IT Manager Contract Job Trends

IT Manager
UK

The median IT Manager daily rate in the UK is £533, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 24 April 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 274 218 209
Rank change year-on-year -56 -9 -26
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 422 353 497
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.91% 1.20% 1.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.98% 1.29% 1.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 269 225 368
10th Percentile £363 £380 £363
25th Percentile £440 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £533 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.43% - +2.19%
75th Percentile £638 £600 £611
90th Percentile £710 £683 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 14 12
10th Percentile £28.75 £27.16 -
25th Percentile £30.31 £35.22 £23.63
Median hourly rate £37.00 £63.50 £31.84
Median % change year-on-year -41.73% +99.47% -50.06%
75th Percentile £84.69 £70.00 £47.94
90th Percentile £93.75 £76.75 £56.68
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.00 £70.00 £25.28
% change year-on-year -25.71% +176.95% -61.12%

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 42,897 27,359 40,498
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.32% 92.62% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,528 17,903 26,435
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,745 1,021 2,635
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.51 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £29.23 £35.50
Median % change year-on-year +45.40% -17.66% -21.11%
75th Percentile £65.60 £62.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.43 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.00 £28.75 £37.50
% change year-on-year +53.04% -23.33% -11.76%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 -63 360 £533 -0.93% 232
UK excluding London -45 233 £500 - 200
London -47 150 £600 +8.99% 66
Work from Home -22 149 £550 +5.87% 102
South East -38 70 £461 -14.58% 63
North of England -66 53 £505 +2.28% 45
Midlands -59 39 £525 +10.53% 43
West Midlands -52 34 £525 +10.53% 30
South West -18 31 £550 +5.26% 20
North West -35 28 £563 +7.14% 25
Scotland +15 20 £550 +22.56% 6
Yorkshire -58 17 £450 - 16
East of England -37 13 £500 -25.93% 22
North East -9 8 £440 -9.74% 4
East Midlands -41 5 £500 +3.90% 12
Northern Ireland +5 4 £775 +82.35% 3
Wales - 4 £444 - 3

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

For the 6 months to 24 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.

