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 8 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 102 68 72
Rank change year-on-year -34 +4 +48
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,098 996 1,238
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.40% 3.41% 2.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 2.81% 3.76% 3.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 665 577 768
10th Percentile £175 £260 £315
25th Percentile £321 £400 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -4.35%
75th Percentile £656 £675 £650
90th Percentile £775 £789 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -20.00% - -3.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 83 31 89
10th Percentile £26.75 £27.00 £22.33
25th Percentile £56.88 £30.78 £41.25
Median hourly rate £83.00 £43.00 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +93.02% -21.82% +4.76%
75th Percentile £88.00 £65.38 £65.00
90th Percentile - £82.25 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £83.00 £37.50 £55.00
% change year-on-year +121.33% -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 39,061 26,469 37,905
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.38% 90.57% 86.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,736 17,183 24,573
10th Percentile £314 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £636 £638
90th Percentile £725 £743 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -0.51% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,329 996 2,365
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.00 £12.77
25th Percentile £19.10 £19.99 £16.00
Median hourly rate £36.00 £31.51 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +14.25% -4.52% -11.17%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.75 £57.50
90th Percentile £77.50 £75.38 £70.23
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £30.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +20.00% -7.69% -10.34%

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 8 April 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 8 April 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 8 April 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 -34 966 £500 -5.21% 826
UK excluding London -36 546 £400 -20.00% 618
London -39 448 £550 -8.56% 330
Work from Home -33 253 £510 -9.33% 306
South East -10 176 £400 -20.00% 227
North of England -17 149 £381 -29.67% 115
Midlands -56 79 £450 +68.54% 84
Yorkshire -8 77 £508 +22.58% 35
North West -11 69 £352 -40.39% 59
West Midlands -58 61 £463 +137.18% 51
South West -37 49 £477 -9.14% 56
East of England -27 42 £340 -47.69% 91
Scotland 0 37 £610 +16.19% 34
East Midlands -29 18 £339 -4.92% 33
Wales -19 15 £160 -42.34% 19
Northern Ireland -2 6 £350 -41.67% 9
North East -19 4 £216 -57.95% 21

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 53 (4.83%) Confluence
2 42 (3.83%) Apache Spark
3 25 (2.28%) SharePoint
4 18 (1.64%) Apache
5 17 (1.55%) Microsoft Exchange
6 16 (1.46%) Apache Airflow
7 6 (0.55%) Jupyter
8 4 (0.36%) OpenStack
8 4 (0.36%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 3 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 3 (0.27%) Palantir Foundry
