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 1 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 394 201 248
Rank change year-on-year -193 +47 +14
Contract jobs citing Derivative 242 392 429
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.54% 1.35% 0.97%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.65% 3.99% 3.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 170 328 384
10th Percentile £500 £500 £550
25th Percentile £613 £638 £625
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £745 £725 £725
Median % change year-on-year +2.76% - -3.33%
75th Percentile £919 £875 £850
90th Percentile £1,000 £938 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £350 £475
% change year-on-year +50.00% -26.32% -40.63%
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 14,648 9,824 13,414
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 32.79% 33.83% 30.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,210 6,291 8,593
10th Percentile £300 £300 £259
25th Percentile £409 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £535
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.87% -2.73%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £773 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £497 £500
% change year-on-year -4.43% -0.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 684 378 890
10th Percentile £15.76 £16.95 £12.27
25th Percentile £19.34 £22.50 £15.39
Median hourly rate £43.60 £32.50 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year +34.16% +18.18% +22.30%
75th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £85.40 £83.20 £67.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £32.13 £25.75
% change year-on-year +41.49% +24.78% +17.05%

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 1 April 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 1 April 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 -185 232 £745 -0.67% 45
London -116 223 £750 - 44
Work from Home -144 79 £800 +10.34% 11
UK excluding London -113 11 £525 +50.00% 5
Scotland +6 4 £470 +16.34%
North of England -71 3 £525 -10.64% 1
East of England - 3 £681 -
Yorkshire - 3 £525 -
Midlands -70 2 £525 -36.36%
West Midlands - 2 £525 -
Northern Ireland -15 1 £315 -3.08%

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 (3.72%) Apache Spark
2 6 (2.48%) Confluence
3 2 (0.83%) Apache
3 2 (0.83%) Apache Airflow
3 2 (0.83%) WebSphere
4 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.41%) Oracle SOA Suite
4 1 (0.41%) SharePoint
Applications
1 18 (7.44%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.83%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Office
4 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (2.48%) Aladdin
1 6 (2.48%) Summit
2 5 (2.07%) Loan IQ
2 5 (2.07%) Temenos T24
3 3 (1.24%) Advent Geneva
4 2 (0.83%) Algo Collateral
4 2 (0.83%) Bloomberg TOMS
4 2 (0.83%) Front Arena
4 2 (0.83%) Global One
4 2 (0.83%) Oracle General Ledger
4 2 (0.83%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
5 1 (0.41%) Bloomberg AIM
5 1 (0.41%) FLEXCUBE
5 1 (0.41%) Oracle FAH
5 1 (0.41%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 50 (20.66%) AWS
2 33 (13.64%) Azure
3 23 (9.50%) GCP
4 8 (3.31%) Power Platform
