Project Management Contract Job Trends

Project Management
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Project Management skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 42 22 19
Rank change year-on-year -20 -3 +5
Contract jobs citing Project Management 2,044 2,509 3,623
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 4.92% 8.24% 8.11%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.69% 9.16% 9.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,279 1,456 2,294
10th Percentile £322 £275 £318
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.80% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £610 £600 £625
90th Percentile £713 £708 £723
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £479 £500
% change year-on-year +4.38% -4.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 121 116 233
10th Percentile £14.64 £24.49 £18.67
25th Percentile £20.79 £30.77 £26.42
Median hourly rate £39.50 £39.84 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year -0.85% +4.51% -23.76%
75th Percentile £63.40 £60.00 £57.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.50 £64.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.48 £42.69 £38.12
% change year-on-year +4.19% +11.99% -23.78%

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 requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 35,946 27,398 38,816
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.59% 90.01% 86.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,812 17,104 25,306
10th Percentile £313 £305 £300
25th Percentile £412 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £482 £492 £500
% change year-on-year -1.93% -1.70% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,146 887 2,267
10th Percentile £14.66 £15.62 £13.25
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.24 £16.25
Median hourly rate £27.50 £32.50 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year -15.38% -1.52% -5.71%
75th Percentile £63.48 £64.50 £59.44
90th Percentile £73.46 £75.35 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.76 £34.21
% change year-on-year -20.81% -7.16% -2.26%

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 1 March 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 of jobs citing Project Management over the 6 months to 1 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Project Management in the UK

Project Management
Top 17 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 1 March 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 -17 1,794 £525 +2.44% 1,451
UK excluding London -22 1,034 £500 +4.38% 1,300
London -18 846 £550 +4.76% 371
Work from Home -18 581 £525 +5.00% 424
North of England -21 277 £480 +3.78% 249
South East -12 269 £525 - 405
Midlands -20 197 £500 - 211
North West -13 160 £490 +8.83% 119
West Midlands -27 136 £500 -4.76% 106
South West -25 115 £450 -10.00% 163
Yorkshire -33 108 £488 +5.41% 108
Scotland -14 87 £450 - 57
East of England -37 64 £450 -10.00% 179
East Midlands -15 63 £398 -2.96% 104
Wales +4 31 £325 -38.68% 54
Northern Ireland -7 14 £500 +29.03% 26
North East -20 13 £410 -21.90% 28

Project Management
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
1 172 (8.41%) Confluence
2 92 (4.50%) SharePoint
3 23 (1.13%) CMS
4 7 (0.34%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.34%) Oracle Workflow
5 6 (0.29%) Apache
