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 24 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 89 72 71
Rank change year-on-year -17 -1 +53
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,180 957 1,236
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.69% 3.29% 2.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.14% 3.63% 3.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 735 562 770
10th Percentile £175 £295 £318
25th Percentile £300 £407 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -6.67% -4.55% -5.17%
75th Percentile £650 £675 £675
90th Percentile £775 £800 £788
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -20.00% - -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 30 86
10th Percentile £26.75 £26.93 £23.00
25th Percentile £56.88 £31.52 £42.50
Median hourly rate £83.00 £43.75 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +89.71% -20.45% +4.76%
75th Percentile £88.00 £66.44 £65.94
90th Percentile - £82.32 £74.38
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 37,633 26,370 38,295
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.88% 90.52% 86.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,862 17,096 24,871
10th Percentile £313 £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 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £743 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -1.28% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,214 936 2,338
10th Percentile £14.96 £15.20 £12.85
25th Percentile £18.50 £20.75 £16.00
Median hourly rate £32.50 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year - - -9.47%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £57.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.35 £71.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.61 £31.76 £31.25
% change year-on-year -6.77% +1.63% -13.19%

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 24 March 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 24 March 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 24 March 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 -22 1,042 £475 -9.52% 835
UK excluding London -11 613 £400 -20.00% 630
London -27 455 £550 -8.33% 337
Work from Home -27 277 £525 -6.67% 320
South East -1 190 £381 -23.75% 237
North of England +16 187 £375 -31.19% 116
Yorkshire +2 95 £525 +14.88% 38
Midlands -35 93 £463 +68.18% 83
North West +3 88 £325 -45.40% 61
West Midlands -41 67 £475 +143.59% 51
South West -26 54 £493 -6.19% 56
East of England -26 44 £280 -56.92% 93
Scotland 0 37 £610 +19.02% 34
East Midlands -19 26 £339 -4.92% 32
Wales -18 15 £160 -44.35% 19
Northern Ireland -4 5 £369 -38.54% 10
North East -16 5 £207 -64.09% 17

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 69 (5.85%) Confluence
2 44 (3.73%) Apache Spark
3 33 (2.80%) SharePoint
4 19 (1.61%) Apache
5 18 (1.53%) Microsoft Exchange
6 15 (1.27%) Apache Airflow
7 6 (0.51%) Jupyter
8 5 (0.42%) Smallworld
9 4 (0.34%) GeoServer
9 4 (0.34%) OpenStack
9 4 (0.34%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 4 (0.34%) Palantir Foundry
10 3 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
10 3 (0.25%) Ethereum
10 3 (0.25%) Hyperledger
10 3 (0.25%) IIS
10 3 (0.25%) SAS
