Project Management Contract Job Trends in the North West

Project Management
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring Project Management skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 36 23 19
Rank change year-on-year -13 -4 -2
Contract jobs citing Project Management 170 158 201
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 5.34% 8.16% 7.24%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.35% 9.00% 8.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 86 80 132
10th Percentile £353 £284 £313
25th Percentile £402 £358 £392
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £477 £450 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.93% -14.29% +7.69%
75th Percentile £535 £569 £593
90th Percentile £650 £665 £650
England median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 26 25 23
10th Percentile £27.13 £23.99 £27.08
25th Percentile £32.50 £31.25 £33.24
Median hourly rate £45.46 £32.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +39.88% -18.75% +6.67%
75th Percentile - £60.00 £43.75
90th Percentile £51.48 £75.75 £58.00
England median hourly rate £40.00 £46.30 £38.12
% change year-on-year -13.61% +21.46% -23.76%

All Process & Methodology Skills
North West

Project Management 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 the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,678 1,756 2,409
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 84.13% 90.66% 86.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,673 1,146 1,561
10th Percentile £258 £300 £311
25th Percentile £375 £391 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £460 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.16% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £588
90th Percentile £650 £662 £688
England median daily rate £505 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 243 111 251
10th Percentile £19.52 £16.25 £10.95
25th Percentile £25.38 £22.72 £13.41
Median hourly rate £45.46 £31.52 £23.50
Median % change year-on-year +44.23% +34.13% -34.72%
75th Percentile £71.91 £60.00 £45.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £80.59 £51.91
England median hourly rate £40.00 £32.50 £34.00
% change year-on-year +23.08% -4.41% -9.33%

Project Management
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Project Management job vacancy trend in the North West

Project Management
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Project Management.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Project Management

Project Management
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Project Management in the North West over the 6 months to 9 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Project Management in the North West

Project Management
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Project Management.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing Project Management

Project Management
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Project Management in the North West over the 6 months to 9 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Project Management in the North West

Project Management
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 Project Management within the North West region over the 6 months to 9 April 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
Manchester -30 61 £450 - 56
Lancashire +9 50 £525 -7.89% 29
Cheshire -12 37 £484 +35.20% 18
Cumbria +3 16 £496 +6.67% 2
Merseyside -26 5 £475 +8.57% 19
Project Management
England

Project Management
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:

