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 10 March 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 213 203 154
Rank change year-on-year -10 -49 +23
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 524 392 719
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.24% 1.33% 1.61%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.34% 1.43% 1.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 382 269 515
10th Percentile £318 £325 £313
25th Percentile £400 £381 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -5.00%
75th Percentile £579 £613 £597
90th Percentile £638 £675 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% +1.06%
Number of hourly rates quoted 10 5 18
10th Percentile £25.93 - £21.25
25th Percentile £26.25 £24.18 £21.69
Median hourly rate £34.25 £60.00 £62.63
Median % change year-on-year -42.92% -4.20% -0.08%
75th Percentile £65.69 £200.00 £76.53
90th Percentile £80.60 - £77.15
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £60.00 £23.00
% change year-on-year -8.33% +160.87% -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 39,016 27,486 41,551
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.96% 92.97% 92.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,419 17,729 27,243
10th Percentile £310 £293 £270
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.46%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.16% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,405 862 2,505
10th Percentile £14.91 £15.64 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.24 £16.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £33.20 £32.69
Median % change year-on-year +5.42% +1.56% -22.84%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.10 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.75 £32.50 £32.70
% change year-on-year +3.85% -0.60% -18.26%

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 10 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 10 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 10 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 -19 465 £500 -5.88% 207
UK excluding London -7 355 £500 -4.76% 187
London -36 131 £525 -2.33% 36
Work from Home -2 113 £500 +3.90% 88
South East -9 99 £500 -4.76% 48
North of England -31 85 £413 - 58
South West +7 82 £538 -6.52% 36
Yorkshire -29 50 £363 -12.12% 24
Midlands -63 30 £425 +6.25% 22
East of England -15 29 £438 -6.22% 15
North West -29 29 £533 +1.43% 27
Scotland +7 23 £500 -9.09% 5
East Midlands -23 16 £450 +28.57% 8
West Midlands -65 14 £400 -15.79% 14
Wales -7 7 £550 +29.41% 3
North East -12 6 £488 +33.56% 7
Northern Ireland - 1 £375 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 10 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.

1 502 (95.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 182 (34.73%) Azure
3 180 (34.35%) Windows
4 163 (31.11%) Microsoft
5 157 (29.96%) Security Cleared
6 154 (29.39%) VMware
7 127 (24.24%) Active Directory
8 119 (22.71%) VMware Infrastructure
9 110 (20.99%) SC Cleared
10 102 (19.47%) Windows Server
11 93 (17.75%) PowerShell
12 91 (17.37%) DevOps
13 88 (16.79%) Terraform
14 83 (15.84%) Linux
15 80 (15.27%) Firewall
16 77 (14.69%) Infrastructure as Code
17 76 (14.50%) Problem-Solving
18 74 (14.12%) DNS
18 74 (14.12%) Microsoft 365
19 66 (12.60%) CI/CD
20 64 (12.21%) Python
21 58 (11.07%) AWS
22 56 (10.69%) Hyper-V
23 55 (10.50%) DHCP
24 54 (10.31%) ITIL
25 52 (9.92%) DV Cleared
26 50 (9.54%) Ansible
26 50 (9.54%) Kubernetes
27 49 (9.35%) Infrastructure Automation
27 49 (9.35%) Migration

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 43 (8.21%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (2.10%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.91%) TPMS
4 5 (0.95%) IIS
5 4 (0.76%) Apache
5 4 (0.76%) Confluence
6 3 (0.57%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.38%) nginx
8 1 (0.19%) CICS
8 1 (0.19%) IBM HTTP Server
8 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.19%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.19%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 10 (1.91%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (0.38%) Dynamics CRM
