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

6 months to
28 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 155 126 111
Rank change year-on-year -29 -15 -42
Permanent jobs citing Data Science 1,068 1,013 2,238
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.37% 2.48% 2.53%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.77% 2.66% 2.91%
Number of salaries quoted 551 519 1,293
10th Percentile £45,000 £44,590 £42,050
25th Percentile £55,625 £53,750 £47,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,932 £70,000 £67,500
Median % change year-on-year +1.33% +3.70% -5.26%
75th Percentile £90,000 £92,250 £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 60,207 38,067 76,796
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 77.10% 93.27% 86.65%
Number of salaries quoted 36,835 22,259 57,410
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £29,035
25th Percentile £40,000 £43,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.29%
75th Percentile £77,500 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,410 £93,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -9.09% +10.00% -8.41%

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 28 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 28 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 -24 993 £71,000 +1.43% 737
London +20 527 £80,000 - 384
UK excluding London -67 468 £62,500 - 486
Work from Home -24 336 £69,479 +8.56% 272
South East -30 156 £65,000 +8.33% 166
North of England -61 98 £63,750 +0.15% 119
South West -51 80 £60,000 -14.29% 69
Midlands -34 75 £60,000 +4.35% 65
North West -2 68 £67,500 +5.67% 63
West Midlands -21 40 £62,500 +38.89% 27
East of England -19 35 £86,725 +42.17% 34
East Midlands -37 35 £45,000 -38.98% 38
Yorkshire -82 26 £60,000 -5.74% 37
Scotland -64 13 £90,000 +63.64% 21
Wales -18 8 £39,756 -51.81% 15
North East -27 4 £62,500 - 21
Northern Ireland -37 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 84 (7.87%) Apache Spark
2 73 (6.84%) Apache Airflow
3 22 (2.06%) ArcGIS
3 22 (2.06%) SharePoint
4 20 (1.87%) Apache
5 10 (0.94%) Jupyter
6 7 (0.66%) SAS
7 5 (0.47%) Confluence
7 5 (0.47%) IIS
8 4 (0.37%) GeoServer
9 3 (0.28%) Apache Superset
9 3 (0.28%) CMS
10 1 (0.094%) Palantir Foundry
10 1 (0.094%) WordPress
Applications
1 56 (5.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (0.37%) Chatbot
2 4 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 4 (0.37%) Microsoft Project
3 3 (0.28%) Spreadsheet
4 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 6 (0.56%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.094%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.094%) FIS Private Capital Suite
3 1 (0.094%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.094%) Odoo
3 1 (0.094%) SAP PLM
3 1 (0.094%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 327 (30.62%) AWS
2 316 (29.59%) Azure
3 204 (19.10%) GCP
4 157 (14.70%) Power Platform
5 96 (8.99%) Snowflake
6 60 (5.62%) dbt
7 46 (4.31%) Azure Machine Learning
7 46 (4.31%) Azure Synapse Analytics
8 37 (3.46%) Azure AI
9 36 (3.37%) Amazon SageMaker
10 32 (3.00%) Azure Data Factory
10 32 (3.00%) Vertex AI
11 29 (2.72%) Azure DevOps
12 24 (2.25%) GitHub
12 24 (2.25%) SaaS
13 20 (1.87%) Microsoft 365
14 19 (1.78%) Dagster
15 18 (1.69%) Serverless
16 17 (1.59%) Amazon S3
16 17 (1.59%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 82 (7.68%) Broadband
