Programme Manager Job Trends

Programme Manager
UK

The median Programme Manager salary in the UK is £72,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 1 January 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 513 528 509
Rank change year-on-year +15 -19 +77
Permanent jobs requiring a Programme Manager 139 185 205
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.23% 0.33% 0.40%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.26% 0.36% 0.42%
Number of salaries quoted 91 113 168
10th Percentile £30,000 £60,000 £58,000
25th Percentile £45,000 £65,000 £70,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £72,000 £78,000 £83,750
Median % change year-on-year -7.69% -6.87% +8.06%
75th Percentile £97,500 £115,000 £100,000
90th Percentile £110,000 £125,000 £115,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £80,000 £75,000 £76,000
% change year-on-year +6.67% -1.32% +4.03%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
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 53,514 51,440 48,883
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.46% 93.14% 95.23%
Number of salaries quoted 32,905 27,168 37,760
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,200 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £44,956 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £93,750 £97,500 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%

Programme Manager
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Programme Manager job vacancy trend in the UK

Programme Manager
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Programme Manager job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Programme Manager job vacancies in the UK

Programme Manager
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Programme Manager over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Programme Manager in the UK

Programme Manager
Top 14 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Programme Manager within the UK over the 6 months to 1 January 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +39 128 £72,000 -12.47% 58
London +55 87 £65,000 -43.48% 32
Work from Home +50 52 £75,000 -16.67% 30
UK excluding London -3 40 £80,000 +6.67% 34
South East +28 13 £85,000 +6.25% 15
Midlands -11 11 £60,500 -24.38% 6
North of England +2 10 £90,000 +28.57% 5
Yorkshire -8 9 £90,000 +33.33% 4
West Midlands +1 6 £60,000 -29.41% 3
East Midlands -11 5 £61,000 +1.67% 3
Scotland +8 3 £75,000 - 3
Wales +4 2 £65,000 +8.33%
East of England +18 1 £92,500 +42.87% 2
North West +7 1 - - 1

Programme Manager Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 1 January 2026, Programme Manager 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 Programme Manager in the job title.

1 45 (32.37%) Stakeholder Management
2 32 (23.02%) Programme Management
3 31 (22.30%) Agile
4 27 (19.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 26 (18.71%) Roadmaps
6 23 (16.55%) Continuous Improvement
6 23 (16.55%) Programme Delivery
7 21 (15.11%) Project Management
8 18 (12.95%) Risk Management
9 17 (12.23%) PRINCE2
9 17 (12.23%) SaaS
9 17 (12.23%) Salesforce
10 16 (11.51%) Decision-Making
10 16 (11.51%) Programme Governance
11 14 (10.07%) AI
12 13 (9.35%) Adobe
12 13 (9.35%) Budget Management
12 13 (9.35%) Demand Generation
12 13 (9.35%) Digital Marketing
12 13 (9.35%) HubSpot
13 11 (7.91%) Degree
13 11 (7.91%) Problem-Solving
14 10 (7.19%) Business Case
14 10 (7.19%) Microsoft
14 10 (7.19%) PMI Certification
14 10 (7.19%) Project Delivery
15 9 (6.47%) Business Strategy
15 9 (6.47%) Change Management
15 9 (6.47%) PMP
16 8 (5.76%) CRM

