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 21 February 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 221 203 148
Rank change year-on-year -18 -55 +29
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 494 400 729
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.21% 1.30% 1.63%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.31% 1.40% 1.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 365 273 525
10th Percentile £308 £311 £313
25th Percentile £400 £363 £386
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £483 £515 £475
Median % change year-on-year -6.31% +8.42% -5.00%
75th Percentile £575 £603 £600
90th Percentile £638 £675 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £494 £475
% change year-on-year -3.80% +3.95% +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 4 17
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £26.25 £24.18 £21.25
Median hourly rate £34.00 £42.09 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.22% +83.00% -64.62%
75th Percentile £58.56 £95.00 £72.50
90th Percentile £78.93 £158.00 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £42.09 £23.00
% change year-on-year +30.67% +83.00% -60.00%

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 37,575 28,553 41,560
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.74% 92.90% 93.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,586 17,823 27,337
10th Percentile £306 £288 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,283 827 2,341
10th Percentile £14.61 £16.25 £13.16
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.50
Median hourly rate £31.49 £34.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.38% -2.86% -10.26%
75th Percentile £63.75 £63.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £35.95
% change year-on-year -7.69% -9.60% +0.42%

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 21 February 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 21 February 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 21 February 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 -24 439 £483 -8.10% 215
UK excluding London -24 334 £475 -3.80% 186
Work from Home +12 119 £450 -2.70% 68
London -55 119 £510 -2.86% 50
South East -9 94 £475 -5.09% 56
North of England -26 82 £442 +14.74% 46
South West +4 73 £550 -7.37% 34
Yorkshire -36 43 £363 -3.33% 17
North West -24 33 £471 +22.34% 24
Midlands -55 29 £420 -16.00% 21
East of England -9 28 £425 -7.26% 20
Scotland +1 21 £500 -9.09% 9
West Midlands -60 15 £400 -15.79% 17
East Midlands -19 14 £450 -10.00% 4
Wales -9 7 £550 +29.41% 1
North East -17 6 £488 +33.56% 5
Northern Ireland - 1 £375 -

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

For the 6 months to 21 February 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.

1 474 (95.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 188 (38.06%) Windows
3 184 (37.25%) Azure
4 172 (34.82%) Microsoft
5 153 (30.97%) VMware
6 138 (27.94%) Security Cleared
7 127 (25.71%) Active Directory
8 114 (23.08%) VMware Infrastructure
9 101 (20.45%) Windows Server
10 97 (19.64%) Linux
11 95 (19.23%) SC Cleared
12 90 (18.22%) Problem-Solving
12 90 (18.22%) Terraform
13 84 (17.00%) DevOps
14 83 (16.80%) PowerShell
15 81 (16.40%) Firewall
16 79 (15.99%) DNS
17 77 (15.59%) Microsoft 365
18 75 (15.18%) Infrastructure as Code
19 70 (14.17%) AWS
20 68 (13.77%) Hyper-V
21 65 (13.16%) ITIL
22 63 (12.75%) CI/CD
23 60 (12.15%) DHCP
24 53 (10.73%) Python
25 50 (10.12%) DV Cleared
26 49 (9.92%) Microsoft Intune
27 48 (9.72%) SCCM
28 47 (9.51%) Kubernetes
29 46 (9.31%) Cybersecurity

