1 in 5 project manager job adverts is not a job
55 job adverts with a project title this week were training courses for sale; 26,000 job adverts came back to the market in 7 days and project manager jobs lost share for the first time; the Ministry of Defence wants a submarine programme director at up to £117,800.
Issue 6. 15 October 2026.
The number
The market grew 4.4% in a week. Project roles grew 0.9%. For the first time since the index began, project roles are a smaller share of the market than they were last week.
▲ 26,649 more live job adverts in the UK this week. ▲ 330 more live project manager job adverts. Project roles are 6.1% of every vacancy in the country.
The whole market. Live vacancies rose from 603,249 to 629,898 in 7 days, 4.4%, the first rise in 5 weeks and the largest move either way since the index began. The market is still 49,856 adverts, 7.3%, below 15 September. Project manager adverts rose from 37,999 to 38,329, 0.9%. Project roles are 6.1% of every vacancy, down from 6.3%, the first fall in share since the index began. Project adverts held while the market fell. Now the market is coming back faster than project adverts are.
Pay. The average advertised project manager salary for September is £62,444, up 9.5% on October last year. Two more rungs arrive this week. Programme manager adverts averaged £63,348 in September, up 16.3% on October last year. PMO adverts averaged £73,769, up 12.0%. Project manager pay has risen every month but 2 since October 2025.
This week's job adverts. 195 project roles posted between 9 and 15 October, down 4.9% on last week's 205. 55 more job adverts with a project title were training courses, 22.0% of the feed, the highest share in 6 weeks. More on those under Movement.
The crowd. The most applied-for advert was an admin and project support officer contract in London at £35,000 to £42,000: 127 applicants. The median advert has 7. 11 adverts had more than 50, down from 18. 4 of the 6 most crowded adverts were project support roles in London.
Movement
Permanent, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median salary | Middle half of adverts | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project support | 10 | £30,000 | £27,500 to £32,500 | £32,500 |
| PMO | 3, a signal | £55,000 | £44,250 to £55,000 | £55,334 |
| Project manager | 76 | £52,000 | £42,500 to £65,000 | £52,500 |
| Programme manager | 7, a signal | £50,000 | £41,936 to £62,676 | £65,000 |
| All rungs | 96 | £50,000 | £52,500 |
Project manager pay. £52,000 on 76 adverts, down £500. The 6-week run is £60,000, £55,000, £50,000, £51,301, £52,500, £52,000. The median has been within £1,000 of £52,000 for 3 weeks. The middle half is wider than last week, £42,500 to £65,000, so the adverts at both ends moved and the middle did not.
The small rungs. PMO £55,000 on 3 adverts and programme manager £50,000 on 7. The programme manager fall from £65,000 is 7 adverts against 6, not a change in the market. The 4-week table below is the number to use.
Contract, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median day rate | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| PMO | 3, a signal | £700 | £525 |
| Project manager | 26, a signal | £488 | £444 |
| Programme manager | 3, a signal | £513 | £650 |
| All rungs | 34 | £506 | £475 |
Day rates. 34 contract adverts, down from 43, and every rung is a signal this week. The project manager rate is £488, up £44, the highest in 6 weeks on the smallest sample. An Oracle Fusion project manager in Hertfordshire and a head of PMO in London were advertised at £800. A senior project controls manager in Warwick at £700.
What people are being paid
| Job | Pay | Adverts |
|---|---|---|
| Project manager, permanent | £50,000 | 255 |
| Senior project manager, permanent | £67,891 | 44 |
| Programme manager, permanent | £65,000 | 25, a signal |
| Project manager, contract | £475 a day | 95 |
| Programme manager, contract | £650 a day | 19, a signal |
The last 4 weeks, pooled. 771 adverts. The project manager row is £50,000 for the second month, and the contract row rose from £450 to £475. Construction project managers are advertised at £51,776. Rail and infrastructure, NHS, IT and financial services are all at £50,000 this month. 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 7 applicants, not the 100.
