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 March 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 291 207 203
Rank change year-on-year -84 -4 -17
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 372 375 519
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.87% 1.24% 1.18%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.95% 1.33% 1.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 222 241 380
10th Percentile £363 £363 £363
25th Percentile £445 £445 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - +0.96%
75th Percentile £625 £601 £613
90th Percentile £700 £700 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £515 £509 £517
% change year-on-year +1.13% -1.60% +3.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 12 7
10th Percentile £29.38 £24.92 £25.65
25th Percentile £35.00 £35.00 £30.28
Median hourly rate £60.00 £37.95 £34.25
Median % change year-on-year +58.12% +10.79% -46.27%
75th Percentile £73.44 £67.81 £56.00
90th Percentile £96.13 £69.88 £70.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £67.50 £27.00
% change year-on-year -11.11% +150.00% -58.46%

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 39,102 28,091 40,933
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.86% 92.82% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,515 17,820 26,884
10th Percentile £310 £290 £275
25th Percentile £409 £406 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,389 852 2,408
10th Percentile £14.64 £16.23 £13.04
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.39 £16.25
Median hourly rate £33.50 £34.00 £34.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.47% - -16.05%
75th Percentile £64.00 £64.57 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.23 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year - -7.14% -10.26%

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 March 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 5 March 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 5 March 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 -76 328 £525 -2.10% 288
UK excluding London -80 208 £515 +1.13% 234
Work from Home -38 134 £525 -2.78% 118
London -44 132 £575 +4.55% 101
South East -44 61 £475 -11.63% 73
Midlands -61 45 £525 +5.00% 52
North of England -70 44 £525 +10.53% 54
West Midlands -52 35 £550 +3.53% 27
South West -15 28 £456 -12.68% 16
North West -47 21 £563 +16.88% 33
Yorkshire -64 18 £499 +10.83% 19
East of England -31 13 £456 -27.00% 19
Scotland +4 12 £550 +26.07% 13
East Midlands -31 10 £525 +9.09% 25
North East -11 5 £450 -10.00% 2
Wales -1 3 £413 +3.13% 8
Northern Ireland -1 2 - -

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

For the 6 months to 5 March 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.

1 129 (34.68%) Stakeholder Management
2 98 (26.34%) Project Management
3 72 (19.35%) Agile
4 61 (16.40%) ITIL
5 59 (15.86%) Security Cleared
6 55 (14.78%) Project Delivery
7 54 (14.52%) Continuous Improvement
8 41 (11.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 40 (10.75%) Service Management
10 39 (10.48%) Service Delivery
11 38 (10.22%) PRINCE2
11 38 (10.22%) SC Cleared
12 37 (9.95%) Change Management
13 35 (9.41%) ITSM
13 35 (9.41%) Problem-Solving
13 35 (9.41%) Roadmaps
14 33 (8.87%) Degree
15 30 (8.06%) ServiceNow
16 28 (7.53%) Migration
17 27 (7.26%) Cybersecurity
17 27 (7.26%) PMP
18 26 (6.99%) SAP
19 25 (6.72%) PMI Certification
20 23 (6.18%) Microsoft
20 23 (6.18%) Supplier Management
21 22 (5.91%) Decision-Making
22 21 (5.65%) JIRA
22 21 (5.65%) Waterfall
23 20 (5.38%) Budget Management
23 20 (5.38%) PMO

