Lead Contract Job Trends in the Midlands

Leader
England > Midlands

The median Leader daily rate in the Midlands is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 September 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 20 44 23
Rank change year-on-year +24 -21 +10
Contract jobs requiring a Lead 376 120 182
As % of all contract jobs in the Midlands 7.76% 4.55% 6.68%
As % of the Job Titles category 8.59% 5.09% 7.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 220 75 94
10th Percentile £356 £321 £322
25th Percentile £450 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £524 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.19% -0.19% -8.70%
75th Percentile £626 £609 £614
90th Percentile £800 £698 £738
England median daily rate £575 £575 £600
% change year-on-year - -4.17% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 8 12
10th Percentile £28.82 £45.16 -
25th Percentile £31.00 - -
Median hourly rate £32.00 £50.00 £23.82
Median % change year-on-year -36.00% +109.91% -
75th Percentile £33.00 - £55.00
90th Percentile - £52.70 £55.23
England median hourly rate £70.00 £65.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year +7.69% +36.84% +2.86%

All Contract IT Job Roles
Midlands

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the Midlands. 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 the Midlands with a recognized job title 4,377 2,357 2,539
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.38% 89.28% 93.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,423 1,553 1,634
10th Percentile £313 £219 £250
25th Percentile £413 £358 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +8.89% -10.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £563 £600
90th Percentile £675 £638 £688
England median daily rate £525 £506 £525
% change year-on-year +3.75% -3.62% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 415 171 118
10th Percentile £13.31 £12.62 £12.58
25th Percentile £15.31 £16.17 £14.26
Median hourly rate £22.80 £24.50 £20.50
Median % change year-on-year -6.94% +19.51% -0.05%
75th Percentile £40.00 £32.44 £40.44
90th Percentile £66.80 £50.00 £52.08
England median hourly rate £43.50 £25.15 £47.50
% change year-on-year +72.96% -47.05% +5.56%

Lead
Job Vacancy Trend in the Midlands

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

Lead job vacancy trend in the Midlands

Lead
Daily Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in the Midlands.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in the Midlands

Lead
Daily Rate Histogram in the Midlands

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Lead in the Midlands over the 6 months to 13 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Lead in the Midlands

Lead
Hourly Rate Trend in the Midlands

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in the Midlands.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in the Midlands

Lead
Contract Job Locations in the Midlands

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Lead within the Midlands region over the 6 months to 13 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
West Midlands +25 294 £527 -0.80% 312
East Midlands +13 81 £525 +16.67% 157
Lead
England

Lead Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Midlands

For the 6 months to 13 September 2026, Lead 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 Midlands region featuring Lead in the job title.

1 73 (19.41%) Continuous Improvement
1 73 (19.41%) Stakeholder Management
2 72 (19.15%) Agile
3 57 (15.16%) Security Cleared
4 53 (14.10%) Oracle
5 52 (13.83%) Problem-Solving
6 50 (13.30%) Azure
7 48 (12.77%) Mentoring
8 46 (12.23%) SC Cleared
9 45 (11.97%) DevOps
10 43 (11.44%) Microsoft
10 43 (11.44%) Oracle Fusion
11 40 (10.64%) Technical Leadership
12 39 (10.37%) ERP
13 38 (10.11%) AI
13 38 (10.11%) Migration
14 37 (9.84%) CI/CD
15 32 (8.51%) Scrum
16 31 (8.24%) AWS
17 30 (7.98%) Roadmaps
17 30 (7.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 28 (7.45%) Java
19 27 (7.18%) Coaching
19 27 (7.18%) QA
20 26 (6.91%) JIRA
21 25 (6.65%) Data Quality
22 24 (6.38%) CRM
22 24 (6.38%) Decision-Making
22 24 (6.38%) Python
22 24 (6.38%) Software Engineering

