Physics Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Physics
UK > UK excluding London

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the UK excluding London requiring Physics skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 264 291 356
Rank change year-on-year +27 +65 -44
Permanent jobs citing Physics 275 310 207
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 0.65% 0.85% 0.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.82% 0.96% 0.71%
Number of salaries quoted 78 156 146
10th Percentile £36,750 £36,857 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,015 £42,313 £40,068
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,500 £53,438 £51,764
Median % change year-on-year +1.99% +3.23% +15.87%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,700 £78,750 £75,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -4.35%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK excluding London

Physics falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the UK excluding London.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 33,392 32,378 29,303
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 78.87% 88.54% 89.15%
Number of salaries quoted 19,133 14,700 21,744
10th Percentile £27,750 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £33,375 £41,250 £38,039
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £65,000 £70,000 £66,778
90th Percentile £80,000 £83,750 £80,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -4.00%

Physics
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Physics job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Physics
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Physics.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK excluding London citing Physics

Physics
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Physics in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 7 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Physics in the UK excluding London

Physics
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 Physics within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 7 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 +75 98 £51,250 +22.61% 9
South East -45 66 £56,430 -5.95% 66
Yorkshire +41 60 - -
East of England +23 44 £57,500 -20.69% 39
South West +7 37 £40,792 -16.61% 20
North West +26 29 £51,250 +27.80% 6
Midlands +23 29 £45,000 +20.03% 13
West Midlands +22 16 £35,000 +12.90% 5
East Midlands +7 13 £75,000 +100.00% 8
North East +14 9 - - 3
Wales +5 1 £85,700 - 3
Physics
UK

