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

6 months to
25 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 316 223 226
Rank change year-on-year -93 +3 +106
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 341 347 457
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.73% 1.18% 1.05%
As % of the General category 1.34% 1.86% 1.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 216 229 282
10th Percentile £350 £360 £363
25th Percentile £388 £475 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £600
90th Percentile £688 £820 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -9.52% - +16.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 17 36
10th Percentile £22.69 £15.00 £17.72
25th Percentile £50.00 £19.00 £20.75
Median hourly rate £75.00 £32.50 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +130.77% +7.76% +0.53%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £60.00
90th Percentile - - £63.91
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £26.25 £28.50
% change year-on-year +109.52% -7.89% +137.50%

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 25,523 18,645 25,420
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.74% 63.17% 58.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,795 11,922 16,091
10th Percentile £305 £300 £270
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £640 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £758
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,617 795 1,928
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.50 £18.13 £15.40
Median hourly rate £29.00 £28.00 £28.42
Median % change year-on-year +3.57% -1.48% -18.80%
75th Percentile £60.00 £56.00 £51.50
90th Percentile £79.40 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.50 £25.15 £27.00
% change year-on-year +1.39% -6.85% -13.66%

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 25 April 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 25 April 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 25 April 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 -144 235 £513 -6.82% 114
Work from Home +18 150 £475 -9.52% 75
London -33 112 £525 -26.32% 41
UK excluding London -153 93 £475 -9.52% 80
East of England -53 40 £475 -13.64% 9
South East -50 23 £475 +123.53% 26
North of England -116 20 £540 -1.82% 21
North West -80 18 £540 -1.82% 18
South West - 6 £700 - 4
Scotland +7 2 - -
North East -23 2 - - 1
Wales -14 1 - - 1
West Midlands -60 1 - - 11
Midlands -65 1 - - 20

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 (1.17%) Apache Airflow
1 4 (1.17%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.88%) Apache Spark
2 3 (0.88%) SAS
3 2 (0.59%) Confluence
3 2 (0.59%) Mendix
3 2 (0.59%) WinCC
4 1 (0.29%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.29%) Anypoint
4 1 (0.29%) CMS
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 29 (8.50%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (4.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (2.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 7 (2.05%) 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 (18.77%) SAP S/4HANA
2 9 (2.64%) SAP EWM
3 8 (2.35%) SAP SD
4 7 (2.05%) SAP PM
5 6 (1.76%) SAP PP
5 6 (1.76%) SAP QM
6 5 (1.47%) SAP MM
6 5 (1.47%) SAP WM
7 4 (1.17%) Dynamics CRM
7 4 (1.17%) SAP MDG
8 2 (0.59%) NetSuite
8 2 (0.59%) Oracle EBS
8 2 (0.59%) Sage X3
8 2 (0.59%) SAP ERP
8 2 (0.59%) SAP GTS
8 2 (0.59%) TrackWise
9 1 (0.29%) Oracle ERP
9 1 (0.29%) SAP CS
9 1 (0.29%) SAP LE
9 1 (0.29%) SAP MDM
Cloud Services
1 41 (12.02%) AWS
