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

6 months to
11 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 155 135 114
Rank change year-on-year -20 -21 -49
Permanent jobs citing Data Science 995 994 2,150
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 1.36% 2.27% 2.57%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.75% 2.42% 2.94%
Number of salaries quoted 514 505 1,308
10th Percentile £43,884 £42,500 £41,250
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 £88,750
90th Percentile £103,375 £114,000 £115,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £62,500 £62,500 £57,500
% change year-on-year - +8.70% -10.20%

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 56,972 41,045 73,238
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 78.05% 93.61% 87.51%
Number of salaries quoted 34,330 22,188 55,854
10th Percentile £29,750 £32,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -11.31%
75th Percentile £77,419 £80,000 £73,750
90th Percentile £97,500 £102,500 £94,500
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 11 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 11 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 -22 921 £70,000 - 840
London +30 484 £80,000 - 469
UK excluding London -62 444 £62,500 - 568
Work from Home -34 308 £66,720 +4.25% 314
South East +10 162 £62,500 +4.17% 215
North of England -60 95 £62,500 - 122
South West -31 76 £60,000 -14.29% 66
Midlands -21 69 £55,000 +18.92% 80
North West -1 66 £62,500 -2.15% 53
West Midlands -24 35 £65,000 +44.44% 27
East Midlands -24 34 £40,000 -45.76% 53
Yorkshire -72 24 £60,000 -5.74% 50
East of England -13 18 £84,288 +38.18% 47
Scotland -54 12 £95,000 +80.95% 29
Wales -3 10 £39,756 -51.81% 14
North East -24 5 £62,500 +25.00% 21
Northern Ireland -28 3 - - 7

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 76 (7.64%) Apache Spark
2 58 (5.83%) Apache Airflow
3 26 (2.61%) SharePoint
4 22 (2.21%) ArcGIS
5 20 (2.01%) Apache
6 10 (1.01%) Jupyter
7 7 (0.70%) SAS
8 6 (0.60%) Confluence
8 6 (0.60%) IIS
9 3 (0.30%) Apache Superset
9 3 (0.30%) CMS
9 3 (0.30%) GeoServer
10 1 (0.10%) Microsoft Exchange
10 1 (0.10%) Palantir Foundry
10 1 (0.10%) WordPress
Applications
1 64 (6.43%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (0.50%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (0.40%) Chatbot
3 4 (0.40%) Microsoft Project
4 3 (0.30%) Microsoft Office
4 3 (0.30%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (0.60%) Salesforce CRM
2 2 (0.20%) 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
1 290 (29.15%) Azure
2 289 (29.05%) AWS
3 173 (17.39%) GCP
4 146 (14.67%) Power Platform
5 71 (7.14%) Snowflake
6 42 (4.22%) Azure Machine Learning
6 42 (4.22%) dbt
7 38 (3.82%) Azure AI
8 34 (3.42%) Amazon SageMaker
9 31 (3.12%) Vertex AI
10 30 (3.02%) Azure Synapse Analytics
11 29 (2.91%) Azure DevOps
12 28 (2.81%) Azure Data Factory
13 26 (2.61%) GitHub
14 24 (2.41%) Microsoft 365
15 23 (2.31%) SaaS
16 20 (2.01%) Dagster
17 19 (1.91%) PowerApps
18 17 (1.71%) Serverless
19 16 (1.61%) Amazon S3
Communications & Networking
1 60 (6.03%) Broadband
2 11 (1.11%) 4G
2 11 (1.11%) BGP
2 11 (1.11%) Cisco IOS
2 11 (1.11%) Ethernet VPN
2 11 (1.11%) IOS XR
