Project Manager Contract Job Trends in Cardiff

Project Manager
South Wales > Cardiff

The median Project Manager daily rate in Cardiff is £293, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 January 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 17 16 13
Rank change year-on-year -1 -3 +6
Contract jobs requiring a Project Manager 13 12 24
As % of all contract jobs in Cardiff 5.75% 6.45% 11.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 6.07% 6.90% 11.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 11 10 20
10th Percentile £214 £174 £218
25th Percentile £240 £271 £220
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £293 £394 £475
Median % change year-on-year -25.59% -17.11% +18.75%
75th Percentile £324 £525 £530
90th Percentile £338 £619 £591
South Wales median daily rate £293 £394 £500
% change year-on-year -25.59% -21.25% +26.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 1 0
Median hourly rate - £26.00 -
South Wales median hourly rate - £26.00 £56.50
% change year-on-year - -53.98% -

All Contract IT Job Roles
Cardiff

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Cardiff. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in Cardiff with a recognized job title 214 174 206
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 94.69% 93.55% 97.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 159 131 163
10th Percentile £206 £177 £183
25th Percentile £290 £231 £220
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 £425 £390
Median % change year-on-year -2.94% +8.97% -13.33%
75th Percentile £513 £550 £528
90th Percentile £650 £650 £610
South Wales median daily rate £413 £425 £413
% change year-on-year -2.94% +3.03% -10.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 6 3
10th Percentile £12.21 £20.90 £21.90
25th Percentile £13.18 £21.50 £27.75
Median hourly rate £14.83 £24.80 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -40.20% -38.00% +158.11%
75th Percentile £18.10 £27.25 £48.13
90th Percentile £20.58 £40.63 £51.50
South Wales median hourly rate £20.00 £25.36 £32.50
% change year-on-year -21.14% -21.97% +97.63%

Project Manager
Job Vacancy Trend in Cardiff

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Project Manager' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Cardiff.

Project Manager job vacancy trend in Cardiff

Project Manager
Daily Rate Trend in Cardiff

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Project Manager job vacancies in Cardiff.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Project Manager job vacancies in Cardiff

Project Manager
Daily Rate Histogram in Cardiff

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Project Manager in Cardiff over the 6 months to 18 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Project Manager in Cardiff

Project Manager
Hourly Rate Trend in Cardiff

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Project Manager job vacancies in Cardiff.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Project Manager job vacancies in Cardiff

Project Manager Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cardiff

For the 6 months to 18 January 2026, Project Manager contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Cardiff region featuring Project Manager in the job title.

1 10 (76.92%) Project Management
2 9 (69.23%) Migration
3 7 (53.85%) Agile
4 6 (46.15%) Project Delivery
4 6 (46.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 5 (38.46%) PRINCE2
6 4 (30.77%) Continuous Improvement
6 4 (30.77%) Data Protection
6 4 (30.77%) Degree
6 4 (30.77%) Master's Degree
6 4 (30.77%) PMI Certification
6 4 (30.77%) Project Planning
6 4 (30.77%) Risk Management
7 3 (23.08%) Business Case
7 3 (23.08%) Line Management
7 3 (23.08%) Resource Management
8 2 (15.38%) Burndown Charts
8 2 (15.38%) Decision-Making
8 2 (15.38%) Digital Transformation Programme
8 2 (15.38%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 2 (15.38%) ITIL
8 2 (15.38%) Microsoft
8 2 (15.38%) PMO
8 2 (15.38%) PMP
8 2 (15.38%) Project Governance
8 2 (15.38%) QA
8 2 (15.38%) Quality Management
8 2 (15.38%) Requirements Management
8 2 (15.38%) Stakeholder Identification
8 2 (15.38%) Stakeholder Management

Project Manager Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Cardiff 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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (7.69%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (7.69%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (7.69%) SAP ERP
Cloud Services
1 1 (7.69%) Azure
1 1 (7.69%) GCP
1 1 (7.69%) Microsoft 365
General
1 7 (53.85%) Social Skills
2 5 (38.46%) Finance
3 3 (23.08%) Public Sector
4 2 (15.38%) Digital Health
4 2 (15.38%) Organisational Skills
4 2 (15.38%) Welsh Language
5 1 (7.69%) Aerospace
5 1 (7.69%) Influencing Skills
Miscellaneous
1 5 (38.46%) NHS
2 3 (23.08%) Data Protection Act
2 3 (23.08%) PMI
3 2 (15.38%) Public Cloud
3 2 (15.38%) Virtual Team
4 1 (7.69%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 1 (7.69%) Windows
1 1 (7.69%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (76.92%) Project Management
2 9 (69.23%) Migration
3 7 (53.85%) Agile
4 6 (46.15%) Project Delivery
4 6 (46.15%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 5 (38.46%) PRINCE2
6 4 (30.77%) Continuous Improvement
6 4 (30.77%) Data Protection
6 4 (30.77%) Project Planning
6 4 (30.77%) Risk Management
7 3 (23.08%) Business Case
7 3 (23.08%) Line Management
7 3 (23.08%) Resource Management
8 2 (15.38%) Decision-Making
8 2 (15.38%) Digital Transformation Programme
8 2 (15.38%) ITIL
8 2 (15.38%) Quality Management
8 2 (15.38%) Requirements Management
8 2 (15.38%) Stakeholder Management
8 2 (15.38%) Strategic Planning
Qualifications
1 4 (30.77%) Degree
1 4 (30.77%) Master's Degree
1 4 (30.77%) PMI Certification
2 2 (15.38%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (15.38%) PMO
1 2 (15.38%) QA
2 1 (7.69%) P3O
Vendors
1 2 (15.38%) Microsoft
2 1 (7.69%) Google
2 1 (7.69%) SAP