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

6 months to
1 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 324 241 286
Rank change year-on-year -83 +45 +31
Contract jobs citing Pharmaceutical 395 371 315
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.74% 1.13% 0.80%
As % of the General category 1.35% 1.79% 1.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 209 257 177
10th Percentile £312 £363 £363
25th Percentile £388 £475 £463
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £550 £550
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% - +4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £621
90th Percentile £676 £754 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £550 £500
% change year-on-year -13.64% +10.00% -1.48%
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 13 25
10th Percentile £16.75 £16.22 £17.72
25th Percentile £32.07 £20.00 £26.75
Median hourly rate £50.25 £51.80 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.98% +29.49% +77.54%
75th Percentile £97.50 £97.50 £60.00
90th Percentile - - £68.45
UK excluding London median hourly rate £38.72 £17.46 £45.00
% change year-on-year +121.80% -61.21% +153.95%

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 29,343 20,776 22,576
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.04% 63.17% 57.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,454 12,989 14,241
10th Percentile £313 £280 £286
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,143 1,108 1,460
10th Percentile £14.00 £13.25 £13.86
25th Percentile £17.92 £16.13 £16.50
Median hourly rate £32.50 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.22% -32.93% +25.00%
75th Percentile £60.00 £51.10 £57.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.05 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.00 £22.14 £38.12
% change year-on-year +49.05% -41.92% +46.62%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -113 303 £500 -9.09% 401
Work from Home +10 181 £475 -8.43% 154
London -9 162 £525 -10.64% 177
UK excluding London -137 110 £475 -13.64% 247
East of England -39 46 £500 -13.04% 31
South East -50 26 £475 -17.75% 64
North of England -108 21 £463 -20.26% 77
North West -92 15 £475 -18.10% 50
South West -33 10 £463 -38.33% 21
Midlands -54 4 £450 -14.29% 31
Wales -14 3 £175 -42.71% 17
Yorkshire -36 3 £463 - 15
North East -38 3 £290 - 12
East Midlands -17 1 £450 -14.29% 12
West Midlands -64 1 - - 19

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 (1.27%) IIS
2 4 (1.01%) FactoryTalk
2 4 (1.01%) SAS
3 3 (0.76%) Apache Airflow
3 3 (0.76%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.51%) Apache
4 2 (0.51%) Confluence
4 2 (0.51%) WinCC
5 1 (0.25%) Adobe Experience Manager
5 1 (0.25%) Anypoint
5 1 (0.25%) Apache Spark
5 1 (0.25%) CMS
5 1 (0.25%) Mendix
Applications
1 24 (6.08%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (3.80%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (2.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (2.03%) Microsoft Project
5 4 (1.01%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.51%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 2 (0.51%) Adobe Illustrator
6 2 (0.51%) InDesign
6 2 (0.51%) Photoshop
7 1 (0.25%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 65 (16.46%) SAP S/4HANA
2 10 (2.53%) SAP SD
3 7 (1.77%) SAP EWM
4 5 (1.27%) SAP MM
4 5 (1.27%) TrackWise
5 4 (1.01%) Dynamics CRM
5 4 (1.01%) SAP FI
6 3 (0.76%) SAP CO
6 3 (0.76%) SAP ERP
6 3 (0.76%) SAP FI/CO
6 3 (0.76%) SAP IBP
6 3 (0.76%) SAP MDG
6 3 (0.76%) SAP PP
6 3 (0.76%) SAP QM
7 2 (0.51%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.51%) Oracle EBS
7 2 (0.51%) SAP GRC
7 2 (0.51%) SAP GTS
7 2 (0.51%) SAP WM
