Data Science Job Trends

Data Science
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring Data Science skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 136 109
Rank change year-on-year -29 -27 -44
Permanent jobs citing Data Science 1,005 982 2,218
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.35% 2.28% 2.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.73% 2.44% 3.00%
Number of salaries quoted 521 512 1,292
10th Percentile £43,750 £42,625 £41,250
25th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £70,000 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year - +3.70% -5.59%
75th Percentile £90,000 £91,250 £88,750
90th Percentile £102,500 £115,000 £115,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £62,500 £62,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year - +8.70% -8.00%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Data Science falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 58,145 40,321 73,905
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 77.92% 93.51% 87.23%
Number of salaries quoted 35,200 22,427 56,120
10th Percentile £29,750 £31,925 £29,000
25th Percentile £39,911 £44,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.78%
75th Percentile £76,299 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £93,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -9.09%

Data Science
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing Data Science relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Data Science job vacancy trend in the UK

Data Science
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Science.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Data Science

Data Science
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Data Science over the 6 months to 16 March 2026.

Salary histogram for Data Science in the UK

Data Science
Top 17 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Data Science within the UK over the 6 months to 16 March 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
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -18 931 £70,000 - 715
London +25 493 £80,000 - 351
UK excluding London -70 440 £62,500 - 560
Work from Home -21 322 £68,229 +6.61% 218
South East +19 158 £65,000 +8.33% 210
North of England -63 93 £62,500 - 128
Midlands -25 72 £55,000 +7.32% 77
South West -50 72 £60,000 -14.29% 63
North West -7 63 £62,500 -2.15% 54
West Midlands -19 39 £62,500 +38.89% 26
East Midlands -30 33 £40,000 -44.83% 51
Yorkshire -72 25 £60,000 -5.74% 52
East of England -13 21 £84,288 +38.18% 44
Scotland -53 13 £90,000 +71.43% 29
Wales -14 8 £39,756 -51.81% 16
North East -28 5 £62,500 +11.11% 24
Northern Ireland -34 3 - - 6

