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 6 September 2026.

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

6 months to
6 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 260 224 285
Rank change year-on-year -36 +61 -18
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 537 404 321
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.24% 0.84%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.08% 1.35% 0.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 348 249 198
10th Percentile £150 £126 £126
25th Percentile £171 £150 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £201
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.83% +5.92%
75th Percentile £263 £245 £372
90th Percentile £400 £414 £547
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £160 £195
% change year-on-year +25.00% -17.95% +8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 106 62
10th Percentile £17.20 £18.51 £11.75
25th Percentile £18.46 £18.87 £15.10
Median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year -12.52% +28.97% +10.05%
75th Percentile £25.75 - £22.89
90th Percentile £35.22 - £24.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.25 £25.15 £17.16
% change year-on-year -15.51% +46.56% -3.16%

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 49,947 29,816 35,657
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.42% 91.16% 93.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,790 18,788 22,381
10th Percentile £325 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,636 1,547 1,786
10th Percentile £14.85 £13.63 £14.50
25th Percentile £20.48 £17.00 £20.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.91 £53.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.50 £70.16 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +12.50%

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 6 September 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 6 September 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 6 September 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 -48 463 £200 +8.11% 259
UK excluding London -34 399 £200 +25.00% 230
London -51 130 £225 - 77
South East -48 95 £250 +56.25% 68
North of England -22 89 £200 +25.00% 38
North West -20 58 £200 +25.00% 21
East of England 0 51 £195 +11.43% 28
South West -50 51 £190 +18.75% 30
Midlands -62 49 £200 +25.00% 37
Scotland -7 44 £192 +1.46% 22
Yorkshire -19 30 £200 +25.00% 12
Work from Home -55 30 £305 -4.31% 77
East Midlands -13 27 £275 +115.69% 14
West Midlands -59 21 £185 -7.50% 23
Wales -7 18 £190 +18.75% 5
Northern Ireland +4 2 - - 9
North East -40 2 £175 -12.50% 5

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

For the 6 months to 6 September 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.

1 343 (63.87%) Windows
2 291 (54.19%) Microsoft
3 263 (48.98%) Microsoft 365
4 245 (45.62%) Active Directory
5 181 (33.71%) Customer Service
6 159 (29.61%) Windows 10
7 153 (28.49%) Problem-Solving
8 109 (20.30%) ITIL
9 97 (18.06%) Microsoft Intune
10 91 (16.95%) Security Cleared
11 86 (16.01%) ServiceNow
12 82 (15.27%) Azure
12 82 (15.27%) SC Cleared
13 79 (14.71%) ITSM
14 76 (14.15%) SharePoint
15 75 (13.97%) Entra ID
16 58 (10.80%) VPN
17 56 (10.43%) Microsoft Exchange
18 53 (9.87%) A+ Certification
19 50 (9.31%) Continuous Improvement
20 49 (9.12%) Break/Fix
20 49 (9.12%) DNS
21 46 (8.57%) Asset Management
22 45 (8.38%) Microsoft Certification
22 45 (8.38%) Windows Server
23 43 (8.01%) Infrastructure Engineering
24 42 (7.82%) Network+ Certification
24 42 (7.82%) TCP/IP
25 41 (7.64%) DHCP
26 40 (7.45%) SAN

