Justice wants 6 project managers at £85,000
Project roles are 6.2% of all UK vacancies, up for the fourth week running; project manager pay stopped falling at £51,301; Agile doubled in a week.
Issue 4. 1 October 2026.
The number
Four weeks of data now say the same thing: the market is shrinking around project roles, not through them.
▼ 12,905 fewer live vacancies in the UK this week. ▲ 1,149 more live project manager adverts. Project roles are 6.2% of every vacancy in the country.
The whole market. Live vacancies fell from 635,582 to 622,677 in 7 days, 2.0%. That is 4 falls in a row and 8.4% since the index started. Project manager adverts rose from 37,497 to 38,646, 3.1%, the biggest weekly rise so far. Project roles are 6.2% of every vacancy, after 5.5%, 5.7% and 5.9%.
Pay. The average advertised project manager salary for September is £62,444, up 9.3% on September last year. It has risen every month since November.
This week's adverts. 182 project roles posted between 25 September and 1 October. Last week 191, the week before 204. Three clean weeks say posting is drifting down about 5% a week while the live stock rises, which means adverts are staying up longer, not that fewer are arriving.
The crowd. The most applied-for advert was a PMO and business analyst contract with no rate printed: 160 applicants. The median advert has 8. The top 6 were all contract or temporary again.
Movement
Permanent, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median salary | Middle half of adverts | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project support | 11 | £31,000 | £29,000 to £35,000 | £31,500 |
| PMO | 6 | £72,664 | £51,250 to £86,332 | £70,000 |
| Project manager | 84 | £51,301 | £46,354 to £63,500 | £50,000 |
| Programme manager | 6 | £75,000 | £59,454 to £88,375 | £65,000 |
| All rungs | 107 | £50,500 | £50,000 |
Project manager pay. The 2-week fall stopped. £60,000, £55,000, £50,000, now £51,301 on 84 adverts. The top of the middle half rose from £60,400 to £63,500. Call it £50,000 to £55,000 for a permanent project manager advert this autumn, against a live-stock average of £62,444 that includes senior and sector-premium roles.
The small rungs. PMO £72,664 on 6, programme manager £75,000 on 6. Both signals. Both now above where they were 2 weeks ago.
Contract, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median day rate | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| PMO | 2 | £484 | not enough adverts |
| Project manager | 18 | £458 | £463 |
| Programme manager | 4 | £650 | £600 |
| All rungs | 24 | £458 | £500 |
Day rates. 24 contract adverts, a signal. The project manager rate is £458, within £5 of the last 3 weeks. The all-rungs median fell to £458 because fewer programme contracts were printed with a rate this week; the 4 that were came in at £650, with a Workday programme manager at £900 and a data programme manager at £800 to £900.
Where the roles are. 38,646 live project manager adverts across the UK. London 11,893, 30.8%, down from 31.3% and the lowest share in 4 weeks. North West 4,012, up 193 in a week, the biggest regional gain. South East 4,921, South West 3,093, West Midlands 3,025. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland together 3,964, 10.3%.
Who is hiring. AECOM 1,510 live project manager adverts. Stantec 636, up 47, moving past AtkinsRéalis at 624 into second place. Amazon 497, WSP 495. All 5 rose this week. Of this week's new adverts, Brandon James posted 13, Hays 9, Rise Technical 9, Reed 7. The 160-applicant advert was an agency posting for a local authority.
Hybrid and remote. Hybrid 28.6% of adverts, down from 36.6%. Remote 8.8%, up from 4.2%. Last week's hybrid high and remote low both reversed, which puts both back near their 4-week averages of about 31% and 7%.
Cleared roles. 14 new project, programme and PMO roles asking for security clearance in this week's alerts, against 22 last week. Day rates printed: £325 for project support in Bristol, £475 to £500 for an SC project manager in Portsmouth, £500 for a cyber project manager in London, about £550 for a project manager in Barrow, £770 for a technical project manager in High Wycombe, and £800 to £850 for a principal programme manager in Milton Keynes. The cleared contract median is about £500 against £458 on the open market. Permanent: a digital transformation programme manager for Kent and Essex Police at £69,687, and an SC technical project manager in London at £65,000 to £75,000.
Training adverts posing as vacancies. 40 this week, 18.0% of adverts with a project title. Last week 36, 15.9%. Excluded from every figure in this issue.
