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 30 May 2026.

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

6 months to
30 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 247 189 241
Rank change year-on-year -58 +52 +44
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 507 406 420
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.03% 1.41% 0.98%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.12% 1.52% 1.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 291 267 260
10th Percentile £145 £123 £122
25th Percentile £163 £140 £148
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £185 £200
Median % change year-on-year +8.11% -7.50% +5.26%
75th Percentile £288 £247 £300
90th Percentile £438 £423 £576
UK excluding London median daily rate £190 £160 £183
% change year-on-year +18.75% -12.33% +1.39%
Number of hourly rates quoted 93 67 105
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.38 £12.00
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.51 £15.10
Median hourly rate £22.50 £21.01 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +7.09% +18.57% -
75th Percentile £25.75 £25.15 £22.00
90th Percentile £26.90 £25.19 £24.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £19.50 £17.42
% change year-on-year +15.38% +11.94% -1.69%

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 45,367 26,659 39,830
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.33% 92.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,689 17,296 25,850
10th Percentile £325 £290 £280
25th Percentile £413 £405 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £504 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.69% -4.00% -2.78%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,009 1,048 2,796
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.81
25th Percentile £20.50 £17.87 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £28.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.79% -25.33% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.25 £59.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.61 £25.31 £40.00
% change year-on-year +72.28% -36.73% -6.98%

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 30 May 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 30 May 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 30 May 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 -39 439 £200 +6.67% 194
UK excluding London -46 396 £190 +18.75% 200
London -55 107 £240 +2.67% 27
South East -38 94 £210 +10.53% 65
North of England -54 81 £190 +1.33% 35
Midlands -37 63 £200 +42.86% 29
East of England -3 48 £200 +11.11% 29
South West -50 44 £185 +23.33% 27
Scotland +7 40 £155 -16.78% 8
East Midlands +3 38 £200 +60.00% 18
North West -39 36 £190 +2.01% 21
Yorkshire -51 35 £190 -3.80% 10
West Midlands -70 26 £185 +23.33% 11
Wales -11 23 £190 +29.52% 10
Work from Home -82 17 £358 +35.09% 48
North East -21 10 £450 +125.00% 6
Northern Ireland +1 3 - - 3

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

For the 6 months to 30 May 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.

1 227 (44.77%) Windows
2 190 (37.48%) Microsoft 365
3 183 (36.09%) Microsoft
4 181 (35.70%) Active Directory
5 133 (26.23%) Customer Service
6 113 (22.29%) Windows 10
7 104 (20.51%) Problem-Solving
8 93 (18.34%) Security Cleared
9 86 (16.96%) SC Cleared
10 74 (14.60%) Azure
11 61 (12.03%) SAN
12 60 (11.83%) Migration
13 59 (11.64%) ServiceNow
14 57 (11.24%) ITIL
15 56 (11.05%) Break/Fix
15 56 (11.05%) Dell
15 56 (11.05%) Microsoft Certification
16 54 (10.65%) Network+ Certification
17 53 (10.45%) A+ Certification
17 53 (10.45%) Microsoft Intune
18 51 (10.06%) CCNA
18 51 (10.06%) Cisco Certification
18 51 (10.06%) MCSE
19 43 (8.48%) Wi-Fi
20 40 (7.89%) ITSM
20 40 (7.89%) JIRA
21 38 (7.50%) Entra ID
22 36 (7.10%) DNS
22 36 (7.10%) Infrastructure Engineering
23 34 (6.71%) DHCP

