IT Manager Contract Job Trends

IT Manager
UK

The median IT Manager daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 April 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 292 213 209
Rank change year-on-year -79 -4 -27
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 391 364 505
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.88% 1.25% 1.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.95% 1.35% 1.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 246 239 368
10th Percentile £363 £395 £363
25th Percentile £425 £442 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - +0.96%
75th Percentile £634 £600 £610
90th Percentile £700 £675 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 14 9
10th Percentile £28.75 £27.16 -
25th Percentile £31.88 £35.22 £23.63
Median hourly rate £37.00 £63.50 £33.55
Median % change year-on-year -41.73% +89.27% -46.32%
75th Percentile £76.88 £70.00 £46.00
90th Percentile £97.50 £76.75 £57.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £70.00 £26.14
% change year-on-year -50.00% +167.81% -59.79%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 with a recognized job title 41,143 26,962 41,094
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.09% 92.84% 92.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,657 17,725 26,925
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.54%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +2.11% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,568 945 2,533
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.03 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.74 £20.94 £16.25
Median hourly rate £38.63 £32.50 £32.90
Median % change year-on-year +18.86% -1.20% -25.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.81 £71.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £31.76 £32.90
% change year-on-year +25.94% -3.45% -21.68%

IT Manager
Job Vacancy Trend

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

IT Manager job vacancy trend in the UK

IT Manager
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for IT Manager job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for IT Manager job vacancies in the UK

IT Manager
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IT Manager over the 6 months to 1 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for IT Manager in the UK

IT Manager
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for IT Manager job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for IT Manager job vacancies in the UK

IT Manager
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing IT Manager over the 6 months to 1 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for IT Manager in the UK

IT Manager
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing IT Manager within the UK over the 6 months to 1 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
England -81 343 £525 - 267
UK excluding London -70 222 £500 - 233
London -56 142 £588 +6.82% 74
Work from Home -53 132 £525 - 111
South East -50 62 £465 -11.43% 61
North of England -64 52 £510 +2.00% 60
Midlands -72 40 £520 +9.24% 45
West Midlands -54 34 £525 +10.29% 22
South West -9 30 £500 -4.76% 30
North West -37 27 £563 +4.65% 38
Scotland +5 17 £550 +22.22% 8
Yorkshire -58 17 £469 +4.17% 19
East of England -31 15 £500 -23.08% 19
North East -7 8 £440 -12.00% 3
East Midlands -37 6 £420 -12.73% 23
Wales -7 4 £444 +10.94% 11
Northern Ireland +2 3 - - 1

IT Manager Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 1 April 2026, IT 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 featuring IT Manager in the job title.

1 136 (34.78%) Stakeholder Management
2 100 (25.58%) Project Management
3 79 (20.20%) Agile
4 70 (17.90%) ITIL
5 68 (17.39%) Project Delivery
5 68 (17.39%) Security Cleared
6 64 (16.37%) Continuous Improvement
7 51 (13.04%) Service Management
7 51 (13.04%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 48 (12.28%) SC Cleared
9 46 (11.76%) ITSM
10 41 (10.49%) Service Delivery
11 39 (9.97%) Change Management
12 38 (9.72%) Problem-Solving
13 37 (9.46%) PRINCE2
14 34 (8.70%) Roadmaps
15 32 (8.18%) Degree
15 32 (8.18%) ServiceNow
16 30 (7.67%) Migration
17 29 (7.42%) Cybersecurity
18 28 (7.16%) Risk Management
19 27 (6.91%) PMO
19 27 (6.91%) Waterfall
20 26 (6.65%) PMP
21 24 (6.14%) Budget Management
21 24 (6.14%) Decision-Making
21 24 (6.14%) JIRA
21 24 (6.14%) PMI Certification
22 23 (5.88%) SAP
23 21 (5.37%) ERP