6 5 (0.24%) nginx
7 4 (0.20%) Exchange Server 2013
7 4 (0.20%) Skype for Business
7 4 (0.20%) WordPress
8 3 (0.15%) Anypoint
8 3 (0.15%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.15%) MS Project Server
9 2 (0.098%) Oracle Self-Service HR
9 2 (0.098%) SAS
10 1 (0.049%) Apache Superset
10 1 (0.049%) IIS
10 1 (0.049%) Moodle
10 1 (0.049%) Umbraco
10 1 (0.049%) WebSphere
Applications
1 217 (10.62%) Microsoft Project
2 213 (10.42%) Microsoft Excel
3 151 (7.39%) Microsoft Office
4 118 (5.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 49 (2.40%) MS Visio
6 22 (1.08%) Spreadsheet
7 21 (1.03%) Trello
8 6 (0.29%) Chatbot
9 4 (0.20%) Adobe After Effects
9 4 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 4 (0.20%) Adobe XD
10 3 (0.15%) InVision
10 3 (0.15%) Sketch
11 2 (0.098%) Adobe Illustrator
11 2 (0.098%) AutoCAD
11 2 (0.098%) InDesign
11 2 (0.098%) Photoshop
12 1 (0.049%) Camtasia
12 1 (0.049%) Oracle Smart View
12 1 (0.049%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 68 (3.33%) SAP S/4HANA
2 19 (0.93%) Primavera
3 16 (0.78%) Oracle Payables
4 13 (0.64%) Loan IQ
5 12 (0.59%) Oracle EBS
6 11 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
6 11 (0.54%) Oracle ERP
6 11 (0.54%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
6 11 (0.54%) SAP Payroll
7 8 (0.39%) Oracle Assets
8 7 (0.34%) NetSuite
8 7 (0.34%) Oracle General Ledger
8 7 (0.34%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 7 (0.34%) Oracle Receivables
8 7 (0.34%) SAP HCM
9 6 (0.29%) SAP CO
9 6 (0.29%) SAP ERP
9 6 (0.29%) SAP FI
9 6 (0.29%) SAP PM
9 6 (0.29%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 171 (8.37%) Azure
2 106 (5.19%) AWS
3 95 (4.65%) Power Platform
4 60 (2.94%) Microsoft 365
5 56 (2.74%) SaaS
6 47 (2.30%) Azure DevOps
7 31 (1.52%) GCP
8 23 (1.13%) Dynamics 365
9 21 (1.03%) Asana
10 20 (0.98%) OpenShift
11 19 (0.93%) Smartsheet
12 17 (0.83%) Google Workspace
13 15 (0.73%) GitHub
14 14 (0.68%) Serverless
15 13 (0.64%) Microsoft Copilot
16 12 (0.59%) Azure Synapse Analytics
16 12 (0.59%) IaaS
17 11 (0.54%) Entra ID
17 11 (0.54%) PaaS
17 11 (0.54%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 38 (1.86%) Firewall
2 29 (1.42%) WAN
3 20 (0.98%) LAN
4 18 (0.88%) Network Security
5 17 (0.83%) DNS
6 15 (0.73%) Structured Cabling
7 14 (0.68%) Wi-Fi
8 13 (0.64%) SD-WAN
9 12 (0.59%) VPN
10 11 (0.54%) SSH
11 10 (0.49%) TCP/IP
12 9 (0.44%) Internet
12 9 (0.44%) MPLS
13 8 (0.39%) HTTP
13 8 (0.39%) SSL
14 7 (0.34%) BGP
14 7 (0.34%) DHCP
15 6 (0.29%) IPsec
16 5 (0.24%) Kerberos
16 5 (0.24%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 88 (4.31%) Power BI
2 29 (1.42%) Tableau
3 20 (0.98%) SQL Server
4 19 (0.93%) Metadata
5 18 (0.88%) Data Warehouse
6 14 (0.68%) Data Lake
7 11 (0.54%) SAP HANA
8 9 (0.44%) Oracle Reports
9 7 (0.34%) Electronic Patient Records
10 6 (0.29%) Elasticsearch
10 6 (0.29%) Relational Database
11 5 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
12 4 (0.20%) BigQuery
12 4 (0.20%) GIS
12 4 (0.20%) Oracle Database
12 4 (0.20%) Power Query
12 4 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
13 3 (0.15%) Azure SQL Database
13 3 (0.15%) NoSQL
13 3 (0.15%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 326 (15.95%) JIRA
2 23 (1.13%) Git
3 10 (0.49%) Jenkins
4 9 (0.44%) GitLab
5 4 (0.20%) SonarQube
6 3 (0.15%) Axure RP
6 3 (0.15%) Selenium
7 1 (0.049%) Ant
