Machine Learning Contract Job Trends
Machine Learning (ML)
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Machine Learning skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 94 | 80 | 116 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -14 | +36 | +79 |
| Contract jobs citing Machine Learning | 1,588 | 1,040 | 773 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 2.89% | 3.12% | 2.06% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 3.40% | 3.45% | 2.40% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 1,006 | 676 | 502 |
| 10th Percentile | £405 | £401 | £386 |
| 25th Percentile | £475 | £463 | £475 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £575 | £550 | £596 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +4.55% | -7.76% | +3.70% |
| 75th Percentile | £688 | £688 | £731 |
| 90th Percentile | £775 | £775 | £800 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £550 | £513 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +7.32% | +2.50% | -5.66% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 42 | 28 | 17 |
| 10th Percentile | £28.50 | £28.55 | £13.06 |
| 25th Percentile | £39.91 | £42.00 | £17.50 |
| Median hourly rate | £77.00 | £53.22 | £46.18 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +44.68% | +15.24% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £85.19 | £81.13 | £48.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £88.75 | £88.00 | £53.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £74.83 | £65.00 | £46.18 |
| % change year-on-year | +15.12% | +40.75% | - |
All Process & Methodology Skills
UK
Machine Learning falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 46,663 | 30,144 | 32,201 |
| As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK | 84.90% | 90.54% | 86.02% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 28,020 | 18,740 | 19,349 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £300 | £310 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £405 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | -2.33% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £625 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £736 | £725 | £750 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £500 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,483 | 1,926 | 1,223 |
| 10th Percentile | £13.51 | £14.38 | £15.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £16.75 | £17.30 | £20.12 |
| Median hourly rate | £37.24 | £25.08 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +48.51% | -37.31% | -9.60% |
| 75th Percentile | £65.00 | £42.50 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £78.75 | £65.25 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £37.24 | £22.27 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +67.26% | -44.34% | -8.73% |
Machine Learning Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Machine Learning relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Machine Learning Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Machine Learning.
Machine Learning Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Machine Learning over the 6 months to 18 October 2026.
Machine Learning Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Machine Learning.
Machine Learning Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Machine Learning over the 6 months to 18 October 2026.
Machine Learning Top 17 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Machine Learning within the UK over the 6 months to 18 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 | -14 | 1,357 | £584 | +3.36% | 4,394 |
| London | +1 | 897 | £600 | -3.15% | 2,989 |
| UK excluding London | -23 | 522 | £550 | +7.32% | 1,558 |
| Work from Home | -21 | 432 | £588 | +6.82% | 1,737 |
| North of England | -2 | 165 | £550 | +14.58% | 362 |
| South East | -19 | 134 | £600 | +11.63% | 361 |
| Scotland | +1 | 93 | £456 | -9.20% | 162 |
| North West | -15 | 76 | £600 | +33.33% | 221 |
| Yorkshire | +3 | 70 | £502 | -2.33% | 94 |
| South West | -12 | 52 | £528 | -4.09% | 180 |
| Midlands | -34 | 51 | £600 | +14.29% | 156 |
| West Midlands | -42 | 40 | £575 | +9.52% | 97 |
| East of England | -50 | 27 | £538 | +2.38% | 239 |
| North East | -27 | 20 | £550 | +29.41% | 47 |
| Wales | -15 | 7 | £530 | -21.48% | 57 |
| East Midlands | -17 | 7 | £438 | -4.11% | 59 |
| Northern Ireland | +5 | 2 | £467 | -33.29% | 53 |
Machine Learning Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI | 82.6% | 1,311 |
| 2 | Data Science | 36.3% | 577 |
| 3 | CI/CD | 32.8% | 521 |
| 4 | Analytics | 30.7% | 488 |
| 5 | LLM | 27.1% | 431 |
| 6 | Generative AI | 25.0% | 397 |
| 7 | Data Pipeline | 22.9% | 364 |
| 8 | DevOps | 21.5% | 342 |
| 9 | Agile | 20.6% | 327 |
| 10 | MLOps | 20.2% | 320 |
| 11 | Data Engineering | 18.9% | 300 |
| 12 | Software Engineering | 17.2% | 273 |
| 13 | Stakeholder Management | 16.4% | 260 |
| 14 | Use Case | 15.8% | 251 |
| 15 | Decision-Making | 15.1% | 240 |
| 15 | Roadmaps | 15.1% | 240 |
| 17 | Retrieval-Augmented Generation | 14.0% | 223 |
| 18 | Infrastructure as Code | 13.9% | 220 |
| 19 | Problem-Solving | 13.7% | 218 |
| 20 | Data Modelling | 13.7% | 217 |