Lead Contract Job Trends in Wales

Leader
UK > Wales

The median Leader daily rate in Wales is £484, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 31 December 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

 6 months to
31 Dec 2025		 Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 19 23 32
Rank change year-on-year +4 +9 -1
Contract jobs requiring a Lead 30 23 19
As % of all contract jobs in Wales 6.52% 5.67% 4.46%
As % of the Job Titles category 7.28% 6.27% 4.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 16 17 17
10th Percentile £253 £199 £163
25th Percentile £318 £213 £207
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £484 £530 £300
Median % change year-on-year -8.73% +76.67% -47.37%
75th Percentile £600 £688 £588
90th Percentile £625 £750 £600
UK median daily rate £550 £588 £580
% change year-on-year -6.38% +1.29% -3.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 2 0
Median hourly rate - £22.68 -
UK median hourly rate £45.46 £46.18 £46.18
% change year-on-year -1.56% - +31.94%

All Contract IT Job Roles
Wales

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Wales. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in Wales with a recognized job title 412 367 406
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 89.57% 90.39% 95.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 252 238 308
10th Percentile £171 £161 £164
25th Percentile £266 £213 £217
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £413 £419 £406
Median % change year-on-year -1.49% +3.08% -11.68%
75th Percentile £513 £550 £550
90th Percentile £613 £650 £647
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 42 22
10th Percentile £13.33 £18.33 £17.10
25th Percentile £15.00 £20.16 £21.34
Median hourly rate £20.00 £25.48 £29.83
Median % change year-on-year -21.51% -14.59% +97.50%
75th Percentile £22.00 £39.32 £53.44
90th Percentile £30.45 £48.00 £55.25
UK median hourly rate £26.00 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -20.00% -27.78% +38.46%

Lead
Job Vacancy Trend in Wales

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Lead' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Wales.

Lead job vacancy trend in Wales

Lead
Daily Rate Trend in Wales

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in Wales.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in Wales

Lead
Daily Rate Histogram in Wales

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Lead in Wales over the 6 months to 31 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Lead in Wales

Lead
Hourly Rate Trend in Wales

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in Wales.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Lead job vacancies in Wales

Lead
Contract Job Locations in Wales

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Lead within the Wales region over the 6 months to 31 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
South Wales +9 29 £450 -19.46% 12
West Wales - 1 £625 -
Lead
UK

Lead Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Wales

For the 6 months to 31 December 2025, Lead contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Wales region featuring Lead in the job title.

1 8 (26.67%) Agile
2 6 (20.00%) Degree
2 6 (20.00%) SQL
3 5 (16.67%) DevOps
3 5 (16.67%) Microsoft
3 5 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
4 4 (13.33%) .NET
4 4 (13.33%) .NET Core
4 4 (13.33%) Accessibility
4 4 (13.33%) Case Management
4 4 (13.33%) Continuous Improvement
4 4 (13.33%) Cypress.io
4 4 (13.33%) End-to-End Testing
4 4 (13.33%) Jest
4 4 (13.33%) Mentoring
4 4 (13.33%) Next.js
4 4 (13.33%) Oracle
4 4 (13.33%) React
4 4 (13.33%) Software Engineering
4 4 (13.33%) Test Strategy
4 4 (13.33%) TypeScript
5 3 (10.00%) .NET Framework
5 3 (10.00%) Budget Management
5 3 (10.00%) Budgeting and Resource Allocation
5 3 (10.00%) Change Management
5 3 (10.00%) CI/CD
5 3 (10.00%) Code Quality
5 3 (10.00%) Contract Negotiation
5 3 (10.00%) Cybersecurity
5 3 (10.00%) Entity Framework

