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 5 November 2025.

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

6 months to
5 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 274 172 195
Rank change year-on-year -102 +23 +4
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 335 529 617
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.97% 1.45% 1.33%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.07% 1.56% 1.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 220 329 447
10th Percentile £325 £337 £353
25th Percentile £418 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year - -2.78% +2.86%
75th Percentile £620 £601 £638
90th Percentile £691 £700 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £525
% change year-on-year - -4.76% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 11 8
10th Percentile - £21.19 £32.38
25th Percentile £60.00 £28.09 £42.50
Median hourly rate £62.50 £40.00 £61.81
Median % change year-on-year +56.25% -35.28% -4.92%
75th Percentile £75.75 £66.25 £73.39
90th Percentile £90.86 £68.75 £88.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £61.25 £40.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year +53.13% -27.27% -15.38%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 31,437 33,917 43,537
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.93% 92.87% 93.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,929 20,451 29,620
10th Percentile £278 £300 £299
25th Percentile £402 £412 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,780 1,278 1,520
10th Percentile £14.05 £15.09 £14.92
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.21 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £37.39 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -32.74% -16.91% +55.71%
75th Percentile £51.02 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.65 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -30.14% -19.10% +85.42%

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 5 November 2025.

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 5 November 2025.

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 5 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
England -77 301 £525 - 362
UK excluding London -104 187 £500 - 348
London -12 124 £525 -4.55% 113
Work from Home -68 109 £525 -4.55% 156
North of England -64 48 £500 +8.11% 89
Midlands -57 42 £525 - 67
South East -21 38 £525 -2.78% 108
West Midlands -54 30 £525 - 47
South West -9 29 £456 -10.98% 26
Yorkshire -27 23 £500 +5.26% 31
North West -51 22 £525 +36.36% 53
East of England -12 17 £500 -16.67% 23
East Midlands -16 12 £525 +16.67% 20
Scotland -31 11 £425 -1.45% 22
North East -13 3 £450 -16.28% 5
Wales 0 1 £488 +21.88% 6
Northern Ireland -11 1 - - 8

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

For the 6 months to 5 November 2025, 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.

1 116 (34.63%) Stakeholder Management
2 100 (29.85%) Project Management
3 73 (21.79%) Agile
4 60 (17.91%) Project Delivery
5 56 (16.72%) ITIL
6 50 (14.93%) Change Management
7 47 (14.03%) PRINCE2
8 43 (12.84%) Degree
9 42 (12.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 38 (11.34%) Cybersecurity
10 38 (11.34%) Microsoft
11 36 (10.75%) Risk Management
11 36 (10.75%) Security Cleared
12 35 (10.45%) Migration
13 34 (10.15%) Service Management
14 32 (9.55%) Problem-Solving
14 32 (9.55%) ServiceNow
14 32 (9.55%) Waterfall
15 28 (8.36%) Continuous Improvement
15 28 (8.36%) ITSM
15 28 (8.36%) SC Cleared
15 28 (8.36%) Service Delivery
16 26 (7.76%) JIRA
17 24 (7.16%) PMI Certification
17 24 (7.16%) PMP
18 23 (6.87%) Microsoft Office
19 22 (6.57%) Active Directory
20 20 (5.97%) Project Governance
20 20 (5.97%) Roadmaps
21 19 (5.67%) Budget Management

