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 20 March 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 219 207 210
Rank change year-on-year -12 +3 +66
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 526 369 494
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.21% 1.26% 1.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.32% 1.36% 1.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 302 249 300
10th Percentile £150 £125 £121
25th Percentile £173 £140 £149
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £260 £250 £273
90th Percentile £433 £435 £407
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £195
% change year-on-year +11.11% -7.69% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 111 44 124
10th Percentile £18.70 £16.09 £12.29
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.51 £15.75
Median hourly rate £24.00 £21.44 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +11.97% +20.97% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.30 £20.25
90th Percentile £25.77 £32.15 £25.18
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 39,980 27,191 41,155
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.91% 92.93% 92.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,004 17,726 26,995
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £410 £406 £407
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £521 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.03% -0.76% -4.11%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,473 892 2,490
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.22 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.01 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.00 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.77% - -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.99
90th Percentile £76.25 £77.10 £71.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £32.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +12.50% -1.54% -19.92%

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 20 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 20 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 20 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 +7 472 £200 +5.26% 236
UK excluding London -5 404 £200 +11.11% 258
London -5 120 £205 -7.87% 26
North of England -22 108 £190 -5.00% 50
South East -28 91 £200 +5.26% 71
East of England +23 59 £203 +12.50% 30
Midlands -55 52 £200 +33.33% 37
North West -14 48 £168 -16.25% 33
South West -30 43 £188 +10.29% 36
Yorkshire -36 43 £205 -34.40% 16
Scotland +13 33 £178 +4.41% 19
East Midlands -17 32 £200 +11.11% 19
Work from Home -46 21 £300 +17.65% 47
West Midlands -73 21 £188 +29.31% 18
Wales -17 18 £200 +37.93% 16
North East -3 17 £338 +68.75% 3
Northern Ireland -11 1 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 20 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 (42.59%) Windows
2 202 (38.40%) Microsoft 365
3 191 (36.31%) Microsoft
4 175 (33.27%) Active Directory
5 129 (24.52%) Security Cleared
6 122 (23.19%) SC Cleared
7 117 (22.24%) Windows 10
8 112 (21.29%) Customer Service
9 96 (18.25%) Migration
10 73 (13.88%) Problem-Solving
11 66 (12.55%) Workflow
12 63 (11.98%) Azure
13 61 (11.60%) Workflow Management
14 59 (11.22%) ServiceNow
15 54 (10.27%) Microsoft Intune
16 53 (10.08%) Asset Management
17 49 (9.32%) Wi-Fi
18 48 (9.13%) ITIL
19 45 (8.56%) ITSM
20 36 (6.84%) Dell
20 36 (6.84%) SCCM
21 33 (6.27%) Break/Fix
21 33 (6.27%) DHCP
21 33 (6.27%) DNS
21 33 (6.27%) Entra ID
21 33 (6.27%) JIRA
21 33 (6.27%) LAN
22 32 (6.08%) Cybersecurity
22 32 (6.08%) SAN
23 29 (5.51%) Microsoft 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 28 (5.32%) SharePoint
2 23 (4.37%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.57%) Confluence
4 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 24 (4.56%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 6 (1.14%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.38%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.19%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 202 (38.40%) Microsoft 365
2 63 (11.98%) Azure
3 33 (6.27%) Entra ID
4 19 (3.61%) OneDrive
5 18 (3.42%) Google Workspace
6 17 (3.23%) SaaS
7 15 (2.85%) Azure DevOps
8 12 (2.28%) PaaS
9 10 (1.90%) IaaS
10 9 (1.71%) AWS
11 5 (0.95%) Datadog
12 4 (0.76%) GitHub
13 3 (0.57%) Mimecast
13 3 (0.57%) Power Platform
13 3 (0.57%) Rubrik
14 2 (0.38%) AWS IoT
14 2 (0.38%) Azure Sentinel
14 2 (0.38%) PowerApps
15 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Copilot
15 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 49 (9.32%) Wi-Fi
2 33 (6.27%) DHCP
2 33 (6.27%) DNS
2 33 (6.27%) LAN
3 32 (6.08%) SAN
4 27 (5.13%) Firewall
4 27 (5.13%) VPN
5 22 (4.18%) TCP/IP
6 19 (3.61%) WAN
7 14 (2.66%) VLAN
8 13 (2.47%) Network Security
9 10 (1.90%) VoIP