2 33 (9.68%) Azure
3 17 (4.99%) GCP
4 16 (4.69%) SaaS
5 14 (4.11%) Power Platform
6 13 (3.81%) Microsoft 365
7 8 (2.35%) dbt
7 8 (2.35%) Snowflake
8 6 (1.76%) Figma
9 5 (1.47%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (1.47%) GitHub
10 4 (1.17%) Dynamics 365
10 4 (1.17%) Microsoft Purview
10 4 (1.17%) Veeva
11 3 (0.88%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (0.88%) Amazon SageMaker
11 3 (0.88%) Azure AKS
11 3 (0.88%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 3 (0.88%) Cloud Run
11 3 (0.88%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.17%) Firewall
2 3 (0.88%) Ethernet
2 3 (0.88%) Modbus
2 3 (0.88%) Network Security
2 3 (0.88%) RS-485
3 2 (0.59%) BGP
3 2 (0.59%) OSPF
3 2 (0.59%) VLAN
3 2 (0.59%) Wireless
4 1 (0.29%) AMQP
4 1 (0.29%) HTTP
4 1 (0.29%) Junos
4 1 (0.29%) SSL
4 1 (0.29%) TCP/IP
4 1 (0.29%) Telepresence
4 1 (0.29%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (4.11%) Power BI
2 8 (2.35%) Data Warehouse
3 7 (2.05%) Data Lake
4 6 (1.76%) Tableau
5 4 (1.17%) Metadata
6 3 (0.88%) BigQuery
6 3 (0.88%) SAP Data Services
7 2 (0.59%) Electronic Patient Records
7 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.59%) Snowflake Schema
7 2 (0.59%) SQL Server
7 2 (0.59%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (0.59%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 1 (0.29%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.29%) Hadoop
8 1 (0.29%) Neo4j
8 1 (0.29%) NoSQL
8 1 (0.29%) Oracle Reports
8 1 (0.29%) PostgreSQL
8 1 (0.29%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 14 (4.11%) JIRA
2 12 (3.52%) Git
3 3 (0.88%) Cypress.io
3 3 (0.88%) LSMW
3 3 (0.88%) MLflow
4 2 (0.59%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.29%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.29%) ER Studio
5 1 (0.29%) GitLab
5 1 (0.29%) Hudson
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle APEX
5 1 (0.29%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.29%) Selenium
5 1 (0.29%) SonarQube
General
1 74 (21.70%) Social Skills
2 70 (20.53%) Manufacturing
3 69 (20.23%) Finance
4 37 (10.85%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (2.93%) Documentation Skills
5 10 (2.93%) Marketing
5 10 (2.93%) Retail
6 9 (2.64%) Presentation Skills
7 8 (2.35%) Advertising
7 8 (2.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (2.35%) Organisational Skills
8 7 (2.05%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (1.76%) Billing
9 6 (1.76%) Public Speaking
10 5 (1.47%) Legal
10 5 (1.47%) Public Sector
11 4 (1.17%) Wearables
12 3 (0.88%) Banking
12 3 (0.88%) Health Technology
13 2 (0.59%) Digital Health
Job Titles
1 35 (10.26%) Lead
2 27 (7.92%) Senior
3 26 (7.62%) Project Manager
4 23 (6.74%) Analyst
5 21 (6.16%) Consultant
6 15 (4.40%) Data Engineer
6 15 (4.40%) Developer
7 14 (4.11%) Designer
8 13 (3.81%) Architect
8 13 (3.81%) Data Scientist
9 12 (3.52%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
9 12 (3.52%) Business Analyst
9 12 (3.52%) SAP Consultant
10 9 (2.64%) Python Developer
11 8 (2.35%) Accountant
11 8 (2.35%) Product Designer
11 8 (2.35%) Quality Manager
11 8 (2.35%) Systems Accountant
12 7 (2.05%) IT Support
12 7 (2.05%) Product Owner
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (2.05%) FastAPI
2 5 (1.47%) IDoc
2 5 (1.47%) PyTorch
2 5 (1.47%) React
3 4 (1.17%) Playwright
3 4 (1.17%) pytest
3 4 (1.17%) TensorFlow
4 3 (0.88%) EDI
4 3 (0.88%) Google JAX
4 3 (0.88%) J2EE
4 3 (0.88%) JAX
4 3 (0.88%) Ray
4 3 (0.88%) REST
5 2 (0.59%) BAPI
5 2 (0.59%) CSS
5 2 (0.59%) JSON
5 2 (0.59%) NumPy
5 2 (0.59%) RESTful
