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

6 months to
1 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 341 256 307
Rank change year-on-year -85 +51 +14
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 360 350 299
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.67% 1.07% 0.77%
As % of the General category 1.22% 1.68% 1.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 193 231 171
10th Percentile £284 £375 £388
25th Percentile £391 £481 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -17.39% +4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £619 £688 £619
90th Percentile £675 £760 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £580 £525
% change year-on-year -22.41% +10.48% +3.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 14 16
10th Percentile £16.57 £16.55 £21.25
25th Percentile £26.25 £19.15 £36.94
Median hourly rate £40.61 £51.80 £46.44
Median % change year-on-year -21.59% +11.53% +106.13%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £60.00
90th Percentile - - £83.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £18.87 £42.88
% change year-on-year +105.19% -55.99% +115.91%

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 29,578 20,791 22,220
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.13% 63.49% 57.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,440 12,926 13,659
10th Percentile £313 £275 £292
25th Percentile £418 £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 £744 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £499
% change year-on-year +5.26% -4.71% -0.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,300 1,170 1,213
10th Percentile £13.81 £13.50 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.87 £16.17 £17.25
Median hourly rate £31.16 £25.15 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +23.88% -31.10% +32.73%
75th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £68.84 £70.36
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.93 £22.06 £36.08
% change year-on-year +44.72% -38.86% +39.05%

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 September 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 September 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 September 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 -115 277 £490 -10.91% 715
Work from Home +7 165 £513 -2.38% 301
London -22 149 £525 -4.55% 351
UK excluding London -125 106 £450 -22.41% 412
East of England -43 36 £450 -22.41% 62
South East -48 25 £475 -10.38% 112
North of England -98 24 £425 -37.04% 102
North West -90 16 £463 -31.48% 60
South West -31 12 £334 -55.50% 36
North East -41 5 £200 - 20
Wales -16 4 £175 -42.71% 15
Midlands -53 4 £450 -14.29% 57
Yorkshire -35 3 £463 +42.31% 23
East Midlands -15 1 £450 -14.29% 24
Scotland -20 1 £425 -2.86% 27
West Midlands -49 1 - - 33

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 9 (2.50%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.39%) IIS
3 4 (1.11%) FactoryTalk
3 4 (1.11%) SAS
4 3 (0.83%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.56%) Apache
6 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.28%) CMS
6 1 (0.28%) Confluence
Applications
1 14 (3.89%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (3.33%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.94%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.11%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.56%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.56%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.56%) InDesign
6 2 (0.56%) Photoshop
6 2 (0.56%) Windchill
7 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 51 (14.17%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (2.50%) SAP SD
3 4 (1.11%) SAP FI
3 4 (1.11%) SAP IBP
3 4 (1.11%) TrackWise
4 3 (0.83%) SAP CO
4 3 (0.83%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.83%) SAP FI/CO
4 3 (0.83%) SAP MDG
4 3 (0.83%) SAP PP
5 2 (0.56%) Dynamics CRM
5 2 (0.56%) ENOVIA
