Network Engineer Contracts in the South East

Network Engineer
England > South East

The median Network Engineer daily rate in the South East is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 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
1 Jul 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 69 39 65
Rank change year-on-year -30 +26 +76
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 89 236 177
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 2.83% 4.16% 3.06%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.12% 4.50% 3.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 74 137 108
10th Percentile £308 £329 £270
25th Percentile £409 £405 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +11.11% +0.67%
75th Percentile £575 £553 £513
90th Percentile £623 £638 £575
England median daily rate £490 £475 £450
% change year-on-year +3.16% +5.56% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 6 13
10th Percentile - £18.06 £19.70
25th Percentile - £19.48 £60.00
Median hourly rate - £47.95 £62.00
Median % change year-on-year - -22.67% +169.57%
75th Percentile - £75.24 £76.99
90th Percentile - £76.12 £80.25
England median hourly rate £50.00 £40.00 £62.00
% change year-on-year +25.00% -35.48% +118.23%

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 2,853 5,245 5,482
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.72% 92.42% 94.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,852 3,086 3,784
10th Percentile £213 £250 £225
25th Percentile £375 £400 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £507 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.28% +1.30% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £604
90th Percentile £661 £691 £700
England median daily rate £513 £525 £550
% change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 215 538 244
10th Percentile £14.20 £12.88 £16.00
25th Percentile £15.53 £18.39 £21.18
Median hourly rate £30.00 £48.70 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.40% -2.60% +138.10%
75th Percentile £62.24 £70.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.00 £75.00
England median hourly rate £28.18 £39.55 £43.93
% change year-on-year -28.75% -9.97% +75.72%

Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Job vacancy trend for Network Engineer in the South East

Network Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Network Engineer in the South East.

Daily rate trend for Network Engineer in the South East

Network Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Engineer in the South East over the 6 months to 1 July 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Network Engineer in the South East

Network Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Network Engineer in the South East.

Hourly rate trend for Network Engineer in the South East

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 Network Engineer within the South East region over the 6 months to 1 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
Hampshire -7 45 £515 -8.04% 44
Thames Valley -14 35 £450 -12.20% 63
Berkshire -11 31 £450 -12.20% 44
Surrey -11 3 £425 -15.00% 14
Kent -17 3 £425 +27.82% 16
Buckinghamshire +7 2 £400 -27.27% 11
Oxfordshire -3 2 £550 +20.55% 11
West Sussex +2 1 £388 -8.82% 10
East Sussex -3 1 £285 -36.67% 8
Middlesex - 1 £500 - 5
Network Engineer
England

Network Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 1 July 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 South East region featuring Network Engineer in the job title.

1 61 (68.54%) Cisco
2 44 (49.44%) Security Cleared
3 39 (43.82%) Firewall
4 36 (40.45%) Cisco Certification
5 32 (35.96%) Social Skills
6 31 (34.83%) LAN
7 30 (33.71%) Problem-Solving
8 29 (32.58%) Juniper
9 27 (30.34%) CCNP
9 27 (30.34%) WAN
10 26 (29.21%) VPN
11 24 (26.97%) SC Cleared
12 19 (21.35%) Network Security
13 18 (20.22%) DV Cleared
13 18 (20.22%) Ansible
13 18 (20.22%) CCNA
14 17 (19.10%) Telecoms
14 17 (19.10%) Azure
14 17 (19.10%) AWS
15 16 (17.98%) F5
15 16 (17.98%) Python
16 15 (16.85%) Network Architecture
16 15 (16.85%) Analytical Skills
16 15 (16.85%) Data Centre
17 14 (15.73%) Agile
18 13 (14.61%) MPLS
18 13 (14.61%) BGP
19 12 (13.48%) OSPF
19 12 (13.48%) Citrix
19 12 (13.48%) Customer Requirements