11 2 (0.17%) CMS
11 2 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
11 2 (0.17%) WebSphere
Applications
1 33 (2.80%) Microsoft Office
2 20 (1.69%) Microsoft Excel
3 18 (1.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.02%) MS Visio
5 6 (0.51%) Chatbot
6 4 (0.34%) Simulink
7 3 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
8 2 (0.17%) Trello
Business Applications
1 22 (1.86%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
3 5 (0.42%) Payment Gateway
4 4 (0.34%) Aladdin
4 4 (0.34%) SAP ERP
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle ERP
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle General Ledger
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle Payables
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle Receivables
5 2 (0.17%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 2 (0.17%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.17%) Workday HCM
6 1 (0.085%) FLEXCUBE
6 1 (0.085%) Maximo
6 1 (0.085%) Oracle HRMS
6 1 (0.085%) SAP PM
6 1 (0.085%) SAP SM
6 1 (0.085%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.085%) Workfront
Cloud Services
1 330 (27.97%) Azure
2 210 (17.80%) AWS
3 122 (10.34%) GCP
4 68 (5.76%) GitHub
5 67 (5.68%) Power Platform
6 51 (4.32%) SaaS
7 50 (4.24%) Microsoft 365
8 44 (3.73%) Azure DevOps
8 44 (3.73%) Serverless
9 39 (3.31%) Entra ID
10 26 (2.20%) GitHub Actions
11 23 (1.95%) IaaS
11 23 (1.95%) Snowflake
12 20 (1.69%) Azure Data Factory
13 19 (1.61%) AWS CloudFormation
13 19 (1.61%) Azure Machine Learning
13 19 (1.61%) Cloud Computing
14 17 (1.44%) Power Automate
14 17 (1.44%) PowerApps
15 16 (1.36%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 49 (4.15%) Firewall
2 33 (2.80%) DNS
3 28 (2.37%) TCP/IP
4 21 (1.78%) Network Security
5 16 (1.36%) BGP
5 16 (1.36%) HTTP
5 16 (1.36%) WAN
6 15 (1.27%) SSH
7 14 (1.19%) LAN
7 14 (1.19%) VLAN
8 12 (1.02%) Wireless
9 11 (0.93%) OSPF
10 10 (0.85%) HTTPS
10 10 (0.85%) IPv4
10 10 (0.85%) VPN
11 9 (0.76%) DHCP
12 8 (0.68%) Cisco IOS
12 8 (0.68%) Skype
13 7 (0.59%) Internet
13 7 (0.59%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 81 (6.86%) PostgreSQL
2 50 (4.24%) NoSQL
2 50 (4.24%) Power BI
3 49 (4.15%) Relational Database
4 45 (3.81%) SQL Server
5 43 (3.64%) Data Warehouse
6 42 (3.56%) Big Data
7 35 (2.97%) MySQL
8 25 (2.12%) Tableau
9 24 (2.03%) Hadoop
10 20 (1.69%) Metadata
10 20 (1.69%) MongoDB
11 16 (1.36%) Data Lake
11 16 (1.36%) Elasticsearch
12 12 (1.02%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 10 (0.85%) Amazon RDS
13 10 (0.85%) Redis
14 9 (0.76%) Snowflake Schema
15 8 (0.68%) Star Schema
16 7 (0.59%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 99 (8.39%) Git
2 92 (7.80%) JIRA
3 65 (5.51%) Jenkins
4 57 (4.83%) GitLab
5 28 (2.37%) Rational DOORS
6 12 (1.02%) MLflow
6 12 (1.02%) Postman
7 11 (0.93%) Selenium
8 10 (0.85%) Liquibase
9 9 (0.76%) Jaeger
10 8 (0.68%) Bitbucket
11 7 (0.59%) CircleCI
11 7 (0.59%) Gradle
12 6 (0.51%) Cypress.io
12 6 (0.51%) JUnit
13 5 (0.42%) Artifactory
13 5 (0.42%) Cucumber
13 5 (0.42%) PyCharm
13 5 (0.42%) Visual Studio
14 4 (0.34%) REST Assured
General
1 501 (42.46%) Social Skills
2 289 (24.49%) Finance
3 244 (20.68%) Analytical Skills
4 113 (9.58%) Banking
