Task Automation Contract Job Trends

Task Automation
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Task Automation skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 19 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 247 228 357
Rank change year-on-year -19 +129 +99
Contract jobs citing Task Automation 408 342 244
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.10% 1.09% 0.56%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.26% 1.22% 0.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 288 208 185
10th Percentile £320 £338 £366
25th Percentile £400 £400 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £492 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.63% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £595 £575 £626
90th Percentile £750 £660 £680
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £470 £500
% change year-on-year +1.60% -6.00% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 8 0
10th Percentile £47.98 £21.00 -
25th Percentile £50.94 £21.92 -
Median hourly rate £56.25 £26.83 -
Median % change year-on-year +109.65% - -
75th Percentile £61.94 £42.12 -
90th Percentile £65.13 £65.62 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 £24.66 -
% change year-on-year +169.67% - -

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Task Automation 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 32,398 27,994 37,832
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 87.63% 88.92% 87.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,495 16,988 25,007
10th Percentile £305 £307 £300
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £645
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,977 897 1,738
10th Percentile £14.52 £15.62 £14.02
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.94 £17.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £38.85
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -16.34% +19.54%
75th Percentile £57.00 £62.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £69.25 £74.92 £75.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £30.83 £40.28
% change year-on-year -22.15% -23.46% +54.90%

Task Automation
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Task Automation relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Task Automation job vacancy trend in the UK

Task Automation
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Task Automation.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Task Automation

Task Automation
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Task Automation over the 6 months to 19 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Task Automation in the UK

Task Automation
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Task Automation.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Task Automation

Task Automation
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Task Automation over the 6 months to 19 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Task Automation in the UK

Task Automation
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Task Automation within the UK over the 6 months to 19 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 -22 344 £500 +5.26% 269
UK excluding London -4 200 £478 +1.60% 240
London -13 163 £550 +4.76% 68
Work from Home +37 148 £540 +13.58% 188
North of England -23 64 £450 -2.70% 30
South East -4 43 £445 +11.25% 86
Midlands -22 40 £550 +13.64% 27
West Midlands -15 39 £550 +11.79% 14
Yorkshire -22 35 £450 +9.09% 11
Scotland +15 25 £413 -17.50% 5
North West -29 25 £446 -4.34% 11
South West -19 18 £525 +11.70% 42
East of England -17 8 £500 -16.67% 44
North East -12 4 £365 -22.34% 9
Wales - 2 £506 - 11
Northern Ireland - 2 £683 - 5
East Midlands -26 1 £450 +13.92% 13

