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 19 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 55 29 17
Rank change year-on-year -26 -12 +2
Contract jobs citing Project Management 154 149 187
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 3.93% 6.82% 7.79%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.75% 7.67% 9.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 97 100
10th Percentile £358 £358 £276
25th Percentile £400 £413 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £492 £490
Median % change year-on-year -3.46% +0.41% +3.16%
75th Percentile £550 £638 £550
90th Percentile £600 £700 £585
England median daily rate £525 £521 £525
% change year-on-year +0.86% -0.86% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 30 16 18
10th Percentile £21.00 £28.63 £19.65
25th Percentile £29.96 £36.59 £22.83
Median hourly rate £37.50 £57.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -34.78% +64.29% -0.04%
75th Percentile £65.75 £75.63 £42.81
90th Percentile £71.45 £79.88 £56.45
England median hourly rate £50.00 £36.00 £35.52
% change year-on-year +38.89% +1.37% -12.31%

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 3,242 1,942 2,004
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 82.68% 88.92% 83.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,860 1,285 1,158
10th Percentile £295 £299 £294
25th Percentile £400 £375 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £594 £575 £588
90th Percentile £675 £679 £675
England median daily rate £525 £510 £525
% change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 343 134 109
10th Percentile £16.00 £13.61 £16.45
25th Percentile £24.18 £17.39 £28.50
Median hourly rate £46.80 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +86.08% -40.82% +21.43%
75th Percentile £73.00 £49.84 £58.00
90th Percentile £85.00 £71.06 £71.02
England median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% -3.37%

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 19 September 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 19 September 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 19 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
Manchester -22 81 £500 +5.26% 170
Cheshire -12 39 £463 -2.12% 34
Lancashire -13 12 £463 -5.61% 38
Cumbria -20 11 £488 +0.83% 12
Merseyside -16 10 £525 -16.00% 36
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 14 (9.09%) SharePoint
2 10 (6.49%) Confluence
3 5 (3.25%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.65%) SAS
Applications
1 10 (6.49%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (5.84%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (5.84%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (5.19%) Microsoft Project
4 6 (3.90%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (3.25%) Primavera
2 4 (2.60%) SAP MM
3 2 (1.30%) SAP HCM
3 2 (1.30%) SAP Payroll
4 1 (0.65%) Dynamics CRM
4 1 (0.65%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.65%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 12 (7.79%) Power Platform
2 7 (4.55%) Microsoft 365
3 6 (3.90%) Azure
3 6 (3.90%) Google Workspace
4 5 (3.25%) IBM Blueworks
5 4 (2.60%) Power Automate
5 4 (2.60%) PowerApps
5 4 (2.60%) SaaS
6 3 (1.95%) Asana
6 3 (1.95%) AWS
6 3 (1.95%) GCP
6 3 (1.95%) Google Drive
6 3 (1.95%) Google Sheets
6 3 (1.95%) OneDrive
7 2 (1.30%) Entra ID
7 2 (1.30%) Smartsheet
7 2 (1.30%) Snowflake
8 1 (0.65%) GitHub Actions
8 1 (0.65%) Microsoft Purview
8 1 (0.65%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 4 (2.60%) BGP
1 4 (2.60%) DNS
1 4 (2.60%) SSH
1 4 (2.60%) TCP/IP
2 3 (1.95%) DKIM
2 3 (1.95%) DMARC
2 3 (1.95%) Network Security
3 1 (0.65%) Cisco Nexus
3 1 (0.65%) DHCP
3 1 (0.65%) Ethernet VPN
3 1 (0.65%) Firewall
3 1 (0.65%) MPLS
3 1 (0.65%) OSPF
3 1 (0.65%) SD-WAN
3 1 (0.65%) Software-Defined Networking
3 1 (0.65%) Unified Communications
3 1 (0.65%) VPN
3 1 (0.65%) VXLAN
3 1 (0.65%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (7.14%) Power BI
2 4 (2.60%) Data Warehouse
3 3 (1.95%) Data Lake
3 3 (1.95%) Power Query
4 2 (1.30%) Metadata
4 2 (1.30%) SAP HANA
5 1 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
5 1 (0.65%) Big Data
5 1 (0.65%) Data Mining
5 1 (0.65%) Electronic Patient Records
5 1 (0.65%) MySQL
5 1 (0.65%) SAP BW
5 1 (0.65%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 14 (9.09%) JIRA
2 2 (1.30%) Git
3 1 (0.65%) GitLab
3 1 (0.65%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.65%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 73 (47.40%) Social Skills
