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 18 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 128 102
Rank change year-on-year -37 -26 -38
Permanent jobs citing Data Science 957 1,137 2,086
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.41% 2.31% 2.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.78% 2.50% 3.16%
Number of salaries quoted 505 504 1,309
10th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £42,408
25th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £48,419
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 £107,125 £115,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £61,418 £63,652 £57,500
% change year-on-year -3.51% +10.70% -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 53,894 45,456 65,928
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 79.39% 92.40% 88.33%
Number of salaries quoted 32,246 22,087 51,057
10th Percentile £29,000 £34,750 £29,440
25th Percentile £38,296 £46,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -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% -8.90%

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 18 February 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 18 February 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 -16 894 £70,000 - 753
London +18 475 £80,939 +1.17% 337
UK excluding London -66 420 £61,418 -3.51% 619
Work from Home -42 308 £67,500 +3.85% 297
South East -10 158 £57,500 -6.88% 217
North of England -61 98 £62,500 -2.34% 140
South West -34 67 £60,000 -11.11% 82
North West +1 66 £62,500 -3.85% 70
Midlands -20 57 £60,000 +20.00% 94
East Midlands -6 35 £40,000 -44.83% 62
Yorkshire -60 27 £57,500 -10.16% 42
West Midlands -26 22 £66,110 +46.91% 31
East of England +9 17 £81,850 +33.09% 44
Wales +4 11 £39,756 -50.31% 16
Scotland -55 11 £95,000 +111.11% 35
North East -15 5 £62,500 +25.00% 29
Northern Ireland -25 2 £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 73 (7.63%) Apache Spark
2 44 (4.60%) Apache Airflow
3 27 (2.82%) SharePoint
4 20 (2.09%) Apache
5 14 (1.46%) ArcGIS
6 12 (1.25%) Jupyter
7 8 (0.84%) SAS
8 6 (0.63%) Confluence
8 6 (0.63%) 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 73 (7.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (0.63%) Chatbot
3 5 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.42%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
6 2 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
7 1 (0.10%) Stata
Business Applications
1 6 (0.63%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.21%) Elite 3E
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
1 283 (29.57%) Azure
2 261 (27.27%) AWS
3 159 (16.61%) GCP
4 142 (14.84%) Power Platform
5 52 (5.43%) Snowflake
6 43 (4.49%) Azure Machine Learning
7 39 (4.08%) Azure AI
8 35 (3.66%) Amazon SageMaker
9 32 (3.34%) dbt
9 32 (3.34%) Vertex AI
10 30 (3.13%) Azure Data Factory
11 28 (2.93%) Azure DevOps
12 27 (2.82%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 27 (2.82%) GitHub
12 27 (2.82%) SaaS
13 23 (2.40%) Microsoft 365
14 20 (2.09%) Dagster
15 19 (1.99%) Serverless
16 18 (1.88%) PowerApps
17 16 (1.67%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 50 (5.22%) Broadband
2 11 (1.15%) 4G
2 11 (1.15%) BGP
2 11 (1.15%) Cisco IOS
2 11 (1.15%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (1.15%) IOS XR
2 11 (1.15%) MPLS
3 7 (0.73%) TCP/IP
