Desktop Engineer Contract Job Trends in the North West

Desktop Engineer
England > North West

The median Desktop Engineer daily rate in the North West is £206, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 September 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 110 102 130
Rank change year-on-year -8 +28 +8
Contract jobs requiring a Desktop Engineer 17 15 18
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 0.79% 0.64% 0.63%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.85% 0.68% 0.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 12 11 12
10th Percentile £153 £149 £152
25th Percentile £178 £163 £185
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £206 £245 £216
Median % change year-on-year -15.82% +13.29% +23.57%
75th Percentile £241 £250 £262
90th Percentile - - £375
England median daily rate £220 £220 £200
% change year-on-year - +10.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 3 3
10th Percentile - £22.61 £17.86
25th Percentile - £23.20 £18.10
Median hourly rate £25.15 £24.18 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.01% +27.26% -2.73%
75th Percentile - £26.47 £21.63
90th Percentile - £27.84 £22.90
England median hourly rate £25.08 £22.88 £19.00
% change year-on-year +9.62% +20.39% -1.45%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
North West

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North West. 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 West with a recognized job title 1,989 2,206 2,658
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.96% 93.59% 92.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,324 1,190 1,826
10th Percentile £265 £272 £270
25th Percentile £369 £394 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £490 £500
Median % change year-on-year -8.16% -2.00% +4.17%
75th Percentile £575 £576 £594
90th Percentile £684 £670 £673
England median daily rate £512 £525 £546
% change year-on-year -2.52% -3.85% -0.73%
Number of hourly rates quoted 159 159 166
10th Percentile £13.00 £15.46 £16.00
25th Percentile £17.30 £17.72 £17.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £36.00 £33.54
Median % change year-on-year -30.14% +7.33% +40.07%
75th Percentile £47.12 £55.52 £46.70
90th Percentile £68.84 £74.37 £68.13
England median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year -44.11% -1.92% +73.48%

Desktop Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

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

Job vacancy trend for Desktop Engineer in the North West

Desktop Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Engineer job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Desktop Engineer job vacancies in the North West

Desktop Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Engineer job vacancies in the North West.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Desktop Engineer job vacancies in the North West

Desktop Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the North West

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 West region over the 6 months to 30 September 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
Cheshire -9 7 £228 -8.08%
Lancashire 0 4 £153 -38.80%
Merseyside +1 3 £190 +11.76% 1
Manchester -3 2 £213 -34.62%
Cumbria - 1 - - 2
Desktop Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 30 September 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 West region featuring Desktop Engineer in the job title.

1 15 (88.24%) Windows
2 10 (58.82%) Active Directory
2 10 (58.82%) Social Skills
3 6 (35.29%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (29.41%) Microsoft
4 5 (29.41%) SCCM
4 5 (29.41%) Microsoft 365
4 5 (29.41%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (23.53%) Workflow Management
5 4 (23.53%) Migration
5 4 (23.53%) DBS Check
5 4 (23.53%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (23.53%) Analytical Skills
5 4 (23.53%) Time Management
5 4 (23.53%) SC Cleared
5 4 (23.53%) Security Cleared
5 4 (23.53%) Workflow
5 4 (23.53%) Problem-Solving
5 4 (23.53%) Customer Service
5 4 (23.53%) Onboarding
6 3 (17.65%) Finance
6 3 (17.65%) Banking
6 3 (17.65%) PowerShell
6 3 (17.65%) Investment Banking
6 3 (17.65%) Windows Server
6 3 (17.65%) Data Entry
6 3 (17.65%) Apple iOS
6 3 (17.65%) Logistics
7 2 (11.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
7 2 (11.76%) QA

Desktop Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West 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 6 (35.29%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (11.76%) SharePoint
3 1 (5.88%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 2 (11.76%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 2 (11.76%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 5 (29.41%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (5.88%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 2 (11.76%) LAN
1 2 (11.76%) VPN
2 1 (5.88%) Skype
2 1 (5.88%) WebEx
General
1 10 (58.82%) Social Skills
2 4 (23.53%) Analytical Skills
3 3 (17.65%) Banking
3 3 (17.65%) Finance
3 3 (17.65%) Investment Banking
4 2 (11.76%) Documentation Skills
4 2 (11.76%) Manufacturing
4 2 (11.76%) Presentation Skills
5 1 (5.88%) Automotive
Miscellaneous
1 4 (23.53%) Onboarding
2 2 (11.76%) Data Centre
2 2 (11.76%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 15 (88.24%) Windows
2 3 (17.65%) Apple iOS
2 3 (17.65%) Windows Server
3 2 (11.76%) Android
3 2 (11.76%) Windows 10
3 2 (11.76%) Windows 8
3 2 (11.76%) Windows Server 2003
3 2 (11.76%) Windows Server 2008
3 2 (11.76%) Windows Server 2012
3 2 (11.76%) Windows Server 2016
3 2 (11.76%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (23.53%) Customer Service
1 4 (23.53%) Migration
1 4 (23.53%) Problem-Solving
1 4 (23.53%) Time Management
1 4 (23.53%) Workflow
1 4 (23.53%) Workflow Management
2 3 (17.65%) Data Entry
2 3 (17.65%) Logistics
3 2 (11.76%) Asset Management
3 2 (11.76%) Business Case
3 2 (11.76%) Infrastructure Monitoring
3 2 (11.76%) ITIL
3 2 (11.76%) Mentoring
3 2 (11.76%) Mobile Device Management
3 2 (11.76%) Proactive Maintenance
3 2 (11.76%) Project Delivery
3 2 (11.76%) Technical Analysis
4 1 (5.88%) E-Commerce
4 1 (5.88%) Security Management
4 1 (5.88%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 3 (17.65%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 4 (23.53%) BPSS Clearance
1 4 (23.53%) DBS Check
1 4 (23.53%) SC Cleared
1 4 (23.53%) Security Cleared
2 2 (11.76%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (11.76%) QA
System Software
1 10 (58.82%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 5 (29.41%) Microsoft Intune
1 5 (29.41%) SCCM
2 2 (11.76%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 5 (29.41%) Microsoft
2 2 (11.76%) Canon
2 2 (11.76%) Remedy
2 2 (11.76%) ServiceNow