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 23 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 46 50 41
Rank change year-on-year +4 -9 +3
Permanent jobs citing PhD 15 27 23
As % of all permanent jobs in Oxfordshire 2.12% 3.26% 3.97%
As % of the Qualifications category 12.20% 10.27% 14.29%
Number of salaries quoted 2 7 19
10th Percentile £50,675 £51,598 £48,250
25th Percentile £54,313 £55,163 £52,293
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,750 £56,509 £62,500
Median % change year-on-year +16.35% -9.59% +0.67%
75th Percentile £79,313 £57,854 £72,313
90th Percentile £84,225 - £75,000
South East median annual salary £80,000 £59,711 £60,000
% change year-on-year +33.98% -0.48% +2.13%

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 123 263 161
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in Oxfordshire 17.42% 31.80% 27.81%
Number of salaries quoted 59 94 138
10th Percentile £27,250 £25,750 £30,000
25th Percentile £35,854 £40,313 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £54,750 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.24% +9.50% +13.84%
75th Percentile £67,500 £65,000 £62,875
90th Percentile £81,000 £77,500 £74,250
South East median annual salary £52,500 £59,199 £53,260
% change year-on-year -11.32% +11.15% +2.42%

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 23 December 2025.

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 23 December 2025. 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 8 £80,000 - 4
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:

Applications
1 3 (20.00%) Chatbot
Cloud Services
1 6 (40.00%) Cloud Computing
2 1 (6.67%) AWS
2 1 (6.67%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 6 (40.00%) Internet
Development Applications
1 2 (13.33%) Git
2 1 (6.67%) LabVIEW
General
1 7 (46.67%) Social Skills
2 6 (40.00%) Banking
2 6 (40.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 2 (13.33%) Analytical Skills
4 1 (6.67%) Aeronautics
4 1 (6.67%) Automotive
4 1 (6.67%) Aviation
4 1 (6.67%) Electronics
4 1 (6.67%) Manufacturing
4 1 (6.67%) Organisational Skills
4 1 (6.67%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 6 (40.00%) Lecturer
2 3 (20.00%) Trainer
3 1 (6.67%) Data Engineer
3 1 (6.67%) Developer
3 1 (6.67%) Full-Stack Developer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (6.67%) React
Miscellaneous
1 6 (40.00%) IoT
2 4 (26.67%) LIMS
2 4 (26.67%) Management Information System
3 1 (6.67%) Arduino
Operating Systems
1 4 (26.67%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (66.67%) Cybersecurity
2 9 (60.00%) AI
3 7 (46.67%) User Experience
4 6 (40.00%) Machine Learning
4 6 (40.00%) Web Development
5 4 (26.67%) Biomedicine
5 4 (26.67%) Continuous Improvement
5 4 (26.67%) Data Security
5 4 (26.67%) Information Management
5 4 (26.67%) Regulatory Compliance
6 3 (20.00%) Conversational UI
7 2 (13.33%) Chemistry
8 1 (6.67%) Clean Code
8 1 (6.67%) Data Acquisition
8 1 (6.67%) Data Visualisation
8 1 (6.67%) Full-Stack Development
8 1 (6.67%) Mathematics
8 1 (6.67%) Physics
8 1 (6.67%) UX Design
8 1 (6.67%) Visualisation
Programming Languages
1 2 (13.33%) Python
2 1 (6.67%) C
2 1 (6.67%) C++
2 1 (6.67%) Java
2 1 (6.67%) JavaScript
2 1 (6.67%) SQL
Qualifications
1 15 (100.00%) Degree
2 10 (66.67%) Master's Degree
3 6 (40.00%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (26.67%) GLP
System Software
1 1 (6.67%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (6.67%) Kubernetes
Vendors
1 3 (20.00%) PayPal