Applications Engineer Contract Job Trends

Applications Engineer
UK

The median Applications Engineer daily rate in the UK is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 14 October 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 534 449 451
Rank change year-on-year -85 +2 -50
Contract jobs requiring an Applications Engineer 154 107 104
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.28% 0.32% 0.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.30% 0.35% 0.30%
Number of daily rates quoted 75 68 73
10th Percentile £305 £329 £306
25th Percentile £404 £400 £310
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £469 £500
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -9.09%
75th Percentile £576 £575 £638
90th Percentile £650 £664 £748
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £475
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 2 2
10th Percentile £53.75 £49.33 -
25th Percentile - £49.44 £37.50
Median hourly rate £65.00 £49.75 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +30.65% +24.38% -26.69%
75th Percentile - £49.94 £42.50
90th Percentile - £49.98 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £49.75 £40.00
% change year-on-year +30.65% +24.38% -18.83%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 with a recognized job title 50,840 30,143 34,861
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.99% 90.86% 93.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,838 19,043 21,029
10th Percentile £325 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £638 £623 £638
90th Percentile £737 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4,127 1,648 1,435
10th Percentile £14.36 £13.75 £15.00
25th Percentile £19.50 £17.30 £20.30
Median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £41.27
Median % change year-on-year +65.84% -39.05% -8.30%
75th Percentile £67.50 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.08 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.71 £25.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year +66.84% -41.18% -4.49%

Applications Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Applications Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Applications Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Applications Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Applications Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Applications Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Applications Engineer over the 6 months to 14 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Applications Engineer in the UK

Applications Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Applications Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Applications Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Applications Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Applications Engineer over the 6 months to 14 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Applications Engineer in the UK

Applications Engineer
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Applications Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 14 October 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
England -78 140 £500 +8.99% 386
London -71 76 £500 +8.99% 158
UK excluding London -94 66 £475 +5.56% 253
Work from Home -61 37 £500 +5.26% 130
South West -16 34 £540 +27.06% 26
North of England -73 14 £402 -9.36% 41
North West -55 9 £351 -20.86% 24
Midlands -49 6 £425 -29.17% 63
West Midlands -45 5 £425 -29.17% 38
South East -66 5 £350 -26.32% 54
Yorkshire -31 4 £463 - 15
East of England -27 3 £513 - 26
Wales -14 2 £556 +43.55% 11
Scotland -26 2 £200 -63.64% 16
North East - 1 £290 - 2
East Midlands - 1 - - 25

Applications Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 14 October 2026, Applications 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 featuring Applications Engineer in the job title.

1 44 (28.57%) CI/CD
2 40 (25.97%) Python
3 35 (22.73%) Security Cleared
4 31 (20.13%) DevOps
4 31 (20.13%) Linux
5 28 (18.18%) Microsoft
5 28 (18.18%) PowerShell
6 27 (17.53%) SC Cleared
7 26 (16.88%) SQL
8 25 (16.23%) Windows
9 24 (15.58%) Problem-Solving
10 22 (14.29%) Runbook
11 21 (13.64%) Application Security
11 21 (13.64%) Java
11 21 (13.64%) Migration
12 20 (12.99%) Software Engineering
13 18 (11.69%) AI
13 18 (11.69%) Azure
13 18 (11.69%) DNS
14 17 (11.04%) Git
14 17 (11.04%) Infrastructure as Code
15 16 (10.39%) Active Directory
15 16 (10.39%) DV Cleared
15 16 (10.39%) GitHub
15 16 (10.39%) Root Cause Analysis
16 15 (9.74%) AWS
16 15 (9.74%) Bash
16 15 (9.74%) Continuous Improvement
16 15 (9.74%) Incident Management
16 15 (9.74%) JIRA

