Data Scientist salary in Bristol.

Data Scientist market in Bristol.

The data science market in 2026 is bifurcated: traditional ML roles (model building, feature engineering, A/B testing infrastructure) have seen modest growth, while roles adjacent to large language models and generative AI are commanding a 20–40% premium. The practical implication for salary benchmarking is that 'data scientist' covers a wide band; the percentiles on this page reflect the median, which means AI-specialist data scientists at the 75th percentile or above will find the headline figure understates their market value. Contract rates for LLM-adjacent data science work in London run to £700–£950/day.

Bristol specifically: Bristol has a concentration of aerospace and defence contractors, creative agencies and scale-up software companies that create a genuinely competitive tech salary market. Rates are broadly comparable to Manchester but Bristol's smaller size means senior roles are less frequent; competition for the highest-paying roles is therefore relatively lower when they do appear. The contract market has grown as Bristol companies increasingly hire remotely.

Members in this role typically add £8,600/year.

Modeled on a conservative 4 hours/week of contract work at the role's implied hourly equivalent (£43/hr). The Hustle Report Monday editorial finds the briefs and ranks them by fit so the time stays small.