Applications Engineer Contract Job Trends

Applications Engineer
UK

The median Applications Engineer daily rate in the UK is £470, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 15 April 2026.

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

6 months to
15 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 519 442 447
Rank change year-on-year -77 +5 +17
Contract jobs requiring an Applications Engineer 104 75 143
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.23% 0.26% 0.33%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.25% 0.28% 0.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 71 56 91
10th Percentile £316 £325 £338
25th Percentile £419 £355 £405
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £413 £525
Median % change year-on-year +13.73% -21.29% -12.50%
75th Percentile £537 £501 £625
90th Percentile £625 £656 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £414 £580
% change year-on-year +20.77% -28.62% +22.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 1 2
10th Percentile £42.35 - -
25th Percentile - £51.25 -
Median hourly rate £65.00 £52.50 £35.65
Median % change year-on-year +23.81% +47.27% -26.34%
75th Percentile - £53.75 -
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £52.50 £35.65
% change year-on-year +23.81% +47.27% -26.34%

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 42,306 27,128 40,399
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.26% 92.60% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,259 17,804 26,404
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £518 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.38% -1.43% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £627 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,679 980 2,578
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.65 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.26 £19.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.86 £31.42 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +33.20% -10.22% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.25 £75.58 £72.47
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.69 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +42.28% -14.29% -17.38%

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 15 April 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 15 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Applications Engineer in the UK

Applications Engineer
Top 12 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 15 April 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 -103 92 £470 +13.73% 127
London -30 52 £450 +11.11% 13
UK excluding London -97 43 £500 +20.77% 122
Work from Home -23 26 £425 +6.25% 27
South West -20 16 £538 +45.27% 18
West Midlands -55 12 £500 -28.57% 14
Midlands -57 12 £500 -28.57% 30
Scotland +9 6 £578 +52.08% 2
North of England -84 6 £450 +6.45% 26
North West -59 4 £500 +18.27% 14
South East -53 3 £344 -14.06% 24
North East - 2 £378 - 5

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

For the 6 months to 15 April 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 30 (28.85%) Azure
2 27 (25.96%) CI/CD
3 22 (21.15%) DevOps
4 21 (20.19%) Java
5 20 (19.23%) Problem-Solving
6 17 (16.35%) Application Security
6 17 (16.35%) Python
6 17 (16.35%) Test Automation
7 16 (15.38%) Agile
7 16 (15.38%) Microsoft
7 16 (15.38%) Security Cleared
8 15 (14.42%) SQL
8 15 (14.42%) Terraform
9 14 (13.46%) Software Engineering
10 13 (12.50%) Cybersecurity
10 13 (12.50%) GCP
10 13 (12.50%) SDLC
11 11 (10.58%) AWS
11 11 (10.58%) Continuous Improvement
12 10 (9.62%) Azure DevOps
12 10 (9.62%) Git
12 10 (9.62%) Incident Response
12 10 (9.62%) JIRA
12 10 (9.62%) Kubernetes
12 10 (9.62%) Microservices
12 10 (9.62%) Root Cause Analysis
12 10 (9.62%) SC Cleared
13 9 (8.65%) Ansible
13 9 (8.65%) Docker
13 9 (8.65%) Elasticsearch

