Hybrid/Remote PhD Job Trends

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil, EngD, Doctorate)
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics for remote or hybrid work with a requirement for PhD qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 6 August 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
6 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 405 62 394
Rank change year-on-year -343 +332 +79
Permanent jobs citing PhD 62 831 114
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.28% 5.04% 0.45%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.33% 14.86% 1.71%
Number of salaries quoted 27 51 42
10th Percentile £52,500 £40,750 £34,750
25th Percentile £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,000 £80,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year -30.00% +14.29% -9.68%
75th Percentile £66,375 £125,000 £100,000
90th Percentile £96,500 £175,000 -
UK median annual salary £62,500 £95,000 £70,000
% change year-on-year -34.21% +35.71% -6.67%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Work from Home

PhD falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies with remote or hybrid options requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 4,677 5,594 6,678
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 20.75% 33.95% 26.45%
Number of salaries quoted 3,088 2,475 3,917
10th Percentile £33,350 £29,750 £33,780
25th Percentile £46,750 £41,250 £42,608
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £57,500 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.70% - -4.17%
75th Percentile £78,760 £75,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £90,650 £87,500
UK median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% - -8.33%

PhD
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing PhD and offering remote or hybrid work options relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

PhD job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

PhD
Salary Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing PhD.

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing PhD

PhD
Salary Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing PhD over the 6 months to 6 August 2026.

PhD salary histogram for jobs with remote/hybrid work options

PhD
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Remote/Hybrid Jobs 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:

Applications
1 9 (14.52%) Simulink
2 3 (4.84%) Chatbot
2 3 (4.84%) Mathcad
3 1 (1.61%) SOLIDWORKS
3 1 (1.61%) Zemax
Business Applications
1 1 (1.61%) HFM
Cloud Services
1 8 (12.90%) AWS
2 3 (4.84%) AWS Lambda
2 3 (4.84%) Serverless
3 2 (3.23%) SaaS
4 1 (1.61%) Amazon CloudWatch
4 1 (1.61%) Amazon ECS
4 1 (1.61%) Amazon S3
4 1 (1.61%) AWS CloudFormation
4 1 (1.61%) OCI
4 1 (1.61%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 7 (11.29%) Broadband
2 2 (3.23%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.23%) MongoDB
1 2 (3.23%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (1.61%) Amazon Athena
2 1 (1.61%) Data Lake
2 1 (1.61%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 11 (17.74%) LabVIEW
2 3 (4.84%) Rational DOORS
General
1 22 (35.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
2 18 (29.03%) Electronics
3 16 (25.81%) Finance
3 16 (25.81%) Social Skills
4 14 (22.58%) Organisational Skills
5 13 (20.97%) Aerospace
6 12 (19.35%) Analytical Skills
7 5 (8.06%) Games
8 2 (3.23%) Automotive
8 2 (3.23%) Manufacturing
9 1 (1.61%) iGaming
9 1 (1.61%) Marketing
9 1 (1.61%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (1.61%) Public Sector
9 1 (1.61%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 28 (45.16%) Senior
2 16 (25.81%) Systems Engineer
3 11 (17.74%) Senior Systems Engineer
4 7 (11.29%) Research Scientist
5 6 (9.68%) Lead
5 6 (9.68%) Lecturer
5 6 (9.68%) Principal Engineer
6 5 (8.06%) Senior Software Engineer
6 5 (8.06%) Software Engineer
7 3 (4.84%) Design Engineer
7 3 (4.84%) Principal Systems Engineer
8 2 (3.23%) Analogue Design Engineer
8 2 (3.23%) Data Science Leader
8 2 (3.23%) Data Scientist
8 2 (3.23%) Engineering Manager
8 2 (3.23%) Machine Learning Scientist
8 2 (3.23%) Research Engineer
8 2 (3.23%) Senior Data Scientist
8 2 (3.23%) Team Leader
8 2 (3.23%) Technical Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (9.68%) PyTorch
1 6 (9.68%) scikit-learn
2 4 (6.45%) XGBoost
3 2 (3.23%) Keras
3 2 (3.23%) Pandas
3 2 (3.23%) TensorFlow
4 1 (1.61%) .NET
4 1 (1.61%) Flask
4 1 (1.61%) Lambda Expressions
4 1 (1.61%) Matplotlib
4 1 (1.61%) NumPy
4 1 (1.61%) OpenCV
4 1 (1.61%) SciPy
Miscellaneous
1 11 (17.74%) Algorithms
2 8 (12.90%) Fibre Optics
2 8 (12.90%) FPGA
3 6 (9.68%) Distributed Systems
4 5 (8.06%) VHDL
5 4 (6.45%) Sports Betting
5 4 (6.45%) Verilog
6 3 (4.84%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (3.23%) AI Agents
7 2 (3.23%) Blog
7 2 (3.23%) Data Structures
7 2 (3.23%) Distributed Architecture
7 2 (3.23%) Podcast
7 2 (3.23%) Robotics
8 1 (1.61%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 5 (8.06%) Linux
2 1 (1.61%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (48.39%) AI
2 25 (40.32%) Physics
3 21 (33.87%) Machine Learning
4 16 (25.81%) Computer Science
4 16 (25.81%) Data Science
5 14 (22.58%) Validation
6 13 (20.97%) Mathematics
6 13 (20.97%) Problem-Solving
7 12 (19.35%) Roadmaps
8 11 (17.74%) Decision-Making
9 10 (16.13%) Analytics
9 10 (16.13%) Technology Strategy
10 9 (14.52%) Generative AI
10 9 (14.52%) Prototyping
10 9 (14.52%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
11 8 (12.90%) Fault Analysis
11 8 (12.90%) LLM
11 8 (12.90%) Microscopy
11 8 (12.90%) Motion Control
11 8 (12.90%) Regulatory Compliance
Programming Languages
1 23 (37.10%) Python
2 17 (27.42%) MATLAB
3 7 (11.29%) C++
3 7 (11.29%) Java
4 5 (8.06%) C#
4 5 (8.06%) Rust
4 5 (8.06%) SystemVerilog
5 4 (6.45%) Go
6 2 (3.23%) SQL
7 1 (1.61%) Bash
7 1 (1.61%) C
7 1 (1.61%) Embedded C
7 1 (1.61%) Embedded C++
7 1 (1.61%) R
Qualifications
1 62 (100.00%) Degree
2 42 (67.74%) Master's Degree
3 12 (19.35%) SC Cleared
3 12 (19.35%) Security Cleared
4 10 (16.13%) BPSS Clearance
4 10 (16.13%) DV Cleared
5 1 (1.61%) Oracle Certification
5 1 (1.61%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (16.13%) Accessibility
2 2 (3.23%) DO-254
2 2 (3.23%) HAZOP
2 2 (3.23%) IEC 61508
2 2 (3.23%) ISO 26262
2 2 (3.23%) QA
System Software
1 6 (9.68%) Firmware
2 1 (1.61%) Docker
Vendors
1 6 (9.68%) Siemens
2 4 (6.45%) Xilinx
3 1 (1.61%) Altera
3 1 (1.61%) Hyperion
3 1 (1.61%) IBM
3 1 (1.61%) Oracle