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 12 February 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 291 212 201
Rank change year-on-year -79 -11 -6
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 339 381 525
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.85% 1.23% 1.19%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.93% 1.32% 1.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 213 240 377
10th Percentile £352 £363 £363
25th Percentile £425 £450 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year - -2.78% +3.65%
75th Percentile £619 £604 £613
90th Percentile £688 £739 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -2.44% -2.38% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 12 5
10th Percentile £35.00 £24.92 £29.62
25th Percentile £35.50 £35.00 £33.55
Median hourly rate £60.00 £37.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +60.00% -31.82% -15.38%
75th Percentile £83.75 £67.81 £57.00
90th Percentile £107.14 £69.88 £76.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £67.50 £41.00
% change year-on-year -11.11% +64.63% -36.92%

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 36,458 28,796 41,269
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.54% 92.96% 93.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,924 17,765 27,180
10th Percentile £300 £288 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £478 £489
% change year-on-year -0.52% -2.35% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,214 834 2,292
10th Percentile £14.53 £15.92 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.25 £16.45
Median hourly rate £30.00 £34.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.76% -2.86% -2.23%
75th Percentile £62.44 £63.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.60 £32.13 £35.00
% change year-on-year -7.87% -8.20% -

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 12 February 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 12 February 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 12 February 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 -83 298 £525 -1.87% 261
UK excluding London -75 182 £500 -2.44% 232
Work from Home -42 126 £525 -3.00% 98
London -41 124 £575 +4.55% 68
South East -37 46 £513 -4.21% 75
North of England -69 44 £525 +13.51% 54
Midlands -63 41 £525 -5.62% 53
West Midlands -62 30 £525 -8.70% 34
South West -15 24 £450 -12.83% 22
Yorkshire -55 21 £500 +11.11% 21
North West -34 18 £563 +32.35% 27
East of England -26 14 £425 -22.73% 21
East Midlands -24 11 £525 +10.53% 19
Scotland -1 9 £588 +39.05% 11
North East -14 5 £450 -10.00% 7
Wales +1 2 £413 +3.13% 6
Northern Ireland -2 2 - -

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

For the 6 months to 12 February 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.

