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 1 February 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 228 234 208
Rank change year-on-year +6 -26 +88
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 476 344 500
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.24% 1.10% 1.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.35% 1.18% 1.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 268 237 301
10th Percentile £138 £125 £114
25th Percentile £163 £143 £150
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £188 £200
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% -6.25% -
75th Percentile £238 £288 £269
90th Percentile £350 £530 £400
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 124 42 123
10th Percentile £18.56 £15.11 £13.15
25th Percentile £20.46 £18.20 £16.00
Median hourly rate £24.00 £21.59 £18.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.16% +19.94% +1.58%
75th Percentile £25.15 £24.18 £21.00
90th Percentile - £27.67 £29.05
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £21.59 £17.72
% change year-on-year +9.19% +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 35,259 29,175 41,799
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.50% 92.88% 93.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,247 17,830 27,664
10th Percentile £300 £298 £275
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £479 £495
% change year-on-year -0.73% -3.33% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,103 856 2,215
10th Percentile £14.39 £15.92 £13.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.00
Median hourly rate £29.60 £32.66 £36.05
Median % change year-on-year -9.36% -9.40% +2.99%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.00
90th Percentile £70.57 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.64 £37.34
% change year-on-year -13.08% -15.27% +22.95%

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 1 February 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 1 February 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 1 February 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 +27 427 £200 +5.26% 313
UK excluding London +14 381 £200 +11.11% 324
London -12 93 £200 -13.04% 48
North of England -10 89 £200 - 71
South East 0 80 £190 -5.00% 112
East of England +22 59 £200 +11.11% 36
South West -9 57 £194 +4.03% 32
Midlands -51 52 £195 +8.33% 43
North West -5 42 £152 -24.25% 39
Scotland +12 35 £178 -5.33% 21
Yorkshire -34 31 £205 - 25
East Midlands -8 30 £200 +11.11% 28
Work from Home -27 25 £325 +8.33% 60
West Midlands -51 24 £189 -5.63% 14
North East -4 16 £170 +6.25% 10
Wales -19 11 £200 +37.93% 11
Northern Ireland -5 1 - - 3

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

For the 6 months to 1 February 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.

1 192 (40.34%) Windows
2 164 (34.45%) Microsoft 365
3 153 (32.14%) Microsoft
4 130 (27.31%) Security Cleared
5 127 (26.68%) Active Directory
6 124 (26.05%) SC Cleared
7 102 (21.43%) Windows 10
8 98 (20.59%) Customer Service
9 94 (19.75%) Migration
10 71 (14.92%) Workflow
11 67 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
12 65 (13.66%) Workflow Management
13 52 (10.92%) Asset Management
14 48 (10.08%) ServiceNow
15 47 (9.87%) Microsoft Intune
16 42 (8.82%) Azure
16 42 (8.82%) ITIL
17 35 (7.35%) ITSM
17 35 (7.35%) SCCM
18 30 (6.30%) Microsoft Office
19 29 (6.09%) Cybersecurity
20 27 (5.67%) Dell
20 27 (5.67%) Firewall
20 27 (5.67%) Wi-Fi
21 25 (5.25%) TCP/IP
22 24 (5.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
22 24 (5.04%) Mac OS
22 24 (5.04%) SharePoint
23 23 (4.83%) Break/Fix
23 23 (4.83%) Entra ID

