London Data & Analytics: Python, SQL, Data Pipelines Lead 695 Roles -- January 2026

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London's January 2026 data job market featured 695 direct roles from 500 employers, with ML Engineer and Data Engineer as the top specializations and Fintech leading among tracked industries at 23%.

This report analyzes 695 Data & Analytics job postings from 498+ companies tracked via direct employer career pages and job board aggregators. Our coverage skews toward tech-forward and scaling companies; large enterprises using enterprise hiring platforms may be underrepresented. Coverage varies by section and is noted throughout.

Key Takeaways for Job Seekers

1.0Lead with Python and SQL Python (34%) and SQL (31%) remain the two most requested skills among tracked roles, and the Python + SQL pair appears in 21% of postings. Ensure these are front and center on your CV, with concrete project examples rather than just listing them.

1.1Add modern data stack tools to stand out dbt (8%), Snowflake (8%), and Airflow (6%) appear frequently among tracked roles. Hands-on experience with these tools -- even from personal projects or open-source contributions -- can help differentiate your application in a competitive field.

1.2Target fintech employers Fintech accounted for 23% of tracked industry share, the largest single sector. Companies like Wise (20 roles) and Starling Bank (5 roles) are actively hiring. Tailoring applications to demonstrate understanding of financial data, compliance, or payments may improve your conversion rate.

1.3Highlight AI and LLM experience AI appeared in 10% of skill mentions and LLMs in 6% among tracked roles, while ML Engineer led all specializations at 22%. Candidates who can demonstrate practical experience deploying or fine-tuning models are likely well-positioned for a growing segment of roles.

1.4Negotiate for flexibility With a 97% flexibility rate among tracked ATS roles and only 3% requiring full onsite, candidates have leverage to request hybrid or remote arrangements. The UK Employment Rights Bill effective April 2026 will further strengthen the right to request flexible working from day one (UK Parliament, 2026).

Skills Demand

52% of roles with skills data

Low

High

Skills insight: Among the 52% of tracked roles with skills data (360 roles), Python (34%) and SQL (31%) remained the foundational pair, co-occurring in 21% of postings. The modern data stack was well-represented with dbt (8%), Snowflake (8%), Airflow (6%), and Looker (7%) all appearing in the top 15. Cloud platforms split between AWS (12%) and Azure (7%), with BigQuery (6%) representing GCP presence. AI (10%) and LLMs (6%) emerged as a notable skill cluster, consistent with ML Engineer leading all role specializations at 22%. Data pipelines (12%) and Data modeling (8%) reflect continued demand for core engineering competencies alongside newer tooling.

Seniority Distribution

Junior: 0-2 years | Mid-Level: 3-5 years | Senior: 6-10 years | Staff/Principal: 11+ years (IC track) | Director+: Management track

Low

High

vs December 2025

Biggest Gainer

Senior

+5pp

Biggest Decline

Mid-Level

-11pp

Senior-to-Junior Ratio

7:1

Senior+ roles per Junior role

Entry Accessibility Rate

20%

Junior + Mid-Level roles combined

Among tracked roles, Senior-level positions accounted for 60% of all postings, producing a Senior-to-Junior ratio of 7:1. This ratio is competitive but not exclusionary, with 20% of roles accessible to candidates with fewer than three years of experience (combining Junior at 11% and Mid-Level at 9%). Based on a single month's movement, Senior gained 5 percentage points while Mid-Level declined 11 percentage points compared to December 2025. This shift may indicate that employers are consolidating hiring budgets around experienced practitioners, though one month of data is insufficient to confirm a sustained pattern. Staff/Principal (11%) and Director+ (10%) together accounted for 21%, reflecting continued demand for senior technical leadership among tracked employers.

Working Arrangement

Onsite: office full-time | Hybrid: mix of office and remote | Remote: work from anywhere | Flexible: employee chooses arrangement

97% of roles with known working arrangement

23%Remote

Hybrid50%

Flexible24%

Remote23%

Onsite3%

Among 121 ATS-sourced roles with working arrangement data (97% coverage), Hybrid led at 50%, followed by Flexible (24%), Remote (23%), and Onsite (3%). The combined flexibility rate of 97% indicates that nearly all tracked employers offer some form of non-traditional working arrangement. This is consistent with broader UK data showing 85% of companies now offering hybrid options (Advent Communications, 2026). The 23% fully remote share suggests that while remote work remains available, the market has likely settled into a hybrid-first equilibrium. The near-zero onsite share (3%) may further shift as the UK Employment Rights Bill strengthens flexible working rights from April 2026 (UK Parliament, 2026).

