Project Management Contract Job Trends

Project Management
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs citing Project Management skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 63 34 21
Rank change year-on-year -29 -13 +1
Contract jobs citing Project Management 2,050 1,998 2,829
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.74% 5.89% 7.73%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.37% 6.51% 8.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,243 1,244 1,593
10th Percentile £313 £310 £300
25th Percentile £422 £411 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £515 £520
Median % change year-on-year +0.01% -0.97% -0.95%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £608
90th Percentile £725 £725 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £489 £500
% change year-on-year +2.30% -2.25% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 135 126 128
10th Percentile £23.33 £20.21 £21.25
25th Percentile £31.30 £23.50 £26.68
Median hourly rate £45.50 £34.00 £33.74
Median % change year-on-year +33.82% +0.79% -25.03%
75th Percentile £62.41 £58.06 £54.13
90th Percentile £82.00 £65.00 £67.83
UK excluding London median hourly rate £51.35 £33.09 £35.00
% change year-on-year +55.21% -5.47% -22.22%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

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

6 months to
28 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills 46,894 30,677 31,513
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 85.55% 90.44% 86.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,171 19,112 18,944
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £425 £404 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £638 £620 £638
90th Percentile £738 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,573 1,962 1,136
10th Percentile £13.50 £14.38 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.56 £17.30 £20.12
Median hourly rate £35.00 £25.15 £37.00
Median % change year-on-year +39.19% -32.04% -15.60%
75th Percentile £65.00 £42.78 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.80 £66.95 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £22.27 £36.00
% change year-on-year +57.20% -38.15% -15.29%

Project Management Job Vacancy Trend

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

Project Management job vacancy trend in the UK

Project Management Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Project Management.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Project Management

Project Management Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Project Management over the 6 months to 28 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Project Management in the UK

Project Management Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Project Management.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Project Management

Project Management Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution for jobs citing Project Management over the 6 months to 28 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Project Management in the UK

Project Management Top 18 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Project Management within the UK over the 6 months to 28 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
Job Ads
Past 6 Months
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -29 1,794 £525 - 636
UK excluding London -35 993 £500 +2.30% 566
London -33 844 £550 +0.92% 170
Work from Home -18 631 £514 +2.70% 337
South East -17 285 £506 -1.46% 143
North of England -32 267 £495 -1.00% 106
North West -31 152 £500 - 61
Midlands -44 152 £550 +15.79% 110
South West -20 122 £475 +5.56% 97
Yorkshire -6 108 £475 -5.00% 36
West Midlands -41 101 £550 +11.79% 71
Scotland -30 81 £475 +11.76% 32
East of England -13 73 £515 +0.98% 71
East Midlands -17 51 £525 +16.67% 39
Wales -24 12 £438 +16.67% 25
North East -38 9 £410 +9.33% 11
Northern Ireland -10 8 £388 -20.51% 3
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -

Project Management 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.

Processes & Methodologies

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Stakeholder Management48.8%1,001
2Agile37.6%770
3Project Delivery30.5%626
4PRINCE223.6%483
5Problem-Solving17.5%359
6Continuous Improvement17.5%358
7Change Management15.3%313
8Stakeholder Engagement15.1%310
9Decision-Making13.7%280
10Migration13.4%274
11Risk Management13.0%266
12AI11.5%236
13Project Governance11.5%235
14Waterfall11.3%232
15Scrum11.1%228
16Roadmaps9.3%191
17Project Planning8.2%169
18Change Control8.0%165
18Programme Management8.0%165
20ITIL7.5%154