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 29 November 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 75 68 82
Rank change year-on-year -7 +14 +47
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,207 1,172 1,246
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.35% 3.22% 2.71%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.75% 3.69% 3.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 762 691 831
10th Percentile £173 £350 £340
25th Percentile £313 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £554 £550
Median % change year-on-year -14.26% +0.73% -8.33%
75th Percentile £638 £700 £675
90th Percentile £750 £838 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -23.81% +5.00% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 30 34
10th Percentile £26.75 £26.43 £29.12
25th Percentile £29.00 £35.91 £50.00
Median hourly rate £35.00 £51.50 £60.25
Median % change year-on-year -32.04% -14.52% +10.55%
75th Percentile £67.00 £66.75 £71.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £70.25 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £50.00 £58.75
% change year-on-year -33.00% -14.89% +28.77%

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 32,184 31,740 40,662
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 89.29% 87.07% 88.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,215 19,128 27,258
10th Percentile £300 £310 £310
25th Percentile £404 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £533
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.50% -3.09%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £744 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,084 1,140 1,567
10th Percentile £14.56 £15.22 £14.32
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.24 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £33.04 £43.84
Median % change year-on-year -23.87% -24.65% +25.26%
75th Percentile £45.53 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.85 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -29.69% -26.97% +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 29 November 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 29 November 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 29 November 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 -8 1,060 £475 -17.39% 837
UK excluding London +8 581 £400 -23.81% 760
London -21 520 £541 -9.79% 321
Work from Home -10 314 £476 -14.03% 326
North of England +8 191 £375 -29.64% 95
South East +38 136 £360 -28.00% 365
Midlands -14 102 £475 -17.39% 77
North West +3 96 £358 -32.83% 66
Yorkshire +20 92 £450 -16.28% 25
West Midlands -17 68 £500 -13.04% 43
South West +16 55 £425 -39.29% 92
East of England -16 49 £450 - 95
Scotland +9 48 £450 -4.51% 33
East Midlands +2 34 £447 +25.56% 32
Wales +6 12 £160 -67.81% 17
North East -11 4 £333 -35.07% 6
Northern Ireland -7 3 - - 9

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 52 (4.31%) Confluence
2 43 (3.56%) SharePoint
3 37 (3.07%) Apache Spark
4 26 (2.15%) Microsoft Exchange
5 13 (1.08%) Apache Airflow
6 10 (0.83%) Apache
7 8 (0.66%) Jupyter
8 7 (0.58%) nginx
9 6 (0.50%) IIS
10 5 (0.41%) SAS
10 5 (0.41%) Skype for Business
10 5 (0.41%) Smallworld
11 4 (0.33%) GeoServer
12 3 (0.25%) Ethereum
12 3 (0.25%) Hyperledger
12 3 (0.25%) Luigi
12 3 (0.25%) Tomcat
13 2 (0.17%) Adobe Experience Manager
13 2 (0.17%) OpenStack
13 2 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 61 (5.05%) Microsoft Office
2 28 (2.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (0.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.50%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.50%) Simulink
5 5 (0.41%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.17%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.083%) Adobe Illustrator
7 1 (0.083%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.083%) InDesign
7 1 (0.083%) Oracle Smart View
7 1 (0.083%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.083%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 26 (2.15%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.75%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.50%) Workday HCM
4 5 (0.41%) SAP PLM
5 4 (0.33%) Aladdin
5 4 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.33%) SAP ERP
5 4 (0.33%) SAP MDG
6 3 (0.25%) Bloomberg AIM
6 3 (0.25%) FLEXCUBE
