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 5 April 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 215 212 217
Rank change year-on-year -3 +5 +65
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 542 376 479
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.20% 1.29% 1.09%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.30% 1.39% 1.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 320 256 289
10th Percentile £150 £125 £124
25th Percentile £172 £141 £149
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £270 £252 £288
90th Percentile £435 £450 £440
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £188
% change year-on-year +11.11% -4.00% -6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 103 46 122
10th Percentile £18.73 £18.17 £12.04
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.51 £15.75
Median hourly rate £23.58 £21.01 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +12.21% +18.57% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.18 £20.25
90th Percentile £25.77 £26.33 £23.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.50 £21.01 £17.50
% change year-on-year +11.85% +20.06% -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 41,784 27,118 40,940
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.22% 92.78% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,031 17,841 26,815
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.31%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +2.63% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,612 956 2,534
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.91 £20.26 £16.25
Median hourly rate £40.00 £32.00 £33.78
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -5.26% -24.15%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.06 £31.29 £34.61
% change year-on-year +31.21% -9.58% -18.32%

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 5 April 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 5 April 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 5 April 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 -8 482 £200 +5.26% 265
UK excluding London -17 416 £200 +11.11% 281
London -15 122 £213 -9.09% 30
North of England -21 115 £190 -5.00% 59
South East -19 91 £200 +5.26% 75
East of England +14 59 £203 +12.50% 30
Midlands -53 55 £200 +33.33% 46
North West -19 52 £170 -15.00% 35
Yorkshire -32 46 £205 -34.40% 22
South West -35 40 £185 +25.42% 41
Scotland +13 34 £178 - 14
East Midlands -14 33 £200 +17.65% 22
West Midlands -62 23 £188 +33.93% 24
Wales -16 22 £200 +36.33% 16
Work from Home -50 19 £238 -6.86% 58
North East -3 17 £338 +68.75% 5
Northern Ireland -11 1 - - 3

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

For the 6 months to 5 April 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.

1 237 (43.73%) Windows
2 209 (38.56%) Microsoft 365
3 204 (37.64%) Microsoft
4 187 (34.50%) Active Directory
5 123 (22.69%) Customer Service
6 120 (22.14%) Security Cleared
7 117 (21.59%) Windows 10
8 113 (20.85%) SC Cleared
9 93 (17.16%) Migration
10 83 (15.31%) Problem-Solving
11 67 (12.36%) Azure
12 62 (11.44%) Workflow
13 58 (10.70%) Microsoft Intune
14 57 (10.52%) Workflow Management
15 56 (10.33%) ServiceNow
16 51 (9.41%) Asset Management
16 51 (9.41%) ITIL
17 49 (9.04%) Wi-Fi
18 44 (8.12%) ITSM
19 43 (7.93%) Dell
20 41 (7.56%) SAN
21 40 (7.38%) Break/Fix
22 37 (6.83%) Microsoft Certification
23 36 (6.64%) DHCP
23 36 (6.64%) DNS
23 36 (6.64%) JIRA
24 35 (6.46%) Entra ID
25 34 (6.27%) LAN
25 34 (6.27%) Network+ Certification
26 33 (6.09%) A+ Certification