5 76 (6.44%) Public Sector
6 48 (4.07%) Aerospace
6 48 (4.07%) Marketing
7 46 (3.90%) Documentation Skills
8 36 (3.05%) Influencing Skills
8 36 (3.05%) Legal
8 36 (3.05%) Presentation Skills
9 34 (2.88%) Telecoms
10 32 (2.71%) Financial Institution
11 30 (2.54%) Front Office
12 26 (2.20%) Electronics
13 25 (2.12%) Organisational Skills
14 23 (1.95%) Manufacturing
15 22 (1.86%) Investment Banking
16 21 (1.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 18 (1.53%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 157 (13.31%) Developer
2 114 (9.66%) Architect
3 98 (8.31%) Lead
4 93 (7.88%) Analyst
5 86 (7.29%) Senior
6 48 (4.07%) Software Engineer
7 42 (3.56%) Solutions Architect
8 40 (3.39%) Data Scientist
9 38 (3.22%) Delivery Manager
10 35 (2.97%) Product Manager
11 32 (2.71%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
12 29 (2.46%) Python Developer
13 28 (2.37%) Product Delivery Manager
13 28 (2.37%) Technical Support
14 27 (2.29%) Business Analyst
15 26 (2.20%) Consultant
16 24 (2.03%) Data Engineer
16 24 (2.03%) Java Developer
17 23 (1.95%) Cloud Engineer
18 22 (1.86%) Systems Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 104 (8.81%) REST
2 58 (4.92%) React
3 57 (4.83%) RESTful
4 56 (4.75%) .NET
5 46 (3.90%) Kafka
6 41 (3.47%) Middleware
7 37 (3.14%) Elastic Stack
7 37 (3.14%) PyTorch
8 36 (3.05%) Spring
8 36 (3.05%) TensorFlow
9 33 (2.80%) Spring Boot
10 32 (2.71%) JSON
11 31 (2.63%) OAuth
11 31 (2.63%) XML
12 30 (2.54%) HTML
13 27 (2.29%) Node.js
13 27 (2.29%) SOAP
14 23 (1.95%) CSS
14 23 (1.95%) LangChain
15 22 (1.86%) Pandas
Miscellaneous
1 117 (9.92%) Management Information System
2 94 (7.97%) Algorithms
3 93 (7.88%) Cloud Native
4 83 (7.03%) Product Ownership
5 66 (5.59%) Data Structures
6 59 (5.00%) Onboarding
7 58 (4.92%) Distributed Systems
8 33 (2.80%) Equities
9 32 (2.71%) Virtual Team
10 25 (2.12%) Data Protection Act
11 24 (2.03%) AI Agents
11 24 (2.03%) Derivative
12 23 (1.95%) Data Centre
12 23 (1.95%) Distributed Computing
13 22 (1.86%) Enterprise Software
14 21 (1.78%) Analytical Mindset
14 21 (1.78%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
15 20 (1.69%) Public Cloud
16 19 (1.61%) Taxonomies
17 17 (1.44%) Cyberattack
Operating Systems
1 155 (13.14%) Linux
2 125 (10.59%) Windows
3 53 (4.49%) Unix
4 22 (1.86%) Android
5 19 (1.61%) Mac OS
5 19 (1.61%) Windows Server
6 11 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (0.85%) Apple iOS
8 7 (0.59%) Windows 10
9 5 (0.42%) VMS
10 4 (0.34%) Debian
10 4 (0.34%) Ubuntu
11 3 (0.25%) Rocky
12 2 (0.17%) Robot Operating System
13 1 (0.085%) Embedded Linux
13 1 (0.085%) Kali Linux
13 1 (0.085%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 370 (31.36%) Problem-Solving
2 323 (27.37%) Agile
3 253 (21.44%) AI
4 240 (20.34%) CI/CD
5 235 (19.92%) DevOps
6 197 (16.69%) Software Engineering
7 156 (13.22%) Continuous Improvement
8 150 (12.71%) Microservices
9 143 (12.12%) Machine Learning
10 137 (11.61%) Analytics
11 133 (11.27%) Containerisation
12 132 (11.19%) Cybersecurity
13 125 (10.59%) Stakeholder Management
14 119 (10.08%) Data Science
15 113 (9.58%) Data Modelling
16 111 (9.41%) Mathematics
17 109 (9.24%) Decision-Making
18 108 (9.15%) Data Governance