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 (9.11%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (2.43%) SharePoint
3 11 (2.23%) TPMS
4 7 (1.42%) IIS
5 6 (1.21%) Apache
6 5 (1.01%) Confluence
7 3 (0.61%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.40%) iPlanet
8 2 (0.40%) JBoss
8 2 (0.40%) nginx
8 2 (0.40%) Skype for Business
8 2 (0.40%) WebSphere
8 2 (0.40%) WebSphere Application Server
9 1 (0.20%) CICS
9 1 (0.20%) Traefik
Applications
1 7 (1.42%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.61%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (0.61%) Maximo
2 2 (0.40%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 184 (37.25%) Azure
2 77 (15.59%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (14.17%) AWS
4 44 (8.91%) Entra ID
5 27 (5.47%) GitHub
6 25 (5.06%) IaaS
7 24 (4.86%) GCP
8 23 (4.66%) PaaS
9 20 (4.05%) Azure DevOps
10 18 (3.64%) Azure Monitor
10 18 (3.64%) Nutanix
11 16 (3.24%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 14 (2.83%) Azure Sentinel
13 10 (2.02%) Microsoft Purview
13 10 (2.02%) Mimecast
13 10 (2.02%) Serverless
14 9 (1.82%) OCI
14 9 (1.82%) OneDrive
14 9 (1.82%) OpenShift
15 8 (1.62%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 81 (16.40%) Firewall
2 79 (15.99%) DNS
3 60 (12.15%) DHCP
4 38 (7.69%) VPN
5 35 (7.09%) TCP/IP
6 32 (6.48%) WAN
7 30 (6.07%) VLAN
8 25 (5.06%) LAN
9 20 (4.05%) SAN
9 20 (4.05%) Wi-Fi
10 19 (3.85%) Network Security
11 14 (2.83%) SNMP
11 14 (2.83%) SSL
12 13 (2.63%) SSH
13 9 (1.82%) MPLS
14 7 (1.42%) SD-WAN
15 6 (1.21%) 4G
15 6 (1.21%) BGP
15 6 (1.21%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
16 5 (1.01%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (2.83%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.01%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (1.01%) Elasticsearch
3 3 (0.61%) Oracle Database
3 3 (0.61%) Power BI
4 2 (0.40%) Amazon Aurora
4 2 (0.40%) DynamoDB
4 2 (0.40%) MySQL
4 2 (0.40%) SAP HANA
5 1 (0.20%) Azure SQL Database
5 1 (0.20%) Data Warehouse
5 1 (0.20%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.20%) PostgreSQL
5 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (2.63%) Jenkins
2 12 (2.43%) GitLab
3 9 (1.82%) JIRA
4 7 (1.42%) Artifactory
4 7 (1.42%) Git
5 3 (0.61%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.40%) Bitbucket Server
6 2 (0.40%) CA Release Automation
7 1 (0.20%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.20%) GoCD
7 1 (0.20%) IntelliJ
7 1 (0.20%) MSI
General
1 88 (17.81%) Social Skills
2 49 (9.92%) Finance
3 48 (9.72%) Public Sector
4 43 (8.70%) Analytical Skills
5 21 (4.25%) Documentation Skills
6 12 (2.43%) Legal
7 11 (2.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 9 (1.82%) Banking
8 9 (1.82%) Billing
9 7 (1.42%) Military
9 7 (1.42%) Telecoms
10 6 (1.21%) Aviation
10 6 (1.21%) Local Government
10 6 (1.21%) Spanish Language
11 4 (0.81%) Aerospace
12 3 (0.61%) Retail
13 2 (0.40%) Financial Institution
13 2 (0.40%) Marketing
13 2 (0.40%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.20%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.02%) LDAP
2 9 (1.82%) ARM Templates
2 9 (1.82%) SAML
3 7 (1.42%) OpenID
3 7 (1.42%) REST
4 5 (1.01%) Microsoft Graph
5 4 (0.81%) Keycloak
5 4 (0.81%) Middleware
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%) Elastic Stack
6 3 (0.61%) Oracle Fusion
6 3 (0.61%) YAML
7 2 (0.40%) .NET Core
7 2 (0.40%) Apache NiFi
7 2 (0.40%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.40%) OAuth2
7 2 (0.40%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 29 (5.87%) PKI
2 25 (5.06%) Data Centre
3 17 (3.44%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (3.44%) Public Cloud
4 13 (2.63%) Analytical Mindset
5 10 (2.02%) Onboarding
6 9 (1.82%) Clustering
6 9 (1.82%) Enterprise Software
7 8 (1.62%) Private Cloud
8 7 (1.42%) Cloud Native
8 7 (1.42%) NHS
8 7 (1.42%) Self-Motivation
9 6 (1.21%) Replication
10 4 (0.81%) Enterprise Storage
11 3 (0.61%) Client/Server
11 3 (0.61%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (0.61%) Data Protection Act
11 3 (0.61%) Legacy Systems
11 3 (0.61%) Mobile App
12 2 (0.40%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 188 (38.06%) Windows
2 101 (20.45%) Windows Server
3 97 (19.64%) Linux