Data Science
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 75 (7.46%) Apache Spark
2 59 (5.87%) Apache Airflow
3 24 (2.39%) SharePoint
4 22 (2.19%) ArcGIS
5 21 (2.09%) Apache
6 10 (1.00%) Jupyter
7 7 (0.70%) SAS
8 6 (0.60%) Confluence
8 6 (0.60%) IIS
9 3 (0.30%) Apache Superset
9 3 (0.30%) CMS
9 3 (0.30%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.100%) Microsoft Exchange
10 1 (0.100%) Palantir Foundry
10 1 (0.100%) WordPress
Applications
1 63 (6.27%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.40%) Chatbot
3 4 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.60%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.20%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.100%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.100%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.100%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.100%) Odoo
3 1 (0.100%) SAP PLM
3 1 (0.100%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 302 (30.05%) AWS
2 294 (29.25%) Azure
3 182 (18.11%) GCP
4 147 (14.63%) Power Platform
5 72 (7.16%) Snowflake
6 44 (4.38%) dbt
7 42 (4.18%) Azure Machine Learning
8 38 (3.78%) Azure AI
9 34 (3.38%) Amazon SageMaker
10 31 (3.08%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 31 (3.08%) Vertex AI
11 30 (2.99%) Azure Data Factory
12 29 (2.89%) Azure DevOps
13 26 (2.59%) GitHub
14 24 (2.39%) SaaS
15 22 (2.19%) Microsoft 365
16 20 (1.99%) Dagster
17 17 (1.69%) Amazon S3
17 17 (1.69%) PowerApps
17 17 (1.69%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 72 (7.16%) Broadband
2 11 (1.09%) 4G
2 11 (1.09%) BGP
2 11 (1.09%) Cisco IOS
2 11 (1.09%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (1.09%) IOS XR
2 11 (1.09%) MPLS
3 4 (0.40%) HTTP
3 4 (0.40%) Kerberos
3 4 (0.40%) TCP/IP
4 3 (0.30%) MQTT
5 2 (0.20%) Internet
5 2 (0.20%) Tactical Data Link
6 1 (0.100%) DNS
6 1 (0.100%) IPv6
6 1 (0.100%) LTE
6 1 (0.100%) Modbus
6 1 (0.100%) Network Security
6 1 (0.100%) Software-Defined Radio
6 1 (0.100%) TCAP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 139 (13.83%) Power BI
2 126 (12.54%) Data Warehouse
3 107 (10.65%) Tableau
4 86 (8.56%) Data Lake
5 60 (5.97%) BigQuery
6 51 (5.07%) Metadata
7 47 (4.68%) NoSQL
8 46 (4.58%) Amazon Redshift
9 40 (3.98%) Elasticsearch
10 36 (3.58%) Big Data
11 35 (3.48%) MongoDB
12 32 (3.18%) Looker
12 32 (3.18%) SQL Server
13 31 (3.08%) PostgreSQL
14 30 (2.99%) GIS
15 26 (2.59%) Data Mining
15 26 (2.59%) QGIS
16 25 (2.49%) Hadoop
17 24 (2.39%) Delta Lake
18 22 (2.19%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 68 (6.77%) Git
2 43 (4.28%) MLflow
3 15 (1.49%) GitLab
4 8 (0.80%) JIRA
5 7 (0.70%) ERwin
5 7 (0.70%) PowerDesigner
6 5 (0.50%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.40%) ER Studio
8 3 (0.30%) Selenium
9 2 (0.20%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.100%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.100%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.100%) MSBuild
10 1 (0.100%) TeamCity
10 1 (0.100%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 272 (27.06%) Finance
2 262 (26.07%) Social Skills
3 212 (21.09%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (9.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 88 (8.76%) Banking
6 78 (7.76%) Marketing
7 56 (5.57%) Retail
8 54 (5.37%) Pharmaceutical
9 41 (4.08%) Law
9 41 (4.08%) Public Sector
10 40 (3.98%) Financial Institution
11 22 (2.19%) Legal
12 20 (1.99%) Manufacturing
13 19 (1.89%) Organisational Skills
14 14 (1.39%) Advertising
14 14 (1.39%) Influencing Skills
14 14 (1.39%) Telecoms
15 11 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
16 10 (1.00%) Investment Banking
17 6 (0.60%) Games
Job Titles
1 229 (22.79%) Data Scientist
2 211 (21.00%) Senior
3 151 (15.02%) Data Engineer
4 133 (13.23%) Lead
5 90 (8.96%) Senior Data Scientist
6 88 (8.76%) Analyst
7 74 (7.36%) Consultant
8 71 (7.06%) Data Analyst
9 62 (6.17%) Software Engineer
10 53 (5.27%) Developer
11 50 (4.98%) Senior Data Engineer
12 33 (3.28%) Artificial Intelligence Consultant
13 28 (2.79%) Architect
13 28 (2.79%) Python Engineer
14 27 (2.69%) Data Consultant
15 24 (2.39%) Scala Engineer
16 21 (2.09%) Lead Data Scientist
16 21 (2.09%) Machine Learning Consultant
17 20 (1.99%) Senior Consultant