1 149 (35.31%) Stakeholder Management
2 107 (25.36%) Project Management
3 92 (21.80%) Agile
4 82 (19.43%) ITIL
5 74 (17.54%) Continuous Improvement
6 73 (17.30%) Project Delivery
7 72 (17.06%) Security Cleared
8 59 (13.98%) Service Management
9 56 (13.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 53 (12.56%) ITSM
11 52 (12.32%) SC Cleared
12 48 (11.37%) Service Delivery
13 46 (10.90%) Change Management
14 45 (10.66%) Problem-Solving
15 44 (10.43%) PRINCE2
16 37 (8.77%) Degree
17 36 (8.53%) Roadmaps
18 34 (8.06%) Risk Management
18 34 (8.06%) ServiceNow
19 33 (7.82%) PMP
20 32 (7.58%) Cybersecurity
20 32 (7.58%) Migration
20 32 (7.58%) Waterfall
21 30 (7.11%) Budget Management
21 30 (7.11%) JIRA
22 29 (6.87%) Azure
22 29 (6.87%) PMI Certification
23 28 (6.64%) Decision-Making
23 28 (6.64%) PMO
24 23 (5.45%) 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 15 (3.55%) SharePoint
2 12 (2.84%) Confluence
3 6 (1.42%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.24%) Documentum
Applications
1 13 (3.08%) Microsoft Project
2 6 (1.42%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.42%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.42%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (0.71%) Chatbot
3 3 (0.71%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (1.42%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.71%) NEC Housing
2 3 (0.71%) NetSuite
3 2 (0.47%) Primavera
3 2 (0.47%) SAP MDG
3 2 (0.47%) TrackWise
4 1 (0.24%) Maximo
4 1 (0.24%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.24%) SAP MM
4 1 (0.24%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.24%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.24%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 29 (6.87%) Azure
2 19 (4.50%) SaaS
3 13 (3.08%) IaaS
3 13 (3.08%) Microsoft 365
4 11 (2.61%) AWS
5 8 (1.90%) Entra ID
6 7 (1.66%) Azure DevOps
6 7 (1.66%) GCP
7 6 (1.42%) Google Workspace
8 5 (1.18%) Power Platform
9 4 (0.95%) Dynamics 365
9 4 (0.95%) OneDrive
10 2 (0.47%) Azure API Management
10 2 (0.47%) Google Drive
10 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Copilot
10 2 (0.47%) Rubrik
10 2 (0.47%) Slack
10 2 (0.47%) Smartsheet
10 2 (0.47%) WhatsApp
11 1 (0.24%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.90%) Network Security
2 2 (0.47%) DNS
2 2 (0.47%) Firewall
2 2 (0.47%) SD-WAN
2 2 (0.47%) WAN
3 1 (0.24%) BT 21CN
3 1 (0.24%) LAN
3 1 (0.24%) NaaS
3 1 (0.24%) RFID
3 1 (0.24%) Structured Cabling
3 1 (0.24%) Wi-Fi
3 1 (0.24%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.95%) Electronic Patient Records
1 4 (0.95%) Power BI
2 2 (0.47%) Data Warehouse
2 2 (0.47%) EDRMS
3 1 (0.24%) BusinessObjects
3 1 (0.24%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.24%) Metadata
3 1 (0.24%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.24%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.24%) SAP Data Services
3 1 (0.24%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 30 (7.11%) JIRA
2 2 (0.47%) LSMW
General
1 128 (30.33%) Social Skills
2 121 (28.67%) Finance
3 42 (9.95%) Public Sector
4 39 (9.24%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (4.50%) Legal
6 17 (4.03%) Banking
6 17 (4.03%) Manufacturing
7 16 (3.79%) Retail
8 15 (3.55%) Telecoms
9 13 (3.08%) Organisational Skills
10 12 (2.84%) Influencing Skills
11 10 (2.37%) Aerospace
12 7 (1.66%) Law
12 7 (1.66%) Marketing
12 7 (1.66%) Pharmaceutical
13 4 (0.95%) Aviation
14 3 (0.71%) French Language
14 3 (0.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 3 (0.71%) Local Government
14 3 (0.71%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (0.71%) SAP Fiori
2 2 (0.47%) ADO
2 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (0.47%) OpenID
2 2 (0.47%) SAML
3 1 (0.24%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.24%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 18 (4.27%) Data Centre
1 18 (4.27%) Onboarding
2 16 (3.79%) Management Information System
3 10 (2.37%) FMCG
3 10 (2.37%) NHS
4 7 (1.66%) Enterprise Software
4 7 (1.66%) Virtual Team
5 6 (1.42%) Product Ownership
6 5 (1.18%) Data Protection Act
6 5 (1.18%) Operational Technology
7 4 (0.95%) CMDB
7 4 (0.95%) Greenfield Project
7 4 (0.95%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (0.95%) PMI
8 3 (0.71%) Analytical Mindset
8 3 (0.71%) Reinsurance
8 3 (0.71%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.47%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.47%) Low-Code
9 2 (0.47%) Manufacturing Execution System
Operating Systems
1 12 (2.84%) Windows
2 1 (0.24%) Mac OS
2 1 (0.24%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 149 (35.31%) Stakeholder Management
2 107 (25.36%) Project Management
3 92 (21.80%) Agile
4 82 (19.43%) ITIL
5 74 (17.54%) Continuous Improvement
6 73 (17.30%) Project Delivery
7 59 (13.98%) Service Management
8 56 (13.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 53 (12.56%) ITSM
10 48 (11.37%) Service Delivery
11 46 (10.90%) Change Management
12 45 (10.66%) Problem-Solving
13 44 (10.43%) PRINCE2
14 36 (8.53%) Roadmaps
15 34 (8.06%) Risk Management
16 32 (7.58%) Cybersecurity
16 32 (7.58%) Migration
16 32 (7.58%) Waterfall
17 30 (7.11%) Budget Management
18 28 (6.64%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 2 (0.47%) PowerShell
1 2 (0.47%) Python
1 2 (0.47%) SQL
2 1 (0.24%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 72 (17.06%) Security Cleared
2 52 (12.32%) SC Cleared
3 37 (8.77%) Degree
4 33 (7.82%) PMP
5 29 (6.87%) PMI Certification
6 16 (3.79%) ITIL Certification
7 8 (1.90%) DV Cleared
8 5 (1.18%) CISM
8 5 (1.18%) CISSP
8 5 (1.18%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
9 4 (0.95%) APMG
9 4 (0.95%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
9 4 (0.95%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.71%) CISA
10 3 (0.71%) MBA
10 3 (0.71%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 2 (0.47%) CRISC
11 2 (0.47%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 1 (0.24%) BPSS Clearance
12 1 (0.24%) CGEIT
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (6.64%) PMO
2 13 (3.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (2.84%) GRC
4 9 (2.13%) COBIT
4 9 (2.13%) GDPR
4 9 (2.13%) QA
5 7 (1.66%) NIST
5 7 (1.66%) SLA
6 4 (0.95%) Data Quality
6 4 (0.95%) GxP
6 4 (0.95%) PCI DSS
6 4 (0.95%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 4 (0.95%) SOC 2
7 3 (0.71%) GMP
7 3 (0.71%) ISO 31000
7 3 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 3 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 42001
8 2 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.24%) SOC 1
System Software
1 10 (2.37%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.47%) Hyper-V
2 2 (0.47%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 3 (0.71%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.47%) RSA Archer
2 2 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (0.47%) vRealize
3 1 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.24%) Terraform
3 1 (0.24%) VxRail
Vendors
1 34 (8.06%) ServiceNow
2 23 (5.45%) Microsoft
2 23 (5.45%) SAP
3 12 (2.84%) Oracle
4 9 (2.13%) Ariba
4 9 (2.13%) Salesforce
5 6 (1.42%) Google
6 4 (0.95%) VMware
7 3 (0.71%) Computacenter
7 3 (0.71%) Workday
8 2 (0.47%) Autodesk
8 2 (0.47%) Cisco
8 2 (0.47%) Kronos
8 2 (0.47%) Northgate
8 2 (0.47%) Remedy
9 1 (0.24%) BMC
9 1 (0.24%) BT
9 1 (0.24%) Dell
9 1 (0.24%) HP
9 1 (0.24%) NEC