IT Manager Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 (3.58%) SharePoint
2 12 (3.07%) Confluence
3 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.26%) Documentum
Applications
1 11 (2.81%) Microsoft Project
2 8 (2.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 7 (1.79%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (1.28%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.77%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.77%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 6 (1.53%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.77%) NEC Housing
2 3 (0.77%) NetSuite
3 2 (0.51%) Primavera
3 2 (0.51%) SAP MDG
3 2 (0.51%) SAP MM
3 2 (0.51%) TrackWise
4 1 (0.26%) Maximo
4 1 (0.26%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.26%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.26%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.26%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.26%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 20 (5.12%) Azure
2 18 (4.60%) SaaS
3 13 (3.32%) IaaS
4 11 (2.81%) Microsoft 365
5 7 (1.79%) GCP
6 6 (1.53%) AWS
6 6 (1.53%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.53%) Google Workspace
7 4 (1.02%) Dynamics 365
7 4 (1.02%) Power Platform
8 3 (0.77%) Azure DevOps
8 3 (0.77%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.51%) Azure API Management
9 2 (0.51%) Google Drive
9 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Copilot
9 2 (0.51%) Rubrik
9 2 (0.51%) Slack
9 2 (0.51%) WhatsApp
10 1 (0.26%) GitHub
10 1 (0.26%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 5 (1.28%) Network Security
2 3 (0.77%) Firewall
2 3 (0.77%) LAN
2 3 (0.77%) Structured Cabling
2 3 (0.77%) WAN
3 2 (0.51%) DNS
3 2 (0.51%) Wi-Fi
4 1 (0.26%) BT 21CN
4 1 (0.26%) NaaS
4 1 (0.26%) RFID
4 1 (0.26%) SD-WAN
4 1 (0.26%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.02%) Electronic Patient Records
2 3 (0.77%) Power BI
2 3 (0.77%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.51%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (0.51%) EDRMS
4 1 (0.26%) BusinessObjects
4 1 (0.26%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.26%) Metadata
4 1 (0.26%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.26%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 24 (6.14%) JIRA
2 2 (0.51%) LSMW
General
1 122 (31.20%) Social Skills
2 119 (30.43%) Finance
3 40 (10.23%) Public Sector
4 37 (9.46%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (5.63%) Banking
6 18 (4.60%) Manufacturing
7 14 (3.58%) Retail
7 14 (3.58%) Telecoms
8 11 (2.81%) Influencing Skills
8 11 (2.81%) Legal
9 10 (2.56%) Aerospace
10 9 (2.30%) Organisational Skills
11 8 (2.05%) Marketing
11 8 (2.05%) Pharmaceutical
12 5 (1.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 5 (1.28%) Law
13 4 (1.02%) Aviation
14 3 (0.77%) Documentation Skills
14 3 (0.77%) French Language
14 3 (0.77%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.02%) SAP Fiori
2 2 (0.51%) ADO
2 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (0.51%) OpenID
2 2 (0.51%) SAML
3 1 (0.26%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (0.26%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.26%) Spring Boot
3 1 (0.26%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 21 (5.37%) Data Centre
2 20 (5.12%) Onboarding
3 15 (3.84%) Management Information System
4 10 (2.56%) FMCG
4 10 (2.56%) NHS
5 7 (1.79%) Virtual Team
6 6 (1.53%) Legacy Systems
7 5 (1.28%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (1.02%) CMDB
8 4 (1.02%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (0.77%) PMI
9 3 (0.77%) Self-Motivation
10 2 (0.51%) Analytical Mindset
10 2 (0.51%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.51%) Greenfield Project
10 2 (0.51%) Life Science
10 2 (0.51%) LIMS
10 2 (0.51%) Low-Code
10 2 (0.51%) Mainframe
10 2 (0.51%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 12 (3.07%) Windows
2 1 (0.26%) Linux
2 1 (0.26%) Mac OS
2 1 (0.26%) OpenVMS
2 1 (0.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 1 (0.26%) Windows 10
2 1 (0.26%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 136 (34.78%) Stakeholder Management
2 100 (25.58%) Project Management
3 79 (20.20%) Agile
4 70 (17.90%) ITIL
5 68 (17.39%) Project Delivery
6 64 (16.37%) Continuous Improvement
7 51 (13.04%) Service Management
7 51 (13.04%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 46 (11.76%) ITSM
9 41 (10.49%) Service Delivery
10 39 (9.97%) Change Management
11 38 (9.72%) Problem-Solving
12 37 (9.46%) PRINCE2
13 34 (8.70%) Roadmaps
14 30 (7.67%) Migration
15 29 (7.42%) Cybersecurity
16 28 (7.16%) Risk Management
17 27 (6.91%) Waterfall
18 24 (6.14%) Budget Management
18 24 (6.14%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 3 (0.77%) SQL
2 2 (0.51%) PowerShell
2 2 (0.51%) Python
3 1 (0.26%) ABAP
3 1 (0.26%) VB
Qualifications
1 68 (17.39%) Security Cleared
2 48 (12.28%) SC Cleared
3 32 (8.18%) Degree
4 26 (6.65%) PMP
5 24 (6.14%) PMI Certification
6 14 (3.58%) ITIL Certification
7 6 (1.53%) DV Cleared
8 5 (1.28%) CISM
8 5 (1.28%) CISSP
9 4 (1.02%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 4 (1.02%) Master's Degree
9 4 (1.02%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
10 3 (0.77%) APMG
10 3 (0.77%) CISA
10 3 (0.77%) MBA
10 3 (0.77%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 2 (0.51%) Computer Science Degree
11 2 (0.51%) CRISC
11 2 (0.51%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 1 (0.26%) CGEIT
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (6.91%) PMO
2 11 (2.81%) GDPR
3 10 (2.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (2.05%) GRC
5 7 (1.79%) COBIT
5 7 (1.79%) NIST
5 7 (1.79%) SLA
6 6 (1.53%) QA
7 4 (1.02%) Data Quality
7 4 (1.02%) GxP
7 4 (1.02%) PCI DSS
7 4 (1.02%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 4 (1.02%) SOC 2
8 3 (0.77%) GMP
9 2 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
10 1 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 31000
10 1 (0.26%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.26%) MiFID
10 1 (0.26%) SOC 1
System Software
1 6 (1.53%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.51%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.26%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 5 (1.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.51%) RSA Archer
2 2 (0.51%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (0.51%) vRealize
3 1 (0.26%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.26%) VxRail
Vendors
1 32 (8.18%) ServiceNow
2 23 (5.88%) SAP
3 17 (4.35%) Microsoft
4 10 (2.56%) Oracle
5 8 (2.05%) Ariba
5 8 (2.05%) Salesforce
6 6 (1.53%) Google
7 4 (1.02%) Cisco
8 3 (0.77%) VMware
8 3 (0.77%) Workday
9 2 (0.51%) Arista
9 2 (0.51%) Autodesk
9 2 (0.51%) Computacenter
9 2 (0.51%) Guidewire
9 2 (0.51%) HP
9 2 (0.51%) Kronos
9 2 (0.51%) Northgate
9 2 (0.51%) Remedy
10 1 (0.26%) BMC
10 1 (0.26%) Dell