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 2 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 160 132 103
Rank change year-on-year -28 -29 -37
Permanent jobs citing Data Science 968 1,095 2,126
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.38% 2.36% 2.71%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.75% 2.54% 3.08%
Number of salaries quoted 505 500 1,308
10th Percentile £41,000 £42,500 £42,250
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% -6.90%
75th Percentile £90,000 £90,000 £87,500
90th Percentile £102,500 £111,375 £115,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,709 £62,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year -2.87% +8.70% -10.59%

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 55,211 43,138 69,101
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 78.63% 93.12% 88.00%
Number of salaries quoted 33,095 21,773 52,985
10th Percentile £29,000 £33,000 £29,375
25th Percentile £38,750 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £76,250 £81,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £95,000
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 2 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 2 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 -21 895 £70,000 - 829
London +27 474 £80,470 +0.59% 366
UK excluding London -78 427 £60,709 -2.87% 590
Work from Home -56 304 £66,720 +2.65% 320
South East -18 157 £60,000 -0.83% 182
North of England -56 92 £62,500 -2.25% 141
South West -40 73 £60,000 -14.29% 72
Midlands -28 67 £55,000 +12.82% 89
North West 0 63 £62,500 -3.85% 71
East Midlands -24 34 £40,000 -44.83% 52
West Midlands -23 33 £62,500 +38.89% 37
Yorkshire -73 24 £60,000 -6.25% 50
East of England -14 15 £81,850 +33.09% 63
Wales -5 11 £39,756 -51.81% 19
Scotland -61 10 £95,000 +90.00% 26
North East -15 5 £62,500 +25.00% 21
Northern Ireland -26 3 £40,000 -52.94% 8

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 69 (7.13%) Apache Spark
2 46 (4.75%) Apache Airflow
3 26 (2.69%) SharePoint
4 22 (2.27%) ArcGIS
5 20 (2.07%) Apache
6 10 (1.03%) Jupyter
7 7 (0.72%) SAS
8 6 (0.62%) Confluence
8 6 (0.62%) IIS
9 3 (0.31%) Apache Superset
9 3 (0.31%) CMS
10 1 (0.10%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Exchange
10 1 (0.10%) Palantir Foundry
10 1 (0.10%) WordPress
Applications
1 70 (7.23%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (0.52%) Chatbot
2 5 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.41%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.31%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.62%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.21%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.10%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.10%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.10%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.10%) Odoo
3 1 (0.10%) SAP PLM
3 1 (0.10%) Sprinklr
3 1 (0.10%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 280 (28.93%) Azure
2 271 (28.00%) AWS
3 164 (16.94%) GCP
4 138 (14.26%) Power Platform
5 57 (5.89%) Snowflake
6 42 (4.34%) Azure Machine Learning
7 39 (4.03%) Azure AI
8 34 (3.51%) Amazon SageMaker
9 32 (3.31%) dbt
10 31 (3.20%) Vertex AI
11 28 (2.89%) Azure Data Factory
11 28 (2.89%) Azure DevOps
12 27 (2.79%) GitHub
13 24 (2.48%) Microsoft 365
14 23 (2.38%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 23 (2.38%) SaaS
