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

6 months to
3 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 318 230 240
Rank change year-on-year -88 +10 +95
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 342 344 428
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 1.17% 0.99%
As % of the General category 1.33% 1.86% 1.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 217 228 260
10th Percentile £350 £373 £363
25th Percentile £388 £483 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £618
90th Percentile £688 £820 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £501
% change year-on-year -9.52% +4.79% +11.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 14 37
10th Percentile £26.11 £16.20 £17.72
25th Percentile £54.38 £22.81 £20.75
Median hourly rate £85.00 £32.50 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +161.54% +7.76% -16.22%
75th Percentile £97.50 £86.94 £60.00
90th Percentile - £97.50 £63.12
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £38.00
% change year-on-year +69.23% -14.47% +149.84%

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 25,769 18,495 25,239
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.37% 63.14% 58.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,872 11,806 15,915
10th Percentile £305 £300 £275
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £641 £650
90th Percentile £738 £764 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £495
% change year-on-year - -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,642 789 1,949
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.00 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.50 £17.50 £15.46
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -12.56%
75th Percentile £60.00 £56.00 £51.91
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.55 £24.88 £28.00
% change year-on-year +6.72% -11.14% -6.67%

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 3 May 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 3 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Top 14 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 3 May 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 -142 236 £506 -10.09% 189
Work from Home +5 148 £475 -11.63% 88
London -35 112 £525 -27.59% 85
UK excluding London -159 93 £475 -9.52% 108
East of England -52 39 £475 -13.64% 12
South East -43 23 £475 +105.41% 35
North of England -101 21 £520 -5.45% 34
North West -70 19 £520 -5.45% 24
South West -20 6 £700 - 6
Scotland -6 2 - -
North East -24 2 - - 4
Wales -18 1 - - 1
West Midlands -62 1 - - 11
Midlands -77 1 - - 20

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 4 (1.17%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.88%) Apache Airflow
2 3 (0.88%) Apache Spark
2 3 (0.88%) SAS
3 2 (0.58%) Confluence
3 2 (0.58%) IIS
3 2 (0.58%) Mendix
3 2 (0.58%) WinCC
4 1 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.29%) Anypoint
4 1 (0.29%) CMS
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 29 (8.48%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (4.09%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.05%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.58%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.58%) Adobe Illustrator
5 2 (0.58%) InDesign
5 2 (0.58%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.58%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 64 (18.71%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.92%) SAP SD
3 9 (2.63%) SAP EWM
4 7 (2.05%) SAP PM
5 6 (1.75%) SAP PP
5 6 (1.75%) SAP QM
6 5 (1.46%) SAP MM
6 5 (1.46%) SAP WM
7 4 (1.17%) Dynamics CRM
7 4 (1.17%) SAP MDG
8 3 (0.88%) NetSuite
8 3 (0.88%) SAP ERP
9 2 (0.58%) Oracle EBS
9 2 (0.58%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.58%) SAP GTS
9 2 (0.58%) TrackWise
