Head of Data Science Contract Job Trends

Head of Data Science
UK

The median Head of Data Science daily rate in the UK is £800, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 24 June 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 638 526 576
Rank change year-on-year -112 +50 +111
Contract jobs requiring a Head of Data Science 1 12 1
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.002% 0.040% 0.002%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.002% 0.043% 0.002%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 7 0
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £800 £900 -
Median % change year-on-year -11.11% - -
UK excluding London median daily rate - £900 -

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 47,021 27,678 40,406
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.36% 92.16% 92.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,598 17,771 25,926
10th Percentile £325 £288 £281
25th Percentile £414 £402 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £518 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.50% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,150 1,209 2,937
10th Percentile £15.38 £13.84 £12.84
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.44 £16.37
Median hourly rate £43.00 £27.38 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +57.08% -27.00% -12.79%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £74.00 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.50 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +76.94% -37.13% -

Head of Data Science
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Head of Data Science job vacancy trend in the UK

Head of Data Science
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Head of Data Science
Top 2 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Head of Data Science within the UK over the 6 months to 24 June 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
London -75 1 £800 - 3
England -118 1 £800 -11.11% 3

Head of Data Science Skill Set
Top 17 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 24 June 2026, Head of Data Science 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 Head of Data Science in the job title.

1 1 (100.00%) Actionable Insight
1 1 (100.00%) AI
1 1 (100.00%) AI Transformation
1 1 (100.00%) Analytics
1 1 (100.00%) Artificial Intelligence Engineering
1 1 (100.00%) AWS
1 1 (100.00%) Azure
1 1 (100.00%) Budget Management
1 1 (100.00%) Commercial Awareness
1 1 (100.00%) Data Science
1 1 (100.00%) Data-Driven Decision Making
1 1 (100.00%) Decision-Making
1 1 (100.00%) GCP
1 1 (100.00%) Machine Learning
1 1 (100.00%) MLOps
1 1 (100.00%) Stakeholder Management
1 1 (100.00%) Strategic Thinking

Head of Data Science 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (100.00%) AWS
1 1 (100.00%) Azure
1 1 (100.00%) GCP
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) Actionable Insight
1 1 (100.00%) AI
1 1 (100.00%) AI Transformation
1 1 (100.00%) Analytics
1 1 (100.00%) Artificial Intelligence Engineering
1 1 (100.00%) Budget Management
1 1 (100.00%) Commercial Awareness
1 1 (100.00%) Data Science
1 1 (100.00%) Data-Driven Decision Making
1 1 (100.00%) Decision-Making
1 1 (100.00%) Machine Learning
1 1 (100.00%) MLOps
1 1 (100.00%) Stakeholder Management
1 1 (100.00%) Strategic Thinking