Role Specialization

Low

High

vs December 2025

Biggest Gainer

Data Architect

+4pp

Biggest Decline

Research Scientist (ML)

-3pp

Among tracked roles, ML Engineer led at 22%, followed by Data Engineer (20%), Data Analyst (18%), and Data Scientist (14%). The top four specializations accounted for 74% of all postings, indicating a concentrated core of demand. Data Architect gained 4 percentage points month-over-month based on a single month's movement, reaching 11% and suggesting growing employer interest in data governance and modeling roles. Research Scientist (ML) declined 3 percentage points to just 1%, which may reflect the niche nature of pure research positions among the tracked employer base. Analytics Engineer (8%) and Product Analytics (5%) represent a growing mid-tier focused on analytics tooling and product-embedded data work.

IC vs Management Track

90%IC

Individual Contributor90%

Management10%

Among tracked roles, 90% were Individual Contributor positions and 10% were Management roles. This 90/10 split is consistent with a market oriented toward hands-on technical delivery rather than people leadership. The low management share likely reflects that data teams tend to be lean, with fewer management layers relative to engineering or product organizations. For candidates on a management track, the 10% share means fewer openings but also less competition from other management-track applicants among tracked employers.

Compensation

Compensation data excluded due to low disclosure rates in markets without pay transparency legislation.

Market Context

1.London fintech hiring projected up 37% YoY London fintech hiring is projected to rise 37% year-over-year in 2026, accounting for 70% of all UK fintech roles. This likely contributes to the Fintech sector leading tracked industry share at 23% this month. (Morgan McKinley, January 2026)

2.UK Employment Rights Bill strengthens flexible working The UK Employment Rights Bill, effective April 2026, gives employees the right to request flexible working from day one of employment. This legislative shift is consistent with the 97% flexibility rate observed among tracked ATS roles and may further reduce onsite-only postings. (UK Parliament, 2026)

3.UK data role salaries rising 5.8% YoY The mean UK data role salary reached GBP 50,412, up 5.8% year-over-year. Rising compensation likely reflects both sustained demand and the ongoing digital skills gap, which may intensify competition for senior candidates among tracked employers. (Learning People, January 2026)

4.UK digital skills gap persists UK employers continue to cite a shortage of qualified digital and data candidates. This constraint is consistent with the 7:1 Senior-to-Junior ratio observed among tracked roles, as employers may be prioritizing experienced hires over investing in junior development pipelines. (LSE, 2026)

5.Hybrid working is now the UK default Across the UK, 28% of employees work hybrid and 16% fully remote, with 85% of companies offering hybrid options. Among tracked London data roles, Hybrid accounted for 50% and Remote for 23%, suggesting the data sector may lean even more flexible than the national average. (Advent Communications, 2026)

Methodology

This report analyzes direct employer job postings for Data & Analytics roles in London during January 2026.

Data collection:

1.Over 600 roles from 500+ employers aggregated from multiple sources
2.Recruitment agency postings identified and excluded (7% of raw data)
3.Jobs deduplicated across sources to avoid double-counting

Classification:

1.Roles classified using an LLM-powered taxonomy
2.Subfamily, seniority, skills, and working arrangement extracted
3.Employer metadata enriched from company databases where available

Limitations:

1.Not a complete census of the market - some roles may not be captured
2.Skills analysis based on 360 roles with skill data (52% coverage)
3.Salary data not included due to low disclosure rates
4.Working arrangement based on 121 ATS-sourced roles (Adzuna excluded due to truncated descriptions)

Data coverage:

60%

Seniority coverage

Roles with seniority level classified

97%

Arrangement coverage

Roles with working arrangement known

52%

Skills coverage

Roles with skills extracted from description

54%

Employer metadata

Roles with enriched company data

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