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 14 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 257 243 382
Rank change year-on-year -14 +139 +63
Contract jobs citing Task Automation 338 361 260
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.02% 0.96% 0.55%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.13% 1.12% 0.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 195 238 190
10th Percentile £314 £350 £350
25th Percentile £400 £413 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.00% - -13.04%
75th Percentile £575 £625 £626
90th Percentile £626 £708 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £470 £500
% change year-on-year +1.06% -6.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 3 0
10th Percentile £17.89 - -
25th Percentile £40.28 - -
Median hourly rate £63.50 £23.80 -
Median % change year-on-year +166.81% - -
75th Percentile £65.25 - -
90th Percentile £66.05 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £66.50 - -

All Process and 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 30,023 32,245 42,356
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 90.49% 86.03% 88.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,678 19,407 28,733
10th Percentile £294 £308 £313
25th Percentile £404 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,886 1,245 1,585
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.00 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.12 £18.93
Median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -37.13% -10.11% +36.92%
75th Percentile £42.50 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £65.07 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.27 £40.33 £43.90
% change year-on-year -44.79% -8.14% +70.09%

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 14 October 2025.

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 14 October 2025.

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 14 October 2025. 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 -32 278 £488 -2.50% 183
UK excluding London -4 175 £475 +1.06% 162
London -17 127 £479 -12.95% 70
Work from Home +41 107 £496 -5.48% 144
North of England -26 48 £450 -2.70% 38
Midlands 0 37 £520 +9.83% 13
West Midlands -3 33 £523 +7.95% 8
South East -7 28 £478 +2.03% 65
Scotland +16 25 £463 +0.93% 8
North West -11 24 £452 +9.45% 22
Yorkshire -23 23 £465 -25.24% 14
East of England +6 20 £450 +5.88% 9
South West +2 9 £520 -5.45% 20
Wales +7 7 £263 -46.15% 8
East Midlands -8 4 £418 -7.02% 5
North East -6 1 £200 -35.48% 2
Northern Ireland -9 1 £690 - 2