17 20 (1.99%) Spatial Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 111 (11.04%) PyTorch
2 81 (8.06%) TensorFlow
3 45 (4.48%) scikit-learn
4 38 (3.78%) gRPC
5 35 (3.48%) LangChain
6 33 (3.28%) Kafka
6 33 (3.28%) PySpark
7 31 (3.08%) React
8 20 (1.99%) HTML
8 20 (1.99%) Pandas
9 19 (1.89%) RESTful
10 16 (1.59%) Django
11 15 (1.49%) CSS
12 13 (1.29%) .NET
12 13 (1.29%) FastAPI
12 13 (1.29%) REST
13 12 (1.19%) XGBoost
14 11 (1.09%) NETCONF
14 11 (1.09%) Node.js
14 11 (1.09%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 96 (9.55%) Algorithms
2 85 (8.46%) Life Science
3 62 (6.17%) Distributed Systems
4 49 (4.88%) Product Ownership
4 49 (4.88%) Video\Live Streaming
5 40 (3.98%) Over-the-Top Content
6 37 (3.68%) Management Information System
7 33 (3.28%) Cloud Native
8 32 (3.18%) Self-Motivation
9 26 (2.59%) Data Structures
10 23 (2.29%) AI Agents
11 21 (2.09%) Pharmacovigilance
12 18 (1.79%) Greenfield Project
12 18 (1.79%) Social Media
13 16 (1.59%) Onboarding
14 12 (1.19%) Clustering
15 11 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (1.09%) Public Cloud
16 10 (1.00%) Hackathon
16 10 (1.00%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 11 (1.09%) Linux
2 5 (0.50%) Unix
3 2 (0.20%) Windows
4 1 (0.100%) Android
4 1 (0.100%) Kali Linux
4 1 (0.100%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 521 (51.84%) AI
2 493 (49.05%) Analytics
2 493 (49.05%) Machine Learning
3 242 (24.08%) Problem-Solving
4 214 (21.29%) Agile
5 213 (21.19%) Business Intelligence
5 213 (21.19%) Decision-Making
6 206 (20.50%) Computer Science
7 192 (19.10%) CI/CD
7 192 (19.10%) Data Engineering
8 176 (17.51%) Data Pipeline
9 172 (17.11%) Data Modelling
10 155 (15.42%) Data Analysis
11 151 (15.02%) Visualisation
12 146 (14.53%) ETL
13 145 (14.43%) Mentoring
14 137 (13.63%) Mathematics
15 135 (13.43%) Generative AI
16 133 (13.23%) Data Governance
16 133 (13.23%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 574 (57.11%) Python
2 296 (29.45%) SQL
3 83 (8.26%) Scala
4 68 (6.77%) R
5 66 (6.57%) Java
6 51 (5.07%) Go
7 31 (3.08%) JavaScript
8 20 (1.99%) VBA
9 15 (1.49%) C++
10 14 (1.39%) C#
11 13 (1.29%) TypeScript
12 12 (1.19%) Bash
13 8 (0.80%) Rust
13 8 (0.80%) T-SQL
14 7 (0.70%) ANSI SQL
14 7 (0.70%) PHP
15 6 (0.60%) Data Analysis Expressions
16 5 (0.50%) Bicep
16 5 (0.50%) PowerShell
17 3 (0.30%) C
Qualifications
1 353 (35.12%) Degree
2 135 (13.43%) Master's Degree
3 102 (10.15%) Security Cleared
4 85 (8.46%) Computer Science Degree
5 68 (6.77%) PhD
6 59 (5.87%) SC Cleared
7 42 (4.18%) DV Cleared
8 38 (3.78%) Numerate Degree
9 22 (2.19%) MBA
10 21 (2.09%) DBS Check
11 17 (1.69%) Azure Certification
12 13 (1.29%) APMP
13 9 (0.90%) Microsoft Certification
14 8 (0.80%) PMI Certification
15 7 (0.70%) PMP
16 5 (0.50%) BPSS Clearance
17 4 (0.40%) AWS Certification
18 3 (0.30%) SAP Certification
19 2 (0.20%) Postgraduate
20 1 (0.100%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 167 (16.62%) Data Quality
2 58 (5.77%) Accessibility
3 57 (5.67%) GDPR
4 31 (3.08%) QA
5 27 (2.69%) GxP
6 22 (2.19%) Solvency II
7 21 (2.09%) EU AI Act
7 21 (2.09%) HIPAA
7 21 (2.09%) PSD2
8 12 (1.19%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 9 (0.90%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.50%) CDISC
10 5 (0.50%) HL7
11 3 (0.30%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 3 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.30%) PERC
12 2 (0.20%) ISO 9001
13 1 (0.100%) FINRA
13 1 (0.100%) GMP
13 1 (0.100%) ISO 13485
System Software
1 105 (10.45%) Docker
2 5 (0.50%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.20%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 61 (6.07%) Kubernetes
2 43 (4.28%) Terraform
3 6 (0.60%) Ansible
4 5 (0.50%) Kubeflow
5 2 (0.20%) Argo
6 1 (0.100%) Nagios
6 1 (0.100%) Nessus
6 1 (0.100%) Nmap
Vendors
1 130 (12.94%) Databricks
2 88 (8.76%) Microsoft
3 71 (7.06%) Google
4 36 (3.58%) Typelevel
5 30 (2.99%) Alteryx
5 30 (2.99%) Bloomberg
6 27 (2.69%) Salesforce
7 25 (2.49%) Dell
8 24 (2.39%) Informatica
9 23 (2.29%) Oracle
10 22 (2.19%) OpenAI
11 20 (1.99%) Cisco
12 14 (1.39%) Palantir
13 12 (1.19%) Denodo
13 12 (1.19%) SAP
13 12 (1.19%) Teradata
14 9 (0.90%) Cloudera
15 8 (0.80%) Foundry
15 8 (0.80%) Talend
16 7 (0.70%) ServiceNow