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

6 months to
21 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 162 130 99
Rank change year-on-year -32 -31 -36
Permanent jobs citing Data Science 961 1,132 2,107
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.40% 2.33% 2.80%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.76% 2.52% 3.16%
Number of salaries quoted 509 507 1,312
10th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £42,301
25th Percentile £55,000 £52,500 £48,811
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 £103,750 £106,750 £115,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,709 £63,076 £57,500
% change year-on-year -3.75% +9.70% -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 54,494 44,927 66,578
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 79.19% 92.59% 88.37%
Number of salaries quoted 32,685 22,191 51,489
10th Percentile £29,000 £34,000 £29,448
25th Percentile £38,000 £46,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,001 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -12.00%
75th Percentile £76,000 £81,250 £75,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £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 21 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 21 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 -22 895 £70,000 - 804
London +23 471 £80,939 +1.17% 358
UK excluding London -67 427 £60,709 -3.75% 670
Work from Home -51 304 £68,958 +6.09% 309
South East -25 160 £58,750 -4.86% 246
North of England -65 98 £62,500 -2.34% 141
South West -40 69 £60,000 -12.73% 82
North West -7 66 £62,500 -3.85% 69
Midlands -24 60 £57,500 +15.00% 97
East Midlands -16 34 £40,000 -44.83% 66
Yorkshire -62 27 £57,500 -10.16% 45
West Midlands -31 26 £65,250 +45.00% 29
East of England +5 17 £81,850 +33.09% 56
Wales +3 11 £39,756 -50.31% 20
Scotland -47 11 £95,000 +111.11% 35
North East -23 5 £62,500 +25.00% 28
Northern Ireland -28 2 £40,000 -52.94% 11

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 72 (7.49%) Apache Spark
2 45 (4.68%) Apache Airflow
3 27 (2.81%) SharePoint
4 20 (2.08%) Apache
5 17 (1.77%) ArcGIS
6 11 (1.14%) Jupyter
7 7 (0.73%) 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 72 (7.49%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (0.62%) Chatbot
3 5 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.42%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Office
6 2 (0.21%) 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%) Elite 3E
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
1 287 (29.86%) Azure
2 263 (27.37%) AWS
3 161 (16.75%) GCP
4 141 (14.67%) Power Platform
5 55 (5.72%) Snowflake
6 43 (4.47%) Azure Machine Learning
7 39 (4.06%) Azure AI
8 35 (3.64%) Amazon SageMaker
9 33 (3.43%) dbt
10 32 (3.33%) Vertex AI
11 30 (3.12%) Azure Data Factory
12 28 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
13 27 (2.81%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 27 (2.81%) GitHub
14 25 (2.60%) SaaS
15 23 (2.39%) Microsoft 365
16 20 (2.08%) Dagster
17 18 (1.87%) PowerApps
18 17 (1.77%) Serverless
19 14 (1.46%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 50 (5.20%) 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 (0.73%) 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
1 134 (13.94%) Power BI
2 112 (11.65%) Data Warehouse
3 105 (10.93%) Tableau
4 76 (7.91%) Data Lake
5 54 (5.62%) Metadata
6 48 (4.99%) BigQuery
7 44 (4.58%) NoSQL
8 40 (4.16%) Big Data
9 38 (3.95%) Amazon Redshift
10 34 (3.54%) SQL Server
11 30 (3.12%) Data Mining
11 30 (3.12%) MongoDB
12 27 (2.81%) Hadoop
13 25 (2.60%) Elasticsearch
14 24 (2.50%) Looker
14 24 (2.50%) PostgreSQL
15 23 (2.39%) Delta Lake
16 21 (2.19%) GIS
17 20 (2.08%) MySQL
18 19 (1.98%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 62 (6.45%) Git
2 35 (3.64%) MLflow
3 16 (1.66%) ERwin
4 13 (1.35%) 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
1 308 (32.05%) Finance
2 286 (29.76%) Social Skills
3 211 (21.96%) Analytical Skills
4 92 (9.57%) Banking
5 88 (9.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 83 (8.64%) Marketing
7 67 (6.97%) Pharmaceutical
8 54 (5.62%) Retail
9 46 (4.79%) Financial Institution
10 43 (4.47%) Law
11 34 (3.54%) Public Sector
12 25 (2.60%) Legal
13 23 (2.39%) Manufacturing
14 21 (2.19%) Organisational Skills
15 14 (1.46%) Telecoms
16 12 (1.25%) Advertising
16 12 (1.25%) Documentation Skills
17 11 (1.14%) Influencing Skills
18 10 (1.04%) Presentation Skills
19 9 (0.94%) Investment Banking
