Private construction pays project managers £7,500 more
Private-client construction adverts pay project managers £7,500 more than public sector ones; adverts that name PRINCE2 pay £1,835 less than the rest; the government's £20bn recruitment framework is coming.
Issue 9. 5 November 2026.
The number
The UK got 43,578 job adverts back in a week. Project manager adverts kept falling.
▲ 43,578 more live job adverts in the UK this week. ▼ 431 fewer live project manager job adverts. Project roles are 6.3% of every vacancy, down from 6.9%.
The whole market. Live vacancies rose from 558,024 to 601,602 in 7 days, 7.8%. Most of last week's fall of 51,517 came back. Since 15 September the market is down 78,152, 11.5%.
Project manager jobs. Live project manager adverts fell from 38,243 to 37,812, 1.1%. It is the second weekly fall in a row. They are still 295 above 15 September, up 0.8%.
Pay. The average advertised project manager salary for October is £61,995, down 0.7% on September. It is the first monthly fall since January. It is still up 8.7% on October 2025.
This week's job adverts. 160 project roles were posted between 30 October and 5 November, down from 165 last week. 83 more adverts with a project title were training courses, 34.2% of the feed. Contract roles rose from 35 to 41.
The crowd. The most applied-for advert was a permanent project coordinator role in the City of London at £30,000 to £43,000: 128 applicants. The median advert has 7. 15 of the 16 adverts with more than 50 applicants were in London.
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Movement
What these figures are. Every pay figure in The PM Index is advertised pay, not what people earn in post, and not the whole market. Each advert counts once, at the middle of the range it shows. Permanent salaries and contract day rates are always counted apart, and every table says when the adverts were posted.
Permanent, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median salary | Middle half of adverts | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Project support | 22, a signal | £33,000 | £30,000 to £37,500 | £31,250 |
| PMO | 9, a signal | £36,000 | £36,000 to £50,500 | £67,500 |
| Project manager | 68 | £55,000 | £47,500 to £62,500 | £54,000 |
| Programme manager | 4, a signal | £91,250 | £82,634 to £111,875 | £81,250 |
| All rungs | 103 | £50,000 | £55,000 |
Project manager pay. £55,000 on 68 adverts, up £1,000 on last week. It is the same as in the week to 8 October. The middle half is £47,500 to £62,500, much narrower than last week's £46,738 to £70,000.
The small rungs. PMO fell to £36,000 on 9 adverts, 7 with pay, from £67,500. 3 of the 9 were one agency's pensions project analyst advert, posted in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Birmingham at £29,000 to £43,000. The 4-week table below is the number to use for PMO and programme manager.
Contract, posted this week
| Rung | Adverts | Median day rate | Last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| PMO | 4, a signal | £475, 1 rate shown | £525 |
| Project manager | 32 | £521 | £506 |
| Programme manager | 2, a signal | No rate shown | £500 |
| All rungs | 41 | £513 | £500 |
Day rates. 41 contract adverts, up from 35. The project manager rate is £521 on the 20 adverts that showed one, up from £506. The top rate shown was £800 to £900 a day, for a senior HR transformation project manager in London.
What people are being paid
| Job | Pay | Adverts with pay |
|---|---|---|
| Project manager, permanent | £51,500 | 186 |
| Senior project manager, permanent | £70,000 | 43 |
| Programme manager, permanent | £77,500 | 22, a signal |
| PMO, permanent | £50,000 | 18, a signal |
| Project support, permanent | £32,500 | 57 |
| Project manager, contract | £513 a day | 63 |
| Programme manager, contract | £513 a day | 6, a signal |
| PMO, contract | £525 a day | 11, a signal |
The last 4 weeks, pooled. 663 adverts posted from 9 October to 5 November. The project manager row is £51,500, down from £52,500, and the senior row held at £70,000. From this week the table also carries PMO and project support.
What the extra £10,000 buys. Of 186 mid-level project manager adverts with pay, 47 pay £61,500 or more. Those 47 are nearly 5 times as likely to be in London, 10.6% against 2.2%. 74.5% of them are construction, against 56.8% of the rest.