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 22 (6.51%) Confluence
2 11 (3.25%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (2.96%) Apache
3 10 (2.96%) SharePoint
4 8 (2.37%) IIS
5 5 (1.48%) iPlanet
5 5 (1.48%) JBoss
5 5 (1.48%) WebSphere
5 5 (1.48%) WebSphere Application Server
6 4 (1.18%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (1.18%) OpenStack
6 4 (1.18%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 4 (1.18%) Oracle Workflow
6 4 (1.18%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.59%) CMS
7 2 (0.59%) OpenEdge
8 1 (0.30%) CICS
8 1 (0.30%) MQSeries
8 1 (0.30%) Tomcat
Applications
1 21 (6.21%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.18%) Microsoft Project
3 2 (0.59%) Chatbot
3 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.59%) Siemens NX
4 1 (0.30%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.30%) MadCap Flare
Business Applications
1 4 (1.18%) Oracle EBS
1 4 (1.18%) Oracle EBS R12
1 4 (1.18%) Oracle ERP
1 4 (1.18%) SAP ERP
2 2 (0.59%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.59%) SAP CO
2 2 (0.59%) SAP FI
2 2 (0.59%) SAP FI/CO
2 2 (0.59%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.30%) Eikon
3 1 (0.30%) Eze OMS
3 1 (0.30%) Fidessa
3 1 (0.30%) IBM Planning Analytics
3 1 (0.30%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.30%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 118 (34.91%) Azure
2 94 (27.81%) AWS
3 58 (17.16%) GCP
4 38 (11.24%) GitHub
5 31 (9.17%) GitHub Actions
6 27 (7.99%) Microsoft 365
7 22 (6.51%) Azure DevOps
8 21 (6.21%) Serverless
9 18 (5.33%) Entra ID
9 18 (5.33%) OpenShift
10 17 (5.03%) Power Platform
11 13 (3.85%) AWS CloudFormation
12 12 (3.55%) Azure AKS
13 11 (3.25%) Azure Logic Apps
14 10 (2.96%) Amazon EC2
14 10 (2.96%) AWS Lambda
14 10 (2.96%) Power Automate
15 9 (2.66%) Amazon S3
15 9 (2.66%) Datadog
15 9 (2.66%) GitHub Copilot
Communications & Networking
1 47 (13.91%) Firewall
2 18 (5.33%) DNS
3 13 (3.85%) Network Security
4 12 (3.55%) DHCP
4 12 (3.55%) TCP/IP
5 11 (3.25%) VPN
6 8 (2.37%) BGP
7 7 (2.07%) WAN
8 5 (1.48%) Cisco IOS
8 5 (1.48%) Kerberos
8 5 (1.48%) NX-OS
8 5 (1.48%) OpenLDAP
8 5 (1.48%) PSTN
9 4 (1.18%) HTTP
9 4 (1.18%) LAN
9 4 (1.18%) OSPF
9 4 (1.18%) Software-Defined Networking
9 4 (1.18%) VoIP
9 4 (1.18%) Wireless
9 4 (1.18%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (10.06%) SQL Server
2 22 (6.51%) Oracle Database
3 21 (6.21%) PostgreSQL
4 20 (5.92%) Relational Database
5 14 (4.14%) NoSQL
6 11 (3.25%) MySQL
7 9 (2.66%) BigQuery
7 9 (2.66%) Data Warehouse
8 8 (2.37%) Big Data
8 8 (2.37%) Power BI
8 8 (2.37%) RDBMS
9 6 (1.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (1.48%) Azure SQL Database
10 5 (1.48%) MongoDB
10 5 (1.48%) Redis
11 4 (1.18%) Amazon RDS
11 4 (1.18%) Metadata
11 4 (1.18%) Oracle BI EE
12 3 (0.89%) Elasticsearch
12 3 (0.89%) Looker
Development Applications
1 63 (18.64%) Git
2 43 (12.72%) Jenkins
3 32 (9.47%) JIRA
4 26 (7.69%) GitLab
5 19 (5.62%) Sonatype Nexus
6 11 (3.25%) Bitbucket
7 10 (2.96%) Artifactory
8 9 (2.66%) JUnit
8 9 (2.66%) Maven
9 8 (2.37%) SonarQube
10 7 (2.07%) CircleCI
10 7 (2.07%) Postman
10 7 (2.07%) Selenium
11 6 (1.78%) Cypress.io
12 5 (1.48%) Bitbucket Server
12 5 (1.48%) CA Release Automation
12 5 (1.48%) Gradle
13 4 (1.18%) ER Studio
13 4 (1.18%) Snyk
13 4 (1.18%) webpack
General
1 108 (31.95%) Social Skills
2 62 (18.34%) Finance
3 53 (15.68%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (9.76%) Banking
5 32 (9.47%) Public Sector
6 12 (3.55%) Documentation Skills
6 12 (3.55%) Manufacturing
7 9 (2.66%) Investment Banking
8 8 (2.37%) Marketing
9 7 (2.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (2.07%) Legal
9 7 (2.07%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.78%) Electronics
10 6 (1.78%) Front Office
11 4 (1.18%) Games
11 4 (1.18%) Law
11 4 (1.18%) Presentation Skills
12 3 (0.89%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.89%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.89%) Retail
Job Titles
1 34 (10.06%) DevOps Engineer
2 32 (9.47%) Senior
3 29 (8.58%) Developer
4 24 (7.10%) Analyst
5 21 (6.21%) Administrator
6 18 (5.33%) DBA
7 17 (5.03%) Automation Engineer
7 17 (5.03%) Network Engineer
8 15 (4.44%) Python Engineer
9 13 (3.85%) Consultant
9 13 (3.85%) Support Engineer
10 12 (3.55%) Data Engineer
11 10 (2.96%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 10 (2.96%) NetBackup Engineer
11 10 (2.96%) Site Reliability Engineer
12 9 (2.66%) Data Analyst
13 8 (2.37%) Artificial Intelligence Engineer
13 8 (2.37%) Platform Engineer
14 7 (2.07%) Cloud Developer
14 7 (2.07%) Technical Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (7.99%) REST
2 15 (4.44%) Elastic Stack
2 15 (4.44%) LDAP
3 14 (4.14%) FastAPI
3 14 (4.14%) OAuth
4 11 (3.25%) Kafka
5 10 (2.96%) .NET
5 10 (2.96%) Node.js
5 10 (2.96%) OpenID
5 10 (2.96%) RESTful
5 10 (2.96%) SAML
6 9 (2.66%) GraphQL
