Hardware Engineer Contract Job Trends

Hardware Engineer
UK

The median Hardware Engineer daily rate in the UK is £250, 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 612 527 468
Rank change year-on-year -85 -59 +84
Contract jobs requiring a Hardware Engineer 76 29 87
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.14% 0.087% 0.23%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.15% 0.096% 0.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 22 8 34
10th Percentile £170 £88 £130
25th Percentile £200 £121 £152
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £250 £129 £325
Median % change year-on-year +93.65% -60.28% +39.78%
75th Percentile £305 £134 £406
90th Percentile £337 £149 £489
UK excluding London median daily rate £250 £127 £325
% change year-on-year +97.32% -61.02% +54.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 13 41
10th Percentile £50.00 £17.61 £25.00
25th Percentile £55.00 £19.00 £63.75
Median hourly rate £65.00 £21.50 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year +202.33% -68.15% +132.76%
75th Percentile £86.61 £43.20 £75.16
90th Percentile £89.08 £68.75 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £65.00 £31.33 £67.50
% change year-on-year +107.50% -53.59% +132.76%

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%

Hardware Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Hardware Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Hardware Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Hardware Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

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

Daily rate histogram for Hardware Engineer in the UK

Hardware Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Hardware Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

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

Hourly rate histogram for Hardware Engineer in the UK

Hardware Engineer
Top 13 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Hardware 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 -77 71 £250 +97.32% 62
UK excluding London -57 70 £250 +97.32% 57
East of England +6 41 £150 +78.57% 18
North of England -61 11 £250 - 4
South East -61 8 £326 +157.10% 23
North East - 6 £250 - 1
London -101 5 £200 +9.59% 11
North West - 5 £200 - 1
South West - 4 £270 - 4
Scotland -23 3 - - 7
East Midlands -19 2 £208 +54.85% 4
Midlands -53 2 £208 +54.85% 4
Wales - 1 - - 1

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

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

1 19 (25.00%) Security Cleared
2 13 (17.11%) SC Cleared
3 12 (15.79%) Windows
4 10 (13.16%) Break/Fix
5 7 (9.21%) Hardware-in-the-Loop
6 6 (7.89%) Microsoft 365
6 6 (7.89%) Windows 10
7 5 (6.58%) Firmware
7 5 (6.58%) HP
8 4 (5.26%) Altera
8 4 (5.26%) EMC
8 4 (5.26%) Ethernet
8 4 (5.26%) Intel
8 4 (5.26%) Linux
8 4 (5.26%) Manual Testing
8 4 (5.26%) OrCAD
8 4 (5.26%) QA
8 4 (5.26%) Schematic Capture
8 4 (5.26%) Validation
8 4 (5.26%) Xilinx
9 3 (3.95%) DBS Check
9 3 (3.95%) Def Stans
9 3 (3.95%) DO-254
9 3 (3.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 3 (3.95%) Python
9 3 (3.95%) Test Automation
10 2 (2.63%) C++
10 2 (2.63%) Customer Service
10 2 (2.63%) Degree
10 2 (2.63%) Dell

Hardware 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:

Applications
1 4 (5.26%) OrCAD
2 1 (1.32%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 6 (7.89%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (1.32%) Azure
2 1 (1.32%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 4 (5.26%) Ethernet
2 2 (2.63%) Wi-Fi
2 2 (2.63%) Wireless
3 1 (1.32%) DOCSIS
3 1 (1.32%) IPv4
3 1 (1.32%) IPv6
3 1 (1.32%) LAN
3 1 (1.32%) WAN
Development Applications
1 1 (1.32%) MSTest
1 1 (1.32%) Ranorex
General
1 10 (13.16%) Aerospace
2 9 (11.84%) Social Skills
3 5 (6.58%) Electronics
4 2 (2.63%) Documentation Skills
4 2 (2.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 1 (1.32%) Law
5 1 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.32%) .NET
1 1 (1.32%) PyTorch
1 1 (1.32%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 4 (5.26%) Embedded Systems
1 4 (5.26%) FPGA
1 4 (5.26%) PCIe
2 3 (3.95%) Driving Licence
3 2 (2.63%) iPhone
4 1 (1.32%) Acoustics
4 1 (1.32%) Algorithms
4 1 (1.32%) EPoS
4 1 (1.32%) Onboarding
4 1 (1.32%) Raspberry Pi
Operating Systems
1 12 (15.79%) Windows
2 6 (7.89%) Windows 10
3 4 (5.26%) Linux
4 1 (1.32%) Solaris
4 1 (1.32%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (13.16%) Break/Fix
2 7 (9.21%) Hardware-in-the-Loop
3 4 (5.26%) Manual Testing
3 4 (5.26%) Schematic Capture
3 4 (5.26%) Validation
4 3 (3.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 3 (3.95%) Test Automation
5 2 (2.63%) Customer Service
5 2 (2.63%) Signal Processing
6 1 (1.32%) Change Control
6 1 (1.32%) Continuous Improvement
6 1 (1.32%) Data Entry
6 1 (1.32%) DevOps
6 1 (1.32%) Functional Testing
6 1 (1.32%) High Availability
6 1 (1.32%) Machine Learning
6 1 (1.32%) Performance Analysis
6 1 (1.32%) Process Improvement
6 1 (1.32%) Root Cause Analysis
6 1 (1.32%) System Testing
Programming Languages
1 3 (3.95%) Python
2 2 (2.63%) C++
3 1 (1.32%) Bash
3 1 (1.32%) C
3 1 (1.32%) C#
3 1 (1.32%) MATLAB
3 1 (1.32%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 19 (25.00%) Security Cleared
2 13 (17.11%) SC Cleared
3 3 (3.95%) DBS Check
4 2 (2.63%) Degree
5 1 (1.32%) ISTQB
5 1 (1.32%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (5.26%) QA
2 3 (3.95%) Def Stans
2 3 (3.95%) DO-254
3 2 (2.63%) SLA
System Software
1 5 (6.58%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 1 (1.32%) Dell DRAC
1 1 (1.32%) HP ALM
1 1 (1.32%) HP Quality Center
Vendors
1 5 (6.58%) HP
2 4 (5.26%) Altera
2 4 (5.26%) EMC
2 4 (5.26%) Intel
2 4 (5.26%) Xilinx
3 2 (2.63%) Dell
4 1 (1.32%) CheckPoint
4 1 (1.32%) Oracle
4 1 (1.32%) Siemens