Data Engineer Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Data Engineer
UK > UK excluding London

The median Data Engineer daily rate in the UK excluding London is £469, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 19 June 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 67 139 134
Rank change year-on-year +72 -5 +28
Contract jobs requiring a Data Engineer 805 250 339
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 3.11% 1.86% 1.58%
As % of the Job Titles category 3.39% 2.04% 1.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 544 188 250
10th Percentile £363 £314 £169
25th Percentile £412 £402 £199
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £463 £450
Median % change year-on-year +1.41% +2.78% -14.29%
75th Percentile £538 £527 £538
90th Percentile £600 £627 £588
UK median daily rate £500 £500 £500
% change year-on-year - - -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 54 4 33
10th Percentile £19.34 £17.92 £37.50
25th Percentile £36.25 £18.11 £58.75
Median hourly rate £50.00 £48.46 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.18% -35.39% -0.66%
75th Percentile £59.75 £79.03 £80.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £79.61 -
UK median hourly rate £50.00 £52.50 £67.50
% change year-on-year -4.76% -22.22% -10.60%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. 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 UK excluding London with a recognized job title 23,760 12,273 19,810
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.94% 91.51% 92.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,626 7,719 11,771
10th Percentile £303 £220 £213
25th Percentile £406 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £488
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
75th Percentile £598 £575 £591
90th Percentile £688 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £515 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,729 948 2,549
10th Percentile £14.82 £13.50 £12.63
25th Percentile £20.27 £16.84 £15.96
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -1.45%
75th Percentile £67.50 £58.70 £63.75
90th Percentile £78.80 £75.00 £74.37
UK median hourly rate £43.69 £27.21 £37.50
% change year-on-year +60.57% -27.44% -16.67%

Data Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Data Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Data Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Data Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Data Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Data Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 19 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Data Engineer in the UK excluding London

Data Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Data Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Data Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Data Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 19 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Data Engineer in the UK excluding London

Data Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Data Engineer within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 19 June 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
Midlands +51 319 £469 +4.11% 44
West Midlands +43 298 £463 +0.54% 25
North of England +19 210 £475 - 57
North West +17 129 £480 +1.05% 32
South East +18 119 £475 +11.76% 77
South West +25 87 £506 +1.20% 26
Scotland +21 65 £425 -5.56% 8
Yorkshire -20 62 £470 +1.62% 12
Wales +4 22 £450 +3.45% 11
East Midlands -10 21 £525 +28.05% 19
East of England -20 21 £498 +56.45% 13
North East -24 19 £500 +11.11% 13
Northern Ireland +4 4 £410 -18.00% 9
Data Engineer
UK

Data Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 19 June 2026, Data 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 UK excluding London region featuring Data Engineer in the job title.

1 410 (50.93%) SQL
2 307 (38.14%) Data Pipeline
3 294 (36.52%) Analytics
4 282 (35.03%) ETL
5 268 (33.29%) Data Engineering
6 261 (32.42%) Python
7 259 (32.17%) Security Cleared
8 247 (30.68%) Data Modelling
9 214 (26.58%) SC Cleared
10 190 (23.60%) Azure
11 173 (21.49%) Business Intelligence
11 173 (21.49%) Data Quality
12 171 (21.24%) AWS
13 166 (20.62%) CI/CD
14 140 (17.39%) Agile
15 137 (17.02%) Data Integration
16 135 (16.77%) Databricks
17 126 (15.65%) Problem-Solving
18 117 (14.53%) Oracle
19 111 (13.79%) Power Platform
20 108 (13.42%) Power BI
20 108 (13.42%) Talend
21 105 (13.04%) DevOps
22 104 (12.92%) Data Warehouse
23 102 (12.67%) Migration
24 98 (12.17%) PySpark
25 93 (11.55%) Git
26 86 (10.68%) Microsoft
27 84 (10.43%) Pentaho
28 79 (9.81%) Azure Data Factory

Data Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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:

