Master's Degree Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Master's Degree
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in the UK excluding London with a requirement for Master's Degree qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 10 173 243
Rank change year-on-year +163 +70 -79
Permanent jobs citing Master's Degree 4,495 568 414
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 10.60% 1.58% 1.20%
As % of the Qualifications category 32.04% 4.08% 3.97%
Number of salaries quoted 136 218 207
10th Percentile £39,281 £41,263 £30,000
25th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £43,055
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £57,750 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.55% -3.75% +9.09%
75th Percentile £89,063 £75,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £105,000 £90,000 £88,000
UK median annual salary £77,500 £67,500 £70,000
% change year-on-year +14.81% -3.57% +12.00%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK excluding London

Master's Degree falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in the UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 14,028 13,924 10,420
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 33.08% 38.76% 30.20%
Number of salaries quoted 5,116 5,300 6,854
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £27,965
25th Percentile £31,250 £42,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £51,300
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +7.21% +1.40%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £81,250 £81,250 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £59,518 £57,500
% change year-on-year -7.59% +3.51% -

Master's Degree
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Master's Degree relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Master's Degree job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Master's Degree
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Master's Degree.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Master's Degree

Master's Degree
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Master's Degree in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Master's Degree in the UK excluding London

Master's Degree
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Master's Degree within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 14 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North of England +122 1,930 £55,000 -15.38% 124
North West +80 1,600 £46,000 -33.64% 50
Midlands +193 1,192 £45,000 -14.29% 109
West Midlands +163 1,013 £46,250 -11.90% 40
South East +145 820 £75,000 +20.00% 247
East of England +81 405 £80,000 +35.59% 147
Yorkshire +100 279 £87,500 +94.44% 44
East Midlands +91 191 £32,500 - 67
South West +93 107 £45,000 -18.18% 95
North East - 51 £105,000 - 30
Wales +25 38 - - 54
Scotland -8 32 £81,150 +80.33% 47
Channel Islands +9 8 - -
Northern Ireland -27 4 £62,500 -31.51% 31
Master's Degree
UK

