September 2026 – London – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates
The Reality Behind the Data
Prompt Engineers Just Overtook Everyone — Even Here
London’s Prompt Engineer / AI App Dev rate jumped 18% in the last 12 months; this is the fastest mover on the whole table, ahead even of AI/ML Engineers at 14.2%. In a market where a 2-3% rise usually counts as “strong”, these numbers say the AI skills shortage is more acute in London than the rest of the UK.
The Squeeze Is Sharper in the Capital
Scrum Master/Agile Coach pay fell 2.5%, and IT Project Manager dropped 1.0% — process-only roles are being quietly deprioritised.
Meanwhile, CISO pay sits at a national high of £158,000 median, and Security Architect climbed 9.8%. If you’re hiring in London, budget accordingly: security and AI leadership command a real premium here.
| Category | Job Title | Yearly Low | Yearly Median (Base) | Yearly High | Annual % Change | Contractor Day Rate (High) | Day Rate Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI, Automation & Data | |||||||
| Head of AI & Automation | £115,000 | £135,000 | £160,000 | +12.8% | £925 | +9.1% | |
| AI / Machine Learning Engineer | £88,000 | £102,500 | £122,000 | +14.2% | £725 | +10.0% | |
| AI Solutions Architect | £98,000 | £115,000 | £138,000 | +12.0% | £825 | +8.0% | |
| MLOps Engineer | £82,000 | £96,000 | £115,000 | +13.0% | £650 | +8.8% | |
| Automation / RPA Architect | £82,000 | £95,000 | £112,000 | +6.5% | £650 | +4.2% | |
| RPA Developer | £56,000 | £66,000 | £78,000 | +3.8% | £450 | +2.5% | |
| Data Science Lead | £92,000 | £108,000 | £128,000 | +8.5% | £750 | +5.5% | |
| Data Scientist | £72,000 | £85,000 | £100,000 | +7.5% | £550 | +4.8% | |
| Data Engineer | £64,000 | £75,000 | £88,000 | +9.2% | £525 | +6.0% | |
| Data Architect | £88,000 | £102,500 | £122,000 | +5.8% | £700 | +3.8% | |
| Business Intelligence (BI) Analyst | £48,000 | £56,500 | £66,000 | +2.2% | £385 | +1.5% | |
| BI Developer | £56,000 | £66,000 | £78,000 | +3.5% | £450 | +2.2% | |
| Power Platform / Low-Code Dev | £62,000 | £72,500 | £85,000 | +8.8% | £510 | +5.8% | |
| Prompt Engineer / AI App Dev | £72,000 | £85,000 | £100,000 | +18.0% | £600 | +12.0% | |
| IT Ops & Leadership | |||||||
| IT Director / CIO | £125,000 | £150,000 | £178,000 | +2.8% | £800 | +1.8% | |
| Head of IT / IT Manager | £78,000 | £92,000 | £108,000 | +1.6% | £600 | +1.0% | |
| IT Business Partner | £68,000 | £80,000 | £95,000 | +3.2% | £550 | +2.0% | |
| Service Delivery Manager | £66,000 | £77,500 | £92,000 | +0.8% | £525 | +0.5% | |
| IT Operations Manager | £70,000 | £82,500 | £98,000 | +1.2% | £550 | +0.8% | |
| IT Project Manager | £62,000 | £72,500 | £85,000 | -1.0% | £525 | -0.5% | |
| Program Manager | £88,000 | £102,500 | £122,000 | +2.5% | £675 | +1.5% | |
| Scrum Master / Agile Coach | £68,000 | £80,000 | £95,000 | -2.5% | £550 | -1.5% | |
| Business Analyst | £56,000 | £66,000 | £78,000 | +1.8% | £450 | +1.2% | |
| 1st Line Support Technician | £26,000 | £30,500 | £35,500 | +0.6% | £185 | +0.0% | |
| 2nd Line Support Engineer | £35,000 | £41,500 | £49,000 | +1.4% | £260 | +1.0% | |
| 3rd Line / Senior Tech Support | £45,000 | £53,500 | £63,000 | +2.2% | £360 | +1.5% | |
| Helpdesk Manager / Service Desk Lead | £50,000 | £59,000 | £69,500 | +1.0% | £385 | +0.5% | |
| Infrastructure & Networking | |||||||