Application Platforms
1 66 (8.20%) SAS
2 47 (5.84%) Apache Spark
3 39 (4.84%) Apache Airflow
4 34 (4.22%) Apache
5 24 (2.98%) Confluence
6 5 (0.62%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.25%) Palantir Foundry
8 1 (0.12%) Apache Superset
8 1 (0.12%) SharePoint
Applications
1 7 (0.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (0.62%) Notepad++
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 5 (0.62%) Dynamics CRM
2 4 (0.50%) Infor LN
3 3 (0.37%) SAP S/4HANA
4 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.25%) Sage X3
5 1 (0.12%) Elite 3E
5 1 (0.12%) FIS Private Capital Suite
5 1 (0.12%) NEC Housing
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle 11i
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Assets
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 190 (23.60%) Azure
2 171 (21.24%) AWS
3 111 (13.79%) Power Platform
4 79 (9.81%) Azure Data Factory
5 70 (8.70%) Snowflake
6 44 (5.47%) GCP
7 42 (5.22%) dbt
8 41 (5.09%) Amazon S3
9 40 (4.97%) Azure Synapse Analytics
10 34 (4.22%) Serverless
11 31 (3.85%) Azure DevOps
12 26 (3.23%) GitHub
13 24 (2.98%) AWS Lambda
14 20 (2.48%) Matillion
15 18 (2.24%) OpenShift
16 13 (1.61%) Amazon EMR
16 13 (1.61%) GitHub Actions
17 11 (1.37%) Amazon CloudWatch
18 10 (1.24%) Azure Functions
19 9 (1.12%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 33 (4.10%) DNS
1 33 (4.10%) VPN
2 32 (3.98%) BGP
2 32 (3.98%) DMZ
2 32 (3.98%) Multicast
3 8 (0.99%) Structured Cabling
4 5 (0.62%) PuTTY
4 5 (0.62%) WinSCP
5 4 (0.50%) Firewall
5 4 (0.50%) Wi-Fi
5 4 (0.50%) Wireless
6 1 (0.12%) Intrusion Detection
Database & Business Intelligence
1 108 (13.42%) Power BI
2 104 (12.92%) Data Warehouse
3 84 (10.43%) Pentaho
4 44 (5.47%) Data Lake
5 43 (5.34%) Amazon Redshift
6 35 (4.35%) SQL Server
7 33 (4.10%) Big Data
8 27 (3.35%) MySQL
9 25 (3.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 24 (2.98%) Hadoop
10 24 (2.98%) Metadata
10 24 (2.98%) Relational Database
11 23 (2.86%) Delta Lake
12 22 (2.73%) Amazon Athena
13 21 (2.61%) Azure SQL Database
14 20 (2.48%) Snowflake Schema
15 19 (2.36%) NoSQL
15 19 (2.36%) Tableau
16 15 (1.86%) BusinessObjects
16 15 (1.86%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 93 (11.55%) Git
2 58 (7.20%) GitLab
3 47 (5.84%) JIRA
4 34 (4.22%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.87%) Postman
6 5 (0.62%) Artifactory
7 4 (0.50%) Bitbucket
8 3 (0.37%) Newman
9 2 (0.25%) Visual Studio
10 1 (0.12%) ER Studio
10 1 (0.12%) ERwin
10 1 (0.12%) JUnit
General
1 136 (16.89%) Social Skills
2 86 (10.68%) Analytical Skills
3 77 (9.57%) Public Sector
4 65 (8.07%) Finance
5 42 (5.22%) Banking
6 22 (2.73%) Investment Banking
7 18 (2.24%) Marketing
8 17 (2.11%) Documentation Skills
9 13 (1.61%) Aerospace
10 12 (1.49%) Manufacturing
10 12 (1.49%) Retail
11 11 (1.37%) Telecoms
12 10 (1.24%) Automotive
13 8 (0.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 4 (0.50%) Legal
14 4 (0.50%) Local Government
15 3 (0.37%) Billing
15 3 (0.37%) Front Office
15 3 (0.37%) Law
16 2 (0.25%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 98 (12.17%) PySpark
2 60 (7.45%) Kafka
3 22 (2.73%) JSON
4 13 (1.61%) Pandas
4 13 (1.61%) XML
5 10 (1.24%) Streamlit
6 9 (1.12%) REST
7 8 (0.99%) Apache Avro
7 8 (0.99%) Protocol Buffers
8 7 (0.87%) Apache Beam
9 6 (0.75%) Node.js
9 6 (0.75%) OpenTelemetry
9 6 (0.75%) RESTful
10 5 (0.62%) Great Expectations
10 5 (0.62%) pytest
10 5 (0.62%) YAML
11 4 (0.50%) AngularJS
11 4 (0.50%) Apache NiFi
11 4 (0.50%) React
12 3 (0.37%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 32 (3.98%) Cloud Native
2 23 (2.86%) Data Structures
