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 11 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 333 235 268
Rank change year-on-year -98 +33 +41
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 375 377 382
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.71% 1.16% 0.89%
As % of the General category 1.29% 1.84% 1.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 204 265 230
10th Percentile £337 £363 £363
25th Percentile £388 £475 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +2.44%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £600
90th Percentile £650 £760 £705
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -0.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 12 35
10th Percentile £16.22 £15.89 £18.73
25th Percentile £33.70 £19.72 £20.75
Median hourly rate £55.00 £51.80 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +6.19% +71.73% +14.83%
75th Percentile £91.88 £97.50 £55.00
90th Percentile £97.50 - £64.69
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.11 £17.46 £28.50
% change year-on-year +141.21% -38.75% +29.55%

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 29,012 20,465 24,598
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.85% 63.06% 57.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,395 12,853 15,377
10th Percentile £313 £281 £277
25th Percentile £413 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £626 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £472 £490
% change year-on-year +5.88% -3.62% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,002 1,036 1,895
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.36 £12.88
25th Percentile £18.38 £16.30 £15.95
Median hourly rate £32.50 £27.17 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +19.63% -16.41% +6.42%
75th Percentile £61.18 £53.56 £55.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £71.88 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £23.00 £31.89
% change year-on-year +41.30% -27.87% +22.63%

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 11 July 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 11 July 2026.

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 11 July 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 -123 282 £500 -9.09% 173
Work from Home -5 171 £475 -9.31% 79
London -3 150 £525 -16.00% 70
UK excluding London -157 103 £500 -9.09% 119
East of England -49 43 £500 -9.09% 21
South East -49 24 £507 -12.29% 37
North of England -109 23 £475 -15.93% 33
North West -88 17 £475 -15.93% 18
South West -32 6 £500 -33.33% 12
Midlands -61 4 £450 -10.00% 13
Wales -18 3 £175 -42.71% 4
North East -31 3 £290 - 1
Yorkshire -48 3 £463 - 14
East Midlands -23 1 £450 -10.00% 6
West Midlands -67 1 - - 7

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 5 (1.33%) IIS
2 4 (1.07%) SAS
3 3 (0.80%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (0.80%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.53%) Confluence
4 2 (0.53%) FactoryTalk
4 2 (0.53%) WinCC
5 1 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.27%) Anypoint
5 1 (0.27%) Apache
5 1 (0.27%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.27%) CMS
5 1 (0.27%) Mendix
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 24 (6.40%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (3.47%) Microsoft Excel
3 8 (2.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.87%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.07%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.53%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.53%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.53%) InDesign
6 2 (0.53%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 66 (17.60%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.67%) SAP SD
3 7 (1.87%) SAP EWM
4 5 (1.33%) SAP MM
5 4 (1.07%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (1.07%) SAP PM
5 4 (1.07%) SAP PP
6 3 (0.80%) SAP ERP
6 3 (0.80%) SAP QM
6 3 (0.80%) TrackWise
