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 18 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 91 76 73
Rank change year-on-year -15 -3 +57
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,130 928 1,248
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.79% 3.03% 2.81%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.21% 3.37% 3.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 720 520 796
10th Percentile £176 £337 £317
25th Percentile £312 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £530 £550
Median % change year-on-year -7.55% -3.64% -8.33%
75th Percentile £651 £675 £663
90th Percentile £775 £801 £781
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £513 £500
% change year-on-year -21.95% +2.50% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 22 74
10th Percentile £26.20 £30.78 £23.90
25th Percentile £26.75 £33.75 £42.50
Median hourly rate £33.50 £44.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.86% -20.00% +4.76%
75th Percentile £64.00 £60.25 £67.38
90th Percentile £70.50 £70.65 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £37.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year -10.67% -31.82% +10.00%

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 35,252 27,502 38,622
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.92% 89.66% 87.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,364 16,881 25,241
10th Percentile £310 £306 £300
25th Percentile £410 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -2.04% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,119 838 2,150
10th Percentile £14.53 £15.62 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.87 £21.05 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -7.14% -
75th Percentile £60.00 £63.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.08 £72.97
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £30.78 £35.00
% change year-on-year -18.29% -12.06% +6.22%

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 18 February 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 18 February 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 18 February 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 -14 990 £476 -11.53% 773
UK excluding London 0 567 £400 -21.95% 610
London -32 454 £550 -2.22% 312
Work from Home -13 275 £500 -11.11% 383
North of England +38 190 £368 -31.31% 101
South East +16 141 £364 -27.25% 227
Yorkshire +26 100 £525 +2.44% 28
Midlands -36 92 £500 +15.94% 90
North West +14 86 £325 -40.37% 51
West Midlands -34 67 £525 +5.00% 61
South West +5 60 £520 -13.33% 64
Scotland +5 42 £610 +19.02% 49
East of England -34 39 £500 -20.00% 73
East Midlands -18 25 £447 +25.56% 29
Wales -11 15 £160 -44.35% 17
North East -11 5 £207 -64.09% 24
Northern Ireland -5 4 - - 5

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 64 (5.66%) Confluence
2 41 (3.63%) Apache Spark
3 35 (3.10%) SharePoint
4 21 (1.86%) Microsoft Exchange
5 16 (1.42%) Apache
6 15 (1.33%) Apache Airflow
7 6 (0.53%) Jupyter
8 5 (0.44%) Oracle SOA Suite
8 5 (0.44%) Skype for Business
8 5 (0.44%) Smallworld
9 4 (0.35%) GeoServer
9 4 (0.35%) IIS
9 4 (0.35%) Palantir Foundry
9 4 (0.35%) SAS
10 3 (0.27%) Ethereum
10 3 (0.27%) Hyperledger