15 20 (2.07%) Dagster
16 19 (1.96%) PowerApps
17 16 (1.65%) Serverless
18 15 (1.55%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 59 (6.10%) Broadband
2 11 (1.14%) 4G
2 11 (1.14%) BGP
2 11 (1.14%) Cisco IOS
2 11 (1.14%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (1.14%) IOS XR
2 11 (1.14%) MPLS
3 7 (0.72%) TCP/IP
4 5 (0.52%) Firewall
5 4 (0.41%) Bluetooth
5 4 (0.41%) HTTP
5 4 (0.41%) Intrusion Detection
5 4 (0.41%) Kerberos
5 4 (0.41%) Modbus
5 4 (0.41%) Network Security
5 4 (0.41%) VLAN
5 4 (0.41%) Wireshark
5 4 (0.41%) ZigBee
6 3 (0.31%) MQTT
7 2 (0.21%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 132 (13.64%) Power BI
2 108 (11.16%) Data Warehouse
3 99 (10.23%) Tableau
4 75 (7.75%) Data Lake
5 53 (5.48%) Metadata
6 48 (4.96%) BigQuery
7 41 (4.24%) NoSQL
8 39 (4.03%) Big Data
9 36 (3.72%) Amazon Redshift
10 32 (3.31%) SQL Server
11 30 (3.10%) MongoDB
12 28 (2.89%) Data Mining
13 27 (2.79%) Elasticsearch
14 26 (2.69%) GIS
14 26 (2.69%) Hadoop
15 24 (2.48%) PostgreSQL
15 24 (2.48%) QGIS
16 23 (2.38%) Delta Lake
16 23 (2.38%) Looker
17 22 (2.27%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 62 (6.40%) Git
2 34 (3.51%) MLflow
3 14 (1.45%) ERwin
3 14 (1.45%) GitLab
4 8 (0.83%) JIRA
5 7 (0.72%) PowerDesigner
6 5 (0.52%) Burp Suite
7 4 (0.41%) ER Studio
7 4 (0.41%) Metasploit
8 3 (0.31%) Jenkins
8 3 (0.31%) Selenium
9 1 (0.10%) MSBuild
9 1 (0.10%) TeamCity
9 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 289 (29.86%) Finance
2 277 (28.62%) Social Skills
3 208 (21.49%) Analytical Skills
4 88 (9.09%) Banking
5 87 (8.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 80 (8.26%) Marketing
7 63 (6.51%) Pharmaceutical
8 56 (5.79%) Retail
9 44 (4.55%) Law
10 43 (4.44%) Financial Institution
11 34 (3.51%) Public Sector
12 24 (2.48%) Manufacturing
13 22 (2.27%) Legal
14 21 (2.17%) Organisational Skills
15 14 (1.45%) Telecoms
16 12 (1.24%) Advertising
16 12 (1.24%) Documentation Skills
17 11 (1.14%) Influencing Skills
18 9 (0.93%) Investment Banking
18 9 (0.93%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 216 (22.31%) Data Scientist
2 198 (20.45%) Senior
3 149 (15.39%) Data Engineer
4 143 (14.77%) Lead
5 95 (9.81%) Analyst
6 86 (8.88%) Senior Data Scientist
7 72 (7.44%) Consultant
7 72 (7.44%) Data Analyst
8 56 (5.79%) Software Engineer
9 51 (5.27%) Senior Data Engineer
10 44 (4.55%) Developer
11 34 (3.51%) Artificial Intelligence Consultant
12 33 (3.41%) Architect
13 24 (2.48%) Data Consultant
14 22 (2.27%) Python Engineer
15 21 (2.17%) Machine Learning Consultant
15 21 (2.17%) Senior Analyst
16 20 (2.07%) Data Architect
16 20 (2.07%) Spatial Consultant
17 19 (1.96%) Senior Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 99 (10.23%) PyTorch
2 73 (7.54%) TensorFlow
3 36 (3.72%) PySpark
4 35 (3.62%) scikit-learn
5 29 (3.00%) gRPC
5 29 (3.00%) LangChain
5 29 (3.00%) React
6 24 (2.48%) Kafka
7 22 (2.27%) Pandas
8 19 (1.96%) HTML
9 18 (1.86%) RESTful
10 15 (1.55%) Django
11 14 (1.45%) CSS
12 12 (1.24%) Hugging Face
13 11 (1.14%) .NET
13 11 (1.14%) FastAPI
13 11 (1.14%) Jinja
13 11 (1.14%) NETCONF
13 11 (1.14%) YANG
14 10 (1.03%) Faiss
Miscellaneous
1 99 (10.23%) Algorithms
2 89 (9.19%) Life Science
3 56 (5.79%) Distributed Systems
4 50 (5.17%) Product Ownership
5 39 (4.03%) Video\Live Streaming
6 36 (3.72%) Self-Motivation
7 31 (3.20%) Management Information System
8 30 (3.10%) Data Structures
8 30 (3.10%) Over-the-Top Content
