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 20 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 278 222 356
Rank change year-on-year -56 +134 +81
Contract jobs citing Task Automation 404 345 237
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.93% 1.18% 0.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.08% 1.30% 0.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 298 206 187
10th Percentile £319 £343 £385
25th Percentile £400 £413 £445
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £600 £598 £650
90th Percentile £750 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £460 £475 £522
% change year-on-year -3.16% -9.00% -5.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 13 0
10th Percentile - £21.00 -
25th Percentile £21.33 £22.22 -
Median hourly rate £22.81 £29.00 -
Median % change year-on-year -21.34% - -
75th Percentile £35.15 £65.00 -
90th Percentile £41.66 £65.62 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.81 £24.66 -
% change year-on-year -7.50% - -

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 37,403 26,465 38,354
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.99% 90.45% 86.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,742 17,048 24,949
10th Percentile £313 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £611 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £743 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -1.54% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,201 924 2,323
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.25 £12.99
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £16.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% - -7.14%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.41 £70.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.00 £31.64 £31.13
% change year-on-year -11.50% +1.65% -11.14%

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 20 March 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 20 March 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 20 March 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 -54 335 £491 -1.75% 95
UK excluding London -44 187 £460 -3.16% 66
London -30 170 £575 +8.23% 45
Work from Home +15 158 £550 +8.37% 48
North of England -44 66 £450 -4.51% 17
Yorkshire -23 48 £454 -13.52% 6
South East -39 41 £415 +3.75% 25
Scotland 0 27 £440 -6.63% 3
Midlands -59 24 £527 +11.08% 6
West Midlands -56 22 £550 +13.64% 1
South West -34 20 £425 -10.05% 9
North West -44 14 £358 -23.83% 7
East of England -27 5 £500 -11.50% 6
North East -14 4 £365 -22.34% 4
Wales - 4 £525 - 2
East Midlands -39 2 £275 -30.38% 5
Northern Ireland - 2 £683 -

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 34 (8.42%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (7.67%) SharePoint
3 13 (3.22%) Confluence
4 8 (1.98%) Appian
5 4 (0.99%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.50%) Apache
6 2 (0.50%) CMS
6 2 (0.50%) IIS
6 2 (0.50%) OpenStack
6 2 (0.50%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 2 (0.50%) Oracle Workflow
6 2 (0.50%) Palantir Foundry
6 2 (0.50%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.25%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.25%) SharePoint 2013
Applications
1 16 (3.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.99%) Chatbot
2 4 (0.99%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.50%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.50%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.50%) Maximo
1 2 (0.50%) Oracle EBS
1 2 (0.50%) Oracle EBS R12
1 2 (0.50%) Oracle ERP
1 2 (0.50%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.25%) Oracle Applications
2 1 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 197 (48.76%) Azure
2 132 (32.67%) AWS
3 82 (20.30%) GCP
4 65 (16.09%) Entra ID
5 51 (12.62%) Microsoft 365
6 46 (11.39%) GitHub
7 34 (8.42%) OpenShift
8 32 (7.92%) GitHub Actions
9 27 (6.68%) Azure DevOps
10 25 (6.19%) Power Platform
11 22 (5.45%) Azure Monitor
11 22 (5.45%) Power Automate
12 21 (5.20%) Amazon S3
12 21 (5.20%) AWS CloudFormation
12 21 (5.20%) PaaS
13 20 (4.95%) Serverless
14 17 (4.21%) Azure Key Vault
15 16 (3.96%) Azure App Service
