Lean Thinking Contract Job Trends

Lean Thinking
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Lean Thinking skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 574 554 607
Rank change year-on-year -20 +53 +181
Contract jobs citing Lean Thinking 7 10 5
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.019% 0.029% 0.011%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.022% 0.033% 0.013%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 6 3
10th Percentile £312 £368 £370
25th Percentile £330 £381 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £400
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% +18.75% -16.67%
75th Percentile £575 £634 £472
90th Percentile £604 £669 £514
UK excluding London median daily rate £550 £503 £400
% change year-on-year +9.45% +25.63% -16.67%

All Process and Methodology Skills
UK

Lean Thinking falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 32,261 30,399 39,447
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 88.54% 87.91% 88.58%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,301 18,546 26,335
10th Percentile £300 £306 £310
25th Percentile £406 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £531
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -1.13% -3.45%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £744 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,097 1,021 1,510
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.53 £14.36
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.30 £18.95
Median hourly rate £25.15 £33.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -23.79% -22.35% +21.43%
75th Percentile £48.75 £63.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.00 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -29.23% -26.97% +37.98%

Lean Thinking
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Lean Thinking relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Lean Thinking job vacancy trend in the UK

Lean Thinking
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Lean Thinking.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Lean Thinking

Lean Thinking
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Lean Thinking over the 6 months to 14 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Lean Thinking in the UK

Lean Thinking
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Lean Thinking.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Lean Thinking

Lean Thinking
Top 7 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Lean Thinking within the UK over the 6 months to 14 December 2025. 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 -39 6 £415 +6.41% 7
London -1 4 £330 -30.53% 3
Work from Home +17 2 £525 +38.16% 2
UK excluding London -48 2 £550 +9.45% 4
Scotland +2 1 £550 -13.73%
North West - 1 - - 1
North of England - 1 - - 1

Lean Thinking
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 3 (42.86%) Confluence
Development Applications
1 4 (57.14%) JIRA
General
1 4 (57.14%) Social Skills
2 2 (28.57%) Analytical Skills
3 1 (14.29%) Complex Adaptive System
3 1 (14.29%) Finance
Job Titles
1 2 (28.57%) Agile Coach
1 2 (28.57%) Product Owner
2 1 (14.29%) Agile Delivery Lead
2 1 (14.29%) Analyst
2 1 (14.29%) Lead
2 1 (14.29%) Process Analyst
2 1 (14.29%) Scrum Master
Miscellaneous
1 3 (42.86%) Product Ownership
2 1 (14.29%) Onboarding
Processes & Methodologies
1 7 (100.00%) Agile
2 5 (71.43%) Kanban
2 5 (71.43%) Scrum
3 4 (57.14%) Workshop Facilitation
4 3 (42.86%) Coaching
4 3 (42.86%) Continuous Improvement
4 3 (42.86%) Customer-Centricity
4 3 (42.86%) Data-Driven Decision Making
4 3 (42.86%) Decision-Making
4 3 (42.86%) Project Management
4 3 (42.86%) Roadmaps
4 3 (42.86%) Systems Thinking
5 2 (28.57%) Change Management
5 2 (28.57%) Customer Service
5 2 (28.57%) Objectives and Key Results
5 2 (28.57%) Product Roadmap
5 2 (28.57%) Software Delivery
5 2 (28.57%) User Experience
5 2 (28.57%) User Stories
5 2 (28.57%) Workflow
Qualifications
1 2 (28.57%) CSPO
Vendors
1 1 (14.29%) WorldPay