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 8 (7.69%) SharePoint
2 4 (3.85%) Confluence
3 2 (1.92%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.96%) WebLogic
Applications
1 1 (0.96%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.96%) Alphatax
1 1 (0.96%) Dynamics CRM
1 1 (0.96%) Dynamics GP
1 1 (0.96%) Workday HCM
Cloud Services
1 30 (28.85%) Azure
2 13 (12.50%) GCP
3 11 (10.58%) AWS
4 10 (9.62%) Azure DevOps
5 9 (8.65%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (8.65%) Power Platform
6 8 (7.69%) GitHub
7 5 (4.81%) GitHub Actions
7 5 (4.81%) npm
8 4 (3.85%) Azure Key Vault
8 4 (3.85%) Entra ID
8 4 (3.85%) Power Automate
9 3 (2.88%) Azure Data Factory
9 3 (2.88%) BlazeMeter
9 3 (2.88%) Cloud Run
9 3 (2.88%) OpenShift
9 3 (2.88%) PowerApps
10 2 (1.92%) Azure Functions
10 2 (1.92%) Azure Logic Apps
10 2 (1.92%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 6 (5.77%) DNS
2 5 (4.81%) AMQP
2 5 (4.81%) HTTP
2 5 (4.81%) Network Security
3 4 (3.85%) TCP/IP
4 3 (2.88%) Firewall
5 1 (0.96%) DSL
5 1 (0.96%) HTTPS
5 1 (0.96%) Kerberos
5 1 (0.96%) Multicast
5 1 (0.96%) NFC
5 1 (0.96%) PPP
5 1 (0.96%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (8.65%) Elasticsearch
2 5 (4.81%) SQL Server
3 4 (3.85%) Relational Database
4 3 (2.88%) InfluxDB
4 3 (2.88%) Power BI
5 2 (1.92%) Data Lake
5 2 (1.92%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (1.92%) RDBMS
5 2 (1.92%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 1 (0.96%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.96%) Crystal Reports
6 1 (0.96%) MS Access
6 1 (0.96%) MySQL
6 1 (0.96%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.96%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 1 (0.96%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 1 (0.96%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 10 (9.62%) Git
1 10 (9.62%) JIRA
2 8 (7.69%) GitLab
3 6 (5.77%) Jenkins
3 6 (5.77%) Maven
4 4 (3.85%) Browser DevTools
4 4 (3.85%) Visual Studio
5 3 (2.88%) Appium
5 3 (2.88%) InstallShield
5 3 (2.88%) JMeter
5 3 (2.88%) MSI
6 2 (1.92%) Artifactory
6 2 (1.92%) CircleCI
6 2 (1.92%) Selenium
7 1 (0.96%) Katalon Studio
7 1 (0.96%) Postman
7 1 (0.96%) REST Assured
7 1 (0.96%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.96%) XCTest
7 1 (0.96%) XCUITest
General
1 29 (27.88%) Social Skills
2 24 (23.08%) Finance
3 15 (14.42%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (4.81%) Banking
5 4 (3.85%) Public Sector
6 3 (2.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 3 (2.88%) Investment Banking
6 3 (2.88%) Legal
6 3 (2.88%) Retail
7 2 (1.92%) Front Office
8 1 (0.96%) Financial Institution
8 1 (0.96%) Manufacturing
8 1 (0.96%) Military
8 1 (0.96%) Organisational Skills
8 1 (0.96%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (8.65%) OAuth
1 9 (8.65%) REST
2 8 (7.69%) SAML
3 7 (6.73%) .NET
3 7 (6.73%) Elastic Stack
4 5 (4.81%) Spring
5 4 (3.85%) Spring Boot
6 3 (2.88%) Node.js
6 3 (2.88%) WebdriverIO
7 2 (1.92%) FastAPI
7 2 (1.92%) Flask
7 2 (1.92%) JSON
7 2 (1.92%) NumPy
7 2 (1.92%) Pandas
7 2 (1.92%) React Native
7 2 (1.92%) RESTful
8 1 (0.96%) OAuth2
8 1 (0.96%) React
8 1 (0.96%) Web Services
8 1 (0.96%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 10 (9.62%) Mobile App
2 5 (4.81%) Cloud Native
2 5 (4.81%) Data Centre