4 5 (0.52%) Firewall
5 4 (0.42%) Bluetooth
5 4 (0.42%) HTTP
5 4 (0.42%) Intrusion Detection
5 4 (0.42%) Modbus
5 4 (0.42%) Network Security
5 4 (0.42%) VLAN
5 4 (0.42%) Wireshark
5 4 (0.42%) ZigBee
6 3 (0.31%) Kerberos
6 3 (0.31%) MQTT
7 2 (0.21%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 135 (14.11%) Power BI
2 115 (12.02%) Data Warehouse
3 106 (11.08%) Tableau
4 78 (8.15%) Data Lake
5 55 (5.75%) Metadata
6 48 (5.02%) BigQuery
7 44 (4.60%) NoSQL
8 41 (4.28%) Big Data
9 39 (4.08%) Amazon Redshift
10 33 (3.45%) SQL Server
11 30 (3.13%) Data Mining
12 28 (2.93%) MongoDB
13 27 (2.82%) Hadoop
14 26 (2.72%) Elasticsearch
15 23 (2.40%) Delta Lake
15 23 (2.40%) PostgreSQL
16 22 (2.30%) Looker
17 20 (2.09%) MySQL
18 18 (1.88%) GIS
19 16 (1.67%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 62 (6.48%) Git
2 35 (3.66%) MLflow
3 16 (1.67%) ERwin
4 13 (1.36%) GitLab
5 9 (0.94%) JIRA
6 7 (0.73%) PowerDesigner
7 5 (0.52%) Burp Suite
8 4 (0.42%) ER Studio
8 4 (0.42%) Metasploit
8 4 (0.42%) Selenium
9 3 (0.31%) Jenkins
10 1 (0.10%) JUnit
10 1 (0.10%) MSBuild
10 1 (0.10%) TeamCity
10 1 (0.10%) TestNG
10 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 309 (32.29%) Finance
2 288 (30.09%) Social Skills
3 212 (22.15%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (9.51%) Banking
5 86 (8.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 85 (8.88%) Marketing
7 67 (7.00%) Pharmaceutical
8 54 (5.64%) Retail
9 47 (4.91%) Financial Institution
10 42 (4.39%) Law
11 33 (3.45%) Public Sector
12 26 (2.72%) Legal
13 22 (2.30%) Manufacturing
13 22 (2.30%) Organisational Skills
14 14 (1.46%) Telecoms
15 12 (1.25%) Advertising
15 12 (1.25%) Documentation Skills
16 10 (1.04%) Influencing Skills
16 10 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
17 9 (0.94%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 204 (21.32%) Senior
2 200 (20.90%) Data Scientist
3 150 (15.67%) Data Engineer
4 144 (15.05%) Lead
5 90 (9.40%) Analyst
6 80 (8.36%) Senior Data Scientist
7 72 (7.52%) Data Analyst
8 63 (6.58%) Consultant
9 54 (5.64%) Software Engineer
10 51 (5.33%) Developer
11 50 (5.22%) Senior Data Engineer
12 35 (3.66%) Architect
13 26 (2.72%) Artificial Intelligence Consultant
14 23 (2.40%) Data Architect
14 23 (2.40%) Data Consultant
15 21 (2.19%) Python Engineer
16 20 (2.09%) Senior Analyst
17 19 (1.99%) Senior Consultant
18 18 (1.88%) Machine Learning Engineer
19 17 (1.78%) Data Science Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 91 (9.51%) PyTorch
2 73 (7.63%) TensorFlow
3 40 (4.18%) PySpark
4 37 (3.87%) scikit-learn
5 33 (3.45%) LangChain
5 33 (3.45%) React
6 26 (2.72%) Pandas
7 25 (2.61%) Kafka
8 21 (2.19%) gRPC
9 20 (2.09%) HTML
10 19 (1.99%) RESTful
11 15 (1.57%) CSS
11 15 (1.57%) Hugging Face
12 14 (1.46%) Django
12 14 (1.46%) FastAPI
13 12 (1.25%) .NET
13 12 (1.25%) NumPy
14 11 (1.15%) Jinja
14 11 (1.15%) NETCONF
14 11 (1.15%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 94 (9.82%) Life Science
2 93 (9.72%) Algorithms
3 52 (5.43%) Product Ownership
4 51 (5.33%) Distributed Systems
5 37 (3.87%) Self-Motivation
6 31 (3.24%) Data Structures
7 30 (3.13%) Video\Live Streaming
8 27 (2.82%) Cloud Native
8 27 (2.82%) Management Information System
9 21 (2.19%) AI Agents
9 21 (2.19%) Over-the-Top Content
9 21 (2.19%) Pharmacovigilance
10 18 (1.88%) Social Media
11 16 (1.67%) Onboarding