2 61 (39.61%) Finance
3 34 (22.08%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (11.04%) Banking
5 16 (10.39%) Retail
6 13 (8.44%) Manufacturing
6 13 (8.44%) Organisational Skills
7 12 (7.79%) Public Sector
8 9 (5.84%) Telecoms
9 7 (4.55%) Influencing Skills
10 6 (3.90%) Legal
11 3 (1.95%) Aviation
12 2 (1.30%) Aerospace
12 2 (1.30%) Automotive
12 2 (1.30%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (1.30%) Financial Institution
12 2 (1.30%) Marketing
12 2 (1.30%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (1.30%) Retail Banking
13 1 (0.65%) Law
Job Titles
1 59 (38.31%) Project Manager
2 12 (7.79%) Lead
3 10 (6.49%) IT Manager
3 10 (6.49%) IT Project Manager
4 9 (5.84%) Accountant
4 9 (5.84%) Analyst
4 9 (5.84%) Senior
4 9 (5.84%) Systems Accountant
5 8 (5.19%) Finance Manager
5 8 (5.19%) Senior Manager
6 7 (4.55%) Administrator
6 7 (4.55%) Agile Project Manager
6 7 (4.55%) Finance Project Manager
6 7 (4.55%) Security Manager
6 7 (4.55%) Security Project Manager
6 7 (4.55%) Senior Project Manager
7 6 (3.90%) Delivery Manager
7 6 (3.90%) IT Finance Manager
7 6 (3.90%) Technical Manager
8 5 (3.25%) Migration Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.60%) OAuth
2 2 (1.30%) REST
3 1 (0.65%) JSON
3 1 (0.65%) LangChain
3 1 (0.65%) LangGraph
3 1 (0.65%) Middleware
3 1 (0.65%) SAML
3 1 (0.65%) SOAP
3 1 (0.65%) Terraform
3 1 (0.65%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 15 (9.74%) Management Information System
2 12 (7.79%) Product Ownership
3 9 (5.84%) Credit Risk
4 8 (5.19%) Distributed Systems
4 8 (5.19%) Mobile App
4 8 (5.19%) Taxonomies
5 6 (3.90%) EPoS
5 6 (3.90%) Onboarding
6 5 (3.25%) PKI
7 4 (2.60%) Driving Licence
7 4 (2.60%) Freedom of Information
7 4 (2.60%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (2.60%) Low-Code
8 3 (1.95%) Client/Server
8 3 (1.95%) Operational Technology
8 3 (1.95%) Tandem
9 2 (1.30%) AI Agents
9 2 (1.30%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (1.30%) Life Science
9 2 (1.30%) PMI
Operating Systems
1 5 (3.25%) Unix
1 5 (3.25%) Windows
2 1 (0.65%) Linux
2 1 (0.65%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (46.75%) Stakeholder Management
2 41 (26.62%) Agile
3 33 (21.43%) Project Delivery
4 30 (19.48%) Change Management
5 26 (16.88%) AI
6 24 (15.58%) Continuous Improvement
7 23 (14.94%) Migration
7 23 (14.94%) PRINCE2
7 23 (14.94%) Problem-Solving
8 20 (12.99%) Cybersecurity
8 20 (12.99%) Decision-Making
9 18 (11.69%) Project Governance
9 18 (11.69%) Risk Management
10 15 (9.74%) Project Planning
10 15 (9.74%) Scrum
11 14 (9.09%) ITIL
11 14 (9.09%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 13 (8.44%) Business Case
12 13 (8.44%) Business Intelligence
12 13 (8.44%) Supplier Management
Programming Languages
1 7 (4.55%) Python
1 7 (4.55%) SQL
2 2 (1.30%) ABAP
3 1 (0.65%) Bash
3 1 (0.65%) JavaScript
3 1 (0.65%) MATLAB
3 1 (0.65%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 20 (12.99%) Degree
2 17 (11.04%) Security Cleared
3 9 (5.84%) ACCA
3 9 (5.84%) CIMA
3 9 (5.84%) CIPFA
3 9 (5.84%) PMI Certification
3 9 (5.84%) SC Cleared
4 8 (5.19%) PMP
5 5 (3.25%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (2.60%) Computer Science Degree
7 2 (1.30%) AWS Certification
7 2 (1.30%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.30%) CISA
7 2 (1.30%) CISM
7 2 (1.30%) CISSP
7 2 (1.30%) CRISC
7 2 (1.30%) DBS Check
7 2 (1.30%) PRINCE2 Certification
8 1 (0.65%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (0.65%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (4.55%) PMO
2 5 (3.25%) Data Quality
3 3 (1.95%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.95%) NIST
3 3 (1.95%) SLA
4 2 (1.30%) GRC
4 2 (1.30%) ISO/IEC 27005
4 2 (1.30%) QA
5 1 (0.65%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.65%) GDPR
System Software
1 4 (2.60%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.65%) Docker
2 1 (0.65%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.65%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 4 (2.60%) Ansible
2 3 (1.95%) Single Sign-On
3 1 (0.65%) Kubernetes
3 1 (0.65%) Progress Chef
3 1 (0.65%) Puppet
Vendors
1 19 (12.34%) Microsoft
2 12 (7.79%) SAP
3 6 (3.90%) Google
4 5 (3.25%) Databricks
4 5 (3.25%) Salesforce
5 4 (2.60%) Atlassian
5 4 (2.60%) Cisco
5 4 (2.60%) Gemalto
5 4 (2.60%) Thales
6 3 (1.95%) Alteryx
6 3 (1.95%) Arista
6 3 (1.95%) Concur
6 3 (1.95%) DocuSign
6 3 (1.95%) IBM
6 3 (1.95%) Oracle
6 3 (1.95%) ServiceNow
7 2 (1.30%) Infor
7 2 (1.30%) Teradata
8 1 (0.65%) Veeam
8 1 (0.65%) VMware