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 February 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 227 220 201
Rank change year-on-year -7 -19 +99
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 492 358 514
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.23% 1.16% 1.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.34% 1.24% 1.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 278 248 311
10th Percentile £150 £125 £121
25th Percentile £170 £144 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £240 £255 £281
90th Percentile £372 £503 £425
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% +3.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 125 41 127
10th Percentile £18.87 £15.22 £13.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.50 £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 £20.63
90th Percentile £25.77 £28.00 £27.15
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.79 £21.59 £17.72
% change year-on-year +10.18% +21.86% -0.01%

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 36,628 28,781 41,506
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.57% 92.94% 93.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,025 17,777 27,347
10th Percentile £300 £290 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £477 £490
% change year-on-year -0.21% -2.65% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,228 824 2,299
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.94 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.86 £21.25 £16.40
Median hourly rate £30.00 £33.52 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.50% -4.23% -2.23%
75th Percentile £61.94 £63.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £72.51 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.60 £31.76 £35.00
% change year-on-year -6.80% -9.26% -

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 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 13 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 13 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 +27 446 £200 +5.26% 306
UK excluding London -2 388 £200 +11.11% 324
London +8 103 £200 -9.09% 57
North of England -15 93 £195 -2.50% 72
South East -15 81 £195 -2.50% 120
East of England +21 64 £200 +11.11% 35
South West -8 54 £200 +6.67% 28
Midlands -49 54 £200 +11.11% 31
North West -19 42 £152 -22.31% 49
Scotland +5 33 £178 -5.33% 22
Yorkshire -44 33 £205 -2.38% 17
East Midlands -14 32 £200 +11.11% 14
Work from Home -32 25 £325 +15.04% 56
West Midlands -56 24 £188 -1.32% 17
North East -1 18 £225 +12.50% 8
Wales -20 11 £200 +36.33% 16
Northern Ireland -9 1 - - 2

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

For the 6 months to 13 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.

1 206 (41.87%) Windows
2 176 (35.77%) Microsoft 365
3 165 (33.54%) Microsoft
4 145 (29.47%) Active Directory
5 134 (27.24%) Security Cleared
6 129 (26.22%) SC Cleared
7 112 (22.76%) Windows 10
8 101 (20.53%) Migration
9 99 (20.12%) Customer Service
10 73 (14.84%) Workflow
11 68 (13.82%) Problem-Solving
12 67 (13.62%) Workflow Management
13 55 (11.18%) ServiceNow
14 52 (10.57%) Asset Management
15 51 (10.37%) Microsoft Intune
16 48 (9.76%) Azure
17 47 (9.55%) ITIL
18 43 (8.74%) ITSM
19 36 (7.32%) SCCM
20 33 (6.71%) Wi-Fi
21 32 (6.50%) Cybersecurity
22 29 (5.89%) Firewall
23 28 (5.69%) Microsoft Office
24 26 (5.28%) Dell
24 26 (5.28%) DHCP
24 26 (5.28%) DNS
24 26 (5.28%) TCP/IP
24 26 (5.28%) VPN
25 25 (5.08%) LAN
25 25 (5.08%) Mac OS

