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

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 77 68 81
Rank change year-on-year -9 +13 +46
Contract jobs citing Computer Science 1,191 1,155 1,218
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.29% 3.22% 2.70%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 3.69% 3.69% 3.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 753 681 817
10th Percentile £173 £350 £339
25th Percentile £313 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £560 £550
Median % change year-on-year -15.61% +1.82% -8.33%
75th Percentile £636 £700 £688
90th Percentile £750 £838 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £400 £511 £500
% change year-on-year -21.76% +2.25% -4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 29 34
10th Percentile £26.43 £27.60 £32.32
25th Percentile £29.00 £41.25 £50.00
Median hourly rate £34.25 £52.50 £60.25
Median % change year-on-year -34.76% -12.86% +11.06%
75th Percentile £67.00 £68.75 £71.00
90th Percentile £84.50 £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 32,257 31,288 39,893
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 89.04% 87.36% 88.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,268 18,944 26,694
10th Percentile £300 £309 £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 2,091 1,103 1,539
10th Percentile £14.61 £15.23 £14.36
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.19 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.75
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -25.71% +25.00%
75th Percentile £45.61 £63.42 £65.00
90th Percentile £67.50 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.85 £32.39 £43.95
% change year-on-year -29.45% -26.30% +40.82%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -8 1,045 £475 -17.39% 906
UK excluding London +5 574 £400 -21.76% 815
London -24 512 £530 -11.67% 325
Work from Home -10 311 £474 -14.56% 581
North of England +11 189 £380 -28.06% 141
South East +35 131 £360 -28.00% 366
Midlands -5 103 £475 -13.64% 64
Yorkshire +20 93 £450 -14.29% 35
North West +1 93 £358 -32.83% 95
West Midlands -16 69 £500 -13.04% 35
South West +11 54 £463 -33.93% 94
East of England -16 49 £450 -5.26% 115
Scotland +9 47 £450 -4.51% 35
East Midlands +1 34 £447 +25.56% 26
Wales +3 13 £160 -67.81% 14
North East -10 4 £333 -35.07% 12
Northern Ireland -8 3 - - 7

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 (4.45%) Confluence
2 45 (3.78%) SharePoint
3 35 (2.94%) Apache Spark
4 26 (2.18%) Microsoft Exchange
5 12 (1.01%) Apache Airflow
6 10 (0.84%) Apache
7 8 (0.67%) Jupyter
8 7 (0.59%) nginx
9 6 (0.50%) IIS
10 5 (0.42%) SAS
10 5 (0.42%) Skype for Business
10 5 (0.42%) Smallworld
11 4 (0.34%) 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 60 (5.04%) Microsoft Office
2 28 (2.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (0.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.50%) MS Visio
4 6 (0.50%) Simulink
5 5 (0.42%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.17%) Microsoft Project
7 1 (0.084%) Adobe XD
7 1 (0.084%) Oracle Smart View
7 1 (0.084%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 25 (2.10%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (0.76%) Dynamics CRM
3 6 (0.50%) Workday HCM
4 5 (0.42%) SAP PLM
5 4 (0.34%) Aladdin
5 4 (0.34%) Salesforce CRM
5 4 (0.34%) SAP ERP
5 4 (0.34%) 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 CX
7 2 (0.17%) SAP FS
7 2 (0.17%) SAP GRC
7 2 (0.17%) SAP Travel Management
Cloud Services
1 276 (23.17%) Azure
2 230 (19.31%) AWS
3 131 (11.00%) GCP
4 73 (6.13%) GitHub
5 71 (5.96%) Power Platform
6 69 (5.79%) Serverless
7 53 (4.45%) Microsoft 365
8 43 (3.61%) Azure DevOps
9 36 (3.02%) SaaS
10 28 (2.35%) Entra ID
11 27 (2.27%) GitHub Actions
12 24 (2.02%) Cloud Computing
13 20 (1.68%) Amazon S3
14 19 (1.60%) Amazon ECS
14 19 (1.60%) AWS Lambda
14 19 (1.60%) Azure Data Factory
14 19 (1.60%) Power Automate
14 19 (1.60%) PowerApps
