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

6 months to
5 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 323 230 265
Rank change year-on-year -93 +35 +70
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 355 331 384
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 1.14% 0.90%
As % of the General category 1.34% 1.81% 1.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 211 222 232
10th Percentile £350 £378 £363
25th Percentile £388 £475 £444
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £700 £600
90th Percentile £675 £820 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £538 £500
% change year-on-year -11.63% +7.50% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 12 39
10th Percentile £15.87 £15.91 £19.74
25th Percentile £50.00 £19.75 £20.75
Median hourly rate £70.00 £51.80 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +35.15% +38.12% +25.00%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £57.50
90th Percentile - - £61.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £18.02 £40.00
% change year-on-year +205.17% -54.94% +77.54%

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 26,471 18,328 24,630
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.90% 63.34% 57.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,017 11,568 15,462
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £511 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.36% -2.73% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £756 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.58% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,759 831 1,979
10th Percentile £13.72 £13.46 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.73 £16.94 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.75 £27.94 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +10.06% -7.36% -7.20%
75th Percentile £60.35 £55.00 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £67.38
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.27 £24.42 £28.50
% change year-on-year +23.96% -14.32% +1.21%

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 5 June 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 5 June 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 5 June 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 -119 254 £513 -6.82% 236
Work from Home +12 155 £475 -9.52% 115
London -15 136 £525 -29.67% 102
UK excluding London -156 87 £475 -11.63% 154
East of England -52 36 £500 -9.09% 15
North of England -109 23 £475 -13.64% 46
South East -50 19 £553 -23.69% 50
North West -64 19 £475 -13.64% 29
South West -28 4 £750 - 15
North East -32 3 £290 - 1
Midlands -55 3 - - 21
Wales -22 2 £175 -42.71% 8
Yorkshire -51 1 £425 - 16
West Midlands -57 1 - - 10

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 (1.13%) IIS
2 3 (0.85%) Apache Airflow
2 3 (0.85%) SAS
2 3 (0.85%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.56%) WinCC
4 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.28%) Anypoint
4 1 (0.28%) Apache
4 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.28%) CMS
4 1 (0.28%) Confluence
4 1 (0.28%) Mendix
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 25 (7.04%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (3.38%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.97%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.56%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.56%) Adobe Illustrator
4 2 (0.56%) InDesign
4 2 (0.56%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.56%) Photoshop
5 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 55 (15.49%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.82%) SAP SD
3 6 (1.69%) SAP EWM
4 5 (1.41%) SAP MM
5 4 (1.13%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (1.13%) SAP PM
6 3 (0.85%) NetSuite
6 3 (0.85%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.56%) Sage X3
7 2 (0.56%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.56%) SAP GTS
7 2 (0.56%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.56%) SAP WM
