Data Architect Contract Job Trends

Data Architect
UK

The median Data Architect daily rate in the UK is £588, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 January 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 295 239 231
Rank change year-on-year -56 -8 +19
Contract jobs requiring a Data Architect 331 328 457
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.86% 1.05% 1.04%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.94% 1.13% 1.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 243 222 335
10th Percentile £450 £480 £478
25th Percentile £503 £519 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £588 £613 £675
Median % change year-on-year -4.08% -9.26% -
75th Percentile £673 £725 £738
90th Percentile £750 £799 £825
UK excluding London median daily rate £555 £620 £650
% change year-on-year -10.48% -4.62% +1.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 3 6
10th Percentile £65.75 £75.75 £45.64
25th Percentile £68.38 £76.88 £48.82
Median hourly rate £73.50 £80.50 £61.53
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% +30.84% -12.10%
75th Percentile £79.38 £83.63 £72.00
90th Percentile £82.45 £84.45 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £73.50 £80.50 £61.53
% change year-on-year -8.70% +30.84% -12.10%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 35,104 29,073 41,093
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.45% 92.88% 93.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,171 17,758 27,208
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £495
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.64% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,077 858 2,114
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.98 £13.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.23
Median hourly rate £29.60 £32.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.92% -13.33% +7.14%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.53 £73.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £30.98 £40.00
% change year-on-year -11.23% -22.56% +33.33%

Data Architect
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Data Architect' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Data Architect job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Architect
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Architect job vacancies in the UK

Data Architect
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Architect over the 6 months to 28 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Architect in the UK

Data Architect
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Architect job vacancies in the UK

Data Architect
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Architect over the 6 months to 28 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Architect in the UK

Data Architect
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Data Architect within the UK over the 6 months to 28 January 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 -82 272 £598 -4.34% 88
London -45 150 £600 -4.00% 42
UK excluding London -31 119 £555 -10.48% 75
Work from Home -35 100 £600 -2.04% 46
Midlands -30 28 £567 -7.47% 11
North of England -72 28 £575 -7.26% 11
West Midlands -17 24 £574 -7.83% 11
North West -31 23 £550 -6.38% 8
South West -14 21 £613 -2.00% 12
South East -24 20 £575 -4.17% 23
Scotland +17 15 £525 -19.23% 12
East of England -10 10 £505 -20.78% 4
East Midlands -31 4 £445 -1.68%
Yorkshire -55 3 £675 -3.57%
Wales -2 2 £768 - 3
North East -21 2 £575 - 3

Data Architect Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 28 January 2026, Data Architect contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads featuring Data Architect in the job title.

1 190 (57.40%) Data Modelling
2 176 (53.17%) Data Architecture
3 123 (37.16%) Azure
4 118 (35.65%) Data Governance
5 117 (35.35%) Analytics
6 91 (27.49%) AWS
7 78 (23.56%) Data Warehouse
8 73 (22.05%) SQL
9 72 (21.75%) ETL
10 70 (21.15%) Data Quality
11 67 (20.24%) Metadata
11 67 (20.24%) Python
12 62 (18.73%) Databricks
13 61 (18.43%) Business Intelligence
13 61 (18.43%) Security Cleared
14 58 (17.52%) Data Strategy
15 54 (16.31%) Microsoft
16 53 (16.01%) AI
17 51 (15.41%) Migration
18 50 (15.11%) Power Platform
19 48 (14.50%) Data Lake
20 47 (14.20%) SC Cleared
21 46 (13.90%) Data Integration
22 45 (13.60%) Data Pipeline
22 45 (13.60%) Metadata Management
22 45 (13.60%) Power BI
23 43 (12.99%) DevOps
23 43 (12.99%) Machine Learning
23 43 (12.99%) Stakeholder Management
24 42 (12.69%) Logical Data Model

