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

6 months to
10 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 318 231 265
Rank change year-on-year -87 +34 +65
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 356 339 389
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 1.15% 0.89%
As % of the General category 1.33% 1.82% 1.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 209 226 234
10th Percentile £343 £378 £363
25th Percentile £388 £478 £453
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% +4.76% +4.48%
75th Percentile £600 £700 £600
90th Percentile £675 £820 £718
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £525 £500
% change year-on-year -9.52% +5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 12 39
10th Percentile £15.87 £15.91 £19.74
25th Percentile £50.00 £19.75 £20.75
Median hourly rate £70.00 £51.80 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +35.15% +38.12% +25.00%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £57.50
90th Percentile - - £61.56
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £18.02 £40.00
% change year-on-year +205.17% -54.94% +77.54%

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 26,686 18,634 24,964
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.93% 63.44% 57.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,124 11,755 15,662
10th Percentile £313 £280 £275
25th Percentile £413 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £507 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.08% -3.43% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.21% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,775 862 2,008
10th Percentile £13.81 £13.46 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.87 £16.73 £15.50
Median hourly rate £31.25 £27.70 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.82% -7.67% -6.25%
75th Percentile £60.00 £53.95 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £74.88 £67.41
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.58 £24.34 £28.42
% change year-on-year +25.64% -14.36% +3.35%

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 10 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 10 June 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 10 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 -134 256 £506 -8.05% 160
Work from Home +8 156 £475 -9.52% 74
London -23 140 £525 -28.47% 65
UK excluding London -145 87 £475 -9.52% 119
East of England -48 37 £488 -11.36% 8
North of England -107 22 £475 -13.64% 38
South East -54 19 £553 -23.69% 45
North West -68 17 £475 -13.64% 23
South West -21 4 £750 - 11
North East -27 3 £290 - 1
Midlands -67 3 - - 13
Wales -17 2 £175 -42.71% 4
Yorkshire -54 2 £463 - 15
West Midlands -54 1 - - 7

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 (1.12%) IIS
2 3 (0.84%) Apache Airflow
2 3 (0.84%) SAS
2 3 (0.84%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.56%) WinCC
4 1 (0.28%) Adobe Experience Manager
4 1 (0.28%) Anypoint
4 1 (0.28%) Apache
4 1 (0.28%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.28%) CMS
4 1 (0.28%) Confluence
4 1 (0.28%) Mendix
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 24 (6.74%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (3.37%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.97%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.56%) Adobe Creative Suite
4 2 (0.56%) Adobe Illustrator
4 2 (0.56%) InDesign
4 2 (0.56%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.56%) Photoshop
5 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 57 (16.01%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.81%) SAP SD
3 7 (1.97%) SAP EWM
4 5 (1.40%) SAP MM
5 4 (1.12%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (1.12%) SAP PM
6 3 (0.84%) NetSuite