15 16 (3.96%) Azure Service Bus
15 16 (3.96%) Azure WebJobs
Communications & Networking
1 40 (9.90%) DNS
2 31 (7.67%) DHCP
3 22 (5.45%) Firewall
4 19 (4.70%) SSH
5 16 (3.96%) Kerberos
6 13 (3.22%) VPN
7 12 (2.97%) TCP/IP
8 10 (2.48%) Network Security
9 7 (1.73%) SAN
9 7 (1.73%) WAN
10 6 (1.49%) LAN
11 4 (0.99%) Cisco Nexus
11 4 (0.99%) SD-WAN
12 3 (0.74%) Cisco IOS
12 3 (0.74%) HTTP
12 3 (0.74%) SSL
12 3 (0.74%) VLAN
13 2 (0.50%) Internet
13 2 (0.50%) Reverse Proxy
13 2 (0.50%) SNMP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 32 (7.92%) SQL Server
2 21 (5.20%) PostgreSQL
3 19 (4.70%) Power BI
4 12 (2.97%) Relational Database
5 11 (2.72%) Amazon RDS
6 10 (2.48%) Data Warehouse
7 8 (1.98%) Oracle Database
7 8 (1.98%) Pinecone
8 7 (1.73%) Tableau
9 5 (1.24%) Big Data
9 5 (1.24%) Data Lake
9 5 (1.24%) DynamoDB
9 5 (1.24%) Metadata
9 5 (1.24%) Snowflake Schema
9 5 (1.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 4 (0.99%) InfluxDB
10 4 (0.99%) MongoDB
10 4 (0.99%) MySQL
10 4 (0.99%) NoSQL
10 4 (0.99%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 48 (11.88%) Jenkins
2 39 (9.65%) GitLab
3 37 (9.16%) Git
4 23 (5.69%) JIRA
5 12 (2.97%) Sonatype Nexus
6 8 (1.98%) CircleCI
6 8 (1.98%) MLflow
7 5 (1.24%) Bitbucket
7 5 (1.24%) Gatling
7 5 (1.24%) JMeter
7 5 (1.24%) LoadRunner
8 4 (0.99%) Maven
8 4 (0.99%) Selenium
8 4 (0.99%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.74%) AdminStudio
9 3 (0.74%) Flyway
9 3 (0.74%) InstallShield
9 3 (0.74%) JUnit
9 3 (0.74%) Postman
10 2 (0.50%) Snyk
General
1 171 (42.33%) Social Skills
2 72 (17.82%) Finance
3 52 (12.87%) Analytical Skills
4 41 (10.15%) Public Sector
5 25 (6.19%) Banking
6 10 (2.48%) Legal
7 7 (1.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 7 (1.73%) Influencing Skills
7 7 (1.73%) Investment Banking
7 7 (1.73%) Organisational Skills
8 6 (1.49%) Presentation Skills
8 6 (1.49%) Retail
9 4 (0.99%) Financial Institution
9 4 (0.99%) Military
10 3 (0.74%) Law
10 3 (0.74%) Retail Banking
11 2 (0.50%) Corporate Banking
11 2 (0.50%) Documentation Skills
11 2 (0.50%) Front Office
11 2 (0.50%) Games
Job Titles
1 53 (13.12%) Developer
2 43 (10.64%) Architect
3 37 (9.16%) CyberArk Architect
4 24 (5.94%) DevOps Engineer
5 23 (5.69%) Analyst
5 23 (5.69%) Automation Engineer
6 22 (5.45%) Administrator
6 22 (5.45%) Platform Engineer
7 20 (4.95%) DBA
8 19 (4.70%) Site Reliability Engineer
9 18 (4.46%) Java Developer
10 15 (3.71%) Senior
11 14 (3.47%) Lead
12 13 (3.22%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
12 13 (3.22%) Azure Developer
12 13 (3.22%) Consultant
12 13 (3.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
13 12 (2.97%) Site Engineer
14 11 (2.72%) Data Engineer
15 10 (2.48%) Microsoft 365 Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 71 (17.57%) REST
2 50 (12.38%) SOAP
3 49 (12.13%) LDAP
4 27 (6.68%) OAuth
5 25 (6.19%) Web Services
6 24 (5.94%) .NET
7 21 (5.20%) Node.js
8 18 (4.46%) Elastic Stack
8 18 (4.46%) Microsoft Graph
8 18 (4.46%) SAML
9 17 (4.21%) .NET Framework
10 14 (3.47%) Kafka
11 13 (3.22%) RESTful
12 11 (2.72%) JWT
12 11 (2.72%) Pandas
13 10 (2.48%) PyTorch
14 9 (2.23%) FastAPI
14 9 (2.23%) scikit-learn
14 9 (2.23%) TensorFlow
14 9 (2.23%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 45 (11.14%) Security Posture
2 43 (10.64%) Enterprise Software
3 24 (5.94%) Onboarding
4 19 (4.70%) Replication
5 14 (3.47%) Cloud Native
6 13 (3.22%) Distributed Systems
6 13 (3.22%) Legacy Systems
7 11 (2.72%) Hybrid Cloud
8 10 (2.48%) Data Protection Act
9 9 (2.23%) Clustering
9 9 (2.23%) Low-Code
9 9 (2.23%) Product Ownership
10 7 (1.73%) Data Centre
10 7 (1.73%) PKI
11 5 (1.24%) Analytical Mindset
11 5 (1.24%) FlexPod
11 5 (1.24%) Management Information System
12 4 (0.99%) Data Structures
12 4 (0.99%) Legacy Applications
12 4 (0.99%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 93 (23.02%) Linux
2 84 (20.79%) Windows
3 37 (9.16%) Windows Server
4 19 (4.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 16 (3.96%) Unix
6 12 (2.97%) VMS
7 8 (1.98%) Windows 10
8 5 (1.24%) CoreOS
8 5 (1.24%) Data ONTAP
8 5 (1.24%) Mac OS
9 4 (0.99%) CentOS
10 2 (0.50%) AIX
10 2 (0.50%) Android