15 18 (1.51%) Snowflake
16 16 (1.34%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 44 (3.69%) Firewall
2 42 (3.53%) DNS
3 28 (2.35%) DHCP
4 21 (1.76%) HTTP
5 20 (1.68%) Network Security
6 19 (1.60%) Wireless
7 18 (1.51%) VPN
8 17 (1.43%) Cisco IOS
9 15 (1.26%) SSH
10 14 (1.18%) TCP/IP
10 14 (1.18%) VoIP
11 13 (1.09%) Skype
12 12 (1.01%) WAN
13 10 (0.84%) Internet
13 10 (0.84%) LAN
14 9 (0.76%) BGP
14 9 (0.76%) VLAN
15 8 (0.67%) PuTTY
15 8 (0.67%) WLAN
16 7 (0.59%) IPv4
Database & Business Intelligence
1 77 (6.47%) PostgreSQL
2 71 (5.96%) NoSQL
3 59 (4.95%) Relational Database
4 53 (4.45%) Power BI
5 44 (3.69%) Data Warehouse
6 39 (3.27%) SQL Server
7 31 (2.60%) Big Data
8 30 (2.52%) Tableau
9 29 (2.43%) MySQL
10 17 (1.43%) Redis
11 15 (1.26%) Amazon RDS
12 14 (1.18%) Hadoop
13 13 (1.09%) Data Lake
13 13 (1.09%) MongoDB
14 12 (1.01%) RDBMS
15 11 (0.92%) Metadata
16 9 (0.76%) Amazon Athena
16 9 (0.76%) SQL Server Integration Services
17 8 (0.67%) Elasticsearch
18 7 (0.59%) KDB
Development Applications
1 109 (9.15%) JIRA
2 97 (8.14%) Git
3 95 (7.98%) Jenkins
4 85 (7.14%) GitLab
5 29 (2.43%) Liquibase
6 23 (1.93%) Postman
7 17 (1.43%) Artifactory
8 15 (1.26%) Selenium
8 15 (1.26%) Visual Studio
9 11 (0.92%) Bitbucket
10 9 (0.76%) Cucumber
10 9 (0.76%) JUnit
10 9 (0.76%) MLflow
11 7 (0.59%) Cypress.io
11 7 (0.59%) IntelliJ
12 6 (0.50%) Appium
12 6 (0.50%) CircleCI
12 6 (0.50%) PyCharm
13 5 (0.42%) Charles Proxy
13 5 (0.42%) Katalon Studio
General
1 570 (47.86%) Social Skills
2 324 (27.20%) Finance
3 263 (22.08%) Analytical Skills
4 128 (10.75%) Banking
5 64 (5.37%) Public Sector
6 43 (3.61%) Marketing
7 42 (3.53%) Financial Institution
7 42 (3.53%) Organisational Skills
8 40 (3.36%) Front Office
9 34 (2.85%) Manufacturing
10 32 (2.69%) Influencing Skills
11 31 (2.60%) Investment Banking
12 30 (2.52%) Legal
13 29 (2.43%) Telecoms
14 25 (2.10%) Documentation Skills
15 23 (1.93%) Electronics
15 23 (1.93%) Presentation Skills
16 18 (1.51%) Retail
17 15 (1.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 12 (1.01%) Military
Job Titles
1 234 (19.65%) Developer
2 109 (9.15%) Analyst
3 95 (7.98%) Architect
4 88 (7.39%) Senior
5 79 (6.63%) Lead
6 63 (5.29%) Software Engineer
7 40 (3.36%) Java Developer
8 37 (3.11%) Data Scientist
9 35 (2.94%) Solutions Architect
10 32 (2.69%) Senior Developer
11 31 (2.60%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
12 30 (2.52%) Business Analyst
12 30 (2.52%) Consultant
12 30 (2.52%) Python Engineer
13 29 (2.43%) Data Engineer
14 26 (2.18%) Python Developer
15 25 (2.10%) IT Support
16 23 (1.93%) Full-Stack Developer
17 21 (1.76%) AWS Engineer
17 21 (1.76%) Platform Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 129 (10.83%) REST
2 84 (7.05%) RESTful
3 70 (5.88%) .NET
4 66 (5.54%) HTML
5 52 (4.37%) React
6 51 (4.28%) CSS
7 45 (3.78%) Kafka
7 45 (3.78%) Node.js
8 43 (3.61%) Elastic Stack
9 40 (3.36%) JSON
10 39 (3.27%) SOAP
11 38 (3.19%) OAuth
12 37 (3.11%) Middleware
13 35 (2.94%) XML
14 34 (2.85%) TensorFlow
14 34 (2.85%) Web Services
15 32 (2.69%) PyTorch
16 31 (2.60%) Spring
17 30 (2.52%) AngularJS
18 29 (2.43%) LangChain
Miscellaneous
1 113 (9.49%) Management Information System
2 101 (8.48%) Algorithms
3 86 (7.22%) Cloud Native
4 63 (5.29%) Distributed Systems
5 60 (5.04%) Data Structures
6 55 (4.62%) Product Ownership
7 41 (3.44%) Public Cloud
8 37 (3.11%) Data Protection Act
9 29 (2.43%) Mobile App
9 29 (2.43%) Virtual Team
10 27 (2.27%) Security Posture
11 26 (2.18%) Equities
12 25 (2.10%) Derivative
12 25 (2.10%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 24 (2.02%) Data Centre
14 23 (1.93%) Enterprise Software
15 22 (1.85%) Fixed Income
16 21 (1.76%) Distributed Computing
16 21 (1.76%) Onboarding
17 19 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 156 (13.10%) Linux
2 106 (8.90%) Windows
3 57 (4.79%) Unix
4 26 (2.18%) Android
5 24 (2.02%) Windows Server
6 23 (1.93%) Mac OS
7 17 (1.43%) Apple iOS
8 8 (0.67%) Windows 10