7 1 (0.049%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.049%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.049%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.049%) ERwin
7 1 (0.049%) JUnit
7 1 (0.049%) LSMW
7 1 (0.049%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.049%) SoapUI
7 1 (0.049%) SpecFlow
7 1 (0.049%) TestDirector
7 1 (0.049%) Toad
7 1 (0.049%) Visual Studio
General
1 1,015 (49.66%) Social Skills
2 756 (36.99%) Finance
3 337 (16.49%) Analytical Skills
4 208 (10.18%) Public Sector
5 202 (9.88%) Organisational Skills
6 177 (8.66%) Banking
7 105 (5.14%) Retail
8 86 (4.21%) Marketing
9 85 (4.16%) Legal
10 82 (4.01%) Manufacturing
11 81 (3.96%) Influencing Skills
12 57 (2.79%) Presentation Skills
13 47 (2.30%) Investment Banking
14 42 (2.05%) Telecoms
15 33 (1.61%) Financial Institution
16 32 (1.57%) Local Government
17 30 (1.47%) Documentation Skills
18 28 (1.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
19 27 (1.32%) Front Office
20 20 (0.98%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 802 (39.24%) Project Manager
2 244 (11.94%) Analyst
3 176 (8.61%) Senior
4 167 (8.17%) Lead
5 128 (6.26%) Business Analyst
6 122 (5.97%) Senior Manager
7 102 (4.99%) Senior Project Manager
8 95 (4.65%) IT Manager
9 88 (4.31%) IT Project Manager
10 82 (4.01%) Consultant
11 67 (3.28%) Technical Manager
12 62 (3.03%) Delivery Manager
13 59 (2.89%) Infrastructure Manager
13 59 (2.89%) Programme Manager
14 50 (2.45%) Infrastructure Project Manager
15 49 (2.40%) Project Officer
15 49 (2.40%) SAP Manager
16 45 (2.20%) Technical Project Manager
17 43 (2.10%) Coordinator
18 42 (2.05%) Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (1.17%) Oracle Fusion
2 23 (1.13%) Middleware
3 15 (0.73%) REST
3 15 (0.73%) SOAP
4 14 (0.68%) Web Services
5 11 (0.54%) EDI
5 11 (0.54%) XML
6 9 (0.44%) .NET
6 9 (0.44%) CSS
7 8 (0.39%) HTML
7 8 (0.39%) LDAP
7 8 (0.39%) SailPoint
8 7 (0.34%) OAuth
9 6 (0.29%) ADO
9 6 (0.29%) AngularJS
9 6 (0.29%) Elastic Stack
9 6 (0.29%) OpenID
9 6 (0.29%) SAML
10 5 (0.24%) React
10 5 (0.24%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 118 (5.77%) Onboarding
2 102 (4.99%) Management Information System
3 71 (3.47%) Data Centre
4 70 (3.42%) Data Protection Act
5 64 (3.13%) PMI
6 50 (2.45%) Virtual Team
7 49 (2.40%) Product Ownership
8 40 (1.96%) Self-Motivation
9 37 (1.81%) Legacy Systems
10 31 (1.52%) NHS
11 26 (1.27%) CMDB
12 25 (1.22%) Operational Technology
13 19 (0.93%) Analytical Mindset
14 18 (0.88%) Enterprise Software
15 17 (0.83%) SCADA
15 17 (0.83%) Social Media
16 15 (0.73%) Cloud Native
16 15 (0.73%) Web Conferencing
17 12 (0.59%) Data Structures
17 12 (0.59%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 55 (2.69%) Windows
2 16 (0.78%) Linux
3 12 (0.59%) Windows Server
4 11 (0.54%) Unix
5 8 (0.39%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.098%) AIX
6 2 (0.098%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.098%) Windows Server 2019
7 1 (0.049%) Apple iOS
7 1 (0.049%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.049%) Solaris
7 1 (0.049%) VMS
7 1 (0.049%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (0.049%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 749 (36.64%) Agile
2 671 (32.83%) Stakeholder Management
3 488 (23.87%) Project Delivery
4 468 (22.90%) Problem-Solving
5 424 (20.74%) PRINCE2
