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 22 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 40 23 19
Rank change year-on-year -17 -4 +5
Contract jobs citing Project Management 2,028 2,536 3,635
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 4.97% 8.25% 8.14%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 5.73% 9.18% 9.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,253 1,457 2,318
10th Percentile £318 £275 £325
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.04% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £613 £600 £625
90th Percentile £706 £714 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 123 111 210
10th Percentile £14.64 £22.27 £18.32
25th Percentile £20.77 £30.63 £26.29
Median hourly rate £39.50 £39.00 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +1.28% +2.31% -22.20%
75th Percentile £63.58 £60.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £66.00 £64.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.48 £40.00 £38.12
% change year-on-year +11.20% +4.93% -23.76%

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 35,362 27,619 38,854
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 86.73% 89.84% 87.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,416 17,059 25,415
10th Percentile £313 £306 £300
25th Percentile £410 £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 £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £493 £500
% change year-on-year -2.34% -1.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,120 859 2,186
10th Percentile £14.64 £15.62 £13.29
25th Percentile £17.96 £21.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.77 £32.81 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -21.46% -6.26% -
75th Percentile £60.75 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £72.50 £75.30 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.76 £35.00
% change year-on-year -20.81% -9.26% -

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 22 February 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 22 February 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 22 February 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 -16 1,771 £525 +2.54% 1,072
UK excluding London -22 1,040 £500 +5.26% 991
London -18 824 £550 +4.76% 312
Work from Home -17 576 £525 +5.00% 390
North of England -23 275 £480 +5.49% 199
South East -12 274 £525 +4.90% 308
Midlands -23 202 £500 - 163
North West -12 158 £496 +11.77% 99
West Midlands -27 140 £500 -4.76% 83
Yorkshire -33 108 £480 +5.21% 82
South West -27 107 £450 -10.00% 116
Scotland -16 90 £450 +0.56% 50
East Midlands -14 64 £398 -3.43% 79
East of England -36 64 £450 -10.00% 128
Wales +5 30 £316 -40.33% 40
Northern Ireland -6 18 £425 +21.43% 15
North East -29 13 £410 -24.60% 25

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 (8.48%) Confluence
2 92 (4.54%) SharePoint
3 25 (1.23%) CMS
4 9 (0.44%) Microsoft Exchange
5 6 (0.30%) Apache
5 6 (0.30%) Oracle Workflow
5 6 (0.30%) WordPress
6 5 (0.25%) Exchange Server 2013
6 5 (0.25%) nginx
6 5 (0.25%) Skype for Business
7 3 (0.15%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.15%) Apache Airflow
7 3 (0.15%) MS Project Server
8 2 (0.099%) Oracle Self-Service HR
