Infrastructure Engineer Contract Job Trends

Infrastructure Engineer
UK

The median Infrastructure Engineer daily rate in the UK is £525, according to job vacancies posted in the 3 months leading up to 14 February 2026.

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

3 months to
14 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 189 190 143
Rank change year-on-year +1 -47 +34
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 289 176 347
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.32% 1.31% 1.51%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.43% 1.41% 1.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 215 131 252
10th Percentile £325 £306 £295
25th Percentile £413 £370 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £515 £450
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% +14.44% -10.00%
75th Percentile £600 £600 £594
90th Percentile £670 £650 £721
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £492 £450
% change year-on-year +6.65% +9.39% -5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 2 5
10th Percentile - £41.76 £20.47
25th Percentile £26.25 £68.14 £21.25
Median hourly rate £41.25 £112.09 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -63.20% +398.18% -65.38%
75th Percentile £73.75 £156.05 £23.75
90th Percentile £83.00 £182.42 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.25 £112.09 £22.50
% change year-on-year -63.20% +398.18% -65.38%

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 20,201 12,485 21,298
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.12% 93.18% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 12,553 8,383 13,676
10th Percentile £313 £285 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £636 £638
90th Percentile £719 £750 £744
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £475 £475
% change year-on-year +0.63% - -5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,261 400 1,492
10th Percentile £14.96 £16.67 £12.26
25th Percentile £19.91 £21.25 £15.16
Median hourly rate £40.00 £35.00 £26.53
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% +31.95% -39.20%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £78.37 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £35.00 £26.66
% change year-on-year +14.29% +31.28% -33.83%

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 3 months to 14 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 3 months to 14 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 3 months to 14 February 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 3 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 3 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -14 249 £525 - 235
UK excluding London -4 197 £525 +6.65% 205
London -47 66 £525 - 49
Work from Home +4 64 £525 +27.27% 77
North of England -16 57 £413 +7.14% 49
South West +1 45 £575 -6.50% 34
South East -12 42 £525 +4.90% 58
Yorkshire -34 30 £350 -0.14% 15
North West -16 24 £575 +49.35% 28
East of England -7 18 £550 +17.90% 24
Midlands -39 15 £450 +55.17% 32
Scotland +6 14 £500 -9.09% 7
East Midlands -21 8 £450 - 9
West Midlands -38 7 £450 +55.17% 23
Wales -7 6 £550 +29.41% 2
North East -6 3 £500 - 6
Northern Ireland - 1 £375 -

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

For the 6 months to 14 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.

1 476 (95.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 190 (38.15%) Windows
3 185 (37.15%) Azure
4 172 (34.54%) Microsoft
5 155 (31.12%) VMware
6 138 (27.71%) Security Cleared
7 126 (25.30%) Active Directory
8 115 (23.09%) VMware Infrastructure
9 101 (20.28%) Windows Server
10 97 (19.48%) Linux
11 94 (18.88%) SC Cleared
12 92 (18.47%) Problem-Solving
13 90 (18.07%) Terraform
14 83 (16.67%) DevOps
15 82 (16.47%) Firewall
16 80 (16.06%) PowerShell
17 79 (15.86%) DNS
17 79 (15.86%) Microsoft 365
18 76 (15.26%) Infrastructure as Code
19 75 (15.06%) AWS
20 69 (13.86%) Hyper-V
21 68 (13.65%) ITIL
22 62 (12.45%) CI/CD
23 59 (11.85%) DHCP
24 52 (10.44%) Python
25 51 (10.24%) DV Cleared
25 51 (10.24%) Microsoft Intune
25 51 (10.24%) SCCM
26 48 (9.64%) Kubernetes
27 47 (9.44%) Ansible

