Automation Engineer Contract Job Trends

Automation Engineer
UK

The median Automation Engineer daily rate in the UK is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 September 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 455 401 429
Rank change year-on-year -54 +28 +88
Contract jobs requiring an Automation Engineer 221 158 141
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.41% 0.48% 0.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.44% 0.53% 0.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 89 98
10th Percentile £321 £311 £425
25th Percentile £382 £400 £466
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £513 £536
Median % change year-on-year -2.44% -4.43% -0.23%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £609
90th Percentile £650 £668 £683
UK excluding London median daily rate £548 £506 £500
% change year-on-year +8.20% +1.25% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 3 1
10th Percentile £45.65 £36.17 -
25th Percentile £52.50 £37.92 £52.50
Median hourly rate £55.00 £40.84 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +34.67% -25.75% -
75th Percentile - £44.17 £57.50
90th Percentile £57.50 £46.17 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £40.84 -
% change year-on-year +34.67% - -

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 50,200 29,979 35,866
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.34% 91.08% 93.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,804 18,923 22,265
10th Percentile £325 £278 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £625 £620 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,754 1,564 1,727
10th Percentile £14.59 £13.75 £14.73
25th Percentile £20.27 £17.00 £20.50
Median hourly rate £42.13 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.50% -41.51% -0.76%
75th Percentile £67.50 £51.93 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +10.86%

Automation Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Automation Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Automation Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Automation Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Automation Engineer over the 6 months to 13 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Automation Engineer in the UK

Automation Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Automation 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 Automation Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 13 September 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 -49 201 £500 -2.44% 435
London -26 122 £494 -7.71% 199
UK excluding London -90 87 £548 +8.20% 269
Work from Home -84 47 £475 +5.56% 135
North of England -77 28 £500 -2.44% 89
Midlands -27 25 £425 -5.56% 40
West Midlands -29 24 £425 -15.00% 25
Yorkshire -48 15 £509 -0.73% 26
North West -54 13 £500 +25.00% 55
Scotland -13 12 £572 +8.86% 11
South West -42 7 £569 +16.67% 25
South East -69 7 £330 -34.00% 49
East of England -28 6 £350 -46.15% 31
Northern Ireland - 2 £650 - 12
East Midlands -17 1 £500 +25.00% 15
Channel Islands - 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 13 September 2026, Automation 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 Automation Engineer in the job title.

1 120 (54.30%) Python
2 89 (40.27%) CI/CD
3 69 (31.22%) Test Automation
4 63 (28.51%) Ansible
5 53 (23.98%) DevOps
6 50 (22.62%) Agile
7 48 (21.72%) Infrastructure as Code
8 46 (20.81%) Azure
9 44 (19.91%) AI
10 43 (19.46%) QA
11 42 (19.00%) Linux
12 41 (18.55%) AWS
12 41 (18.55%) Git
13 39 (17.65%) Problem-Solving
14 37 (16.74%) GitHub
14 37 (16.74%) Jenkins
15 36 (16.29%) Security Cleared
16 35 (15.84%) Infrastructure Automation
16 35 (15.84%) SC Cleared
17 34 (15.38%) Microsoft
17 34 (15.38%) PowerShell
18 33 (14.93%) Terraform
19 32 (14.48%) Continuous Improvement
20 28 (12.67%) Cisco
21 26 (11.76%) Java
21 26 (11.76%) SQL
22 25 (11.31%) Infrastructure Engineering
22 25 (11.31%) Kubernetes
22 25 (11.31%) REST
22 25 (11.31%) Selenium