8 2 (0.099%) SAS
9 1 (0.049%) Adobe Experience Manager
9 1 (0.049%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.049%) Orchard CMS
9 1 (0.049%) Umbraco
9 1 (0.049%) WebSphere
Applications
1 216 (10.65%) Microsoft Project
2 215 (10.60%) Microsoft Excel
3 153 (7.54%) Microsoft Office
4 118 (5.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 49 (2.42%) MS Visio
6 23 (1.13%) Trello
7 21 (1.04%) Spreadsheet
8 7 (0.35%) Chatbot
9 4 (0.20%) Adobe After Effects
9 4 (0.20%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 4 (0.20%) Adobe XD
9 4 (0.20%) Revit
10 3 (0.15%) InVision
10 3 (0.15%) Navisworks
10 3 (0.15%) Sketch
11 2 (0.099%) Adobe Illustrator
11 2 (0.099%) AutoCAD
11 2 (0.099%) InDesign
11 2 (0.099%) Photoshop
11 2 (0.099%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 65 (3.21%) SAP S/4HANA
2 18 (0.89%) Primavera
3 15 (0.74%) Oracle Payables
4 13 (0.64%) Loan IQ
5 11 (0.54%) Dynamics CRM
5 11 (0.54%) Oracle EBS
5 11 (0.54%) SAP Payroll
6 10 (0.49%) Oracle ERP
6 10 (0.49%) Oracle Subledger Accounting
7 8 (0.39%) Shopify
8 7 (0.35%) NetSuite
8 7 (0.35%) Oracle Assets
8 7 (0.35%) Oracle General Ledger
8 7 (0.35%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
8 7 (0.35%) Oracle Receivables
8 7 (0.35%) SAP HCM
9 6 (0.30%) Oracle Financials
9 6 (0.30%) SAP CO
9 6 (0.30%) SAP FI
9 6 (0.30%) SAP PM
Cloud Services
1 172 (8.48%) Azure
2 106 (5.23%) AWS
3 93 (4.59%) Power Platform
4 61 (3.01%) Microsoft 365
5 52 (2.56%) SaaS
6 47 (2.32%) Azure DevOps
7 32 (1.58%) GCP
8 23 (1.13%) Asana
8 23 (1.13%) Dynamics 365
9 20 (0.99%) OpenShift
10 17 (0.84%) Google Workspace
10 17 (0.84%) Smartsheet
11 16 (0.79%) GitHub
12 14 (0.69%) Serverless
13 13 (0.64%) Cloud Computing
14 12 (0.59%) IaaS
14 12 (0.59%) Microsoft Copilot
15 11 (0.54%) Figma
15 11 (0.54%) PaaS
15 11 (0.54%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 37 (1.82%) Firewall
2 29 (1.43%) WAN
3 20 (0.99%) LAN
4 17 (0.84%) DNS
5 16 (0.79%) Network Security
5 16 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
6 15 (0.74%) Structured Cabling
7 13 (0.64%) SD-WAN
8 12 (0.59%) VPN
9 11 (0.54%) SSH
10 10 (0.49%) TCP/IP
11 9 (0.44%) Internet
11 9 (0.44%) MPLS
11 9 (0.44%) SSL
12 8 (0.39%) HTTP
13 7 (0.35%) BGP
13 7 (0.35%) DHCP
14 6 (0.30%) Broadband
14 6 (0.30%) IPsec
15 5 (0.25%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 86 (4.24%) Power BI
2 29 (1.43%) Tableau
3 23 (1.13%) SQL Server
4 19 (0.94%) Metadata
5 17 (0.84%) Data Warehouse
6 14 (0.69%) Data Lake
7 11 (0.54%) SAP HANA
8 7 (0.35%) Electronic Patient Records
8 7 (0.35%) Relational Database
9 6 (0.30%) Elasticsearch
9 6 (0.30%) Oracle Reports
10 5 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
11 4 (0.20%) BigQuery
11 4 (0.20%) GIS
11 4 (0.20%) Oracle Database
11 4 (0.20%) Power Query
12 3 (0.15%) Amazon Redshift
12 3 (0.15%) Big Data
12 3 (0.15%) Oracle BI Publisher
12 3 (0.15%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 326 (16.07%) 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 2 (0.099%) SpecFlow
8 1 (0.049%) Ant
8 1 (0.049%) Appium
8 1 (0.049%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.049%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.049%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.049%) ERwin
