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 8 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 437 302 220
Rank change year-on-year -135 -82 -3
Contract jobs citing Derivative 263 274 427
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.48% 0.83% 1.13%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 1.40% 2.30% 3.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 154 219 352
10th Percentile £419 £520 £600
25th Percentile £570 £612 £673
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £705 £750 £800
Median % change year-on-year -6.00% -6.25% +14.29%
75th Percentile £788 £825 £888
90th Percentile £884 £988 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £525 £650
% change year-on-year -10.48% -19.23% +10.64%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 0
10th Percentile £59.13 - -
25th Percentile £63.44 £86.25 -
Median hourly rate £71.25 £87.50 -
Median % change year-on-year -18.57% - -
75th Percentile £78.44 £88.75 -
90th Percentile £82.38 - -
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 18,838 11,921 11,534
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 34.54% 36.06% 30.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,246 7,303 6,908
10th Percentile £322 £297 £275
25th Percentile £425 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £518 £526
Median % change year-on-year +1.32% -1.49% -4.36%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £668
90th Percentile £750 £750 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,308 618 413
10th Percentile £13.93 £14.75 £15.62
25th Percentile £17.50 £18.82 £22.50
Median hourly rate £36.00 £27.54 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +30.74% -42.03% +6.15%
75th Percentile £67.50 £52.50 £70.00
90th Percentile £82.56 £72.50 £75.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.51 £27.54 £55.75
% change year-on-year +28.94% -50.60% +9.94%

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 8 October 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
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Derivative over the 6 months to 8 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Derivative in the UK

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 8 October 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 -113 235 £718 -4.33% 449
London -92 227 £700 -6.67% 427
Work from Home -121 67 £753 +0.33% 120
UK excluding London -97 28 £470 -10.48% 56
Scotland -6 19 £402 -23.43% 21
North of England -60 6 £725 +22.05% 8
Yorkshire -33 5 £725 +38.10%
Northern Ireland +6 2 £643 +22.38% 15
North West -45 1 £198 -67.65% 7
West Midlands -45 1 - -
Midlands -51 1 - - 1

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 (1.90%) Confluence
2 2 (0.76%) Apache
2 2 (0.76%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.38%) Apache Spark
3 1 (0.38%) CMS
Applications
1 4 (1.52%) MS Visio
2 2 (0.76%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.76%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.38%) LaTeX
3 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 11 (4.18%) Aladdin
2 2 (0.76%) Oracle FAH
2 2 (0.76%) Oracle Financials
2 2 (0.76%) Oracle General Ledger
2 2 (0.76%) Oracle Payables
2 2 (0.76%) Oracle Receivables
