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 7 July 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 245 228 193
Rank change year-on-year -17 -35 -8
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 527 362 536
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.01% 1.14% 1.24%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.09% 1.24% 1.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 326 240 368
10th Percentile £410 £350 £363
25th Percentile £459 £425 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -1.90% -
75th Percentile £638 £600 £625
90th Percentile £725 £675 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £513 £500 £523
% change year-on-year +2.50% -4.31% +4.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 10 14
10th Percentile £28.75 £58.49 £21.19
25th Percentile £35.00 £61.69 £22.78
Median hourly rate £62.50 £70.50 £27.70
Median % change year-on-year -11.35% +154.54% -56.07%
75th Percentile £84.38 £76.88 £43.22
90th Percentile £95.00 £78.88 £58.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.78 £73.00 £25.28
% change year-on-year -0.31% +188.82% -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 48,135 29,273 40,238
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.45% 91.98% 93.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,133 18,680 25,890
10th Percentile £325 £287 £285
25th Percentile £417 £400 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,254 1,329 2,797
10th Percentile £15.75 £13.75 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.14 £17.44 £16.65
Median hourly rate £42.59 £26.45 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +61.03% -29.47% -12.79%
75th Percentile £67.50 £55.25 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.25 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.50 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +76.94% -37.13% +1.14%

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 7 July 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 7 July 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 7 July 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 -29 446 £525 - 293
UK excluding London -27 300 £513 +2.50% 254
London -39 184 £600 +9.09% 77
Work from Home -6 171 £525 +1.35% 165
South East -14 97 £475 -9.52% 90
North of England -68 62 £541 +11.03% 65
Midlands -45 50 £575 +21.05% 41
West Midlands -53 40 £575 +21.05% 24
South West -16 36 £550 +5.77% 16
Scotland +5 32 £520 +9.47% 5
North West -40 32 £550 +27.54% 27
North East -26 15 £775 +67.57% 4
East of England -26 15 £500 -3.66% 20
Yorkshire -61 15 £425 -19.05% 34
East Midlands -10 10 £550 +12.82% 17
Wales -10 8 £375 -23.08% 8
Northern Ireland +5 2 £775 +82.35% 11

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

For the 6 months to 7 July 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.

1 188 (35.67%) Stakeholder Management
2 108 (20.49%) ITIL
3 104 (19.73%) Project Management
4 101 (19.17%) Agile
5 87 (16.51%) Continuous Improvement
6 79 (14.99%) Project Delivery
7 77 (14.61%) Service Management
8 73 (13.85%) Security Cleared
9 71 (13.47%) ITSM
10 67 (12.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 56 (10.63%) Problem-Solving
11 56 (10.63%) Service Delivery
12 55 (10.44%) Degree
13 53 (10.06%) Azure
14 52 (9.87%) Decision-Making
15 51 (9.68%) Change Management
15 51 (9.68%) Microsoft
16 49 (9.30%) SC Cleared
17 47 (8.92%) Risk Management
17 47 (8.92%) ServiceNow
18 46 (8.73%) PRINCE2
19 42 (7.97%) Roadmaps
20 39 (7.40%) Migration
21 37 (7.02%) Budget Management
22 36 (6.83%) Cybersecurity
22 36 (6.83%) JIRA
23 33 (6.26%) Microsoft 365
24 32 (6.07%) SAP
24 32 (6.07%) Supplier Management
25 31 (5.88%) ITIL Certification