8 1 (0.049%) JUnit
8 1 (0.049%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.049%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.049%) TestDirector
8 1 (0.049%) Toad
8 1 (0.049%) Visual Studio
General
1 1,014 (50.00%) Social Skills
2 750 (36.98%) Finance
3 340 (16.77%) Analytical Skills
4 209 (10.31%) Public Sector
5 198 (9.76%) Organisational Skills
6 176 (8.68%) Banking
7 104 (5.13%) Retail
8 87 (4.29%) Marketing
9 83 (4.09%) Legal
10 81 (3.99%) Influencing Skills
11 79 (3.90%) Manufacturing
12 57 (2.81%) Presentation Skills
13 46 (2.27%) Telecoms
14 45 (2.22%) Investment Banking
15 32 (1.58%) Local Government
16 30 (1.48%) Front Office
17 29 (1.43%) Documentation Skills
17 29 (1.43%) Financial Institution
18 28 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
19 20 (0.99%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 780 (38.46%) Project Manager
2 250 (12.33%) Analyst
3 170 (8.38%) Lead
3 170 (8.38%) Senior
4 131 (6.46%) Business Analyst
5 116 (5.72%) Senior Manager
6 98 (4.83%) Senior Project Manager
7 97 (4.78%) IT Manager
8 89 (4.39%) IT Project Manager
9 84 (4.14%) Consultant
10 65 (3.21%) Technical Manager
11 60 (2.96%) Delivery Manager
12 55 (2.71%) Infrastructure Manager
12 55 (2.71%) Programme Manager
13 48 (2.37%) SAP Manager
14 47 (2.32%) Infrastructure Project Manager
14 47 (2.32%) Project Officer
15 45 (2.22%) Architect
15 45 (2.22%) Coordinator
16 44 (2.17%) Technical Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (1.08%) Middleware
1 22 (1.08%) Oracle Fusion
2 15 (0.74%) Web Services
3 14 (0.69%) REST
3 14 (0.69%) SOAP
4 12 (0.59%) EDI
5 11 (0.54%) .NET
5 11 (0.54%) XML
6 9 (0.44%) CSS
7 8 (0.39%) AngularJS
7 8 (0.39%) HTML
7 8 (0.39%) LDAP
8 6 (0.30%) ADO
8 6 (0.30%) Elastic Stack
8 6 (0.30%) OAuth
8 6 (0.30%) OpenID
8 6 (0.30%) React
9 5 (0.25%) OAuth2
9 5 (0.25%) SailPoint
9 5 (0.25%) XACML
Miscellaneous
1 119 (5.87%) Onboarding
2 105 (5.18%) Management Information System
3 71 (3.50%) Data Protection Act
4 69 (3.40%) Data Centre
5 62 (3.06%) PMI
6 51 (2.51%) Product Ownership
7 49 (2.42%) Virtual Team
8 39 (1.92%) Self-Motivation
9 36 (1.78%) Legacy Systems
10 31 (1.53%) NHS
11 25 (1.23%) CMDB
12 24 (1.18%) Operational Technology
13 22 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
14 21 (1.04%) Enterprise Software
15 17 (0.84%) SCADA
15 17 (0.84%) Social Media
16 15 (0.74%) Cloud Native
17 13 (0.64%) Derivative
17 13 (0.64%) Web Conferencing
18 12 (0.59%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 59 (2.91%) Windows
2 17 (0.84%) Linux
3 12 (0.59%) Unix
3 12 (0.59%) Windows Server
4 8 (0.39%) Windows 10
5 2 (0.099%) AIX
5 2 (0.099%) Ubuntu
5 2 (0.099%) Windows Server 2019
6 1 (0.049%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 1 (0.049%) Solaris
6 1 (0.049%) VMS
6 1 (0.049%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.049%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 749 (36.93%) Agile
2 663 (32.69%) Stakeholder Management
3 477 (23.52%) Project Delivery
4 471 (23.22%) Problem-Solving
5 415 (20.46%) PRINCE2
6 350 (17.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 318 (15.68%) Change Management
8 303 (14.94%) Migration
9 273 (13.46%) Continuous Improvement
10 219 (10.80%) Decision-Making
