October 2026 – South East – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates
The Reality Behind the Data
South East Hubs Compete on Execution
South East tech employers are pricing in London-grade rates to retain senior engineers as hybrid workplace expectations evolve. Prompt Engineer / AI App Dev (+18.1%) and AI/ML Engineer (£95,200 median) pay lead the region, while MLOps (+12.8%) and DevSecOps (+11.1%) reflect an urgent push toward production deployment.
The Regional Budget Shift
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Governance Softens: Pure coordination roles face continued downward pressure—Scrum Master / Agile Coach (-3.1%) and IT Project Manager (-1.5%).
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Security at Parity: CISO base medians sit at £145,800 and Security Architects reach £101,200 (+9.6%), proving that security leadership in the Thames Valley and South East commands top-tier investment.
| Category | Job Title | Yearly Low | Yearly Median (Base) | Yearly High | Annual % Change | Contractor Day Rate (Median) | Day Rate Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AI, Automation & Data | |||||||
| Head of AI & Automation | £105,600 | £123,200 | £145,200 | +14.8% | £810 | +11.2% | |
| AI / Machine Learning Engineer | £80,900 | £95,200 | £114,400 | +14.2% | £630 | +10.5% | |
| AI Solutions Architect | £91,300 | £107,300 | £128,200 | +12.5% | £710 | +9.2% | |
| MLOps Engineer | £75,900 | £89,700 | £106,200 | +12.8% | £550 | +8.9% | |
| Automation / RPA Architect | £77,000 | £88,600 | £105,600 | +5.2% | £575 | +4.5% | |
| RPA Developer | £52,800 | £61,600 | £72,600 | +3.8% | £385 | +3.2% | |
| Data Science Lead | £86,400 | £101,800 | £119,400 | +8.4% | £645 | +6.6% | |
| Data Scientist | £62,200 | £73,200 | £86,400 | +6.1% | £465 | +5.1% | |
| Data Engineer | £57,800 | £67,700 | £79,800 | +7.5% | £445 | +5.8% | |
| Data Architect | £81,400 | £95,700 | £112,200 | +5.9% | £590 | +4.4% | |
| Business Intelligence (BI) Analyst | £45,100 | £53,400 | £63,300 | +2.5% | £330 | +2.1% | |
| BI Developer | £52,300 | £61,600 | £72,600 | +3.1% | £385 | +2.7% | |
| Power Platform / Low-Code Dev | £57,800 | £67,700 | £79,800 | +8.0% | £445 | +6.5% | |
| Prompt Engineer / AI App Dev | £67,700 | £79,800 | £94,100 | +18.1% | £520 | +12.0% | |
| IT Ops & Leadership | |||||||
| IT Director / CIO | £110,000 | £132,000 | £156,200 | +1.8% | £660 | +2.3% | |
| Head of IT / IT Manager | £71,500 | £83,600 | £99,000 | +1.2% | £510 | +1.8% | |
| IT Business Partner | £61,600 | £72,600 | £85,800 | +0.8% | £460 | +1.1% | |
| Service Delivery Manager | £61,600 | £72,600 | £85,800 | +1.1% | £440 | +1.5% | |
| IT Operations Manager | £63,800 | £75,900 | £89,100 | +0.5% | £460 | +1.0% | |
| IT Project Manager | £56,700 | £66,600 | £78,700 | -1.50% | £435 | -0.80% | |
| Program Manager | £81,400 | £95,700 | £112,200 | -0.80% | £565 | -0.40% | |
| Scrum Master / Agile Coach | £60,500 | £71,500 | £84,700 | -3.10% | £455 | -2.20% | |
| Business Analyst | £52,300 | £61,600 | £72,600 | +3.1% | £385 | +2.8% | |
| 1st Line Support Technician | £24,800 | £29,200 | £34,100 | +3.8% | £160 | +3.2% | |
| 2nd Line Support Engineer | £33,000 | £39,100 | £46,200 | +4.0% | £225 | +3.5% | |
| 3rd Line / Senior Tech Support | £42,400 | £50,100 | £59,400 | +4.0% | £310 | +6.1% | |
