Infrastructure Engineer Contract Job Trends

Infrastructure Engineer
UK

The median Infrastructure Engineer daily rate in the UK is £483, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 January 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 210 207 140
Rank change year-on-year -3 -67 +38
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 492 387 759
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.28% 1.24% 1.72%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.40% 1.33% 1.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 359 260 552
10th Percentile £285 £310 £325
25th Percentile £363 £363 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £483 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -3.50% +5.26% -
75th Percentile £575 £600 £600
90th Percentile £638 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £466 £477 £467
% change year-on-year -2.31% +2.14% +3.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 4 18
10th Percentile £26.10 - £20.86
25th Percentile £26.25 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £34.00 £34.59 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.71% +50.39% -64.62%
75th Percentile £45.20 £50.63 £72.35
90th Percentile £75.70 £56.25 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.25 £24.18 £23.00
% change year-on-year +70.60% +5.13% -64.62%

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 35,104 29,073 41,093
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.45% 92.88% 93.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,171 17,758 27,208
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £495
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.64% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,077 858 2,114
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.98 £13.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.23
Median hourly rate £29.60 £32.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.92% -13.33% +7.14%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.53 £73.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £30.98 £40.00
% change year-on-year -11.23% -22.56% +33.33%

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 28 January 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 28 January 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 28 January 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 -3 441 £483 -3.50% 298
UK excluding London 0 326 £466 -2.31% 281
Work from Home +36 134 £450 +9.09% 103
London -43 123 £525 - 47
South East -2 89 £465 +1.09% 83
North of England -21 83 £431 +4.55% 66
South West +10 73 £550 -8.33% 50
Yorkshire -28 41 £350 -15.15% 30
North West -14 36 £459 +7.88% 26
Midlands -46 30 £415 -17.00% 35
East of England +7 28 £425 -4.66% 33
Scotland +3 20 £483 -12.27% 9
West Midlands -37 20 £400 -27.27% 20
East Midlands -28 10 £415 -17.00% 15
North East -11 6 £488 - 10
Wales -14 5 £550 +22.22% 6
Northern Ireland - 1 £375 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 28 January 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.

1 469 (95.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 186 (37.80%) Windows
3 181 (36.79%) Azure
4 172 (34.96%) Microsoft
5 148 (30.08%) VMware
6 135 (27.44%) Security Cleared
7 124 (25.20%) Active Directory
8 109 (22.15%) VMware Infrastructure
9 101 (20.53%) Linux
10 96 (19.51%) Windows Server
11 95 (19.31%) Terraform
12 93 (18.90%) DevOps
12 93 (18.90%) SC Cleared
13 90 (18.29%) Problem-Solving
14 89 (18.09%) Firewall
15 81 (16.46%) DNS
16 80 (16.26%) AWS
16 80 (16.26%) Microsoft 365
17 78 (15.85%) Infrastructure as Code
18 77 (15.65%) PowerShell
19 67 (13.62%) Hyper-V
20 66 (13.41%) CI/CD
20 66 (13.41%) ITIL
21 65 (13.21%) Ansible
22 64 (13.01%) Python
23 56 (11.38%) DHCP
24 52 (10.57%) Infrastructure Automation
24 52 (10.57%) Microsoft Intune
25 51 (10.37%) TCP/IP
26 49 (9.96%) SCCM

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 (9.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (2.24%) SharePoint
2 11 (2.24%) TPMS
3 7 (1.42%) Apache
3 7 (1.42%) IIS
4 5 (1.02%) Confluence
5 3 (0.61%) Exchange Server 2010
6 2 (0.41%) iPlanet
6 2 (0.41%) JBoss
6 2 (0.41%) nginx
6 2 (0.41%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.41%) WebSphere
6 2 (0.41%) WebSphere Application Server
7 1 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.20%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.20%) CICS
7 1 (0.20%) Traefik
Applications
1 8 (1.63%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.41%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (0.61%) Maximo
2 2 (0.41%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.20%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 181 (36.79%) Azure
2 80 (16.26%) AWS
2 80 (16.26%) Microsoft 365
3 46 (9.35%) Entra ID
4 24 (4.88%) IaaS
5 21 (4.27%) PaaS
6 20 (4.07%) GCP
7 19 (3.86%) Azure DevOps
7 19 (3.86%) GitHub
8 17 (3.46%) Azure Monitor
8 17 (3.46%) Nutanix
9 15 (3.05%) Amazon S3
10 14 (2.85%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 14 (2.85%) Azure Sentinel
10 14 (2.85%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 11 (2.24%) Mimecast
12 10 (2.03%) Amazon EC2
12 10 (2.03%) Amazon ELB
12 10 (2.03%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 9 (1.83%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 89 (18.09%) Firewall
2 81 (16.46%) DNS
3 56 (11.38%) DHCP
4 51 (10.37%) TCP/IP
5 44 (8.94%) VPN
6 34 (6.91%) WAN
7 28 (5.69%) SSL
7 28 (5.69%) VLAN
8 25 (5.08%) SAN
9 24 (4.88%) Wi-Fi
10 23 (4.67%) LAN
11 19 (3.86%) Network Security
12 14 (2.85%) SNMP
13 13 (2.64%) SSH
14 8 (1.63%) SD-WAN
15 7 (1.42%) HTTP
15 7 (1.42%) MPLS
16 6 (1.22%) 4G
17 4 (0.81%) BGP
17 4 (0.81%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (2.85%) SQL Server
2 4 (0.81%) Elasticsearch
3 3 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
4 2 (0.41%) Amazon Aurora
4 2 (0.41%) MySQL
4 2 (0.41%) Oracle Database
4 2 (0.41%) Power BI
4 2 (0.41%) SAP HANA
5 1 (0.20%) Apache Iceberg
5 1 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.20%) Data Lake
5 1 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.20%) Delta Lake
5 1 (0.20%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.20%) Parquet
5 1 (0.20%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 19 (3.86%) GitLab
1 19 (3.86%) Jenkins
2 16 (3.25%) Git
3 7 (1.42%) Artifactory
3 7 (1.42%) JIRA
4 4 (0.81%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.41%) Bitbucket Server
5 2 (0.41%) CA Release Automation
5 2 (0.41%) GoCD
5 2 (0.41%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.20%) MSI
General
1 96 (19.51%) Social Skills
2 53 (10.77%) Finance
3 51 (10.37%) Public Sector
4 43 (8.74%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (4.47%) Documentation Skills
6 10 (2.03%) Banking
6 10 (2.03%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 9 (1.83%) Billing
7 9 (1.83%) Military
8 8 (1.63%) Local Government
8 8 (1.63%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.22%) Aerospace
9 6 (1.22%) Aviation
9 6 (1.22%) Spanish Language
10 5 (1.02%) Legal
10 5 (1.02%) Manufacturing
11 4 (0.81%) Financial Institution
12 3 (0.61%) Marketing
12 3 (0.61%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.61%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.83%) SAML
2 8 (1.63%) ARM Templates
2 8 (1.63%) Middleware
3 7 (1.42%) LDAP
3 7 (1.42%) OpenID
3 7 (1.42%) REST
4 5 (1.02%) Microsoft Graph
5 4 (0.81%) OAuth
5 4 (0.81%) SOAP
5 4 (0.81%) Web Services
6 3 (0.61%) ADO
6 3 (0.61%) AWS CDK
6 3 (0.61%) Keycloak
6 3 (0.61%) YAML
7 2 (0.41%) .NET Core
7 2 (0.41%) Apache NiFi
7 2 (0.41%) Elastic Stack
7 2 (0.41%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.41%) Software Packaging
7 2 (0.41%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 30 (6.10%) Data Centre
2 24 (4.88%) PKI
3 18 (3.66%) Hybrid Cloud
4 13 (2.64%) Analytical Mindset
4 13 (2.64%) Private Cloud
5 11 (2.24%) Public Cloud
5 11 (2.24%) Replication
6 9 (1.83%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (1.63%) Clustering
7 8 (1.63%) Onboarding
8 7 (1.42%) NHS
8 7 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (1.02%) Cloud Native
9 5 (1.02%) Data Protection Act
10 4 (0.81%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.81%) Mobile App
11 3 (0.61%) Client/Server
11 3 (0.61%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (0.61%) Enterprise Storage
11 3 (0.61%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 186 (37.80%) Windows
2 101 (20.53%) Linux
3 96 (19.51%) Windows Server
4 17 (3.46%) Windows 10
5 12 (2.44%) Ubuntu
5 12 (2.44%) Windows Server 2012
6 11 (2.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 11 (2.24%) Unix
6 11 (2.24%) Windows Server 2019
7 10 (2.03%) VMS
8 8 (1.63%) Windows Server 2016
9 6 (1.22%) Android
9 6 (1.22%) Apple iOS
10 4 (0.81%) Windows Server 2003
11 3 (0.61%) CentOS
12 2 (0.41%) Debian
12 2 (0.41%) Mac OS
12 2 (0.41%) SUSE
12 2 (0.41%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
12 2 (0.41%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 469 (95.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 93 (18.90%) DevOps
3 90 (18.29%) Problem-Solving
4 78 (15.85%) Infrastructure as Code
5 66 (13.41%) CI/CD
5 66 (13.41%) ITIL
6 52 (10.57%) Infrastructure Automation
7 45 (9.15%) Migration
8 43 (8.74%) Cybersecurity
9 42 (8.54%) Disaster Recovery
10 38 (7.72%) High Availability
11 36 (7.32%) Agile
12 33 (6.71%) Observability
13 23 (4.67%) Containerisation
13 23 (4.67%) Roadmaps
13 23 (4.67%) Service Management
14 22 (4.47%) Project Delivery
14 22 (4.47%) Stakeholder Management
15 20 (4.07%) Business Continuity
15 20 (4.07%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 77 (15.65%) PowerShell
2 64 (13.01%) Python
3 29 (5.89%) Bash
4 15 (3.05%) Bicep
5 11 (2.24%) Perl
5 11 (2.24%) SQL
6 7 (1.42%) Java
6 7 (1.42%) JavaScript
7 6 (1.22%) PHP
8 5 (1.02%) Go
8 5 (1.02%) Shell Script
9 2 (0.41%) C#
9 2 (0.41%) Groovy
10 1 (0.20%) ActionScript
10 1 (0.20%) C++
10 1 (0.20%) PL/SQL
10 1 (0.20%) Ruby
10 1 (0.20%) Scala
10 1 (0.20%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.20%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 135 (27.44%) Security Cleared
2 93 (18.90%) SC Cleared
3 45 (9.15%) DV Cleared
4 27 (5.49%) Azure Certification
5 22 (4.47%) Microsoft Certification
6 13 (2.64%) Degree
6 13 (2.64%) Network+ Certification
7 12 (2.44%) Server+ Certification
8 11 (2.24%) FFIEC
9 7 (1.42%) AWS Certification
10 6 (1.22%) BPSS Clearance
10 6 (1.22%) Cisco Certification
10 6 (1.22%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.02%) CCNA
11 5 (1.02%) CISSP
11 5 (1.02%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 4 (0.81%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 4 (0.81%) CISM
12 4 (0.81%) CompTIA Security+
13 3 (0.61%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (3.86%) NIST
2 15 (3.05%) GDPR
3 12 (2.44%) SLA
4 11 (2.24%) GLBA
4 11 (2.24%) PCI DSS
5 7 (1.42%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (1.42%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.61%) NIST 800
7 2 (0.41%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.41%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.20%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.20%) QA
System Software
1 124 (25.20%) Active Directory
2 109 (22.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 67 (13.62%) Hyper-V
4 43 (8.74%) Docker
5 27 (5.49%) vSphere
6 14 (2.85%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (2.44%) Virtual Machines
8 10 (2.03%) Virtual Desktop
9 9 (1.83%) VMware NSX
10 4 (0.81%) BitLocker
11 3 (0.61%) DFS Replication
11 3 (0.61%) Sendmail
11 3 (0.61%) Virtual Servers
12 2 (0.41%) Firmware
12 2 (0.41%) Microsoft App-V
12 2 (0.41%) QEMU
12 2 (0.41%) Tivoli Directory Server
13 1 (0.20%) etcd
13 1 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.20%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 95 (19.31%) Terraform
2 65 (13.21%) Ansible
3 52 (10.57%) Microsoft Intune
4 49 (9.96%) SCCM
5 42 (8.54%) Kubernetes
6 17 (3.46%) Single Sign-On
6 17 (3.46%) vCenter Server
7 8 (1.63%) FortiGate
8 7 (1.42%) AirWatch
8 7 (1.42%) Grafana
8 7 (1.42%) Prometheus
8 7 (1.42%) VxRail
9 6 (1.22%) CASB
9 6 (1.22%) Red Hat Satellite
9 6 (1.22%) SCOrch
10 5 (1.02%) Istio
10 5 (1.02%) Packer
10 5 (1.02%) SCOM
11 4 (0.81%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (0.81%) Nessus
Vendors
1 172 (34.96%) Microsoft
2 148 (30.08%) VMware
3 29 (5.89%) Cisco
4 25 (5.08%) Palo Alto
5 24 (4.88%) F5
6 22 (4.47%) Dell
7 20 (4.07%) Veeam
8 16 (3.25%) Red Hat
9 15 (3.05%) Citrix
9 15 (3.05%) Google
9 15 (3.05%) Splunk
10 13 (2.64%) ServiceNow
10 13 (2.64%) SolarWinds
10 13 (2.64%) Thales
11 12 (2.44%) CheckPoint
12 9 (1.83%) Aruba
12 9 (1.83%) HP
13 8 (1.63%) Fortinet
13 8 (1.63%) Oracle
14 7 (1.42%) NetApp