Applications Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 10 (6.49%) SharePoint
2 6 (3.90%) IIS
2 6 (3.90%) MTS
3 5 (3.25%) Apache
4 4 (2.60%) Tomcat
5 3 (1.95%) Confluence
5 3 (1.95%) Microsoft Exchange
6 2 (1.30%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.65%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.65%) ThingWorx
7 1 (0.65%) WebSphere
Applications
1 3 (1.95%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.30%) Simulink
2 2 (1.30%) Zemax
3 1 (0.65%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.65%) LaTeX
3 1 (0.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.65%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 3 (1.95%) SAP Retail
2 1 (0.65%) Bloomberg TOMS
Cloud Services
1 18 (11.69%) Azure
2 16 (10.39%) GitHub
3 15 (9.74%) AWS
4 12 (7.79%) Entra ID
5 11 (7.14%) Azure DevOps
5 11 (7.14%) GitHub Actions
6 8 (5.19%) GCP
7 7 (4.55%) Snowflake
8 5 (3.25%) Amazon Bedrock
8 5 (3.25%) Amazon ECS
8 5 (3.25%) Amazon EKS
8 5 (3.25%) Amazon EventBridge
8 5 (3.25%) Amazon S3
8 5 (3.25%) Amazon SQS
8 5 (3.25%) Azure API Management
8 5 (3.25%) Salesforce Service Cloud
9 4 (2.60%) Cloud Functions
9 4 (2.60%) Google App Engine
9 4 (2.60%) Google Compute Engine
9 4 (2.60%) Google Kubernetes Engine
Communications & Networking
1 18 (11.69%) DNS
2 7 (4.55%) Firewall
3 6 (3.90%) TCP/IP
4 4 (2.60%) Internet
4 4 (2.60%) VPN
5 3 (1.95%) Multicast
5 3 (1.95%) Reverse Proxy
5 3 (1.95%) SSL
5 3 (1.95%) VLAN
6 2 (1.30%) IP Telephony
6 2 (1.30%) Kerberos
6 2 (1.30%) LAN
6 2 (1.30%) MPLS
6 2 (1.30%) SDH
6 2 (1.30%) Skype
6 2 (1.30%) WAN
7 1 (0.65%) DHCP
7 1 (0.65%) MQTT
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (5.19%) PostgreSQL
1 8 (5.19%) SQL Server
2 5 (3.25%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (3.25%) Big Data
3 3 (1.95%) MySQL
4 2 (1.30%) KDB
4 2 (1.30%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.65%) InfluxDB
5 1 (0.65%) MongoDB
5 1 (0.65%) Oracle Database
5 1 (0.65%) SQL Server Analysis Services
5 1 (0.65%) SQL Server Reporting Services
5 1 (0.65%) SQLite
5 1 (0.65%) SQLPlus
Development Applications
1 17 (11.04%) Git
2 15 (9.74%) JIRA
3 10 (6.49%) Artifactory
4 9 (5.84%) Jenkins
5 7 (4.55%) GitLab
6 4 (2.60%) MSI
7 3 (1.95%) Bitbucket
7 3 (1.95%) CircleCI
7 3 (1.95%) Gradle
7 3 (1.95%) JUnit
7 3 (1.95%) SonarQube
8 2 (1.30%) AdminStudio
8 2 (1.30%) InstallShield
8 2 (1.30%) Xcode
9 1 (0.65%) Burp Suite
9 1 (0.65%) eggPlant
9 1 (0.65%) Gerrit
9 1 (0.65%) Tricentis qTest
9 1 (0.65%) Visual Studio
General
1 38 (24.68%) Finance
2 35 (22.73%) Social Skills
3 17 (11.04%) Banking
4 16 (10.39%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (5.84%) Public Sector
6 8 (5.19%) Front Office
7 5 (3.25%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (3.25%) Investment Banking
8 4 (2.60%) Military
8 4 (2.60%) Telecoms
9 3 (1.95%) Financial Institution
9 3 (1.95%) Retail
10 2 (1.30%) Advertising
11 1 (0.65%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.65%) Back Office
11 1 (0.65%) Electronics
11 1 (0.65%) Law
11 1 (0.65%) Legal
11 1 (0.65%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.65%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (9.74%) Terraform
2 12 (7.79%) REST
3 10 (6.49%) .NET
4 8 (5.19%) Microsoft Graph
4 8 (5.19%) Middleware
5 7 (4.55%) Handlebars
6 6 (3.90%) JSON
7 5 (3.25%) Langfuse
7 5 (3.25%) LDAP
7 5 (3.25%) SAML
7 5 (3.25%) XML
8 4 (2.60%) CSS
8 4 (2.60%) HTML
8 4 (2.60%) OpenID
8 4 (2.60%) Web Services
9 3 (1.95%) FIX Protocol
9 3 (1.95%) Kafka
9 3 (1.95%) Mustache
9 3 (1.95%) RESTful
9 3 (1.95%) RxJava
Miscellaneous
1 18 (11.69%) Enterprise Software
2 13 (8.44%) Onboarding
3 11 (7.14%) Distributed Systems
4 9 (5.84%) Cloud Native
5 7 (4.55%) Security Posture
5 7 (4.55%) Virtual Team
6 6 (3.90%) AI Agents
6 6 (3.90%) Fixed Income
7 5 (3.25%) Algorithms
7 5 (3.25%) Mobile App
7 5 (3.25%) Operational Technology