1 2 (0.38%) Maximo
2 1 (0.19%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 182 (34.73%) Azure
2 74 (14.12%) Microsoft 365
3 58 (11.07%) AWS
4 39 (7.44%) Entra ID
5 37 (7.06%) GitHub
6 28 (5.34%) GCP
6 28 (5.34%) PaaS
7 27 (5.15%) IaaS
8 20 (3.82%) Azure DevOps
9 18 (3.44%) Azure Monitor
9 18 (3.44%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 18 (3.44%) Nutanix
10 12 (2.29%) Azure Sentinel
11 10 (1.91%) SaaS
12 9 (1.72%) Microsoft Purview
12 9 (1.72%) Mimecast
12 9 (1.72%) OCI
12 9 (1.72%) OneDrive
13 8 (1.53%) Azure AKS
14 7 (1.34%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 80 (15.27%) Firewall
2 74 (14.12%) DNS
3 55 (10.50%) DHCP
4 37 (7.06%) VPN
5 31 (5.92%) WAN
6 26 (4.96%) TCP/IP
7 24 (4.58%) LAN
8 21 (4.01%) VLAN
9 19 (3.63%) SAN
10 18 (3.44%) Wi-Fi
11 17 (3.24%) Network Security
12 13 (2.48%) SNMP
13 12 (2.29%) SSH
13 12 (2.29%) SSL
14 9 (1.72%) MPLS
15 7 (1.34%) SD-WAN
15 7 (1.34%) SMTP
16 6 (1.15%) 4G
16 6 (1.15%) BGP
16 6 (1.15%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (3.05%) SQL Server
2 6 (1.15%) Elasticsearch
3 5 (0.95%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.57%) Power BI
5 2 (0.38%) Amazon Aurora
5 2 (0.38%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.38%) MySQL
5 2 (0.38%) SAP HANA
6 1 (0.19%) Azure SQL Database
6 1 (0.19%) Data Mining
6 1 (0.19%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.19%) Oracle Database
6 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 15 (2.86%) Jenkins
2 11 (2.10%) GitLab
3 10 (1.91%) JIRA
4 8 (1.53%) Artifactory
5 6 (1.15%) Git
6 3 (0.57%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.19%) Chocolatey
7 1 (0.19%) GoCD
7 1 (0.19%) IntelliJ
7 1 (0.19%) Introscope
7 1 (0.19%) MSI
7 1 (0.19%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.19%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 88 (16.79%) Social Skills
2 49 (9.35%) Finance
2 49 (9.35%) Public Sector
3 35 (6.68%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (4.39%) Documentation Skills
5 16 (3.05%) Legal
6 15 (2.86%) Banking
7 9 (1.72%) Billing
7 9 (1.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 6 (1.15%) Aviation
8 6 (1.15%) Spanish Language
9 5 (0.95%) Military
9 5 (0.95%) Telecoms
10 4 (0.76%) Aerospace
10 4 (0.76%) Local Government
11 2 (0.38%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.38%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.38%) Retail
12 1 (0.19%) Back Office
12 1 (0.19%) Italian Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.10%) REST
2 8 (1.53%) LDAP
2 8 (1.53%) SOAP
3 7 (1.34%) ARM Templates
3 7 (1.34%) SAML
4 5 (0.95%) OpenID
4 5 (0.95%) Web Services
5 4 (0.76%) Elastic Stack
5 4 (0.76%) Keycloak
6 3 (0.57%) ADO
6 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Graph
6 3 (0.57%) Oracle Fusion
7 2 (0.38%) .NET
7 2 (0.38%) .NET Core
7 2 (0.38%) Flash
7 2 (0.38%) Middleware
7 2 (0.38%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.38%) Software Packaging
7 2 (0.38%) WPF
7 2 (0.38%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 34 (6.49%) PKI
2 29 (5.53%) Data Centre
3 19 (3.63%) Public Cloud
4 16 (3.05%) Hybrid Cloud
5 9 (1.72%) Clustering
5 9 (1.72%) Enterprise Software
5 9 (1.72%) Private Cloud
6 8 (1.53%) Enterprise Storage
6 8 (1.53%) Onboarding
6 8 (1.53%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (1.34%) Cloud Native
8 5 (0.95%) NHS
9 4 (0.76%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (0.76%) Legacy Systems
9 4 (0.76%) Replication
10 3 (0.57%) Client/Server
10 3 (0.57%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (0.57%) Greenfield Project
11 2 (0.38%) Fat Client
11 2 (0.38%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 180 (34.35%) Windows
2 102 (19.47%) Windows Server
3 83 (15.84%) Linux
4 17 (3.24%) Windows Server 2019
5 14 (2.67%) Ubuntu
6 13 (2.48%) Windows 10
6 13 (2.48%) Windows Server 2012
7 12 (2.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 12 (2.29%) Windows Server 2016
8 10 (1.91%) VMS
9 8 (1.53%) Unix
10 5 (0.95%) Windows Server 2003
11 2 (0.38%) Android
