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 26 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 65 33 22
Rank change year-on-year -32 -11 0
Contract jobs citing Project Management 2,025 1,983 2,848
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 3.70% 5.89% 7.73%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 4.33% 6.52% 8.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,227 1,231 1,607
10th Percentile £311 £313 £300
25th Percentile £420 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £515 £520
Median % change year-on-year +0.87% -0.96% -0.95%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £608
90th Percentile £729 £726 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £492 £500
% change year-on-year +1.63% -1.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 131 126 128
10th Percentile £23.66 £20.21 £21.25
25th Percentile £31.75 £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 £61.16 £58.06 £54.13
90th Percentile £77.50 £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
26 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract vacancies citing process or methodology skills 46,724 30,420 31,757
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 85.39% 90.42% 86.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,038 18,930 19,083
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 3,565 1,950 1,157
10th Percentile £13.50 £14.38 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.62 £17.30 £20.12
Median hourly rate £35.00 £25.15 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +39.19% -32.95% -12.28%
75th Percentile £65.00 £42.69 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £66.50 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £22.27 £37.00
% change year-on-year +57.20% -39.82% -12.94%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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 1,769 £525 - 624
UK excluding London -35 984 £500 +1.63% 560
London -38 828 £550 +0.92% 159
Work from Home -19 620 £517 +3.40% 341
South East -23 281 £500 -2.91% 146
North of England -26 266 £495 -1.00% 106
North West -35 152 £500 - 64
Midlands -49 149 £550 +15.79% 107
South West -25 122 £475 +5.56% 97
Yorkshire -6 108 £475 -5.00% 34
West Midlands -47 98 £550 +11.79% 69
Scotland -30 81 £475 +11.76% 30
East of England -18 71 £510 - 71
East Midlands -18 51 £538 +19.44% 38
Wales -25 12 £438 +16.67% 20
Northern Ireland -11 9 £394 -21.25% 4
North East -39 8 £420 +12.00% 10
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 Management48.6%985
2Agile37.9%767
3Project Delivery30.5%617
4PRINCE223.4%473
5Problem-Solving17.6%356
6Continuous Improvement17.4%352
7Change Management15.3%310
8Stakeholder Engagement15.1%305
9Decision-Making13.9%281
10Migration13.1%266
11Risk Management12.9%261
12AI11.6%235
12Project Governance11.6%235
14Waterfall11.4%230
15Scrum11.1%225
16Roadmaps9.3%189
17Project Planning8.4%170
18Change Control8.1%164
19Programme Management8.0%162
20ITIL7.5%151