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 23 April 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 226 206 222
Rank change year-on-year -20 +16 +56
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 527 382 467
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.14% 1.29% 1.07%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.23% 1.40% 1.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 303 252 283
10th Percentile £150 £123 £123
25th Percentile £176 £140 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £288 £250 £300
90th Percentile £438 £423 £519
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £168 £190
% change year-on-year +19.40% -11.84% -1.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 98 56 123
10th Percentile £18.82 £18.20 £12.08
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.51 £15.75
Median hourly rate £23.58 £21.00 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +12.26% +18.51% -
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.30 £21.00
90th Percentile £26.14 £25.15 £24.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £19.00 £17.50
% change year-on-year +18.42% +8.57% -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 42,836 27,359 40,556
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.28% 92.64% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,486 17,911 26,489
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,746 1,013 2,627
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.44 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.51 £16.25
Median hourly rate £42.50 £30.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +41.67% -14.29% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.60 £63.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.00 £28.88 £37.18
% change year-on-year +52.38% -22.34% -12.52%

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 23 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 23 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 23 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 -18 461 £200 +5.26% 266
UK excluding London -18 402 £200 +19.40% 287
London -14 121 £275 +15.79% 28
North of England -19 104 £190 -5.00% 61
South East -31 85 £200 +5.26% 61
Midlands -43 58 £195 +39.29% 48
East of England +13 54 £203 +12.50% 46
North West -14 47 £170 -9.33% 36
Yorkshire -32 44 £205 -31.67% 24
South West -46 39 £185 +37.04% 44
Scotland +10 35 £178 -4.70% 12
East Midlands -9 35 £200 +60.00% 31
Wales -6 27 £200 +36.33% 14
West Midlands -65 24 £186 +33.04% 17
Work from Home -50 17 £325 +18.18% 65
North East -13 13 £450 +125.00% 3
Northern Ireland -4 1 - - 11

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

For the 6 months to 23 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.

1 226 (42.88%) Windows
2 201 (38.14%) Microsoft 365
3 187 (35.48%) Microsoft
4 182 (34.54%) Active Directory
5 121 (22.96%) Customer Service
6 116 (22.01%) Windows 10
7 113 (21.44%) Security Cleared
8 105 (19.92%) SC Cleared
9 92 (17.46%) Problem-Solving
10 88 (16.70%) Migration
11 68 (12.90%) Azure
12 57 (10.82%) Workflow
13 53 (10.06%) Workflow Management
14 52 (9.87%) Dell
14 52 (9.87%) ITIL
14 52 (9.87%) Microsoft Intune
15 51 (9.68%) Break/Fix
15 51 (9.68%) SAN
16 49 (9.30%) ServiceNow
17 47 (8.92%) Microsoft Certification
18 46 (8.73%) Wi-Fi
19 44 (8.35%) Network+ Certification
20 43 (8.16%) A+ Certification
20 43 (8.16%) CCNA
20 43 (8.16%) Cisco Certification
21 42 (7.97%) ITSM
21 42 (7.97%) MCSE
22 40 (7.59%) Asset Management
22 40 (7.59%) DNS
23 38 (7.21%) DHCP

