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

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 379 248 272
Rank change year-on-year -131 +24 +15
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 349 356 313
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.63% 1.07% 0.84%
As % of the General category 1.11% 1.70% 1.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 164 234 166
10th Percentile £240 £400 £400
25th Percentile £400 £500 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -10.87% +4.55% +5.26%
75th Percentile £638 £688 £607
90th Percentile £746 £759 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £600 £525
% change year-on-year -25.00% +14.29% +2.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 12 19
10th Percentile £16.38 £18.87 £21.25
25th Percentile £21.50 £41.66 £25.09
Median hourly rate £42.00 £51.80 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.91% +59.37% +62.50%
75th Percentile £54.50 £97.50 £40.00
90th Percentile £95.25 - £56.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £18.87 £32.50
% change year-on-year +105.19% -41.94% +62.50%

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 31,316 20,992 21,990
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.66% 63.27% 58.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,212 13,093 12,972
10th Percentile £313 £275 £280
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £646
90th Percentile £738 £738 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £477
% change year-on-year +5.26% -0.42% -4.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,802 1,249 919
10th Percentile £13.48 £13.51 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.01 £16.17 £17.00
Median hourly rate £27.50 £25.00 £32.00
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -21.88% +7.56%
75th Percentile £53.84 £44.75 £59.98
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £21.39 £30.00
% change year-on-year +28.56% -28.70% +11.11%

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 14 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 14 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 14 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 -124 279 £500 -13.04% 362
Work from Home -30 149 £530 +0.95% 167
London -69 141 £525 -8.70% 177
UK excluding London -110 131 £450 -25.00% 203
North of England -81 38 £438 -35.19% 40
South East -57 31 £460 -20.83% 50
East of England -58 23 £425 -26.72% 34
North West -72 23 £475 -30.91% 30
South West -26 13 £334 -55.50% 20
Midlands -40 13 £788 +50.00% 33
North East -34 8 £200 - 2
West Midlands - 8 £850 - 25
Scotland -17 7 £515 -6.36% 11
Yorkshire -28 7 £450 +38.46% 8
Wales -9 6 £175 -21.88% 11
East Midlands -16 3 £750 +42.86% 8

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%) FactoryTalk
2 5 (1.43%) IIS
3 3 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (0.86%) SAS
4 2 (0.57%) Apache
4 2 (0.57%) Confluence
5 1 (0.29%) Documentum
Applications
1 12 (3.44%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (1.43%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.86%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.57%) Windchill
6 1 (0.29%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 53 (15.19%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (2.01%) SAP QM
3 4 (1.15%) SAP FI
3 4 (1.15%) SAP IBP
3 4 (1.15%) SAP SD
3 4 (1.15%) TrackWise
4 3 (0.86%) SAP CO
4 3 (0.86%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.86%) SAP FI/CO
4 3 (0.86%) SAP PP
5 2 (0.57%) ENOVIA
5 2 (0.57%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.57%) SAP GRC