7 2 (0.56%) TrackWise
8 1 (0.28%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.28%) SAP LE
8 1 (0.28%) SAP MDG-M
8 1 (0.28%) SAP MII
8 1 (0.28%) SAP PP-PI
Cloud Services
1 47 (13.24%) AWS
2 32 (9.01%) Azure
3 18 (5.07%) SaaS
4 13 (3.66%) GCP
5 9 (2.54%) dbt
5 9 (2.54%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (2.54%) Power Platform
6 7 (1.97%) GitHub
6 7 (1.97%) Veeva
7 6 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
7 6 (1.69%) Figma
7 6 (1.69%) Snowflake
8 5 (1.41%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (1.13%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.13%) Cloud Run
10 3 (0.85%) Amazon SageMaker
10 3 (0.85%) AWS Direct Connect
10 3 (0.85%) Azure AKS
10 3 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
10 3 (0.85%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.41%) Firewall
2 4 (1.13%) DNS
2 4 (1.13%) HTTPS
2 4 (1.13%) VLAN
3 3 (0.85%) Ethernet
3 3 (0.85%) Modbus
3 3 (0.85%) RS-485
3 3 (0.85%) VPN
3 3 (0.85%) WAN
4 2 (0.56%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.56%) X.21
5 1 (0.28%) AMQP
5 1 (0.28%) DHCP
5 1 (0.28%) HTTP
5 1 (0.28%) Junos
5 1 (0.28%) Network Security
5 1 (0.28%) NGFW
5 1 (0.28%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.54%) Power BI
2 8 (2.25%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (1.13%) Tableau
4 3 (0.85%) Metadata
4 3 (0.85%) NoSQL
4 3 (0.85%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 2 (0.56%) Amazon QuickSight
5 2 (0.56%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.56%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.56%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.56%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.56%) Snowflake Schema
5 2 (0.56%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.56%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.28%) Big Data
6 1 (0.28%) Neo4j
6 1 (0.28%) Oracle Database 12c
6 1 (0.28%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.28%) SAP Data Services
6 1 (0.28%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 13 (3.66%) JIRA
2 11 (3.10%) Git
3 3 (0.85%) Cypress.io
3 3 (0.85%) MLflow
4 1 (0.28%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.28%) ER Studio
4 1 (0.28%) GitLab
4 1 (0.28%) Hudson
4 1 (0.28%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.28%) LSMW
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle APEX
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle Forms
4 1 (0.28%) Postman
4 1 (0.28%) Selenium
4 1 (0.28%) SonarQube
4 1 (0.28%) TestRail
General
1 83 (23.38%) Social Skills
2 74 (20.85%) Manufacturing
3 72 (20.28%) Finance
4 35 (9.86%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (2.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 10 (2.82%) Presentation Skills
6 9 (2.54%) Advertising
6 9 (2.54%) Legal
6 9 (2.54%) Marketing
6 9 (2.54%) Organisational Skills
6 9 (2.54%) Retail
7 7 (1.97%) Billing
8 6 (1.69%) Public Speaking
9 5 (1.41%) Automotive
9 5 (1.41%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.41%) Law
10 3 (0.85%) Banking
10 3 (0.85%) Digital Health
10 3 (0.85%) Public Sector
10 3 (0.85%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 37 (10.42%) Lead
2 33 (9.30%) Project Manager
2 33 (9.30%) Senior
3 28 (7.89%) Consultant
4 27 (7.61%) Analyst
5 17 (4.79%) Data Engineer
6 15 (4.23%) SAP Consultant
7 14 (3.94%) Business Analyst
8 13 (3.66%) Architect
8 13 (3.66%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
9 12 (3.38%) Designer
10 11 (3.10%) Developer
11 9 (2.54%) Data Scientist
11 9 (2.54%) Product Owner
12 8 (2.25%) Accountant
12 8 (2.25%) AWS Engineer
12 8 (2.25%) Systems Accountant
13 7 (1.97%) Product Designer
13 7 (1.97%) Python Developer
13 7 (1.97%) Risk Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.69%) IDoc
1 6 (1.69%) REST
2 5 (1.41%) EDI
2 5 (1.41%) FastAPI
2 5 (1.41%) PyTorch
3 4 (1.13%) Pandas
3 4 (1.13%) React
4 3 (0.85%) Google JAX
4 3 (0.85%) J2EE
4 3 (0.85%) JAX
4 3 (0.85%) Playwright
4 3 (0.85%) Ray
4 3 (0.85%) TensorFlow
4 3 (0.85%) XML