6 351 (17.17%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 317 (15.51%) Change Management
8 307 (15.02%) Migration
9 279 (13.65%) Continuous Improvement
10 223 (10.91%) Decision-Making
11 219 (10.71%) Waterfall
12 214 (10.47%) Risk Management
13 205 (10.03%) Scrum
14 180 (8.81%) Budget Management
15 167 (8.17%) ERP
16 155 (7.58%) DevOps
17 145 (7.09%) ITIL
18 144 (7.05%) Cybersecurity
19 142 (6.95%) Project Governance
20 138 (6.75%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 90 (4.40%) SQL
2 41 (2.01%) Python
3 14 (0.68%) ABAP
3 14 (0.68%) Java
4 13 (0.64%) C#
4 13 (0.64%) JavaScript
5 6 (0.29%) PowerShell
5 6 (0.29%) VBA
6 5 (0.24%) Perl
6 5 (0.24%) PL/SQL
6 5 (0.24%) R
6 5 (0.24%) T-SQL
7 4 (0.20%) Data Analysis Expressions
8 3 (0.15%) C++
8 3 (0.15%) Go
8 3 (0.15%) Ruby
8 3 (0.15%) SOQL
8 3 (0.15%) VB
9 2 (0.098%) C
9 2 (0.098%) Korn
Qualifications
1 334 (16.34%) Degree
2 300 (14.68%) Security Cleared
3 299 (14.63%) PMP
4 278 (13.60%) PMI Certification
5 217 (10.62%) SC Cleared
6 64 (3.13%) DV Cleared
7 48 (2.35%) Master's Degree
8 43 (2.10%) BPSS Clearance
9 41 (2.01%) APMP
10 31 (1.52%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 27 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
12 25 (1.22%) CISSP
13 24 (1.17%) PRINCE2 Certification
14 21 (1.03%) CISM
15 20 (0.98%) MBA
16 16 (0.78%) CBAP
17 15 (0.73%) IIBA
18 14 (0.68%) ACCA
18 14 (0.68%) CIMA
19 8 (0.39%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 230 (11.25%) PMO
2 129 (6.31%) QA
3 62 (3.03%) Data Quality
4 56 (2.74%) GDPR
5 50 (2.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 36 (1.76%) NIST
7 24 (1.17%) SLA
8 19 (0.93%) PCI DSS
8 19 (0.93%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 18 (0.88%) GRC
10 14 (0.68%) Accessibility
11 10 (0.49%) Basel III
11 10 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
12 8 (0.39%) MiFID
13 7 (0.34%) ISO 9001
13 7 (0.34%) WCAG
14 6 (0.29%) Actionable Recommendations
14 6 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
14 6 (0.29%) EMIR
14 6 (0.29%) P3O
System Software
1 33 (1.61%) Active Directory
2 14 (0.68%) Docker
3 13 (0.64%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.24%) RACF
4 5 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.049%) PowerHA
6 1 (0.049%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.049%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 16 (0.78%) Kubernetes
2 15 (0.73%) Single Sign-On
3 12 (0.59%) Terraform
4 11 (0.54%) Ansible
5 6 (0.29%) Kibana
5 6 (0.29%) logstash
5 6 (0.29%) SCCM
6 5 (0.24%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.20%) Consul
7 4 (0.20%) FortiGate
7 4 (0.20%) Packer
7 4 (0.20%) RSA Archer
8 3 (0.15%) Grafana
8 3 (0.15%) vCenter Server
9 2 (0.098%) Puppet
10 1 (0.049%) Cisco UCCX
10 1 (0.049%) ITRS Geneos
10 1 (0.049%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.049%) SCOM
10 1 (0.049%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 311 (15.22%) Microsoft
2 197 (9.64%) SAP
3 110 (5.38%) ServiceNow
4 78 (3.82%) Oracle
5 68 (3.33%) Salesforce
6 35 (1.71%) Cisco
7 33 (1.61%) Google
8 27 (1.32%) Adobe
9 22 (1.08%) Workday
10 21 (1.03%) Databricks
10 21 (1.03%) VMware
11 19 (0.93%) Atlassian
12 17 (0.83%) CyberArk
13 16 (0.78%) Ariba
13 16 (0.78%) Planview
13 16 (0.78%) Sage
14 15 (0.73%) IBM
15 13 (0.64%) Palo Alto
16 10 (0.49%) Juniper
17 9 (0.44%) Splunk