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 26 July 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 256 200 261
Rank change year-on-year -56 +61 +9
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 526 440 374
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.34% 0.93%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.07% 1.46% 0.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 335 277 235
10th Percentile £150 £126 £124
25th Percentile £175 £150 £147
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £190 £200
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £275 £250 £311
90th Percentile £415 £423 £519
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £160 £175
% change year-on-year +25.00% -8.57% -5.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 68 94 79
10th Percentile £17.56 £18.51 £11.75
25th Percentile £18.50 £18.87 £13.25
Median hourly rate £21.63 £24.66 £18.27
Median % change year-on-year -12.31% +34.98% +3.10%
75th Percentile £25.77 £25.15 £22.00
90th Percentile £34.37 - £24.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.25 £23.58 £16.19
% change year-on-year -9.88% +45.65% -8.63%

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 49,136 30,148 37,599
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.59% 91.57% 93.06%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,670 19,189 24,369
10th Percentile £328 £284 £300
25th Percentile £420 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
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 3,322 1,457 2,277
10th Percentile £15.75 £13.72 £13.69
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £18.27
Median hourly rate £42.85 £25.15 £41.81
Median % change year-on-year +70.39% -39.85% -3.47%
75th Percentile £67.89 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.00 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -41.51% +10.19%

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 26 July 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 26 July 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 26 July 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 -46 462 £200 +5.26% 230
UK excluding London -51 397 £200 +25.00% 221
London -56 125 £226 -1.96% 42
South East -44 108 £215 +34.38% 61
North of England -48 84 £190 +2.70% 52
South West -50 49 £200 +25.00% 25
East of England -3 48 £200 +5.26% 41
Midlands -53 47 £200 +29.03% 27
North West -36 43 £190 +8.57% 25
Scotland -5 37 £150 -20.53% 12
Yorkshire -28 36 £190 +10.14% 22
East Midlands -8 28 £200 +56.86% 15
Work from Home -65 23 £350 +27.27% 35
Wales -11 21 £190 +26.67% 7
West Midlands -64 18 £185 +5.71% 12
North East -41 6 £450 +125.00% 8
Northern Ireland +1 3 - - 3

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

For the 6 months to 26 July 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.

1 298 (56.65%) Windows
2 245 (46.58%) Microsoft
3 234 (44.49%) Microsoft 365
4 225 (42.78%) Active Directory
5 144 (27.38%) Customer Service
6 137 (26.05%) Windows 10
7 127 (24.14%) Problem-Solving
8 90 (17.11%) ITIL
9 86 (16.35%) Microsoft Intune
10 82 (15.59%) Azure
11 81 (15.40%) ServiceNow
12 77 (14.64%) Security Cleared
13 68 (12.93%) SC Cleared
14 59 (11.22%) ITSM
15 58 (11.03%) Entra ID
16 57 (10.84%) Microsoft Certification
17 56 (10.65%) SharePoint
18 55 (10.46%) SAN
19 54 (10.27%) A+ Certification
20 52 (9.89%) Break/Fix
20 52 (9.89%) Network+ Certification
21 51 (9.70%) DNS
21 51 (9.70%) VPN
22 48 (9.13%) DHCP
23 47 (8.94%) JIRA
24 46 (8.75%) Microsoft Exchange
25 45 (8.56%) Dell
26 43 (8.17%) CCNA
26 43 (8.17%) Cisco Certification
26 43 (8.17%) MCSE

