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

6 months to
20 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 72 68 83
Rank change year-on-year -4 +15 +45
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,228 1,166 1,245
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.43% 3.20% 2.71%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.82% 3.70% 3.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 761 689 836
10th Percentile £176 £344 £350
25th Percentile £317 £430 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £638 £700 £675
90th Percentile £750 £840 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £402 £504 £500
% change year-on-year -20.20% +0.75% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 31 33
10th Percentile £26.75 £20.12 £32.32
25th Percentile £29.00 £30.94 £50.00
Median hourly rate £33.50 £50.50 £60.50
Median % change year-on-year -33.66% -16.53% +11.01%
75th Percentile £67.00 £69.25 £72.00
90th Percentile £87.00 £70.25 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.50 £50.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -33.00% -16.67% +31.51%

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 32,116 31,513 40,735
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 89.73% 86.36% 88.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,100 18,975 27,383
10th Percentile £300 £310 £308
25th Percentile £404 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,121 1,108 1,576
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.17 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.17 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £43.95
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -20.36% +25.57%
75th Percentile £45.00 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £33.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -30.30% -25.84% +50.29%

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 20 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 20 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 20 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 1,077 £475 -13.64% 2,051
UK excluding London +14 590 £402 -20.20% 1,169
London -21 529 £550 -5.58% 1,058
Work from Home +1 316 £492 -10.55% 950
North of England +9 191 £375 -28.57% 172
South East +42 137 £365 -27.00% 458
Midlands -10 106 £475 -17.39% 131
North West -3 96 £358 -32.64% 100
Yorkshire +17 92 £450 -14.29% 48
West Midlands -20 68 £500 -13.04% 80
South West +5 55 £400 -42.86% 113
East of England -19 52 £478 +6.11% 187
Scotland +12 50 £450 -3.74% 87
East Midlands +1 38 £447 +25.56% 48
Wales +4 11 £160 -67.81% 21
North East -13 4 £333 -21.71% 25
Northern Ireland -11 3 - - 27

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 (4.32%) Confluence
2 44 (3.58%) SharePoint
3 38 (3.09%) Apache Spark
4 24 (1.95%) Microsoft Exchange
5 13 (1.06%) Apache Airflow
6 10 (0.81%) Apache
7 8 (0.65%) Jupyter
8 7 (0.57%) nginx
9 6 (0.49%) 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 (0.24%) Ethereum
12 3 (0.24%) Hyperledger
12 3 (0.24%) Luigi
12 3 (0.24%) Moodle
12 3 (0.24%) Tomcat
13 2 (0.16%) CMS
13 2 (0.16%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 63 (5.13%) Microsoft Office
2 30 (2.44%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (0.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.49%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.49%) Simulink
5 5 (0.41%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.081%) Adobe Illustrator
6 1 (0.081%) Adobe XD
6 1 (0.081%) InDesign
6 1 (0.081%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.081%) Oracle Smart View
6 1 (0.081%) Photoshop
6 1 (0.081%) Sketch
6 1 (0.081%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 30 (2.44%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (0.65%) Dynamics CRM
3 7 (0.57%) FLEXCUBE
4 6 (0.49%) Oracle BPM
4 6 (0.49%) SAP PLM
4 6 (0.49%) Workday HCM
5 5 (0.41%) SAP MDG
6 4 (0.33%) Salesforce CRM
6 4 (0.33%) SAP VC
7 3 (0.24%) Aladdin
7 3 (0.24%) Bloomberg AIM
7 3 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
7 3 (0.24%) SAP ERP
7 3 (0.24%) Temenos T24
8 2 (0.16%) Actimize
8 2 (0.16%) Endur
8 2 (0.16%) Maximo
8 2 (0.16%) Oracle EBS R12
8 2 (0.16%) SAP FS