2 11 (1.11%) MPLS
3 6 (0.60%) TCP/IP
4 4 (0.40%) HTTP
4 4 (0.40%) Kerberos
5 3 (0.30%) Bluetooth
5 3 (0.30%) Firewall
5 3 (0.30%) Internet
5 3 (0.30%) Intrusion Detection
5 3 (0.30%) Modbus
5 3 (0.30%) MQTT
5 3 (0.30%) Network Security
5 3 (0.30%) VLAN
5 3 (0.30%) Wireshark
5 3 (0.30%) ZigBee
Database & Business Intelligence
1 138 (13.87%) Power BI
2 124 (12.46%) Data Warehouse
3 104 (10.45%) Tableau
4 86 (8.64%) Data Lake
5 59 (5.93%) BigQuery
6 52 (5.23%) Metadata
7 46 (4.62%) Amazon Redshift
8 44 (4.42%) NoSQL
9 38 (3.82%) Elasticsearch
10 37 (3.72%) Big Data
11 34 (3.42%) MongoDB
12 31 (3.12%) SQL Server
13 30 (3.02%) GIS
13 30 (3.02%) Looker
14 29 (2.91%) PostgreSQL
15 26 (2.61%) Data Mining
15 26 (2.61%) QGIS
16 25 (2.51%) Hadoop
17 24 (2.41%) Delta Lake
18 22 (2.21%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 67 (6.73%) Git
2 42 (4.22%) MLflow
3 14 (1.41%) GitLab
4 8 (0.80%) JIRA
5 7 (0.70%) ERwin
5 7 (0.70%) PowerDesigner
6 5 (0.50%) Jenkins
7 4 (0.40%) Burp Suite
7 4 (0.40%) ER Studio
8 3 (0.30%) Metasploit
8 3 (0.30%) Selenium
9 1 (0.10%) MSBuild
9 1 (0.10%) TeamCity
9 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 277 (27.84%) Finance
2 270 (27.14%) Social Skills
3 212 (21.31%) Analytical Skills
4 91 (9.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 89 (8.94%) Banking
6 80 (8.04%) Marketing
7 58 (5.83%) Retail
8 56 (5.63%) Pharmaceutical
9 42 (4.22%) Financial Institution
10 41 (4.12%) Law
11 40 (4.02%) Public Sector
12 22 (2.21%) Legal
12 22 (2.21%) Manufacturing
13 21 (2.11%) Organisational Skills
14 14 (1.41%) Telecoms
15 13 (1.31%) Influencing Skills
16 12 (1.21%) Advertising
17 11 (1.11%) Documentation Skills
18 10 (1.01%) Investment Banking
19 8 (0.80%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 225 (22.61%) Data Scientist
2 208 (20.90%) Senior
3 149 (14.97%) Data Engineer
4 134 (13.47%) Lead
5 90 (9.05%) Analyst
6 88 (8.84%) Senior Data Scientist
7 74 (7.44%) Consultant
8 69 (6.93%) Data Analyst
9 56 (5.63%) Software Engineer
10 51 (5.13%) Senior Data Engineer
11 47 (4.72%) Developer
12 33 (3.32%) Artificial Intelligence Consultant
13 27 (2.71%) Architect
13 27 (2.71%) Data Consultant
14 26 (2.61%) Python Engineer
15 21 (2.11%) Machine Learning Consultant
16 20 (2.01%) Lead Data Scientist
16 20 (2.01%) Senior Consultant
16 20 (2.01%) Spatial Consultant
17 19 (1.91%) Senior Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 108 (10.85%) PyTorch
2 82 (8.24%) TensorFlow
3 42 (4.22%) scikit-learn
4 36 (3.62%) LangChain
5 35 (3.52%) PySpark
6 32 (3.22%) Kafka
7 30 (3.02%) gRPC
8 27 (2.71%) React
9 21 (2.11%) Pandas
10 20 (2.01%) HTML
11 19 (1.91%) RESTful
12 16 (1.61%) Django
13 15 (1.51%) CSS
14 13 (1.31%) .NET
14 13 (1.31%) FastAPI
15 12 (1.21%) REST
16 11 (1.11%) Jinja
16 11 (1.11%) NETCONF
16 11 (1.11%) YANG
17 10 (1.01%) Hugging Face
Miscellaneous
1 98 (9.85%) Algorithms
2 87 (8.74%) Life Science
3 54 (5.43%) Distributed Systems
4 51 (5.13%) Product Ownership
5 41 (4.12%) Video\Live Streaming
6 37 (3.72%) Management Information System
7 35 (3.52%) Self-Motivation
8 32 (3.22%) Cloud Native
8 32 (3.22%) Over-the-Top Content
9 25 (2.51%) Data Structures
10 24 (2.41%) AI Agents
11 21 (2.11%) Pharmacovigilance
12 19 (1.91%) Social Media
