Pharmaceutical Contract Job Trends

Pharmaceutical (Pharma)
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Pharmaceutical in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Pharmaceutical over the 6 months leading up to 7 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 314 237 203
Rank change year-on-year -77 -34 +164
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 300 331 518
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.77% 1.06% 1.15%
As % of the General category 1.30% 1.72% 1.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 187 192 347
10th Percentile £350 £351 £290
25th Percentile £413 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £530 £549 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.42% +4.52% +5.00%
75th Percentile £644 £638 £575
90th Percentile £750 £734 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £552 £524 £510
% change year-on-year +5.44% +2.70% +13.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 23 37
10th Percentile £15.87 £19.00 £17.49
25th Percentile £18.87 £24.18 £20.00
Median hourly rate £75.00 £32.50 £25.50
Median % change year-on-year +130.77% +27.45% +70.00%
75th Percentile £97.50 £35.00 £48.75
90th Percentile - £89.05 £60.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.87 £32.50 £21.50
% change year-on-year -41.94% +51.16% +65.38%

All General Skills
UK

Pharmaceutical falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 23,001 19,278 26,513
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 58.93% 62.00% 58.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,435 11,524 17,165
10th Percentile £290 £281 £265
25th Percentile £401 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £528
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.47% -4.09%
75th Percentile £625 £649 £650
90th Percentile £730 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £480 £500
% change year-on-year -1.04% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,414 616 1,636
10th Percentile £13.69 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.35 £20.12 £15.00
Median hourly rate £22.80 £29.00 £25.44
Median % change year-on-year -21.38% +13.99% -1.24%
75th Percentile £48.74 £57.50 £55.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £67.69
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.59 £27.06 £24.50
% change year-on-year -20.24% +10.46% +2.08%

Pharmaceutical
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Pharmaceutical relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Pharmaceutical job vacancy trend in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Pharmaceutical.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Pharmaceutical

Pharmaceutical
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Pharmaceutical over the 6 months to 7 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Pharmaceutical.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Pharmaceutical

Pharmaceutical
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Pharmaceutical over the 6 months to 7 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Top 13 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Pharmaceutical within the UK over the 6 months to 7 February 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 -110 223 £525 -4.55% 165
Work from Home 0 118 £525 -4.55% 69
London +13 104 £588 -9.62% 70
UK excluding London -133 91 £552 +5.44% 121
East of England -49 32 £475 -9.52% 16
South East -12 25 £578 +172.00% 42
North of England -108 25 £575 +9.52% 35
North West -68 22 £588 +9.81% 24
South West - 6 £700 - 9
Scotland +7 3 £550 +54.93% 4
Yorkshire -56 2 £325 -5.25% 9
Wales +1 1 £183 - 2
North East -18 1 - - 2

