Project manager salary · base pay, 2026
What a project manager earns, by sector, region and experience
A project manager salary in 2026 runs from £45,500 to £68,250, with a median of £57,000, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent project manager.
In London, Robert Half puts the median at £77,500.
The ONS median for full-time business and financial project management professionals is £59,834.
Sector, region and qualifications move the number more than the title does.
Base is only part of the cost: employer’s National Insurance and pension sit on top.
When you hire a project manager 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 a project manager
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Project Manager 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
Delivery and operations roles jobs on the board
Delivery and operations roles on the board
Fractional recruitment works differently from a permanent search — shorter, scoped by days a week, and priced on the engagement. Send a Project Manager brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
01/ the role
What a project manager does, and what sets the pay
A project manager delivers one defined change to time, cost and quality, then closes it.
The Association for Project Management’s definition says a project has final deliverables and a finite timescale and budget.
That end date is what separates the job from ordinary management.
Sector sets the pay first.
The APM’s 2025 survey puts the average salary of project professionals at £62,500 in energy and utilities and in consultancy, and £57,500 in IT, financial services and construction.
In education and local government it is £42,500.
Robert Walters puts a project manager in London financial services at £85,000–£130,000.
Company size comes next.
Robert Walters puts a London project manager in commerce and industry at £80,000–£110,000 in a medium enterprise (50 to 250 staff) and £80,000–£130,000 in a large one (250+).
Robert Walters’ averages for the two are £86,100 and £97,240.
Qualifications show in the pay too.
The APM’s 2025 survey puts the average salary of a Chartered Project Professional at £82,500, the highest of any qualification it measured.
On the same APM survey, holders of the APM Project Management Qualification average £57,500.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a project manager
1. Scope the project before the salary
Write down what the project must deliver, its budget and its end date.
A £50,000 office move and a £20m systems programme are both “project manager” jobs.
They do not pay the same.
2. Decide whether you need a project or a programme
Several linked projects that only pay off together need a programme manager, a more senior seat.
Robert Half puts a programme manager’s national median at £78,000, against £57,000 for a project manager.
Where the job is owning the whole change, see transformation director salary.
3. Choose the route
A permanent appointment suits a business with a steady flow of projects.
A single project with a fixed end often suits a contract or interim hire paid by the day; see interim project manager salary.
If the project needs steady control rather than daily coordination, hire a fractional project manager for part of the week.
What we do on a project brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary delivery 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 · Delivery and operations roles
Engagement
- Fractional1
- Interim1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)0
- Rate not stated2
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid0
- On-site0
- Not classified2
Newest posting on the board: 2 Sept 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 project manager.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional project manager 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 project manager.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim project manager 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 project manager after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim project manager holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent project manager.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
Project manager salary by source, place and company size
Permanent project manager pay as each publisher states it. Robert Half publishes 2026 starting salary projections (base). IT Jobs Watch reports salaries advertised in IT job vacancies over the six months to 5 October 2026. Robert Walters publishes 2026 ranges and its own averages. The ONS figure is full-time gross annual pay for an occupation group in 2025. Robert Half and Robert Walters 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).
On Robert Half’s £57,000 median, that is £7,800 a year (our arithmetic).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
A delivery 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 any bonus as well as the base.
07/ vetting
How we vet project managers
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Project Manager 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/ project manager salary uk
Project manager salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
The national figures measure different things.
Robert Half’s project manager salary UK range, £45,500–£68,250 with a median of £57,000, is a starting-salary projection for base pay.
IT Jobs Watch’s £60,000 median comes from 1,027 salaries advertised in IT job vacancies over the six months to 5 October 2026.
A year earlier, its median was £62,500.
The official view is the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings.
It puts full-time business and financial project management professionals (SOC 2020 code 2440) at a median of £59,834 in 2025, across about 271,000 jobs.
The range runs from £35,097 to £98,923, with the middle half between £46,399 and £77,568.
ASHE counts gross pay, so bonuses are in it.
The ONS splits out other project managers too.
IT project managers (SOC 2131) have a median of £58,373, and construction project managers (SOC 2455) £47,665.
09/ project manager salary london
Project manager salary London, and the regions
The project manager salary London employers pay sits at the top of every source.
Robert Half puts it at £62,000–£92,750, with a median of £77,500.
IT Jobs Watch’s London median is £65,000, from 413 job ads.
Robert Walters gives £80,000–£130,000 in commerce and industry and £85,000–£130,000 in financial services.
Outside London, IT Jobs Watch’s median for advertised project manager roles is £55,000.
Its regional medians run from £50,000 in the East of England to £62,500 in Yorkshire, with Scotland at £60,000 and the South West at £58,000.
Robert Walters publishes bands for three regions.
A project manager in a large enterprise earns £50,000–£80,000 in the Midlands, £55,000–£80,000 in the North and £50,000–£75,000 in the South.
In a medium enterprise, its bands are £40,000–£65,000 in the Midlands, £45,000–£70,000 in the North and £40,000–£55,000 in the South.
10/ average project manager salary
Average project manager salary, and what qualifications add
The APM’s Salary and Market Trends Survey 2025 puts the average project manager salary at £52,500, up from £47,500 in 2023.
APM surveyed more than 3,800 project professionals through YouGov in October and November 2024, so the figure covers every level of the profession.
On the same APM survey, a Chartered Project Professional averages £82,500 and a Full member of APM £67,500.
The APM survey puts holders of its Project Professional Qualification at an average of £62,500.
The APM figure sits below the recruiter medians because it includes people early in their careers.
Robert Half’s £57,000 is the median for a project manager with an average level of experience.
11/ project management salary
Project management salary by sector
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The APM’s 2025 survey breaks project management salary down by sector.
Its averages run from £42,500 in education and local government to £62,500 in energy and utilities, consultancy and legal.
On the APM figures, IT, financial services, construction, defence, and business and professional services average £57,500, central government £52,500 and health £47,500.
Government projects follow their own standard.
The Project Delivery Functional Standard (GovS 002) sets how departments and arm’s length bodies direct portfolios, programmes and projects.
Experience of working to it is often asked for in public-sector project roles.
12/ the other routes
Salary or day rate: the other ways to pay for a project
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A permanent salary buys a project manager for every project that comes along, with notice on both sides.
A contract or interim project manager is paid by the day for the life of one project; see interim project manager salary for the day rates.
A fractional project manager works part of the week; see fractional project manager jobs.
For the permanent salary spread across part-week days (our arithmetic, not a market rate), see fractional project manager salary.
Compare the total cost for the days the project needs, not the headline numbers.
13/ questions
Project manager salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a project manager.
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.
