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

6 months to
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 326 226 277
Rank change year-on-year -100 +51 +47
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 367 362 370
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 1.20% 0.85%
As % of the General category 1.32% 1.88% 1.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 206 250 220
10th Percentile £350 £376 £363
25th Percentile £388 £485 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +4.48%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £600
90th Percentile £669 £802 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -11.36% +10.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 12 37
10th Percentile £21.74 £15.91 £19.24
25th Percentile £50.00 £19.75 £20.75
Median hourly rate £70.00 £51.80 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +35.15% +71.73% +14.83%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £55.00
90th Percentile - - £63.12
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £18.02 £40.00
% change year-on-year +205.17% -54.94% +81.82%

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 27,713 19,217 24,814
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.46% 63.53% 57.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,696 12,097 15,544
10th Percentile £313 £281 £275
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £469 £490
% change year-on-year +6.61% -4.29% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,891 928 1,984
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.43 £12.79
25th Percentile £18.00 £16.35 £15.62
Median hourly rate £32.00 £27.45 £31.89
Median % change year-on-year +16.58% -13.91% +6.28%
75th Percentile £61.18 £53.75 £53.75
90th Percentile £80.06 £72.50 £68.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.50 £23.00 £31.25
% change year-on-year +36.96% -26.40% +22.07%

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 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 26 June 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 26 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 -138 272 £500 -9.09% 150
Work from Home -8 165 £475 -9.52% 44
London -10 150 £525 -25.53% 56
UK excluding London -171 93 £488 -11.36% 110
East of England -56 36 £500 -9.09% 16
North of England -99 25 £475 -13.64% 30
South East -44 21 £507 -20.55% 34
North West -77 19 £475 -13.64% 20
South West -33 4 £750 - 11
Midlands -66 4 £450 -10.00% 17
Wales -17 3 £175 -42.71% 5
North East -32 3 £290 - 2
Yorkshire -45 3 £463 - 8
East Midlands -12 1 £450 -10.00% 9
West Midlands -60 1 - - 8

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 5 (1.36%) IIS
2 4 (1.09%) SAS
3 3 (0.82%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (0.82%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.54%) Confluence
4 2 (0.54%) WinCC
5 1 (0.27%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.27%) Anypoint
5 1 (0.27%) Apache
5 1 (0.27%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.27%) CMS
5 1 (0.27%) Mendix
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 25 (6.81%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (3.27%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.91%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.91%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.54%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.54%) Adobe Illustrator
4 2 (0.54%) InDesign
4 2 (0.54%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.54%) Photoshop
5 1 (0.27%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 62 (16.89%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.72%) SAP SD
3 7 (1.91%) SAP EWM
4 5 (1.36%) SAP MM
5 4 (1.09%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (1.09%) SAP PM
5 4 (1.09%) SAP PP
6 3 (0.82%) SAP ERP
6 3 (0.82%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.54%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.54%) SAP GTS
7 2 (0.54%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.54%) SAP WM
7 2 (0.54%) TrackWise