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 (9.04%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (2.41%) SharePoint
3 11 (2.21%) TPMS
4 7 (1.41%) Apache
4 7 (1.41%) IIS
5 5 (1.00%) Confluence
6 3 (0.60%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.40%) iPlanet
7 2 (0.40%) JBoss
7 2 (0.40%) nginx
7 2 (0.40%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.40%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.40%) WebSphere Application Server
8 1 (0.20%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.20%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.20%) CICS
8 1 (0.20%) Traefik
Applications
1 7 (1.41%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.60%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 3 (0.60%) Maximo
2 2 (0.40%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 185 (37.15%) Azure
2 79 (15.86%) Microsoft 365
3 75 (15.06%) AWS
4 45 (9.04%) Entra ID
5 26 (5.22%) GitHub
5 26 (5.22%) IaaS
6 23 (4.62%) GCP
6 23 (4.62%) PaaS
7 19 (3.82%) Azure DevOps
8 18 (3.61%) Azure Monitor
8 18 (3.61%) Nutanix
9 15 (3.01%) Google Kubernetes Engine
10 14 (2.81%) Azure Sentinel
11 11 (2.21%) Mimecast
12 10 (2.01%) Serverless
13 9 (1.81%) Microsoft Purview
13 9 (1.81%) OCI
13 9 (1.81%) OneDrive
13 9 (1.81%) OpenShift
14 8 (1.61%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 82 (16.47%) Firewall
2 79 (15.86%) DNS
3 59 (11.85%) DHCP
4 39 (7.83%) VPN
5 37 (7.43%) TCP/IP
6 31 (6.22%) WAN
7 29 (5.82%) VLAN
8 25 (5.02%) LAN
9 22 (4.42%) SAN
10 20 (4.02%) Wi-Fi
11 19 (3.82%) Network Security
12 15 (3.01%) SSL
13 14 (2.81%) SNMP
14 13 (2.61%) SSH
15 9 (1.81%) MPLS
16 7 (1.41%) SD-WAN
17 6 (1.20%) 4G
17 6 (1.20%) BGP
17 6 (1.20%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 5 (1.00%) NetScaler
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (3.01%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.00%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (1.00%) Elasticsearch
3 3 (0.60%) Oracle Database
3 3 (0.60%) 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%) 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 13 (2.61%) GitLab
2 12 (2.41%) Jenkins
3 8 (1.61%) JIRA
4 7 (1.41%) Artifactory
4 7 (1.41%) Git
5 3 (0.60%) 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%) MSI
General
1 91 (18.27%) Social Skills
2 51 (10.24%) Finance
3 48 (9.64%) Public Sector
4 44 (8.84%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (4.42%) Documentation Skills
6 10 (2.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 10 (2.01%) Legal
7 9 (1.81%) Banking
7 9 (1.81%) Billing
8 7 (1.41%) Military
8 7 (1.41%) Telecoms
9 6 (1.20%) Aviation
9 6 (1.20%) Local Government
9 6 (1.20%) Spanish Language
10 4 (0.80%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.60%) Organisational Skills
11 3 (0.60%) Retail
12 2 (0.40%) Financial Institution
12 2 (0.40%) Marketing
13 1 (0.20%) Back Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (2.01%) LDAP
2 9 (1.81%) ARM Templates
2 9 (1.81%) SAML
3 7 (1.41%) OpenID
3 7 (1.41%) REST
4 5 (1.00%) Microsoft Graph
5 4 (0.80%) Keycloak
5 4 (0.80%) Middleware
5 4 (0.80%) OAuth
5 4 (0.80%) SOAP
5 4 (0.80%) Web Services
6 3 (0.60%) ADO
6 3 (0.60%) Elastic Stack
6 3 (0.60%) Oracle Fusion
6 3 (0.60%) YAML
7 2 (0.40%) .NET
7 2 (0.40%) .NET Core
7 2 (0.40%) Apache NiFi
7 2 (0.40%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.40%) OAuth2
Miscellaneous
1 28 (5.62%) PKI
2 26 (5.22%) Data Centre
3 20 (4.02%) Hybrid Cloud
4 16 (3.21%) Public Cloud
5 13 (2.61%) Analytical Mindset
6 10 (2.01%) Onboarding
7 9 (1.81%) Clustering
7 9 (1.81%) Enterprise Software
7 9 (1.81%) Private Cloud
8 8 (1.61%) Replication
9 7 (1.41%) NHS
9 7 (1.41%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (1.20%) Cloud Native
11 4 (0.80%) Enterprise Storage
12 3 (0.60%) Client/Server
12 3 (0.60%) Cyber Threat
12 3 (0.60%) Data Protection Act
12 3 (0.60%) Legacy Systems
12 3 (0.60%) Management Information System