Lead Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Midlands 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 16 (4.26%) Confluence
2 9 (2.39%) Oracle Workflow
3 4 (1.06%) ArcGIS
3 4 (1.06%) SAS
3 4 (1.06%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.27%) Appian
Applications
1 7 (1.86%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (1.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.80%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.53%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
4 2 (0.53%) Windchill
5 1 (0.27%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 15 (3.99%) Dynamics CRM
2 7 (1.86%) Oracle General Ledger
2 7 (1.86%) Oracle Payables
3 6 (1.60%) Oracle Receivables
4 5 (1.33%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 3 (0.80%) NetSuite
5 3 (0.80%) Salesforce CRM
6 2 (0.53%) Oracle Payroll
6 2 (0.53%) Remedy ITSM
6 2 (0.53%) SAP CX
6 2 (0.53%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle Assets
7 1 (0.27%) Oracle Cash Management
7 1 (0.27%) ResourceLink
7 1 (0.27%) SAP MM
7 1 (0.27%) SAP WM
7 1 (0.27%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 50 (13.30%) Azure
2 31 (8.24%) AWS
3 21 (5.59%) Power Platform
4 20 (5.32%) Dynamics 365
5 17 (4.52%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (4.52%) Serverless
6 15 (3.99%) GitHub
7 13 (3.46%) Power Automate
8 10 (2.66%) Azure Functions
9 8 (2.13%) GCP
9 8 (2.13%) GitHub Actions
9 8 (2.13%) OCI
10 7 (1.86%) AWS Lambda
10 7 (1.86%) Entra ID
11 6 (1.60%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 6 (1.60%) Amazon EKS
12 5 (1.33%) Amazon EC2
12 5 (1.33%) Amazon S3
12 5 (1.33%) Microsoft 365
13 4 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.86%) Firewall
2 4 (1.06%) SSL
3 3 (0.80%) Intranet
4 1 (0.27%) HTTP
4 1 (0.27%) LAN
4 1 (0.27%) Network Security
4 1 (0.27%) SAN
4 1 (0.27%) WAN
4 1 (0.27%) Wireshark
4 1 (0.27%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (4.26%) Power BI
2 13 (3.46%) SQL Server
3 12 (3.19%) Metadata
4 7 (1.86%) PostgreSQL
4 7 (1.86%) Relational Database
5 5 (1.33%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (1.33%) MongoDB
5 5 (1.33%) NoSQL
6 4 (1.06%) GIS
7 2 (0.53%) MySQL
7 2 (0.53%) Oracle Reports
7 2 (0.53%) Power Query
7 2 (0.53%) Redis
7 2 (0.53%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 1 (0.27%) Amazon RDS
8 1 (0.27%) Base SAS
8 1 (0.27%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.27%) Enterprise Data Warehouse
8 1 (0.27%) Oracle BI Publisher
8 1 (0.27%) PowerPivot
Development Applications
1 26 (6.91%) JIRA
2 14 (3.72%) Jenkins
3 10 (2.66%) Selenium
4 9 (2.39%) Git
5 8 (2.13%) Claude Code
5 8 (2.13%) GitLab
6 7 (1.86%) Cucumber
6 7 (1.86%) Cypress.io
6 7 (1.86%) Maven
6 7 (1.86%) Postman
6 7 (1.86%) WebDriver
7 6 (1.60%) JUnit
7 6 (1.60%) Mockito
8 5 (1.33%) SonarQube
9 3 (0.80%) REST Assured
9 3 (0.80%) Serenity BDD
10 2 (0.53%) Eclipse
10 2 (0.53%) Gatling
10 2 (0.53%) HP UFT
10 2 (0.53%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 80 (21.28%) Social Skills
2 79 (21.01%) Finance
3 53 (14.10%) Public Sector
4 38 (10.11%) Analytical Skills
5 21 (5.59%) Banking
6 20 (5.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 18 (4.79%) Local Government
8 16 (4.26%) Manufacturing
9 14 (3.72%) Retail
10 9 (2.39%) Organisational Skills
11 7 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
11 7 (1.86%) Law
12 6 (1.60%) Marketing
13 5 (1.33%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.80%) Documentation Skills
14 3 (0.80%) General Ledger
14 3 (0.80%) Police
15 2 (0.53%) Aerospace
15 2 (0.53%) Legal
16 1 (0.27%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 43 (11.44%) Oracle Fusion
2 20 (5.32%) Spring
3 17 (4.52%) Spring Boot
4 16 (4.26%) REST
5 12 (3.19%) .NET
6 11 (2.93%) SOAP
7 9 (2.39%) RESTful
8 7 (1.86%) Django
8 7 (1.86%) Gherkin
8 7 (1.86%) JPA
9 6 (1.60%) Kafka
9 6 (1.60%) Playwright
9 6 (1.60%) Web Services
10 5 (1.33%) Hibernate
10 5 (1.33%) Spring Cloud
11 4 (1.06%) ActiveMQ
11 4 (1.06%) Middleware
11 4 (1.06%) React
11 4 (1.06%) Terraform
11 4 (1.06%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.26%) Cloud Native
1 16 (4.26%) Management Information System
2 14 (3.72%) Product Ownership
3 10 (2.66%) SCADA
4 8 (2.13%) Greenfield Project
