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

6 months to
4 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 163 134 104
Rank change year-on-year -29 -30 -38
Permanent jobs citing Data Science 922 1,142 2,000
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.43% 2.24% 2.73%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.78% 2.44% 3.09%
Number of salaries quoted 489 511 1,321
10th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £42,439
25th Percentile £55,000 £53,750 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £71,000 £70,000 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year +1.43% +3.70% -4.93%
75th Percentile £90,000 £88,750 £87,500
90th Percentile £110,000 £112,500 £115,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £63,652 £57,500
% change year-on-year -5.74% +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 51,688 46,838 64,785
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 80.04% 91.77% 88.53%
Number of salaries quoted 30,626 22,631 50,390
10th Percentile £28,750 £35,000 £29,500
25th Percentile £38,000 £46,000 £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 £75,900 £80,000 £75,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £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 4 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 4 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 -19 874 £71,000 +1.43% 745
London +21 475 £80,939 +7.92% 363
UK excluding London -60 399 £60,000 -5.74% 584
Work from Home -39 284 £67,500 +3.85% 317
South East -7 158 £57,500 -8.00% 226
North of England -56 92 £61,418 -3.85% 128
North West -2 62 £62,500 -2.15% 66
South West -4 62 £62,500 -10.71% 64
Midlands -23 51 £60,000 +4.35% 68
East Midlands +5 30 £45,000 -45.45% 46
Yorkshire -47 26 £57,500 -10.16% 42
West Midlands -11 21 £65,500 +45.56% 22
East of England +8 16 £80,000 +37.93% 49
Wales +2 10 £40,000 -50.00% 12
Scotland -74 10 £100,000 +100.00% 39
North East -20 4 £62,500 - 21
Northern Ireland -19 1 £40,000 -52.94% 4

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 74 (8.03%) Apache Spark
2 34 (3.69%) Apache Airflow
3 26 (2.82%) SharePoint
4 18 (1.95%) Apache
5 13 (1.41%) Jupyter
6 6 (0.65%) IIS
6 6 (0.65%) SAS
7 5 (0.54%) Confluence
8 3 (0.33%) Apache Superset
8 3 (0.33%) CMS
9 2 (0.22%) ArcGIS
9 2 (0.22%) Luigi
10 1 (0.11%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Exchange
10 1 (0.11%) Palantir Foundry
10 1 (0.11%) WordPress
Applications
1 69 (7.48%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (0.76%) Chatbot
3 5 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.33%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.22%) Stata
Business Applications
1 6 (0.65%) Salesforce CRM
1 6 (0.65%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.43%) Elite 3E
3 2 (0.22%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.11%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.11%) FIS Private Capital Suite
4 1 (0.11%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.11%) Odoo
4 1 (0.11%) SAP PLM
4 1 (0.11%) Sprinklr
4 1 (0.11%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 270 (29.28%) Azure
2 238 (25.81%) AWS
3 143 (15.51%) GCP
4 137 (14.86%) Power Platform
5 45 (4.88%) Snowflake
6 39 (4.23%) Azure AI
6 39 (4.23%) Azure Machine Learning
7 33 (3.58%) Amazon SageMaker
8 31 (3.36%) Azure Data Factory
8 31 (3.36%) Vertex AI
9 29 (3.15%) SaaS
10 26 (2.82%) Azure DevOps
11 25 (2.71%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 24 (2.60%) GitHub
