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 25 July 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 399 63 390
Rank change year-on-year -336 +327 +84
Permanent jobs citing PhD 53 833 128
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.24% 5.06% 0.46%
As % of the Qualifications category 1.17% 14.94% 1.70%
Number of salaries quoted 25 54 57
10th Percentile £52,500 £40,750 £34,350
25th Percentile £55,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,000 £80,000 £70,000
Median % change year-on-year -30.00% +14.29% -12.50%
75th Percentile £58,000 £125,000 £100,000
90th Percentile £87,500 £175,000 £122,500
UK median annual salary £72,500 £92,500 £70,000
% change year-on-year -21.62% +32.14% -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 4,512 5,576 7,510
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 20.75% 33.90% 27.09%
Number of salaries quoted 3,046 2,493 4,605
10th Percentile £33,350 £29,550 £33,250
25th Percentile £47,500 £41,250 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £59,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.93% +2.61% -4.17%
75th Percentile £78,750 £73,750 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £90,000 £86,250
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 25 July 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 4 (7.55%) Simulink
2 3 (5.66%) Chatbot
3 2 (3.77%) Mathcad
Business Applications
1 1 (1.89%) HFM
Cloud Services
1 8 (15.09%) AWS
2 3 (5.66%) AWS Lambda
2 3 (5.66%) Serverless
3 2 (3.77%) SaaS
4 1 (1.89%) Amazon CloudWatch
4 1 (1.89%) Amazon ECS
4 1 (1.89%) Amazon S3
4 1 (1.89%) AWS CloudFormation
4 1 (1.89%) OCI
4 1 (1.89%) Stripe
Communications & Networking
1 7 (13.21%) Broadband
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (3.77%) MongoDB
1 2 (3.77%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (1.89%) Amazon Athena
2 1 (1.89%) Data Lake
2 1 (1.89%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 10 (18.87%) LabVIEW
2 2 (3.77%) Rational DOORS
General
1 15 (28.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
2 14 (26.42%) Organisational Skills
2 14 (26.42%) Social Skills
3 13 (24.53%) Electronics
4 12 (22.64%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (18.87%) Finance
6 7 (13.21%) Aerospace
7 5 (9.43%) Games
8 2 (3.77%) Automotive
9 1 (1.89%) iGaming
9 1 (1.89%) Manufacturing
9 1 (1.89%) Marketing
9 1 (1.89%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (1.89%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 26 (49.06%) Senior
2 15 (28.30%) Systems Engineer
3 11 (20.75%) Senior Systems Engineer
4 7 (13.21%) Research Scientist
5 6 (11.32%) Lecturer
6 4 (7.55%) Principal Engineer
6 4 (7.55%) Senior Software Engineer
6 4 (7.55%) Software Engineer
7 3 (5.66%) Design Engineer
7 3 (5.66%) Lead
8 2 (3.77%) Analogue Design Engineer
8 2 (3.77%) Data Scientist
8 2 (3.77%) Engineering Manager
8 2 (3.77%) Machine Learning Scientist
8 2 (3.77%) Principal Systems Engineer
8 2 (3.77%) Research Engineer
8 2 (3.77%) Safety Engineer
8 2 (3.77%) Senior Data Scientist
8 2 (3.77%) Systems Safety Engineer
9 1 (1.89%) Cloud Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (13.21%) PyTorch
2 6 (11.32%) scikit-learn
3 4 (7.55%) XGBoost
4 3 (5.66%) TensorFlow
5 2 (3.77%) Keras
5 2 (3.77%) OpenCV
5 2 (3.77%) Pandas
6 1 (1.89%) .NET
6 1 (1.89%) Flask
6 1 (1.89%) Lambda Expressions
6 1 (1.89%) Matplotlib
6 1 (1.89%) NumPy
6 1 (1.89%) SciPy
Miscellaneous
1 10 (18.87%) Algorithms
2 8 (15.09%) Fibre Optics
3 6 (11.32%) Distributed Systems
4 4 (7.55%) Sports Betting
5 3 (5.66%) FPGA
5 3 (5.66%) Robotics
5 3 (5.66%) Self-Motivation
5 3 (5.66%) VHDL
6 2 (3.77%) AI Agents
6 2 (3.77%) Distributed Architecture
6 2 (3.77%) Verilog
7 1 (1.89%) Blog
7 1 (1.89%) CUDA
7 1 (1.89%) Data Structures
7 1 (1.89%) Embedded Systems
7 1 (1.89%) Greenfield Project
7 1 (1.89%) Lidar
7 1 (1.89%) Podcast
7 1 (1.89%) Self-Driving Car
Operating Systems
1 5 (9.43%) Linux
2 1 (1.89%) Robot Operating System
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (56.60%) AI
2 20 (37.74%) Machine Learning
2 20 (37.74%) Physics
3 15 (28.30%) Computer Science
3 15 (28.30%) Data Science
4 12 (22.64%) Mathematics
4 12 (22.64%) Validation
5 11 (20.75%) Decision-Making
5 11 (20.75%) Problem-Solving
5 11 (20.75%) Roadmaps
6 10 (18.87%) Analytics
6 10 (18.87%) Technology Strategy
7 9 (16.98%) Generative AI
7 9 (16.98%) Prototyping
7 9 (16.98%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
8 8 (15.09%) Fault Analysis
8 8 (15.09%) Microscopy
8 8 (15.09%) Regulatory Compliance
8 8 (15.09%) Technical Leadership
8 8 (15.09%) Technology Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 23 (43.40%) Python
2 12 (22.64%) MATLAB
3 7 (13.21%) Java
4 6 (11.32%) C++
5 5 (9.43%) C#
6 4 (7.55%) Go
6 4 (7.55%) Rust
7 3 (5.66%) SystemVerilog
8 2 (3.77%) SQL
9 1 (1.89%) Bash
9 1 (1.89%) C
9 1 (1.89%) Embedded C
9 1 (1.89%) Embedded C++
9 1 (1.89%) R
Qualifications
1 53 (100.00%) Degree
2 36 (67.92%) Master's Degree
3 5 (9.43%) BPSS Clearance
3 5 (9.43%) DV Cleared
3 5 (9.43%) SC Cleared
3 5 (9.43%) Security Cleared
4 1 (1.89%) Oracle Certification
4 1 (1.89%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (9.43%) Accessibility
2 2 (3.77%) DO-254
2 2 (3.77%) HAZOP
2 2 (3.77%) IEC 61508
2 2 (3.77%) ISO 26262
2 2 (3.77%) QA
System Software
1 3 (5.66%) Firmware
2 1 (1.89%) Docker
Vendors
1 2 (3.77%) Siemens
1 2 (3.77%) Xilinx
2 1 (1.89%) Altera
2 1 (1.89%) Hyperion
2 1 (1.89%) IBM
2 1 (1.89%) Oracle