Head of IT Job Trends

Head of Information Technology
UK

The median Head of Information Technology salary in the UK is £85,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 7 December 2025.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 532 559 580
Rank change year-on-year +27 +21 +138
Permanent jobs requiring a Head of IT 122 184 130
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.22% 0.30% 0.26%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.24% 0.32% 0.27%
Number of salaries quoted 102 110 104
10th Percentile £60,000 £50,000 £62,500
25th Percentile £69,000 £60,875 £67,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £85,000 £75,000 £85,000
Median % change year-on-year +13.33% -11.76% +6.25%
75th Percentile £100,000 £95,000 £105,000
90th Percentile £107,375 £111,250 £122,624
UK excluding London median annual salary £85,000 £72,500 £80,000
% change year-on-year +17.24% -9.38% +6.67%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies. 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 permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 50,704 58,391 48,070
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 89.90% 94.00% 95.24%
Number of salaries quoted 31,404 32,367 37,457
10th Percentile £28,250 £32,500 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £42,500 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £58,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -5.17% -3.33% -
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £80,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £52,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -9.52% - -

Head of IT
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Head of IT' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

Head of IT job vacancy trend in the UK

Head of IT
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Head of IT job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Head of IT job vacancies in the UK

Head of IT
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Head of IT over the 6 months to 7 December 2025.

Salary histogram for Head of IT in the UK

Head of IT
Top 14 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Head of IT within the UK over the 6 months to 7 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +42 113 £87,500 +16.67% 36
UK excluding London +36 77 £85,000 +17.24% 30
Work from Home +71 57 £90,000 +16.13% 17
South East +63 41 £80,000 - 14
London +56 35 £92,250 -7.75% 11
West Midlands +25 14 £100,000 +42.86% 2
Midlands +14 14 £100,000 +42.86% 2
North of England -1 12 £67,237 -10.05% 10
South West +21 6 £60,000 -4.00% 3
North West +17 5 £64,473 -11.07% 7
Yorkshire -15 4 £60,000 -14.29% 1
North East +11 3 £105,000 +31.25% 2
Scotland +4 2 £80,000 -40.74% 1
Wales +1 2 £85,000 +52.39% 1

Head of IT Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 7 December 2025, Head of IT 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 permanent job ads featuring Head of IT in the job title.

1 61 (50.00%) Cybersecurity
2 52 (42.62%) IT Strategy
3 41 (33.61%) Microsoft
4 38 (31.15%) Project Management
5 36 (29.51%) Azure
6 31 (25.41%) Service Delivery
7 29 (23.77%) Stakeholder Management
8 28 (22.95%) Risk Management
9 27 (22.13%) Budget Management
9 27 (22.13%) ITIL
10 26 (21.31%) ERP
11 25 (20.49%) Microsoft 365
12 24 (19.67%) Continuous Improvement
12 24 (19.67%) Roadmaps
13 23 (18.85%) Business Continuity
13 23 (18.85%) Degree
14 22 (18.03%) Strategic Thinking
15 20 (16.39%) Computer Science
15 20 (16.39%) GDPR
16 19 (15.57%) Disaster Recovery
16 19 (15.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
17 18 (14.75%) Data Protection
17 18 (14.75%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 17 (13.93%) AWS
18 17 (13.93%) NIST
18 17 (13.93%) PMI Certification
18 17 (13.93%) PMP
19 16 (13.11%) Data Security
19 16 (13.11%) Master's Degree
20 15 (12.30%) Agile

