Job Vacancy Trend Salary Trend Salary Histogram Job Locations Skill Sets
Period
to 26 September 2020

The following table provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies with a requirement for PhD qualifications. Included is a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months to 26 September 2020 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil, EngD, Doctorate)
UK
6 months to
26 Sep 2020		 Same period 2019 Same period 2018
Rank 387 512 358
Rank change year-on-year +125 -154 +1
Permanent jobs citing PhD 325 730 1,481
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.67% 0.52% 0.88%
As % of the Qualifications category 3.06% 2.22% 3.75%
Number of salaries quoted 297 567 1,302
Median annual salary £67,500 £65,000 £60,000
Median salary % change year-on-year +3.85% +8.33% +9.09%
10th Percentile £42,000 £33,750 £31,250
90th Percentile £110,000 £102,500 £112,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +20.00% - +11.11%

PhD is in the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies with a requirement for academic qualifications or professional certifications.

All Academic and Professional Certifications
UK
Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 10,624 32,897 39,520
As % of all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK 22.05% 23.43% 23.61%
Number of salaries quoted 7,803 23,885 29,306
Median annual salary £55,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median salary % change year-on-year +10.00% - +8.70%
10th Percentile £31,250 £26,750 £26,250
90th Percentile £87,500 £82,500 £80,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £45,000 £45,000
% change year-on-year +11.11% - +5.88%

PhD
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing PhD as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for PhD in the UK

PhD
Salary Trend

3-month moving average salary quoted in jobs citing PhD.

Salary trend for PhD in the UK

PhD
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing PhD over the 6 months to 26 September 2020.

Salary histogram for PhD in the UK

PhD
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing PhD within the UK over the 6 months to 26 September 2020. 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
Job
Vacancies
England +144 302 £67,500 +3.85% 118
London +92 164 £75,000 - 45
UK excluding London +187 155 £60,000 +20.00% 79
South East +168 54 £60,000 +42.22% 27
East of England +128 47 £75,000 -6.25% 28
Work from Home +68 38 £67,500 -12.90% 19
North of England +170 23 £55,000 +4.76% 5
Scotland +44 15 £57,500 -0.86% 4
Yorkshire +145 11 £41,250 -54.17% 1
North West +117 10 £90,000 +71.43% 3
South West +123 8 £45,000 -21.74% 6
Midlands +136 4 £60,000 +33.33% 7
West Midlands +98 3 £58,750 +30.56% 2
Wales +44 3 £45,000 +5.88% 2
North East - 2 £55,000 - 1
Northern Ireland - 2 - -
East Midlands +96 1 £78,000 +56.00% 5

For the 6 months to 26 September 2020, IT jobs citing PhD also mentioned the following skills in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads with a requirement for PhD.

1 194 (59.69%) Python
2 142 (43.69%) Machine Learning
3 135 (41.54%) Mathematics
4 123 (37.85%) Computer Science
5 115 (35.38%) C++
6 114 (35.08%) Algorithms
7 111 (34.15%) Data Science
8 99 (30.46%) Degree
9 87 (26.77%) Finance
10 83 (25.54%) Artificial Intelligence
11 80 (24.62%) SQL
12 66 (20.31%) Physics
13 65 (20.00%) Java
14 64 (19.69%) Software Engineering
15 58 (17.85%) Deep Learning
16 57 (17.54%) TensorFlow
17 55 (16.92%) Statistics
18 54 (16.62%) Agile Software Development
19 53 (16.31%) Git (software)
20 46 (14.15%) R
21 45 (13.85%) Analytics
21 45 (13.85%) C
22 43 (13.23%) AWS
23 39 (12.00%) Azure
24 38 (11.69%) Visualisation
25 36 (11.08%) DevOps
26 34 (10.46%) Big Data
26 34 (10.46%) GCP
27 33 (10.15%) Data Visualisation
27 33 (10.15%) Master's Degree

PhD
Co-occurring IT Skills by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same job type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 23 (7.08%) Apache Spark
2 14 (4.31%) CMS
3 6 (1.85%) Jupyter
4 5 (1.54%) Apache
5 3 (0.92%) SAS
6 2 (0.62%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.31%) FileNet
7 1 (0.31%) IBM Domino
7 1 (0.31%) SharePoint
Applications
1 2 (0.62%) S-PLUS
2 1 (0.31%) Maya
2 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.31%) Simulink
2 1 (0.31%) Stata
2 1 (0.31%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 2 (0.62%) Salesforce.com CRM
Cloud Services
1 43 (13.23%) AWS
2 39 (12.00%) Azure
3 34 (10.46%) GCP
4 6 (1.85%) Power Platform
5 3 (0.92%) Amazon EC2
5 3 (0.92%) Amazon S3
5 3 (0.92%) Amazon SQS
5 3 (0.92%) AWS Lambda
5 3 (0.92%) NuGet
5 3 (0.92%) SaaS
5 3 (0.92%) Serverless
6 2 (0.62%) Amazon EMR
6 2 (0.62%) Amazon SageMaker
6 2 (0.62%) AWS Data Pipeline
7 1 (0.31%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (0.31%) Google App Engine
Communications & Networking
1 4 (1.23%) SNMP
2 2 (0.62%) Internet
2 2 (0.62%) NAS
2 2 (0.62%) Wireless
3 1 (0.31%) Cisco ASA
3 1 (0.31%) DVB
3 1 (0.31%) FTP
3 1 (0.31%) MIMO
3 1 (0.31%) Network Security
3 1 (0.31%) RFID
3 1 (0.31%) TCP/IP
3 1 (0.31%) Wideband
3 1 (0.31%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (10.46%) Big Data
2 24 (7.38%) Blockchain
3 22 (6.77%) NoSQL
4 21 (6.46%) Hadoop
5 18 (5.54%) MongoDB
6 17 (5.23%) Amazon Redshift
7 16 (4.92%) Apache Hive
8 15 (4.62%) PostgreSQL
9 14 (4.31%) QlikView
10 12 (3.69%) SQL Server
11 10 (3.08%) Relational Database
12 7 (2.15%) Data Mining
13 6 (1.85%) BigQuery
13 6 (1.85%) MySQL
13 6 (1.85%) Power BI
14 5 (1.54%) Data Warehouse
15 3 (0.92%) Amazon DynamoDB
15 3 (0.92%) Amazon RDS
15 3 (0.92%) DB2
15 3 (0.92%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 53 (16.31%) Git (software)
2 14 (4.31%) Jenkins
3 9 (2.77%) Subversion
3 9 (2.77%) TeamCity
4 8 (2.46%) GCC
5 7 (2.15%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 6 (1.85%) Travis CI
7 4 (1.23%) IntelliJ
7 4 (1.23%) JUnit
7 4 (1.23%) Mockito
8 3 (0.92%) Visual Studio
9 2 (0.62%) Eclipse
9 2 (0.62%) MLflow
9 2 (0.62%) Octopus Deploy
9 2 (0.62%) PyCharm
9 2 (0.62%) RStudio
9 2 (0.62%) Visual Studio Code
10 1 (0.31%) GitLab
10 1 (0.31%) GoCD
10 1 (0.31%) Gradle
General
1 87 (26.77%) Finance
2 28 (8.62%) Banking
3 17 (5.23%) Games
4 12 (3.69%) Advertising
4 12 (3.69%) Front Office
5 8 (2.46%) Law
5 8 (2.46%) Manufacturing
6 7 (2.15%) Electronics
6 7 (2.15%) Marketing
7 5 (1.54%) Aerospace
7 5 (1.54%) Telecoms
8 4 (1.23%) Dutch Language
8 4 (1.23%) French Language
8 4 (1.23%) German Language
8 4 (1.23%) Polish Language
9 3 (0.92%) Military
9 3 (0.92%) Pharmaceutical
9 3 (0.92%) Retail
10 2 (0.62%) Automotive
11 1 (0.31%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 77 (23.69%) Data Scientist
2 52 (16.00%) Developer
3 45 (13.85%) Software Engineer
4 34 (10.46%) Analyst
5 30 (9.23%) Senior Data Scientist
6 26 (8.00%) Machine Learning Engineer
7 24 (7.38%) Qualitative Analyst
7 24 (7.38%) Quantitative Analyst
8 22 (6.77%) C++ Software Engineer
9 21 (6.46%) Data Engineer
10 18 (5.54%) Quantitative Developer
11 17 (5.23%) Analyst Developer
11 17 (5.23%) Quantitative Analyst Developer
12 16 (4.92%) Architect
13 13 (4.00%) Machine Learning Scientist
14 12 (3.69%) .NET Developer
14 12 (3.69%) Senior Developer
14 12 (3.69%) Senior Software Engineer
15 11 (3.38%) C++ Developer
16 9 (2.77%) Python Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 57 (17.54%) TensorFlow
