Computer Science Contract Job Trends

Computer Science
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Computer Science skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 86 72 77
Rank change year-on-year -14 +5 +58
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,105 1,013 1,169
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.97% 3.18% 2.74%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.38% 3.58% 3.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 721 589 779
10th Percentile £175 £350 £327
25th Percentile £313 £450 £440
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £650 £680 £675
90th Percentile £756 £834 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -20.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 34 24 44
10th Percentile £26.33 £28.66 £33.27
25th Percentile £28.44 £33.75 £47.56
Median hourly rate £33.50 £44.00 £56.25
Median % change year-on-year -23.86% -21.78% +7.14%
75th Percentile £57.81 £53.75 £67.63
90th Percentile £76.10 £67.93 £76.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £37.50 £56.25
% change year-on-year -10.67% -33.33% +7.14%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Computer Science falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 32,654 28,287 37,362
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.81% 88.79% 87.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,662 17,217 24,715
10th Percentile £304 £306 £304
25th Percentile £406 £413 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £638 £650
90th Percentile £723 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,980 898 1,602
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.62 £14.16
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.75 £18.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £40.50
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -19.75% +16.41%
75th Percentile £56.06 £62.24 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.80 £74.91 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £30.45 £43.83
% change year-on-year -21.76% -30.52% +51.12%

Computer Science
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Computer Science job vacancy trend in the UK

Computer Science
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Computer Science

Computer Science
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Computer Science over the 6 months to 16 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Computer Science in the UK

Computer Science
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Computer Science

Computer Science
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Computer Science over the 6 months to 16 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Computer Science in the UK

Computer Science
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Computer Science within the UK over the 6 months to 16 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
England -10 981 £475 -14.03% 1,248
UK excluding London +11 545 £400 -20.00% 1,081
London -32 461 £550 -5.38% 298
Work from Home -18 278 £469 -18.43% 626
North of England +46 186 £358 -31.81% 186
South East +21 130 £318 -36.50% 402
Yorkshire +26 100 £475 -7.32% 65
Midlands -25 96 £503 +11.67% 119
North West +24 84 £350 -33.33% 86
West Midlands -27 66 £525 +5.00% 57
South West +13 59 £500 -23.08% 117
Scotland -7 41 £519 +8.13% 37
East of England -38 32 £403 -22.45% 174
East Midlands -15 30 £450 +26.40% 61
Wales -3 13 £160 -44.35% 50
Northern Ireland -5 4 - - 26
North East -15 3 £216 -57.95% 38

