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 11 February 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 220 221 207
Rank change year-on-year +1 -14 +76
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 490 350 509
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.23% 1.14% 1.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.35% 1.22% 1.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 277 241 307
10th Percentile £150 £125 £121
25th Percentile £168 £143 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £240 £255 £274
90th Percentile £369 £500 £424
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% +2.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 125 41 126
10th Percentile £18.87 £15.22 £13.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.50 £16.00
Median hourly rate £24.00 £21.59 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +11.16% +21.84% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.18 £20.81
90th Percentile £25.77 £28.00 £27.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.79 £21.59 £17.72
% change year-on-year +10.18% +21.84% -

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 36,337 28,613 41,534
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.55% 92.96% 93.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,892 17,630 27,389
10th Percentile £300 £290 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £479 £489
% change year-on-year -0.84% -2.04% -2.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,207 829 2,294
10th Percentile £14.57 £15.91 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.25 £16.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £33.54 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.55% -4.17% -2.51%
75th Percentile £62.05 £63.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £72.20 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.60 £31.76 £35.00
% change year-on-year -6.80% -9.26% -

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 11 February 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 11 February 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 11 February 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 +39 444 £200 +5.26% 297
UK excluding London -3 386 £200 +11.11% 310
London -1 103 £200 -11.11% 56
North of England -11 93 £200 - 66
South East -15 82 £190 - 118
East of England +17 61 £200 +11.11% 35
South West -13 54 £200 +6.67% 27
Midlands -51 54 £200 +11.11% 32
North West -11 43 £158 -16.71% 42
Scotland +8 33 £178 - 19
Yorkshire -37 33 £205 - 18
East Midlands -9 31 £200 +11.11% 17
Work from Home -34 25 £325 +12.07% 58
West Midlands -55 25 £188 -1.32% 15
North East -1 17 £198 +23.44% 8
Wales -16 11 £200 +36.33% 14
Northern Ireland -8 1 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 11 February 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.

1 201 (41.02%) Windows
2 175 (35.71%) Microsoft 365
3 166 (33.88%) Microsoft
4 142 (28.98%) Active Directory
5 134 (27.35%) Security Cleared
6 129 (26.33%) SC Cleared
7 108 (22.04%) Windows 10
8 101 (20.61%) Migration
9 100 (20.41%) Customer Service
10 73 (14.90%) Workflow
11 69 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
12 67 (13.67%) Workflow Management
13 52 (10.61%) Asset Management
13 52 (10.61%) ServiceNow
14 50 (10.20%) Microsoft Intune
15 48 (9.80%) Azure
16 46 (9.39%) ITIL
17 41 (8.37%) ITSM
18 36 (7.35%) SCCM
19 32 (6.53%) Cybersecurity
19 32 (6.53%) Wi-Fi
20 29 (5.92%) Firewall
20 29 (5.92%) Microsoft Office
21 27 (5.51%) VPN
22 26 (5.31%) Dell
22 26 (5.31%) DHCP
22 26 (5.31%) DNS
22 26 (5.31%) TCP/IP
23 25 (5.10%) Mac OS
23 25 (5.10%) SharePoint

