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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 369 253 274
Rank change year-on-year -116 +21 +23
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 350 358 323
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.64% 1.08% 0.85%
As % of the General category 1.14% 1.71% 1.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 168 238 176
10th Percentile £257 £372 £400
25th Percentile £400 £475 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -13.04% +4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £638 £675 £600
90th Percentile £738 £750 £672
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £581 £525
% change year-on-year -24.70% +10.67% +3.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 40 12 17
10th Percentile £16.38 £18.87 £21.25
25th Percentile £21.50 £41.66 £26.00
Median hourly rate £40.61 £51.80 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.59% +47.99% +66.67%
75th Percentile £66.38 £97.50 £42.88
90th Percentile £97.50 - £57.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £18.87 £36.25
% change year-on-year +105.19% -47.94% +81.25%

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 30,797 20,995 22,110
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.09% 63.51% 58.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,960 13,047 13,078
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,644 1,219 1,011
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.51 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.17 £17.16
Median hourly rate £28.50 £25.15 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.32% -28.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £53.75 £46.27 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.00 £21.39 £35.00
% change year-on-year +35.58% -38.89% +30.69%

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 1 October 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 1 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Top 16 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 1 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 -118 271 £500 -9.83% 1,015
Work from Home -21 155 £527 +3.33% 360
London -40 144 £525 -4.55% 416
UK excluding London -127 115 £438 -24.70% 647
North of England -90 33 £450 -33.33% 157
South East -54 27 £460 -20.83% 173
East of England -60 23 £419 -27.80% 108
North West -71 22 £475 -29.63% 100
South West -27 13 £334 -55.50% 35
Midlands -43 8 £750 +42.86% 87
Wales -15 6 £175 -42.71% 24
Yorkshire -36 6 £450 +38.46% 32
Scotland -17 5 £515 -6.36% 43
North East -33 5 £200 - 25
East Midlands -14 3 £750 +42.86% 38
West Midlands - 3 - - 49

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 8 (2.29%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.43%) IIS
3 4 (1.14%) FactoryTalk
3 4 (1.14%) SAS
4 3 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.57%) Apache
5 2 (0.57%) Confluence
Applications
1 12 (3.43%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.57%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.57%) Windchill
6 1 (0.29%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 54 (15.43%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (2.00%) SAP QM
3 5 (1.43%) SAP SD
4 4 (1.14%) SAP FI
4 4 (1.14%) SAP IBP
4 4 (1.14%) TrackWise
5 3 (0.86%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.86%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.86%) SAP FI/CO
5 3 (0.86%) SAP MDG
5 3 (0.86%) SAP PP
6 2 (0.57%) ENOVIA
6 2 (0.57%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.57%) SAP GRC
6 2 (0.57%) SAP GTS
6 2 (0.57%) Teamcenter