2 11 (1.03%) 4G
2 11 (1.03%) BGP
2 11 (1.03%) Cisco IOS
2 11 (1.03%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (1.03%) IOS XR
2 11 (1.03%) MPLS
3 4 (0.37%) Kerberos
4 3 (0.28%) HTTP
4 3 (0.28%) Internet
4 3 (0.28%) Software-Defined Radio
4 3 (0.28%) TCP/IP
5 2 (0.19%) MQTT
5 2 (0.19%) Tactical Data Link
6 1 (0.094%) Firewall
6 1 (0.094%) LTE
6 1 (0.094%) Modbus
6 1 (0.094%) Network Security
6 1 (0.094%) TCAP
6 1 (0.094%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 151 (14.14%) Power BI
2 148 (13.86%) Data Warehouse
3 121 (11.33%) Tableau
4 104 (9.74%) Data Lake
5 73 (6.84%) BigQuery
6 56 (5.24%) Elasticsearch
7 53 (4.96%) Amazon Redshift
8 49 (4.59%) NoSQL
9 48 (4.49%) Looker
10 47 (4.40%) Metadata
11 35 (3.28%) Big Data
12 34 (3.18%) MongoDB
13 33 (3.09%) PostgreSQL
14 31 (2.90%) GIS
15 28 (2.62%) Data Mining
15 28 (2.62%) SQL Server
16 27 (2.53%) QGIS
17 26 (2.43%) Snowflake Schema
18 24 (2.25%) Hadoop
19 23 (2.15%) Delta Lake
Development Applications
1 69 (6.46%) Git
2 58 (5.43%) MLflow
3 14 (1.31%) GitLab
4 9 (0.84%) JIRA
5 7 (0.66%) ERwin
5 7 (0.66%) PowerDesigner
6 6 (0.56%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.37%) ER Studio
8 3 (0.28%) Selenium
9 2 (0.19%) Burp Suite
10 1 (0.094%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.094%) Metasploit
10 1 (0.094%) TeamCity
10 1 (0.094%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 274 (25.66%) Finance
2 259 (24.25%) Social Skills
3 239 (22.38%) Analytical Skills
4 95 (8.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 86 (8.05%) Banking
6 82 (7.68%) Marketing
7 62 (5.81%) Retail
8 55 (5.15%) Pharmaceutical
9 48 (4.49%) Public Sector
10 39 (3.65%) Law
11 38 (3.56%) Financial Institution
12 23 (2.15%) Legal
12 23 (2.15%) Manufacturing
13 17 (1.59%) Organisational Skills
14 15 (1.40%) Advertising
15 14 (1.31%) Influencing Skills
15 14 (1.31%) Telecoms
16 11 (1.03%) Documentation Skills
17 8 (0.75%) Investment Banking
18 7 (0.66%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 254 (23.78%) Data Scientist
2 227 (21.25%) Senior
3 159 (14.89%) Data Engineer
4 142 (13.30%) Lead
5 106 (9.93%) Senior Data Scientist
6 83 (7.77%) Analyst
7 75 (7.02%) Consultant
8 66 (6.18%) Data Analyst
9 65 (6.09%) Software Engineer
10 55 (5.15%) Developer
11 50 (4.68%) Senior Data Engineer
12 33 (3.09%) Artificial Intelligence Consultant
13 31 (2.90%) Systems Engineer
14 30 (2.81%) Scala Engineer
15 29 (2.72%) Lead Data Scientist
16 28 (2.62%) Architect
17 27 (2.53%) Data Consultant
17 27 (2.53%) Python Engineer
18 24 (2.25%) Data Management Specialist
18 24 (2.25%) Principal Data Scientist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 131 (12.27%) PyTorch
2 98 (9.18%) TensorFlow
3 64 (5.99%) scikit-learn
4 49 (4.59%) LangChain
5 48 (4.49%) Kafka
6 47 (4.40%) gRPC
7 32 (3.00%) PySpark
7 32 (3.00%) React
8 24 (2.25%) LlamaIndex
8 24 (2.25%) Pandas
9 23 (2.15%) pgvector
10 20 (1.87%) Django
10 20 (1.87%) RESTful
11 19 (1.78%) HTML
12 15 (1.40%) CSS
13 14 (1.31%) FastAPI
14 13 (1.22%) .NET
14 13 (1.22%) Node.js
14 13 (1.22%) REST
15 12 (1.12%) XGBoost
Miscellaneous
1 97 (9.08%) Algorithms
2 82 (7.68%) Life Science
3 70 (6.55%) Distributed Systems
4 59 (5.52%) Video\Live Streaming
5 50 (4.68%) Over-the-Top Content
6 48 (4.49%) Product Ownership
7 45 (4.21%) Cloud Native
8 36 (3.37%) Management Information System
9 32 (3.00%) Self-Motivation
10 26 (2.43%) Clustering
