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 2 June 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 262 244 201
Rank change year-on-year -18 -43 -23
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 455 315 499
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.93% 1.09% 1.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.01% 1.18% 1.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 284 213 345
10th Percentile £400 £365 £363
25th Percentile £455 £438 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
75th Percentile £628 £619 £613
90th Percentile £700 £675 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £520
% change year-on-year - -3.85% +4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 8 14
10th Percentile - £32.26 £21.58
25th Percentile £28.75 £54.72 £23.63
Median hourly rate £37.00 £66.50 £28.56
Median % change year-on-year -44.36% +132.84% -54.30%
75th Percentile £85.00 £75.63 £43.22
90th Percentile £95.00 £77.88 £58.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £75.00 £25.28
% change year-on-year -53.33% +196.74% -49.45%

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 45,020 26,719 39,975
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.34% 92.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,415 17,307 25,875
10th Percentile £325 £289 £280
25th Percentile £413 £405 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £505 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.49% -3.81% -2.78%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,003 1,068 2,841
10th Percentile £15.05 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.51 £17.87 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.69 £28.08 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +52.04% -25.13% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.25 £59.23 £61.60
90th Percentile £79.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.72 £40.00
% change year-on-year +74.96% -35.70% -5.88%

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 2 June 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 2 June 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 2 June 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 -35 391 £525 - 313
UK excluding London -18 259 £500 - 283
London -34 162 £590 +7.18% 90
Work from Home +1 144 £528 +5.50% 141
South East -4 87 £475 -9.52% 81
North of England -84 47 £510 +4.62% 58
Midlands -45 45 £563 +18.42% 54
West Midlands -52 37 £550 +15.79% 35
South West -11 32 £550 +15.79% 34
North West -40 27 £558 +11.55% 33
Scotland +13 26 £515 +14.44% 11
East of England -31 15 £500 -22.33% 22
Yorkshire -73 13 £414 -8.06% 20
East Midlands -24 8 £638 +30.77% 19
North East -21 7 £440 -7.37% 6
Wales - 6 £394 - 22
Northern Ireland +4 2 £775 +82.35% 6

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

For the 6 months to 2 June 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.

1 155 (34.07%) Stakeholder Management
2 97 (21.32%) Project Management
3 91 (20.00%) ITIL
4 89 (19.56%) Agile
5 74 (16.26%) Continuous Improvement
6 69 (15.16%) Project Delivery
6 69 (15.16%) Service Management
7 66 (14.51%) Security Cleared
8 64 (14.07%) ITSM
9 59 (12.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 52 (11.43%) Service Delivery
11 47 (10.33%) Problem-Solving
12 43 (9.45%) Azure
12 43 (9.45%) Degree
12 43 (9.45%) SC Cleared
13 41 (9.01%) Change Management
13 41 (9.01%) Decision-Making
14 40 (8.79%) Microsoft
15 38 (8.35%) Roadmaps
15 38 (8.35%) ServiceNow
16 37 (8.13%) PRINCE2
17 35 (7.69%) Migration
18 34 (7.47%) Risk Management
18 34 (7.47%) SAP
19 32 (7.03%) JIRA
20 30 (6.59%) Budget Management
21 29 (6.37%) Microsoft 365
22 28 (6.15%) Business Case
22 28 (6.15%) Cybersecurity
22 28 (6.15%) Waterfall

