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 28 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 39 20 19
Rank change year-on-year -19 -1 +5
Contract jobs citing Project Management 1,977 2,767 3,567
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 5.35% 8.25% 8.20%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 6.08% 9.34% 9.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,245 1,531 2,317
10th Percentile £313 £275 £325
25th Percentile £413 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -
75th Percentile £610 £613 £638
90th Percentile £713 £725 £712
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £500 £500
Number of hourly rates quoted 109 127 155
10th Percentile £17.00 £21.25 £21.20
25th Percentile £23.50 £26.29 £30.01
Median hourly rate £39.50 £33.00 £47.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.70% -29.79% +18.16%
75th Percentile £63.40 £56.63 £60.00
90th Percentile £65.03 £69.15 £72.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £35.00 £48.00
% change year-on-year +29.89% -27.08% -2.81%

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 32,524 29,621 38,311
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 88.04% 88.28% 88.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,487 18,059 25,534
10th Percentile £300 £308 £306
25th Percentile £406 £413 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £528
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -0.57% -4.00%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -5.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,055 961 1,540
10th Percentile £14.69 £15.62 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.30 £18.93
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £43.42
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -25.14% +24.04%
75th Percentile £51.65 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £74.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £30.78 £45.00
% change year-on-year -23.41% -31.60% +50.00%

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 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025. 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 -19 1,700 £520 -0.95% 3,024
UK excluding London -21 993 £500 - 2,627
London -16 797 £525 -4.55% 694
Work from Home -14 577 £500 -0.10% 1,341
North of England -20 261 £490 +3.11% 607
South East -11 257 £525 - 699
Midlands -25 190 £500 -4.76% 492
North West -16 147 £492 +9.33% 310
West Midlands -24 132 £500 -9.09% 275
Yorkshire -19 105 £488 +5.41% 263
South West -24 101 £450 -6.49% 305
Scotland -8 95 £431 -4.17% 120
East Midlands -15 60 £468 +17.00% 197
East of England -33 59 £450 -7.69% 350
Wales -4 31 £325 -38.10% 67
Northern Ireland -7 19 £388 -18.42% 34
North East -23 11 £430 -25.22% 40

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
1 161 (8.14%) Confluence
2 123 (6.22%) SharePoint
3 27 (1.37%) CMS
4 13 (0.66%) Microsoft Exchange
5 8 (0.40%) Skype for Business
6 7 (0.35%) Exchange Server 2013
6 7 (0.35%) WordPress
7 5 (0.25%) nginx
8 2 (0.10%) Sitecore CMS
9 1 (0.051%) Apache
9 1 (0.051%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.051%) ArcGIS
9 1 (0.051%) IIS
9 1 (0.051%) Moodle
9 1 (0.051%) MS Project Server
