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

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 349 254 299
Rank change year-on-year -95 +45 +19
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 361 353 307
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.67% 1.08% 0.79%
As % of the General category 1.22% 1.70% 1.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 194 237 176
10th Percentile £286 £377 £400
25th Percentile £389 £485 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £575 £550
Median % change year-on-year -17.39% +4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £625
90th Percentile £672 £754 £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 25 13 15
10th Percentile £16.75 £16.22 £23.85
25th Percentile £26.25 £18.87 £40.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £51.80 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.95% +3.59% +121.93%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £60.00
90th Percentile - - £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £18.87 £50.00
% change year-on-year +105.19% -62.26% +182.17%

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 29,505 20,771 22,278
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.01% 63.48% 57.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,438 12,920 13,838
10th Percentile £313 £275 £288
25th Percentile £415 £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 £745 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.89% -1.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,281 1,174 1,263
10th Percentile £13.81 £13.46 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.11 £16.17 £16.80
Median hourly rate £31.50 £25.15 £35.36
Median % change year-on-year +25.25% -28.87% +27.47%
75th Percentile £56.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £69.90 £70.36
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.00 £22.14 £35.00
% change year-on-year +44.53% -36.74% +34.62%

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 26 August 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 26 August 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 26 August 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 -114 274 £475 -13.64% 545
Work from Home -1 167 £500 -3.61% 227
London -25 147 £525 -6.67% 230
UK excluding London -119 108 £450 -22.41% 349
East of England -46 38 £450 -22.41% 48
South East -58 25 £475 -10.38% 81
North of England -106 24 £425 -32.00% 103
North West -87 16 £463 -27.45% 58
South West -36 12 £334 -55.50% 32
North East -38 5 £200 - 19
Wales -16 4 £175 -42.71% 13
Midlands -53 4 £450 -14.29% 52
Yorkshire -37 3 £463 +42.31% 27
East Midlands -16 1 £450 -14.29% 22
Scotland -17 1 £425 -2.86% 22
West Midlands -60 1 - - 30

