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 4 August 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 257 224 192
Rank change year-on-year -33 -32 -6
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 528 382 515
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.00% 1.16% 1.31%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.08% 1.27% 1.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 329 248 347
10th Percentile £400 £349 £362
25th Percentile £456 £425 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
75th Percentile £625 £613 £614
90th Percentile £710 £688 £684
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -0.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 9 13
10th Percentile £28.75 £55.98 £21.19
25th Percentile £36.00 £61.25 £22.50
Median hourly rate £67.89 £71.00 £25.28
Median % change year-on-year -4.38% +180.91% -59.92%
75th Percentile £84.69 £77.50 £46.00
90th Percentile £87.25 £79.00 £58.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.78 £75.00 £25.28
% change year-on-year -2.97% +196.74% -51.21%

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 48,942 30,093 36,428
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.61% 91.45% 92.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,465 19,115 23,531
10th Percentile £331 £282 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,396 1,494 2,063
10th Percentile £15.25 £13.60 £14.16
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £20.12
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £68.00 £53.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.10 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £43.90
% change year-on-year +78.93% -42.71% +17.07%

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 4 August 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 4 August 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 4 August 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 -44 444 £525 - 334
UK excluding London -26 300 £500 - 265
London -26 183 £575 +5.75% 98
Work from Home -13 170 £525 - 163
South East -21 92 £475 -12.84% 71
North of England -54 69 £518 +6.15% 88
Midlands -49 45 £525 +5.00% 34
North West -44 40 £525 +5.00% 51
South West -33 34 £550 +6.80% 25
West Midlands -60 33 £575 +17.95% 16
Scotland +5 32 £508 +12.78% 15
East of England -9 20 £500 -15.79% 22
North East -29 15 £775 +67.57% 4
Yorkshire -56 14 £419 -16.25% 34
East Midlands -2 12 £400 -30.62% 18
Wales -6 8 £375 -23.08% 4
Northern Ireland +5 2 £775 +82.35% 9

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

For the 6 months to 4 August 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.

1 189 (35.80%) Stakeholder Management
2 112 (21.21%) Project Management
3 105 (19.89%) Agile
4 101 (19.13%) ITIL
5 84 (15.91%) Continuous Improvement
5 84 (15.91%) Project Delivery
6 77 (14.58%) Service Management
7 71 (13.45%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 70 (13.26%) ITSM
9 67 (12.69%) Azure
9 67 (12.69%) Security Cleared
10 63 (11.93%) Microsoft
11 60 (11.36%) Service Delivery
12 58 (10.98%) Problem-Solving
13 54 (10.23%) Decision-Making
14 53 (10.04%) Degree
14 53 (10.04%) PRINCE2
15 50 (9.47%) Change Management
16 49 (9.28%) SC Cleared
17 48 (9.09%) Risk Management
18 47 (8.90%) ServiceNow
19 43 (8.14%) Microsoft 365
20 40 (7.58%) Migration
21 39 (7.39%) Budget Management
21 39 (7.39%) Cybersecurity
22 38 (7.20%) JIRA
23 37 (7.01%) Supplier Management
24 36 (6.82%) PMP
25 34 (6.44%) Project Governance
25 34 (6.44%) Roadmaps