6 9 (2.66%) YAML
7 7 (2.07%) ARM Templates
7 7 (2.07%) React
8 6 (1.78%) AngularJS
8 6 (1.78%) Flask
8 6 (1.78%) JSON
8 6 (1.78%) LangChain
8 6 (1.78%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 17 (5.03%) Cloud Native
1 17 (5.03%) Distributed Systems
1 17 (5.03%) Onboarding
2 11 (3.25%) Private Cloud
3 10 (2.96%) AI Agents
3 10 (2.96%) Enterprise Software
4 9 (2.66%) Cyber Threat
4 9 (2.66%) Replication
4 9 (2.66%) Security Posture
5 8 (2.37%) Clustering
5 8 (2.37%) Management Information System
5 8 (2.37%) Public Cloud
6 7 (2.07%) Data Centre
6 7 (2.07%) Data Protection Act
7 6 (1.78%) Linux Command Line
8 5 (1.48%) Analytical Mindset
8 5 (1.48%) Security Operations Centre
9 3 (0.89%) Hybrid Cloud
9 3 (0.89%) Mobile App
9 3 (0.89%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 79 (23.37%) Linux
2 54 (15.98%) Windows
3 33 (9.76%) Unix
4 17 (5.03%) Windows Server
5 8 (2.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 6 (1.78%) CentOS
6 6 (1.78%) Mac OS
7 4 (1.18%) Ubuntu
7 4 (1.18%) Windows 10
8 3 (0.89%) AIX
8 3 (0.89%) VMS
9 2 (0.59%) Solaris
10 1 (0.30%) Debian
10 1 (0.30%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
10 1 (0.30%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (34.32%) Problem-Solving
2 102 (30.18%) CI/CD
3 101 (29.88%) DevOps
4 71 (21.01%) Agile
5 56 (16.57%) Infrastructure as Code
6 54 (15.98%) Containerisation
7 44 (13.02%) Disaster Recovery
8 39 (11.54%) Migration
9 35 (10.36%) High Availability
10 34 (10.06%) AI
11 30 (8.88%) Identity Access Management
12 28 (8.28%) Site Reliability Engineering
13 27 (7.99%) Analytics
13 27 (7.99%) Configuration Management
13 27 (7.99%) Continuous Improvement
14 25 (7.40%) Data Protection
14 25 (7.40%) Test Automation
14 25 (7.40%) Workflow
15 24 (7.10%) Business Continuity
16 23 (6.80%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 195 (57.69%) Python
2 108 (31.95%) PowerShell
3 70 (20.71%) Bash
4 69 (20.41%) SQL
5 41 (12.13%) Java
6 32 (9.47%) Shell Script
7 27 (7.99%) Go
8 15 (4.44%) JavaScript
9 14 (4.14%) Perl
10 13 (3.85%) Bicep
11 10 (2.96%) C#
11 10 (2.96%) TypeScript
12 9 (2.66%) Groovy
13 8 (2.37%) VBA
14 7 (2.07%) PL/SQL
15 6 (1.78%) Kusto Query Language
15 6 (1.78%) T-SQL
16 3 (0.89%) VB
17 2 (0.59%) Data Analysis Expressions
17 2 (0.59%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 73 (21.60%) Security Cleared
2 56 (16.57%) SC Cleared
3 31 (9.17%) Degree
4 17 (5.03%) Computer Science Degree
5 10 (2.96%) DV Cleared
6 9 (2.66%) Azure Certification
6 9 (2.66%) BPSS Clearance
7 8 (2.37%) Microsoft Certification
8 7 (2.07%) AWS Certification
8 7 (2.07%) Master's Degree
9 6 (1.78%) CCNP
9 6 (1.78%) Cisco Certification
10 5 (1.48%) CISSP
10 5 (1.48%) GIAC
11 4 (1.18%) CFCE
11 4 (1.18%) GCFA
11 4 (1.18%) GCIA
11 4 (1.18%) GCIH
11 4 (1.18%) OCP
11 4 (1.18%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (5.92%) GDPR
2 16 (4.73%) QA
3 14 (4.14%) Data Quality
4 10 (2.96%) NIST
5 9 (2.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 8 (2.37%) HIPAA
7 5 (1.48%) SLA
8 3 (0.89%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.89%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 3 (0.89%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 3 (0.89%) SOC 2
9 2 (0.59%) EU AI Act
9 2 (0.59%) PMO
10 1 (0.30%) IFRS
10 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 57 (16.86%) Docker
2 36 (10.65%) Active Directory
3 22 (6.51%) VMware Infrastructure
4 15 (4.44%) Oracle RAC
5 10 (2.96%) Firmware
6 6 (1.78%) Hyper-V
7 5 (1.48%) Tivoli Directory Server
8 4 (1.18%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.89%) KVM
9 3 (0.89%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.89%) VMware ESXi
10 2 (0.59%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.59%) VMware NSX
10 2 (0.59%) vSphere
11 1 (0.30%) iptables
11 1 (0.30%) Microsoft App-V
11 1 (0.30%) Veritas Cluster Server
Systems Management
1 68 (20.12%) Terraform
2 65 (19.23%) Kubernetes
3 57 (16.86%) Ansible
4 24 (7.10%) Grafana
5 21 (6.21%) Prometheus
6 17 (5.03%) Progress Chef
7 15 (4.44%) Oracle RMAN
7 15 (4.44%) Puppet
8 14 (4.14%) SCCM
9 11 (3.25%) Data Guard
10 10 (2.96%) NetBackup
10 10 (2.96%) Single Sign-On
11 9 (2.66%) Microsoft Intune
11 9 (2.66%) yum
12 6 (1.78%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
13 5 (1.48%) CA Single Sign-On
13 5 (1.48%) CA Wily
13 5 (1.48%) Tivoli
14 4 (1.18%) Computer Emergency Response Teams
14 4 (1.18%) Enterprise Manager Cloud Control
Vendors
1 97 (28.70%) Microsoft
2 44 (13.02%) Oracle
3 36 (10.65%) Google
4 26 (7.69%) Splunk
5 24 (7.10%) VMware
6 18 (5.33%) CyberArk
7 15 (4.44%) Atlassian
7 15 (4.44%) Cisco
8 14 (4.14%) SAP
9 10 (2.96%) Palo Alto
9 10 (2.96%) Red Hat
9 10 (2.96%) Veritas
10 9 (2.66%) F5
11 8 (2.37%) IBM
11 8 (2.37%) ServiceNow
12 7 (2.07%) BeyondTrust
12 7 (2.07%) OpenAI
13 5 (1.48%) CrowdStrike
13 5 (1.48%) Databricks
13 5 (1.48%) Ping Identity