Infrastructure Engineer Contract Job Trends

Infrastructure Engineer
UK

The median Infrastructure Engineer daily rate in the UK is £500, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 March 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 211 193 150
Rank change year-on-year -18 -43 +23
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 550 403 716
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.26% 1.38% 1.62%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.38% 1.48% 1.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 402 276 520
10th Percentile £325 £322 £313
25th Percentile £406 £375 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -5.00%
75th Percentile £582 £600 £589
90th Percentile £638 £653 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £467
% change year-on-year -4.76% +12.42% +0.97%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 4 14
10th Percentile £26.25 - -
25th Percentile £28.08 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £48.50 £112.09 £45.25
Median % change year-on-year -56.73% +147.71% -27.81%
75th Percentile £65.69 £200.00 £76.53
90th Percentile £80.60 - £77.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £50.00 £112.09 £23.00
% change year-on-year -55.39% +387.35% -58.39%

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 39,980 27,191 41,155
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.91% 92.93% 92.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,004 17,726 26,995
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £410 £406 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £521 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.03% -0.76% -4.11%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,473 892 2,490
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.22 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.01 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.00 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.77% - -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.99
90th Percentile £76.25 £77.10 £71.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £32.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +12.50% -1.54% -19.92%

Infrastructure Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Infrastructure Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Infrastructure Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Infrastructure Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Infrastructure Engineer over the 6 months to 20 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Infrastructure Engineer in the UK

Infrastructure Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Infrastructure Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Infrastructure Engineer over the 6 months to 20 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Infrastructure Engineer in the UK

Infrastructure Engineer
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Infrastructure Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 20 March 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 -17 485 £500 -4.76% 221
UK excluding London -6 373 £500 -4.76% 203
London -36 138 £523 -0.48% 37
Work from Home -3 113 £500 +5.82% 89
South East -19 104 £500 -6.98% 61
North of England -38 93 £413 +1.54% 58
South West +6 85 £540 -6.09% 33
Yorkshire -31 54 £356 -13.64% 23
North West -26 33 £413 -10.81% 27
Midlands -61 29 £438 +9.38% 25
East of England -13 28 £438 -6.82% 15
Scotland +8 26 £538 -2.27% 8
East Midlands -30 16 £450 +12.50% 7
West Midlands -67 13 £413 +17.86% 18
Wales -12 8 £550 +29.41% 4
North East -14 6 £488 +33.56% 8
Northern Ireland - 1 £375 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 20 March 2026, Infrastructure 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 Infrastructure Engineer in the job title.

1 527 (95.82%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 190 (34.55%) Azure
3 181 (32.91%) Windows
4 169 (30.73%) Microsoft
5 166 (30.18%) Security Cleared
6 156 (28.36%) VMware
7 132 (24.00%) Active Directory
8 125 (22.73%) VMware Infrastructure
9 114 (20.73%) SC Cleared
10 104 (18.91%) Windows Server
11 102 (18.55%) PowerShell
12 98 (17.82%) Terraform
13 95 (17.27%) DevOps
14 88 (16.00%) Firewall
15 85 (15.45%) Infrastructure as Code
16 84 (15.27%) Linux
17 83 (15.09%) DNS
18 76 (13.82%) Microsoft 365
19 75 (13.64%) Problem-Solving
20 70 (12.73%) Python
21 69 (12.55%) CI/CD
22 60 (10.91%) DHCP
23 58 (10.55%) Hyper-V
24 57 (10.36%) AWS
24 57 (10.36%) DV Cleared
24 57 (10.36%) Kubernetes
25 56 (10.18%) ITIL
26 54 (9.82%) Migration
27 52 (9.45%) Ansible
28 51 (9.27%) Infrastructure Automation