7 5 (3.25%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (2.60%) Legacy Applications
9 3 (1.95%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (1.95%) Management Information System
9 3 (1.95%) SCADA
10 2 (1.30%) Equities
10 2 (1.30%) Eurex
10 2 (1.30%) PKI
10 2 (1.30%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 31 (20.13%) Linux
2 25 (16.23%) Windows
3 8 (5.19%) Windows Server
4 6 (3.90%) Unix
5 5 (3.25%) Android
6 4 (2.60%) Windows Server 2016
7 3 (1.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (1.95%) Windows Server 2019
8 2 (1.30%) Apple iOS
8 2 (1.30%) macOS
8 2 (1.30%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.65%) AIX
9 1 (0.65%) Rocky
9 1 (0.65%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (28.57%) CI/CD
2 31 (20.13%) DevOps
3 24 (15.58%) Problem-Solving
4 22 (14.29%) Runbook
5 21 (13.64%) Application Security
5 21 (13.64%) Migration
6 20 (12.99%) Software Engineering
7 18 (11.69%) AI
8 17 (11.04%) Infrastructure as Code
9 16 (10.39%) Root Cause Analysis
10 15 (9.74%) Continuous Improvement
10 15 (9.74%) Incident Management
10 15 (9.74%) Observability
11 14 (9.09%) Containerisation
12 13 (8.44%) Electronic Trading
13 12 (7.79%) Generative AI
13 12 (7.79%) ITSM
13 12 (7.79%) Stakeholder Management
14 11 (7.14%) Agile
14 11 (7.14%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 40 (25.97%) Python
2 28 (18.18%) PowerShell
3 26 (16.88%) SQL
4 21 (13.64%) Java
5 15 (9.74%) Bash
6 12 (7.79%) C#
6 12 (7.79%) JavaScript
7 11 (7.14%) C++
8 6 (3.90%) Go
8 6 (3.90%) Shell Script
9 5 (3.25%) Tcl
10 3 (1.95%) Kotlin
10 3 (1.95%) MATLAB
11 2 (1.30%) Swift
11 2 (1.30%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.65%) Groovy
12 1 (0.65%) PHP
12 1 (0.65%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.65%) Ruby
12 1 (0.65%) VBA
Qualifications
1 35 (22.73%) Security Cleared
2 27 (17.53%) SC Cleared
3 16 (10.39%) DV Cleared
4 9 (5.84%) Degree
5 3 (1.95%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (1.30%) AWS Certification
6 2 (1.30%) Azure Certification
6 2 (1.30%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.30%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (1.30%) CSSLP
6 2 (1.30%) GWAPT
7 1 (0.65%) CCNA
7 1 (0.65%) CISA
7 1 (0.65%) CISSP
7 1 (0.65%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.65%) GSEC
7 1 (0.65%) ISTQB
7 1 (0.65%) OSCP
7 1 (0.65%) RHCE
7 1 (0.65%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.60%) QA
2 3 (1.95%) SLA
3 2 (1.30%) Data Quality
3 2 (1.30%) NIST
4 1 (0.65%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.65%) GRC
System Software
1 16 (10.39%) Active Directory
2 9 (5.84%) Docker
3 4 (2.60%) Microsoft App-V
3 4 (2.60%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (1.95%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (1.30%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.30%) vSphere
6 1 (0.65%) NFS
6 1 (0.65%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 13 (8.44%) Ansible
1 13 (8.44%) Kubernetes
2 10 (6.49%) Single Sign-On
3 7 (4.55%) ITRS Geneos
4 6 (3.90%) Grafana
5 5 (3.25%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (3.25%) SCCM
6 3 (1.95%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.95%) Puppet
7 2 (1.30%) OPNET
7 2 (1.30%) ZABBIX
8 1 (0.65%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.65%) BladeLogic
8 1 (0.65%) HAProxy
8 1 (0.65%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.65%) Salt
Vendors
1 28 (18.18%) Microsoft
2 14 (9.09%) ServiceNow
3 11 (7.14%) Splunk
4 10 (6.49%) ION Trading
4 10 (6.49%) Oracle
5 7 (4.55%) Dynatrace
6 6 (3.90%) Bloomberg
6 6 (3.90%) Google
6 6 (3.90%) MarketAxess
6 6 (3.90%) Tradeweb
7 5 (3.25%) Amplitude
7 5 (3.25%) Salesforce
7 5 (3.25%) Sybase
7 5 (3.25%) VMware
8 4 (2.60%) Cisco
9 3 (1.95%) Citrix
9 3 (1.95%) Databricks
9 3 (1.95%) iManage
9 3 (1.95%) SAP
9 3 (1.95%) Solace