Programme Manager 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 3 (2.16%) Confluence
2 2 (1.44%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.72%) WordPress
Applications
1 7 (5.04%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.88%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.72%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.72%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 17 (12.23%) SaaS
2 3 (2.16%) Azure
2 3 (2.16%) Google Sheets
3 2 (1.44%) AWS
3 2 (1.44%) Entra ID
3 2 (1.44%) Google Workspace
3 2 (1.44%) Microsoft 365
4 1 (0.72%) Basecamp
4 1 (0.72%) Google Analytics
4 1 (0.72%) Google Data Studio
4 1 (0.72%) Google Docs
4 1 (0.72%) Google Drive
4 1 (0.72%) MailChimp
4 1 (0.72%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 1 (0.72%) 5G
1 1 (0.72%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.72%) Data Lake
1 1 (0.72%) DB2
1 1 (0.72%) Metadata
1 1 (0.72%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 4 (2.88%) JIRA
General
1 61 (43.88%) Social Skills
2 51 (36.69%) Finance
3 29 (20.86%) Public Sector
4 26 (18.71%) Marketing
5 20 (14.39%) Retail
6 16 (11.51%) Organisational Skills
7 12 (8.63%) Analytical Skills
8 7 (5.04%) Banking
9 5 (3.60%) Digital Economy
9 5 (3.60%) Financial Institution
9 5 (3.60%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (3.60%) Local Government
9 5 (3.60%) Manufacturing
10 4 (2.88%) Fire and Rescue
10 4 (2.88%) Law
11 3 (2.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (1.44%) Advertising
12 2 (1.44%) Legal
12 2 (1.44%) Public Speaking
13 1 (0.72%) Aerospace
Miscellaneous
1 13 (9.35%) Social Media
2 7 (5.04%) Self-Motivation
3 4 (2.88%) Data Centre
3 4 (2.88%) Legacy Systems
4 3 (2.16%) Blog
4 3 (2.16%) Management Information System
5 2 (1.44%) Driving Licence
5 2 (1.44%) Educational Technology
5 2 (1.44%) Product Ownership
6 1 (0.72%) CMDB
6 1 (0.72%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (0.72%) Legacy Applications
6 1 (0.72%) Mainframe
6 1 (0.72%) NHS
6 1 (0.72%) PMI
6 1 (0.72%) Public Cloud
6 1 (0.72%) Reinsurance
6 1 (0.72%) Security Posture
6 1 (0.72%) SWIFT Messaging Network
6 1 (0.72%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 1 (0.72%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 45 (32.37%) Stakeholder Management
2 32 (23.02%) Programme Management
3 31 (22.30%) Agile
4 27 (19.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 26 (18.71%) Roadmaps
6 23 (16.55%) Continuous Improvement
6 23 (16.55%) Programme Delivery
7 21 (15.11%) Project Management
8 18 (12.95%) Risk Management
9 17 (12.23%) PRINCE2
10 16 (11.51%) Decision-Making
10 16 (11.51%) Programme Governance
11 14 (10.07%) AI
12 13 (9.35%) Budget Management
12 13 (9.35%) Demand Generation
12 13 (9.35%) Digital Marketing
13 11 (7.91%) Problem-Solving
14 10 (7.19%) Business Case
14 10 (7.19%) Project Delivery
15 9 (6.47%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 1 (0.72%) COBOL
1 1 (0.72%) Java
Qualifications
1 11 (7.91%) Degree
2 10 (7.19%) PMI Certification
3 9 (6.47%) PMP
4 4 (2.88%) Security Cleared
5 3 (2.16%) DV Cleared
6 2 (1.44%) APMP
6 2 (1.44%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.72%) APMG
7 1 (0.72%) DBS Check
7 1 (0.72%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (4.32%) PMO
2 4 (2.88%) Data Quality
2 4 (2.88%) GDPR
2 4 (2.88%) QA
3 2 (1.44%) Cyber Essentials
3 2 (1.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 2 (1.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.72%) FATCA
4 1 (0.72%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 1 (0.72%) SEPA
System Software
1 1 (0.72%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 1 (0.72%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 17 (12.23%) Salesforce
2 13 (9.35%) Adobe
2 13 (9.35%) HubSpot
3 10 (7.19%) Microsoft
4 5 (3.60%) Workday
5 4 (2.88%) Google
6 3 (2.16%) Oracle
6 3 (2.16%) SAP
7 1 (0.72%) Adaptive Insights
7 1 (0.72%) ServiceNow