What the extra £10,000 buys. Of 255 mid-level project manager adverts in the last 4 weeks, 67 pay £10,000 or more above the £50,000 median. Those 67 are 5 times as likely to be in London, 21% against 4%. They name PRINCE2 more, 15% against 9%, APM more, 10% against 3%, and Agile more, 12% against 3%. They ask for a degree less often, 19% against 24%. Half of them are construction, 49% against 32%.
Where the roles are
| Region | Live project manager adverts | Share | Change on last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 11,376 | 29.7% | down 196 |
| South East | 4,960 | 12.9% | up 117 |
| North West | 3,960 | 10.3% | down 20 |
| South West | 3,155 | 8.2% | up 47 |
| West Midlands | 3,027 | 7.9% | up 48 |
| Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland | 4,095 | 10.7% | up 69 |
| All UK | 38,329 | up 330 |
London's share is 29.7%, below 30% for the first time and down from 31.7% at the start. London lost 196 adverts in a week the rest of the country gained 526.
Who is hiring
| Employer | Live project manager adverts | Change on last week |
|---|---|---|
| AECOM | 1,680 | down 4 |
| Stantec | 677 | up 45 |
| AtkinsRéalis | 575 | down 12 |
| WSP | 486 | down 7 |
| Amazon | 466 | down 10 |
Stantec added 45 and is back in second place. Of this week's new adverts, Hays posted 20, Reed 14, Ernest Gordon 11 and Brandon James 7, the same 4 agencies as 3 weeks ago.
Hybrid and remote. Hybrid 37.4% of adverts, up from 35.6% and the highest in 6 weeks. Remote 2.1%, 4 adverts, down from 8.3%. Remote has not been this low since the index began.
Cleared roles
| Role | Where | Pay |
|---|---|---|
| DV technical transformation lead | Basingstoke | up to £750 a day |
| DV infrastructure project manager | Bristol or London | £500 to £640 a day |
| Nuclear planner | Helensburgh | £600 a day |
| Pega programme manager | Stratford-upon-Avon | £500 to £550 a day |
| Project manager | Belfast | up to £500 a day |
| Project support | Bristol | up to £325 a day |
| Senior project manager, national security | London, Cheltenham or Manchester | £75,000 to £90,000 |
| SC digital transformation programme manager | Reading | £80,000 to £90,000 |
24 cleared project, programme and PMO roles in this week's alerts, 19 of them new, against 13 last week. The cleared contract median is about £510 against £488 on the open market, the smallest gap in 6 weeks. Permanent cleared pay is well above the open market: 2 programme and senior project roles at up to £90,000, and a DV project manager in Malvern or Cheltenham at £48,000 to £60,000. One defence contractor advertised 7 graduate project management places in one week.
Training adverts posing as vacancies. 55 this week, 22.0% of adverts with a project title. Last week 43, 17.3%. The highest count and share in 6 weeks. Excluded from every figure in this issue.
1 in 5 project manager job adverts is not a job. It is a training course for sale. The title says "Trainee project manager" or "Project manager, no experience needed". The salary line says £25,000 to £45,000. You apply, and a training company rings to sell you a course, usually £1,000 to £2,000, with a promise of help finding work afterwards. 3 companies posted most of this week's 55. The index strips every one of them out before it counts anything, which is why the figures here are lower than the number you see on a job board. If the advert has no employer name and asks for no experience, it is not a job.
Applications
| Advert | Type | Pay shown | Applicants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Admin and project support officer, London | Contract | £35,000 to £42,000 | 127 |
| Project support officer, London | Temporary | £210 a day | 109 |
| Project manager, London | Contract | £450 to £500 a day | 107 |
| Project support officer, London | Contract | £162 to £170 a day | 97 |
| Project support manager, Solihull | Contract | £45,000 | 83 |
| Interim project manager, London | Contract | £600 to £800 a day | 65 |
The median advert had 7 applications by Wednesday. 11 adverts had more than 50, down from 18. 9 of the 11 were contract. 4 of the 6 most crowded were project support, the lowest-paid rung, and 3 of those 4 were in London. A permanent advert outside London with the salary shown had a median of 4 applicants, on 95 adverts.
