IT director salary · base and package, 2026
What an IT director earns, nationally, in London and by company size
An IT director salary in 2026 runs from £81,750 to £116,500, with a median of £96,000, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent IT director.
In London, Robert Half puts the median at £130,500.
IT Jobs Watch’s median across 74 advertised salaries in the six months to 5 October 2026 is £100,000.
Company size, sector and the reporting line move the number more than the title does.
When you hire an IT director through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire an IT director
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with IT Director candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
IT director jobs on the board
No IT director roles on the board in the last three months. Showing technology leadership roles instead.
IT director roles on the board
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a IT Director brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What an IT director does, and what sets the pay
The ONS occupational classification (SOC 2020) describes information technology directors as the people who plan, organise, direct and co-ordinate the work and resources needed to provide and operate IT infrastructure and services: networks, devices, servers and the software on them.
For the role in full, see what an IT director does.
Pay follows the seat.
Robert Half’s 2026 national figures show the ladder.
A head of IT runs from £72,000 to £89,750, median £81,500.
An IT director runs from £81,750 to £116,500, median £96,000.
A chief information officer runs from £108,000 to £200,000, median £150,250.
For the seat above, see CIO salary.
Company size comes next.
Exec Capital’s 2026 benchmarks put an IT director at an SME (50–200 staff) on £80,000–£120,000 base, and at a mid-market firm (200–500 staff) on £100,000–£150,000.
A PE-backed or complex multi-site business pays £120,000–£180,000 plus bonus.
Financial services and other regulated sectors pay £130,000–£200,000.
Many senior IT leaders hold a professional registration.
BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, awards Chartered IT Professional (CITP) status to members it assesses against its standard.
Ask for it where the seat carries security or regulatory weight.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire an IT director
1. Scope the seat before the salary
Write down what the role owns: infrastructure, business systems, the service desk, suppliers, security, data, projects, or some mix.
Say how large the team and budget are, and whether the role reports to the chief executive, the finance director or a CIO.
The SFIA framework gives a shared language for digital skills and levels, which helps write the brief.
If security sits with the role, Cyber Essentials, the government-recommended minimum standard, is a sensible first milestone to put in it.
2. Choose the route
A permanent IT director suits an organisation whose estate needs an owner every day; see the open IT director jobs.
If you need senior IT judgement for part of the week, you can hire a fractional IT director.
If the seat above is the one to fill, see how to hire a CIO.
3. Set the base and the variable part together
The CIPD’s introduction to reward separates guaranteed base pay from variable pay, which is not guaranteed.
For an IT director, tie any bonus to what the role controls, such as service availability, project delivery, security milestones or cost, and write the measures into the offer.
What we do on an IT director brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary IT leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 2 roles · technology leadership
Engagement
- Fractional2
Seat
- CTO1
- CISO1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting2
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)2
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote1
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 8 Oct 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional IT director.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional IT director holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim IT director.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim IT director takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent IT director after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim IT director holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent IT director.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
IT director salary by source, region and company size
Permanent pay as each publisher states it, all 2025–26 figures. Robert Half publishes starting-salary projections (base). IT Jobs Watch counts salaries quoted in IT job ads. The ONS figure is what full-time employees in the occupation group were paid. Robert Walters publishes ranges and its own average of advertised roles. Exec Capital publishes base bands as at Q1 2026. Robert Half, Robert Walters and Exec Capital are recruiters.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
A bonus is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
07/ vetting
How we vet IT directors
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify IT Director tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
08/ it director salary uk
IT director salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The national figures measure different things.
Robert Half’s IT director salary UK range, £81,750–£116,500 with a median of £96,000, is a starting-salary projection for the title.
IT Jobs Watch’s £100,000 median is the middle of 74 salaries quoted in IT job ads over six months.
Both are base pay, before bonus.
The official view is broader.
The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings puts the median for full-time information technology directors (SOC 2020 unit group 1137) at £91,671 in 2025, with the range running from £69,515 to £119,408 across 56,000 jobs.
That group also covers chief information officers and IT programme directors, so it describes IT leadership as a whole, not this seat alone.
Read any single figure as one view of the market.
The useful question is which band your business sits in: its size, its sector and where the IT director will work.
09/ it director salary london
IT director salary London, and the regions
The IT director salary London employers pay sits at the top of Robert Half’s figures: £111,250–£158,500, with a median of £130,500, against a national median of £96,000.
Its London head of IT runs from £98,000 to £122,000, median £110,750.
IT Jobs Watch shows a smaller gap in advertised pay: a £100,000 median across 41 London ads, against £87,500 for the UK outside London, over the six months to 5 October 2026.
For the regions, Robert Walters publishes IT director bands for the Midlands, the North and the South, but none for London.
In a large enterprise (250+ staff) they run from £95,000 to £160,000 in the Midlands and the North, and from £100,000 to £150,000 in the South.
10/ average it director salary
Average IT director salary in Robert Walters’ survey
Robert Walters gives an average IT director salary for each region and company size, calculated from the roles it saw advertised over twelve months.
In a medium enterprise (50–250 staff), Robert Walters’ average is £101,470 in the Midlands, £102,000 in the North and £100,100 in the South.
In a large enterprise (250+ staff), Robert Walters’ average rises to £125,500 in the Midlands, £128,900 in the North and £127,755 in the South.
Exec Capital’s 2026 bands point the same way: £80,000–£120,000 at an SME, £100,000–£150,000 in the mid-market and up to £200,000 in financial services and other regulated sectors.
11/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or part-week: the other ways to pay for the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys an IT director every day, with notice on both sides; Acas explains how notice periods work.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim IT director salary for the day rates.
A fractional IT director works part of the week on a day rate; see fractional IT director salary.
The three are paid on different bases, so compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
12/ questions
IT director salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in an IT director.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
