Derivative Contract Job Trends

Derivatives
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Derivative in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Derivative over the 6 months leading up to 28 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 381 214 249
Rank change year-on-year -167 +35 +11
Contract jobs citing Derivative 236 367 417
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.57% 1.20% 0.94%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.69% 3.61% 3.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 167 292 377
10th Percentile £510 £500 £550
25th Percentile £588 £638 £600
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £733 £725 £700
Median % change year-on-year +1.03% +3.57% -6.67%
75th Percentile £971 £888 £800
90th Percentile £1,000 £938 £850
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £325 £613
% change year-on-year +61.54% -46.94% -23.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £77.50 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - -

All Generic Skills
UK

Derivative falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 13,929 10,163 13,536
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 33.44% 33.21% 30.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,788 6,196 8,700
10th Percentile £281 £275 £258
25th Percentile £406 £407 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.94% -3.64%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £766 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £495 £500
% change year-on-year -4.04% -1.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 652 336 826
10th Percentile £15.35 £18.36 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.74 £23.00 £16.31
Median hourly rate £33.09 £32.91 £31.25
Median % change year-on-year +0.55% +5.30% +38.98%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £78.98 £82.85 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £32.50 £32.75
% change year-on-year - -0.76% +48.86%

Derivative
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Derivative relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Derivative job vacancy trend in the UK

Derivative
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Derivative.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Derivative

Derivative
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Derivative over the 6 months to 28 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Derivative in the UK

Derivative
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Derivative.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Derivative

Derivative
Top 11 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Derivative within the UK over the 6 months to 28 February 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 -157 229 £733 -2.33% 31
London -89 220 £750 - 31
Work from Home -125 73 £800 +10.34% 9
UK excluding London -107 10 £525 +61.54% 11
North of England -62 3 £525 -3.85%
East of England - 3 £681 -
Yorkshire - 3 £525 -
Scotland +6 2 £470 +16.34%
Northern Ireland -19 2 £315 -3.08%
Midlands - 2 £525 -
West Midlands - 2 £525 -