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 (2.49%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.39%) IIS
3 4 (1.11%) FactoryTalk
3 4 (1.11%) SAS
4 3 (0.83%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.55%) Apache
6 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.28%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.28%) CMS
6 1 (0.28%) Confluence
Applications
1 15 (4.16%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (3.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.94%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.11%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.55%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.55%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.55%) InDesign
6 2 (0.55%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.28%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 53 (14.68%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.77%) 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 EWM
4 3 (0.83%) SAP FI/CO
4 3 (0.83%) SAP GTS
4 3 (0.83%) SAP MDG
4 3 (0.83%) SAP PP
5 2 (0.55%) Dynamics CRM
5 2 (0.55%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.55%) Oracle EBS
5 2 (0.55%) SAP GRC
5 2 (0.55%) SAP QM
6 1 (0.28%) Oracle ERP
6 1 (0.28%) SAP CRM
6 1 (0.28%) SAP MM
Cloud Services
1 42 (11.63%) Azure
2 41 (11.36%) AWS
3 18 (4.99%) SaaS
4 17 (4.71%) GCP
4 17 (4.71%) Power Platform
5 16 (4.43%) Snowflake
6 13 (3.60%) Azure DevOps
7 10 (2.77%) dbt
7 10 (2.77%) GitHub
8 9 (2.49%) Veeva
9 8 (2.22%) Microsoft 365
10 5 (1.39%) Azure AI
10 5 (1.39%) Cloud Run
10 5 (1.39%) Figma
10 5 (1.39%) GitHub Actions
11 4 (1.11%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.11%) Dynamics 365
11 4 (1.11%) Serverless
12 3 (0.83%) AWS Direct Connect
13 2 (0.55%) 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%) WAN
5 2 (0.55%) Network Security
5 2 (0.55%) VPN
5 2 (0.55%) X.21
6 1 (0.28%) AMQP
6 1 (0.28%) HTTP
6 1 (0.28%) NGFW
6 1 (0.28%) SSL
6 1 (0.28%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (4.71%) Power BI
2 12 (3.32%) Data Warehouse
3 8 (2.22%) Metadata
4 7 (1.94%) Neo4j
5 6 (1.66%) 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 (0.55%) Amazon QuickSight
9 2 (0.55%) Pinecone
9 2 (0.55%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 15 (4.16%) Git
2 14 (3.88%) JIRA
3 5 (1.39%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.83%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.55%) 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
1 109 (30.19%) Social Skills
2 77 (21.33%) Manufacturing
3 60 (16.62%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (15.24%) Finance
5 15 (4.16%) Legal
5 15 (4.16%) Marketing
6 11 (3.05%) Organisational Skills
6 11 (3.05%) Presentation Skills
6 11 (3.05%) Retail
7 9 (2.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.22%) Banking
8 8 (2.22%) Documentation Skills
9 7 (1.94%) Billing
10 6 (1.66%) Advertising
10 6 (1.66%) Law
10 6 (1.66%) Public Sector
11 5 (1.39%) Automotive
11 5 (1.39%) Health Technology
11 5 (1.39%) Influencing Skills
11 5 (1.39%) Public Speaking
Job Titles
1 44 (12.19%) Analyst
2 38 (10.53%) Project Manager
3 34 (9.42%) Consultant
4 29 (8.03%) Senior
5 27 (7.48%) Lead
6 25 (6.93%) Business Analyst
7 23 (6.37%) Architect
8 22 (6.09%) SAP Consultant
9 15 (4.16%) Data Engineer
10 14 (3.88%) Developer
11 12 (3.32%) Product Owner
12 10 (2.77%) Data Analyst
13 9 (2.49%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
14 8 (2.22%) Solutions Architect
15 7 (1.94%) Data Scientist
15 7 (1.94%) SAP Manager
16 6 (1.66%) AWS Engineer
16 6 (1.66%) Full-Stack Engineer
16 6 (1.66%) Snowflake Data Engineer
16 6 (1.66%) Snowflake Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (4.99%) REST
2 13 (3.60%) Terraform
3 9 (2.49%) React
4 6 (1.66%) PyTorch
5 5 (1.39%) .NET
5 5 (1.39%) EDI
5 5 (1.39%) FastAPI
5 5 (1.39%) IDoc
5 5 (1.39%) RESTful
5 5 (1.39%) SOAP
5 5 (1.39%) XML
6 4 (1.11%) Hibernate
6 4 (1.11%) SAP Fiori
6 4 (1.11%) SQLAlchemy
7 3 (0.83%) Google JAX
7 3 (0.83%) JAX
7 3 (0.83%) Middleware
7 3 (0.83%) Pandas
7 3 (0.83%) SAPUI5
7 3 (0.83%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 126 (34.90%) Life Science
2 25 (6.93%) Product Ownership
3 16 (4.43%) FMCG
4 15 (4.16%) Data Structures
4 15 (4.16%) LIMS
5 12 (3.32%) CRISPR
6 11 (3.05%) Cloud Native
6 11 (3.05%) Operational Technology
7 9 (2.49%) Data Protection Act
8 8 (2.22%) Analytical Mindset
8 8 (2.22%) Biopharmaceutical
8 8 (2.22%) Management Information System
9 6 (1.66%) Genomics
9 6 (1.66%) Manufacturing Execution System
9 6 (1.66%) NHS
9 6 (1.66%) SCADA
9 6 (1.66%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (1.39%) Onboarding
11 4 (1.11%) AI Agents
11 4 (1.11%) Pharmacovigilance
Operating Systems
1 22 (6.09%) Windows
2 11 (3.05%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.55%) Linux
4 1 (0.28%) Apple iOS
4 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.28%) VMS
4 1 (0.28%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (19.39%) Stakeholder Management
2 66 (18.28%) AI
3 64 (17.73%) Agile
4 58 (16.07%) Validation
5 53 (14.68%) Problem-Solving
6 41 (11.36%) Continuous Improvement
7 40 (11.08%) Biotechnology
8 39 (10.80%) Migration
9 38 (10.53%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 35 (9.70%) Analytics
11 31 (8.59%) Project Management
11 31 (8.59%) Roadmaps
12 30 (8.31%) CI/CD
12 30 (8.31%) Data Pipeline
12 30 (8.31%) ERP
13 29 (8.03%) Data Governance
13 29 (8.03%) DevOps
14 28 (7.76%) Data Modelling
14 28 (7.76%) Machine Learning
15 27 (7.48%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 57 (15.79%) Python
2 30 (8.31%) SQL
3 12 (3.32%) 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 (0.55%) Cypher
8 2 (0.55%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 1 (0.28%) Apex Code
9 1 (0.28%) Bicep
9 1 (0.28%) DataWeave
9 1 (0.28%) Gremlin
9 1 (0.28%) Korn
9 1 (0.28%) MATLAB
9 1 (0.28%) SPARQL
9 1 (0.28%) T-SQL
9 1 (0.28%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 49 (13.57%) Degree
2 12 (3.32%) PMI Certification
2 12 (3.32%) PMP
3 9 (2.49%) Security Cleared
4 6 (1.66%) Master's Degree
4 6 (1.66%) SC Cleared
5 5 (1.39%) CSPO
6 4 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.11%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (0.83%) CISM
7 3 (0.83%) CISSP
7 3 (0.83%) DBS Check
7 3 (0.83%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (0.83%) Postgraduate
7 3 (0.83%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 2 (0.55%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.55%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (0.55%) PhD
9 1 (0.28%) CIMA
9 1 (0.28%) MCITP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (15.79%) GxP
2 21 (5.82%) Data Quality
3 20 (5.54%) QA
4 15 (4.16%) GMP
5 14 (3.88%) 21 CFR Part 11
5 14 (3.88%) GDPR
6 11 (3.05%) GRC
6 11 (3.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (2.49%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 6 (1.66%) HIPAA
9 5 (1.39%) PCI DSS
9 5 (1.39%) PMO
10 3 (0.83%) EU AI Act
11 2 (0.55%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.55%) GAMP
11 2 (0.55%) NIST
12 1 (0.28%) NCSC
12 1 (0.28%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.28%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 16 (4.43%) Docker
2 9 (2.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (1.94%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.11%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.28%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 1 (0.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 10 (2.77%) 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%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 1 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 72 (19.94%) SAP
2 27 (7.48%) Microsoft
3 11 (3.05%) VMware
4 9 (2.49%) ServiceNow
5 8 (2.22%) Google
5 8 (2.22%) Oracle
6 7 (1.94%) Ariba
6 7 (1.94%) Palo Alto
6 7 (1.94%) Zscaler
7 6 (1.66%) Databricks
7 6 (1.66%) Foundry
7 6 (1.66%) Rockwell
7 6 (1.66%) Salesforce
8 5 (1.39%) Citrix
9 4 (1.11%) LabVantage
10 3 (0.83%) Adobe
10 3 (0.83%) Conga
10 3 (0.83%) Palantir
11 2 (0.55%) Cisco
11 2 (0.55%) SYSPRO