Data Architect Skill Set
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 12 (3.63%) Apache Spark
2 10 (3.02%) Apache
3 9 (2.72%) SAS
4 8 (2.42%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (1.21%) SharePoint
6 2 (0.60%) Luigi
7 1 (0.30%) Ethereum
7 1 (0.30%) Hyperledger
7 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 2 (0.60%) Spreadsheet
2 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.30%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 11 (3.32%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (2.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
3 5 (1.51%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.60%) Aladdin
4 2 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.30%) Distributed Ledger
5 1 (0.30%) Dynamics AX
5 1 (0.30%) iTrent
5 1 (0.30%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.30%) R3 Corda
5 1 (0.30%) SAP IBP
5 1 (0.30%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 123 (37.16%) Azure
2 91 (27.49%) AWS
3 50 (15.11%) Power Platform
4 39 (11.78%) Azure Data Factory
5 35 (10.57%) Serverless
6 34 (10.27%) Azure Synapse Analytics
7 30 (9.06%) Snowflake
8 27 (8.16%) Amazon S3
8 27 (8.16%) Microsoft Purview
9 23 (6.95%) GCP
10 18 (5.44%) AWS Lambda
11 16 (4.83%) Amazon Kinesis
12 14 (4.23%) Azure DevOps
13 13 (3.93%) dbt
14 11 (3.32%) AWS CloudFormation
14 11 (3.32%) Azure Functions
15 10 (3.02%) Collibra
16 8 (2.42%) AWS Step Functions
17 7 (2.11%) Amazon EventBridge
18 6 (1.81%) Amazon MSK
Communications & Networking
1 2 (0.60%) Hyperconnected
2 1 (0.30%) DSL
2 1 (0.30%) DWDM
2 1 (0.30%) LAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 78 (23.56%) Data Warehouse
2 67 (20.24%) Metadata
3 48 (14.50%) Data Lake
4 45 (13.60%) Power BI
5 30 (9.06%) Amazon Redshift
5 30 (9.06%) PostgreSQL
6 21 (6.34%) SQL Server
7 20 (6.04%) Amazon Athena
8 17 (5.14%) NoSQL
8 17 (5.14%) Tableau
9 16 (4.83%) Data Vault
10 15 (4.53%) Delta Lake
11 14 (4.23%) Azure SQL Database
11 14 (4.23%) Big Data
12 13 (3.93%) Apache Iceberg
13 12 (3.63%) OLTP
14 11 (3.32%) Amazon Aurora
14 11 (3.32%) Relational Database
15 10 (3.02%) Metadata Repository
15 10 (3.02%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 17 (5.14%) ERwin
2 6 (1.81%) Git
3 5 (1.51%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.91%) ER Studio
5 2 (0.60%) GitLab
6 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.30%) PowerDesigner
6 1 (0.30%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 88 (26.59%) Social Skills
2 54 (16.31%) Finance
3 45 (13.60%) Public Sector
4 34 (10.27%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (2.72%) Banking
6 8 (2.42%) Retail
7 7 (2.11%) Local Government
8 5 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (1.51%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (1.51%) Presentation Skills
9 4 (1.21%) Legal
10 3 (0.91%) Financial Institution
10 3 (0.91%) Manufacturing
11 2 (0.60%) Back Office
11 2 (0.60%) Corporate Banking
11 2 (0.60%) Documentation Skills
11 2 (0.60%) Front Office
11 2 (0.60%) Law
11 2 (0.60%) Marketing
11 2 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (5.74%) PySpark
2 18 (5.44%) Kafka
3 7 (2.11%) Apache Avro
3 7 (2.11%) Protocol Buffers
4 4 (1.21%) SOAP
5 3 (0.91%) AWS CDK
5 3 (0.91%) Node.js
5 3 (0.91%) REST
6 2 (0.60%) .NET
6 2 (0.60%) Oracle Fusion
7 1 (0.30%) .NET Core
7 1 (0.30%) ADO
7 1 (0.30%) Apache NiFi
7 1 (0.30%) ARM Templates
7 1 (0.30%) FHIR
7 1 (0.30%) JSON
7 1 (0.30%) Lightning Web Components