7 1 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.29%) JDE EnterpriseOne
7 1 (0.29%) SAP EWM
7 1 (0.29%) SAP MII
Cloud Services
1 43 (12.29%) Azure
2 39 (11.14%) AWS
3 20 (5.71%) Power Platform
4 18 (5.14%) Azure DevOps
4 18 (5.14%) GCP
4 18 (5.14%) Snowflake
5 16 (4.57%) GitHub
6 13 (3.71%) SaaS
7 11 (3.14%) GitHub Actions
8 10 (2.86%) Microsoft 365
9 9 (2.57%) Veeva
10 8 (2.29%) dbt
11 6 (1.71%) Serverless
12 5 (1.43%) Cloud Run
13 4 (1.14%) Amazon S3
13 4 (1.14%) AWS CloudFormation
13 4 (1.14%) AWS Lambda
13 4 (1.14%) Azure AI
13 4 (1.14%) Dynamics 365
13 4 (1.14%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.57%) Firewall
2 8 (2.29%) DNS
3 7 (2.00%) VLAN
4 6 (1.71%) Network Security
5 5 (1.43%) DHCP
5 5 (1.43%) HTTPS
5 5 (1.43%) TCP/IP
6 3 (0.86%) WAN
7 2 (0.57%) VPN
7 2 (0.57%) X.21
8 1 (0.29%) CTI
8 1 (0.29%) DMZ
8 1 (0.29%) NGFW
8 1 (0.29%) PBX
8 1 (0.29%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.29%) VoIP
8 1 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.71%) Power BI
2 10 (2.86%) Data Warehouse
3 9 (2.57%) SAP BW
3 9 (2.57%) SAP HANA
4 8 (2.29%) Metadata
4 8 (2.29%) Neo4j
5 6 (1.71%) Relational Database
6 5 (1.43%) MySQL
6 5 (1.43%) PostgreSQL
6 5 (1.43%) Tableau
7 4 (1.14%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.14%) Data Mining
7 4 (1.14%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.14%) Oracle Database
8 3 (0.86%) Amazon Athena
8 3 (0.86%) BigQuery
8 3 (0.86%) DynamoDB
8 3 (0.86%) Semantic Layer
9 2 (0.57%) Amazon RDS
9 2 (0.57%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 14 (4.00%) Git
1 14 (4.00%) JIRA
2 8 (2.29%) Jenkins
3 3 (0.86%) Bitbucket
3 3 (0.86%) GitLab
4 2 (0.57%) Cypress.io
4 2 (0.57%) Visual Studio
5 1 (0.29%) LSMW
5 1 (0.29%) Postman
5 1 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
5 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.29%) TestRail
5 1 (0.29%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 114 (32.57%) Social Skills
2 84 (24.00%) Manufacturing
3 56 (16.00%) Finance
4 52 (14.86%) Analytical Skills
5 16 (4.57%) Retail
6 15 (4.29%) Legal
7 13 (3.71%) Organisational Skills
8 12 (3.43%) Marketing
9 10 (2.86%) Presentation Skills
10 8 (2.29%) Banking
10 8 (2.29%) Documentation Skills
11 7 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (2.00%) Public Sector
12 5 (1.43%) Automotive
12 5 (1.43%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (1.14%) Billing
13 4 (1.14%) Law
14 3 (0.86%) General Ledger
14 3 (0.86%) German Language
14 3 (0.86%) Spanish Language
Job Titles
1 46 (13.14%) Analyst
2 39 (11.14%) Senior
3 37 (10.57%) Consultant
4 32 (9.14%) Architect
5 30 (8.57%) Lead
5 30 (8.57%) Project Manager
6 27 (7.71%) Business Analyst
7 19 (5.43%) SAP Consultant
8 17 (4.86%) Data Engineer
9 13 (3.71%) Developer
10 10 (2.86%) SAP Architect
11 9 (2.57%) Data Analyst
11 9 (2.57%) SAP Manager
12 8 (2.29%) Network Engineer
12 8 (2.29%) Product Owner
12 8 (2.29%) Solutions Architect
13 7 (2.00%) AWS Engineer
13 7 (2.00%) Data Business Analyst
13 7 (2.00%) Support Technician
14 6 (1.71%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (6.29%) REST
2 12 (3.43%) Terraform
3 9 (2.57%) SOAP
4 8 (2.29%) React
4 8 (2.29%) SAP Fiori
4 8 (2.29%) SAPUI5
5 6 (1.71%) Kafka
5 6 (1.71%) SAP Basis
5 6 (1.71%) SAP PI
6 5 (1.43%) .NET
6 5 (1.43%) FastAPI
6 5 (1.43%) Middleware
6 5 (1.43%) PyTorch
7 4 (1.14%) Hibernate
7 4 (1.14%) RESTful
7 4 (1.14%) SQLAlchemy
7 4 (1.14%) XML
8 3 (0.86%) EDI
8 3 (0.86%) LangChain
8 3 (0.86%) LangGraph
Miscellaneous
1 138 (39.43%) Life Science
2 23 (6.57%) FMCG
3 20 (5.71%) Cloud Native
3 20 (5.71%) Product Ownership
4 14 (4.00%) LIMS
5 12 (3.43%) Operational Technology