10 26 (2.43%) Data Structures
11 25 (2.34%) AI Agents
11 25 (2.34%) Public Cloud
12 21 (1.97%) Pharmacovigilance
13 20 (1.87%) Greenfield Project
13 20 (1.87%) Onboarding
13 20 (1.87%) Social Media
14 12 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
15 11 (1.03%) Hackathon
15 11 (1.03%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 11 (1.03%) Linux
2 5 (0.47%) Unix
3 2 (0.19%) Windows
4 1 (0.094%) Android
4 1 (0.094%) Kali Linux
4 1 (0.094%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 564 (52.81%) AI
2 538 (50.37%) Machine Learning
3 521 (48.78%) Analytics
4 255 (23.88%) Problem-Solving
5 227 (21.25%) Business Intelligence
6 223 (20.88%) Data Engineering
7 218 (20.41%) Agile
8 216 (20.22%) Decision-Making
9 211 (19.76%) Computer Science
10 201 (18.82%) CI/CD
11 188 (17.60%) Data Pipeline
12 181 (16.95%) Data Modelling
13 162 (15.17%) Use Case
14 157 (14.70%) ETL
15 152 (14.23%) Data Analysis
16 151 (14.14%) Generative AI
17 150 (14.04%) Visualisation
18 145 (13.58%) Mentoring
19 142 (13.30%) Software Engineering
20 137 (12.83%) Mathematics
Programming Languages
1 607 (56.84%) Python
2 314 (29.40%) SQL
3 93 (8.71%) Scala
4 71 (6.65%) Java
4 71 (6.65%) R
5 60 (5.62%) Go
6 32 (3.00%) JavaScript
7 20 (1.87%) VBA
8 15 (1.40%) C++
9 14 (1.31%) C#
10 12 (1.12%) Bash
10 12 (1.12%) TypeScript
11 8 (0.75%) Rust
11 8 (0.75%) T-SQL
12 6 (0.56%) ANSI SQL
12 6 (0.56%) Data Analysis Expressions
12 6 (0.56%) Julia
12 6 (0.56%) PHP
13 5 (0.47%) Bicep
14 4 (0.37%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 360 (33.71%) Degree
2 128 (11.99%) Master's Degree
3 108 (10.11%) Security Cleared
4 90 (8.43%) Computer Science Degree
5 61 (5.71%) PhD
6 60 (5.62%) SC Cleared
7 45 (4.21%) DV Cleared
8 35 (3.28%) Numerate Degree
9 27 (2.53%) DBS Check
10 20 (1.87%) MBA
11 17 (1.59%) Azure Certification
12 13 (1.22%) APMP
13 8 (0.75%) Microsoft Certification
14 6 (0.56%) PMI Certification
15 5 (0.47%) BPSS Clearance
15 5 (0.47%) PMP
16 3 (0.28%) AWS Certification
16 3 (0.28%) SAP Certification
17 2 (0.19%) Postgraduate
18 1 (0.094%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 167 (15.64%) Data Quality
2 70 (6.55%) GDPR
3 54 (5.06%) Accessibility
4 30 (2.81%) QA
5 26 (2.43%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 24 (2.25%) GxP
7 21 (1.97%) EU AI Act
7 21 (1.97%) HIPAA
7 21 (1.97%) PSD2
7 21 (1.97%) Solvency II
8 9 (0.84%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.28%) CDISC
9 3 (0.28%) HL7
9 3 (0.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
9 3 (0.28%) PERC
10 2 (0.19%) 21 CFR Part 11
11 1 (0.094%) FINRA
11 1 (0.094%) GMP
11 1 (0.094%) ISO 13485
11 1 (0.094%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 111 (10.39%) Docker
2 5 (0.47%) Active Directory
3 2 (0.19%) Firmware
4 1 (0.094%) IAG
Systems Management
1 64 (5.99%) Kubernetes
2 48 (4.49%) Terraform
3 7 (0.66%) Kubeflow
4 6 (0.56%) Ansible
5 2 (0.19%) Argo
6 1 (0.094%) Nagios
6 1 (0.094%) Nessus
6 1 (0.094%) Nmap
Vendors
1 163 (15.26%) Databricks
2 85 (7.96%) Microsoft
3 72 (6.74%) Google
4 51 (4.78%) Dell
5 45 (4.21%) Typelevel
6 35 (3.28%) Informatica
7 30 (2.81%) Alteryx
7 30 (2.81%) Bloomberg
8 24 (2.25%) Denodo
8 24 (2.25%) Teradata
9 23 (2.15%) Cloudera
9 23 (2.15%) Salesforce
10 21 (1.97%) OpenAI
11 20 (1.87%) Cisco
11 20 (1.87%) Oracle
12 14 (1.31%) Palantir
13 11 (1.03%) SAP
14 8 (0.75%) Foundry
15 7 (0.66%) Talend
16 6 (0.56%) ServiceNow