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 (5.72%) Microsoft Exchange
1 29 (5.72%) SharePoint
2 7 (1.38%) HCL Notes
3 2 (0.39%) Confluence
Applications
1 18 (3.55%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.39%) NetSuite
2 1 (0.20%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 190 (37.48%) Microsoft 365
2 74 (14.60%) Azure
3 38 (7.50%) Entra ID
4 19 (3.75%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (3.35%) OneDrive
5 17 (3.35%) SaaS
6 11 (2.17%) PaaS
7 9 (1.78%) IaaS
8 8 (1.58%) AWS
9 6 (1.18%) Mimecast
10 5 (0.99%) Datadog
10 5 (0.99%) Nutanix
11 4 (0.79%) GitHub
12 3 (0.59%) Google Workspace
12 3 (0.59%) Rubrik
13 2 (0.39%) Power Platform
13 2 (0.39%) PowerApps
14 1 (0.20%) Azure Data Factory
14 1 (0.20%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 61 (12.03%) SAN
2 43 (8.48%) Wi-Fi
3 36 (7.10%) DNS
4 34 (6.71%) DHCP
5 33 (6.51%) LAN
5 33 (6.51%) VPN
6 23 (4.54%) VLAN
7 17 (3.35%) WAN
8 16 (3.16%) TCP/IP
9 14 (2.76%) Firewall
10 11 (2.17%) WLAN
11 7 (1.38%) Internet
12 5 (0.99%) IPv4
12 5 (0.99%) IPv6
12 5 (0.99%) Network Security
12 5 (0.99%) Skype
12 5 (0.99%) VoIP
13 3 (0.59%) Structured Cabling
13 3 (0.59%) Unified Communications
14 2 (0.39%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.37%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.20%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 40 (7.89%) JIRA
2 6 (1.18%) Git
3 5 (0.99%) Chocolatey
4 4 (0.79%) GitLab
General
1 201 (39.64%) Social Skills
2 70 (13.81%) Analytical Skills
3 27 (5.33%) Finance
4 26 (5.13%) Manufacturing
5 22 (4.34%) Banking
6 15 (2.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 15 (2.96%) Public Sector
7 13 (2.56%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (1.58%) Documentation Skills
8 8 (1.58%) Marketing
9 4 (0.79%) Investment Banking
9 4 (0.79%) Retail
10 3 (0.59%) Financial Institution
10 3 (0.59%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.39%) Electronics
11 2 (0.39%) Law
11 2 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
12 1 (0.20%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.20%) Aviation
12 1 (0.20%) Japanese Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.79%) React
2 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.20%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.20%) PySpark
3 1 (0.20%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 58 (11.44%) Data Centre
2 51 (10.06%) Analytical Mindset
3 41 (8.09%) Onboarding
4 20 (3.94%) Virtual Team
5 13 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
6 11 (2.17%) Driving Licence
7 10 (1.97%) EPoS
7 10 (1.97%) Operational Technology
8 7 (1.38%) Blackberry
9 6 (1.18%) Hybrid Cloud
9 6 (1.18%) SCADA
9 6 (1.18%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (0.99%) CCTV
10 5 (0.99%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (0.79%) Renewable Energy
12 3 (0.59%) Enterprise Software
12 3 (0.59%) Public Cloud
12 3 (0.59%) Smartphone
13 2 (0.39%) IoT
13 2 (0.39%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 227 (44.77%) Windows
2 113 (22.29%) Windows 10
3 24 (4.73%) Windows Server
4 18 (3.55%) Mac OS
5 14 (2.76%) Android
5 14 (2.76%) Apple iOS
6 3 (0.59%) Linux
7 2 (0.39%) Unix
7 2 (0.39%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.39%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.20%) Solaris
8 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (26.23%) Customer Service
2 104 (20.51%) Problem-Solving
3 60 (11.83%) Migration
4 57 (11.24%) ITIL
5 56 (11.05%) Break/Fix
6 40 (7.89%) ITSM
7 36 (7.10%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 33 (6.51%) Workflow
9 31 (6.11%) Workflow Management
10 26 (5.13%) Asset Management
11 25 (4.93%) Change Management
12 22 (4.34%) DevOps
12 22 (4.34%) User Experience
13 21 (4.14%) Disaster Recovery
14 20 (3.94%) Service Delivery
15 16 (3.16%) Cybersecurity
16 14 (2.76%) Continuous Improvement
16 14 (2.76%) Problem Management
17 11 (2.17%) Decision-Making
18 10 (1.97%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 21 (4.14%) SQL
2 20 (3.94%) PowerShell
3 19 (3.75%) C#
4 7 (1.38%) Python
5 4 (0.79%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.79%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 93 (18.34%) Security Cleared
2 86 (16.96%) SC Cleared
3 56 (11.05%) Microsoft Certification
4 54 (10.65%) Network+ Certification
5 53 (10.45%) A+ Certification
6 51 (10.06%) CCNA
6 51 (10.06%) Cisco Certification
6 51 (10.06%) MCSE
7 12 (2.37%) DV Cleared
8 7 (1.38%) Degree
9 5 (0.99%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.20%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (4.73%) SLA
2 7 (1.38%) Cyber Essentials
3 6 (1.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (0.99%) GDPR
5 4 (0.79%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.59%) NIST
7 2 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.20%) GxP
8 1 (0.20%) ITGC
8 1 (0.20%) QA
8 1 (0.20%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 181 (35.70%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.56%) Hyper-V
3 9 (1.78%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.39%) Docker
4 2 (0.39%) Firmware
4 2 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.39%) vSphere
5 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
5 1 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 53 (10.45%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (4.54%) SCCM
3 9 (1.78%) Jamf Pro
4 6 (1.18%) WSUS
5 4 (0.79%) Kubernetes
6 3 (0.59%) Ansible
6 3 (0.59%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.59%) Terraform
7 2 (0.39%) PaperCut
7 2 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.20%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.20%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 183 (36.09%) Microsoft
2 59 (11.64%) ServiceNow
3 56 (11.05%) Dell
4 18 (3.55%) VMware
5 11 (2.17%) HP
6 10 (1.97%) Apple
7 8 (1.58%) Cisco
7 8 (1.58%) Citrix
7 8 (1.58%) Fortinet
7 8 (1.58%) Veeam
8 7 (1.38%) Lotus
8 7 (1.38%) Tenable
9 5 (0.99%) AppDynamics
9 5 (0.99%) Dynatrace
10 4 (0.79%) Freshdesk
11 3 (0.59%) Google
11 3 (0.59%) SAP
12 2 (0.39%) Arista
12 2 (0.39%) Aruba
12 2 (0.39%) Computacenter