2 2 (0.76%) Orchestrade
3 1 (0.38%) Actimize
3 1 (0.38%) Bloomberg TOMS
3 1 (0.38%) Markit EDM
3 1 (0.38%) MultiFonds
3 1 (0.38%) SimCorp Dimension
Cloud Services
1 23 (8.75%) Azure
2 16 (6.08%) AWS
3 15 (5.70%) GCP
4 9 (3.42%) ChatGPT
5 7 (2.66%) Anthropic Claude
5 7 (2.66%) GitHub
6 6 (2.28%) GitHub Copilot
7 5 (1.90%) Azure DevOps
7 5 (1.90%) Snowflake
8 3 (1.14%) Amazon S3
8 3 (1.14%) AWS Lambda
8 3 (1.14%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 3 (1.14%) Microsoft Copilot
8 3 (1.14%) Power Platform
8 3 (1.14%) Serverless
9 1 (0.38%) Amazon ECS
9 1 (0.38%) npm
9 1 (0.38%) OpenShift
9 1 (0.38%) SaaS
9 1 (0.38%) Yarn
Communications & Networking
1 10 (3.80%) FIX Connectivity
2 7 (2.66%) HTTP
3 2 (0.76%) Multicast
4 1 (0.38%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (6.46%) Relational Database
2 16 (6.08%) MongoDB
3 15 (5.70%) SQL Server
4 13 (4.94%) Metadata
5 9 (3.42%) Db2
6 8 (3.04%) PostgreSQL
6 8 (3.04%) Redis
7 7 (2.66%) Data Warehouse
8 6 (2.28%) Data Lake
9 4 (1.52%) KDB
9 4 (1.52%) NoSQL
9 4 (1.52%) RDBMS
10 3 (1.14%) Amazon RDS
10 3 (1.14%) Kdb+
10 3 (1.14%) Power BI
11 2 (0.76%) Snowflake Schema
12 1 (0.38%) Data Mining
12 1 (0.38%) PowerCenter
12 1 (0.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
12 1 (0.38%) SQLPlus
Development Applications
1 19 (7.22%) JIRA
2 9 (3.42%) Git
3 6 (2.28%) Octopus Deploy
4 5 (1.90%) ER Studio
4 5 (1.90%) ERwin
4 5 (1.90%) PowerDesigner
4 5 (1.90%) TeamCity
5 4 (1.52%) Jenkins
6 3 (1.14%) VTune
7 1 (0.38%) Cypress.io
7 1 (0.38%) GitLab
7 1 (0.38%) GoogleTest
7 1 (0.38%) Gradle
7 1 (0.38%) Maven
7 1 (0.38%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.38%) webpack
General
1 194 (73.76%) Finance
2 148 (56.27%) Banking
3 132 (50.19%) Front Office
4 97 (36.88%) Investment Banking
5 74 (28.14%) Social Skills
6 40 (15.21%) Analytical Skills
7 20 (7.60%) Financial Institution
8 11 (4.18%) Private Banking
9 9 (3.42%) Back Office
10 6 (2.28%) Legal
11 5 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.90%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (1.14%) General Ledger
12 3 (1.14%) Public Sector
13 2 (0.76%) Corporate Banking
13 2 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
14 1 (0.38%) Agriculture
14 1 (0.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 1 (0.38%) International Banking
14 1 (0.38%) Legal Technology
Job Titles
1 118 (44.87%) Developer
2 62 (23.57%) Analyst
3 52 (19.77%) Business Analyst
4 44 (16.73%) Senior
5 35 (13.31%) Python Developer
6 30 (11.41%) Front Office Developer
7 27 (10.27%) C# Developer
8 22 (8.37%) Java Developer
9 19 (7.22%) Quantitative Developer
10 13 (4.94%) Project Manager
11 12 (4.56%) Electronic Trading Developer
11 12 (4.56%) Senior Developer
12 11 (4.18%) Data Engineer
13 10 (3.80%) Algorithmic Trading Developer
13 10 (3.80%) Electronic Trading Java Developer
13 10 (3.80%) Java Developer - Algorithmic Trading
13 10 (3.80%) Low Latency Java Developer
13 10 (3.80%) Pricing Developer
13 10 (3.80%) Python Engineer
13 10 (3.80%) Software Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (9.51%) FIX Protocol
2 17 (6.46%) React
3 12 (4.56%) NumPy
3 12 (4.56%) WebSockets
4 11 (4.18%) .NET
4 11 (4.18%) Django