6 11 (3.14%) Data Structures
6 11 (3.14%) Onboarding
7 10 (2.86%) Management Information System
8 8 (2.29%) Biopharmaceutical
8 8 (2.29%) CRISPR
8 8 (2.29%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (2.29%) SCADA
9 7 (2.00%) Analytical Mindset
9 7 (2.00%) Genomics
10 6 (1.71%) AI Agents
10 6 (1.71%) Greenfield Project
10 6 (1.71%) NHS
11 5 (1.43%) Manufacturing Execution System
11 5 (1.43%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 24 (6.86%) Windows
2 9 (2.57%) Windows Server
3 5 (1.43%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.29%) Android
4 1 (0.29%) Linux
4 1 (0.29%) VMS
4 1 (0.29%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 88 (25.14%) Stakeholder Management
2 71 (20.29%) AI
3 59 (16.86%) Problem-Solving
4 55 (15.71%) Agile
5 53 (15.14%) Validation
6 47 (13.43%) Analytics
6 47 (13.43%) Continuous Improvement
7 44 (12.57%) Biotechnology
8 39 (11.14%) Roadmaps
9 35 (10.00%) CI/CD
10 34 (9.71%) DevOps
10 34 (9.71%) Migration
11 31 (8.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 28 (8.00%) Data Governance
12 28 (8.00%) Data Pipeline
12 28 (8.00%) Machine Learning
12 28 (8.00%) Project Management
13 27 (7.71%) Decision-Making
14 26 (7.43%) Data Modelling
14 26 (7.43%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 50 (14.29%) Python
2 31 (8.86%) SQL
3 7 (2.00%) Java
4 6 (1.71%) ABAP
4 6 (1.71%) JavaScript
4 6 (1.71%) R
5 4 (1.14%) PowerShell
6 3 (0.86%) C#
6 3 (0.86%) TypeScript
7 2 (0.57%) Cypher
7 2 (0.57%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 2 (0.57%) Korn
8 1 (0.29%) Apex Code
8 1 (0.29%) Gremlin
8 1 (0.29%) Groovy
8 1 (0.29%) MATLAB
8 1 (0.29%) SPARQL
Qualifications
1 57 (16.29%) Degree
2 13 (3.71%) PMI Certification
3 12 (3.43%) PMP
3 12 (3.43%) Security Cleared
4 10 (2.86%) DBS Check
5 7 (2.00%) SC Cleared
6 6 (1.71%) BPSS Clearance
6 6 (1.71%) Master's Degree
7 5 (1.43%) CSPO
7 5 (1.43%) Microsoft Certification
8 4 (1.14%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 4 (1.14%) MCITP
8 4 (1.14%) PhD
9 3 (0.86%) CAPM
9 3 (0.86%) Chartered Engineer
9 3 (0.86%) CISM
9 3 (0.86%) CISSP
9 3 (0.86%) Postgraduate
10 2 (0.57%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.57%) HNC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 55 (15.71%) GxP
2 28 (8.00%) Data Quality
3 18 (5.14%) QA
4 16 (4.57%) GMP
5 12 (3.43%) 21 CFR Part 11
5 12 (3.43%) GDPR
6 10 (2.86%) GRC
6 10 (2.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 8 (2.29%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (1.71%) HIPAA
9 5 (1.43%) PCI DSS
9 5 (1.43%) PMO
10 4 (1.14%) NIST
11 2 (0.57%) EU AI Act
11 2 (0.57%) GAMP
11 2 (0.57%) IEC 61508
12 1 (0.29%) ISO 9001
12 1 (0.29%) NCSC
12 1 (0.29%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.29%) NIST 800
System Software
1 16 (4.57%) Docker
2 8 (2.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.71%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.14%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (2.86%) Kubernetes
2 4 (1.14%) SCCM
3 2 (0.57%) Functional Safety
4 1 (0.29%) Apache Ranger
4 1 (0.29%) Grafana
4 1 (0.29%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.29%) Tivoli Storage Manager
4 1 (0.29%) WSUS
Vendors
1 72 (20.57%) SAP
2 35 (10.00%) Microsoft
3 10 (2.86%) Ariba
4 9 (2.57%) Databricks
4 9 (2.57%) Oracle
4 9 (2.57%) Palo Alto
4 9 (2.57%) VMware
4 9 (2.57%) Zscaler
5 8 (2.29%) Google
6 7 (2.00%) ServiceNow
7 6 (1.71%) Rockwell
7 6 (1.71%) Salesforce
8 5 (1.43%) Cisco
8 5 (1.43%) Citrix
9 4 (1.14%) Foundry
9 4 (1.14%) JD Edwards
9 4 (1.14%) LabVantage
10 3 (0.86%) Conga
11 2 (0.57%) LabWare
11 2 (0.57%) SYSPRO