4 8 (2.13%) Onboarding
4 8 (2.13%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (1.60%) Data Structures
5 6 (1.60%) Mobile App
6 4 (1.06%) AI Agents
6 4 (1.06%) CMDB
6 4 (1.06%) Digital Currency
6 4 (1.06%) Distributed Systems
6 4 (1.06%) iPhone
6 4 (1.06%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (1.06%) Virtual Team
7 3 (0.80%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (0.80%) Credit Risk
7 3 (0.80%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (0.80%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 10 (2.66%) Windows
2 6 (1.60%) Linux
3 5 (1.33%) Windows Server
4 4 (1.06%) Mac OS
5 2 (0.53%) Android
5 2 (0.53%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.27%) AIX
6 1 (0.27%) Unix
6 1 (0.27%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (19.41%) Continuous Improvement
1 73 (19.41%) Stakeholder Management
2 72 (19.15%) Agile
3 52 (13.83%) Problem-Solving
4 48 (12.77%) Mentoring
5 45 (11.97%) DevOps
6 40 (10.64%) Technical Leadership
7 39 (10.37%) ERP
8 38 (10.11%) AI
8 38 (10.11%) Migration
9 37 (9.84%) CI/CD
10 32 (8.51%) Scrum
11 30 (7.98%) Roadmaps
11 30 (7.98%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 27 (7.18%) Coaching
13 24 (6.38%) CRM
13 24 (6.38%) Decision-Making
13 24 (6.38%) Software Engineering
14 22 (5.85%) Change Management
14 22 (5.85%) Generative AI
Programming Languages
1 28 (7.45%) Java
2 24 (6.38%) Python
3 21 (5.59%) C#
4 15 (3.99%) SQL
5 13 (3.46%) JavaScript
6 4 (1.06%) Data Analysis Expressions
6 4 (1.06%) PL/SQL
6 4 (1.06%) PowerShell
6 4 (1.06%) TypeScript
7 2 (0.53%) Bash
7 2 (0.53%) Go
7 2 (0.53%) MATLAB
7 2 (0.53%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.53%) VB
7 2 (0.53%) VBScript
8 1 (0.27%) ABAP
8 1 (0.27%) Apex Code
8 1 (0.27%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (0.27%) Perl
8 1 (0.27%) VBA
Qualifications
1 57 (15.16%) Security Cleared
2 46 (12.23%) SC Cleared
3 21 (5.59%) BPSS Clearance
4 11 (2.93%) Microsoft Certification
5 10 (2.66%) Degree
6 8 (2.13%) ISTQB
7 5 (1.33%) ACCA
7 5 (1.33%) AWS Certification
7 5 (1.33%) CIMA
8 4 (1.06%) CCAB
8 4 (1.06%) Six Sigma Green Belt
9 3 (0.80%) CISSP
9 3 (0.80%) ITIL Certification
10 2 (0.53%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.53%) CISM
10 2 (0.53%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.27%) AWS Certified DevOps Engineer
11 1 (0.27%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 1 (0.27%) RIBA
11 1 (0.27%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (7.18%) QA
2 25 (6.65%) Data Quality
3 16 (4.26%) Accessibility
4 13 (3.46%) GDPR
5 10 (2.66%) WCAG
6 5 (1.33%) PMO
7 4 (1.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
8 3 (0.80%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.80%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 3 (0.80%) GRC
8 3 (0.80%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 2 (0.53%) NCSC
10 1 (0.27%) 21 CFR Part 11
10 1 (0.27%) GMP
10 1 (0.27%) GxP
10 1 (0.27%) ISO 19650
10 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 12207
10 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 15288
10 1 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 17025
10 1 (0.27%) NIST
System Software
1 19 (5.05%) Docker
2 5 (1.33%) Active Directory
3 3 (0.80%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (0.80%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.27%) Firmware
4 1 (0.27%) PowerHA
Systems Management
1 15 (3.99%) Kubernetes
2 9 (2.39%) Grafana
2 9 (2.39%) Prometheus
3 4 (1.06%) Jamf Pro
3 4 (1.06%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (0.80%) Ansible
4 3 (0.80%) Argo
5 2 (0.53%) Kibana
5 2 (0.53%) Kustomize
6 1 (0.27%) Control-M
6 1 (0.27%) HP ALM
6 1 (0.27%) Istio
6 1 (0.27%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.27%) Puppet
6 1 (0.27%) SCCM
6 1 (0.27%) Tivoli Storage Manager
Vendors
1 53 (14.10%) Oracle
2 43 (11.44%) Microsoft
3 15 (3.99%) Salesforce
4 14 (3.72%) SAP
4 14 (3.72%) ServiceNow
5 5 (1.33%) Pega
6 4 (1.06%) Apple
6 4 (1.06%) Autodesk
6 4 (1.06%) Samsung
7 3 (0.80%) Databricks
7 3 (0.80%) Teradata
7 3 (0.80%) VMware
7 3 (0.80%) Workday
8 2 (0.53%) Alteryx
8 2 (0.53%) Ariba
8 2 (0.53%) IBM
8 2 (0.53%) MuleSoft
8 2 (0.53%) Remedy
8 2 (0.53%) Splunk
9 1 (0.27%) Palantir