10 1 (0.29%) Oracle ERP
10 1 (0.29%) SAP CS
10 1 (0.29%) SAP MDM
10 1 (0.29%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 37 (10.82%) AWS
2 30 (8.77%) Azure
3 16 (4.68%) SaaS
4 14 (4.09%) GCP
5 13 (3.80%) Microsoft 365
6 12 (3.51%) Power Platform
7 6 (1.75%) dbt
7 6 (1.75%) Figma
8 5 (1.46%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (1.46%) GitHub
8 5 (1.46%) Snowflake
9 4 (1.17%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (1.17%) Microsoft Purview
9 4 (1.17%) Veeva
10 3 (0.88%) Amazon EKS
10 3 (0.88%) Amazon SageMaker
10 3 (0.88%) Azure AKS
10 3 (0.88%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 3 (0.88%) Cloud Run
10 3 (0.88%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.46%) Firewall
2 3 (0.88%) Ethernet
2 3 (0.88%) Modbus
2 3 (0.88%) Network Security
2 3 (0.88%) RS-485
2 3 (0.88%) VLAN
3 2 (0.58%) BGP
3 2 (0.58%) HTTPS
3 2 (0.58%) OSPF
3 2 (0.58%) Wireless
4 1 (0.29%) AMQP
4 1 (0.29%) HTTP
4 1 (0.29%) Junos
4 1 (0.29%) SSL
4 1 (0.29%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.29%) Telepresence
4 1 (0.29%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.51%) Power BI
2 8 (2.34%) Data Warehouse
3 6 (1.75%) Data Lake
4 5 (1.46%) Tableau
5 4 (1.17%) Metadata
6 3 (0.88%) BigQuery
6 3 (0.88%) SAP Data Services
6 3 (0.88%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 2 (0.58%) Electronic Patient Records
7 2 (0.58%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.58%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.58%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.29%) Hadoop
8 1 (0.29%) Neo4j
8 1 (0.29%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.29%) Pinecone
8 1 (0.29%) SAP HANA
8 1 (0.29%) Spark SQL
8 1 (0.29%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 13 (3.80%) JIRA
2 12 (3.51%) Git
3 3 (0.88%) Cypress.io
3 3 (0.88%) LSMW
3 3 (0.88%) MLflow
4 2 (0.58%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.29%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.29%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.29%) GitLab
5 1 (0.29%) Hudson
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.29%) Selenium
5 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
General
1 75 (21.93%) Social Skills
2 71 (20.76%) Finance
3 70 (20.47%) Manufacturing
4 34 (9.94%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (2.92%) Marketing
5 10 (2.92%) Retail
6 9 (2.63%) Presentation Skills
7 8 (2.34%) Advertising
7 8 (2.34%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (2.34%) Organisational Skills
8 7 (2.05%) Billing
9 6 (1.75%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (1.75%) Public Speaking
10 5 (1.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 5 (1.46%) Legal
10 5 (1.46%) Public Sector
11 4 (1.17%) Wearables
12 3 (0.88%) Banking
13 2 (0.58%) Digital Health
13 2 (0.58%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 37 (10.82%) Lead
2 29 (8.48%) Project Manager
3 28 (8.19%) Senior
4 24 (7.02%) Analyst
5 22 (6.43%) Consultant
6 14 (4.09%) Designer
6 14 (4.09%) Developer
7 13 (3.80%) Architect
7 13 (3.80%) Business Analyst
7 13 (3.80%) Data Engineer
7 13 (3.80%) SAP Consultant
8 12 (3.51%) Data Scientist
9 11 (3.22%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
10 9 (2.63%) Python Developer
11 8 (2.34%) Accountant
11 8 (2.34%) Product Designer
11 8 (2.34%) Quality Manager
11 8 (2.34%) Systems Accountant
12 7 (2.05%) IT Support Technician
12 7 (2.05%) Risk Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.05%) FastAPI
2 5 (1.46%) IDoc
2 5 (1.46%) React
2 5 (1.46%) REST
3 4 (1.17%) EDI
3 4 (1.17%) Playwright
3 4 (1.17%) pytest
3 4 (1.17%) PyTorch
4 3 (0.88%) Google JAX
4 3 (0.88%) J2EE
4 3 (0.88%) JAX
4 3 (0.88%) Ray
4 3 (0.88%) TensorFlow
5 2 (0.58%) CSS
5 2 (0.58%) JSON
5 2 (0.58%) Middleware
5 2 (0.58%) NumPy