5 2 (0.57%) SAP GTS
5 2 (0.57%) SAP MDG
5 2 (0.57%) SAP PM
5 2 (0.57%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.29%) JDE EnterpriseOne
6 1 (0.29%) SAP EWM
6 1 (0.29%) SAP MII
Cloud Services
1 43 (12.32%) Azure
2 37 (10.60%) AWS
3 20 (5.73%) Power Platform
4 18 (5.16%) Azure DevOps
4 18 (5.16%) GCP
4 18 (5.16%) Snowflake
5 16 (4.58%) GitHub
6 14 (4.01%) SaaS
7 11 (3.15%) GitHub Actions
7 11 (3.15%) Veeva
8 9 (2.58%) Microsoft 365
9 8 (2.29%) dbt
10 6 (1.72%) Serverless
11 5 (1.43%) Cloud Run
12 4 (1.15%) AWS CloudFormation
12 4 (1.15%) AWS Lambda
12 4 (1.15%) Azure AI
12 4 (1.15%) Azure Data Factory
12 4 (1.15%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 4 (1.15%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 10 (2.87%) Firewall
2 8 (2.29%) DNS
2 8 (2.29%) VLAN
3 6 (1.72%) Network Security
3 6 (1.72%) TCP/IP
4 5 (1.43%) DHCP
4 5 (1.43%) HTTPS
5 3 (0.86%) WAN
6 2 (0.57%) VPN
6 2 (0.57%) X.21
7 1 (0.29%) CTI
7 1 (0.29%) DMZ
7 1 (0.29%) NGFW
7 1 (0.29%) PBX
7 1 (0.29%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.29%) VoIP
7 1 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (5.73%) Power BI
2 12 (3.44%) Data Warehouse
3 9 (2.58%) SAP BW
3 9 (2.58%) SAP HANA
4 8 (2.29%) Metadata
4 8 (2.29%) Neo4j
4 8 (2.29%) Relational Database
5 6 (1.72%) Tableau
6 5 (1.43%) MySQL
6 5 (1.43%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (1.15%) Data Lake
7 4 (1.15%) Data Mining
7 4 (1.15%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.15%) 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%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 16 (4.58%) Git
2 11 (3.15%) JIRA
3 8 (2.29%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.86%) GitLab
5 2 (0.57%) Bitbucket
5 2 (0.57%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.57%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.29%) Postman
6 1 (0.29%) ScriptRunner
6 1 (0.29%) TestRail
6 1 (0.29%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 118 (33.81%) Social Skills
2 85 (24.36%) Manufacturing
3 57 (16.33%) Finance
4 54 (15.47%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (5.16%) Legal
6 15 (4.30%) Retail
7 12 (3.44%) Marketing
7 12 (3.44%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (3.15%) Banking
9 8 (2.29%) Documentation Skills
9 8 (2.29%) Presentation Skills
9 8 (2.29%) Public Sector
10 7 (2.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 5 (1.43%) Influencing Skills
12 4 (1.15%) Automotive
12 4 (1.15%) German Language
12 4 (1.15%) Law
13 3 (0.86%) Aerospace
13 3 (0.86%) Billing
13 3 (0.86%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 45 (12.89%) Analyst
2 41 (11.75%) Senior
3 36 (10.32%) Consultant
4 35 (10.03%) Architect
5 34 (9.74%) Lead
6 27 (7.74%) Project Manager
7 25 (7.16%) Business Analyst
8 18 (5.16%) SAP Consultant
9 17 (4.87%) Data Engineer
10 12 (3.44%) Developer
11 11 (3.15%) SAP Architect
12 9 (2.58%) Data Analyst
13 8 (2.29%) Network Engineer
13 8 (2.29%) Product Owner
13 8 (2.29%) SAP Manager
13 8 (2.29%) Solutions Architect
14 7 (2.01%) Data Business Analyst
14 7 (2.01%) SAP Analyst
14 7 (2.01%) Senior Analyst
14 7 (2.01%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (6.59%) REST
2 11 (3.15%) Terraform
3 10 (2.87%) React
4 9 (2.58%) SOAP
5 8 (2.29%) SAP Fiori
5 8 (2.29%) SAPUI5
6 6 (1.72%) Kafka
6 6 (1.72%) SAP Basis
6 6 (1.72%) SAP PI
7 5 (1.43%) .NET
7 5 (1.43%) FastAPI
7 5 (1.43%) LangChain
7 5 (1.43%) Middleware
7 5 (1.43%) PySpark
8 4 (1.15%) Hibernate
8 4 (1.15%) LlamaIndex
8 4 (1.15%) PyTorch
8 4 (1.15%) RESTful
8 4 (1.15%) SQLAlchemy