Head of IT Skill Set
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 6 (4.92%) SharePoint
2 3 (2.46%) CMS
2 3 (2.46%) Moodle
3 2 (1.64%) WordPress
4 1 (0.82%) IIS
Applications
1 4 (3.28%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.64%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (2.46%) Adaptiv
2 1 (0.82%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.82%) Salesforce CRM
2 1 (0.82%) SAP Business One
2 1 (0.82%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 36 (29.51%) Azure
2 25 (20.49%) Microsoft 365
3 17 (13.93%) AWS
4 15 (12.30%) SaaS
5 7 (5.74%) Power Platform
6 3 (2.46%) Entra ID
6 3 (2.46%) GCP
7 2 (1.64%) Dynamics 365
7 2 (1.64%) IaaS
7 2 (1.64%) Nutanix
7 2 (1.64%) Smartsheet
8 1 (0.82%) Google Analytics
Communications & Networking
1 13 (10.66%) WAN
2 10 (8.20%) Firewall
2 10 (8.20%) VoIP
3 9 (7.38%) LAN
3 9 (7.38%) SD-WAN
3 9 (7.38%) Wi-Fi
4 8 (6.56%) VPN
5 7 (5.74%) Unified Communications
6 5 (4.10%) DNS
7 4 (3.28%) SSL
8 3 (2.46%) DHCP
8 3 (2.46%) TCP/IP
8 3 (2.46%) Wireless
9 2 (1.64%) Ethernet
9 2 (1.64%) VLAN
10 1 (0.82%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.74%) Power BI
2 5 (4.10%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.82%) Crystal Reports
3 1 (0.82%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.82%) Tableau
General
1 29 (23.77%) Finance
1 29 (23.77%) Social Skills
2 13 (10.66%) Analytical Skills
3 11 (9.02%) Manufacturing
4 9 (7.38%) Retail
5 8 (6.56%) Telecoms
6 6 (4.92%) Law
7 5 (4.10%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (3.28%) Banking
8 4 (3.28%) Legal
8 4 (3.28%) Organisational Skills
8 4 (3.28%) Public Speaking
9 3 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.64%) Public Sector
11 1 (0.82%) Back Office
11 1 (0.82%) Games
11 1 (0.82%) Marketing
11 1 (0.82%) Military
11 1 (0.82%) Police
11 1 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.64%) Web Services
2 1 (0.82%) .NET
Miscellaneous
1 7 (5.74%) Management Information System
1 7 (5.74%) Operational Technology
2 5 (4.10%) Onboarding
3 4 (3.28%) Data Centre
3 4 (3.28%) Driving Licence
3 4 (3.28%) Enterprise Software
3 4 (3.28%) Learning Management System
3 4 (3.28%) Security Posture
4 3 (2.46%) Credit Risk
5 2 (1.64%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (1.64%) Cyber Security Posture
5 2 (1.64%) Digital Media
5 2 (1.64%) Fibre Optics
5 2 (1.64%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (0.82%) Cyberattack
6 1 (0.82%) Hybrid Cloud
6 1 (0.82%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (0.82%) Legacy Systems
6 1 (0.82%) Product Ownership
6 1 (0.82%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 10 (8.20%) Windows
2 7 (5.74%) Windows Server
3 3 (2.46%) Linux
4 2 (1.64%) Android
4 2 (1.64%) Apple iOS
4 2 (1.64%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.82%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.82%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (50.00%) Cybersecurity
2 52 (42.62%) IT Strategy
3 38 (31.15%) Project Management
4 31 (25.41%) Service Delivery
5 29 (23.77%) Stakeholder Management
6 28 (22.95%) Risk Management
7 27 (22.13%) Budget Management
7 27 (22.13%) ITIL
8 26 (21.31%) ERP
9 24 (19.67%) Continuous Improvement
9 24 (19.67%) Roadmaps
10 23 (18.85%) Business Continuity
11 22 (18.03%) Strategic Thinking
12 20 (16.39%) Computer Science
13 19 (15.57%) Disaster Recovery
14 18 (14.75%) Data Protection
14 18 (14.75%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 16 (13.11%) Data Security
16 15 (12.30%) Agile
16 15 (12.30%) Logistics
Programming Languages
1 7 (5.74%) SQL
2 4 (3.28%) Java
3 2 (1.64%) PowerShell
3 2 (1.64%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 23 (18.85%) Degree
2 17 (13.93%) PMI Certification
2 17 (13.93%) PMP
3 16 (13.11%) Master's Degree
4 9 (7.38%) AWS Certification
4 9 (7.38%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
4 9 (7.38%) Azure Certification
5 8 (6.56%) CCNP
5 8 (6.56%) Cisco Certification
6 5 (4.10%) CISM
6 5 (4.10%) CISSP
7 4 (3.28%) CAPM
7 4 (3.28%) CFA
7 4 (3.28%) ITIL Certification
7 4 (3.28%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (3.28%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
8 3 (2.46%) CISA
8 3 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (2.46%) DBS Check
9 2 (1.64%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (16.39%) GDPR
2 19 (15.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (13.93%) NIST
4 8 (6.56%) Cyber Essentials
4 8 (6.56%) PMO
5 7 (5.74%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 7 (5.74%) GRC
6 3 (2.46%) PCI DSS
6 3 (2.46%) SLA
7 2 (1.64%) NCSC
7 2 (1.64%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.82%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.82%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 8 (6.56%) Active Directory
2 2 (1.64%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 3 (2.46%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (1.64%) CASB
2 2 (1.64%) SCCM
Vendors
1 41 (33.61%) Microsoft
2 9 (7.38%) Cisco
3 4 (3.28%) Murex
4 3 (2.46%) FIS
4 3 (2.46%) IFS
4 3 (2.46%) Salesforce
5 2 (1.64%) Google
5 2 (1.64%) Progress
5 2 (1.64%) VMware
6 1 (0.82%) IBM
6 1 (0.82%) Sage
6 1 (0.82%) SAP
6 1 (0.82%) ServiceNow