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 21 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
21 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 286 255 237
Rank change year-on-year -31 -18 +144
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 338 319 452
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 0.94% 1.03%
As % of the General category 1.51% 1.54% 1.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 226 168 304
10th Percentile £363 £350 £283
25th Percentile £463 £430 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +9.52% - +3.96%
75th Percentile £673 £638 £591
90th Percentile £781 £700 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £542 £525 £525
% change year-on-year +3.24% - +16.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 24 21
10th Percentile £18.87 £19.68 £17.14
25th Percentile £34.06 £24.18 £17.72
Median hourly rate £95.00 £32.50 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +192.31% +62.50% +23.08%
75th Percentile £97.50 £35.00 £60.00
90th Percentile - £84.83 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.87 £32.50 £20.00
% change year-on-year -41.94% +62.50% +33.33%

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 common skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 22,437 20,742 26,100
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 61.08% 61.08% 59.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,022 12,399 17,274
10th Percentile £275 £288 £275
25th Percentile £400 £413 £418
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,452 710 1,070
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.48 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.50 £18.53 £16.84
Median hourly rate £23.54 £27.30 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.78% -17.27% +32.00%
75th Percentile £45.46 £53.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £69.65 £71.25 £70.78
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.79 £25.99 £30.48
% change year-on-year -16.15% -14.72% +41.74%

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 21 December 2025.

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 21 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Top 15 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 21 December 2025. 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 -36 262 £530 -3.64% 135
Work from Home +9 126 £525 - 44
UK excluding London -69 116 £542 +3.24% 119
London +46 108 £613 +16.67% 34
East of England -33 44 £500 -4.76% 10
North of England -80 35 £600 +9.09% 43
North West -60 32 £613 +11.36% 30
South East +1 29 £534 +151.29% 39
South West - 4 £700 - 15
Scotland +4 3 £550 +54.93% 1
East Midlands -20 2 £525 -12.50% 5
Midlands -37 2 £525 -12.50% 14
Yorkshire -52 2 £325 -5.25% 12
Wales -2 1 £183 - 2
North East -6 1 - - 1

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 (2.37%) Confluence
2 7 (2.07%) Apache Airflow
3 5 (1.48%) Apache Spark
4 3 (0.89%) CMS
4 3 (0.89%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.30%) Headless CMS
5 1 (0.30%) Mendix
Applications
1 10 (2.96%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.48%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.89%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.59%) Adobe After Effects
4 2 (0.59%) Adobe Illustrator
4 2 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.59%) Photoshop
4 2 (0.59%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.59%) Weka
5 1 (0.30%) Adobe Premiere
5 1 (0.30%) InDesign
Business Applications
1 88 (26.04%) SAP S/4HANA
2 8 (2.37%) SAP MM
2 8 (2.37%) SAP QM
3 7 (2.07%) SAP CO
3 7 (2.07%) SAP MDG
4 6 (1.78%) SAP EWM
4 6 (1.78%) SAP FI
4 6 (1.78%) SAP FI/CO
5 5 (1.48%) SAP ERP
5 5 (1.48%) SAP PP
6 4 (1.18%) SAP WM
7 3 (0.89%) Dynamics CRM
7 3 (0.89%) SAP IBP
7 3 (0.89%) SAP PLM