9 3 (0.27%) SAS
10 2 (0.18%) CMS
10 2 (0.18%) IIS
10 2 (0.18%) nginx
10 2 (0.18%) Oracle Workflow
10 2 (0.18%) WebSphere
11 1 (0.091%) Apache Solr
11 1 (0.091%) Oracle Service Bus
11 1 (0.091%) Tomcat
Applications
1 34 (3.10%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.09%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.55%) Chatbot
6 4 (0.36%) Microsoft Project
6 4 (0.36%) Simulink
7 2 (0.18%) Trello
8 1 (0.091%) Navisworks
8 1 (0.091%) Revit
Business Applications
1 23 (2.09%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.82%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.46%) Aladdin
3 5 (0.46%) Payment Gateway
4 4 (0.36%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.27%) Oracle Payables
5 3 (0.27%) Oracle Receivables
6 2 (0.18%) NetSuite
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%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.091%) Actimize
7 1 (0.091%) FLEXCUBE
7 1 (0.091%) Maximo
7 1 (0.091%) Oracle HRMS
7 1 (0.091%) SAP PM
7 1 (0.091%) SAP SM
7 1 (0.091%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 313 (28.51%) Azure
2 198 (18.03%) AWS
3 102 (9.29%) GCP
4 69 (6.28%) Power Platform
5 60 (5.46%) GitHub
6 53 (4.83%) Microsoft 365
6 53 (4.83%) SaaS
7 44 (4.01%) Azure DevOps
8 37 (3.37%) Entra ID
9 32 (2.91%) Serverless
10 24 (2.19%) GitHub Actions
11 23 (2.09%) IaaS
11 23 (2.09%) Snowflake
12 21 (1.91%) AWS CloudFormation
13 20 (1.82%) Azure Data Factory
14 18 (1.64%) Azure Machine Learning
14 18 (1.64%) Power Automate
14 18 (1.64%) PowerApps
15 16 (1.46%) Azure AKS
16 14 (1.28%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 50 (4.55%) Firewall
2 32 (2.91%) DNS
3 29 (2.64%) TCP/IP
4 19 (1.73%) Network Security
5 18 (1.64%) BGP
5 18 (1.64%) WAN
6 15 (1.37%) HTTP
6 15 (1.37%) LAN
7 13 (1.18%) VLAN
8 12 (1.09%) OSPF
9 11 (1.00%) VPN
9 11 (1.00%) Wireless
10 10 (0.91%) Cisco IOS
10 10 (0.91%) IPv4
11 9 (0.82%) HTTPS
12 8 (0.73%) DHCP
12 8 (0.73%) Skype
12 8 (0.73%) SSH
13 7 (0.64%) SAN
13 7 (0.64%) Software-Defined Networking
Database & Business Intelligence
1 66 (6.01%) PostgreSQL
2 54 (4.92%) Relational Database
3 50 (4.55%) Power BI
4 45 (4.10%) SQL Server
5 43 (3.92%) Data Warehouse
6 39 (3.55%) NoSQL
7 38 (3.46%) Big Data
8 34 (3.10%) MySQL
9 23 (2.09%) Tableau
10 22 (2.00%) Hadoop
11 20 (1.82%) Metadata
11 20 (1.82%) MongoDB
12 16 (1.46%) Data Lake
13 15 (1.37%) Elasticsearch
14 12 (1.09%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 11 (1.00%) Amazon RDS
15 11 (1.00%) Redis
16 10 (0.91%) Snowflake Schema
17 8 (0.73%) Star Schema
18 7 (0.64%) KDB
Development Applications
1 86 (7.83%) Git
2 75 (6.83%) JIRA
3 53 (4.83%) Jenkins
4 42 (3.83%) GitLab
5 28 (2.55%) Rational DOORS
6 13 (1.18%) Selenium
7 12 (1.09%) MLflow
7 12 (1.09%) Postman
8 9 (0.82%) Jaeger
9 8 (0.73%) Gradle
10 7 (0.64%) Bitbucket
10 7 (0.64%) CircleCI
10 7 (0.64%) Cypress.io
10 7 (0.64%) JUnit
11 5 (0.46%) Artifactory
11 5 (0.46%) Maven
11 5 (0.46%) PyCharm
11 5 (0.46%) TeamCity
11 5 (0.46%) Visual Studio
12 4 (0.36%) SonarQube
General
1 465 (42.35%) Social Skills
2 274 (24.95%) Finance
3 244 (22.22%) Analytical Skills
4 105 (9.56%) Banking
5 71 (6.47%) Public Sector
6 51 (4.64%) Aerospace