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 30 (5.54%) SharePoint
2 25 (4.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.55%) Confluence
4 1 (0.18%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 23 (4.24%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (0.74%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.55%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (1.11%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.37%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.18%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 209 (38.56%) Microsoft 365
2 67 (12.36%) Azure
3 35 (6.46%) Entra ID
4 18 (3.32%) Google Workspace
5 17 (3.14%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (3.14%) OneDrive
5 17 (3.14%) SaaS
6 11 (2.03%) PaaS
7 10 (1.85%) AWS
8 9 (1.66%) IaaS
9 5 (0.92%) Datadog
10 4 (0.74%) GitHub
11 3 (0.55%) Mimecast
11 3 (0.55%) Power Platform
11 3 (0.55%) Rubrik
12 2 (0.37%) AWS IoT
12 2 (0.37%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.37%) PowerApps
13 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Copilot
13 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 49 (9.04%) Wi-Fi
2 41 (7.56%) SAN
3 36 (6.64%) DHCP
3 36 (6.64%) DNS
4 34 (6.27%) LAN
5 28 (5.17%) VPN
6 26 (4.80%) Firewall
7 23 (4.24%) TCP/IP
8 19 (3.51%) WAN
9 18 (3.32%) VLAN
10 14 (2.58%) Network Security
11 10 (1.85%) VoIP
12 8 (1.48%) Wireless
13 7 (1.29%) Internet
14 6 (1.11%) WLAN
15 4 (0.74%) Unified Communications
16 3 (0.55%) Modbus
16 3 (0.55%) Skype
16 3 (0.55%) Structured Cabling
16 3 (0.55%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (1.85%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.18%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.18%) Power BI
2 1 (0.18%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 36 (6.64%) JIRA
2 5 (0.92%) Chocolatey
3 4 (0.74%) Git
3 4 (0.74%) GitLab
4 1 (0.18%) Hudson
General
1 226 (41.70%) Social Skills
2 42 (7.75%) Analytical Skills
2 42 (7.75%) Finance
3 37 (6.83%) Manufacturing
4 33 (6.09%) Banking
5 31 (5.72%) Public Sector
6 21 (3.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 16 (2.95%) Telecoms
8 15 (2.77%) Electronics
8 15 (2.77%) Marketing
8 15 (2.77%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (1.29%) Investment Banking
10 6 (1.11%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (0.92%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.74%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.55%) Front Office
13 3 (0.55%) Law
14 2 (0.37%) Retail
15 1 (0.18%) Automotive
15 1 (0.18%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.74%) React
2 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.18%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.18%) Middleware
3 1 (0.18%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 41 (7.56%) Onboarding
2 39 (7.20%) Data Centre
3 31 (5.72%) Analytical Mindset
4 23 (4.24%) Driving Licence
5 18 (3.32%) Self-Motivation
6 14 (2.58%) Operational Technology
7 11 (2.03%) Virtual Team
8 9 (1.66%) EPoS
9 6 (1.11%) Hybrid Cloud
9 6 (1.11%) Smartphone
9 6 (1.11%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (0.92%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (0.74%) Enterprise Software
11 4 (0.74%) IoT
11 4 (0.74%) iPhone
11 4 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (0.74%) Management Information System
11 4 (0.74%) Renewable Energy
12 3 (0.55%) SCADA
13 2 (0.37%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 237 (43.73%) Windows
2 117 (21.59%) Windows 10
3 25 (4.61%) Android
4 24 (4.43%) Mac OS
5 22 (4.06%) Apple iOS
6 21 (3.87%) Windows Server
7 15 (2.77%) Linux
8 3 (0.55%) Unix
9 2 (0.37%) Solaris
9 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.18%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.18%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 123 (22.69%) Customer Service
2 93 (17.16%) Migration
3 83 (15.31%) Problem-Solving
4 62 (11.44%) Workflow
5 57 (10.52%) Workflow Management
6 51 (9.41%) Asset Management
6 51 (9.41%) ITIL
7 44 (8.12%) ITSM
8 40 (7.38%) Break/Fix
9 32 (5.90%) Cybersecurity
10 27 (4.98%) User Experience
11 24 (4.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 23 (4.24%) Change Management
13 22 (4.06%) DevOps
14 20 (3.69%) Logistics
15 19 (3.51%) Disaster Recovery
16 16 (2.95%) Business Intelligence
16 16 (2.95%) Problem Management
17 15 (2.77%) Digital Marketing
17 15 (2.77%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 30 (5.54%) PowerShell
2 18 (3.32%) SQL
3 17 (3.14%) C#
4 7 (1.29%) Python
5 4 (0.74%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.74%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 120 (22.14%) Security Cleared
2 113 (20.85%) SC Cleared
3 37 (6.83%) Microsoft Certification
4 34 (6.27%) Network+ Certification
5 33 (6.09%) A+ Certification
5 33 (6.09%) CCNA
5 33 (6.09%) Cisco Certification
6 32 (5.90%) MCSE
7 13 (2.40%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.11%) Degree
9 4 (0.74%) DBS Check
10 3 (0.55%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.37%) CCNP
12 1 (0.18%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.18%) HND
12 1 (0.18%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 1 (0.18%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (3.87%) SLA
2 6 (1.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (0.55%) NIST
5 1 (0.18%) GDPR
5 1 (0.18%) GxP
5 1 (0.18%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.18%) QA
System Software
1 187 (34.50%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.66%) Hyper-V
3 6 (1.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.55%) Firmware
4 3 (0.55%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.37%) Docker
5 2 (0.37%) VMware Workstation
5 2 (0.37%) vSphere
6 1 (0.18%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 58 (10.70%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (5.90%) SCCM
3 17 (3.14%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (0.92%) WSUS
5 4 (0.74%) Ansible
5 4 (0.74%) Kubernetes
6 3 (0.55%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.55%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.55%) Terraform
7 2 (0.37%) PaperCut
8 1 (0.18%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.18%) SCOM
8 1 (0.18%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 204 (37.64%) Microsoft
2 56 (10.33%) ServiceNow
3 43 (7.93%) Dell
4 17 (3.14%) Google
5 16 (2.95%) HP
5 16 (2.95%) SAP
5 16 (2.95%) VMware
6 15 (2.77%) Cisco
7 11 (2.03%) Apple
8 8 (1.48%) Citrix
8 8 (1.48%) Tenable
9 6 (1.11%) Remedy
10 5 (0.92%) AppDynamics
10 5 (0.92%) Dynatrace
10 5 (0.92%) Fortinet
11 4 (0.74%) CrowdStrike
12 3 (0.55%) Okta
12 3 (0.55%) Veeam
12 3 (0.55%) Zscaler
13 2 (0.37%) Computacenter