8 1 (0.25%) JDE EnterpriseOne
Cloud Services
1 53 (13.42%) AWS
2 41 (10.38%) Azure
3 19 (4.81%) SaaS
4 17 (4.30%) Power Platform
5 15 (3.80%) GCP
6 11 (2.78%) Snowflake
7 10 (2.53%) dbt
7 10 (2.53%) GitHub
7 10 (2.53%) Veeva
8 8 (2.03%) Azure DevOps
9 7 (1.77%) Figma
10 6 (1.52%) Dynamics 365
11 5 (1.27%) Cloud Run
11 5 (1.27%) GitHub Actions
11 5 (1.27%) Serverless
12 4 (1.01%) AWS CloudFormation
12 4 (1.01%) Google Workspace
13 3 (0.76%) Amazon S3
13 3 (0.76%) Amazon SageMaker
13 3 (0.76%) Microsoft 365
Communications & Networking
1 9 (2.28%) Firewall
2 8 (2.03%) VLAN
3 6 (1.52%) TCP/IP
4 5 (1.27%) HTTPS
5 4 (1.01%) DNS
6 3 (0.76%) VPN
6 3 (0.76%) WAN
7 2 (0.51%) Network Security
7 2 (0.51%) X.21
8 1 (0.25%) AMQP
8 1 (0.25%) DHCP
8 1 (0.25%) HTTP
8 1 (0.25%) Junos
8 1 (0.25%) NGFW
8 1 (0.25%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (4.30%) Power BI
2 12 (3.04%) Data Warehouse
3 8 (2.03%) Metadata
4 6 (1.52%) PostgreSQL
4 6 (1.52%) Tableau
5 5 (1.27%) MySQL
5 5 (1.27%) NoSQL
6 4 (1.01%) Oracle Database
6 4 (1.01%) Relational Database
6 4 (1.01%) SAP BW
6 4 (1.01%) SAP HANA
7 3 (0.76%) BigQuery
7 3 (0.76%) Data Lake
7 3 (0.76%) Data Mining
7 3 (0.76%) DynamoDB
7 3 (0.76%) Neo4j
7 3 (0.76%) Semantic Layer
7 3 (0.76%) SQL Server
7 3 (0.76%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 2 (0.51%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 16 (4.05%) JIRA
2 13 (3.29%) Git
3 5 (1.27%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.76%) Cypress.io
4 3 (0.76%) MLflow
5 2 (0.51%) Visual Studio
6 1 (0.25%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.25%) ER Studio
6 1 (0.25%) GitLab
6 1 (0.25%) LSMW
6 1 (0.25%) Postman
6 1 (0.25%) ScriptRunner
6 1 (0.25%) Selenium
6 1 (0.25%) SonarQube
6 1 (0.25%) TestRail
6 1 (0.25%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 108 (27.34%) Social Skills
2 86 (21.77%) Manufacturing
3 70 (17.72%) Finance
4 57 (14.43%) Analytical Skills
5 14 (3.54%) Marketing
5 14 (3.54%) Organisational Skills
5 14 (3.54%) Retail
6 10 (2.53%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 10 (2.53%) Presentation Skills
7 9 (2.28%) Advertising
7 9 (2.28%) Legal
8 7 (1.77%) Billing
9 6 (1.52%) Banking
9 6 (1.52%) Documentation Skills
9 6 (1.52%) Public Speaking
10 5 (1.27%) Aerospace
10 5 (1.27%) Automotive
10 5 (1.27%) Health Technology
10 5 (1.27%) Law
10 5 (1.27%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 41 (10.38%) Consultant
2 39 (9.87%) Analyst
3 37 (9.37%) Project Manager
4 35 (8.86%) Lead
4 35 (8.86%) Senior
5 25 (6.33%) SAP Consultant
6 24 (6.08%) Business Analyst
7 21 (5.32%) Architect
8 18 (4.56%) Data Engineer
9 15 (3.80%) Developer
9 15 (3.80%) Product Owner
10 14 (3.54%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
11 9 (2.28%) AWS Engineer
12 8 (2.03%) Data Analyst
12 8 (2.03%) Data Scientist
13 7 (1.77%) Designer
13 7 (1.77%) SAP Manager
14 6 (1.52%) SAP Analyst
14 6 (1.52%) Snowflake Data Engineer
14 6 (1.52%) Snowflake Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (3.29%) REST
2 7 (1.77%) React
3 6 (1.52%) IDoc
3 6 (1.52%) PyTorch
4 5 (1.27%) EDI
4 5 (1.27%) RESTful
4 5 (1.27%) SOAP
4 5 (1.27%) XML
5 4 (1.01%) FastAPI
5 4 (1.01%) Hibernate
5 4 (1.01%) Pandas
5 4 (1.01%) SAP Fiori
5 4 (1.01%) SQLAlchemy
6 3 (0.76%) Google JAX
6 3 (0.76%) JAX
6 3 (0.76%) Kafka
6 3 (0.76%) Playwright
6 3 (0.76%) Ray
6 3 (0.76%) SAPUI5
6 3 (0.76%) TensorFlow
Miscellaneous
1 126 (31.90%) Life Science
2 23 (5.82%) Product Ownership
3 16 (4.05%) Data Structures
3 16 (4.05%) FMCG
3 16 (4.05%) LIMS
4 13 (3.29%) CRISPR
5 11 (2.78%) Operational Technology
6 9 (2.28%) Cloud Native
6 9 (2.28%) Data Protection Act