| Helpdesk Manager / Service Desk Lead | £47,300 | £55,600 | £65,500 | +2.8% | £330 | +2.5% | |
| Infrastructure & Networking | |||||||
| Infrastructure Manager | £66,000 | £78,100 | £92,400 | +2.1% | £460 | +1.8% | |
| Senior Systems Engineer | £52,300 | £61,600 | £72,600 | +3.5% | £360 | +3.0% | |
| Systems Administrator | £39,100 | £46,200 | £54,500 | +3.2% | £270 | +2.8% | |
| Network Architect | £81,400 | £95,700 | £112,200 | +4.1% | £565 | +3.5% | |
| Network Engineer | £45,100 | £53,400 | £63,300 | +2.9% | £310 | +2.5% | |
| Network Security Engineer | £55,600 | £65,500 | £77,000 | +8.2% | £390 | +6.4% | |
| Unified Communications Specialist | £45,100 | £53,400 | £63,300 | +1.8% | £310 | +1.5% | |
| Storage & Virtualisation Engineer | £48,900 | £57,400 | £67,700 | +2.0% | £325 | +1.8% | |
| Data Centre Engineer | £39,600 | £46,800 | £55,000 | +2.2% | £275 | +2.0% | |
| Site Reliability Engineer (SRE) | £68,800 | £80,900 | £95,700 | +9.4% | £495 | +7.1% | |
| Cloud & DevOps | |||||||
| Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure/GCP) | £90,800 | £106,200 | £125,400 | +8.8% | £645 | +5.7% | |
| Principal Cloud Engineer | £82,000 | £96,300 | £112,800 | +7.9% | £595 | +6.2% | |
| Cloud Systems Engineer | £55,000 | £64,900 | £76,500 | +5.5% | £385 | +4.8% | |
| DevOps Engineer | £71,000 | £83,100 | £98,500 | +6.8% | £515 | +5.2% | |
| DevOps Lead / Architect | £86,400 | £101,200 | £119,400 | +7.5% | £625 | +5.8% | |
| DevSecOps Engineer | £75,400 | £89,700 | £105,100 | +11.1% | £570 | +7.4% | |
| Infrastructure as Code Specialist | £66,000 | £78,100 | £92,400 | +6.2% | £490 | +5.1% | |
| Cloud Migration Specialist | £68,200 | £80,300 | £94,600 | +5.8% | £490 | +4.8% | |
| FinOps Specialist | £64,400 | £76,500 | £89,700 | +9.1% | £465 | +7.0% | |
| Cybersecurity & Risk | |||||||
| Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) | £124,300 | £145,800 | £171,600 | +1.5% | £885 | +2.3% | |
| Information Security Manager | £82,000 | £95,200 | £112,200 | +5.8% | £570 | +4.9% | |
| Cyber Security Engineer | £62,200 | £73,200 | £86,400 | +7.2% | £465 | +5.8% | |
| Cyber Security Analyst | £45,100 | £53,400 | £63,300 | +5.1% | £310 | +4.2% | |
| Penetration Tester / Ethical Hacker | £59,400 | £69,500 | £82,000 | +6.0% | £440 | +4.8% | |
| SOC Analyst | £39,600 | £46,800 | £55,000 | +4.8% | £275 | +4.0% | |
| Security Architect | £86,400 | £101,200 | £119,400 | +9.6% | £625 | +7.2% | |
| Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC) Lead | £70,400 | £83,600 | £98,500 | +4.2% | £490 | +3.8% | |
| Identity & Access Management (IAM) Specialist | £57,200 | £67,100 | £79,200 | +5.0% | £385 | +4.1% | |
| Cloud Security Specialist | £74,300 | £87,500 | £102,900 | +10.2% | £535 | +7.8% | |
| Software & ERP | |||||||
| Software Engineering Manager | £85,800 | £100,600 | £118,800 | +3.5% | £620 | +2.8% | |
| Lead Software Developer | £73,700 | £86,900 | £102,300 | +4.2% | £530 | +3.5% | |
| Senior Full Stack Developer | £63,800 | £75,900 | £89,100 | +4.8% | £460 | +3.8% | |
| Software Engineer (Python/Java/.NET) | £58,900 | £69,100 | £81,400 | +4.5% | £435 | +3.6% | |
| ERP / CRM Manager | £70,400 | £83,600 | £98,500 | +2.0% | £510 | +1.8% | |
| Solution Architect | £82,500 | £97,900 | £115,500 | +5.5% | £580 | +4.2% | |
October’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 — call us on 0207 788 6600 or email james@langleyjames.com.