13 17 (1.71%) Greenfield Project
14 16 (1.61%) Onboarding
15 11 (1.11%) Analytical Mindset
15 11 (1.11%) Clustering
15 11 (1.11%) Enterprise Software
16 10 (1.01%) Public Cloud
17 9 (0.90%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 13 (1.31%) Linux
2 5 (0.50%) Unix
3 3 (0.30%) Android
3 3 (0.30%) Kali Linux
3 3 (0.30%) Ubuntu
3 3 (0.30%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 523 (52.56%) AI
2 499 (50.15%) Analytics
3 486 (48.84%) Machine Learning
4 231 (23.22%) Problem-Solving
5 220 (22.11%) Decision-Making
6 217 (21.81%) Agile
7 211 (21.21%) Business Intelligence
7 211 (21.21%) Computer Science
8 188 (18.89%) Data Engineering
9 178 (17.89%) CI/CD
10 176 (17.69%) Data Pipeline
11 167 (16.78%) Data Modelling
12 157 (15.78%) Data Analysis
13 151 (15.18%) Visualisation
14 143 (14.37%) Mentoring
15 142 (14.27%) ETL
16 136 (13.67%) Data Governance
17 134 (13.47%) Generative AI
17 134 (13.47%) Mathematics
18 133 (13.37%) Use Case
Programming Languages
1 566 (56.88%) Python
2 295 (29.65%) SQL
3 74 (7.44%) Scala
4 70 (7.04%) R
5 65 (6.53%) Java
6 41 (4.12%) Go
7 30 (3.02%) JavaScript
8 22 (2.21%) VBA
9 17 (1.71%) C++
10 14 (1.41%) C#
11 12 (1.21%) Bash
12 10 (1.01%) Rust
12 10 (1.01%) TypeScript
13 7 (0.70%) ANSI SQL
13 7 (0.70%) PHP
14 6 (0.60%) T-SQL
15 5 (0.50%) Bicep
15 5 (0.50%) C
15 5 (0.50%) PowerShell
16 4 (0.40%) Data Analysis Expressions
Qualifications
1 362 (36.38%) Degree
2 137 (13.77%) Master's Degree
3 105 (10.55%) Security Cleared
4 86 (8.64%) Computer Science Degree
5 69 (6.93%) PhD
6 67 (6.73%) SC Cleared
7 41 (4.12%) DV Cleared
8 39 (3.92%) Numerate Degree
9 24 (2.41%) MBA
10 21 (2.11%) DBS Check
11 17 (1.71%) Azure Certification
12 13 (1.31%) APMP
13 11 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
14 9 (0.90%) Microsoft Certification
15 8 (0.80%) PMI Certification
16 7 (0.70%) PMP
17 4 (0.40%) AWS Certification
18 3 (0.30%) SAP Certification
19 2 (0.20%) Postgraduate
20 1 (0.10%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 165 (16.58%) Data Quality
2 58 (5.83%) Accessibility
3 56 (5.63%) GDPR
4 31 (3.12%) QA
5 30 (3.02%) GxP
6 22 (2.21%) Solvency II
7 21 (2.11%) EU AI Act
7 21 (2.11%) HIPAA
7 21 (2.11%) PSD2
8 11 (1.11%) California Consumer Privacy Act
9 9 (0.90%) Actionable Recommendations
10 6 (0.60%) CDISC
10 6 (0.60%) HL7
11 4 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 3 (0.30%) 21 CFR Part 11
12 3 (0.30%) PERC
13 2 (0.20%) ISO 9001
14 1 (0.10%) Disclosure Scotland
14 1 (0.10%) FINRA
14 1 (0.10%) ISO 13485
System Software
1 96 (9.65%) Docker
2 5 (0.50%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 59 (5.93%) Kubernetes
2 40 (4.02%) Terraform
3 6 (0.60%) Ansible
4 4 (0.40%) Kubeflow
5 3 (0.30%) Nessus
5 3 (0.30%) Nmap
6 2 (0.20%) Argo
7 1 (0.10%) Nagios
Vendors
1 129 (12.96%) Databricks
2 86 (8.64%) Microsoft
3 75 (7.54%) Google
4 31 (3.12%) Bloomberg
5 30 (3.02%) Alteryx
6 28 (2.81%) Typelevel
7 27 (2.71%) Salesforce
8 24 (2.41%) Dell
8 24 (2.41%) Informatica
8 24 (2.41%) OpenAI
9 22 (2.21%) Cisco
9 22 (2.21%) Oracle
10 14 (1.41%) Palantir
11 12 (1.21%) Denodo
11 12 (1.21%) SAP
11 12 (1.21%) Teradata
12 8 (0.80%) Cloudera
12 8 (0.80%) Foundry
12 8 (0.80%) Talend
13 7 (0.70%) ServiceNow