Master's Degree
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 13 (0.29%) SharePoint
2 11 (0.24%) IIS
3 3 (0.067%) Apache Spark
4 1 (0.022%) Apache Airflow
4 1 (0.022%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.022%) CMS
4 1 (0.022%) Jupyter
4 1 (0.022%) PowerFactory
4 1 (0.022%) SAS
4 1 (0.022%) Smallworld
Applications
1 499 (11.10%) Chatbot
2 34 (0.76%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (0.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.11%) Simulink
6 4 (0.089%) Microsoft Project
7 3 (0.067%) MS Visio
8 2 (0.044%) Windchill
9 1 (0.022%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.022%) AutoCAD
9 1 (0.022%) EPLAN
9 1 (0.022%) OrCAD
9 1 (0.022%) Siemens NX
9 1 (0.022%) Solid Edge
9 1 (0.022%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 40 (0.89%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.044%) Oracle Assets
2 2 (0.044%) Oracle General Ledger
2 2 (0.044%) Oracle Payables
2 2 (0.044%) Oracle Receivables
2 2 (0.044%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.022%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.022%) Integrated Workplace Management System
3 1 (0.022%) SAP ERP
3 1 (0.022%) TRIRIGA
Cloud Services
1 3,649 (81.18%) Cloud Computing
2 49 (1.09%) SaaS
3 39 (0.87%) Azure
4 33 (0.73%) AWS
5 25 (0.56%) Power Platform
6 17 (0.38%) Microsoft 365
7 13 (0.29%) PowerApps
8 10 (0.22%) Snowflake
8 10 (0.22%) Veeva
9 9 (0.20%) Azure DevOps
10 6 (0.13%) GCP
11 5 (0.11%) PaaS
12 4 (0.089%) Azure Machine Learning
12 4 (0.089%) OCI
13 3 (0.067%) Amazon Cognito
13 3 (0.067%) Amazon EC2
13 3 (0.067%) Amazon S3
13 3 (0.067%) AWS Lambda
13 3 (0.067%) Collibra
13 3 (0.067%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 3,651 (81.22%) Internet
2 10 (0.22%) LAN
2 10 (0.22%) SD-WAN
2 10 (0.22%) VoIP
2 10 (0.22%) VPN
2 10 (0.22%) WAN
3 9 (0.20%) Profibus
4 8 (0.18%) Wi-Fi
5 7 (0.16%) Unified Communications
6 6 (0.13%) TCP/IP
7 5 (0.11%) Software-Defined Radio
8 3 (0.067%) BGP
8 3 (0.067%) Firewall
8 3 (0.067%) MPLS
8 3 (0.067%) MQTT
8 3 (0.067%) Network Security
8 3 (0.067%) OSPF
8 3 (0.067%) RS-485
9 2 (0.044%) NGFW
9 2 (0.044%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (0.53%) Metadata
1 24 (0.53%) Power BI
2 13 (0.29%) Tableau
3 10 (0.22%) Data Mining
4 9 (0.20%) NoSQL
5 7 (0.16%) Hadoop
5 7 (0.16%) SQL Server
6 6 (0.13%) Big Data
7 5 (0.11%) Amazon Redshift
8 4 (0.089%) BigQuery
8 4 (0.089%) Data Warehouse
8 4 (0.089%) Looker
8 4 (0.089%) SAP HANA
9 3 (0.067%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.067%) GIS
9 3 (0.067%) SAP BW
10 2 (0.044%) DynamoDB
11 1 (0.022%) Azure SQL Database
11 1 (0.022%) Spark SQL
11 1 (0.022%) Spotfire
Development Applications
1 8 (0.18%) JIRA
1 8 (0.18%) MLflow
2 7 (0.16%) Git
3 5 (0.11%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.067%) ERwin
4 3 (0.067%) PowerDesigner
4 3 (0.067%) Selenium
5 2 (0.044%) TestRail
6 1 (0.022%) Rational DOORS
General
1 3,799 (84.52%) Social Skills
2 3,650 (81.20%) Banking
2 3,650 (81.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 398 (8.85%) Analytical Skills
4 119 (2.65%) Finance
5 43 (0.96%) Pharmaceutical
6 38 (0.85%) Electronics
7 26 (0.58%) Manufacturing
8 19 (0.42%) Marketing
9 16 (0.36%) Telecoms
10 14 (0.31%) Legal
11 11 (0.24%) Agriculture
11 11 (0.24%) Organisational Skills
12 10 (0.22%) Aerospace
12 10 (0.22%) Law
12 10 (0.22%) Presentation Skills
13 8 (0.18%) Automotive
14 6 (0.13%) Retail
15 5 (0.11%) Public Sector
15 5 (0.11%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 2,824 (62.83%) Lecturer
2 499 (11.10%) Trainer
3 73 (1.62%) Research Scientist
4 67 (1.49%) Senior
5 55 (1.22%) Lead
6 24 (0.53%) Analyst
6 24 (0.53%) Biostatistician
7 21 (0.47%) Senior Electrical Engineer
8 20 (0.44%) Head of IT
9 16 (0.36%) Software Engineer
10 15 (0.33%) Biologist
10 15 (0.33%) Data Manager
11 14 (0.31%) Consultant
12 13 (0.29%) Graduate
13 12 (0.27%) Senior Manager
14 11 (0.24%) Instrumentation Engineer
15 9 (0.20%) Associate Director
15 9 (0.20%) Data Steward
15 9 (0.20%) Principal Consultant
