76,000 job adverts have gone since mid-September
Project manager adverts fell for the first time in 5 weeks, but half as fast as the market; PRINCE2 is at a 5-week high of 16.6% of adverts; Hyde Housing put a £6bn works framework into planning.
Issue 5. 8 October 2026.
The number
The market has lost 11.3% of its adverts in 3 weeks. Project roles have lost 1.7% in that time, all of it this week.
▼ 19,428 fewer live vacancies in the UK this week. ▼ 647 fewer live project manager adverts. Project roles are 6.3% of every vacancy in the country.
The whole market. Live vacancies fell from 622,677 to 603,249 in 7 days, 3.1%, the steepest weekly fall since the index began. Since 15 September the market has lost 76,505 adverts, 11.3%. Project manager adverts fell from 38,646 to 37,999, 1.7%, the first fall in 5 weeks. Project roles are 6.3% of every vacancy, up for the fifth week running, because the fall in project adverts is half the size of the fall in everything else.
Pay. The average advertised project manager salary for September is £62,444, up 9.3% on September last year. Unchanged this week; the October figure arrives next month.
This week's adverts. 205 project roles posted between 2 and 8 October, up 12.6% on last week's 182 and the most in 4 weeks. New adverts up while live adverts fall means adverts are closing faster than they are arriving: roles are being filled, or pulled, inside a week.
The crowd. The most applied-for advert was a PMO officer contract at a bank, hybrid in London, Edinburgh or Manchester, with no rate shown: 135 applicants. The median advert has 8. 18 adverts had more than 50, up from 11, and 13 of the 18 were contract.
Movement
Permanent, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median salary | Middle half of adverts | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project support | 9 | £32,500 | £32,500 to £40,000 | £31,000 |
| PMO | 6 | £55,334 | £42,667 to £71,250 | £72,664 |
| Project manager | 71 | £52,500 | £46,950 to £63,750 | £51,301 |
| Programme manager | 6 | £65,000 | £48,125 to £65,000 | £75,000 |
| All rungs | 92 | £52,500 | £50,500 |
Project manager pay. £52,500 on 71 adverts, up from £51,301, and back to where it was 3 weeks ago. The 5-week run is £60,000, £55,000, £50,000, £51,301, £52,500. The fall in late September has stopped; the middle half of adverts is £46,950 to £63,750.
The small rungs. PMO £55,334 and programme manager £65,000, each on 6 adverts, each a signal. Both are down on last week's 6, which is 2 small samples disagreeing, not a trend.
Contract, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median day rate | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| PMO | 3 | £525 | £484 |
| Project manager | 32 | £444 | £458 |
| Programme manager | 7 | £650 | £650 |
| All rungs | 43 | £475 | £458 |
Day rates. 43 contract adverts, the most in 5 weeks and now a fact rather than a signal. The project manager rate is £444, down £14, and within £20 of every week so far. Programme managers held at £650 on 7, with a Workday programme manager at £900 and a programme delivery manager at £775 to £825 at the top.
What people are being paid
| Job | Pay | Adverts |
|---|---|---|
| Project manager, permanent | £50,000 | 261 |
| Senior project manager, permanent | £69,141 | 42 |
| Programme manager, permanent | £65,000 | 25, a signal |
| Project manager, contract | £450 a day | 88 |
| Programme manager, contract | £650 a day | 26, a signal |
The last 4 weeks, pooled. 773 adverts, so these numbers move slowly. Project managers in rail and infrastructure are advertised at £55,000, NHS and construction £52,052, IT and financial services £50,000. Applying: below the row, ask why; above it, ask what the extra is for. Hiring: price at the row or above, or you get the 8 applicants, not the 90.
What the extra £10,000 buys. Of 261 mid-level project manager adverts in the last 4 weeks, 76 pay £10,000 or more above the £50,000 median. Those 76 are 5 times as likely to be in London, 21% against 4%. They name PRINCE2 more, 17% against 10%, and ask for a degree half as often, 12% against 25%.
Where the roles are
| Region | Live project manager adverts | Share | Change on last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 11,572 | 30.5% | down 321 |
| South East | 4,843 | 12.7% | down 78 |
| North West | 3,980 | 10.5% | down 32 |
| South West | 3,108 | 8.2% | up 15 |
| West Midlands | 2,979 | 7.8% | down 46 |
| Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland | 4,026 | 10.6% | up 62 |
| All UK | 37,999 | down 647 |
London's share is 30.5%, the lowest in 5 weeks. Every region lost adverts except the South West and Wales.
