Principal Engineer Contracts in the South East

Principal Engineer
England > South East

The median Principal Engineer daily rate in the South East is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 May 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 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 152 170 213
Rank change year-on-year +18 +43 +46
Contract jobs requiring a Principal Engineer 7 35 9
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the South East 0.23% 0.63% 0.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.25% 0.68% 0.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 2 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £490 £750 £608
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £775 £615
Median % change year-on-year -35.48% +26.02% +36.52%
75th Percentile £510 £800 £623
90th Percentile - - -
England median daily rate £540 £600 £725
% change year-on-year -10.00% -17.24% +17.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 32 2
10th Percentile £46.30 £65.00 £52.58
25th Percentile £48.99 £65.47 £54.65
Median hourly rate £56.75 £76.86 £59.99
Median % change year-on-year -26.16% +28.12% -5.53%
75th Percentile £68.50 £80.00 £63.44
90th Percentile £74.42 £82.43 £64.38
England median hourly rate £66.25 £67.50 £83.31
% change year-on-year -1.85% -18.98% +54.82%

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 2,767 5,141 5,491
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.93% 92.50% 94.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,821 3,084 3,829
10th Percentile £250 £213 £225
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year - - +2.42%
75th Percentile £600 £613 £606
90th Percentile £663 £688 £700
England median daily rate £525 £525 £550
% change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 163 481 240
10th Percentile £14.20 £12.78 £18.04
25th Percentile £20.06 £18.32 £22.16
Median hourly rate £32.50 £47.50 £48.40
Median % change year-on-year -31.58% -1.86% +130.48%
75th Percentile £63.75 £62.50 £65.16
90th Percentile £75.00 £76.86 £75.00
England median hourly rate £30.62 £36.31 £45.00
% change year-on-year -15.67% -19.32% +100.00%

Principal Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Job vacancy trend for Principal Engineer in the South East

Principal Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the South East

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

Daily rate trend for Principal Engineer in the South East

Principal Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

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

Hourly rate trend for Principal Engineer in the South East

Principal Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Principal Engineer in the South East over the 6 months to 1 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Principal Engineer in the South East

Principal 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 Principal Engineer within the South East region over the 6 months to 1 May 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
Thames Valley - 2 £500 - 36
Surrey +11 1 - - 17
Berkshire - 1 - - 12
Buckinghamshire - 1 £500 - 18
Principal Engineer
England

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

For the 6 months to 1 May 2025, Principal 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 Principal Engineer in the job title.

1 6 (85.71%) Degree
2 5 (71.43%) SC Cleared
2 5 (71.43%) Security Cleared
3 4 (57.14%) Rust
3 4 (57.14%) Social Skills
3 4 (57.14%) CI/CD
3 4 (57.14%) Product Ownership
3 4 (57.14%) UML
3 4 (57.14%) Scrum
3 4 (57.14%) Agile
3 4 (57.14%) Software Engineering
3 4 (57.14%) Test Automation
4 2 (28.57%) Cisco
4 2 (28.57%) MPLS
4 2 (28.57%) Project Delivery
5 1 (14.29%) Cyber Resilience
5 1 (14.29%) Cisco Firepower
5 1 (14.29%) NCSC
5 1 (14.29%) Product Strategy
5 1 (14.29%) Network Security
5 1 (14.29%) CESG Certified Professional
5 1 (14.29%) 5G
5 1 (14.29%) Information Assurance
5 1 (14.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (14.29%) Management Information System
5 1 (14.29%) Risk Management
5 1 (14.29%) Telecoms
5 1 (14.29%) 2G
5 1 (14.29%) Migration
5 1 (14.29%) OSPF

Principal 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:

Communications & Networking
1 2 (28.57%) MPLS
2 1 (14.29%) 2G
2 1 (14.29%) 3G
2 1 (14.29%) 4G
2 1 (14.29%) 5G
2 1 (14.29%) BGP
2 1 (14.29%) Broadband
2 1 (14.29%) Cisco Firepower
2 1 (14.29%) Ethernet
2 1 (14.29%) IPv6
2 1 (14.29%) Network Security
2 1 (14.29%) OSPF
2 1 (14.29%) Radio Access Network
2 1 (14.29%) TCP/IP
2 1 (14.29%) VPN
General
1 4 (57.14%) Social Skills
2 1 (14.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
2 1 (14.29%) Telecoms
Miscellaneous
1 4 (57.14%) Product Ownership
2 1 (14.29%) Management Information System
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (57.14%) Agile
1 4 (57.14%) CI/CD
1 4 (57.14%) Scrum
1 4 (57.14%) Software Engineering
1 4 (57.14%) Test Automation
1 4 (57.14%) UML
2 2 (28.57%) Project Delivery
3 1 (14.29%) Continuous Improvement
3 1 (14.29%) Cyber Resilience
3 1 (14.29%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (14.29%) Incident Management
3 1 (14.29%) Information Assurance
3 1 (14.29%) Information Security
3 1 (14.29%) Mentoring
3 1 (14.29%) Migration
3 1 (14.29%) Network Architecture
3 1 (14.29%) Network Design
3 1 (14.29%) Network Monitoring
3 1 (14.29%) Product Strategy
3 1 (14.29%) Security Architecture
Programming Languages
1 4 (57.14%) Rust
Qualifications
1 6 (85.71%) Degree
2 5 (71.43%) SC Cleared
2 5 (71.43%) Security Cleared
3 1 (14.29%) CCIE
3 1 (14.29%) CESG Certified Professional
3 1 (14.29%) Cisco Certification
3 1 (14.29%) CISSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (14.29%) NCSC
1 1 (14.29%) SLA
Vendors
1 2 (28.57%) Cisco