Product Owner Contract Job Trends
Product Owner
UK
The median Product Owner daily rate in the UK is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 16 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 16 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 393 | 352 | 337 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -41 | -15 | +20 |
| Contract jobs requiring a Product Owner | 324 | 221 | 238 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.59% | 0.66% | 0.63% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.64% | 0.73% | 0.68% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 185 | 152 | 155 |
| 10th Percentile | £390 | £359 | £403 |
| 25th Percentile | £481 | £408 | £509 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £550 | £500 | £588 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +10.00% | -14.89% | -2.08% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £602 | £675 |
| 90th Percentile | £726 | £673 | £750 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £525 | £475 | £550 |
| % change year-on-year | +10.53% | -13.64% | -2.22% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 15 | 1 | 1 |
| 10th Percentile | £71.48 | - | - |
| 25th Percentile | £83.00 | - | £51.25 |
| Median hourly rate | £87.16 | £43.00 | £52.50 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +102.70% | -18.10% | -31.60% |
| 75th Percentile | £102.80 | - | £53.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £104.50 | - | - |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £87.16 | - | £52.50 |
| % change year-on-year | - | - | -31.60% |
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 16 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title | 50,844 | 30,247 | 34,978 |
| % of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title | 91.93% | 90.91% | 92.99% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,853 | 19,090 | 21,121 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £277 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £401 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £490 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -3.06% | -2.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 4,177 | 1,669 | 1,428 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.25 | £13.80 | £15.05 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.25 | £17.30 | £20.30 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.06 | £25.15 | £41.08 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +63.24% | -38.77% | -8.72% |
| 75th Percentile | £67.50 | £50.00 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £68.75 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.32 | £25.00 | £41.50 |
| % change year-on-year | +61.28% | -39.76% | -6.74% |
Product Owner Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Product Owner' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Product Owner Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Product Owner job vacancies in the UK.
Product Owner Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Product Owner over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.
Product Owner Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Product Owner job vacancies in the UK.
Product Owner Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Product Owner over the 6 months to 16 October 2026.
Product Owner 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 Owner within the UK over the 6 months to 16 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 | -60 | 284 | £550 | +10.00% | 305 |
| London | -38 | 156 | £550 | +4.76% | 149 |
| UK excluding London | -65 | 132 | £525 | +10.53% | 167 |
| Work from Home | -42 | 93 | £600 | +14.29% | 154 |
| North of England | -45 | 39 | £500 | - | 36 |
| South East | -55 | 32 | £613 | +34.25% | 41 |
| Yorkshire | -10 | 27 | £550 | +10.00% | 12 |
| South West | -18 | 27 | £550 | -14.06% | 15 |
| Midlands | -63 | 18 | £471 | +12.14% | 30 |
| West Midlands | -37 | 17 | £492 | +3.58% | 11 |
| Scotland | -23 | 12 | £474 | +14.85% | 9 |
| North West | -47 | 11 | £500 | +2.56% | 22 |
| East of England | -24 | 6 | £500 | +17.65% | 17 |
| East Midlands | -29 | 1 | £388 | -3.54% | 19 |
| North East | -39 | 1 | £400 | -15.79% | 2 |
Product Owner Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 16 October 2026, Product Owner 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 Owner in the job title.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Agile | 63.6% | 206 |
| 2 | Roadmaps | 54.9% | 178 |
| 3 | Stakeholder Management | 50.3% | 163 |
| 4 | Product Backlog | 44.4% | 144 |
| 5 | Backlog Prioritisation | 43.2% | 140 |
| 6 | User Stories | 40.7% | 132 |
| 7 | Backlog Management | 34.6% | 112 |
| 8 | Acceptance Criteria | 28.4% | 92 |
| 8 | Product Roadmap | 28.4% | 92 |
| 10 | Product Vision | 26.5% | 86 |
| 11 | Continuous Improvement | 25.0% | 81 |
| 12 | Decision-Making | 24.1% | 78 |
| 13 | Scrum | 22.2% | 72 |
| 14 | Sprint Planning | 18.5% | 60 |
| 15 | JIRA | 17.9% | 58 |
| 16 | Security Cleared | 17.3% | 56 |
| 17 | Product Management | 17.0% | 55 |
| 18 | Epics | 16.7% | 54 |
| 19 | AI | 16.4% | 53 |
| 20 | SC Cleared | 15.4% | 50 |
| 20 | Stakeholder Engagement | 15.4% | 50 |
| 22 | Analytics | 13.0% | 42 |
| 23 | Requirements Gathering | 12.3% | 40 |
| 23 | Strategic Roadmap | 12.3% | 40 |
| 25 | Confluence | 11.4% | 37 |
| 26 | Backlog Refinement | 11.1% | 36 |
| 27 | AWS | 10.5% | 34 |
| 27 | DevOps | 10.5% | 34 |
| 29 | Problem-Solving | 10.2% | 33 |
| 29 | Product Strategy | 10.2% | 33 |
Product Owner 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 | Technical Product Owner | 10.5% | 34 |
| 2 | Senior Product Owner | 7.4% | 24 |
| 3 | Product Analyst | 4.9% | 16 |
| 4 | Product Business Analyst | 4.6% | 15 |
| 5 | Lead Product Owner | 4.3% | 14 |
| 6 | Digital Product Owner | 3.4% | 11 |
| 7 | Product Manager | 2.5% | 8 |
| 8 | Service Owner | 1.9% | 6 |
| 9 | Junior Product Owner | 1.5% | 5 |
| 9 | Technical Leader | 1.5% | 5 |
| 11 | Agile Product Owner | 1.2% | 4 |
| 11 | Senior Business Analyst | 1.2% | 4 |
| 13 | Banking Analyst | 0.9% | 3 |
| 13 | Consultant | 0.9% | 3 |
| 13 | E-Commerce Product Owner | 0.9% | 3 |
| 13 | Risk Analyst | 0.9% | 3 |
| 13 | Senior Analyst | 0.9% | 3 |
| 13 | Technical Business Analyst | 0.9% | 3 |
| 19 | Agile Business Analyst | 0.6% | 2 |
| 19 | Data Business Analyst | 0.6% | 2 |