11 2 (0.18%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 2 (0.18%) nginx
11 2 (0.18%) OpenStack
11 2 (0.18%) WebSphere
Applications
1 37 (3.27%) Microsoft Office
2 18 (1.59%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.06%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.53%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.44%) Chatbot
5 5 (0.44%) Simulink
6 2 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.088%) Oracle Smart View
7 1 (0.088%) Trello
Business Applications
1 23 (2.04%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (0.88%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.44%) Payment Gateway
4 4 (0.35%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.18%) Oracle ERP
6 2 (0.18%) Oracle General Ledger
6 2 (0.18%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 2 (0.18%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 2 (0.18%) SAP BPC
6 2 (0.18%) SAP FS
6 2 (0.18%) SAP Travel Management
6 2 (0.18%) Workday HCM
7 1 (0.088%) FLEXCUBE
7 1 (0.088%) IBM Planning Analytics
7 1 (0.088%) JDE EnterpriseOne
7 1 (0.088%) Maximo
7 1 (0.088%) Misys Equation
7 1 (0.088%) SAP CO
7 1 (0.088%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 309 (27.35%) Azure
2 211 (18.67%) AWS
3 129 (11.42%) GCP
4 71 (6.28%) GitHub
5 65 (5.75%) Power Platform
6 55 (4.87%) Microsoft 365
7 54 (4.78%) Serverless
8 47 (4.16%) SaaS
9 44 (3.89%) Azure DevOps
10 33 (2.92%) Entra ID
10 33 (2.92%) GitHub Actions
11 21 (1.86%) IaaS
12 19 (1.68%) Azure Data Factory
12 19 (1.68%) Power Automate
12 19 (1.68%) PowerApps
13 18 (1.59%) Cloud Computing
13 18 (1.59%) Snowflake
14 17 (1.50%) AWS CloudFormation
15 16 (1.42%) Azure Machine Learning
16 14 (1.24%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 48 (4.25%) Firewall
2 34 (3.01%) DNS
3 25 (2.21%) Network Security
4 23 (2.04%) TCP/IP
5 19 (1.68%) HTTP
6 14 (1.24%) DHCP
6 14 (1.24%) SSH
7 13 (1.15%) Skype
8 12 (1.06%) BGP
8 12 (1.06%) Wireless
9 11 (0.97%) LAN
9 11 (0.97%) WAN
10 10 (0.88%) VLAN
10 10 (0.88%) VPN
11 9 (0.80%) Cisco IOS
11 9 (0.80%) OSPF
11 9 (0.80%) VoIP
12 7 (0.62%) HTTPS
12 7 (0.62%) IPv4
12 7 (0.62%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 79 (6.99%) PostgreSQL
2 63 (5.58%) NoSQL
3 45 (3.98%) Data Warehouse
3 45 (3.98%) Power BI
3 45 (3.98%) Relational Database
4 42 (3.72%) SQL Server
5 39 (3.45%) MySQL
6 38 (3.36%) Big Data
7 23 (2.04%) Tableau
8 20 (1.77%) Elasticsearch
8 20 (1.77%) Hadoop
9 18 (1.59%) Metadata
10 17 (1.50%) Data Lake
10 17 (1.50%) MongoDB
11 11 (0.97%) Redis
12 8 (0.71%) RDBMS
12 8 (0.71%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 7 (0.62%) KDB
13 7 (0.62%) OLAP
13 7 (0.62%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 91 (8.05%) Git
2 87 (7.70%) JIRA
3 71 (6.28%) Jenkins
4 61 (5.40%) GitLab
5 22 (1.95%) Liquibase
6 15 (1.33%) Postman
7 12 (1.06%) Selenium
8 10 (0.88%) MLflow
9 9 (0.80%) CircleCI
9 9 (0.80%) Jaeger
10 8 (0.71%) Bitbucket
10 8 (0.71%) Gradle
10 8 (0.71%) Visual Studio
11 7 (0.62%) JUnit
12 6 (0.53%) Cypress.io
13 5 (0.44%) Appium
13 5 (0.44%) Cucumber
13 5 (0.44%) PyCharm
13 5 (0.44%) XCUITest
14 4 (0.35%) Charles Proxy
General
1 529 (46.81%) Social Skills
2 296 (26.19%) Finance
3 248 (21.95%) Analytical Skills