5 2 (0.56%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.56%) SAP EWM
5 2 (0.56%) SAP GRC
5 2 (0.56%) SAP GTS
5 2 (0.56%) SAP QM
5 2 (0.56%) Teamcenter
6 1 (0.28%) JDE EnterpriseOne
Cloud Services
1 44 (12.22%) AWS
2 41 (11.39%) Azure
3 18 (5.00%) Power Platform
4 17 (4.72%) GCP
4 17 (4.72%) SaaS
4 17 (4.72%) Snowflake
5 12 (3.33%) Azure DevOps
6 10 (2.78%) dbt
6 10 (2.78%) GitHub
7 9 (2.50%) Microsoft 365
7 9 (2.50%) Veeva
8 5 (1.39%) Azure AI
8 5 (1.39%) Cloud Run
8 5 (1.39%) Figma
8 5 (1.39%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (1.11%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.11%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (1.11%) Serverless
10 3 (0.83%) AWS Direct Connect
11 2 (0.56%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.22%) DNS
1 8 (2.22%) Firewall
2 7 (1.94%) VLAN
3 5 (1.39%) DHCP
3 5 (1.39%) HTTPS
3 5 (1.39%) TCP/IP
4 3 (0.83%) Network Security
4 3 (0.83%) WAN
5 2 (0.56%) VPN
5 2 (0.56%) X.21
6 1 (0.28%) NGFW
6 1 (0.28%) SSL
6 1 (0.28%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (5.00%) Power BI
2 11 (3.06%) Data Warehouse
3 8 (2.22%) Metadata
4 7 (1.94%) Neo4j
5 6 (1.67%) Tableau
6 5 (1.39%) MySQL
6 5 (1.39%) PostgreSQL
7 4 (1.11%) NoSQL
7 4 (1.11%) Relational Database
7 4 (1.11%) SAP BW
7 4 (1.11%) SAP HANA
8 3 (0.83%) BigQuery
8 3 (0.83%) Data Lake
8 3 (0.83%) Data Mining
8 3 (0.83%) DynamoDB
8 3 (0.83%) Oracle Database
8 3 (0.83%) Semantic Layer
9 2 (0.56%) Amazon QuickSight
9 2 (0.56%) Pinecone
9 2 (0.56%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 14 (3.89%) Git
2 13 (3.61%) JIRA
3 5 (1.39%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.83%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.56%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.28%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.28%) GitLab
6 1 (0.28%) LSMW
6 1 (0.28%) Postman
6 1 (0.28%) ScriptRunner
6 1 (0.28%) Selenium
6 1 (0.28%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.28%) TestRail
6 1 (0.28%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 111 (30.83%) Social Skills
2 75 (20.83%) Manufacturing
3 57 (15.83%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (15.00%) Finance
5 15 (4.17%) Legal
5 15 (4.17%) Marketing
6 11 (3.06%) Organisational Skills
6 11 (3.06%) Presentation Skills
6 11 (3.06%) Retail
7 9 (2.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.22%) Banking
8 8 (2.22%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (1.67%) Advertising
9 6 (1.67%) Billing
9 6 (1.67%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (1.67%) Law
9 6 (1.67%) Public Sector
10 5 (1.39%) Automotive
10 5 (1.39%) Health Technology
10 5 (1.39%) Public Speaking
Job Titles
1 45 (12.50%) Analyst
2 38 (10.56%) Project Manager
3 35 (9.72%) Consultant
4 29 (8.06%) Senior
5 26 (7.22%) Business Analyst
6 25 (6.94%) Lead
7 24 (6.67%) Architect
8 22 (6.11%) SAP Consultant
9 16 (4.44%) Data Engineer
10 15 (4.17%) Developer
11 11 (3.06%) Data Analyst
11 11 (3.06%) Product Owner
12 10 (2.78%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
13 8 (2.22%) Solutions Architect
14 7 (1.94%) Data Scientist
14 7 (1.94%) SAP Manager
15 6 (1.67%) AWS Engineer
15 6 (1.67%) Data Business Analyst
15 6 (1.67%) Full-Stack Engineer
15 6 (1.67%) Snowflake Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (4.72%) REST
2 13 (3.61%) Terraform
3 9 (2.50%) React
4 7 (1.94%) PyTorch
5 6 (1.67%) FastAPI
6 5 (1.39%) .NET
7 4 (1.11%) EDI
7 4 (1.11%) Google JAX
7 4 (1.11%) Hibernate
7 4 (1.11%) IDoc
7 4 (1.11%) JAX
7 4 (1.11%) RESTful
7 4 (1.11%) SOAP
7 4 (1.11%) SQLAlchemy
7 4 (1.11%) TensorFlow
7 4 (1.11%) XML
8 3 (0.83%) Middleware
8 3 (0.83%) Pandas
8 3 (0.83%) SAP Fiori
8 3 (0.83%) SAPUI5
Miscellaneous
1 128 (35.56%) Life Science
2 23 (6.39%) Product Ownership
3 16 (4.44%) FMCG
4 15 (4.17%) LIMS
5 14 (3.89%) Data Structures
6 12 (3.33%) Cloud Native
7 11 (3.06%) CRISPR
7 11 (3.06%) Operational Technology
8 8 (2.22%) Analytical Mindset
8 8 (2.22%) Biopharmaceutical
