Forward Deployed Engineer Contract Job Trends in England
Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)
UK > England
The median Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) daily rate in England is £613, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 12 November 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 12 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 620 | 543 | - |
| Rank change year-on-year | -77 | - | - |
| Contract Forward Deployed Engineer jobs | 35 | 1 | 0 |
| As % of all contract jobs in England | 0.074% | 0.003% | - |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.081% | 0.004% | - |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 30 | 1 | 0 |
| 10th Percentile | £320 | - | - |
| 25th Percentile | £463 | £625 | - |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £613 | £650 | - |
| Median % change year-on-year | -5.77% | - | - |
| 75th Percentile | £866 | £675 | - |
| 90th Percentile | £1,200 | - | - |
| UK median daily rate | £625 | £650 | - |
| % change year-on-year | -3.85% | - | - |
All Contract IT Job Roles
England
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts in England matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.
| 6 months to 12 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract job adverts in England matching a recognised job title | 43,361 | 27,298 | 28,678 |
| % of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title | 91.73% | 91.20% | 93.01% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 25,500 | 17,544 | 17,528 |
| 10th Percentile | £330 | £281 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £405 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £510 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +2.94% | -2.86% | -1.87% |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £625 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £750 |
| UK median daily rate | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 3,995 | 1,618 | 1,076 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.22 | £14.08 | £15.22 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.50 | £17.87 | £21.19 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.13 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +63.52% | -37.13% | -11.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £68.75 | £53.59 | £66.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £81.73 | £70.16 | £74.93 |
| UK median hourly rate | £41.00 | £25.15 | £35.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +63.02% | -28.14% | -21.35% |
Forward Deployed Engineer Daily Rate Histogram in England
Daily rate distribution for Forward Deployed Engineer jobs in England over the 6 months to 12 November 2026.
Forward Deployed Engineer Contract Job Locations in England
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in Forward Deployed Engineer jobs within the England region over the 6 months to 12 November 2026. 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| London | - | 30 | £650 | - | 38 |
| South East | -54 | 5 | £320 | -50.77% | 10 |
| Forward Deployed Engineer UK |
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Forward Deployed Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England
For the 6 months to 12 November 2026, Forward Deployed Engineer contract job ads cited the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract Forward Deployed Engineer job ads across the England region.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI | 88.6% | 31 |
| 2 | LLM | 57.1% | 20 |
| 2 | Software Engineering | 57.1% | 20 |
| 4 | Azure | 51.4% | 18 |
| 5 | TypeScript | 45.7% | 16 |
| 6 | CI/CD | 42.9% | 15 |
| 7 | Anthropic Claude | 40.0% | 14 |
| 8 | AWS | 37.1% | 13 |
| 9 | Python | 34.3% | 12 |
| 9 | Retrieval-Augmented Generation | 34.3% | 12 |
| 11 | Observability | 31.4% | 11 |
| 11 | OpenAI | 31.4% | 11 |
| 13 | PostgreSQL | 28.6% | 10 |
| 13 | SQL | 28.6% | 10 |
| 15 | Next.js | 25.7% | 9 |
| 16 | Full-Stack Development | 22.9% | 8 |
| 16 | Kubernetes | 22.9% | 8 |
| 16 | Stakeholder Engagement | 22.9% | 8 |
| 16 | Terraform | 22.9% | 8 |
| 20 | GCP | 20.0% | 7 |
| 20 | Git | 20.0% | 7 |
| 20 | GitHub | 20.0% | 7 |
| 20 | Infrastructure as Code | 20.0% | 7 |
| 20 | JavaScript | 20.0% | 7 |
| 20 | Stakeholder Management | 20.0% | 7 |
| 20 | Use Case | 20.0% | 7 |
| 27 | Docker | 17.1% | 6 |
| 27 | Model Context Protocol | 17.1% | 6 |
| 27 | Platform Engineering | 17.1% | 6 |
| 30 | Analytics | 14.3% | 5 |
Forward Deployed Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Artificial Intelligence Engineer | 28.6% | 10 |
| 2 | AWS Engineer | 5.7% | 2 |
| 2 | Principal Engineer | 5.7% | 2 |
| 4 | Agentic Artificial Intelligence Engineer | 2.9% | 1 |
| 4 | Artificial Intelligence Consultant | 2.9% | 1 |
| 4 | Enterprise Consultant | 2.9% | 1 |
| 4 | Python Engineer | 2.9% | 1 |