Infrastructure Engineer Contract Job Trends

Infrastructure Engineer
UK

The median Infrastructure Engineer daily rate in the UK is £510, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 10 May 2026.

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

6 months to
10 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 178 205 153
Rank change year-on-year +27 -52 +34
Contract jobs requiring an Infrastructure Engineer 729 390 689
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.53% 1.33% 1.60%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.65% 1.43% 1.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 495 270 519
10th Percentile £325 £310 £300
25th Percentile £413 £385 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £463
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% +13.51% -7.50%
75th Percentile £597 £600 £588
90th Percentile £650 £650 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £510 £501 £463
% change year-on-year +1.90% +8.22% -0.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 3 9
10th Percentile £46.40 £59.34 £20.99
25th Percentile £58.43 £112.09 £21.25
Median hourly rate £72.54 £200.00 £22.50
Median % change year-on-year -63.73% +788.89% -63.48%
75th Percentile £78.75 - £77.00
90th Percentile - - £77.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.54 £200.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -63.73% +788.89% -61.88%

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 44,077 27,186 39,942
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.24% 92.51% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,083 17,732 26,002
10th Percentile £319 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.46% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £492 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.65% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,853 1,054 2,673
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.38 £18.50 £16.25
Median hourly rate £44.50 £28.68 £36.65
Median % change year-on-year +55.19% -21.76% -18.56%
75th Percentile £67.25 £62.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.78 £27.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +66.47% -31.25% -5.73%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 +8 624 £513 -2.24% 223
UK excluding London +17 508 £510 +1.90% 202
London -22 157 £519 -1.19% 43
Work from Home +25 154 £511 +7.07% 78
South East -8 135 £520 -3.26% 62
North of England -9 124 £485 +19.38% 57
South West +9 93 £539 -6.30% 22
Midlands -23 65 £450 +16.13% 29
Yorkshire -26 63 £350 -15.15% 12
North West -17 45 £575 +26.37% 30
Scotland +19 40 £560 +1.82% 8
East of England -16 36 £450 -3.54% 18
West Midlands -40 35 £488 +44.44% 19
East Midlands -11 29 £450 +12.50% 10
North East -9 19 £600 -7.69% 15
Wales 0 16 £400 -5.88% 9
Northern Ireland - 2 £375 -

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

For the 6 months to 10 May 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.

1 712 (97.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 268 (36.76%) Security Cleared
3 240 (32.92%) Windows
4 227 (31.14%) Azure
5 194 (26.61%) VMware
6 191 (26.20%) SC Cleared
7 168 (23.05%) Microsoft
8 152 (20.85%) Active Directory
9 150 (20.58%) Windows Server
10 145 (19.89%) VMware Infrastructure
11 127 (17.42%) Terraform
12 122 (16.74%) Infrastructure as Code
13 115 (15.78%) PowerShell
14 113 (15.50%) DNS
15 110 (15.09%) DevOps
16 106 (14.54%) Linux
17 105 (14.40%) Firewall
18 93 (12.76%) DV Cleared
18 93 (12.76%) Problem-Solving
19 92 (12.62%) CI/CD
20 88 (12.07%) AWS
21 87 (11.93%) Python
22 80 (10.97%) Hyper-V
23 79 (10.84%) DHCP
23 79 (10.84%) Kubernetes
24 73 (10.01%) Ansible
25 67 (9.19%) Microsoft 365
26 66 (9.05%) Migration
27 61 (8.37%) Infrastructure Automation
28 56 (7.68%) ITIL