6 3 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
6 3 (0.25%) SAP VC
6 3 (0.25%) Temenos T24
7 2 (0.17%) Endur
7 2 (0.17%) Maximo
7 2 (0.17%) Oracle EBS R12
7 2 (0.17%) SAP BPC
7 2 (0.17%) SAP FS
7 2 (0.17%) SAP GRC
7 2 (0.17%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 277 (22.95%) Azure
2 232 (19.22%) AWS
3 132 (10.94%) GCP
4 73 (6.05%) GitHub
5 69 (5.72%) Power Platform
5 69 (5.72%) Serverless
6 52 (4.31%) Microsoft 365
7 45 (3.73%) Azure DevOps
8 40 (3.31%) SaaS
9 27 (2.24%) Entra ID
9 27 (2.24%) GitHub Actions
10 24 (1.99%) Cloud Computing
11 20 (1.66%) Amazon S3
12 19 (1.57%) Amazon ECS
12 19 (1.57%) AWS Lambda
12 19 (1.57%) Azure Data Factory
12 19 (1.57%) Snowflake
13 18 (1.49%) Power Automate
14 17 (1.41%) Azure Logic Apps
14 17 (1.41%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 45 (3.73%) Firewall
2 43 (3.56%) DNS
3 29 (2.40%) DHCP
4 21 (1.74%) HTTP
4 21 (1.74%) Network Security
4 21 (1.74%) Wireless
5 19 (1.57%) VPN
6 18 (1.49%) Cisco IOS
7 17 (1.41%) TCP/IP
8 15 (1.24%) SSH
8 15 (1.24%) VoIP
9 13 (1.08%) Skype
9 13 (1.08%) WAN
10 11 (0.91%) LAN
11 10 (0.83%) Internet
12 9 (0.75%) BGP
12 9 (0.75%) PuTTY
12 9 (0.75%) VLAN
12 9 (0.75%) WLAN
13 7 (0.58%) IPv4
Database & Business Intelligence
1 77 (6.38%) PostgreSQL
2 73 (6.05%) NoSQL
3 60 (4.97%) Relational Database
4 51 (4.23%) Power BI
5 44 (3.65%) Data Warehouse
6 37 (3.07%) SQL Server
7 33 (2.73%) Big Data
8 29 (2.40%) MySQL
9 28 (2.32%) Tableau
10 17 (1.41%) Redis
11 15 (1.24%) Amazon RDS
11 15 (1.24%) Hadoop
12 13 (1.08%) Data Lake
12 13 (1.08%) MongoDB
13 12 (0.99%) RDBMS
14 11 (0.91%) Metadata
15 10 (0.83%) Amazon Athena
16 9 (0.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
17 8 (0.66%) KDB
18 7 (0.58%) Apache Cassandra
Development Applications
1 108 (8.95%) JIRA
2 95 (7.87%) Git
2 95 (7.87%) Jenkins
3 86 (7.13%) GitLab
4 29 (2.40%) Liquibase
5 23 (1.91%) Postman
6 17 (1.41%) Artifactory
7 15 (1.24%) Selenium
7 15 (1.24%) Visual Studio
8 11 (0.91%) Bitbucket
9 9 (0.75%) Cucumber
9 9 (0.75%) JUnit
9 9 (0.75%) MLflow
10 8 (0.66%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.58%) IntelliJ
12 6 (0.50%) Appium
12 6 (0.50%) CircleCI
12 6 (0.50%) PyCharm
13 5 (0.41%) SonarQube
13 5 (0.41%) webpack
General
1 578 (47.89%) Social Skills
2 331 (27.42%) Finance
3 268 (22.20%) Analytical Skills
4 131 (10.85%) Banking
5 63 (5.22%) Public Sector
6 48 (3.98%) Organisational Skills
7 45 (3.73%) Front Office
8 44 (3.65%) Financial Institution
8 44 (3.65%) Marketing
9 35 (2.90%) Manufacturing
10 34 (2.82%) Influencing Skills
11 32 (2.65%) Investment Banking
12 31 (2.57%) Legal
13 29 (2.40%) Telecoms
14 27 (2.24%) Documentation Skills
15 26 (2.15%) Presentation Skills
16 23 (1.91%) Electronics
17 19 (1.57%) Retail
18 15 (1.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
19 12 (0.99%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 239 (19.80%) Developer
2 109 (9.03%) Analyst
3 94 (7.79%) Architect
4 91 (7.54%) Senior
5 81 (6.71%) Lead
6 63 (5.22%) Software Engineer
7 41 (3.40%) Java Developer
8 35 (2.90%) Data Scientist
9 34 (2.82%) Senior Developer
9 34 (2.82%) Solutions Architect
10 32 (2.65%) Consultant
11 31 (2.57%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
12 30 (2.49%) Business Analyst
12 30 (2.49%) Data Engineer
12 30 (2.49%) Python Engineer
13 29 (2.40%) Python Developer
14 25 (2.07%) IT Support
15 23 (1.91%) Full-Stack Developer
16 22 (1.82%) AWS Engineer
17 21 (1.74%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 130 (10.77%) REST
2 85 (7.04%) RESTful
3 70 (5.80%) .NET
4 66 (5.47%) HTML
5 52 (4.31%) React
6 51 (4.23%) CSS
7 47 (3.89%) Kafka
8 45 (3.73%) Node.js
9 42 (3.48%) Elastic Stack
10 40 (3.31%) JSON
11 39 (3.23%) Middleware
12 38 (3.15%) OAuth
12 38 (3.15%) SOAP
13 35 (2.90%) XML
14 34 (2.82%) TensorFlow
14 34 (2.82%) Web Services
15 31 (2.57%) PyTorch
15 31 (2.57%) Spring
16 30 (2.49%) AngularJS
17 28 (2.32%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 115 (9.53%) Management Information System
2 103 (8.53%) Algorithms
3 84 (6.96%) Cloud Native
4 63 (5.22%) Distributed Systems
5 62 (5.14%) Data Structures
6 55 (4.56%) Product Ownership
7 41 (3.40%) Public Cloud
8 38 (3.15%) Data Protection Act
9 31 (2.57%) Virtual Team
10 29 (2.40%) Mobile App
11 28 (2.32%) Derivative
11 28 (2.32%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
12 27 (2.24%) Security Posture