Job Titles
1 209 (21.75%) Data Scientist
2 200 (20.81%) Senior
3 150 (15.61%) Data Engineer
4 146 (15.19%) Lead
5 92 (9.57%) Analyst
6 84 (8.74%) Senior Data Scientist
7 72 (7.49%) Data Analyst
8 67 (6.97%) Consultant
9 54 (5.62%) Software Engineer
10 50 (5.20%) Senior Data Engineer
11 47 (4.89%) Developer
12 36 (3.75%) Architect
13 29 (3.02%) Artificial Intelligence Consultant
14 24 (2.50%) Data Consultant
15 23 (2.39%) Data Architect
16 20 (2.08%) Python Engineer
16 20 (2.08%) Senior Analyst
17 19 (1.98%) Senior Consultant
18 17 (1.77%) Data Science Engineer
18 17 (1.77%) Lead Data Scientist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 96 (9.99%) PyTorch
2 75 (7.80%) TensorFlow
3 39 (4.06%) PySpark
4 38 (3.95%) scikit-learn
5 32 (3.33%) LangChain
6 31 (3.23%) React
7 26 (2.71%) Kafka
8 25 (2.60%) Pandas
9 20 (2.08%) gRPC
9 20 (2.08%) HTML
10 17 (1.77%) RESTful
11 15 (1.56%) CSS
11 15 (1.56%) Hugging Face
12 14 (1.46%) Django
13 12 (1.25%) .NET
13 12 (1.25%) FastAPI
14 11 (1.14%) Jinja
14 11 (1.14%) NETCONF
14 11 (1.14%) NumPy
14 11 (1.14%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 96 (9.99%) Algorithms
2 94 (9.78%) Life Science
3 52 (5.41%) Product Ownership
4 50 (5.20%) Distributed Systems
5 37 (3.85%) Self-Motivation
6 31 (3.23%) Data Structures
7 30 (3.12%) Video\Live Streaming
8 29 (3.02%) Management Information System
9 26 (2.71%) Cloud Native
10 22 (2.29%) AI Agents
11 21 (2.19%) Over-the-Top Content
11 21 (2.19%) Pharmacovigilance
12 18 (1.87%) Social Media
13 17 (1.77%) Onboarding
14 14 (1.46%) Greenfield Project
15 13 (1.35%) Legacy Systems
16 12 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
17 10 (1.04%) Enterprise Software
17 10 (1.04%) Hybrid Cloud
18 9 (0.94%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 12 (1.25%) Linux
2 4 (0.42%) Android
2 4 (0.42%) Kali Linux
2 4 (0.42%) Ubuntu
2 4 (0.42%) Unix
3 2 (0.21%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 507 (52.76%) AI
2 494 (51.40%) Analytics
3 481 (50.05%) Machine Learning
4 233 (24.25%) Problem-Solving
5 222 (23.10%) Computer Science
6 221 (23.00%) Agile
7 203 (21.12%) Decision-Making
8 198 (20.60%) Business Intelligence
9 182 (18.94%) Data Engineering
10 172 (17.90%) Data Pipeline
11 171 (17.79%) CI/CD
11 171 (17.79%) Data Modelling
12 170 (17.69%) Data Analysis
13 155 (16.13%) Visualisation
14 146 (15.19%) Mentoring
15 143 (14.88%) Data Governance
16 138 (14.36%) ETL
16 138 (14.36%) Mathematics
16 138 (14.36%) Roadmaps
16 138 (14.36%) Statistics
Programming Languages
1 555 (57.75%) Python
2 304 (31.63%) SQL
3 72 (7.49%) R
4 69 (7.18%) Java
5 67 (6.97%) Scala
6 32 (3.33%) Go
7 28 (2.91%) JavaScript
8 21 (2.19%) C++
9 20 (2.08%) VBA
10 17 (1.77%) C#
11 11 (1.14%) Rust
11 11 (1.14%) TypeScript
12 9 (0.94%) Bash
13 7 (0.73%) ANSI SQL
13 7 (0.73%) PHP
14 6 (0.62%) Bicep
14 6 (0.62%) C
14 6 (0.62%) MATLAB
15 5 (0.52%) PowerShell
15 5 (0.52%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 361 (37.57%) Degree
2 152 (15.82%) Master's Degree
3 105 (10.93%) Security Cleared
4 89 (9.26%) Computer Science Degree
5 85 (8.84%) PhD
6 69 (7.18%) SC Cleared
7 41 (4.27%) Numerate Degree
8 39 (4.06%) DV Cleared
9 23 (2.39%) MBA
10 22 (2.29%) DBS Check
11 16 (1.66%) 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 (0.83%) PMI Certification
16 7 (0.73%) PMP
17 3 (0.31%) SAP Certification
18 2 (0.21%) AWS Certified Developer
19 1 (0.10%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 166 (17.27%) Data Quality
2 58 (6.04%) GDPR
3 49 (5.10%) Accessibility
4 40 (4.16%) GxP
5 27 (2.81%) QA
6 22 (2.29%) EU AI Act
6 22 (2.29%) Solvency II
7 21 (2.19%) HIPAA
7 21 (2.19%) PSD2
8 8 (0.83%) Actionable Recommendations
8 8 (0.83%) CDISC
8 8 (0.83%) HL7
9 6 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
10 3 (0.31%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 3 (0.31%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 3 (0.31%) PERC
10 3 (0.31%) SOC 2
11 2 (0.21%) ISO 9001
11 2 (0.21%) NIST
11 2 (0.21%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 87 (9.05%) Docker
2 3 (0.31%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 58 (6.04%) Kubernetes
2 35 (3.64%) 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
1 115 (11.97%) Databricks
2 85 (8.84%) Microsoft
3 76 (7.91%) Google
4 31 (3.23%) Alteryx
4 31 (3.23%) Bloomberg
5 30 (3.12%) Salesforce
6 26 (2.71%) OpenAI
7 25 (2.60%) Oracle
8 23 (2.39%) Cisco
9 18 (1.87%) 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%) ServiceNow