £48.75
% change year-on-year +0.72% +42.56% +39.29%

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 18,529 11,757 11,731
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.94% 35.73% 30.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,112 7,198 7,156
10th Percentile £320 £296 £294
25th Percentile £425 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £540
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -4.63% -1.82%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £674
90th Percentile £750 £750 £807
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,198 587 473
10th Percentile £14.03 £15.08 £14.62
25th Percentile £18.00 £18.87 £21.25
Median hourly rate £38.25 £30.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year +27.50% -40.00% +12.36%
75th Percentile £67.89 £55.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.28 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £30.00 £57.35
% change year-on-year +33.33% -47.69% +18.58%

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 20 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 20 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 20 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 -114 273 £600 +9.09% 1,571
London -68 170 £675 +17.39% 944
UK excluding London -134 110 £381 -27.43% 718
Work from Home -61 81 £650 +30.00% 507
South East -58 32 £495 -1.00% 190
South West -17 23 - - 97
East of England -46 20 £200 -61.90% 156
North of England -71 17 £415 -29.21% 105
North West -43 12 £415 -21.14% 60
Scotland -31 11 £556 +8.39% 80
Midlands -63 7 £196 -62.22% 68
Yorkshire -54 5 £215 -64.04% 28
East Midlands -16 4 £180 -63.41% 27
West Midlands -62 3 £306 -43.02% 41

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 (3.02%) Apache Spark
2 8 (2.68%) Confluence
3 7 (2.35%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (1.68%) Apache
5 4 (1.34%) Jupyter
6 2 (0.67%) CMS
7 1 (0.34%) Ethereum
7 1 (0.34%) IIS
7 1 (0.34%) SAS
7 1 (0.34%) Solana
Applications
1 8 (2.68%) Simulink
2 7 (2.35%) CPLEX
3 3 (1.01%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.67%) Microsoft Excel
5 1 (0.34%) Adobe Premiere
5 1 (0.34%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 10 (3.36%) SAP IBP
2 5 (1.68%) ProductWriter
3 2 (0.67%) IBM Operational Decision Manager
4 1 (0.34%) SAP APO
4 1 (0.34%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 47 (15.77%) Azure
2 42 (14.09%) GCP
3 38 (12.75%) AWS
4 18 (6.04%) GitHub
5 9 (3.02%) Cloud Computing
6 7 (2.35%) AWS Lambda
6 7 (2.35%) Serverless
7 6 (2.01%) Amazon EKS
7 6 (2.01%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.68%) Google Gemini
8 5 (1.68%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.34%) Amazon MSK
9 4 (1.34%) Amazon S3
9 4 (1.34%) Anthropic Claude
9 4 (1.34%) AWS Direct Connect
9 4 (1.34%) Azure Key Vault
9 4 (1.34%) Cloudflare
9 4 (1.34%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (1.34%) Kong
9 4 (1.34%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 15 (5.03%) HTTP
2 7 (2.35%) Firewall
3 6 (2.01%) DNS
3 6 (2.01%) Multicast
4 4 (1.34%) SSL
5 3 (1.01%) HTTPS
6 2 (0.67%) BIG-IP
6 2 (0.67%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
6 2 (0.67%) Network Security
6 2 (0.67%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.67%) VPN
6 2 (0.67%) X.509
7 1 (0.34%) DMZ
7 1 (0.34%) H.323
7 1 (0.34%) NetScaler
7 1 (0.34%) Radio Access Network