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 20 (4.40%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.98%) Confluence
3 7 (1.54%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 16 (3.52%) Microsoft Project
2 9 (1.98%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.32%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (0.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.66%) Chatbot
6 2 (0.44%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 5 (1.10%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (1.10%) NetSuite
2 3 (0.66%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.44%) Primavera
3 2 (0.44%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.22%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.22%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.22%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.22%) SAP MDG
4 1 (0.22%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.22%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 43 (9.45%) Azure
2 29 (6.37%) Microsoft 365
3 19 (4.18%) SaaS
4 13 (2.86%) AWS
5 12 (2.64%) Entra ID
6 9 (1.98%) Azure DevOps
7 7 (1.54%) GCP
8 6 (1.32%) Google Workspace
8 6 (1.32%) Power Platform
9 5 (1.10%) Dynamics 365
10 4 (0.88%) OneDrive
11 2 (0.44%) Azure API Management
11 2 (0.44%) Google Drive
11 2 (0.44%) Microsoft Copilot
11 2 (0.44%) Slack
11 2 (0.44%) WhatsApp
12 1 (0.22%) Azure Sentinel
12 1 (0.22%) ClickUp
12 1 (0.22%) Rubrik
12 1 (0.22%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.54%) Network Security
2 5 (1.10%) WAN
3 3 (0.66%) DNS
3 3 (0.66%) Firewall
3 3 (0.66%) LAN
3 3 (0.66%) SD-WAN
4 2 (0.44%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (0.22%) Broadband
5 1 (0.22%) BT 21CN
5 1 (0.22%) DHCP
5 1 (0.22%) NaaS
5 1 (0.22%) RFID
5 1 (0.22%) Structured Cabling
5 1 (0.22%) Unified Communications
5 1 (0.22%) Wireless
5 1 (0.22%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.10%) Power BI
2 2 (0.44%) Data Warehouse
2 2 (0.44%) EDRMS
2 2 (0.44%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.22%) BusinessObjects
3 1 (0.22%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.22%) Metadata
3 1 (0.22%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.22%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 32 (7.03%) JIRA
2 1 (0.22%) LSMW
General
1 153 (33.63%) Social Skills
2 138 (30.33%) Finance
3 51 (11.21%) Public Sector
4 35 (7.69%) Analytical Skills
5 28 (6.15%) Legal
6 22 (4.84%) Manufacturing
7 17 (3.74%) Organisational Skills
8 16 (3.52%) Banking
8 16 (3.52%) Retail
9 13 (2.86%) Influencing Skills
10 12 (2.64%) Telecoms
11 9 (1.98%) Aerospace
11 9 (1.98%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 7 (1.54%) Law
12 7 (1.54%) Marketing
13 6 (1.32%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (0.88%) German Language
14 4 (0.88%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (0.66%) Local Government
16 2 (0.44%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (3.30%) Oracle Fusion
2 2 (0.44%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (0.44%) Middleware
2 2 (0.44%) OpenID
2 2 (0.44%) SAML
2 2 (0.44%) SAP Fiori
3 1 (0.22%) ADO
3 1 (0.22%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.22%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 17 (3.74%) Data Centre
2 15 (3.30%) Onboarding
3 13 (2.86%) FMCG
4 10 (2.20%) Management Information System
5 9 (1.98%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (1.76%) Operational Technology
6 8 (1.76%) Virtual Team
7 7 (1.54%) Enterprise Software
7 7 (1.54%) Product Ownership
8 6 (1.32%) CMDB
8 6 (1.32%) PMI
9 5 (1.10%) NHS
10 4 (0.88%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (0.88%) Reinsurance
10 4 (0.88%) Robotics
10 4 (0.88%) Self-Motivation
11 3 (0.66%) Greenfield Project
12 2 (0.44%) Analytical Mindset
12 2 (0.44%) Mainframe
12 2 (0.44%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 17 (3.74%) Windows
2 2 (0.44%) Windows Server
3 1 (0.22%) Mac OS
3 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
3 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 155 (34.07%) Stakeholder Management
2 97 (21.32%) Project Management
3 91 (20.00%) ITIL
4 89 (19.56%) Agile
5 74 (16.26%) Continuous Improvement
6 69 (15.16%) Project Delivery
6 69 (15.16%) Service Management
7 64 (14.07%) ITSM
8 59 (12.97%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 52 (11.43%) Service Delivery
10 47 (10.33%) Problem-Solving
11 41 (9.01%) Change Management
11 41 (9.01%) Decision-Making
12 38 (8.35%) Roadmaps
13 37 (8.13%) PRINCE2
14 35 (7.69%) Migration
15 34 (7.47%) Risk Management
16 30 (6.59%) Budget Management
17 28 (6.15%) Business Case
17 28 (6.15%) Waterfall
Programming Languages
1 4 (0.88%) SQL
2 3 (0.66%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.44%) Python
4 1 (0.22%) ABAP
Qualifications
1 66 (14.51%) Security Cleared
2 43 (9.45%) Degree
2 43 (9.45%) SC Cleared
3 27 (5.93%) PMP
4 24 (5.27%) ITIL Certification
5 23 (5.05%) PMI Certification
6 7 (1.54%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.32%) CISSP
7 6 (1.32%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 5 (1.10%) CISA
9 4 (0.88%) CISM
9 4 (0.88%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 3 (0.66%) APMG
11 2 (0.44%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.44%) Master's Degree
11 2 (0.44%) PRINCE2 Certification
12 1 (0.22%) APMP
12 1 (0.22%) CGEIT
12 1 (0.22%) MBA
12 1 (0.22%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (4.40%) PMO
2 18 (3.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (2.64%) COBIT
3 12 (2.64%) GRC
4 9 (1.98%) GDPR
4 9 (1.98%) QA
4 9 (1.98%) SLA
5 6 (1.32%) NIST
6 4 (0.88%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (0.88%) GxP
6 4 (0.88%) PCI DSS
6 4 (0.88%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 4 (0.88%) SOC 2
7 3 (0.66%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (0.66%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.66%) GMP
7 3 (0.66%) ISO 31000
7 3 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 3 (0.66%) ISO/IEC 42001
8 1 (0.22%) SOC 1
System Software
1 14 (3.08%) Active Directory
2 4 (0.88%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.66%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.22%) KVM
4 1 (0.22%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 3 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.44%) RSA Archer
2 2 (0.44%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (0.44%) Terraform
2 2 (0.44%) vRealize
3 1 (0.22%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.22%) VxRail
Vendors
1 40 (8.79%) Microsoft
2 38 (8.35%) ServiceNow
3 34 (7.47%) SAP
4 27 (5.93%) Oracle
5 19 (4.18%) Ariba
6 13 (2.86%) Salesforce
7 6 (1.32%) Google
7 6 (1.32%) VMware
8 3 (0.66%) Bloomberg
8 3 (0.66%) Cisco
8 3 (0.66%) Computacenter
8 3 (0.66%) Refinitiv
8 3 (0.66%) Workday
9 2 (0.44%) Autodesk
9 2 (0.44%) Kronos
9 2 (0.44%) Meraki
9 2 (0.44%) Northgate
9 2 (0.44%) Snow
9 2 (0.44%) SolarWinds
10 1 (0.22%) CyberArk