7 1 (0.30%) Smart Contracts
7 1 (0.30%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 26 (7.85%) Data Structures
2 23 (6.95%) Cloud Native
3 12 (3.63%) NHS
4 10 (3.02%) Legacy Systems
5 9 (2.72%) Data Fabric
5 9 (2.72%) Distributed Systems
5 9 (2.72%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (2.42%) FMCG
7 7 (2.11%) Product Ownership
7 7 (2.11%) Reference Data
7 7 (2.11%) Reinsurance
8 6 (1.81%) Onboarding
9 4 (1.21%) Low-Code
9 4 (1.21%) PACS
9 4 (1.21%) SWIFT Messaging Network
9 4 (1.21%) Taxonomies
10 3 (0.91%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (0.91%) Distributed Computing
10 3 (0.91%) IoT
10 3 (0.91%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 2 (0.60%) zOS
2 1 (0.30%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 190 (57.40%) Data Modelling
2 176 (53.17%) Data Architecture
3 118 (35.65%) Data Governance
4 117 (35.35%) Analytics
5 72 (21.75%) ETL
6 61 (18.43%) Business Intelligence
7 58 (17.52%) Data Strategy
8 53 (16.01%) AI
9 51 (15.41%) Migration
10 46 (13.90%) Data Integration
11 45 (13.60%) Data Pipeline
11 45 (13.60%) Metadata Management
12 43 (12.99%) DevOps
12 43 (12.99%) Machine Learning
12 43 (12.99%) Stakeholder Management
13 42 (12.69%) Logical Data Model
13 42 (12.69%) Physical Data Model
14 41 (12.39%) Data Management
15 40 (12.08%) Roadmaps
16 39 (11.78%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 73 (22.05%) SQL
2 67 (20.24%) Python
3 12 (3.63%) Java
4 8 (2.42%) T-SQL
5 5 (1.51%) PowerShell
6 4 (1.21%) PL/SQL
6 4 (1.21%) Scala
6 4 (1.21%) SPARQL
7 3 (0.91%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.60%) Korn
8 2 (0.60%) R
9 1 (0.30%) ANSI SQL
9 1 (0.30%) Apex Code
9 1 (0.30%) C#
9 1 (0.30%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 61 (18.43%) Security Cleared
2 47 (14.20%) SC Cleared
3 18 (5.44%) Azure Certification
4 17 (5.14%) Degree
5 14 (4.23%) BPSS Clearance
6 9 (2.72%) AWS Certification
6 9 (2.72%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (2.42%) Computer Science Degree
7 8 (2.42%) Master's Degree
8 7 (2.11%) TOGAF Certification
9 4 (1.21%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 3 (0.91%) DV Cleared
11 1 (0.30%) ITIL Certification
11 1 (0.30%) MCP
11 1 (0.30%) MySQL Certification
11 1 (0.30%) Oracle Certification
11 1 (0.30%) SAP Certification
11 1 (0.30%) SnowPro
11 1 (0.30%) Tableau Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 70 (21.15%) Data Quality
2 31 (9.37%) GDPR
3 10 (3.02%) Accessibility
4 6 (1.81%) QA
5 5 (1.51%) California Consumer Privacy Act
5 5 (1.51%) HIPAA
6 4 (1.21%) ISO 20022
7 2 (0.60%) Actionable Recommendations
7 2 (0.60%) CRD IV
7 2 (0.60%) FINREP
7 2 (0.60%) IFRS
8 1 (0.30%) GMP
8 1 (0.30%) Government Security Classifications
8 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 2 (0.60%) Docker
2 1 (0.30%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 25 (7.55%) Terraform
2 6 (1.81%) Ansible
3 4 (1.21%) Prometheus
4 2 (0.60%) Grafana
4 2 (0.60%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.30%) Kubeflow
Vendors
1 62 (18.73%) Databricks
2 54 (16.31%) Microsoft
3 23 (6.95%) Oracle
4 15 (4.53%) Informatica
4 15 (4.53%) Salesforce
4 15 (4.53%) SAP
5 9 (2.72%) Google
6 7 (2.11%) Confluent
7 5 (1.51%) Greenplum
7 5 (1.51%) Sparx
8 4 (1.21%) Ab Initio
8 4 (1.21%) Dynatrace
8 4 (1.21%) MicroStrategy
8 4 (1.21%) Pega
8 4 (1.21%) Remedy
8 4 (1.21%) Talend
9 3 (0.91%) Palantir
9 3 (0.91%) Workday
10 2 (0.60%) OneTrust
10 2 (0.60%) SimCorp