Operational Technology Contract Job Trends in the North West

Operational Technology (OT)
England > North West

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Operational Technology in contract job vacancies in the North West. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Operational Technology over the 6 months leading up to 19 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 142 118 131
Rank change year-on-year -24 +13 +40
Contract jobs citing Operational Technology 7 5 8
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 0.28% 0.23% 0.30%
As % of the Miscellaneous category 0.78% 0.74% 1.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 3 2
10th Percentile £291 - £571
25th Percentile £297 - £584
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £313 £500 £638
Median % change year-on-year -37.50% -21.57% -
75th Percentile £431 £519 £709
90th Percentile £600 £530 £734
England median daily rate £550 £600 £600
% change year-on-year -8.33% - +7.62%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 3
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £47.50 - £51.25
Median hourly rate £50.00 - £52.50
75th Percentile £52.50 - £54.38
90th Percentile - - £54.75
England median hourly rate £41.50 £83.20 £44.50
% change year-on-year -50.12% +86.97% -36.65%

All Generic Skills
North West

Operational Technology falls under the General and Transferable Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring generic IT skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for generic IT skills 896 679 779
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 35.78% 31.33% 29.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 599 366 549
10th Percentile £196 £203 £256
25th Percentile £358 £356 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £487 £513
Median % change year-on-year -7.55% -5.02% +2.50%
75th Percentile £564 £563 £594
90th Percentile £638 £672 £672
England median daily rate £514 £550 £550
% change year-on-year -6.55% - -4.35%
Number of hourly rates quoted 73 38 36
10th Percentile £16.42 £19.91 £14.99
25th Percentile £21.46 £21.62 £20.38
Median hourly rate £45.46 £30.12 £41.87
Median % change year-on-year +50.95% -28.07% +19.61%
75th Percentile £56.69 £33.75 £46.35
90th Percentile £73.29 £63.85 £64.38
England median hourly rate £29.00 £37.00 £43.84
% change year-on-year -21.62% -15.60% +25.16%

Operational Technology
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Operational Technology relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Operational Technology job vacancy trend in the North West

Operational Technology
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Operational Technology.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Operational Technology

Operational Technology
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Operational Technology in the North West over the 6 months to 19 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Operational Technology in the North West

Operational Technology
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Operational Technology.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Operational Technology

Operational Technology
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Operational Technology within the North West region over the 6 months to 19 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Cheshire -17 5 £313 -37.50% 3
Cumbria +5 1 - -
Operational Technology
England

Operational Technology
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (14.29%) AWS
1 1 (14.29%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 1 (14.29%) MPLS
1 1 (14.29%) NGN
1 1 (14.29%) SDH
1 1 (14.29%) SNMP
1 1 (14.29%) TACACS
1 1 (14.29%) VoIP
General
1 4 (57.14%) Social Skills
2 3 (42.86%) Public Sector
3 2 (28.57%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (28.57%) Manufacturing
4 1 (14.29%) Military
4 1 (14.29%) Pharmaceutical
4 1 (14.29%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 1 (14.29%) Analyst
1 1 (14.29%) Architect
1 1 (14.29%) Automation Architect
1 1 (14.29%) Automation Engineer
1 1 (14.29%) Control Systems Engineer
1 1 (14.29%) Cybersecurity Analyst
1 1 (14.29%) Cybersecurity Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Information Assurance Specialist
1 1 (14.29%) Information Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Information Security Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Information Specialist
1 1 (14.29%) Project Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Security Analyst
1 1 (14.29%) Security Assurance Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Security Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Security Specialist
1 1 (14.29%) Senior
1 1 (14.29%) Senior Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Senior Project Manager
1 1 (14.29%) Systems Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 2 (28.57%) SCADA
2 1 (14.29%) Cyber Threat
2 1 (14.29%) Driving Licence
2 1 (14.29%) FMCG
2 1 (14.29%) Hybrid Cloud
2 1 (14.29%) Management Information System
2 1 (14.29%) Renewable Energy
2 1 (14.29%) Security Posture
2 1 (14.29%) Taxonomies
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (57.14%) Cybersecurity
2 2 (28.57%) Incident Response
2 2 (28.57%) Information Security
2 2 (28.57%) Mentoring
2 2 (28.57%) Stakeholder Management
3 1 (14.29%) Business Continuity
3 1 (14.29%) Cyber Resilience
3 1 (14.29%) Disaster Recovery
3 1 (14.29%) Information Security Management
3 1 (14.29%) Migration
3 1 (14.29%) MITRE ATT&CK
3 1 (14.29%) Project Delivery
3 1 (14.29%) Project Management
3 1 (14.29%) Risk Assessment
3 1 (14.29%) Risk Management
3 1 (14.29%) Risk Register
3 1 (14.29%) Security Management
3 1 (14.29%) Server Migrations
3 1 (14.29%) Vulnerability Remediation
3 1 (14.29%) Workshop Facilitation
Qualifications
1 4 (57.14%) Security Cleared
2 2 (28.57%) CISSP
2 2 (28.57%) Degree
2 2 (28.57%) SC Cleared
3 1 (14.29%) CEH
3 1 (14.29%) CISM
3 1 (14.29%) GIAC
3 1 (14.29%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (28.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (14.29%) Cyber Essentials
2 1 (14.29%) IEC 61131
2 1 (14.29%) NCSC
2 1 (14.29%) NIST
Systems Management
1 1 (14.29%) Cisco CUCM
1 1 (14.29%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 2 (28.57%) Siemens
2 1 (14.29%) Cisco
2 1 (14.29%) NEC
2 1 (14.29%) Nokia
2 1 (14.29%) Rockwell
2 1 (14.29%) Wonderware