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 28 January 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 221 231 213
Rank change year-on-year +10 -18 +84
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 473 341 487
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.23% 1.09% 1.10%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.35% 1.17% 1.19%
Number of daily rates quoted 264 234 295
10th Percentile £136 £125 £116
25th Percentile £160 £143 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £238 £293 £269
90th Percentile £338 £530 £400
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% +14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 125 42 117
10th Percentile £18.58 £15.11 £13.16
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.20 £16.25
Median hourly rate £24.00 £21.59 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +11.16% +21.84% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.18 £20.25
90th Percentile - £27.67 £27.15
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 35,104 29,073 41,093
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.45% 92.88% 93.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,171 17,758 27,208
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £615 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £495
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.64% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,077 858 2,114
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.98 £13.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.23
Median hourly rate £29.60 £32.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -8.92% -13.33% +7.14%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.53 £73.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £30.98 £40.00
% change year-on-year -11.23% -22.56% +33.33%

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 28 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 28 January 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 28 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 +19 426 £200 +5.26% 297
UK excluding London +7 380 £200 +11.11% 311
London -9 91 £200 -14.89% 43
North of England -8 90 £200 - 69
South East -1 83 £190 -5.00% 109
East of England +23 57 £200 +11.11% 33
South West -9 56 £194 +3.33% 34
Midlands -46 52 £190 +5.56% 38
North West -5 43 £158 -20.88% 33
Scotland +11 33 £178 +24.56% 19
Yorkshire -32 31 £205 - 28
East Midlands -15 30 £200 +11.11% 21
Work from Home -41 24 £319 +6.25% 64
West Midlands -48 24 £190 -5.00% 17
North East -3 16 £170 +6.25% 11
Wales -19 11 £200 +37.93% 11
Northern Ireland -8 1 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 28 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.

1 188 (39.75%) Windows
2 158 (33.40%) Microsoft 365
3 152 (32.14%) Microsoft
4 131 (27.70%) Security Cleared
5 127 (26.85%) Active Directory
6 126 (26.64%) SC Cleared
7 103 (21.78%) Windows 10
8 98 (20.72%) Migration
9 97 (20.51%) Customer Service
10 74 (15.64%) Workflow
11 68 (14.38%) Problem-Solving
11 68 (14.38%) Workflow Management
12 51 (10.78%) Asset Management
13 45 (9.51%) ServiceNow
14 44 (9.30%) Microsoft Intune
15 41 (8.67%) Azure
16 40 (8.46%) ITIL
17 35 (7.40%) SCCM
18 33 (6.98%) ITSM
19 30 (6.34%) Microsoft Office
20 28 (5.92%) Cybersecurity
21 27 (5.71%) Dell
21 27 (5.71%) Firewall
22 25 (5.29%) Infrastructure Engineering
23 24 (5.07%) TCP/IP
24 23 (4.86%) Break/Fix
24 23 (4.86%) Mac OS
25 22 (4.65%) SAP
25 22 (4.65%) SharePoint
26 21 (4.44%) Android