10 9 (1.71%) Wireless
11 6 (1.14%) Internet
11 6 (1.14%) WLAN
12 4 (0.76%) ATM
12 4 (0.76%) PABX
12 4 (0.76%) Unified Communications
13 3 (0.57%) Modbus
13 3 (0.57%) Structured Cabling
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 33 (6.27%) JIRA
2 5 (0.95%) Chocolatey
3 4 (0.76%) GitLab
4 3 (0.57%) Git
5 1 (0.19%) Hudson
General
1 220 (41.83%) Social Skills
2 45 (8.56%) Finance
3 40 (7.60%) Manufacturing
4 35 (6.65%) Public Sector
5 32 (6.08%) Analytical Skills
5 32 (6.08%) Banking
6 20 (3.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 19 (3.61%) Telecoms
8 18 (3.42%) Electronics
8 18 (3.42%) Marketing
9 16 (3.04%) Organisational Skills
10 7 (1.33%) Aerospace
10 7 (1.33%) Investment Banking
11 5 (0.95%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.76%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.57%) Front Office
13 3 (0.57%) Law
14 2 (0.38%) Pharmaceutical
14 2 (0.38%) Retail
15 1 (0.19%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.76%) React
2 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Graph
2 2 (0.38%) Middleware
3 1 (0.19%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 40 (7.60%) Onboarding
2 27 (5.13%) Data Centre
3 24 (4.56%) Driving Licence
4 23 (4.37%) Analytical Mindset
5 19 (3.61%) Self-Motivation
6 14 (2.66%) Operational Technology
7 9 (1.71%) Virtual Team
8 8 (1.52%) EPoS
8 8 (1.52%) Smartphone
9 6 (1.14%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (0.95%) Cyber Threat
10 5 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (0.95%) Legacy Systems
11 4 (0.76%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (0.76%) IoT
11 4 (0.76%) iPhone
11 4 (0.76%) Management Information System
11 4 (0.76%) SCADA
12 2 (0.38%) CCTV
12 2 (0.38%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 224 (42.59%) Windows
2 117 (22.24%) Windows 10
3 26 (4.94%) Android
4 25 (4.75%) Mac OS
5 22 (4.18%) Apple iOS
6 17 (3.23%) Windows Server
7 14 (2.66%) 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%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 112 (21.29%) Customer Service
2 96 (18.25%) Migration
3 73 (13.88%) Problem-Solving
4 66 (12.55%) Workflow
5 61 (11.60%) Workflow Management
6 53 (10.08%) Asset Management
7 48 (9.13%) ITIL
8 45 (8.56%) ITSM
9 33 (6.27%) Break/Fix
10 32 (6.08%) Cybersecurity
11 24 (4.56%) User Experience
12 21 (3.99%) Change Management
12 21 (3.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 21 (3.99%) Logistics
13 20 (3.80%) DevOps
14 19 (3.61%) Business Intelligence
15 18 (3.42%) Digital Marketing
15 18 (3.42%) Programme Management
16 16 (3.04%) Disaster Recovery
17 14 (2.66%) Problem Management
Programming Languages
1 27 (5.13%) PowerShell
2 16 (3.04%) SQL
3 15 (2.85%) C#
4 7 (1.33%) Python
5 4 (0.76%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.76%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 129 (24.52%) Security Cleared
2 122 (23.19%) SC Cleared
3 29 (5.51%) Microsoft Certification
4 26 (4.94%) CCNA
4 26 (4.94%) Cisco Certification
5 25 (4.75%) Network+ Certification
6 24 (4.56%) A+ Certification
6 24 (4.56%) MCSE
7 13 (2.47%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.14%) Degree
9 4 (0.76%) DBS Check
10 3 (0.57%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.38%) CCNP
12 1 (0.19%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.19%) BC Cleared
12 1 (0.19%) HND
12 1 (0.19%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 1 (0.19%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.37%) SLA
2 4 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials
2 4 (0.76%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.19%) GDPR
3 1 (0.19%) NIST
3 1 (0.19%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.19%) QA
System Software
1 175 (33.27%) Active Directory
2 7 (1.33%) Hyper-V
3 4 (0.76%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.57%) vSphere
5 2 (0.38%) Docker
5 2 (0.38%) Firmware
5 2 (0.38%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.19%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 54 (10.27%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (6.84%) SCCM
3 17 (3.23%) Jamf Pro
4 4 (0.76%) Kubernetes
5 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
5 3 (0.57%) WSUS
6 2 (0.38%) Ansible
6 2 (0.38%) PaperCut
6 2 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.19%) SCOM
7 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
7 1 (0.19%) Terraform
Vendors
1 191 (36.31%) Microsoft
2 59 (11.22%) ServiceNow
3 36 (6.84%) Dell
4 20 (3.80%) SAP
5 17 (3.23%) Google
5 17 (3.23%) HP
6 16 (3.04%) Cisco
7 15 (2.85%) VMware
8 12 (2.28%) Apple
9 8 (1.52%) Tenable
10 6 (1.14%) Citrix
10 6 (1.14%) Remedy
11 5 (0.95%) AppDynamics
11 5 (0.95%) Dynatrace
11 5 (0.95%) Fortinet
12 4 (0.76%) CrowdStrike
12 4 (0.76%) Veeam
13 3 (0.57%) Computacenter
13 3 (0.57%) Okta
13 3 (0.57%) Zscaler