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 11 October 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 275 217 263
Rank change year-on-year -58 +46 -19
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 522 414 348
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.96% 1.25% 0.92%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.04% 1.38% 0.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 355 251 225
10th Percentile £155 £126 £126
25th Percentile £163 £150 £160
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £263 £238 £300
90th Percentile £400 £350 £535
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £173 £188
% change year-on-year +15.94% -8.00% -1.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 118 50
10th Percentile £17.72 £18.51 £12.00
25th Percentile £18.42 £18.87 £15.22
Median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.52% +19.76% +18.51%
75th Percentile £25.75 - £24.18
90th Percentile £25.90 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £19.85
% change year-on-year -12.52% +26.70% +12.02%

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 50,214 30,082 35,242
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.03% 90.84% 93.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,439 18,998 21,292
10th Percentile £325 £275 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £638 £623 £638
90th Percentile £736 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4,075 1,645 1,472
10th Percentile £14.31 £13.75 £14.87
25th Percentile £19.34 £17.30 £20.30
Median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £41.50
Median % change year-on-year +65.84% -39.40% -7.78%
75th Percentile £67.50 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.60 £68.00 £74.37
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.71 £25.00 £42.50
% change year-on-year +66.84% -41.18% -4.49%

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 11 October 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 11 October 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 11 October 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 -62 449 £200 +8.11% 498
UK excluding London -41 385 £200 +15.94% 345
London -64 129 £215 +7.50% 176
South East -57 86 £250 +34.23% 84
North of England -39 75 £200 +25.00% 76
East of England +7 65 £195 +11.43% 30
North West -18 53 £200 +25.00% 39
Midlands -48 52 £185 +4.96% 63
Scotland +3 50 £210 +7.69% 32
South West -51 44 £213 +26.87% 42
Work from Home -52 34 £330 +5.60% 148
East Midlands -8 26 £213 +66.67% 31
West Midlands -56 26 £175 -22.22% 32
Yorkshire -21 21 £200 +2.56% 28
Wales -8 9 £190 +11.76% 11
Northern Ireland +6 4 - - 10
North East -41 2 £175 +65.09% 11

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

For the 6 months to 11 October 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.

1 339 (64.94%) Windows
2 295 (56.51%) Microsoft
3 261 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
4 237 (45.40%) Active Directory
5 168 (32.18%) Customer Service
6 163 (31.23%) Windows 10
7 141 (27.01%) Problem-Solving
8 108 (20.69%) ITIL
9 97 (18.58%) Microsoft Intune
10 92 (17.62%) Security Cleared
11 89 (17.05%) Azure
12 83 (15.90%) ServiceNow
13 81 (15.52%) SharePoint
14 80 (15.33%) ITSM
14 80 (15.33%) SC Cleared
15 79 (15.13%) Entra ID
16 68 (13.03%) VPN
17 57 (10.92%) Microsoft Exchange
18 51 (9.77%) Asset Management
19 49 (9.39%) Continuous Improvement
19 49 (9.39%) Windows Server
20 46 (8.81%) DNS
20 46 (8.81%) Infrastructure Engineering
21 45 (8.62%) TCP/IP
22 40 (7.66%) SCCM
23 39 (7.47%) Service Delivery
24 38 (7.28%) Break/Fix
24 38 (7.28%) DHCP
24 38 (7.28%) Migration
24 38 (7.28%) Service Management

