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 24 February 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 217 212 204
Rank change year-on-year -5 -8 +76
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 502 372 513
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.23% 1.23% 1.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.34% 1.33% 1.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 287 254 314
10th Percentile £150 £125 £121
25th Percentile £170 £145 £146
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -5.88%
75th Percentile £244 £250 £274
90th Percentile £380 £444 £417
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 121 40 127
10th Percentile £18.87 £15.22 £13.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.51 £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 £20.25
90th Percentile £25.77 £28.04 £25.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.79 £21.59 £17.50
% change year-on-year +10.18% +23.37% -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 37,601 28,063 41,310
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.77% 92.89% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,630 17,563 27,190
10th Percentile £306 £293 £275
25th Percentile £408 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,287 822 2,342
10th Percentile £14.61 £16.25 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.30
Median hourly rate £32.00 £35.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% - -10.88%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £75.00 £71.99
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -7.69% -7.14% -5.74%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 +17 455 £200 +5.26% 265
UK excluding London -5 392 £200 +11.11% 281
London -6 109 £200 -3.03% 53
North of England -25 96 £190 -5.00% 61
South East -11 89 £200 +5.26% 86
East of England +21 62 £203 +12.50% 32
Midlands -54 51 £190 +15.15% 25
South West -13 49 £188 +1.35% 35
North West -19 43 £152 -24.25% 33
Yorkshire -36 35 £205 -2.38% 24
Scotland +9 33 £178 -5.33% 24
East Midlands -13 32 £200 +11.11% 11
Work from Home -33 24 £325 +15.04% 52
West Midlands -66 21 £188 +20.97% 14
North East -2 18 £225 +12.50% 8
Wales -17 12 £200 +37.13% 17
Northern Ireland -7 1 - - 3

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

For the 6 months to 24 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.