Task Automation
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 21 (5.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 19 (4.66%) SharePoint
3 12 (2.94%) Confluence
4 8 (1.96%) Apache
4 8 (1.96%) IIS
5 5 (1.23%) iPlanet
5 5 (1.23%) JBoss
5 5 (1.23%) OpenStack
5 5 (1.23%) WebSphere
5 5 (1.23%) WebSphere Application Server
6 4 (0.98%) Appian
7 2 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.49%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 2 (0.49%) Oracle Workflow
7 2 (0.49%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.25%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.25%) CMS
8 1 (0.25%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 24 (5.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (0.74%) Chatbot
2 3 (0.74%) Microsoft Project
2 3 (0.74%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.49%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.74%) SAP ERP
2 2 (0.49%) Oracle EBS
2 2 (0.49%) Oracle EBS R12
2 2 (0.49%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.49%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.25%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.25%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 192 (47.06%) Azure
2 137 (33.58%) AWS
3 97 (23.77%) GCP
4 43 (10.54%) Entra ID
5 39 (9.56%) GitHub
6 35 (8.58%) Microsoft 365
6 35 (8.58%) OpenShift
7 30 (7.35%) GitHub Actions
8 28 (6.86%) Azure DevOps
9 26 (6.37%) AWS CloudFormation
10 23 (5.64%) Power Platform
10 23 (5.64%) Serverless
11 17 (4.17%) Power Automate
12 15 (3.68%) Amazon EKS
13 14 (3.43%) Amazon S3
13 14 (3.43%) Datadog
14 13 (3.19%) Azure AKS
15 12 (2.94%) OneDrive
16 10 (2.45%) AWS Lambda
16 10 (2.45%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 36 (8.82%) Firewall
2 32 (7.84%) DNS
3 25 (6.13%) DHCP
4 19 (4.66%) SSH
5 17 (4.17%) Kerberos
5 17 (4.17%) TCP/IP
6 14 (3.43%) Network Security
7 10 (2.45%) VPN
7 10 (2.45%) WAN
8 7 (1.72%) LAN
9 6 (1.47%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (1.23%) BGP
10 5 (1.23%) NX-OS
10 5 (1.23%) WLAN
11 4 (0.98%) AMQP
11 4 (0.98%) HTTP
11 4 (0.98%) SD-WAN
12 3 (0.74%) SSL
13 2 (0.49%) Internet
13 2 (0.49%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (8.58%) SQL Server
2 31 (7.60%) PostgreSQL
3 24 (5.88%) Relational Database
4 21 (5.15%) Oracle Database
5 17 (4.17%) Power BI
6 10 (2.45%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (2.45%) MySQL
7 7 (1.72%) Data Warehouse
7 7 (1.72%) NoSQL
7 7 (1.72%) RDBMS
8 6 (1.47%) MongoDB
8 6 (1.47%) Oracle Reports
9 5 (1.23%) Pinecone
9 5 (1.23%) Power Query
9 5 (1.23%) Tableau
10 4 (0.98%) Azure SQL Database
10 4 (0.98%) BigQuery
10 4 (0.98%) Data Lake
10 4 (0.98%) InfluxDB
10 4 (0.98%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 58 (14.22%) Git
2 52 (12.75%) Jenkins
3 39 (9.56%) GitLab
4 18 (4.41%) JIRA
4 18 (4.41%) Sonatype Nexus
5 12 (2.94%) Bitbucket
6 11 (2.70%) CircleCI
7 10 (2.45%) Maven
8 8 (1.96%) JUnit
8 8 (1.96%) SonarQube
9 6 (1.47%) Artifactory
9 6 (1.47%) Postman
9 6 (1.47%) Selenium
10 5 (1.23%) Bitbucket Server
10 5 (1.23%) CA Release Automation
10 5 (1.23%) Cypress.io
10 5 (1.23%) Gradle
10 5 (1.23%) JMeter
10 5 (1.23%) LoadRunner
10 5 (1.23%) webpack
General
1 167 (40.93%) Social Skills
2 66 (16.18%) Finance
3 58 (14.22%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (9.07%) Public Sector
5 27 (6.62%) Banking
6 7 (1.72%) Investment Banking
6 7 (1.72%) Presentation Skills
7 6 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (1.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 6 (1.47%) Legal
7 6 (1.47%) Retail
8 5 (1.23%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (0.98%) Games
10 3 (0.74%) Front Office
10 3 (0.74%) Law
10 3 (0.74%) Manufacturing
11 2 (0.49%) Corporate Banking
11 2 (0.49%) Military
11 2 (0.49%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (0.49%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 46 (11.27%) Developer
2 41 (10.05%) Architect
3 37 (9.07%) CyberArk Architect
4 29 (7.11%) Administrator
4 29 (7.11%) DevOps Engineer
5 28 (6.86%) Senior
6 24 (5.88%) Analyst
6 24 (5.88%) Automation Engineer
7 21 (5.15%) Site Reliability Engineer
8 19 (4.66%) Java Developer
9 18 (4.41%) Platform Engineer
10 16 (3.92%) DBA
11 14 (3.43%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 14 (3.43%) Site Engineer
12 13 (3.19%) Lead
13 12 (2.94%) Network Engineer
14 11 (2.70%) Consultant
14 11 (2.70%) Support Engineer
15 10 (2.45%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
16 9 (2.21%) Data Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 63 (15.44%) REST
2 50 (12.25%) LDAP
3 40 (9.80%) SOAP
4 26 (6.37%) Elastic Stack
5 24 (5.88%) Node.js
5 24 (5.88%) OAuth
6 18 (4.41%) SAML
7 15 (3.68%) .NET
7 15 (3.68%) FastAPI
8 11 (2.70%) Kafka
8 11 (2.70%) Web Services
9 9 (2.21%) JSON
9 9 (2.21%) Microsoft Graph
9 9 (2.21%) RESTful
9 9 (2.21%) YAML
10 8 (1.96%) OpenID
10 8 (1.96%) Pandas
11 7 (1.72%) GraphQL
12 6 (1.47%) .NET Framework
