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 21 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 389 205 206
Rank change year-on-year -184 +1 +23
Contract jobs citing Derivative 255 389 480
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.53% 1.34% 1.13%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.65% 3.93% 3.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 165 344 431
10th Percentile £466 £525 £551
25th Percentile £625 £638 £644
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £733 £725 £750
Median % change year-on-year +1.03% -3.33% +3.45%
75th Percentile £850 £875 £850
90th Percentile £983 £938 £888
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £404 £638
% change year-on-year +23.76% -36.63% -20.31%

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 15,414 9,893 12,931
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 31.95% 33.99% 30.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,564 6,299 8,335
10th Percentile £313 £300 £268
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £663
90th Percentile £743 £775 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.11% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 729 396 900
10th Percentile £16.00 £16.24 £12.25
25th Percentile £19.64 £20.45 £15.17
Median hourly rate £41.94 £31.76 £31.50
Median % change year-on-year +32.05% +0.83% +41.51%
75th Percentile £70.00 £63.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £85.40 £82.85 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £46.00 £30.39 £30.00
% change year-on-year +51.37% +1.30% +36.36%

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 21 May 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 7 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 21 May 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 -176 236 £733 -2.33% 43
London -95 230 £733 -2.33% 43
Work from Home -149 86 £800 +10.34% 21
UK excluding London -121 18 £500 +23.76% 21
Scotland +2 13 £470 +16.34% 1
East of England - 3 £681 -
Northern Ireland -17 2 £625 +92.31% 12

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 5 (1.96%) Confluence
2 3 (1.18%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.39%) Oracle SOA Suite
3 1 (0.39%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.39%) WebSphere
Applications
1 13 (5.10%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.57%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.39%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 9 (3.53%) Aladdin
2 7 (2.75%) Summit
3 5 (1.96%) Loan IQ
3 5 (1.96%) Temenos T24
4 3 (1.18%) Advent Geneva
5 2 (0.78%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 2 (0.78%) Front Arena
5 2 (0.78%) Global One
5 2 (0.78%) Oracle General Ledger
5 2 (0.78%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 1 (0.39%) Bloomberg AIM
6 1 (0.39%) FLEXCUBE
6 1 (0.39%) Oracle FAH
6 1 (0.39%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 1 (0.39%) Orchestrade
Cloud Services
1 49 (19.22%) AWS
2 38 (14.90%) Azure
3 26 (10.20%) GCP
4 9 (3.53%) ChatGPT
4 9 (3.53%) Power Platform
5 7 (2.75%) Anthropic Claude
6 6 (2.35%) GitHub
6 6 (2.35%) GitHub Copilot
7 5 (1.96%) Amazon S3
7 5 (1.96%) AWS Lambda