5 5 (2.07%) Amazon S3
5 5 (2.07%) AWS Lambda
5 5 (2.07%) Serverless
5 5 (2.07%) Snowflake
6 4 (1.65%) Azure DevOps
7 3 (1.24%) Amazon ECS
7 3 (1.24%) npm
7 3 (1.24%) OpenShift
7 3 (1.24%) SaaS
7 3 (1.24%) Yarn
8 2 (0.83%) Anthropic Claude
8 2 (0.83%) ChatGPT
8 2 (0.83%) Collibra
8 2 (0.83%) dbt
8 2 (0.83%) GitHub
8 2 (0.83%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 16 (6.61%) FIX Connectivity
2 4 (1.65%) Multicast
3 1 (0.41%) HTTP
3 1 (0.41%) RTMP
3 1 (0.41%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (12.81%) PostgreSQL
2 10 (4.13%) Redis
3 9 (3.72%) Relational Database
3 9 (3.72%) SQL Server
4 8 (3.31%) Metadata
4 8 (3.31%) Power BI
5 7 (2.89%) Tableau
6 5 (2.07%) RDBMS
7 4 (1.65%) Big Data
7 4 (1.65%) KDB
7 4 (1.65%) MongoDB
7 4 (1.65%) NoSQL
8 3 (1.24%) Oracle Database
9 2 (0.83%) Amazon Athena
9 2 (0.83%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.83%) Apache Arrow
9 2 (0.83%) Apache Ignite
9 2 (0.83%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.83%) Dremio
9 2 (0.83%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 18 (7.44%) Git
2 11 (4.55%) JIRA
3 8 (3.31%) Jenkins
3 8 (3.31%) Octopus Deploy
4 5 (2.07%) TeamCity
4 5 (2.07%) Visual Studio
5 4 (1.65%) Maven
6 3 (1.24%) Bitbucket
6 3 (1.24%) GitLab
6 3 (1.24%) IntelliJ
6 3 (1.24%) webpack
7 2 (0.83%) Cucumber
7 2 (0.83%) Gradle
8 1 (0.41%) Crucible
8 1 (0.41%) Eclipse
8 1 (0.41%) NUnit
8 1 (0.41%) REST Assured
General
1 165 (68.18%) Finance
2 117 (48.35%) Banking
3 108 (44.63%) Front Office
4 84 (34.71%) Investment Banking
5 68 (28.10%) Social Skills
6 40 (16.53%) Analytical Skills
7 21 (8.68%) Financial Institution
8 11 (4.55%) Back Office
9 4 (1.65%) Legal
9 4 (1.65%) Organisational Skills
9 4 (1.65%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (1.24%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.24%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (1.24%) Spanish Language
10 3 (1.24%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.83%) General Ledger
11 2 (0.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.41%) Japanese Language
12 1 (0.41%) Retail
Job Titles
1 118 (48.76%) Developer
2 48 (19.83%) Analyst
3 44 (18.18%) Java Developer
3 44 (18.18%) Senior
4 39 (16.12%) Business Analyst
5 26 (10.74%) Senior Developer
6 25 (10.33%) Python Developer
7 24 (9.92%) Lead
8 20 (8.26%) Electronic Trading Developer
9 19 (7.85%) Electronic Trading Java Developer
10 17 (7.02%) Algorithmic Trading Developer
10 17 (7.02%) Java Developer - Algorithmic Trading
10 17 (7.02%) Low Latency Java Developer
11 16 (6.61%) Lead Developer
11 16 (6.61%) Senior Java Developer
11 16 (6.61%) Software Engineer
12 13 (5.37%) Analytics Developer
12 13 (5.37%) AWS Developer
12 13 (5.37%) C# Developer
12 13 (5.37%) PostgreSQL Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (14.05%) React
2 26 (10.74%) FIX Protocol
3 21 (8.68%) Redux
4 19 (7.85%) Kafka
5 16 (6.61%) Node.js
6 12 (4.96%) RESTful
7 10 (4.13%) .NET
8 9 (3.72%) Dask
8 9 (3.72%) HTML
9 8 (3.31%) NumPy
9 8 (3.31%) Pandas
9 8 (3.31%) REST
9 8 (3.31%) Spring
9 8 (3.31%) WebSockets
10 7 (2.89%) HTML5
10 7 (2.89%) XML
11 6 (2.48%) CSS
11 6 (2.48%) SciPy
12 5 (2.07%) AngularJS