8 4 (1.15%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 138 (39.54%) Life Science
2 23 (6.59%) FMCG
3 20 (5.73%) Product Ownership
4 19 (5.44%) Cloud Native
5 14 (4.01%) Operational Technology
6 12 (3.44%) Management Information System
7 11 (3.15%) LIMS
7 11 (3.15%) Onboarding
7 11 (3.15%) SCADA
8 10 (2.87%) Data Structures
9 8 (2.29%) Analytical Mindset
9 8 (2.29%) Data Protection Act
10 7 (2.01%) Biopharmaceutical
10 7 (2.01%) Enterprise Software
11 6 (1.72%) AI Agents
11 6 (1.72%) CRISPR
11 6 (1.72%) Genomics
11 6 (1.72%) Greenfield Project
11 6 (1.72%) NHS
12 5 (1.43%) Manufacturing Execution System
Operating Systems
1 25 (7.16%) Windows
2 10 (2.87%) 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 94 (26.93%) Stakeholder Management
2 74 (21.20%) AI
3 63 (18.05%) Problem-Solving
4 54 (15.47%) Validation
5 53 (15.19%) Agile
6 51 (14.61%) Continuous Improvement
7 50 (14.33%) Analytics
8 47 (13.47%) Biotechnology
9 42 (12.03%) Roadmaps
10 34 (9.74%) CI/CD
11 33 (9.46%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 32 (9.17%) DevOps
13 31 (8.88%) Migration
14 30 (8.60%) Data Governance
15 29 (8.31%) Decision-Making
16 28 (8.02%) Data Pipeline
16 28 (8.02%) ERP
17 27 (7.74%) Machine Learning
17 27 (7.74%) Project Management
18 26 (7.45%) User Acceptance Testing
Programming Languages
1 52 (14.90%) Python
2 34 (9.74%) SQL
3 7 (2.01%) Java
4 6 (1.72%) ABAP
4 6 (1.72%) R
5 5 (1.43%) JavaScript
5 5 (1.43%) PowerShell
6 4 (1.15%) TypeScript
7 3 (0.86%) C#
8 2 (0.57%) Cypher
8 2 (0.57%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 2 (0.57%) Korn
9 1 (0.29%) Apex Code
9 1 (0.29%) Gremlin
9 1 (0.29%) Groovy
9 1 (0.29%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.29%) SPARQL
Qualifications
1 64 (18.34%) Degree
2 13 (3.72%) DBS Check
3 12 (3.44%) PMI Certification
3 12 (3.44%) Security Cleared
4 11 (3.15%) PMP
5 7 (2.01%) SC Cleared
6 6 (1.72%) BPSS Clearance
6 6 (1.72%) Master's Degree
7 5 (1.43%) CSPO
7 5 (1.43%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (1.43%) PhD
8 4 (1.15%) Chartered Engineer
8 4 (1.15%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 4 (1.15%) MCITP
9 3 (0.86%) Azure Certification
9 3 (0.86%) CAPM
9 3 (0.86%) CISM
9 3 (0.86%) CISSP
9 3 (0.86%) Computer Science Degree
9 3 (0.86%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (14.61%) GxP
2 29 (8.31%) Data Quality
3 19 (5.44%) QA
4 15 (4.30%) 21 CFR Part 11
4 15 (4.30%) GMP
5 10 (2.87%) GDPR
5 10 (2.87%) GRC
5 10 (2.87%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (2.01%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 6 (1.72%) HIPAA
8 5 (1.43%) NIST
8 5 (1.43%) PCI DSS
9 4 (1.15%) GAMP
9 4 (1.15%) PMO
10 2 (0.57%) CDISC
10 2 (0.57%) EU AI Act
10 2 (0.57%) IEC 61508
11 1 (0.29%) COSHH
11 1 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.29%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 16 (4.58%) Docker
2 9 (2.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (2.01%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.15%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 10 (2.87%) Kubernetes
2 4 (1.15%) SCCM
3 3 (0.86%) 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 74 (21.20%) SAP
2 35 (10.03%) Microsoft
3 11 (3.15%) Databricks
4 10 (2.87%) Ariba
4 10 (2.87%) VMware
5 9 (2.58%) Palo Alto
5 9 (2.58%) Zscaler
6 8 (2.29%) Google
6 8 (2.29%) ServiceNow
7 7 (2.01%) Oracle
7 7 (2.01%) Rockwell
7 7 (2.01%) Salesforce
8 5 (1.43%) Cisco
8 5 (1.43%) Citrix
9 4 (1.15%) Foundry
10 3 (0.86%) Conga
10 3 (0.86%) JD Edwards
11 2 (0.57%) Informatica
11 2 (0.57%) Siemens
11 2 (0.57%) SYSPRO