Pay by sector
| Sector | Permanent salary | Adverts | Day rate | Adverts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All project and programme managers | £55,000 | 321 | £494 | 144 |
| Construction | £60,000 | 106 | £450 | 15, a signal |
| Construction, public sector client | £55,000 | 15, a signal | £388 | 8, a signal |
| Construction, private client | £62,500 | 91 | £475 | 7, a signal |
| Energy and power | £58,750 | 26, a signal | £706 | 2, a signal |
| Financial services | £57,500 | 33 | £560 | 23, a signal |
| Defence | £77,500 | 14, a signal | £531 | 4, a signal |
| Local government | £50,608 | 2, a signal | £400 | 15, a signal |
| Telecoms and contact centre | £53,750 | 2, a signal | No rate shown | 0 |
| Security cleared, SC or DV | £81,250 | 10, a signal | £475 | 9, a signal |
| Not cleared | £55,000 | 311 | £500 | 135 |
| Planners | £55,000 | 9, a signal | £513 | 6, a signal |
| Senior and lead planners | £67,500 | 5, a signal | £525 | 1, a signal |
You asked for pay by sector. Readers asked for it in the comments, so here it is, from 6 weeks of adverts posted 25 September to 5 November. The same advert posted in several towns counts once. Day rates come from contract and interim adverts, and most contract adverts do not show a rate, so every day rate here is a signal. Use the permanent column with more confidence than the day rate column.
Private construction pays project managers £7,500 more. Over 6 weeks, construction project and programme manager adverts for private clients were advertised at £62,500, on 91 adverts. Adverts for public sector clients were at £55,000, on 15 adverts, so the public figure is a signal. Day rates point the same way, £475 against £388, both on fewer than 10 adverts. Construction is the biggest single sector for project manager adverts, so this gap moves more people than any other on the table. If you work client-side for a public body, the same skills are advertised for more on the private side.
Energy and power. £58,750 on 26 permanent adverts, £3,750 above all project and programme managers. Only 2 energy contract adverts showed a day rate in 6 weeks. The highest energy salaries shown were £80,000 to £95,000, for HV substation project managers in Scotland.
Financial services. £57,500 permanent on 33 adverts, and £560 a day on 23. That is the highest day rate of any sector with more than 10 adverts showing a rate.
Defence and clearance. Adverts that ask for SC or DV clearance pay £81,250 permanent, against £55,000 for the rest, on 10 adverts, a signal. On the cleared roles board this week, new contract roles showed £500 to £700 a day, with the middle at £600. The 9 cleared contract adverts on the open job boards showed a median £475, so the higher cleared rates are on the cleared boards.
Local government. Councils mostly hire project managers as interims. 15 contract and interim adverts showed a median £400 a day. Only 2 permanent council adverts showed a salary in 6 weeks.
Telecoms and contact centre. 2 adverts in 6 weeks, not enough to give a rate. Most telecoms project roles we saw were advertised as IT or network roles.
Planners. Planners are advertised at £55,000 permanent and £513 a day. Senior and lead planners are at £67,500, on 5 adverts. No advert in 6 weeks used the title master planner; the nearest, a lead planner and planning manager in the South West, showed £120,000 to £135,000.
Where the roles are
| Region | Live project manager adverts | Share | Change on last week |
|---|---|---|---|
| London | 11,158 | 29.5% | down 164 |
| South East | 4,844 | 12.8% | down 90 |
| North West | 3,989 | 10.5% | down 24 |
| South West | 3,253 | 8.6% | up 24 |
| West Midlands | 3,023 | 8.0% | up 10 |
| Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland | 3,871 | 10.2% | down 60 |
| All UK | 37,812 | down 431 |
The South West and the West Midlands were the only large regions to add project manager adverts, up 24 and 10. London lost 164. Eastern England lost 98.
Who is hiring
| Employer | Live project manager adverts | Change on last week |
|---|---|---|
| AECOM | 1,630 | down 10 |
| Stantec | 726 | down 8 |
| AtkinsRéalis | 579 | down 5 |
| WSP | 448 | up 10 |
| Amazon | 368 | down 10 |
The top 5 employers lost 23 adverts between them. WSP was the only one to add. Of this week's new adverts, Hays posted 16 and Brandon James 9.
Hybrid and remote. Hybrid 41.9% of adverts, up from 31.5%. Fully remote 4.4%, 7 adverts.
Same advert, posted again. 5 of this week's 160 adverts were exact repeats: the same advertiser, the same title and the same text. Last week it was 16 of 165. One agency posted the same pensions project analyst advert 3 times.
Cleared roles
| Role | Where | Pay |
|---|---|---|
| PMO lead, SC, cloud, interim | London | £550 to £650 a day |
| Project manager, NCA eSC | Remote | £550 to £700 a day |
| Programme manager, NIS | Snodland | £500 to £600 a day |
| Planner, DV | Aldermaston | £91 to £92 an hour |
| Project manager, eDV | United Kingdom | Up to £85,000 |
| Programme and project controls manager | Reading | £49,830 to £78,770 |
| Project manager, SC | Corsham | £60,000 to £62,000 |
| Project controls practitioner | Reading | £39,500 to £59,350 |
| Project manager and PMO scheduler, SC | Corsham | Up to £50,000 |
46 cleared project, programme and PMO roles in this week's alerts, 24 of them new, against 38 last week. The new cleared day rates run from £500 to £700, with the middle at £600, against £521 for project managers on the open market. Most cleared roles still say "competitive" and show no pay.
