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 26 February 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 293 212 198
Rank change year-on-year -81 -14 -11
Contract jobs requiring an IT Manager 361 384 519
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.87% 1.25% 1.18%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.95% 1.35% 1.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 214 244 377
10th Percentile £359 £366 £363
25th Percentile £425 £449 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year - - +0.96%
75th Percentile £623 £604 £613
90th Percentile £700 £700 £675
UK excluding London median daily rate £511 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -0.24% -2.38% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 11 7
10th Percentile £35.00 £23.80 £25.65
25th Percentile £35.75 £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 £87.19 £68.13 £56.00
90th Percentile £106.18 £70.00 £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 38,045 28,496 40,781
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.80% 92.87% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,894 17,862 26,852
10th Percentile £309 £293 £275
25th Percentile £408 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,319 828 2,327
10th Percentile £14.61 £16.43 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.17 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.23% - -10.26%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £74.68 £75.00 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.00 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -4.62% -7.14% -2.78%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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 -94 317 £525 -2.78% 248
UK excluding London -85 199 £511 -0.24% 232
Work from Home -43 129 £525 -3.23% 97
London -22 128 £575 +4.55% 57
South East -38 56 £475 -10.38% 73
Midlands -59 45 £525 -1.18% 51
North of England -74 42 £525 +7.69% 55
West Midlands -55 34 £525 -8.70% 27
South West -17 27 £456 -12.26% 17
North West -42 19 £563 +15.38% 35
Yorkshire -62 18 £499 +10.83% 16
East of England -23 13 £425 -32.00% 22
Scotland +1 11 £550 +26.07% 9
East Midlands -30 11 £525 +9.09% 24
North East -13 5 £450 -10.00% 4
Wales -2 3 £413 +3.13% 7
Northern Ireland -1 2 - -

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

For the 6 months to 26 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.

1 128 (35.46%) Stakeholder Management
2 99 (27.42%) Project Management
3 72 (19.94%) Agile
4 59 (16.34%) ITIL
5 58 (16.07%) Security Cleared
6 54 (14.96%) Continuous Improvement
6 54 (14.96%) Project Delivery
7 42 (11.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 41 (11.36%) Change Management
9 40 (11.08%) PRINCE2
9 40 (11.08%) Service Management
10 39 (10.80%) Service Delivery
11 37 (10.25%) SC Cleared
12 34 (9.42%) Degree
12 34 (9.42%) ITSM
13 33 (9.14%) Roadmaps
14 32 (8.86%) Problem-Solving
15 30 (8.31%) ServiceNow
16 28 (7.76%) Cybersecurity
16 28 (7.76%) Migration
17 27 (7.48%) PMI Certification
17 27 (7.48%) PMP
18 26 (7.20%) SAP
19 23 (6.37%) Microsoft
19 23 (6.37%) Supplier Management
20 21 (5.82%) Budget Management
20 21 (5.82%) Decision-Making
20 21 (5.82%) JIRA
20 21 (5.82%) Risk Management
21 20 (5.54%) Waterfall

