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 14 April 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 216 206 221
Rank change year-on-year -10 +15 +65
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 533 371 467
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.17% 1.27% 1.07%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.26% 1.37% 1.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 312 248 283
10th Percentile £150 £125 £125
25th Percentile £176 £140 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £189 £200
Median % change year-on-year +5.96% -5.63% -
75th Percentile £288 £252 £288
90th Percentile £435 £425 £508
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £170 £188
% change year-on-year +17.65% -9.33% -6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 100 48 123
10th Percentile £18.70 £18.18 £12.08
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.51 £15.75
Median hourly rate £23.58 £21.15 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +11.49% +19.33% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.30 £20.25
90th Percentile £25.77 £26.01 £23.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £21.01 £17.50
% change year-on-year +7.09% +20.06% -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 42,188 27,123 40,371
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.27% 92.63% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,193 17,821 26,390
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £407 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.80% -1.00% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £628 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,670 980 2,573
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.83 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.09 £19.91 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.53 £31.42 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.16% -10.22% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.03 £75.58 £72.43
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +41.67% -14.29% -17.38%

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 14 April 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 14 April 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 14 April 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 0 471 £200 +5.26% 262
UK excluding London -12 410 £200 +17.65% 262
London -34 119 £238 -2.56% 33
North of England -19 109 £190 -5.00% 60
South East -23 90 £200 +5.26% 68
East of England +14 58 £203 +12.50% 33
Midlands -50 56 £200 +37.93% 45
North West -5 51 £170 -10.53% 35
Yorkshire -38 43 £205 -34.40% 25
South West -41 39 £185 +27.59% 37
East Midlands -10 34 £200 +33.33% 33
Scotland +5 32 £178 - 10
Wales -12 26 £200 +36.33% 10
West Midlands -67 23 £188 +33.93% 12
Work from Home -60 19 £238 -13.64% 54
North East -10 15 £450 +125.00% 3
Northern Ireland -8 1 - - 4

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

For the 6 months to 14 April 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.