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 (5.08%) SharePoint
2 22 (4.47%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.61%) Confluence
4 1 (0.20%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 28 (5.69%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.81%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (1.42%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.20%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 176 (35.77%) Microsoft 365
2 48 (9.76%) Azure
3 24 (4.88%) Entra ID
4 18 (3.66%) Google Workspace
5 17 (3.46%) OneDrive
6 12 (2.44%) SaaS
7 9 (1.83%) AWS
8 7 (1.42%) PaaS
9 5 (1.02%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (1.02%) IaaS
10 3 (0.61%) Mimecast
10 3 (0.61%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.41%) AWS IoT
11 2 (0.41%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.41%) Azure Stack
11 2 (0.41%) Datadog
11 2 (0.41%) GitHub
11 2 (0.41%) PowerApps
11 2 (0.41%) Rubrik
12 1 (0.20%) Google Drive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (6.71%) Wi-Fi
2 29 (5.89%) Firewall
3 26 (5.28%) DHCP
3 26 (5.28%) DNS
3 26 (5.28%) TCP/IP
3 26 (5.28%) VPN
4 25 (5.08%) LAN
5 16 (3.25%) SAN
6 15 (3.05%) Network Security
6 15 (3.05%) WAN
7 11 (2.24%) VLAN
8 9 (1.83%) VoIP
8 9 (1.83%) Wireless
9 7 (1.42%) PABX
10 6 (1.22%) WLAN
11 5 (1.02%) ATM
12 4 (0.81%) Unified Communications
13 3 (0.61%) Ethernet
13 3 (0.61%) Modbus
14 2 (0.41%) DMZ
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.02%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.20%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.20%) Power BI
2 1 (0.20%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 23 (4.67%) JIRA
2 2 (0.41%) Chocolatey
2 2 (0.41%) GitLab
3 1 (0.20%) Hudson
General
1 207 (42.07%) Social Skills
2 38 (7.72%) Finance
2 38 (7.72%) Manufacturing
3 35 (7.11%) Public Sector
4 22 (4.47%) Banking
5 19 (3.86%) Electronics
5 19 (3.86%) Marketing
5 19 (3.86%) Organisational Skills
5 19 (3.86%) Telecoms
6 16 (3.25%) Analytical Skills
7 15 (3.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 10 (2.03%) Aerospace
9 5 (1.02%) Investment Banking
9 5 (1.02%) Law
10 4 (0.81%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (0.61%) Pharmaceutical
11 3 (0.61%) Retail
12 2 (0.41%) Automotive
12 2 (0.41%) Front Office
12 2 (0.41%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.41%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (0.41%) Middleware
1 2 (0.41%) React
Miscellaneous
1 33 (6.71%) Onboarding
2 28 (5.69%) Driving Licence
3 20 (4.07%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (3.66%) Operational Technology
5 15 (3.05%) Data Centre
6 13 (2.64%) Smartphone
7 10 (2.03%) Analytical Mindset
8 9 (1.83%) Virtual Team
9 7 (1.42%) Video Conferencing
10 6 (1.22%) Legacy Systems
11 5 (1.02%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.02%) EPoS
12 4 (0.81%) CCTV
12 4 (0.81%) Hybrid Cloud
12 4 (0.81%) IoT
12 4 (0.81%) iPhone
12 4 (0.81%) Management Information System
12 4 (0.81%) SCADA
13 2 (0.41%) FMCG
13 2 (0.41%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 206 (41.87%) Windows
2 112 (22.76%) Windows 10
3 25 (5.08%) Mac OS
4 24 (4.88%) Android
5 21 (4.27%) Apple iOS
6 14 (2.85%) Linux
6 14 (2.85%) Windows Server
7 3 (0.61%) Unix
8 2 (0.41%) Solaris
8 2 (0.41%) VMS
9 1 (0.20%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.20%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.20%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (20.53%) Migration
2 99 (20.12%) Customer Service
3 73 (14.84%) Workflow
4 68 (13.82%) Problem-Solving
5 67 (13.62%) Workflow Management
6 52 (10.57%) Asset Management
7 47 (9.55%) ITIL
8 43 (8.74%) ITSM
9 32 (6.50%) Cybersecurity
10 23 (4.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 22 (4.47%) Break/Fix
12 20 (4.07%) Business Intelligence
12 20 (4.07%) Logistics
13 19 (3.86%) Digital Marketing
13 19 (3.86%) Programme Management
14 17 (3.46%) User Experience
15 12 (2.44%) DevOps
15 12 (2.44%) Disaster Recovery
15 12 (2.44%) Service Management
16 11 (2.24%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 23 (4.67%) PowerShell
2 7 (1.42%) SQL
3 6 (1.22%) Python
4 5 (1.02%) C#
5 2 (0.41%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.41%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 134 (27.24%) Security Cleared
2 129 (26.22%) SC Cleared
3 15 (3.05%) Microsoft Certification
4 14 (2.85%) Network+ Certification
5 13 (2.64%) A+ Certification
5 13 (2.64%) CCNA
5 13 (2.64%) Cisco Certification
6 11 (2.24%) MCSE
7 10 (2.03%) DV Cleared
8 9 (1.83%) DBS Check
9 6 (1.22%) Degree
10 3 (0.61%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.41%) Azure Certification
11 2 (0.41%) CCNP
12 1 (0.20%) BC Cleared
12 1 (0.20%) HND
12 1 (0.20%) ISACA
12 1 (0.20%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 1 (0.20%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (2.85%) SLA
2 2 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (0.41%) GDPR
3 1 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.20%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.20%) QA
System Software
1 145 (29.47%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.24%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.22%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.02%) Virtual Machines
5 4 (0.81%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.41%) Docker
6 2 (0.41%) vSphere
7 1 (0.20%) Firmware
7 1 (0.20%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 51 (10.37%) Microsoft Intune
2 36 (7.32%) SCCM
3 16 (3.25%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.02%) WSUS
5 2 (0.41%) Ansible
5 2 (0.41%) FortiGate
5 2 (0.41%) Kubernetes
5 2 (0.41%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.20%) SCOM
Vendors
1 165 (33.54%) Microsoft
2 55 (11.18%) ServiceNow
3 26 (5.28%) Dell
4 21 (4.27%) SAP
5 20 (4.07%) Cisco
6 19 (3.86%) HP
6 19 (3.86%) VMware
7 18 (3.66%) Google
8 15 (3.05%) Apple
9 8 (1.63%) Remedy
10 6 (1.22%) Citrix
11 4 (0.81%) CrowdStrike
11 4 (0.81%) Okta
11 4 (0.81%) Tenable
12 3 (0.61%) Computacenter
12 3 (0.61%) Datto
12 3 (0.61%) Fortinet
12 3 (0.61%) Sophos
12 3 (0.61%) Veeam
13 2 (0.41%) Zscaler