7 1 (0.34%) Reverse Proxy
7 1 (0.34%) S/MIME
7 1 (0.34%) SAN
7 1 (0.34%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (6.71%) NoSQL
2 17 (5.70%) MongoDB
3 16 (5.37%) PostgreSQL
4 12 (4.03%) Relational Database
4 12 (4.03%) SQL Server
5 9 (3.02%) KDB
6 5 (1.68%) Big Data
6 5 (1.68%) BigQuery
6 5 (1.68%) Power BI
6 5 (1.68%) RDBMS
7 4 (1.34%) Data Mining
7 4 (1.34%) DuckDB
7 4 (1.34%) Kdb+
8 3 (1.01%) MySQL
8 3 (1.01%) Neo4j
8 3 (1.01%) Spark SQL
9 2 (0.67%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.67%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.67%) Redis
9 2 (0.67%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 34 (11.41%) Git
2 17 (5.70%) GitLab
3 12 (4.03%) Jenkins
4 7 (2.35%) Claude Code
5 4 (1.34%) Bitbucket
6 3 (1.01%) JIRA
6 3 (1.01%) MLflow
7 2 (0.67%) QUnit
8 1 (0.34%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.34%) Gradle
8 1 (0.34%) Hardhat
8 1 (0.34%) JMeter
8 1 (0.34%) Maven
8 1 (0.34%) Postman
8 1 (0.34%) SonarQube
8 1 (0.34%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.34%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 66 (22.15%) Finance
2 56 (18.79%) Social Skills
3 51 (17.11%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (12.42%) Banking
5 15 (5.03%) Investment Banking
5 15 (5.03%) Public Sector
6 14 (4.70%) Front Office
7 10 (3.36%) Aerospace
8 9 (3.02%) Telecoms
9 8 (2.68%) Manufacturing
10 6 (2.01%) Automotive
11 5 (1.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 4 (1.34%) Financial Institution
12 4 (1.34%) Law
12 4 (1.34%) Publishing
13 3 (1.01%) Electronics
13 3 (1.01%) Military
13 3 (1.01%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.67%) Aviation
14 2 (0.67%) Documentation Skills
Job Titles
1 70 (23.49%) Developer
2 49 (16.44%) Senior
3 31 (10.40%) Data Scientist
4 30 (10.07%) Software Engineer
5 16 (5.37%) Architect
5 16 (5.37%) Java Developer
6 15 (5.03%) Data Engineer
7 14 (4.70%) Algorithm Engineer
7 14 (4.70%) Python Developer
7 14 (4.70%) Senior Developer
8 13 (4.36%) Consultant
8 13 (4.36%) Lead
9 12 (4.03%) C++ Software Engineer
10 11 (3.69%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 10 (3.36%) SAP Consultant
12 9 (3.02%) Engineering Manager
12 9 (3.02%) Quantitative Developer
12 9 (3.02%) Software Engineering Manager
12 9 (3.02%) Software Manager
12 9 (3.02%) Systems Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (8.72%) Kafka
2 23 (7.72%) React
3 19 (6.38%) Pandas
4 18 (6.04%) JSON
5 15 (5.03%) FIX Protocol
5 15 (5.03%) NumPy
6 13 (4.36%) PySpark
6 13 (4.36%) PyTorch
7 11 (3.69%) RESTful
7 11 (3.69%) WebSockets
8 10 (3.36%) AngularJS
9 9 (3.02%) FastAPI
9 9 (3.02%) LangChain
9 9 (3.02%) Redux
10 8 (2.68%) Hugging Face
10 8 (2.68%) RabbitMQ
10 8 (2.68%) scikit-learn
10 8 (2.68%) Vue
10 8 (2.68%) XGBoost
11 7 (2.35%) pytest
Miscellaneous
1 79 (26.51%) Data Structures
2 52 (17.45%) Distributed Systems
3 19 (6.38%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 18 (6.04%) AI Agents
5 17 (5.70%) Cloud Native
6 15 (5.03%) Derivative
7 11 (3.69%) Product Ownership
7 11 (3.69%) Robotics
8 8 (2.68%) Equities
9 6 (2.01%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (2.01%) Fixed Income
9 6 (2.01%) IoT
9 6 (2.01%) Onboarding
10 5 (1.68%) Credit Risk
11 4 (1.34%) Clustering
11 4 (1.34%) Distributed Architecture
11 4 (1.34%) Embedded Systems
11 4 (1.34%) Exotic Derivative
