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

6 months to
20 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 78 72 80
Rank change year-on-year -6 +8 +51
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,171 1,079 1,211
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.18% 3.17% 2.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.60% 3.59% 3.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 752 650 813
10th Percentile £175 £350 £342
25th Percentile £312 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -14.08% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £636 £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 45 28 32
10th Percentile £26.75 £27.53 £33.34
25th Percentile £33.50 £34.03 £50.00
Median hourly rate £43.50 £50.25 £59.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.43% -14.83% +8.76%
75th Percentile £67.00 £57.00 £69.00
90th Percentile £83.00 £70.25 £79.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £34.25 £36.38 £56.25
% change year-on-year -5.84% -35.33% +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 32,565 30,055 38,949
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 88.34% 88.19% 88.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,467 18,359 26,012
10th Percentile £300 £306 £307
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 £615 £638 £650
90th Percentile £723 £742 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -4.80% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,103 978 1,503
10th Percentile £14.55 £15.62 £14.36
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.30 £18.94
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.50
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -25.29% +24.29%
75th Percentile £49.75 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.02 £31.52 £44.50
% change year-on-year -26.98% -29.17% +42.58%

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 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 20 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 20 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 1,035 £475 -17.39% 602
UK excluding London +16 581 £400 -20.00% 520
London -30 487 £537 -10.54% 191
Work from Home -4 302 £456 -20.65% 320
North of England +38 192 £384 -26.86% 101
South East +26 136 £325 -35.00% 204
Midlands -19 103 £475 -5.00% 61
Yorkshire +22 99 £473 -14.08% 38
North West +23 90 £358 -31.81% 49
West Midlands -14 69 £500 -13.04% 25
South West +12 57 £425 -38.18% 56
East of England -26 47 £425 -15.00% 87
Scotland +10 46 £450 -5.26% 24
East Midlands -3 34 £447 +25.56% 36
Wales +4 11 £160 -67.55% 7
North East -10 4 £333 -35.07% 16
Northern Ireland -10 4 - - 4

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 58 (4.95%) Confluence
2 43 (3.67%) SharePoint
3 32 (2.73%) Apache Spark
4 21 (1.79%) 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%) Tomcat
11 2 (0.17%) Adobe Experience Manager
11 2 (0.17%) OpenStack
11 2 (0.17%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 54 (4.61%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (2.13%) 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 26 (2.22%) SAP S/4HANA
2 11 (0.94%) Dynamics CRM
3 4 (0.34%) Aladdin
3 4 (0.34%) SAP ERP
3 4 (0.34%) Workday HCM
4 3 (0.26%) Bloomberg AIM
4 3 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
4 3 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
4 3 (0.26%) SAP MDG
4 3 (0.26%) SAP PLM
4 3 (0.26%) Temenos T24
5 2 (0.17%) Maximo
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle EBS R12
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.17%) SAP BPC
5 2 (0.17%) SAP CX
5 2 (0.17%) SAP FS
5 2 (0.17%) SAP GRC
5 2 (0.17%) SAP Travel Management
5 2 (0.17%) SAP VC
Cloud Services
1 283 (24.17%) Azure
2 231 (19.73%) AWS
3 131 (11.19%) GCP
4 77 (6.58%) GitHub
