Product Manager Contract Job Trends
Product Manager
UK
The median Product Manager daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 17 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 306 | 338 | 335 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +32 | -3 | +21 |
| Contract jobs requiring a Product Manager | 480 | 237 | 236 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.87% | 0.71% | 0.63% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.95% | 0.78% | 0.68% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 356 | 176 | 165 |
| 10th Percentile | £403 | £391 | £367 |
| 25th Percentile | £463 | £450 | £450 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £550 | £520 | £550 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.77% | -5.45% | -4.35% |
| 75th Percentile | £625 | £638 | £675 |
| 90th Percentile | £725 | £703 | £783 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £525 | £490 | £513 |
| % change year-on-year | +7.14% | -4.39% | +2.50% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 9 | 1 | 0 |
| 10th Percentile | £71.25 | - | - |
| 25th Percentile | £72.50 | £32.25 | - |
| Median hourly rate | £75.00 | £34.50 | - |
| Median % change year-on-year | +117.39% | - | - |
| 75th Percentile | £77.50 | £36.75 | - |
| 90th Percentile | £86.00 | - | - |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £75.00 | £34.50 | - |
| % change year-on-year | +117.39% | - | - |
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.
| 6 months to 17 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title | 50,792 | 30,277 | 34,849 |
| % of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title | 91.89% | 90.93% | 93.00% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,802 | 19,116 | 21,016 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £280 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £402 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £625 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £737 | £725 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £492 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -3.36% | -1.70% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 4,200 | 1,670 | 1,418 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.25 | £13.80 | £15.02 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.25 | £17.30 | £20.50 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.06 | £25.15 | £41.27 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +63.25% | -39.05% | -8.30% |
| 75th Percentile | £67.50 | £50.00 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £68.75 | £73.83 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.32 | £24.62 | £41.53 |
| % change year-on-year | +63.77% | -40.72% | -6.67% |
Product Manager Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Product Manager' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Product Manager Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Product Manager job vacancies in the UK.
Product Manager Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Product Manager over the 6 months to 17 October 2026.
Product Manager Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Product Manager job vacancies in the UK.
Product Manager Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Product Manager over the 6 months to 17 October 2026.
Product Manager Top 15 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Product Manager within the UK over the 6 months to 17 October 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 | +32 | 431 | £550 | +5.77% | 1,289 |
| UK excluding London | +39 | 223 | £525 | +7.14% | 472 |
| London | -50 | 189 | £575 | +9.52% | 866 |
| Work from Home | -17 | 125 | £525 | +2.44% | 563 |
| North of England | -27 | 72 | £514 | +2.80% | 108 |
| South East | -13 | 56 | £575 | +39.06% | 118 |
| South West | +9 | 49 | £547 | -14.97% | 42 |
| North West | -17 | 37 | £575 | +21.05% | 60 |
| Yorkshire | -8 | 31 | £513 | -6.82% | 35 |
| Midlands | -32 | 30 | £475 | +11.11% | 77 |
| West Midlands | -25 | 28 | £478 | -20.42% | 46 |
| East of England | -10 | 16 | £488 | -26.42% | 41 |
| North East | -39 | 10 | £450 | -10.00% | 13 |
| Scotland | -21 | 4 | £525 | +9.38% | 42 |
| East Midlands | -19 | 2 | £450 | +19.21% | 31 |
Product Manager Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 17 October 2026, Product 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 Product Manager in the job title.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roadmaps | 69.6% | 334 |
| 2 | Agile | 60.8% | 292 |
| 3 | Stakeholder Management | 46.0% | 221 |
| 4 | Product Management | 42.1% | 202 |
| 5 | Backlog Prioritisation | 34.0% | 163 |
| 6 | Product Backlog | 32.5% | 156 |
| 6 | Product Roadmap | 32.5% | 156 |
| 8 | Product Vision | 31.5% | 151 |
| 9 | Continuous Improvement | 27.7% | 133 |
| 10 | Product Strategy | 26.9% | 129 |
| 11 | Security Cleared | 26.5% | 127 |
| 12 | Strategic Roadmap | 22.7% | 109 |
| 13 | SC Cleared | 21.9% | 105 |
| 14 | Decision-Making | 20.4% | 98 |
| 15 | Analytics | 17.1% | 82 |
| 15 | User Stories | 17.1% | 82 |
| 17 | AI | 15.6% | 75 |
| 17 | Backlog Management | 15.6% | 75 |
| 17 | Scrum | 15.6% | 75 |
| 20 | User-Centered Design (UCD) | 13.5% | 65 |
| 21 | Stakeholder Engagement | 12.9% | 62 |
| 22 | Azure | 12.1% | 58 |
| 22 | User Research | 12.1% | 58 |
| 24 | Business Case | 11.5% | 55 |
| 25 | User Experience | 11.0% | 53 |
| 26 | Backlog Refinement | 10.4% | 50 |
| 26 | Scaled Agile Framework | 10.4% | 50 |
| 28 | Acceptance Criteria | 9.6% | 46 |
| 29 | AWS | 9.4% | 45 |
| 29 | Degree | 9.4% | 45 |
Product Manager Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Senior Product Manager | 14.4% | 69 |
| 2 | Digital Product Manager | 13.5% | 65 |
| 3 | Product Delivery Manager | 6.5% | 31 |
| 4 | Delivery Manager | 6.3% | 30 |
| 5 | Technical Product Manager | 4.4% | 21 |
| 6 | Data Manager | 4.0% | 19 |
| 7 | Lead Product Manager | 3.5% | 17 |
| 8 | Product Marketing Manager | 2.5% | 12 |
| 9 | Engineering Manager | 1.9% | 9 |
| 10 | Product Owner | 1.7% | 8 |
| 10 | Senior Digital Product Manager | 1.7% | 8 |
| 12 | Environment Delivery Manager | 1.5% | 7 |
| 12 | Mobile Product Manager | 1.5% | 7 |
| 14 | IT Manager | 1.3% | 6 |
| 15 | ServiceNow Manager | 1.0% | 5 |
| 16 | Analytics Manager | 0.8% | 4 |
| 16 | Digital Delivery Manager | 0.8% | 4 |
| 16 | Finance Manager | 0.8% | 4 |
| 16 | Integration Manager | 0.8% | 4 |
| 16 | Platform Manager | 0.8% | 4 |