9 6 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 4 (0.34%) VMS
11 2 (0.17%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.084%) CentOS
12 1 (0.084%) Debian
12 1 (0.084%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 395 (33.17%) Problem-Solving
2 360 (30.23%) Agile
3 242 (20.32%) DevOps
4 222 (18.64%) CI/CD
5 194 (16.29%) Software Engineering
6 173 (14.53%) AI
7 146 (12.26%) Microservices
8 141 (11.84%) Containerisation
9 131 (11.00%) Analytics
9 131 (11.00%) Machine Learning
10 117 (9.82%) Cybersecurity
10 117 (9.82%) Data Science
11 114 (9.57%) Mathematics
12 110 (9.24%) Stakeholder Management
13 104 (8.73%) ITIL
14 101 (8.48%) Continuous Improvement
15 99 (8.31%) Change Management
16 97 (8.14%) Decision-Making
17 94 (7.89%) Migration
18 93 (7.81%) Data Modelling
Programming Languages
1 407 (34.17%) Python
2 217 (18.22%) SQL
3 178 (14.95%) Java
4 124 (10.41%) JavaScript
5 64 (5.37%) PowerShell
6 63 (5.29%) TypeScript
7 62 (5.21%) C#
8 59 (4.95%) Go
9 50 (4.20%) Bash
9 50 (4.20%) C++
10 26 (2.18%) R
11 21 (1.76%) Perl
12 19 (1.60%) Ruby
13 14 (1.18%) Kotlin
14 13 (1.09%) Shell Script
15 11 (0.92%) MATLAB
16 10 (0.84%) ABAP
16 10 (0.84%) C
17 9 (0.76%) Apex Code
17 9 (0.76%) PHP
Qualifications
1 965 (81.02%) Degree
2 631 (52.98%) Computer Science Degree
3 233 (19.56%) Master's Degree
4 124 (10.41%) Security Cleared
5 93 (7.81%) SC Cleared
6 68 (5.71%) DBS Check
7 59 (4.95%) CISSP
8 54 (4.53%) PhD
9 44 (3.69%) AWS Certification
10 38 (3.19%) Cisco Certification
11 37 (3.11%) Azure Certification
11 37 (3.11%) Microsoft Certification
12 35 (2.94%) CISM
13 29 (2.43%) PMI Certification
14 26 (2.18%) PMP
15 25 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
16 24 (2.02%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
17 23 (1.93%) CCNA
18 21 (1.76%) CCNP
19 19 (1.60%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 75 (6.30%) QA
2 68 (5.71%) GDPR
3 66 (5.54%) Data Quality
4 43 (3.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 28 (2.35%) NIST
6 20 (1.68%) GRC
7 17 (1.43%) Accessibility
8 12 (1.01%) PCI DSS
8 12 (1.01%) SLA
9 11 (0.92%) Def Stans
10 9 (0.76%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 8 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
12 7 (0.59%) COBIT
12 7 (0.59%) HIPAA
13 6 (0.50%) DO-254
13 6 (0.50%) PMO
14 5 (0.42%) NCSC
14 5 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
15 4 (0.34%) SEPA
16 3 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 152 (12.76%) Docker
2 50 (4.20%) Active Directory
3 26 (2.18%) VMware Infrastructure
4 7 (0.59%) VMware NSX
5 6 (0.50%) Firmware
6 5 (0.42%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 5 (0.42%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (0.34%) Hyper-V
7 4 (0.34%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.34%) vSphere
8 2 (0.17%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.084%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.084%) HDFS
9 1 (0.084%) PowerHA
9 1 (0.084%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
Systems Management
1 141 (11.84%) Kubernetes
2 94 (7.89%) Terraform
3 73 (6.13%) Ansible
4 54 (4.53%) Grafana
5 42 (3.53%) Prometheus
6 17 (1.43%) Puppet
7 16 (1.34%) SCCM
8 9 (0.76%) Microsoft Intune
8 9 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
9 8 (0.67%) Kibana
10 7 (0.59%) Argo
10 7 (0.59%) CSIRT
10 7 (0.59%) QRadar
11 6 (0.50%) WSUS
12 5 (0.42%) Progress Chef
12 5 (0.42%) SCOM
13 4 (0.34%) Kustomize
13 4 (0.34%) vCenter Server
14 3 (0.25%) HP ALM
14 3 (0.25%) vRealize
Vendors
1 196 (16.46%) Microsoft
2 75 (6.30%) Splunk
3 70 (5.88%) Google
4 53 (4.45%) SAP
5 46 (3.86%) Cisco
6 45 (3.78%) Oracle
7 44 (3.69%) ServiceNow
8 37 (3.11%) Salesforce
9 32 (2.69%) Databricks
10 31 (2.60%) IBM
10 31 (2.60%) VMware
11 15 (1.26%) Red Hat
12 13 (1.09%) Foundry
12 13 (1.09%) Palo Alto
13 12 (1.01%) BiZZdesign
13 12 (1.01%) OpenAI
14 11 (0.92%) Informatica
15 10 (0.84%) CyberArk
16 9 (0.76%) CheckPoint
16 9 (0.76%) Workday