7 47 (4.28%) Documentation Skills
8 46 (4.19%) Marketing
9 36 (3.28%) Legal
9 36 (3.28%) Telecoms
10 35 (3.19%) Influencing Skills
10 35 (3.19%) Presentation Skills
11 28 (2.55%) Front Office
12 27 (2.46%) Electronics
13 25 (2.28%) Financial Institution
13 25 (2.28%) Organisational Skills
14 24 (2.19%) Manufacturing
15 23 (2.09%) Investment Banking
16 22 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 18 (1.64%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 143 (13.02%) Developer
2 109 (9.93%) Architect
3 95 (8.65%) Lead
4 87 (7.92%) Analyst
5 80 (7.29%) Senior
6 41 (3.73%) Software Engineer
7 39 (3.55%) Solutions Architect
8 38 (3.46%) Data Scientist
8 38 (3.46%) Delivery Manager
9 35 (3.19%) Product Manager
10 29 (2.64%) Python Developer
10 29 (2.64%) Technical Support
11 28 (2.55%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 28 (2.55%) Product Delivery Manager
12 26 (2.37%) Data Engineer
13 25 (2.28%) Business Analyst
13 25 (2.28%) Consultant
14 24 (2.19%) Java Developer
15 22 (2.00%) Systems Delivery Manager
15 22 (2.00%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 95 (8.65%) REST
2 58 (5.28%) .NET
3 52 (4.74%) RESTful
4 49 (4.46%) React
5 44 (4.01%) Kafka
6 40 (3.64%) Middleware
7 35 (3.19%) PyTorch
8 34 (3.10%) Spring Boot
9 32 (2.91%) JSON
9 32 (2.91%) TensorFlow
10 31 (2.82%) XML
11 30 (2.73%) Spring
12 29 (2.64%) Elastic Stack
13 26 (2.37%) OAuth
13 26 (2.37%) SOAP
14 23 (2.09%) HTML
15 22 (2.00%) Pandas
16 20 (1.82%) LangChain
17 19 (1.73%) Node.js
18 17 (1.55%) CSS
Miscellaneous
1 111 (10.11%) Management Information System
2 90 (8.20%) Algorithms
3 81 (7.38%) Product Ownership
4 79 (7.19%) Cloud Native
5 64 (5.83%) Data Structures
6 62 (5.65%) Onboarding
7 51 (4.64%) Distributed Systems
8 34 (3.10%) Virtual Team
9 31 (2.82%) Equities
10 25 (2.28%) Data Protection Act
11 23 (2.09%) Derivative
12 22 (2.00%) AI Agents
12 22 (2.00%) Enterprise Software
13 21 (1.91%) Data Centre
13 21 (1.91%) Distributed Computing
13 21 (1.91%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
14 20 (1.82%) Taxonomies
15 19 (1.73%) Analytical Mindset
16 18 (1.64%) Self-Motivation
17 17 (1.55%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 145 (13.21%) Linux
2 122 (11.11%) Windows
3 43 (3.92%) Unix
4 25 (2.28%) Android
5 23 (2.09%) Mac OS
6 17 (1.55%) Windows Server
7 12 (1.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (1.09%) Windows 10
8 10 (0.91%) Apple iOS
9 5 (0.46%) Ubuntu
9 5 (0.46%) VMS
10 4 (0.36%) Debian
11 3 (0.27%) Rocky
12 2 (0.18%) Robot Operating System
12 2 (0.18%) Windows 7
13 1 (0.091%) CentOS
13 1 (0.091%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.091%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 355 (32.33%) Problem-Solving
2 301 (27.41%) Agile
3 253 (23.04%) AI
4 219 (19.95%) CI/CD
5 216 (19.67%) DevOps
6 189 (17.21%) Software Engineering
7 158 (14.39%) Continuous Improvement
8 134 (12.20%) Microservices
9 133 (12.11%) Analytics
10 129 (11.75%) Machine Learning
11 125 (11.38%) Cybersecurity
12 121 (11.02%) Stakeholder Management
13 115 (10.47%) Data Science
14 111 (10.11%) Containerisation
15 110 (10.02%) Data Modelling
16 109 (9.93%) Mathematics
17 101 (9.20%) Decision-Making