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 25 (5.10%) SharePoint
2 23 (4.69%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.61%) Confluence
4 1 (0.20%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 29 (5.92%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.82%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (1.43%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.20%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 175 (35.71%) Microsoft 365
2 48 (9.80%) Azure
3 24 (4.90%) Entra ID
4 18 (3.67%) Google Workspace
5 17 (3.47%) OneDrive
6 12 (2.45%) SaaS
7 9 (1.84%) AWS
8 7 (1.43%) PaaS
9 5 (1.02%) IaaS
10 4 (0.82%) Mimecast
11 3 (0.61%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (0.61%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.41%) AWS IoT
12 2 (0.41%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.41%) Azure Stack
12 2 (0.41%) Datadog
12 2 (0.41%) GitHub
12 2 (0.41%) PowerApps
12 2 (0.41%) Rubrik
13 1 (0.20%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 32 (6.53%) Wi-Fi
2 29 (5.92%) Firewall
3 27 (5.51%) VPN
4 26 (5.31%) DHCP
4 26 (5.31%) DNS
4 26 (5.31%) TCP/IP
5 23 (4.69%) LAN
6 16 (3.27%) SAN
7 15 (3.06%) Network Security
8 14 (2.86%) WAN
9 11 (2.24%) VLAN
10 9 (1.84%) VoIP
10 9 (1.84%) Wireless
11 7 (1.43%) PABX
12 5 (1.02%) ATM
12 5 (1.02%) WLAN
13 4 (0.82%) Unified Communications
14 3 (0.61%) Ethernet
14 3 (0.61%) Modbus
15 2 (0.41%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.02%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.20%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.20%) Power BI
2 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 19 (3.88%) JIRA
2 2 (0.41%) Chocolatey
2 2 (0.41%) GitLab
3 1 (0.20%) Hudson
General
1 204 (41.63%) Social Skills
2 38 (7.76%) Finance
3 36 (7.35%) Manufacturing
4 34 (6.94%) Public Sector
5 21 (4.29%) Banking
6 19 (3.88%) Electronics
6 19 (3.88%) Marketing
6 19 (3.88%) Telecoms
7 18 (3.67%) Organisational Skills
8 17 (3.47%) Analytical Skills
8 17 (3.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 10 (2.04%) Aerospace
10 5 (1.02%) Investment Banking
10 5 (1.02%) Law
11 4 (0.82%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (0.61%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.61%) Retail
13 2 (0.41%) Automotive
13 2 (0.41%) Front Office
13 2 (0.41%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.41%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (0.41%) Middleware
1 2 (0.41%) React
Miscellaneous
1 32 (6.53%) Onboarding
2 29 (5.92%) Driving Licence
3 20 (4.08%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (3.67%) Operational Technology
5 15 (3.06%) Data Centre
6 13 (2.65%) Smartphone
7 11 (2.24%) Analytical Mindset
8 8 (1.63%) Virtual Team
9 7 (1.43%) Video Conferencing
10 6 (1.22%) Legacy Systems
11 5 (1.02%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.02%) EPoS
12 4 (0.82%) CCTV
12 4 (0.82%) Hybrid Cloud
12 4 (0.82%) IoT
12 4 (0.82%) iPhone
12 4 (0.82%) Management Information System
12 4 (0.82%) SCADA
13 2 (0.41%) Public Cloud
13 2 (0.41%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 201 (41.02%) Windows
2 108 (22.04%) Windows 10
3 25 (5.10%) Mac OS
4 23 (4.69%) Android
5 20 (4.08%) Apple iOS
6 15 (3.06%) Windows Server
7 14 (2.86%) Linux
8 3 (0.61%) Unix
9 2 (0.41%) Solaris
9 2 (0.41%) VMS
10 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.20%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (20.61%) Migration
2 100 (20.41%) Customer Service
3 73 (14.90%) Workflow
4 69 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
5 67 (13.67%) Workflow Management
6 52 (10.61%) Asset Management
7 46 (9.39%) ITIL
8 41 (8.37%) ITSM
9 32 (6.53%) Cybersecurity
10 23 (4.69%) Break/Fix
10 23 (4.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 20 (4.08%) Business Intelligence
11 20 (4.08%) Logistics
12 19 (3.88%) Digital Marketing
12 19 (3.88%) Programme Management
13 16 (3.27%) User Experience
14 12 (2.45%) Disaster Recovery
14 12 (2.45%) Service Management
15 11 (2.24%) Agile
15 11 (2.24%) Inventory Management
Programming Languages
1 24 (4.90%) PowerShell
2 6 (1.22%) Python
3 5 (1.02%) SQL
4 3 (0.61%) C#
5 2 (0.41%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.41%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 134 (27.35%) Security Cleared
2 129 (26.33%) SC Cleared
3 15 (3.06%) Microsoft Certification
4 14 (2.86%) Network+ Certification
5 13 (2.65%) A+ Certification
5 13 (2.65%) CCNA
5 13 (2.65%) Cisco Certification
6 11 (2.24%) MCSE
7 10 (2.04%) DV Cleared
8 9 (1.84%) DBS Check
9 6 (1.22%) Degree
10 3 (0.61%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.41%) Azure Certification
11 2 (0.41%) CCNP
12 1 (0.20%) BC Cleared
12 1 (0.20%) HND
12 1 (0.20%) ISACA
12 1 (0.20%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 1 (0.20%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (2.86%) SLA
2 2 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (0.41%) GDPR
3 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.20%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.20%) QA
System Software
1 142 (28.98%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.24%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.22%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.02%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.02%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.41%) Docker
5 2 (0.41%) vSphere
6 1 (0.20%) Firmware
6 1 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 50 (10.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (7.35%) SCCM
3 16 (3.27%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.02%) WSUS
5 2 (0.41%) Ansible
5 2 (0.41%) FortiGate
5 2 (0.41%) Kubernetes
5 2 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.20%) SCOM
Vendors
1 166 (33.88%) Microsoft
2 52 (10.61%) ServiceNow
3 26 (5.31%) Dell
4 21 (4.29%) SAP
5 20 (4.08%) Cisco
6 19 (3.88%) HP
6 19 (3.88%) VMware
7 18 (3.67%) Google
8 15 (3.06%) Apple
9 8 (1.63%) Remedy
10 6 (1.22%) Citrix
11 4 (0.82%) CrowdStrike
11 4 (0.82%) Okta
11 4 (0.82%) Sophos
11 4 (0.82%) Tenable
12 3 (0.61%) Computacenter
12 3 (0.61%) Datto
12 3 (0.61%) Fortinet
12 3 (0.61%) Veeam
13 2 (0.41%) Zscaler