19 102 (8.64%) Stakeholder Engagement
20 95 (8.05%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 356 (30.17%) Python
2 209 (17.71%) SQL
3 147 (12.46%) Java
4 83 (7.03%) JavaScript
5 59 (5.00%) PowerShell
6 58 (4.92%) TypeScript
7 52 (4.41%) C#
8 41 (3.47%) Bash
9 40 (3.39%) Go
10 38 (3.22%) C++
11 22 (1.86%) R
12 17 (1.44%) Perl
13 14 (1.19%) Rust
14 13 (1.10%) Shell Script
15 10 (0.85%) Kotlin
16 8 (0.68%) Scala
17 7 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 7 (0.59%) Ruby
18 6 (0.51%) C
19 5 (0.42%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 956 (81.02%) Degree
2 589 (49.92%) Computer Science Degree
3 214 (18.14%) Master's Degree
4 206 (17.46%) Security Cleared
5 121 (10.25%) SC Cleared
6 74 (6.27%) CISSP
7 56 (4.75%) DBS Check
7 56 (4.75%) PhD
8 50 (4.24%) CISM
9 40 (3.39%) Azure Certification
10 34 (2.88%) TOGAF Certification
11 33 (2.80%) PMI Certification
12 31 (2.63%) DV Cleared
13 28 (2.37%) PMP
14 26 (2.20%) Cisco Certification
14 26 (2.20%) Microsoft Certification
15 25 (2.12%) CompTIA Security+
16 24 (2.03%) AWS Certification
16 24 (2.03%) BPSS Clearance
17 18 (1.53%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (5.85%) QA
2 57 (4.83%) Data Quality
3 56 (4.75%) GDPR
4 47 (3.98%) NIST
5 46 (3.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 23 (1.95%) PCI DSS
7 17 (1.44%) Accessibility
8 11 (0.93%) GRC
8 11 (0.93%) NCSC
9 10 (0.85%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 9 (0.76%) HIPAA
11 8 (0.68%) NIST 800
12 7 (0.59%) Actionable Recommendations
12 7 (0.59%) DO-254
12 7 (0.59%) PSD2
13 6 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
14 5 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 5 (0.42%) Government Security Classifications
14 5 (0.42%) ISO 20022
14 5 (0.42%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 154 (13.05%) Docker
2 56 (4.75%) Active Directory
3 21 (1.78%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (1.02%) Firmware
5 6 (0.51%) Hyper-V
5 6 (0.51%) VMware NSX
6 3 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.17%) Ceph
7 2 (0.17%) KVM
7 2 (0.17%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.17%) vSphere
8 1 (0.085%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.085%) HDFS
8 1 (0.085%) PowerHA
8 1 (0.085%) Squid
Systems Management
1 163 (13.81%) Kubernetes
2 92 (7.80%) Terraform
3 62 (5.25%) Ansible
4 52 (4.41%) Grafana
5 43 (3.64%) Prometheus
6 22 (1.86%) Microsoft Intune
7 17 (1.44%) Single Sign-On
8 15 (1.27%) Puppet
9 12 (1.02%) Kibana
10 9 (0.76%) Kiali
11 8 (0.68%) Argo
12 6 (0.51%) SCCM
13 5 (0.42%) Progress Chef
14 4 (0.34%) Control-M
14 4 (0.34%) SCOM
15 3 (0.25%) Foglight
15 3 (0.25%) HP ALM
15 3 (0.25%) Kubeflow
15 3 (0.25%) PowerCLI
15 3 (0.25%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 182 (15.42%) Microsoft
2 69 (5.85%) Splunk
3 64 (5.42%) Google
4 61 (5.17%) Oracle
5 49 (4.15%) SAP
6 48 (4.07%) Databricks
7 41 (3.47%) IBM
8 28 (2.37%) ServiceNow
9 25 (2.12%) BiZZdesign
10 24 (2.03%) VMware
11 21 (1.78%) Cisco
12 20 (1.69%) Salesforce
13 19 (1.61%) Informatica
14 18 (1.53%) Red Hat
15 17 (1.44%) Palo Alto
16 15 (1.27%) Okta
17 13 (1.10%) CheckPoint
18 12 (1.02%) Foundry
18 12 (1.02%) OpenAI
18 12 (1.02%) Software AG