IT Engineer Contract Job Trends

IT Engineer
UK

The median IT Engineer daily rate in the UK is £200, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 16 May 2026.

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

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 243 197 239
Rank change year-on-year -46 +42 +44
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 509 398 411
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.06% 1.37% 0.97%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.15% 1.48% 1.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 291 261 255
10th Percentile £143 £123 £123
25th Percentile £164 £140 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £203
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -7.41% +6.58%
75th Percentile £288 £250 £300
90th Percentile £438 £423 £583
UK excluding London median daily rate £190 £160 £188
% change year-on-year +18.75% -14.67% +4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 95 63 105
10th Percentile £17.94 £18.26 £12.00
25th Percentile £19.34 £18.51 £15.10
Median hourly rate £22.50 £21.01 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +7.09% +18.57% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.66 £21.75
90th Percentile £27.15 £25.23 £23.99
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £19.00 £17.50
% change year-on-year +18.42% +8.57% -1.24%

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 44,326 26,919 39,482
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.29% 92.40% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,149 17,544 25,684
10th Percentile £320 £295 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £615 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £498 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.74% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,891 1,039 2,653
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.83
25th Percentile £20.31 £18.20 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.69 £28.18 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.47% -22.79% -18.89%
75th Percentile £66.38 £61.38 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.35 £40.00
% change year-on-year +64.53% -31.63% -5.88%

IT Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'IT Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

IT Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

IT Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for IT Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for IT Engineer job vacancies in the UK

IT Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing IT Engineer over the 6 months to 16 May 2026.

Daily rate histogram for IT Engineer in the UK

IT Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for IT Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for IT Engineer job vacancies in the UK

IT Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing IT Engineer over the 6 months to 16 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for IT Engineer in the UK

IT 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 IT Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 16 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 -38 444 £200 +5.26% 223
UK excluding London -38 392 £190 +18.75% 224
London -39 114 £240 +2.67% 34
South East -43 91 £200 +5.26% 57
North of England -38 86 £190 +1.33% 42
Midlands -49 60 £188 +33.93% 39
East of England +6 53 £200 +11.11% 43
North West -24 40 £190 +2.70% 22
South West -57 40 £185 +37.04% 28
Scotland +6 37 £178 -5.33% 7
Yorkshire -42 36 £198 -5.95% 18
East Midlands -5 34 £200 +60.00% 24
West Midlands -64 27 £183 +21.67% 15
Wales -12 23 £190 +29.52% 11
Work from Home -46 15 £429 +61.89% 47
North East -18 10 £450 +125.00% 4
Northern Ireland -3 3 - - 5

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

For the 6 months to 16 May 2026, IT 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 IT Engineer in the job title.

1 216 (42.44%) Windows
2 189 (37.13%) Microsoft 365
3 181 (35.56%) Active Directory
4 178 (34.97%) Microsoft
5 126 (24.75%) Customer Service
6 108 (21.22%) Windows 10
7 101 (19.84%) Problem-Solving
8 97 (19.06%) Security Cleared
9 89 (17.49%) SC Cleared
10 73 (14.34%) Azure
11 72 (14.15%) Migration
12 60 (11.79%) SAN
13 58 (11.39%) Break/Fix
13 58 (11.39%) Dell
14 56 (11.00%) Microsoft Certification
15 54 (10.61%) A+ Certification
15 54 (10.61%) ITIL
15 54 (10.61%) ServiceNow
16 53 (10.41%) Microsoft Intune
16 53 (10.41%) Network+ Certification
17 51 (10.02%) CCNA
17 51 (10.02%) Cisco Certification
17 51 (10.02%) MCSE
18 44 (8.64%) Workflow
19 43 (8.45%) Wi-Fi
20 42 (8.25%) Workflow Management
21 38 (7.47%) Entra ID
21 38 (7.47%) JIRA
22 37 (7.27%) DNS
22 37 (7.27%) ITSM

