Support Engineer Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Support Engineer
South East > Thames Valley

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the Thames Valley is £250, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 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
13 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 59 75 73
Rank change year-on-year +16 -2 +42
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 57 54 75
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 3.47% 2.42% 2.66%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.81% 2.64% 2.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 32 31 51
10th Percentile £160 £220 £140
25th Percentile £185 £245 £173
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £250 £475 £213
Median % change year-on-year -47.37% +123.53% +32.81%
75th Percentile £325 £608 £321
90th Percentile £486 - £490
South East median daily rate £250 £250 £225
% change year-on-year - +11.11% -6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 1 5
10th Percentile £15.12 - £14.80
25th Percentile £16.06 - £17.25
Median hourly rate £35.69 £18.70 £20.50
Median % change year-on-year +90.83% -8.78% -2.38%
75th Percentile £80.66 - £21.75
90th Percentile £89.63 - £22.50
South East median hourly rate £18.87 £40.00 £20.50
% change year-on-year -52.83% +95.12% -2.38%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
Thames Valley

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the Thames Valley. 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 Thames Valley with a recognized job title 1,498 2,044 2,664
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.29% 91.45% 94.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 930 1,154 1,800
10th Percentile £259 £263 £250
25th Percentile £391 £405 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £507 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.28% +1.30% -
75th Percentile £598 £608 £615
90th Percentile £655 £688 £700
South East median daily rate £500 £513 £500
% change year-on-year -2.44% +2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 90 105 96
10th Percentile £14.20 £18.50 £16.25
25th Percentile £15.12 £30.41 £21.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £61.06 £49.07
Median % change year-on-year -58.81% +24.45% +173.11%
75th Percentile £60.63 £72.33 £66.00
90th Percentile £87.28 £90.00 £74.90
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £57.35 £50.00
% change year-on-year -56.15% +14.70% +111.01%

Support Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Job postings that featured Support Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Job vacancy trend for Support Engineer in the Thames Valley

Support Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Support Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Support Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley

Support Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Support Engineer in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 13 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Support Engineer in the Thames Valley

Support Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Support Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Support Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley

Support Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Support Engineer in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 13 September 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Support Engineer in the Thames Valley

Support Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Support Engineer within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 13 September 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
Berkshire +7 40 £270 -55.37% 25
Oxfordshire - 11 £190 - 10
Buckinghamshire +2 6 £212 -15.20% 15
Support Engineer
South East

Support Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the Thames Valley

For the 6 months to 13 September 2025, Support 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 Thames Valley region featuring Support Engineer in the job title.

1 36 (63.16%) Windows
2 32 (56.14%) Social Skills
3 28 (49.12%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (47.37%) Microsoft
5 20 (35.09%) ITIL
5 20 (35.09%) Linux
6 17 (29.82%) Azure
7 16 (28.07%) Security Cleared
7 16 (28.07%) DNS
8 15 (26.32%) Microsoft 365
9 14 (24.56%) SC Cleared
9 14 (24.56%) AWS
9 14 (24.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 14 (24.56%) Analytical Skills
9 14 (24.56%) TCP/IP
10 13 (22.81%) DHCP
11 12 (21.05%) VMware
12 11 (19.30%) Service Management
13 10 (17.54%) Microsoft Certification
14 9 (15.79%) Active Directory
14 9 (15.79%) Network+ Certification
14 9 (15.79%) Hyper-V
14 9 (15.79%) Ansible
14 9 (15.79%) Customer Service
15 8 (14.04%) Azure Certification
15 8 (14.04%) Data Protection
15 8 (14.04%) VMware Infrastructure
15 8 (14.04%) Analytical Mindset
15 8 (14.04%) Virtual Infrastructure
15 8 (14.04%) Preventative Maintenance

