March 2026 – South East UK – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates
This region is currently a “battleground” for talent. South East firms are caught between the gravity of London salaries and the lower overheads of the North. To retain the “Top 5%,” firms here often have to push toward the “Yearly High” to prevent their best people from commuting into the City.
The M4 Corridor Talent War: Reading and Slough are currently seeing Solution Architect roles move into the £100k+ bracket for the first time as a “standard” median, as firms try to stop talent from commuting into London.
The ‘Support’ Squeeze: While leadership roles have seen modest growth, 3rd Line Support (+4.04% salary, +6.13% Day Rate) is the South East’s standout performer. This is driven by local MSPs (Managed Service Providers) scaling up to handle the “AI-Migration” projects of small-to-midsize enterprises.
Contractor Mobility: Day rates in the South East are extremely sensitive. Many senior contractors living in Surrey or Berkshire will only take local South East roles if the day rate is within £50-£75 of a London City offer to save on travel time.
-
CategoryJob TitleYearly LowYearly MedianYearly HighYearly Salary ChangeContractor Day Rate (SE)Day Rate ChangeLeadershipChief Transformation Officer (CTRO)£138,600£184,800£225,500+1.51%£1,406+2.24%Chief Technology Officer (CTO)£134,400£179,200£218,600+1.50%£1,350+2.25%Chief Information Officer (CIO)£125,800£167,800£204,700+1.50%£1,294+2.26%Chief Info Security Officer (CISO)£113,300£151,000£184,300+1.52%£1,238+2.27%IT Director£80,400£107,100£130,700+1.46%£900+2.25%Head of Data / AI£122,600£163,500£199,400+1.50%£1,124+2.20%Head of IT£68,200£91,000£111,000+1.47%£844+2.27%Operations3rd Line Support (SysAdmin)£44,600£59,500£72,600+4.04%£438+6.13%2nd Line Support (Senior Service Desk)£32,600£43,500£53,000+3.95%£321+6.18%1st Line Support (Service Desk)£24,400£32,600£39,700+3.86%£233+6.00%IT Support Manager£50,200£66,900£81,600+3.93%£583+6.00%ArchitectureEnterprise Architect£81,600£108,800£132,700+3.83%£1,104+5.68%Solution Architect£77,100£102,700£125,300+3.78%£988+5.65%Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure)£87,800£117,000£142,800+3.80%£1,046+5.67%Security Architect£94,200£125,600£153,300+3.82%£1,221+5.71%Data Architect£76,900£102,500£125,100+3.84%£1,046+5.67%EngineeringAI / Machine Learning Engineer£80,700£107,600£131,300+2.95%£1,034+4.44%DevOps / SRE Engineer£72,300£96,400£117,600+3.06%£862+4.53%Cyber Security Engineer£63,700£84,900£103,600+2.93%£834+4.55%Software Developer (Senior)£72,300£96,400£117,600+3.06%£747+4.46%Data Engineer£66,200£88,300£107,800+2.95%£805+4.57%Network Engineer£49,300£65,700£80,100+2.93%£574+4.40%Data & PMData Scientist (Senior)£74,900£99,900£121,900+3.18%£952+4.85%Data Analyst£40,800£54,500£66,400+3.12%£519+4.89%IT Project Manager£61,300£81,700£99,700+3.19%£749+4.77%Business Analyst (Technical)£51,100£68,100£83,100+3.17%£634+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.