12 14 (1.46%) Analytical Mindset
12 14 (1.46%) Greenfield Project
13 13 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
14 10 (1.04%) Enterprise Software
14 10 (1.04%) Hybrid Cloud
15 9 (0.94%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 11 (1.15%) Linux
2 5 (0.52%) Unix
3 4 (0.42%) Android
3 4 (0.42%) Kali Linux
3 4 (0.42%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.10%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 497 (51.93%) AI
2 486 (50.78%) Analytics
3 481 (50.26%) Machine Learning
4 236 (24.66%) Problem-Solving
5 223 (23.30%) Agile
6 222 (23.20%) Computer Science
7 202 (21.11%) Decision-Making
8 199 (20.79%) Business Intelligence
9 182 (19.02%) Data Engineering
10 174 (18.18%) Data Modelling
11 172 (17.97%) CI/CD
11 172 (17.97%) Data Pipeline
12 166 (17.35%) Data Analysis
13 154 (16.09%) Visualisation
14 144 (15.05%) Mentoring
15 142 (14.84%) Data Governance
15 142 (14.84%) ETL
16 139 (14.52%) Roadmaps
16 139 (14.52%) Statistics
17 134 (14.00%) Mathematics
Programming Languages
1 554 (57.89%) Python
2 306 (31.97%) SQL
3 74 (7.73%) R
4 68 (7.11%) Java
4 68 (7.11%) Scala
5 32 (3.34%) Go
6 27 (2.82%) JavaScript
7 21 (2.19%) C++
7 21 (2.19%) VBA
8 17 (1.78%) C#
9 13 (1.36%) TypeScript
10 11 (1.15%) Rust
11 9 (0.94%) Bash
11 9 (0.94%) MATLAB
12 7 (0.73%) ANSI SQL
12 7 (0.73%) Bicep
12 7 (0.73%) PHP
13 6 (0.63%) C
14 5 (0.52%) PowerShell
15 4 (0.42%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 359 (37.51%) Degree
2 153 (15.99%) Master's Degree
3 104 (10.87%) Security Cleared
4 89 (9.30%) Computer Science Degree
5 84 (8.78%) PhD
6 71 (7.42%) SC Cleared
7 41 (4.28%) Numerate Degree
8 36 (3.76%) DV Cleared
9 23 (2.40%) MBA
10 22 (2.30%) DBS Check
11 16 (1.67%) Azure Certification
12 12 (1.25%) APMP
13 10 (1.04%) BPSS Clearance
14 9 (0.94%) AWS Certification
14 9 (0.94%) Microsoft Certification
15 8 (0.84%) PMI Certification
16 7 (0.73%) PMP
17 3 (0.31%) SAP Certification
18 2 (0.21%) AWS Certified Developer
18 2 (0.21%) CFA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (17.35%) Data Quality
2 58 (6.06%) GDPR
3 46 (4.81%) Accessibility
4 40 (4.18%) GxP
5 28 (2.93%) QA
6 22 (2.30%) EU AI Act
6 22 (2.30%) Solvency II
7 21 (2.19%) HIPAA
7 21 (2.19%) PSD2
8 8 (0.84%) Actionable Recommendations
8 8 (0.84%) CDISC
8 8 (0.84%) HL7
9 6 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.31%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 3 (0.31%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.31%) NIST
10 3 (0.31%) PERC
10 3 (0.31%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.21%) ISO 9001
11 2 (0.21%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 86 (8.99%) Docker
2 3 (0.31%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 57 (5.96%) Kubernetes
2 34 (3.55%) Terraform
3 5 (0.52%) Ansible
4 4 (0.42%) Nessus
4 4 (0.42%) Nmap
5 3 (0.31%) Kubeflow
6 2 (0.21%) Argo
7 1 (0.10%) Nagios
Vendors
1 119 (12.43%) Databricks
2 85 (8.88%) Microsoft
3 75 (7.84%) Google
4 31 (3.24%) Alteryx
4 31 (3.24%) Bloomberg
5 30 (3.13%) Salesforce
6 26 (2.72%) OpenAI
7 24 (2.51%) Oracle
8 23 (2.40%) Cisco
9 18 (1.88%) Typelevel
10 14 (1.46%) Informatica
10 14 (1.46%) Palantir
11 12 (1.25%) SAP
12 10 (1.04%) Talend
13 9 (0.94%) Foundry
14 5 (0.52%) BT
14 5 (0.52%) Red Hat
14 5 (0.52%) Salesforce Marketing Cloud
15 4 (0.42%) Palo Alto
15 4 (0.42%) Qualtrics