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 17 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 78 73 78
Rank change year-on-year -5 +5 +49
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,170 1,075 1,208
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.18% 3.12% 2.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.60% 3.55% 3.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 747 646 809
10th Percentile £174 £350 £348
25th Percentile £312 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £638 £700 £700
90th Percentile £750 £850 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -20.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 28 32
10th Percentile £26.75 £27.53 £33.34
25th Percentile £33.50 £39.47 £50.00
Median hourly rate £41.50 £51.50 £59.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.42% -12.71% +8.76%
75th Percentile £67.00 £62.75 £69.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £70.25 £79.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £42.63 £56.25
% change year-on-year -21.41% -24.22% +7.14%

All Process and 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 32,541 30,291 38,815
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 88.45% 88.04% 88.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,482 18,505 25,899
10th Percentile £300 £306 £308
25th Percentile £406 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £650
90th Percentile £723 £744 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,089 1,000 1,504
10th Percentile £14.53 £15.61 £14.38
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.30 £18.95
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.84
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -25.86% +25.25%
75th Percentile £48.75 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £73.78 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £32.28 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.75% -27.46% +39.06%

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 17 December 2025.

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 17 December 2025.

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 17 December 2025. 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 -7 1,033 £475 -17.39% 755
UK excluding London +15 569 £400 -20.00% 674
London -26 498 £548 -8.75% 219
Work from Home -4 304 £456 -20.65% 466
North of England +38 188 £375 -28.57% 127
South East +27 132 £335 -33.00% 229
Midlands -7 101 £475 -5.00% 92
Yorkshire +23 96 £450 -18.18% 49
North West +21 89 £358 -28.40% 59
West Midlands -19 69 £500 -13.04% 48
South West +17 57 £425 -39.29% 79
East of England -19 46 £438 -12.50% 113
Scotland +12 45 £450 -4.51% 40
East Midlands -8 32 £447 +25.56% 43
Wales +4 11 £160 -67.55% 11
North East -9 4 £333 -35.07% 21
Northern Ireland -10 4 - - 10

