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

6 months to
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 315 225 241
Rank change year-on-year -90 +16 +115
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 340 339 422
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.71% 1.17% 0.99%
As % of the General category 1.33% 1.84% 1.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 206 224 262
10th Percentile £333 £378 £363
25th Percentile £381 £485 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +5.53%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £616
90th Percentile £675 £820 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £501
% change year-on-year -9.52% +4.90% +11.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 12 38
10th Percentile £22.69 £19.10 £17.72
25th Percentile £50.00 £28.44 £20.75
Median hourly rate £75.00 £42.15 £33.83
Median % change year-on-year +77.95% +24.59% -19.45%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £60.00
90th Percentile - - £62.34
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +69.23% -18.75% +39.84%

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 25,625 18,400 24,779
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.73% 63.31% 58.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,671 11,698 15,628
10th Percentile £309 £287 £275
25th Percentile £410 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.88% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +2.11% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,634 787 1,929
10th Percentile £13.95 £14.00 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.26 £17.34 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.82% -11.29%
75th Percentile £60.72 £56.00 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.16 £24.59 £28.50
% change year-on-year +14.52% -13.74% -5.00%

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 15 May 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 15 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Top 14 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 15 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 -150 232 £505 -10.22% 191
Work from Home +19 153 £475 -11.63% 164
London -34 116 £525 -28.47% 81
UK excluding London -154 88 £475 -9.52% 127
East of England -53 38 £465 -15.55% 21
South East -46 19 £475 +90.00% 32
North of England -103 19 £508 -7.73% 33
North West -67 17 £508 -7.73% 21
South West -26 5 £541 - 10
Midlands -71 3 - - 26
Scotland +3 2 - - 1
Wales -12 2 £175 -42.71% 6
North East -24 2 - - 4
West Midlands -64 1 - - 16

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 4 (1.18%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.88%) SAS
3 2 (0.59%) IIS
3 2 (0.59%) WinCC
4 1 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.29%) Anypoint
4 1 (0.29%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.29%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.29%) CMS
4 1 (0.29%) Confluence
4 1 (0.29%) Mendix
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 30 (8.82%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (3.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.06%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.59%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.59%) Adobe Illustrator
5 2 (0.59%) InDesign
5 2 (0.59%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.59%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 61 (17.94%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.94%) SAP SD
3 7 (2.06%) SAP EWM
4 6 (1.76%) SAP QM
5 5 (1.47%) SAP MM
5 5 (1.47%) SAP PM
6 4 (1.18%) Dynamics CRM
7 3 (0.88%) NetSuite
7 3 (0.88%) SAP MDG
7 3 (0.88%) SAP PP
7 3 (0.88%) SAP WM
8 2 (0.59%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.59%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.59%) SAP ERP
8 2 (0.59%) SAP GTS
8 2 (0.59%) TrackWise
