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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 321 229 232
Rank change year-on-year -92 +3 +116
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 338 343 427
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.71% 1.17% 0.99%
As % of the General category 1.32% 1.84% 1.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 210 227 264
10th Percentile £347 £378 £363
25th Percentile £383 £500 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +7.69%
75th Percentile £600 £694 £618
90th Percentile £681 £820 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £538 £501
% change year-on-year -11.63% +7.29% +11.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 12 38
10th Percentile £22.69 £19.10 £17.72
25th Percentile £50.00 £28.44 £20.75
Median hourly rate £75.00 £42.15 £33.83
Median % change year-on-year +77.95% +24.59% -19.45%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £60.00
90th Percentile - - £62.34
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £32.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +69.23% -18.75% +39.84%

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 25,696 18,611 24,955
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.96% 63.29% 58.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,715 11,865 15,747
10th Percentile £306 £295 £275
25th Percentile £407 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +1.05% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,652 790 1,935
10th Percentile £13.95 £14.00 £12.76
25th Percentile £17.59 £17.44 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.82% -11.06%
75th Percentile £61.18 £56.00 £52.89
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.74 £24.66 £28.50
% change year-on-year +12.49% -13.47% -1.72%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -155 230 £505 -12.17% 173
Work from Home +11 150 £475 -13.64% 84
London -21 112 £525 -28.47% 75
UK excluding London -149 90 £475 -11.63% 110
East of England -52 39 £454 -17.45% 19
South East -43 21 £475 +90.00% 35
North of England -108 19 £508 -7.73% 24
North West -76 17 £508 -7.73% 20
South West -29 6 £700 - 8
Scotland +4 2 - -
Wales -17 2 £175 -42.71% 3
North East -22 2 - - 1
West Midlands -63 1 - - 17
Midlands -72 1 - - 24

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 (1.18%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.89%) SAS
3 2 (0.59%) Confluence
3 2 (0.59%) IIS
3 2 (0.59%) WinCC
4 1 (0.30%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.30%) Anypoint
4 1 (0.30%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.30%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.30%) CMS
4 1 (0.30%) Mendix
4 1 (0.30%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 30 (8.88%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (3.85%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.07%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.59%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 2 (0.59%) Adobe Illustrator
5 2 (0.59%) InDesign
5 2 (0.59%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.59%) Photoshop
Business Applications
1 64 (18.93%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.96%) SAP SD
3 9 (2.66%) SAP EWM
4 7 (2.07%) SAP PM
5 6 (1.78%) SAP QM
6 5 (1.48%) SAP MM
6 5 (1.48%) SAP PP
6 5 (1.48%) SAP WM
7 4 (1.18%) Dynamics CRM
8 3 (0.89%) NetSuite
8 3 (0.89%) SAP MDG
9 2 (0.59%) Oracle EBS
9 2 (0.59%) Sage X3
9 2 (0.59%) SAP ERP
9 2 (0.59%) SAP GTS
9 2 (0.59%) TrackWise
10 1 (0.30%) JDE EnterpriseOne
10 1 (0.30%) Oracle ERP
10 1 (0.30%) SAP CS
10 1 (0.30%) SAP MDM
Cloud Services
1 37 (10.95%) AWS
2 28 (8.28%) Azure
3 16 (4.73%) SaaS
4 13 (3.85%) GCP