4 15 (3.04%) Windows 10
5 14 (2.83%) Windows Server 2019
6 13 (2.63%) Ubuntu
6 13 (2.63%) Windows Server 2012
7 11 (2.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (2.02%) VMS
8 10 (2.02%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (1.42%) Unix
10 4 (0.81%) Android
10 4 (0.81%) Apple iOS
10 4 (0.81%) Windows Server 2003
11 2 (0.40%) Debian
11 2 (0.40%) SUSE
11 2 (0.40%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 2 (0.40%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.20%) Mac OS
12 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 474 (95.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 90 (18.22%) Problem-Solving
3 84 (17.00%) DevOps
4 75 (15.18%) Infrastructure as Code
5 65 (13.16%) ITIL
6 63 (12.75%) CI/CD
7 46 (9.31%) Cybersecurity
8 44 (8.91%) Infrastructure Automation
9 42 (8.50%) Agile
9 42 (8.50%) Disaster Recovery
10 40 (8.10%) Migration
11 31 (6.28%) Observability
12 26 (5.26%) High Availability
12 26 (5.26%) Project Delivery
12 26 (5.26%) Service Management
13 24 (4.86%) Cloud Security
13 24 (4.86%) Containerisation
13 24 (4.86%) Platform Engineering
14 23 (4.66%) Roadmaps
15 21 (4.25%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 83 (16.80%) PowerShell
2 53 (10.73%) Python
3 20 (4.05%) Bash
4 18 (3.64%) Bicep
5 9 (1.82%) SQL
6 8 (1.62%) JavaScript
6 8 (1.62%) PHP
7 6 (1.21%) Java
8 5 (1.01%) Perl
9 3 (0.61%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.40%) ActionScript
10 2 (0.40%) C#
10 2 (0.40%) Go
10 2 (0.40%) Groovy
11 1 (0.20%) C++
11 1 (0.20%) Kusto Query Language
11 1 (0.20%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.20%) Ruby
11 1 (0.20%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 138 (27.94%) Security Cleared
2 95 (19.23%) SC Cleared
3 50 (10.12%) DV Cleared
4 26 (5.26%) Azure Certification
5 21 (4.25%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (2.23%) Degree
6 11 (2.23%) FFIEC
6 11 (2.23%) Network+ Certification
6 11 (2.23%) Server+ Certification
7 8 (1.62%) AWS Certification
8 6 (1.21%) CompTIA Security+
9 5 (1.01%) BPSS Clearance
9 5 (1.01%) CCNA
9 5 (1.01%) Cisco Certification
9 5 (1.01%) CISSP
9 5 (1.01%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 4 (0.81%) CISM
10 4 (0.81%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (0.81%) GIAC
10 4 (0.81%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (4.45%) NIST
2 15 (3.04%) GDPR
3 11 (2.23%) GLBA
3 11 (2.23%) PCI DSS
4 10 (2.02%) Cyber Essentials
4 10 (2.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (2.02%) SLA
5 4 (0.81%) NIST 800
6 3 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.40%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.40%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.20%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 127 (25.71%) Active Directory
2 114 (23.08%) VMware Infrastructure
3 68 (13.77%) Hyper-V
4 39 (7.89%) Docker
5 31 (6.28%) vSphere
6 19 (3.85%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (2.43%) Virtual Machines
8 11 (2.23%) Virtual Desktop
9 7 (1.42%) VMware NSX
10 4 (0.81%) BitLocker
11 3 (0.61%) DFS Replication
11 3 (0.61%) Microsoft App-V
11 3 (0.61%) Sendmail
11 3 (0.61%) Virtual Servers
12 2 (0.40%) Firmware
12 2 (0.40%) QEMU
12 2 (0.40%) Tivoli Directory Server
13 1 (0.20%) etcd
13 1 (0.20%) Slurm Workload Manager
13 1 (0.20%) UAG
Systems Management
1 90 (18.22%) Terraform
2 49 (9.92%) Microsoft Intune
3 48 (9.72%) SCCM
4 47 (9.51%) Kubernetes
5 45 (9.11%) Ansible
6 19 (3.85%) vCenter Server
7 18 (3.64%) Single Sign-On
8 9 (1.82%) VxRail
9 7 (1.42%) Grafana
9 7 (1.42%) Istio
9 7 (1.42%) Prometheus
9 7 (1.42%) SCOM
10 6 (1.21%) AirWatch
10 6 (1.21%) CASB
10 6 (1.21%) FortiGate
10 6 (1.21%) Red Hat Satellite
10 6 (1.21%) SCOrch
11 5 (1.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 4 (0.81%) Nessus
12 4 (0.81%) Packer
Vendors
1 172 (34.82%) Microsoft
2 153 (30.97%) VMware
3 32 (6.48%) Cisco
4 28 (5.67%) Dell
5 21 (4.25%) Veeam
6 18 (3.64%) Google
7 16 (3.24%) Citrix
8 15 (3.04%) F5
8 15 (3.04%) Red Hat
8 15 (3.04%) Splunk
9 14 (2.83%) Thales
10 13 (2.63%) Oracle
10 13 (2.63%) SolarWinds
11 12 (2.43%) Palo Alto
12 11 (2.23%) ServiceNow
13 9 (1.82%) Aruba
13 9 (1.82%) Fortinet
14 8 (1.62%) NetApp
15 7 (1.42%) CyberArk
15 7 (1.42%) HP