9 24 (2.48%) AI Agents
10 23 (2.38%) Cloud Native
11 21 (2.17%) Pharmacovigilance
12 18 (1.86%) Social Media
13 16 (1.65%) Onboarding
14 14 (1.45%) Greenfield Project
15 12 (1.24%) Analytical Mindset
16 11 (1.14%) Legacy Systems
17 10 (1.03%) Enterprise Software
18 9 (0.93%) Hybrid Cloud
18 9 (0.93%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 14 (1.45%) Linux
2 5 (0.52%) Unix
3 4 (0.41%) Android
3 4 (0.41%) Kali Linux
3 4 (0.41%) Ubuntu
4 3 (0.31%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 503 (51.96%) AI
2 489 (50.52%) Analytics
3 478 (49.38%) Machine Learning
4 233 (24.07%) Problem-Solving
5 220 (22.73%) Computer Science
6 219 (22.62%) Agile
7 208 (21.49%) Decision-Making
8 198 (20.45%) Business Intelligence
9 177 (18.29%) CI/CD
10 175 (18.08%) Data Engineering
11 172 (17.77%) Data Analysis
12 168 (17.36%) Data Pipeline
13 163 (16.84%) Data Modelling
14 152 (15.70%) Visualisation
15 141 (14.57%) Mentoring
16 138 (14.26%) Mathematics
17 137 (14.15%) Data Governance
18 136 (14.05%) Statistics
19 132 (13.64%) ETL
20 129 (13.33%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 556 (57.44%) Python
2 293 (30.27%) SQL
3 73 (7.54%) Scala
4 70 (7.23%) R
5 67 (6.92%) Java
6 41 (4.24%) Go
7 27 (2.79%) JavaScript
8 22 (2.27%) VBA
9 19 (1.96%) C++
10 14 (1.45%) C#
11 11 (1.14%) Rust
11 11 (1.14%) TypeScript
12 10 (1.03%) Bash
13 7 (0.72%) ANSI SQL
13 7 (0.72%) PHP
14 6 (0.62%) C
14 6 (0.62%) T-SQL
15 5 (0.52%) MATLAB
15 5 (0.52%) PowerShell
16 4 (0.41%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 360 (37.19%) Degree
2 146 (15.08%) Master's Degree
3 106 (10.95%) Security Cleared
4 88 (9.09%) Computer Science Degree
5 79 (8.16%) PhD
6 70 (7.23%) SC Cleared
7 40 (4.13%) Numerate Degree
8 39 (4.03%) DV Cleared
9 24 (2.48%) MBA
10 20 (2.07%) DBS Check
11 16 (1.65%) Azure Certification
12 13 (1.34%) APMP
13 10 (1.03%) BPSS Clearance
14 9 (0.93%) Microsoft Certification
15 8 (0.83%) AWS Certification
15 8 (0.83%) PMI Certification
16 7 (0.72%) PMP
17 3 (0.31%) SAP Certification
18 1 (0.10%) ACCA
18 1 (0.10%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 164 (16.94%) Data Quality
2 56 (5.79%) GDPR
3 53 (5.48%) Accessibility
4 37 (3.82%) GxP
5 32 (3.31%) QA
6 22 (2.27%) Solvency II
7 21 (2.17%) EU AI Act
7 21 (2.17%) HIPAA
7 21 (2.17%) PSD2
8 9 (0.93%) Actionable Recommendations
9 7 (0.72%) CDISC
9 7 (0.72%) HL7
10 5 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
11 3 (0.31%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 3 (0.31%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 3 (0.31%) PERC
12 2 (0.21%) ISO 9001
12 2 (0.21%) SOC 2
13 1 (0.10%) GMP
13 1 (0.10%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 96 (9.92%) Docker
2 4 (0.41%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 59 (6.10%) Kubernetes
2 36 (3.72%) Terraform
3 6 (0.62%) Ansible
4 4 (0.41%) Nessus
4 4 (0.41%) Nmap
5 3 (0.31%) Kubeflow
6 2 (0.21%) Argo
7 1 (0.10%) Nagios
Vendors
1 113 (11.67%) Databricks
2 82 (8.47%) Microsoft
3 75 (7.75%) Google
4 31 (3.20%) Alteryx
4 31 (3.20%) Bloomberg
5 29 (3.00%) Salesforce
6 27 (2.79%) Typelevel
7 25 (2.58%) OpenAI
8 23 (2.38%) Cisco
8 23 (2.38%) Oracle
9 17 (1.76%) Informatica
10 14 (1.45%) Palantir
11 12 (1.24%) SAP
12 9 (0.93%) Foundry
12 9 (0.93%) Talend
13 8 (0.83%) Dell
14 7 (0.72%) ServiceNow
15 5 (0.52%) BT
15 5 (0.52%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
16 4 (0.41%) Teradata