5 73 (6.23%) Power Platform
6 71 (6.06%) Serverless
7 51 (4.36%) Microsoft 365
8 43 (3.67%) Azure DevOps
9 39 (3.33%) SaaS
10 30 (2.56%) GitHub Actions
11 25 (2.13%) 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 (3.84%) Firewall
2 41 (3.50%) DNS
3 23 (1.96%) DHCP
4 21 (1.79%) HTTP
5 19 (1.62%) Network Security
5 19 (1.62%) Wireless
6 18 (1.54%) TCP/IP
6 18 (1.54%) VPN
7 16 (1.37%) 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
10 10 (0.85%) LAN
11 8 (0.68%) Unified Communications
12 7 (0.60%) IPv4
12 7 (0.60%) OSPF
12 7 (0.60%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 74 (6.32%) PostgreSQL
2 67 (5.72%) NoSQL
3 61 (5.21%) Relational Database
4 53 (4.53%) Power BI
5 44 (3.76%) Data Warehouse
5 44 (3.76%) SQL Server
6 32 (2.73%) MySQL
7 31 (2.65%) Big Data
8 30 (2.56%) Tableau
9 15 (1.28%) MongoDB
10 13 (1.11%) RDBMS
10 13 (1.11%) Redis
11 12 (1.02%) Amazon RDS
12 11 (0.94%) Elasticsearch
12 11 (0.94%) Metadata
13 10 (0.85%) Data Lake
13 10 (0.85%) Hadoop
14 8 (0.68%) Apache Cassandra
14 8 (0.68%) SQL Server Integration Services
15 7 (0.60%) BigQuery
Development Applications
1 111 (9.48%) JIRA
2 94 (8.03%) Git
3 90 (7.69%) Jenkins
4 84 (7.17%) 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
10 10 (0.85%) JUnit
11 8 (0.68%) Cucumber
11 8 (0.68%) MLflow
12 7 (0.60%) CircleCI
12 7 (0.60%) SonarQube
13 6 (0.51%) Appium
13 6 (0.51%) IntelliJ
13 6 (0.51%) PyCharm
13 6 (0.51%) TeamCity
General
1 554 (47.31%) Social Skills
2 300 (25.62%) Finance
3 256 (21.86%) Analytical Skills
4 129 (11.02%) Banking
5 66 (5.64%) Public Sector
6 45 (3.84%) Financial Institution
7 40 (3.42%) Marketing
8 35 (2.99%) Front Office
9 33 (2.82%) Organisational Skills
10 31 (2.65%) Influencing Skills
11 30 (2.56%) Investment Banking
11 30 (2.56%) Legal
11 30 (2.56%) Manufacturing
12 27 (2.31%) Documentation Skills
13 26 (2.22%) Telecoms
14 22 (1.88%) Presentation Skills
15 21 (1.79%) Electronics
16 16 (1.37%) Retail
17 15 (1.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 11 (0.94%) Military
Job Titles
1 219 (18.70%) Developer
2 104 (8.88%) Analyst
3 101 (8.63%) Architect
4 90 (7.69%) Senior
5 77 (6.58%) Lead
6 61 (5.21%) Software Engineer
7 36 (3.07%) Solutions Architect
8 33 (2.82%) Java Developer
9 32 (2.73%) Data Scientist
10 30 (2.56%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
10 30 (2.56%) Business Analyst
10 30 (2.56%) Senior Developer
11 29 (2.48%) Consultant
12 28 (2.39%) Python Engineer
13 25 (2.13%) AWS Engineer
13 25 (2.13%) Data Engineer
14 24 (2.05%) Full-Stack Developer
14 24 (2.05%) IT Support
15 23 (1.96%) Python Developer
16 21 (1.79%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 125 (10.67%) REST
2 81 (6.92%) RESTful
3 68 (5.81%) .NET
4 60 (5.12%) HTML
5 55 (4.70%) React
6 48 (4.10%) Elastic Stack
7 46 (3.93%) CSS
8 44 (3.76%) Kafka
9 41 (3.50%) JSON
9 41 (3.50%) Middleware
9 41 (3.50%) Node.js
10 37 (3.16%) SOAP
10 37 (3.16%) TensorFlow
11 36 (3.07%) OAuth
11 36 (3.07%) PyTorch
11 36 (3.07%) XML
12 31 (2.65%) LangChain
13 29 (2.48%) AngularJS
13 29 (2.48%) Spring
14 24 (2.05%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 112 (9.56%) Management Information System
2 97 (8.28%) Algorithms
3 92 (7.86%) Cloud Native
4 65 (5.55%) Distributed Systems
5 56 (4.78%) Data Structures
6 52 (4.44%) Product Ownership
7 38 (3.25%) Public Cloud
8 34 (2.90%) Data Protection Act
9 27 (2.31%) Equities
10 26 (2.22%) Security Posture
11 23 (1.96%) Derivative
11 23 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
11 23 (1.96%) Mobile App
11 23 (1.96%) Onboarding
12 22 (1.88%) Virtual Team
13 21 (1.79%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 21 (1.79%) Legacy Systems
14 20 (1.71%) Data Centre
14 20 (1.71%) Fixed Income
15 19 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 168 (14.35%) Linux