10 2 (0.50%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.50%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.25%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.25%) Rocky
11 1 (0.25%) Solaris
11 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 154 (38.12%) Problem-Solving
2 129 (31.93%) CI/CD
3 101 (25.00%) DevOps
4 66 (16.34%) Infrastructure as Code
5 64 (15.84%) Agile
6 53 (13.12%) Containerisation
7 51 (12.62%) Migration
8 50 (12.38%) SIEM
9 49 (12.13%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 48 (11.88%) High Availability
10 48 (11.88%) Observability
11 47 (11.63%) Analytics
12 46 (11.39%) Continuous Improvement
13 45 (11.14%) AI
13 45 (11.14%) Site Reliability Engineering
14 44 (10.89%) Disaster Recovery
15 42 (10.40%) Technical Leadership
16 40 (9.90%) Privileged Access Management
17 39 (9.65%) Workflow
18 38 (9.41%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 189 (46.78%) Python
2 167 (41.34%) PowerShell
3 68 (16.83%) SQL
4 55 (13.61%) Bash
5 49 (12.13%) Java
6 32 (7.92%) Shell Script
7 27 (6.68%) JavaScript
8 24 (5.94%) C#
8 24 (5.94%) TypeScript
9 23 (5.69%) Kusto Query Language
10 22 (5.45%) Go
11 6 (1.49%) PL/SQL
11 6 (1.49%) VBA
12 5 (1.24%) T-SQL
13 4 (0.99%) Bicep
13 4 (0.99%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 4 (0.99%) Perl
14 3 (0.74%) PHP
14 3 (0.74%) Ruby
15 2 (0.50%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 144 (35.64%) Security Cleared
2 112 (27.72%) SC Cleared
3 32 (7.92%) Degree
4 25 (6.19%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (4.70%) Computer Science Degree
6 13 (3.22%) DV Cleared
7 10 (2.48%) CISSP
8 9 (2.23%) Azure Certification
9 8 (1.98%) Microsoft Certification
9 8 (1.98%) OCP
9 8 (1.98%) Oracle Certification
10 7 (1.73%) AWS Certification
11 4 (0.99%) Cisco Certification
11 4 (0.99%) CISM
11 4 (0.99%) Master's Degree
12 3 (0.74%) CIMA
12 3 (0.74%) GCFA
12 3 (0.74%) GCIA
12 3 (0.74%) GCIH
12 3 (0.74%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (8.17%) GDPR
2 24 (5.94%) Data Quality
3 23 (5.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 18 (4.46%) NIST
5 14 (3.47%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 11 (2.72%) QA
7 6 (1.49%) SLA
8 5 (1.24%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.99%) HIPAA
10 3 (0.74%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.50%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.50%) GRC
12 1 (0.25%) COBIT
12 1 (0.25%) GMP
12 1 (0.25%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.25%) PMO
System Software
1 100 (24.75%) Active Directory
2 47 (11.63%) Docker
3 24 (5.94%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (3.47%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (1.73%) vSphere
6 6 (1.49%) Hyper-V
7 5 (1.24%) NFS
7 5 (1.24%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.74%) Xen
9 2 (0.50%) KVM
9 2 (0.50%) Oracle RAC
9 2 (0.50%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.25%) Apache ZooKeeper
10 1 (0.25%) HDFS
10 1 (0.25%) Microsoft App-V
10 1 (0.25%) RHEV
10 1 (0.25%) UAG
10 1 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.25%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 77 (19.06%) Kubernetes
1 77 (19.06%) Terraform
2 72 (17.82%) Ansible
3 37 (9.16%) Grafana
4 31 (7.67%) Prometheus
5 24 (5.94%) Microsoft Intune
6 21 (5.20%) Single Sign-On
7 16 (3.96%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 14 (3.47%) Progress Chef
8 14 (3.47%) SCCM
9 8 (1.98%) Puppet
10 6 (1.49%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
11 5 (1.24%) Oracle RMAN
11 5 (1.24%) Podman
11 5 (1.24%) SnapMirror
12 4 (0.99%) Nessus
12 4 (0.99%) Packer
12 4 (0.99%) PowerCLI
12 4 (0.99%) Proxmox
12 4 (0.99%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 111 (27.48%) Microsoft
2 40 (9.90%) CyberArk
3 35 (8.66%) BeyondTrust
4 34 (8.42%) Centrify
5 30 (7.43%) VMware
6 29 (7.18%) Google
7 24 (5.94%) Oracle
8 23 (5.69%) Red Hat
9 22 (5.45%) ServiceNow
10 21 (5.20%) Splunk
11 20 (4.95%) Okta
12 14 (3.47%) Databricks
13 13 (3.22%) OpenAI
14 9 (2.23%) Cisco
15 8 (1.98%) Automation Anywhere
15 8 (1.98%) UiPath
16 6 (1.49%) SAP
17 5 (1.24%) Citrix
17 5 (1.24%) Informatica
17 5 (1.24%) Palo Alto