Pharmaceutical
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 7 (2.33%) Confluence
2 6 (2.00%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.67%) Apache Spark
4 4 (1.33%) SharePoint
5 3 (1.00%) CMS
6 1 (0.33%) Headless CMS
6 1 (0.33%) Mendix
6 1 (0.33%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 16 (5.33%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (2.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.67%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.67%) Weka
5 1 (0.33%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.33%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 73 (24.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (2.67%) SAP MM
3 7 (2.33%) SAP PM
3 7 (2.33%) SAP QM
4 6 (2.00%) SAP EWM
4 6 (2.00%) SAP PP
5 5 (1.67%) SAP MDG
5 5 (1.67%) SAP WM
6 4 (1.33%) Dynamics CRM
6 4 (1.33%) SAP CO
7 3 (1.00%) SAP FI
7 3 (1.00%) SAP FI/CO
7 3 (1.00%) SAP SD
8 2 (0.67%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.67%) SAP ERP
8 2 (0.67%) SAP IBP
8 2 (0.67%) SAP SCM
8 2 (0.67%) TrackWise
9 1 (0.33%) Cerner Millennium
9 1 (0.33%) SAP PP-PI
Cloud Services
1 39 (13.00%) AWS
2 34 (11.33%) Azure
3 23 (7.67%) GCP
4 18 (6.00%) Power Platform
5 15 (5.00%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (4.67%) GitHub
7 12 (4.00%) Snowflake
8 11 (3.67%) Cloud Run
9 6 (2.00%) Veeva
10 5 (1.67%) dbt
10 5 (1.67%) SaaS
11 4 (1.33%) Figma
11 4 (1.33%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 3 (1.00%) Amazon EKS
12 3 (1.00%) Amazon SageMaker
12 3 (1.00%) Azure AKS
13 2 (0.67%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 2 (0.67%) Collibra
13 2 (0.67%) GitHub Actions
13 2 (0.67%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 6 (2.00%) Network Security
2 4 (1.33%) Firewall
2 4 (1.33%) Wireless
3 3 (1.00%) Ethernet
3 3 (1.00%) Modbus
3 3 (1.00%) RS-485
4 2 (0.67%) BGP
4 2 (0.67%) OSPF
5 1 (0.33%) Cisco ICM
5 1 (0.33%) DHCP
5 1 (0.33%) DNS
5 1 (0.33%) RFID
5 1 (0.33%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.33%) SMS
5 1 (0.33%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.33%) Telepresence
5 1 (0.33%) VPN
5 1 (0.33%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (6.00%) Power BI
2 13 (4.33%) Data Lake
3 6 (2.00%) BigQuery
3 6 (2.00%) Data Warehouse
4 5 (1.67%) Electronic Patient Records
5 4 (1.33%) SAP HANA
6 3 (1.00%) Metadata
6 3 (1.00%) Tableau
7 2 (0.67%) Neo4j
7 2 (0.67%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.67%) SAP Data Services
7 2 (0.67%) SQL Server
8 1 (0.33%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.33%) Hadoop
8 1 (0.33%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.33%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.33%) QlikView
8 1 (0.33%) Snowflake Schema
8 1 (0.33%) Spotfire
8 1 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 20 (6.67%) Git
2 16 (5.33%) JIRA
3 3 (1.00%) Cypress.io
3 3 (1.00%) Jenkins
3 3 (1.00%) MLflow
4 2 (0.67%) GitLab
4 2 (0.67%) LSMW
4 2 (0.67%) Selenium
5 1 (0.33%) Hudson
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.33%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.33%) PHPUnit
5 1 (0.33%) SoapUI
5 1 (0.33%) Zephyr
General
1 77 (25.67%) Social Skills
2 64 (21.33%) Manufacturing
3 54 (18.00%) Finance
4 25 (8.33%) Analytical Skills
5 12 (4.00%) Aerospace
5 12 (4.00%) Documentation Skills
5 12 (4.00%) Influencing Skills
5 12 (4.00%) Marketing
6 8 (2.67%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 6 (2.00%) Public Sector
8 5 (1.67%) Retail
9 4 (1.33%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (1.00%) Digital Health
10 3 (1.00%) Health Technology
10 3 (1.00%) Legal
10 3 (1.00%) Wearables
11 2 (0.67%) Banking
11 2 (0.67%) Digital Healthcare
11 2 (0.67%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.33%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 38 (12.67%) Lead
2 29 (9.67%) Consultant
3 21 (7.00%) SAP Consultant
4 19 (6.33%) Senior
5 18 (6.00%) Project Manager
6 17 (5.67%) Analyst
6 17 (5.67%) Developer
7 14 (4.67%) Architect
8 12 (4.00%) Python Developer
9 11 (3.67%) Data Engineer
10 10 (3.33%) Data Scientist
11 9 (3.00%) Designer
12 8 (2.67%) Data Analytics Specialist
12 8 (2.67%) IT Manager
12 8 (2.67%) IT Support
12 8 (2.67%) Quality Manager
12 8 (2.67%) SAP Financial Specialist
12 8 (2.67%) Software Engineer
13 7 (2.33%) Accountant