Computer Science
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 57 (5.16%) Confluence
2 40 (3.62%) SharePoint
3 30 (2.71%) Apache Spark
4 20 (1.81%) Microsoft Exchange
5 13 (1.18%) Apache
6 12 (1.09%) Apache Airflow
7 7 (0.63%) Jupyter
7 7 (0.63%) nginx
8 5 (0.45%) IIS
8 5 (0.45%) Skype for Business
8 5 (0.45%) Smallworld
9 4 (0.36%) GeoServer
9 4 (0.36%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 4 (0.36%) SAS
10 3 (0.27%) Ethereum
10 3 (0.27%) Hyperledger
10 3 (0.27%) Luigi
10 3 (0.27%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.18%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 2 (0.18%) OpenStack
Applications
1 44 (3.98%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (2.08%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (0.90%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.54%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.45%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.45%) Simulink
6 1 (0.090%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.090%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 23 (2.08%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (1.00%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.36%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.27%) Oracle General Ledger
4 3 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
4 3 (0.27%) Workday HCM
5 2 (0.18%) Maximo
5 2 (0.18%) Oracle EBS R12
5 2 (0.18%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.18%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.18%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.18%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.18%) SAP BPC
5 2 (0.18%) SAP CX
5 2 (0.18%) SAP FS
5 2 (0.18%) SAP PLM
5 2 (0.18%) SAP Travel Management
6 1 (0.090%) SAP CO
Cloud Services
1 276 (24.98%) Azure
2 204 (18.46%) AWS
3 116 (10.50%) GCP
4 73 (6.61%) GitHub
5 69 (6.24%) Power Platform
6 63 (5.70%) Serverless
7 50 (4.52%) Microsoft 365
8 43 (3.89%) SaaS
9 41 (3.71%) Azure DevOps
10 32 (2.90%) GitHub Actions
11 25 (2.26%) Entra ID
12 21 (1.90%) Azure Data Factory
12 21 (1.90%) IaaS
13 20 (1.81%) Cloud Computing
14 19 (1.72%) Power Automate
14 19 (1.72%) PowerApps
14 19 (1.72%) Snowflake
15 17 (1.54%) AWS Lambda
15 17 (1.54%) Azure Machine Learning
16 15 (1.36%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 42 (3.80%) Firewall
2 30 (2.71%) DNS
3 21 (1.90%) HTTP
4 19 (1.72%) Network Security
5 15 (1.36%) TCP/IP
6 14 (1.27%) DHCP
6 14 (1.27%) SSH
7 13 (1.18%) Skype
8 12 (1.09%) Wireless
9 11 (1.00%) VoIP
10 10 (0.90%) BGP
10 10 (0.90%) VPN
11 9 (0.81%) Cisco IOS
11 9 (0.81%) Internet
12 8 (0.72%) LAN
12 8 (0.72%) VLAN
12 8 (0.72%) WAN
13 7 (0.63%) IPv4
13 7 (0.63%) OSPF
13 7 (0.63%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 63 (5.70%) NoSQL
2 62 (5.61%) PostgreSQL
3 56 (5.07%) Relational Database
4 49 (4.43%) Power BI
5 41 (3.71%) Data Warehouse
6 37 (3.35%) SQL Server
7 35 (3.17%) MySQL
8 28 (2.53%) Big Data
9 26 (2.35%) Tableau
10 17 (1.54%) Elasticsearch
11 13 (1.18%) MongoDB
12 10 (0.90%) Metadata
12 10 (0.90%) Redis
13 9 (0.81%) Hadoop
13 9 (0.81%) RDBMS
14 8 (0.72%) Apache Cassandra
14 8 (0.72%) Data Lake
14 8 (0.72%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 7 (0.63%) Amazon RDS
15 7 (0.63%) Pinecone
Development Applications
1 91 (8.24%) JIRA
2 89 (8.05%) Git
3 75 (6.79%) Jenkins
4 66 (5.97%) GitLab
