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 23 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 353 257 293
Rank change year-on-year -96 +36 +166
Contract jobs citing Task Automation 316 312 326
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.62% 1.04% 0.75%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.73% 1.14% 0.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 222 170 255
10th Percentile £301 £320 £393
25th Percentile £400 £408 £458
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% -9.09% -
75th Percentile £600 £580 £675
90th Percentile £688 £677 £711
UK excluding London median daily rate £472 £475 £525
% change year-on-year -0.63% -9.52% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 17 3
10th Percentile - £20.13 -
25th Percentile £16.33 £21.00 -
Median hourly rate £22.81 £29.00 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -21.34% +21.85% -73.56%
75th Percentile £24.29 £65.25 -
90th Percentile £50.82 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.57 £22.88 -
% change year-on-year -14.45% - -

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 43,108 27,270 37,060
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.89% 91.01% 84.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,889 17,271 23,587
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £502 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.09% -4.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £620 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,584 1,289 2,614
10th Percentile £14.82 £14.20 £12.70
25th Percentile £20.09 £17.87 £16.06
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +7.14%
75th Percentile £68.00 £55.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £81.25 £72.50 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.50 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +76.94% -34.02% +17.29%

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 23 June 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 23 June 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 23 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 -91 272 £475 -5.00% 75
UK excluding London -89 157 £472 -0.63% 60
London -59 133 £525 +5.00% 29
Work from Home -35 108 £537 +0.66% 31
North of England -34 66 £500 +5.26% 15
Yorkshire -8 50 £500 +8.11% 4
South East -33 39 £403 -19.50% 21
Scotland -37 20 £500 +11.11% 4
Midlands -55 15 £500 +5.26% 8
South West -38 13 £363 -30.29% 7
North West -48 11 £459 -3.37% 10
West Midlands -57 11 £575 +15.00% 3
North East -32 5 £275 -26.67% 1
East Midlands -21 4 £413 +5.77% 5
Wales -14 2 £543 +106.67% 1
East of England -49 1 £400 -11.11% 4
Northern Ireland - 1 £675 - 3

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 (10.76%) SharePoint
2 21 (6.65%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (3.16%) Confluence
4 7 (2.22%) Appian
5 4 (1.27%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.95%) Apache
7 2 (0.63%) CMS
7 2 (0.63%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.32%) OpenStack
8 1 (0.32%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 6 (1.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.58%) Chatbot
2 5 (1.58%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.63%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Project
4 1 (0.32%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (0.95%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.63%) Maximo
2 2 (0.63%) Oracle Applications
3 1 (0.32%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.32%) FLEXCUBE
3 1 (0.32%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.32%) Oracle ERP
3 1 (0.32%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.32%) SAP S/4HANA
3 1 (0.32%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 152 (48.10%) Azure
2 88 (27.85%) AWS
3 53 (16.77%) Microsoft 365
4 48 (15.19%) Entra ID
4 48 (15.19%) GCP
5 36 (11.39%) GitHub
6 25 (7.91%) Power Automate
7 24 (7.59%) Power Platform
8 23 (7.28%) Azure DevOps
8 23 (7.28%) GitHub Actions
9 20 (6.33%) OpenShift
10 17 (5.38%) Azure Monitor
11 16 (5.06%) Amazon S3
12 15 (4.75%) Azure Key Vault