3 4 (3.85%) Product Ownership
3 4 (3.85%) Security Posture
4 2 (1.92%) AI Agents
4 2 (1.92%) Algorithms
4 2 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
4 2 (1.92%) Hybrid Cloud
4 2 (1.92%) Legacy Systems
4 2 (1.92%) Onboarding
4 2 (1.92%) Virtual Team
5 1 (0.96%) Analytical Mindset
5 1 (0.96%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (0.96%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
5 1 (0.96%) Linux Command Line
5 1 (0.96%) Management Information System
5 1 (0.96%) Market Risk
5 1 (0.96%) NHS
5 1 (0.96%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 9 (8.65%) Linux
2 6 (5.77%) Android
2 6 (5.77%) Apple iOS
3 4 (3.85%) Unix
3 4 (3.85%) Windows
4 3 (2.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (1.92%) CentOS
6 1 (0.96%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (25.96%) CI/CD
2 22 (21.15%) DevOps
3 20 (19.23%) Problem-Solving
4 17 (16.35%) Application Security
4 17 (16.35%) Test Automation
5 16 (15.38%) Agile
6 14 (13.46%) Software Engineering
7 13 (12.50%) Cybersecurity
7 13 (12.50%) SDLC
8 11 (10.58%) Continuous Improvement
9 10 (9.62%) Incident Response
9 10 (9.62%) Microservices
9 10 (9.62%) Root Cause Analysis
10 9 (8.65%) SIEM
11 8 (7.69%) Analytics
11 8 (7.69%) Observability
11 8 (7.69%) Performance Tuning
11 8 (7.69%) RBAC
11 8 (7.69%) Technical Leadership
11 8 (7.69%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 21 (20.19%) Java
2 17 (16.35%) Python
3 15 (14.42%) SQL
4 8 (7.69%) C#
5 6 (5.77%) JavaScript
5 6 (5.77%) Kotlin
6 5 (4.81%) Bash
6 5 (4.81%) C++
7 4 (3.85%) PowerShell
8 3 (2.88%) TypeScript
9 2 (1.92%) Perl
9 2 (1.92%) Shell Script
9 2 (1.92%) VB.NET
10 1 (0.96%) Objective-C
10 1 (0.96%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.96%) Swift
10 1 (0.96%) T-SQL
10 1 (0.96%) VBA
Qualifications
1 16 (15.38%) Security Cleared
2 10 (9.62%) SC Cleared
3 5 (4.81%) Degree
3 5 (4.81%) DV Cleared
4 3 (2.88%) Computer Science Degree
5 2 (1.92%) Azure Certification
5 2 (1.92%) CISM
5 2 (1.92%) CISSP
5 2 (1.92%) ISTQB
5 2 (1.92%) Master's Degree
5 2 (1.92%) TOGAF Certification
6 1 (0.96%) AWS Certification
6 1 (0.96%) GIAC
6 1 (0.96%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (6.73%) QA
2 6 (5.77%) Accessibility
3 3 (2.88%) SLA
4 1 (0.96%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.96%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.96%) GDPR
4 1 (0.96%) NIST
4 1 (0.96%) WCAG
System Software
1 9 (8.65%) Docker
2 3 (2.88%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 15 (14.42%) Terraform
2 10 (9.62%) Kubernetes
3 9 (8.65%) Ansible
3 9 (8.65%) Grafana
4 6 (5.77%) Kibana
4 6 (5.77%) logstash
5 4 (3.85%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (2.88%) SCCM
7 2 (1.92%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.96%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.96%) ITRS Geneos
8 1 (0.96%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 16 (15.38%) Microsoft
2 7 (6.73%) Oracle
3 6 (5.77%) Google
4 4 (3.85%) iManage
4 4 (3.85%) Splunk
5 3 (2.88%) Cisco
5 3 (2.88%) Netskope
5 3 (2.88%) Zscaler
6 2 (1.92%) Atlassian
6 2 (1.92%) BiZZdesign
6 2 (1.92%) Braze
6 2 (1.92%) CheckPoint
6 2 (1.92%) Dynatrace
6 2 (1.92%) Fortinet
6 2 (1.92%) Foundry
6 2 (1.92%) Meraki
6 2 (1.92%) OpenAI
6 2 (1.92%) Optimizely
7 1 (0.96%) UiPath
7 1 (0.96%) Workday