5 25 (2.26%) Liquibase
6 17 (1.54%) Postman
7 14 (1.27%) Selenium
8 10 (0.90%) Artifactory
8 10 (0.90%) JUnit
8 10 (0.90%) Visual Studio
9 9 (0.81%) Bitbucket
9 9 (0.81%) Cypress.io
10 8 (0.72%) CircleCI
10 8 (0.72%) Jaeger
11 7 (0.63%) MLflow
11 7 (0.63%) SonarQube
12 6 (0.54%) Appium
12 6 (0.54%) Cucumber
13 5 (0.45%) Charles Proxy
13 5 (0.45%) Gradle
General
1 505 (45.70%) Social Skills
2 286 (25.88%) Finance
3 257 (23.26%) Analytical Skills
4 121 (10.95%) Banking
5 67 (6.06%) Public Sector
6 41 (3.71%) Financial Institution
7 39 (3.53%) Marketing
8 33 (2.99%) Documentation Skills
8 33 (2.99%) Legal
9 32 (2.90%) Influencing Skills
9 32 (2.90%) Organisational Skills
10 31 (2.81%) Telecoms
11 30 (2.71%) Presentation Skills
12 29 (2.62%) Front Office
13 26 (2.35%) Investment Banking
14 25 (2.26%) Electronics
15 24 (2.17%) Manufacturing
16 14 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 13 (1.18%) Military
18 11 (1.00%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 195 (17.65%) Developer
2 96 (8.69%) Analyst
3 88 (7.96%) Architect
4 84 (7.60%) Senior
5 77 (6.97%) Lead
6 57 (5.16%) Software Engineer
7 38 (3.44%) Solutions Architect
8 30 (2.71%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
8 30 (2.71%) Data Scientist
9 28 (2.53%) Technical Support
10 27 (2.44%) Business Analyst
11 26 (2.35%) IT Support
11 26 (2.35%) Senior Developer
12 24 (2.17%) Consultant
12 24 (2.17%) Python Developer
13 23 (2.08%) Java Developer
14 22 (1.99%) Cloud Engineer
14 22 (1.99%) Data Engineer
14 22 (1.99%) Site Reliability Engineer
15 21 (1.90%) Python Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 118 (10.68%) REST
2 77 (6.97%) RESTful
3 62 (5.61%) .NET
4 52 (4.71%) HTML
5 47 (4.25%) Elastic Stack
6 43 (3.89%) React
7 40 (3.62%) JSON
7 40 (3.62%) Middleware
8 39 (3.53%) CSS
8 39 (3.53%) OAuth
8 39 (3.53%) XML
9 38 (3.44%) Kafka
10 32 (2.90%) Node.js
10 32 (2.90%) SOAP
11 30 (2.71%) TensorFlow
12 29 (2.62%) PyTorch
13 28 (2.53%) LangChain
14 24 (2.17%) Spring
15 20 (1.81%) AngularJS
15 20 (1.81%) FastAPI
Miscellaneous
1 115 (10.41%) Management Information System
2 87 (7.87%) Cloud Native
3 85 (7.69%) Algorithms
4 56 (5.07%) Distributed Systems
5 50 (4.52%) Data Structures
6 48 (4.34%) Product Ownership
7 34 (3.08%) Public Cloud
8 28 (2.53%) Data Protection Act
9 26 (2.35%) Equities
9 26 (2.35%) Onboarding
10 25 (2.26%) Security Posture
11 22 (1.99%) Derivative
11 22 (1.99%) Mobile App
12 21 (1.90%) Enterprise Software
13 20 (1.81%) Data Centre
13 20 (1.81%) Virtual Team
14 19 (1.72%) AI Agents
14 19 (1.72%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 18 (1.63%) Analytical Mindset
16 17 (1.54%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 167 (15.11%) Linux
2 120 (10.86%) Windows
3 61 (5.52%) Unix
4 28 (2.53%) Android
5 23 (2.08%) Windows Server
6 19 (1.72%) Mac OS
7 17 (1.54%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.72%) Windows 10
9 7 (0.63%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.18%) Debian
10 2 (0.18%) Robot Operating System
10 2 (0.18%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.18%) VMS
11 1 (0.090%) Kali Linux
11 1 (0.090%) Rocky
Processes & Methodologies
1 370 (33.48%) Problem-Solving
2 309 (27.96%) Agile
3 244 (22.08%) DevOps
4 224 (20.27%) CI/CD
5 190 (17.19%) AI
6 183 (16.56%) Software Engineering
7 151 (13.67%) Microservices
