Infrastructure Engineer Contract Job Trends

Infrastructure Engineer
UK

The median Infrastructure Engineer daily rate in the UK is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 January 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 238 195 141
Rank change year-on-year -43 -54 +36
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 443 456 752
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.19% 1.37% 1.75%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.31% 1.48% 1.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 315 315 540
10th Percentile £268 £321 £350
25th Percentile £363 £376 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - +5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £616
90th Percentile £640 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £488
% change year-on-year - -7.69% +8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 15 4 17
10th Percentile £26.10 - £21.25
25th Percentile £29.00 £24.18 -
Median hourly rate £34.00 £34.59 £23.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.71% +50.39% -54.00%
75th Percentile £62.13 £50.63 £72.50
90th Percentile £81.80 £56.25 £76.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £64.50 £24.18 £23.00
% change year-on-year +166.75% +5.13% -39.27%

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 33,835 30,753 40,099
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.20% 92.71% 93.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,431 18,857 26,859
10th Percentile £300 £298 £281
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £485 £500
% change year-on-year -2.06% -3.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,964 949 1,554
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.50 £14.43
25th Percentile £18.24 £21.05 £19.25
Median hourly rate £26.00 £32.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.00% -27.78% +41.93%
75th Percentile £58.75 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.52 £46.18
% change year-on-year -20.21% -31.75% +80.14%

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 1 January 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 1 January 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 1 January 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 -29 401 £475 -5.00% 265
UK excluding London -32 289 £450 - 240
Work from Home +13 122 £431 +1.47% 106
London -57 111 £525 - 45
South East -6 92 £454 +2.11% 61
North of England -37 65 £425 +3.03% 62
South West +1 60 £553 -3.91% 42
North West -18 31 £446 +9.78% 20
Yorkshire -44 30 £350 -15.15% 37
East of England +4 29 £413 -2.94% 13
Midlands -39 29 £420 -20.75% 46
West Midlands -33 21 £425 -37.96% 30
Scotland -11 13 £465 +3.33% 17
East Midlands -18 8 £415 -17.00% 16
Wales -13 5 £550 +22.22% 2
North East -5 4 £466 - 7
Northern Ireland -6 1 £375 -

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

For the 6 months to 1 January 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.

1 421 (95.03%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 173 (39.05%) Azure
2 173 (39.05%) Windows
3 161 (36.34%) Microsoft
4 129 (29.12%) VMware
5 122 (27.54%) Security Cleared
6 121 (27.31%) Active Directory
7 101 (22.80%) Linux
8 99 (22.35%) VMware Infrastructure
9 92 (20.77%) Firewall
9 92 (20.77%) SC Cleared
9 92 (20.77%) Terraform
10 89 (20.09%) Windows Server
11 81 (18.28%) DevOps
12 80 (18.06%) Problem-Solving
13 79 (17.83%) Microsoft 365
14 76 (17.16%) AWS
15 74 (16.70%) DNS
15 74 (16.70%) PowerShell
16 72 (16.25%) Infrastructure as Code
17 67 (15.12%) Ansible
18 66 (14.90%) ITIL
19 63 (14.22%) CI/CD
20 62 (14.00%) Hyper-V
21 60 (13.54%) Python
22 52 (11.74%) DHCP
22 52 (11.74%) TCP/IP
23 50 (11.29%) Infrastructure Automation
24 49 (11.06%) Entra ID
24 49 (11.06%) Microsoft Intune