Applications. The median advert had 8 applications by Wednesday. 11 adverts had more than 50, up from 7. The top 5: a PMO and business analyst temporary post with no rate printed, 160; a project delivery manager contract at £600 a day, 123; a project support officer at £20 an hour, 82; a junior project manager contract at £400 to £500 a day, 81; a data programme manager contract at £800 to £900 a day, 62. Two of the top 6 printed no rate at all and still drew 220 people between them.
Signal
What the 182 adverts ask for, as a share of adverts.
Methods and qualifications
| Requirement | All rungs | Project manager | Last week, all rungs | Civil Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRINCE2 | 13.7% | 15.7% | 13.6% | 18.2% |
| Agile | 12.6% | 14.2% | 6.8% | 22.7% |
| APM | 6.6% | 7.1% | 8.9% | 27.3% |
| MSP | 3.8% | 2.4% | 3.7% | 6.8% |
| PMP | 2.7% | 3.1% | 4.7% | 0.0% |
| Degree | 16.5% | 22.0% | 20.4% | 18.2% |
Certificates. PRINCE2 first for the fourth week, steady at 13.7%. Agile doubled, from 6.8% to 12.6%, on 23 adverts, and is second for the first time. APM fell back to 6.6% in the private market while staying first in the Civil Service at 27.3%. PMP is at 2.7%, its lowest yet, and 0 of 44 Civil Service vacancies name it. Four weeks in: PRINCE2 holds, the rest trade places week to week.
Degree. 16.5%, down for the second week from 24.5%. The 3-week average is 20.5%.
What is climbing. Agile, as above. ERP systems: 8.8% of adverts name SAP, Oracle or ERP, with 2 of the highest-paid contracts of the week attached to Workday and Oracle programmes. Remote, 8.8%, up 4.6 points. Applications over 50, 11 adverts against 7.
What is not moving. Stakeholder management 64.8%, still the most named requirement but at its lowest in 4 weeks. Budget ownership 49.5% of adverts and 59.1% of project manager adverts, back to where it was 2 weeks ago. Construction 28.0%, down from 35.1%, back to its 4-week average. Risk management 10.4%. Business case 3.3% and benefits management 4.4%, against 38.6% and 22.7% in the Civil Service. AI 2.2%, on 4 adverts, down from 8.3% 2 weeks ago. Security clearance 2.2%.
The Civil Service this week
| Department | Vacancies | Posts | Highest grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Defence | 11 | 17 | Grade 6 |
| Homes England | 6 | 6 | Own grades, to £81,443 |
| UK Health Security Agency | 2 | 2 | Grade 7 |
| Ministry of Justice | 1 | 6 | Grade 6 |
| Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency | 1 | 3 | SEO |
| All departments | 44 | 61 | SCS Pay Band 1 |
The count. 44 live vacancies with project, programme, PMO or portfolio in the title, 61 posts, 23 new since last Wednesday. Last week on the same basis: 45 vacancies, 54 posts. Vacancies flat, posts up 7, because 2 departments are hiring in batches.
By grade. SEO 14, Grade 7 10, Grade 6 4, HEO 3, EO 1, SCS 1, 11 on departmental grades. Grade 7 project posts are advertised at a median £59,351 to £67,166; SEO at £46,040.
New this week. The Ministry of Justice wants 6 senior project managers at Grade 6, £71,381 to £85,257, closing 22 October, the largest single project recruitment in the Civil Service in 4 weeks. The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero wants a deputy director for the small modular reactor programme at £86,000, closing 18 October. FCDO Services, a principal project manager at Grade 6, £75,055 to £77,259. The Ministry of Defence, a deputy head programme manager at Grade 6, £72,840, and 3 programme delivery managers at Grade 7, £61,630 to £67,750. The Department for Business and Trade, 2 senior programme managers at Grade 7, £60,732 to £71,296. The College of Policing, a programme manager for PoliceAI at £47,720 to £59,330. DVSA, 3 senior project managers at SEO, £45,900.
The pattern. Grade 6 is the story. Four Grade 6 project posts in one week, 9 posts in total, all at £71,000 and above. That is the band the private market pays £50,000 to £55,000 for in a permanent advert, and it is the band the Civil Service is short of.
Pipeline
Find a Tender notices from the last 7 days that will need project people. Open tenders hire on award. Planning notices hire in a year.
Awarded
No awards over £3m matched this week's search. Four weeks without a large award. The autumn awards arrive from November.
Open for bids
NHS Supply Chain, diagnostic and capital equipment framework. £4.3bn. Deadline 30 November. Imaging, radiotherapy, endoscopy and decontamination equipment for every NHS trust. Every call-off is a capital project with an installation programme behind it, on both the supplier and the trust side.
Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation, Digital Marketplace framework. £500m. Deadline 4 November. A single provider to run a digital marketplace for the whole public sector, with an implementation programme from award.
Norfolk County Council, highways and infrastructure professional services. £86.3m. Competitive flexible procedure, formally launched this week after June's market engagement. Client-side project and programme management for the county's highways capital programme.
Burnley Borough Council, planned and capital works framework. £50m. Deadline 17 November. One of 3 linked frameworks the council is procuring together, with a professional services framework alongside.
North Ayrshire Council, re-roofing, re-rendering, external wall insulation and solar PV programme. £44.9m. Deadline 26 October. A measured term contract for a housing retrofit programme.
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, national rollout of a waste route for high activity sealed sources. £23m. Deadline 10 November. A single supplier to deliver a national programme across every holder of these sources in the UK.
Nuclear Waste Services, site characterisation professional services. £13.8m. Open. Technical programme support for the geological disposal facility siting work.
Still open. NHS Shared Business Services' £2.3bn construction consultancy framework closes 27 November. Eastern Procurement's £1.06bn decarbonisation framework closes 21 October. Salford's £300m highways framework closes 4 November. Southern Housing's £200m fire remedial frameworks close 14 October.
Coming
Network Rail and Great British Railways, facilities management across the railway. £2.4bn preliminary market engagement. The first notice to carry the Great British Railways name alongside Network Rail. Whoever wins the FM contracts inherits a transition programme across every station and depot, and the client side gets one too.
Department for Education, management information systems for schools in England. £800m preliminary market engagement. The systems every state school runs on. If it proceeds, a national programme with a supplier transition in thousands of schools.
Government Commercial Agency, national framework for heat network connection and supply. £800m. An open framework for public buildings to connect to heat networks. Each connection is a capital project with a public-sector client.
Fusion21, construction and refurbishment framework 2027 to 2031. £750m. Preliminary market engagement for the renewal. Housing association and public sector works across the UK.
City of London Corporation, integrated facilities management framework. £550m. Planned.
The Crown Estate, multidisciplinary consultancy framework, £71m, and building surveying framework, £84m. Both planned. The consultancy framework names project management as a lot, for capital projects across the Crown Estate's London and regional portfolios.
Department of Finance Northern Ireland, property maintenance framework 2028. £110m. Preliminary market engagement.
The pattern. Six of this week's largest notices are frameworks at planning stage, which means the hiring they cause is 12 to 18 months out. The NHS equipment framework is the exception: it is open now, closes in November, and the capital projects behind it start in 2027.
The move
If you're applying this week: if the advert prints no salary, the crowd is there anyway. 2 of the 6 most applied-for adverts this week printed nothing and drew 220 people. Apply to the ones that print a number and give a reason; the ones that don't are not short of applicants.
If you're bidding: the NHS Supply Chain diagnostic and capital equipment framework, £4.3bn, closes 30 November. Equipment suppliers win the lots; the project management behind every installation is subcontracted, and that is the place to be a named partner.
If you're hiring or running a PMO: Grade 6 is where the Civil Service is paying. 9 Grade 6 project posts went up this week at £71,000 to £85,000, against a private permanent median of £51,301. If your senior project people are being recruited by a department, that is the gap they are walking across.
Method
Salary history, regional counts and top employers come from Adzuna, a job search engine that collects adverts from most UK job boards and employer career sites and removes the duplicates. It is the source the Office for National Statistics uses for its own vacancy estimates. Figures in this issue: 12 months to September 2026 for salary history; live counts as of 1 October 2026. Project roles as a share of all vacancies uses Adzuna's count of every live advert on the same day.
Advert content, the skills and qualifications employers ask for, comes from Reed.co.uk, one of the largest UK job boards, where the full text of each advert is available. Adverts posted 25 September to 1 October 2026. 182 adverts across the 4 rungs after training adverts are excluded.
Civil Service figures come from Civil Service Jobs, the government's own recruitment site. Live vacancies with project, programme, PMO or portfolio in the title on 30 September 2026, excluding offender programme and development programme posts that are not project roles. 44 vacancies, 61 posts.
Cleared role counts: SecurityClearedJobs.com job alerts, week to 1 October 2026. 15 daily alerts, 14 new project, programme and PMO roles after graduate and placement adverts are removed.
Pipeline figures come from Find a Tender, the government's official register of public contracts above threshold across all 4 nations. Notices published 24 to 30 September 2026. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Notices under £1m are excluded.
Percentages are rounded to 1 decimal place. Under 30 adverts is a signal, not a fact, and is marked as such.
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