4 13 (3.85%) Microsoft 365
5 11 (3.25%) Power Platform
6 6 (1.78%) dbt
6 6 (1.78%) Figma
7 5 (1.48%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (1.18%) Cloud Run
8 4 (1.18%) Dynamics 365
8 4 (1.18%) Microsoft Purview
8 4 (1.18%) Snowflake
8 4 (1.18%) Veeva
9 3 (0.89%) Amazon EKS
9 3 (0.89%) Amazon SageMaker
9 3 (0.89%) Azure AKS
9 3 (0.89%) Azure Synapse Analytics
9 3 (0.89%) GitHub
9 3 (0.89%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.48%) Firewall
2 4 (1.18%) VLAN
3 3 (0.89%) Ethernet
3 3 (0.89%) Modbus
3 3 (0.89%) RS-485
4 2 (0.59%) HTTPS
4 2 (0.59%) Network Security
4 2 (0.59%) TCP/IP
5 1 (0.30%) AMQP
5 1 (0.30%) BGP
5 1 (0.30%) DHCP
5 1 (0.30%) DNS
5 1 (0.30%) HTTP
5 1 (0.30%) Junos
5 1 (0.30%) NGFW
5 1 (0.30%) OSPF
5 1 (0.30%) SSL
5 1 (0.30%) Telepresence
5 1 (0.30%) VPN
5 1 (0.30%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.25%) Power BI
2 8 (2.37%) Data Warehouse
3 5 (1.48%) Tableau
4 4 (1.18%) Data Lake
4 4 (1.18%) Metadata
5 3 (0.89%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 2 (0.59%) BigQuery
6 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database
6 2 (0.59%) SAP Data Services
6 2 (0.59%) SQL Server
6 2 (0.59%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.30%) Electronic Patient Records
7 1 (0.30%) Hadoop
7 1 (0.30%) NoSQL
7 1 (0.30%) Oracle Reports
7 1 (0.30%) Pinecone
7 1 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
7 1 (0.30%) Snowflake Schema
7 1 (0.30%) Weaviate
Development Applications
1 13 (3.85%) JIRA
2 10 (2.96%) Git
3 3 (0.89%) Cypress.io
3 3 (0.89%) MLflow
4 2 (0.59%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.59%) LSMW
5 1 (0.30%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.30%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.30%) GitLab
5 1 (0.30%) Hudson
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.30%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.30%) Selenium
5 1 (0.30%) SonarQube
General
1 76 (22.49%) Social Skills
2 75 (22.19%) Manufacturing
3 73 (21.60%) Finance
4 33 (9.76%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (2.96%) Retail
6 9 (2.66%) Presentation Skills
7 8 (2.37%) Advertising
7 8 (2.37%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (2.37%) Marketing
7 8 (2.37%) Organisational Skills
8 7 (2.07%) Billing
9 6 (1.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.78%) Public Speaking
10 5 (1.48%) Influencing Skills
10 5 (1.48%) Legal
10 5 (1.48%) Public Sector
11 3 (0.89%) Banking
11 3 (0.89%) Wearables
12 2 (0.59%) Digital Health
12 2 (0.59%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 38 (11.24%) Lead
2 30 (8.88%) Project Manager
3 28 (8.28%) Senior
4 25 (7.40%) Analyst
5 23 (6.80%) Consultant
6 14 (4.14%) Architect
7 13 (3.85%) Business Analyst
7 13 (3.85%) Designer
7 13 (3.85%) Developer
7 13 (3.85%) SAP Consultant
8 12 (3.55%) Data Engineer
9 11 (3.25%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
10 9 (2.66%) Data Scientist
10 9 (2.66%) Python Developer
11 8 (2.37%) Accountant
11 8 (2.37%) Product Designer
11 8 (2.37%) Quality Manager
11 8 (2.37%) Systems Accountant
12 7 (2.07%) IT Support Technician
12 7 (2.07%) Support Technician
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.07%) FastAPI
2 6 (1.78%) IDoc
3 5 (1.48%) EDI
3 5 (1.48%) PyTorch
3 5 (1.48%) React
4 4 (1.18%) Playwright
4 4 (1.18%) REST
5 3 (0.89%) Google JAX
5 3 (0.89%) J2EE
5 3 (0.89%) JAX
5 3 (0.89%) Ray
5 3 (0.89%) TensorFlow
6 2 (0.59%) Kafka
6 2 (0.59%) LangGraph
6 2 (0.59%) Middleware
6 2 (0.59%) Pandas
6 2 (0.59%) pytest
6 2 (0.59%) SAP Core Interface
6 2 (0.59%) Seaborn
6 2 (0.59%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 75 (22.19%) Life Science
2 16 (4.73%) Data Structures