Training adverts posing as vacancies. 83 this week, 34.2% of adverts with a project title. Last week 73, 30.7%. 1 company posted 79 of the 83, and every one is excluded from the figures in this issue.
Applications
| Advert | Type | Pay shown | Applicants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Project coordinator, City of London | Permanent | £30,000 to £43,000 | 128 |
| Transition PMO manager, London | Contract | £450 to £500 a day | 122 |
| Project delivery manager, Surrey Quays | Contract | £450 to £500 a day | 119 |
| Project manager, London | Contract | £600 to £700 a day | 108 |
| Executive assistant and project coordinator, London | Contract | Not shown | 108 |
| Project support officer, Ilford | Temporary | £23 an hour | 104 |
The median advert had 7 applications by Wednesday, the same as last week. 16 adverts had more than 50, up from 4, and 15 of the 16 were in London. A permanent job outside London that showed the salary typically had 4 applicants, on 78 adverts.
Signal
What the 160 adverts ask for, as a share of adverts.
Methods and qualifications
| Requirement | All rungs | Project manager | Last week, all rungs | Civil Service |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRINCE2 | 23.8% | 29.2% | 12.7% | 25.0% |
| Agile | 15.0% | 17.0% | 7.9% | 22.9% |
| APM | 17.5% | 22.6% | 18.2% | 33.3% |
| PMP | 8.8% | 10.4% | 6.1% | 0.0% |
| MSP | 3.1% | 2.8% | 6.7% | 16.7% |
| Degree | 17.5% | 20.8% | 21.8% | 4.2% |
Certificates. PRINCE2 is back as the most named qualification this week, in 23.8% of adverts, up from 12.7%. APM is in 17.5%. Over the last 4 weeks, 62 permanent project manager adverts named APM and 54 named PRINCE2, out of 282. Those that named PRINCE2 carried a median of £52,785, against £54,620 for the rest, on 39 adverts with pay. Last week PRINCE2 adverts were £500 ahead.
PRINCE2 project manager jobs now pay less. Over 4 weeks, permanent project manager adverts that name PRINCE2 are advertised at £52,785. The rest are at £54,620. The certificate is not the reason. Adverts that name PRINCE2 are less often construction, 31.5% against 65.8%, less often senior, 11.1% against 20.2%, and more often public sector, 24.1% against 18.9%. In construction, the 12 PRINCE2 adverts with pay are at £67,500 against £55,000, a signal. Outside construction the two are close: £52,500 against £53,500. PRINCE2 is asked for most in the parts of the market that pay less, not in the roles it pays less for.
Degree. 17.5% of adverts, down from 21.8%, and 20.8% of project manager adverts. The Civil Service asks for one in 4.2% of project vacancies.
What is climbing. Agile 15.0%, up from 7.9%. PMP 8.8%, up from 6.1%. Microsoft Project 10.0%, up from 6.7%. AI 4.4%, up from 1.8%, on 7 adverts.
What is not moving. Stakeholder management is still the most named requirement of any kind, in 66.9% of adverts, for the ninth week. Budget ownership 46.2%. Security clearance 6.2%. Business case and benefits management are named in 29.2% and 27.1% of Civil Service project posts, and in 3.8% and 1.9% of job board adverts.
The Civil Service this week
| Department | Vacancies | Posts | Highest grade |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ministry of Defence | 7 | 11 | SCS Pay Band 1 |
| Cabinet Office | 4 | 6 | SCS Pay Band 1 |
| Ofwat | 4 | 4 | Director, to £110,000 |
| Forestry Commission | 4 | 9 | Grade 7 |
| Ministry of Justice | 2 | 11 | SEO |
| UK Health Security Agency | 2 | 8 | Grade 7 |
| All departments | 48 | 85 | SCS Pay Band 1 |
The count. 48 live vacancies with project, programme, PMO or portfolio in the title, 85 posts, 20 new since last Wednesday. Last week 48 and 75.
By grade. Grade 7 13, SEO 10, HEO 7, EO 3, Grade 6 3, SCS 3, 2 administrative, 7 on departmental grades. Grade 7 project posts are advertised at a median £58,961 to £62,699; SEO at £43,899 to £48,464.
New this week. The Cabinet Office is building a PMO for No.10 North in Manchester: a strategy and PMO deputy director at £86,000 to £117,800, 2 Grade 7 leads at £59,207 to £66,192 and 2 SEO officers at £45,292 to £49,073, all closing 13 November. HM Prison and Probation Service wants a senior programme manager at £81,338 to £94,690, closing 17 November. Defra wants a deputy director for capital works at the National Biosecurity Centre at £86,000, closing 22 November. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, a head of priority projects at £72,686, closing 15 November. Ofwat, a senior programme PMO manager for its water infrastructure programme at £59,660 to £68,000, in Birmingham or London, closing 15 November. PMO leads at the Department for Work and Pensions in Falkirk, £58,961 to £69,399, and Ofgem, £49,452 to £62,699.