5 2 (0.56%) LangGraph
5 2 (0.56%) Middleware
5 2 (0.56%) RESTful
5 2 (0.56%) SciPy
5 2 (0.56%) Web Services
5 2 (0.56%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 88 (24.79%) Life Science
2 15 (4.23%) Data Structures
2 15 (4.23%) FMCG
2 15 (4.23%) LIMS
2 15 (4.23%) Product Ownership
3 13 (3.66%) CRISPR
4 9 (2.54%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (2.25%) Cloud Native
5 8 (2.25%) Data Protection Act
6 7 (1.97%) Enterprise Software
6 7 (1.97%) Operational Technology
7 6 (1.69%) NHS
7 6 (1.69%) Onboarding
8 5 (1.41%) Genomics
9 4 (1.13%) Biopharmaceutical
9 4 (1.13%) Management Information System
9 4 (1.13%) Pharmacovigilance
9 4 (1.13%) Robotics
9 4 (1.13%) SCADA
10 3 (0.85%) Analytical Mindset
Operating Systems
1 16 (4.51%) Windows
2 3 (0.85%) Windows 10
2 3 (0.85%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.56%) Linux
3 2 (0.56%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.28%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (15.77%) AI
2 54 (15.21%) Validation
3 48 (13.52%) Agile
4 45 (12.68%) ERP
5 43 (12.11%) Stakeholder Management
6 39 (10.99%) Migration
7 37 (10.42%) Biotechnology
8 34 (9.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 29 (8.17%) Problem-Solving
10 28 (7.89%) Machine Learning
11 27 (7.61%) DevOps
11 27 (7.61%) Project Management
11 27 (7.61%) Workshop Facilitation
12 26 (7.32%) Continuous Improvement
13 24 (6.76%) Data Migration
13 24 (6.76%) Data Pipeline
13 24 (6.76%) Decision-Making
13 24 (6.76%) Roadmaps
14 22 (6.20%) CI/CD
14 22 (6.20%) Data Science
Programming Languages
1 60 (16.90%) Python
2 31 (8.73%) SQL
3 14 (3.94%) R
4 5 (1.41%) JavaScript
5 4 (1.13%) TypeScript
6 3 (0.85%) ABAP
6 3 (0.85%) Java
7 1 (0.28%) Bicep
7 1 (0.28%) C
7 1 (0.28%) C++
7 1 (0.28%) DataWeave
7 1 (0.28%) Groovy
7 1 (0.28%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.28%) SHACL
7 1 (0.28%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.28%) XPath
7 1 (0.28%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 37 (10.42%) Degree
2 9 (2.54%) ACCA
2 9 (2.54%) CIMA
2 9 (2.54%) PMI Certification
2 9 (2.54%) PMP
3 6 (1.69%) A+ Certification
4 4 (1.13%) Security Cleared
5 3 (0.85%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (0.85%) CISM
5 3 (0.85%) CISSP
5 3 (0.85%) Master's Degree
5 3 (0.85%) Microsoft Certification
5 3 (0.85%) SC Cleared
6 2 (0.56%) CSPO
6 2 (0.56%) HNC
6 2 (0.56%) HND
6 2 (0.56%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
7 1 (0.28%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.28%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.28%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (12.68%) GxP
2 20 (5.63%) GMP
3 16 (4.51%) QA
4 14 (3.94%) Data Quality
5 10 (2.82%) GDPR
5 10 (2.82%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (2.54%) GRC
7 8 (2.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (1.69%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 6 (1.69%) PMO
9 4 (1.13%) HIPAA
9 4 (1.13%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.85%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.85%) NIST
11 2 (0.56%) GAMP
11 2 (0.56%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.28%) CDISC
12 1 (0.28%) EU AI Act
12 1 (0.28%) ISO 13485
12 1 (0.28%) ITGC
System Software
1 7 (1.97%) Docker
2 5 (1.41%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.56%) vSphere
4 1 (0.28%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 11 (3.10%) Terraform
2 7 (1.97%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.28%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle RMAN
3 1 (0.28%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 81 (22.82%) SAP
2 28 (7.89%) Microsoft
3 11 (3.10%) Oracle
4 10 (2.82%) Google
5 8 (2.25%) Databricks
6 5 (1.41%) LabWare
6 5 (1.41%) Palo Alto
6 5 (1.41%) Zscaler
7 4 (1.13%) LabVantage
7 4 (1.13%) Salesforce
7 4 (1.13%) ServiceNow
7 4 (1.13%) SOTI
7 4 (1.13%) VMware
8 3 (0.85%) Adobe
8 3 (0.85%) Ariba
8 3 (0.85%) Conga
8 3 (0.85%) MuleSoft
8 3 (0.85%) Palantir
9 2 (0.56%) Dell
9 2 (0.56%) HP