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 10 March 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 212 205 204
Rank change year-on-year -7 -1 +73
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 525 385 517
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.24% 1.30% 1.16%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.35% 1.40% 1.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 302 263 316
10th Percentile £150 £125 £121
25th Percentile £170 £143 £148
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £252 £250 £265
90th Percentile £415 £430 £403
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 115 44 128
10th Percentile £18.87 £15.22 £12.88
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.51 £15.94
Median hourly rate £24.00 £21.59 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +11.16% +21.84% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.18 £20.44
90th Percentile £25.77 £28.29 £25.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £21.01 £17.50
% change year-on-year +12.21% +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 39,016 27,486 41,551
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.96% 92.97% 92.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,419 17,729 27,243
10th Percentile £310 £293 £270
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.46%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.16% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,405 862 2,505
10th Percentile £14.91 £15.64 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.24 £16.25
Median hourly rate £35.00 £33.20 £32.69
Median % change year-on-year +5.42% +1.56% -22.84%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.10 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.75 £32.50 £32.70
% change year-on-year +3.85% -0.60% -18.26%

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 10 March 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 10 March 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 10 March 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 +5 476 £200 +5.26% 238
UK excluding London -17 403 £200 +11.11% 255
London +9 120 £200 -9.09% 41
North of England -13 105 £190 -5.00% 45
South East -24 88 £200 +5.26% 80
East of England +9 62 £203 +12.50% 34
Midlands -59 52 £190 +18.75% 30
South West -23 50 £188 +5.63% 28
North West -13 48 £165 -17.50% 27
Yorkshire -35 40 £205 -31.67% 14
East Midlands -15 33 £200 +11.11% 14
Scotland +6 31 £178 - 23
Work from Home -46 24 £313 +22.55% 50
West Midlands -69 20 £188 +25.00% 16
North East -2 17 £338 +68.75% 7
Wales -16 15 £200 +37.13% 18
Northern Ireland -10 1 - - 4

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

For the 6 months to 10 March 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.

