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 8 February 2026.

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

6 months to
8 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 220 226 209
Rank change year-on-year +6 -17 +88
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 480 346 507
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.23% 1.11% 1.12%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.34% 1.20% 1.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 270 237 306
10th Percentile £150 £125 £121
25th Percentile £166 £143 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £239 £260 £274
90th Percentile £369 £518 £424
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 125 42 125
10th Percentile £18.77 £15.22 £13.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.28 £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 £21.00
90th Percentile £25.77 £27.67 £28.10
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.79 £21.59 £17.72
% change year-on-year +10.18% +21.84% -

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 35,791 28,902 42,066
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.50% 92.95% 93.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,561 17,719 27,795
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £405 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £476 £490
% change year-on-year -0.21% -2.86% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,176 840 2,312
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.89 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.57 £21.25 £16.67
Median hourly rate £30.00 £33.77 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -11.16% -3.51% -
75th Percentile £61.31 £63.38 £61.51
90th Percentile £71.99 £75.00 £72.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.50 £32.13 £35.95
% change year-on-year -11.30% -10.63% +8.94%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 +26 434 £200 +5.26% 304
UK excluding London +3 381 £200 +11.11% 312
London -5 98 £200 -13.04% 50
North of England -17 92 £200 - 71
South East -2 80 £190 - 114
East of England +21 60 £200 +11.11% 37
South West -7 54 £200 +6.67% 25
Midlands -40 53 £195 +8.33% 37
North West -9 42 £152 -22.31% 43
Scotland +5 33 £178 - 18
Yorkshire -36 33 £205 - 19
East Midlands -10 30 £200 +11.11% 20
Work from Home -31 25 £325 +8.33% 55
West Midlands -51 25 £188 -3.85% 17
North East -2 17 £198 +23.44% 11
Wales -15 11 £200 +36.33% 11
Northern Ireland -6 1 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 8 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.