3 13 (3.85%) Product Ownership
4 12 (3.55%) FMCG
4 12 (3.55%) LIMS
5 11 (3.25%) CRISPR
6 9 (2.66%) Cloud Native
6 9 (2.66%) Onboarding
6 9 (2.66%) Self-Motivation
7 8 (2.37%) Data Protection Act
8 7 (2.07%) Enterprise Software
8 7 (2.07%) NHS
9 6 (1.78%) Operational Technology
10 5 (1.48%) Genomics
10 5 (1.48%) Management Information System
11 4 (1.18%) Biopharmaceutical
11 4 (1.18%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (1.18%) Robotics
11 4 (1.18%) SCADA
12 3 (0.89%) AI Agents
Operating Systems
1 14 (4.14%) Windows
2 3 (0.89%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.59%) Linux
3 2 (0.59%) Mac OS
3 2 (0.59%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.30%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (14.50%) AI
2 48 (14.20%) Validation
3 47 (13.91%) ERP
4 43 (12.72%) Agile
5 41 (12.13%) Stakeholder Management
6 40 (11.83%) Migration
7 33 (9.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 30 (8.88%) Biotechnology
9 28 (8.28%) Project Management
10 27 (7.99%) Workshop Facilitation
11 26 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
12 24 (7.10%) Data Migration
12 24 (7.10%) Machine Learning
13 23 (6.80%) Analytics
14 22 (6.51%) DevOps
15 21 (6.21%) CI/CD
15 21 (6.21%) Continuous Improvement
15 21 (6.21%) Decision-Making
16 20 (5.92%) Data Pipeline
16 20 (5.92%) Data Science
Programming Languages
1 52 (15.38%) Python
2 29 (8.58%) SQL
3 12 (3.55%) R
4 5 (1.48%) TypeScript
5 4 (1.18%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.89%) ABAP
7 2 (0.59%) Java
8 1 (0.30%) Bicep
8 1 (0.30%) C
8 1 (0.30%) C++
8 1 (0.30%) DataWeave
8 1 (0.30%) Groovy
8 1 (0.30%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.30%) SHACL
8 1 (0.30%) T-SQL
8 1 (0.30%) XPath
8 1 (0.30%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 40 (11.83%) Degree
2 9 (2.66%) A+ Certification
2 9 (2.66%) ACCA
2 9 (2.66%) CIMA
2 9 (2.66%) PMI Certification
2 9 (2.66%) PMP
3 5 (1.48%) Master's Degree
4 4 (1.18%) Microsoft Certification
5 3 (0.89%) CISM
5 3 (0.89%) CISSP
5 3 (0.89%) HND
6 2 (0.59%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.59%) HNC
6 2 (0.59%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 2 (0.59%) Security Cleared
7 1 (0.30%) (ISC)2 CCSP
7 1 (0.30%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.30%) CRISC
7 1 (0.30%) OCP
7 1 (0.30%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (10.95%) GxP
2 20 (5.92%) GMP
3 13 (3.85%) QA
4 12 (3.55%) Data Quality
5 10 (2.96%) GDPR
6 9 (2.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 8 (2.37%) PMO
8 6 (1.78%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 4 (1.18%) 21 CFR Part 11
9 4 (1.18%) GRC
10 3 (0.89%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.89%) NIST
11 2 (0.59%) GAMP
11 2 (0.59%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.59%) NIST 800
11 2 (0.59%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.30%) EU AI Act
12 1 (0.30%) ISO 13485
12 1 (0.30%) ITGC
System Software
1 8 (2.37%) Docker
2 3 (0.89%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.59%) vSphere
4 1 (0.30%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 5 (1.48%) Kubernetes
1 5 (1.48%) Terraform
2 1 (0.30%) FortiGate
2 1 (0.30%) Oracle RMAN
2 1 (0.30%) RSA Archer
2 1 (0.30%) WSUS
Vendors
1 92 (27.22%) SAP
2 38 (11.24%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.55%) Oracle
4 11 (3.25%) Google
5 7 (2.07%) SOTI
6 6 (1.78%) Ariba
6 6 (1.78%) Databricks
6 6 (1.78%) Salesforce
7 5 (1.48%) LabWare
8 4 (1.18%) LabVantage
8 4 (1.18%) ServiceNow
8 4 (1.18%) VMware
9 3 (0.89%) Adobe
9 3 (0.89%) Conga
9 3 (0.89%) Foundry
9 3 (0.89%) IBM
9 3 (0.89%) MuleSoft
9 3 (0.89%) Palantir
10 2 (0.59%) Cisco
10 2 (0.59%) HP