Infrastructure 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 45 (8.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (2.00%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.82%) TPMS
4 5 (0.91%) IIS
5 4 (0.73%) Apache
5 4 (0.73%) Confluence
6 3 (0.55%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.36%) nginx
8 1 (0.18%) CICS
8 1 (0.18%) IBM HTTP Server
8 1 (0.18%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.18%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 10 (1.82%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.36%) Maximo
2 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.18%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 190 (34.55%) Azure
2 76 (13.82%) Microsoft 365
3 57 (10.36%) AWS
4 41 (7.45%) Entra ID
4 41 (7.45%) GitHub
5 32 (5.82%) GCP
6 29 (5.27%) IaaS
6 29 (5.27%) PaaS
7 24 (4.36%) Azure DevOps
8 19 (3.45%) Azure Monitor
8 19 (3.45%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 18 (3.27%) Nutanix
10 12 (2.18%) Azure Sentinel
11 10 (1.82%) OCI
11 10 (1.82%) SaaS
12 9 (1.64%) GitHub Actions
12 9 (1.64%) OneDrive
13 8 (1.45%) Azure AKS
13 8 (1.45%) Microsoft Purview
13 8 (1.45%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 88 (16.00%) Firewall
2 83 (15.09%) DNS
3 60 (10.91%) DHCP
4 44 (8.00%) VPN
5 33 (6.00%) WAN
6 27 (4.91%) LAN
7 25 (4.55%) TCP/IP
8 19 (3.45%) SAN
9 18 (3.27%) Network Security
9 18 (3.27%) VLAN
10 17 (3.09%) Wi-Fi
11 13 (2.36%) SNMP
12 12 (2.18%) SSH
12 12 (2.18%) SSL
13 9 (1.64%) MPLS
13 9 (1.64%) SMTP
14 8 (1.45%) SD-WAN
15 6 (1.09%) 4G
15 6 (1.09%) BGP
15 6 (1.09%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (3.27%) SQL Server
2 7 (1.27%) Elasticsearch
3 5 (0.91%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.55%) NonStop SQL
4 3 (0.55%) Power BI
5 2 (0.36%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.36%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.36%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.36%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.36%) SAP HANA
6 1 (0.18%) Amazon Aurora
6 1 (0.18%) Data Mining
6 1 (0.18%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.18%) MySQL
6 1 (0.18%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 16 (2.91%) Jenkins
2 12 (2.18%) GitLab
2 12 (2.18%) JIRA
3 8 (1.45%) Artifactory
4 7 (1.27%) Git
5 3 (0.55%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.18%) Chocolatey
6 1 (0.18%) GoCD
6 1 (0.18%) IntelliJ
6 1 (0.18%) Introscope
6 1 (0.18%) MSI
6 1 (0.18%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.18%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 86 (15.64%) Social Skills
2 53 (9.64%) Public Sector
3 50 (9.09%) Finance
4 38 (6.91%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (4.18%) Documentation Skills
6 18 (3.27%) Legal
7 16 (2.91%) Banking
8 9 (1.64%) Billing
8 9 (1.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 6 (1.09%) Telecoms
10 5 (0.91%) Aviation
10 5 (0.91%) Military
10 5 (0.91%) Spanish Language
11 4 (0.73%) Aerospace
12 3 (0.55%) Local Government
12 3 (0.55%) Retail
13 2 (0.36%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.36%) Investment Banking
14 1 (0.18%) Advertising
14 1 (0.18%) Back Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.00%) REST
2 8 (1.45%) ARM Templates
2 8 (1.45%) LDAP
2 8 (1.45%) SOAP
3 6 (1.09%) SAML
4 5 (0.91%) Web Services
5 4 (0.73%) Elastic Stack
5 4 (0.73%) Keycloak
5 4 (0.73%) OpenID
6 3 (0.55%) ADO
6 3 (0.55%) Microsoft Graph
6 3 (0.55%) Oracle Fusion
7 2 (0.36%) Apache NiFi
7 2 (0.36%) Flash
7 2 (0.36%) OAuth
7 2 (0.36%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.36%) Software Packaging
7 2 (0.36%) YAML
8 1 (0.18%) .NET Core
8 1 (0.18%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 37 (6.73%) PKI
2 36 (6.55%) Data Centre
3 20 (3.64%) Public Cloud
4 18 (3.27%) Hybrid Cloud
5 11 (2.00%) Clustering
5 11 (2.00%) Enterprise Software
5 11 (2.00%) Enterprise Storage
6 9 (1.64%) Cloud Native
6 9 (1.64%) Onboarding
6 9 (1.64%) Private Cloud
6 9 (1.64%) Self-Motivation
7 6 (1.09%) Replication
8 4 (0.73%) Analytical Mindset
8 4 (0.73%) NHS
9 3 (0.55%) CCTV
9 3 (0.55%) Client/Server
9 3 (0.55%) Data Protection Act
9 3 (0.55%) Greenfield Project
9 3 (0.55%) Legacy Systems
10 2 (0.36%) Fat Client
Operating Systems
1 181 (32.91%) Windows
2 104 (18.91%) Windows Server
3 84 (15.27%) Linux
4 18 (3.27%) Windows Server 2019