13 7 (2.33%) IT Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (5.67%) pytest
2 16 (5.33%) FastAPI
3 13 (4.33%) SAP Fiori
4 11 (3.67%) React
5 9 (3.00%) LangGraph
6 7 (2.33%) Playwright
7 3 (1.00%) MACH
7 3 (1.00%) Ray
7 3 (1.00%) RESTful
8 2 (0.67%) CSS
8 2 (0.67%) EDI
8 2 (0.67%) IDoc
8 2 (0.67%) Jest
8 2 (0.67%) Kafka
8 2 (0.67%) Next.js
8 2 (0.67%) PyTorch
8 2 (0.67%) REST
8 2 (0.67%) SailPoint
8 2 (0.67%) SAP PI
8 2 (0.67%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 56 (18.67%) Life Science
2 16 (5.33%) FMCG
2 16 (5.33%) Genomics
3 14 (4.67%) Cloud Native
4 11 (3.67%) Onboarding
5 8 (2.67%) NHS
5 8 (2.67%) Product Ownership
6 7 (2.33%) Operational Technology
7 6 (2.00%) LIMS
8 5 (1.67%) Data Structures
8 5 (1.67%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.67%) Greenfield Project
8 5 (1.67%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.33%) AI Agents
9 4 (1.33%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (1.33%) Legacy Systems
9 4 (1.33%) Management Information System
9 4 (1.33%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.33%) SCADA
9 4 (1.33%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 14 (4.67%) Windows
2 6 (2.00%) Apple iOS
3 4 (1.33%) Mac OS
3 4 (1.33%) Windows 10
4 3 (1.00%) Android
5 1 (0.33%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (17.00%) Stakeholder Management
2 50 (16.67%) AI
3 48 (16.00%) Agile
4 41 (13.67%) Machine Learning
5 40 (13.33%) ERP
6 36 (12.00%) Validation
7 35 (11.67%) Continuous Improvement
8 34 (11.33%) Analytics
8 34 (11.33%) Problem-Solving
9 33 (11.00%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 32 (10.67%) Migration
11 31 (10.33%) Biotechnology
12 30 (10.00%) DevOps
13 26 (8.67%) Data Science
14 24 (8.00%) Roadmaps
15 22 (7.33%) Test Automation
16 21 (7.00%) Decision-Making
17 20 (6.67%) Change Management
17 20 (6.67%) Matrix Organization
17 20 (6.67%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 59 (19.67%) Python
2 25 (8.33%) SQL
3 12 (4.00%) R
4 10 (3.33%) TypeScript
5 6 (2.00%) Java
5 6 (2.00%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.67%) ABAP
6 2 (0.67%) Bash
7 1 (0.33%) C
7 1 (0.33%) C++
7 1 (0.33%) Ladder Logic
7 1 (0.33%) PHP
7 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.33%) SHACL
Qualifications
1 46 (15.33%) Degree
2 13 (4.33%) Master's Degree
3 9 (3.00%) A+ Certification
4 8 (2.67%) ACCA
4 8 (2.67%) CIMA
4 8 (2.67%) PMI Certification
4 8 (2.67%) PMP
5 7 (2.33%) Security Cleared
6 6 (2.00%) SC Cleared
7 4 (1.33%) BPSS Clearance
8 2 (0.67%) CISSP
8 2 (0.67%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (0.33%) CBAP
9 1 (0.33%) CCA
9 1 (0.33%) CCNP
9 1 (0.33%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.33%) HND
9 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.33%) SAP Certification
9 1 (0.33%) Six Sigma Green Belt
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (8.67%) GxP
2 16 (5.33%) GMP
3 14 (4.67%) QA
4 11 (3.67%) Data Quality
5 7 (2.33%) GDPR
6 5 (1.67%) Accessibility
6 5 (1.67%) PMO
7 4 (1.33%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 3 (1.00%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.67%) GAMP
9 2 (0.67%) ISO 13485
9 2 (0.67%) SLA
10 1 (0.33%) GRC
10 1 (0.33%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.33%) HL7
10 1 (0.33%) IEC 62304
10 1 (0.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 1 (0.33%) ITGC
10 1 (0.33%) MiFID
10 1 (0.33%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 20 (6.67%) Docker
2 3 (1.00%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 2 (0.67%) GPFS
3 2 (0.67%) Lustre
4 1 (0.33%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 14 (4.67%) Kubernetes
2 6 (2.00%) Terraform
3 3 (1.00%) Ansible
3 3 (1.00%) SCCM
4 2 (0.67%) HP ALM
4 2 (0.67%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (0.67%) Puppet
4 2 (0.67%) Salt
5 1 (0.33%) Cisco UCCE
5 1 (0.33%) Cisco UCCX
5 1 (0.33%) Packer
5 1 (0.33%) RSA Archer
5 1 (0.33%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 100 (33.33%) SAP
2 36 (12.00%) Microsoft
3 18 (6.00%) Google
4 7 (2.33%) Ariba
4 7 (2.33%) Oracle
4 7 (2.33%) SOTI
5 6 (2.00%) Salesforce
5 6 (2.00%) ServiceNow
6 4 (1.33%) Cisco
6 4 (1.33%) Databricks
6 4 (1.33%) HP
6 4 (1.33%) LabWare
6 4 (1.33%) Palo Alto
7 3 (1.00%) Cerner
7 3 (1.00%) IBM
7 3 (1.00%) MEDITECH
7 3 (1.00%) Zscaler
8 2 (0.67%) CyberArk
8 2 (0.67%) IFS
8 2 (0.67%) Meraki