15 9 (0.20%) Product Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (0.24%) CSS
2 7 (0.16%) PyTorch
2 7 (0.16%) TensorFlow
3 6 (0.13%) .NET
4 5 (0.11%) Keras
4 5 (0.11%) Play Framework
4 5 (0.11%) scikit-learn
4 5 (0.11%) YAML
5 4 (0.089%) Qt
5 4 (0.089%) REST
5 4 (0.089%) SOAP
6 3 (0.067%) HTML
6 3 (0.067%) Middleware
6 3 (0.067%) Playwright
6 3 (0.067%) React
7 2 (0.044%) LangChain
7 2 (0.044%) Oracle Fusion
7 2 (0.044%) Pandas
7 2 (0.044%) SAP CAF
7 2 (0.044%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 3,653 (81.27%) IoT
2 89 (1.98%) Molecular Biology
3 74 (1.65%) Life Science
4 46 (1.02%) Management Information System
5 24 (0.53%) Algorithms
6 13 (0.29%) Onboarding
7 10 (0.22%) Biopharmaceutical
7 10 (0.22%) Operational Technology
8 9 (0.20%) Product Ownership
9 7 (0.16%) Data Centre
10 6 (0.13%) Data Structures
10 6 (0.13%) Embedded Systems
10 6 (0.13%) Security Posture
11 5 (0.11%) Distributed Systems
11 5 (0.11%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (0.11%) Hackathon
11 5 (0.11%) Low-Code
11 5 (0.11%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (0.11%) Web Conferencing
12 4 (0.089%) Acoustics
Operating Systems
1 15 (0.33%) Linux
2 5 (0.11%) Unix
3 4 (0.089%) Android
4 1 (0.022%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 4,220 (93.88%) AI
2 3,718 (82.71%) Machine Learning
3 3,680 (81.87%) Cybersecurity
4 3,663 (81.49%) User Experience
5 3,649 (81.18%) Web Development
6 499 (11.10%) Conversational UI
7 353 (7.85%) Chemistry
8 139 (3.09%) Computer Science
9 102 (2.27%) Biotechnology
10 98 (2.18%) Agile
11 91 (2.02%) Experimental Design
12 90 (2.00%) Biology
13 89 (1.98%) Biochemistry
13 89 (1.98%) Data Interpretation
13 89 (1.98%) Decision-Making
14 86 (1.91%) Mathematics
15 78 (1.74%) Data Science
16 73 (1.62%) Physics
16 73 (1.62%) Problem-Solving
17 71 (1.58%) Analytics
Programming Languages
1 83 (1.85%) Python
2 38 (0.85%) SQL
3 29 (0.65%) Java
4 24 (0.53%) C++
5 21 (0.47%) C
6 15 (0.33%) C#
6 15 (0.33%) VBA
7 13 (0.29%) JavaScript
7 13 (0.29%) R
8 9 (0.20%) Bash
8 9 (0.20%) Perl
9 6 (0.13%) PHP
10 5 (0.11%) MATLAB
10 5 (0.11%) PowerShell
10 5 (0.11%) Scala
11 4 (0.089%) Fortran
11 4 (0.089%) Julia
11 4 (0.089%) Rust
12 1 (0.022%) Embedded C
12 1 (0.022%) Magik
Qualifications
1 4,495 (100.00%) Degree
2 4,204 (93.53%) PhD
3 3,650 (81.20%) Postgraduate
4 71 (1.58%) MBA
5 44 (0.98%) Computer Science Degree
6 36 (0.80%) BPSS Clearance
7 33 (0.73%) Security Cleared
8 30 (0.67%) SC Cleared
9 20 (0.44%) PMI Certification
10 19 (0.42%) PMP
11 16 (0.36%) AWS Certification
12 14 (0.31%) Azure Certification
13 11 (0.24%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 10 (0.22%) CCNP
14 10 (0.22%) Cisco Certification
14 10 (0.22%) HND
15 8 (0.18%) Chartered Engineer
15 8 (0.18%) DV Cleared
16 7 (0.16%) APMP
17 6 (0.13%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (0.73%) GxP
2 25 (0.56%) Data Quality
3 15 (0.33%) NIST
4 10 (0.22%) Accessibility
5 8 (0.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (0.18%) QA
6 7 (0.16%) GDPR
7 5 (0.11%) Actionable Recommendations
7 5 (0.11%) IEC 61131
7 5 (0.11%) IEC 61508
7 5 (0.11%) ISO 13485
7 5 (0.11%) ISO 9001
7 5 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 15288
7 5 (0.11%) NCSC
8 4 (0.089%) Cyber Essentials
8 4 (0.089%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 3 (0.067%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 2 (0.044%) GRC
10 2 (0.044%) ISO 26262
10 2 (0.044%) PMO
System Software
1 8 (0.18%) Docker
Systems Management
1 6 (0.13%) Ansible
1 6 (0.13%) Functional Safety
1 6 (0.13%) Kubernetes
2 4 (0.089%) Terraform
3 3 (0.067%) Kubeflow
4 1 (0.022%) BMC PATROL
Vendors
1 499 (11.10%) PayPal
2 49 (1.09%) SAP
3 41 (0.91%) Microsoft
4 13 (0.29%) EMC
4 13 (0.29%) Oracle
5 12 (0.27%) Cisco
6 9 (0.20%) Databricks
6 9 (0.20%) Siemens
7 8 (0.18%) Allen-Bradley
7 8 (0.18%) Toshiba
8 5 (0.11%) Broadcom
8 5 (0.11%) BT
8 5 (0.11%) HubSpot
8 5 (0.11%) IBM
9 4 (0.089%) Google
10 3 (0.067%) Agilent
10 3 (0.067%) Fortinet
10 3 (0.067%) Palo Alto
10 3 (0.067%) QAD
10 3 (0.067%) Salesforce