6 9 (2.28%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (1.77%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (1.77%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.52%) Biopharmaceutical
8 6 (1.52%) NHS
8 6 (1.52%) SCADA
9 5 (1.27%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.27%) Genomics
9 5 (1.27%) Onboarding
10 4 (1.01%) Greenfield Project
10 4 (1.01%) Manufacturing Execution System
Operating Systems
1 17 (4.30%) Windows
2 7 (1.77%) Windows Server
3 3 (0.76%) Linux
4 1 (0.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.25%) Unix
4 1 (0.25%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (18.23%) AI
2 68 (17.22%) Stakeholder Management
3 67 (16.96%) Agile
4 62 (15.70%) Validation
5 48 (12.15%) Problem-Solving
6 46 (11.65%) Biotechnology
7 43 (10.89%) Migration
8 40 (10.13%) ERP
8 40 (10.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 39 (9.87%) Continuous Improvement
10 34 (8.61%) Roadmaps
11 33 (8.35%) Analytics
11 33 (8.35%) Machine Learning
12 31 (7.85%) CI/CD
12 31 (7.85%) Data Pipeline
13 30 (7.59%) Data Modelling
13 30 (7.59%) Project Management
13 30 (7.59%) Workshop Facilitation
14 28 (7.09%) Data Governance
15 26 (6.58%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 66 (16.71%) Python
2 37 (9.37%) SQL
3 13 (3.29%) R
4 8 (2.03%) Java
5 6 (1.52%) ABAP
6 5 (1.27%) JavaScript
7 4 (1.01%) PowerShell
7 4 (1.01%) TypeScript
8 3 (0.76%) C#
9 2 (0.51%) Cypher
9 2 (0.51%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 1 (0.25%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.25%) Bicep
10 1 (0.25%) DataWeave
10 1 (0.25%) Gremlin
10 1 (0.25%) MATLAB
10 1 (0.25%) SHACL
10 1 (0.25%) SPARQL
10 1 (0.25%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.25%) XQuery
Qualifications
1 48 (12.15%) Degree
2 12 (3.04%) PMI Certification
2 12 (3.04%) PMP
3 7 (1.77%) Security Cleared
4 6 (1.52%) Master's Degree
5 5 (1.27%) CSPO
5 5 (1.27%) SC Cleared
6 4 (1.01%) ACCA
6 4 (1.01%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.01%) CIMA
7 3 (0.76%) CISM
7 3 (0.76%) CISSP
7 3 (0.76%) Microsoft Certification
8 2 (0.51%) Computer Science Degree
8 2 (0.51%) HNC
8 2 (0.51%) HND
8 2 (0.51%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 1 (0.25%) (ISC)2 CCSP
9 1 (0.25%) Azure Certification
9 1 (0.25%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 58 (14.68%) GxP
2 21 (5.32%) QA
3 20 (5.06%) Data Quality
4 19 (4.81%) GMP
5 14 (3.54%) 21 CFR Part 11
6 13 (3.29%) GDPR
7 11 (2.78%) GRC
7 11 (2.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 9 (2.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 6 (1.52%) HIPAA
9 6 (1.52%) PMO
10 5 (1.27%) PCI DSS
11 3 (0.76%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.76%) EU AI Act
11 3 (0.76%) NIST
12 2 (0.51%) GAMP
12 2 (0.51%) NIST 800
13 1 (0.25%) CDISC
13 1 (0.25%) SLA
13 1 (0.25%) SNOMED CT
System Software
1 11 (2.78%) Docker
2 6 (1.52%) Active Directory
2 6 (1.52%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (0.51%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.51%) vSphere
4 1 (0.25%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 13 (3.29%) Terraform
2 7 (1.77%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.25%) Apache Ranger
3 1 (0.25%) FortiGate
3 1 (0.25%) Oracle RMAN
3 1 (0.25%) Tivoli Storage Manager
3 1 (0.25%) WSUS
Vendors
1 91 (23.04%) SAP
2 27 (6.84%) Microsoft
3 12 (3.04%) Oracle
4 10 (2.53%) Google
5 9 (2.28%) Databricks
6 8 (2.03%) ServiceNow
6 8 (2.03%) VMware
7 7 (1.77%) Ariba
7 7 (1.77%) Rockwell
8 6 (1.52%) Palo Alto
8 6 (1.52%) Salesforce
8 6 (1.52%) Zscaler
9 4 (1.01%) LabVantage
9 4 (1.01%) MuleSoft
10 3 (0.76%) Adobe
10 3 (0.76%) Conga
10 3 (0.76%) Informatica
10 3 (0.76%) LabWare
10 3 (0.76%) Palantir
10 3 (0.76%) Siemens