1 232 (43.53%) Windows
2 207 (38.84%) Microsoft 365
3 196 (36.77%) Microsoft
4 185 (34.71%) Active Directory
5 120 (22.51%) Customer Service
6 116 (21.76%) Security Cleared
6 116 (21.76%) Windows 10
7 109 (20.45%) SC Cleared
8 90 (16.89%) Migration
9 88 (16.51%) Problem-Solving
10 66 (12.38%) Azure
11 60 (11.26%) Workflow
12 57 (10.69%) Microsoft Intune
13 55 (10.32%) Workflow Management
14 53 (9.94%) ITIL
15 52 (9.76%) ServiceNow
16 49 (9.19%) Wi-Fi
17 48 (9.01%) Asset Management
17 48 (9.01%) Dell
18 47 (8.82%) SAN
19 46 (8.63%) Break/Fix
20 43 (8.07%) ITSM
20 43 (8.07%) Microsoft Certification
21 40 (7.50%) Network+ Certification
22 39 (7.32%) A+ Certification
22 39 (7.32%) CCNA
22 39 (7.32%) Cisco Certification
23 38 (7.13%) DHCP
23 38 (7.13%) DNS
23 38 (7.13%) 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 26 (4.88%) Microsoft Exchange
1 26 (4.88%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.56%) Confluence
3 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 18 (3.38%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.56%) Spreadsheet
3 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (0.94%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.38%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.19%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 207 (38.84%) Microsoft 365
2 66 (12.38%) Azure
3 34 (6.38%) Entra ID
4 18 (3.38%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (3.19%) OneDrive
5 17 (3.19%) SaaS
6 16 (3.00%) Google Workspace
7 11 (2.06%) PaaS
8 10 (1.88%) AWS
9 9 (1.69%) IaaS
10 5 (0.94%) Datadog
11 4 (0.75%) GitHub
12 3 (0.56%) Mimecast
12 3 (0.56%) Power Platform
12 3 (0.56%) Rubrik
13 2 (0.38%) AWS IoT
13 2 (0.38%) Azure Sentinel
13 2 (0.38%) PowerApps
14 1 (0.19%) Azure Synapse Analytics
14 1 (0.19%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 49 (9.19%) Wi-Fi
2 47 (8.82%) SAN
3 38 (7.13%) DHCP
3 38 (7.13%) DNS
4 33 (6.19%) LAN
5 27 (5.07%) VPN
6 24 (4.50%) Firewall
6 24 (4.50%) TCP/IP
7 20 (3.75%) VLAN
8 18 (3.38%) WAN
9 14 (2.63%) Network Security
10 10 (1.88%) VoIP
11 8 (1.50%) Wireless
12 7 (1.31%) Internet
13 6 (1.13%) WLAN
14 5 (0.94%) Unified Communications
15 4 (0.75%) IPv4
15 4 (0.75%) IPv6
16 3 (0.56%) Ethernet
16 3 (0.56%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.25%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.19%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.19%) Power BI
2 1 (0.19%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 37 (6.94%) JIRA
2 5 (0.94%) Chocolatey
2 5 (0.94%) Git
3 4 (0.75%) GitLab
General
1 219 (41.09%) Social Skills
2 48 (9.01%) Analytical Skills
3 41 (7.69%) Finance
4 35 (6.57%) Manufacturing
5 30 (5.63%) Banking
5 30 (5.63%) Public Sector
6 21 (3.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 15 (2.81%) Telecoms
8 14 (2.63%) Electronics
8 14 (2.63%) Marketing
9 13 (2.44%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (1.13%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (1.13%) Investment Banking
11 3 (0.56%) Aerospace
11 3 (0.56%) Financial Institution
11 3 (0.56%) Front Office
11 3 (0.56%) Law
12 2 (0.38%) Retail
13 1 (0.19%) Pharmaceutical
13 1 (0.19%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.75%) React
2 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.19%) 802.1X
3 1 (0.19%) PySpark
3 1 (0.19%) Redfish
Miscellaneous
1 45 (8.44%) Data Centre
2 42 (7.88%) Onboarding
3 37 (6.94%) Analytical Mindset
4 22 (4.13%) Driving Licence
5 19 (3.56%) Self-Motivation
6 13 (2.44%) Operational Technology
6 13 (2.44%) Virtual Team
7 10 (1.88%) EPoS
8 6 (1.13%) Hybrid Cloud
9 5 (0.94%) Cyber Threat
9 5 (0.94%) Smartphone
9 5 (0.94%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (0.75%) IoT
10 4 (0.75%) iPhone
10 4 (0.75%) Legacy Systems
10 4 (0.75%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.75%) Renewable Energy
11 3 (0.56%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (0.38%) 3D Printing
12 2 (0.38%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 232 (43.53%) Windows
2 116 (21.76%) Windows 10
3 25 (4.69%) Android
4 23 (4.32%) Windows Server
5 22 (4.13%) Mac OS
6 21 (3.94%) Apple iOS
7 14 (2.63%) Linux
8 4 (0.75%) Unix
9 3 (0.56%) Solaris
10 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.19%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.19%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 120 (22.51%) Customer Service
2 90 (16.89%) Migration
3 88 (16.51%) Problem-Solving
4 60 (11.26%) Workflow
5 55 (10.32%) Workflow Management
6 53 (9.94%) ITIL
7 48 (9.01%) Asset Management
8 46 (8.63%) Break/Fix
9 43 (8.07%) ITSM
10 31 (5.82%) Cybersecurity
11 27 (5.07%) User Experience
12 26 (4.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 25 (4.69%) Change Management
14 23 (4.32%) DevOps
15 20 (3.75%) Logistics
16 19 (3.56%) Disaster Recovery
17 15 (2.81%) Business Intelligence
18 14 (2.63%) Digital Marketing
18 14 (2.63%) Problem Management
18 14 (2.63%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 29 (5.44%) PowerShell
2 20 (3.75%) SQL
3 18 (3.38%) C#
4 8 (1.50%) Python
5 4 (0.75%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.75%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 116 (21.76%) Security Cleared
2 109 (20.45%) SC Cleared
3 43 (8.07%) Microsoft Certification
4 40 (7.50%) Network+ Certification
5 39 (7.32%) A+ Certification
5 39 (7.32%) CCNA
5 39 (7.32%) Cisco Certification
6 38 (7.13%) MCSE
7 13 (2.44%) DV Cleared
8 7 (1.31%) Degree
9 3 (0.56%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.56%) DBS Check
10 2 (0.38%) CCNP
11 1 (0.19%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.19%) HND
11 1 (0.19%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.19%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (4.13%) SLA
2 6 (1.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (0.75%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (0.56%) NIST
5 1 (0.19%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.19%) GDPR
5 1 (0.19%) GxP
5 1 (0.19%) ITGC
5 1 (0.19%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.19%) QA
System Software
1 185 (34.71%) Active Directory
2 9 (1.69%) Hyper-V
3 8 (1.50%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.56%) Firmware
4 3 (0.56%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.38%) Docker
5 2 (0.38%) VMware Workstation
5 2 (0.38%) vSphere
6 1 (0.19%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 57 (10.69%) Microsoft Intune
2 33 (6.19%) SCCM
3 16 (3.00%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (1.31%) WSUS
5 4 (0.75%) Ansible
5 4 (0.75%) Kubernetes
6 3 (0.56%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.56%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.56%) Terraform
7 2 (0.38%) PaperCut
8 1 (0.19%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.19%) SCOM
8 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 196 (36.77%) Microsoft
2 52 (9.76%) ServiceNow
3 48 (9.01%) Dell
4 18 (3.38%) VMware
5 15 (2.81%) SAP
6 14 (2.63%) Google
6 14 (2.63%) HP
7 13 (2.44%) Cisco
8 11 (2.06%) Apple
9 10 (1.88%) Citrix
10 8 (1.50%) Tenable
11 5 (0.94%) AppDynamics
11 5 (0.94%) Dynatrace
11 5 (0.94%) Fortinet
11 5 (0.94%) Remedy
12 4 (0.75%) CrowdStrike
13 3 (0.56%) Veeam
13 3 (0.56%) Zscaler
14 2 (0.38%) Computacenter
14 2 (0.38%) ION Trading