Support Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 5 (8.77%) OpenStack
2 2 (3.51%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (3.51%) SAS
2 2 (3.51%) SharePoint
3 1 (1.75%) Apache
3 1 (1.75%) IIS
3 1 (1.75%) Tomcat
Applications
1 5 (8.77%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (1.75%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (1.75%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
1 1 (1.75%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 17 (29.82%) Azure
2 15 (26.32%) Microsoft 365
3 14 (24.56%) AWS
4 7 (12.28%) Entra ID
5 3 (5.26%) Power Platform
5 3 (5.26%) SaaS
6 2 (3.51%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (1.75%) Azure Monitor
7 1 (1.75%) Azure Storage
7 1 (1.75%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (1.75%) OneDrive
7 1 (1.75%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 16 (28.07%) DNS
2 14 (24.56%) TCP/IP
3 13 (22.81%) DHCP
4 8 (14.04%) VLAN
5 4 (7.02%) Firewall
5 4 (7.02%) VPN
6 3 (5.26%) HTTP
6 3 (5.26%) Network Security
6 3 (5.26%) Wireless
7 1 (1.75%) FTP
7 1 (1.75%) LAN
7 1 (1.75%) SMTP
7 1 (1.75%) Telnet
7 1 (1.75%) WAN
7 1 (1.75%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (1.75%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (10.53%) SQL Server
2 2 (3.51%) Power BI
2 2 (3.51%) Tableau
3 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Analysis Services
3 1 (1.75%) Power Query
3 1 (1.75%) Qlik Sense
3 1 (1.75%) Relational Database
3 1 (1.75%) Sisense
3 1 (1.75%) SQL Server Analysis Services
3 1 (1.75%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 2 (3.51%) JIRA
2 1 (1.75%) Fiddler
General
1 32 (56.14%) Social Skills
2 14 (24.56%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (8.77%) Telecoms
4 3 (5.26%) Aerospace
4 3 (5.26%) Public Sector
5 2 (3.51%) Finance
5 2 (3.51%) French Language
5 2 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.75%) Financial Institution
6 1 (1.75%) German Language
6 1 (1.75%) Italian Language
6 1 (1.75%) Marketing
6 1 (1.75%) Spanish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (3.51%) .NET
1 2 (3.51%) MDX
1 2 (3.51%) OAuth
1 2 (3.51%) OpenTelemetry
1 2 (3.51%) PySpark
2 1 (1.75%) .NET Framework
2 1 (1.75%) ARM Templates
2 1 (1.75%) CSS
2 1 (1.75%) HTML
2 1 (1.75%) JSON
2 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (1.75%) React
2 1 (1.75%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 8 (14.04%) Analytical Mindset
1 8 (14.04%) Data Protection Act
2 3 (5.26%) Management Information System
3 2 (3.51%) Video Conferencing
4 1 (1.75%) Clustering
4 1 (1.75%) Enterprise Software
4 1 (1.75%) Legacy Systems
4 1 (1.75%) Mainframe
4 1 (1.75%) PKI
4 1 (1.75%) Security Posture
4 1 (1.75%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 36 (63.16%) Windows
2 20 (35.09%) Linux
3 7 (12.28%) Windows 10
4 4 (7.02%) Mac OS
4 4 (7.02%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (7.02%) Windows Server
5 1 (1.75%) Android
5 1 (1.75%) Apple iOS
5 1 (1.75%) Windows Server 2016
5 1 (1.75%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 28 (49.12%) Problem-Solving
2 20 (35.09%) ITIL
3 14 (24.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 11 (19.30%) Service Management
5 9 (15.79%) Customer Service
6 8 (14.04%) Data Protection
6 8 (14.04%) Disaster Recovery
6 8 (14.04%) Preventative Maintenance
6 8 (14.04%) Virtual Infrastructure
7 7 (12.28%) DevOps
8 6 (10.53%) CI/CD
8 6 (10.53%) Time Management
9 5 (8.77%) Analytics
9 5 (8.77%) Computer Science
9 5 (8.77%) Mentoring
9 5 (8.77%) Open Source
10 4 (7.02%) Architectural Design
10 4 (7.02%) Customer Experience
10 4 (7.02%) DevSecOps
10 4 (7.02%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 5 (8.77%) Bash
1 5 (8.77%) Python
2 2 (3.51%) C#
2 2 (3.51%) PowerShell
2 2 (3.51%) SQL
2 2 (3.51%) TypeScript
3 1 (1.75%) Bicep
3 1 (1.75%) COBOL
3 1 (1.75%) Data Analysis Expressions
3 1 (1.75%) Java
3 1 (1.75%) JavaScript
3 1 (1.75%) Shell Script
3 1 (1.75%) VB
3 1 (1.75%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 16 (28.07%) Security Cleared
2 14 (24.56%) SC Cleared
3 10 (17.54%) Microsoft Certification
4 9 (15.79%) Network+ Certification
5 8 (14.04%) Azure Certification
5 8 (14.04%) Server+ Certification
6 6 (10.53%) Degree
7 3 (5.26%) A+ Certification
8 2 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (1.75%) CCNA
9 1 (1.75%) CEH
9 1 (1.75%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (1.75%) CISSP
9 1 (1.75%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (1.75%) CTC Cleared
9 1 (1.75%) DBS Check
9 1 (1.75%) DV Cleared
9 1 (1.75%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (7.02%) QA
2 2 (3.51%) GDPR
2 2 (3.51%) SLA
3 1 (1.75%) Accessibility
3 1 (1.75%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (1.75%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 9 (15.79%) Active Directory
1 9 (15.79%) Hyper-V
2 8 (14.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (8.77%) vSphere
4 1 (1.75%) NFS
4 1 (1.75%) Samba
4 1 (1.75%) Terminal Services
4 1 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (1.75%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 9 (15.79%) Ansible
2 6 (10.53%) Kubernetes
2 6 (10.53%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (8.77%) SCCM
4 4 (7.02%) Red Hat Satellite
5 3 (5.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 1 (1.75%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (1.75%) SCOM
6 1 (1.75%) WSUS
6 1 (1.75%) yum
Vendors
1 27 (47.37%) Microsoft
2 12 (21.05%) VMware
3 4 (7.02%) Cisco
3 4 (7.02%) Red Hat
4 3 (5.26%) Oracle
4 3 (5.26%) ServiceNow
5 2 (3.51%) CheckPoint
5 2 (3.51%) Foundry
5 2 (3.51%) MicroStrategy
5 2 (3.51%) Palantir
5 2 (3.51%) Palo Alto
6 1 (1.75%) Apple
6 1 (1.75%) FireEye
6 1 (1.75%) Google
6 1 (1.75%) HP
6 1 (1.75%) Planview
6 1 (1.75%) Progress
6 1 (1.75%) Remedy
6 1 (1.75%) SolarWinds
6 1 (1.75%) Tanium