Physics
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 4 (1.45%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.36%) Confluence
Applications
1 85 (30.91%) Chatbot
2 41 (14.91%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (5.45%) Simulink
4 1 (0.36%) Abaqus
4 1 (0.36%) GNU Octave
4 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.36%) Siemens NX
Business Applications
1 1 (0.36%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 6 (2.18%) GitHub
2 2 (0.73%) AWS
2 2 (0.73%) Azure
3 1 (0.36%) Cloud Computing
3 1 (0.36%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 11 (4.00%) Software-Defined Radio
2 6 (2.18%) 5G
2 6 (2.18%) SD-WAN
2 6 (2.18%) WAN
3 5 (1.82%) Wireless
4 3 (1.09%) LAN
5 1 (0.36%) Internet
5 1 (0.36%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.18%) SQL Server
2 4 (1.45%) Elasticsearch
2 4 (1.45%) PostgreSQL
2 4 (1.45%) Redis
3 2 (0.73%) GIS
4 1 (0.36%) Big Data
4 1 (0.36%) ClickHouse
Development Applications
1 13 (4.73%) Rational DOORS
2 9 (3.27%) Git
3 6 (2.18%) LabVIEW
4 4 (1.45%) Jenkins
5 3 (1.09%) JIRA
5 3 (1.09%) Rational Rhapsody
6 2 (0.73%) GitLab
6 2 (0.73%) TestRail
7 1 (0.36%) Selenium
7 1 (0.36%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.36%) WebDriver
General
1 60 (21.82%) Electronics
2 48 (17.45%) Social Skills
3 36 (13.09%) Marketing
4 26 (9.45%) Analytical Skills
5 24 (8.73%) Spanish Language
6 18 (6.55%) Aerospace
7 17 (6.18%) Agriculture
8 16 (5.82%) Finance
9 15 (5.45%) Manufacturing
10 13 (4.73%) Presentation Skills
11 12 (4.36%) Games
12 8 (2.91%) Military
12 8 (2.91%) Telecoms
13 6 (2.18%) German Language
14 4 (1.45%) Automotive
14 4 (1.45%) Legal
15 3 (1.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 3 (1.09%) Retail
16 1 (0.36%) Public Sector
16 1 (0.36%) Tech for Good
Job Titles
1 85 (30.91%) Trainer
2 37 (13.45%) Consultant
2 37 (13.45%) Senior
3 36 (13.09%) Systems Engineer
4 29 (10.55%) Solutions Consultant
4 29 (10.55%) Technical Consultant
5 19 (6.91%) Research Scientist
6 18 (6.55%) Software Engineer
7 12 (4.36%) Lead
8 10 (3.64%) Principal Engineer
8 10 (3.64%) Senior Systems Engineer
8 10 (3.64%) Test Engineer
9 9 (3.27%) Developer
10 7 (2.55%) Embedded Engineer
10 7 (2.55%) Machine Learning Consultant
10 7 (2.55%) Senior Developer
11 6 (2.18%) Product Engineer
11 6 (2.18%) Product Test Engineer
11 6 (2.18%) Test Technician
11 6 (2.18%) Verification Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (4.00%) .NET
2 9 (3.27%) OpenGL
3 8 (2.91%) PyTorch
3 8 (2.91%) TensorFlow
4 7 (2.55%) Google JAX
4 7 (2.55%) JAX
5 6 (2.18%) .NET Core
5 6 (2.18%) DirectX
5 6 (2.18%) pytest
6 5 (1.82%) React
7 4 (1.45%) Node.js
8 3 (1.09%) AngularJS
8 3 (1.09%) Vue
8 3 (1.09%) Vulkan
9 2 (0.73%) Blazor
9 2 (0.73%) CSS
9 2 (0.73%) HTML
9 2 (0.73%) Qt
9 2 (0.73%) REST
9 2 (0.73%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 25 (9.09%) Algorithms
2 14 (5.09%) e-Learning
3 11 (4.00%) 3D Graphics
4 10 (3.64%) CUDA
4 10 (3.64%) Embedded Systems
5 8 (2.91%) Management Information System
6 7 (2.55%) FPGA
7 6 (2.18%) Self-Driving Car
7 6 (2.18%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (1.45%) Cyber Threat
8 4 (1.45%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.09%) Arduino
9 3 (1.09%) Data Centre
9 3 (1.09%) Driving Licence
9 3 (1.09%) Fibre Optics
9 3 (1.09%) Raspberry Pi
10 2 (0.73%) IoT
10 2 (0.73%) Product Ownership
10 2 (0.73%) RISC-V
10 2 (0.73%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 17 (6.18%) Linux
2 11 (4.00%) Windows
3 10 (3.64%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 164 (59.64%) Mathematics
2 115 (41.82%) AI
3 85 (30.91%) Conversational UI
4 64 (23.27%) Problem-Solving
5 38 (13.82%) Software Engineering
6 37 (13.45%) Systems Engineering
7 36 (13.09%) Validation
8 35 (12.73%) Innovative Thinking
9 34 (12.36%) Computer Science
10 27 (9.82%) Signal Processing
11 23 (8.36%) Chemistry
12 22 (8.00%) Machine Learning
13 18 (6.55%) Digital Signal Processing
14 17 (6.18%) Agile
15 16 (5.82%) Verification and Validation
16 15 (5.45%) Economics
17 14 (5.09%) Mentoring
17 14 (5.09%) Trend Analysis
18 12 (4.36%) Coaching
19 11 (4.00%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
Programming Languages
1 47 (17.09%) Python
2 41 (14.91%) MATLAB
3 26 (9.45%) C++
4 21 (7.64%) C
5 13 (4.73%) C#
6 11 (4.00%) Java
7 9 (3.27%) SQL
8 8 (2.91%) JavaScript
9 7 (2.55%) T-SQL
10 6 (2.18%) Bash
11 5 (1.82%) Rust
12 4 (1.45%) Fortran
13 3 (1.09%) Assembly Language
13 3 (1.09%) GLSL
13 3 (1.09%) Objective-C
13 3 (1.09%) Swift
14 2 (0.73%) Embedded C
15 1 (0.36%) Tcl
15 1 (0.36%) VB
Qualifications
1 238 (86.55%) Degree
2 98 (35.64%) Master's Degree
3 94 (34.18%) PhD
4 57 (20.73%) BPSS Clearance
5 53 (19.27%) Security Cleared
6 43 (15.64%) SC Cleared
7 18 (6.55%) DV Cleared
8 9 (3.27%) Numerate Degree
9 7 (2.55%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (2.55%) HND
9 7 (2.55%) RIBA
10 3 (1.09%) PMI Certification
10 3 (1.09%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (0.73%) ISO 9000
1 2 (0.73%) JTAG
2 1 (0.36%) Def Stans
2 1 (0.36%) IEC 61508
System Software
1 14 (5.09%) Firmware
2 6 (2.18%) Embedded Firmware
Systems Management
1 3 (1.09%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 85 (30.91%) PayPal
2 10 (3.64%) Siemens
3 4 (1.45%) HubSpot
4 3 (1.09%) ANSYS
4 3 (1.09%) Arista
4 3 (1.09%) Extreme Networks
4 3 (1.09%) Palo Alto
5 1 (0.36%) Keysight
5 1 (0.36%) Microsoft
5 1 (0.36%) SAP
5 1 (0.36%) YouTube