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle ERP
8 1 (0.27%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.27%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.27%) SAP MDG-M
8 1 (0.27%) SAP MDM
Cloud Services
1 52 (14.17%) AWS
2 35 (9.54%) Azure
3 18 (4.90%) SaaS
4 13 (3.54%) GCP
5 12 (3.27%) Power Platform
6 9 (2.45%) dbt
7 8 (2.18%) GitHub
7 8 (2.18%) Snowflake
7 8 (2.18%) Veeva
8 6 (1.63%) Azure DevOps
8 6 (1.63%) Dynamics 365
8 6 (1.63%) Figma
9 4 (1.09%) AWS CloudFormation
9 4 (1.09%) Cloud Run
9 4 (1.09%) GitHub Actions
9 4 (1.09%) Google Workspace
9 4 (1.09%) Serverless
10 3 (0.82%) Amazon S3
10 3 (0.82%) AWS Direct Connect
10 3 (0.82%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.36%) Firewall
1 5 (1.36%) HTTPS
2 4 (1.09%) DNS
2 4 (1.09%) VLAN
3 3 (0.82%) VPN
3 3 (0.82%) WAN
4 2 (0.54%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.54%) X.21
5 1 (0.27%) AMQP
5 1 (0.27%) DHCP
5 1 (0.27%) Ethernet
5 1 (0.27%) HTTP
5 1 (0.27%) Junos
5 1 (0.27%) Modbus
5 1 (0.27%) Network Security
5 1 (0.27%) NGFW
5 1 (0.27%) RS-485
5 1 (0.27%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (3.27%) Power BI
2 8 (2.18%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (1.09%) NoSQL
3 4 (1.09%) Oracle Database
3 4 (1.09%) Tableau
4 3 (0.82%) DynamoDB
4 3 (0.82%) Metadata
4 3 (0.82%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 2 (0.54%) Amazon QuickSight
5 2 (0.54%) Big Data
5 2 (0.54%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.54%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.54%) Data Mining
5 2 (0.54%) Neo4j
5 2 (0.54%) SAP BW
5 2 (0.54%) Snowflake Schema
5 2 (0.54%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.54%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.27%) Amazon Athena
6 1 (0.27%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 14 (3.81%) JIRA
2 12 (3.27%) Git
3 3 (0.82%) Cypress.io
3 3 (0.82%) MLflow
4 2 (0.54%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.27%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.27%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.27%) GitLab
5 1 (0.27%) Hudson
5 1 (0.27%) LSMW
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.27%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.27%) Postman
5 1 (0.27%) ScriptRunner
5 1 (0.27%) Selenium
5 1 (0.27%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.27%) TestRail
5 1 (0.27%) Visual Studio
General
1 86 (23.43%) Social Skills
2 76 (20.71%) Manufacturing
3 75 (20.44%) Finance
4 38 (10.35%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (3.54%) Marketing
6 11 (3.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 11 (3.00%) Retail
7 9 (2.45%) Advertising
7 9 (2.45%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (2.18%) Legal
8 8 (2.18%) Presentation Skills
9 7 (1.91%) Billing
10 6 (1.63%) Public Speaking
11 5 (1.36%) Automotive
11 5 (1.36%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (1.36%) Law
12 4 (1.09%) Digital Health
12 4 (1.09%) Health Technology
12 4 (1.09%) Public Sector
13 3 (0.82%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 39 (10.63%) Lead
2 38 (10.35%) Consultant
3 34 (9.26%) Senior
4 33 (8.99%) Analyst
5 32 (8.72%) Project Manager
6 20 (5.45%) SAP Consultant
7 19 (5.18%) Business Analyst
8 18 (4.90%) Data Engineer
9 15 (4.09%) Architect
10 14 (3.81%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 13 (3.54%) Product Owner
12 10 (2.72%) Developer
13 9 (2.45%) AWS Engineer
13 9 (2.45%) Data Scientist
14 8 (2.18%) Accountant
14 8 (2.18%) Systems Accountant
15 6 (1.63%) Data Analyst
15 6 (1.63%) Designer
15 6 (1.63%) Python Developer
15 6 (1.63%) SAP Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (2.45%) REST
2 6 (1.63%) IDoc
3 5 (1.36%) EDI
3 5 (1.36%) PyTorch
3 5 (1.36%) React
4 4 (1.09%) FastAPI
4 4 (1.09%) Pandas
5 3 (0.82%) Google JAX
5 3 (0.82%) J2EE
5 3 (0.82%) JAX
5 3 (0.82%) Kafka
5 3 (0.82%) Playwright
5 3 (0.82%) Ray
5 3 (0.82%) TensorFlow
5 3 (0.82%) XML
6 2 (0.54%) JSON
6 2 (0.54%) Middleware
6 2 (0.54%) SOAP
