Desktop Engineer Contracts in the North of England

Desktop Engineer
England > North of England

The median Desktop Engineer daily rate in the North of England is £190, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 July 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
20 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 138 151 154
Rank change year-on-year +13 +3 +7
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Engineer 41 28 46
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the North of England 1.07% 0.62% 0.85%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.15% 0.67% 0.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 32 23 28
10th Percentile - £140 £155
25th Percentile £153 £146 £171
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £175 £213
Median % change year-on-year +8.57% -17.65% +19.72%
75th Percentile £235 £201 £221
90th Percentile - £249 £288
England median daily rate £215 £203 £200
% change year-on-year +6.17% +1.25% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 3 5
10th Percentile £22.06 £22.61 £18.02
25th Percentile £23.22 £23.20 £18.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.01% +27.26% -15.56%
75th Percentile - £26.47 £23.75
90th Percentile - £27.84 -
England median hourly rate £24.66 £18.13 £19.00
% change year-on-year +36.02% -4.58% -6.86%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
North of England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North of 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 the North of England with a recognized job title 3,564 4,199 5,163
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.76% 92.37% 95.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,314 2,595 3,526
10th Percentile £252 £263 £263
25th Percentile £375 £385 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.12% -3.00% +2.56%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £641 £655 £675
England median daily rate £513 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +1.85%
Number of hourly rates quoted 223 373 196
10th Percentile £12.82 £11.44 £14.60
25th Percentile £17.28 £14.00 £17.11
Median hourly rate £22.32 £24.87 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -10.27% +10.53% +9.76%
75th Percentile £47.12 £48.00 £43.39
90th Percentile £75.63 £68.85 £52.56
England median hourly rate £27.38 £41.27 £44.00
% change year-on-year -33.66% -6.22% +76.00%

Desktop Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Engineer in the North of England

Desktop Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

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

Daily rate trend for Desktop Engineer in the North of England

Desktop Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

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

Hourly rate trend for Desktop Engineer in the North of England

Desktop Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the North of 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 North of England region over the 6 months to 20 July 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
North West +5 21 £165 +3.13% 6
Yorkshire +9 11 £235 +17.50% 3
North East +6 9 £155 -
Desktop Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 20 July 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 North of England region featuring Desktop Engineer in the job title.

1 29 (70.73%) Social Skills
2 24 (58.54%) Windows
2 24 (58.54%) Active Directory
3 19 (46.34%) Microsoft
4 17 (41.46%) Microsoft Exchange
5 15 (36.59%) ITIL
5 15 (36.59%) Microsoft 365
6 13 (31.71%) SC Cleared
6 13 (31.71%) Security Cleared
6 13 (31.71%) Microsoft Office
7 11 (26.83%) VPN
7 11 (26.83%) Degree
7 11 (26.83%) Problem-Solving
8 10 (24.39%) Customer Service
9 9 (21.95%) Analytical Skills
9 9 (21.95%) Time Management
9 9 (21.95%) Microsoft Intune
10 8 (19.51%) ServiceNow
10 8 (19.51%) Citrix
10 8 (19.51%) Structured Cabling
11 7 (17.07%) ITSM
11 7 (17.07%) SCCM
12 6 (14.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
12 6 (14.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
12 6 (14.63%) Service Delivery
12 6 (14.63%) MS Visio
12 6 (14.63%) Case Management
12 6 (14.63%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 6 (14.63%) Documentation Skills
12 6 (14.63%) Collaborative Working

Desktop Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North of 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 17 (41.46%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (2.44%) SharePoint
2 1 (2.44%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 13 (31.71%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (14.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 6 (14.63%) MS Visio
3 1 (2.44%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (2.44%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 15 (36.59%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (2.44%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 11 (26.83%) VPN
2 8 (19.51%) Structured Cabling
3 5 (12.20%) LAN
4 2 (4.88%) WebEx
5 1 (2.44%) Remote Desktop
5 1 (2.44%) Skype
General
1 29 (70.73%) Social Skills
2 9 (21.95%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (14.63%) Documentation Skills
4 5 (12.20%) Manufacturing
4 5 (12.20%) Presentation Skills
5 4 (9.76%) Banking
6 2 (4.88%) Finance
6 2 (4.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 2 (4.88%) Investment Banking
7 1 (2.44%) Automotive
Miscellaneous
1 5 (12.20%) Management Information System
2 3 (7.32%) Data Centre
2 3 (7.32%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 24 (58.54%) Windows
2 5 (12.20%) Windows 10
2 5 (12.20%) Windows 8
2 5 (12.20%) Windows Server
2 5 (12.20%) Windows Server 2003
2 5 (12.20%) Windows Server 2008
2 5 (12.20%) Windows Server 2012
2 5 (12.20%) Windows Server 2016
2 5 (12.20%) Windows XP
3 4 (9.76%) Apple iOS
4 2 (4.88%) Android
4 2 (4.88%) Linux
5 1 (2.44%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 15 (36.59%) ITIL
2 11 (26.83%) Problem-Solving
3 10 (24.39%) Customer Service
4 9 (21.95%) Time Management
5 7 (17.07%) ITSM
6 6 (14.63%) Case Management
6 6 (14.63%) Collaborative Working
6 6 (14.63%) Service Delivery
7 5 (12.20%) Asset Management
7 5 (12.20%) Business Case
7 5 (12.20%) Infrastructure Monitoring
7 5 (12.20%) Mentoring
7 5 (12.20%) Migration
7 5 (12.20%) Proactive Maintenance
7 5 (12.20%) Project Delivery
7 5 (12.20%) Technical Analysis
7 5 (12.20%) Workflow
7 5 (12.20%) Workflow Management
8 4 (9.76%) Patch Management
8 4 (9.76%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 3 (7.32%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 13 (31.71%) SC Cleared
1 13 (31.71%) Security Cleared
2 11 (26.83%) Degree
3 6 (14.63%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
4 5 (12.20%) Microsoft Certification
5 3 (7.32%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (7.32%) DBS Check
6 1 (2.44%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (14.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 4 (9.76%) QA
System Software
1 24 (58.54%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 9 (21.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (17.07%) SCCM
3 2 (4.88%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (2.44%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 19 (46.34%) Microsoft
2 8 (19.51%) Citrix
2 8 (19.51%) ServiceNow
3 5 (12.20%) Canon
4 2 (4.88%) Apple
4 2 (4.88%) Remedy
5 1 (2.44%) Bomgar