13 22 (2.39%) dbt
13 22 (2.39%) Serverless
14 21 (2.28%) Microsoft 365
15 18 (1.95%) AWS Lambda
16 16 (1.74%) PowerApps
17 15 (1.63%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 31 (3.36%) Broadband
2 11 (1.19%) 4G
2 11 (1.19%) BGP
2 11 (1.19%) Cisco IOS
2 11 (1.19%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (1.19%) IOS XR
2 11 (1.19%) MPLS
3 7 (0.76%) TCP/IP
4 5 (0.54%) Firewall
5 4 (0.43%) Bluetooth
5 4 (0.43%) HTTP
5 4 (0.43%) Intrusion Detection
5 4 (0.43%) Modbus
5 4 (0.43%) Network Security
5 4 (0.43%) VLAN
5 4 (0.43%) Wireshark
5 4 (0.43%) ZigBee
6 3 (0.33%) Kerberos
6 3 (0.33%) MQTT
7 2 (0.22%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 130 (14.10%) Power BI
2 112 (12.15%) Data Warehouse
3 104 (11.28%) Tableau
4 77 (8.35%) Data Lake
5 46 (4.99%) Big Data
6 44 (4.77%) Metadata
7 43 (4.66%) NoSQL
8 37 (4.01%) BigQuery
9 35 (3.80%) Amazon Redshift
9 35 (3.80%) SQL Server
10 31 (3.36%) Hadoop
11 28 (3.04%) Data Mining
12 25 (2.71%) Elasticsearch
12 25 (2.71%) MongoDB
13 22 (2.39%) Delta Lake
13 22 (2.39%) MySQL
14 21 (2.28%) PostgreSQL
15 20 (2.17%) DynamoDB
15 20 (2.17%) Relational Database
16 18 (1.95%) Looker
Development Applications
1 60 (6.51%) Git
2 35 (3.80%) MLflow
3 16 (1.74%) ERwin
4 13 (1.41%) GitLab
5 8 (0.87%) JIRA
6 7 (0.76%) PowerDesigner
7 5 (0.54%) Burp Suite
8 4 (0.43%) ER Studio
8 4 (0.43%) Metasploit
8 4 (0.43%) Selenium
9 2 (0.22%) Jenkins
10 1 (0.11%) JUnit
10 1 (0.11%) MSBuild
10 1 (0.11%) TeamCity
10 1 (0.11%) TestNG
10 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 327 (35.47%) Finance
2 277 (30.04%) Social Skills
3 201 (21.80%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (9.87%) Banking
5 87 (9.44%) Marketing
6 83 (9.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 68 (7.38%) Pharmaceutical
8 59 (6.40%) Retail
9 48 (5.21%) Financial Institution
10 40 (4.34%) Law
11 33 (3.58%) Manufacturing
12 24 (2.60%) Legal
12 24 (2.60%) Public Sector
13 22 (2.39%) Organisational Skills
14 15 (1.63%) Telecoms
15 13 (1.41%) Influencing Skills
16 12 (1.30%) Advertising
17 11 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
17 11 (1.19%) Games
18 9 (0.98%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 198 (21.48%) Senior
2 190 (20.61%) Data Scientist
3 149 (16.16%) Lead
4 137 (14.86%) Data Engineer
5 88 (9.54%) Analyst
6 77 (8.35%) Senior Data Scientist
7 70 (7.59%) Data Analyst
8 56 (6.07%) Developer
9 49 (5.31%) Software Engineer
10 44 (4.77%) Consultant
11 42 (4.56%) Senior Data Engineer
12 31 (3.36%) Architect
13 23 (2.49%) Data Architect
14 20 (2.17%) Senior Analyst
15 19 (2.06%) Data Consultant
16 18 (1.95%) Python Engineer
16 18 (1.95%) Senior Consultant
17 17 (1.84%) Data Science Engineer
17 17 (1.84%) Machine Learning Engineer
17 17 (1.84%) Senior Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 81 (8.79%) PyTorch
2 70 (7.59%) TensorFlow
3 47 (5.10%) PySpark
4 43 (4.66%) scikit-learn
5 35 (3.80%) React
6 34 (3.69%) Pandas
7 32 (3.47%) LangChain
8 22 (2.39%) RESTful
9 19 (2.06%) HTML
9 19 (2.06%) Kafka
10 18 (1.95%) NumPy
11 14 (1.52%) CSS
11 14 (1.52%) FastAPI
11 14 (1.52%) Hugging Face
12 12 (1.30%) .NET
12 12 (1.30%) Django
12 12 (1.30%) gRPC
12 12 (1.30%) REST
13 11 (1.19%) Jinja
13 11 (1.19%) NETCONF
Miscellaneous
1 95 (10.30%) Life Science
2 88 (9.54%) Algorithms
3 50 (5.42%) Product Ownership
4 45 (4.88%) Distributed Systems
5 43 (4.66%) Self-Motivation
6 36 (3.90%) Management Information System
7 28 (3.04%) Cloud Native
8 25 (2.71%) Data Structures