6 2 (0.54%) Web Services
6 2 (0.54%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 92 (25.07%) Life Science
2 20 (5.45%) Product Ownership
3 16 (4.36%) FMCG
4 15 (4.09%) LIMS
5 14 (3.81%) Data Structures
6 13 (3.54%) CRISPR
7 9 (2.45%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (2.18%) Cloud Native
8 8 (2.18%) Data Protection Act
9 6 (1.63%) Analytical Mindset
9 6 (1.63%) Management Information System
9 6 (1.63%) Operational Technology
10 5 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.36%) Genomics
10 5 (1.36%) NHS
11 4 (1.09%) Biopharmaceutical
11 4 (1.09%) Pharmacovigilance
11 4 (1.09%) Robotics
12 3 (0.82%) Legacy Systems
12 3 (0.82%) Omics
Operating Systems
1 11 (3.00%) Windows
2 3 (0.82%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.54%) Linux
4 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.27%) Unix
4 1 (0.27%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (16.89%) AI
2 57 (15.53%) Validation
3 53 (14.44%) Agile
4 47 (12.81%) Stakeholder Management
5 46 (12.53%) ERP
6 37 (10.08%) Migration
7 36 (9.81%) Biotechnology
8 34 (9.26%) Continuous Improvement
9 33 (8.99%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 32 (8.72%) Problem-Solving
11 31 (8.45%) Machine Learning
12 30 (8.17%) Roadmaps
13 28 (7.63%) DevOps
13 28 (7.63%) Project Management
14 26 (7.08%) Analytics
15 25 (6.81%) Data Pipeline
15 25 (6.81%) Workshop Facilitation
16 24 (6.54%) CI/CD
16 24 (6.54%) Data Science
16 24 (6.54%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 61 (16.62%) Python
2 31 (8.45%) SQL
3 14 (3.81%) R
4 5 (1.36%) JavaScript
5 4 (1.09%) ABAP
5 4 (1.09%) TypeScript
6 3 (0.82%) Java
7 1 (0.27%) Bicep
7 1 (0.27%) C
7 1 (0.27%) C#
7 1 (0.27%) C++
7 1 (0.27%) Cypher
7 1 (0.27%) DataWeave
7 1 (0.27%) Groovy
7 1 (0.27%) MATLAB
7 1 (0.27%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.27%) SHACL
7 1 (0.27%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.27%) XPath
7 1 (0.27%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 38 (10.35%) Degree
2 10 (2.72%) PMI Certification
2 10 (2.72%) PMP
3 9 (2.45%) ACCA
3 9 (2.45%) CIMA
4 5 (1.36%) Security Cleared
5 4 (1.09%) CSPO
5 4 (1.09%) Master's Degree
6 3 (0.82%) CISM
6 3 (0.82%) CISSP
6 3 (0.82%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (0.82%) SC Cleared
7 2 (0.54%) BPSS Clearance
7 2 (0.54%) HNC
7 2 (0.54%) HND
7 2 (0.54%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 1 (0.27%) (ISC)2 CCSP
8 1 (0.27%) AWS Certification
8 1 (0.27%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.27%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (13.35%) GxP
2 20 (5.45%) QA
3 16 (4.36%) GMP
4 13 (3.54%) Data Quality
5 11 (3.00%) GDPR
5 11 (3.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 10 (2.72%) GRC
7 9 (2.45%) 21 CFR Part 11
7 9 (2.45%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 7 (1.91%) PMO
9 5 (1.36%) HIPAA
9 5 (1.36%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.82%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.82%) NIST
11 2 (0.54%) EU AI Act
11 2 (0.54%) GAMP
11 2 (0.54%) NIST 800
12 1 (0.27%) CDISC
12 1 (0.27%) ISO 13485
12 1 (0.27%) ITGC
System Software
1 6 (1.63%) Docker
2 5 (1.36%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.54%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.54%) vSphere
4 1 (0.27%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 12 (3.27%) Terraform
2 7 (1.91%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.27%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.27%) Oracle RMAN
3 1 (0.27%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.27%) WSUS
Vendors
1 88 (23.98%) SAP
2 25 (6.81%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.27%) Oracle
4 10 (2.72%) Google
5 7 (1.91%) Databricks
6 5 (1.36%) Ariba
6 5 (1.36%) LabWare
6 5 (1.36%) Palo Alto
6 5 (1.36%) ServiceNow
6 5 (1.36%) Zscaler
7 4 (1.09%) LabVantage
7 4 (1.09%) Salesforce
7 4 (1.09%) VMware
8 3 (0.82%) Adobe
8 3 (0.82%) Conga
8 3 (0.82%) MuleSoft
8 3 (0.82%) Palantir
9 2 (0.54%) Citrix
9 2 (0.54%) JD Edwards
9 2 (0.54%) NetApp