4 122 (10.80%) Banking
5 71 (6.28%) Public Sector
6 45 (3.98%) Marketing
7 42 (3.72%) Documentation Skills
8 38 (3.36%) Financial Institution
8 38 (3.36%) Organisational Skills
9 35 (3.10%) Presentation Skills
10 32 (2.83%) Influencing Skills
11 31 (2.74%) Legal
12 29 (2.57%) Telecoms
13 28 (2.48%) Front Office
14 25 (2.21%) Electronics
15 23 (2.04%) Manufacturing
16 21 (1.86%) Investment Banking
17 20 (1.77%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 15 (1.33%) Military
19 13 (1.15%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 185 (16.37%) Developer
2 111 (9.82%) Architect
3 94 (8.32%) Analyst
4 90 (7.96%) Lead
5 87 (7.70%) Senior
6 56 (4.96%) Software Engineer
7 46 (4.07%) Solutions Architect
8 35 (3.10%) Data Scientist
9 30 (2.65%) Technical Support
10 29 (2.57%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
10 29 (2.57%) Python Developer
11 26 (2.30%) Consultant
12 25 (2.21%) Data Engineer
12 25 (2.21%) Java Developer
13 23 (2.04%) Business Analyst
13 23 (2.04%) Cloud Engineer
13 23 (2.04%) IT Support
13 23 (2.04%) Site Reliability Engineer
14 22 (1.95%) Senior Developer
14 22 (1.95%) Site Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 111 (9.82%) REST
2 69 (6.11%) RESTful
3 57 (5.04%) React
4 56 (4.96%) .NET
5 48 (4.25%) Elastic Stack
6 44 (3.89%) Middleware
7 43 (3.81%) Kafka
8 40 (3.54%) HTML
9 35 (3.10%) OAuth
9 35 (3.10%) PyTorch
10 34 (3.01%) JSON
10 34 (3.01%) TensorFlow
11 32 (2.83%) XML
12 31 (2.74%) Spring
13 30 (2.65%) CSS
13 30 (2.65%) SOAP
14 29 (2.57%) Node.js
15 28 (2.48%) Spring Boot
16 25 (2.21%) LangChain
17 22 (1.95%) AngularJS
Miscellaneous
1 129 (11.42%) Management Information System
2 97 (8.58%) Cloud Native
3 88 (7.79%) Algorithms
4 62 (5.49%) Distributed Systems
5 47 (4.16%) Data Structures
6 44 (3.89%) Product Ownership
7 43 (3.81%) Onboarding
8 32 (2.83%) Data Protection Act
9 30 (2.65%) Equities
9 30 (2.65%) Public Cloud
10 25 (2.21%) Security Posture
10 25 (2.21%) Virtual Team
11 23 (2.04%) Enterprise Software
12 22 (1.95%) AI Agents
12 22 (1.95%) Derivative
12 22 (1.95%) Distributed Computing
12 22 (1.95%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 20 (1.77%) Mobile App
14 19 (1.68%) Data Centre
15 18 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 171 (15.13%) Linux
2 130 (11.50%) Windows
3 63 (5.58%) Unix
4 26 (2.30%) Android
5 25 (2.21%) Windows Server
6 19 (1.68%) Mac OS
7 15 (1.33%) Apple iOS
8 9 (0.80%) Windows 10
9 8 (0.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.44%) VMS
11 2 (0.18%) Debian
11 2 (0.18%) Robot Operating System
11 2 (0.18%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.088%) Embedded Linux
12 1 (0.088%) Kali Linux
12 1 (0.088%) Rocky
12 1 (0.088%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 391 (34.60%) Problem-Solving
2 296 (26.19%) Agile
3 245 (21.68%) DevOps
4 228 (20.18%) CI/CD
5 223 (19.73%) AI
6 195 (17.26%) Software Engineering
7 163 (14.42%) Microservices
8 146 (12.92%) Containerisation
9 138 (12.21%) Analytics
10 137 (12.12%) Cybersecurity
11 133 (11.77%) Machine Learning
12 118 (10.44%) Data Science
13 115 (10.18%) Stakeholder Management
14 112 (9.91%) Data Modelling
15 106 (9.38%) Continuous Improvement
16 104 (9.20%) Mathematics