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 9 (2.69%) SharePoint
2 8 (2.39%) Confluence
3 3 (0.90%) CMS
4 2 (0.60%) IIS
5 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Exchange
5 1 (0.30%) Mule
5 1 (0.30%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 23 (6.87%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (5.07%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (4.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 15 (4.48%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (2.69%) MS Visio
6 4 (1.19%) Trello
7 1 (0.30%) Acrobat
7 1 (0.30%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 3 (0.90%) SAP S/4HANA
2 2 (0.60%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.60%) Oracle ERP
2 2 (0.60%) SAP MM
2 2 (0.60%) Teamcenter
3 1 (0.30%) Infor LN
3 1 (0.30%) Loan IQ
3 1 (0.30%) Oracle EBS
3 1 (0.30%) Oracle Financials
3 1 (0.30%) PRMS
3 1 (0.30%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.30%) Salesforce CRM
3 1 (0.30%) SAP HCM
3 1 (0.30%) SAP PLM
3 1 (0.30%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 18 (5.37%) Microsoft 365
2 13 (3.88%) Azure
3 10 (2.99%) SaaS
4 9 (2.69%) AWS
5 8 (2.39%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.79%) Asana
7 5 (1.49%) Power Platform
8 4 (1.19%) GCP
8 4 (1.19%) Smartsheet
9 3 (0.90%) OneDrive
9 3 (0.90%) SuccessFactors
10 2 (0.60%) GitHub
11 1 (0.30%) Azure DevOps
11 1 (0.30%) Google Docs
11 1 (0.30%) Google Sheets
11 1 (0.30%) Google Workspace
11 1 (0.30%) IaaS
11 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Purview
11 1 (0.30%) Veeva
11 1 (0.30%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 8 (2.39%) Wi-Fi
2 7 (2.09%) Firewall
2 7 (2.09%) LAN
3 6 (1.79%) WAN
4 5 (1.49%) Structured Cabling
5 3 (0.90%) DHCP
5 3 (0.90%) DNS
5 3 (0.90%) VPN
6 2 (0.60%) Network Security
6 2 (0.60%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.60%) TCP/IP
6 2 (0.60%) Wireless
7 1 (0.30%) Intranet
7 1 (0.30%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.30%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.49%) Power BI
2 3 (0.90%) Oracle Reports
2 3 (0.90%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.60%) Electronic Patient Records
3 2 (0.60%) Tableau
4 1 (0.30%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.30%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 26 (7.76%) JIRA
2 2 (0.60%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.30%) GitLab
3 1 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 113 (33.73%) Finance
2 110 (32.84%) Social Skills
3 31 (9.25%) Analytical Skills
4 30 (8.96%) Banking
5 29 (8.66%) Public Sector
6 26 (7.76%) Legal
7 24 (7.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 18 (5.37%) Manufacturing
9 12 (3.58%) Organisational Skills
9 12 (3.58%) Retail
10 11 (3.28%) Telecoms
11 9 (2.69%) Pharmaceutical
12 7 (2.09%) Influencing Skills
12 7 (2.09%) Military
13 6 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (1.49%) Marketing
15 4 (1.19%) Automotive
15 4 (1.19%) Japanese Language
15 4 (1.19%) Local Government
15 4 (1.19%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.60%) SAP Fiori
1 2 (0.60%) WF
2 1 (0.30%) Oracle Fusion
2 1 (0.30%) SailPoint
2 1 (0.30%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.78%) Onboarding
2 9 (2.69%) Data Centre
2 9 (2.69%) Legacy Systems
2 9 (2.69%) Management Information System
3 8 (2.39%) Analytical Mindset
3 8 (2.39%) CMDB
3 8 (2.39%) Life Science
4 6 (1.79%) Virtual Team
5 5 (1.49%) LIMS
5 5 (1.49%) NHS
6 4 (1.19%) Driving Licence
6 4 (1.19%) FMCG
6 4 (1.19%) iPhone
6 4 (1.19%) Smartphone
7 3 (0.90%) Credit Risk
7 3 (0.90%) Data Protection Act
7 3 (0.90%) Distributed Systems
7 3 (0.90%) EPoS
7 3 (0.90%) Linux Command Line
7 3 (0.90%) Market Risk
Operating Systems
1 19 (5.67%) Windows
2 7 (2.09%) Mac OS
3 6 (1.79%) Linux
4 5 (1.49%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.60%) OpenVMS
5 2 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.60%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.30%) Apple iOS
6 1 (0.30%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (34.63%) Stakeholder Management
2 100 (29.85%) Project Management
3 73 (21.79%) Agile
4 60 (17.91%) Project Delivery
5 56 (16.72%) ITIL
6 50 (14.93%) Change Management
7 47 (14.03%) PRINCE2
8 42 (12.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 38 (11.34%) Cybersecurity
10 36 (10.75%) Risk Management
11 35 (10.45%) Migration
12 34 (10.15%) Service Management
13 32 (9.55%) Problem-Solving
13 32 (9.55%) Waterfall
14 28 (8.36%) Continuous Improvement
14 28 (8.36%) ITSM
14 28 (8.36%) Service Delivery
15 20 (5.97%) Project Governance
15 20 (5.97%) Roadmaps
16 19 (5.67%) Supplier Management
Programming Languages
1 3 (0.90%) SQL
2 1 (0.30%) Java
2 1 (0.30%) Korn
2 1 (0.30%) Python
2 1 (0.30%) VB
Qualifications
1 43 (12.84%) Degree
2 36 (10.75%) Security Cleared
3 28 (8.36%) SC Cleared
4 24 (7.16%) PMI Certification
4 24 (7.16%) PMP
5 9 (2.69%) Computer Science Degree
6 7 (2.09%) PRINCE2 Certification
6 7 (2.09%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
7 5 (1.49%) DV Cleared
8 4 (1.19%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.90%) ITIL Certification
9 3 (0.90%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 2 (0.60%) ACSP
10 2 (0.60%) ACTC
10 2 (0.60%) CISA
10 2 (0.60%) CISSP
11 1 (0.30%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 1 (0.30%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.30%) CISMP
11 1 (0.30%) PgMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (5.67%) SLA
2 15 (4.48%) PMO
3 9 (2.69%) GDPR
3 9 (2.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 6 (1.79%) QA
5 5 (1.49%) NIST
6 3 (0.90%) Accessibility
6 3 (0.90%) COBIT
6 3 (0.90%) GxP
6 3 (0.90%) ISO/IEC 19770
6 3 (0.90%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 2 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.30%) Basel III
8 1 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.30%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.30%) GRC
8 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.30%) MiFID
8 1 (0.30%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.30%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 22 (6.57%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.30%) Docker
2 1 (0.30%) Hyper-V
2 1 (0.30%) Virtual Desktop
2 1 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.30%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.30%) XenApp
2 1 (0.30%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 6 (1.79%) Jamf Pro
2 3 (0.90%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.60%) RSA Archer
4 1 (0.30%) Ansible
4 1 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
4 1 (0.30%) Kubernetes
4 1 (0.30%) Terraform
Vendors
1 38 (11.34%) Microsoft
2 32 (9.55%) ServiceNow
3 19 (5.67%) SAP
4 12 (3.58%) Oracle
5 6 (1.79%) Apple
5 6 (1.79%) Ariba
6 5 (1.49%) Cisco
6 5 (1.49%) Workday
7 4 (1.19%) Google
8 3 (0.90%) Arista
8 3 (0.90%) Infoblox
8 3 (0.90%) Snow
9 2 (0.60%) Atlassian
9 2 (0.60%) CyberArk
9 2 (0.60%) Guidewire
9 2 (0.60%) IBM
9 2 (0.60%) IFS
9 2 (0.60%) Salesforce
9 2 (0.60%) VMware
9 2 (0.60%) Wrike