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 13 June 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 242 193 245
Rank change year-on-year -49 +52 +45
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 517 416 420
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.03% 1.41% 0.96%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.12% 1.53% 1.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 302 266 261
10th Percentile £145 £125 £123
25th Percentile £163 £144 £149
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% +5.26%
75th Percentile £284 £250 £300
90th Percentile £437 £423 £575
UK excluding London median daily rate £190 £160 £179
% change year-on-year +18.75% -10.49% -5.92%
Number of hourly rates quoted 94 75 99
10th Percentile £17.89 £18.50 £11.95
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.51 £14.64
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 £28.32 - £24.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £20.00 £17.29
% change year-on-year +12.50% +15.71% -2.45%

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 46,221 27,241 40,562
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.39% 92.30% 92.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,120 17,531 26,073
10th Percentile £325 £290 £280
25th Percentile £413 £402 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £514 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.80% -4.76% -2.42%
75th Percentile £623 £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 3,085 1,148 2,936
10th Percentile £15.24 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.79 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.69 £27.70 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +54.10% -26.13% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £61.81
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.50 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +76.94% -37.13% -4.94%

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 13 June 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 13 June 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 13 June 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 -43 453 £200 +5.26% 200
UK excluding London -38 402 £190 +18.75% 195
London -49 111 £270 +13.68% 43
South East -37 98 £210 +10.53% 48
North of England -36 83 £190 +2.70% 46
Midlands -38 59 £200 +33.33% 34
East of England +6 53 £200 +25.00% 22
South West -35 47 £174 +12.10% 29
East Midlands +2 37 £200 +60.00% 21
Scotland -9 37 £155 -16.78% 8
North West -29 37 £190 +2.70% 25
Yorkshire -37 36 £190 +10.14% 17
West Midlands -54 23 £185 +17.46% 13
Wales -12 22 £190 +29.52% 8
Work from Home -86 19 £358 +35.09% 50
North East -31 10 £450 +125.00% 6
Northern Ireland -2 3 - - 6

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

For the 6 months to 13 June 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.

1 239 (46.23%) Windows
2 200 (38.68%) Microsoft 365
3 197 (38.10%) Microsoft
4 189 (36.56%) Active Directory
5 133 (25.73%) Customer Service
6 114 (22.05%) Problem-Solving
6 114 (22.05%) Windows 10
7 91 (17.60%) Security Cleared
8 83 (16.05%) SC Cleared
9 76 (14.70%) Azure
10 64 (12.38%) ITIL
10 64 (12.38%) ServiceNow
11 63 (12.19%) Microsoft Intune
12 61 (11.80%) SAN
13 56 (10.83%) Microsoft Certification
14 55 (10.64%) Break/Fix
14 55 (10.64%) Migration
14 55 (10.64%) Network+ Certification
15 54 (10.44%) Dell
16 53 (10.25%) A+ Certification
17 50 (9.67%) CCNA
17 50 (9.67%) Cisco Certification
17 50 (9.67%) MCSE
18 45 (8.70%) ITSM
19 43 (8.32%) Entra ID
19 43 (8.32%) JIRA
20 42 (8.12%) Wi-Fi
21 38 (7.35%) DNS
21 38 (7.35%) Infrastructure Engineering
22 37 (7.16%) VPN