8 2 (0.16%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 272 (22.15%) Azure
2 235 (19.14%) AWS
3 133 (10.83%) GCP
4 69 (5.62%) GitHub
4 69 (5.62%) Serverless
5 68 (5.54%) Power Platform
6 51 (4.15%) Microsoft 365
7 44 (3.58%) SaaS
8 42 (3.42%) Azure DevOps
9 28 (2.28%) Entra ID
10 26 (2.12%) Cloud Computing
11 25 (2.04%) GitHub Actions
12 23 (1.87%) Amazon S3
13 21 (1.71%) AWS Lambda
14 19 (1.55%) Amazon ECS
15 18 (1.47%) Snowflake
16 17 (1.38%) Azure Data Factory
16 17 (1.38%) Power Automate
17 16 (1.30%) Azure Logic Apps
17 16 (1.30%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 50 (4.07%) Firewall
2 46 (3.75%) DNS
3 32 (2.61%) DHCP
4 24 (1.95%) Network Security
4 24 (1.95%) Wireless
5 22 (1.79%) VPN
6 20 (1.63%) HTTP
7 19 (1.55%) Cisco IOS
8 18 (1.47%) TCP/IP
9 15 (1.22%) SSH
9 15 (1.22%) VoIP
9 15 (1.22%) WAN
10 12 (0.98%) Internet
10 12 (0.98%) LAN
10 12 (0.98%) PuTTY
10 12 (0.98%) VLAN
11 11 (0.90%) BGP
11 11 (0.90%) Skype
11 11 (0.90%) WLAN
12 8 (0.65%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 77 (6.27%) PostgreSQL
2 73 (5.94%) NoSQL
3 60 (4.89%) Relational Database
4 53 (4.32%) Power BI
5 48 (3.91%) Data Warehouse
6 37 (3.01%) SQL Server
7 30 (2.44%) Big Data
8 29 (2.36%) Tableau
9 28 (2.28%) MySQL
10 17 (1.38%) Redis
11 16 (1.30%) Hadoop
12 15 (1.22%) Amazon RDS
13 14 (1.14%) Data Lake
14 13 (1.06%) MongoDB
15 12 (0.98%) Metadata
15 12 (0.98%) RDBMS
16 10 (0.81%) Amazon Athena
17 8 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
17 8 (0.65%) KDB
17 8 (0.65%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 107 (8.71%) JIRA
2 100 (8.14%) Jenkins
3 94 (7.65%) Git
4 85 (6.92%) GitLab
5 29 (2.36%) Liquibase
6 24 (1.95%) Postman
7 17 (1.38%) Artifactory
8 15 (1.22%) Visual Studio
9 14 (1.14%) Selenium
10 11 (0.90%) Bitbucket
11 10 (0.81%) JUnit
12 8 (0.65%) Cucumber
12 8 (0.65%) MLflow
13 7 (0.57%) Cypress.io
13 7 (0.57%) IntelliJ
14 6 (0.49%) Appium
14 6 (0.49%) CircleCI
14 6 (0.49%) PyCharm
14 6 (0.49%) Subversion
15 5 (0.41%) Katalon Studio
General
1 584 (47.56%) Social Skills
2 333 (27.12%) Finance
3 275 (22.39%) Analytical Skills
4 142 (11.56%) Banking
5 57 (4.64%) Public Sector
6 55 (4.48%) Organisational Skills
7 47 (3.83%) Front Office
8 44 (3.58%) Financial Institution
9 42 (3.42%) Marketing
10 39 (3.18%) Investment Banking
11 34 (2.77%) Manufacturing
12 33 (2.69%) Influencing Skills
12 33 (2.69%) Legal
13 27 (2.20%) Documentation Skills
13 27 (2.20%) Presentation Skills
13 27 (2.20%) Telecoms
14 20 (1.63%) Electronics
14 20 (1.63%) Retail
15 16 (1.30%) Military
16 15 (1.22%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 239 (19.46%) Developer
2 116 (9.45%) Analyst
3 97 (7.90%) Senior
4 95 (7.74%) Architect
5 80 (6.51%) Lead
6 67 (5.46%) Software Engineer
7 41 (3.34%) Java Developer
8 35 (2.85%) Consultant
8 35 (2.85%) Data Scientist
9 34 (2.77%) Senior Developer
10 32 (2.61%) Data Engineer
10 32 (2.61%) Solutions Architect
11 31 (2.52%) Business Analyst
12 29 (2.36%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
12 29 (2.36%) Python Developer
12 29 (2.36%) Python Engineer
13 23 (1.87%) Full-Stack Developer
13 23 (1.87%) IT Support
13 23 (1.87%) Platform Engineer
14 22 (1.79%) AWS Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 131 (10.67%) REST
2 81 (6.60%) RESTful
3 67 (5.46%) HTML
4 65 (5.29%) .NET
5 52 (4.23%) CSS
5 52 (4.23%) Kafka
6 51 (4.15%) React
7 45 (3.66%) Node.js
8 41 (3.34%) Elastic Stack
8 41 (3.34%) JSON
9 38 (3.09%) Middleware
10 37 (3.01%) SOAP
11 36 (2.93%) OAuth
12 34 (2.77%) TensorFlow
12 34 (2.77%) Web Services
12 34 (2.77%) XML
13 30 (2.44%) AngularJS
14 29 (2.36%) PyTorch
14 29 (2.36%) Spring
15 28 (2.28%) Pandas
Miscellaneous
1 120 (9.77%) Management Information System
2 107 (8.71%) Algorithms
3 83 (6.76%) Cloud Native
4 65 (5.29%) Data Structures
5 63 (5.13%) Distributed Systems
6 58 (4.72%) Product Ownership
7 41 (3.34%) Public Cloud
8 39 (3.18%) Data Protection Act
9 31 (2.52%) Virtual Team
10 30 (2.44%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
11 28 (2.28%) Derivative
12 27 (2.20%) Equities
12 27 (2.20%) Mobile App
12 27 (2.20%) Security Posture
13 25 (2.04%) Fixed Income
14 23 (1.87%) Data Centre
14 23 (1.87%) Enterprise Software
15 22 (1.79%) Distributed Computing