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 81 (15.52%) SharePoint
2 57 (10.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (2.11%) HCL Notes
4 4 (0.77%) Confluence
5 2 (0.38%) Oracle SOA Suite
Applications
1 37 (7.09%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (0.96%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.38%) Acrobat
4 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 4 (0.77%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 261 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
2 89 (17.05%) Azure
3 79 (15.13%) Entra ID
4 35 (6.70%) OneDrive
5 16 (3.07%) AWS
6 12 (2.30%) SaaS
7 6 (1.15%) Mimecast
8 5 (0.96%) AWS Direct Connect
8 5 (0.96%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 5 (0.96%) IaaS
8 5 (0.96%) Nutanix
9 4 (0.77%) Power Platform
10 3 (0.57%) Google Workspace
10 3 (0.57%) PaaS
10 3 (0.57%) PowerApps
11 2 (0.38%) Amazon EC2
11 2 (0.38%) Amazon EKS
11 2 (0.38%) Amazon S3
11 2 (0.38%) GitHub
11 2 (0.38%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 68 (13.03%) VPN
2 46 (8.81%) DNS
3 45 (8.62%) TCP/IP
4 38 (7.28%) DHCP
5 31 (5.94%) LAN
6 27 (5.17%) WAN
6 27 (5.17%) Wi-Fi
7 25 (4.79%) Firewall
8 22 (4.21%) SAN
9 15 (2.87%) VLAN
10 10 (1.92%) Wireless
11 9 (1.72%) Internet
12 6 (1.15%) Network Security
13 5 (0.96%) BGP
13 5 (0.96%) MPLS
13 5 (0.96%) OSPF
13 5 (0.96%) SD-WAN
13 5 (0.96%) Skype
13 5 (0.96%) WLAN
14 4 (0.77%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.15%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.38%) Oracle Database
2 2 (0.38%) Power BI
2 2 (0.38%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.38%) Tableau
3 1 (0.19%) BusinessObjects
3 1 (0.19%) Crystal Reports
3 1 (0.19%) Db2
3 1 (0.19%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.19%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 23 (4.41%) JIRA
2 3 (0.57%) Git
2 3 (0.57%) Postman
2 3 (0.57%) SoapUI
3 2 (0.38%) eggPlant
3 2 (0.38%) JMeter
3 2 (0.38%) LoadRunner
3 2 (0.38%) MSI
3 2 (0.38%) SonarQube
4 1 (0.19%) Cucumber
4 1 (0.19%) GitLab
4 1 (0.19%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.19%) Robot Framework
4 1 (0.19%) Selenium
4 1 (0.19%) WebDriver
General
1 256 (49.04%) Social Skills
2 61 (11.69%) Analytical Skills
3 28 (5.36%) Finance
3 28 (5.36%) Manufacturing
4 23 (4.41%) Retail
5 21 (4.02%) Public Sector
6 18 (3.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 14 (2.68%) Organisational Skills
8 7 (1.34%) Banking
8 7 (1.34%) Marketing
9 6 (1.15%) Legal
10 5 (0.96%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (0.57%) Italian Language
11 3 (0.57%) Presentation Skills
12 2 (0.38%) Front Office
12 2 (0.38%) Military
12 2 (0.38%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.19%) Back Office
13 1 (0.19%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.19%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.77%) Middleware
1 4 (0.77%) Terraform
1 4 (0.77%) XML
2 3 (0.57%) Kafka
3 2 (0.38%) .NET
3 2 (0.38%) 802.1X
3 2 (0.38%) HTML
3 2 (0.38%) JSON
3 2 (0.38%) RabbitMQ
3 2 (0.38%) REST
3 2 (0.38%) SOAP
3 2 (0.38%) Web Services
3 2 (0.38%) XBRL
4 1 (0.19%) ADO
4 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.19%) ODBC
4 1 (0.19%) OpenID
4 1 (0.19%) React
4 1 (0.19%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 77 (14.75%) Onboarding
2 41 (7.85%) Driving Licence
3 37 (7.09%) Data Centre
4 26 (4.98%) Video Conferencing
5 20 (3.83%) EPoS
6 19 (3.64%) Analytical Mindset
7 14 (2.68%) Blackberry
8 10 (1.92%) CMDB
8 10 (1.92%) Self-Motivation
8 10 (1.92%) Virtual Team
9 7 (1.34%) Digital Signage
9 7 (1.34%) iPhone
10 6 (1.15%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (1.15%) Operational Technology
11 5 (0.96%) Hybrid Cloud