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 56 (10.65%) SharePoint
2 46 (8.75%) Microsoft Exchange
3 10 (1.90%) HCL Notes
4 5 (0.95%) Confluence
Applications
1 22 (4.18%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.19%) Acrobat
3 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.76%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.38%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 234 (44.49%) Microsoft 365
2 82 (15.59%) Azure
3 58 (11.03%) Entra ID
4 28 (5.32%) OneDrive
5 19 (3.61%) Azure DevOps
6 18 (3.42%) SaaS
7 12 (2.28%) AWS
8 11 (2.09%) PaaS
9 10 (1.90%) IaaS
10 5 (0.95%) Datadog
10 5 (0.95%) Mimecast
10 5 (0.95%) Nutanix
10 5 (0.95%) Power Platform
11 4 (0.76%) GitHub
11 4 (0.76%) PowerApps
12 3 (0.57%) Amazon EC2
12 3 (0.57%) Amazon S3
13 2 (0.38%) Amazon EKS
13 2 (0.38%) Google Workspace
13 2 (0.38%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 55 (10.46%) SAN
2 51 (9.70%) DNS
2 51 (9.70%) VPN
3 48 (9.13%) DHCP
4 43 (8.17%) Wi-Fi
5 35 (6.65%) LAN
6 30 (5.70%) TCP/IP
7 24 (4.56%) VLAN
8 21 (3.99%) WAN
9 16 (3.04%) Firewall
10 11 (2.09%) Internet
11 8 (1.52%) WLAN
12 5 (0.95%) IPv4
12 5 (0.95%) IPv6
12 5 (0.95%) Network Security
12 5 (0.95%) Skype
13 4 (0.76%) Remote Desktop
13 4 (0.76%) VoIP
14 3 (0.57%) Unified Communications
15 2 (0.38%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.28%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.38%) Power BI
2 2 (0.38%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.19%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.19%) MySQL
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 47 (8.94%) JIRA
2 6 (1.14%) Git
3 5 (0.95%) Chocolatey
4 4 (0.76%) GitLab
General
1 240 (45.63%) Social Skills
2 77 (14.64%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (4.94%) Finance
3 26 (4.94%) Manufacturing
4 20 (3.80%) Banking
4 20 (3.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 15 (2.85%) Organisational Skills
6 13 (2.47%) Public Sector
7 7 (1.33%) Marketing
8 6 (1.14%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (0.76%) Financial Institution
9 4 (0.76%) Investment Banking
9 4 (0.76%) Retail
10 3 (0.57%) Legal
10 3 (0.57%) Telecoms
11 1 (0.19%) Aviation
11 1 (0.19%) Front Office
11 1 (0.19%) Local Government
11 1 (0.19%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.19%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.76%) React
2 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (0.38%) JSON
3 2 (0.38%) Middleware
3 2 (0.38%) RabbitMQ
3 2 (0.38%) REST
3 2 (0.38%) XML
4 1 (0.19%) 802.1X
4 1 (0.19%) OpenID
4 1 (0.19%) PySpark
4 1 (0.19%) Redfish
4 1 (0.19%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 61 (11.60%) Onboarding
2 52 (9.89%) Data Centre
3 45 (8.56%) Analytical Mindset
4 17 (3.23%) Video Conferencing
5 15 (2.85%) Self-Motivation
6 14 (2.66%) Driving Licence
6 14 (2.66%) Virtual Team
7 12 (2.28%) Blackberry
8 8 (1.52%) EPoS
9 7 (1.33%) Operational Technology
10 6 (1.14%) Hybrid Cloud
10 6 (1.14%) iPhone
11 5 (0.95%) CCTV
11 5 (0.95%) Cyber Threat
11 5 (0.95%) iPad
11 5 (0.95%) SCADA
12 4 (0.76%) Enterprise Software
12 4 (0.76%) Renewable Energy
13 3 (0.57%) Life Science
13 3 (0.57%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 298 (56.65%) Windows
2 137 (26.05%) Windows 10
3 31 (5.89%) Windows Server
4 28 (5.32%) Mac OS
5 21 (3.99%) Apple iOS
6 19 (3.61%) Android
7 8 (1.52%) Linux
8 4 (0.76%) Windows 7
9 3 (0.57%) Windows Server 2008
9 3 (0.57%) Windows Server 2019
10 1 (0.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.19%) Solaris
10 1 (0.19%) Unix
10 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 144 (27.38%) Customer Service
2 127 (24.14%) Problem-Solving
3 90 (17.11%) ITIL
4 59 (11.22%) ITSM
5 52 (9.89%) Break/Fix
6 42 (7.98%) Asset Management
6 42 (7.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 36 (6.84%) Service Delivery
8 32 (6.08%) Continuous Improvement
8 32 (6.08%) Migration
9 31 (5.89%) User Experience
10 28 (5.32%) Change Management
11 22 (4.18%) Cybersecurity
12 21 (3.99%) Disaster Recovery
13 20 (3.80%) DevOps
14 16 (3.04%) Problem Management
15 13 (2.47%) Data Protection
15 13 (2.47%) Service Management
16 12 (2.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 12 (2.28%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 37 (7.03%) PowerShell
2 23 (4.37%) SQL
3 19 (3.61%) C#
4 10 (1.90%) Python
5 4 (0.76%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.76%) TypeScript
6 2 (0.38%) Java
Qualifications
1 77 (14.64%) Security Cleared
2 68 (12.93%) SC Cleared
3 57 (10.84%) Microsoft Certification
4 54 (10.27%) A+ Certification
5 52 (9.89%) Network+ Certification
6 43 (8.17%) CCNA
6 43 (8.17%) Cisco Certification
6 43 (8.17%) MCSE
7 18 (3.42%) Degree
8 11 (2.09%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.14%) DBS Check
10 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 2 (0.38%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.19%) BPSS Clearance
12 1 (0.19%) CEH
12 1 (0.19%) CISM
12 1 (0.19%) CISSP
12 1 (0.19%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (5.32%) SLA
2 8 (1.52%) Cyber Essentials
2 8 (1.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (0.76%) GDPR
4 3 (0.57%) NIST
4 3 (0.57%) PCI DSS
4 3 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 2 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 2 (0.38%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
5 2 (0.38%) GxP
6 1 (0.19%) ITGC
System Software
1 225 (42.78%) Active Directory
2 19 (3.61%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (3.04%) Hyper-V
4 3 (0.57%) Firmware
4 3 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.57%) vSphere
5 2 (0.38%) Docker
5 2 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 86 (16.35%) Microsoft Intune
2 28 (5.32%) SCCM
3 8 (1.52%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (1.33%) WSUS
5 6 (1.14%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (0.95%) Kubernetes
7 4 (0.76%) Terraform
8 3 (0.57%) Ansible
9 2 (0.38%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.38%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.38%) PaperCut
10 1 (0.19%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.19%) Grafana
10 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
10 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
10 1 (0.19%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 245 (46.58%) Microsoft
2 81 (15.40%) ServiceNow
3 45 (8.56%) Dell
4 30 (5.70%) VMware
5 27 (5.13%) Apple
6 15 (2.85%) Cisco
7 12 (2.28%) Lotus
8 11 (2.09%) Citrix
9 8 (1.52%) HP
9 8 (1.52%) Veeam
10 6 (1.14%) Dynatrace
10 6 (1.14%) Remedy
10 6 (1.14%) Samsung
10 6 (1.14%) Tenable
11 5 (0.95%) AppDynamics
11 5 (0.95%) Fortinet
12 3 (0.57%) Freshdesk
12 3 (0.57%) Meraki
12 3 (0.57%) Okta
13 2 (0.38%) Arista