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 6 months leading up to 29 August 2026.

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

6 months to
29 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 144 230 147
Rank change year-on-year +86 -83 +7
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 1,061 395 635
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.97% 1.20% 1.65%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.13% 1.31% 1.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 620 256 474
10th Percentile £350 £319 £316
25th Percentile £425 £381 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £600 £590 £575
90th Percentile £675 £638 £640
UK excluding London median daily rate £525 £494 £450
% change year-on-year +6.33% +9.72% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 6 4
10th Percentile £46.00 £27.50 £48.88
25th Percentile £58.43 £29.00 £58.44
Median hourly rate £72.54 £30.00 £72.25
Median % change year-on-year +141.80% -58.48% -0.34%
75th Percentile £78.75 £70.00 £77.00
90th Percentile £100.00 £141.50 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.54 £77.00 £67.50
% change year-on-year -5.79% +14.07% -6.90%

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 49,838 30,062 35,859
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.47% 91.24% 93.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,768 18,992 22,689
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £621 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,565 1,567 1,847
10th Percentile £14.96 £13.75 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.51 £17.04 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.81 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £44.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.84% +10.00%

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 29 August 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 29 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Infrastructure Engineer in the UK

Infrastructure Engineer
Top 18 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 29 August 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 +62 907 £525 +5.00% 507
UK excluding London +83 745 £525 +6.33% 288
London +14 231 £545 +9.00% 253
South East +24 223 £545 +9.00% 67
Work from Home +25 220 £525 +16.67% 170
North of England +37 209 £515 -1.90% 71
South West +19 107 £550 -0.90% 49
Midlands +7 94 £475 +5.56% 35
North West -5 86 £515 -14.17% 42
Yorkshire +5 83 £370 -27.45% 17
West Midlands -2 65 £475 +5.56% 24
Scotland +27 54 £525 +12.00% 20
North East 0 50 £600 -7.69% 12
East of England -9 36 £450 +17.65% 45
East Midlands +6 28 £450 +5.88% 11
Wales +11 27 £500 - 5
Northern Ireland - 1 - - 3
Channel Islands - 1 £550 -