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 25 (4.73%) SharePoint
2 6 (1.14%) Confluence
3 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 21 (3.98%) Microsoft Project
2 20 (3.79%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (2.46%) Microsoft Office
4 8 (1.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.57%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.57%) MS Visio
5 3 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (1.33%) NetSuite
2 3 (0.57%) Endur
2 3 (0.57%) Maximo
3 2 (0.38%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.38%) Primavera
4 1 (0.19%) assyst
4 1 (0.19%) Dynamics NAV
4 1 (0.19%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.19%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.19%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.19%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 67 (12.69%) Azure
2 43 (8.14%) Microsoft 365
3 20 (3.79%) SaaS
4 17 (3.22%) AWS
5 12 (2.27%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (2.27%) Entra ID
5 12 (2.27%) Power Platform
6 7 (1.33%) Dynamics 365
7 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Copilot
7 5 (0.95%) Smartsheet
8 4 (0.76%) GCP
8 4 (0.76%) IaaS
9 3 (0.57%) OneDrive
10 2 (0.38%) Google Workspace
10 2 (0.38%) WhatsApp
11 1 (0.19%) Azure Sentinel
11 1 (0.19%) Boomi
11 1 (0.19%) ClickUp
11 1 (0.19%) GitHub
11 1 (0.19%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 9 (1.70%) Network Security
1 9 (1.70%) WAN
2 8 (1.52%) Firewall
2 8 (1.52%) LAN
3 5 (0.95%) DNS
4 2 (0.38%) SD-WAN
5 1 (0.19%) Broadband
5 1 (0.19%) BT 21CN
5 1 (0.19%) DHCP
5 1 (0.19%) FTP
5 1 (0.19%) Internet
5 1 (0.19%) Intranet
5 1 (0.19%) NaaS
5 1 (0.19%) Unified Communications
5 1 (0.19%) Wi-Fi
5 1 (0.19%) Wireless
5 1 (0.19%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (2.08%) Power BI
2 2 (0.38%) BusinessObjects
2 2 (0.38%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.19%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.19%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.19%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 38 (7.20%) JIRA
General
1 180 (34.09%) Social Skills
2 174 (32.95%) Finance
3 62 (11.74%) Public Sector
4 51 (9.66%) Analytical Skills
5 40 (7.58%) Legal
6 26 (4.92%) Organisational Skills
7 23 (4.36%) Manufacturing
8 21 (3.98%) Banking
9 20 (3.79%) Influencing Skills
10 19 (3.60%) Retail
11 13 (2.46%) Law
12 12 (2.27%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.89%) Financial Institution
13 10 (1.89%) Telecoms
14 7 (1.33%) Local Government
15 6 (1.14%) Aerospace
16 5 (0.95%) Automotive
16 5 (0.95%) Marketing
17 4 (0.76%) Japanese Language
17 4 (0.76%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.84%) Oracle Fusion
2 3 (0.57%) Middleware
3 2 (0.38%) ADO
4 1 (0.19%) JSON
4 1 (0.19%) SailPoint
4 1 (0.19%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 22 (4.17%) Onboarding
2 17 (3.22%) Data Centre
3 15 (2.84%) Product Ownership
4 13 (2.46%) Legacy Systems
5 12 (2.27%) FMCG
5 12 (2.27%) Management Information System
5 12 (2.27%) Operational Technology
6 11 (2.08%) Enterprise Software
7 9 (1.70%) Virtual Team
8 8 (1.52%) CMDB
8 8 (1.52%) Credit Risk
9 7 (1.33%) PMI
10 6 (1.14%) Mobile App
11 5 (0.95%) NHS
12 4 (0.76%) Data Protection Act
12 4 (0.76%) Greenfield Project
12 4 (0.76%) Reinsurance
12 4 (0.76%) Robotics
12 4 (0.76%) Self-Motivation
13 3 (0.57%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 28 (5.30%) Windows
2 5 (0.95%) Windows Server
3 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
3 1 (0.19%) Windows 10
3 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
3 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 189 (35.80%) Stakeholder Management
2 112 (21.21%) Project Management
3 105 (19.89%) Agile
4 101 (19.13%) ITIL
5 84 (15.91%) Continuous Improvement
5 84 (15.91%) Project Delivery
6 77 (14.58%) Service Management
7 71 (13.45%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 70 (13.26%) ITSM
9 60 (11.36%) Service Delivery
10 58 (10.98%) Problem-Solving
11 54 (10.23%) Decision-Making
12 53 (10.04%) PRINCE2
13 50 (9.47%) Change Management
14 48 (9.09%) Risk Management
15 40 (7.58%) Migration
16 39 (7.39%) Budget Management
16 39 (7.39%) Cybersecurity
17 37 (7.01%) Supplier Management
18 34 (6.44%) Project Governance
Programming Languages
1 6 (1.14%) SQL
2 1 (0.19%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 67 (12.69%) Security Cleared
2 53 (10.04%) Degree
3 49 (9.28%) SC Cleared
4 36 (6.82%) PMP
5 31 (5.87%) ITIL Certification
5 31 (5.87%) PMI Certification
6 12 (2.27%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
7 11 (2.08%) CISSP
8 10 (1.89%) CISA
9 7 (1.33%) BPSS Clearance
10 5 (0.95%) DV Cleared
10 5 (0.95%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 3 (0.57%) APMG
11 3 (0.57%) CISM
11 3 (0.57%) Computer Science Degree
12 2 (0.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 1 (0.19%) APMP
13 1 (0.19%) CGEIT
13 1 (0.19%) CRISC
13 1 (0.19%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (4.17%) PMO
2 18 (3.41%) GRC
3 16 (3.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (1.89%) COBIT
5 9 (1.70%) QA
5 9 (1.70%) SLA
6 6 (1.14%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (1.14%) GDPR
7 3 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (0.57%) Data Quality
7 3 (0.57%) ISO 31000
7 3 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27005
7 3 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 42001
7 3 (0.57%) NIST
8 2 (0.38%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 2 (0.38%) SOC 2
9 1 (0.19%) GxP
9 1 (0.19%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.19%) SOC 1
System Software
1 13 (2.46%) Active Directory
2 4 (0.76%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (0.57%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.19%) KVM
4 1 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (0.19%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.14%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.38%) RSA Archer
2 2 (0.38%) Terraform
3 1 (0.19%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 63 (11.93%) Microsoft
2 47 (8.90%) ServiceNow
3 28 (5.30%) SAP
4 21 (3.98%) Ariba
4 21 (3.98%) Oracle
5 7 (1.33%) Salesforce
6 5 (0.95%) VMware
7 3 (0.57%) Apple
7 3 (0.57%) Bloomberg
7 3 (0.57%) Cisco
7 3 (0.57%) Computacenter
7 3 (0.57%) Refinitiv
7 3 (0.57%) Samsung
7 3 (0.57%) Snow
7 3 (0.57%) SolarWinds
8 2 (0.38%) Google
8 2 (0.38%) Meraki
8 2 (0.38%) MuleSoft
8 2 (0.38%) NEC
8 2 (0.38%) Workday