Design Engineer Contracts in the UK excluding London

Design Engineer
UK > UK excluding London

The median Design Engineer daily rate in the UK excluding London is £520, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 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
21 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 305 319 347
Rank change year-on-year +14 +28 +88
Contract jobs requiring a Design Engineer 34 75 98
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK excluding London 0.26% 0.37% 0.42%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.29% 0.40% 0.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 4 36 30
10th Percentile £193 £297 £379
25th Percentile £384 £498 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £675 £538
Median % change year-on-year -22.96% +25.58% +32.30%
75th Percentile £559 £775 £700
90th Percentile £576 £888 -
UK median daily rate £480 £575 £550
% change year-on-year -16.52% +4.55% +15.79%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 22 26
10th Percentile £50.50 £51.38 -
25th Percentile £62.50 £53.75 £42.50
Median hourly rate £70.00 £70.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year - +55.56% -
75th Percentile £85.00 £85.00 £59.82
90th Percentile - - £62.62
UK median hourly rate £70.00 £70.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year - +55.56% -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 11,872 18,741 21,812
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.89% 92.48% 94.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 7,548 11,455 15,203
10th Percentile £213 £213 £225
25th Percentile £363 £363 £394
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £489 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -2.20% +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £595 £600
90th Percentile £650 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £510 £525 £543
% change year-on-year -2.86% -3.23% +3.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 856 2,269 1,109
10th Percentile £13.84 £12.50 £13.41
25th Percentile £17.29 £15.75 £18.03
Median hourly rate £26.31 £40.00 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -34.23% -5.88% +112.50%
75th Percentile £63.75 £61.60 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £27.97 £36.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -23.38% -18.89% +88.21%

Design Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Job postings that featured Design Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Job vacancy trend for Design Engineer in the UK excluding London

Design Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Design Engineer in the UK excluding London.

Daily rate trend for Design Engineer in the UK excluding London

Design Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Design Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 21 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Design Engineer in the UK excluding London

Design Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Design Engineer in the UK excluding London.

Hourly rate trend for Design Engineer in the UK excluding London

Design Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Design Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 21 May 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Design Engineer in the UK excluding London

Design 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 Design Engineer within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 21 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
East of England +10 17 £65 -90.71% 65
South East +36 8 £490 -34.67% 65
South West +40 4 £563 -27.42% 62
Midlands +10 2 - - 22
North of England +10 2 - - 44
West Midlands +9 2 - - 9
North West +1 2 - - 25
Northern Ireland - 1 - -
Design Engineer
UK

Design Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 21 May 2025, Design 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 UK excluding London region featuring Design Engineer in the job title.

1 19 (55.88%) Degree
2 14 (41.18%) C
3 13 (38.24%) Simulink
3 13 (38.24%) FPGA
3 13 (38.24%) VHDL
3 13 (38.24%) FPGA Design
4 12 (35.29%) Verilog
4 12 (35.29%) Xilinx
4 12 (35.29%) Intel
4 12 (35.29%) Microsemi
4 12 (35.29%) SystemVerilog
4 12 (35.29%) UVM
5 10 (29.41%) Signal Processing
6 8 (23.53%) Security Cleared
7 7 (20.59%) CAD
8 5 (14.71%) Manufacturing
9 3 (8.82%) Cisco
9 3 (8.82%) HNC
9 3 (8.82%) HND
9 3 (8.82%) SC Cleared
9 3 (8.82%) Social Skills
9 3 (8.82%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (5.88%) Application Security
10 2 (5.88%) Facebook
10 2 (5.88%) Embedded Systems
10 2 (5.88%) 5G
10 2 (5.88%) Radio Access Network
10 2 (5.88%) Network Architecture
10 2 (5.88%) 4G
10 2 (5.88%) Robotics