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 36 (6.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (6.19%) SharePoint
3 7 (1.35%) HCL Notes
4 2 (0.39%) Confluence
Applications
1 18 (3.48%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.39%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 200 (38.68%) Microsoft 365
2 76 (14.70%) Azure
3 43 (8.32%) Entra ID
4 20 (3.87%) OneDrive
5 19 (3.68%) Azure DevOps
6 16 (3.09%) SaaS
7 11 (2.13%) PaaS
8 9 (1.74%) AWS
8 9 (1.74%) IaaS
9 5 (0.97%) Datadog
9 5 (0.97%) Mimecast
9 5 (0.97%) Nutanix
10 4 (0.77%) GitHub
11 3 (0.58%) Google Workspace
11 3 (0.58%) Power Platform
11 3 (0.58%) PowerApps
11 3 (0.58%) Rubrik
12 1 (0.19%) Azure Sentinel
12 1 (0.19%) Azure Synapse Analytics
12 1 (0.19%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 61 (11.80%) SAN
2 42 (8.12%) Wi-Fi
3 38 (7.35%) DNS
4 37 (7.16%) VPN
5 36 (6.96%) DHCP
6 34 (6.58%) LAN
7 24 (4.64%) VLAN
8 19 (3.68%) TCP/IP
9 18 (3.48%) WAN
10 15 (2.90%) Firewall
11 11 (2.13%) WLAN
12 7 (1.35%) Internet
13 5 (0.97%) IPv4
13 5 (0.97%) IPv6
13 5 (0.97%) Network Security
13 5 (0.97%) Skype
13 5 (0.97%) VoIP
14 3 (0.58%) Structured Cabling
14 3 (0.58%) Unified Communications
15 2 (0.39%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.32%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.19%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.19%) MySQL
2 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.19%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 43 (8.32%) JIRA
2 6 (1.16%) Git
3 5 (0.97%) Chocolatey
4 4 (0.77%) GitLab
General
1 198 (38.30%) Social Skills
2 73 (14.12%) Analytical Skills
3 24 (4.64%) Finance
3 24 (4.64%) Manufacturing
4 21 (4.06%) Banking
5 16 (3.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (2.51%) Organisational Skills
6 13 (2.51%) Public Sector
7 7 (1.35%) Marketing
8 6 (1.16%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (0.77%) Investment Banking
9 4 (0.77%) Retail
10 3 (0.58%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.39%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.39%) Telecoms
12 1 (0.19%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.19%) Aviation
12 1 (0.19%) Front Office
12 1 (0.19%) Japanese Language
12 1 (0.19%) Law
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.77%) React
2 2 (0.39%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.19%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.19%) PySpark
3 1 (0.19%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 59 (11.41%) Data Centre
2 50 (9.67%) Analytical Mindset
3 46 (8.90%) Onboarding
4 20 (3.87%) Virtual Team
5 13 (2.51%) Self-Motivation
6 10 (1.93%) EPoS
6 10 (1.93%) Video Conferencing
7 9 (1.74%) Operational Technology
8 8 (1.55%) Driving Licence
9 7 (1.35%) Blackberry
10 6 (1.16%) Hybrid Cloud
10 6 (1.16%) SCADA
11 5 (0.97%) CCTV
11 5 (0.97%) Cyber Threat
12 4 (0.77%) Renewable Energy
13 3 (0.58%) Public Cloud
13 3 (0.58%) Smartphone
14 2 (0.39%) Enterprise Software
14 2 (0.39%) iPad
14 2 (0.39%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 239 (46.23%) Windows
2 114 (22.05%) Windows 10
3 25 (4.84%) Mac OS
3 25 (4.84%) Windows Server
4 16 (3.09%) Apple iOS
5 13 (2.51%) Android
6 5 (0.97%) Linux
7 2 (0.39%) Unix
7 2 (0.39%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.39%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.19%) Solaris
8 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
8 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (25.73%) Customer Service
2 114 (22.05%) Problem-Solving
3 64 (12.38%) ITIL
4 55 (10.64%) Break/Fix
4 55 (10.64%) Migration
5 45 (8.70%) ITSM
6 38 (7.35%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 28 (5.42%) Service Delivery
7 28 (5.42%) Workflow
8 27 (5.22%) Asset Management
9 26 (5.03%) Workflow Management
10 25 (4.84%) Change Management
11 22 (4.26%) User Experience
12 21 (4.06%) Continuous Improvement
12 21 (4.06%) DevOps
12 21 (4.06%) Disaster Recovery
13 18 (3.48%) Cybersecurity
14 14 (2.71%) Problem Management
15 13 (2.51%) Data Protection
16 11 (2.13%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 24 (4.64%) PowerShell
2 22 (4.26%) SQL
3 19 (3.68%) C#
4 8 (1.55%) Python
5 4 (0.77%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.77%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 91 (17.60%) Security Cleared
2 83 (16.05%) SC Cleared
3 56 (10.83%) Microsoft Certification
4 55 (10.64%) Network+ Certification
5 53 (10.25%) A+ Certification
6 50 (9.67%) CCNA
6 50 (9.67%) Cisco Certification
6 50 (9.67%) MCSE
7 11 (2.13%) DV Cleared
8 10 (1.93%) Degree
9 5 (0.97%) DBS Check
10 4 (0.77%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 1 (0.19%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (4.64%) SLA
2 8 (1.55%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (0.97%) GDPR
5 4 (0.77%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.58%) NIST
7 2 (0.39%) Data Quality
7 2 (0.39%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.19%) GxP
8 1 (0.19%) ITGC
8 1 (0.19%) QA
8 1 (0.19%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 189 (36.56%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.51%) Hyper-V
3 10 (1.93%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.58%) Docker
4 3 (0.58%) vSphere
5 2 (0.39%) Firmware
5 2 (0.39%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 63 (12.19%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (4.26%) SCCM
3 11 (2.13%) Jamf Pro
4 6 (1.16%) WSUS
5 5 (0.97%) Kubernetes
6 4 (0.77%) Terraform
7 3 (0.58%) Ansible
7 3 (0.58%) FortiGate
7 3 (0.58%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.39%) PaperCut
9 1 (0.19%) Dell DRAC
9 1 (0.19%) Grafana
9 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 197 (38.10%) Microsoft
2 64 (12.38%) ServiceNow
3 54 (10.44%) Dell
4 19 (3.68%) VMware
5 14 (2.71%) Apple
6 10 (1.93%) HP
7 8 (1.55%) Cisco
7 8 (1.55%) Citrix
7 8 (1.55%) Fortinet
7 8 (1.55%) Veeam
8 7 (1.35%) Lotus
9 6 (1.16%) Dynatrace
9 6 (1.16%) Tenable
10 5 (0.97%) AppDynamics
11 4 (0.77%) Freshdesk
12 3 (0.58%) Google
13 2 (0.39%) Arista
13 2 (0.39%) Aruba
13 2 (0.39%) Computacenter
13 2 (0.39%) Samsung