Network Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the South East 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 1 (1.12%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 17 (19.10%) AWS
1 17 (19.10%) Azure
2 4 (4.49%) Cloudflare
3 1 (1.12%) Cloud Computing
3 1 (1.12%) GCP
3 1 (1.12%) GitHub
3 1 (1.12%) Microsoft 365
3 1 (1.12%) OneDrive
3 1 (1.12%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 39 (43.82%) Firewall
2 31 (34.83%) LAN
3 27 (30.34%) WAN
4 26 (29.21%) VPN
5 19 (21.35%) Network Security
6 13 (14.61%) BGP
6 13 (14.61%) MPLS
7 12 (13.48%) OSPF
8 10 (11.24%) Cisco IOS
8 10 (11.24%) Cisco ISE
9 9 (10.11%) Cisco Firepower
9 9 (10.11%) Junos
9 9 (10.11%) SAN
9 9 (10.11%) Wireless
10 7 (7.87%) DNS
10 7 (7.87%) Ethernet
10 7 (7.87%) Ethernet VPN
10 7 (7.87%) Wireshark
11 6 (6.74%) Wi-Fi
12 5 (5.62%) Frame Relay
Development Applications
1 2 (2.25%) Sonatype Nexus
2 1 (1.12%) GitLab
General
1 32 (35.96%) Social Skills
2 17 (19.10%) Telecoms
3 15 (16.85%) Analytical Skills
4 6 (6.74%) Public Sector
5 4 (4.49%) Finance
5 4 (4.49%) Manufacturing
6 2 (2.25%) Automotive
7 1 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
7 1 (1.12%) Electronics
7 1 (1.12%) Legal
7 1 (1.12%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (6.74%) RFC 2544
2 2 (2.25%) 802.1X
3 1 (1.12%) CSS
3 1 (1.12%) HTML
3 1 (1.12%) Jinja
3 1 (1.12%) JSON
3 1 (1.12%) NETCONF
3 1 (1.12%) REST
3 1 (1.12%) RESTCONF
3 1 (1.12%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 15 (16.85%) Data Centre
2 7 (7.87%) Fibre Optics
3 6 (6.74%) Hybrid Cloud
4 5 (5.62%) Public Cloud
4 5 (5.62%) Self-Motivation
5 2 (2.25%) Driving Licence
5 2 (2.25%) Embedded Systems
5 2 (2.25%) Management Information System
5 2 (2.25%) Onboarding
5 2 (2.25%) Robotics
5 2 (2.25%) Security Operations Centre
5 2 (2.25%) Self-Driving Car
6 1 (1.12%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (1.12%) Life Science
6 1 (1.12%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 10 (11.24%) Linux
2 8 (8.99%) Unix
3 2 (2.25%) Embedded Linux
4 1 (1.12%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (33.71%) Problem-Solving
2 15 (16.85%) Network Architecture
3 14 (15.73%) Agile
4 12 (13.48%) Customer Requirements
4 12 (13.48%) Preventative Maintenance
5 11 (12.36%) Migration
5 11 (12.36%) Network Design
6 9 (10.11%) Change Management
6 9 (10.11%) Computer Science
6 9 (10.11%) Load Balancing
7 8 (8.99%) Continuous Improvement
8 7 (7.87%) Defect Management
8 7 (7.87%) Project Management
8 7 (7.87%) Validation
9 6 (6.74%) Case Management
9 6 (6.74%) Disaster Recovery
9 6 (6.74%) Service Design
9 6 (6.74%) Service Management
9 6 (6.74%) Test Scripting
9 6 (6.74%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 16 (17.98%) Python
2 8 (8.99%) VB
3 6 (6.74%) Java
4 1 (1.12%) JavaScript
4 1 (1.12%) Kotlin
4 1 (1.12%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 44 (49.44%) Security Cleared
2 36 (40.45%) Cisco Certification
3 27 (30.34%) CCNP
4 24 (26.97%) SC Cleared
5 18 (20.22%) CCNA
5 18 (20.22%) DV Cleared
6 9 (10.11%) Degree
7 8 (8.99%) Computer Science Degree
8 7 (7.87%) CCIE
9 5 (5.62%) ISEB
9 5 (5.62%) ISTQB
9 5 (5.62%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
10 2 (2.25%) Network+ Certification
11 1 (1.12%) BPSS Clearance
11 1 (1.12%) ITIL Certification
11 1 (1.12%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (12.36%) SLA
2 1 (1.12%) Cyber Essentials
2 1 (1.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
2 1 (1.12%) NIST
System Software
1 3 (3.37%) Ceph
2 2 (2.25%) Firmware
3 1 (1.12%) KVM
Systems Management
1 18 (20.22%) Ansible
2 11 (12.36%) Terraform
3 10 (11.24%) FortiGate
4 1 (1.12%) Argo
4 1 (1.12%) CASB
4 1 (1.12%) Grafana
4 1 (1.12%) Iperf
4 1 (1.12%) Microsoft Intune
4 1 (1.12%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 61 (68.54%) Cisco
2 29 (32.58%) Juniper
3 16 (17.98%) F5
4 12 (13.48%) Citrix
5 10 (11.24%) CheckPoint
6 9 (10.11%) Aruba
7 8 (8.99%) Microsoft
7 8 (8.99%) Palo Alto
8 6 (6.74%) Fortinet
9 4 (4.49%) Zscaler
10 3 (3.37%) Dell
10 3 (3.37%) Mellanox
10 3 (3.37%) Meraki
10 3 (3.37%) NVIDIA
11 2 (2.25%) Nokia
11 2 (2.25%) SolarWinds
11 2 (2.25%) VMware
12 1 (1.12%) AirMagnet
12 1 (1.12%) Extreme Networks
12 1 (1.12%) ServiceNow