5 14 (2.55%) Ubuntu
6 13 (2.36%) Windows Server 2012
7 12 (2.18%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (2.18%) Windows 10
7 12 (2.18%) Windows Server 2016
8 10 (1.82%) VMS
9 8 (1.45%) Unix
10 6 (1.09%) Windows Server 2003
11 2 (0.36%) Android
11 2 (0.36%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.36%) CentOS
11 2 (0.36%) Debian
11 2 (0.36%) SUSE
11 2 (0.36%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 2 (0.36%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.18%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 527 (95.82%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 95 (17.27%) DevOps
3 85 (15.45%) Infrastructure as Code
4 75 (13.64%) Problem-Solving
5 69 (12.55%) CI/CD
6 56 (10.18%) ITIL
7 54 (9.82%) Migration
8 51 (9.27%) Infrastructure Automation
9 49 (8.91%) Cybersecurity
10 48 (8.73%) Agile
11 46 (8.36%) Disaster Recovery
12 32 (5.82%) High Availability
13 29 (5.27%) Observability
13 29 (5.27%) Project Delivery
14 28 (5.09%) Platform Engineering
15 26 (4.73%) Cloud Security
15 26 (4.73%) Containerisation
16 24 (4.36%) Roadmaps
17 23 (4.18%) Continuous Improvement
17 23 (4.18%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 102 (18.55%) PowerShell
2 70 (12.73%) Python
3 26 (4.73%) Bash
4 17 (3.09%) Bicep
4 17 (3.09%) SQL
5 9 (1.64%) JavaScript
5 9 (1.64%) PHP
6 6 (1.09%) C#
7 5 (0.91%) Java
8 4 (0.73%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.55%) Perl
10 2 (0.36%) ActionScript
11 1 (0.18%) C++
11 1 (0.18%) Go
11 1 (0.18%) Jython
11 1 (0.18%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.18%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.18%) Ruby
11 1 (0.18%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 166 (30.18%) Security Cleared
2 114 (20.73%) SC Cleared
3 57 (10.36%) DV Cleared
4 17 (3.09%) Azure Certification
5 14 (2.55%) Degree
6 12 (2.18%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (1.82%) FFIEC
8 9 (1.64%) Cisco Certification
8 9 (1.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 8 (1.45%) AWS Certification
10 7 (1.27%) CCNA
11 6 (1.09%) CompTIA Security+
12 5 (0.91%) BPSS Clearance
12 5 (0.91%) CCNP
13 4 (0.73%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 4 (0.73%) CISSP
13 4 (0.73%) Computer Science Degree
13 4 (0.73%) GIAC
13 4 (0.73%) GSEC
13 4 (0.73%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (3.82%) NIST
2 15 (2.73%) GDPR
3 13 (2.36%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 12 (2.18%) Cyber Essentials
5 11 (2.00%) SLA
6 10 (1.82%) GLBA
6 10 (1.82%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.73%) QA
8 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 3 (0.55%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.36%) HIPAA
9 2 (0.36%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.18%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.18%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.18%) NCSC
10 1 (0.18%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 132 (24.00%) Active Directory
2 125 (22.73%) VMware Infrastructure
3 58 (10.55%) Hyper-V
4 41 (7.45%) vSphere
5 36 (6.55%) Docker
6 30 (5.45%) VMware ESXi
7 14 (2.55%) Virtual Machines
8 13 (2.36%) VMware NSX
9 12 (2.18%) Virtual Desktop
10 7 (1.27%) BitLocker
11 6 (1.09%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.55%) DFS Replication
12 3 (0.55%) Sendmail
13 2 (0.36%) QEMU
13 2 (0.36%) SRDF
14 1 (0.18%) Firmware
14 1 (0.18%) Terminal Services
14 1 (0.18%) UAG
14 1 (0.18%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 98 (17.82%) Terraform
2 57 (10.36%) Kubernetes
3 52 (9.45%) Ansible
4 48 (8.73%) SCCM
5 45 (8.18%) Microsoft Intune
6 28 (5.09%) vCenter Server
7 17 (3.09%) Single Sign-On
8 10 (1.82%) Prometheus
8 10 (1.82%) Puppet
9 9 (1.64%) Grafana
9 9 (1.64%) Istio
9 9 (1.64%) VxRail
10 8 (1.45%) SCOM
11 6 (1.09%) vMotion
11 6 (1.09%) vRealize
12 5 (0.91%) AirWatch
12 5 (0.91%) CASB
12 5 (0.91%) Nessus
12 5 (0.91%) Packer
12 5 (0.91%) SCOrch
Vendors
1 169 (30.73%) Microsoft
2 156 (28.36%) VMware
3 33 (6.00%) Cisco
4 29 (5.27%) Dell
5 26 (4.73%) Citrix
6 25 (4.55%) Veeam
7 24 (4.36%) Google
8 14 (2.55%) Oracle
8 14 (2.55%) Red Hat
8 14 (2.55%) Thales
9 13 (2.36%) F5
9 13 (2.36%) NetApp
9 13 (2.36%) SolarWinds
10 12 (2.18%) Fortinet
10 12 (2.18%) ServiceNow
10 12 (2.18%) Splunk
11 11 (2.00%) Aruba
12 7 (1.27%) HP
12 7 (1.27%) Palo Alto
13 5 (0.91%) Zscaler