Signal
What the 195 adverts ask for, as a share of adverts.
Methods and qualifications
| Requirement | All rungs | Project manager | Last week, all rungs | Civil Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRINCE2 | 13.8% | 12.6% | 16.6% | 17.5% |
| Agile | 7.2% | 5.9% | 15.1% | 10.5% |
| APM | 7.7% | 7.4% | 9.3% | 21.1% |
| PMP | 2.6% | 2.2% | 5.9% | 1.8% |
| MSP | 7.2% | 4.4% | 2.0% | 10.5% |
| Degree | 21.0% | 27.4% | 18.5% | 7.0% |
Certificates. PRINCE2 first for the sixth week, at 13.8%, down from last week's high of 16.6% and back on its 6-week average. Agile halved to 7.2%, its lowest yet. MSP more than tripled to 7.2% on 14 adverts, its highest yet, and 10 of the 14 were not project manager adverts. APM 7.7%, PMP 2.6%. Over the last 4 weeks, 13.3% of permanent project manager adverts named PRINCE2, and those adverts carried a median of £55,000 against £50,000 for the ones that did not, on 34 adverts. The gap was £4,000 last week and is £5,000 now.
Degree. 21.0%, up from 18.5%, and 27.4% of project manager adverts, the highest in 6 weeks. The Civil Service asks for one in 7.0% of project vacancies.
What is climbing. MSP, as above. Degree, as above. Hybrid 37.4%. Risk management 14.9% of adverts, up from 7.8%. Defence 5.6%.
What is not moving. Stakeholder management 69.2%, the most named requirement of any kind for the sixth week. Budget ownership 47.7% of adverts and 51.9% of project manager adverts. Construction 28.7% of adverts and 31.9% of project manager adverts. NEC 4.6%, Microsoft Project 9.2%. AI 4.6%, 9 adverts. Business case 2.6% and benefits management 3.6%, against 29.8% and 47.4% in the Civil Service. Security clearance 5.1%.
The Civil Service this week
| Department | Vacancies | Posts | Highest grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Defence | 13 | 16 | SCS Pay Band 1 |
| Homes England | 3 | 4 | Own grades, to £103,294 |
| FCDO Services | 3 | 6 | Grade 6 |
| HM Prison and Probation Service | 3 | 3 | Grade 6 |
| Department for Culture, Media and Sport | 3 | 3 | Grade 6 |
| GCHQ | 3 | 3 | SEO |
| All departments | 57 | 83 | SCS Pay Band 2 |
The count. 57 live vacancies with project, programme, PMO or portfolio in the title, 83 posts, 19 new since last Wednesday. Last week 55 and 72. Up 3.6% in a week, after 25% the week before.
By grade. SEO 18, Grade 7 13, HEO 6, EO 6, Grade 6 4, SCS 3, 7 on departmental grades. Grade 7 project posts are advertised at a median £59,955 to £62,699; SEO at £46,040.
New this week. The Ministry of Defence wants a programme director for the AUKUS nuclear submarine programme at Senior Civil Service Pay Band 1, £86,000 to £117,800, in Bristol, closing 1 November. It is the highest-paid project post on the site in 6 weeks. The Rural Payments Agency wants a programme director for its future payments service at £105,000. The Government Actuary's Department, a project management lead at Grade 7, £66,361 to £79,697. FCDO Services, a senior construction project manager at £59,955 to £68,883, closing 1 November. The Department for Business and Trade, a portfolio delivery partner at £60,732 to £71,296, closing 28 October. Ofgem, a senior PMO manager at £49,452 to £62,699, closing 22 October. Still open: Homes England's programme assistant director at up to £103,294 until 21 October, the Ministry of Justice's 6 senior project managers until 22 October, and HM Prison and Probation Service's senior programme manager at up to £94,690 until 30 October.