Who is hiring
| Employer | Live project manager adverts | Change on last week |
|---|---|---|
| AECOM | 1,684 | up 174 |
| Stantec | 632 | down 4 |
| AtkinsRéalis | 587 | down 37 |
| WSP | 493 | down 2 |
| Amazon | 476 | down 21 |
AECOM now has as many project manager adverts as the next 3 combined. Of this week's new adverts, Hays posted 24, Reed 14, Rise Technical 8 and Brandon James 7. The 135-applicant advert was an agency posting on behalf of a bank.
Hybrid and remote. Hybrid 35.6% of adverts, up from 28.6%. Remote 8.3%, down from 8.8%. Hybrid has moved between 29% and 37% for 5 weeks.
Cleared roles
| Role | Where | Day rate |
|---|---|---|
| SC programme lead, recovery | Reading | £800 to £900 |
| DV PMO manager | Basingstoke | up to £750 |
| Nuclear planner | Helensburgh | £600 |
| Project manager | Belfast | up to £500 |
| Programme test manager | Manchester or Edinburgh | £400 to £500 |
| Central government planner | London | £400 to £450 |
| Defence site manager | Kent | £320 |
13 new cleared project, programme and PMO roles this week, against 14 last week. The cleared contract median is about £500 against £444 on the open market. Permanent: a national security senior project manager in Manchester at about £75,000 with eDV, and a lead project controller in Portsmouth at up to £55,000.
Training adverts posing as vacancies. 43 this week, 17.3% of adverts with a project title. Last week 40, 18.0%. Excluded from every figure in this issue.
Applications
| Advert | Type | Pay shown | Applicants |
|---|---|---|---|
| PMO officer, bank, hybrid London, Edinburgh or Manchester | Contract | none | 135 |
| PMO assurance | Contract | £300 a day | 98 |
| PMO manager, London | Contract | £500 to £550 a day | 95 |
| Delivery manager, London | Contract | £500 a day | 90 |
| Project manager, holiday cover, London | Contract | £300 a day | 86 |
| PMO and delivery coordinator, Croydon | Permanent | £40,000 to £45,000 | 82 |
The median advert had 8 applications by Wednesday. 18 adverts had more than 50, up from 11 and the most in 5 weeks. 13 of the 18 were contract, 12 were in London, 4 showed no rate.
Signal
What the 205 adverts ask for, as a share of adverts.
Methods and qualifications
| Requirement | All rungs | Project manager | Last week, all rungs | Civil Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRINCE2 | 16.6% | 17.3% | 13.7% | 16.4% |
| Agile | 15.1% | 14.7% | 12.6% | 14.5% |
| APM | 9.3% | 11.3% | 6.6% | 21.8% |
| PMP | 5.9% | 6.0% | 2.7% | 1.8% |
| MSP | 2.0% | 2.0% | 3.8% | 9.1% |
| Degree | 18.5% | 22.0% | 16.5% | 5.5% |
Certificates. PRINCE2 first for the fifth week, at 16.6%, its highest yet. Agile held second at 15.1%, up for the second week. APM 9.3%, PMP 5.9%, both up. Every certificate rose this week on a larger sample, which says employers wrote longer adverts, not that any one certificate gained on the others. Over the last 4 weeks, 1 in 8 permanent project manager adverts named PRINCE2, and those adverts carried a median of £56,500 against £52,500 for the ones that did not, on 41 adverts. The gap was £4,250 last month and is £4,000 now.
Degree. 18.5%, up from 16.5%. The 4-week average is 20%. The Civil Service asks for one in 5.5% of project vacancies.
What is climbing. PRINCE2, as above. AI is named in 6.8% of adverts, 14 of them, back up from 2.2% and in line with its 5-week average. Applications over 50: 18 adverts, from 7 three weeks ago. Hybrid 35.6%, up 7 points.
What is not moving. Stakeholder management 72.7%, the most named requirement of any kind for the fifth week. Budget ownership 46.3% of adverts and 54.0% of project manager adverts. Construction 31.7% of adverts and 38.0% of project manager adverts, within 2 points of its 5-week average. NEC 6.8%, Microsoft Project 10.2%, risk management 7.8%. Business case 3.4% and benefits management 3.4%, against 34.5% and 23.6% in the Civil Service. Security clearance 4.9%.
The Civil Service this week
| Department | Vacancies | Posts | Highest grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Defence | 13 | 18 | Grade 6 |
| Department for Culture, Media and Sport | 3 | 3 | Grade 6 |
| GCHQ | 3 | 3 | SEO |
| Homes England | 3 | 3 | Own grades, to £103,294 |
| Department for Business and Trade | 2 | 4 | Grade 7 |
| All departments | 55 | 72 | SCS Pay Band 1 |
The count. 55 live vacancies with project, programme, PMO or portfolio in the title, 72 posts, 29 new since last Wednesday. Last week 44 and 61. Up 25% in a week, the biggest rise since the index began, and more than half of the live vacancies are new.
