IT Strategy Contract Job Trends in England

IT/Technology Strategy
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring IT Strategy skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 364 311 278
Rank change year-on-year -53 -33 +20
Contract jobs citing IT Strategy 271 215 270
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.59% 0.77% 0.82%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.69% 0.85% 0.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 162 123 168
10th Percentile £427 £450 £445
25th Percentile £513 £500 £512
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £620 £625 £650
Median % change year-on-year -0.80% -3.85% -
75th Percentile £750 £736 £759
90th Percentile £875 £824 £840
UK median daily rate £600 £600 £650
% change year-on-year - -7.69% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 2 3
10th Percentile - £26.01 £19.02
25th Percentile £98.82 £38.34 £23.19
Median hourly rate £99.41 £58.90 £30.12
Median % change year-on-year +68.79% +95.53% -19.34%
75th Percentile £100.00 £79.45 £33.56
90th Percentile - £91.78 £35.62
UK median hourly rate £99.41 £17.79 £30.12
% change year-on-year +458.80% -40.94% -19.34%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

IT Strategy falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 39,123 25,281 28,365
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.74% 90.90% 86.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,918 16,062 17,635
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £405 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £645
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,776 1,509 1,303
10th Percentile £14.00 £14.38 £15.00
25th Percentile £17.75 £17.79 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £66.55
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £40.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +59.05% -41.51% -1.91%

IT Strategy
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing IT Strategy relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

IT Strategy job vacancy trend in England

IT Strategy
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing IT Strategy.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing IT Strategy

IT Strategy
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IT Strategy in England over the 6 months to 18 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for IT Strategy in England

IT Strategy
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing IT Strategy.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing IT Strategy

IT Strategy
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing IT Strategy within the England region over the 6 months to 18 September 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -59 136 £650 - 514
North of England -57 37 £551 +4.36% 154
South East -47 36 £655 +0.77% 110
South West -11 28 £638 +24.39% 62
North West -52 19 £600 +16.79% 80
Yorkshire -28 17 £550 -23.88% 56
Midlands -46 17 £600 +20.97% 59
East of England -34 10 £510 -21.54% 32
West Midlands -41 10 £600 +20.00% 39
East Midlands -18 7 £675 +37.20% 20
North East - 1 - - 19
IT Strategy
UK