7 2 (0.53%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.53%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.53%) SAP GTS
7 2 (0.53%) SAP IBP
7 2 (0.53%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.53%) SAP WM
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
8 1 (0.27%) SAP CRM
8 1 (0.27%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.27%) SAP MDM
Cloud Services
1 53 (14.13%) AWS
2 37 (9.87%) Azure
3 18 (4.80%) SaaS
4 14 (3.73%) GCP
5 12 (3.20%) Power Platform
6 10 (2.67%) GitHub
7 9 (2.40%) dbt
7 9 (2.40%) Veeva
8 8 (2.13%) Azure DevOps
8 8 (2.13%) Snowflake
9 6 (1.60%) Dynamics 365
9 6 (1.60%) Figma
10 5 (1.33%) GitHub Actions
11 4 (1.07%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.07%) Cloud Run
11 4 (1.07%) Google Workspace
11 4 (1.07%) Serverless
12 3 (0.80%) Amazon SageMaker
12 3 (0.80%) AWS Direct Connect
12 3 (0.80%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.87%) Firewall
2 6 (1.60%) VLAN
3 5 (1.33%) HTTPS
4 4 (1.07%) DNS
4 4 (1.07%) TCP/IP
5 3 (0.80%) VPN
5 3 (0.80%) WAN
6 2 (0.53%) X.21
7 1 (0.27%) AMQP
7 1 (0.27%) DHCP
7 1 (0.27%) HTTP
7 1 (0.27%) Junos
7 1 (0.27%) Network Security
7 1 (0.27%) NGFW
7 1 (0.27%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.20%) Power BI
2 10 (2.67%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (1.07%) NoSQL
3 4 (1.07%) Oracle Database
3 4 (1.07%) PostgreSQL
3 4 (1.07%) SAP HANA
3 4 (1.07%) Tableau
4 3 (0.80%) DynamoDB
4 3 (0.80%) Metadata
4 3 (0.80%) MySQL
4 3 (0.80%) SQL Server
4 3 (0.80%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 2 (0.53%) Amazon QuickSight
5 2 (0.53%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.53%) Data Mining
5 2 (0.53%) Neo4j
5 2 (0.53%) Relational Database
5 2 (0.53%) SAP BW
5 2 (0.53%) Snowflake Schema
5 2 (0.53%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 14 (3.73%) JIRA
2 12 (3.20%) Git
3 4 (1.07%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.80%) Cypress.io
4 3 (0.80%) MLflow
5 1 (0.27%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.27%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.27%) GitLab
5 1 (0.27%) Hudson
5 1 (0.27%) LSMW
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.27%) Postman
5 1 (0.27%) ScriptRunner
5 1 (0.27%) Selenium
5 1 (0.27%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.27%) TestRail
5 1 (0.27%) Visual Studio
General
1 96 (25.60%) Social Skills
2 84 (22.40%) Manufacturing
3 71 (18.93%) Finance
4 46 (12.27%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (3.73%) Retail
6 13 (3.47%) Marketing
7 12 (3.20%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (2.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (2.40%) Advertising
10 8 (2.13%) Legal
10 8 (2.13%) Presentation Skills
11 7 (1.87%) Billing
12 6 (1.60%) Public Speaking
13 5 (1.33%) Automotive
13 5 (1.33%) Documentation Skills
13 5 (1.33%) Law
14 4 (1.07%) Digital Health
14 4 (1.07%) Health Technology
14 4 (1.07%) Public Sector
15 3 (0.80%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 39 (10.40%) Consultant
2 36 (9.60%) Analyst
2 36 (9.60%) Lead
2 36 (9.60%) Project Manager
3 33 (8.80%) Senior
4 22 (5.87%) SAP Consultant
5 21 (5.60%) Business Analyst
6 18 (4.80%) Data Engineer
7 15 (4.00%) Architect
7 15 (4.00%) Product Owner
8 14 (3.73%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
8 14 (3.73%) Developer
9 9 (2.40%) AWS Engineer
9 9 (2.40%) Data Scientist
10 6 (1.60%) Data Analyst
10 6 (1.60%) Designer
10 6 (1.60%) Network Engineer
10 6 (1.60%) Python Developer
10 6 (1.60%) Snowflake Data Engineer
10 6 (1.60%) Snowflake Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.93%) REST
2 6 (1.60%) IDoc
2 6 (1.60%) React
3 5 (1.33%) EDI
3 5 (1.33%) PyTorch
4 4 (1.07%) FastAPI
4 4 (1.07%) Pandas
4 4 (1.07%) RESTful
4 4 (1.07%) SAP Fiori
4 4 (1.07%) SOAP
5 3 (0.80%) Google JAX
5 3 (0.80%) J2EE
5 3 (0.80%) JAX
5 3 (0.80%) Kafka
5 3 (0.80%) Playwright
5 3 (0.80%) Ray
5 3 (0.80%) SAPUI5
5 3 (0.80%) TensorFlow
5 3 (0.80%) XML
6 2 (0.53%) LangGraph
Miscellaneous
1 106 (28.27%) Life Science
