Forward Deployed Engineer Contract Job Trends in London
Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE)
England > London
The median Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) daily rate in London is £650, 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 | 427 | - | - |
| Rank change year-on-year | - | - | - |
| Contract Forward Deployed Engineer jobs | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| As % of all contract jobs in London | 0.15% | - | - |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.16% | - | - |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 10th Percentile | £463 | - | - |
| 25th Percentile | £550 | - | - |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £650 | - | - |
| 75th Percentile | £913 | - | - |
| 90th Percentile | £1,200 | - | - |
| England median daily rate | £613 | £650 | - |
| % change year-on-year | -5.77% | - | - |
All Contract IT Job Roles
London
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts in London 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 London matching a recognised job title | 19,046 | 12,931 | 14,573 |
| % of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title | 92.83% | 92.58% | 93.95% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 12,435 | 8,588 | 9,423 |
| 10th Percentile | £363 | £335 | £338 |
| 25th Percentile | £450 | £425 | £450 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £550 | £543 | £550 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +1.38% | -1.36% | -3.42% |
| 75th Percentile | £663 | £663 | £675 |
| 90th Percentile | £775 | £775 | £788 |
| England median daily rate | £525 | £510 | £525 |
| % change year-on-year | +2.94% | -2.86% | -1.87% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 450 | 234 | 156 |
| 10th Percentile | £16.50 | £17.50 | £17.25 |
| 25th Percentile | £22.65 | £22.13 | £23.80 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.00 | £26.89 | £37.15 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +52.47% | -27.62% | -2.44% |
| 75th Percentile | £64.81 | £49.13 | £58.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £81.25 | £70.00 | £80.75 |
| England median hourly rate | £41.13 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +63.52% | -37.13% | -11.11% |
Forward Deployed Engineer Daily Rate Histogram in London
Daily rate distribution for Forward Deployed Engineer jobs in London over the 6 months to 12 November 2026.
Forward Deployed Engineer Contract Job Locations in London
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in Forward Deployed Engineer jobs within the London 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Central London | - | 2 | £525 | - | 10 |
| East London | - | 1 | £600 | - | |
| Forward Deployed Engineer England |
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Forward Deployed Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London
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 London region.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AI | 90.0% | 27 |
| 2 | LLM | 66.7% | 20 |
| 3 | Azure | 60.0% | 18 |
| 4 | Software Engineering | 53.3% | 16 |
| 5 | Python | 40.0% | 12 |
| 5 | Retrieval-Augmented Generation | 40.0% | 12 |
| 7 | Observability | 36.7% | 11 |
| 7 | OpenAI | 36.7% | 11 |
| 7 | TypeScript | 36.7% | 11 |
| 10 | Anthropic Claude | 33.3% | 10 |
| 10 | CI/CD | 33.3% | 10 |
| 12 | AWS | 26.7% | 8 |
| 12 | Kubernetes | 26.7% | 8 |
| 12 | Stakeholder Engagement | 26.7% | 8 |
| 12 | Terraform | 26.7% | 8 |
| 16 | GCP | 23.3% | 7 |
| 16 | Infrastructure as Code | 23.3% | 7 |
| 16 | Stakeholder Management | 23.3% | 7 |
| 16 | Use Case | 23.3% | 7 |
| 20 | Docker | 20.0% | 6 |
| 20 | Model Context Protocol | 20.0% | 6 |
| 20 | Platform Engineering | 20.0% | 6 |
| 23 | Analytics | 16.7% | 5 |
| 23 | Artificial Intelligence Engineering | 16.7% | 5 |
| 23 | Azure AI | 16.7% | 5 |
| 23 | DevOps | 16.7% | 5 |
| 23 | 16.7% | 5 | |
| 23 | Microsoft | 16.7% | 5 |
| 23 | Microsoft 365 | 16.7% | 5 |
| 23 | Multi-Agent System | 16.7% | 5 |
Forward Deployed Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London 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 | 33.3% | 10 |
| 2 | AWS Engineer | 6.7% | 2 |
| 2 | Principal Engineer | 6.7% | 2 |
| 4 | Agentic Artificial Intelligence Engineer | 3.3% | 1 |
| 4 | Artificial Intelligence Consultant | 3.3% | 1 |
| 4 | Enterprise Consultant | 3.3% | 1 |
| 4 | Python Engineer | 3.3% | 1 |