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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 337 241 295
Rank change year-on-year -96 +54 +24
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 369 360 300
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.69% 1.10% 0.77%
As % of the General category 1.25% 1.73% 1.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 197 242 172
10th Percentile £300 £366 £400
25th Percentile £389 £485 £474
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 £675 £759 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £580 £501
% change year-on-year -22.41% +15.77% -0.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 12 15
10th Percentile £16.75 £15.89 £23.85
25th Percentile £26.96 £19.72 £40.00
Median hourly rate £44.00 £51.80 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -15.05% +3.59% +121.93%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £60.00
90th Percentile - - £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £17.46 £50.00
% change year-on-year +121.80% -65.09% +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 29,452 20,852 22,255
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.04% 63.51% 57.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,473 12,975 13,936
10th Percentile £313 £275 £290
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 £746 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,245 1,142 1,320
10th Percentile £13.90 £13.26 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.20 £16.30 £16.85
Median hourly rate £31.50 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +25.25% -32.93% +36.36%
75th Percentile £56.25 £50.75 £58.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £71.14 £70.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.00 £22.14 £38.12
% change year-on-year +44.53% -41.92% +52.48%

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 20 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 20 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Pharmaceutical in the UK

Pharmaceutical
Top 15 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 20 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 -126 280 £483 -12.27% 405
Work from Home -3 168 £500 -4.76% 140
London -24 151 £525 -8.70% 138
UK excluding London -153 108 £450 -22.41% 300
East of England -40 41 £475 -18.10% 35
South East -46 24 £475 -10.38% 81
North of England -90 22 £425 -29.46% 79
North West -74 14 £450 -28.00% 46
South West -29 13 £334 -55.50% 31
North East -35 5 £200 - 13
Wales -18 4 £175 -42.71% 12
Midlands -57 4 £450 -14.29% 45
Yorkshire -39 3 £463 +42.31% 20
East Midlands -19 1 £450 -14.29% 13
West Midlands -56 1 - - 32

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 (2.44%) SharePoint
2 5 (1.36%) IIS
3 4 (1.08%) FactoryTalk
3 4 (1.08%) SAS
4 3 (0.81%) Apache Airflow
5 2 (0.54%) Apache
5 2 (0.54%) Confluence
6 1 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
6 1 (0.27%) Anypoint
6 1 (0.27%) Apache Spark
6 1 (0.27%) CMS
6 1 (0.27%) Mendix
Applications
1 17 (4.61%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (3.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (1.90%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.08%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.54%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.54%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.54%) InDesign
6 2 (0.54%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 58 (15.72%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.71%) SAP SD
3 6 (1.63%) SAP EWM
4 4 (1.08%) SAP FI
4 4 (1.08%) SAP IBP
4 4 (1.08%) TrackWise
5 3 (0.81%) SAP CO
5 3 (0.81%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.81%) SAP FI/CO
5 3 (0.81%) SAP GTS
5 3 (0.81%) SAP MDG
5 3 (0.81%) SAP MM
5 3 (0.81%) SAP PP
5 3 (0.81%) SAP QM