2 119 (10.16%) Windows
3 62 (5.29%) Unix
4 27 (2.31%) Android
5 25 (2.13%) Mac OS
5 25 (2.13%) Windows Server
6 17 (1.45%) Apple iOS
7 9 (0.77%) Windows 10
8 6 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.34%) VMS
10 2 (0.17%) Robot Operating System
11 1 (0.085%) Debian
11 1 (0.085%) Kali Linux
11 1 (0.085%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 389 (33.22%) Problem-Solving
2 338 (28.86%) Agile
3 252 (21.52%) DevOps
4 234 (19.98%) CI/CD
5 195 (16.65%) Software Engineering
6 183 (15.63%) AI
7 152 (12.98%) Microservices
8 145 (12.38%) Containerisation
9 127 (10.85%) Machine Learning
10 123 (10.50%) Analytics
10 123 (10.50%) Cybersecurity
11 112 (9.56%) Data Science
12 110 (9.39%) Stakeholder Management
13 108 (9.22%) Mathematics
14 107 (9.14%) Continuous Improvement
15 101 (8.63%) Data Modelling
16 99 (8.45%) Decision-Making
17 95 (8.11%) ITIL
18 91 (7.77%) Change Management
19 90 (7.69%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 393 (33.56%) Python
2 211 (18.02%) SQL
3 170 (14.52%) Java
4 121 (10.33%) JavaScript
5 71 (6.06%) TypeScript
6 69 (5.89%) PowerShell
7 68 (5.81%) C#
8 58 (4.95%) Go
9 53 (4.53%) Bash
10 52 (4.44%) C++
11 23 (1.96%) Perl
12 20 (1.71%) R
13 15 (1.28%) Kotlin
14 13 (1.11%) Ruby
15 12 (1.02%) Shell Script
16 9 (0.77%) Apex Code
16 9 (0.77%) C
16 9 (0.77%) MATLAB
17 8 (0.68%) ABAP
17 8 (0.68%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 956 (81.64%) Degree
2 647 (55.25%) Computer Science Degree
3 237 (20.24%) Master's Degree
4 133 (11.36%) Security Cleared
5 96 (8.20%) SC Cleared
6 59 (5.04%) CISSP
6 59 (5.04%) DBS Check
7 52 (4.44%) PhD
8 41 (3.50%) AWS Certification
8 41 (3.50%) Azure Certification
9 37 (3.16%) Microsoft Certification
10 35 (2.99%) Cisco Certification
10 35 (2.99%) CISM
11 26 (2.22%) BPSS Clearance
11 26 (2.22%) PMI Certification
12 22 (1.88%) DV Cleared
12 22 (1.88%) PMP
12 22 (1.88%) TOGAF Certification
13 21 (1.79%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 21 (1.79%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 79 (6.75%) QA
2 67 (5.72%) GDPR
3 64 (5.47%) Data Quality
4 43 (3.67%) 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 5 (0.43%) DO-254
12 5 (0.43%) PMO
12 5 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 4 (0.34%) COBIT
13 4 (0.34%) PSD2
14 3 (0.26%) HMG Security Policy Framework
14 3 (0.26%) NCSC
System Software
1 164 (14.01%) Docker
2 45 (3.84%) Active Directory
3 24 (2.05%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.60%) Firmware
5 6 (0.51%) VMware NSX
6 5 (0.43%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 5 (0.43%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.26%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.26%) vSphere
9 2 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.085%) HDFS
10 1 (0.085%) PowerHA
10 1 (0.085%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 153 (13.07%) Kubernetes
2 106 (9.05%) Terraform
3 78 (6.66%) Ansible
4 57 (4.87%) Grafana
5 44 (3.76%) Prometheus
6 18 (1.54%) Puppet
7 16 (1.37%) SCCM
8 11 (0.94%) Kibana
9 8 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
9 8 (0.68%) Single Sign-On
10 7 (0.60%) Argo
10 7 (0.60%) CSIRT
11 6 (0.51%) QRadar
11 6 (0.51%) WSUS
12 5 (0.43%) Progress Chef
12 5 (0.43%) SCOM
13 4 (0.34%) Kiali
13 4 (0.34%) vCenter Server
14 3 (0.26%) HP ALM
14 3 (0.26%) vRealize
Vendors
1 196 (16.74%) Microsoft
2 88 (7.51%) Splunk
3 72 (6.15%) Google
4 54 (4.61%) SAP
5 46 (3.93%) Oracle
6 40 (3.42%) Cisco
7 37 (3.16%) Databricks
8 35 (2.99%) Salesforce
9 33 (2.82%) ServiceNow
10 28 (2.39%) VMware
11 27 (2.31%) IBM
12 17 (1.45%) Red Hat
13 14 (1.20%) Palo Alto
14 13 (1.11%) BiZZdesign
14 13 (1.11%) OpenAI
15 11 (0.94%) Foundry
15 11 (0.94%) Informatica
16 10 (0.85%) CheckPoint
16 10 (0.85%) Fortinet
17 9 (0.77%) Atlassian