5 2 (0.58%) RESTful
5 2 (0.58%) SciPy
5 2 (0.58%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 74 (21.64%) Life Science
2 16 (4.68%) Data Structures
3 13 (3.80%) Product Ownership
4 12 (3.51%) FMCG
4 12 (3.51%) LIMS
5 10 (2.92%) CRISPR
6 9 (2.63%) Self-Motivation
7 8 (2.34%) Cloud Native
7 8 (2.34%) Data Protection Act
7 8 (2.34%) NHS
7 8 (2.34%) Onboarding
8 7 (2.05%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (2.05%) Genomics
9 6 (1.75%) Operational Technology
10 4 (1.17%) AI Agents
10 4 (1.17%) Biopharmaceutical
10 4 (1.17%) Legacy Systems
10 4 (1.17%) Robotics
10 4 (1.17%) SCADA
10 4 (1.17%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 13 (3.80%) Windows
2 2 (0.58%) Linux
2 2 (0.58%) Mac OS
2 2 (0.58%) Windows 10
2 2 (0.58%) Windows Server
3 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 1 (0.29%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 51 (14.91%) AI
2 48 (14.04%) ERP
2 48 (14.04%) Validation
3 45 (13.16%) Agile
4 42 (12.28%) Migration
4 42 (12.28%) Stakeholder Management
5 31 (9.06%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 30 (8.77%) Biotechnology
7 28 (8.19%) Project Management
7 28 (8.19%) Workshop Facilitation
8 27 (7.89%) Machine Learning
9 26 (7.60%) Problem-Solving
10 25 (7.31%) Data Migration
10 25 (7.31%) DevOps
11 24 (7.02%) Analytics
12 23 (6.73%) Continuous Improvement
12 23 (6.73%) Data Science
13 21 (6.14%) CI/CD
13 21 (6.14%) Data Governance
14 20 (5.85%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 54 (15.79%) Python
2 30 (8.77%) SQL
3 13 (3.80%) R
4 5 (1.46%) JavaScript
4 5 (1.46%) TypeScript
5 3 (0.88%) Java
6 2 (0.58%) ABAP
7 1 (0.29%) Bicep
7 1 (0.29%) C
7 1 (0.29%) C++
7 1 (0.29%) DataWeave
7 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.29%) SHACL
7 1 (0.29%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.29%) XPath
7 1 (0.29%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 43 (12.57%) Degree
2 9 (2.63%) A+ Certification
2 9 (2.63%) ACCA
2 9 (2.63%) CIMA
2 9 (2.63%) PMI Certification
2 9 (2.63%) PMP
3 6 (1.75%) Master's Degree
4 3 (0.88%) HND
4 3 (0.88%) Microsoft Certification
5 2 (0.58%) BPSS Clearance
5 2 (0.58%) CISM
5 2 (0.58%) CISSP
5 2 (0.58%) HNC
5 2 (0.58%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 1 (0.29%) ECDL
6 1 (0.29%) OCP
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle Certification
6 1 (0.29%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (10.82%) GxP
2 20 (5.85%) GMP
3 13 (3.80%) QA
4 11 (3.22%) Data Quality
5 10 (2.92%) GDPR
6 8 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 8 (2.34%) PMO
7 6 (1.75%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 4 (1.17%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 4 (1.17%) GRC
9 3 (0.88%) Accessibility
10 2 (0.58%) GAMP
10 2 (0.58%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.58%) NIST
10 2 (0.58%) PCI DSS
11 1 (0.29%) EU AI Act
11 1 (0.29%) ISO 13485
11 1 (0.29%) ITGC
11 1 (0.29%) NIST 800
System Software
1 10 (2.92%) Docker
2 2 (0.58%) Virtual Machines
2 2 (0.58%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (0.58%) vSphere
3 1 (0.29%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.29%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 5 (1.46%) Kubernetes
1 5 (1.46%) Terraform
2 1 (0.29%) FortiGate
2 1 (0.29%) Oracle RMAN
2 1 (0.29%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 92 (26.90%) SAP
2 38 (11.11%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.51%) Oracle
4 11 (3.22%) Google
5 7 (2.05%) Salesforce
5 7 (2.05%) SOTI
6 6 (1.75%) Databricks
7 5 (1.46%) Ariba
7 5 (1.46%) LabWare
8 4 (1.17%) LabVantage
8 4 (1.17%) ServiceNow
9 3 (0.88%) Adobe
9 3 (0.88%) Cisco
9 3 (0.88%) Conga
9 3 (0.88%) Foundry
9 3 (0.88%) IBM
9 3 (0.88%) MuleSoft
9 3 (0.88%) Palantir
9 3 (0.88%) VMware
10 2 (0.58%) HP