Desktop Engineer Contracts in England

Desktop Engineer
UK > England

The median Desktop Engineer daily rate in England is £213, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 June 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
23 Jun 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 278 348 311
Rank change year-on-year +70 -37 +45
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Engineer 212 210 359
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.85% 0.56% 0.76%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.92% 0.60% 0.81%
Number of daily rates quoted 133 150 278
10th Percentile £153 £131 £140
25th Percentile £171 £148 £170
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £213 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.25% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £244 £250 £234
90th Percentile £350 £339 £300
UK median daily rate £211 £200 £200
% change year-on-year +5.63% - +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 16 11 14
10th Percentile £15.12 £16.25 £15.33
25th Percentile £16.67 £17.00 £16.54
Median hourly rate £24.66 £18.13 £18.35
Median % change year-on-year +36.02% -1.20% -3.96%
75th Percentile £25.15 £21.41 £23.75
90th Percentile - £25.28 £24.78
UK median hourly rate £22.58 £18.13 £18.35
% change year-on-year +24.52% -1.20% -3.42%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in England with a recognized job title 23,039 34,818 44,441
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.20% 92.86% 94.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,129 22,691 31,534
10th Percentile £294 £290 £313
25th Percentile £405 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +2.33%
75th Percentile £633 £638 £663
90th Percentile £750 £750 £763
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,044 2,688 1,331
10th Percentile £14.00 £12.86 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.13 £16.58 £20.00
Median hourly rate £28.88 £39.53 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -26.94% -10.17% +80.66%
75th Percentile £58.70 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.39 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £27.36 £37.50 £44.00
% change year-on-year -27.03% -14.77% +76.00%

Desktop Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings that featured Desktop Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Engineer in England

Desktop Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Desktop Engineer in England.

Daily rate trend for Desktop Engineer in England

Desktop Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Desktop Engineer in England over the 6 months to 23 June 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Desktop Engineer in England

Desktop Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Desktop Engineer in England.

Hourly rate trend for Desktop Engineer in England

Desktop Engineer
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Desktop Engineer within the England region over the 6 months to 23 June 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London +30 60 £225 +12.50% 79
South West +62 45 £220 +15.79% 15
North of England +33 38 £175 - 18
South East +33 34 £215 +4.88% 16
Midlands +20 28 £175 +20.69% 16
West Midlands +20 19 £220 +62.96% 11
North West +5 17 £155 -3.13% 8
East of England +23 15 £200 +14.29% 5
Yorkshire +11 12 £235 +18.99% 5
East Midlands +11 9 £171 -30.91% 5
North East +9 9 £155 -20.51% 5
Desktop Engineer
UK

Desktop Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 23 June 2025, Desktop Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring Desktop Engineer in the job title.

1 144 (67.92%) Social Skills
2 141 (66.51%) Windows
3 105 (49.53%) Microsoft
4 88 (41.51%) Active Directory
5 80 (37.74%) Microsoft 365
6 69 (32.55%) Security Cleared
7 67 (31.60%) SC Cleared
8 59 (27.83%) Windows 10
9 57 (26.89%) Problem-Solving
10 53 (25.00%) Customer Service
11 50 (23.58%) Finance
12 46 (21.70%) ITIL
13 44 (20.75%) Microsoft Office
14 38 (17.92%) SCCM
15 37 (17.45%) Time Management
16 35 (16.51%) Analytical Skills
16 35 (16.51%) Microsoft Exchange
17 32 (15.09%) VPN
17 32 (15.09%) Degree
18 31 (14.62%) HP
18 31 (14.62%) Microsoft Intune
18 31 (14.62%) ServiceNow
19 29 (13.68%) Dell
19 29 (13.68%) Citrix
19 29 (13.68%) SLA
20 27 (12.74%) Migration
20 27 (12.74%) Driving Licence
21 26 (12.26%) Azure
22 24 (11.32%) PowerShell
22 24 (11.32%) Dell Certification