9 1 (0.29%) Cerner Millennium
9 1 (0.29%) SAP LE
9 1 (0.29%) SAP PP-PI
9 1 (0.29%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 39 (11.47%) AWS
2 28 (8.24%) Azure
3 16 (4.71%) SaaS
4 13 (3.82%) Microsoft 365
5 11 (3.24%) GCP
6 10 (2.94%) Power Platform
7 7 (2.06%) dbt
8 6 (1.76%) Figma
9 5 (1.47%) GitHub
10 4 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.18%) Cloud Run
10 4 (1.18%) Dynamics 365
10 4 (1.18%) Microsoft Purview
10 4 (1.18%) Snowflake
10 4 (1.18%) Veeva
11 3 (0.88%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (0.88%) Amazon SageMaker
11 3 (0.88%) AWS CloudFormation
11 3 (0.88%) Azure AKS
11 3 (0.88%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.47%) Firewall
2 4 (1.18%) VLAN
3 3 (0.88%) DNS
3 3 (0.88%) Ethernet
3 3 (0.88%) Modbus
3 3 (0.88%) RS-485
4 2 (0.59%) HTTPS
4 2 (0.59%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.59%) VPN
4 2 (0.59%) WAN
5 1 (0.29%) AMQP
5 1 (0.29%) DHCP
5 1 (0.29%) HTTP
5 1 (0.29%) Junos
5 1 (0.29%) Network Security
5 1 (0.29%) NGFW
5 1 (0.29%) SSL
5 1 (0.29%) Telepresence
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (2.94%) Power BI
2 7 (2.06%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (1.18%) Metadata
3 4 (1.18%) Tableau
4 3 (0.88%) Data Lake
4 3 (0.88%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 2 (0.59%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.59%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.59%) SAP Data Services
5 2 (0.59%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.59%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.29%) Amazon QuickSight
6 1 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.29%) Electronic Patient Records
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.29%) Pinecone
6 1 (0.29%) SAP HANA
6 1 (0.29%) Spark SQL
6 1 (0.29%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 12 (3.53%) JIRA
2 9 (2.65%) Git
3 3 (0.88%) Cypress.io
3 3 (0.88%) MLflow
4 2 (0.59%) LSMW
5 1 (0.29%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.29%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.29%) Hudson
5 1 (0.29%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.29%) Selenium
5 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
General
1 75 (22.06%) Manufacturing
1 75 (22.06%) Social Skills
2 71 (20.88%) Finance
3 32 (9.41%) Analytical Skills
4 10 (2.94%) Retail
5 9 (2.65%) Organisational Skills
5 9 (2.65%) Presentation Skills
6 8 (2.35%) Advertising
6 8 (2.35%) Marketing
7 7 (2.06%) Billing
7 7 (2.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (1.76%) Documentation Skills
8 6 (1.76%) Public Speaking
9 5 (1.47%) Legal
9 5 (1.47%) Public Sector
10 4 (1.18%) Automotive
11 3 (0.88%) Banking
11 3 (0.88%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (0.88%) Wearables
12 2 (0.59%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 38 (11.18%) Lead
2 31 (9.12%) Project Manager
3 29 (8.53%) Senior
4 25 (7.35%) Analyst
5 24 (7.06%) Consultant
6 14 (4.12%) Data Engineer
6 14 (4.12%) SAP Consultant
7 13 (3.82%) Business Analyst
7 13 (3.82%) Designer
8 12 (3.53%) Architect
9 11 (3.24%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
9 11 (3.24%) Developer
10 9 (2.65%) Data Scientist
11 8 (2.35%) Accountant
11 8 (2.35%) Product Designer
11 8 (2.35%) Quality Manager
11 8 (2.35%) Systems Accountant
12 7 (2.06%) IT Support Technician
12 7 (2.06%) Risk Manager
12 7 (2.06%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.76%) IDoc
2 5 (1.47%) EDI
2 5 (1.47%) FastAPI
2 5 (1.47%) PyTorch
2 5 (1.47%) React
3 4 (1.18%) Playwright
3 4 (1.18%) REST
4 3 (0.88%) Google JAX
4 3 (0.88%) J2EE
4 3 (0.88%) JAX
4 3 (0.88%) Pandas
4 3 (0.88%) Ray
4 3 (0.88%) TensorFlow
5 2 (0.59%) JSON
5 2 (0.59%) Kafka
5 2 (0.59%) Middleware
5 2 (0.59%) OAuth
5 2 (0.59%) SAP Core Interface
5 2 (0.59%) Seaborn
5 2 (0.59%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 77 (22.65%) Life Science
