Network Engineer Contract Job Trends in Preston

Network Engineer
Lancashire > Preston

The median Network Engineer daily rate in Preston is £335, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 September 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
18 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 17 14 19
Rank change year-on-year -3 +5 -3
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1 1 1
As % of all contract jobs advertised in Preston 1.33% 2.27% 1.25%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.43% 2.33% 1.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 1 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile - £513 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £335 £525 £375
Median % change year-on-year -36.19% +40.00% +38.89%
75th Percentile - £538 £388
90th Percentile - - -
Lancashire median daily rate £355 £525 £375
% change year-on-year -32.38% +40.00% +38.89%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
Preston

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Preston. 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 Preston with a recognized job title 70 43 71
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 93.33% 97.73% 88.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 47 28 28
10th Percentile £301 £200 £312
25th Percentile £409 £350 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £455 £563 £425
Median % change year-on-year -19.11% +32.35% +25.00%
75th Percentile £635 £627 £500
90th Percentile £679 £835 £625
Lancashire median daily rate £500 £475 £525
% change year-on-year +5.26% -9.52% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 6 36
10th Percentile £35.09 £19.57 £20.58
25th Percentile £41.94 £24.06 £21.17
Median hourly rate £47.12 £31.15 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year +51.27% -32.11% +14.64%
75th Percentile £70.16 £48.16 £50.69
90th Percentile £75.79 £59.69 £74.37
Lancashire median hourly rate £47.12 £40.33 £46.18
% change year-on-year +16.85% -12.68% +15.45%

Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in Preston

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

Job vacancy trend for Network Engineer in Preston

Network Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in Preston

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in Preston.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in Preston

Network Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in Preston

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in Preston.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in Preston

Network Engineer Skill Set
Top 23 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Preston

For the 6 months to 18 September 2025, Network 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 Preston region featuring Network Engineer in the job title.

1 1 (100.00%) LAN
1 1 (100.00%) WAN
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco
1 1 (100.00%) CCNP
1 1 (100.00%) CCNA
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco Certification
1 1 (100.00%) CheckPoint
1 1 (100.00%) MPLS
1 1 (100.00%) BCP
1 1 (100.00%) Firewall
1 1 (100.00%) Wi-Fi
1 1 (100.00%) Network Design
1 1 (100.00%) PCI DSS
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco ASA
1 1 (100.00%) SolarWinds
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco Nexus
1 1 (100.00%) FortiGate
1 1 (100.00%) Network Monitoring
1 1 (100.00%) Palo Alto
1 1 (100.00%) LogicMonitor
1 1 (100.00%) Project Delivery
1 1 (100.00%) SD-WAN
1 1 (100.00%) Zero Trust

Network Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in Preston 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:

Communications & Networking
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco ASA
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco Nexus
1 1 (100.00%) Firewall
1 1 (100.00%) LAN
1 1 (100.00%) MPLS
1 1 (100.00%) SD-WAN
1 1 (100.00%) WAN
1 1 (100.00%) Wi-Fi
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (100.00%) BCP
1 1 (100.00%) Network Design
1 1 (100.00%) Network Monitoring
1 1 (100.00%) Project Delivery
1 1 (100.00%) Zero Trust
Qualifications
1 1 (100.00%) CCNA
1 1 (100.00%) CCNP
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (100.00%) PCI DSS
Systems Management
1 1 (100.00%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 1 (100.00%) CheckPoint
1 1 (100.00%) Cisco
1 1 (100.00%) LogicMonitor
1 1 (100.00%) Palo Alto
1 1 (100.00%) SolarWinds