6 3 (0.84%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.56%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.56%) Sage X3
7 2 (0.56%) SAP ERP
7 2 (0.56%) SAP GTS
7 2 (0.56%) SAP MDG
7 2 (0.56%) SAP WM
7 2 (0.56%) TrackWise
8 1 (0.28%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.28%) SAP LE
8 1 (0.28%) SAP MDG-M
8 1 (0.28%) SAP MII
8 1 (0.28%) SAP PP-PI
Cloud Services
1 48 (13.48%) AWS
2 33 (9.27%) Azure
3 18 (5.06%) SaaS
4 12 (3.37%) GCP
5 11 (3.09%) Power Platform
6 9 (2.53%) dbt
7 7 (1.97%) GitHub
7 7 (1.97%) Snowflake
7 7 (1.97%) Veeva
8 6 (1.69%) Dynamics 365
8 6 (1.69%) Figma
8 6 (1.69%) Microsoft 365
9 5 (1.40%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.12%) AWS CloudFormation
10 4 (1.12%) Cloud Run
11 3 (0.84%) Amazon EKS
11 3 (0.84%) Amazon S3
11 3 (0.84%) Amazon SageMaker
11 3 (0.84%) Google Workspace
11 3 (0.84%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.40%) Firewall
2 4 (1.12%) DNS
2 4 (1.12%) HTTPS
2 4 (1.12%) VLAN
3 3 (0.84%) Ethernet
3 3 (0.84%) Modbus
3 3 (0.84%) RS-485
3 3 (0.84%) VPN
3 3 (0.84%) WAN
4 2 (0.56%) TCP/IP
4 2 (0.56%) X.21
5 1 (0.28%) AMQP
5 1 (0.28%) DHCP
5 1 (0.28%) HTTP
5 1 (0.28%) Junos
5 1 (0.28%) Network Security
5 1 (0.28%) NGFW
5 1 (0.28%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (3.09%) Power BI
2 8 (2.25%) Data Warehouse
3 4 (1.12%) Tableau
4 3 (0.84%) DynamoDB
4 3 (0.84%) Metadata
4 3 (0.84%) NoSQL
4 3 (0.84%) Oracle Database
4 3 (0.84%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 2 (0.56%) Amazon QuickSight
5 2 (0.56%) BigQuery
5 2 (0.56%) Data Lake
5 2 (0.56%) Snowflake Schema
5 2 (0.56%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.56%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.28%) Big Data
6 1 (0.28%) Hadoop
6 1 (0.28%) Neo4j
6 1 (0.28%) Oracle Reports
6 1 (0.28%) SAP Data Services
6 1 (0.28%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 13 (3.65%) JIRA
2 11 (3.09%) Git
3 3 (0.84%) Cypress.io
3 3 (0.84%) MLflow
4 1 (0.28%) Bitbucket
4 1 (0.28%) ER Studio
4 1 (0.28%) GitLab
4 1 (0.28%) Hudson
4 1 (0.28%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.28%) LSMW
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle APEX
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle Forms
4 1 (0.28%) Postman
4 1 (0.28%) Selenium
4 1 (0.28%) SonarQube
4 1 (0.28%) TestRail
General
1 82 (23.03%) Social Skills
2 76 (21.35%) Manufacturing
3 72 (20.22%) Finance
4 35 (9.83%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (2.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 10 (2.81%) Marketing
5 10 (2.81%) Presentation Skills
6 9 (2.53%) Advertising
6 9 (2.53%) Legal
6 9 (2.53%) Organisational Skills
6 9 (2.53%) Retail
7 7 (1.97%) Billing
8 6 (1.69%) Public Speaking
9 5 (1.40%) Automotive
9 5 (1.40%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.40%) Law
10 4 (1.12%) Digital Health
10 4 (1.12%) Public Sector
11 3 (0.84%) Banking
11 3 (0.84%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 39 (10.96%) Lead
2 35 (9.83%) Senior
3 33 (9.27%) Project Manager
4 30 (8.43%) Consultant
5 29 (8.15%) Analyst
6 18 (5.06%) Data Engineer
7 16 (4.49%) Business Analyst
7 16 (4.49%) SAP Consultant
8 13 (3.65%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
9 12 (3.37%) Architect
10 10 (2.81%) Designer
10 10 (2.81%) Developer
11 9 (2.53%) Data Scientist
11 9 (2.53%) Product Owner
12 8 (2.25%) Accountant
12 8 (2.25%) AWS Engineer
12 8 (2.25%) Systems Accountant
13 7 (1.97%) Compliance Manager
13 7 (1.97%) Product Designer
13 7 (1.97%) Risk Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.69%) IDoc
1 6 (1.69%) REST
2 5 (1.40%) EDI
2 5 (1.40%) PyTorch
3 4 (1.12%) FastAPI
3 4 (1.12%) Pandas
3 4 (1.12%) React
4 3 (0.84%) Google JAX
4 3 (0.84%) J2EE
4 3 (0.84%) JAX
4 3 (0.84%) Playwright
4 3 (0.84%) Ray
4 3 (0.84%) TensorFlow
4 3 (0.84%) XML
5 2 (0.56%) boto
5 2 (0.56%) JSON