7 3 (0.89%) SAP PM
7 3 (0.89%) SAP SD
8 2 (0.59%) PRMS
8 2 (0.59%) SAP SCM
8 2 (0.59%) SAP VC
9 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 47 (13.91%) AWS
2 39 (11.54%) Azure
3 28 (8.28%) Power Platform
4 27 (7.99%) GCP
5 18 (5.33%) GitHub
6 14 (4.14%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (4.14%) Snowflake
7 12 (3.55%) Cloud Run
8 6 (1.78%) GitHub Actions
8 6 (1.78%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 6 (1.78%) Veeva
9 5 (1.48%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 4 (1.18%) Amazon S3
10 4 (1.18%) Azure Data Factory
10 4 (1.18%) dbt
10 4 (1.18%) Figma
10 4 (1.18%) IaaS
10 4 (1.18%) SaaS
11 3 (0.89%) Amazon EC2
11 3 (0.89%) Lucidchart
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.66%) Network Security
2 4 (1.18%) Firewall
2 4 (1.18%) Wireless
3 2 (0.59%) BGP
3 2 (0.59%) Ethernet
3 2 (0.59%) Modbus
3 2 (0.59%) OSPF
3 2 (0.59%) RS-485
4 1 (0.30%) Cisco ICM
4 1 (0.30%) DHCP
4 1 (0.30%) DNS
4 1 (0.30%) RFID
4 1 (0.30%) SD-WAN
4 1 (0.30%) SMS
4 1 (0.30%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.30%) Telepresence
4 1 (0.30%) VPN
4 1 (0.30%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (8.28%) Power BI
2 16 (4.73%) Data Lake
3 12 (3.55%) SAP HANA
4 11 (3.25%) Data Warehouse
5 6 (1.78%) Electronic Patient Records
6 5 (1.48%) BigQuery
7 4 (1.18%) Metadata
7 4 (1.18%) Tableau
8 3 (0.89%) Azure SQL Database
8 3 (0.89%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.59%) Ataccama
9 2 (0.59%) MongoDB
9 2 (0.59%) Neo4j
9 2 (0.59%) SAP Data Services
10 1 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
10 1 (0.30%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.30%) KNIME
10 1 (0.30%) Power Query
10 1 (0.30%) Qlik Sense
10 1 (0.30%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 19 (5.62%) Git
2 17 (5.03%) JIRA
3 5 (1.48%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.89%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.59%) CircleCI
5 2 (0.59%) GitLab
5 2 (0.59%) LSMW
5 2 (0.59%) Selenium
6 1 (0.30%) PHPUnit
6 1 (0.30%) SoapUI
6 1 (0.30%) Zephyr
General
1 94 (27.81%) Social Skills
2 78 (23.08%) Manufacturing
3 65 (19.23%) Finance
4 28 (8.28%) Analytical Skills
5 15 (4.44%) Influencing Skills
6 14 (4.14%) Marketing
7 11 (3.25%) Aerospace
7 11 (3.25%) Documentation Skills
8 7 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (1.48%) Legal
9 5 (1.48%) Public Sector
10 4 (1.18%) Health Technology
10 4 (1.18%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (0.89%) Digital Health
11 3 (0.89%) Presentation Skills
11 3 (0.89%) Retail
11 3 (0.89%) Wearables
12 2 (0.59%) Billing
12 2 (0.59%) Digital Healthcare
12 2 (0.59%) German Language
Job Titles
1 37 (10.95%) Consultant
2 34 (10.06%) Lead
3 30 (8.88%) SAP Consultant
4 26 (7.69%) Analyst
5 22 (6.51%) Developer
6 21 (6.21%) Project Manager
7 20 (5.92%) Architect
8 17 (5.03%) Python Developer
9 16 (4.73%) Senior
10 14 (4.14%) Accountant
10 14 (4.14%) Systems Accountant
11 13 (3.85%) Data Engineer
11 13 (3.85%) Data Scientist
12 12 (3.55%) Full-Stack Developer
13 11 (3.25%) Business Analyst
13 11 (3.25%) Full-Stack Python Developer
14 10 (2.96%) Designer
14 10 (2.96%) Software Engineer
15 9 (2.66%) Data Analytics Specialist
15 9 (2.66%) React Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (5.33%) FastAPI
1 18 (5.33%) pytest
2 16 (4.73%) React
3 14 (4.14%) SAP Fiori
4 11 (3.25%) LangGraph
5 6 (1.78%) Playwright
6 4 (1.18%) EDI
7 3 (0.89%) IDoc
7 3 (0.89%) MACH
7 3 (0.89%) pydantic
7 3 (0.89%) SOAP
8 2 (0.59%) FHIR
8 2 (0.59%) Jest
8 2 (0.59%) Next.js
8 2 (0.59%) REST
8 2 (0.59%) RESTful
8 2 (0.59%) SailPoint
8 2 (0.59%) SAP PI
8 2 (0.59%) XML
9 1 (0.30%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 62 (18.34%) Life Science
2 21 (6.21%) Genomics
3 17 (5.03%) Cloud Native