16 21 (1.71%) Onboarding
17 19 (1.55%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 153 (12.46%) Linux
2 102 (8.31%) Windows
3 54 (4.40%) Unix
4 25 (2.04%) Android
5 24 (1.95%) Windows Server
6 21 (1.71%) Mac OS
7 17 (1.38%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.65%) Windows 10
9 6 (0.49%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.24%) VMS
11 2 (0.16%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.081%) CentOS
12 1 (0.081%) Debian
12 1 (0.081%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 406 (33.06%) Problem-Solving
2 367 (29.89%) Agile
3 239 (19.46%) DevOps
4 215 (17.51%) CI/CD
5 202 (16.45%) Software Engineering
6 162 (13.19%) AI
7 142 (11.56%) Analytics
7 142 (11.56%) Microservices
8 133 (10.83%) Containerisation
9 131 (10.67%) Machine Learning
10 120 (9.77%) Data Science
10 120 (9.77%) Mathematics
11 118 (9.61%) Cybersecurity
12 113 (9.20%) Stakeholder Management
13 107 (8.71%) ITIL
14 102 (8.31%) Change Management
15 98 (7.98%) Continuous Improvement
16 97 (7.90%) Decision-Making
17 95 (7.74%) Risk Management
17 95 (7.74%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 405 (32.98%) Python
2 229 (18.65%) SQL
3 190 (15.47%) Java
4 126 (10.26%) JavaScript
5 64 (5.21%) C#
6 62 (5.05%) TypeScript
7 60 (4.89%) Go
8 58 (4.72%) PowerShell
9 54 (4.40%) C++
10 42 (3.42%) Bash
11 25 (2.04%) R
12 21 (1.71%) Perl
13 19 (1.55%) Ruby
14 15 (1.22%) Kotlin
15 14 (1.14%) Shell Script
16 11 (0.90%) ABAP
16 11 (0.90%) MATLAB
17 10 (0.81%) C
18 9 (0.73%) Apex Code
18 9 (0.73%) PHP
Qualifications
1 994 (80.94%) Degree
2 649 (52.85%) Computer Science Degree
3 230 (18.73%) Master's Degree
4 120 (9.77%) Security Cleared
5 91 (7.41%) SC Cleared
6 80 (6.51%) DBS Check
7 57 (4.64%) CISSP
8 53 (4.32%) PhD
9 46 (3.75%) AWS Certification
10 44 (3.58%) Cisco Certification
11 37 (3.01%) Microsoft Certification
12 35 (2.85%) Azure Certification
12 35 (2.85%) CISM
13 30 (2.44%) PMI Certification
14 27 (2.20%) PMP
15 26 (2.12%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
15 26 (2.12%) CCNA
16 25 (2.04%) CCNP
17 23 (1.87%) BPSS Clearance
18 21 (1.71%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 73 (5.94%) QA
2 70 (5.70%) Data Quality
3 66 (5.37%) GDPR
4 43 (3.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 28 (2.28%) NIST
6 20 (1.63%) GRC
7 18 (1.47%) Accessibility
8 13 (1.06%) SLA
9 12 (0.98%) PCI DSS
10 11 (0.90%) Def Stans
11 9 (0.73%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 8 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
13 7 (0.57%) COBIT
13 7 (0.57%) HIPAA
13 7 (0.57%) PMO
14 6 (0.49%) DO-254
14 6 (0.49%) NCSC
14 6 (0.49%) SEPA
15 5 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
16 4 (0.33%) MiFID
System Software
1 146 (11.89%) Docker
2 48 (3.91%) Active Directory
3 24 (1.95%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.57%) VMware NSX
5 6 (0.49%) Firmware
6 5 (0.41%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 5 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.33%) vSphere
8 3 (0.24%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.16%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.081%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.081%) HDFS
10 1 (0.081%) PowerHA
10 1 (0.081%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 134 (10.91%) Kubernetes
2 89 (7.25%) Terraform
3 68 (5.54%) Ansible
4 53 (4.32%) Grafana
5 42 (3.42%) Prometheus
6 16 (1.30%) SCCM
7 14 (1.14%) Puppet
8 9 (0.73%) Microsoft Intune
8 9 (0.73%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (0.65%) QRadar
10 7 (0.57%) Argo
10 7 (0.57%) CSIRT
11 6 (0.49%) Kibana
11 6 (0.49%) WSUS
12 5 (0.41%) SCOM
13 4 (0.33%) Kustomize
13 4 (0.33%) Progress Chef
13 4 (0.33%) vCenter Server
14 3 (0.24%) HP ALM
14 3 (0.24%) Kubeflow
Vendors
1 192 (15.64%) Microsoft
2 72 (5.86%) Splunk
3 67 (5.46%) Google
4 57 (4.64%) SAP
5 51 (4.15%) Oracle
6 50 (4.07%) Cisco
7 46 (3.75%) ServiceNow
8 36 (2.93%) Salesforce
9 30 (2.44%) IBM
10 29 (2.36%) VMware
11 26 (2.12%) Databricks
12 15 (1.22%) Red Hat
13 14 (1.14%) Palo Alto
14 11 (0.90%) BiZZdesign
15 10 (0.81%) Atlassian
15 10 (0.81%) Fortinet
15 10 (0.81%) Foundry
15 10 (0.81%) Informatica
16 9 (0.73%) Citrix
16 9 (0.73%) Pega