1 118 (34.81%) Stakeholder Management
2 95 (28.02%) Project Management
3 66 (19.47%) Agile
4 51 (15.04%) Project Delivery
5 48 (14.16%) Security Cleared
6 46 (13.57%) ITIL
7 45 (13.27%) Continuous Improvement
8 42 (12.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 41 (12.09%) PRINCE2
10 39 (11.50%) Change Management
11 35 (10.32%) Degree
11 35 (10.32%) Service Delivery
12 33 (9.73%) Service Management
13 31 (9.14%) Migration
14 30 (8.85%) Problem-Solving
14 30 (8.85%) SC Cleared
15 28 (8.26%) Cybersecurity
16 27 (7.96%) PMI Certification
16 27 (7.96%) PMP
17 25 (7.37%) ITSM
17 25 (7.37%) SAP
18 24 (7.08%) Microsoft
18 24 (7.08%) Roadmaps
18 24 (7.08%) ServiceNow
19 23 (6.78%) Waterfall
20 22 (6.49%) Decision-Making
20 22 (6.49%) Supplier Management
21 21 (6.19%) Risk Management
22 18 (5.31%) Budget Management
22 18 (5.31%) 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 11 (3.24%) SharePoint
2 8 (2.36%) Confluence
3 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.29%) Documentum
4 1 (0.29%) IIS
Applications
1 10 (2.95%) Microsoft Project
2 9 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.65%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (2.36%) Microsoft Office
4 6 (1.77%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.59%) Trello
6 1 (0.29%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 7 (2.06%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.88%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.59%) SAP MDG
3 2 (0.59%) SAP MM
3 2 (0.59%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.59%) Teamcenter
3 2 (0.59%) TrackWise
4 1 (0.29%) Loan IQ
4 1 (0.29%) Maximo
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.29%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.29%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.29%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.29%) SAP PLM
4 1 (0.29%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.29%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 16 (4.72%) SaaS
2 12 (3.54%) IaaS
3 11 (3.24%) Azure
4 10 (2.95%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (2.65%) AWS
6 6 (1.77%) GCP
7 5 (1.47%) Entra ID
7 5 (1.47%) Google Workspace
7 5 (1.47%) Power Platform
8 4 (1.18%) Dynamics 365
9 3 (0.88%) OneDrive
9 3 (0.88%) SuccessFactors
10 2 (0.59%) Azure API Management
10 2 (0.59%) Google Drive
10 2 (0.59%) Rubrik
10 2 (0.59%) Slack
11 1 (0.29%) Azure DevOps
11 1 (0.29%) PaaS
11 1 (0.29%) Smartsheet
11 1 (0.29%) Veeva
Communications & Networking
1 7 (2.06%) WAN
2 6 (1.77%) LAN
2 6 (1.77%) Structured Cabling
3 4 (1.18%) Network Security
4 3 (0.88%) SD-WAN
4 3 (0.88%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (0.59%) Firewall
6 1 (0.29%) BT 21CN
6 1 (0.29%) DNS
6 1 (0.29%) Intranet
6 1 (0.29%) NaaS
6 1 (0.29%) RFID
6 1 (0.29%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.18%) Electronic Patient Records
1 4 (1.18%) Power BI
2 3 (0.88%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.59%) EDRMS
3 2 (0.59%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.29%) BusinessObjects
4 1 (0.29%) Metadata
4 1 (0.29%) SAP Data Services
4 1 (0.29%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 17 (5.01%) JIRA
2 2 (0.59%) LSMW
General
1 113 (33.33%) Finance
2 109 (32.15%) Social Skills
3 32 (9.44%) Public Sector
4 27 (7.96%) Analytical Skills
5 24 (7.08%) Banking
6 15 (4.42%) Manufacturing
7 12 (3.54%) Legal
7 12 (3.54%) Telecoms
8 10 (2.95%) Retail
9 9 (2.65%) Marketing
10 8 (2.36%) Aerospace
10 8 (2.36%) Pharmaceutical
11 7 (2.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (2.06%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (1.47%) Aviation
12 5 (1.47%) Influencing Skills
13 4 (1.18%) Local Government
13 4 (1.18%) Military
14 3 (0.88%) Automotive
14 3 (0.88%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.18%) SAP Fiori
2 2 (0.59%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (0.59%) OpenID
2 2 (0.59%) SAML
3 1 (0.29%) ADO
3 1 (0.29%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (0.29%) WF
3 1 (0.29%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 16 (4.72%) Onboarding
2 13 (3.83%) Data Centre
3 12 (3.54%) Management Information System
4 8 (2.36%) NHS
5 7 (2.06%) Virtual Team
6 4 (1.18%) Data Protection Act
6 4 (1.18%) FMCG
6 4 (1.18%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (1.18%) Life Science
6 4 (1.18%) LIMS
6 4 (1.18%) PMI
7 3 (0.88%) Analytical Mindset
7 3 (0.88%) CMDB
8 2 (0.59%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (0.59%) Enterprise Software
8 2 (0.59%) EPoS
8 2 (0.59%) Fibre Optics
8 2 (0.59%) Product Ownership
8 2 (0.59%) Security Operations Centre
8 2 (0.59%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 17 (5.01%) Windows
2 3 (0.88%) Windows 10
3 2 (0.59%) Linux
3 2 (0.59%) Mac OS
4 1 (0.29%) OpenVMS
4 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 1 (0.29%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 118 (34.81%) Stakeholder Management
2 95 (28.02%) Project Management
3 66 (19.47%) Agile
4 51 (15.04%) Project Delivery
5 46 (13.57%) ITIL
6 45 (13.27%) Continuous Improvement
7 42 (12.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 41 (12.09%) PRINCE2
9 39 (11.50%) Change Management
10 35 (10.32%) Service Delivery
11 33 (9.73%) Service Management
12 31 (9.14%) Migration
13 30 (8.85%) Problem-Solving
14 28 (8.26%) Cybersecurity
15 25 (7.37%) ITSM
16 24 (7.08%) Roadmaps
17 23 (6.78%) Waterfall
18 22 (6.49%) Decision-Making
18 22 (6.49%) Supplier Management
19 21 (6.19%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 4 (1.18%) SQL
2 3 (0.88%) Python
3 2 (0.59%) PowerShell
4 1 (0.29%) ABAP
4 1 (0.29%) Java
4 1 (0.29%) VB
Qualifications
1 48 (14.16%) Security Cleared
2 35 (10.32%) Degree
3 30 (8.85%) SC Cleared
4 27 (7.96%) PMI Certification
4 27 (7.96%) PMP
5 7 (2.06%) DV Cleared
6 5 (1.47%) PRINCE2 Certification
7 4 (1.18%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (1.18%) Master's Degree
8 3 (0.88%) CISA
8 3 (0.88%) CISSP
8 3 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (0.88%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
8 3 (0.88%) MBA
9 2 (0.59%) ACSP
9 2 (0.59%) ACTC
9 2 (0.59%) CISM
9 2 (0.59%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (0.29%) APMG
10 1 (0.29%) CRISC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (4.42%) PMO
2 12 (3.54%) GDPR
2 12 (3.54%) SLA
3 8 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 6 (1.77%) QA
5 5 (1.47%) GxP
5 5 (1.47%) NIST
5 5 (1.47%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 4 (1.18%) COBIT
7 3 (0.88%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.88%) GMP
7 3 (0.88%) ISO/IEC 19770
8 2 (0.59%) Accessibility
8 2 (0.59%) GRC
8 2 (0.59%) MiFID
8 2 (0.59%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.59%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.29%) HL7
9 1 (0.29%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.29%) NIST 800
System Software
1 9 (2.65%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
2 1 (0.29%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 3 (0.88%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.59%) Jamf Pro
2 2 (0.59%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (0.59%) vRealize
3 1 (0.29%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.29%) VxRail
Vendors
1 25 (7.37%) SAP
2 24 (7.08%) Microsoft
2 24 (7.08%) ServiceNow
3 15 (4.42%) Oracle
4 9 (2.65%) Salesforce
5 8 (2.36%) Ariba
6 6 (1.77%) Google
7 5 (1.47%) Cisco
8 4 (1.18%) VMware
8 4 (1.18%) Workday
9 3 (0.88%) Arista
9 3 (0.88%) Snow
10 2 (0.59%) Apple
10 2 (0.59%) Guidewire
10 2 (0.59%) IBM
10 2 (0.59%) IFS
10 2 (0.59%) NEC
10 2 (0.59%) Northgate
10 2 (0.59%) Siemens
11 1 (0.29%) JD Edwards