6 2 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
6 2 (0.54%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.54%) SAP GRC
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.27%) SAP CRM
Cloud Services
1 42 (11.38%) AWS
2 41 (11.11%) Azure
3 20 (5.42%) SaaS
4 17 (4.61%) GCP
5 16 (4.34%) Power Platform
5 16 (4.34%) Snowflake
6 13 (3.52%) Azure DevOps
7 10 (2.71%) dbt
7 10 (2.71%) GitHub
8 9 (2.44%) Veeva
9 7 (1.90%) Microsoft 365
10 5 (1.36%) Azure AI
10 5 (1.36%) Cloud Run
10 5 (1.36%) Dynamics 365
10 5 (1.36%) Figma
10 5 (1.36%) GitHub Actions
11 4 (1.08%) AWS CloudFormation
11 4 (1.08%) Serverless
12 3 (0.81%) AWS Direct Connect
13 2 (0.54%) Azure Pipelines
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.17%) DNS
1 8 (2.17%) Firewall
2 7 (1.90%) VLAN
3 5 (1.36%) DHCP
3 5 (1.36%) HTTPS
3 5 (1.36%) TCP/IP
4 3 (0.81%) WAN
5 2 (0.54%) Network Security
5 2 (0.54%) VPN
5 2 (0.54%) X.21
6 1 (0.27%) AMQP
6 1 (0.27%) HTTP
6 1 (0.27%) NGFW
6 1 (0.27%) SSL
6 1 (0.27%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (4.34%) Power BI
2 11 (2.98%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (1.90%) Metadata
3 7 (1.90%) Neo4j
4 6 (1.63%) Tableau
5 5 (1.36%) MySQL
5 5 (1.36%) PostgreSQL
6 4 (1.08%) NoSQL
6 4 (1.08%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.08%) SAP BW
6 4 (1.08%) SAP HANA
7 3 (0.81%) BigQuery
7 3 (0.81%) Data Lake
7 3 (0.81%) Data Mining
7 3 (0.81%) DynamoDB
7 3 (0.81%) Oracle Database
7 3 (0.81%) Semantic Layer
8 2 (0.54%) Amazon QuickSight
8 2 (0.54%) Pinecone
8 2 (0.54%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 16 (4.34%) JIRA
2 15 (4.07%) Git
3 5 (1.36%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.81%) Cypress.io
5 2 (0.54%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.27%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.27%) GitLab
6 1 (0.27%) LSMW
6 1 (0.27%) Postman
6 1 (0.27%) ScriptRunner
6 1 (0.27%) Selenium
6 1 (0.27%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.27%) TestRail
6 1 (0.27%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 108 (29.27%) Social Skills
2 81 (21.95%) Manufacturing
3 58 (15.72%) Analytical Skills
3 58 (15.72%) Finance
4 15 (4.07%) Marketing
5 14 (3.79%) Legal
6 12 (3.25%) Organisational Skills
7 11 (2.98%) Presentation Skills
7 11 (2.98%) Retail
8 9 (2.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (1.90%) Advertising
9 7 (1.90%) Banking
9 7 (1.90%) Billing
9 7 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (1.63%) Public Sector
11 5 (1.36%) Automotive
11 5 (1.36%) Health Technology
11 5 (1.36%) Law
11 5 (1.36%) Public Speaking
12 4 (1.08%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 41 (11.11%) Analyst
2 38 (10.30%) Consultant
3 36 (9.76%) Project Manager
4 31 (8.40%) Lead
5 30 (8.13%) Senior
6 24 (6.50%) Business Analyst
6 24 (6.50%) SAP Consultant
7 23 (6.23%) Architect
8 15 (4.07%) Data Engineer
8 15 (4.07%) Developer
9 13 (3.52%) Product Owner
10 9 (2.44%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 8 (2.17%) Data Analyst
11 8 (2.17%) Solutions Architect
12 7 (1.90%) Data Scientist
12 7 (1.90%) SAP Manager
13 6 (1.63%) AWS Engineer
13 6 (1.63%) Full-Stack Engineer
13 6 (1.63%) Snowflake Data Engineer
13 6 (1.63%) Snowflake Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (4.88%) REST
2 13 (3.52%) Terraform
3 9 (2.44%) React
4 6 (1.63%) IDoc
4 6 (1.63%) PyTorch
5 5 (1.36%) .NET
5 5 (1.36%) EDI
5 5 (1.36%) FastAPI
5 5 (1.36%) RESTful
5 5 (1.36%) SOAP
5 5 (1.36%) XML
6 4 (1.08%) Hibernate
6 4 (1.08%) Pandas
6 4 (1.08%) SAP Fiori
6 4 (1.08%) SQLAlchemy
7 3 (0.81%) Google JAX
7 3 (0.81%) JAX
7 3 (0.81%) SAP Core Interface
7 3 (0.81%) SAPUI5
7 3 (0.81%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 125 (33.88%) Life Science
2 25 (6.78%) Product Ownership
3 16 (4.34%) FMCG
4 15 (4.07%) LIMS
5 14 (3.79%) Data Structures
