AI Job Trends
AI
UK
The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring AI skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 8 | 8 | 55 |
| Rank change year-on-year | 0 | +47 | +27 |
| Permanent jobs citing AI | 10,333 | 6,063 | 2,691 |
| As % of all permanent jobs in the UK | 8.65% | 12.38% | 3.86% |
| As % of the Processes & Methodologies category | 11.76% | 13.96% | 4.70% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 5,977 | 1,669 | 1,409 |
| 10th Percentile | £41,250 | £35,000 | £42,500 |
| 25th Percentile | £52,500 | £50,000 | £56,250 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £72,500 | £70,000 | £75,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +3.57% | -6.67% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £95,000 | £97,500 | £93,750 |
| 90th Percentile | £110,000 | £122,500 | £115,000 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £65,000 | £60,000 | £67,500 |
| % change year-on-year | +8.33% | -11.11% | +3.74% |
All Process & Methodology Skills
UK
AI 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.
| 6 months to 18 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills | 87,897 | 43,423 | 57,271 |
| As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK | 73.55% | 88.69% | 82.20% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 59,865 | 24,627 | 30,673 |
| 10th Percentile | £31,250 | £28,250 | £33,500 |
| 25th Percentile | £41,250 | £35,854 | £45,000 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £60,000 | £55,000 | £60,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +9.09% | -8.33% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £77,500 | £75,000 | £78,750 |
| 90th Percentile | £100,000 | £95,000 | £97,500 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £55,000 | £46,500 | £53,928 |
| % change year-on-year | +18.28% | -13.77% | +0.80% |
AI Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing AI relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.
AI Salary Trend
Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing AI.
AI Salary Histogram
Salary distribution for jobs citing AI over the 6 months to 18 October 2026.
AI Top 17 Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing AI within the UK over the 6 months to 18 October 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 0 | 9,109 | £72,500 | - | 14,902 |
| UK excluding London | -8 | 5,588 | £65,000 | +8.33% | 5,657 |
| London | +9 | 4,038 | £85,000 | +6.25% | 9,853 |
| Work from Home | -3 | 3,359 | £71,000 | +9.23% | 5,982 |
| North of England | -9 | 1,649 | £66,000 | +10.00% | 1,527 |
| South East | -7 | 1,263 | £62,500 | +13.64% | 1,361 |
| North West | +3 | 1,015 | £67,347 | +12.24% | 926 |
| Midlands | -13 | 834 | £62,500 | - | 644 |
| South West | -3 | 637 | £66,750 | +11.25% | 473 |
| West Midlands | -9 | 548 | £62,500 | +4.17% | 427 |
| East of England | +17 | 539 | £60,100 | +23.28% | 620 |
| Yorkshire | -12 | 383 | £65,000 | -10.34% | 432 |
| Scotland | -8 | 300 | £80,000 | +18.52% | 641 |
| East Midlands | -20 | 286 | £61,250 | -5.77% | 217 |
| North East | -11 | 251 | £66,000 | +168.62% | 171 |
| Wales | -6 | 225 | £65,500 | +19.09% | 124 |
| Northern Ireland | +3 | 152 | £74,830 | -0.23% | 309 |
AI Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Processes & Methodologies
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Analytics | 20.8% | 2,149 |
| 2 | Machine Learning | 20.6% | 2,127 |
| 3 | Software Engineering | 16.8% | 1,735 |
| 4 | Agile | 16.4% | 1,696 |
| 5 | Continuous Improvement | 15.3% | 1,581 |
| 6 | CI/CD | 14.6% | 1,511 |
| 7 | Problem-Solving | 14.4% | 1,489 |
| 8 | Roadmaps | 14.1% | 1,454 |
| 9 | Stakeholder Management | 13.4% | 1,384 |
| 10 | Decision-Making | 12.9% | 1,330 |
| 11 | LLM | 12.0% | 1,239 |
| 12 | Mentoring | 10.7% | 1,110 |
| 13 | DevOps | 10.5% | 1,084 |
| 14 | Generative AI | 10.4% | 1,070 |
| 15 | Business Intelligence | 9.0% | 930 |
| 16 | Data Science | 8.5% | 880 |
| 17 | Cybersecurity | 8.0% | 826 |
| 18 | Full-Stack Development | 7.6% | 790 |
| 19 | Coaching | 7.5% | 774 |
| 20 | Stakeholder Engagement | 7.4% | 761 |