12 3 (0.60%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 190 (38.15%) Windows
2 101 (20.28%) Windows Server
3 97 (19.48%) Linux
4 17 (3.41%) Windows 10
5 14 (2.81%) Ubuntu
6 13 (2.61%) Windows Server 2012
6 13 (2.61%) Windows Server 2019
7 11 (2.21%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 10 (2.01%) VMS
8 10 (2.01%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (1.41%) Unix
10 5 (1.00%) Android
10 5 (1.00%) Apple iOS
10 5 (1.00%) Windows Server 2003
11 2 (0.40%) CentOS
11 2 (0.40%) Debian
11 2 (0.40%) Mac OS
11 2 (0.40%) SUSE
11 2 (0.40%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
11 2 (0.40%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 476 (95.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 92 (18.47%) Problem-Solving
3 83 (16.67%) DevOps
4 76 (15.26%) Infrastructure as Code
5 68 (13.65%) ITIL
6 62 (12.45%) CI/CD
7 45 (9.04%) Cybersecurity
7 45 (9.04%) Infrastructure Automation
8 43 (8.63%) Disaster Recovery
9 42 (8.43%) Migration
10 41 (8.23%) Agile
11 32 (6.43%) Observability
12 28 (5.62%) High Availability
13 26 (5.22%) Platform Engineering
13 26 (5.22%) Project Delivery
14 25 (5.02%) Cloud Security
15 24 (4.82%) Containerisation
15 24 (4.82%) Service Management
16 23 (4.62%) Roadmaps
17 21 (4.22%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 80 (16.06%) PowerShell
2 52 (10.44%) Python
3 21 (4.22%) Bash
4 18 (3.61%) Bicep
5 10 (2.01%) SQL
6 8 (1.61%) JavaScript
6 8 (1.61%) PHP
7 6 (1.20%) Java
8 5 (1.00%) Perl
9 3 (0.60%) 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%) Scala
11 1 (0.20%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 138 (27.71%) Security Cleared
2 94 (18.88%) SC Cleared
3 51 (10.24%) DV Cleared
4 27 (5.42%) Azure Certification
5 22 (4.42%) Microsoft Certification
6 13 (2.61%) Degree
6 13 (2.61%) Network+ Certification
7 12 (2.41%) Server+ Certification
8 11 (2.21%) FFIEC
9 8 (1.61%) AWS Certification
10 7 (1.41%) Cisco Certification
11 6 (1.20%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (1.20%) CCNA
11 6 (1.20%) CompTIA Security+
11 6 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
12 5 (1.00%) CISSP
12 5 (1.00%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
13 4 (0.80%) CISM
13 4 (0.80%) GIAC
13 4 (0.80%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (4.42%) NIST
2 15 (3.01%) GDPR
3 11 (2.21%) GLBA
3 11 (2.21%) PCI DSS
3 11 (2.21%) SLA
4 9 (1.81%) Cyber Essentials
4 9 (1.81%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (0.80%) NIST 800
6 3 (0.60%) 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
1 126 (25.30%) Active Directory
2 115 (23.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 69 (13.86%) Hyper-V
4 41 (8.23%) Docker
5 30 (6.02%) vSphere
6 20 (4.02%) VMware ESXi
7 12 (2.41%) Virtual Machines
8 10 (2.01%) Virtual Desktop
9 8 (1.61%) VMware NSX
10 5 (1.00%) BitLocker
11 3 (0.60%) DFS Replication
11 3 (0.60%) Microsoft App-V
11 3 (0.60%) Sendmail
11 3 (0.60%) 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%) UAG
13 1 (0.20%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 90 (18.07%) Terraform
2 51 (10.24%) Microsoft Intune
2 51 (10.24%) SCCM
3 48 (9.64%) Kubernetes
4 47 (9.44%) Ansible
5 20 (4.02%) vCenter Server
6 18 (3.61%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (1.81%) VxRail
8 7 (1.41%) Grafana
8 7 (1.41%) Prometheus
8 7 (1.41%) SCOM
9 6 (1.20%) AirWatch
9 6 (1.20%) CASB
9 6 (1.20%) FortiGate
9 6 (1.20%) Istio
9 6 (1.20%) Red Hat Satellite
9 6 (1.20%) SCOrch
10 5 (1.00%) Active Directory Federation Services
11 4 (0.80%) Nessus
11 4 (0.80%) Packer
Vendors
1 172 (34.54%) Microsoft
2 155 (31.12%) VMware
3 34 (6.83%) Cisco
4 26 (5.22%) Dell
5 21 (4.22%) Veeam
6 17 (3.41%) Google
7 16 (3.21%) F5
8 15 (3.01%) Citrix
8 15 (3.01%) Red Hat
8 15 (3.01%) Splunk
9 14 (2.81%) Palo Alto
9 14 (2.81%) Thales
10 13 (2.61%) Oracle
10 13 (2.61%) SolarWinds
11 11 (2.21%) ServiceNow
12 9 (1.81%) Aruba
12 9 (1.81%) Fortinet
13 8 (1.61%) NetApp
14 7 (1.41%) CyberArk
14 7 (1.41%) HP