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 76 (14.15%) SharePoint
2 56 (10.43%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (2.05%) HCL Notes
4 4 (0.74%) Confluence
5 2 (0.37%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 31 (5.77%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.56%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.37%) Acrobat
3 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.74%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.37%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 263 (48.98%) Microsoft 365
2 82 (15.27%) Azure
3 75 (13.97%) Entra ID
4 34 (6.33%) OneDrive
5 15 (2.79%) AWS
6 13 (2.42%) SaaS
7 6 (1.12%) Azure DevOps
7 6 (1.12%) Mimecast
8 5 (0.93%) IaaS
8 5 (0.93%) Nutanix
9 4 (0.74%) GitHub
9 4 (0.74%) Power Platform
10 3 (0.56%) Amazon EC2
10 3 (0.56%) Amazon S3
10 3 (0.56%) Google Workspace
10 3 (0.56%) PaaS
10 3 (0.56%) PowerApps
11 2 (0.37%) Amazon EKS
11 2 (0.37%) AWS Direct Connect
11 2 (0.37%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 58 (10.80%) VPN
2 49 (9.12%) DNS
3 42 (7.82%) TCP/IP
4 41 (7.64%) DHCP
5 40 (7.45%) SAN
6 29 (5.40%) Wi-Fi
7 27 (5.03%) LAN
8 24 (4.47%) WAN
9 20 (3.72%) VLAN
10 17 (3.17%) Firewall
11 10 (1.86%) Internet
12 9 (1.68%) Network Security
13 7 (1.30%) Wireless
14 6 (1.12%) Skype
15 5 (0.93%) IPv4
15 5 (0.93%) IPv6
15 5 (0.93%) WLAN
16 4 (0.74%) Remote Desktop
16 4 (0.74%) SSL
17 3 (0.56%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (1.68%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.37%) Oracle Database
2 2 (0.37%) Power BI
2 2 (0.37%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.37%) Tableau
3 1 (0.19%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.19%) MySQL
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 29 (5.40%) JIRA
2 6 (1.12%) Git
3 3 (0.56%) GitLab
3 3 (0.56%) Postman
3 3 (0.56%) SoapUI
4 2 (0.37%) eggPlant
4 2 (0.37%) JMeter
4 2 (0.37%) LoadRunner
4 2 (0.37%) SonarQube
5 1 (0.19%) Cucumber
5 1 (0.19%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.19%) MSI
5 1 (0.19%) Robot Framework
5 1 (0.19%) Selenium
5 1 (0.19%) WebDriver
General
1 265 (49.35%) Social Skills
2 80 (14.90%) Analytical Skills
3 34 (6.33%) Finance
4 24 (4.47%) Manufacturing
5 23 (4.28%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 17 (3.17%) Public Sector
7 13 (2.42%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (1.68%) Banking
9 7 (1.30%) Marketing
10 6 (1.12%) Legal
11 5 (0.93%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.74%) Retail
13 3 (0.56%) Financial Institution
13 3 (0.56%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.56%) Italian Language
13 3 (0.56%) Presentation Skills
14 2 (0.37%) Front Office
14 2 (0.37%) Military
14 2 (0.37%) Telecoms
15 1 (0.19%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (0.93%) Terraform
2 4 (0.74%) Middleware
2 4 (0.74%) XML
3 3 (0.56%) Kafka
3 3 (0.56%) React
4 2 (0.37%) .NET
4 2 (0.37%) 802.1X
4 2 (0.37%) HTML
4 2 (0.37%) JSON
4 2 (0.37%) RabbitMQ
4 2 (0.37%) REST
4 2 (0.37%) SOAP
4 2 (0.37%) Web Services
4 2 (0.37%) XBRL
5 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.19%) OpenID
5 1 (0.19%) PySpark
5 1 (0.19%) Redfish
5 1 (0.19%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 76 (14.15%) Onboarding
2 53 (9.87%) Data Centre
3 37 (6.89%) Analytical Mindset
4 23 (4.28%) Video Conferencing
5 18 (3.35%) Driving Licence
6 14 (2.61%) Blackberry
7 13 (2.42%) Virtual Team
8 10 (1.86%) Self-Motivation
9 8 (1.49%) EPoS
10 7 (1.30%) CMDB
10 7 (1.30%) Digital Signage
10 7 (1.30%) Hybrid Cloud
10 7 (1.30%) iPhone
10 7 (1.30%) Operational Technology