7 5 (1.96%) Serverless
8 3 (1.18%) Amazon ECS
8 3 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
8 3 (1.18%) Microsoft Copilot
8 3 (1.18%) SaaS
8 3 (1.18%) Snowflake
9 2 (0.78%) Collibra
9 2 (0.78%) npm
9 2 (0.78%) OpenShift
9 2 (0.78%) Yarn
Communications & Networking
1 19 (7.45%) FIX Connectivity
2 7 (2.75%) HTTP
3 1 (0.39%) RTMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (11.37%) PostgreSQL
2 20 (7.84%) Relational Database
3 18 (7.06%) Metadata
4 13 (5.10%) Redis
5 12 (4.71%) SQL Server
6 10 (3.92%) MongoDB
7 9 (3.53%) Power BI
7 9 (3.53%) RDBMS
7 9 (3.53%) Tableau
8 8 (3.14%) DB2
9 7 (2.75%) Data Warehouse
10 4 (1.57%) Data Lake
10 4 (1.57%) NoSQL
11 3 (1.18%) Oracle Database
12 2 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
12 2 (0.78%) Big Data
12 2 (0.78%) Crystal Reports
12 2 (0.78%) Power Query
12 2 (0.78%) Snowflake Schema
12 2 (0.78%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 15 (5.88%) Git
2 14 (5.49%) JIRA
3 10 (3.92%) Octopus Deploy
4 7 (2.75%) TeamCity
5 6 (2.35%) Jenkins
6 4 (1.57%) ER Studio
6 4 (1.57%) ERwin
6 4 (1.57%) PowerDesigner
6 4 (1.57%) Visual Studio
7 3 (1.18%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.78%) GitLab
8 2 (0.78%) webpack
9 1 (0.39%) Eclipse
9 1 (0.39%) GoogleTest
9 1 (0.39%) Gradle
9 1 (0.39%) IntelliJ
9 1 (0.39%) Maven
9 1 (0.39%) NUnit
9 1 (0.39%) REST Assured
General
1 169 (66.27%) Finance
2 133 (52.16%) Banking
3 122 (47.84%) Front Office
4 102 (40.00%) Investment Banking
5 65 (25.49%) Social Skills
6 39 (15.29%) Analytical Skills
7 12 (4.71%) Financial Institution
8 10 (3.92%) Back Office
9 8 (3.14%) Legal
10 4 (1.57%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (1.18%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.18%) Presentation Skills
11 3 (1.18%) Spanish Language
11 3 (1.18%) Telecoms
12 2 (0.78%) General Ledger
12 2 (0.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (0.78%) Private Banking
13 1 (0.39%) Japanese Language
13 1 (0.39%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.39%) Retail
Job Titles
1 130 (50.98%) Developer
2 56 (21.96%) Analyst
3 51 (20.00%) Business Analyst
4 42 (16.47%) Senior
5 39 (15.29%) Java Developer
6 37 (14.51%) Python Developer
7 24 (9.41%) Lead
8 22 (8.63%) Electronic Trading Developer
8 22 (8.63%) Software Engineer
9 20 (7.84%) Algorithmic Trading Developer
9 20 (7.84%) Electronic Trading Java Developer
9 20 (7.84%) Java Developer - Algorithmic Trading
9 20 (7.84%) Senior Developer
10 19 (7.45%) Low Latency Java Developer
11 18 (7.06%) C# Developer
12 16 (6.27%) Lead Developer
13 14 (5.49%) Front Office Developer
14 13 (5.10%) Lead Software Engineer
14 13 (5.10%) Python Engineer
15 12 (4.71%) Lead Software Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 37 (14.51%) React
2 33 (12.94%) FIX Protocol
3 19 (7.45%) Redux
4 16 (6.27%) Node.js
5 15 (5.88%) WebSockets
6 14 (5.49%) Kafka
7 12 (4.71%) .NET
8 9 (3.53%) NumPy
9 8 (3.14%) HTML
9 8 (3.14%) Pandas
9 8 (3.14%) RESTful
10 7 (2.75%) AngularJS
10 7 (2.75%) HTML5
10 7 (2.75%) REST
10 7 (2.75%) XML
11 5 (1.96%) CSS
12 4 (1.57%) RxJava
12 4 (1.57%) SciPy
12 4 (1.57%) Spring
13 3 (1.18%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 86 (33.73%) Equities
