Data Scientist Job Trends

Data Scientist
UK

The median Data Scientist salary in the UK is £80,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 30 October 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 311 533 481
Rank change year-on-year +222 -52 +29
Permanent Data Scientist jobs 701 130 294
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.26% 0.43%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.62% 0.29% 0.45%
Number of salaries quoted 363 80 116
10th Percentile £50,000 £42,500 £38,620
25th Percentile £62,500 £52,500 £51,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £80,000 £70,000 £62,879
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +11.32% -10.17%
75th Percentile £95,000 £85,625 £77,500
90th Percentile £100,000 £90,500 £94,375
UK excluding London median annual salary £75,000 £55,000 £56,250
% change year-on-year +36.36% -2.22% -12.79%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.

6 months to
30 Oct 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title 112,430 45,048 64,840
% of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title 91.98% 90.17% 95.28%
Number of salaries quoted 75,241 27,084 36,853
10th Percentile £30,750 £28,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £35,000 £42,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £52,500 £57,000
Median % change year-on-year +12.38% -7.89% -5.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £93,750 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -8.00% -4.76%

Data Scientist Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Data Scientist job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Data Scientist job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Scientist Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Data Scientist job vacancies in the UK

Data Scientist Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for Data Scientist jobs over the 6 months to 30 October 2026.

Salary histogram for Data Scientist in the UK

Data Scientist Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in Data Scientist jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 30 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		 Job Ads
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
Past 6 Months		 Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year		 Live
Jobs
England +206 653 £80,000 +14.29% 74
UK excluding London +144 397 £75,000 +36.36% 62
London +105 283 £85,000 +11.48% 44
Work from Home +50 147 £67,500 -3.57% 29
North of England +37 116 £83,774 +52.32% 9
South East +8 90 £80,000 +88.24% 35
South West +1 83 £75,000 +7.14% 10
Midlands -5 70 £70,000 +0.54% 1
East Midlands +24 62 £70,000 -12.50%
North West -3 55 £75,000 +25.00% 4
Yorkshire +19 49 £85,000 +54.55% 4
Wales - 18 £72,500 - 4
North East - 12 £80,000 - 1
Northern Ireland -70 10 £72,500 +81.25%
West Midlands -50 8 £75,013 +26.60% 1
Scotland +8 5 £75,013 +66.70%
East of England -51 5 £45,000 -23.40% 3

Data Scientist Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 30 October 2026, Data Scientist job ads cited the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent Data Scientist job ads.

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Data Science99.7%699
2Machine Learning48.4%339
3AI39.5%277
4Python33.1%232
5Analytics29.1%204
6SQL17.4%122
7Generative AI13.6%95
8Actionable Insight13.3%93
9MLOps13.0%91
10Degree12.4%87
11Natural Language Processing11.6%81
12Predictive Modelling11.3%79
13Statistics10.1%71
14Decision-Making9.8%69
15Azure9.7%68
16CI/CD9.0%63
17Mentoring8.8%62
18AWS8.3%58
19Roadmaps8.1%57
20LLM8.0%56
20Problem-Solving8.0%56
22Mathematics7.3%51
23Software Engineering7.1%50
24Agile7.0%49
24Validation7.0%49
26Data Analysis6.8%48
27Data Engineering6.7%47
27GCP6.7%47
29Deep Learning6.6%46
29Security Cleared6.6%46

Data Scientist Skill Set 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.

Job Titles

RankJob TitleShareJob Ads
1Senior Data Scientist51.6%362
2Lead Data Scientist16.7%117
3Principal Data Scientist5.6%39
4Research Scientist5.3%37
5Machine Learning Scientist4.0%28
6Developer3.6%25
7Data Engineer3.4%24
8Machine Learning Researcher2.6%18
9Artificial Intelligence Engineer2.1%15
9Senior Data Engineer2.1%15
9Statistician2.1%15
12Lead Developer1.9%13
13Data Manager1.7%12
14Research Software Engineer0.9%6
14Senior Software Engineer0.9%6
16Senior Data Warehouse Specialist0.7%5
17Data Analytics Scientist0.4%3
18Data Analyst0.3%2
18Data Science Leader0.3%2
18Junior Data Scientist0.3%2
80 Data Scientist jobs Nationwide