8 8 (2.22%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (2.22%) Management Information System
9 7 (1.94%) NHS
10 6 (1.67%) Genomics
10 6 (1.67%) SCADA
10 6 (1.67%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (1.39%) AI Agents
11 5 (1.39%) Manufacturing Execution System
11 5 (1.39%) Onboarding
12 4 (1.11%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 23 (6.39%) Windows
2 11 (3.06%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.56%) Apple iOS
3 2 (0.56%) Linux
4 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.28%) VMS
4 1 (0.28%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (20.00%) Stakeholder Management
2 67 (18.61%) AI
3 62 (17.22%) Agile
4 60 (16.67%) Validation
5 52 (14.44%) Problem-Solving
6 41 (11.39%) Biotechnology
6 41 (11.39%) Continuous Improvement
7 38 (10.56%) Migration
7 38 (10.56%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 35 (9.72%) Analytics
9 32 (8.89%) Roadmaps
10 31 (8.61%) Project Management
11 30 (8.33%) Data Governance
12 29 (8.06%) CI/CD
12 29 (8.06%) Data Pipeline
12 29 (8.06%) ERP
12 29 (8.06%) Machine Learning
13 28 (7.78%) DevOps
14 27 (7.50%) Data Modelling
15 26 (7.22%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 60 (16.67%) Python
2 29 (8.06%) SQL
3 11 (3.06%) R
4 8 (2.22%) Java
5 5 (1.39%) ABAP
5 5 (1.39%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.11%) PowerShell
6 4 (1.11%) TypeScript
7 3 (0.83%) C#
8 2 (0.56%) Cypher
8 2 (0.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.28%) Apex Code
9 1 (0.28%) Bicep
9 1 (0.28%) Gremlin
9 1 (0.28%) Groovy
9 1 (0.28%) Korn
9 1 (0.28%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.28%) SPARQL
9 1 (0.28%) XPath
9 1 (0.28%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 49 (13.61%) Degree
2 12 (3.33%) PMI Certification
2 12 (3.33%) PMP
3 9 (2.50%) Security Cleared
4 6 (1.67%) Master's Degree
4 6 (1.67%) SC Cleared
5 5 (1.39%) CSPO
6 4 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.11%) DBS Check
6 4 (1.11%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 4 (1.11%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (0.83%) CISM
7 3 (0.83%) CISSP
7 3 (0.83%) Postgraduate
7 3 (0.83%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 2 (0.56%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.56%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (0.56%) MCITP
8 2 (0.56%) PhD
9 1 (0.28%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (15.83%) GxP
2 22 (6.11%) Data Quality
3 20 (5.56%) QA
4 15 (4.17%) GMP
5 14 (3.89%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 13 (3.61%) GDPR
7 11 (3.06%) GRC
8 10 (2.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 8 (2.22%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 6 (1.67%) HIPAA
11 5 (1.39%) PCI DSS
11 5 (1.39%) PMO
12 3 (0.83%) EU AI Act
13 2 (0.56%) Accessibility
13 2 (0.56%) GAMP
13 2 (0.56%) NIST
14 1 (0.28%) NCSC
14 1 (0.28%) NEBOSH
14 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
14 1 (0.28%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 17 (4.72%) Docker
2 9 (2.50%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (1.94%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.11%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.28%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 1 (0.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 11 (3.06%) Kubernetes
2 4 (1.11%) SCCM
3 1 (0.28%) Apache Ranger
3 1 (0.28%) Grafana
3 1 (0.28%) Prometheus
3 1 (0.28%) Single Sign-On
3 1 (0.28%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 1 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 70 (19.44%) SAP
2 26 (7.22%) Microsoft
3 11 (3.06%) VMware
4 8 (2.22%) Ariba
4 8 (2.22%) Oracle
4 8 (2.22%) ServiceNow
5 7 (1.94%) Databricks
5 7 (1.94%) Google
5 7 (1.94%) Palo Alto
5 7 (1.94%) Zscaler
6 6 (1.67%) Foundry
6 6 (1.67%) Rockwell
6 6 (1.67%) Salesforce
7 5 (1.39%) Citrix
8 4 (1.11%) LabVantage
9 3 (0.83%) Adobe
9 3 (0.83%) Conga
9 3 (0.83%) Palantir
10 2 (0.56%) Cisco
10 2 (0.56%) SYSPRO