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 44 (9.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 13 (2.93%) SharePoint
3 8 (1.81%) Apache
3 8 (1.81%) TPMS
4 7 (1.58%) IIS
5 6 (1.35%) Confluence
6 3 (0.68%) Exchange Server 2010
7 2 (0.45%) iPlanet
7 2 (0.45%) JBoss
7 2 (0.45%) nginx
7 2 (0.45%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.45%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.45%) WebSphere Application Server
8 1 (0.23%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.23%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.23%) CICS
8 1 (0.23%) Traefik
8 1 (0.23%) WebLogic
Applications
1 8 (1.81%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.23%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 3 (0.68%) Maximo
2 2 (0.45%) Dynamics CRM
3 1 (0.23%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 173 (39.05%) Azure
2 79 (17.83%) Microsoft 365
3 76 (17.16%) AWS
4 49 (11.06%) Entra ID
5 24 (5.42%) IaaS
6 21 (4.74%) PaaS
7 19 (4.29%) Azure DevOps
8 18 (4.06%) Azure Monitor
9 17 (3.84%) GCP
10 14 (3.16%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 14 (3.16%) Amazon S3
10 14 (3.16%) Azure Sentinel
10 14 (3.16%) GitHub
11 12 (2.71%) Mimecast
12 11 (2.48%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 11 (2.48%) Nutanix
13 10 (2.26%) Amazon EC2
13 10 (2.26%) Amazon ELB
13 10 (2.26%) Virtual Private Cloud
14 9 (2.03%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 92 (20.77%) Firewall
2 74 (16.70%) DNS
3 52 (11.74%) DHCP
3 52 (11.74%) TCP/IP
4 45 (10.16%) VPN
5 30 (6.77%) WAN
6 29 (6.55%) VLAN
7 27 (6.09%) SSL
8 25 (5.64%) Wi-Fi
9 22 (4.97%) SAN
10 19 (4.29%) LAN
11 15 (3.39%) Network Security
12 9 (2.03%) SD-WAN
13 8 (1.81%) SNMP
13 8 (1.81%) SSH
14 7 (1.58%) HTTP
14 7 (1.58%) MPLS
15 6 (1.35%) 4G
16 4 (0.90%) Fibre Channel
16 4 (0.90%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (3.39%) SQL Server
2 3 (0.68%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (0.45%) Amazon Aurora
3 2 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
3 2 (0.45%) MySQL
3 2 (0.45%) Oracle Database
3 2 (0.45%) Power BI
3 2 (0.45%) SAP HANA
4 1 (0.23%) Apache Iceberg
4 1 (0.23%) Azure SQL Database
4 1 (0.23%) Data Lake
4 1 (0.23%) Data Warehouse
4 1 (0.23%) Delta Lake
4 1 (0.23%) Parquet
4 1 (0.23%) PostgreSQL
4 1 (0.23%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 18 (4.06%) GitLab
2 17 (3.84%) Git
3 16 (3.61%) Jenkins
4 11 (2.48%) JIRA
5 4 (0.90%) Artifactory
5 4 (0.90%) Robot Framework
6 3 (0.68%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.45%) Bitbucket Server
7 2 (0.45%) CA Release Automation
8 1 (0.23%) GoCD
8 1 (0.23%) MSI
General
1 91 (20.54%) Social Skills
2 53 (11.96%) Public Sector
3 46 (10.38%) Finance
4 40 (9.03%) Analytical Skills
5 22 (4.97%) Documentation Skills
6 11 (2.48%) Banking
7 10 (2.26%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 10 (2.26%) Military
8 9 (2.03%) Local Government
9 8 (1.81%) Billing
10 7 (1.58%) Telecoms
11 6 (1.35%) Aerospace
11 6 (1.35%) Aviation
11 6 (1.35%) Financial Institution
11 6 (1.35%) Manufacturing
11 6 (1.35%) Spanish Language
12 5 (1.13%) Legal
13 4 (0.90%) Organisational Skills
14 3 (0.68%) Marketing
14 3 (0.68%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (2.48%) Middleware
2 9 (2.03%) SAML
3 8 (1.81%) ARM Templates
4 7 (1.58%) OpenID
5 6 (1.35%) REST
6 5 (1.13%) Microsoft Graph
7 4 (0.90%) AWS CDK
7 4 (0.90%) LDAP
7 4 (0.90%) OAuth
7 4 (0.90%) SOAP
7 4 (0.90%) Web Services
7 4 (0.90%) YAML
8 3 (0.68%) ADO
8 3 (0.68%) FIX Protocol
9 2 (0.45%) .NET
9 2 (0.45%) .NET Core
9 2 (0.45%) Elastic Stack
9 2 (0.45%) Node.js
9 2 (0.45%) OAuth2
9 2 (0.45%) WPF
Miscellaneous
1 32 (7.22%) Data Centre
2 22 (4.97%) PKI
3 20 (4.51%) Hybrid Cloud
4 13 (2.93%) Analytical Mindset
4 13 (2.93%) Private Cloud
4 13 (2.93%) Replication
5 8 (1.81%) Enterprise Software
5 8 (1.81%) Onboarding
6 7 (1.58%) Clustering
6 7 (1.58%) Public Cloud
7 6 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
7 6 (1.35%) NHS
7 6 (1.35%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.13%) Management Information System
9 4 (0.90%) Cloud Native
9 4 (0.90%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (0.90%) Mobile App
10 3 (0.68%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (0.68%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (0.68%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 173 (39.05%) Windows