1 213 (42.43%) Windows
2 188 (37.45%) Microsoft 365
3 177 (35.26%) Microsoft
4 156 (31.08%) Active Directory
5 134 (26.69%) Security Cleared
6 128 (25.50%) SC Cleared
7 117 (23.31%) Windows 10
8 104 (20.72%) Migration
9 103 (20.52%) Customer Service
10 72 (14.34%) Problem-Solving
10 72 (14.34%) Workflow
11 66 (13.15%) Workflow Management
12 56 (11.16%) Microsoft Intune
12 56 (11.16%) ServiceNow
13 53 (10.56%) Asset Management
14 51 (10.16%) Azure
15 46 (9.16%) ITIL
15 46 (9.16%) ITSM
16 40 (7.97%) Wi-Fi
17 38 (7.57%) SCCM
18 34 (6.77%) Cybersecurity
19 32 (6.37%) Firewall
20 31 (6.18%) DHCP
20 31 (6.18%) DNS
20 31 (6.18%) VPN
21 28 (5.58%) Microsoft Office
22 27 (5.38%) Dell
22 27 (5.38%) LAN
22 27 (5.38%) Mac OS
22 27 (5.38%) 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 27 (5.38%) SharePoint
2 22 (4.38%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.60%) Confluence
4 1 (0.20%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 28 (5.58%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.59%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.80%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (1.39%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.20%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 188 (37.45%) Microsoft 365
2 51 (10.16%) Azure
3 25 (4.98%) Entra ID
4 20 (3.98%) OneDrive
5 17 (3.39%) Google Workspace
6 14 (2.79%) SaaS
7 10 (1.99%) PaaS
8 9 (1.79%) AWS
9 8 (1.59%) IaaS
10 6 (1.20%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (0.80%) Datadog
12 3 (0.60%) Mimecast
12 3 (0.60%) Power Platform
13 2 (0.40%) AWS IoT
13 2 (0.40%) Azure Sentinel
13 2 (0.40%) GitHub
13 2 (0.40%) PowerApps
13 2 (0.40%) Rubrik
14 1 (0.20%) Google Drive
14 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 40 (7.97%) Wi-Fi
2 32 (6.37%) Firewall
3 31 (6.18%) DHCP
3 31 (6.18%) DNS
3 31 (6.18%) VPN
4 27 (5.38%) LAN
5 26 (5.18%) TCP/IP
6 21 (4.18%) SAN
7 16 (3.19%) WAN
8 15 (2.99%) Network Security
9 13 (2.59%) VLAN
10 10 (1.99%) VoIP
11 9 (1.79%) Wireless
12 7 (1.39%) PABX
13 6 (1.20%) WLAN
14 5 (1.00%) ATM
15 4 (0.80%) Internet
15 4 (0.80%) Unified Communications
16 3 (0.60%) Modbus
16 3 (0.60%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (1.39%) 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 24 (4.78%) JIRA
2 4 (0.80%) Chocolatey
3 2 (0.40%) GitLab
4 1 (0.20%) Hudson
General
1 213 (42.43%) Social Skills
2 38 (7.57%) Manufacturing
3 37 (7.37%) Finance
4 34 (6.77%) Public Sector
5 23 (4.58%) Banking
6 21 (4.18%) Analytical Skills
7 20 (3.98%) Organisational Skills
8 19 (3.78%) Telecoms
9 18 (3.59%) Electronics
9 18 (3.59%) Marketing
10 16 (3.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 10 (1.99%) Aerospace
12 5 (1.00%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.00%) Investment Banking
12 5 (1.00%) Law
13 3 (0.60%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.60%) Retail
14 2 (0.40%) Automotive
14 2 (0.40%) Front Office
14 2 (0.40%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (0.40%) Middleware
1 2 (0.40%) React
2 1 (0.20%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 34 (6.77%) Onboarding
2 28 (5.58%) Driving Licence
3 21 (4.18%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (3.39%) Data Centre
4 17 (3.39%) Operational Technology
5 13 (2.59%) Analytical Mindset
6 9 (1.79%) Smartphone
6 9 (1.79%) Virtual Team
7 7 (1.39%) Video Conferencing
8 6 (1.20%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.00%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.00%) EPoS
10 4 (0.80%) CCTV
10 4 (0.80%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (0.80%) IoT
10 4 (0.80%) iPhone
10 4 (0.80%) SCADA
11 3 (0.60%) Management Information System
12 2 (0.40%) FMCG
12 2 (0.40%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 213 (42.43%) Windows
2 117 (23.31%) Windows 10
3 27 (5.38%) Mac OS
4 25 (4.98%) Android
5 22 (4.38%) Apple iOS
6 15 (2.99%) Windows Server
7 14 (2.79%) Linux
8 3 (0.60%) Unix
9 2 (0.40%) Solaris
9 2 (0.40%) VMS
9 2 (0.40%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (20.72%) Migration
2 103 (20.52%) Customer Service
3 72 (14.34%) Problem-Solving
3 72 (14.34%) Workflow
4 66 (13.15%) Workflow Management
5 53 (10.56%) Asset Management
6 46 (9.16%) ITIL
6 46 (9.16%) ITSM
7 34 (6.77%) Cybersecurity
8 24 (4.78%) Break/Fix
9 21 (4.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 20 (3.98%) Logistics
11 19 (3.78%) Business Intelligence
12 18 (3.59%) Digital Marketing
12 18 (3.59%) Programme Management
13 17 (3.39%) User Experience
14 14 (2.79%) Disaster Recovery
15 13 (2.59%) DevOps
16 12 (2.39%) Service Management
17 11 (2.19%) Inventory Management
Programming Languages
1 25 (4.98%) PowerShell
2 8 (1.59%) SQL
3 6 (1.20%) C#
3 6 (1.20%) Python
4 2 (0.40%) JavaScript
4 2 (0.40%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 134 (26.69%) Security Cleared
2 128 (25.50%) SC Cleared
3 20 (3.98%) Microsoft Certification
4 16 (3.19%) A+ Certification
4 16 (3.19%) CCNA
4 16 (3.19%) Cisco Certification
5 15 (2.99%) Network+ Certification
6 14 (2.79%) MCSE
7 11 (2.19%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.20%) DBS Check
8 6 (1.20%) Degree
9 3 (0.60%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (0.40%) CCNP
11 1 (0.20%) BC Cleared
11 1 (0.20%) HND
11 1 (0.20%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 1 (0.20%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (3.19%) SLA
2 2 (0.40%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (0.40%) GDPR
3 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.20%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.20%) QA
System Software
1 156 (31.08%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (1.39%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.00%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.80%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.40%) Docker
6 2 (0.40%) Firmware
6 2 (0.40%) vSphere
7 1 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 56 (11.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 38 (7.57%) SCCM
3 17 (3.39%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.00%) WSUS
5 3 (0.60%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.40%) Ansible
6 2 (0.40%) Kubernetes
6 2 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.20%) SCOM
Vendors
1 177 (35.26%) Microsoft
2 56 (11.16%) ServiceNow
3 27 (5.38%) Dell
4 20 (3.98%) SAP
5 19 (3.78%) Cisco
5 19 (3.78%) VMware
6 17 (3.39%) Google
7 16 (3.19%) HP
8 14 (2.79%) Apple
9 7 (1.39%) Citrix
9 7 (1.39%) Remedy
9 7 (1.39%) Tenable
10 4 (0.80%) AppDynamics
10 4 (0.80%) CrowdStrike
10 4 (0.80%) Dynatrace
10 4 (0.80%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.60%) Computacenter
11 3 (0.60%) Datto
11 3 (0.60%) Sophos
11 3 (0.60%) Veeam