4 11 (4.18%) FastAPI
4 11 (4.18%) Pandas
4 11 (4.18%) REST
5 10 (3.80%) Spring
6 9 (3.42%) Kafka
6 9 (3.42%) PySpark
7 8 (3.04%) Flask
7 8 (3.04%) RxJava
8 7 (2.66%) AngularJS
9 5 (1.90%) RESTful
10 4 (1.52%) Middleware
10 4 (1.52%) Next.js
11 3 (1.14%) HTML
11 3 (1.14%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 70 (26.62%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
2 66 (25.10%) Equities
3 56 (21.29%) Fixed Income
4 36 (13.69%) Equity Derivative
5 22 (8.37%) Distributed Systems
6 17 (6.46%) Exotic Derivative
7 16 (6.08%) Algorithms
7 16 (6.08%) OTC Derivatives
8 15 (5.70%) Market Risk
9 13 (4.94%) Data Protection Act
9 13 (4.94%) Data Structures
9 13 (4.94%) Hedge funds
9 13 (4.94%) Onboarding
10 12 (4.56%) Credit Risk
11 10 (3.80%) Management Information System
11 10 (3.80%) TWAP
11 10 (3.80%) VWAP
12 9 (3.42%) Reference Data
13 8 (3.04%) Cloud Native
14 7 (2.66%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 16 (6.08%) Unix
2 15 (5.70%) Linux
3 2 (0.76%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (19.39%) Problem-Solving
2 46 (17.49%) Agile
3 45 (17.11%) Stakeholder Management
4 39 (14.83%) Analytics
5 36 (13.69%) CI/CD
6 35 (13.31%) Data Analysis
6 35 (13.31%) User Acceptance Testing
7 34 (12.93%) Low Latency
8 33 (12.55%) Software Engineering
9 30 (11.41%) Validation
10 29 (11.03%) Business Analysis
11 28 (10.65%) Electronic Trading
11 28 (10.65%) Microservices
12 27 (10.27%) Data Modelling
12 27 (10.27%) Multithreading
13 26 (9.89%) AI
13 26 (9.89%) DevOps
13 26 (9.89%) Performance Optimisation
13 26 (9.89%) Risk Management
14 24 (9.13%) Requirements Gathering
Programming Languages
1 101 (38.40%) Python
2 85 (32.32%) SQL
3 67 (25.48%) Java
4 54 (20.53%) C#
5 35 (13.31%) C++
6 18 (6.84%) TypeScript
7 10 (3.80%) Shell Script
8 9 (3.42%) Rust
9 7 (2.66%) PowerShell
10 6 (2.28%) JavaScript
11 5 (1.90%) PL/SQL
12 4 (1.52%) T-SQL
13 3 (1.14%) Perl
14 2 (0.76%) Bash
14 2 (0.76%) C
14 2 (0.76%) Scala
15 1 (0.38%) Korn
15 1 (0.38%) Kotlin
15 1 (0.38%) R
15 1 (0.38%) VBA
Qualifications
1 25 (9.51%) Degree
2 12 (4.56%) Master's Degree
3 10 (3.80%) PhD
4 7 (2.66%) Computer Science Degree
5 3 (1.14%) PMI Certification
5 3 (1.14%) PMP
6 2 (0.76%) CFA
6 2 (0.76%) Numerate Degree
6 2 (0.76%) PRINCE2 Certification
6 2 (0.76%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (6.08%) Data Quality
2 9 (3.42%) MiFID
3 8 (3.04%) EMIR
4 4 (1.52%) QA
5 3 (1.14%) SLA
6 2 (0.76%) Basel III
6 2 (0.76%) COREP
6 2 (0.76%) Dodd-Frank
6 2 (0.76%) FINREP
6 2 (0.76%) GAAP
6 2 (0.76%) IFRS
7 1 (0.38%) ISO 20022
System Software
1 16 (6.08%) Docker
2 1 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 6 (2.28%) Kubernetes
2 2 (0.76%) Thomson Reuters DACS
3 1 (0.38%) Control-M
3 1 (0.38%) ITRS Geneos
3 1 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 19 (7.22%) Murex
2 17 (6.46%) Bloomberg
3 9 (3.42%) Sybase
4 8 (3.04%) Calypso
5 7 (2.66%) Databricks
6 6 (2.28%) Oracle
7 5 (1.90%) Charles River
7 5 (1.90%) IBM
8 3 (1.14%) Google
8 3 (1.14%) Microsoft
8 3 (1.14%) SimCorp
9 2 (0.76%) NYFIX
9 2 (0.76%) Refinitiv
9 2 (0.76%) Tradeweb
10 1 (0.38%) BEA
10 1 (0.38%) BMC
10 1 (0.38%) GoldenSource
10 1 (0.38%) Informatica
10 1 (0.38%) ION Trading
10 1 (0.38%) TIBCO