9 1 (0.051%) Oracle SOA Suite
9 1 (0.051%) Orchard CMS
9 1 (0.051%) SAS
9 1 (0.051%) Umbraco
9 1 (0.051%) WebSphere
Applications
1 220 (11.13%) Microsoft Excel
2 203 (10.27%) Microsoft Project
3 164 (8.30%) Microsoft Office
4 133 (6.73%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 62 (3.14%) MS Visio
6 27 (1.37%) Trello
7 17 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
8 6 (0.30%) 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 (0.10%) Adobe Illustrator
11 2 (0.10%) AutoCAD
11 2 (0.10%) InDesign
11 2 (0.10%) Photoshop
11 2 (0.10%) ProjectWise
Business Applications
1 52 (2.63%) SAP S/4HANA
2 15 (0.76%) Oracle EBS
3 13 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
3 13 (0.66%) Primavera
4 11 (0.56%) Oracle ERP
5 10 (0.51%) Salesforce CRM
6 8 (0.40%) Loan IQ
6 8 (0.40%) SAP ERP
6 8 (0.40%) SAP Payroll
7 7 (0.35%) SAP PM
8 6 (0.30%) NetSuite
8 6 (0.30%) Oracle Financials
8 6 (0.30%) Oracle Payables
8 6 (0.30%) Shopify
8 6 (0.30%) Workfront
9 5 (0.25%) SAP CO
9 5 (0.25%) SAP FI
9 5 (0.25%) Workday HCM
10 4 (0.20%) ResourceLink
10 4 (0.20%) SAP FI/CO
Cloud Services
1 166 (8.40%) Azure
2 113 (5.72%) Power Platform
3 97 (4.91%) AWS
4 76 (3.84%) Microsoft 365
5 46 (2.33%) Azure DevOps
5 46 (2.33%) SaaS
6 30 (1.52%) GCP
7 26 (1.32%) Asana
8 24 (1.21%) Smartsheet
8 24 (1.21%) SuccessFactors
9 20 (1.01%) Dynamics 365
9 20 (1.01%) Google Workspace
10 17 (0.86%) GitHub
10 17 (0.86%) OpenShift
11 16 (0.81%) OneDrive
12 15 (0.76%) Microsoft Copilot
13 14 (0.71%) Cloud Computing
14 10 (0.51%) Entra ID
14 10 (0.51%) PaaS
14 10 (0.51%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 45 (2.28%) Firewall
2 20 (1.01%) WAN
3 18 (0.91%) Network Security
4 16 (0.81%) DNS
4 16 (0.81%) LAN
4 16 (0.81%) SSH
5 13 (0.66%) Structured Cabling
5 13 (0.66%) Wi-Fi
6 11 (0.56%) SD-WAN
6 11 (0.56%) VPN
7 10 (0.51%) HTTP
8 9 (0.46%) Skype
9 8 (0.40%) Internet
9 8 (0.40%) TCP/IP
10 6 (0.30%) Broadband
10 6 (0.30%) DHCP
10 6 (0.30%) SSL
11 5 (0.25%) Multicast
11 5 (0.25%) Wireless
12 4 (0.20%) Junos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 102 (5.16%) Power BI
2 32 (1.62%) Tableau
3 27 (1.37%) SQL Server
4 18 (0.91%) Data Warehouse
4 18 (0.91%) Metadata
5 15 (0.76%) SAP HANA
6 10 (0.51%) Data Lake
7 8 (0.40%) Elasticsearch
8 7 (0.35%) Oracle Reports
8 7 (0.35%) Relational Database
9 5 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
9 5 (0.25%) Electronic Patient Records
9 5 (0.25%) Power Query
10 4 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
11 3 (0.15%) Big Data
11 3 (0.15%) GIS
11 3 (0.15%) MySQL
11 3 (0.15%) Oracle Database
11 3 (0.15%) PostgreSQL
11 3 (0.15%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 322 (16.29%) JIRA
2 18 (0.91%) Git
3 12 (0.61%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.35%) GitLab
5 4 (0.20%) Selenium
5 4 (0.20%) SpecFlow
6 3 (0.15%) Axure RP
6 3 (0.15%) Bitbucket
6 3 (0.15%) SonarQube
7 2 (0.10%) Artifactory
8 1 (0.051%) Ant
8 1 (0.051%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.051%) CircleCI
8 1 (0.051%) Cucumber
8 1 (0.051%) Cypress.io
8 1 (0.051%) Gradle
8 1 (0.051%) SoapUI
8 1 (0.051%) Sonatype Nexus
8 1 (0.051%) Travis CI
8 1 (0.051%) Tricentis qTest
General