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 54 (7.41%) Microsoft Exchange
2 12 (1.65%) SharePoint
3 6 (0.82%) TPMS
4 4 (0.55%) Apache
5 3 (0.41%) Confluence
5 3 (0.41%) Exchange Server 2010
5 3 (0.41%) IIS
6 2 (0.27%) nginx
7 1 (0.14%) IBM HTTP Server
7 1 (0.14%) MS Project Server
7 1 (0.14%) WebSphere
7 1 (0.14%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 12 (1.65%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.14%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 227 (31.14%) Azure
2 88 (12.07%) AWS
3 67 (9.19%) Microsoft 365
4 52 (7.13%) GitHub
5 42 (5.76%) Entra ID
6 41 (5.62%) GCP
7 36 (4.94%) IaaS
8 31 (4.25%) PaaS
9 27 (3.70%) SaaS
10 25 (3.43%) Azure DevOps
11 24 (3.29%) Nutanix
11 24 (3.29%) OCI
12 22 (3.02%) Google Kubernetes Engine
13 21 (2.88%) Azure Monitor
14 14 (1.92%) Azure AKS
14 14 (1.92%) GitHub Actions
15 8 (1.10%) Microsoft Purview
16 7 (0.96%) Microsoft Copilot
17 6 (0.82%) Azure Sentinel
17 6 (0.82%) Cohesity
Communications & Networking
1 113 (15.50%) DNS
2 105 (14.40%) Firewall
3 79 (10.84%) DHCP
4 39 (5.35%) VPN
5 37 (5.08%) WAN
6 29 (3.98%) VLAN
7 28 (3.84%) LAN
7 28 (3.84%) Network Security
8 23 (3.16%) SAN
9 22 (3.02%) TCP/IP
10 20 (2.74%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
11 17 (2.33%) BGP
12 16 (2.19%) BIG-IP
12 16 (2.19%) Ethernet VPN
13 15 (2.06%) VXLAN
14 14 (1.92%) SD-WAN
15 13 (1.78%) OSPF
15 13 (1.78%) Wi-Fi
16 12 (1.65%) SMTP
17 11 (1.51%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (4.12%) SQL Server
2 9 (1.23%) Elasticsearch
3 4 (0.55%) Amazon RDS
4 3 (0.41%) Data Mining
4 3 (0.41%) NonStop SQL
5 2 (0.27%) Azure SQL Database
5 2 (0.27%) DynamoDB
5 2 (0.27%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
6 1 (0.14%) Flink
6 1 (0.14%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.14%) NoSQL
6 1 (0.14%) Power BI
6 1 (0.14%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.14%) Snowflake Schema
6 1 (0.14%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 21 (2.88%) GitLab
2 18 (2.47%) Jenkins
3 11 (1.51%) JIRA
4 9 (1.23%) Git
5 8 (1.10%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.41%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.14%) Chocolatey
7 1 (0.14%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.14%) GoCD
7 1 (0.14%) IntelliJ
7 1 (0.14%) Introscope
7 1 (0.14%) MSI
7 1 (0.14%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.14%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 90 (12.35%) Social Skills
2 69 (9.47%) Public Sector
3 49 (6.72%) Finance
4 43 (5.90%) Analytical Skills
5 19 (2.61%) Documentation Skills
6 16 (2.19%) Legal
7 14 (1.92%) Aerospace
7 14 (1.92%) Banking
7 14 (1.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 9 (1.23%) Billing
8 9 (1.23%) Manufacturing
9 6 (0.82%) Military
9 6 (0.82%) Telecoms
10 5 (0.69%) Marketing
11 4 (0.55%) Retail
12 3 (0.41%) Law
12 3 (0.41%) Local Government
13 2 (0.27%) Advertising
13 2 (0.27%) Investment Banking
14 1 (0.14%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (1.37%) LDAP
1 10 (1.37%) REST
2 8 (1.10%) SOAP
3 7 (0.96%) Flash
4 6 (0.82%) Elastic Stack
5 5 (0.69%) Web Services
6 4 (0.55%) ARM Templates
6 4 (0.55%) Keycloak
6 4 (0.55%) OpenID
6 4 (0.55%) SAML
7 3 (0.41%) ADO
7 3 (0.41%) OAuth
7 3 (0.41%) OAuth2
7 3 (0.41%) Oracle Fusion
8 2 (0.27%) Apache NiFi
8 2 (0.27%) Kafka
8 2 (0.27%) Node.js
9 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Graph
9 1 (0.14%) React
9 1 (0.14%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 58 (7.96%) Data Centre
2 41 (5.62%) PKI
3 27 (3.70%) Hybrid Cloud
3 27 (3.70%) Public Cloud
4 18 (2.47%) Self-Motivation
5 16 (2.19%) Enterprise Storage
5 16 (2.19%) Onboarding
6 14 (1.92%) Replication
7 13 (1.78%) Cloud Native
8 11 (1.51%) Operational Technology
8 11 (1.51%) Private Cloud
9 10 (1.37%) Clustering
9 10 (1.37%) Enterprise Software
10 7 (0.96%) Virtual Team
11 6 (0.82%) SCADA
11 6 (0.82%) Smartcard
11 6 (0.82%) YubiKey
12 4 (0.55%) Data Protection Act
12 4 (0.55%) Linux Command Line
12 4 (0.55%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 240 (32.92%) Windows