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 22 (4.65%) SharePoint
2 21 (4.44%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.21%) Confluence
3 1 (0.21%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 30 (6.34%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.69%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.85%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (1.48%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.21%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 158 (33.40%) Microsoft 365
2 41 (8.67%) Azure
3 21 (4.44%) Entra ID
4 19 (4.02%) Google Workspace
5 11 (2.33%) OneDrive
6 8 (1.69%) AWS
7 7 (1.48%) SaaS
8 4 (0.85%) Mimecast
9 2 (0.42%) AWS IoT
9 2 (0.42%) Azure Sentinel
9 2 (0.42%) Azure Stack
9 2 (0.42%) Google Drive
9 2 (0.42%) Rubrik
9 2 (0.42%) Slack
10 1 (0.21%) GitHub
10 1 (0.21%) IaaS
10 1 (0.21%) PaaS
10 1 (0.21%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 27 (5.71%) Firewall
2 24 (5.07%) TCP/IP
3 21 (4.44%) VPN
3 21 (4.44%) Wi-Fi
4 18 (3.81%) DHCP
4 18 (3.81%) DNS
5 16 (3.38%) LAN
6 15 (3.17%) Network Security
7 13 (2.75%) SAN
8 10 (2.11%) WAN
9 9 (1.90%) VLAN
9 9 (1.90%) Wireless
10 7 (1.48%) PABX
10 7 (1.48%) VoIP
11 5 (1.06%) ATM
12 3 (0.63%) Ethernet
12 3 (0.63%) IP Telephony
12 3 (0.63%) Modbus
12 3 (0.63%) Remote Desktop
12 3 (0.63%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.63%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.21%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.21%) Power BI
2 1 (0.21%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 10 (2.11%) JIRA
2 1 (0.21%) GitLab
2 1 (0.21%) Hudson
General
1 194 (41.01%) Social Skills
2 38 (8.03%) Finance
3 34 (7.19%) Manufacturing
4 32 (6.77%) Public Sector
5 19 (4.02%) Electronics
5 19 (4.02%) Marketing
5 19 (4.02%) Telecoms
6 18 (3.81%) Banking
7 15 (3.17%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 15 (3.17%) Organisational Skills
8 14 (2.96%) Analytical Skills
9 9 (1.90%) Aerospace
10 5 (1.06%) Law
11 4 (0.85%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (0.85%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.63%) Pharmaceutical
12 3 (0.63%) Retail
13 2 (0.42%) Automotive
13 2 (0.42%) Front Office
13 2 (0.42%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.42%) Middleware
2 1 (0.21%) React
Miscellaneous
1 30 (6.34%) Driving Licence
2 28 (5.92%) Onboarding
3 19 (4.02%) Self-Motivation
4 18 (3.81%) Operational Technology
5 14 (2.96%) Data Centre
5 14 (2.96%) Smartphone
6 10 (2.11%) Analytical Mindset
7 6 (1.27%) Legacy Systems
7 6 (1.27%) Video Conferencing
7 6 (1.27%) Virtual Team
8 5 (1.06%) Enterprise Software
8 5 (1.06%) EPoS
9 4 (0.85%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (0.85%) iPhone
9 4 (0.85%) Management Information System
9 4 (0.85%) SCADA
10 3 (0.63%) CCTV
11 2 (0.42%) NHS
11 2 (0.42%) Public Cloud
11 2 (0.42%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 188 (39.75%) Windows
2 103 (21.78%) Windows 10
3 23 (4.86%) Mac OS
4 21 (4.44%) Android
5 19 (4.02%) Apple iOS
6 16 (3.38%) Linux
7 14 (2.96%) Windows Server
8 3 (0.63%) Unix
9 2 (0.42%) Solaris
9 2 (0.42%) VMS
9 2 (0.42%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.21%) CentOS
10 1 (0.21%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.21%) Windows 8
10 1 (0.21%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 98 (20.72%) Migration
2 97 (20.51%) Customer Service
3 74 (15.64%) Workflow
4 68 (14.38%) Problem-Solving
4 68 (14.38%) Workflow Management
5 51 (10.78%) Asset Management
6 40 (8.46%) ITIL
7 33 (6.98%) ITSM
8 28 (5.92%) Cybersecurity
9 25 (5.29%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 23 (4.86%) Break/Fix
11 20 (4.23%) Business Intelligence
11 20 (4.23%) Logistics
12 19 (4.02%) Digital Marketing
12 19 (4.02%) Programme Management
13 18 (3.81%) User Experience
14 11 (2.33%) Business Continuity
14 11 (2.33%) Service Management
15 10 (2.11%) IT Asset Management
15 10 (2.11%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 21 (4.44%) PowerShell
2 3 (0.63%) Python
3 2 (0.42%) SQL
4 1 (0.21%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.21%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 131 (27.70%) Security Cleared
2 126 (26.64%) SC Cleared
3 13 (2.75%) A+ Certification
3 13 (2.75%) Microsoft Certification
3 13 (2.75%) Network+ Certification
4 12 (2.54%) CCNA
4 12 (2.54%) Cisco Certification
5 10 (2.11%) DBS Check
5 10 (2.11%) MCSE
6 9 (1.90%) DV Cleared
7 6 (1.27%) Degree
8 3 (0.63%) BPSS Clearance
9 2 (0.42%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.42%) CCNP
10 1 (0.21%) BC Cleared
10 1 (0.21%) HND
10 1 (0.21%) ISACA
10 1 (0.21%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 1 (0.21%) MCP
10 1 (0.21%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (2.75%) SLA
2 2 (0.42%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (0.42%) GDPR
3 1 (0.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.21%) PCI DSS
3 1 (0.21%) QA
System Software
1 127 (26.85%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.33%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (1.06%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (0.85%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.42%) Firmware
5 2 (0.42%) vSphere
6 1 (0.21%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.21%) Docker
6 1 (0.21%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 44 (9.30%) Microsoft Intune
2 35 (7.40%) SCCM
3 15 (3.17%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.06%) WSUS
5 2 (0.42%) Ansible
5 2 (0.42%) FortiGate
5 2 (0.42%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.21%) Kubernetes
6 1 (0.21%) SCOM
Vendors
1 152 (32.14%) Microsoft
2 45 (9.51%) ServiceNow
3 27 (5.71%) Dell
4 22 (4.65%) SAP
5 21 (4.44%) Cisco
6 20 (4.23%) Google
7 19 (4.02%) HP
8 17 (3.59%) VMware
9 16 (3.38%) Apple
10 8 (1.69%) Remedy
11 7 (1.48%) Citrix
12 6 (1.27%) Okta
13 4 (0.85%) CrowdStrike
13 4 (0.85%) Sophos
14 3 (0.63%) Bloomberg
14 3 (0.63%) Datto
14 3 (0.63%) Fortinet
14 3 (0.63%) Reuters
14 3 (0.63%) Veeam
15 2 (0.42%) Rapid7