11 5 (0.96%) iPad
11 5 (0.96%) SCADA
12 4 (0.77%) CCTV
13 3 (0.57%) Enterprise Storage
13 3 (0.57%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 339 (64.94%) Windows
2 163 (31.23%) Windows 10
3 49 (9.39%) Windows Server
4 36 (6.90%) macOS
5 33 (6.32%) Apple iOS
6 26 (4.98%) Android
7 13 (2.49%) Linux
8 4 (0.77%) Windows Server 2019
9 3 (0.57%) Unix
9 3 (0.57%) Windows 7
10 2 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.19%) OS/2
Processes & Methodologies
1 168 (32.18%) Customer Service
2 141 (27.01%) Problem-Solving
3 108 (20.69%) ITIL
4 80 (15.33%) ITSM
5 51 (9.77%) Asset Management
6 49 (9.39%) Continuous Improvement
7 46 (8.81%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 39 (7.47%) Service Delivery
9 38 (7.28%) Break/Fix
9 38 (7.28%) Migration
9 38 (7.28%) Service Management
10 34 (6.51%) User Experience
11 25 (4.79%) Cybersecurity
12 22 (4.21%) Root Cause Analysis
13 20 (3.83%) Inventory Management
14 19 (3.64%) Disaster Recovery
15 16 (3.07%) Customer Experience
16 14 (2.68%) Problem Management
16 14 (2.68%) Stakeholder Management
16 14 (2.68%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 37 (7.09%) PowerShell
2 15 (2.87%) Python
3 11 (2.11%) SQL
4 7 (1.34%) Java
5 5 (0.96%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.38%) VB.NET
7 1 (0.19%) Bicep
7 1 (0.19%) C#
7 1 (0.19%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 92 (17.62%) Security Cleared
2 80 (15.33%) SC Cleared
3 36 (6.90%) A+ Certification
4 29 (5.56%) Microsoft Certification
5 24 (4.60%) Degree
5 24 (4.60%) Network+ Certification
6 17 (3.26%) CCNA
6 17 (3.26%) Cisco Certification
6 17 (3.26%) MCSE
7 16 (3.07%) DV Cleared
8 13 (2.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 10 (1.92%) DBS Check
10 5 (0.96%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 4 (0.77%) BPSS Clearance
12 3 (0.57%) CEH
12 3 (0.57%) CISM
12 3 (0.57%) CISSP
13 2 (0.38%) ISEB
13 2 (0.38%) ISTQB
13 2 (0.38%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (6.32%) SLA
2 7 (1.34%) Cyber Essentials
3 4 (0.77%) GDPR
3 4 (0.77%) NCSC
4 3 (0.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (0.57%) PCI DSS
4 3 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 2 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 2 (0.38%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.19%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.19%) GxP
6 1 (0.19%) NIST
6 1 (0.19%) QA
System Software
1 237 (45.40%) Active Directory
2 22 (4.21%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (3.07%) Hyper-V
4 4 (0.77%) Firmware
4 4 (0.77%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (0.77%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.57%) Docker
6 2 (0.38%) vSphere
7 1 (0.19%) KVM
Systems Management
1 97 (18.58%) Microsoft Intune
2 40 (7.66%) SCCM
3 8 (1.53%) WSUS
4 7 (1.34%) Ansible
4 7 (1.34%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (0.96%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.77%) Kubernetes
7 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.38%) Control-M
8 2 (0.38%) Dell DRAC
8 2 (0.38%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.38%) HP Fortify
8 2 (0.38%) vCenter Server
9 1 (0.19%) Avamar
9 1 (0.19%) Grafana
9 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.19%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 295 (56.51%) Microsoft
2 83 (15.90%) ServiceNow
3 36 (6.90%) Apple
4 31 (5.94%) VMware
5 26 (4.98%) Cisco
6 21 (4.02%) Dell
7 14 (2.68%) Lotus
8 12 (2.30%) HP
9 9 (1.72%) Citrix
9 9 (1.72%) Palo Alto
10 8 (1.53%) Fortinet
10 8 (1.53%) Samsung
10 8 (1.53%) Veeam
11 7 (1.34%) iManage
11 7 (1.34%) Remedy
12 5 (0.96%) IBM
12 5 (0.96%) Meraki
13 4 (0.77%) Google
13 4 (0.77%) Sophos
14 3 (0.57%) Bloomberg