Desktop Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 35 (16.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 13 (6.13%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.94%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.47%) Blackberry Enterprise Server
4 1 (0.47%) IBM Notes
Applications
1 44 (20.75%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (3.77%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (2.83%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (2.83%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.47%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.94%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.47%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 80 (37.74%) Microsoft 365
2 26 (12.26%) Azure
3 11 (5.19%) Entra ID
4 6 (2.83%) OneDrive
5 3 (1.42%) Power Platform
6 2 (0.94%) Google Workspace
6 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.47%) Azure DevOps
7 1 (0.47%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (0.47%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 32 (15.09%) VPN
2 15 (7.08%) DNS
3 13 (6.13%) DHCP
4 11 (5.19%) LAN
5 10 (4.72%) Remote Desktop
6 8 (3.77%) Structured Cabling
6 8 (3.77%) Wi-Fi
7 6 (2.83%) Firewall
7 6 (2.83%) TCP/IP
7 6 (2.83%) VLAN
7 6 (2.83%) WAN
8 5 (2.36%) Wireless
9 3 (1.42%) VoIP
10 2 (0.94%) Internet
10 2 (0.94%) NetScaler
10 2 (0.94%) Skype
10 2 (0.94%) Telepresence
10 2 (0.94%) Unified Communications
10 2 (0.94%) WebEx
11 1 (0.47%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.47%) Power BI
1 1 (0.47%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (1.89%) JIRA
General
1 144 (67.92%) Social Skills
2 50 (23.58%) Finance
3 35 (16.51%) Analytical Skills
4 12 (5.66%) Manufacturing
4 12 (5.66%) Public Sector
5 11 (5.19%) Banking
6 10 (4.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 8 (3.77%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (3.77%) Marketing
7 8 (3.77%) Telecoms
8 7 (3.30%) Electronics
9 5 (2.36%) Legal
9 5 (2.36%) Organisational Skills
9 5 (2.36%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.89%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.94%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.47%) Automotive
12 1 (0.47%) Front Office
12 1 (0.47%) Law
12 1 (0.47%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.47%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 27 (12.74%) Driving Licence
2 8 (3.77%) NHS
2 8 (3.77%) Onboarding
2 8 (3.77%) Smartphone
3 6 (2.83%) Data Centre
3 6 (2.83%) iPhone
4 5 (2.36%) CMDB
4 5 (2.36%) iPad
4 5 (2.36%) Management Information System
4 5 (2.36%) Self-Motivation
4 5 (2.36%) Video Conferencing
5 4 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (0.47%) Blackberry
6 1 (0.47%) Client/Server
6 1 (0.47%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (0.47%) Handset
6 1 (0.47%) Mobile App
6 1 (0.47%) Reinsurance
6 1 (0.47%) Replication
6 1 (0.47%) RSA SecurID
Operating Systems
1 141 (66.51%) Windows
2 59 (27.83%) Windows 10
3 10 (4.72%) Apple iOS
3 10 (4.72%) Mac OS
4 9 (4.25%) Windows Server
5 7 (3.30%) Windows 8
5 7 (3.30%) Windows XP
6 6 (2.83%) Android
6 6 (2.83%) Linux
6 6 (2.83%) Windows Server 2016
7 5 (2.36%) Windows 7
7 5 (2.36%) Windows Server 2003
7 5 (2.36%) Windows Server 2008
7 5 (2.36%) Windows Server 2012
8 3 (1.42%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 57 (26.89%) Problem-Solving
2 53 (25.00%) Customer Service
3 46 (21.70%) ITIL
4 37 (17.45%) Time Management
5 27 (12.74%) Migration
6 24 (11.32%) Customer Experience
7 23 (10.85%) Mathematics
8 20 (9.43%) Collaborative Working
9 18 (8.49%) ITSM
10 14 (6.60%) Service Delivery
11 13 (6.13%) Asset Management
11 13 (6.13%) Case Management
12 12 (5.66%) Workflow
13 11 (5.19%) Patch Management
13 11 (5.19%) Service Management
13 11 (5.19%) Workflow Management
14 10 (4.72%) Mobile Device Management
15 8 (3.77%) Antivirus Management
16 7 (3.30%) Inventory Management
16 7 (3.30%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 24 (11.32%) PowerShell
2 4 (1.89%) VBScript
3 2 (0.94%) SQL
4 1 (0.47%) Bash
4 1 (0.47%) Python
Qualifications
1 69 (32.55%) Security Cleared
2 67 (31.60%) SC Cleared
3 32 (15.09%) Degree
4 24 (11.32%) Dell Certification
5 14 (6.60%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 10 (4.72%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (2.36%) ITIL Certification
8 4 (1.89%) MCSE
9 3 (1.42%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (0.94%) A+ Certification
10 2 (0.94%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (0.94%) DBS Check
11 1 (0.47%) ACSP
11 1 (0.47%) CISSP
11 1 (0.47%) CompTIA Security+
11 1 (0.47%) GIAC
11 1 (0.47%) MCP
11 1 (0.47%) MCSA
11 1 (0.47%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (13.68%) SLA
2 20 (9.43%) QA
3 13 (6.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.47%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.47%) GxP
System Software
1 88 (41.51%) Active Directory
2 7 (3.30%) Virtual Desktop
3 4 (1.89%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (1.42%) vSphere
4 3 (1.42%) XenApp
5 2 (0.94%) BitLocker
5 2 (0.94%) XenDesktop
6 1 (0.47%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 38 (17.92%) SCCM
2 31 (14.62%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (1.42%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.94%) AppManager
4 2 (0.94%) McAfee ePO
4 2 (0.94%) Norton AntiVirus
4 2 (0.94%) TeamSite
5 1 (0.47%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 1 (0.47%) SysTrack
5 1 (0.47%) Terraform
5 1 (0.47%) WSUS
Vendors
1 105 (49.53%) Microsoft
2 31 (14.62%) HP
2 31 (14.62%) ServiceNow
3 29 (13.68%) Citrix
3 29 (13.68%) Dell
4 12 (5.66%) Apple
5 10 (4.72%) Cisco
6 7 (3.30%) Canon
6 7 (3.30%) McAfee
6 7 (3.30%) SAP
7 6 (2.83%) Remedy
7 6 (2.83%) VMware
8 5 (2.36%) Wyse
9 3 (1.42%) Bloomberg
10 2 (0.94%) Adobe
10 2 (0.94%) Autodesk
10 2 (0.94%) Sage
10 2 (0.94%) Sophos
10 2 (0.94%) Symantec
10 2 (0.94%) Toshiba