13 14 (4.43%) Microsoft Copilot
13 14 (4.43%) PaaS
14 13 (4.11%) PowerApps
15 12 (3.80%) OneDrive
15 12 (3.80%) Serverless
16 11 (3.48%) Azure Service Bus
Communications & Networking
1 39 (12.34%) DNS
2 33 (10.44%) DHCP
3 20 (6.33%) Firewall
4 18 (5.70%) VPN
5 15 (4.75%) Kerberos
6 13 (4.11%) SAN
7 11 (3.48%) Network Security
8 9 (2.85%) WAN
9 8 (2.53%) SD-WAN
9 8 (2.53%) TCP/IP
9 8 (2.53%) VLAN
10 5 (1.58%) LAN
10 5 (1.58%) SSH
11 4 (1.27%) Cisco Nexus
11 4 (1.27%) Intranet
11 4 (1.27%) SSL
12 3 (0.95%) BGP
12 3 (0.95%) BIG-IP
12 3 (0.95%) Cisco IOS
12 3 (0.95%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 37 (11.71%) SQL Server
2 11 (3.48%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (3.16%) Data Warehouse
3 10 (3.16%) Power BI
4 7 (2.22%) Amazon RDS
4 7 (2.22%) Metadata
4 7 (2.22%) Pinecone
5 6 (1.90%) MySQL
5 6 (1.90%) Snowflake Schema
5 6 (1.90%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 5 (1.58%) Data Lake
6 5 (1.58%) Sybase ASE
7 4 (1.27%) Big Data
7 4 (1.27%) EDRMS
7 4 (1.27%) Relational Database
7 4 (1.27%) Tableau
8 3 (0.95%) Amazon Redshift
8 3 (0.95%) DTS
8 3 (0.95%) MongoDB
8 3 (0.95%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 27 (8.54%) Jenkins
2 25 (7.91%) GitLab
3 21 (6.65%) Git
4 19 (6.01%) JIRA
5 10 (3.16%) Sonatype Nexus
6 7 (2.22%) MLflow
7 5 (1.58%) SonarQube
8 4 (1.27%) Flyway
9 3 (0.95%) AdminStudio
9 3 (0.95%) InstallShield
10 2 (0.63%) Selenium
11 1 (0.32%) Artifactory
11 1 (0.32%) Cypress.io
11 1 (0.32%) IBM UrbanCode
11 1 (0.32%) SoapUI
11 1 (0.32%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
11 1 (0.32%) TestNG
11 1 (0.32%) TestRail
11 1 (0.32%) WebDriver
11 1 (0.32%) WiX
General
1 129 (40.82%) Social Skills
2 58 (18.35%) Finance
3 42 (13.29%) Analytical Skills
4 24 (7.59%) Banking
4 24 (7.59%) Public Sector
5 14 (4.43%) Legal
6 12 (3.80%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (2.53%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (2.53%) Financial Institution
8 5 (1.58%) Front Office
9 4 (1.27%) Influencing Skills
9 4 (1.27%) Investment Banking
10 3 (0.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.63%) Military
11 2 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.63%) Retail
12 1 (0.32%) International Banking
12 1 (0.32%) Local Government
12 1 (0.32%) Marketing
12 1 (0.32%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 32 (10.13%) Developer
2 25 (7.91%) Architect
3 22 (6.96%) DBA
4 18 (5.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
5 17 (5.38%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
5 17 (5.38%) CyberArk Architect
6 16 (5.06%) Consultant
7 15 (4.75%) Site Reliability Engineer
8 13 (4.11%) Automation Engineer
8 13 (4.11%) Senior
8 13 (4.11%) Support Engineer
9 12 (3.80%) Analyst
9 12 (3.80%) Platform Engineer
10 11 (3.48%) Azure Developer
10 11 (3.48%) Data Engineer
10 11 (3.48%) DevOps Engineer
10 11 (3.48%) Site Engineer
11 10 (3.16%) Administrator
11 10 (3.16%) Technical Support
12 9 (2.85%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (16.14%) REST
2 30 (9.49%) LDAP
3 28 (8.86%) SOAP
4 22 (6.96%) .NET
4 22 (6.96%) OAuth
5 18 (5.70%) Web Services
6 15 (4.75%) SAML
7 14 (4.43%) Microsoft Graph
8 12 (3.80%) .NET Framework
8 12 (3.80%) JWT
9 11 (3.48%) CSS
9 11 (3.48%) Elastic Stack
9 11 (3.48%) JSON
9 11 (3.48%) RESTful
10 10 (3.16%) Node.js
10 10 (3.16%) Pandas
10 10 (3.16%) PyTorch
10 10 (3.16%) React
10 10 (3.16%) SPFx
11 9 (2.85%) NumPy
Miscellaneous
1 25 (7.91%) Replication
2 23 (7.28%) Enterprise Software
3 22 (6.96%) Onboarding
4 18 (5.70%) Legacy Systems
4 18 (5.70%) Security Posture
5 14 (4.43%) Distributed Systems
6 13 (4.11%) Hybrid Cloud
7 12 (3.80%) Cloud Native
8 11 (3.48%) AI Agents
8 11 (3.48%) Data Protection Act
8 11 (3.48%) Product Ownership
9 7 (2.22%) Data Centre
9 7 (2.22%) Low-Code
9 7 (2.22%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (2.22%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.58%) Clustering
10 5 (1.58%) FlexPod
10 5 (1.58%) Management Information System
11 4 (1.27%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.27%) Data Structures