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

For the 6 months to 29 August 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 1,044 (98.40%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 433 (40.81%) Security Cleared
3 335 (31.57%) Windows
4 321 (30.25%) Azure
5 282 (26.58%) SC Cleared
5 282 (26.58%) VMware
6 253 (23.85%) Microsoft
7 223 (21.02%) Windows Server
8 221 (20.83%) VMware Infrastructure
9 217 (20.45%) Active Directory
10 214 (20.17%) Infrastructure as Code
11 202 (19.04%) Linux
12 188 (17.72%) Terraform
13 187 (17.62%) DNS
14 185 (17.44%) PowerShell
15 160 (15.08%) Firewall
16 152 (14.33%) AWS
17 151 (14.23%) DV Cleared
18 148 (13.95%) DevOps
19 142 (13.38%) Python
20 138 (13.01%) CI/CD
21 135 (12.72%) DHCP
22 127 (11.97%) Ansible
23 117 (11.03%) Migration
24 114 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
25 105 (9.90%) Kubernetes
26 102 (9.61%) Hyper-V
27 91 (8.58%) Entra ID
28 88 (8.29%) Microsoft 365
29 82 (7.73%) 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 58 (5.47%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (3.02%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.32%) WebSphere
4 13 (1.23%) CICS
5 9 (0.85%) Confluence
6 5 (0.47%) SharePoint Server
7 3 (0.28%) Apache
7 3 (0.28%) Exchange Server 2010
8 2 (0.19%) CloudStack
8 2 (0.19%) Skype for Business
9 1 (0.094%) Apache Airflow
9 1 (0.094%) Exchange Server 2013
9 1 (0.094%) IBM HTTP Server
9 1 (0.094%) IIS
9 1 (0.094%) MS Project Server
9 1 (0.094%) OpenStack
9 1 (0.094%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 10 (0.94%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.094%) CINEMA 4D
3 1 (0.094%) Houdini
3 1 (0.094%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.094%) NUKE
Business Applications
1 3 (0.28%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.094%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 321 (30.25%) Azure
2 152 (14.33%) AWS
3 91 (8.58%) Entra ID
4 88 (8.29%) Microsoft 365
5 62 (5.84%) IaaS
6 56 (5.28%) GitHub
7 54 (5.09%) GCP
8 52 (4.90%) OCI
9 41 (3.86%) SaaS
10 40 (3.77%) Azure DevOps
11 34 (3.20%) PaaS
12 31 (2.92%) Azure Monitor
13 26 (2.45%) GitHub Actions
14 21 (1.98%) Azure AKS
15 19 (1.79%) Nutanix
16 11 (1.04%) OpenShift
17 9 (0.85%) Google Kubernetes Engine
18 8 (0.75%) Azure Sentinel
18 8 (0.75%) OneDrive
18 8 (0.75%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 187 (17.62%) DNS
2 160 (15.08%) Firewall
3 135 (12.72%) DHCP
4 58 (5.47%) VLAN
5 57 (5.37%) TCP/IP
5 57 (5.37%) VPN
6 53 (5.00%) SAN
7 42 (3.96%) Network Security
8 41 (3.86%) WAN
9 31 (2.92%) BIG-IP
9 31 (2.92%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
10 25 (2.36%) Wi-Fi
11 24 (2.26%) LAN
12 23 (2.17%) Ethernet VPN
12 23 (2.17%) SD-WAN
13 22 (2.07%) VXLAN
14 21 (1.98%) VSAN
15 20 (1.89%) BGP
15 20 (1.89%) OSPF
16 14 (1.32%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 54 (5.09%) SQL Server
2 22 (2.07%) Oracle Exadata
3 17 (1.60%) Relational Database
4 16 (1.51%) Oracle Database
5 14 (1.32%) RDBMS
6 8 (0.75%) Elasticsearch
7 7 (0.66%) Amazon RDS
8 4 (0.38%) Azure SQL Database
8 4 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (0.38%) Power BI
8 4 (0.38%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 3 (0.28%) Big Data
9 3 (0.28%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.28%) Data Mining
9 3 (0.28%) NonStop SQL
10 2 (0.19%) BigQuery
10 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 2 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 1 (0.094%) Data Warehouse
11 1 (0.094%) Snowflake Schema
Development Applications
1 47 (4.43%) GitLab
2 26 (2.45%) JIRA
3 25 (2.36%) Git
4 23 (2.17%) Jenkins
5 5 (0.47%) Chocolatey
6 3 (0.28%) Fiddler
7 1 (0.094%) Artifactory
7 1 (0.094%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.094%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.094%) CMake
7 1 (0.094%) Gradle
7 1 (0.094%) Introscope
7 1 (0.094%) MLflow
7 1 (0.094%) MSI
7 1 (0.094%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.094%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.094%) Visual Studio
General
1 122 (11.50%) Social Skills
2 76 (7.16%) Public Sector
3 47 (4.43%) Analytical Skills
3 47 (4.43%) Finance
4 37 (3.49%) Documentation Skills
5 21 (1.98%) Banking
6 15 (1.41%) Aerospace
6 15 (1.41%) Military
7 13 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (1.04%) Manufacturing
9 10 (0.94%) Marketing
9 10 (0.94%) Telecoms
10 8 (0.75%) Legal
11 7 (0.66%) Law
12 6 (0.57%) Automotive
13 4 (0.38%) Investment Banking
14 2 (0.19%) Advertising
14 2 (0.19%) Billing
14 2 (0.19%) Local Government
14 2 (0.19%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 188 (17.72%) Terraform
2 18 (1.70%) Middleware
3 16 (1.51%) ARM Templates
4 14 (1.32%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 9 (0.85%) YAML
6 7 (0.66%) REST
7 6 (0.57%) 802.1X
7 6 (0.57%) JSON
7 6 (0.57%) OpenID
8 5 (0.47%) .NET
8 5 (0.47%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (0.47%) Flash
