July 2026 – UK – IT, Tech and AI Salary & Contractor Rates
The Reality Behind the Data
The major talking point as we navigate through July is the critical pivot from mere structural “readiness” to genuine execution velocity.
Organisations are waking up to a tough reality: having a beautifully mapped-out technology roadmap or a theoretical presentation means absolutely nothing if it stalls in committee. While macroeconomic caution keeps boards highly hesitant to greenlight broad-brush, permanent headcount increases, tech budgets are actually being deployed with immense precision. If you are hiring an execution-focused specialist who can step in on day one, clear technical debt, and immediately drive a project past the finish line, there is zero hesitation from stakeholders. The market hasn’t shrunk; it has just become intensely targeted on immediate delivery.
The Agility Migration Defeats Enterprise Bureaucracy
While June was entirely about securing core infrastructure to stabilise environments, July has triggered a significant structural shift in where elite tech talent—especially across AI, automation, and data engineering—wants to work.
Top-tier specialists are no longer leaving tier-one corporate enterprises over compliance worries or base salary caps. Instead, they are actively walking away because massive organisations are simply too sluggish to actually implement their work. These high-calibre candidates are deeply frustrated by bureaucratic friction; they want to see their models and automation pipelines live in a production environment, not perpetually stuck in multi-stage approval loops.
Consequently, agile small and medium-sized businesses that can promise immediate project ownership, fast sign-off procedures, and rapid deployment windows are completely winning the war for elite talent. Moving into Q3, organisational agility has thoroughly defeated enterprise bureaucracy as the ultimate leverage for securing premium technical minds.
Category |
Job Title |
Yearly Low |
Yearly Median (Base) |
Yearly High |
Annual % Change
|
Contractor Day Rate
|
Day Rate Change
|
LEADERSHIP |
|||||||
CTO |
£100,000 |
£135,000 |
£180,000 |
1.50% |
£1,050 |
2.30% |
|
CIO |
£95,000 |
£125,000 |
£165,000 |
1.50% |
£1,000 |
2.30% |
|
IT DIRECTOR |
£75,000 |
£95,000 |
£120,000 |
1.50% |
£750 |
2.30% |
|
HEAD OF DATA / AI |
£90,000 |
£120,000 |
£155,000 |
1.50% |
£850 |
2.20% |
|
HEAD OF IT |
£65,000 |
£80,000 |
£100,000 |
1.50% |
£650 |
2.30% |
|
ICT MANAGER |
£60,000 |
£75,000 |
£90,000 |
1.40% |
£600 |
2.10% |
|
CISO |
£95,000 |
£125,000 |
£160,000 |
1.80% |
£1,100 |
2.50% |
|
IT OPS DIRECTOR |
£80,000 |
£100,000 |
£130,000 |
1.40% |
£800 |
2.20% |
|
OPERATIONS |
|||||||
3RD LINE (SYSADMIN) |
£38,000 |
£45,000 |
£55,000 |
3.90% |
£375 |
5.20% |
|
2ND LINE SUPPORT |
£28,000 |
£34,000 |
£42,000 |
3.90% |
£250 |
5.10% |
|
1ST LINE SUPPORT |
£22,000 |
£26,000 |
£32,000 |
3.80% |
£185 |
5.00% |
|
IT SUPPORT MANAGER |
£42,000 |
£52,000 |
£65,000 |
3.90% |
£475 |
5.20% |
|
INFRASTRUCTURE ENG |
£45,000 |
£56,000 |
£72,000 |
4.10% |
£520 |
5.40% |
|
NETWORK ENGINEER |
£40,000 |
£50,000 |
£65,000 |
3.70% |
£450 |
5.10% |
|
SERVICE DESK LEAD |
£35,000 |
£42,000 |
£50,000 |
3.80% |
£350 |
5.00% |
|
M365 / AZURE ADMIN |
£40,000 |
£52,000 |
£65,000 |
4.20% |
£450 |
5.50% |
|
MAC ENGINEER |
£38,000 |
£48,000 |
£58,000 |
3.50% |
£375 |
4.80% |
|
NOC ENGINEER |
£32,000 |
£40,000 |
£50,000 |
3.20% |
£325 |
4.50% |
|
ARCHITECTURE
|
|||||||
ENTERPRISE ARCHITECT |
£75,000 |
£96,000 |
£125,000 |
3.80% |
£875 |
5.70% |
|
SOLUTION ARCHITECT |
£70,000 |
£86,000 |
£110,000 |
3.80% |
£775 |
5.70% |
|
CLOUD ARCHITECT |
£80,000 |
£102,000 |
£130,000 |
3.80% |
£825 |
5.70% |
|
SECURITY ARCHITECT |
£80,000 |
£105,000 |
£130,000 |
3.80% |
£900 |
5.70% |
|
DATA ARCHITECT |
£78,250 |
£90,000 |
£105,000 |
3.90% |
£785 |
5.80% |
|
SOFTWARE ARCHITECT |
£75,000 |
£95,000 |
£115,000 |
4.00% |
£800 |
5.90% |
|
ENGINEERING |
|||||||
AI / ML ENGINEER |
£70,000 |
£88,000 |
£120,000 |
3.00% |
£800 |
4.40% |
|
DEVOPS / SRE |
£65,000 |
£82,000 |
£105,000 |
3.10% |
£700 |
4.50% |
|
CYBER SECURITY ENG |
£55,000 |
£70,000 |
£90,000 |
2.90% |
£625 |
4.60% |
|
SOFTWARE DEV (SNR) |
£60,000 |
£80,000 |
£105,000 |
3.10% |
£625 |
4.50% |
|
FULL STACK DEV |
£50,000 |
£65,000 |
£85,000 |
3.20% |
£550 |
4.70% |
|
PLATFORM ENGINEER |
£62,000 |
£78,000 |
£95,000 |
3.30% |
£675 |
4.80% |
|
QA AUTOMATION ENG |
£42,000 |
£52,000 |
£68,000 |
3.40% |
£425 |
4.90% |
|
DATA & PM |
|||||||
DATA ENGINEER |
£55,000 |
£75,000 |
£95,000 |
3.00% |
£625 |
4.60% |
|
DATA SCIENTIST (SNR) |
£65,000 |
£85,000 |
£110,000 |
3.20% |
£725 |
4.90% |
|
DATA ANALYST |
£35,000 |
£42,000 |
£52,000 |
3.10% |
£375 |
4.90% |
|
IT PROJECT MANAGER |
£55,000 |
£70,000 |
£85,000 |
3.20% |
£575 |
4.80% |
|
BUSINESS ANALYST |
£45,000 |
£58,000 |
£70,000 |
3.20% |
£475 |
4.70% |
|
TECHNICAL PM |
£65,000 |
£80,000 |
£100,000 |
3.50% |
£675 |
5.10% |
|
PRODUCT MANAGER |
£60,000 |
£78,000 |
£97,000 |
3.40% |
£650 |
4.90% |
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.