2 150 (20.58%) Windows Server
3 106 (14.54%) Linux
4 22 (3.02%) Windows Server 2019
5 19 (2.61%) Windows Server 2016
6 16 (2.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 16 (2.19%) Ubuntu
7 12 (1.65%) Windows 10
8 11 (1.51%) VMS
8 11 (1.51%) Windows Server 2012
9 10 (1.37%) Apple iOS
10 9 (1.23%) Mac OS
11 8 (1.10%) Android
11 8 (1.10%) Unix
12 6 (0.82%) Windows Server 2003
13 5 (0.69%) CentOS
13 5 (0.69%) Debian
14 1 (0.14%) AIX
14 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
14 1 (0.14%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 712 (97.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 122 (16.74%) Infrastructure as Code
3 110 (15.09%) DevOps
4 93 (12.76%) Problem-Solving
5 92 (12.62%) CI/CD
6 66 (9.05%) Migration
7 61 (8.37%) Infrastructure Automation
8 56 (7.68%) ITIL
9 54 (7.41%) Agile
10 49 (6.72%) Disaster Recovery
11 46 (6.31%) High Availability
12 42 (5.76%) Cybersecurity
13 38 (5.21%) Zero Trust
14 34 (4.66%) Project Delivery
15 32 (4.39%) Containerisation
15 32 (4.39%) Validation
16 30 (4.12%) Continuous Improvement
17 29 (3.98%) Platform Engineering
18 25 (3.43%) Cloud Security
18 25 (3.43%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 115 (15.78%) PowerShell
2 87 (11.93%) Python
3 27 (3.70%) Bash
4 24 (3.29%) SQL
5 20 (2.74%) Bicep
6 12 (1.65%) C#
7 9 (1.23%) PHP
8 8 (1.10%) JavaScript
9 5 (0.69%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.41%) Java
11 2 (0.27%) ActionScript
11 2 (0.27%) TypeScript
12 1 (0.14%) C++
12 1 (0.14%) Jython
12 1 (0.14%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.14%) VB
Qualifications
1 268 (36.76%) Security Cleared
2 191 (26.20%) SC Cleared
3 93 (12.76%) DV Cleared
4 26 (3.57%) Degree
5 14 (1.92%) Cisco Certification
5 14 (1.92%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 13 (1.78%) Azure Certification
7 11 (1.51%) CCNA
7 11 (1.51%) Microsoft Certification
8 7 (0.96%) AWS Certification
8 7 (0.96%) MCSE
9 6 (0.82%) CompTIA Security+
9 6 (0.82%) FFIEC
10 5 (0.69%) CCNP
10 5 (0.69%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (0.69%) RHCA
11 4 (0.55%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 3 (0.41%) BPSS Clearance
12 3 (0.41%) GIAC
12 3 (0.41%) GSEC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 19 (2.61%) NIST
2 16 (2.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 16 (2.19%) QA
3 13 (1.78%) Cyber Essentials
4 9 (1.23%) GDPR
4 9 (1.23%) SLA
5 6 (0.82%) GLBA
5 6 (0.82%) NCSC
5 6 (0.82%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.27%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
8 1 (0.14%) SOC 2
System Software
1 152 (20.85%) Active Directory
2 145 (19.89%) VMware Infrastructure
3 80 (10.97%) Hyper-V
4 52 (7.13%) vSphere
5 41 (5.62%) VMware ESXi
6 40 (5.49%) Docker
7 20 (2.74%) Virtual Machines
8 19 (2.61%) VMware NSX
9 12 (1.65%) Virtual Desktop
10 9 (1.23%) BitLocker
11 7 (0.96%) Microsoft App-V
12 6 (0.82%) NFS
13 5 (0.69%) GPFS
14 4 (0.55%) Firmware
15 3 (0.41%) DFS Replication
15 3 (0.41%) Sendmail
16 2 (0.27%) QEMU
16 2 (0.27%) SRDF
16 2 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
16 2 (0.27%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 127 (17.42%) Terraform
2 79 (10.84%) Kubernetes
3 73 (10.01%) Ansible
4 38 (5.21%) Microsoft Intune
5 36 (4.94%) SCCM
6 30 (4.12%) vCenter Server
7 15 (2.06%) WSUS
8 12 (1.65%) Istio
8 12 (1.65%) SCOM
8 12 (1.65%) Single Sign-On
9 11 (1.51%) Puppet
10 10 (1.37%) Grafana
10 10 (1.37%) Nessus
10 10 (1.37%) Prometheus
11 9 (1.23%) Packer
11 9 (1.23%) vRealize
11 9 (1.23%) VxRail
12 8 (1.10%) AirWatch
13 7 (0.96%) vMotion
14 5 (0.69%) Podman
Vendors
1 194 (26.61%) VMware
2 168 (23.05%) Microsoft
3 45 (6.17%) Cisco
4 43 (5.90%) Citrix
5 35 (4.80%) Veeam
6 29 (3.98%) F5
7 26 (3.57%) Dell
8 25 (3.43%) Google
8 25 (3.43%) Palo Alto
9 22 (3.02%) NetApp
10 19 (2.61%) Oracle
11 15 (2.06%) Aruba
12 14 (1.92%) SolarWinds
13 13 (1.78%) Arista
14 12 (1.65%) Red Hat
15 10 (1.37%) Fortinet
15 10 (1.37%) ServiceNow
15 10 (1.37%) Thales
16 9 (1.23%) Splunk
16 9 (1.23%) Tenable