Principal Network Engineer Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Principal Network Engineer
UK > UK excluding London

The median Principal Network Engineer daily rate in the UK excluding London is £353, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 27 November 2025.

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

6 months to
27 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 406 367 -
Rank change year-on-year -39 - -
Contract jobs requiring a Principal Network Engineer 3 1 0
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 0.017% 0.006% -
As % of the Job Titles category 0.019% 0.007% -
Number of daily rates quoted 2 0 0
10th Percentile £350 - -
25th Percentile £351 - -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £353 - -
75th Percentile £356 - -
90th Percentile £357 - -
UK median daily rate £353 - £900
% change year-on-year - - +94.49%

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 15,965 15,202 18,957
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 89.97% 92.30% 93.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 9,851 8,727 12,475
10th Percentile £210 £213 £213
25th Percentile £363 £373 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £494 £500
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -1.20% -
75th Percentile £575 £594 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,583 1,034 1,250
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.13 £14.49
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.00 £18.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +81.52%
75th Percentile £56.69 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £73.75 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +48.33%

Principal Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

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

Principal Network Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Principal Network Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

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

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

Principal Network 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 Principal Network Engineer within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 27 November 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
Midlands - 2 £353 -
West Midlands - 2 £353 -
Scotland - 1 - -
Principal Network Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 27 November 2025, Principal Network 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 Principal Network Engineer in the job title.

1 3 (100.00%) Firewall
2 2 (66.67%) 802.1X
2 2 (66.67%) Blue Coat
2 2 (66.67%) Change Management
2 2 (66.67%) CheckPoint
2 2 (66.67%) Cisco
2 2 (66.67%) Cisco IPT
2 2 (66.67%) DMVPN
2 2 (66.67%) DNS
2 2 (66.67%) F5
2 2 (66.67%) Inventory Management
2 2 (66.67%) IPsec
2 2 (66.67%) Juniper
2 2 (66.67%) SC Cleared
2 2 (66.67%) Security Cleared
2 2 (66.67%) SSL
2 2 (66.67%) VPN
2 2 (66.67%) WAN
2 2 (66.67%) Wireless
3 1 (33.33%) Architecture Governance
3 1 (33.33%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (33.33%) Compliance Management
3 1 (33.33%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (33.33%) Data Flow Diagram
3 1 (33.33%) Data Protection
3 1 (33.33%) Degree
3 1 (33.33%) GRC
3 1 (33.33%) Infoblox
3 1 (33.33%) Information Security
3 1 (33.33%) Information Security Management

Principal Network 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:

Communications & Networking
1 3 (100.00%) Firewall
2 2 (66.67%) Cisco IPT
2 2 (66.67%) DMVPN
2 2 (66.67%) DNS
2 2 (66.67%) IPsec
2 2 (66.67%) SSL
2 2 (66.67%) VPN
2 2 (66.67%) WAN
2 2 (66.67%) Wireless
3 1 (33.33%) Intrusion Detection
General
1 1 (33.33%) Manufacturing
1 1 (33.33%) Public Sector
1 1 (33.33%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (66.67%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 3 (100.00%) Data Centre
2 1 (33.33%) Life Science
2 1 (33.33%) Operational Technology
2 1 (33.33%) Renewable Energy
2 1 (33.33%) SCADA
2 1 (33.33%) Security Posture
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (66.67%) Change Management
1 2 (66.67%) Inventory Management
2 1 (33.33%) Architecture Governance
2 1 (33.33%) Compliance Management
2 1 (33.33%) Cybersecurity
2 1 (33.33%) Data Flow Diagram
2 1 (33.33%) Data Protection
2 1 (33.33%) Information Security
2 1 (33.33%) Information Security Management
2 1 (33.33%) Migration
2 1 (33.33%) Network Architecture
2 1 (33.33%) Network Design
2 1 (33.33%) Penetration Testing
2 1 (33.33%) Risk Assessment
2 1 (33.33%) Risk Management
2 1 (33.33%) Security Management
2 1 (33.33%) Vulnerability Management
2 1 (33.33%) Workflow
Qualifications
1 2 (66.67%) SC Cleared
1 2 (66.67%) Security Cleared
2 1 (33.33%) BPSS Clearance
2 1 (33.33%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (33.33%) GRC
1 1 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 1 (33.33%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 1 (33.33%) Virtual Machines
Vendors
1 2 (66.67%) Blue Coat
1 2 (66.67%) CheckPoint
1 2 (66.67%) Cisco
1 2 (66.67%) F5
1 2 (66.67%) Juniper
2 1 (33.33%) Infoblox
2 1 (33.33%) Rockwell