13 4 (1.65%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 90 (37.19%) Equities
2 58 (23.97%) Fixed Income
3 38 (15.70%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 37 (15.29%) Equity Derivative
5 25 (10.33%) Market Risk
6 19 (7.85%) Algorithms
7 18 (7.44%) TWAP
7 18 (7.44%) VWAP
8 15 (6.20%) Distributed Systems
8 15 (6.20%) Hedge funds
9 14 (5.79%) Credit Risk
9 14 (5.79%) Data Protection Act
9 14 (5.79%) Management Information System
10 9 (3.72%) Cloud Native
10 9 (3.72%) Data Structures
10 9 (3.72%) OTC Derivatives
10 9 (3.72%) Product Ownership
11 8 (3.31%) Distributed Computing
12 7 (2.89%) Analytical Mindset
12 7 (2.89%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 13 (5.37%) Unix
2 9 (3.72%) Linux
3 3 (1.24%) Debian
3 3 (1.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 3 (1.24%) Ubuntu
3 3 (1.24%) VMS
4 2 (0.83%) Windows
5 1 (0.41%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (29.75%) Agile
2 63 (26.03%) Risk Management
3 42 (17.36%) Problem-Solving
4 40 (16.53%) Low Latency
5 37 (15.29%) TDD
6 35 (14.46%) Electronic Trading
7 33 (13.64%) Mathematics
8 32 (13.22%) CI/CD
9 31 (12.81%) Analytics
10 30 (12.40%) Asset Management
11 29 (11.98%) Software Engineering
12 28 (11.57%) DevOps
12 28 (11.57%) Multithreading
13 27 (11.16%) Design Patterns
14 26 (10.74%) Mentoring
14 26 (10.74%) User Acceptance Testing
15 24 (9.92%) Stakeholder Management
16 23 (9.50%) Algorithmic Trading
16 23 (9.50%) Computer Science
17 21 (8.68%) Portfolio Management
Programming Languages
1 106 (43.80%) Python
2 80 (33.06%) SQL
3 65 (26.86%) Java
4 32 (13.22%) C++
5 31 (12.81%) TypeScript
6 29 (11.98%) C#
7 26 (10.74%) JavaScript
8 4 (1.65%) Perl
8 4 (1.65%) PowerShell
8 4 (1.65%) Rust
8 4 (1.65%) Shell Script
9 3 (1.24%) PL/SQL
9 3 (1.24%) Scala
10 2 (0.83%) F#
10 2 (0.83%) VBA
11 1 (0.41%) R
Qualifications
1 44 (18.18%) Degree
2 16 (6.61%) Master's Degree
3 13 (5.37%) Computer Science Degree
3 13 (5.37%) Numerate Degree
4 10 (4.13%) PhD
5 3 (1.24%) ISTQB
5 3 (1.24%) PMI Certification
5 3 (1.24%) PMP
6 1 (0.41%) CBAP
6 1 (0.41%) FFIEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (7.02%) QA
2 11 (4.55%) EMIR
3 9 (3.72%) Data Quality
4 7 (2.89%) IFRS
4 7 (2.89%) MiFID
5 4 (1.65%) Basel III
5 4 (1.65%) IFRS 9
5 4 (1.65%) SLA
6 3 (1.24%) IAS 32
6 3 (1.24%) IAS 39
7 2 (0.83%) GAAP
7 2 (0.83%) PMO
8 1 (0.41%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.41%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.41%) FINRA
8 1 (0.41%) IFRS 17
8 1 (0.41%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 10 (4.13%) Docker
2 3 (1.24%) QEMU
Systems Management
1 7 (2.89%) Ansible
1 7 (2.89%) Kubernetes
2 4 (1.65%) Grafana
2 4 (1.65%) ITRS Geneos
3 3 (1.24%) Control-M
3 3 (1.24%) Podman
3 3 (1.24%) Prometheus
3 3 (1.24%) Terraform
3 3 (1.24%) Thomson Reuters DACS
Vendors
1 21 (8.68%) Bloomberg
1 21 (8.68%) Murex
2 16 (6.61%) Oracle
3 6 (2.48%) ION Trading
4 5 (2.07%) Calypso
4 5 (2.07%) IBM
4 5 (2.07%) jBASE
4 5 (2.07%) Temenos
4 5 (2.07%) Tradeweb
5 4 (1.65%) Charles River
6 3 (1.24%) Advent
6 3 (1.24%) Apple
6 3 (1.24%) Google
6 3 (1.24%) Microsoft
6 3 (1.24%) NVIDIA
6 3 (1.24%) NYFIX
6 3 (1.24%) Refinitiv
7 2 (0.83%) Reuters
7 2 (0.83%) SmartStream
7 2 (0.83%) Sybase