4 10 (2.96%) Onboarding
5 9 (2.66%) FMCG
5 9 (2.66%) NHS
6 8 (2.37%) Product Ownership
7 7 (2.07%) Operational Technology
8 6 (1.78%) Data Structures
8 6 (1.78%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (1.48%) AI Agents
9 5 (1.48%) Greenfield Project
9 5 (1.48%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.48%) LIMS
10 4 (1.18%) Biopharmaceutical
10 4 (1.18%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.18%) Management Information System
10 4 (1.18%) Mobile App
10 4 (1.18%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 14 (4.14%) Windows
2 6 (1.78%) Apple iOS
3 5 (1.48%) Windows 10
4 4 (1.18%) Linux
4 4 (1.18%) Mac OS
5 3 (0.89%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (18.34%) AI
2 57 (16.86%) Stakeholder Management
3 54 (15.98%) Agile
4 50 (14.79%) Analytics
5 43 (12.72%) ERP
5 43 (12.72%) Machine Learning
6 38 (11.24%) Continuous Improvement
6 38 (11.24%) Project Management
7 36 (10.65%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 36 (10.65%) Validation
8 35 (10.36%) Problem-Solving
9 32 (9.47%) DevOps
10 30 (8.88%) Migration
11 27 (7.99%) Biotechnology
11 27 (7.99%) Data Science
12 26 (7.69%) Change Management
13 24 (7.10%) Data Governance
13 24 (7.10%) Roadmaps
14 23 (6.80%) Decision-Making
14 23 (6.80%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 69 (20.41%) Python
2 29 (8.58%) SQL
3 17 (5.03%) TypeScript
4 14 (4.14%) R
5 11 (3.25%) Java
6 7 (2.07%) JavaScript
7 4 (1.18%) ABAP
8 2 (0.59%) Bash
8 2 (0.59%) Ruby
9 1 (0.30%) Ladder Logic
9 1 (0.30%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.30%) PHP
9 1 (0.30%) Scala
9 1 (0.30%) SHACL
Qualifications
1 59 (17.46%) Degree
2 16 (4.73%) ACCA
2 16 (4.73%) CIMA
2 16 (4.73%) Master's Degree
3 13 (3.85%) PMI Certification
3 13 (3.85%) PMP
4 9 (2.66%) Security Cleared
5 8 (2.37%) A+ Certification
6 6 (1.78%) SC Cleared
7 4 (1.18%) BPSS Clearance
7 4 (1.18%) CCNP
7 4 (1.18%) CCSA
7 4 (1.18%) Cisco Certification
7 4 (1.18%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (0.89%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 2 (0.59%) CISA
9 2 (0.59%) CISM
9 2 (0.59%) CISSP
9 2 (0.59%) CompTIA Security+
9 2 (0.59%) SAP Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (8.88%) GxP
2 15 (4.44%) QA
3 14 (4.14%) Data Quality
4 13 (3.85%) GMP
5 11 (3.25%) GDPR
6 7 (2.07%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (1.48%) APQC
8 4 (1.18%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 4 (1.18%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.18%) PMO
8 4 (1.18%) SLA
9 3 (0.89%) HL7
10 2 (0.59%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.59%) IFRS
10 2 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 1 (0.30%) GAMP
11 1 (0.30%) IEC 62304
11 1 (0.30%) ISO 13485
11 1 (0.30%) MiFID
11 1 (0.30%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 28 (8.28%) Docker
2 5 (1.48%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 3 (0.89%) Lustre
4 2 (0.59%) GPFS
5 1 (0.30%) Active Directory
5 1 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 22 (6.51%) Kubernetes
2 9 (2.66%) Terraform
3 5 (1.48%) Ansible
4 4 (1.18%) SCCM
5 3 (0.89%) Packer
6 2 (0.59%) HP ALM
6 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Intune
6 2 (0.59%) Puppet
6 2 (0.59%) Salt
7 1 (0.30%) Cisco UCCE
7 1 (0.30%) Cisco UCCX
7 1 (0.30%) NetBackup
7 1 (0.30%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 1 (0.30%) TeamSite
Vendors
1 125 (36.98%) SAP
2 32 (9.47%) Microsoft
3 22 (6.51%) Google
4 13 (3.85%) Ariba
5 7 (2.07%) Palo Alto
5 7 (2.07%) ServiceNow
6 6 (1.78%) Salesforce
6 6 (1.78%) SOTI
6 6 (1.78%) Zscaler
7 4 (1.18%) Cisco
7 4 (1.18%) HP
7 4 (1.18%) Oracle
8 3 (0.89%) Cerner
8 3 (0.89%) Databricks
8 3 (0.89%) IBM
8 3 (0.89%) MEDITECH
9 2 (0.59%) CyberArk
9 2 (0.59%) IFS
9 2 (0.59%) Meraki
9 2 (0.59%) Rockwell