13 26 (2.15%) Equities
13 26 (2.15%) Fixed Income
14 24 (1.99%) Data Centre
14 24 (1.99%) Enterprise Software
15 23 (1.91%) Distributed Computing
16 21 (1.74%) Onboarding
17 19 (1.57%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 151 (12.51%) Linux
2 105 (8.70%) Windows
3 55 (4.56%) Unix
4 26 (2.15%) Android
5 24 (1.99%) Windows Server
6 23 (1.91%) Mac OS
7 17 (1.41%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.66%) Windows 10
9 6 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (0.33%) VMS
11 2 (0.17%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.083%) CentOS
12 1 (0.083%) Debian
12 1 (0.083%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 399 (33.06%) Problem-Solving
2 367 (30.41%) Agile
3 243 (20.13%) DevOps
4 220 (18.23%) CI/CD
5 195 (16.16%) Software Engineering
6 170 (14.08%) AI
7 146 (12.10%) Microservices
8 139 (11.52%) Containerisation
9 132 (10.94%) Analytics
9 132 (10.94%) Machine Learning
10 117 (9.69%) Data Science
10 117 (9.69%) Mathematics
11 115 (9.53%) Cybersecurity
12 113 (9.36%) Stakeholder Management
13 108 (8.95%) ITIL
14 100 (8.29%) Change Management
15 99 (8.20%) Continuous Improvement
16 96 (7.95%) Decision-Making
17 95 (7.87%) Migration
18 92 (7.62%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 407 (33.72%) Python
2 217 (17.98%) SQL
3 184 (15.24%) Java
4 125 (10.36%) JavaScript
5 66 (5.47%) C#
6 64 (5.30%) TypeScript
7 61 (5.05%) PowerShell
8 59 (4.89%) Go
9 53 (4.39%) C++
10 45 (3.73%) Bash
11 24 (1.99%) R
12 21 (1.74%) Perl
13 19 (1.57%) Ruby
14 14 (1.16%) Kotlin
14 14 (1.16%) Shell Script
15 11 (0.91%) C
15 11 (0.91%) MATLAB
16 10 (0.83%) ABAP
17 9 (0.75%) Apex Code
17 9 (0.75%) PHP
Qualifications
1 974 (80.70%) Degree
2 639 (52.94%) Computer Science Degree
3 234 (19.39%) Master's Degree
4 124 (10.27%) Security Cleared
5 94 (7.79%) SC Cleared
6 73 (6.05%) DBS Check
7 57 (4.72%) CISSP
8 53 (4.39%) PhD
9 45 (3.73%) AWS Certification
10 40 (3.31%) Cisco Certification
11 37 (3.07%) Azure Certification
11 37 (3.07%) Microsoft Certification
12 35 (2.90%) CISM
13 30 (2.49%) PMI Certification
14 27 (2.24%) PMP
15 25 (2.07%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 25 (2.07%) BPSS Clearance
16 24 (1.99%) CCNA
17 22 (1.82%) CCNP
17 22 (1.82%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (6.21%) QA
2 67 (5.55%) GDPR
3 64 (5.30%) Data Quality
4 43 (3.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 28 (2.32%) NIST
6 20 (1.66%) GRC
7 18 (1.49%) Accessibility
8 12 (0.99%) PCI DSS
8 12 (0.99%) SLA
9 11 (0.91%) Def Stans
10 9 (0.75%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 8 (0.66%) Cyber Essentials
12 7 (0.58%) COBIT
12 7 (0.58%) HIPAA
12 7 (0.58%) PMO
13 6 (0.50%) DO-254
14 5 (0.41%) NCSC
14 5 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 4 (0.33%) SEPA
16 3 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 149 (12.34%) Docker
2 49 (4.06%) Active Directory
3 26 (2.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.58%) VMware NSX
5 6 (0.50%) Firmware
6 5 (0.41%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 5 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (0.33%) Hyper-V
7 4 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.33%) vSphere
8 2 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.083%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.083%) HDFS
9 1 (0.083%) PowerHA
9 1 (0.083%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 139 (11.52%) Kubernetes
2 92 (7.62%) Terraform
3 71 (5.88%) Ansible
4 53 (4.39%) Grafana
5 42 (3.48%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.33%) SCCM
7 15 (1.24%) Puppet
8 9 (0.75%) Microsoft Intune
8 9 (0.75%) Single Sign-On
9 7 (0.58%) Argo
9 7 (0.58%) CSIRT
9 7 (0.58%) Kibana
9 7 (0.58%) QRadar
10 6 (0.50%) WSUS
11 5 (0.41%) SCOM
12 4 (0.33%) Kustomize
12 4 (0.33%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.33%) vCenter Server
13 3 (0.25%) HP ALM
13 3 (0.25%) vRealize
Vendors
1 195 (16.16%) Microsoft
2 73 (6.05%) Splunk
3 69 (5.72%) Google
4 54 (4.47%) SAP
5 48 (3.98%) Cisco
6 46 (3.81%) ServiceNow
7 45 (3.73%) Oracle
8 36 (2.98%) Salesforce
9 32 (2.65%) IBM
10 31 (2.57%) Databricks
10 31 (2.57%) VMware
11 15 (1.24%) Red Hat
12 13 (1.08%) Foundry
12 13 (1.08%) Palo Alto
13 11 (0.91%) BiZZdesign
13 11 (0.91%) OpenAI
14 10 (0.83%) Atlassian
14 10 (0.83%) Informatica
15 9 (0.75%) CheckPoint
15 9 (0.75%) Pega