The pattern. 8 of the 20 new vacancies are PMO roles. The Cabinet Office, Ofwat, the Department for Work and Pensions, Ofgem, the Serious Fraud Office and the Charity Commission all advertised one. Government is hiring PMO staff while the job boards show only 9 PMO adverts with pay this week.
Pipeline
97 public contracts that need project people were posted in the last 7 days.
41 are open for bids, 28 are coming and 28 have been awarded. That is out of 2,167 contracts posted on Find a Tender in the same week.
The biggest is the Government Commercial Agency's £20bn Workforce Solution 2, the framework the public sector will use to buy contractors and recruitment, at market engagement now.
The reference numbers are shown below. Paid subscribers get the live links in the full list.
Awarded
These firms just won the work. They will need to staff it.
| Ref | Buyer | Won by | Value | Starts | Why it matters for hiring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 103661-2026 | Southern Water | Clancy Docwra | £39.4m | 1 Dec 2026 | Andover Link Main pipeline, part of the water resources programme. A site delivery team from December. |
| 103573-2026 | Cardiff and Vale University Health Board | PwC and 1 other | Not stated | Not stated | An executive turnaround delivery office. PMO, savings tracking and reporting roles. |
| 102784-2026 | Swansea Bay University Health Board | Gleeds | Not stated | Not stated | Project manager services for the Dan y Deri scheme. Bought as project management by name. |
Open for bids
| Ref | Buyer | Contract | Value | Deadline | Why it matters for hiring |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 102591-2026 | Wirral Council | National developer framework | £12bn | 8 Jan 2027 | Development partners for public sector schemes in every English region, for 4 years. |
| 103450-2026 | East West Rail Company | Client support framework | £350.0m | Not stated | Client-side partners for the Oxford to Cambridge railway. 1 of 3 East West Rail frameworks this week, £1.1bn together. |
| 102811-2026 | HS1 Ltd | Project integrator services framework | £40.0m | 9 Mar 2027 | A project integrator across St Pancras and the HS1 line. Project people are the product. |
Coming
Market engagement now. Tenders follow. Hiring follows the award, often 3 to 6 months later.
| Ref | Buyer | Contract | Value | Why it matters for hiring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 102800-2026 | Government Commercial Agency | Workforce Solution 2 | £20bn | How the public sector will buy contractors, recruitment and statements of work. Every agency that supplies interims needs to be on it. |
| 104976-2026 | Homes England | Wychavon town centre and infrastructure delivery partner | £200.0m | A new town next to Worcestershire Parkway station. Years of programme work. |
| 104770-2026 | Wolverhampton City Council | Black Country Transport strategic development partner | £100.0m | Market engagement for a transport delivery partner across the Black Country. |
The move
If you're applying this week: put your sector in the first line of your CV, not just your job title. Private-client construction adverts pay £62,500 and financial services £57,500, against £55,000 for all project and programme managers.
If you're bidding: HS1's £40m project integrator services framework, 102811-2026, closes on 9 March 2027. A project integrator is a team of project people, so the whole bid is about the people you can name.
If you're hiring or running a PMO: price planners at £55,000 and senior planners at £67,500. The Civil Service advertised 8 PMO roles this week, so you are competing with government for the same people.
The full list
97 public contracts that need project people were posted this week. The 9 in the tables above are the ones we think matter most for hiring. The other 88 are in the full list.
Bid managers and bid teams. You find out about a tender when your portal alert fires, and the alert only catches the words you set. The full list is every notice that needs project people this week, with the deadline and a link. You see the ones your alerts missed.
Directors and associate directors who bring in work. You are measured on new business, but you only see the tenders the bid team passes up. Some never reach you. The full list is the whole week, sorted by your sector, in 5 minutes.
Recruitment consultants. By the time a role is advertised, every agency is calling the same hiring manager. The full list shows every contract just awarded, with the winner's name and the start date. Clancy Docwra just won Southern Water's £39.4m pipeline contract, starting 1 December, and has to staff it. You call them first.
This is what you get each Thursday:
All 97 contracts in one table, sorted by sector, then open, coming and awarded:
And a spreadsheet to download, with filters and a link to every notice:
The PM Index is free, and so are these. The full tender list is for paid readers.
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For paid readers
Every Thursday, paid readers get:
- The full list: every public contract that needs project people this week, not just the 9 above.
- The spreadsheet: filter by sector, stage, buyer, value and deadline, with a link to every notice.
- The contract finder prompt: it picks the contracts that fit you and writes the case you can send to your director or bid team.
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