10 219 (10.80%) Waterfall
11 217 (10.70%) Risk Management
12 196 (9.66%) Scrum
13 180 (8.88%) Budget Management
14 160 (7.89%) ERP
15 157 (7.74%) DevOps
16 149 (7.35%) Cybersecurity
16 149 (7.35%) ITIL
17 141 (6.95%) Project Governance
17 141 (6.95%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 91 (4.49%) SQL
2 44 (2.17%) Python
3 14 (0.69%) C#
3 14 (0.69%) Java
4 13 (0.64%) ABAP
5 12 (0.59%) JavaScript
6 7 (0.35%) PowerShell
7 6 (0.30%) VBA
8 5 (0.25%) Perl
8 5 (0.25%) PL/SQL
8 5 (0.25%) T-SQL
9 4 (0.20%) Data Analysis Expressions
9 4 (0.20%) Go
9 4 (0.20%) R
9 4 (0.20%) Ruby
10 3 (0.15%) C++
10 3 (0.15%) SOQL
10 3 (0.15%) VB
11 2 (0.099%) C
11 2 (0.099%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 342 (16.86%) Degree
2 292 (14.40%) Security Cleared
3 279 (13.76%) PMP
4 263 (12.97%) PMI Certification
5 212 (10.45%) SC Cleared
6 62 (3.06%) DV Cleared
7 47 (2.32%) Master's Degree
8 44 (2.17%) BPSS Clearance
9 39 (1.92%) APMP
10 29 (1.43%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
11 25 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
12 24 (1.18%) CISSP
12 24 (1.18%) PRINCE2 Certification
13 21 (1.04%) CISM
14 20 (0.99%) MBA
15 16 (0.79%) CBAP
16 15 (0.74%) IIBA
17 13 (0.64%) ACCA
17 13 (0.64%) CIMA
18 8 (0.39%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 221 (10.90%) PMO
2 132 (6.51%) QA
3 61 (3.01%) Data Quality
4 58 (2.86%) GDPR
5 50 (2.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 35 (1.73%) NIST
7 20 (0.99%) PCI DSS
7 20 (0.99%) SLA
8 19 (0.94%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 17 (0.84%) GRC
10 14 (0.69%) Accessibility
11 10 (0.49%) Basel III
11 10 (0.49%) Disclosure Scotland
12 7 (0.35%) ISO 19650
12 7 (0.35%) ISO 9001
12 7 (0.35%) MiFID
12 7 (0.35%) WCAG
13 6 (0.30%) Actionable Recommendations
13 6 (0.30%) Cyber Essentials
13 6 (0.30%) P3O
System Software
1 34 (1.68%) Active Directory
2 13 (0.64%) Docker
2 13 (0.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (0.25%) RACF
3 5 (0.25%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.099%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.049%) PowerHA
6 1 (0.049%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.049%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 15 (0.74%) Kubernetes
1 15 (0.74%) Single Sign-On
2 13 (0.64%) Terraform
3 11 (0.54%) Ansible
4 7 (0.35%) SCCM
5 6 (0.30%) Kibana
5 6 (0.30%) logstash
5 6 (0.30%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.20%) Consul
6 4 (0.20%) FortiGate
6 4 (0.20%) Packer
7 3 (0.15%) Grafana
7 3 (0.15%) Puppet
7 3 (0.15%) RSA Archer
7 3 (0.15%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.049%) Cisco UCCX
8 1 (0.049%) ITRS Geneos
8 1 (0.049%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.049%) SCOM
8 1 (0.049%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 313 (15.43%) Microsoft
2 192 (9.47%) SAP
3 107 (5.28%) ServiceNow
4 72 (3.55%) Oracle
5 66 (3.25%) Salesforce
6 32 (1.58%) Google
7 31 (1.53%) Cisco
8 27 (1.33%) Adobe
9 23 (1.13%) Workday
10 22 (1.08%) Databricks
11 21 (1.04%) VMware
12 19 (0.94%) Atlassian
13 16 (0.79%) Ariba
13 16 (0.79%) CyberArk
13 16 (0.79%) Planview
14 15 (0.74%) IBM
14 15 (0.74%) Sage
15 13 (0.64%) Palo Alto
16 10 (0.49%) Juniper
17 9 (0.44%) Splunk