8 5 (0.47%) SAML
9 4 (0.38%) LDAP
10 3 (0.28%) Kafka
10 3 (0.28%) OAuth
10 3 (0.28%) SOAP
11 2 (0.19%) OAuth2
11 2 (0.19%) RabbitMQ
11 2 (0.19%) React
Miscellaneous
1 123 (11.59%) Data Centre
2 64 (6.03%) Hybrid Cloud
3 59 (5.56%) PKI
4 39 (3.68%) Public Cloud
5 33 (3.11%) Enterprise Storage
6 27 (2.54%) Cloud Native
6 27 (2.54%) Onboarding
6 27 (2.54%) Replication
7 20 (1.89%) Clustering
8 18 (1.70%) Distributed Systems
8 18 (1.70%) Self-Motivation
9 17 (1.60%) Management Information System
10 16 (1.51%) Linux Command Line
11 15 (1.41%) Private Cloud
12 13 (1.23%) Mainframe
13 11 (1.04%) Operational Technology
14 9 (0.85%) Driving Licence
15 8 (0.75%) Enterprise Software
15 8 (0.75%) Smartcard
15 8 (0.75%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 335 (31.57%) Windows
2 223 (21.02%) Windows Server
3 202 (19.04%) Linux
4 36 (3.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 20 (1.89%) Windows Server 2016
5 20 (1.89%) Windows Server 2019
6 19 (1.79%) Windows 10
7 15 (1.41%) AIX
7 15 (1.41%) Ubuntu
7 15 (1.41%) VMS
8 13 (1.23%) CentOS
8 13 (1.23%) zOS
9 11 (1.04%) Apple iOS
10 10 (0.94%) Android
10 10 (0.94%) Mac OS
11 9 (0.85%) Windows Server 2012
12 7 (0.66%) Rocky
13 6 (0.57%) Debian
13 6 (0.57%) Unix
13 6 (0.57%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 1,044 (98.40%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 214 (20.17%) Infrastructure as Code
3 148 (13.95%) DevOps
4 138 (13.01%) CI/CD
5 117 (11.03%) Migration
6 114 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
7 82 (7.73%) Infrastructure Automation
8 77 (7.26%) High Availability
9 74 (6.97%) Disaster Recovery
10 70 (6.60%) Continuous Improvement
11 65 (6.13%) ITIL
12 62 (5.84%) Platform Engineering
13 60 (5.66%) Validation
14 59 (5.56%) Project Delivery
15 50 (4.71%) Zero Trust
16 47 (4.43%) Root Cause Analysis
17 45 (4.24%) Agile
18 43 (4.05%) Identity Access Management
19 42 (3.96%) Load Balancing
20 41 (3.86%) Cybersecurity
Programming Languages
1 185 (17.44%) PowerShell
2 142 (13.38%) Python
3 78 (7.35%) Bash
4 40 (3.77%) SQL
5 31 (2.92%) Bicep
6 18 (1.70%) C#
7 10 (0.94%) Java
8 6 (0.57%) ActionScript
8 6 (0.57%) Go
9 3 (0.28%) Perl
10 2 (0.19%) C++
10 2 (0.19%) PHP
10 2 (0.19%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.19%) VB
11 1 (0.094%) C
11 1 (0.094%) JavaScript
11 1 (0.094%) Jython
11 1 (0.094%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.094%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 433 (40.81%) Security Cleared
2 282 (26.58%) SC Cleared
3 151 (14.23%) DV Cleared
4 42 (3.96%) Degree
5 35 (3.30%) Microsoft Certification
6 25 (2.36%) Azure Certification
7 21 (1.98%) Cisco Certification
7 21 (1.98%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 18 (1.70%) MCSE
9 14 (1.32%) CCNA
10 13 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
10 13 (1.23%) VCAP
11 12 (1.13%) CCNP
12 6 (0.57%) AWS Certification
12 6 (0.57%) MCSA
13 5 (0.47%) DBS Check
14 4 (0.38%) ITIL Certification
14 4 (0.38%) JNCIP
14 4 (0.38%) JNCIS
14 4 (0.38%) RHCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (3.30%) QA
2 20 (1.89%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (1.51%) SLA
4 14 (1.32%) Cyber Essentials
5 13 (1.23%) NIST
6 11 (1.04%) NCSC
7 6 (0.57%) Disclosure Scotland
8 3 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 3 (0.28%) Data Quality
9 2 (0.19%) GDPR
9 2 (0.19%) NIST 800
9 2 (0.19%) SOC 2
10 1 (0.094%) FedRAMP
10 1 (0.094%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 221 (20.83%) VMware Infrastructure
2 217 (20.45%) Active Directory
3 102 (9.61%) Hyper-V
4 72 (6.79%) vSphere
5 69 (6.50%) VMware ESXi
6 45 (4.24%) Virtual Machines
7 37 (3.49%) Docker
8 33 (3.11%) VMware NSX
9 24 (2.26%) Virtual Desktop
10 14 (1.32%) Oracle RAC
11 12 (1.13%) NFS
12 11 (1.04%) Firmware
13 10 (0.94%) Virtual Servers
14 9 (0.85%) BitLocker
15 7 (0.66%) KVM
15 7 (0.66%) Microsoft App-V
16 5 (0.47%) GPFS
17 4 (0.38%) Terminal Services
18 3 (0.28%) oVirt
19 2 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 127 (11.97%) Ansible
2 105 (9.90%) Kubernetes
3 60 (5.66%) Microsoft Intune
4 45 (4.24%) SCCM
4 45 (4.24%) vCenter Server
5 19 (1.79%) SCOM
5 19 (1.79%) WSUS
6 17 (1.60%) NetBackup
7 16 (1.51%) Prometheus
8 14 (1.32%) Data Guard
8 14 (1.32%) Oracle RMAN
9 13 (1.23%) Grafana
10 10 (0.94%) Single Sign-On
11 9 (0.85%) Puppet
12 8 (0.75%) Failover Clustering
12 8 (0.75%) Nessus
12 8 (0.75%) vMotion
12 8 (0.75%) vRealize
13 7 (0.66%) FortiGate
13 7 (0.66%) Istio
Vendors
1 282 (26.58%) VMware
2 253 (23.85%) Microsoft
3 63 (5.94%) Citrix
4 62 (5.84%) Cisco
5 44 (4.15%) NetApp
6 42 (3.96%) Oracle
7 34 (3.20%) F5
7 34 (3.20%) Veeam
8 32 (3.02%) Palo Alto
9 30 (2.83%) Google
10 28 (2.64%) Red Hat
11 20 (1.89%) IBM
12 19 (1.79%) Arista
12 19 (1.79%) Aruba
13 18 (1.70%) Dell
14 17 (1.60%) CyberArk
14 17 (1.60%) Juniper
14 17 (1.60%) ServiceNow
15 14 (1.32%) SolarWinds
15 14 (1.32%) Tenable