1 965 (48.81%) Social Skills
2 698 (35.31%) Finance
3 339 (17.15%) Analytical Skills
4 203 (10.27%) Public Sector
5 179 (9.05%) Banking
6 166 (8.40%) Organisational Skills
7 97 (4.91%) Legal
8 94 (4.75%) Marketing
9 89 (4.50%) Retail
10 81 (4.10%) Manufacturing
11 74 (3.74%) Influencing Skills
12 51 (2.58%) Telecoms
13 47 (2.38%) Presentation Skills
14 46 (2.33%) Investment Banking
14 46 (2.33%) Local Government
15 36 (1.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 35 (1.77%) Pharmaceutical
17 33 (1.67%) Front Office
18 30 (1.52%) Documentation Skills
19 23 (1.16%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 728 (36.82%) Project Manager
2 233 (11.79%) Analyst
3 162 (8.19%) Lead
4 153 (7.74%) Senior
5 126 (6.37%) Business Analyst
6 104 (5.26%) IT Manager
7 97 (4.91%) Senior Manager
8 90 (4.55%) IT Project Manager
9 82 (4.15%) Consultant
10 75 (3.79%) Senior Project Manager
11 61 (3.09%) Technical Manager
12 56 (2.83%) Delivery Manager
13 55 (2.78%) Infrastructure Manager
14 54 (2.73%) Programme Manager
15 47 (2.38%) Coordinator
15 47 (2.38%) Infrastructure Project Manager
16 43 (2.18%) SAP Manager
16 43 (2.18%) Technical Project Manager
17 40 (2.02%) Developer
18 39 (1.97%) Security Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (0.96%) Oracle Fusion
2 18 (0.91%) Middleware
3 13 (0.66%) .NET
3 13 (0.66%) EDI
3 13 (0.66%) HTML
4 10 (0.51%) XML
5 9 (0.46%) AngularJS
5 9 (0.46%) CSS
5 9 (0.46%) Web Services
6 8 (0.40%) ADO
6 8 (0.40%) Elastic Stack
6 8 (0.40%) React
6 8 (0.40%) REST
6 8 (0.40%) RESTful
6 8 (0.40%) SAP Fiori
7 7 (0.35%) LDAP
7 7 (0.35%) SOAP
8 6 (0.30%) LangChain
9 5 (0.25%) .NET Framework
9 5 (0.25%) Entity Framework
Miscellaneous
1 112 (5.67%) Onboarding
2 111 (5.61%) Management Information System
3 61 (3.09%) PMI
4 59 (2.98%) Data Protection Act
5 55 (2.78%) Data Centre
6 51 (2.58%) Product Ownership
7 49 (2.48%) Virtual Team
8 46 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
9 38 (1.92%) Legacy Systems
10 26 (1.32%) Enterprise Software
11 25 (1.26%) Analytical Mindset
12 24 (1.21%) NHS
13 20 (1.01%) CMDB
14 18 (0.91%) Operational Technology
15 17 (0.86%) Social Media
16 16 (0.81%) Life Science
16 16 (0.81%) Mobile App
17 14 (0.71%) Cloud Native
18 13 (0.66%) Derivative
18 13 (0.66%) Driving Licence
Operating Systems
1 77 (3.89%) Windows
2 20 (1.01%) Linux
3 16 (0.81%) Unix
4 13 (0.66%) Windows Server
5 12 (0.61%) Windows 10
6 4 (0.20%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.15%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (0.10%) AIX
8 2 (0.10%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.10%) VMS
8 2 (0.10%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.051%) Android
9 1 (0.051%) Solaris
9 1 (0.051%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.051%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 751 (37.99%) Agile
2 614 (31.06%) Stakeholder Management
3 474 (23.98%) Problem-Solving
4 467 (23.62%) Project Delivery
5 414 (20.94%) PRINCE2
6 360 (18.21%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 343 (17.35%) Change Management
8 266 (13.45%) Migration
9 247 (12.49%) Continuous Improvement
10 237 (11.99%) Waterfall
11 218 (11.03%) Decision-Making