By grade. SEO 19, Grade 7 12, Grade 6 5, HEO 4, EO 4, SCS 1, 10 on departmental grades. Grade 7 project posts are advertised at a median £59,470 to £64,983; SEO at £46,040.
New this week. Homes England wants a programme assistant director at £89,167 to £103,294, closing 21 October, the highest-paid project post on the site in 5 weeks. HM Prison and Probation Service, a senior programme manager at Grade 6, £81,338 to £94,690, closing 30 October. The Mining Remediation Authority, a head of project delivery at £69,760 to £77,512. Defra, a portfolio manager at Grade 7, £58,207 to £71,178. GCHQ, 3 project roles including a principal project manager at £53,000 and a project manager at £43,083, both in Cheltenham. The Ministry of Justice's 6 senior project managers at up to £85,257 are still open until 22 October.
The pattern. The Civil Service pays by grade and the private market pays by city. A Grade 7 project post is £59,000 to £65,000 wherever it is; a private project manager advert is £50,000 outside London and £60,000 and up inside it. For anyone outside London, the department pays more than the agency does.
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. Five weeks without a large award. The autumn awards arrive from November.
Open for bids
Link Group, main building contractors for new build housing. £840m. Deadline 2 November. A 4-year framework for a Scottish housing group and its subsidiaries, design and build included.
Concertus Suffolk, Link14 construction and building services framework. £1bn. Open, no deadline published. Seven regional lots across the east of England, with partners appointed for the full term.
Bracknell Forest Borough Council, capital works framework. £80m. Deadline 26 November. Capital works, planned maintenance and refurbishment across the council's property portfolio.
Still open. NHS Supply Chain's £4.3bn equipment framework closes 30 November. NHS Shared Business Services' £2.3bn construction consultancy framework closes 27 November. Eastern Procurement's £1.06bn decarbonisation framework now closes 4 November. Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation's £800m digital marketplace and Salford's £300m highways framework close 4 November. Southern Housing's £200m fire remedial frameworks close 14 October.
Coming
Hyde Housing Association, Improve framework for capital delivery and planned works. £6bn. Planning stage. Kitchens, bathrooms, windows, roofs, electrical and infrastructure works across one of the largest housing associations in the south. A client-side delivery team for a decade and a contractor project team on every lot.
Government Commercial Agency, Technology Products and Associated Services 3. £20bn. Planning notice, the agency's second at £20bn in 3 weeks. Every large call-off is a rollout programme on the buyer's side.
High Speed Two, residual works framework. £2.2bn. Planned. Civil, environmental and specialist works along the Phase 1 route from Euston to Handsacre. The framework that finishes the project after the main works.
The pattern. This week's planning notices add up to more than £29bn and none of them hires anyone before 2027. The open notices are smaller and nearer: Link Group on 2 November, Eastern Procurement on 4 November, Bracknell on 26 November.
The move
If you're applying this week: 13 of the 18 most crowded adverts were contract and 12 were in London. A permanent advert outside London with the salary shown had 8 applicants. If you can take permanent and you are not tied to London, that is where you get read.
If you're bidding: Link Group's £840m new build housing framework closes 2 November. It is the largest open notice this week with a deadline, and a 4-year place for the contractors who win it.
If you're hiring or running a PMO: PRINCE2 is at a 5-week high in private adverts and APM is first in government. A team that holds both covers both buyers, and the private adverts that name PRINCE2 are paying £4,000 more than the ones that do not.
Method
Live counts, regions, employers and salary history: Adzuna, a job search engine that collects adverts from most UK job boards and employer career sites, and the source the Office for National Statistics uses for its vacancy estimates. Live counts as of 8 October 2026; salary history 12 months to September 2026.
Advert content and pay: Reed.co.uk, one of the largest UK job boards. Adverts posted 2 to 8 October 2026, 205 across the 4 rungs after training adverts are excluded; the 4-week pay table uses 773 adverts posted 11 September to 8 October. Civil Service: Civil Service Jobs, live project and programme vacancies on 7 October 2026, 55 vacancies, 72 posts. Cleared roles: SecurityClearedJobs.com job alerts, week to 8 October 2026, 13 new roles.
Pipeline: Find a Tender, notices published 1 to 7 October 2026, under £1m excluded. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Percentages to 1 decimal place. Under 30 adverts is a signal, not a fact: too few to be sure, enough to watch.
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