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 (4.74%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.52%) Confluence
3 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 19 (3.61%) Microsoft Project
2 16 (3.04%) Microsoft Excel
3 10 (1.90%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (0.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 3 (0.57%) Chatbot
5 3 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.38%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (1.14%) NetSuite
2 3 (0.57%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.57%) Maximo
3 2 (0.38%) Endur
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%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.19%) SAP ERP
4 1 (0.19%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.19%) SAP S/4HANA
4 1 (0.19%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 53 (10.06%) Azure
2 33 (6.26%) Microsoft 365
3 19 (3.61%) SaaS
4 18 (3.42%) AWS
5 12 (2.28%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (2.28%) Power Platform
6 11 (2.09%) Entra ID
7 7 (1.33%) Dynamics 365
8 4 (0.76%) GCP
9 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Copilot
10 2 (0.38%) Google Workspace
10 2 (0.38%) OneDrive
10 2 (0.38%) Smartsheet
10 2 (0.38%) WhatsApp
11 1 (0.19%) Azure Sentinel
11 1 (0.19%) ClickUp
11 1 (0.19%) Nutanix
11 1 (0.19%) Rubrik
11 1 (0.19%) Salesforce Sales Cloud
11 1 (0.19%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.52%) Network Security
1 8 (1.52%) WAN
2 7 (1.33%) Firewall
3 6 (1.14%) LAN
4 5 (0.95%) DNS
5 3 (0.57%) SD-WAN
6 2 (0.38%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (0.19%) Broadband
7 1 (0.19%) BT 21CN
7 1 (0.19%) DHCP
7 1 (0.19%) Internet
7 1 (0.19%) Intranet
7 1 (0.19%) NaaS
7 1 (0.19%) RFID
7 1 (0.19%) Structured Cabling
7 1 (0.19%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.19%) Wireless
7 1 (0.19%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.28%) Power BI
2 2 (0.38%) BusinessObjects
2 2 (0.38%) Data Warehouse
3 1 (0.19%) Data Lake
3 1 (0.19%) EDRMS
3 1 (0.19%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 36 (6.83%) JIRA
General
1 177 (33.59%) Social Skills
2 176 (33.40%) Finance
3 60 (11.39%) Public Sector
4 48 (9.11%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (7.21%) Legal
6 24 (4.55%) Manufacturing
7 22 (4.17%) Organisational Skills
8 21 (3.98%) Banking
9 19 (3.61%) Retail
10 16 (3.04%) Influencing Skills
11 12 (2.28%) Telecoms
12 11 (2.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 10 (1.90%) Aerospace
14 9 (1.71%) Financial Institution
14 9 (1.71%) Law
15 7 (1.33%) Local Government
15 7 (1.33%) Marketing
16 5 (0.95%) Pharmaceutical
17 4 (0.76%) Automotive
17 4 (0.76%) German Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (2.85%) 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%) SAP Fiori
4 1 (0.19%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 19 (3.61%) Onboarding
2 18 (3.42%) Data Centre
3 13 (2.47%) FMCG
3 13 (2.47%) Management Information System
4 11 (2.09%) Enterprise Software
4 11 (2.09%) Legacy Systems
4 11 (2.09%) Operational Technology
5 10 (1.90%) Product Ownership
6 8 (1.52%) Virtual Team
7 7 (1.33%) CMDB
8 5 (0.95%) PMI
9 4 (0.76%) Credit Risk
9 4 (0.76%) Data Protection Act
9 4 (0.76%) Mobile App
9 4 (0.76%) Reinsurance
9 4 (0.76%) Robotics
9 4 (0.76%) Self-Motivation
10 3 (0.57%) Analytical Mindset
10 3 (0.57%) Greenfield Project
10 3 (0.57%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 24 (4.55%) Windows
2 4 (0.76%) Windows Server
3 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
3 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
3 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 188 (35.67%) Stakeholder Management
2 108 (20.49%) ITIL
3 104 (19.73%) Project Management
4 101 (19.17%) Agile
5 87 (16.51%) Continuous Improvement
6 79 (14.99%) Project Delivery
7 77 (14.61%) Service Management
8 71 (13.47%) ITSM
9 67 (12.71%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 56 (10.63%) Problem-Solving
10 56 (10.63%) Service Delivery
11 52 (9.87%) Decision-Making
12 51 (9.68%) Change Management
13 47 (8.92%) Risk Management
14 46 (8.73%) PRINCE2
15 42 (7.97%) Roadmaps
16 39 (7.40%) Migration
17 37 (7.02%) Budget Management
18 36 (6.83%) Cybersecurity
19 32 (6.07%) Supplier Management
Programming Languages
1 6 (1.14%) SQL
2 1 (0.19%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 73 (13.85%) Security Cleared
2 55 (10.44%) Degree
3 49 (9.30%) SC Cleared
4 31 (5.88%) ITIL Certification
4 31 (5.88%) PMP
5 27 (5.12%) PMI Certification
6 12 (2.28%) CISA
6 12 (2.28%) CISSP
6 12 (2.28%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
7 8 (1.52%) DV Cleared
8 5 (0.95%) PRINCE2 Certification
9 4 (0.76%) BPSS Clearance
9 4 (0.76%) CISM
9 4 (0.76%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
10 3 (0.57%) APMG
11 2 (0.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 2 (0.38%) Master's Degree
12 1 (0.19%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.19%) CGEIT
12 1 (0.19%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (3.98%) PMO
2 19 (3.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (2.66%) COBIT
4 13 (2.47%) GRC
5 11 (2.09%) SLA
6 9 (1.71%) GDPR
6 9 (1.71%) QA
7 6 (1.14%) NIST
8 5 (0.95%) Cyber Essentials
9 4 (0.76%) PCI DSS
9 4 (0.76%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 3 (0.57%) Data Quality
10 3 (0.57%) ISO 31000
10 3 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27005
10 3 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 2 (0.38%) GxP
11 2 (0.38%) SOC 2
12 1 (0.19%) GMP
12 1 (0.19%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 13 (2.47%) Active Directory
2 5 (0.95%) 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 4 (0.76%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.38%) RSA Archer
2 2 (0.38%) Terraform
2 2 (0.38%) vRealize
3 1 (0.19%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.19%) VxRail
Vendors
1 51 (9.68%) Microsoft
2 47 (8.92%) ServiceNow
3 32 (6.07%) SAP
4 26 (4.93%) Oracle
5 21 (3.98%) Ariba
6 13 (2.47%) Salesforce
7 7 (1.33%) VMware
8 3 (0.57%) Bloomberg
8 3 (0.57%) Cisco
8 3 (0.57%) Computacenter
8 3 (0.57%) Refinitiv
8 3 (0.57%) Snow
8 3 (0.57%) SolarWinds
8 3 (0.57%) Workday
9 2 (0.38%) Autodesk
9 2 (0.38%) Google
9 2 (0.38%) Kronos
9 2 (0.38%) Meraki
9 2 (0.38%) MuleSoft
9 2 (0.38%) NEC