11 6 (1.12%) Enterprise Software
12 5 (0.93%) iPad
12 5 (0.93%) SCADA
13 4 (0.74%) CCTV
13 4 (0.74%) Renewable Energy
14 3 (0.56%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 343 (63.87%) Windows
2 159 (29.61%) Windows 10
3 45 (8.38%) Windows Server
4 35 (6.52%) Mac OS
5 34 (6.33%) Apple iOS
6 28 (5.21%) Android
7 13 (2.42%) Linux
8 4 (0.74%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.56%) Unix
9 3 (0.56%) Windows 7
10 2 (0.37%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.19%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 181 (33.71%) Customer Service
2 153 (28.49%) Problem-Solving
3 109 (20.30%) ITIL
4 79 (14.71%) ITSM
5 50 (9.31%) Continuous Improvement
6 49 (9.12%) Break/Fix
7 46 (8.57%) Asset Management
8 43 (8.01%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 39 (7.26%) Service Delivery
10 37 (6.89%) User Experience
11 35 (6.52%) Service Management
12 33 (6.15%) Migration
13 21 (3.91%) Cybersecurity
13 21 (3.91%) Inventory Management
14 20 (3.72%) Change Management
15 19 (3.54%) Disaster Recovery
16 15 (2.79%) Customer Experience
16 15 (2.79%) Data Protection
16 15 (2.79%) Problem Management
17 13 (2.42%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 38 (7.08%) PowerShell
2 16 (2.98%) SQL
3 15 (2.79%) Python
4 7 (1.30%) Java
4 7 (1.30%) JavaScript
5 6 (1.12%) C#
6 3 (0.56%) TypeScript
7 2 (0.37%) VB.NET
Qualifications
1 91 (16.95%) Security Cleared
2 82 (15.27%) SC Cleared
3 53 (9.87%) A+ Certification
4 45 (8.38%) Microsoft Certification
5 42 (7.82%) Network+ Certification
6 34 (6.33%) CCNA
6 34 (6.33%) Cisco Certification
6 34 (6.33%) MCSE
7 26 (4.84%) Degree
8 13 (2.42%) DV Cleared
9 12 (2.23%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 10 (1.86%) DBS Check
11 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 3 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
12 3 (0.56%) CEH
12 3 (0.56%) CISM
12 3 (0.56%) CISSP
13 2 (0.37%) Azure Certification
13 2 (0.37%) ISTQB
13 2 (0.37%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (6.52%) SLA
2 9 (1.68%) Cyber Essentials
3 8 (1.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.74%) GDPR
4 4 (0.74%) NIST
5 3 (0.56%) NCSC
5 3 (0.56%) PCI DSS
5 3 (0.56%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 2 (0.37%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.37%) Disclosure Scotland
6 2 (0.37%) GxP
7 1 (0.19%) ITGC
7 1 (0.19%) QA
System Software
1 245 (45.62%) Active Directory
2 24 (4.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (3.35%) Hyper-V
4 4 (0.74%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.56%) Docker
5 3 (0.56%) Firmware
5 3 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.37%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 97 (18.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 37 (6.89%) SCCM
3 10 (1.86%) WSUS
4 8 (1.49%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (1.12%) Ansible
5 6 (1.12%) Kubernetes
6 5 (0.93%) Jamf Pro
7 3 (0.56%) Dell DRAC
8 2 (0.37%) Control-M
8 2 (0.37%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.37%) HP Fortify
8 2 (0.37%) PaperCut
8 2 (0.37%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.19%) Grafana
9 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
Vendors
1 291 (54.19%) Microsoft
2 86 (16.01%) ServiceNow
3 37 (6.89%) Dell
4 35 (6.52%) Apple
5 31 (5.77%) VMware
6 20 (3.72%) Cisco
7 14 (2.61%) Lotus
8 11 (2.05%) Citrix
9 9 (1.68%) HP
9 9 (1.68%) Samsung
10 8 (1.49%) Veeam
11 7 (1.30%) iManage
11 7 (1.30%) Remedy
12 6 (1.12%) Palo Alto
13 5 (0.93%) Fortinet
13 5 (0.93%) IBM
14 4 (0.74%) Google
14 4 (0.74%) Sophos
15 3 (0.56%) Meraki
15 3 (0.56%) Oracle