December 2025 – South East UK – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates

Job Title Yearly Salary
Low		 Yearly Salary
Median		 Yearly Salary
High		 % Change in  Salary
(vs. 2024)		 Contractor
Day Rate
Low		 Contractor
Day Rate
Median		 Contractor
Day Rate
High		 % Change in  Rate
(vs. 2024)
                 
ITIL & Operational Support Roles
                
                 
1st Line Support (Service Desk Analyst) £30,000 £32,000 £35,000 4.8% £270 £315 £360 3.0%
2nd Line Support £35,000 £38,000 £42,000 4.5% £320 £380 £450 2.5%
3rd Line Support £48,000 £54,000 £68,000 4.0% £400 £500 £600 2.0%
IT Support Manager £45,000 £52,000 £60,000 3.8% £380 £450 £540 1.8%
Service Delivery Manager £52,000 £62,000 £73,000 3.8% £500 £580 £680 1.8%
IT Manager £44,000 £49,000 £57,000 3.5% £480 £540 £630 1.5%
Change Manager (ITIL) £55,000 £68,000 £81,000 3.8% £500 £630 £760 1.8%
Incident Manager (ITIL) £50,000 £63,000 £77,000 3.8% £450 £580 £720 1.8%
Problem Manager (ITIL) £50,000 £63,000 £77,000 3.8% £450 £580 £720 1.8%
Service Desk Team Leader £34,000 £38,000 £45,000 4.0% £300 £360 £450 2.0%
                 
Management & Leadership Roles
(C-Suite, Director, Head of)
                
                 
Chief Transformation Officer (CTRO) £118,000 £149,000 £185,000 4.5% £1,050 £1,350 £1,700 3.0%
Chief Technology Officer (CTO) £110,000 £145,000 £180,000 4.5% £1,000 £1,250 £1,550 3.0%
Chief Information Officer (CIO) £100,000 £137,000 £178,000 4.0% £920 £1,170 £1,450 2.5%
Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) £88,000 £123,000 £145,000 5.0% £850 £1,090 £1,350 4.0%
IT Director £75,000 £88,000 £108,000 3.8% £680 £870 £1,050 1.8%
Director of IT £88,000 £102,000 £125,000 3.8% £720 £910 £1,100 1.8%
Digital Transformation Director £100,000 £118,000 £145,000 4.2% £900 £1,120 £1,350 2.5%
Head of IT £66,000 £74,000 £82,000 3.5% £580 £680 £770 1.5%
Head of Infrastructure £84,000 £105,000 £124,000 3.8% £720 £910 £1,100 1.8%
Head of Cyber Security £82,000 £100,000 £118,000 4.5% £680 £870 £1,050 3.5%
Head of Architecture £87,000 £114,000 £132,000 4.2% £750 £990 £1,220 2.8%
                 
Architecture & Specialists
(Cloud, Data, Enterprise)
                
                 
Enterprise Architect £75,000 £86,000 £102,000 4.0% £720 £870 £1,000 2.0%
Solution Architect £70,000 £81,000 £96,000 4.0% £630 £760 £900 2.0%
Cloud Architect £82,000 £100,000 £118,000 5.0% £680 £870 £1,050 4.0%
Infrastructure Architect £65,000 £74,000 £88,000 3.8% £580 £720 £850 1.8%
Data Architect £71,000 £82,000 £94,000 4.5% £580 £720 £850 3.0%
Security Architect £78,000 £95,000 £114,000 5.0% £630 £810 £990 4.5%
Technical Architect £73,000 £86,000 £104,000 4.0% £580 £720 £850 2.0%
Service Architect £63,000 £77,000 £95,000 3.8% £530 £680 £810 1.8%
                 
Engineering & Technical Delivery Roles
                
                 
Cloud Engineer £68,000 £81,000 £95,000 4.5% £500 £630 £760 3.5%
DevOps Engineer £72,000 £87,000 £103,000 4.5% £580 £720 £850 3.5%
Infrastructure Engineer £57,000 £68,000 £79,000 3.5% £470 £580 £720 1.5%
Cyber Security Engineer £60,000 £73,000 £86,000 4.8% £500 £630 £760 4.0%
Network Engineer £65,000 £75,000 £87,000 3.5% £470 £580 £720 1.5%
Systems Engineer £46,000 £58,000 £67,000 3.5% £400 £510 £630 1.5%
AI Engineer £65,000 £77,000 £100,000 5.5% £550 £720 £900 5.0%
Machine Learning Engineer £60,000 £73,000 £91,000 5.0% £550 £680 £810 4.5%
Data Engineer £55,000 £68,000 £86,000 4.5% £500 £630 £760 3.5%
Data Warehouse Developer £47,000 £63,000 £95,000 3.8% £400 £540 £680 2.0%
Database Administrator (DBA) £45,000 £54,000 £95,000 3.5% £380 £490 £630 1.5%
Software Developer (.NET, Java, Python) £50,000 £68,000 £86,000 4.0% £450 £580 £720 2.5%
Back-End Developer £55,000 £73,000 £91,000 4.2% £490 £630 £760 2.8%
Front-End Developer £45,000 £63,000 £81,000 4.0% £400 £540 £680 2.5%
Full-Stack Developer £60,000 £77,000 £95,000 4.2% £530 £680 £810 2.8%
MLOps Engineer £70,000 £86,000 £109,000 5.2% £630 £770 £900 4.8%
NLP Engineer £65,000 £77,000 £95,000 5.0% £550 £680 £810 4.5%
                 
Data, Business & Project Roles
                
                 
Data Scientist £45,000 £63,000 £86,000 4.5% £500 £630 £760 3.0%
Data Analyst £40,000 £50,000 £63,000 3.5% £350 £450 £540 1.5%
Business Analyst (IT/Tech) £45,000 £59,000 £72,000 3.8% £400 £500 £590 1.8%
IT Project Manager £50,000 £63,000 £81,000 3.8% £450 £580 £720 1.8%
IT Programme Manager £68,000 £86,000 £108,000 4.0% £580 £760 £950 2.0%
Scrum Master £55,000 £68,000 £81,000 4.0% £500 £630 £760 2.0%
Product Owner £60,000 £73,000 £91,000 4.2% £550 £680 £810 2.5%
AI Product Manager £68,000 £82,000 £109,000 5.0% £600 £720 £900 4.0%
QA/Test Analyst £35,000 £50,000 £63,000 3.5% £300 £400 £500 1.5%
Security Analyst £50,000 £63,000 £77,000 4.5% £400 £510 £630 3.5%
Risk & Compliance Analyst £45,000 £59,000 £72,000 4.0% £400 £510 £630 2.0%
Governance Manager £55,000 £68,000 £86,000 4.0% £500 £630 £760 2.0%

 

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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