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 16 January 2026.

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

6 months to
16 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 225 242 218
Rank change year-on-year +17 -24 +90
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 464 337 468
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.25% 1.06% 1.10%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.37% 1.14% 1.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 261 226 283
10th Percentile £134 £125 £111
25th Percentile £153 £143 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £238 £283 £265
90th Percentile £325 £534 £385
UK excluding London median daily rate £190 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +5.56% -10.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 127 43 102
10th Percentile £18.62 £15.10 £13.17
25th Percentile £20.50 £17.69 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £21.59 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year +16.49% +19.94% +1.58%
75th Percentile - £24.18 £20.25
90th Percentile - £27.33 £25.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £21.59 £17.72
% change year-on-year +11.16% +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 33,987 29,559 39,694
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.39% 92.78% 93.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,524 18,135 26,394
10th Percentile £300 £288 £280
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,986 889 1,685
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.61 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.22 £18.93
Median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.46% -23.53% +21.43%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.24 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.75 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.52 £45.00
% change year-on-year -20.21% -29.96% +53.85%

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 16 January 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 16 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for IT Engineer in the UK

IT Engineer
Top 16 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 16 January 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 +30 421 £200 +5.26% 265
UK excluding London +11 367 £190 +5.56% 270
London +16 93 £200 -16.67% 33
South East 0 86 £190 - 86
North of England -5 82 £170 -17.07% 71
South West -4 57 £194 +3.33% 32
Midlands -36 57 £190 +5.56% 33
East of England +15 51 £190 +5.56% 32
North West +8 44 £152 -26.10% 27
East Midlands -11 30 £171 -4.86% 17
Yorkshire -37 29 £205 -2.38% 32
West Midlands -42 29 £190 -5.00% 16
Scotland +3 28 £190 +15.15% 17
Work from Home -34 25 £300 - 65
Wales -14 11 £200 +37.93% 6
North East -10 9 £106 -47.00% 18

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

For the 6 months to 16 January 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.

1 185 (39.87%) Windows
2 145 (31.25%) Microsoft 365
3 144 (31.03%) Microsoft
4 134 (28.88%) Security Cleared
5 130 (28.02%) SC Cleared
6 118 (25.43%) Active Directory
7 103 (22.20%) Migration
8 100 (21.55%) Windows 10
9 88 (18.97%) Customer Service
10 79 (17.03%) Workflow
11 73 (15.73%) Workflow Management
12 61 (13.15%) Problem-Solving
13 49 (10.56%) Asset Management
14 43 (9.27%) Azure
15 42 (9.05%) Microsoft Intune
15 42 (9.05%) ServiceNow
16 36 (7.76%) ITIL
17 33 (7.11%) SCCM
18 30 (6.47%) Microsoft Office
19 29 (6.25%) ITSM
20 26 (5.60%) Cybersecurity
20 26 (5.60%) Firewall
21 24 (5.17%) Dell
21 24 (5.17%) TCP/IP
22 23 (4.96%) Infrastructure Engineering
22 23 (4.96%) Microsoft Exchange
23 22 (4.74%) SAP
23 22 (4.74%) SharePoint
24 21 (4.53%) Android
24 21 (4.53%) Business Intelligence

