April 2026​ – South East UK – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates

  • The “M4 Corridor” Resilience – The South East remains a powerhouse for Cloud and Data infrastructure. With many global vendors headquartered in the Thames Valley, we are seeing a “clustering effect” where medians for Cloud Architects and DevOps Engineers are significantly higher than the national average, often sitting between £95k and £110k.
  • The Commuter Buffer – A “commuter buffer” is evident in South East salaries. To prevent local talent from taking the train into the City, regional firms in Surrey and Berkshire are having to offer approximately 10% more than the national average to remain competitive.
  • The Support Hub Effect – The South East is a major hub for managed service providers (MSPs). This has kept the demand for 3rd Line Support very high, with a median of £49,500—nearly 10% higher than the national average of £45k—as these firms compete for the staff that keep the UK’s tech infrastructure running.

  • Category
    Job Title
    Yearly Low
    Yearly Median 
    Yearly High 
    Yearly Salary Change
    Contractor Day Rate 
    Day Rate Change
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Leadership
    CTO
    £115,500
    £154,000
    £198,000
    1.5%
    £1,155
    2.3%
     
    CIO
    £104,500
    £143,000
    £181,500
    1.5%
    £1,100
    2.3%
     
    IT Director
    £82,500
    £104,500
    £132,000
    1.5%
    £825
    2.3%
     
    Head of Data / AI
    £99,000
    £137,500
    £170,500
    1.5%
    £935
    2.2%
     
    Head of IT
    £71,500
    £88,000
    £110,000
    1.5%
    £715
    2.3%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Operations
    3rd Line (SysAdmin)
    £41,800
    £49,500
    £60,500
    3.9%
    £412
    5.2%
     
    2nd Line Support
    £30,800
    £37,400
    £46,200
    3.9%
    £275
    5.1%
     
    1st Line Support
    £24,200
    £28,600
    £35,200
    3.8%
    £203
    5.0%
     
    IT Support Manager
    £46,200
    £57,200
    £71,500
    3.9%
    £522
    5.2%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Architecture
    Enterprise Architect
    £82,500
    £104,500
    £132,000
    3.8%
    £935
    5.7%
     
    Solution Architect
    £77,000
    £93,500
    £115,500
    3.8%
    £825
    5.7%
     
    Cloud Architect
    £82,500
    £110,000
    £137,500
    3.8%
    £880
    5.7%
     
    Security Architect
    £88,000
    £115,500
    £143,000
    3.8%
    £990
    5.7%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Engineering
    AI / ML Engineer
    £77,000
    £104,500
    £132,000
    3.0%
    £880
    4.4%
     
    DevOps / SRE
    £71,500
    £93,500
    £115,500
    3.1%
    £770
    4.5%
     
    Cyber Security Eng
    £60,500
    £77,000
    £99,000
    2.9%
    £687
    4.6%
     
    Software Dev (Snr)
    £66,000
    £88,000
    £115,500
    3.1%
    £687
    4.5%
     
    Data Engineer
    £60,500
    £82,500
    £104,500
    3.0%
    £687
    4.6%
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Data & PM
    Data Scientist (Snr)
    £71,500
    £93,500
    £121,000
    3.2%
    £797
    4.9%
     
    Data Analyst
    £38,500
    £46,200
    £57,200
    3.1%
    £412
    4.9%
     
    IT Project Manager
    £60,500
    £77,000
    £93,500
    3.2%
    £632
    4.8%
     
    Business Analyst
    £49,500
    £63,800
    £77,000
    3.2%
    £522
    4.7%

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.

More UK Salary Guides

More London Salary Guides