12 211 (10.67%) Risk Management
13 183 (9.26%) Scrum
14 161 (8.14%) ITIL
15 158 (7.99%) Budget Management
16 153 (7.74%) Project Governance
17 151 (7.64%) DevOps
18 141 (7.13%) Roadmaps
19 137 (6.93%) Cybersecurity
20 129 (6.53%) ERP
Programming Languages
1 82 (4.15%) SQL
2 44 (2.23%) Python
3 18 (0.91%) JavaScript
4 15 (0.76%) Java
5 12 (0.61%) C#
6 11 (0.56%) ABAP
7 10 (0.51%) PowerShell
8 5 (0.25%) Perl
8 5 (0.25%) PL/SQL
8 5 (0.25%) VBA
9 4 (0.20%) C++
9 4 (0.20%) Go
9 4 (0.20%) R
9 4 (0.20%) Ruby
9 4 (0.20%) T-SQL
9 4 (0.20%) VB
10 3 (0.15%) Data Analysis Expressions
10 3 (0.15%) Korn
11 2 (0.10%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.10%) Kusto Query Language
Qualifications
1 379 (19.17%) Degree
2 265 (13.40%) PMP
3 261 (13.20%) PMI Certification
4 250 (12.65%) Security Cleared
5 175 (8.85%) SC Cleared
6 55 (2.78%) DV Cleared
7 41 (2.07%) Master's Degree
8 38 (1.92%) APMP
8 38 (1.92%) Computer Science Degree
9 37 (1.87%) BPSS Clearance
10 29 (1.47%) PRINCE2 Certification
11 27 (1.37%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
12 21 (1.06%) CISSP
13 18 (0.91%) CISM
14 16 (0.81%) MBA
15 10 (0.51%) A+ Certification
15 10 (0.51%) ITIL Certification
16 9 (0.46%) CBAP
16 9 (0.46%) HND
16 9 (0.46%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 209 (10.57%) PMO
2 120 (6.07%) QA
3 56 (2.83%) GDPR
4 55 (2.78%) Data Quality
5 45 (2.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 30 (1.52%) NIST
7 23 (1.16%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 19 (0.96%) PCI DSS
9 17 (0.86%) GRC
10 16 (0.81%) Accessibility
11 13 (0.66%) P3O
12 10 (0.51%) Disclosure Scotland
13 8 (0.40%) Basel III
14 7 (0.35%) GxP
14 7 (0.35%) ISO 19650
14 7 (0.35%) ISO 9001
14 7 (0.35%) SLA
15 6 (0.30%) California Consumer Privacy Act
15 6 (0.30%) MiFID
15 6 (0.30%) WCAG
System Software
1 40 (2.02%) Active Directory
2 16 (0.81%) Docker
3 11 (0.56%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.20%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.15%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.10%) Firmware
7 1 (0.051%) Embedded Firmware
7 1 (0.051%) IAG
7 1 (0.051%) PowerHA
7 1 (0.051%) RACF
7 1 (0.051%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.051%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 18 (0.91%) Kubernetes
2 15 (0.76%) Terraform
3 14 (0.71%) Ansible
4 13 (0.66%) SCCM
5 9 (0.46%) Microsoft Intune
5 9 (0.46%) Single Sign-On
6 8 (0.40%) Kibana
7 7 (0.35%) logstash
8 4 (0.20%) Consul
8 4 (0.20%) FortiGate
8 4 (0.20%) ITRS Geneos
8 4 (0.20%) Packer
9 3 (0.15%) Functional Safety
9 3 (0.15%) Grafana
9 3 (0.15%) Puppet
9 3 (0.15%) RSA Archer
10 2 (0.10%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
10 2 (0.10%) ZABBIX
11 1 (0.051%) Cisco UCCE
11 1 (0.051%) Control-M
Vendors
1 331 (16.74%) Microsoft
2 178 (9.00%) SAP
3 84 (4.25%) ServiceNow
4 79 (4.00%) Oracle
5 68 (3.44%) Salesforce
6 49 (2.48%) Google
7 30 (1.52%) Cisco
8 25 (1.26%) Adobe
8 25 (1.26%) Workday
9 22 (1.11%) Planview
10 21 (1.06%) Atlassian
11 19 (0.96%) IBM
12 18 (0.91%) Ariba
12 18 (0.91%) VMware
13 16 (0.81%) Databricks
14 11 (0.56%) Palo Alto
15 10 (0.51%) Juniper
16 9 (0.46%) CyberArk
16 9 (0.46%) Splunk
17 8 (0.40%) Remedy