London – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates – March 2026

  • London Market Insights

    The £100k Floor : In Central London , the “Head of” or “IT Director” role is no longer feasible at sub-£100k . Any client offering below this is seeing a 90% rejection rate during the initial screening .

  • Transformation Pressure : CTRO and CTO medians in London have breached £200k . This is a direct response to the complexity of legacy infrastructure vs . AI-readiness audits.
  • The Commuter Premium : We have noticed that roles requiring 5 days in the office in the City are now having to offer an additional 7-10% on top of these medians to secure the same quality of talent as those offering Hybrid ( 2-3 days ) .

  • Contractor Dominance: Day rates for 3rd Line Support (+6.13%) and Enterprise Architects (+5.68%) are rising nearly twice as fast as their permanent salary counterparts. This suggests London firms are increasingly using interims to bypass “Time-to-Hire” delays for critical projects.

  • The Cyber/Architecture Intersection: We are seeing a significant trend where Security Architects are moving towards a £1,400 day rate. This is currently the most difficult-to-fill role in the London market. 

  • Job Title
    Yearly Low
    Yearly Median
    Yearly High
    Salary Change
    Contractor Day Rate 
    Day Rate Change
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chief Transformation Officer (CTRO)
    £153,800
    £205,000
    £250,100
    +1.51%
    £1,559
    +2.24%
    Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
    £149,000
    £198,700
    £242,400
    +1.50%
    £1,497
    +2.25%
    Chief Information Officer (CIO)
    £139,500
    £186,000
    £226,900
    +1.50%
    £1,435
    +2.26%
    Chief Info Security Officer (CISO)
    £125,600
    £167,500
    £204,400
    +1.52%
    £1,372
    +2.27%
    IT Director
    £89,100
    £118,800
    £144,900
    +1.46%
    £998
    +2.25%
    Head of Data / AI
    £136,000
    £181,300
    £221,200
    +1.50%
    £1,247
    +2.20%
    Head of IT
    £75,700
    £100,900
    £123,100
    +1.47%
    £936
    +2.27%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    3rd Line Support (SysAdmin)
    £49,500
    £66,000
    £80,500
    +4.04%
    £486
    +6.13%
    2nd Line Support (Senior Service Desk)
    £36,200
    £48,200
    £58,800
    +3.95%
    £356
    +6.18%
    1st Line Support (Servcie Desk)
    £27,100
    £36,100
    £44,000
    +3.86%
    £259
    +6.00%
    IT Support Manager
    £55,600
    £74,200
    £90,500
    +3.93%
    £647
    +6.00%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Enterprise Architect
    £90,500
    £120,700
    £147,300
    +3.83%
    £1,225
    +5.68%
    Solution Architect
    £85,400
    £113,900
    £139,000
    +3.78%
    £1,096
    +5.65%
    Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure)
    £97,400
    £129,800
    £158,400
    +3.80%
    £1,160
    +5.67%
    Security Architect
    £104,500
    £139,300
    £169,900
    +3.82%
    £1,354
    +5.71%
    Data Architect
    £85,300
    £113,700
    £138,700
    +3.84%
    £1,160
    +5.67%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    AI / Machine Learning Engineer
    £89,500
    £119,300
    £145,500
    +2.95%
    £1,147
    +4.44%
    DevOps / SRE Engineer
    £80,200
    £106,900
    £130,400
    +3.06%
    £956
    +4.53%
    Cyber Security Engineer
    £70,600
    £94,200
    £114,900
    +2.93%
    £925
    +4.55%
    Software Developer (Senior)
    £80,200
    £106,900
    £130,400
    +3.06%
    £828
    +4.46%
    Data Engineer
    £73,500
    £98,000
    £119,600
    +2.95%
    £893
    +4.57%
    Network Engineer
    £54,600
    £72,800
    £88,800
    +2.93%
    £637
    +4.40%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Data Scientist (Senior)
    £83,100
    £110,800
    £135,200
    +3.18%
    £1,055
    +4.85%
    Data Analyst
    £45,300
    £60,400
    £73,700
    +3.12%
    £576
    +4.89%
    IT Project Manager
    £68,000
    £90,600
    £110,500
    +3.19%
    £831
    +4.77%
    Business Analyst (Technical)
    £56,600
    £75,500
    £92,100
    +3.17%
    £703
    +4.73%
If your company is thinking of hiring, do it now. As demand rises, so too with the rates of pay and the difficulty levels of attracting and securing the right talent.

If, however, your company is slowing down – beware! If your IT staff start to feel insecure, talent competitors and recruiters will find it very easy to persuade your staff to interview elsewhere. Despite the stress and negativity that may exist, take the time to focus on reassuring your team and, where appropriate, reward their loyalty. It’s a false economy to avoid salary increases for your best people. Doing so risks leave yourself vulnerable to losing key staff and the larger costs in both time and money of replacing them.

Should you be considering recruitment or simply would like some advice on anything recruitment related, please do not hesitate to give us a call and see how we can really help you to Recruit Someone Worth Recruiting.

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