12 6 (1.47%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 44 (10.78%) Security Posture
2 41 (10.05%) Enterprise Software
3 24 (5.88%) Onboarding
4 19 (4.66%) Cloud Native
5 18 (4.41%) Distributed Systems
6 17 (4.17%) Replication
7 9 (2.21%) Data Centre
8 8 (1.96%) Clustering
8 8 (1.96%) Private Cloud
9 7 (1.72%) Data Protection Act
9 7 (1.72%) Legacy Systems
9 7 (1.72%) Linux Command Line
9 7 (1.72%) PKI
10 6 (1.47%) AI Agents
10 6 (1.47%) Low-Code
11 5 (1.23%) Management Information System
12 4 (0.98%) Data Structures
12 4 (0.98%) Hybrid Cloud
12 4 (0.98%) NHS
12 4 (0.98%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 116 (28.43%) Linux
2 78 (19.12%) Windows
3 29 (7.11%) Unix
3 29 (7.11%) Windows Server
4 13 (3.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 9 (2.21%) VMS
6 8 (1.96%) CentOS
7 4 (0.98%) AIX
7 4 (0.98%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.74%) Windows 10
9 2 (0.49%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.25%) Android
10 1 (0.25%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 170 (41.67%) Problem-Solving
2 140 (34.31%) CI/CD
3 111 (27.21%) DevOps
4 72 (17.65%) Infrastructure as Code
5 65 (15.93%) Containerisation
6 64 (15.69%) Agile
7 57 (13.97%) SIEM
8 50 (12.25%) Site Reliability Engineering
9 45 (11.03%) High Availability
9 45 (11.03%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 44 (10.78%) Disaster Recovery
11 42 (10.29%) Observability
12 41 (10.05%) Technical Leadership
13 40 (9.80%) Migration
13 40 (9.80%) Privileged Access Management
14 39 (9.56%) Configuration Management
15 38 (9.31%) Continuous Improvement
15 38 (9.31%) Identity Access Management
15 38 (9.31%) ITSM
15 38 (9.31%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 222 (54.41%) Python
2 150 (36.76%) PowerShell
3 72 (17.65%) Bash
4 69 (16.91%) SQL
5 60 (14.71%) Java
6 49 (12.01%) Shell Script
7 33 (8.09%) Go
8 26 (6.37%) JavaScript
9 22 (5.39%) TypeScript
10 15 (3.68%) C#
11 12 (2.94%) Kusto Query Language
11 12 (2.94%) VBA
12 11 (2.70%) Perl
13 10 (2.45%) Bicep
14 7 (1.72%) Groovy
15 6 (1.47%) PL/SQL
16 5 (1.23%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 3 (0.74%) PHP
17 3 (0.74%) Ruby
17 3 (0.74%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 140 (34.31%) Security Cleared
2 107 (26.23%) SC Cleared
3 28 (6.86%) Degree
4 27 (6.62%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (3.92%) DV Cleared
6 13 (3.19%) Computer Science Degree
7 12 (2.94%) Azure Certification
8 9 (2.21%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (1.96%) AWS Certification
9 8 (1.96%) CISSP
10 6 (1.47%) Cisco Certification
11 5 (1.23%) CCNP
11 5 (1.23%) Master's Degree
11 5 (1.23%) OCP
11 5 (1.23%) Oracle Certification
12 4 (0.98%) CFCE
12 4 (0.98%) GCFA
12 4 (0.98%) GCIA
12 4 (0.98%) GCIH
12 4 (0.98%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (8.58%) GDPR
2 21 (5.15%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (4.17%) NIST
4 14 (3.43%) Data Quality
5 10 (2.45%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 8 (1.96%) QA
7 6 (1.47%) SLA
8 5 (1.23%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.98%) HIPAA
10 2 (0.49%) EU AI Act
10 2 (0.49%) SOC 2
11 1 (0.25%) Accessibility
11 1 (0.25%) COBIT
11 1 (0.25%) GRC
11 1 (0.25%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.25%) PMO
System Software
1 85 (20.83%) Active Directory
2 65 (15.93%) Docker
3 23 (5.64%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.70%) Oracle RAC
5 6 (1.47%) Virtual Machines
6 5 (1.23%) Tivoli Directory Server
7 4 (0.98%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.74%) Firmware
8 3 (0.74%) KVM
8 3 (0.74%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.74%) Xen
9 1 (0.25%) Apache ZooKeeper
9 1 (0.25%) HDFS
9 1 (0.25%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.25%) RHEV
9 1 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.25%) vSphere
9 1 (0.25%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 86 (21.08%) Kubernetes
2 83 (20.34%) Terraform
3 77 (18.87%) Ansible
4 47 (11.52%) Grafana
5 40 (9.80%) Prometheus
6 24 (5.88%) Progress Chef
7 21 (5.15%) Single Sign-On
8 16 (3.92%) Puppet
9 14 (3.43%) SCCM
10 12 (2.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 12 (2.94%) Data Guard
10 12 (2.94%) Microsoft Intune
11 11 (2.70%) Oracle RMAN
12 9 (2.21%) yum
13 8 (1.96%) Podman
14 6 (1.47%) CA Single Sign-On
14 6 (1.47%) NetBackup
15 5 (1.23%) CA Wily
15 5 (1.23%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
15 5 (1.23%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 103 (25.25%) Microsoft
2 53 (12.99%) CyberArk
3 46 (11.27%) Oracle
4 42 (10.29%) BeyondTrust
5 34 (8.33%) Centrify
6 32 (7.84%) Google
6 32 (7.84%) Splunk
7 24 (5.88%) VMware
8 17 (4.17%) Red Hat
9 14 (3.43%) ServiceNow
10 13 (3.19%) Okta
11 12 (2.94%) Cisco
12 11 (2.70%) OpenAI
13 8 (1.96%) Databricks
13 8 (1.96%) Palo Alto
13 8 (1.96%) SAP
14 7 (1.72%) Atlassian
14 7 (1.72%) F5
14 7 (1.72%) IBM
15 6 (1.47%) Veritas