3rd Line Network Engineer Contract Job Trends in the South East

Third Line Network Engineer
England > South East

The median Third Line Network Engineer daily rate in the South East is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 December 2025.

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

6 months to
15 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 154 172 207
Rank change year-on-year +18 +35 +49
Contract jobs requiring a 3rd Line Network Engineer 25 2 3
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.58% 0.053% 0.059%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.64% 0.057% 0.063%
Number of daily rates quoted 24 1 2
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £425 £500
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -15.00% -
England median daily rate £500 £425 £470
% change year-on-year +17.65% -9.57% +4.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
Median hourly rate £89.63 - -
England median hourly rate £30.00 - -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 South East with a recognized job title 3,903 3,498 4,777
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.22% 92.93% 94.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,526 2,178 3,116
10th Percentile £220 £236 £206
25th Percentile £400 £400 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £513
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% - +2.50%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £610
90th Percentile £675 £687 £680
England median daily rate £510 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -2.86% -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 373 141 236
10th Percentile £13.75 £18.50 £16.25
25th Percentile £16.50 £24.18 £24.32
Median hourly rate £25.00 £45.00 £52.20
Median % change year-on-year -44.44% -13.79% +49.14%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £66.06
90th Percentile £81.00 £75.00 £76.53
England median hourly rate £26.40 £36.08 £45.00
% change year-on-year -26.83% -19.82% +38.46%

3rd Line Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '3rd Line Network Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

3rd Line Network Engineer job vacancy trend in the South East

3rd Line Network Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Network Engineer job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Network Engineer job vacancies in the South East

3rd Line Network Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Network Engineer job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Network Engineer job vacancies in the South East

3rd Line Network Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 3rd Line Network Engineer within the South East region over the 6 months to 15 December 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
Hampshire +15 24 £500 +17.65%
Oxfordshire - 1 - -
Thames Valley - 1 - - 2
3rd Line Network Engineer
England

3rd Line Network Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 15 December 2025, 3rd Line Network Engineer contract job roles required 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 job ads across the South East region featuring 3rd Line Network Engineer in the job title.

1 25 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 24 (96.00%) DV Cleared
3 21 (84.00%) Cisco
3 21 (84.00%) ITSM
3 21 (84.00%) vCenter Server
4 20 (80.00%) Cisco Firepower
4 20 (80.00%) Cisco IOS
4 20 (80.00%) Cisco ISE
4 20 (80.00%) Juniper
4 20 (80.00%) Junos
4 20 (80.00%) SolarWinds
4 20 (80.00%) VMware NSX
5 17 (68.00%) Service Management
5 17 (68.00%) Windows
6 16 (64.00%) Active Directory
6 16 (64.00%) Windows Server
7 5 (20.00%) Firewall
8 4 (16.00%) Broadcom
8 4 (16.00%) Change Management
8 4 (16.00%) Firmware
8 4 (16.00%) Network Virtualisation
8 4 (16.00%) NX-OS
9 1 (4.00%) A+ Certification
9 1 (4.00%) CheckPoint
9 1 (4.00%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (4.00%) Computer Science
9 1 (4.00%) Degree
9 1 (4.00%) DHCP
9 1 (4.00%) DNS
9 1 (4.00%) GDPR

3rd Line Network Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Communications & Networking
1 20 (80.00%) Cisco Firepower
1 20 (80.00%) Cisco IOS
1 20 (80.00%) Cisco ISE
1 20 (80.00%) Junos
2 5 (20.00%) Firewall
3 4 (16.00%) NX-OS
4 1 (4.00%) DHCP
4 1 (4.00%) DNS
4 1 (4.00%) TCP/IP
4 1 (4.00%) VPN
4 1 (4.00%) Wireless
Development Applications
1 1 (4.00%) JIRA
General
1 5 (20.00%) Social Skills
2 1 (4.00%) Analytical Skills
2 1 (4.00%) Organisational Skills
2 1 (4.00%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 4 (16.00%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 17 (68.00%) Windows
2 16 (64.00%) Windows Server
3 1 (4.00%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 21 (84.00%) ITSM
2 17 (68.00%) Service Management
3 4 (16.00%) Change Management
3 4 (16.00%) Network Virtualisation
4 1 (4.00%) Computer Science
4 1 (4.00%) ITIL
4 1 (4.00%) Problem-Solving
4 1 (4.00%) Time Management
Qualifications
1 25 (100.00%) Security Cleared
2 24 (96.00%) DV Cleared
3 1 (4.00%) A+ Certification
3 1 (4.00%) Cisco Certification
3 1 (4.00%) Degree
3 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Certification
3 1 (4.00%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (4.00%) GDPR
System Software
1 20 (80.00%) VMware NSX
2 16 (64.00%) Active Directory
3 4 (16.00%) Firmware
4 1 (4.00%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 21 (84.00%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 21 (84.00%) Cisco
2 20 (80.00%) Juniper
2 20 (80.00%) SolarWinds
3 4 (16.00%) Broadcom
4 1 (4.00%) CheckPoint
4 1 (4.00%) Microsoft
4 1 (4.00%) Palo Alto
4 1 (4.00%) ServiceNow