| Infrastructure Manager | £72,000 | £85,000 | £100,000 | +1.5% | £550 | +1.0% | |
| Senior Systems Engineer | £56,000 | £66,000 | £78,000 | +2.0% | £425 | +1.2% | |
| Systems Administrator | £42,000 | £49,500 | £58,000 | -0.5% | £325 | -0.3% | |
| Network Architect | £88,000 | £102,500 | £122,000 | +4.2% | £675 | +2.8% | |
| Network Engineer | £48,000 | £56,500 | £66,000 | +1.8% | £360 | +1.0% | |
| Network Security Engineer | £60,000 | £71,000 | £84,000 | +6.0% | £450 | +4.0% | |
| Unified Communications Specialist | £48,000 | £56,500 | £66,000 | +0.5% | £360 | +0.2% | |
| Storage & Virtualisation Engineer | £52,000 | £61,000 | £72,000 | -0.8% | £385 | -0.5% | |
| Data Centre Engineer | £42,000 | £49,500 | £58,000 | +2.5% | £325 | +1.8% | |
| Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) | £75,000 | £88,000 | £104,000 | +9.5% | £580 | +6.5% | |
| Cloud & DevOps | |||||||
| Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure/GCP) | £98,000 | £115,000 | £135,000 | +8.2% | £750 | +5.5% | |
| Principal Cloud Engineer | £88,000 | £102,500 | £122,000 | +7.5% | £700 | +5.0% | |
| Cloud Systems Engineer | £60,000 | £71,000 | £84,000 | +5.0% | £450 | +3.5% | |
| DevOps Engineer | £78,000 | £91,500 | £108,000 | +6.8% | £600 | +4.5% | |
| DevOps Lead / Architect | £92,000 | £108,000 | £128,000 | +7.8% | £725 | +5.2% | |
| DevSecOps Engineer | £82,000 | £96,000 | £113,000 | +11.2% | £650 | +7.5% | |
| Infrastructure as Code Specialist | £72,000 | £85,000 | £100,000 | +5.8% | £580 | +4.0% | |
| Cloud Migration Specialist | £75,000 | £88,000 | £104,000 | +4.5% | £580 | +3.0% | |
| FinOps Specialist | £70,000 | £82,500 | £98,000 | +7.8% | £550 | +5.0% | |
| Cybersecurity & Risk | |||||||
| Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) | £135,000 | £158,000 | £185,000 | +7.8% | £1,025 | +5.2% | |
| Information Security Manager | £88,000 | £102,500 | £122,000 | +6.5% | £675 | +4.3% | |
| Cyber Security Engineer | £68,000 | £80,000 | £95,000 | +8.5% | £550 | +5.8% | |
| Cyber Security Analyst | £48,000 | £56,500 | £66,000 | +5.3% | £360 | +3.5% | |
| Penetration Tester / Ethical Hacker | £64,000 | £75,000 | £88,000 | +6.8% | £510 | +4.5% | |
| SOC Analyst | £42,000 | £49,500 | £58,000 | +4.2% | £325 | +2.8% | |
| Security Architect | £92,000 | £108,000 | £128,000 | +9.8% | £725 | +6.4% | |
| Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Lead | £78,000 | £91,500 | £108,000 | +5.8% | £580 | +3.8% | |
| Identity & Access Management (IAM) Specialist | £62,000 | £72,500 | £85,000 | +7.0% | £450 | +4.8% | |
| Cloud Security Specialist | £80,000 | £94,000 | £110,000 | +9.2% | £625 | +6.0% | |
| Software & ERP | |||||||
| Software Engineering Manager | £92,000 | £108,000 | £128,000 | +4.8% | £725 | +3.2% | |
| Lead Software Developer | £80,000 | £94,000 | £110,000 | +5.2% | £625 | +3.5% | |
| Senior Full Stack Developer | £70,000 | £82,500 | £98,000 | +4.2% | £550 | +2.8% | |
| Software Engineer (Python/Java/.NET) | £64,000 | £75,000 | £88,000 | +4.5% | £510 | +3.0% | |
| ERP / CRM Manager | £78,000 | £91,500 | £108,000 | +2.2% | £600 | +1.5% | |
| Solution Architect | £88,000 | £102,500 | £122,000 | +5.5% | £675 | +3.6% | |
September’s numbers make one thing clear: pay for people who build or defend, and be more selective on pure coordination roles.
If you’re hiring or reviewing pay in light of these figures, get in touch or call us on 0207 788 6600 or email james@langleyjames.com.