Application Platforms
1 16 (9.41%) Confluence
2 3 (1.76%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.59%) CMS
3 1 (0.59%) IIS
3 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.59%) Moodle
3 1 (0.59%) SAS
Applications
1 14 (8.24%) Microsoft Project
2 9 (5.29%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (5.29%) MS Visio
3 8 (4.71%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (2.94%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 27 (15.88%) SAP S/4HANA
2 5 (2.94%) SAP Payroll
3 3 (1.76%) Primavera
3 3 (1.76%) SAP HCM
3 3 (1.76%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.59%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.59%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 13 (7.65%) Azure
2 9 (5.29%) Power Platform
3 5 (2.94%) Azure DevOps
3 5 (2.94%) SuccessFactors
4 4 (2.35%) AWS
5 3 (1.76%) Google Workspace
5 3 (1.76%) Microsoft 365
5 3 (1.76%) Smartsheet
6 2 (1.18%) Entra ID
7 1 (0.59%) AWS CloudFormation
7 1 (0.59%) Azure Data Factory
7 1 (0.59%) Azure Synapse Analytics
7 1 (0.59%) Cohesity
7 1 (0.59%) GCP
7 1 (0.59%) Google Sheets
7 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.59%) OCI
7 1 (0.59%) Rubrik
7 1 (0.59%) SaaS
7 1 (0.59%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 2 (1.18%) Network Security
2 1 (0.59%) Cisco ISE
2 1 (0.59%) DNS
2 1 (0.59%) Firewall
2 1 (0.59%) Internet
2 1 (0.59%) SD-WAN
2 1 (0.59%) SSL
2 1 (0.59%) TCP/IP
2 1 (0.59%) WAN
2 1 (0.59%) WebEx
2 1 (0.59%) Wi-Fi
2 1 (0.59%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (4.12%) Power BI
2 4 (2.35%) SAP HANA
3 2 (1.18%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.59%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.59%) EDRMS
4 1 (0.59%) GIS
4 1 (0.59%) Looker
4 1 (0.59%) Metadata
4 1 (0.59%) NoSQL
4 1 (0.59%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.59%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 23 (13.53%) JIRA
2 1 (0.59%) Jenkins
General
1 90 (52.94%) Social Skills
2 78 (45.88%) Finance
3 34 (20.00%) Analytical Skills
4 16 (9.41%) Banking
5 10 (5.88%) Retail
6 9 (5.29%) Public Sector
7 8 (4.71%) Manufacturing
7 8 (4.71%) Organisational Skills
8 7 (4.12%) Influencing Skills
9 6 (3.53%) Telecoms
10 4 (2.35%) Legal
11 3 (1.76%) Corporate Banking
11 3 (1.76%) Presentation Skills
11 3 (1.76%) Retail Banking
12 2 (1.18%) Local Government
12 2 (1.18%) Marketing
13 1 (0.59%) Dutch Language
13 1 (0.59%) General Ledger
13 1 (0.59%) Investment Banking
13 1 (0.59%) Publishing
Job Titles
1 55 (32.35%) Project Manager
2 30 (17.65%) Lead
3 20 (11.76%) Consultant
4 17 (10.00%) SAP Consultant
5 15 (8.82%) Analyst
5 15 (8.82%) Engagement Manager
6 13 (7.65%) Finance Manager
6 13 (7.65%) Finance Project Manager
6 13 (7.65%) Transformation Consultant
7 11 (6.47%) Senior
8 10 (5.88%) Senior Manager
8 10 (5.88%) Senior Project Manager
9 7 (4.12%) Business Analyst
9 7 (4.12%) Programme Manager
10 6 (3.53%) Accountant
10 6 (3.53%) Systems Accountant
11 4 (2.35%) Banking Analyst
11 4 (2.35%) Banking Business Analyst
11 4 (2.35%) Digital Project Manager
11 4 (2.35%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.59%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 14 (8.24%) Virtual Team
2 9 (5.29%) Management Information System
3 4 (2.35%) Onboarding
4 3 (1.76%) Data Protection Act
4 3 (1.76%) EPoS
4 3 (1.76%) Legacy Systems
4 3 (1.76%) Operational Technology
4 3 (1.76%) PMI
4 3 (1.76%) Product Ownership
5 2 (1.18%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (1.18%) SCADA
6 1 (0.59%) AI Agents
6 1 (0.59%) Cloud Native
6 1 (0.59%) Credit Risk
6 1 (0.59%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (0.59%) Greenfield Project
6 1 (0.59%) Life Science
6 1 (0.59%) Marketing Technology
6 1 (0.59%) Renewable Energy
6 1 (0.59%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 4 (2.35%) Windows
2 3 (1.76%) Windows Server
3 1 (0.59%) Unix
3 1 (0.59%) Windows Server 2016
3 1 (0.59%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (35.88%) Change Management
2 59 (34.71%) Agile
3 51 (30.00%) Problem-Solving
4 46 (27.06%) Migration
5 43 (25.29%) Stakeholder Management
6 42 (24.71%) Continuous Improvement
6 42 (24.71%) Project Delivery
7 41 (24.12%) ERP
8 32 (18.82%) Validation
9 31 (18.24%) Data Migration
9 31 (18.24%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 28 (16.47%) ITIL
10 28 (16.47%) Workshop Facilitation
11 26 (15.29%) Business Transformation
11 26 (15.29%) PRINCE2
12 24 (14.12%) Budget Management
13 23 (13.53%) Cybersecurity
14 22 (12.94%) DevOps
14 22 (12.94%) Visualisation
15 18 (10.59%) Six Sigma
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.29%) SQL
2 1 (0.59%) ABAP
2 1 (0.59%) JavaScript
2 1 (0.59%) Python
2 1 (0.59%) VBA
Qualifications
1 32 (18.82%) Degree
2 24 (14.12%) Security Cleared
3 16 (9.41%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
4 15 (8.82%) SC Cleared
5 13 (7.65%) PMP
6 11 (6.47%) PMI Certification
7 6 (3.53%) ACCA
7 6 (3.53%) BPSS Clearance
7 6 (3.53%) CIMA
7 6 (3.53%) CIPFA
7 6 (3.53%) Master's Degree
7 6 (3.53%) MBA
8 3 (1.76%) AWS Certification
8 3 (1.76%) CISM
8 3 (1.76%) CISSP
9 2 (1.18%) CISA
9 2 (1.18%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (1.18%) CRISC
9 2 (1.18%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (1.18%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (3.53%) PMO
2 5 (2.94%) QA
3 4 (2.35%) SLA
4 3 (1.76%) GRC
4 3 (1.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (1.76%) NIST
5 2 (1.18%) Basel III
5 2 (1.18%) Data Quality
5 2 (1.18%) GDPR
5 2 (1.18%) ISO/IEC 27005
5 2 (1.18%) NEBOSH
6 1 (0.59%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.59%) SOC 2
System Software
1 2 (1.18%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.59%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 2 (1.18%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (0.59%) SCCM
2 1 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
2 1 (0.59%) Terraform
Vendors
1 42 (24.71%) SAP
2 22 (12.94%) Microsoft
3 13 (7.65%) Sage
4 5 (2.94%) ServiceNow
5 4 (2.35%) Cisco
6 3 (1.76%) Citrix
6 3 (1.76%) Google
6 3 (1.76%) Oracle
6 3 (1.76%) Palo Alto
6 3 (1.76%) Workday
7 2 (1.18%) Snow
8 1 (0.59%) CA Agile Central
8 1 (0.59%) Concur
8 1 (0.59%) CyberArk
8 1 (0.59%) Databricks
8 1 (0.59%) DocuSign
8 1 (0.59%) Ekahau
8 1 (0.59%) Okta
8 1 (0.59%) Rapid7
8 1 (0.59%) Tenable