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 23 (4.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (4.74%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.22%) Confluence
3 1 (0.22%) IIS
3 1 (0.22%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.22%) Tomcat
Applications
1 30 (6.47%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.22%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (1.51%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.22%) Pegasus Opera
2 1 (0.22%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 145 (31.25%) Microsoft 365
2 43 (9.27%) Azure
3 20 (4.31%) Entra ID
4 18 (3.88%) Google Workspace
5 9 (1.94%) OneDrive
6 8 (1.72%) SaaS
7 7 (1.51%) AWS
8 4 (0.86%) Mimecast
9 3 (0.65%) Azure Stack
9 3 (0.65%) Power Platform
9 3 (0.65%) Slack
10 2 (0.43%) AWS IoT
10 2 (0.43%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (0.43%) Google Drive
11 1 (0.22%) IaaS
11 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Copilot
11 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Purview
11 1 (0.22%) Power Automate
11 1 (0.22%) PowerApps
11 1 (0.22%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 26 (5.60%) Firewall
2 24 (5.17%) TCP/IP
3 20 (4.31%) DNS
3 20 (4.31%) VPN
4 18 (3.88%) DHCP
5 16 (3.45%) Wi-Fi
6 15 (3.23%) Network Security
7 13 (2.80%) LAN
8 10 (2.16%) ATM
9 9 (1.94%) SAN
9 9 (1.94%) WAN
9 9 (1.94%) Wireless
10 8 (1.72%) VLAN
11 7 (1.51%) PABX
12 6 (1.29%) VoIP
13 4 (0.86%) Remote Desktop
14 3 (0.65%) Ethernet
14 3 (0.65%) IP Telephony
14 3 (0.65%) Modbus
15 2 (0.43%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.08%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.43%) Power BI
3 1 (0.22%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.22%) Metadata
3 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 8 (1.72%) JIRA
2 1 (0.22%) Hudson
General
1 188 (40.52%) Social Skills
2 35 (7.54%) Finance
3 28 (6.03%) Manufacturing
3 28 (6.03%) Public Sector
4 19 (4.09%) Electronics
4 19 (4.09%) Marketing
4 19 (4.09%) Telecoms
5 17 (3.66%) Banking
6 16 (3.45%) Organisational Skills
7 15 (3.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (2.37%) Analytical Skills
9 9 (1.94%) Aerospace
10 5 (1.08%) Law
11 4 (0.86%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (0.65%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.65%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.65%) Retail
13 2 (0.43%) Automotive
13 2 (0.43%) Front Office
13 2 (0.43%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.43%) Middleware
2 1 (0.22%) JSON
2 1 (0.22%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 36 (7.76%) Driving Licence
2 26 (5.60%) Onboarding
3 19 (4.09%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (3.66%) Operational Technology
5 14 (3.02%) Smartphone
6 11 (2.37%) Data Centre
7 10 (2.16%) EPoS
8 7 (1.51%) Analytical Mindset
9 6 (1.29%) Legacy Systems
9 6 (1.29%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
11 4 (0.86%) Hybrid Cloud
11 4 (0.86%) Management Information System
11 4 (0.86%) SCADA
11 4 (0.86%) Virtual Team
12 3 (0.65%) CCTV
12 3 (0.65%) iPhone
13 2 (0.43%) FMCG
13 2 (0.43%) NHS
13 2 (0.43%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 185 (39.87%) Windows
2 100 (21.55%) Windows 10
3 21 (4.53%) Android
3 21 (4.53%) Mac OS
4 18 (3.88%) Apple iOS
5 17 (3.66%) Linux
5 17 (3.66%) Windows Server
6 3 (0.65%) Unix
6 3 (0.65%) Windows 7
7 2 (0.43%) Solaris
7 2 (0.43%) VMS
8 1 (0.22%) CentOS
8 1 (0.22%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.22%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (22.20%) Migration
2 88 (18.97%) Customer Service
3 79 (17.03%) Workflow
4 73 (15.73%) Workflow Management
5 61 (13.15%) Problem-Solving
6 49 (10.56%) Asset Management
7 36 (7.76%) ITIL
8 29 (6.25%) ITSM
9 26 (5.60%) Cybersecurity
10 23 (4.96%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 21 (4.53%) Business Intelligence
12 20 (4.31%) Break/Fix
13 19 (4.09%) Digital Marketing
13 19 (4.09%) Logistics
13 19 (4.09%) Programme Management
14 15 (3.23%) User Experience
15 11 (2.37%) Service Management
16 10 (2.16%) Business Continuity
16 10 (2.16%) IT Asset Management
16 10 (2.16%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 19 (4.09%) PowerShell
2 3 (0.65%) SQL
3 2 (0.43%) Python
4 1 (0.22%) Java
Qualifications
1 134 (28.88%) Security Cleared
2 130 (28.02%) SC Cleared
3 16 (3.45%) DBS Check
4 12 (2.59%) Network+ Certification
5 11 (2.37%) A+ Certification
6 10 (2.16%) Microsoft Certification
7 9 (1.94%) CCNA
7 9 (1.94%) Cisco Certification
8 8 (1.72%) DV Cleared
8 8 (1.72%) MCSE
9 7 (1.51%) Degree
10 3 (0.65%) Azure Certification
10 3 (0.65%) BPSS Clearance
11 2 (0.43%) CCNP
12 1 (0.22%) BC Cleared
12 1 (0.22%) HND
12 1 (0.22%) ISACA
12 1 (0.22%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 1 (0.22%) MCP
12 1 (0.22%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (2.80%) SLA
2 3 (0.65%) Cyber Essentials
3 2 (0.43%) GDPR
4 1 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.22%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.22%) QA
System Software
1 118 (25.43%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.08%) Hyper-V
3 5 (1.08%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (1.08%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.43%) Firmware
5 1 (0.22%) BitLocker
5 1 (0.22%) Terminal Services
5 1 (0.22%) VMware Workstation
5 1 (0.22%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 42 (9.05%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (7.11%) SCCM
3 14 (3.02%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.08%) WSUS
5 2 (0.43%) Ansible
5 2 (0.43%) FortiGate
5 2 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.22%) Autotask
6 1 (0.22%) SCOM
Vendors
1 144 (31.03%) Microsoft
2 42 (9.05%) ServiceNow
3 24 (5.17%) Dell
4 22 (4.74%) SAP
5 21 (4.53%) Cisco
6 19 (4.09%) Google
7 18 (3.88%) HP
8 17 (3.66%) Apple
8 17 (3.66%) VMware
9 8 (1.72%) Remedy
10 7 (1.51%) Citrix
11 6 (1.29%) Okta
12 4 (0.86%) CrowdStrike
12 4 (0.86%) Sophos
13 3 (0.65%) Bloomberg
13 3 (0.65%) Datto
13 3 (0.65%) Reuters
14 2 (0.43%) CyberArk
14 2 (0.43%) Rapid7
14 2 (0.43%) Tenable