11 4 (1.34%) OTC Derivatives
11 4 (1.34%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 8 (2.68%) Linux
2 5 (1.68%) Unix
3 3 (1.01%) Windows
4 2 (0.67%) Windows Server
5 1 (0.34%) Android
5 1 (0.34%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (32.55%) AI
2 95 (31.88%) Machine Learning
3 81 (27.18%) Software Engineering
4 69 (23.15%) Computer Science
5 58 (19.46%) CI/CD
5 58 (19.46%) Problem-Solving
6 54 (18.12%) Data Science
7 49 (16.44%) Analytics
8 41 (13.76%) Mathematics
9 39 (13.09%) Agile
10 37 (12.42%) Validation
11 36 (12.08%) Low Latency
12 31 (10.40%) Multithreading
13 29 (9.73%) Observability
14 28 (9.40%) Containerisation
14 28 (9.40%) Data Pipeline
15 26 (8.72%) Data Analysis
15 26 (8.72%) LLM
15 26 (8.72%) Microservices
16 25 (8.39%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 126 (42.28%) Python
2 80 (26.85%) Java
3 58 (19.46%) SQL
4 43 (14.43%) C++
5 35 (11.74%) C#
6 30 (10.07%) JavaScript
7 23 (7.72%) TypeScript
8 18 (6.04%) PowerShell
9 16 (5.37%) MATLAB
10 14 (4.70%) Rust
11 10 (3.36%) C
11 10 (3.36%) R
12 5 (1.68%) Ada
12 5 (1.68%) Scala
12 5 (1.68%) Shell Script
13 3 (1.01%) Embedded C++
13 3 (1.01%) Go
13 3 (1.01%) Kotlin
13 3 (1.01%) SPARQL
14 1 (0.34%) Bash
Qualifications
1 59 (19.80%) Degree
2 40 (13.42%) Security Cleared
3 29 (9.73%) SC Cleared
4 20 (6.71%) Computer Science Degree
5 19 (6.38%) Master's Degree
6 15 (5.03%) PhD
7 12 (4.03%) BPSS Clearance
8 8 (2.68%) DBS Check
9 4 (1.34%) CISSP
10 3 (1.01%) CISM
11 2 (0.67%) Cisco Certification
11 2 (0.67%) DV Cleared
11 2 (0.67%) Numerate Degree
12 1 (0.34%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 1 (0.34%) AWS Certification
12 1 (0.34%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 1 (0.34%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.34%) CCNP
12 1 (0.34%) CCNP Voice
12 1 (0.34%) CEH
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.71%) Data Quality
2 7 (2.35%) NIST
3 6 (2.01%) Accessibility
4 5 (1.68%) QA
5 4 (1.34%) Basel III
5 4 (1.34%) GDPR
5 4 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (1.01%) Automotive SPICE
6 3 (1.01%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.67%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.67%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
7 2 (0.67%) MISRA
7 2 (0.67%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.34%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.34%) DO-254
8 1 (0.34%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.34%) NCSC
System Software
1 23 (7.72%) Docker
2 3 (1.01%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.67%) Apache ZooKeeper
4 1 (0.34%) Firmware
4 1 (0.34%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 25 (8.39%) Kubernetes
2 9 (3.02%) Ansible
3 4 (1.34%) Argo
3 4 (1.34%) Kubeflow
4 3 (1.01%) Functional Safety
4 3 (1.01%) Grafana
5 2 (0.67%) Istio
6 1 (0.34%) Cisco CUCM
6 1 (0.34%) Kibana
6 1 (0.34%) logstash
6 1 (0.34%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 18 (6.04%) Microsoft
2 13 (4.36%) Databricks
3 11 (3.69%) SAP
4 8 (2.68%) Google
5 7 (2.35%) OpenAI
6 6 (2.01%) IBM
6 6 (2.01%) Solace
7 5 (1.68%) Dynatrace
7 5 (1.68%) Splunk
8 4 (1.34%) ForgeRock
8 4 (1.34%) IFS
8 4 (1.34%) MathWorks
9 3 (1.01%) Oracle
9 3 (1.01%) Salesforce
10 2 (0.67%) Duck Creek
10 2 (0.67%) F5
10 2 (0.67%) Guidewire
11 1 (0.34%) Hootsuite
11 1 (0.34%) Microsemi
11 1 (0.34%) YouTube