1 195 (40.63%) Windows
2 169 (35.21%) Microsoft 365
3 160 (33.33%) Microsoft
4 136 (28.33%) Active Directory
5 133 (27.71%) Security Cleared
6 128 (26.67%) SC Cleared
7 103 (21.46%) Windows 10
8 98 (20.42%) Migration
9 97 (20.21%) Customer Service
10 72 (15.00%) Workflow
11 68 (14.17%) Problem-Solving
12 66 (13.75%) Workflow Management
13 52 (10.83%) Asset Management
14 51 (10.63%) ServiceNow
15 50 (10.42%) Microsoft Intune
16 47 (9.79%) Azure
17 46 (9.58%) ITIL
18 40 (8.33%) ITSM
19 36 (7.50%) SCCM
20 32 (6.67%) Wi-Fi
21 31 (6.46%) Cybersecurity
22 29 (6.04%) Firewall
22 29 (6.04%) Microsoft Office
23 27 (5.63%) VPN
24 26 (5.42%) DHCP
24 26 (5.42%) DNS
24 26 (5.42%) TCP/IP
25 25 (5.21%) Dell
25 25 (5.21%) Mac OS
25 25 (5.21%) 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 25 (5.21%) SharePoint
2 21 (4.38%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.63%) Confluence
4 1 (0.21%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 29 (6.04%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.67%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.83%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (1.46%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.21%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 169 (35.21%) Microsoft 365
2 47 (9.79%) Azure
3 24 (5.00%) Entra ID
4 18 (3.75%) Google Workspace
5 17 (3.54%) OneDrive
6 11 (2.29%) SaaS
7 8 (1.67%) AWS
8 6 (1.25%) PaaS
9 4 (0.83%) IaaS
9 4 (0.83%) Mimecast
10 3 (0.63%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (0.63%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.42%) AWS IoT
11 2 (0.42%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.42%) Azure Stack
11 2 (0.42%) Datadog
11 2 (0.42%) PowerApps
11 2 (0.42%) Rubrik
12 1 (0.21%) GitHub
12 1 (0.21%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 32 (6.67%) Wi-Fi
2 29 (6.04%) Firewall
3 27 (5.63%) VPN
4 26 (5.42%) DHCP
4 26 (5.42%) DNS
4 26 (5.42%) TCP/IP
5 22 (4.58%) LAN
6 15 (3.13%) Network Security
6 15 (3.13%) SAN
7 14 (2.92%) WAN
8 11 (2.29%) VLAN
9 9 (1.88%) VoIP
9 9 (1.88%) Wireless
10 7 (1.46%) PABX
11 5 (1.04%) ATM
12 4 (0.83%) Unified Communications
12 4 (0.83%) WLAN
13 3 (0.63%) Ethernet
13 3 (0.63%) Modbus
14 2 (0.42%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.04%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.21%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.21%) Power BI
2 1 (0.21%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 18 (3.75%) JIRA
2 2 (0.42%) Chocolatey
3 1 (0.21%) GitLab
3 1 (0.21%) Hudson
General
1 199 (41.46%) Social Skills
2 37 (7.71%) Finance
3 36 (7.50%) Manufacturing
4 34 (7.08%) Public Sector
5 20 (4.17%) Banking
6 19 (3.96%) Electronics
6 19 (3.96%) Marketing
6 19 (3.96%) Telecoms
7 18 (3.75%) Organisational Skills
8 16 (3.33%) Analytical Skills
9 15 (3.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 10 (2.08%) Aerospace
11 5 (1.04%) Law
12 4 (0.83%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.83%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.63%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.63%) Retail
14 2 (0.42%) Automotive
14 2 (0.42%) Front Office
14 2 (0.42%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.42%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (0.42%) Middleware
2 1 (0.21%) React
Miscellaneous
1 30 (6.25%) Onboarding
2 29 (6.04%) Driving Licence
3 20 (4.17%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (3.75%) Operational Technology
5 14 (2.92%) Data Centre
6 13 (2.71%) Smartphone
7 10 (2.08%) Analytical Mindset
8 7 (1.46%) Video Conferencing
8 7 (1.46%) Virtual Team
9 6 (1.25%) Legacy Systems
10 5 (1.04%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.04%) EPoS
11 4 (0.83%) CCTV
11 4 (0.83%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (0.83%) IoT
11 4 (0.83%) iPhone
11 4 (0.83%) Management Information System
11 4 (0.83%) SCADA
12 2 (0.42%) 3D Printing
12 2 (0.42%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 195 (40.63%) Windows
2 103 (21.46%) Windows 10
3 25 (5.21%) Mac OS
4 23 (4.79%) Android
5 20 (4.17%) Apple iOS
6 15 (3.13%) Windows Server
7 14 (2.92%) Linux
8 3 (0.63%) Unix
9 2 (0.42%) Solaris
9 2 (0.42%) VMS
10 1 (0.21%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.21%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (20.42%) Migration
2 97 (20.21%) Customer Service
3 72 (15.00%) Workflow
4 68 (14.17%) Problem-Solving
5 66 (13.75%) Workflow Management
6 52 (10.83%) Asset Management
7 46 (9.58%) ITIL
8 40 (8.33%) ITSM
9 31 (6.46%) Cybersecurity
10 23 (4.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 22 (4.58%) Break/Fix
12 20 (4.17%) Business Intelligence
12 20 (4.17%) Logistics
13 19 (3.96%) Digital Marketing
13 19 (3.96%) Programme Management
14 16 (3.33%) User Experience
15 12 (2.50%) Service Management
16 11 (2.29%) Agile
16 11 (2.29%) Disaster Recovery
16 11 (2.29%) Inventory Management
Programming Languages
1 24 (5.00%) PowerShell
2 5 (1.04%) Python
2 5 (1.04%) SQL
3 3 (0.63%) C#
4 1 (0.21%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.21%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 133 (27.71%) Security Cleared
2 128 (26.67%) SC Cleared
3 14 (2.92%) Microsoft Certification
4 13 (2.71%) Network+ Certification
5 12 (2.50%) A+ Certification
5 12 (2.50%) CCNA
5 12 (2.50%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (2.08%) DV Cleared
6 10 (2.08%) MCSE
7 9 (1.88%) DBS Check
8 6 (1.25%) Degree
9 3 (0.63%) BPSS Clearance
10 2 (0.42%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.42%) CCNP
11 1 (0.21%) BC Cleared
11 1 (0.21%) HND
11 1 (0.21%) ISACA
11 1 (0.21%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.21%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 1 (0.21%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (2.92%) SLA
2 2 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (0.42%) GDPR
3 1 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.21%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.21%) QA
System Software
1 136 (28.33%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.25%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.04%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.04%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.42%) vSphere
6 1 (0.21%) Docker
6 1 (0.21%) Firmware
6 1 (0.21%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 50 (10.42%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (7.50%) SCCM
3 16 (3.33%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.04%) WSUS
5 2 (0.42%) Ansible
5 2 (0.42%) FortiGate
5 2 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.21%) Kubernetes
6 1 (0.21%) SCOM
Vendors
1 160 (33.33%) Microsoft
2 51 (10.63%) ServiceNow
3 25 (5.21%) Dell
4 21 (4.38%) SAP
5 20 (4.17%) Cisco
6 19 (3.96%) HP
6 19 (3.96%) VMware
7 18 (3.75%) Google
8 15 (3.13%) Apple
9 8 (1.67%) Remedy
10 6 (1.25%) Citrix
11 4 (0.83%) CrowdStrike
11 4 (0.83%) Okta
11 4 (0.83%) Sophos
11 4 (0.83%) Tenable
12 3 (0.63%) Computacenter
12 3 (0.63%) Datto
12 3 (0.63%) Fortinet
12 3 (0.63%) Veeam
13 2 (0.42%) Zscaler