2 16 (4.71%) Data Structures
3 13 (3.82%) Product Ownership
4 12 (3.53%) LIMS
5 11 (3.24%) CRISPR
6 10 (2.94%) FMCG
7 9 (2.65%) Onboarding
7 9 (2.65%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (2.35%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (2.06%) Cloud Native
9 7 (2.06%) NHS
10 6 (1.76%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.76%) Operational Technology
11 5 (1.47%) Genomics
11 5 (1.47%) Management Information System
12 4 (1.18%) Biopharmaceutical
12 4 (1.18%) Legacy Systems
12 4 (1.18%) Robotics
12 4 (1.18%) SCADA
13 3 (0.88%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 14 (4.12%) Windows
2 3 (0.88%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.59%) Linux
3 2 (0.59%) Mac OS
3 2 (0.59%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.29%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (14.41%) ERP
2 48 (14.12%) Validation
3 47 (13.82%) AI
4 44 (12.94%) Agile
5 41 (12.06%) Stakeholder Management
6 40 (11.76%) Migration
7 33 (9.71%) Biotechnology
8 32 (9.41%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 29 (8.53%) Project Management
10 27 (7.94%) Problem-Solving
10 27 (7.94%) Workshop Facilitation
11 24 (7.06%) Data Migration
12 22 (6.47%) Analytics
12 22 (6.47%) Continuous Improvement
12 22 (6.47%) Decision-Making
12 22 (6.47%) Machine Learning
13 21 (6.18%) DevOps
14 20 (5.88%) CI/CD
14 20 (5.88%) Data Analysis
14 20 (5.88%) Data Science
Programming Languages
1 52 (15.29%) Python
2 28 (8.24%) SQL
3 12 (3.53%) R
4 5 (1.47%) TypeScript
5 4 (1.18%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.88%) ABAP
7 2 (0.59%) Java
8 1 (0.29%) Bicep
8 1 (0.29%) C
8 1 (0.29%) C++
8 1 (0.29%) DataWeave
8 1 (0.29%) Groovy
8 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.29%) SHACL
8 1 (0.29%) T-SQL
8 1 (0.29%) XPath
8 1 (0.29%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 40 (11.76%) Degree
2 9 (2.65%) A+ Certification
2 9 (2.65%) ACCA
2 9 (2.65%) CIMA
2 9 (2.65%) PMI Certification
2 9 (2.65%) PMP
3 4 (1.18%) Master's Degree
3 4 (1.18%) Microsoft Certification
4 3 (0.88%) CISM
4 3 (0.88%) CISSP
4 3 (0.88%) HND
5 2 (0.59%) BPSS Clearance
5 2 (0.59%) HNC
5 2 (0.59%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
5 2 (0.59%) Security Cleared
6 1 (0.29%) (ISC)2 CCSP
6 1 (0.29%) AWS Certification
6 1 (0.29%) Azure Certification
6 1 (0.29%) CRISC
6 1 (0.29%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (10.88%) GxP
2 20 (5.88%) GMP
3 13 (3.82%) Data Quality
4 12 (3.53%) QA
5 10 (2.94%) GDPR
6 9 (2.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 8 (2.35%) PMO
8 6 (1.76%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (1.18%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 4 (1.18%) GRC
10 3 (0.88%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.88%) NIST
11 2 (0.59%) GAMP
11 2 (0.59%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.59%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.59%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.29%) EU AI Act
12 1 (0.29%) ISO 13485
12 1 (0.29%) ITGC
System Software
1 6 (1.76%) Docker
2 3 (0.88%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.59%) vSphere
4 1 (0.29%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 8 (2.35%) Terraform
2 5 (1.47%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.29%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle RMAN
3 1 (0.29%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.29%) WSUS
Vendors
1 91 (26.76%) SAP
2 37 (10.88%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.53%) Oracle
4 10 (2.94%) Google
5 7 (2.06%) SOTI
6 6 (1.76%) Ariba
6 6 (1.76%) Databricks
7 5 (1.47%) LabWare
8 4 (1.18%) LabVantage
8 4 (1.18%) Palo Alto
8 4 (1.18%) Salesforce
8 4 (1.18%) ServiceNow
8 4 (1.18%) VMware
8 4 (1.18%) Zscaler
9 3 (0.88%) Adobe
9 3 (0.88%) Conga
9 3 (0.88%) MuleSoft
10 2 (0.59%) Citrix
10 2 (0.59%) Dell
10 2 (0.59%) HP