April 2026 – UK – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates
Overview: April 2026
- The £65k-£75k Engineering Anchor – Outside of London, the “psychological floor” for Senior Developers and Engineers has settled between £65,000 and £75,000. While top-tier FinTech roles in regional hubs (like Manchester or Bristol) may pay more, the broad mid-market is successfully securing high-quality talent within this bracket.
- The “Regional Breathing” Strategy – We are seeing a trend of “controlled breathing” where London-based firms are aggressively hiring into the regions to manage costs. This has created a “Support Squeeze” in the Operations Division, as local talent is increasingly courted by national firms offering remote-first or hybrid roles with a slight salary premium over local averages.
- Architectural Re-wiring – As companies across the UK move beyond AI pilots, the demand for Cloud and Solution Architects has remained high. National medians are holding firm at £85k–£90k. This is driven by a nationwide necessity to modernise legacy “on-prem” data stacks before they can effectively integrate with modern AI agents.
- Contractor Velocity – National day rates are currently the most reactive part of the market. As permanent headcount approvals can be slow in Q2, firms are using contractors (averaging £400–£750) to maintain project momentum. This is particularly evident in Cyber Security, where a nationwide skills gap makes interim specialists a “must-have” for compliance.
Category |
Job Title |
Yearly Low |
Yearly Median (Base) |
Yearly High |
Annual % Change
|
Contractor Day Rate
|
Day Rate Change
|
Leadership |
CTO |
£105,000 |
£140,000 |
£180,000 |
1.5% |
£1,050 |
2.3% |
CIO |
£95,000 |
£130,000 |
£165,000 |
1.5% |
£1,000 |
2.3% |
|
IT Director |
£75,000 |
£95,000 |
£120,000 |
1.5% |
£750 |
2.3% |
|
Head of Data / AI |
£90,000 |
£125,000 |
£155,000 |
1.5% |
£850 |
2.2% |
|
Head of IT |
£65,000 |
£80,000 |
£100,000 |
1.5% |
£650 |
2.3% |
|
Operations |
3rd Line (SysAdmin) |
£38,000 |
£45,000 |
£55,000 |
3.9% |
£375 |
5.2% |
2nd Line Support |
£28,000 |
£34,000 |
£42,000 |
3.9% |
£250 |
5.1% |
|
1st Line Support |
£22,000 |
£26,000 |
£32,000 |
3.8% |
£185 |
5.0% |
|
IT Support Manager |
£42,000 |
£52,000 |
£65,000 |
3.9% |
£475 |
5.2% |
|
Architecture |
Enterprise Architect |
£75,000 |
£95,000 |
£120,000 |
3.8% |
£850 |
5.7% |
Solution Architect |
£70,000 |
£85,000 |
£105,000 |
3.8% |
£750 |
5.7% |
|
Cloud Architect |
£75,000 |
£100,000 |
£125,000 |
3.8% |
£800 |
5.7% |
|
Security Architect |
£80,000 |
£105,000 |
£130,000 |
3.8% |
£900 |
5.7% |
|
Engineering |
AI / ML Engineer |
£70,000 |
£95,000 |
£120,000 |
3.0% |
£800 |
4.4% |
DevOps / SRE |
£65,000 |
£85,000 |
£105,000 |
3.1% |
£700 |
4.5% |
|
Cyber Security Eng |
£55,000 |
£70,000 |
£90,000 |
2.9% |
£625 |
4.6% |
|
Software Dev (Snr) |
£60,000 |
£80,000 |
£105,000 |
3.1% |
£625 |
4.5% |
|
Data Engineer |
£55,000 |
£75,000 |
£95,000 |
3.0% |
£625 |
4.6% |
|
Data & PM |
Data Scientist (Snr) |
£65,000 |
£85,000 |
£110,000 |
3.2% |
£725 |
4.9% |
Data Analyst |
£35,000 |
£42,000 |
£52,000 |
3.1% |
£375 |
4.9% |
|
IT Project Manager |
£55,000 |
£70,000 |
£85,000 |
3.2% |
£575 |
4.8% |
|
Business Analyst |
£45,000 |
£58,000 |
£70,000 |
3.2% |
£475 |
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.