IT 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 28 (5.50%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (5.11%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.59%) HCL Notes
4 2 (0.39%) Confluence
Applications
1 12 (2.36%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (0.59%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.39%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 189 (37.13%) Microsoft 365
2 73 (14.34%) Azure
3 38 (7.47%) Entra ID
4 19 (3.73%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (3.34%) OneDrive
5 17 (3.34%) SaaS
6 11 (2.16%) PaaS
7 9 (1.77%) AWS
7 9 (1.77%) IaaS
8 6 (1.18%) Google Workspace
9 5 (0.98%) Datadog
9 5 (0.98%) Mimecast
9 5 (0.98%) Nutanix
10 4 (0.79%) GitHub
11 3 (0.59%) Rubrik
12 2 (0.39%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.39%) PowerApps
13 1 (0.20%) Azure Data Factory
13 1 (0.20%) Azure Synapse Analytics
13 1 (0.20%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 60 (11.79%) SAN
2 43 (8.45%) Wi-Fi
3 37 (7.27%) DNS
4 35 (6.88%) DHCP
5 30 (5.89%) LAN
6 29 (5.70%) VPN
7 22 (4.32%) VLAN
8 17 (3.34%) TCP/IP
9 16 (3.14%) Firewall
9 16 (3.14%) WAN
10 8 (1.57%) WLAN
11 7 (1.38%) Internet
11 7 (1.38%) Network Security
12 6 (1.18%) VoIP
13 5 (0.98%) IPv4
13 5 (0.98%) IPv6
14 4 (0.79%) Skype
14 4 (0.79%) Unified Communications
14 4 (0.79%) Wireless
15 3 (0.59%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (2.55%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.20%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 38 (7.47%) JIRA
2 6 (1.18%) Git
3 5 (0.98%) Chocolatey
4 4 (0.79%) GitLab
General
1 200 (39.29%) Social Skills
2 66 (12.97%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (5.89%) Finance
4 29 (5.70%) Manufacturing
5 23 (4.52%) Banking
6 20 (3.93%) Public Sector
7 17 (3.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (2.55%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (1.96%) Marketing
10 9 (1.77%) Documentation Skills
11 6 (1.18%) Telecoms
12 5 (0.98%) Electronics
13 4 (0.79%) Investment Banking
14 3 (0.59%) Financial Institution
14 3 (0.59%) Law
14 3 (0.59%) Retail
15 2 (0.39%) Aerospace
15 2 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
16 1 (0.20%) Aviation
16 1 (0.20%) Japanese Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.79%) React
2 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.20%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.20%) PySpark
3 1 (0.20%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 59 (11.59%) Data Centre
2 51 (10.02%) Analytical Mindset
3 37 (7.27%) Onboarding
4 16 (3.14%) Self-Motivation
4 16 (3.14%) Virtual Team
5 13 (2.55%) Driving Licence
5 13 (2.55%) Operational Technology
6 10 (1.96%) EPoS
7 7 (1.38%) SCADA
7 7 (1.38%) Video Conferencing
8 6 (1.18%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (0.98%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (0.79%) CCTV
10 4 (0.79%) Renewable Energy
10 4 (0.79%) Smartphone
11 3 (0.59%) Blackberry
11 3 (0.59%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (0.39%) IoT
12 2 (0.39%) Life Science
12 2 (0.39%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 216 (42.44%) Windows
2 108 (21.22%) Windows 10
3 23 (4.52%) Windows Server
4 20 (3.93%) Mac OS
5 14 (2.75%) Android
5 14 (2.75%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.79%) Linux
7 2 (0.39%) Unix
7 2 (0.39%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.39%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.20%) Solaris
8 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 126 (24.75%) Customer Service
2 101 (19.84%) Problem-Solving
3 72 (14.15%) Migration
4 58 (11.39%) Break/Fix
5 54 (10.61%) ITIL
6 44 (8.64%) Workflow
7 42 (8.25%) Workflow Management
8 37 (7.27%) ITSM
9 35 (6.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 29 (5.70%) Asset Management
11 25 (4.91%) Change Management
12 23 (4.52%) DevOps
12 23 (4.52%) User Experience
13 20 (3.93%) Disaster Recovery
14 19 (3.73%) Cybersecurity
15 15 (2.95%) Problem Management
16 14 (2.75%) Service Delivery
17 12 (2.36%) Continuous Improvement
18 11 (2.16%) Decision-Making
19 10 (1.96%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 21 (4.13%) SQL
2 19 (3.73%) C#
3 18 (3.54%) PowerShell
4 7 (1.38%) Python
5 4 (0.79%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.79%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 97 (19.06%) Security Cleared
2 89 (17.49%) SC Cleared
3 56 (11.00%) Microsoft Certification
4 54 (10.61%) A+ Certification
5 53 (10.41%) Network+ Certification
6 51 (10.02%) CCNA
6 51 (10.02%) Cisco Certification
6 51 (10.02%) MCSE
7 13 (2.55%) DV Cleared
8 8 (1.57%) Degree
9 4 (0.79%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.20%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.20%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.52%) SLA
2 6 (1.18%) Cyber Essentials
2 6 (1.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (0.79%) GDPR
4 3 (0.59%) NIST
4 3 (0.59%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.20%) GxP
5 1 (0.20%) ITGC
5 1 (0.20%) QA
System Software
1 181 (35.56%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.55%) Hyper-V
3 11 (2.16%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.59%) Firmware
4 3 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.39%) Docker
5 2 (0.39%) vSphere
6 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 53 (10.41%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (4.72%) SCCM
3 11 (2.16%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (1.38%) WSUS
5 4 (0.79%) Kubernetes
6 3 (0.59%) Ansible
6 3 (0.59%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.59%) Terraform
7 2 (0.39%) PaperCut
7 2 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.20%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.20%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 178 (34.97%) Microsoft
2 58 (11.39%) Dell
3 54 (10.61%) ServiceNow
4 20 (3.93%) VMware
5 13 (2.55%) HP
6 12 (2.36%) Apple
7 11 (2.16%) Cisco
8 10 (1.96%) Citrix
9 8 (1.57%) Fortinet
9 8 (1.57%) Tenable
9 8 (1.57%) Veeam
10 6 (1.18%) Google
10 6 (1.18%) SAP
11 5 (0.98%) AppDynamics
11 5 (0.98%) Dynatrace
12 3 (0.59%) Freshdesk
12 3 (0.59%) Lotus
12 3 (0.59%) Remedy
13 2 (0.39%) Arista
13 2 (0.39%) Computacenter