Software Engineering Manager Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Software Engineering Manager
UK > UK excluding London

The median Software Engineering Manager daily rate in the UK excluding London is £538, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 November 2025.

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

6 months to
2 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 381 363 416
Rank change year-on-year -18 +53 +92
Contract jobs requiring a Software Engineering Manager 10 1 4
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.060% 0.006% 0.019%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.067% 0.006% 0.020%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 1 2
10th Percentile £514 - £519
25th Percentile £516 - £519
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £538 £650 £534
Median % change year-on-year -17.31% +21.78% -23.75%
75th Percentile £566 - £552
90th Percentile £571 - £555
UK median daily rate £600 £650 £725
% change year-on-year -7.69% -10.34% -9.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 2
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £91.25 - £57.50
Median hourly rate £92.50 - £60.00
75th Percentile £93.75 - £62.50
90th Percentile - - -
UK median hourly rate £92.50 - £60.00

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. 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 UK excluding London with a recognized job title 14,953 15,413 19,570
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 89.67% 92.11% 93.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,252 8,829 12,997
10th Percentile £208 £219 £213
25th Percentile £363 £375 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £671 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,440 1,072 1,268
10th Percentile £13.75 £14.73 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.95 £19.29 £18.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £37.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -32.03% -16.85% +85.42%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.53 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £37.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -32.93% -16.67% +57.89%

Software Engineering Manager
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Software Engineering Manager' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Software Engineering Manager job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Software Engineering Manager
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineering Manager job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Software Engineering Manager job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Software Engineering Manager
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineering Manager job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Software Engineering Manager job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Software Engineering Manager
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Software Engineering Manager within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 2 November 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
North of England -32 4 £525 -19.23% 11
Yorkshire -28 3 - -
South West - 3 £550 - 8
Wales - 3 - - 5
North West - 1 £525 - 10
Software Engineering Manager
UK

Software Engineering Manager Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 2 November 2025, Software Engineering Manager 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 UK excluding London region featuring Software Engineering Manager in the job title.

1 9 (90.00%) Software Engineering
2 6 (60.00%) Agile
2 6 (60.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 4 (40.00%) Continuous Improvement
3 4 (40.00%) Roadmaps
3 4 (40.00%) Scrum
4 3 (30.00%) .NET
4 3 (30.00%) .NET Framework
4 3 (30.00%) ASP.NET
4 3 (30.00%) Budgeting
4 3 (30.00%) Business Strategy
4 3 (30.00%) Change Management
4 3 (30.00%) Collaborative Working
4 3 (30.00%) Critical Thinking
4 3 (30.00%) DevOps
4 3 (30.00%) Focus Group
4 3 (30.00%) IIS
4 3 (30.00%) Java
4 3 (30.00%) Matrix Organization
4 3 (30.00%) MSMQ
4 3 (30.00%) People Management
4 3 (30.00%) PMP
4 3 (30.00%) PRINCE2
4 3 (30.00%) Problem-Solving
4 3 (30.00%) Project Management
4 3 (30.00%) SQL Server
4 3 (30.00%) Strategic Planning
4 3 (30.00%) Time Management
4 3 (30.00%) VB.NET
5 2 (20.00%) AWS

Software Engineering Manager Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 (30.00%) IIS
Applications
1 1 (10.00%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (10.00%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 2 (20.00%) AWS
2 1 (10.00%) Azure
2 1 (10.00%) Azure DevOps
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (30.00%) SQL Server
General
1 6 (60.00%) Finance
2 4 (40.00%) Social Skills
3 3 (30.00%) Influencing Skills
4 1 (10.00%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (30.00%) .NET
1 3 (30.00%) .NET Framework
1 3 (30.00%) ASP.NET
1 3 (30.00%) MSMQ
2 1 (10.00%) Next.js
2 1 (10.00%) React
Miscellaneous
1 3 (30.00%) N-Tier
2 1 (10.00%) Cloud Native
2 1 (10.00%) Legacy Systems
Processes & Methodologies
1 9 (90.00%) Software Engineering
2 6 (60.00%) Agile
2 6 (60.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 4 (40.00%) Continuous Improvement
3 4 (40.00%) Roadmaps
3 4 (40.00%) Scrum
4 3 (30.00%) Budgeting
4 3 (30.00%) Business Strategy
4 3 (30.00%) Change Management
4 3 (30.00%) Collaborative Working
4 3 (30.00%) Critical Thinking
4 3 (30.00%) DevOps
4 3 (30.00%) Focus Group
4 3 (30.00%) Matrix Organization
4 3 (30.00%) People Management
4 3 (30.00%) PRINCE2
4 3 (30.00%) Problem-Solving
4 3 (30.00%) Project Management
4 3 (30.00%) Strategic Planning
4 3 (30.00%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 3 (30.00%) Java
1 3 (30.00%) VB.NET
2 1 (10.00%) JavaScript
2 1 (10.00%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 3 (30.00%) PMP
2 1 (10.00%) Degree
2 1 (10.00%) SC Cleared
2 1 (10.00%) Security Cleared