IT Strategy
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 3 (1.11%) Confluence
2 2 (0.74%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.37%) Adobe Experience Manager
3 1 (0.37%) Apache
3 1 (0.37%) Apache Airflow
3 1 (0.37%) Appian
3 1 (0.37%) IIS
3 1 (0.37%) Mendix
3 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.37%) MQSeries
3 1 (0.37%) nginx
3 1 (0.37%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (1.48%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 4 (1.48%) MS Visio
2 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 6 (2.21%) SAP CO
1 6 (2.21%) SAP FI
1 6 (2.21%) SAP FI/CO
2 4 (1.48%) SAP S/4HANA
3 3 (1.11%) Remedy AR System
3 3 (1.11%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.37%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.37%) SAP HR
4 1 (0.37%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 82 (30.26%) Azure
2 47 (17.34%) AWS
3 29 (10.70%) SaaS
4 28 (10.33%) GCP
5 24 (8.86%) Microsoft 365
6 16 (5.90%) PaaS
7 14 (5.17%) Entra ID
7 14 (5.17%) Power Platform
8 12 (4.43%) IaaS
9 10 (3.69%) Microsoft Copilot
10 7 (2.58%) Serverless
11 6 (2.21%) Azure DevOps
11 6 (2.21%) SuccessFactors
12 5 (1.85%) GitHub
13 4 (1.48%) Datadog
14 3 (1.11%) Azure Data Factory
14 3 (1.11%) Azure Functions
14 3 (1.11%) Cloud Computing
14 3 (1.11%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 3 (1.11%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 19 (7.01%) Firewall
2 11 (4.06%) DHCP
2 11 (4.06%) DNS
3 9 (3.32%) LAN
4 8 (2.95%) WAN
5 7 (2.58%) TCP/IP
5 7 (2.58%) VLAN
5 7 (2.58%) VSAN
6 6 (2.21%) VPN
6 6 (2.21%) Wi-Fi
7 4 (1.48%) Radio Access Network
7 4 (1.48%) SAN
8 3 (1.11%) BGP
8 3 (1.11%) Cisco Nexus
8 3 (1.11%) OSPF
9 2 (0.74%) 4G
9 2 (0.74%) MPLS
9 2 (0.74%) Network Security
9 2 (0.74%) SSL
9 2 (0.74%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.95%) NoSQL
2 7 (2.58%) Data Lake
2 7 (2.58%) Metadata
2 7 (2.58%) SQL Server
3 5 (1.85%) Data Warehouse
4 4 (1.48%) GIS
5 3 (1.11%) Power BI
6 2 (0.74%) Delta Lake
6 2 (0.74%) EDRMS
6 2 (0.74%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.74%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 1 (0.37%) Amazon RDS
7 1 (0.37%) Apache Iceberg
7 1 (0.37%) DynamoDB
7 1 (0.37%) Electronic Patient Records
7 1 (0.37%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
7 1 (0.37%) Hazelcast
7 1 (0.37%) MySQL
7 1 (0.37%) RDBMS
7 1 (0.37%) Stardog
Development Applications
1 5 (1.85%) JIRA
2 4 (1.48%) Chocolatey
3 2 (0.74%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.37%) Cypress.io
4 1 (0.37%) Eclipse
4 1 (0.37%) ER Studio
4 1 (0.37%) IntelliJ
4 1 (0.37%) JMeter
4 1 (0.37%) JUnit
4 1 (0.37%) Maven
4 1 (0.37%) Postman
4 1 (0.37%) PowerDesigner
4 1 (0.37%) REST Assured
4 1 (0.37%) Selenium
4 1 (0.37%) SoapUI
4 1 (0.37%) SonarQube
4 1 (0.37%) TestNG
4 1 (0.37%) TestRail
General
1 97 (35.79%) Social Skills
2 66 (24.35%) Finance
3 42 (15.50%) Public Sector
4 39 (14.39%) Analytical Skills
5 27 (9.96%) Influencing Skills
6 26 (9.59%) Banking
7 14 (5.17%) Legal
8 12 (4.43%) Military
9 11 (4.06%) Telecoms
10 9 (3.32%) Financial Institution
10 9 (3.32%) Marketing
11 7 (2.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (2.58%) Organisational Skills
11 7 (2.58%) Presentation Skills
12 6 (2.21%) Retail
13 5 (1.85%) Corporate Banking
13 5 (1.85%) Local Government
14 4 (1.48%) Aerospace
15 3 (1.11%) Private Banking
15 3 (1.11%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 121 (44.65%) Architect
2 48 (17.71%) Solutions Architect
3 39 (14.39%) Lead
4 36 (13.28%) Enterprise Architect
5 23 (8.49%) Senior
6 20 (7.38%) Technical Architect
7 11 (4.06%) Consultant
7 11 (4.06%) Principal Engineer
8 10 (3.69%) Senior Architect
9 8 (2.95%) Azure Engineer
9 8 (2.95%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 8 (2.95%) Project Manager
10 7 (2.58%) Analyst
10 7 (2.58%) Data Architect
10 7 (2.58%) IT Manager
10 7 (2.58%) Network Manager
11 6 (2.21%) Business Analyst
11 6 (2.21%) Developer
11 6 (2.21%) SAP Project Manager
11 6 (2.21%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (5.90%) Terraform
2 11 (4.06%) Middleware
2 11 (4.06%) REST