Lead Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Wales 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 2 (6.67%) Oracle Service Bus
1 2 (6.67%) Oracle SOA Suite
1 2 (6.67%) WebLogic
Applications
1 2 (6.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 2 (6.67%) Microsoft Project
1 2 (6.67%) UserZoom
2 1 (3.33%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (6.67%) Oracle BPM
2 1 (3.33%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (3.33%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 2 (6.67%) Azure
1 2 (6.67%) Miro
2 1 (3.33%) AWS
Communications & Networking
1 1 (3.33%) Firewall
1 1 (3.33%) Network Security
1 1 (3.33%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (3.33%) Oracle Database
1 1 (3.33%) Relational Database
1 1 (3.33%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (13.33%) Cypress.io
2 3 (10.00%) Git
3 1 (3.33%) JIRA
3 1 (3.33%) Selenium
3 1 (3.33%) SpecFlow
General
1 9 (30.00%) Public Sector
2 8 (26.67%) Social Skills
3 4 (13.33%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (6.67%) Finance
4 2 (6.67%) Organisational Skills
5 1 (3.33%) Billing
5 1 (3.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (3.33%) Influencing Skills
5 1 (3.33%) Legal
5 1 (3.33%) Local Government
5 1 (3.33%) Retail
5 1 (3.33%) Welsh Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (13.33%) .NET
1 4 (13.33%) .NET Core
1 4 (13.33%) Jest
1 4 (13.33%) Next.js
1 4 (13.33%) React
2 3 (10.00%) .NET Framework
2 3 (10.00%) Entity Framework
3 2 (6.67%) JSON
3 2 (6.67%) Middleware
3 2 (6.67%) OAuth
3 2 (6.67%) OAuth2
3 2 (6.67%) OpenAPI
3 2 (6.67%) Oracle Fusion
3 2 (6.67%) REST
3 2 (6.67%) SOAP
3 2 (6.67%) Swagger
3 2 (6.67%) XML
3 2 (6.67%) XSD
4 1 (3.33%) CSS
4 1 (3.33%) FHIR
Miscellaneous
1 4 (13.33%) NHS
2 3 (10.00%) Client/Server
3 2 (6.67%) Management Information System
3 2 (6.67%) Onboarding
3 2 (6.67%) Virtual Team
4 1 (3.33%) Data Protection Act
4 1 (3.33%) Legacy Systems
4 1 (3.33%) Smart Meter
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (26.67%) Agile
2 5 (16.67%) DevOps
2 5 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
3 4 (13.33%) Case Management
3 4 (13.33%) Continuous Improvement
3 4 (13.33%) End-to-End Testing
3 4 (13.33%) Mentoring
3 4 (13.33%) Software Engineering
3 4 (13.33%) Test Strategy
4 3 (10.00%) Budgeting and Resource Allocation
4 3 (10.00%) Change Management
4 3 (10.00%) Front End Development
4 3 (10.00%) Informatics
4 3 (10.00%) Migration
4 3 (10.00%) Performance Optimisation
4 3 (10.00%) PRINCE2
4 3 (10.00%) Programme Management
4 3 (10.00%) Resource Allocation
4 3 (10.00%) Service Design
4 3 (10.00%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 6 (20.00%) SQL
2 4 (13.33%) TypeScript
3 3 (10.00%) PL/SQL
4 1 (3.33%) C#
4 1 (3.33%) Java
4 1 (3.33%) JavaScript
4 1 (3.33%) Ruby
4 1 (3.33%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 6 (20.00%) Degree
2 3 (10.00%) Master's Degree
2 3 (10.00%) SC Cleared
2 3 (10.00%) Security Cleared
3 1 (3.33%) ACCA
3 1 (3.33%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (3.33%) CIMA
3 1 (3.33%) FFIEC
3 1 (3.33%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (13.33%) Accessibility
2 3 (10.00%) WCAG
3 2 (6.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (6.67%) NIST
3 2 (6.67%) QA
4 1 (3.33%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (3.33%) HL7
System Software
1 2 (6.67%) Docker
Systems Management
1 1 (3.33%) HP ALM
Vendors
1 5 (16.67%) Microsoft
2 4 (13.33%) Oracle
3 1 (3.33%) HP
3 1 (3.33%) SAP
3 1 (3.33%) Zscaler
Lead jobs