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 27 (5.12%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (4.36%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.38%) Confluence
4 1 (0.19%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 16 (3.04%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.57%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (0.95%) Remedy ITSM
2 2 (0.38%) NetSuite
3 1 (0.19%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 201 (38.14%) Microsoft 365
2 68 (12.90%) Azure
3 35 (6.64%) Entra ID
4 19 (3.61%) Azure DevOps
5 17 (3.23%) SaaS
6 15 (2.85%) OneDrive
7 14 (2.66%) Google Workspace
8 11 (2.09%) PaaS
9 10 (1.90%) AWS
10 9 (1.71%) IaaS
11 5 (0.95%) Datadog
12 4 (0.76%) GitHub
12 4 (0.76%) Nutanix
13 3 (0.57%) Mimecast
13 3 (0.57%) Power Platform
13 3 (0.57%) Rubrik
14 2 (0.38%) AWS IoT
14 2 (0.38%) Azure Sentinel
14 2 (0.38%) PowerApps
15 1 (0.19%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 51 (9.68%) SAN
2 46 (8.73%) Wi-Fi
3 40 (7.59%) DNS
4 38 (7.21%) DHCP
5 33 (6.26%) LAN
6 27 (5.12%) VPN
7 26 (4.93%) Firewall
8 22 (4.17%) TCP/IP
9 20 (3.80%) VLAN
10 19 (3.61%) WAN
11 14 (2.66%) Network Security
12 10 (1.90%) VoIP
13 8 (1.52%) Wireless
14 7 (1.33%) Internet
15 6 (1.14%) WLAN
16 5 (0.95%) IPv4
16 5 (0.95%) IPv6
16 5 (0.95%) Unified Communications
17 4 (0.76%) Skype
18 3 (0.57%) Modbus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (2.47%) 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 (7.02%) JIRA
2 6 (1.14%) Git
3 5 (0.95%) Chocolatey
4 4 (0.76%) GitLab
General
1 214 (40.61%) Social Skills
2 52 (9.87%) Analytical Skills
3 40 (7.59%) Finance
4 33 (6.26%) Manufacturing
5 30 (5.69%) Banking
6 28 (5.31%) Public Sector
7 19 (3.61%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (2.47%) Telecoms
9 12 (2.28%) Electronics
9 12 (2.28%) Marketing
9 12 (2.28%) Organisational Skills
10 7 (1.33%) Documentation Skills
11 6 (1.14%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.57%) Financial Institution
12 3 (0.57%) Front Office
12 3 (0.57%) Law
13 2 (0.38%) Aerospace
13 2 (0.38%) Retail
14 1 (0.19%) Japanese Language
14 1 (0.19%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (0.76%) 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 49 (9.30%) Data Centre
2 41 (7.78%) Analytical Mindset
3 40 (7.59%) Onboarding
4 19 (3.61%) Driving Licence
4 19 (3.61%) Self-Motivation
5 17 (3.23%) Operational Technology
6 15 (2.85%) Virtual Team
7 10 (1.90%) EPoS
8 6 (1.14%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (1.14%) SCADA
9 5 (0.95%) Cyber Threat
9 5 (0.95%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (0.76%) IoT
10 4 (0.76%) iPhone
10 4 (0.76%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.76%) Renewable Energy
10 4 (0.76%) Smartphone
11 3 (0.57%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (0.38%) 3D Printing
12 2 (0.38%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 226 (42.88%) Windows
2 116 (22.01%) Windows 10
3 26 (4.93%) Windows Server
4 23 (4.36%) Android
5 19 (3.61%) Mac OS
6 18 (3.42%) Apple iOS
7 13 (2.47%) Linux
8 4 (0.76%) Unix
9 3 (0.57%) 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
1 121 (22.96%) Customer Service
2 92 (17.46%) Problem-Solving
3 88 (16.70%) Migration
4 57 (10.82%) Workflow
5 53 (10.06%) Workflow Management
6 52 (9.87%) ITIL
7 51 (9.68%) Break/Fix
8 42 (7.97%) ITSM
9 40 (7.59%) Asset Management
10 31 (5.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 28 (5.31%) Cybersecurity
12 26 (4.93%) Change Management
12 26 (4.93%) User Experience
13 24 (4.55%) DevOps
14 21 (3.98%) Disaster Recovery
15 18 (3.42%) Logistics
16 15 (2.85%) Problem Management
17 13 (2.47%) Business Intelligence
18 12 (2.28%) Digital Marketing
18 12 (2.28%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 27 (5.12%) PowerShell
2 21 (3.98%) SQL
3 19 (3.61%) C#
4 8 (1.52%) Python
5 4 (0.76%) JavaScript
5 4 (0.76%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 113 (21.44%) Security Cleared
2 105 (19.92%) SC Cleared
3 47 (8.92%) Microsoft Certification
4 44 (8.35%) Network+ Certification
5 43 (8.16%) A+ Certification
5 43 (8.16%) CCNA
5 43 (8.16%) Cisco Certification
6 42 (7.97%) MCSE
7 15 (2.85%) DV Cleared
8 8 (1.52%) Degree
9 3 (0.57%) BPSS Clearance
9 3 (0.57%) 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 23 (4.36%) SLA
2 6 (1.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (0.57%) 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
1 182 (34.54%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.09%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (1.90%) Hyper-V
4 3 (0.57%) Firmware
4 3 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.38%) Docker
5 2 (0.38%) vSphere
6 1 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
6 1 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 52 (9.87%) Microsoft Intune
2 31 (5.88%) SCCM
3 14 (2.66%) Jamf Pro
4 8 (1.52%) WSUS
5 4 (0.76%) Ansible
5 4 (0.76%) Kubernetes
6 3 (0.57%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.57%) Terraform
7 2 (0.38%) PaperCut
7 2 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
8 1 (0.19%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.19%) SCOM
8 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 187 (35.48%) Microsoft
2 52 (9.87%) Dell
3 49 (9.30%) ServiceNow
4 20 (3.80%) VMware
5 16 (3.04%) Cisco
6 15 (2.85%) HP
7 13 (2.47%) Apple
7 13 (2.47%) SAP
8 12 (2.28%) Google
9 10 (1.90%) Citrix
10 8 (1.52%) Fortinet
10 8 (1.52%) Tenable
11 7 (1.33%) Veeam
12 5 (0.95%) AppDynamics
12 5 (0.95%) Dynatrace
12 5 (0.95%) Remedy
13 2 (0.38%) Arista
13 2 (0.38%) Bloomberg
13 2 (0.38%) CrowdStrike
13 2 (0.38%) Reuters