1 224 (42.67%) Windows
2 197 (37.52%) Microsoft 365
3 189 (36.00%) Microsoft
4 167 (31.81%) Active Directory
5 135 (25.71%) Security Cleared
6 128 (24.38%) SC Cleared
7 118 (22.48%) Windows 10
8 112 (21.33%) Customer Service
9 99 (18.86%) Migration
10 77 (14.67%) Problem-Solving
11 67 (12.76%) Workflow
12 65 (12.38%) ServiceNow
13 61 (11.62%) Workflow Management
14 59 (11.24%) Azure
15 55 (10.48%) Asset Management
16 54 (10.29%) Microsoft Intune
17 50 (9.52%) ITIL
18 45 (8.57%) ITSM
19 44 (8.38%) Wi-Fi
20 38 (7.24%) SCCM
21 36 (6.86%) Dell
22 35 (6.67%) Cybersecurity
23 33 (6.29%) Break/Fix
23 33 (6.29%) LAN
24 32 (6.10%) DHCP
24 32 (6.10%) DNS
24 32 (6.10%) Firewall
24 32 (6.10%) SAN
25 31 (5.90%) JIRA
26 29 (5.52%) 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 29 (5.52%) SharePoint
2 23 (4.38%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.57%) Confluence
4 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 28 (5.33%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.76%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (1.14%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.19%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 197 (37.52%) Microsoft 365
2 59 (11.24%) Azure
3 29 (5.52%) Entra ID
4 20 (3.81%) OneDrive
5 18 (3.43%) Google Workspace
6 16 (3.05%) SaaS
7 13 (2.48%) Azure DevOps
8 12 (2.29%) PaaS
9 10 (1.90%) IaaS
10 8 (1.52%) AWS
11 5 (0.95%) Datadog
12 3 (0.57%) Mimecast
12 3 (0.57%) Power Platform
12 3 (0.57%) Rubrik
13 2 (0.38%) AWS IoT
13 2 (0.38%) Azure Sentinel
13 2 (0.38%) GitHub
13 2 (0.38%) PowerApps
14 1 (0.19%) Google Drive
14 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 44 (8.38%) Wi-Fi
2 33 (6.29%) LAN
3 32 (6.10%) DHCP
3 32 (6.10%) DNS
3 32 (6.10%) Firewall
3 32 (6.10%) SAN
4 29 (5.52%) VPN
5 26 (4.95%) TCP/IP
6 19 (3.62%) WAN
7 14 (2.67%) Network Security
7 14 (2.67%) VLAN
8 10 (1.90%) VoIP
9 9 (1.71%) Wireless
10 7 (1.33%) PABX
11 6 (1.14%) Internet
11 6 (1.14%) WLAN
12 5 (0.95%) ATM
13 4 (0.76%) Unified Communications
14 3 (0.57%) Ethernet
14 3 (0.57%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.52%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.19%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.19%) Power BI
2 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 31 (5.90%) JIRA
2 5 (0.95%) Chocolatey
3 2 (0.38%) Git
3 2 (0.38%) GitLab
4 1 (0.19%) Hudson
General
1 221 (42.10%) Social Skills
2 40 (7.62%) Finance
3 38 (7.24%) Manufacturing
4 35 (6.67%) Public Sector
5 31 (5.90%) Analytical Skills
6 28 (5.33%) Banking
7 19 (3.62%) Organisational Skills
7 19 (3.62%) Telecoms
8 18 (3.43%) Electronics
8 18 (3.43%) Marketing
9 16 (3.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 10 (1.90%) Aerospace
11 5 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (0.95%) Investment Banking
12 4 (0.76%) Law
13 3 (0.57%) Pharmaceutical
14 2 (0.38%) Financial Institution
14 2 (0.38%) Front Office
14 2 (0.38%) Legal
14 2 (0.38%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (0.38%) Middleware
1 2 (0.38%) React
2 1 (0.19%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 36 (6.86%) Onboarding
2 28 (5.33%) Driving Licence
3 26 (4.95%) Data Centre
4 22 (4.19%) Analytical Mindset
5 21 (4.00%) Self-Motivation
6 16 (3.05%) Operational Technology
7 11 (2.10%) Smartphone
8 9 (1.71%) Virtual Team
9 8 (1.52%) Video Conferencing
10 6 (1.14%) Legacy Systems
11 5 (0.95%) Cyber Threat
11 5 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (0.95%) EPoS
12 4 (0.76%) IoT
12 4 (0.76%) iPhone
12 4 (0.76%) Management Information System
12 4 (0.76%) SCADA
13 3 (0.57%) CCTV
13 3 (0.57%) Hybrid Cloud
14 2 (0.38%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 224 (42.67%) Windows
2 118 (22.48%) Windows 10
3 27 (5.14%) Mac OS
4 25 (4.76%) Android
5 22 (4.19%) Apple iOS
6 17 (3.24%) Windows Server
7 14 (2.67%) Linux
8 3 (0.57%) Unix
9 2 (0.38%) Solaris
9 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.19%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.19%) VMS
10 1 (0.19%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 112 (21.33%) Customer Service
2 99 (18.86%) Migration
3 77 (14.67%) Problem-Solving
4 67 (12.76%) Workflow
5 61 (11.62%) Workflow Management
6 55 (10.48%) Asset Management
7 50 (9.52%) ITIL
8 45 (8.57%) ITSM
9 35 (6.67%) Cybersecurity
10 33 (6.29%) Break/Fix
11 23 (4.38%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 21 (4.00%) Logistics
13 20 (3.81%) DevOps
14 19 (3.62%) Business Intelligence
14 19 (3.62%) Change Management
14 19 (3.62%) User Experience
15 18 (3.43%) Digital Marketing
15 18 (3.43%) Programme Management
16 16 (3.05%) Disaster Recovery
17 12 (2.29%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 26 (4.95%) PowerShell
2 15 (2.86%) SQL
3 13 (2.48%) C#
4 6 (1.14%) Python
5 2 (0.38%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.38%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 135 (25.71%) Security Cleared
2 128 (24.38%) SC Cleared
3 28 (5.33%) Microsoft Certification
4 25 (4.76%) CCNA
4 25 (4.76%) Cisco Certification
5 24 (4.57%) Network+ Certification
6 23 (4.38%) A+ Certification
6 23 (4.38%) MCSE
7 13 (2.48%) DV Cleared
8 5 (0.95%) DBS Check
8 5 (0.95%) Degree
9 3 (0.57%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (0.38%) CCNP
11 1 (0.19%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.19%) BC Cleared
11 1 (0.19%) HND
11 1 (0.19%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 1 (0.19%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (4.57%) SLA
2 2 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (0.38%) GDPR
3 1 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.19%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.19%) QA
System Software
1 167 (31.81%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (1.33%) Hyper-V
4 3 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.57%) vSphere
5 2 (0.38%) Docker
5 2 (0.38%) Firmware
5 2 (0.38%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 54 (10.29%) Microsoft Intune
2 38 (7.24%) SCCM
3 17 (3.24%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (0.76%) WSUS
5 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.38%) Ansible
6 2 (0.38%) Kubernetes
6 2 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.19%) SCOM
7 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 189 (36.00%) Microsoft
2 65 (12.38%) ServiceNow
3 36 (6.86%) Dell
4 20 (3.81%) Cisco
4 20 (3.81%) SAP
4 20 (3.81%) VMware
5 19 (3.62%) HP
6 17 (3.24%) Google
7 14 (2.67%) Apple
8 8 (1.52%) Tenable
9 6 (1.14%) Citrix
9 6 (1.14%) Remedy
10 5 (0.95%) AppDynamics
10 5 (0.95%) Dynatrace
10 5 (0.95%) Fortinet
11 4 (0.76%) CrowdStrike
11 4 (0.76%) Veeam
12 3 (0.57%) Computacenter
12 3 (0.57%) Zscaler
13 2 (0.38%) Qualys