Operating Systems
1 74 (23.42%) Windows
2 58 (18.35%) Linux
3 30 (9.49%) Windows Server
4 19 (6.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 12 (3.80%) Unix
6 9 (2.85%) Windows 10
7 8 (2.53%) Mac OS
8 6 (1.90%) VMS
9 5 (1.58%) CoreOS
9 5 (1.58%) Data ONTAP
10 2 (0.63%) AIX
10 2 (0.63%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.63%) Ubuntu
10 2 (0.63%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.32%) Android
11 1 (0.32%) Apple iOS
11 1 (0.32%) CentOS
11 1 (0.32%) Solaris
11 1 (0.32%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.32%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (29.75%) Problem-Solving
2 83 (26.27%) CI/CD
3 68 (21.52%) DevOps
4 64 (20.25%) AI
5 51 (16.14%) Agile
6 48 (15.19%) High Availability
7 47 (14.87%) Disaster Recovery
8 45 (14.24%) ITIL
8 45 (14.24%) Migration
9 40 (12.66%) Analytics
10 39 (12.34%) Continuous Improvement
11 38 (12.03%) Infrastructure as Code
12 37 (11.71%) Observability
13 35 (11.08%) Workflow
14 34 (10.76%) Containerisation
15 33 (10.44%) Change Management
16 32 (10.13%) Site Reliability Engineering
17 29 (9.18%) ETL
18 28 (8.86%) ITSM
18 28 (8.86%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 143 (45.25%) Python
2 125 (39.56%) PowerShell
3 60 (18.99%) SQL
4 38 (12.03%) Bash
5 26 (8.23%) JavaScript
6 25 (7.91%) Java
7 19 (6.01%) C#
8 17 (5.38%) TypeScript
9 13 (4.11%) Go
10 12 (3.80%) Kusto Query Language
11 9 (2.85%) Shell Script
11 9 (2.85%) T-SQL
12 8 (2.53%) PL/SQL
13 5 (1.58%) Bicep
14 2 (0.63%) ActionScript
14 2 (0.63%) Scala
14 2 (0.63%) VBScript
15 1 (0.32%) ABAP
15 1 (0.32%) Data Analysis Expressions
15 1 (0.32%) VB
Qualifications
1 103 (32.59%) Security Cleared
2 79 (25.00%) SC Cleared
3 27 (8.54%) Degree
4 21 (6.65%) Computer Science Degree
5 18 (5.70%) DV Cleared
6 9 (2.85%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (2.53%) Microsoft Certification
8 5 (1.58%) OCP
8 5 (1.58%) Oracle Certification
9 4 (1.27%) Azure Certification
9 4 (1.27%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (1.27%) CISSP
10 3 (0.95%) AWS Certification
10 3 (0.95%) CCNP
11 2 (0.63%) CISM
11 2 (0.63%) JNCIA
11 2 (0.63%) JNCIS
11 2 (0.63%) MCITP
11 2 (0.63%) MCTS
11 2 (0.63%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (7.59%) Data Quality
2 15 (4.75%) GDPR
3 13 (4.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 12 (3.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (3.48%) NIST
6 9 (2.85%) QA
7 7 (2.22%) SLA
8 3 (0.95%) Accessibility
8 3 (0.95%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.63%) HIPAA
10 1 (0.32%) GMP
10 1 (0.32%) GRC
System Software
1 74 (23.42%) Active Directory
2 25 (7.91%) Docker
3 18 (5.70%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (4.11%) Virtual Machines
5 11 (3.48%) NFS
6 7 (2.22%) Virtual Desktop
6 7 (2.22%) vSphere
7 5 (1.58%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.63%) BitLocker
8 2 (0.63%) Firmware
8 2 (0.63%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.32%) KVM
9 1 (0.32%) OpenSSH
9 1 (0.32%) Oracle RAC
9 1 (0.32%) UAG
9 1 (0.32%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.32%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 50 (15.82%) Ansible
2 49 (15.51%) Kubernetes
3 45 (14.24%) Terraform
4 25 (7.91%) Microsoft Intune
5 18 (5.70%) Single Sign-On
6 15 (4.75%) SCCM
7 13 (4.11%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 12 (3.80%) Grafana
9 11 (3.48%) Prometheus
10 8 (2.53%) Progress Chef
11 6 (1.90%) Red Hat Satellite
12 5 (1.58%) Puppet
12 5 (1.58%) SnapMirror
13 4 (1.27%) Nessus
13 4 (1.27%) SCOM
14 3 (0.95%) Foglight
14 3 (0.95%) OpenVAS
14 3 (0.95%) PowerCLI
14 3 (0.95%) vCenter Server
14 3 (0.95%) WSUS
Vendors
1 100 (31.65%) Microsoft
2 25 (7.91%) Google
2 25 (7.91%) VMware
3 23 (7.28%) ServiceNow
4 21 (6.65%) Red Hat
5 18 (5.70%) CyberArk
6 17 (5.38%) Okta
6 17 (5.38%) OpenAI
7 15 (4.75%) BeyondTrust
7 15 (4.75%) Centrify
7 15 (4.75%) Oracle
8 14 (4.43%) Splunk
9 12 (3.80%) Databricks
10 9 (2.85%) Cisco
11 7 (2.22%) Automation Anywhere
11 7 (2.22%) Palo Alto
11 7 (2.22%) UiPath
12 6 (1.90%) AppDynamics
12 6 (1.90%) Bloomberg
12 6 (1.90%) Citrix