2 21 (5.60%) Product Ownership
3 16 (4.27%) LIMS
4 15 (4.00%) FMCG
5 14 (3.73%) Data Structures
6 13 (3.47%) CRISPR
7 9 (2.40%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (2.13%) Cloud Native
8 8 (2.13%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (1.87%) Analytical Mindset
9 7 (1.87%) Management Information System
9 7 (1.87%) Operational Technology
10 5 (1.33%) Biopharmaceutical
10 5 (1.33%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.33%) Genomics
10 5 (1.33%) NHS
11 4 (1.07%) Pharmacovigilance
11 4 (1.07%) Robotics
11 4 (1.07%) SCADA
11 4 (1.07%) Taxonomies
Operating Systems
1 15 (4.00%) Windows
2 5 (1.33%) Windows Server
3 3 (0.80%) Linux
4 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.27%) Unix
4 1 (0.27%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (17.07%) AI
2 62 (16.53%) Validation
3 56 (14.93%) Agile
3 56 (14.93%) Stakeholder Management
4 44 (11.73%) ERP
5 41 (10.93%) Biotechnology
6 39 (10.40%) Migration
6 39 (10.40%) Problem-Solving
7 37 (9.87%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 36 (9.60%) Continuous Improvement
9 34 (9.07%) Roadmaps
10 32 (8.53%) Machine Learning
11 29 (7.73%) CI/CD
11 29 (7.73%) Project Management
12 28 (7.47%) Analytics
13 27 (7.20%) Data Pipeline
13 27 (7.20%) DevOps
13 27 (7.20%) Workshop Facilitation
14 26 (6.93%) Data Governance
15 25 (6.67%) Data Science
Programming Languages
1 63 (16.80%) Python
2 32 (8.53%) SQL
3 14 (3.73%) R
4 6 (1.60%) ABAP
4 6 (1.60%) JavaScript
5 5 (1.33%) Java
6 4 (1.07%) TypeScript
7 2 (0.53%) C#
7 2 (0.53%) PowerShell
8 1 (0.27%) C
8 1 (0.27%) C++
8 1 (0.27%) Cypher
8 1 (0.27%) DataWeave
8 1 (0.27%) Groovy
8 1 (0.27%) MATLAB
8 1 (0.27%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.27%) SHACL
8 1 (0.27%) T-SQL
8 1 (0.27%) XPath
8 1 (0.27%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 42 (11.20%) Degree
2 11 (2.93%) PMI Certification
2 11 (2.93%) PMP
3 6 (1.60%) ACCA
3 6 (1.60%) CIMA
4 5 (1.33%) CSPO
4 5 (1.33%) Master's Degree
4 5 (1.33%) Security Cleared
5 3 (0.80%) CISM
5 3 (0.80%) CISSP
5 3 (0.80%) Microsoft Certification
5 3 (0.80%) SC Cleared
6 2 (0.53%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.53%) HNC
6 2 (0.53%) HND
6 2 (0.53%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
7 1 (0.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 1 (0.27%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.27%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.27%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (15.20%) GxP
2 21 (5.60%) QA
3 18 (4.80%) GMP
4 17 (4.53%) Data Quality
5 12 (3.20%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 11 (2.93%) GDPR
6 11 (2.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 10 (2.67%) GRC
7 10 (2.67%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (1.60%) PMO
9 5 (1.33%) HIPAA
9 5 (1.33%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.80%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.80%) EU AI Act
10 3 (0.80%) NIST
11 2 (0.53%) GAMP
11 2 (0.53%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.27%) CDISC
12 1 (0.27%) ISO 13485
12 1 (0.27%) ITGC
System Software
1 8 (2.13%) Docker
2 5 (1.33%) Active Directory
3 4 (1.07%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.53%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.53%) vSphere
5 1 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 12 (3.20%) Terraform
2 7 (1.87%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.27%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.27%) Oracle RMAN
3 1 (0.27%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 1 (0.27%) WSUS
Vendors
1 90 (24.00%) SAP
2 25 (6.67%) Microsoft
3 13 (3.47%) Oracle
4 10 (2.67%) Google
5 7 (1.87%) Ariba
5 7 (1.87%) Databricks
5 7 (1.87%) ServiceNow
6 6 (1.60%) VMware
7 5 (1.33%) Palo Alto
7 5 (1.33%) Rockwell
7 5 (1.33%) Salesforce
7 5 (1.33%) Zscaler
8 4 (1.07%) LabVantage
8 4 (1.07%) MuleSoft
9 3 (0.80%) Adobe
9 3 (0.80%) Conga
9 3 (0.80%) LabWare
9 3 (0.80%) Palantir
9 3 (0.80%) Siemens
10 2 (0.53%) Citrix