January 2026 – UK – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates
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The “National Median”: Across the UK, the median IT salary has stabilised at approximately £61,600. This reflects a moderate 1.1% to 3% year-on-year growth as the market prioritises “specialist over generalist” talent.
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Skill Scarcity: Despite a cooling in general tech hiring, AI Engineers, Cyber Architects, and Data Architects continue to command premiums regardless of location due to an acute skills gap.
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Contractor Resilience: The national median day rate for contractors is holding steady at £500, though “Inside IR35” roles in the public sector are seeing slight downward pressure compared to “Outside IR35” private sector AI projects.
CategoryJob TitleYearly Low (£)Yearly Median (£)Yearly High (£)Contractor Day Rate (Med £)LeadershipChief Transformation Officer (CTRO)£128,750£165,500£202,250£1,250Chief Technology Officer (CTO)£120,000£160,500£201,500£1,200Chief Information Officer (CIO)£108,000£150,250£200,000£1,150Chief Info Security Officer (CISO)£96,250£135,250£161,750£1,100IT Director£81,750£96,000£116,500£800Head of Data / AI£90,000£120,000£150,000£1,000Head of IT£72,000£81,500£89,750£750Operations3rd Line Support (SysAdmin)£42,000£52,000£65,000£3752nd Line Support£32,000£38,000£46,000£2751st Line Support£24,000£28,500£34,000£200IT Support Manager£48,000£58,500£72,000£500ArchitectureEnterprise Architect£82,000£95,250£113,000£950Solution Architect£78,000£90,000£106,750£850Cloud Architect (AWS/Azure)£85,000£102,500£135,000£900Security Architect£92,000£110,000£145,000£1,050Data Architect£78,250£89,750£102,250£900EngineeringAI / Machine Learning Engineer£75,000£95,000£125,000£900DevOps / SRE Engineer£65,000£85,000£115,000£750Cyber Security Engineer£55,000£75,000£105,000£725Software Developer (Senior)£65,000£85,000£115,000£650Data Engineer£60,000£78,000£100,000£700Network Engineer£45,000£58,000£75,000£500Data & PMData Scientist (Senior)£70,000£88,000£120,000£825Data Analyst£38,000£48,000£62,000£450IT Project Manager£55,000£72,000£95,000£650Business Analyst (Technical)£48,000£60,000£78,000£550
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.