5 2 (0.59%) SciPy
5 2 (0.59%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 71 (20.82%) Life Science
2 16 (4.69%) Data Structures
3 13 (3.81%) Product Ownership
4 12 (3.52%) FMCG
5 11 (3.23%) LIMS
6 9 (2.64%) Self-Motivation
7 8 (2.35%) Cloud Native
7 8 (2.35%) CRISPR
7 8 (2.35%) Data Protection Act
7 8 (2.35%) NHS
7 8 (2.35%) Onboarding
8 7 (2.05%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (1.76%) AI Agents
9 6 (1.76%) Genomics
10 5 (1.47%) Operational Technology
11 4 (1.17%) Biopharmaceutical
11 4 (1.17%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (1.17%) SCADA
12 3 (0.88%) Pharmacovigilance
12 3 (0.88%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 11 (3.23%) Windows
2 2 (0.59%) Linux
2 2 (0.59%) Mac OS
2 2 (0.59%) Windows 10
2 2 (0.59%) Windows Server
3 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 1 (0.29%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 54 (15.84%) AI
2 47 (13.78%) Validation
3 46 (13.49%) ERP
4 44 (12.90%) Agile
5 41 (12.02%) Migration
6 40 (11.73%) Stakeholder Management
7 31 (9.09%) Biotechnology
7 31 (9.09%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 29 (8.50%) Machine Learning
9 28 (8.21%) Problem-Solving
10 27 (7.92%) Data Science
10 27 (7.92%) Project Management
10 27 (7.92%) Workshop Facilitation
11 25 (7.33%) Analytics
11 25 (7.33%) Data Migration
12 23 (6.74%) DevOps
13 22 (6.45%) Continuous Improvement
13 22 (6.45%) Data Governance
13 22 (6.45%) Decision-Making
14 21 (6.16%) Data Pipeline
Programming Languages
1 55 (16.13%) Python
2 31 (9.09%) SQL
3 12 (3.52%) R
4 6 (1.76%) JavaScript
5 5 (1.47%) TypeScript
6 4 (1.17%) Java
7 3 (0.88%) ABAP
8 1 (0.29%) Bicep
8 1 (0.29%) C
8 1 (0.29%) C++
8 1 (0.29%) DataWeave
8 1 (0.29%) PL/SQL
8 1 (0.29%) SHACL
8 1 (0.29%) T-SQL
8 1 (0.29%) XPath
8 1 (0.29%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 41 (12.02%) Degree
2 9 (2.64%) A+ Certification
2 9 (2.64%) ACCA
2 9 (2.64%) CIMA
3 6 (1.76%) Master's Degree
3 6 (1.76%) PMI Certification
3 6 (1.76%) PMP
4 3 (0.88%) HND
4 3 (0.88%) Microsoft Certification
5 2 (0.59%) BPSS Clearance
5 2 (0.59%) HNC
5 2 (0.59%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 1 (0.29%) CISM
6 1 (0.29%) CISSP
6 1 (0.29%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (0.29%) ECDL
6 1 (0.29%) OCP
6 1 (0.29%) Oracle Certification
6 1 (0.29%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (10.85%) GxP
2 19 (5.57%) GMP
3 14 (4.11%) QA
4 12 (3.52%) Data Quality
5 9 (2.64%) GDPR
6 8 (2.35%) PMO
7 6 (1.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 4 (1.17%) 21 CFR Part 11
8 4 (1.17%) Accessibility
8 4 (1.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.59%) GAMP
9 2 (0.59%) GRC
9 2 (0.59%) NIST
10 1 (0.29%) EU AI Act
10 1 (0.29%) ISO 13485
10 1 (0.29%) ITGC
10 1 (0.29%) NIST 800
System Software
1 10 (2.93%) Docker
2 2 (0.59%) VMware Infrastructure
2 2 (0.59%) vSphere
3 1 (0.29%) Active Directory
3 1 (0.29%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 6 (1.76%) Kubernetes
2 5 (1.47%) Terraform
3 1 (0.29%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle RMAN
3 1 (0.29%) RSA Archer
Vendors
1 91 (26.69%) SAP
2 38 (11.14%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.52%) Oracle
4 11 (3.23%) Google
5 7 (2.05%) SOTI
6 6 (1.76%) Databricks
6 6 (1.76%) Salesforce
7 5 (1.47%) Ariba
7 5 (1.47%) LabWare
8 4 (1.17%) ServiceNow
9 3 (0.88%) Adobe
9 3 (0.88%) Cisco
9 3 (0.88%) Foundry
9 3 (0.88%) IBM
9 3 (0.88%) LabVantage
9 3 (0.88%) MuleSoft
9 3 (0.88%) Palantir
9 3 (0.88%) VMware
10 2 (0.59%) Dell
10 2 (0.59%) HP