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 13 (3.49%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.96%) Confluence
3 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.27%) Documentum
Applications
1 10 (2.69%) Microsoft Project
2 8 (2.15%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.61%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (1.34%) Microsoft Office
4 5 (1.34%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.54%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.27%) Trello
6 1 (0.27%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 6 (1.61%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.81%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.54%) SAP MDG
3 2 (0.54%) SAP MM
3 2 (0.54%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.54%) TrackWise
4 1 (0.27%) Maximo
4 1 (0.27%) NetSuite
4 1 (0.27%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.27%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.27%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.27%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.27%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.27%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.27%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.27%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 18 (4.84%) SaaS
2 17 (4.57%) Azure
3 13 (3.49%) IaaS
4 11 (2.96%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (2.42%) AWS
6 8 (2.15%) GCP
7 7 (1.88%) Entra ID
8 6 (1.61%) Google Workspace
9 5 (1.34%) Power Platform
10 4 (1.08%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (0.81%) OneDrive
11 3 (0.81%) SuccessFactors
12 2 (0.54%) Azure API Management
12 2 (0.54%) Google Drive
12 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Copilot
12 2 (0.54%) Rubrik
12 2 (0.54%) Slack
12 2 (0.54%) WhatsApp
13 1 (0.27%) Azure Sentinel
13 1 (0.27%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.88%) WAN
2 6 (1.61%) LAN
3 5 (1.34%) Network Security
3 5 (1.34%) Structured Cabling
4 3 (0.81%) Firewall
4 3 (0.81%) SD-WAN
4 3 (0.81%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (0.54%) DNS
6 1 (0.27%) BT 21CN
6 1 (0.27%) Intranet
6 1 (0.27%) NaaS
6 1 (0.27%) RFID
6 1 (0.27%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.08%) Electronic Patient Records
1 4 (1.08%) Power BI
2 3 (0.81%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.54%) EDRMS
3 2 (0.54%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.27%) BusinessObjects
4 1 (0.27%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.27%) Metadata
4 1 (0.27%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 21 (5.65%) JIRA
2 2 (0.54%) LSMW
General
1 121 (32.53%) Finance
2 111 (29.84%) Social Skills
3 33 (8.87%) Public Sector
4 31 (8.33%) Analytical Skills
5 25 (6.72%) Banking
6 16 (4.30%) Manufacturing
7 15 (4.03%) Telecoms
8 14 (3.76%) Legal
9 13 (3.49%) Retail
10 11 (2.96%) Aerospace
11 8 (2.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (2.15%) Marketing
11 8 (2.15%) Organisational Skills
11 8 (2.15%) Pharmaceutical
12 7 (1.88%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (1.34%) Aviation
13 5 (1.34%) Law
14 4 (1.08%) Military
15 3 (0.81%) Automotive
15 3 (0.81%) French Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.08%) SAP Fiori
2 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (0.54%) OpenID
2 2 (0.54%) SAML
3 1 (0.27%) ADO
3 1 (0.27%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (0.27%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.27%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 21 (5.65%) Data Centre
2 20 (5.38%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.03%) Management Information System
4 10 (2.69%) NHS
5 9 (2.42%) FMCG
6 7 (1.88%) Virtual Team
7 5 (1.34%) CMDB
7 5 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
7 5 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
8 4 (1.08%) LIMS
9 3 (0.81%) Enterprise Software
9 3 (0.81%) Life Science
10 2 (0.54%) Analytical Mindset
10 2 (0.54%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.54%) Greenfield Project
10 2 (0.54%) Mainframe
10 2 (0.54%) Operational Technology
10 2 (0.54%) PMI
10 2 (0.54%) Product Ownership
10 2 (0.54%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 16 (4.30%) Windows
2 2 (0.54%) Linux
2 2 (0.54%) Windows 10
3 1 (0.27%) Mac OS
3 1 (0.27%) OpenVMS
3 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 1 (0.27%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 129 (34.68%) Stakeholder Management
2 98 (26.34%) Project Management
3 72 (19.35%) Agile
4 61 (16.40%) ITIL
5 55 (14.78%) Project Delivery
6 54 (14.52%) Continuous Improvement
7 41 (11.02%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 40 (10.75%) Service Management
9 39 (10.48%) Service Delivery
10 38 (10.22%) PRINCE2
11 37 (9.95%) Change Management
12 35 (9.41%) ITSM
12 35 (9.41%) Problem-Solving
12 35 (9.41%) Roadmaps
13 28 (7.53%) Migration
14 27 (7.26%) Cybersecurity
15 23 (6.18%) Supplier Management
16 22 (5.91%) Decision-Making
17 21 (5.65%) Waterfall
18 20 (5.38%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 4 (1.08%) SQL
2 2 (0.54%) PowerShell
2 2 (0.54%) Python
3 1 (0.27%) ABAP
3 1 (0.27%) VB
Qualifications
1 59 (15.86%) Security Cleared
2 38 (10.22%) SC Cleared
3 33 (8.87%) Degree
4 27 (7.26%) PMP
5 25 (6.72%) PMI Certification
6 7 (1.88%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.88%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (1.08%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 4 (1.08%) Master's Degree
8 3 (0.81%) CISA
8 3 (0.81%) CISM
8 3 (0.81%) CISSP
8 3 (0.81%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (0.81%) MBA
8 3 (0.81%) PRINCE2 Certification
9 2 (0.54%) CRISC
9 2 (0.54%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (0.54%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
10 1 (0.27%) APMG
10 1 (0.27%) CGEIT
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (5.38%) PMO
2 15 (4.03%) GDPR
3 11 (2.96%) SLA
4 10 (2.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (1.88%) NIST
6 6 (1.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (1.34%) COBIT
7 5 (1.34%) QA
8 4 (1.08%) Data Quality
8 4 (1.08%) GRC
8 4 (1.08%) GxP
8 4 (1.08%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.81%) GMP
9 3 (0.81%) ISO/IEC 19770
9 3 (0.81%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.54%) MiFID
11 1 (0.27%) HL7
11 1 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.27%) IASME
11 1 (0.27%) NIST 800
System Software
1 8 (2.15%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.54%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.27%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 5 (1.34%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.54%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (0.54%) vRealize
3 1 (0.27%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.27%) RSA Archer
3 1 (0.27%) VxRail
Vendors
1 30 (8.06%) ServiceNow
2 26 (6.99%) SAP
3 23 (6.18%) Microsoft
4 15 (4.03%) Oracle
5 9 (2.42%) Ariba
5 9 (2.42%) Salesforce
6 7 (1.88%) Google
7 5 (1.34%) Cisco
8 4 (1.08%) VMware
8 4 (1.08%) Workday
9 3 (0.81%) Arista
9 3 (0.81%) Snow
10 2 (0.54%) CyberArk
10 2 (0.54%) HP
10 2 (0.54%) IBM
10 2 (0.54%) NEC
10 2 (0.54%) Northgate
11 1 (0.27%) BMC
11 1 (0.27%) Citrix
11 1 (0.27%) Dell