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 (4.87%) Confluence
2 46 (3.93%) SharePoint
3 32 (2.74%) Apache Spark
4 24 (2.05%) Microsoft Exchange
5 13 (1.11%) Apache
5 13 (1.11%) Apache Airflow
6 8 (0.68%) Jupyter
7 7 (0.60%) IIS
7 7 (0.60%) nginx
8 5 (0.43%) Skype for Business
8 5 (0.43%) Smallworld
9 4 (0.34%) GeoServer
9 4 (0.34%) SAS
10 3 (0.26%) Ethereum
10 3 (0.26%) Hyperledger
10 3 (0.26%) Luigi
10 3 (0.26%) Oracle SOA Suite
10 3 (0.26%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.17%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 2 (0.17%) OpenStack
Applications
1 54 (4.62%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (2.14%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (0.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.43%) Chatbot
4 5 (0.43%) MS Visio
4 5 (0.43%) Simulink
5 2 (0.17%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.085%) Oracle Smart View
Business Applications
1 24 (2.05%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.94%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.51%) Workday HCM
4 4 (0.34%) Aladdin
4 4 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
4 4 (0.34%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.26%) Bloomberg AIM
5 3 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
5 3 (0.26%) SAP MDG
5 3 (0.26%) SAP PLM
5 3 (0.26%) Temenos T24
6 2 (0.17%) Endur
6 2 (0.17%) Maximo
6 2 (0.17%) Oracle EBS R12
6 2 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.17%) SAP BPC
6 2 (0.17%) SAP FS
6 2 (0.17%) SAP GRC
6 2 (0.17%) SAP Travel Management
6 2 (0.17%) SAP VC
Cloud Services
1 282 (24.10%) Azure
2 230 (19.66%) AWS
3 131 (11.20%) GCP
4 75 (6.41%) GitHub
5 73 (6.24%) Power Platform
6 71 (6.07%) Serverless
7 54 (4.62%) Microsoft 365
8 44 (3.76%) Azure DevOps
9 35 (2.99%) SaaS
10 30 (2.56%) GitHub Actions
11 25 (2.14%) Entra ID
12 22 (1.88%) Cloud Computing
13 21 (1.79%) AWS Lambda
14 20 (1.71%) Azure Data Factory
14 20 (1.71%) Snowflake
15 19 (1.62%) Power Automate
15 19 (1.62%) PowerApps
16 18 (1.54%) Amazon S3
16 18 (1.54%) Azure Machine Learning
17 17 (1.45%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 45 (3.85%) Firewall
2 41 (3.50%) DNS
3 24 (2.05%) DHCP
4 21 (1.79%) HTTP
5 19 (1.62%) Network Security
5 19 (1.62%) VPN
5 19 (1.62%) Wireless
6 16 (1.37%) TCP/IP
7 15 (1.28%) SSH
8 13 (1.11%) Cisco IOS
8 13 (1.11%) Skype
9 11 (0.94%) VoIP
9 11 (0.94%) WAN
10 10 (0.85%) BGP
10 10 (0.85%) Internet
11 9 (0.77%) LAN
12 8 (0.68%) Unified Communications
12 8 (0.68%) VLAN
13 7 (0.60%) IPv4
13 7 (0.60%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 75 (6.41%) PostgreSQL
2 67 (5.73%) NoSQL
3 61 (5.21%) Relational Database
4 53 (4.53%) Power BI
5 44 (3.76%) SQL Server
6 42 (3.59%) Data Warehouse
7 31 (2.65%) Big Data
7 31 (2.65%) MySQL
8 30 (2.56%) Tableau
9 15 (1.28%) MongoDB
10 14 (1.20%) Redis
11 13 (1.11%) RDBMS
12 12 (1.03%) Amazon RDS
13 11 (0.94%) Elasticsearch
13 11 (0.94%) Metadata
14 10 (0.85%) Data Lake
14 10 (0.85%) Hadoop
15 8 (0.68%) Apache Cassandra
15 8 (0.68%) SQL Server Integration Services
16 7 (0.60%) KDB
Development Applications
1 110 (9.40%) JIRA
2 94 (8.03%) Git
3 91 (7.78%) Jenkins
4 85 (7.26%) GitLab
5 29 (2.48%) Liquibase
6 21 (1.79%) Postman
7 18 (1.54%) Artifactory
8 16 (1.37%) Selenium
9 15 (1.28%) Visual Studio
10 10 (0.85%) Bitbucket
10 10 (0.85%) Cypress.io
11 9 (0.77%) JUnit
12 8 (0.68%) Cucumber
12 8 (0.68%) MLflow
13 7 (0.60%) SonarQube
14 6 (0.51%) Appium
14 6 (0.51%) CircleCI
14 6 (0.51%) IntelliJ
14 6 (0.51%) PyCharm
14 6 (0.51%) TeamCity
General
1 553 (47.26%) Social Skills
2 307 (26.24%) Finance
3 252 (21.54%) Analytical Skills
4 129 (11.03%) Banking
5 64 (5.47%) Public Sector
6 44 (3.76%) Financial Institution
7 38 (3.25%) Marketing
8 37 (3.16%) Front Office
9 34 (2.91%) Organisational Skills
10 32 (2.74%) Influencing Skills
11 31 (2.65%) Investment Banking
12 30 (2.56%) Legal
12 30 (2.56%) Manufacturing
13 27 (2.31%) Telecoms
14 25 (2.14%) Documentation Skills
14 25 (2.14%) Presentation Skills
15 21 (1.79%) Electronics
16 17 (1.45%) Retail
17 15 (1.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 11 (0.94%) Military
Job Titles
1 224 (19.15%) Developer
2 104 (8.89%) Analyst
3 101 (8.63%) Architect
4 89 (7.61%) Senior
5 75 (6.41%) Lead
6 60 (5.13%) Software Engineer
7 37 (3.16%) Solutions Architect
8 36 (3.08%) Java Developer
9 32 (2.74%) Data Scientist
10 31 (2.65%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
10 31 (2.65%) Business Analyst
11 30 (2.56%) Senior Developer
12 29 (2.48%) Consultant
12 29 (2.48%) Python Engineer
13 25 (2.14%) Data Engineer
13 25 (2.14%) IT Support
13 25 (2.14%) Python Developer
14 24 (2.05%) Full-Stack Developer
15 23 (1.97%) AWS Engineer
16 21 (1.79%) Machine Learning Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 124 (10.60%) REST
2 83 (7.09%) RESTful
3 70 (5.98%) .NET
4 58 (4.96%) HTML
5 54 (4.62%) React
6 46 (3.93%) Elastic Stack
7 44 (3.76%) CSS
7 44 (3.76%) Kafka
8 42 (3.59%) Node.js
