IT Engineer Contract Job Trends

IT Engineer
UK

The median IT Engineer daily rate in the UK is £190, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 October 2025.

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

6 months to
23 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 228 267 241
Rank change year-on-year +39 -26 +98
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 421 341 493
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.26% 0.92% 1.04%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.38% 0.99% 1.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 258 217 312
10th Percentile £126 £130 £110
25th Percentile £150 £158 £143
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £200 £200
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £238 £300 £256
90th Percentile £338 £538 £400
UK excluding London median daily rate £175 £183 £190
% change year-on-year -4.11% -3.95% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 115 49 100
10th Percentile £18.65 £12.00 £13.16
25th Percentile £18.87 £15.22 £15.63
Median hourly rate £25.15 £21.00 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +19.76% +18.51% +0.91%
75th Percentile - £24.18 £19.56
90th Percentile - - £27.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £21.00 £17.72
% change year-on-year +19.76% +18.51% +0.91%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 30,435 34,526 44,661
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.82% 92.91% 93.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,258 20,814 30,499
10th Percentile £278 £300 £300
25th Percentile £402 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,682 1,372 1,517
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.07 £14.77
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £40.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -37.13% -10.11% +64.25%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £68.75 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £40.00 £44.00
% change year-on-year -37.50% -9.09% +91.30%

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 23 October 2025.

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 23 October 2025.

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 23 October 2025. 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 +30 381 £190 -5.00% 356
UK excluding London +14 304 £175 -4.11% 359
London +24 106 £200 -16.67% 72
South East +30 84 £185 -7.50% 114
South West +41 65 £250 +33.33% 50
Midlands -17 53 £188 -1.32% 38
North of England -27 43 £160 -12.93% 88
East of England +7 36 £190 +5.56% 38
West Midlands -2 33 £225 +12.50% 9
Work from Home -8 27 £288 -28.13% 89
Scotland +4 26 £200 +9.59% 25
North West -13 25 £158 -13.70% 42
East Midlands -8 22 £128 -29.17% 29
Yorkshire -30 12 £205 +12.33% 34
North East -4 6 £106 -47.00% 18
Wales -12 6 £160 +10.34% 16
Northern Ireland -8 1 £195 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 23 October 2025, 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.

1 160 (38.00%) Windows
2 113 (26.84%) Microsoft
3 112 (26.60%) Security Cleared
4 107 (25.42%) SC Cleared
5 105 (24.94%) Microsoft 365
6 89 (21.14%) Active Directory
7 78 (18.53%) Windows 10
8 67 (15.91%) Customer Service
8 67 (15.91%) Migration
9 56 (13.30%) Problem-Solving
10 53 (12.59%) Workflow
11 49 (11.64%) Workflow Management
12 46 (10.93%) Asset Management
13 40 (9.50%) Azure
13 40 (9.50%) ITIL
13 40 (9.50%) Microsoft Intune
14 36 (8.55%) DBS Check
14 36 (8.55%) ServiceNow
15 30 (7.13%) ITSM
16 24 (5.70%) ATM
16 24 (5.70%) Cisco
16 24 (5.70%) TCP/IP
17 23 (5.46%) Android
17 23 (5.46%) Microsoft Office
17 23 (5.46%) SharePoint
18 22 (5.23%) Firewall
18 22 (5.23%) Mac OS
18 22 (5.23%) Windows Server
19 21 (4.99%) DNS
19 21 (4.99%) Entra ID

