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 8 March 2026.

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

6 months to
8 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 298 214 201
Rank change year-on-year -84 -13 -16
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 367 372 520
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.87% 1.24% 1.17%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.94% 1.33% 1.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 216 238 380
10th Percentile £360 £363 £363
25th Percentile £425 £446 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - +0.96%
75th Percentile £625 £610 £607
90th Percentile £700 £700 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £513 £513
% change year-on-year -2.44% - +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 13 13 7
10th Percentile £30.00 £26.04 £25.65
25th Percentile £35.00 £35.00 £30.28
Median hourly rate £60.00 £40.00 £34.25
Median % change year-on-year +50.00% +16.79% -46.27%
75th Percentile £70.00 £67.50 £56.00
90th Percentile £94.75 £69.75 £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 38,954 27,938 41,468
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.91% 92.92% 92.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,406 17,829 27,199
10th Percentile £310 £294 £270
25th Percentile £409 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.40%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £485
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.06% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,403 873 2,490
10th Percentile £14.67 £15.66 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.24 £16.25
Median hourly rate £34.50 £33.40 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +3.29% +2.77% -19.93%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £76.25 £71.87
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.17 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +2.06% - -15.58%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 -78 322 £525 -2.10% 241
UK excluding London -77 207 £500 -2.44% 214
Work from Home -44 131 £525 -2.78% 97
London -40 128 £575 +4.55% 74
South East -45 59 £475 -11.21% 70
North of England -68 45 £525 +6.33% 41
Midlands -67 44 £525 +6.33% 45
West Midlands -52 36 £538 +4.88% 24
South West -3 29 £450 -13.88% 20
North West -42 22 £563 +11.11% 29
Yorkshire -59 18 £499 +10.83% 10
Scotland 0 13 £550 +26.07% 10
East of England -32 12 £500 -20.00% 20
East Midlands -33 8 £473 -1.82% 21
North East -10 5 £450 -10.00% 2
Wales -5 3 £413 +3.13% 10
Northern Ireland -3 2 - -

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

For the 6 months to 8 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.

