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 May 2026.

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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 232 201 242
Rank change year-on-year -31 +41 +33
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 505 393 417
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.07% 1.36% 0.98%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.16% 1.47% 1.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 289 258 257
10th Percentile £143 £123 £123
25th Percentile £164 £140 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £186 £200
Median % change year-on-year +7.38% -6.88% +5.26%
75th Percentile £288 £250 £300
90th Percentile £438 £423 £532
UK excluding London median daily rate £190 £160 £188
% change year-on-year +18.75% -14.67% +4.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 93 62 109
10th Percentile £17.83 £18.23 £12.00
25th Percentile £19.34 £18.51 £15.50
Median hourly rate £22.50 £21.01 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +7.12% +18.54% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.66 £21.75
90th Percentile £26.90 £25.24 £24.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £18.94 £17.50
% change year-on-year +18.83% +8.20% -1.24%

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 43,568 26,796 39,671
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.46% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,699 17,460 25,789
10th Percentile £320 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.21% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,848 1,033 2,665
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.20 £16.30
Median hourly rate £43.85 £28.18 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +55.59% -24.85% -16.67%
75th Percentile £66.50 £62.25 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.26
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.24 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.21% -31.91% -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 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 13 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 13 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 -34 441 £200 +6.67% 212
UK excluding London -39 388 £190 +18.75% 209
London -35 114 £240 +2.67% 35
South East -31 89 £200 +5.26% 52
North of England -49 85 £190 +1.33% 45
Midlands -36 61 £188 +33.93% 38
East of England +8 53 £200 +11.11% 37
North West -24 41 £190 +2.70% 22
South West -50 39 £154 +13.89% 24
Scotland +14 37 £178 -5.33% 7
East Midlands -7 35 £200 +60.00% 23
Yorkshire -40 34 £190 -9.52% 20
West Midlands -59 27 £183 +21.67% 15
Wales -12 23 £190 +29.52% 9
Work from Home -65 14 £429 +61.89% 40
North East -16 10 £450 +125.00% 5
Northern Ireland -3 2 - - 4

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

For the 6 months to 13 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.

1 210 (41.58%) Windows
2 187 (37.03%) Microsoft 365
3 179 (35.45%) Active Directory
4 178 (35.25%) Microsoft
5 125 (24.75%) Customer Service
6 106 (20.99%) Windows 10
7 99 (19.60%) Problem-Solving
8 98 (19.41%) Security Cleared
9 90 (17.82%) SC Cleared
10 74 (14.65%) Migration
11 71 (14.06%) Azure
12 61 (12.08%) SAN
13 58 (11.49%) Break/Fix
13 58 (11.49%) Dell
14 56 (11.09%) Microsoft Certification
15 54 (10.69%) A+ Certification
16 53 (10.50%) ITIL
16 53 (10.50%) Network+ Certification
16 53 (10.50%) ServiceNow
17 52 (10.30%) Microsoft Intune
18 51 (10.10%) CCNA
18 51 (10.10%) Cisco Certification
18 51 (10.10%) MCSE
19 45 (8.91%) Workflow
20 43 (8.51%) Wi-Fi
20 43 (8.51%) Workflow Management
21 38 (7.52%) Entra ID
21 38 (7.52%) JIRA
22 36 (7.13%) DNS
23 35 (6.93%) ITSM

