Hardware Engineer Contract Job Trends in the South East

Hardware Engineer
England > South East

The median Hardware Engineer daily rate in the South East is £352, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 24 April 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 182 144 150
Rank change year-on-year -38 +6 +62
Contract jobs requiring a Hardware Engineer 28 11 54
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.49% 0.37% 0.97%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.53% 0.40% 1.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 9 4 29
10th Percentile £210 £89 -
25th Percentile £339 £140 £205
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £352 £168 £210
Median % change year-on-year +109.52% -20.00% -52.00%
75th Percentile £353 £264 £300
90th Percentile £362 £435 £310
England median daily rate £210 £168 £210
% change year-on-year +25.00% -20.00% -16.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4 3 10
10th Percentile £36.14 £25.30 £47.37
25th Percentile £61.35 £35.50 £48.00
Median hourly rate £80.98 £55.00 £68.56
Median % change year-on-year +47.24% -19.78% -
75th Percentile £86.61 £75.87 £82.43
90th Percentile - £86.89 -
England median hourly rate £28.14 £30.58 £60.00
% change year-on-year -8.00% -49.03% +30.14%

All Contract IT Job Roles
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 5,277 2,766 5,159
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.87% 92.29% 92.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,296 1,816 3,106
10th Percentile £300 £246 £213
25th Percentile £413 £400 £390
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.65% - -
75th Percentile £613 £600 £614
90th Percentile £713 £663 £688
England median daily rate £510 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -2.90% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 495 162 477
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.78
25th Percentile £24.25 £20.30 £18.32
Median hourly rate £52.50 £32.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +61.54% -31.58% -1.21%
75th Percentile £81.05 £63.75 £62.50
90th Percentile £88.00 £75.00 £76.86
England median hourly rate £45.46 £31.76 £35.00
% change year-on-year +43.14% -9.26% -22.22%

Hardware Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Hardware Engineer job vacancy trend in the South East

Hardware Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Hardware Engineer job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Hardware Engineer job vacancies in the South East

Hardware Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Hardware Engineer in the South East over the 6 months to 24 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Hardware Engineer in the South East

Hardware Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Hardware Engineer job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Hardware Engineer job vacancies in the South East

Hardware Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Hardware Engineer in the South East over the 6 months to 24 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Hardware Engineer in the South East

Hardware 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 Hardware Engineer within the South East region over the 6 months to 24 April 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
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley -29 15 £352 - 6
Kent +1 8 - - 5
Oxfordshire - 6 £210 - 3
Buckinghamshire - 6 £352 - 2
Hampshire -23 5 £210 +281.82% 5
Berkshire -29 3 £339 - 1
Hardware Engineer
England

Hardware Engineer Skill Set
Top 19 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 24 April 2026, Hardware 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 Hardware Engineer in the job title.

1 7 (25.00%) Security Cleared
2 6 (21.43%) DV Cleared
3 5 (17.86%) Customer Service
3 5 (17.86%) HP
3 5 (17.86%) Service Management
3 5 (17.86%) Time Management
4 4 (14.29%) Break/Fix
5 2 (7.14%) Data Protection
5 2 (7.14%) DOCSIS
5 2 (7.14%) IPv4
5 2 (7.14%) IPv6
5 2 (7.14%) ITIL
5 2 (7.14%) LAN
5 2 (7.14%) Manual Testing
5 2 (7.14%) QA
5 2 (7.14%) SC Cleared
5 2 (7.14%) WAN
5 2 (7.14%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (7.14%) Wireless

Hardware 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 2 (7.14%) DOCSIS
1 2 (7.14%) IPv4
1 2 (7.14%) IPv6
1 2 (7.14%) LAN
1 2 (7.14%) WAN
1 2 (7.14%) Wi-Fi
1 2 (7.14%) Wireless
General
1 5 (17.86%) Organisational Skills
2 2 (7.14%) Legal
3 1 (3.57%) Public Sector
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (17.86%) Customer Service
1 5 (17.86%) Service Management
1 5 (17.86%) Time Management
2 4 (14.29%) Break/Fix
3 2 (7.14%) Data Protection
3 2 (7.14%) ITIL
3 2 (7.14%) Manual Testing
Qualifications
1 7 (25.00%) Security Cleared
2 6 (21.43%) DV Cleared
3 2 (7.14%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (7.14%) QA
Vendors
1 5 (17.86%) HP