Data Science Leader Contract Job Trends

Data Science Lead
UK

The median Data Science Lead daily rate in the UK is £950, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 July 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 657 552 586
Rank change year-on-year -105 +34 +88
Contract jobs requiring a Data Science Leader 5 1 4
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.009% 0.003% 0.009%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.010% 0.003% 0.010%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 1 4
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £925 £806 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £950 £813 £630
Median % change year-on-year +16.92% +28.97% +9.57%
75th Percentile £975 £819 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median daily rate - - -

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 48,916 29,817 39,992
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.49% 91.88% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,647 19,017 25,745
10th Percentile £325 £288 £288
25th Percentile £418 £401 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £523 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.50% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,278 1,379 2,732
10th Percentile £15.92 £13.75 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.31 £16.86
Median hourly rate £43.25 £26.50 £39.53
Median % change year-on-year +63.21% -32.95% -8.08%
75th Percentile £67.50 £56.25 £62.97
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% +1.07%

Data Science Leader
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Data Science Leader job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Science Leader
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Data Science Leader
Top 5 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 Science Leader within the UK over the 6 months to 11 July 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 -100 5 £950 +16.92% 10
London -51 3 £950 +16.92% 6
Midlands - 2 - - 2
West Midlands - 2 - - 2
UK excluding London - 2 - - 5

Data Science Leader Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 11 July 2026, Data Science Leader 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 Science Leader in the job title.

1 5 (100.00%) Data Science
1 5 (100.00%) Python
2 4 (80.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 3 (60.00%) Agile
3 3 (60.00%) Analytics
3 3 (60.00%) Machine Learning
3 3 (60.00%) Predictive Modelling
4 2 (40.00%) Actionable Insight
4 2 (40.00%) AI
4 2 (40.00%) ArcGIS
4 2 (40.00%) Azure
4 2 (40.00%) Change Management
4 2 (40.00%) Cloud Computing
4 2 (40.00%) Degree
4 2 (40.00%) Generative AI
4 2 (40.00%) GIS
4 2 (40.00%) GitHub
4 2 (40.00%) Master's Degree
4 2 (40.00%) Power BI
4 2 (40.00%) Power Platform
4 2 (40.00%) Pricing Analytics
4 2 (40.00%) Project Management
4 2 (40.00%) R
4 2 (40.00%) Visualisation
5 1 (20.00%) Apache Spark
5 1 (20.00%) CI/CD
5 1 (20.00%) Data Analysis
5 1 (20.00%) Data Engineering
5 1 (20.00%) Decision-Making
5 1 (20.00%) Deployment Automation

Data Science Leader 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 2 (40.00%) ArcGIS
2 1 (20.00%) Apache Spark
Cloud Services
1 2 (40.00%) Azure
1 2 (40.00%) Cloud Computing
1 2 (40.00%) GitHub
1 2 (40.00%) Power Platform
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (40.00%) GIS
1 2 (40.00%) Power BI
2 1 (20.00%) Hadoop
2 1 (20.00%) NoSQL
General
1 1 (20.00%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (20.00%) Finance
1 1 (20.00%) Presentation Skills
1 1 (20.00%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (20.00%) PySpark
1 1 (20.00%) PyTorch
1 1 (20.00%) scikit-learn
1 1 (20.00%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 2 (40.00%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 1 (20.00%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (100.00%) Data Science
2 4 (80.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 3 (60.00%) Agile
3 3 (60.00%) Analytics
3 3 (60.00%) Machine Learning
3 3 (60.00%) Predictive Modelling
4 2 (40.00%) Actionable Insight
4 2 (40.00%) AI
4 2 (40.00%) Change Management
4 2 (40.00%) Generative AI
4 2 (40.00%) Pricing Analytics
4 2 (40.00%) Project Management
4 2 (40.00%) Visualisation
5 1 (20.00%) CI/CD
5 1 (20.00%) Data Analysis
5 1 (20.00%) Decision-Making
5 1 (20.00%) Deployment Automation
5 1 (20.00%) Mentoring
5 1 (20.00%) MLOps
5 1 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
Programming Languages
1 5 (100.00%) Python
2 2 (40.00%) R
3 1 (20.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 2 (40.00%) Degree
1 2 (40.00%) Master's Degree