2 101 (22.80%) Linux
3 89 (20.09%) Windows Server
4 16 (3.61%) Windows 10
5 13 (2.93%) Ubuntu
5 13 (2.93%) Unix
6 12 (2.71%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 10 (2.26%) Windows Server 2012
8 9 (2.03%) VMS
9 7 (1.58%) Windows Server 2016
9 7 (1.58%) Windows Server 2019
10 6 (1.35%) Android
11 5 (1.13%) Apple iOS
12 4 (0.90%) CentOS
13 3 (0.68%) Windows Server 2003
14 2 (0.45%) Debian
14 2 (0.45%) Mac OS
14 2 (0.45%) SUSE
14 2 (0.45%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
15 1 (0.23%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 421 (95.03%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 81 (18.28%) DevOps
3 80 (18.06%) Problem-Solving
4 72 (16.25%) Infrastructure as Code
5 66 (14.90%) ITIL
6 63 (14.22%) CI/CD
7 50 (11.29%) Infrastructure Automation
8 40 (9.03%) Disaster Recovery
9 38 (8.58%) Migration
10 36 (8.13%) Cybersecurity
11 35 (7.90%) High Availability
12 31 (7.00%) Observability
13 27 (6.09%) Agile
14 25 (5.64%) Service Management
15 24 (5.42%) Containerisation
16 19 (4.29%) Cloud Security
16 19 (4.29%) Configuration Management
16 19 (4.29%) DevSecOps
17 18 (4.06%) SIEM
17 18 (4.06%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 74 (16.70%) PowerShell
2 60 (13.54%) Python
3 31 (7.00%) Bash
4 15 (3.39%) Bicep
5 14 (3.16%) Perl
6 13 (2.93%) SQL
7 8 (1.81%) Java
8 7 (1.58%) JavaScript
8 7 (1.58%) Shell Script
9 6 (1.35%) Go
10 5 (1.13%) PHP
11 2 (0.45%) C#
11 2 (0.45%) Groovy
11 2 (0.45%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.23%) C++
12 1 (0.23%) Kusto Query Language
12 1 (0.23%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.23%) Ruby
12 1 (0.23%) Scala
12 1 (0.23%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 122 (27.54%) Security Cleared
2 92 (20.77%) SC Cleared
3 33 (7.45%) DV Cleared
4 30 (6.77%) Azure Certification
5 24 (5.42%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (3.61%) Network+ Certification
7 15 (3.39%) Degree
8 12 (2.71%) Server+ Certification
9 9 (2.03%) Cisco Certification
10 8 (1.81%) FFIEC
11 7 (1.58%) AWS Certification
11 7 (1.58%) CCNA
12 6 (1.35%) BPSS Clearance
12 6 (1.35%) Computer Science Degree
13 5 (1.13%) CISSP
13 5 (1.13%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 4 (0.90%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
14 4 (0.90%) CISM
15 3 (0.68%) CCNP
15 3 (0.68%) ISO 27001 Lead Implementer
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.16%) NIST
2 13 (2.93%) GDPR
3 11 (2.48%) SLA
4 8 (1.81%) GLBA
4 8 (1.81%) PCI DSS
5 5 (1.13%) Cyber Essentials
5 5 (1.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.68%) NIST 800
6 3 (0.68%) QA
7 2 (0.45%) HIPAA
7 2 (0.45%) SOC 2
8 1 (0.23%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.23%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 121 (27.31%) Active Directory
2 99 (22.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 62 (14.00%) Hyper-V
4 42 (9.48%) Docker
5 20 (4.51%) vSphere
6 10 (2.26%) Virtual Machines
6 10 (2.26%) VMware ESXi
7 9 (2.03%) Virtual Desktop
8 8 (1.81%) VMware NSX
9 3 (0.68%) DFS Replication
9 3 (0.68%) Sendmail
9 3 (0.68%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.45%) BitLocker
10 2 (0.45%) QEMU
10 2 (0.45%) Tivoli Directory Server
11 1 (0.23%) etcd
11 1 (0.23%) Firmware
11 1 (0.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.23%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.23%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 92 (20.77%) Terraform
2 67 (15.12%) Ansible
3 49 (11.06%) Microsoft Intune
4 47 (10.61%) SCCM
5 37 (8.35%) Kubernetes
6 15 (3.39%) vCenter Server
7 14 (3.16%) Single Sign-On
8 8 (1.81%) FortiGate
8 8 (1.81%) Prometheus
9 7 (1.58%) Grafana
10 6 (1.35%) CASB
10 6 (1.35%) Packer
10 6 (1.35%) Red Hat Satellite
10 6 (1.35%) SCOrch
11 5 (1.13%) VxRail
12 4 (0.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 4 (0.90%) Nessus
12 4 (0.90%) SCOM
12 4 (0.90%) WSUS
13 3 (0.68%) Istio
Vendors
1 161 (36.34%) Microsoft
2 129 (29.12%) VMware
3 30 (6.77%) Cisco
4 27 (6.09%) Palo Alto
5 23 (5.19%) F5
6 19 (4.29%) Red Hat
7 18 (4.06%) Veeam
8 16 (3.61%) Dell
9 15 (3.39%) Citrix
9 15 (3.39%) ServiceNow
10 14 (3.16%) Google
11 13 (2.93%) Splunk
12 12 (2.71%) CheckPoint
13 10 (2.26%) Aruba
14 9 (2.03%) HP
14 9 (2.03%) SolarWinds
15 8 (1.81%) Oracle
16 7 (1.58%) Fortinet
16 7 (1.58%) NetApp
16 7 (1.58%) Thales