11 2 (0.38%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.38%) CentOS
11 2 (0.38%) Debian
11 2 (0.38%) SUSE
11 2 (0.38%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 2 (0.38%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.19%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 502 (95.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 91 (17.37%) DevOps
3 77 (14.69%) Infrastructure as Code
4 76 (14.50%) Problem-Solving
5 66 (12.60%) CI/CD
6 54 (10.31%) ITIL
7 49 (9.35%) Infrastructure Automation
7 49 (9.35%) Migration
8 46 (8.78%) Cybersecurity
9 45 (8.59%) Agile
10 37 (7.06%) Disaster Recovery
11 29 (5.53%) High Availability
11 29 (5.53%) Observability
11 29 (5.53%) Project Delivery
12 25 (4.77%) Platform Engineering
13 23 (4.39%) Cloud Security
13 23 (4.39%) Roadmaps
13 23 (4.39%) Service Management
14 22 (4.20%) Containerisation
14 22 (4.20%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 93 (17.75%) PowerShell
2 64 (12.21%) Python
3 24 (4.58%) Bash
4 16 (3.05%) SQL
5 13 (2.48%) Bicep
6 9 (1.72%) JavaScript
6 9 (1.72%) PHP
7 7 (1.34%) C#
8 5 (0.95%) Java
9 4 (0.76%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.57%) Perl
11 2 (0.38%) ActionScript
12 1 (0.19%) C++
12 1 (0.19%) Go
12 1 (0.19%) Jython
12 1 (0.19%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.19%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.19%) Ruby
12 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 157 (29.96%) Security Cleared
2 110 (20.99%) SC Cleared
3 52 (9.92%) DV Cleared
4 18 (3.44%) Azure Certification
5 13 (2.48%) Degree
6 11 (2.10%) Microsoft Certification
7 10 (1.91%) FFIEC
7 10 (1.91%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 8 (1.53%) AWS Certification
8 8 (1.53%) Cisco Certification
9 6 (1.15%) CCNA
9 6 (1.15%) CompTIA Security+
10 5 (0.95%) BPSS Clearance
11 4 (0.76%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 4 (0.76%) CCNP
11 4 (0.76%) CISSP
11 4 (0.76%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (0.76%) GIAC
11 4 (0.76%) GSEC
12 3 (0.57%) SSCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (3.44%) NIST
2 14 (2.67%) GDPR
3 11 (2.10%) SLA
4 10 (1.91%) Cyber Essentials
4 10 (1.91%) GLBA
4 10 (1.91%) PCI DSS
5 9 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 3 (0.57%) NIST 800
7 2 (0.38%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.38%) QA
7 2 (0.38%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.19%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.19%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.19%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 127 (24.24%) Active Directory
2 119 (22.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 56 (10.69%) Hyper-V
4 36 (6.87%) vSphere
5 32 (6.11%) Docker
6 24 (4.58%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (2.29%) Virtual Machines
8 11 (2.10%) Virtual Desktop
9 9 (1.72%) VMware NSX
10 5 (0.95%) BitLocker
11 4 (0.76%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.57%) DFS Replication
12 3 (0.57%) Sendmail
13 2 (0.38%) QEMU
13 2 (0.38%) SRDF
14 1 (0.19%) Firmware
14 1 (0.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
14 1 (0.19%) UAG
14 1 (0.19%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 88 (16.79%) Terraform
2 50 (9.54%) Ansible
2 50 (9.54%) Kubernetes
3 49 (9.35%) SCCM
4 46 (8.78%) Microsoft Intune
5 22 (4.20%) vCenter Server
6 16 (3.05%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (1.72%) Puppet
7 9 (1.72%) VxRail
8 8 (1.53%) Istio
8 8 (1.53%) Prometheus
8 8 (1.53%) SCOM
9 7 (1.34%) Grafana
10 6 (1.15%) AirWatch
10 6 (1.15%) CASB
10 6 (1.15%) SCOrch
11 5 (0.95%) Nessus
11 5 (0.95%) Packer
11 5 (0.95%) WSUS
12 4 (0.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
Vendors
1 163 (31.11%) Microsoft
2 154 (29.39%) VMware
3 33 (6.30%) Cisco
4 28 (5.34%) Dell
5 24 (4.58%) Veeam
6 23 (4.39%) Citrix
7 20 (3.82%) Google
8 14 (2.67%) Thales
9 13 (2.48%) F5
10 12 (2.29%) Fortinet
10 12 (2.29%) Oracle
10 12 (2.29%) ServiceNow
10 12 (2.29%) SolarWinds
10 12 (2.29%) Splunk
11 11 (2.10%) Aruba
11 11 (2.10%) Red Hat
12 10 (1.91%) NetApp
13 8 (1.53%) Palo Alto
14 7 (1.34%) HP
15 6 (1.15%) CyberArk