18 100 (9.11%) Data Governance
19 98 (8.93%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 92 (8.38%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 326 (29.69%) Python
2 209 (19.03%) SQL
3 137 (12.48%) Java
4 72 (6.56%) JavaScript
5 58 (5.28%) C#
6 54 (4.92%) PowerShell
7 44 (4.01%) TypeScript
8 40 (3.64%) Bash
9 38 (3.46%) C++
10 26 (2.37%) Go
11 22 (2.00%) R
12 16 (1.46%) Perl
13 14 (1.28%) Rust
14 12 (1.09%) Shell Script
15 11 (1.00%) Kotlin
16 8 (0.73%) C
16 8 (0.73%) Scala
17 7 (0.64%) Data Analysis Expressions
18 5 (0.46%) Bicep
18 5 (0.46%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 920 (83.79%) Degree
2 561 (51.09%) Computer Science Degree
3 201 (18.31%) Security Cleared
4 187 (17.03%) Master's Degree
5 116 (10.56%) SC Cleared
6 66 (6.01%) CISSP
7 50 (4.55%) PhD
8 43 (3.92%) CISM
9 38 (3.46%) Azure Certification
10 33 (3.01%) PMI Certification
11 29 (2.64%) AWS Certification
11 29 (2.64%) Microsoft Certification
12 28 (2.55%) DV Cleared
12 28 (2.55%) PMP
12 28 (2.55%) TOGAF Certification
13 27 (2.46%) DBS Check
14 26 (2.37%) CompTIA Security+
15 24 (2.19%) Cisco Certification
16 23 (2.09%) BPSS Clearance
17 18 (1.64%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 68 (6.19%) QA
2 52 (4.74%) Data Quality
3 49 (4.46%) NIST
4 47 (4.28%) GDPR
4 47 (4.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 20 (1.82%) PCI DSS
6 17 (1.55%) Accessibility
7 11 (1.00%) GRC
7 11 (1.00%) NCSC
7 11 (1.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 10 (0.91%) NIST 800
9 9 (0.82%) SLA
10 7 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
10 7 (0.64%) DO-254
10 7 (0.64%) PSD2
11 6 (0.55%) COBIT
11 6 (0.55%) ISO 20022
12 5 (0.46%) Government Security Classifications
12 5 (0.46%) HIPAA
12 5 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 129 (11.75%) Docker
2 63 (5.74%) Active Directory
3 20 (1.82%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (1.18%) Firmware
5 6 (0.55%) Hyper-V
5 6 (0.55%) VMware NSX
6 3 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.18%) BitLocker
7 2 (0.18%) Ceph
7 2 (0.18%) KVM
7 2 (0.18%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.18%) vSphere
8 1 (0.091%) HDFS
8 1 (0.091%) PowerHA
8 1 (0.091%) Squid
8 1 (0.091%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 138 (12.57%) Kubernetes
2 81 (7.38%) Terraform
3 53 (4.83%) Ansible
4 42 (3.83%) Grafana
5 35 (3.19%) Prometheus
6 24 (2.19%) Microsoft Intune
7 14 (1.28%) Puppet
7 14 (1.28%) Single Sign-On
8 11 (1.00%) Kibana
9 9 (0.82%) Kiali
10 7 (0.64%) SCCM
11 5 (0.46%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.36%) Control-M
12 4 (0.36%) Kubeflow
12 4 (0.36%) SCOM
13 3 (0.27%) Foglight
13 3 (0.27%) HP ALM
13 3 (0.27%) Jamf Pro
13 3 (0.27%) vCenter Server
14 2 (0.18%) logstash
Vendors
1 187 (17.03%) Microsoft
2 58 (5.28%) Oracle
2 58 (5.28%) Splunk
3 47 (4.28%) Google
3 47 (4.28%) SAP
4 45 (4.10%) Databricks
5 34 (3.10%) IBM
6 31 (2.82%) ServiceNow
7 24 (2.19%) VMware
8 23 (2.09%) Cisco
9 20 (1.82%) BiZZdesign
10 18 (1.64%) Salesforce
11 17 (1.55%) Informatica
12 16 (1.46%) Okta
12 16 (1.46%) Palo Alto
13 14 (1.28%) Foundry
14 13 (1.18%) CheckPoint
15 12 (1.09%) MuleSoft
15 12 (1.09%) Software AG
16 11 (1.00%) OpenAI