Salary by Profession in the UK: Compare Jobs, Regions and Pay Levels

How Much Do Data Scientists Earn in the UK? — 2026 Salary Guide

Complete guide to data scientist salaries in the UK for 2026. Junior to principal data scientist pay, data analyst, machine learning engineer, by industry and company type, contractor rates, and career progression.

· · 4 min read

Salary and income data is based on ONS and other official UK statistical sources. Figures are averages and may not reflect your individual circumstances.

Data science continues to be one of the highest-paid technology careers in the UK. Here’s the complete breakdown of what data scientists and related roles earn.

For a broader comparison across occupations and pay bands, see our Salary by Profession hub.

Data Scientist Salary by Level (2025/26)

By Experience Level

LevelSalary (National)Salary (London)
Graduate/Junior (0-2 years)£35,000-£50,000£40,000-£60,000
Mid-level (2-5 years)£50,000-£75,000£60,000-£90,000
Senior (5-8 years)£70,000-£100,000£85,000-£120,000
Lead/Staff (8-12 years)£90,000-£130,000£110,000-£160,000
Principal (12+ years)£110,000-£160,000£130,000-£200,000
Head of Data Science£120,000-£180,000£140,000-£220,000

Pay by Company Type

Big Tech (FAANG and Similar)

LevelBase SalaryStock (RSUs)Total Comp
Junior/L3£55,000-£70,000£15,000-£30,000£70,000-£100,000
Mid/L4£75,000-£95,000£30,000-£60,000£105,000-£155,000
Senior/L5£95,000-£130,000£50,000-£100,000£145,000-£230,000
Staff/L6£120,000-£160,000£80,000-£150,000£200,000-£310,000
Principal/L7£150,000-£200,000£100,000-£200,000£250,000-£400,000

Fintech and Finance

LevelSalary
Junior£45,000-£60,000
Mid-level£60,000-£85,000
Senior£85,000-£120,000
Lead£110,000-£150,000
Head of Data Science£140,000-£200,000

Banks and Investment Firms

LevelBaseBonusTotal
Junior (AVP equivalent)£55,000-£70,000£10,000-£20,000£65,000-£90,000
Mid (VP equivalent)£75,000-£100,000£20,000-£50,000£95,000-£150,000
Senior (Director)£100,000-£140,000£40,000-£100,000£140,000-£240,000
Managing Director£140,000-£200,000£80,000-£200,000+£220,000-£400,000+

Startups and Scale-ups

LevelSalaryEquity
Junior£35,000-£50,000Variable (often significant)
Mid-level£50,000-£70,0000.01-0.1%
Senior£70,000-£95,0000.05-0.3%
Lead£90,000-£120,0000.1-0.5%
Head£110,000-£150,0000.3-1%+

Consulting

Firm TypeJuniorSenior/Manager
Big 4 (Deloitte, PwC, EY, KPMG)£40,000-£55,000£70,000-£110,000
MBB (McKinsey, BCG, Bain)£55,000-£70,000£100,000-£180,000
Boutique data consultancy£38,000-£50,000£65,000-£100,000

Retail, FMCG, and Corporate

LevelSalary
Junior£32,000-£45,000
Mid-level£45,000-£62,000
Senior£60,000-£85,000
Lead£80,000-£110,000
Head£100,000-£140,000

Data Analyst

LevelSalary
Junior£25,000-£35,000
Mid-level£35,000-£48,000
Senior£45,000-£62,000
Lead£55,000-£75,000

Machine Learning Engineer

LevelSalary
Junior£40,000-£55,000
Mid-level£55,000-£80,000
Senior£80,000-£120,000
Staff/Principal£110,000-£180,000
FAANG ML Engineer£90,000-£250,000+

Data Engineer

LevelSalary
Junior£35,000-£48,000
Mid-level£48,000-£70,000
Senior£70,000-£100,000
Lead/Principal£95,000-£140,000

MLOps/AI Engineer

LevelSalary
Junior£40,000-£55,000
Mid-level£55,000-£80,000
Senior£80,000-£120,000
Lead£110,000-£160,000

Business Intelligence Analyst

LevelSalary
Junior£28,000-£38,000
Mid-level£38,000-£52,000
Senior£50,000-£70,000
Manager£65,000-£90,000

