PhD Job Trends in Oxfordshire

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil, EngD, Doctorate)
South East > Oxfordshire

The table below provides summary statistics for permanent job vacancies advertised in Oxfordshire with a requirement for PhD qualifications. It includes a benchmarking guide to the salaries offered over the 6 months leading up to 24 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 51 50 37
Rank change year-on-year -1 -13 +16
Permanent jobs citing PhD 14 16 72
As % of all permanent jobs in Oxfordshire 1.36% 2.58% 4.73%
As % of the Qualifications category 7.95% 7.34% 18.18%
Number of salaries quoted 5 4 60
10th Percentile £49,250 £42,799 £31,250
25th Percentile £50,750 £50,747 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,500 £56,509 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -0.02% +2.74% -31.25%
75th Percentile £63,750 £57,854 £68,750
90th Percentile £78,000 - £73,750
South East median annual salary £67,500 £54,504 £60,000
% change year-on-year +23.84% -9.16% -12.73%

All Academic and Professional Certifications
Oxfordshire

PhD falls under the Academic Qualifications and Professional Certifications category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications in Oxfordshire.

Permanent vacancies requiring academic qualifications or professional certifications 176 218 396
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in Oxfordshire 17.04% 35.10% 26.00%
Number of salaries quoted 89 91 314
10th Percentile £28,500 £25,750 £30,300
25th Percentile £38,500 £39,929 £36,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,728 £42,598 £46,000
Median % change year-on-year +37.86% -7.40% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £60,000 £60,000
90th Percentile £83,750 £77,500 £70,500
South East median annual salary £55,000 £55,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year - +4.76% +5.00%

PhD
Job Vacancy Trend in Oxfordshire

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing PhD relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in Oxfordshire.

PhD job vacancy trend in Oxfordshire

PhD
Salary Trend in Oxfordshire

Salary distribution trend for jobs in Oxfordshire citing PhD.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in Oxfordshire citing PhD

PhD
Salary Histogram in Oxfordshire

Salary distribution for jobs citing PhD in Oxfordshire over the 6 months to 24 March 2026.

Salary histogram for PhD in Oxfordshire

PhD
Job Locations in Oxfordshire

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing PhD within the Oxfordshire region over the 6 months to 24 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
Oxford -4 6 £57,500 +43.75% 5
PhD
South East

PhD
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Oxfordshire 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:

Cloud Services
1 6 (42.86%) Cloud Computing
2 4 (28.57%) AWS
3 3 (21.43%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 6 (42.86%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (7.14%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 2 (14.29%) Git
2 1 (7.14%) LabVIEW
General
1 10 (71.43%) Social Skills
2 6 (42.86%) Banking
2 6 (42.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 3 (21.43%) Manufacturing
4 2 (14.29%) Automotive
5 1 (7.14%) Aeronautics
5 1 (7.14%) Aerospace
5 1 (7.14%) Aviation
5 1 (7.14%) Electronics
5 1 (7.14%) Organisational Skills
5 1 (7.14%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 6 (42.86%) Lecturer
2 3 (21.43%) C# Software Engineer
2 3 (21.43%) C++ Software Engineer
2 3 (21.43%) Python Engineer
2 3 (21.43%) Python Software Engineer
2 3 (21.43%) Software Engineer
3 1 (7.14%) AWS Engineer
3 1 (7.14%) AWS Software Engineer
3 1 (7.14%) Data Engineer
3 1 (7.14%) Developer
3 1 (7.14%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (14.29%) Blazor
2 1 (7.14%) Django
2 1 (7.14%) React
2 1 (7.14%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 6 (42.86%) IoT
2 3 (21.43%) LIMS
2 3 (21.43%) Management Information System
3 1 (7.14%) AI Agents
3 1 (7.14%) Arduino
3 1 (7.14%) Distributed Computing
Operating Systems
1 3 (21.43%) Windows
2 1 (7.14%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 9 (64.29%) Cybersecurity
1 9 (64.29%) Machine Learning
2 7 (50.00%) AI
2 7 (50.00%) User Experience
3 6 (42.86%) Web Development
4 3 (21.43%) Biomedicine
4 3 (21.43%) CI/CD
4 3 (21.43%) Continuous Improvement
4 3 (21.43%) Data Security
4 3 (21.43%) Design Patterns
4 3 (21.43%) Full-Stack Development
4 3 (21.43%) Information Management
4 3 (21.43%) Problem-Solving
4 3 (21.43%) Regulatory Compliance
4 3 (21.43%) Software Engineering
4 3 (21.43%) Visualisation
5 2 (14.29%) Data Management
5 2 (14.29%) Infrastructure as Code
5 2 (14.29%) OOP
5 2 (14.29%) TDD
Programming Languages
1 5 (35.71%) Python
2 4 (28.57%) C++
2 4 (28.57%) JavaScript
3 3 (21.43%) C#
3 3 (21.43%) TypeScript
4 1 (7.14%) C
4 1 (7.14%) Java
4 1 (7.14%) SQL
Qualifications
1 14 (100.00%) Degree
2 10 (71.43%) Master's Degree
3 6 (42.86%) Postgraduate
4 3 (21.43%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (21.43%) GLP
2 2 (14.29%) QA
System Software
1 1 (7.14%) Docker
Systems Management
1 2 (14.29%) Kubernetes
1 2 (14.29%) Terraform