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 28 (5.54%) Microsoft Exchange
2 24 (4.75%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.59%) HCL Notes
4 2 (0.40%) Confluence
Applications
1 12 (2.38%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.20%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 3 (0.59%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.40%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 187 (37.03%) Microsoft 365
2 71 (14.06%) Azure
3 38 (7.52%) Entra ID
4 19 (3.76%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (3.37%) SaaS
6 16 (3.17%) OneDrive
7 11 (2.18%) PaaS
8 9 (1.78%) IaaS
9 8 (1.58%) AWS
10 6 (1.19%) Google Workspace
11 5 (0.99%) Datadog
11 5 (0.99%) Mimecast
11 5 (0.99%) Nutanix
12 4 (0.79%) GitHub
13 3 (0.59%) Rubrik
14 2 (0.40%) Power Platform
14 2 (0.40%) PowerApps
15 1 (0.20%) Azure Synapse Analytics
15 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Copilot
15 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 61 (12.08%) SAN
2 43 (8.51%) Wi-Fi
3 36 (7.13%) DNS
4 34 (6.73%) DHCP
5 29 (5.74%) LAN
5 29 (5.74%) VPN
6 21 (4.16%) VLAN
7 17 (3.37%) Firewall
8 16 (3.17%) TCP/IP
9 15 (2.97%) WAN
10 7 (1.39%) Internet
10 7 (1.39%) Network Security
10 7 (1.39%) WLAN
11 6 (1.19%) VoIP
12 5 (0.99%) IPv4
12 5 (0.99%) IPv6
13 4 (0.79%) Skype
13 4 (0.79%) Unified Communications
13 4 (0.79%) Wireless
14 3 (0.59%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (2.57%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.20%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 38 (7.52%) JIRA
2 6 (1.19%) Git
3 5 (0.99%) Chocolatey
4 4 (0.79%) GitLab
General
1 198 (39.21%) Social Skills
2 66 (13.07%) Analytical Skills
3 31 (6.14%) Finance
4 28 (5.54%) Manufacturing
5 23 (4.55%) Banking
6 21 (4.16%) Public Sector
7 17 (3.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (2.57%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (1.98%) Marketing
10 9 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
11 7 (1.39%) Telecoms
12 6 (1.19%) Electronics
13 4 (0.79%) Investment Banking
14 3 (0.59%) Financial Institution
14 3 (0.59%) Law
14 3 (0.59%) Retail
15 2 (0.40%) Aerospace
15 2 (0.40%) Pharmaceutical
16 1 (0.20%) Front Office
16 1 (0.20%) Japanese Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.79%) React
2 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.20%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.20%) PySpark
3 1 (0.20%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 58 (11.49%) Data Centre
2 51 (10.10%) Analytical Mindset
3 37 (7.33%) Onboarding
4 16 (3.17%) Virtual Team
5 15 (2.97%) Operational Technology
5 15 (2.97%) Self-Motivation
6 13 (2.57%) Driving Licence
7 10 (1.98%) EPoS
8 7 (1.39%) SCADA
8 7 (1.39%) Video Conferencing
9 6 (1.19%) Hybrid Cloud
10 5 (0.99%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (0.79%) CCTV
11 4 (0.79%) Renewable Energy
11 4 (0.79%) Smartphone
12 3 (0.59%) Blackberry
12 3 (0.59%) Enterprise Software
13 2 (0.40%) IoT
13 2 (0.40%) Management Information System
13 2 (0.40%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 210 (41.58%) Windows
2 106 (20.99%) Windows 10
3 23 (4.55%) Windows Server
4 19 (3.76%) Mac OS
5 14 (2.77%) Android
6 13 (2.57%) Apple iOS
7 4 (0.79%) Linux
8 2 (0.40%) Unix
8 2 (0.40%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.40%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.20%) Solaris
9 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (24.75%) Customer Service
2 99 (19.60%) Problem-Solving
3 74 (14.65%) Migration
4 58 (11.49%) Break/Fix
5 53 (10.50%) ITIL
6 45 (8.91%) Workflow
7 43 (8.51%) Workflow Management
8 35 (6.93%) ITSM
9 34 (6.73%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 30 (5.94%) Asset Management
11 25 (4.95%) Change Management
12 24 (4.75%) DevOps
13 22 (4.36%) User Experience
14 21 (4.16%) Disaster Recovery
15 20 (3.96%) Cybersecurity
16 15 (2.97%) Problem Management
17 13 (2.57%) Service Delivery
18 11 (2.18%) CI/CD
18 11 (2.18%) Continuous Improvement
18 11 (2.18%) Decision-Making
Programming Languages
1 21 (4.16%) SQL
2 19 (3.76%) C#
2 19 (3.76%) PowerShell
3 8 (1.58%) Python
4 4 (0.79%) JavaScript
4 4 (0.79%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 98 (19.41%) Security Cleared
2 90 (17.82%) SC Cleared
3 56 (11.09%) Microsoft Certification
4 54 (10.69%) A+ Certification
5 53 (10.50%) Network+ Certification
6 51 (10.10%) CCNA
6 51 (10.10%) Cisco Certification
6 51 (10.10%) MCSE
7 13 (2.57%) DV Cleared
8 7 (1.39%) Degree
9 4 (0.79%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.20%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.20%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (4.55%) SLA
2 6 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
2 6 (1.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (0.79%) GDPR
4 3 (0.59%) NIST
4 3 (0.59%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.20%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.20%) GxP
5 1 (0.20%) ITGC
5 1 (0.20%) QA
System Software
1 179 (35.45%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.57%) Hyper-V
3 12 (2.38%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.59%) Firmware
4 3 (0.59%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.40%) Docker
5 2 (0.40%) vSphere
6 1 (0.20%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 52 (10.30%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (4.75%) SCCM
3 10 (1.98%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (1.39%) WSUS
5 4 (0.79%) Ansible
5 4 (0.79%) Kubernetes
6 3 (0.59%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.59%) Terraform
7 2 (0.40%) PaperCut
7 2 (0.40%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.20%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.20%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 178 (35.25%) Microsoft
2 58 (11.49%) Dell
3 53 (10.50%) ServiceNow
4 21 (4.16%) VMware
5 13 (2.57%) HP
6 12 (2.38%) Apple
6 12 (2.38%) Cisco
7 10 (1.98%) Citrix
8 8 (1.58%) Fortinet
8 8 (1.58%) Tenable
8 8 (1.58%) Veeam
9 7 (1.39%) SAP
10 6 (1.19%) Google
11 5 (0.99%) AppDynamics
11 5 (0.99%) Dynatrace
12 3 (0.59%) Freshdesk
12 3 (0.59%) Lotus
12 3 (0.59%) Remedy
13 2 (0.40%) Arista
13 2 (0.40%) Computacenter