3 19 (2.36%) Legacy Systems
4 15 (1.86%) Data Protection Act
5 14 (1.74%) Distributed Systems
6 11 (1.37%) Clustering
7 9 (1.12%) Driving Licence
7 9 (1.12%) Product Ownership
8 8 (0.99%) Greenfield Project
8 8 (0.99%) NHS
9 6 (0.75%) Data Centre
9 6 (0.75%) Linux Command Line
9 6 (0.75%) Onboarding
10 5 (0.62%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (0.50%) Fibre Optics
11 4 (0.50%) iPad
11 4 (0.50%) Life Science
11 4 (0.50%) Management Information System
11 4 (0.50%) Public Cloud
11 4 (0.50%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 41 (5.09%) Unix
2 12 (1.49%) Linux
3 2 (0.25%) Ubuntu
4 1 (0.12%) VMS
4 1 (0.12%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 307 (38.14%) Data Pipeline
2 294 (36.52%) Analytics
3 282 (35.03%) ETL
4 268 (33.29%) Data Engineering
5 247 (30.68%) Data Modelling
6 173 (21.49%) Business Intelligence
7 166 (20.62%) CI/CD
8 140 (17.39%) Agile
9 137 (17.02%) Data Integration
10 126 (15.65%) Problem-Solving
11 105 (13.04%) DevOps
12 102 (12.67%) Migration
13 79 (9.81%) Data Governance
14 76 (9.44%) Validation
15 73 (9.07%) AI
16 71 (8.82%) Test Automation
17 66 (8.20%) Scrum
18 62 (7.70%) Data Science
19 60 (7.45%) Decision-Making
20 58 (7.20%) Data Transformation
Programming Languages
1 410 (50.93%) SQL
2 261 (32.42%) Python
3 37 (4.60%) PL/SQL
4 36 (4.47%) Java
5 17 (2.11%) Bash
5 17 (2.11%) Shell Script
6 12 (1.49%) Data Analysis Expressions
7 10 (1.24%) PowerShell
8 9 (1.12%) T-SQL
9 6 (0.75%) Scala
10 5 (0.62%) C#
11 4 (0.50%) Bicep
12 2 (0.25%) Go
12 2 (0.25%) HiveQL
12 2 (0.25%) JavaScript
13 1 (0.12%) C++
13 1 (0.12%) COBOL
13 1 (0.12%) Perl
13 1 (0.12%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 259 (32.17%) Security Cleared
2 214 (26.58%) SC Cleared
3 18 (2.24%) BPSS Clearance
3 18 (2.24%) Degree
4 12 (1.49%) DV Cleared
5 8 (0.99%) City & Guilds
6 5 (0.62%) Computer Science Degree
6 5 (0.62%) Master's Degree
7 4 (0.50%) BICSI Certification
7 4 (0.50%) SnowPro
8 3 (0.37%) IBM Certification
9 2 (0.25%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.25%) CISM
9 2 (0.25%) CISSP
10 1 (0.12%) AWS Certification
10 1 (0.12%) CCIE
10 1 (0.12%) CEH
10 1 (0.12%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.12%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.12%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 173 (21.49%) Data Quality
2 19 (2.36%) QA
3 13 (1.61%) GDPR
4 10 (1.24%) SLA
5 8 (0.99%) FATCA
6 3 (0.37%) Accessibility
6 3 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 2 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.25%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.25%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.12%) Basel III
8 1 (0.12%) California Consumer Privacy Act
8 1 (0.12%) GMP
8 1 (0.12%) Government Security Classifications
8 1 (0.12%) NIST
8 1 (0.12%) SNOMED CT
8 1 (0.12%) WCAG
System Software
1 41 (5.09%) Docker
2 3 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
3 2 (0.25%) HDFS
Systems Management
1 46 (5.71%) Terraform
2 44 (5.47%) Kubernetes
3 37 (4.60%) Grafana
4 10 (1.24%) Prometheus
5 8 (0.99%) Ansible
6 3 (0.37%) Rancher
7 2 (0.25%) Apache Ranger
7 2 (0.25%) Control-M
Vendors
1 135 (16.77%) Databricks
2 117 (14.53%) Oracle
3 108 (13.42%) Talend
4 86 (10.68%) Microsoft
5 74 (9.19%) Informatica
6 54 (6.71%) Denodo
7 34 (4.22%) Cisco
7 34 (4.22%) F5
8 16 (1.99%) SAP
8 16 (1.99%) Splunk
9 15 (1.86%) ServiceNow
10 14 (1.74%) Cloudera
11 12 (1.49%) Salesforce
12 11 (1.37%) Google
13 7 (0.87%) Alteryx
13 7 (0.87%) Sage
14 6 (0.75%) Dynatrace
14 6 (0.75%) InterSystems
15 5 (0.62%) Infor
16 4 (0.50%) IBM