Senior Data Scientist Job Trends
Senior Data Scientist
UK
The median Senior Data Scientist salary in the UK is £90,000 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 | 488 | 629 | 612 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +141 | -17 | +33 |
| Permanent Senior Data Scientist jobs | 362 | 34 | 148 |
| As % of all permanent jobs in the UK | 0.30% | 0.068% | 0.22% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.32% | 0.075% | 0.23% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 184 | 14 | 50 |
| 10th Percentile | £66,500 | £75,750 | £56,754 |
| 25th Percentile | £75,000 | £80,000 | £57,646 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £90,000 | £85,000 | £70,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.88% | +21.43% | -17.65% |
| 75th Percentile | £100,000 | £90,000 | £80,938 |
| 90th Percentile | - | £96,750 | £92,625 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £85,000 | £85,000 | £62,879 |
| % change year-on-year | - | +35.18% | -32.23% |
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% |
Senior Data Scientist Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Senior Data Scientist job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.
Senior Data Scientist Salary Trend
Salary distribution trend for Senior Data Scientist job vacancies in the UK.
Senior Data Scientist Salary Histogram
Salary distribution for Senior Data Scientist jobs over the 6 months to 30 October 2026.
Senior Data Scientist Top 17 Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in Senior 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 | +128 | 338 | £90,000 | +5.88% | 33 |
| London | +83 | 178 | £95,000 | +11.76% | 21 |
| UK excluding London | +23 | 174 | £85,000 | - | 27 |
| Work from Home | +14 | 79 | £81,250 | -4.41% | 15 |
| North of England | -5 | 58 | £90,000 | +9.09% | 6 |
| South East | - | 52 | £90,000 | - | 15 |
| Midlands | - | 33 | £75,000 | - | |
| East Midlands | - | 31 | £75,000 | - | |
| Yorkshire | - | 30 | £87,500 | - | 4 |
| North West | -18 | 25 | £95,000 | +15.15% | 2 |
| South West | -64 | 13 | £75,000 | -11.76% | 3 |
| Wales | - | 8 | £100,000 | - | |
| Northern Ireland | - | 7 | £90,000 | - | |
| North East | - | 3 | £100,000 | - | |
| West Midlands | - | 2 | £75,013 | - | |
| Scotland | - | 2 | £75,013 | - | |
| East of England | - | 1 | £65,000 | - | 3 |
Senior Data Scientist Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 30 October 2026, Senior 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 Senior Data Scientist job ads.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Data Science | 100.0% | 362 |
| 2 | Machine Learning | 48.3% | 175 |
| 3 | AI | 36.2% | 131 |
| 4 | Python | 31.8% | 115 |
| 5 | Analytics | 27.9% | 101 |
| 6 | SQL | 16.3% | 59 |
| 7 | Mentoring | 15.7% | 57 |
| 8 | Degree | 15.2% | 55 |
| 9 | MLOps | 13.5% | 49 |
| 10 | CI/CD | 12.4% | 45 |
| 11 | Actionable Insight | 11.9% | 43 |
| 12 | Decision-Making | 11.3% | 41 |
| 12 | Roadmaps | 11.3% | 41 |
| 12 | Software Engineering | 11.3% | 41 |
| 15 | Azure | 10.8% | 39 |
| 16 | Natural Language Processing | 10.5% | 38 |
| 17 | Predictive Modelling | 9.9% | 36 |
| 18 | Generative AI | 9.4% | 34 |
| 19 | AWS | 9.1% | 33 |
| 19 | Master's Degree | 9.1% | 33 |
| 21 | Data Engineering | 8.8% | 32 |
| 21 | PhD | 8.8% | 32 |
| 23 | Apache Spark | 8.3% | 30 |
| 23 | Collaborative Culture | 8.3% | 30 |
| 25 | Statistics | 7.7% | 28 |
| 26 | DevOps | 7.2% | 26 |
| 26 | GCP | 7.2% | 26 |
| 28 | Amazon Redshift | 6.9% | 25 |
| 28 | PyTorch | 6.9% | 25 |
| 30 | LLM | 6.6% | 24 |
Senior 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
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lead Data Scientist | 32.3% | 117 |
| 2 | Principal Data Scientist | 10.8% | 39 |
| 3 | Research Scientist | 6.6% | 24 |
| 4 | Senior Data Engineer | 4.1% | 15 |
| 5 | Machine Learning Scientist | 3.9% | 14 |
| 6 | Lead Developer | 3.6% | 13 |
| 7 | Machine Learning Researcher | 2.8% | 10 |
| 8 | Artificial Intelligence Engineer | 2.5% | 9 |
| 9 | Research Software Engineer | 1.7% | 6 |
| 9 | Senior Software Engineer | 1.7% | 6 |
| 11 | Senior Data Warehouse Specialist | 1.4% | 5 |
| 12 | Statistician | 0.8% | 3 |
| 13 | Data Science Leader | 0.6% | 2 |
| 14 | Associate Director | 0.3% | 1 |