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 23 (5.46%) SharePoint
2 19 (4.51%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.48%) IIS
4 1 (0.24%) Apache
4 1 (0.24%) Confluence
4 1 (0.24%) Tomcat
4 1 (0.24%) WebSphere
Applications
1 23 (5.46%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.14%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.48%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.95%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.24%) Maximo
2 1 (0.24%) Pegasus Opera
Cloud Services
1 105 (24.94%) Microsoft 365
2 40 (9.50%) Azure
3 21 (4.99%) Entra ID
4 15 (3.56%) Google Workspace
5 8 (1.90%) OneDrive
6 6 (1.43%) Azure Stack
6 6 (1.43%) Slack
7 3 (0.71%) AWS
7 3 (0.71%) IaaS
7 3 (0.71%) PaaS
7 3 (0.71%) Power Platform
7 3 (0.71%) SaaS
8 2 (0.48%) Google Drive
9 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Copilot
9 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Purview
9 1 (0.24%) Mimecast
9 1 (0.24%) Power Automate
9 1 (0.24%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 24 (5.70%) ATM
1 24 (5.70%) TCP/IP
2 22 (5.23%) Firewall
3 21 (4.99%) DNS
4 18 (4.28%) VPN
5 17 (4.04%) DHCP
6 16 (3.80%) LAN
7 13 (3.09%) Wi-Fi
8 12 (2.85%) Wireless
9 10 (2.38%) VLAN
9 10 (2.38%) WAN
10 7 (1.66%) Network Security
10 7 (1.66%) PABX
11 6 (1.43%) VoIP
12 5 (1.19%) Remote Desktop
13 4 (0.95%) Internet
13 4 (0.95%) IP Telephony
14 3 (0.71%) Cisco Wireless
15 2 (0.48%) Intranet
15 2 (0.48%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.95%) Oracle Reports
1 4 (0.95%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.48%) Power BI
3 1 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.24%) DB2
3 1 (0.24%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 3 (0.71%) JIRA
2 1 (0.24%) Hudson
General
1 146 (34.68%) Social Skills
2 23 (5.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 21 (4.99%) Finance
4 20 (4.75%) Manufacturing
5 19 (4.51%) Organisational Skills
6 17 (4.04%) Public Sector
7 9 (2.14%) Banking
7 9 (2.14%) Electronics
7 9 (2.14%) Marketing
7 9 (2.14%) Telecoms
8 8 (1.90%) Aerospace
8 8 (1.90%) Analytical Skills
8 8 (1.90%) Local Government
9 5 (1.19%) Retail
10 4 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (0.71%) Pharmaceutical
12 2 (0.48%) Automotive
12 2 (0.48%) Law
12 2 (0.48%) Legal
13 1 (0.24%) Investment Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.48%) Middleware
1 2 (0.48%) XML
2 1 (0.24%) 802.1X
2 1 (0.24%) JSON
2 1 (0.24%) SOAP
2 1 (0.24%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 28 (6.65%) Driving Licence
1 28 (6.65%) EPoS
2 17 (4.04%) Smartphone
3 13 (3.09%) Self-Motivation
4 11 (2.61%) Onboarding
5 9 (2.14%) Legacy Systems
6 8 (1.90%) Data Centre
7 7 (1.66%) Operational Technology
8 6 (1.43%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (1.43%) iPhone
8 6 (1.43%) Video Conferencing
9 4 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (0.95%) Management Information System
10 2 (0.48%) CCTV
10 2 (0.48%) Digital Signage
10 2 (0.48%) Manufacturing Execution System
10 2 (0.48%) Renewable Energy
10 2 (0.48%) Replication
10 2 (0.48%) SCADA
11 1 (0.24%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 160 (38.00%) Windows
2 78 (18.53%) Windows 10
3 23 (5.46%) Android
4 22 (5.23%) Mac OS
4 22 (5.23%) Windows Server
5 17 (4.04%) Apple iOS
6 16 (3.80%) Windows 7
7 11 (2.61%) Linux
8 4 (0.95%) Unix
9 3 (0.71%) Solaris
9 3 (0.71%) VMS
9 3 (0.71%) Windows 8
10 2 (0.48%) Mac OS X
10 2 (0.48%) Windows Server 2016
10 2 (0.48%) Windows Server 2019
11 1 (0.24%) CentOS
11 1 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.24%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (15.91%) Customer Service
1 67 (15.91%) Migration
2 56 (13.30%) Problem-Solving
3 53 (12.59%) Workflow
4 49 (11.64%) Workflow Management
5 46 (10.93%) Asset Management
6 40 (9.50%) ITIL
7 30 (7.13%) ITSM
8 20 (4.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 17 (4.04%) Ticket Management
10 16 (3.80%) Break/Fix
10 16 (3.80%) Service Management
11 15 (3.56%) Cybersecurity
12 11 (2.61%) Collaborative Working
13 10 (2.38%) Business Intelligence
13 10 (2.38%) Infrastructure Management
13 10 (2.38%) Root Cause Analysis
13 10 (2.38%) Service Delivery
14 9 (2.14%) Programme Management
14 9 (2.14%) Project Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (2.14%) PowerShell
2 5 (1.19%) SQL
3 3 (0.71%) Python
4 1 (0.24%) Bash
4 1 (0.24%) C
4 1 (0.24%) Java
4 1 (0.24%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 112 (26.60%) Security Cleared
2 107 (25.42%) SC Cleared
3 36 (8.55%) DBS Check
4 13 (3.09%) Degree
5 7 (1.66%) Cisco Certification
5 7 (1.66%) Network+ Certification
6 6 (1.43%) A+ Certification
6 6 (1.43%) Azure Certification
6 6 (1.43%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (0.95%) DV Cleared
8 3 (0.71%) CCNA
9 2 (0.48%) City & Guilds
9 2 (0.48%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (0.48%) HNC
9 2 (0.48%) HND
9 2 (0.48%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 2 (0.48%) MCP
9 2 (0.48%) MCSE
10 1 (0.24%) BPSS Clearance
10 1 (0.24%) CCNP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (4.04%) SLA
2 4 (0.95%) GDPR
3 3 (0.71%) Disclosure Scotland
4 2 (0.48%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.24%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.24%) PMO
5 1 (0.24%) QA
System Software
1 89 (21.14%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.85%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.90%) Hyper-V
3 8 (1.90%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.19%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.71%) Firmware
5 3 (0.71%) vSphere
6 2 (0.48%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.24%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.24%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.24%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.24%) XenApp
7 1 (0.24%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 40 (9.50%) Microsoft Intune
2 20 (4.75%) SCCM
3 8 (1.90%) Jamf Pro
4 3 (0.71%) WSUS
5 2 (0.48%) Autotask
6 1 (0.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 1 (0.24%) Ansible
6 1 (0.24%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.24%) SCOM
6 1 (0.24%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.24%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 113 (26.84%) Microsoft
2 36 (8.55%) ServiceNow
3 24 (5.70%) Cisco
4 21 (4.99%) HP
5 18 (4.28%) Apple
5 18 (4.28%) VMware
6 17 (4.04%) Dell
6 17 (4.04%) Google
7 10 (2.38%) SAP
8 7 (1.66%) Citrix
9 6 (1.43%) Okta
10 5 (1.19%) Remedy
11 4 (0.95%) IBM
11 4 (0.95%) Meraki
11 4 (0.95%) Oracle
12 3 (0.71%) Datto
12 3 (0.71%) Palo Alto
12 3 (0.71%) Sophos
13 2 (0.48%) Red Hat
13 2 (0.48%) Veeam