The pattern. 3 programme director posts at £86,000 and above are open at once, 2 of them new this week. The private market advertised 7 permanent programme manager roles this week at a median of £50,000. For programme-level pay, government is the market this month.
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
Ministry of Justice, Community Accommodation Services open framework. £2bn. Published 14 October. 4 lots of accommodation for people leaving prison or on probation, run as an open framework under the Procurement Act. The first award over £3m since the index began. Every supplier on it needs a mobilisation team before the first call-off.
Office for Nuclear Regulation, technical services framework. £180m. Published 13 October. Technical support to the nuclear regulator across safety, security and safeguards. The consultancies on it hire nuclear project and technical leads from award.
Open for bids
Nexus Multi Academy Trust, Your Education Technology open framework. £1bn. Deadline 30 October, with a second notice closing 11 November. ICT products, services and solutions for schools and other public bodies across the country. Every large call-off is a rollout project.
Yorkshire Water, ozone maintenance and minor capital works, and MEICA services. £216m and £133m. Tender notices 9 and 13 October, no deadline published. Planned and reactive maintenance and capital delivery across the water company's plant. Project managers and planners on the supplier side for the AMP8 period.
Gloucestershire County Council, surfacing works 2027 to 2031. £192m. Deadline 19 November. A 4-year highways maintenance contract with a 4-year extension. One contractor, one programme team, from April 2027.
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, Yorkshire Purchasing Organisation's £800m digital marketplace and Salford's £300m highways framework close 4 November. Link Group's £840m housing framework closes 2 November. Bracknell Forest's £80m capital works framework closes 26 November. Quality Trusted Solutions' £150m consultants framework, 12 lots, closes 18 December.
Coming
Translink, framework for rail fleet engineering support. £30m. Planning stage. Project management, technical support and business change services for rail systems and engineering projects across the Northern Ireland network. The only notice this week that buys project managers by name.
The pattern. The planning notices this week add up to £2.4bn: LHC's £900m refurbishment framework for Scotland, the Government Commercial Agency's £800m heat network framework, and University Hospitals of Leicester's £707m managed equipment service. None hires before 2027. The open notices with deadlines are Nexus on 30 October and Gloucestershire on 19 November.
The move
If you're applying this week: 4 of the 6 most crowded adverts were project support roles in London, with 83 to 127 applicants each. A permanent advert outside London with the salary shown had 4. If you are on the support rung, the London contract is where you compete with 100 people and the regional permanent job is where you get read.
If you're bidding: Translink's £30m framework for project management and business change on the Northern Ireland railway is at planning stage with no deadline yet. Register interest now. It is the first notice in 6 weeks that names project management as the service being bought.
If you're hiring or running a PMO: the adverts that name PRINCE2 paid £5,000 more than the ones that did not over the last 4 weeks, up from £4,000. Business case and benefits management are named in 29.8% and 47.4% of Civil Service project posts and in 2.6% and 3.6% of private adverts. A private team that can write a business case is selling something almost nobody else advertises.
Method
Live counts, regions, employers and pay history from Adzuna, the job search engine the Office for National Statistics uses for its vacancy estimates, as of 15 October 2026; programme manager and PMO pay history added this week. Advert content and pay from Reed.co.uk, 195 adverts posted 9 to 15 October after training adverts are excluded; the 4-week pay table uses 771 adverts from 18 September. Civil Service figures from Civil Service Jobs on 14 October, 57 vacancies. Cleared roles from SecurityClearedJobs.com alerts, 24 this week. Pipeline from Find a Tender, notices published 8 to 14 October, under £1m excluded, Open Government Licence v3.0. Under 30 adverts is a signal, not a fact.
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