Automation 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 (4.52%) Confluence
2 6 (2.71%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.81%) Apache Airflow
3 4 (1.81%) Apache Spark
3 4 (1.81%) Jupyter
4 3 (1.36%) Apache
4 3 (1.36%) ArcGIS
5 2 (0.90%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 1 (0.45%) SAS
Applications
1 4 (1.81%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.36%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 3 (1.36%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 46 (20.81%) Azure
2 41 (18.55%) AWS
3 37 (16.74%) GitHub
4 24 (10.86%) GitHub Actions
5 15 (6.79%) GCP
6 14 (6.33%) Azure DevOps
7 13 (5.88%) Serverless
8 11 (4.98%) Power Platform
9 9 (4.07%) AWS Lambda
10 8 (3.62%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 7 (3.17%) Amazon S3
11 7 (3.17%) Microsoft Copilot
12 6 (2.71%) Azure AI
12 6 (2.71%) GitHub Copilot
13 5 (2.26%) BrowserStack
13 5 (2.26%) Power Automate
13 5 (2.26%) PowerApps
13 5 (2.26%) Snowflake
14 4 (1.81%) Azure Functions
14 4 (1.81%) Azure Logic Apps
Communications & Networking
1 12 (5.43%) BGP
1 12 (5.43%) Firewall
2 10 (4.52%) NX-OS
2 10 (4.52%) WAN
3 9 (4.07%) DNS
3 9 (4.07%) TCP/IP
4 8 (3.62%) Cisco IOS
4 8 (3.62%) SAN
5 7 (3.17%) Kerberos
6 6 (2.71%) IOS XR
7 4 (1.81%) BIG-IP
7 4 (1.81%) Broadband
7 4 (1.81%) DMZ
7 4 (1.81%) Network Security
8 3 (1.36%) DHCP
8 3 (1.36%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
8 3 (1.36%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 3 (1.36%) HTTP
8 3 (1.36%) VPN
9 2 (0.90%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (4.07%) PostgreSQL
2 8 (3.62%) BigQuery
3 6 (2.71%) Power BI
3 6 (2.71%) SQLite
4 5 (2.26%) DynamoDB
5 4 (1.81%) Amazon Redshift
5 4 (1.81%) Big Data
5 4 (1.81%) Data Lake
6 3 (1.36%) Amazon Athena
6 3 (1.36%) Amazon RDS
7 2 (0.90%) Data Warehouse
7 2 (0.90%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.90%) Tableau
8 1 (0.45%) Metadata
8 1 (0.45%) Relational Database
8 1 (0.45%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 41 (18.55%) Git
2 37 (16.74%) Jenkins
3 25 (11.31%) Selenium
4 21 (9.50%) GitLab
5 15 (6.79%) JIRA
5 15 (6.79%) Postman
6 12 (5.43%) Cucumber
7 10 (4.52%) REST Assured
8 8 (3.62%) Cypress.io
8 8 (3.62%) JMeter
9 7 (3.17%) JUnit
9 7 (3.17%) SoapUI
10 6 (2.71%) SonarQube
10 6 (2.71%) WebDriver
11 5 (2.26%) Appium
11 5 (2.26%) Robot Framework
12 4 (1.81%) Gatling
12 4 (1.81%) LoadRunner
13 3 (1.36%) Mockito
13 3 (1.36%) TestNG
General
1 52 (23.53%) Finance
2 37 (16.74%) Social Skills
3 35 (15.84%) Analytical Skills
4 18 (8.14%) Banking
5 7 (3.17%) Documentation Skills
6 5 (2.26%) Public Sector
7 4 (1.81%) Financial Institution
7 4 (1.81%) Games
7 4 (1.81%) Organisational Skills
8 2 (0.90%) Automotive
8 2 (0.90%) Back Office
8 2 (0.90%) Manufacturing
8 2 (0.90%) Telecoms
9 1 (0.45%) Billing
9 1 (0.45%) Investment Banking
9 1 (0.45%) Law
9 1 (0.45%) Local Government
9 1 (0.45%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.45%) Private Banking
9 1 (0.45%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 33 (14.93%) Terraform
2 25 (11.31%) REST
3 22 (9.95%) Playwright
4 12 (5.43%) .NET
4 12 (5.43%) Kafka
5 11 (4.98%) JSON
6 8 (3.62%) SOAP
6 8 (3.62%) YAML
7 7 (3.17%) Middleware
7 7 (3.17%) RESTful
8 6 (2.71%) LangChain
8 6 (2.71%) Node.js
8 6 (2.71%) SPNEGO
9 5 (2.26%) LangGraph
9 5 (2.26%) pytest
9 5 (2.26%) XML
10 4 (1.81%) Gherkin
10 4 (1.81%) Microsoft Graph
10 4 (1.81%) Spring
10 4 (1.81%) WireMock
Miscellaneous
1 14 (6.33%) AI Agents
2 12 (5.43%) Data Centre
2 12 (5.43%) Enterprise Software
3 8 (3.62%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (3.17%) Distributed Systems
4 7 (3.17%) Mainframe
4 7 (3.17%) Virtual Team
5 6 (2.71%) Distributed Architecture
5 6 (2.71%) Enterprise Storage
5 6 (2.71%) Onboarding
6 5 (2.26%) Hybrid Cloud
7 4 (1.81%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (1.81%) Linux Command Line
7 4 (1.81%) PKI
8 3 (1.36%) Cloud Native