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 12 (3.32%) SharePoint
2 11 (3.05%) Confluence
3 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.28%) Documentum
Applications
1 10 (2.77%) Microsoft Project
2 9 (2.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (2.22%) Microsoft Excel
4 6 (1.66%) Microsoft Office
5 5 (1.39%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.55%) Trello
7 1 (0.28%) Chatbot
7 1 (0.28%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 7 (1.94%) Dynamics CRM
2 3 (0.83%) NEC Housing
3 2 (0.55%) SAP MDG
3 2 (0.55%) SAP MM
3 2 (0.55%) SAP S/4HANA
3 2 (0.55%) TrackWise
4 1 (0.28%) Maximo
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle EBS
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle Financials
4 1 (0.28%) Oracle Retail
4 1 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
4 1 (0.28%) Salesforce CRM
4 1 (0.28%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.28%) Teamcenter
4 1 (0.28%) Unit4 Business World
Cloud Services
1 16 (4.43%) SaaS
2 15 (4.16%) Azure
3 12 (3.32%) IaaS
4 10 (2.77%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (2.49%) AWS
6 7 (1.94%) GCP
7 6 (1.66%) Google Workspace
8 5 (1.39%) Entra ID
8 5 (1.39%) Power Platform
9 4 (1.11%) Dynamics 365
10 3 (0.83%) OneDrive
10 3 (0.83%) SuccessFactors
11 2 (0.55%) Azure API Management
11 2 (0.55%) Google Drive
11 2 (0.55%) Rubrik
11 2 (0.55%) Slack
12 1 (0.28%) Azure Sentinel
12 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Copilot
12 1 (0.28%) Smartsheet
12 1 (0.28%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 7 (1.94%) WAN
2 6 (1.66%) LAN
3 5 (1.39%) Structured Cabling
4 4 (1.11%) Network Security
5 3 (0.83%) SD-WAN
5 3 (0.83%) Wi-Fi
6 2 (0.55%) DNS
6 2 (0.55%) Firewall
7 1 (0.28%) BT 21CN
7 1 (0.28%) Intranet
7 1 (0.28%) NaaS
7 1 (0.28%) RFID
7 1 (0.28%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.11%) Electronic Patient Records
1 4 (1.11%) Power BI
2 3 (0.83%) SQL Server
3 2 (0.55%) EDRMS
3 2 (0.55%) Oracle Database
4 1 (0.28%) BusinessObjects
4 1 (0.28%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.28%) Metadata
4 1 (0.28%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 21 (5.82%) JIRA
2 2 (0.55%) LSMW
General
1 114 (31.58%) Finance
2 109 (30.19%) Social Skills
3 36 (9.97%) Public Sector
4 29 (8.03%) Analytical Skills
5 21 (5.82%) Banking
6 16 (4.43%) Manufacturing
7 15 (4.16%) Telecoms
8 13 (3.60%) Retail
9 12 (3.32%) Legal
10 11 (3.05%) Aerospace
11 8 (2.22%) Marketing
12 7 (1.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 7 (1.94%) Organisational Skills
12 7 (1.94%) Pharmaceutical
13 6 (1.66%) Influencing Skills
14 5 (1.39%) Aviation
15 4 (1.11%) Law
15 4 (1.11%) Military
16 3 (0.83%) Automotive
16 3 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.11%) SAP Fiori
2 2 (0.55%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (0.55%) OpenID
2 2 (0.55%) SAML
3 1 (0.28%) ADO
3 1 (0.28%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (0.28%) SailPoint
3 1 (0.28%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 18 (4.99%) Onboarding
2 17 (4.71%) Data Centre
3 15 (4.16%) Management Information System
4 9 (2.49%) NHS
5 7 (1.94%) FMCG
6 6 (1.66%) Virtual Team
7 5 (1.39%) CMDB
7 5 (1.39%) Data Protection Act
7 5 (1.39%) Legacy Systems
8 4 (1.11%) Life Science
8 4 (1.11%) LIMS
8 4 (1.11%) PMI
9 3 (0.83%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (0.83%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (0.55%) Cyber Threat
10 2 (0.55%) Greenfield Project
10 2 (0.55%) Mainframe
10 2 (0.55%) Operational Technology
10 2 (0.55%) Product Ownership
10 2 (0.55%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 16 (4.43%) Windows
2 2 (0.55%) Linux
2 2 (0.55%) Windows 10
3 1 (0.28%) Mac OS
3 1 (0.28%) OpenVMS
3 1 (0.28%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 1 (0.28%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 128 (35.46%) Stakeholder Management
2 99 (27.42%) Project Management
3 72 (19.94%) Agile
4 59 (16.34%) ITIL
5 54 (14.96%) Continuous Improvement
5 54 (14.96%) Project Delivery
6 42 (11.63%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 41 (11.36%) Change Management
8 40 (11.08%) PRINCE2
8 40 (11.08%) Service Management
9 39 (10.80%) Service Delivery
10 34 (9.42%) ITSM
11 33 (9.14%) Roadmaps
12 32 (8.86%) Problem-Solving
13 28 (7.76%) Cybersecurity
13 28 (7.76%) Migration
14 23 (6.37%) Supplier Management
15 21 (5.82%) Budget Management
15 21 (5.82%) Decision-Making
15 21 (5.82%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 4 (1.11%) SQL
2 2 (0.55%) PowerShell
2 2 (0.55%) Python
3 1 (0.28%) ABAP
3 1 (0.28%) VB
Qualifications
1 58 (16.07%) Security Cleared
2 37 (10.25%) SC Cleared
3 34 (9.42%) Degree
4 27 (7.48%) PMI Certification
4 27 (7.48%) PMP
5 7 (1.94%) DV Cleared
5 7 (1.94%) ITIL Certification
6 4 (1.11%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
6 4 (1.11%) Master's Degree
7 3 (0.83%) CISA
7 3 (0.83%) CISM
7 3 (0.83%) CISSP
7 3 (0.83%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (0.83%) MBA
7 3 (0.83%) PRINCE2 Certification
7 3 (0.83%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 2 (0.55%) CRISC
8 2 (0.55%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 1 (0.28%) APMG
9 1 (0.28%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (4.43%) PMO
2 14 (3.88%) GDPR
3 12 (3.32%) SLA
4 10 (2.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 7 (1.94%) NIST
6 6 (1.66%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 5 (1.39%) QA
8 4 (1.11%) COBIT
8 4 (1.11%) GxP
8 4 (1.11%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.83%) Data Quality
9 3 (0.83%) GMP
9 3 (0.83%) GRC
9 3 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 19770
9 3 (0.83%) SOC 2
10 2 (0.55%) MiFID
11 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials
11 1 (0.28%) HL7
11 1 (0.28%) HMG Security Policy Framework
11 1 (0.28%) IASME
System Software
1 7 (1.94%) Active Directory
2 1 (0.28%) Hyper-V
2 1 (0.28%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 4 (1.11%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
2 2 (0.55%) vRealize
3 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (0.28%) VxRail
Vendors
1 30 (8.31%) ServiceNow
2 26 (7.20%) SAP
3 23 (6.37%) Microsoft
4 15 (4.16%) Oracle
5 9 (2.49%) Ariba
5 9 (2.49%) Salesforce
6 7 (1.94%) Google
7 5 (1.39%) Cisco
8 4 (1.11%) VMware
8 4 (1.11%) Workday
9 3 (0.83%) Arista
9 3 (0.83%) Snow
10 2 (0.55%) CyberArk
10 2 (0.55%) HP
10 2 (0.55%) IBM
10 2 (0.55%) NEC
10 2 (0.55%) Northgate
11 1 (0.28%) BMC
11 1 (0.28%) Citrix
11 1 (0.28%) Dell