Reference Data Management Contract Job Trends

Reference Data Management
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Reference Data Management skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 13 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 573 507 584
Rank change year-on-year -66 +77 +168
Contract jobs citing Reference Data Management 8 13 13
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.022% 0.041% 0.030%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.025% 0.047% 0.035%
Number of daily rates quoted 7 3 9
10th Percentile £348 £441 £500
25th Percentile £409 £557 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £750 £625
Median % change year-on-year -36.67% +20.00% -
75th Percentile £619 £856 £738
90th Percentile £670 £920 £748
UK excluding London median daily rate £563 - £625
% change year-on-year - - +8.70%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Reference Data Management falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 32,128 27,808 37,611
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.80% 88.68% 87.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,262 16,883 24,972
10th Percentile £304 £306 £304
25th Percentile £406 £413 £415
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £650
90th Percentile £720 £743 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,977 884 1,589
10th Percentile £14.52 £15.62 £14.17
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.30 £18.16
Median hourly rate £25.15 £31.69 £40.50
Median % change year-on-year -20.64% -21.75% +15.71%
75th Percentile £56.00 £61.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.39 £74.66 £76.62
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £30.00 £43.75
% change year-on-year -20.58% -31.43% +51.38%

Reference Data Management
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Reference Data Management relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Reference Data Management job vacancy trend in the UK

Reference Data Management
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Reference Data Management.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Reference Data Management

Reference Data Management
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Reference Data Management over the 6 months to 13 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Reference Data Management in the UK

Reference Data Management
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Reference Data Management.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Reference Data Management

Reference Data Management
Top 7 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Reference Data Management within the UK over the 6 months to 13 January 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 -76 8 £475 -36.67% 1
London -40 4 £375 -50.00% 1
UK excluding London -47 4 £563 - 1
South East -17 3 £650 - 1
Work from Home -7 1 £375 -
West Midlands -35 1 £475 -
Midlands -44 1 £475 -

Reference Data Management
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 1 (12.50%) Apache
1 1 (12.50%) Apache Spark
1 1 (12.50%) Confluence
Business Applications
1 2 (25.00%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (25.00%) Metadata
2 1 (12.50%) Big Data
2 1 (12.50%) NoSQL
2 1 (12.50%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (12.50%) Relational Database
2 1 (12.50%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (37.50%) ERwin
1 3 (37.50%) PowerDesigner
2 1 (12.50%) JIRA
General
1 3 (37.50%) Social Skills
2 2 (25.00%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (25.00%) Retail
3 1 (12.50%) Banking
3 1 (12.50%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 4 (50.00%) Data Modeller
2 2 (25.00%) Consultant
2 2 (25.00%) Data Consultant
2 2 (25.00%) Reference Data Specialist
3 1 (12.50%) Data Management Specialist
3 1 (12.50%) Management Consultant
3 1 (12.50%) Senior
3 1 (12.50%) Senior Data Modeller
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (12.50%) GraphQL
1 1 (12.50%) JSON
1 1 (12.50%) JSON Schema
Miscellaneous
1 8 (100.00%) Reference Data
2 2 (25.00%) Reinsurance
3 1 (12.50%) Analytical Mindset
3 1 (12.50%) Data Structures
3 1 (12.50%) Management Information System
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (100.00%) Data Management
2 7 (87.50%) Data Governance
3 5 (62.50%) DAMA
4 4 (50.00%) Data Modelling
5 3 (37.50%) Change Management
5 3 (37.50%) Data Lineage
5 3 (37.50%) Logical Data Model
5 3 (37.50%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 3 (37.50%) Stakeholder Management
6 2 (25.00%) Conceptual Models
6 2 (25.00%) Data Architecture
6 2 (25.00%) Data Design
6 2 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
6 2 (25.00%) TOGAF
6 2 (25.00%) Workshop Facilitation
7 1 (12.50%) AI
7 1 (12.50%) Backlog Management
7 1 (12.50%) Computer Science
7 1 (12.50%) Data Analysis
7 1 (12.50%) Enterprise Architecture
Programming Languages
1 2 (25.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 1 (12.50%) Computer Science Degree
1 1 (12.50%) Degree
1 1 (12.50%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (37.50%) Data Quality
2 1 (12.50%) GDPR
2 1 (12.50%) IFRS
2 1 (12.50%) IFRS 17
2 1 (12.50%) Solvency II
Vendors
1 2 (25.00%) Oracle
1 2 (25.00%) Sparx