Design Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 (2.94%) Microsoft Exchange
1 1 (2.94%) SharePoint
1 1 (2.94%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 13 (38.24%) Simulink
2 2 (5.88%) CATIA
3 1 (2.94%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (2.94%) Revit
Business Applications
1 1 (2.94%) ENOVIA
Cloud Services
1 1 (2.94%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 2 (5.88%) 2G
1 2 (5.88%) 3G
1 2 (5.88%) 4G
1 2 (5.88%) 5G
1 2 (5.88%) Ethernet
1 2 (5.88%) Radio Access Network
2 1 (2.94%) Cisco ISE
2 1 (2.94%) Firewall
2 1 (2.94%) MPLS
2 1 (2.94%) NetScaler
2 1 (2.94%) Network Security
2 1 (2.94%) Skype
2 1 (2.94%) TCP/IP
2 1 (2.94%) Wi-Fi
General
1 5 (14.71%) Manufacturing
2 3 (8.82%) Social Skills
3 2 (5.88%) Automotive
3 2 (5.88%) Electronics
3 2 (5.88%) Military
3 2 (5.88%) Telecoms
4 1 (2.94%) Aerospace
4 1 (2.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 1 (2.94%) Influencing Skills
4 1 (2.94%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (2.94%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 13 (38.24%) FPGA
1 13 (38.24%) VHDL
2 12 (35.29%) Verilog
3 2 (5.88%) ASIC
3 2 (5.88%) Embedded Systems
3 2 (5.88%) Robotics
4 1 (2.94%) Analogue Electronics
4 1 (2.94%) Data Centre
4 1 (2.94%) Life Science
4 1 (2.94%) Management Information System
4 1 (2.94%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 1 (2.94%) Windows
1 1 (2.94%) Windows Server
1 1 (2.94%) Windows Server 2012
1 1 (2.94%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 13 (38.24%) FPGA Design
2 12 (35.29%) UVM
3 10 (29.41%) Signal Processing
4 7 (20.59%) CAD
5 2 (5.88%) Application Security
5 2 (5.88%) Benchmarking
5 2 (5.88%) Data Management
5 2 (5.88%) Network Architecture
5 2 (5.88%) Network Design
5 2 (5.88%) Use Case
6 1 (2.94%) Continuous Improvement
6 1 (2.94%) Cybersecurity
6 1 (2.94%) Document Management
6 1 (2.94%) Embedded Software Development
6 1 (2.94%) Hardware-in-the-Loop
6 1 (2.94%) Impact Assessments
6 1 (2.94%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 1 (2.94%) Network Management
6 1 (2.94%) Process Improvement
6 1 (2.94%) Verification and Validation
Programming Languages
1 14 (41.18%) C
2 12 (35.29%) SystemVerilog
3 1 (2.94%) MATLAB
3 1 (2.94%) PowerShell
3 1 (2.94%) Python
3 1 (2.94%) SQL
3 1 (2.94%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 19 (55.88%) Degree
2 8 (23.53%) Security Cleared
3 3 (8.82%) BPSS Clearance
3 3 (8.82%) HNC
3 3 (8.82%) HND
3 3 (8.82%) SC Cleared
4 1 (2.94%) Chartered Engineer
4 1 (2.94%) DV Cleared
4 1 (2.94%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (2.94%) AUTOSAR
System Software
1 1 (2.94%) Active Directory
1 1 (2.94%) Hyper-V
1 1 (2.94%) Virtual Machines
1 1 (2.94%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 1 (2.94%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
1 1 (2.94%) NSN NetAct
1 1 (2.94%) SCCM
Vendors
1 12 (35.29%) Intel
1 12 (35.29%) Microsemi
1 12 (35.29%) Xilinx
2 3 (8.82%) Cisco
3 2 (5.88%) Facebook
3 2 (5.88%) Microsoft
4 1 (2.94%) Ericsson
4 1 (2.94%) Fujitsu
4 1 (2.94%) Huawei
4 1 (2.94%) Lattice Semiconductor
4 1 (2.94%) Meraki
4 1 (2.94%) Nokia
4 1 (2.94%) Palo Alto
4 1 (2.94%) Veeam
4 1 (2.94%) VMware