9 22 (2.39%) Onboarding
10 21 (2.28%) Pharmacovigilance
11 17 (1.84%) AI Agents
11 17 (1.84%) Video\Live Streaming
12 13 (1.41%) Analytical Mindset
12 13 (1.41%) Greenfield Project
12 13 (1.41%) Omics
13 12 (1.30%) Hybrid Cloud
13 12 (1.30%) Legacy Systems
13 12 (1.30%) Over-the-Top Content
13 12 (1.30%) Reinsurance
13 12 (1.30%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 10 (1.08%) Linux
2 6 (0.65%) Unix
3 4 (0.43%) Android
3 4 (0.43%) Kali Linux
3 4 (0.43%) Ubuntu
4 2 (0.22%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 477 (51.74%) AI
2 468 (50.76%) Analytics
3 463 (50.22%) Machine Learning
4 237 (25.70%) Problem-Solving
5 221 (23.97%) Agile
6 220 (23.86%) Computer Science
7 201 (21.80%) Decision-Making
8 193 (20.93%) Business Intelligence
9 176 (19.09%) Data Engineering
10 164 (17.79%) Data Modelling
11 162 (17.57%) CI/CD
12 161 (17.46%) Data Pipeline
13 152 (16.49%) Data Analysis
14 149 (16.16%) Data Governance
15 147 (15.94%) Visualisation
16 142 (15.40%) ETL
17 140 (15.18%) Statistics
18 134 (14.53%) Roadmaps
19 133 (14.43%) Mentoring
20 130 (14.10%) Mathematics
Programming Languages
1 520 (56.40%) Python
2 299 (32.43%) SQL
3 69 (7.48%) R
4 61 (6.62%) Java
5 54 (5.86%) Scala
6 26 (2.82%) JavaScript
7 22 (2.39%) Go
8 18 (1.95%) C#
8 18 (1.95%) VBA
9 16 (1.74%) TypeScript
10 15 (1.63%) C++
11 11 (1.19%) MATLAB
11 11 (1.19%) Rust
12 8 (0.87%) Bash
12 8 (0.87%) Bicep
12 8 (0.87%) PHP
13 7 (0.76%) ANSI SQL
13 7 (0.76%) C
14 5 (0.54%) PowerShell
15 3 (0.33%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 358 (38.83%) Degree
2 160 (17.35%) Master's Degree
3 93 (10.09%) PhD
3 93 (10.09%) Security Cleared
4 87 (9.44%) Computer Science Degree
5 70 (7.59%) SC Cleared
6 40 (4.34%) Numerate Degree
7 27 (2.93%) DV Cleared
8 21 (2.28%) MBA
9 17 (1.84%) DBS Check
10 11 (1.19%) Azure Certification
11 10 (1.08%) APMP
11 10 (1.08%) BPSS Clearance
12 9 (0.98%) AWS Certification
13 8 (0.87%) PMI Certification
14 7 (0.76%) PMP
15 6 (0.65%) Microsoft Certification
16 3 (0.33%) CFA
16 3 (0.33%) SAP Certification
17 2 (0.22%) AWS Certified Developer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 154 (16.70%) Data Quality
2 54 (5.86%) GDPR
3 43 (4.66%) GxP
4 36 (3.90%) Accessibility
5 22 (2.39%) EU AI Act
5 22 (2.39%) QA
5 22 (2.39%) Solvency II
6 21 (2.28%) HIPAA
6 21 (2.28%) PSD2
7 10 (1.08%) CDISC
7 10 (1.08%) HL7
8 7 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 6 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.33%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 3 (0.33%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.33%) NIST
10 3 (0.33%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.22%) ISO 9001
11 2 (0.22%) PCI DSS
11 2 (0.22%) PERC
System Software
1 74 (8.03%) Docker
2 3 (0.33%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 49 (5.31%) Kubernetes
2 28 (3.04%) Terraform
3 7 (0.76%) Ansible
4 5 (0.54%) Kubeflow
5 4 (0.43%) Nessus
5 4 (0.43%) Nmap
6 2 (0.22%) Argo
6 2 (0.22%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.22%) Puppet
7 1 (0.11%) Nagios
Vendors
1 119 (12.91%) Databricks
2 83 (9.00%) Microsoft
3 69 (7.48%) Google
4 31 (3.36%) Alteryx
4 31 (3.36%) Bloomberg
5 29 (3.15%) Salesforce
6 26 (2.82%) OpenAI
6 26 (2.82%) Oracle
7 23 (2.49%) Cisco
8 17 (1.84%) SAP
9 16 (1.74%) Informatica
10 13 (1.41%) Palantir
11 12 (1.30%) Talend
12 9 (0.98%) Foundry
12 9 (0.98%) Typelevel
13 5 (0.54%) BT
13 5 (0.54%) Red Hat
14 4 (0.43%) Fortinet
14 4 (0.43%) IBM
14 4 (0.43%) Splunk