17 101 (8.94%) Data Governance
18 99 (8.76%) Decision-Making
19 95 (8.41%) Infrastructure as Code
20 87 (7.70%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 364 (32.21%) Python
2 209 (18.50%) SQL
3 148 (13.10%) Java
4 104 (9.20%) JavaScript
5 60 (5.31%) PowerShell
5 60 (5.31%) TypeScript
6 53 (4.69%) C#
7 52 (4.60%) Go
8 44 (3.89%) Bash
9 42 (3.72%) C++
10 22 (1.95%) Perl
11 18 (1.59%) R
12 16 (1.42%) Shell Script
13 14 (1.24%) Rust
14 12 (1.06%) Kotlin
15 9 (0.80%) Bicep
16 8 (0.71%) C
16 8 (0.71%) MATLAB
16 8 (0.71%) Ruby
17 7 (0.62%) Scala
Qualifications
1 929 (82.21%) Degree
2 609 (53.89%) Computer Science Degree
3 240 (21.24%) Master's Degree
4 155 (13.72%) Security Cleared
5 115 (10.18%) SC Cleared
6 72 (6.37%) CISSP
7 54 (4.78%) PhD
8 53 (4.69%) CISM
9 50 (4.42%) DBS Check
10 41 (3.63%) Azure Certification
11 36 (3.19%) BPSS Clearance
12 35 (3.10%) TOGAF Certification
13 34 (3.01%) Microsoft Certification
14 31 (2.74%) AWS Certification
15 28 (2.48%) Cisco Certification
16 26 (2.30%) DV Cleared
17 25 (2.21%) PMI Certification
18 21 (1.86%) PMP
19 20 (1.77%) CompTIA Security+
20 19 (1.68%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (6.19%) QA
2 62 (5.49%) GDPR
3 54 (4.78%) Data Quality
4 48 (4.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 35 (3.10%) NIST
6 20 (1.77%) PCI DSS
7 17 (1.50%) GRC
8 16 (1.42%) Accessibility
9 11 (0.97%) Def Stans
10 9 (0.80%) HIPAA
11 8 (0.71%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 7 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials
13 6 (0.53%) PSD2
14 5 (0.44%) Actionable Recommendations
14 5 (0.44%) California Consumer Privacy Act
14 5 (0.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 5 (0.44%) DO-254
14 5 (0.44%) NCSC
15 4 (0.35%) COBIT
15 4 (0.35%) SLA
System Software
1 164 (14.51%) Docker
2 62 (5.49%) Active Directory
3 22 (1.95%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (0.80%) Firmware
5 5 (0.44%) Microsoft Virtual Server
5 5 (0.44%) Virtual Servers
5 5 (0.44%) VMware NSX
6 4 (0.35%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.18%) HDFS
7 2 (0.18%) KVM
7 2 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.088%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.088%) PowerHA
8 1 (0.088%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 171 (15.13%) Kubernetes
2 101 (8.94%) Terraform
3 66 (5.84%) Ansible
4 55 (4.87%) Grafana
5 45 (3.98%) Prometheus
6 20 (1.77%) Puppet
7 18 (1.59%) Microsoft Intune
8 16 (1.42%) Kibana
9 13 (1.15%) Single Sign-On
10 12 (1.06%) SCCM
11 9 (0.80%) Kiali
12 7 (0.62%) Argo
13 6 (0.53%) WSUS
14 5 (0.44%) Progress Chef
15 4 (0.35%) SCOM
16 3 (0.27%) Control-M
17 2 (0.18%) FortiGate
17 2 (0.18%) logstash
17 2 (0.18%) Network Intrusion Detection System
17 2 (0.18%) QRadar
Vendors
1 184 (16.28%) Microsoft
2 90 (7.96%) Splunk
3 64 (5.66%) Oracle
4 60 (5.31%) Google
5 52 (4.60%) SAP
6 40 (3.54%) Databricks
7 29 (2.57%) Cisco
8 28 (2.48%) Salesforce
9 25 (2.21%) BiZZdesign
9 25 (2.21%) VMware
10 24 (2.12%) ServiceNow
11 23 (2.04%) Informatica
12 18 (1.59%) IBM
13 16 (1.42%) Red Hat
14 14 (1.24%) MuleSoft
15 13 (1.15%) Palo Alto
15 13 (1.15%) Software AG
16 12 (1.06%) CyberArk
16 12 (1.06%) Fortinet
16 12 (1.06%) Foundry