5 2 (0.56%) Kafka
5 2 (0.56%) OAuth
5 2 (0.56%) Web Services
5 2 (0.56%) XSLT
Miscellaneous
1 87 (24.44%) Life Science
2 16 (4.49%) FMCG
2 16 (4.49%) Product Ownership
3 15 (4.21%) Data Structures
3 15 (4.21%) LIMS
4 13 (3.65%) CRISPR
5 9 (2.53%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (2.25%) Data Protection Act
7 7 (1.97%) Cloud Native
7 7 (1.97%) Operational Technology
8 5 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.40%) Genomics
8 5 (1.40%) NHS
8 5 (1.40%) Onboarding
9 4 (1.12%) Biopharmaceutical
9 4 (1.12%) Management Information System
9 4 (1.12%) Pharmacovigilance
9 4 (1.12%) Robotics
9 4 (1.12%) SCADA
10 3 (0.84%) Omics
Operating Systems
1 13 (3.65%) Windows
2 3 (0.84%) Windows Server
3 2 (0.56%) Linux
4 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.28%) Unix
4 1 (0.28%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (15.73%) AI
2 55 (15.45%) Validation
3 49 (13.76%) Agile
4 45 (12.64%) ERP
5 44 (12.36%) Stakeholder Management
6 41 (11.52%) Migration
7 37 (10.39%) Biotechnology
8 34 (9.55%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 29 (8.15%) Problem-Solving
10 28 (7.87%) Project Management
11 27 (7.58%) Machine Learning
12 26 (7.30%) Continuous Improvement
12 26 (7.30%) DevOps
13 25 (7.02%) Data Migration
13 25 (7.02%) Data Pipeline
13 25 (7.02%) Decision-Making
13 25 (7.02%) Workshop Facilitation
14 24 (6.74%) Roadmaps
15 23 (6.46%) Analytics
16 22 (6.18%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 60 (16.85%) Python
2 31 (8.71%) SQL
3 14 (3.93%) R
4 5 (1.40%) JavaScript
5 4 (1.12%) TypeScript
6 3 (0.84%) ABAP
6 3 (0.84%) Java
7 1 (0.28%) Bicep
7 1 (0.28%) C
7 1 (0.28%) C++
7 1 (0.28%) DataWeave
7 1 (0.28%) Groovy
7 1 (0.28%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.28%) SHACL
7 1 (0.28%) T-SQL
7 1 (0.28%) XPath
7 1 (0.28%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 36 (10.11%) Degree
2 9 (2.53%) ACCA
2 9 (2.53%) CIMA
2 9 (2.53%) PMI Certification
2 9 (2.53%) PMP
3 4 (1.12%) BPSS Clearance
3 4 (1.12%) Master's Degree
3 4 (1.12%) Security Cleared
4 3 (0.84%) A+ Certification
4 3 (0.84%) CISM
4 3 (0.84%) CISSP
4 3 (0.84%) Microsoft Certification
4 3 (0.84%) SC Cleared
5 2 (0.56%) CSPO
5 2 (0.56%) HNC
5 2 (0.56%) HND
5 2 (0.56%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
6 1 (0.28%) Azure Certification
6 1 (0.28%) CCSP
6 1 (0.28%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (12.92%) GxP
2 20 (5.62%) GMP
3 16 (4.49%) QA
4 14 (3.93%) Data Quality
5 10 (2.81%) GDPR
5 10 (2.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (2.53%) GRC
7 8 (2.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 7 (1.97%) PMO
9 6 (1.69%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 4 (1.12%) HIPAA
10 4 (1.12%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.84%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.84%) NIST
12 2 (0.56%) GAMP
12 2 (0.56%) NIST 800
13 1 (0.28%) CDISC
13 1 (0.28%) EU AI Act
13 1 (0.28%) ISO 13485
13 1 (0.28%) ITGC
System Software
1 6 (1.69%) Docker
2 5 (1.40%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.56%) vSphere
4 1 (0.28%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 12 (3.37%) Terraform
2 7 (1.97%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.28%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle RMAN
3 1 (0.28%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.28%) WSUS
Vendors
1 83 (23.31%) SAP
2 28 (7.87%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.37%) Oracle
4 9 (2.53%) Google
5 8 (2.25%) Databricks
6 5 (1.40%) LabWare
6 5 (1.40%) Palo Alto
6 5 (1.40%) Zscaler
7 4 (1.12%) LabVantage
7 4 (1.12%) Salesforce
7 4 (1.12%) ServiceNow
7 4 (1.12%) VMware
8 3 (0.84%) Adobe
8 3 (0.84%) Ariba
8 3 (0.84%) Conga
8 3 (0.84%) MuleSoft
8 3 (0.84%) Palantir
8 3 (0.84%) SOTI
9 2 (0.56%) Citrix
9 2 (0.56%) JD Edwards