3 9 (3.32%) SOAP
4 6 (2.21%) Kafka
5 5 (1.85%) .NET
5 5 (1.85%) Microsoft Graph
5 5 (1.85%) Node.js
6 2 (0.74%) AngularJS
6 2 (0.74%) CSS
6 2 (0.74%) EDI
6 2 (0.74%) HTML
6 2 (0.74%) Lightning Web Components
6 2 (0.74%) OAuth
6 2 (0.74%) React
6 2 (0.74%) RESTful
7 1 (0.37%) Apache Jena
7 1 (0.37%) Spring Boot
7 1 (0.37%) TensorFlow
7 1 (0.37%) Vue
Miscellaneous
1 24 (8.86%) Cloud Native
2 23 (8.49%) Product Ownership
3 11 (4.06%) Distributed Systems
4 10 (3.69%) Data Centre
5 9 (3.32%) AI Agents
5 9 (3.32%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (3.32%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (2.95%) Enterprise Software
6 8 (2.95%) PKI
6 8 (2.95%) Public Cloud
6 8 (2.95%) Virtual Team
7 7 (2.58%) Operational Technology
8 6 (2.21%) CMDB
9 5 (1.85%) Cyber Threat
9 5 (1.85%) Management Information System
9 5 (1.85%) Onboarding
9 5 (1.85%) Security Posture
10 4 (1.48%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (1.48%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
10 4 (1.48%) Low-Code
Operating Systems
1 13 (4.80%) Windows
2 11 (4.06%) Linux
3 1 (0.37%) Solaris
3 1 (0.37%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 211 (77.86%) Technology Strategy
2 124 (45.76%) Roadmaps
3 89 (32.84%) Stakeholder Management
4 81 (29.89%) Enterprise Architecture
5 65 (23.99%) AI
6 62 (22.88%) Cybersecurity
7 56 (20.66%) Agile
8 51 (18.82%) Decision-Making
8 51 (18.82%) Technical Leadership
9 50 (18.45%) Problem-Solving
10 47 (17.34%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 45 (16.61%) Continuous Improvement
12 44 (16.24%) DevOps
12 44 (16.24%) TOGAF
13 42 (15.50%) Business Strategy
14 40 (14.76%) Architecture Governance
15 38 (14.02%) Migration
16 37 (13.65%) Microservices
16 37 (13.65%) Risk Management
17 36 (13.28%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 20 (7.38%) Python
2 13 (4.80%) SQL
3 11 (4.06%) Java
4 9 (3.32%) PowerShell
5 8 (2.95%) Bash
6 7 (2.58%) JavaScript
7 6 (2.21%) TypeScript
8 4 (1.48%) C#
8 4 (1.48%) Go
9 2 (0.74%) Apex Code
10 1 (0.37%) Bicep
10 1 (0.37%) Korn
10 1 (0.37%) PL/SQL
Qualifications
1 57 (21.03%) Security Cleared
2 42 (15.50%) SC Cleared
3 29 (10.70%) Degree
4 21 (7.75%) DV Cleared
5 18 (6.64%) TOGAF Certification
6 15 (5.54%) Azure Certification
7 14 (5.17%) Computer Science Degree
8 5 (1.85%) Microsoft Certification
9 4 (1.48%) CCNP
9 4 (1.48%) Cisco Certification
9 4 (1.48%) CISM
9 4 (1.48%) CISSP
9 4 (1.48%) VCAP
10 3 (1.11%) ISACA
10 3 (1.11%) Master's Degree
10 3 (1.11%) PMI Certification
10 3 (1.11%) PMP
10 3 (1.11%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 2 (0.74%) AWS Certification
11 2 (0.74%) MCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (4.43%) PMO
2 9 (3.32%) NCSC
3 8 (2.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 6 (2.21%) GDPR
4 6 (2.21%) SLA
5 5 (1.85%) Cyber Essentials
5 5 (1.85%) NIST
5 5 (1.85%) QA
6 4 (1.48%) Accessibility
6 4 (1.48%) Data Quality
7 3 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (1.11%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.74%) GRC
9 1 (0.37%) COBIT
9 1 (0.37%) HL7
9 1 (0.37%) ITGC
9 1 (0.37%) PSD2
9 1 (0.37%) SEPA
System Software
1 17 (6.27%) VMware Infrastructure
2 15 (5.54%) Active Directory
3 14 (5.17%) Docker
4 10 (3.69%) VMware NSX
5 7 (2.58%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.85%) vSphere
7 3 (1.11%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.74%) Firmware
8 2 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.37%) Oracle RAC
Systems Management
1 18 (6.64%) Kubernetes
2 10 (3.69%) Microsoft Intune
3 9 (3.32%) Ansible
4 4 (1.48%) SCCM
4 4 (1.48%) VxRail
5 1 (0.37%) Kustomize
5 1 (0.37%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 58 (21.40%) Microsoft
2 22 (8.12%) SAP
2 22 (8.12%) VMware
3 15 (5.54%) Google
3 15 (5.54%) ServiceNow
4 8 (2.95%) BiZZdesign
4 8 (2.95%) Databricks
4 8 (2.95%) Oracle
4 8 (2.95%) Salesforce
5 6 (2.21%) Workday
6 5 (1.85%) Cisco
7 4 (1.48%) AppDynamics
7 4 (1.48%) Dynatrace
7 4 (1.48%) F5
7 4 (1.48%) MuleSoft
7 4 (1.48%) Tenable
8 3 (1.11%) BMC
8 3 (1.11%) Juniper
8 3 (1.11%) NetApp
8 3 (1.11%) Zscaler