2 54 (21.18%) Fixed Income
3 43 (16.86%) Equity Derivative
4 42 (16.47%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 25 (9.80%) Market Risk
6 21 (8.24%) Distributed Systems
7 20 (7.84%) Algorithms
7 20 (7.84%) Credit Risk
7 20 (7.84%) TWAP
7 20 (7.84%) VWAP
8 17 (6.67%) Data Protection Act
9 14 (5.49%) Data Structures
9 14 (5.49%) Management Information System
9 14 (5.49%) OTC Derivatives
10 12 (4.71%) Hedge funds
11 8 (3.14%) Exotic Derivative
11 8 (3.14%) Reference Data
12 7 (2.75%) Product Ownership
13 6 (2.35%) Credit Derivative
14 5 (1.96%) Cloud Native
Operating Systems
1 16 (6.27%) Unix
2 8 (3.14%) Linux
3 3 (1.18%) Debian
3 3 (1.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 3 (1.18%) Ubuntu
3 3 (1.18%) VMS
4 2 (0.78%) Windows
5 1 (0.39%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (25.49%) Agile
2 51 (20.00%) Risk Management
3 46 (18.04%) Low Latency
4 45 (17.65%) Problem-Solving
5 40 (15.69%) Electronic Trading
6 39 (15.29%) TDD
7 37 (14.51%) CI/CD
8 35 (13.73%) Multithreading
9 32 (12.55%) Asset Management
9 32 (12.55%) Software Engineering
10 31 (12.16%) User Acceptance Testing
11 30 (11.76%) Analytics
12 28 (10.98%) Algorithmic Trading
13 26 (10.20%) DevOps
14 25 (9.80%) Mathematics
15 24 (9.41%) Mentoring
16 23 (9.02%) Data Analysis
16 23 (9.02%) Design Patterns
16 23 (9.02%) Quantitative Trading
16 23 (9.02%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 114 (44.71%) Python
2 89 (34.90%) SQL
3 70 (27.45%) Java
4 43 (16.86%) C#
5 37 (14.51%) C++
6 35 (13.73%) TypeScript
7 24 (9.41%) JavaScript
8 10 (3.92%) Rust
9 6 (2.35%) Perl
9 6 (2.35%) PowerShell
10 5 (1.96%) Scala
10 5 (1.96%) Shell Script
11 4 (1.57%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.78%) F#
12 2 (0.78%) VBA
13 1 (0.39%) Bash
13 1 (0.39%) C
13 1 (0.39%) R
13 1 (0.39%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 34 (13.33%) Degree
2 14 (5.49%) Computer Science Degree
3 11 (4.31%) Master's Degree
4 9 (3.53%) Numerate Degree
5 8 (3.14%) PhD
6 2 (0.78%) PMI Certification
6 2 (0.78%) PMP
7 1 (0.39%) CBAP
7 1 (0.39%) FFIEC
7 1 (0.39%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (5.88%) QA
2 13 (5.10%) Data Quality
3 10 (3.92%) EMIR
4 9 (3.53%) MiFID
5 6 (2.35%) IFRS
6 4 (1.57%) Basel III
7 3 (1.18%) IFRS 9
7 3 (1.18%) SLA
8 2 (0.78%) GAAP
8 2 (0.78%) IAS 32
8 2 (0.78%) IAS 39
9 1 (0.39%) Accessibility
9 1 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.39%) Dodd-Frank
9 1 (0.39%) IFRS 17
9 1 (0.39%) PMO
9 1 (0.39%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 15 (5.88%) Docker
2 3 (1.18%) QEMU
Systems Management
1 7 (2.75%) Kubernetes
2 4 (1.57%) Ansible
2 4 (1.57%) Grafana
3 3 (1.18%) Control-M
3 3 (1.18%) ITRS Geneos
3 3 (1.18%) Podman
3 3 (1.18%) Prometheus
3 3 (1.18%) Terraform
Vendors
1 19 (7.45%) Murex
2 18 (7.06%) Oracle
3 14 (5.49%) Bloomberg
4 8 (3.14%) Sybase
5 6 (2.35%) Calypso
5 6 (2.35%) Charles River
5 6 (2.35%) IBM
6 5 (1.96%) jBASE
6 5 (1.96%) Temenos
7 4 (1.57%) Google
8 3 (1.18%) Advent
8 3 (1.18%) Apple
8 3 (1.18%) Databricks
8 3 (1.18%) Microsoft
8 3 (1.18%) NVIDIA
9 2 (0.78%) ION Trading
9 2 (0.78%) Reuters
10 1 (0.39%) Ab Initio
10 1 (0.39%) Informatica
10 1 (0.39%) Red Hat