8 3 (1.36%) Data Structures
8 3 (1.36%) Distributed Applications
8 3 (1.36%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (1.36%) Social Media
9 2 (0.90%) Algorithms
Operating Systems
1 42 (19.00%) Linux
2 21 (9.50%) Windows
3 14 (6.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 13 (5.88%) Unix
5 9 (4.07%) Windows Server
6 4 (1.81%) MVS
7 3 (1.36%) CentOS
7 3 (1.36%) zOS
8 2 (0.90%) Android
8 2 (0.90%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.90%) Rocky
9 1 (0.45%) Debian
9 1 (0.45%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.45%) VMS
9 1 (0.45%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (40.27%) CI/CD
2 69 (31.22%) Test Automation
3 53 (23.98%) DevOps
4 50 (22.62%) Agile
5 48 (21.72%) Infrastructure as Code
6 44 (19.91%) AI
7 39 (17.65%) Problem-Solving
8 35 (15.84%) Infrastructure Automation
9 32 (14.48%) Continuous Improvement
10 25 (11.31%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 24 (10.86%) Validation
12 22 (9.95%) QA Automation
13 20 (9.05%) Platform Engineering
14 19 (8.60%) API Testing
14 19 (8.60%) Observability
15 18 (8.14%) Configuration Management
15 18 (8.14%) Generative AI
15 18 (8.14%) LLM
16 17 (7.69%) Scrum
16 17 (7.69%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 120 (54.30%) Python
2 34 (15.38%) PowerShell
3 26 (11.76%) Java
3 26 (11.76%) SQL
4 24 (10.86%) Bash
5 16 (7.24%) JavaScript
6 13 (5.88%) C#
7 12 (5.43%) Perl
8 9 (4.07%) TypeScript
9 6 (2.71%) Korn
9 6 (2.71%) REXX
10 5 (2.26%) Go
11 4 (1.81%) Shell Script
11 4 (1.81%) VB.NET
12 3 (1.36%) JCL
12 3 (1.36%) Scala
13 1 (0.45%) Apex Code
13 1 (0.45%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.45%) Kotlin
13 1 (0.45%) Ladder Logic
Qualifications
1 36 (16.29%) Security Cleared
2 35 (15.84%) SC Cleared
3 13 (5.88%) Cisco Certification
4 12 (5.43%) CCNP
5 11 (4.98%) Degree
6 4 (1.81%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (1.36%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.90%) CCIE
8 2 (0.90%) DV Cleared
8 2 (0.90%) ISEB
8 2 (0.90%) ISTQB
8 2 (0.90%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
9 1 (0.45%) CCNA
9 1 (0.45%) CISSP
9 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Certification
9 1 (0.45%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (19.46%) QA
2 7 (3.17%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.90%) Accessibility
3 2 (0.90%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.45%) GDPR
4 1 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.45%) NIST
4 1 (0.45%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.45%) WCAG
System Software
1 21 (9.50%) Docker
2 11 (4.98%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (2.71%) VMware NSX
4 5 (2.26%) Active Directory
5 3 (1.36%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.90%) BitLocker
6 2 (0.90%) Firmware
6 2 (0.90%) KVM
6 2 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.90%) vSphere
7 1 (0.45%) iptables
7 1 (0.45%) Job Entry Subsystem
7 1 (0.45%) QEMU
Systems Management
1 63 (28.51%) Ansible
2 25 (11.31%) Kubernetes
3 8 (3.62%) Grafana
4 5 (2.26%) Progress Chef
4 5 (2.26%) Prometheus
4 5 (2.26%) Puppet
5 4 (1.81%) Control-M
5 4 (1.81%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.36%) HP Fortify
6 3 (1.36%) Tivoli NetView
7 2 (0.90%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.90%) NetBackup
7 2 (0.90%) SCCM
7 2 (0.90%) systemd
8 1 (0.45%) Argo
8 1 (0.45%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.45%) Packer
8 1 (0.45%) Proxmox
8 1 (0.45%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 34 (15.38%) Microsoft
2 28 (12.67%) Cisco
3 13 (5.88%) Fortinet
4 11 (4.98%) Arista
4 11 (4.98%) VMware
5 10 (4.52%) F5
5 10 (4.52%) IBM
6 9 (4.07%) Splunk
7 8 (3.62%) NetApp
7 8 (3.62%) Palo Alto
8 7 (3.17%) OpenAI
9 6 (2.71%) Red Hat
9 6 (2.71%) ServiceNow
10 5 (2.26%) Foundry
10 5 (2.26%) Oracle
11 4 (1.81%) CyberArk
11 4 (1.81%) Google
11 4 (1.81%) SAP
12 3 (1.36%) Broadcom
12 3 (1.36%) SaltStack