6 12 (3.25%) CRISPR
7 11 (2.98%) Cloud Native
7 11 (2.98%) Operational Technology
8 9 (2.44%) Data Protection Act
9 8 (2.17%) Analytical Mindset
9 8 (2.17%) Biopharmaceutical
9 8 (2.17%) Management Information System
10 7 (1.90%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (1.63%) Genomics
11 6 (1.63%) NHS
11 6 (1.63%) SCADA
12 5 (1.36%) Manufacturing Execution System
12 5 (1.36%) Onboarding
13 4 (1.08%) AI Agents
13 4 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 21 (5.69%) Windows
2 11 (2.98%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.54%) Linux
4 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.27%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (18.70%) Stakeholder Management
2 66 (17.89%) Agile
2 66 (17.89%) AI
3 58 (15.72%) Validation
4 52 (14.09%) Problem-Solving
5 43 (11.65%) Continuous Improvement
6 40 (10.84%) Biotechnology
6 40 (10.84%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 39 (10.57%) Migration
8 33 (8.94%) Analytics
8 33 (8.94%) Roadmaps
9 32 (8.67%) ERP
10 31 (8.40%) Project Management
11 30 (8.13%) CI/CD
11 30 (8.13%) Data Pipeline
11 30 (8.13%) DevOps
12 28 (7.59%) Data Modelling
12 28 (7.59%) Workshop Facilitation
13 27 (7.32%) Data Governance
13 27 (7.32%) Machine Learning
Programming Languages
1 58 (15.72%) Python
2 29 (7.86%) SQL
3 12 (3.25%) R
4 8 (2.17%) Java
5 6 (1.63%) ABAP
6 5 (1.36%) JavaScript
7 4 (1.08%) PowerShell
7 4 (1.08%) TypeScript
8 3 (0.81%) C#
9 2 (0.54%) Cypher
9 2 (0.54%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 1 (0.27%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.27%) Bicep
10 1 (0.27%) DataWeave
10 1 (0.27%) Gremlin
10 1 (0.27%) Korn
10 1 (0.27%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.27%) SPARQL
10 1 (0.27%) XPath
10 1 (0.27%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 49 (13.28%) Degree
2 12 (3.25%) PMI Certification
2 12 (3.25%) PMP
3 9 (2.44%) Security Cleared
4 6 (1.63%) SC Cleared
5 5 (1.36%) CSPO
5 5 (1.36%) Master's Degree
6 4 (1.08%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.08%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 3 (0.81%) CISM
7 3 (0.81%) CISSP
7 3 (0.81%) Postgraduate
7 3 (0.81%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 2 (0.54%) ACCA
8 2 (0.54%) CIMA
8 2 (0.54%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.54%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (0.54%) DBS Check
8 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 57 (15.45%) GxP
2 20 (5.42%) Data Quality
2 20 (5.42%) QA
3 16 (4.34%) GMP
4 14 (3.79%) 21 CFR Part 11
4 14 (3.79%) GDPR
5 11 (2.98%) GRC
5 11 (2.98%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (2.44%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 6 (1.63%) HIPAA
8 5 (1.36%) PCI DSS
8 5 (1.36%) PMO
9 3 (0.81%) EU AI Act
10 2 (0.54%) GAMP
10 2 (0.54%) NIST
11 1 (0.27%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.27%) NCSC
11 1 (0.27%) NEBOSH
11 1 (0.27%) NIST 800
11 1 (0.27%) SLA
System Software
1 16 (4.34%) Docker
2 9 (2.44%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.63%) Active Directory
4 4 (1.08%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 1 (0.27%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 10 (2.71%) Kubernetes
2 4 (1.08%) SCCM
3 1 (0.27%) Apache Ranger
3 1 (0.27%) Grafana
3 1 (0.27%) Prometheus
3 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 1 (0.27%) WSUS
Vendors
1 78 (21.14%) SAP
2 27 (7.32%) Microsoft
3 11 (2.98%) VMware
4 9 (2.44%) Google
4 9 (2.44%) ServiceNow
5 8 (2.17%) Oracle
6 7 (1.90%) Palo Alto
6 7 (1.90%) Zscaler
7 6 (1.63%) Ariba
7 6 (1.63%) Foundry
7 6 (1.63%) Rockwell
7 6 (1.63%) Salesforce
8 5 (1.36%) Citrix
8 5 (1.36%) Databricks
9 4 (1.08%) LabVantage
10 3 (0.81%) Adobe
10 3 (0.81%) Conga
10 3 (0.81%) Palantir
11 2 (0.54%) Cisco
11 2 (0.54%) SYSPRO