Derivative
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 9 (3.81%) Apache Spark
2 7 (2.97%) Confluence
3 4 (1.69%) Apache
3 4 (1.69%) Apache Airflow
4 2 (0.85%) WebSphere
5 1 (0.42%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 24 (10.17%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (1.27%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (1.27%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.85%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (2.54%) Aladdin
2 5 (2.12%) Loan IQ
2 5 (2.12%) Temenos T24
3 3 (1.27%) Summit
4 2 (0.85%) Algo Collateral
4 2 (0.85%) Bloomberg TOMS
4 2 (0.85%) Oracle General Ledger
4 2 (0.85%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 1 (0.42%) Advent Geneva
5 1 (0.42%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.42%) ION MarketView
5 1 (0.42%) Oracle FAH
5 1 (0.42%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 51 (21.61%) AWS
2 29 (12.29%) Azure
3 18 (7.63%) GCP
4 8 (3.39%) Snowflake
5 6 (2.54%) Power Platform
6 5 (2.12%) Amazon S3
6 5 (2.12%) AWS Lambda
6 5 (2.12%) Azure DevOps
6 5 (2.12%) SaaS
6 5 (2.12%) Serverless
7 4 (1.69%) dbt
8 3 (1.27%) Amazon ECS
8 3 (1.27%) npm
8 3 (1.27%) OpenShift
8 3 (1.27%) Yarn
9 1 (0.42%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (0.42%) AWS Step Functions
9 1 (0.42%) Azure Machine Learning
9 1 (0.42%) IaaS
9 1 (0.42%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 12 (5.08%) FIX Connectivity
2 4 (1.69%) Multicast
3 1 (0.42%) RTMP
3 1 (0.42%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (12.29%) PostgreSQL
2 11 (4.66%) SQL Server
3 9 (3.81%) Redis
4 6 (2.54%) Power BI
5 4 (1.69%) Amazon Athena
5 4 (1.69%) Apache Arrow
5 4 (1.69%) Apache Iceberg
5 4 (1.69%) Apache Ignite
5 4 (1.69%) Big Data
5 4 (1.69%) Data Lake
5 4 (1.69%) Dremio
5 4 (1.69%) KDB
5 4 (1.69%) NoSQL
5 4 (1.69%) Relational Database
6 3 (1.27%) Amazon RDS
6 3 (1.27%) Metadata
6 3 (1.27%) Tableau
7 2 (0.85%) Apache Cassandra
7 2 (0.85%) MongoDB
7 2 (0.85%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 17 (7.20%) Git
2 10 (4.24%) JIRA
3 9 (3.81%) Jenkins
4 6 (2.54%) Octopus Deploy
5 5 (2.12%) Visual Studio
6 4 (1.69%) GitLab
6 4 (1.69%) Maven
7 3 (1.27%) Bitbucket
7 3 (1.27%) IntelliJ
7 3 (1.27%) webpack
8 2 (0.85%) Cucumber
8 2 (0.85%) Gradle
9 1 (0.42%) Crucible
9 1 (0.42%) Eclipse
9 1 (0.42%) NUnit
9 1 (0.42%) REST Assured
9 1 (0.42%) TeamCity
General
1 170 (72.03%) Finance
2 120 (50.85%) Banking
3 96 (40.68%) Front Office
4 80 (33.90%) Investment Banking
5 72 (30.51%) Social Skills
6 41 (17.37%) Analytical Skills
7 23 (9.75%) Financial Institution
8 8 (3.39%) Back Office
9 4 (1.69%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.27%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (1.27%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (1.27%) Legal
10 3 (1.27%) Spanish Language
10 3 (1.27%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.85%) General Ledger
11 2 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.42%) Japanese Language
12 1 (0.42%) Law
12 1 (0.42%) Retail
Job Titles
1 110 (46.61%) Developer
2 47 (19.92%) Senior
3 44 (18.64%) Analyst
4 40 (16.95%) Java Developer
5 35 (14.83%) Business Analyst
6 28 (11.86%) Senior Developer
7 19 (8.05%) Lead
7 19 (8.05%) Senior Java Developer
8 16 (6.78%) Analytics Developer
8 16 (6.78%) AWS Developer
8 16 (6.78%) Kafka Developer
8 16 (6.78%) PostgreSQL Developer
8 16 (6.78%) Python Developer
9 15 (6.36%) Electronic Trading Developer
9 15 (6.36%) Electronic Trading Java Developer
10 14 (5.93%) Software Engineer
11 13 (5.51%) Algorithmic Trading Developer
11 13 (5.51%) Java Developer - Algorithmic Trading
11 13 (5.51%) Low Latency Java Developer
12 12 (5.08%) Lead Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 31 (13.14%) React