1 122 (33.24%) Stakeholder Management
2 97 (26.43%) Project Management
3 72 (19.62%) Agile
4 63 (17.17%) Security Cleared
5 61 (16.62%) ITIL
6 56 (15.26%) Project Delivery
7 53 (14.44%) Continuous Improvement
8 41 (11.17%) SC Cleared
8 41 (11.17%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 40 (10.90%) Service Management
10 39 (10.63%) Service Delivery
11 38 (10.35%) PRINCE2
12 37 (10.08%) Change Management
13 35 (9.54%) ITSM
13 35 (9.54%) Roadmaps
14 34 (9.26%) Degree
14 34 (9.26%) Problem-Solving
15 27 (7.36%) SAP
16 26 (7.08%) Cybersecurity
16 26 (7.08%) Migration
16 26 (7.08%) PMP
16 26 (7.08%) ServiceNow
17 24 (6.54%) PMI Certification
18 22 (5.99%) Supplier Management
18 22 (5.99%) Waterfall
19 21 (5.72%) Decision-Making
20 20 (5.45%) Budget Management
20 20 (5.45%) ERP
20 20 (5.45%) JIRA
20 20 (5.45%) 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 (3.54%) SharePoint
2 11 (3.00%) Confluence
3 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.27%) Documentum
Applications
1 10 (2.72%) Microsoft Project
2 8 (2.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (1.36%) MS Visio
5 4 (1.09%) Microsoft Office
6 2 (0.54%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.27%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 6 (1.63%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.82%) 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%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 18 (4.90%) Azure
1 18 (4.90%) SaaS
2 13 (3.54%) IaaS
3 11 (3.00%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (2.18%) AWS
4 8 (2.18%) GCP
5 7 (1.91%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.63%) Google Workspace
7 5 (1.36%) Power Platform
8 4 (1.09%) Dynamics 365
9 3 (0.82%) OneDrive
9 3 (0.82%) SuccessFactors
10 2 (0.54%) Azure API Management
10 2 (0.54%) Azure DevOps
10 2 (0.54%) Google Drive
10 2 (0.54%) Microsoft Copilot
10 2 (0.54%) Rubrik
10 2 (0.54%) Slack
10 2 (0.54%) WhatsApp
11 1 (0.27%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.91%) WAN
2 6 (1.63%) LAN
3 5 (1.36%) Network Security
3 5 (1.36%) Structured Cabling
4 3 (0.82%) Firewall
4 3 (0.82%) SD-WAN
5 2 (0.54%) DNS
5 2 (0.54%) Wi-Fi
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 (1.09%) Power BI
2 3 (0.82%) Electronic Patient Records
2 3 (0.82%) 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 20 (5.45%) JIRA
2 2 (0.54%) LSMW
General
1 120 (32.70%) Finance
2 107 (29.16%) Social Skills
3 35 (9.54%) Public Sector
4 28 (7.63%) Analytical Skills
5 24 (6.54%) Banking
6 16 (4.36%) Telecoms
7 15 (4.09%) Manufacturing
8 14 (3.81%) Legal
9 13 (3.54%) Retail
10 10 (2.72%) Aerospace
11 8 (2.18%) Marketing
11 8 (2.18%) Organisational Skills
11 8 (2.18%) Pharmaceutical
12 7 (1.91%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 7 (1.91%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (1.36%) Law
14 4 (1.09%) Aviation
14 4 (1.09%) Military
15 3 (0.82%) French Language
15 3 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.09%) 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 22 (5.99%) Data Centre
2 19 (5.18%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.09%) Management Information System
4 9 (2.45%) FMCG
4 9 (2.45%) NHS
5 7 (1.91%) Virtual Team
6 5 (1.36%) Data Protection Act
6 5 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
7 3 (0.82%) CMDB
7 3 (0.82%) Enterprise Software
7 3 (0.82%) Life Science
7 3 (0.82%) LIMS
8 2 (0.54%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.54%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (0.54%) Greenfield Project
8 2 (0.54%) Mainframe
8 2 (0.54%) Manufacturing Execution System
8 2 (0.54%) PMI
8 2 (0.54%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.27%) Security Operations Centre
Operating Systems
1 15 (4.09%) Windows
2 2 (0.54%) Linux
3 1 (0.27%) Mac OS
3 1 (0.27%) OpenVMS
3 1 (0.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 1 (0.27%) Windows 10
3 1 (0.27%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 122 (33.24%) Stakeholder Management
2 97 (26.43%) Project Management
3 72 (19.62%) Agile
4 61 (16.62%) ITIL
5 56 (15.26%) Project Delivery
6 53 (14.44%) Continuous Improvement
7 41 (11.17%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 40 (10.90%) Service Management
9 39 (10.63%) Service Delivery
10 38 (10.35%) PRINCE2
11 37 (10.08%) Change Management
12 35 (9.54%) ITSM
12 35 (9.54%) Roadmaps
13 34 (9.26%) Problem-Solving
14 26 (7.08%) Cybersecurity
14 26 (7.08%) Migration
15 22 (5.99%) Supplier Management
15 22 (5.99%) Waterfall
16 21 (5.72%) Decision-Making
17 20 (5.45%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 4 (1.09%) SQL
2 2 (0.54%) PowerShell
2 2 (0.54%) Python
3 1 (0.27%) ABAP
3 1 (0.27%) VB
Qualifications
1 63 (17.17%) Security Cleared
2 41 (11.17%) SC Cleared
3 34 (9.26%) Degree
4 26 (7.08%) PMP
5 24 (6.54%) PMI Certification
6 7 (1.91%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.91%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (1.09%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
7 4 (1.09%) Master's Degree
8 3 (0.82%) CISA
8 3 (0.82%) CISM
8 3 (0.82%) CISSP
8 3 (0.82%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (0.82%) MBA
8 3 (0.82%) 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%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (5.45%) PMO
2 15 (4.09%) GDPR
3 11 (3.00%) SLA
4 10 (2.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (1.91%) NIST
6 6 (1.63%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (1.36%) COBIT
7 5 (1.36%) QA
8 4 (1.09%) Data Quality
8 4 (1.09%) GRC
8 4 (1.09%) GxP
8 4 (1.09%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.82%) GMP
9 3 (0.82%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.54%) MiFID
11 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 1 (0.27%) HL7
11 1 (0.27%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.27%) IASME
System Software
1 7 (1.91%) Active Directory
2 2 (0.54%) Hyper-V
3 1 (0.27%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (1.09%) 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 27 (7.36%) SAP
2 26 (7.08%) ServiceNow
3 19 (5.18%) Microsoft
4 13 (3.54%) Oracle
5 9 (2.45%) Ariba
5 9 (2.45%) Salesforce
6 7 (1.91%) Google
7 5 (1.36%) Cisco
8 4 (1.09%) VMware
8 4 (1.09%) Workday
9 3 (0.82%) Arista
10 2 (0.54%) CyberArk
10 2 (0.54%) HP
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
11 1 (0.27%) JD Edwards
11 1 (0.27%) Red Hat