8 140 (12.67%) Containerisation
9 120 (10.86%) Cybersecurity
10 118 (10.68%) Machine Learning
11 114 (10.32%) Analytics
12 108 (9.77%) Stakeholder Management
13 106 (9.59%) Continuous Improvement
14 104 (9.41%) Data Modelling
14 104 (9.41%) Mathematics
15 103 (9.32%) Data Science
16 91 (8.24%) Decision-Making
17 85 (7.69%) Change Management
17 85 (7.69%) Infrastructure as Code
17 85 (7.69%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 366 (33.12%) Python
2 199 (18.01%) SQL
3 151 (13.67%) Java
4 115 (10.41%) JavaScript
5 63 (5.70%) PowerShell
6 61 (5.52%) TypeScript
7 58 (5.25%) C#
8 50 (4.52%) Go
9 49 (4.43%) Bash
10 48 (4.34%) C++
11 24 (2.17%) Perl
12 18 (1.63%) R
13 16 (1.45%) Kotlin
14 13 (1.18%) Rust
15 11 (1.00%) Ruby
16 10 (0.90%) Shell Script
17 9 (0.81%) C
17 9 (0.81%) MATLAB
18 8 (0.72%) Bicep
18 8 (0.72%) Swift
Qualifications
1 908 (82.17%) Degree
2 608 (55.02%) Computer Science Degree
3 224 (20.27%) Master's Degree
4 131 (11.86%) Security Cleared
5 93 (8.42%) SC Cleared
6 63 (5.70%) CISSP
7 52 (4.71%) DBS Check
8 51 (4.62%) PhD
9 41 (3.71%) CISM
10 34 (3.08%) Azure Certification
11 31 (2.81%) AWS Certification
12 30 (2.71%) Microsoft Certification
13 28 (2.53%) Cisco Certification
13 28 (2.53%) PMI Certification
14 27 (2.44%) BPSS Clearance
15 25 (2.26%) DV Cleared
15 25 (2.26%) TOGAF Certification
16 22 (1.99%) PMP
17 19 (1.72%) ITIL Certification
18 17 (1.54%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 72 (6.52%) QA
2 58 (5.25%) GDPR
3 49 (4.43%) Data Quality
4 42 (3.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 29 (2.62%) NIST
6 16 (1.45%) Accessibility
6 16 (1.45%) GRC
7 15 (1.36%) PCI DSS
8 11 (1.00%) Def Stans
9 9 (0.81%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 8 (0.72%) Cyber Essentials
11 7 (0.63%) SLA
12 6 (0.54%) HIPAA
13 5 (0.45%) DO-254
14 4 (0.36%) California Consumer Privacy Act
14 4 (0.36%) PSD2
15 3 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
15 3 (0.27%) ISO 19650
15 3 (0.27%) NCSC
15 3 (0.27%) PMO
System Software
1 161 (14.57%) Docker
2 47 (4.25%) Active Directory
3 23 (2.08%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.81%) Firmware
5 6 (0.54%) VMware NSX
6 5 (0.45%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.45%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 5 (0.45%) Virtual Servers
7 2 (0.18%) KVM
7 2 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.090%) HDFS
8 1 (0.090%) PowerHA
8 1 (0.090%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 155 (14.03%) Kubernetes
2 98 (8.87%) Terraform
3 71 (6.43%) Ansible
4 56 (5.07%) Grafana
5 43 (3.89%) Prometheus
6 21 (1.90%) Puppet
7 14 (1.27%) Kibana
8 13 (1.18%) SCCM
9 11 (1.00%) Microsoft Intune
9 11 (1.00%) Single Sign-On
10 8 (0.72%) Kiali
11 7 (0.63%) Argo
12 6 (0.54%) CSIRT
12 6 (0.54%) Progress Chef
12 6 (0.54%) QRadar
12 6 (0.54%) WSUS
13 4 (0.36%) SCOM
14 3 (0.27%) Control-M
14 3 (0.27%) HP ALM
15 2 (0.18%) Knative
Vendors
1 177 (16.02%) Microsoft
2 91 (8.24%) Splunk
3 60 (5.43%) Google
4 51 (4.62%) Oracle
4 51 (4.62%) SAP
5 35 (3.17%) Databricks
6 30 (2.71%) Cisco
7 28 (2.53%) Salesforce
8 25 (2.26%) VMware
9 24 (2.17%) ServiceNow
10 20 (1.81%) IBM
11 17 (1.54%) Red Hat
12 15 (1.36%) BiZZdesign
12 15 (1.36%) Informatica
13 14 (1.27%) OpenAI
14 13 (1.18%) MuleSoft
15 12 (1.09%) Foundry
16 11 (1.00%) Fortinet
16 11 (1.00%) Palo Alto
17 10 (0.90%) Atlassian