Specialist and Niche Roles

By Specialism

SpecialismSalary Range
NLP/Natural Language Processing£60,000-£130,000
Computer Vision£60,000-£130,000
Reinforcement Learning£70,000-£150,000
Quantitative Research (Finance)£80,000-£500,000+
AI Research Scientist£70,000-£200,000
Deep Learning Engineer£65,000-£140,000
Recommendation Systems£60,000-£120,000

By Industry

IndustrySenior DS Salary
Tech (FAANG)£100,000-£180,000
Finance/Banking£90,000-£150,000
Fintech£80,000-£130,000
Hedge Funds£120,000-£400,000+
Pharmaceuticals£70,000-£100,000
Retail/E-commerce£65,000-£100,000
Gaming£60,000-£100,000
Healthcare£55,000-£85,000
Government/Public sector£50,000-£70,000

Contractor/Freelance Rates

LevelDaily RateAnnual Equivalent
Junior£300-£450£68,000-£100,000
Mid-level£450-£600£100,000-£135,000
Senior£550-£750£125,000-£170,000
Lead/Expert£700-£1,000£160,000-£225,000
Specialist (NLP, CV, etc.)£650-£900£145,000-£200,000

Contractors typically work through limited companies (outside IR35) or via umbrella companies (inside IR35).

Regional Pay Comparison

RegionMid-Level DS
Central London£65,000-£90,000
Greater London£55,000-£80,000
Cambridge£55,000-£80,000
Oxford£50,000-£75,000
Manchester£45,000-£65,000
Edinburgh£45,000-£65,000
Bristol£45,000-£65,000
Leeds£42,000-£60,000
Birmingham£42,000-£60,000
Remote (UK company)£50,000-£75,000

Skills and Salary Impact

Programming Languages

SkillSalary Premium
PythonStandard requirement
R+£0-£5,000
Scala+£5,000-£15,000
SQLStandard requirement
Spark/PySpark+£5,000-£10,000

Tools and Platforms

SkillSalary Premium
AWS/Azure/GCP+£5,000-£15,000
TensorFlow/PyTorch+£5,000-£15,000
MLOps (MLflow, Kubeflow)+£5,000-£15,000
Databricks+£5,000-£10,000
Airflow+£3,000-£8,000

Domains

DomainPremium/Impact
Finance/Quant+20-50%
AI/ML Research+10-30%
Healthcare/PharmaBase to +10%
Marketing/AdtechBase to +10%

How to Become a Data Scientist

Common Entry Routes

RouteTypical Background
MSc Data Science1 year, £10,000-£25,000
MSc Computer Science/Stats1 year, £10,000-£25,000
PhD (quantitative field)3-4 years, funded
Bootcamp + experience3-6 months, £5,000-£15,000
Self-taught + projectsVariable
Career transition (analyst)On-the-job learning

Typical Requirements

Role LevelEducationExperience
JuniorBSc/MSc in quantitative field0-2 years
Mid-levelMSc preferred2-5 years
SeniorMSc/PhD helpful5+ years
Lead/PrincipalOften PhD8+ years

Benefits and Compensation

Typical Benefits Package

BenefitTypical
Base salaryVaries by level
Bonus10-30% of base
Stock/RSUsTech companies: significant
Pension5-10% employer contribution
Annual leave25-30 days
Remote/hybrid workVery common
Learning budget£1,000-£5,000
Home office allowance£500-£1,500

Career Progression

StageYearsRoleSalary
Entry0-2Junior Data Scientist£35,000-£50,000
Building skills2-4Data Scientist£50,000-£70,000
Independence4-6Senior Data Scientist£70,000-£90,000
Leadership6-10Lead/Staff DS£90,000-£130,000
Expert10+Principal DS£120,000-£180,000
Management8+Head of Data Science£130,000-£200,000+

Summary

RoleSalary Range
Junior Data Scientist£35,000-£55,000
Mid-level Data Scientist£50,000-£80,000
Senior Data Scientist£75,000-£110,000
Lead/Principal£100,000-£160,000+
Head of Data Science£130,000-£220,000
Data Analyst£28,000-£65,000
ML Engineer£45,000-£180,000
Contractor (daily)£400-£900+
FAANG (total comp)£100,000-£400,000

Sources

  1. ONS — Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings