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 24 April 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 189 190 151
Rank change year-on-year +1 -39 +30
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 668 405 703
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.44% 1.37% 1.61%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.56% 1.48% 1.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 458 280 521
10th Percentile £325 £310 £310
25th Percentile £413 £380 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -5.00%
75th Percentile £588 £601 £594
90th Percentile £652 £650 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 35 4 10
10th Percentile £35.20 - £21.12
25th Percentile £58.43 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £72.54 £112.09 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -35.28% +149.09% -29.51%
75th Percentile £78.75 £200.00 £77.00
90th Percentile - - £77.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.54 £112.09 £22.50
% change year-on-year -35.28% +398.18% -62.84%

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 42,897 27,359 40,498
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.32% 92.62% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,528 17,903 26,435
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,745 1,021 2,635
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.20 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.51 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £29.23 £35.50
Median % change year-on-year +45.40% -17.66% -21.11%
75th Percentile £65.60 £62.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.43 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.00 £28.75 £37.50
% change year-on-year +53.04% -23.33% -11.76%

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 24 April 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 24 April 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 24 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 +3 570 £510 -2.86% 202
UK excluding London +19 450 £500 -4.76% 197
London -41 159 £506 -3.57% 35
Work from Home +14 136 £500 +2.56% 84
South East -13 121 £525 -6.12% 60
North of England -32 100 £413 -1.49% 56
South West +14 93 £550 -4.35% 20
Yorkshire -22 62 £350 -15.15% 17
Midlands -28 53 £450 +16.13% 24
Scotland +18 35 £500 -9.09% 7
North West -28 34 £470 -10.48% 27
East of England -18 33 £450 -3.54% 20
East Midlands -14 27 £450 +12.50% 5
West Midlands -48 26 £440 +30.37% 19
Wales -4 15 £413 -2.94% 15
North East -20 5 £500 -23.08% 12
Northern Ireland - 2 £375 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 24 April 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.

1 651 (97.46%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 241 (36.08%) Security Cleared
3 229 (34.28%) Windows
4 213 (31.89%) Azure
5 190 (28.44%) VMware
6 170 (25.45%) SC Cleared
7 167 (25.00%) Microsoft
8 146 (21.86%) VMware Infrastructure
9 144 (21.56%) Active Directory
10 140 (20.96%) Windows Server
11 113 (16.92%) PowerShell
11 113 (16.92%) Terraform
12 104 (15.57%) DNS
13 102 (15.27%) DevOps
14 101 (15.12%) Infrastructure as Code
14 101 (15.12%) Linux
15 91 (13.62%) Firewall
16 88 (13.17%) Problem-Solving
17 86 (12.87%) DV Cleared
18 79 (11.83%) CI/CD
19 78 (11.68%) Kubernetes
20 76 (11.38%) Hyper-V
21 74 (11.08%) DHCP
22 69 (10.33%) Python
23 67 (10.03%) AWS
23 67 (10.03%) Microsoft 365
24 66 (9.88%) Migration
25 57 (8.53%) ITIL
26 56 (8.38%) Ansible
26 56 (8.38%) 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 54 (8.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (1.65%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.20%) TPMS
4 4 (0.60%) Apache
5 3 (0.45%) Exchange Server 2010
5 3 (0.45%) IIS
6 2 (0.30%) Confluence
6 2 (0.30%) nginx
7 1 (0.15%) CICS
7 1 (0.15%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.15%) MS Project Server
7 1 (0.15%) Skype for Business
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.15%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 12 (1.80%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.15%) Maximo
1 1 (0.15%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 213 (31.89%) Azure
2 67 (10.03%) AWS
2 67 (10.03%) Microsoft 365
3 47 (7.04%) GitHub
4 43 (6.44%) Entra ID
5 37 (5.54%) GCP
6 36 (5.39%) IaaS
7 32 (4.79%) PaaS
8 25 (3.74%) Azure DevOps
9 24 (3.59%) Nutanix
10 22 (3.29%) Azure Monitor
11 21 (3.14%) SaaS
12 20 (2.99%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 15 (2.25%) Azure AKS
14 12 (1.80%) GitHub Actions
15 10 (1.50%) Azure Sentinel
15 10 (1.50%) OCI
16 8 (1.20%) Microsoft Copilot
16 8 (1.20%) Microsoft Purview
17 7 (1.05%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 104 (15.57%) DNS
2 91 (13.62%) Firewall
3 74 (11.08%) DHCP
4 42 (6.29%) VPN
5 29 (4.34%) WAN
6 28 (4.19%) LAN
6 28 (4.19%) VLAN
7 27 (4.04%) Network Security
8 22 (3.29%) SAN
8 22 (3.29%) TCP/IP
9 12 (1.80%) SMTP
10 11 (1.65%) SNMP
10 11 (1.65%) VSAN
11 10 (1.50%) SSH
11 10 (1.50%) SSL
12 9 (1.35%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
12 9 (1.35%) MPLS
13 8 (1.20%) Wi-Fi
14 7 (1.05%) BGP
15 6 (0.90%) IPv4
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (4.34%) SQL Server
2 9 (1.35%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (0.60%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.45%) Data Mining
4 3 (0.45%) NonStop SQL
5 2 (0.30%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.30%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.30%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.30%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.30%) Power BI
6 1 (0.15%) Flink
6 1 (0.15%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.15%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.15%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.15%) SAP HANA
6 1 (0.15%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 1 (0.15%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 16 (2.40%) Jenkins
2 12 (1.80%) GitLab
3 11 (1.65%) JIRA
4 8 (1.20%) Artifactory
4 8 (1.20%) Git
5 3 (0.45%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.15%) Chocolatey
6 1 (0.15%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.15%) GoCD
6 1 (0.15%) IntelliJ
6 1 (0.15%) Introscope
6 1 (0.15%) MSI
6 1 (0.15%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.15%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 88 (13.17%) Social Skills
2 63 (9.43%) Public Sector
3 52 (7.78%) Finance
4 41 (6.14%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (3.44%) Documentation Skills
6 17 (2.54%) Banking
7 16 (2.40%) Legal
8 12 (1.80%) Aerospace
9 11 (1.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 9 (1.35%) Billing
11 7 (1.05%) Manufacturing
12 6 (0.90%) Telecoms
13 5 (0.75%) Military
14 4 (0.60%) Retail
15 3 (0.45%) Law
15 3 (0.45%) Local Government
16 2 (0.30%) Advertising
16 2 (0.30%) Investment Banking
16 2 (0.30%) Spanish Language
17 1 (0.15%) Mandarin Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.65%) REST
2 9 (1.35%) LDAP
3 8 (1.20%) SOAP
4 6 (0.90%) ARM Templates
5 5 (0.75%) Elastic Stack
5 5 (0.75%) SAML
5 5 (0.75%) Web Services
6 4 (0.60%) Flash
6 4 (0.60%) Keycloak
7 3 (0.45%) ADO
7 3 (0.45%) OAuth
7 3 (0.45%) OAuth2
7 3 (0.45%) OpenID
7 3 (0.45%) Oracle Fusion
8 2 (0.30%) Apache NiFi
8 2 (0.30%) Kafka
8 2 (0.30%) Node.js
9 1 (0.15%) 802.1X
9 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Graph
9 1 (0.15%) React
Miscellaneous
1 41 (6.14%) Data Centre
2 40 (5.99%) PKI
3 24 (3.59%) Public Cloud
4 19 (2.84%) Hybrid Cloud
5 18 (2.69%) Self-Motivation
6 15 (2.25%) Enterprise Storage
6 15 (2.25%) Onboarding
7 12 (1.80%) Private Cloud
7 12 (1.80%) Replication
8 11 (1.65%) Clustering
8 11 (1.65%) Enterprise Software
9 10 (1.50%) Operational Technology
10 9 (1.35%) Cloud Native
11 5 (0.75%) SCADA
11 5 (0.75%) Virtual Team
12 4 (0.60%) CCTV
12 4 (0.60%) Data Protection Act
12 4 (0.60%) Legacy Systems
12 4 (0.60%) Smartcard
12 4 (0.60%) YubiKey
Operating Systems
1 229 (34.28%) Windows
2 140 (20.96%) Windows Server
3 101 (15.12%) Linux
4 19 (2.84%) Windows Server 2019
5 18 (2.69%) Windows Server 2016
6 15 (2.25%) Ubuntu
7 14 (2.10%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 14 (2.10%) Windows Server 2012
8 13 (1.95%) VMS
9 12 (1.80%) Windows 10
10 10 (1.50%) Apple iOS
11 8 (1.20%) Android
11 8 (1.20%) Mac OS
11 8 (1.20%) Unix
12 7 (1.05%) Windows Server 2003
13 4 (0.60%) Debian
14 3 (0.45%) CentOS
15 2 (0.30%) Windows 7
16 1 (0.15%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
16 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 651 (97.46%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 102 (15.27%) DevOps
3 101 (15.12%) Infrastructure as Code
4 88 (13.17%) Problem-Solving
5 79 (11.83%) CI/CD
6 66 (9.88%) Migration
7 57 (8.53%) ITIL
8 56 (8.38%) Infrastructure Automation
9 52 (7.78%) Agile
10 48 (7.19%) Disaster Recovery
11 44 (6.59%) Cybersecurity
12 36 (5.39%) High Availability
13 32 (4.79%) Project Delivery
14 30 (4.49%) Containerisation
14 30 (4.49%) Validation
15 29 (4.34%) Platform Engineering
16 28 (4.19%) Cloud Security
17 27 (4.04%) Observability
18 25 (3.74%) Continuous Improvement
19 24 (3.59%) Zero Trust
Programming Languages
1 113 (16.92%) PowerShell
2 69 (10.33%) Python
3 24 (3.59%) Bash
4 23 (3.44%) SQL
5 20 (2.99%) Bicep
6 12 (1.80%) C#
7 9 (1.35%) PHP
8 8 (1.20%) JavaScript
9 5 (0.75%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.45%) Java
11 2 (0.30%) ActionScript
11 2 (0.30%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.15%) C++
12 1 (0.15%) Jython
12 1 (0.15%) Perl
12 1 (0.15%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.15%) VB
Qualifications
1 241 (36.08%) Security Cleared
2 170 (25.45%) SC Cleared
3 86 (12.87%) DV Cleared
4 23 (3.44%) Degree
5 15 (2.25%) Azure Certification
6 14 (2.10%) Cisco Certification
7 13 (1.95%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 12 (1.80%) Microsoft Certification
9 11 (1.65%) CCNA
10 8 (1.20%) AWS Certification
10 8 (1.20%) FFIEC
11 6 (0.90%) CompTIA Security+
11 6 (0.90%) MCSE
12 5 (0.75%) CCNP
12 5 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
13 4 (0.60%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 4 (0.60%) BPSS Clearance
13 4 (0.60%) GIAC
13 4 (0.60%) GSEC
13 4 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (3.14%) NIST
2 15 (2.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 15 (2.25%) QA
3 12 (1.80%) Cyber Essentials
3 12 (1.80%) GDPR
4 10 (1.50%) SLA
5 8 (1.20%) GLBA
5 8 (1.20%) PCI DSS
6 6 (0.90%) NCSC
7 3 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (0.45%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.15%) HIPAA
8 1 (0.15%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.15%) SOC 2
System Software
1 146 (21.86%) VMware Infrastructure
2 144 (21.56%) Active Directory
3 76 (11.38%) Hyper-V
4 50 (7.49%) vSphere
5 39 (5.84%) Docker
6 38 (5.69%) VMware ESXi
7 20 (2.99%) VMware NSX
8 19 (2.84%) Virtual Machines
9 13 (1.95%) Virtual Desktop
10 9 (1.35%) BitLocker
11 7 (1.05%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.45%) DFS Replication
12 3 (0.45%) Firmware
12 3 (0.45%) Sendmail
13 2 (0.30%) GPFS
13 2 (0.30%) NFS
13 2 (0.30%) QEMU
13 2 (0.30%) SRDF
13 2 (0.30%) UAG
13 2 (0.30%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 113 (16.92%) Terraform
2 78 (11.68%) Kubernetes
3 56 (8.38%) Ansible
4 43 (6.44%) Microsoft Intune
5 39 (5.84%) SCCM
6 32 (4.79%) vCenter Server
7 15 (2.25%) Single Sign-On
8 14 (2.10%) WSUS
9 13 (1.95%) SCOM
10 11 (1.65%) Puppet
11 10 (1.50%) Istio
12 9 (1.35%) Grafana
12 9 (1.35%) Prometheus
12 9 (1.35%) VxRail
13 8 (1.20%) AirWatch
13 8 (1.20%) Nessus
13 8 (1.20%) Packer
14 7 (1.05%) vMotion
14 7 (1.05%) vRealize
15 5 (0.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 190 (28.44%) VMware
2 167 (25.00%) Microsoft
3 44 (6.59%) Cisco
4 41 (6.14%) Citrix
5 35 (5.24%) Veeam
6 27 (4.04%) Dell
7 23 (3.44%) Google
8 19 (2.84%) NetApp
9 16 (2.40%) F5
9 16 (2.40%) Oracle
10 15 (2.25%) SolarWinds
11 13 (1.95%) Red Hat
12 12 (1.80%) Fortinet
12 12 (1.80%) Thales
13 10 (1.50%) Palo Alto
13 10 (1.50%) ServiceNow
13 10 (1.50%) Splunk
14 7 (1.05%) Aruba
14 7 (1.05%) HP
14 7 (1.05%) Tenable