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 12 November 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 32 365 450
Rank change year-on-year +333 +85 +52
Permanent jobs citing PhD 1,026 98 53
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 6.51% 0.50% 0.24%
As % of the Qualifications category 17.72% 1.89% 0.86%
Number of salaries quoted 28 27 40
10th Percentile £40,880 - £37,328
25th Percentile £52,145 £45,000 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £90,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +50.00% - -14.29%
75th Percentile £115,000 £80,625 £96,250
90th Percentile £125,000 £100,000 £130,500
UK median annual salary £90,000 £65,000 £70,875
% change year-on-year +38.46% -8.29% +1.25%

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 5,791 5,190 6,143
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 36.76% 26.38% 28.17%
Number of salaries quoted 2,427 2,549 4,489
10th Percentile £29,750 £35,000 £35,500
25th Percentile £41,250 £46,250 £45,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £60,000 £60,000
75th Percentile £77,500 £76,250 £76,250
90th Percentile £92,500 £87,500 £92,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £58,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -5.17% +0.87% +2.68%

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 12 November 2025.

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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (0.097%) Apache Airflow
1 1 (0.097%) Apache Spark
Applications
1 984 (95.91%) Chatbot
2 1 (0.097%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.097%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 5 (0.49%) GCP
2 4 (0.39%) AWS
2 4 (0.39%) OpenShift
3 3 (0.29%) Azure
4 2 (0.19%) Power Platform
5 1 (0.097%) Azure Logic Apps
5 1 (0.097%) Cloud Computing
5 1 (0.097%) dbt
5 1 (0.097%) Google Analytics
5 1 (0.097%) iPaaS
5 1 (0.097%) Microsoft 365
5 1 (0.097%) Power Automate
5 1 (0.097%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.097%) Cisco IPT
1 1 (0.097%) LAN
1 1 (0.097%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.19%) Power BI
2 1 (0.097%) Apache Hive
2 1 (0.097%) Data Lake
2 1 (0.097%) Data Mining
2 1 (0.097%) Hadoop
2 1 (0.097%) Mixpanel
2 1 (0.097%) Power Query
2 1 (0.097%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.097%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 1 (0.097%) Rational DOORS
General
1 594 (57.89%) Analytical Skills
2 21 (2.05%) Agriculture
3 16 (1.56%) Aerospace
4 10 (0.97%) Social Skills
5 7 (0.68%) Finance
6 4 (0.39%) Telecoms
7 3 (0.29%) Banking
7 3 (0.29%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (0.19%) Electronics
8 2 (0.19%) Front Office
8 2 (0.19%) Pharmaceutical
8 2 (0.19%) Retail
9 1 (0.097%) Billing
9 1 (0.097%) Games
9 1 (0.097%) Law
9 1 (0.097%) Legal
9 1 (0.097%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.097%) Marketing
9 1 (0.097%) Publishing
9 1 (0.097%) Wearables
Job Titles
1 984 (95.91%) Trainer
2 95 (9.26%) Research Scientist
3 51 (4.97%) Biostatistician
4 27 (2.63%) Lecturer
5 17 (1.66%) Biologist
6 16 (1.56%) Developer
6 16 (1.56%) Statistician
7 13 (1.27%) Mathematician
8 11 (1.07%) Physicist
9 9 (0.88%) Senior
9 9 (0.88%) Software Engineer
10 7 (0.68%) Instructor
11 5 (0.49%) Data Scientist
11 5 (0.49%) Lead
12 4 (0.39%) Haskell Programmer
12 4 (0.39%) Programmer
12 4 (0.39%) Senior Programmer
13 3 (0.29%) Systems Engineer
14 2 (0.19%) Analyst
14 2 (0.19%) Design Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.39%) TensorFlow
2 3 (0.29%) PyTorch
2 3 (0.29%) scikit-learn
3 2 (0.19%) Kafka
4 1 (0.097%) JSON
4 1 (0.097%) Keras
4 1 (0.097%) LightGBM
4 1 (0.097%) Node.js
4 1 (0.097%) Pandas
4 1 (0.097%) React
4 1 (0.097%) REST
4 1 (0.097%) XGBoost
4 1 (0.097%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 125 (12.18%) Molecular Biology
2 11 (1.07%) Algorithms
3 6 (0.58%) Derivative
4 2 (0.19%) ASIC
4 2 (0.19%) Cloud Native
4 2 (0.19%) Data Structures
4 2 (0.19%) Distributed Systems
4 2 (0.19%) IoT
4 2 (0.19%) Life Science
4 2 (0.19%) Management Information System
4 2 (0.19%) Public Cloud
4 2 (0.19%) Robotics
5 1 (0.097%) Analogue Electronics
5 1 (0.097%) Autonomous Agent
5 1 (0.097%) Biopharmaceutical
5 1 (0.097%) Distributed Computing
5 1 (0.097%) Driving Licence
5 1 (0.097%) Genomics
5 1 (0.097%) Omics
5 1 (0.097%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 8 (0.78%) Linux
2 4 (0.39%) Unix
3 1 (0.097%) Windows
3 1 (0.097%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 993 (96.78%) AI
2 984 (95.91%) Conversational UI
3 609 (59.36%) Chemistry
4 249 (24.27%) Mathematics
5 168 (16.37%) Physics
6 134 (13.06%) Computer Science
7 126 (12.28%) Data Interpretation
7 126 (12.28%) Experimental Design
8 125 (12.18%) Biochemistry
8 125 (12.18%) Biology
8 125 (12.18%) Biotechnology
9 119 (11.60%) Statistics
10 51 (4.97%) Biostatistics
11 21 (2.05%) Economics
12 12 (1.17%) Software Engineering
13 11 (1.07%) Content Development
13 11 (1.07%) Systems Engineering
14 8 (0.78%) Customer Requirements
14 8 (0.78%) Machine Learning
14 8 (0.78%) Systems Thinking
Programming Languages
1 19 (1.85%) Python
2 8 (0.78%) C++
3 6 (0.58%) Java
3 6 (0.58%) SQL
4 5 (0.49%) Scala
5 4 (0.39%) Bash
5 4 (0.39%) C
5 4 (0.39%) F#
5 4 (0.39%) Fortran
5 4 (0.39%) Haskell
5 4 (0.39%) OCaml
6 3 (0.29%) R
7 1 (0.097%) C#
7 1 (0.097%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 1 (0.097%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.097%) MATLAB
7 1 (0.097%) Tcl
7 1 (0.097%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 1,024 (99.81%) Degree
2 1,015 (98.93%) Master's Degree
3 8 (0.78%) BPSS Clearance
4 2 (0.19%) Computer Science Degree
4 2 (0.19%) DBS Check
5 1 (0.097%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (0.78%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 1 (0.097%) GDPR
2 1 (0.097%) ISO 13485
System Software
1 2 (0.19%) Docker
2 1 (0.097%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 6 (0.58%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 984 (95.91%) PayPal
2 3 (0.29%) Microsoft
3 2 (0.19%) Google
4 1 (0.097%) Amplitude
4 1 (0.097%) Cadence
4 1 (0.097%) Cisco