2 33 (10.15%) PyTorch
3 28 (8.62%) Keras
3 28 (8.62%) scikit-learn
4 27 (8.31%) Natural Language Processing
5 23 (7.08%) .NET
6 18 (5.54%) OpenGL
6 18 (5.54%) Pandas
7 17 (5.23%) NumPy
7 17 (5.23%) Qt
7 17 (5.23%) REST
8 15 (4.62%) Boost C++ Libraries
8 15 (4.62%) MFC
8 15 (4.62%) WinForms
9 12 (3.69%) OpenGL ES
9 12 (3.69%) Vulkan
10 11 (3.38%) Kafka
10 11 (3.38%) Web Services
11 9 (2.77%) OpenCL
12 8 (2.46%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 114 (35.08%) Algorithms
2 27 (8.31%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (8.00%) Greenfield Project
4 17 (5.23%) CUDA
5 16 (4.92%) Management Information System
6 13 (4.00%) Market Risk
6 13 (4.00%) User Experience
7 12 (3.69%) Derivative
7 12 (3.69%) Equities
8 11 (3.38%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
9 10 (3.08%) Self-Motivation
9 10 (3.08%) Swaptions
10 9 (2.77%) Data Structures
10 9 (2.77%) Exotic Derivative
11 8 (2.46%) Renewable Energy
11 8 (2.46%) Robotics
12 6 (1.85%) Hedge funds
13 5 (1.54%) Analytical Mindset
13 5 (1.54%) ASIC
14 4 (1.23%) Blog
Operating Systems
1 18 (5.54%) Linux
1 18 (5.54%) Windows
2 4 (1.23%) Android
3 3 (0.92%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 142 (43.69%) Machine Learning
2 135 (41.54%) Mathematics
3 123 (37.85%) Computer Science
4 111 (34.15%) Data Science
5 83 (25.54%) Artificial Intelligence
6 66 (20.31%) Physics
7 64 (19.69%) Software Engineering
8 58 (17.85%) Deep Learning
9 55 (16.92%) Statistics
10 54 (16.62%) Agile Software Development
11 45 (13.85%) Analytics
12 38 (11.69%) Visualisation
13 36 (11.08%) DevOps
14 33 (10.15%) Data Visualisation
15 30 (9.23%) Statistical Analysis
16 28 (8.62%) Problem-Solving
17 22 (6.77%) Stochastic Calculus
18 21 (6.46%) Multithreading
18 21 (6.46%) Neural Network
18 21 (6.46%) OOD
Programming Languages
1 194 (59.69%) Python
2 115 (35.38%) C++
3 80 (24.62%) SQL
4 65 (20.00%) Java
5 46 (14.15%) R
6 45 (13.85%) C
7 32 (9.85%) C#
8 24 (7.38%) Scala
9 22 (6.77%) MATLAB
10 12 (3.69%) JavaScript
11 10 (3.08%) Assembly Language
11 10 (3.08%) Go
12 9 (2.77%) F#
13 7 (2.15%) Rust
14 6 (1.85%) Julia
15 5 (1.54%) Haskell
15 5 (1.54%) ML
15 5 (1.54%) PHP
16 3 (0.92%) Ruby
16 3 (0.92%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 99 (30.46%) Degree
2 33 (10.15%) Master's Degree
3 25 (7.69%) Computer Science Degree
4 8 (2.46%) Numerate Degree
5 5 (1.54%) Security Cleared
6 4 (1.23%) CFA
7 3 (0.92%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.31%) HND
8 1 (0.31%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (3.08%) MiFID
2 9 (2.77%) Dodd-Frank
2 9 (2.77%) EMIR
3 4 (1.23%) QA
4 1 (0.31%) COBIT
4 1 (0.31%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.31%) ISO 13485
4 1 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.31%) PMO
System Software
1 27 (8.31%) Docker
2 5 (1.54%) Firmware
3 1 (0.31%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 19 (5.85%) Kubernetes
2 8 (2.46%) Istio
3 6 (1.85%) Terraform
4 5 (1.54%) Ansible
5 1 (0.31%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 18 (5.54%) Tableau
2 10 (3.08%) Oracle
3 9 (2.77%) Google
4 6 (1.85%) Autodesk
5 3 (0.92%) Cadence
6 2 (0.62%) Databricks
6 2 (0.62%) Perforce
6 2 (0.62%) Salesforce.com
6 2 (0.62%) Samsung
7 1 (0.31%) Alteryx
7 1 (0.31%) CheckPoint
7 1 (0.31%) Cisco
7 1 (0.31%) IBM
7 1 (0.31%) Intel
7 1 (0.31%) Microsoft
7 1 (0.31%) NVIDIA
7 1 (0.31%) Palo Alto
7 1 (0.31%) Pega
7 1 (0.31%) Sybase
126 PhD job vacancies Nationwide