2 23 (9.75%) Kafka
3 20 (8.47%) FIX Protocol
4 17 (7.20%) Redux
5 14 (5.93%) RESTful
6 12 (5.08%) HTML
6 12 (5.08%) Node.js
7 9 (3.81%) .NET
7 9 (3.81%) CSS
7 9 (3.81%) Dask
7 9 (3.81%) Pandas
8 8 (3.39%) NumPy
8 8 (3.39%) REST
8 8 (3.39%) Spring
9 7 (2.97%) HTML5
9 7 (2.97%) SciPy
9 7 (2.97%) WebSockets
10 5 (2.12%) Protocol Buffers
10 5 (2.12%) XML
11 4 (1.69%) RxJS
Miscellaneous
1 87 (36.86%) Equities
2 60 (25.42%) Fixed Income
3 47 (19.92%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 32 (13.56%) Equity Derivative
5 23 (9.75%) Market Risk
6 20 (8.47%) Algorithms
7 17 (7.20%) Management Information System
8 15 (6.36%) TWAP
8 15 (6.36%) VWAP
9 14 (5.93%) Distributed Systems
10 13 (5.51%) Hedge funds
11 12 (5.08%) Data Protection Act
12 11 (4.66%) Cloud Native
12 11 (4.66%) Credit Risk
13 9 (3.81%) Distributed Computing
14 8 (3.39%) Onboarding
15 7 (2.97%) Analytical Mindset
15 7 (2.97%) Data Structures
15 7 (2.97%) OTC Derivatives
15 7 (2.97%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 11 (4.66%) Linux
2 10 (4.24%) Unix
3 4 (1.69%) Windows
4 3 (1.27%) Debian
4 3 (1.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 3 (1.27%) Ubuntu
4 3 (1.27%) VMS
5 1 (0.42%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 77 (32.63%) Agile
2 66 (27.97%) Risk Management
3 44 (18.64%) Problem-Solving
4 37 (15.68%) Mathematics
5 36 (15.25%) Analytics
6 35 (14.83%) TDD
7 33 (13.98%) Low Latency
8 32 (13.56%) CI/CD
9 29 (12.29%) Electronic Trading
10 27 (11.44%) DevOps
10 27 (11.44%) Software Engineering
11 26 (11.02%) Design Patterns
11 26 (11.02%) Stakeholder Management
12 24 (10.17%) Asset Management
13 22 (9.32%) Computer Science
13 22 (9.32%) Mentoring
14 21 (8.90%) User Acceptance Testing
15 20 (8.47%) Algorithmic Trading
15 20 (8.47%) Multithreading
15 20 (8.47%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 97 (41.10%) Python
2 68 (28.81%) SQL
3 62 (26.27%) Java
4 33 (13.98%) C++
5 30 (12.71%) C#
6 28 (11.86%) JavaScript
6 28 (11.86%) TypeScript
7 5 (2.12%) VBA
8 4 (1.69%) Shell Script
9 3 (1.27%) PowerShell
9 3 (1.27%) Rust
10 2 (0.85%) F#
10 2 (0.85%) Perl
10 2 (0.85%) Scala
11 1 (0.42%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.42%) R
11 1 (0.42%) VC++
Qualifications
1 43 (18.22%) Degree
2 17 (7.20%) Master's Degree
3 14 (5.93%) Numerate Degree
4 11 (4.66%) Computer Science Degree
5 10 (4.24%) PhD
6 3 (1.27%) ISTQB
6 3 (1.27%) PMI Certification
6 3 (1.27%) PMP
7 1 (0.42%) CBAP
7 1 (0.42%) FFIEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (5.93%) QA
2 13 (5.51%) EMIR
3 7 (2.97%) IFRS
3 7 (2.97%) MiFID
4 6 (2.54%) Data Quality
5 4 (1.69%) IFRS 9
5 4 (1.69%) SLA
6 3 (1.27%) Basel III
6 3 (1.27%) IAS 32
6 3 (1.27%) IAS 39
7 2 (0.85%) GAAP
7 2 (0.85%) PMO
8 1 (0.42%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.42%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.42%) FINRA
8 1 (0.42%) IFRS 17
8 1 (0.42%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.42%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 9 (3.81%) Docker
2 3 (1.27%) QEMU
Systems Management
1 8 (3.39%) Kubernetes
2 7 (2.97%) Ansible
3 4 (1.69%) Grafana
4 3 (1.27%) Podman
4 3 (1.27%) Prometheus
4 3 (1.27%) Terraform
4 3 (1.27%) Thomson Reuters DACS
5 2 (0.85%) ITRS Geneos
6 1 (0.42%) Control-M
Vendors
1 22 (9.32%) Murex
2 20 (8.47%) Bloomberg
3 15 (6.36%) Oracle
4 7 (2.97%) ION Trading
4 7 (2.97%) Microsoft
5 6 (2.54%) Tradeweb
6 5 (2.12%) Charles River
6 5 (2.12%) jBASE
6 5 (2.12%) Temenos
7 4 (1.69%) Calypso
8 3 (1.27%) Apple
8 3 (1.27%) Google
8 3 (1.27%) IBM
8 3 (1.27%) NVIDIA
8 3 (1.27%) NYFIX
8 3 (1.27%) Refinitiv
9 2 (0.85%) AppDynamics
9 2 (0.85%) MarketAxess
9 2 (0.85%) SmartStream
9 2 (0.85%) Splunk