9 41 (3.50%) JSON
10 38 (3.25%) Middleware
11 37 (3.16%) SOAP
11 37 (3.16%) TensorFlow
12 36 (3.08%) OAuth
12 36 (3.08%) PyTorch
12 36 (3.08%) XML
13 31 (2.65%) LangChain
14 29 (2.48%) Spring
15 28 (2.39%) AngularJS
16 27 (2.31%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 113 (9.66%) Management Information System
2 97 (8.29%) Algorithms
3 92 (7.86%) Cloud Native
4 64 (5.47%) Distributed Systems
5 57 (4.87%) Data Structures
6 51 (4.36%) Product Ownership
7 39 (3.33%) Public Cloud
8 34 (2.91%) Data Protection Act
9 28 (2.39%) Equities
10 26 (2.22%) Security Posture
11 24 (2.05%) Mobile App
12 23 (1.97%) Derivative
12 23 (1.97%) Enterprise Software
13 22 (1.88%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 22 (1.88%) Onboarding
13 22 (1.88%) Virtual Team
14 21 (1.79%) Data Centre
14 21 (1.79%) Fixed Income
15 19 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
15 19 (1.62%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 165 (14.10%) Linux
2 117 (10.00%) Windows
3 61 (5.21%) Unix
4 27 (2.31%) Android
5 25 (2.14%) Mac OS
5 25 (2.14%) Windows Server
6 18 (1.54%) Apple iOS
7 9 (0.77%) Windows 10
8 6 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.34%) VMS
10 1 (0.085%) Debian
10 1 (0.085%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.085%) Robot Operating System
10 1 (0.085%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 387 (33.08%) Problem-Solving
2 343 (29.32%) Agile
3 251 (21.45%) DevOps
4 232 (19.83%) CI/CD
5 193 (16.50%) Software Engineering
6 183 (15.64%) AI
7 149 (12.74%) Microservices
8 145 (12.39%) Containerisation
9 128 (10.94%) Machine Learning
10 124 (10.60%) Analytics
11 117 (10.00%) Cybersecurity
12 113 (9.66%) Data Science
13 109 (9.32%) Mathematics
14 107 (9.15%) Stakeholder Management
15 105 (8.97%) Continuous Improvement
16 99 (8.46%) Decision-Making
17 97 (8.29%) Data Modelling
17 97 (8.29%) ITIL
18 92 (7.86%) Change Management
19 90 (7.69%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 394 (33.68%) Python
2 209 (17.86%) SQL
3 173 (14.79%) Java
4 118 (10.09%) JavaScript
5 70 (5.98%) TypeScript
6 69 (5.90%) PowerShell
7 66 (5.64%) C#
8 59 (5.04%) Go
9 52 (4.44%) Bash
10 51 (4.36%) C++
11 22 (1.88%) Perl
12 20 (1.71%) R
13 14 (1.20%) Kotlin
13 14 (1.20%) Ruby
14 12 (1.03%) Shell Script
15 9 (0.77%) Apex Code
15 9 (0.77%) C
15 9 (0.77%) MATLAB
16 8 (0.68%) Bicep
16 8 (0.68%) Swift
Qualifications
1 950 (81.20%) Degree
2 639 (54.62%) Computer Science Degree
3 234 (20.00%) Master's Degree
4 133 (11.37%) Security Cleared
5 97 (8.29%) SC Cleared
6 61 (5.21%) DBS Check
7 58 (4.96%) CISSP
8 52 (4.44%) PhD
9 40 (3.42%) AWS Certification
9 40 (3.42%) Azure Certification
10 37 (3.16%) Microsoft Certification
11 36 (3.08%) Cisco Certification
12 34 (2.91%) CISM
13 27 (2.31%) PMI Certification
14 25 (2.14%) BPSS Clearance
15 23 (1.97%) DV Cleared
15 23 (1.97%) PMP
16 21 (1.79%) CCNA
16 21 (1.79%) CCNP
16 21 (1.79%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 80 (6.84%) QA
2 67 (5.73%) GDPR
3 64 (5.47%) Data Quality
4 43 (3.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 26 (2.22%) NIST
6 19 (1.62%) GRC
7 16 (1.37%) Accessibility
8 13 (1.11%) PCI DSS
9 11 (0.94%) Def Stans
9 11 (0.94%) SLA
10 8 (0.68%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 8 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials
11 7 (0.60%) HIPAA
12 6 (0.51%) COBIT
13 5 (0.43%) DO-254
13 5 (0.43%) PMO
13 5 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 3 (0.26%) NCSC
14 3 (0.26%) NIST 800
14 3 (0.26%) PSD2
System Software
1 163 (13.93%) Docker
2 45 (3.85%) Active Directory
3 25 (2.14%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.60%) Firmware
4 7 (0.60%) VMware NSX
5 5 (0.43%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 5 (0.43%) Virtual Servers
6 4 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.34%) vSphere
7 3 (0.26%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.085%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.085%) HDFS
9 1 (0.085%) PowerHA
9 1 (0.085%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 152 (12.99%) Kubernetes
2 106 (9.06%) Terraform
3 79 (6.75%) Ansible
4 56 (4.79%) Grafana
5 43 (3.68%) Prometheus
6 19 (1.62%) Puppet
7 16 (1.37%) SCCM
8 11 (0.94%) Kibana
9 9 (0.77%) Microsoft Intune
10 7 (0.60%) Argo
10 7 (0.60%) CSIRT
11 6 (0.51%) Progress Chef
11 6 (0.51%) QRadar
11 6 (0.51%) Single Sign-On
11 6 (0.51%) WSUS
12 5 (0.43%) SCOM
13 4 (0.34%) vCenter Server
14 3 (0.26%) HP ALM
14 3 (0.26%) Kiali
14 3 (0.26%) vRealize
Vendors
1 198 (16.92%) Microsoft
2 85 (7.26%) Splunk
3 72 (6.15%) Google
4 51 (4.36%) SAP
5 46 (3.93%) Oracle
6 40 (3.42%) Cisco
7 39 (3.33%) Databricks
8 36 (3.08%) Salesforce
8 36 (3.08%) ServiceNow
9 29 (2.48%) VMware
10 27 (2.31%) IBM
11 17 (1.45%) Red Hat
12 14 (1.20%) Palo Alto
13 13 (1.11%) OpenAI
14 12 (1.03%) BiZZdesign
15 11 (0.94%) Foundry
15 11 (0.94%) Informatica
16 10 (0.85%) CheckPoint
16 10 (0.85%) Fortinet
17 9 (0.77%) CyberArk