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 24 (5.04%) SharePoint
2 22 (4.62%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.63%) Confluence
4 1 (0.21%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 30 (6.30%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.84%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 7 (1.47%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.21%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 164 (34.45%) Microsoft 365
2 42 (8.82%) Azure
3 23 (4.83%) Entra ID
4 19 (3.99%) Google Workspace
5 15 (3.15%) OneDrive
6 9 (1.89%) SaaS
7 8 (1.68%) AWS
8 4 (0.84%) Mimecast
9 3 (0.63%) PaaS
9 3 (0.63%) Power Platform
10 2 (0.42%) AWS IoT
10 2 (0.42%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (0.42%) Azure Stack
10 2 (0.42%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.42%) Rubrik
10 2 (0.42%) Slack
11 1 (0.21%) Azure DevOps
11 1 (0.21%) GitHub
11 1 (0.21%) Google Drive
11 1 (0.21%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 27 (5.67%) Firewall
1 27 (5.67%) Wi-Fi
2 25 (5.25%) TCP/IP
3 23 (4.83%) VPN
4 21 (4.41%) DHCP
4 21 (4.41%) DNS
4 21 (4.41%) LAN
5 15 (3.15%) Network Security
6 13 (2.73%) SAN
6 13 (2.73%) WAN
7 9 (1.89%) VLAN
7 9 (1.89%) Wireless
8 8 (1.68%) VoIP
9 7 (1.47%) PABX
10 5 (1.05%) ATM
11 4 (0.84%) Unified Communications
11 4 (0.84%) WLAN
12 3 (0.63%) IP Telephony
12 3 (0.63%) Modbus
12 3 (0.63%) Remote Desktop
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 15 (3.15%) JIRA
2 1 (0.21%) GitLab
2 1 (0.21%) Hudson
General
1 198 (41.60%) Social Skills
2 37 (7.77%) Finance
3 36 (7.56%) Manufacturing
4 32 (6.72%) Public Sector
5 19 (3.99%) Electronics
5 19 (3.99%) Marketing
5 19 (3.99%) Telecoms
6 18 (3.78%) Banking
7 16 (3.36%) Organisational Skills
8 14 (2.94%) Analytical Skills
8 14 (2.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (1.89%) Aerospace
10 5 (1.05%) Law
11 4 (0.84%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (0.84%) 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%) Microsoft Graph
1 2 (0.42%) Middleware
2 1 (0.21%) React
Miscellaneous
1 30 (6.30%) Onboarding
2 29 (6.09%) Driving Licence
3 19 (3.99%) Operational Technology
4 18 (3.78%) Self-Motivation
5 14 (2.94%) Data Centre
5 14 (2.94%) Smartphone
6 10 (2.10%) Analytical Mindset
7 7 (1.47%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (1.47%) Virtual Team
8 6 (1.26%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (1.05%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.05%) EPoS
10 4 (0.84%) CCTV
10 4 (0.84%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (0.84%) IoT
10 4 (0.84%) iPhone
10 4 (0.84%) Management Information System
10 4 (0.84%) SCADA
11 2 (0.42%) FMCG
11 2 (0.42%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 192 (40.34%) Windows
2 102 (21.43%) Windows 10
3 24 (5.04%) Mac OS
4 22 (4.62%) Android
5 20 (4.20%) Apple iOS
6 16 (3.36%) Linux
7 15 (3.15%) 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 (20.59%) Customer Service
2 94 (19.75%) Migration
3 71 (14.92%) Workflow
4 67 (14.08%) Problem-Solving
5 65 (13.66%) Workflow Management
6 52 (10.92%) Asset Management
7 42 (8.82%) ITIL
8 35 (7.35%) ITSM
9 29 (6.09%) Cybersecurity
10 24 (5.04%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 23 (4.83%) Break/Fix
12 20 (4.20%) Business Intelligence
12 20 (4.20%) Logistics
13 19 (3.99%) Digital Marketing
13 19 (3.99%) Programme Management
14 18 (3.78%) User Experience
15 12 (2.52%) Service Management
16 11 (2.31%) Agile
16 11 (2.31%) Business Continuity
17 10 (2.10%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 23 (4.83%) PowerShell
2 5 (1.05%) Python
3 3 (0.63%) SQL
4 1 (0.21%) C#
4 1 (0.21%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.21%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 130 (27.31%) Security Cleared
2 124 (26.05%) SC Cleared
3 13 (2.73%) Microsoft Certification
3 13 (2.73%) Network+ Certification
4 12 (2.52%) A+ Certification
4 12 (2.52%) CCNA
4 12 (2.52%) Cisco Certification
5 10 (2.10%) DV Cleared
5 10 (2.10%) MCSE
6 9 (1.89%) DBS Check
7 6 (1.26%) 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%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 1 (0.21%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (2.73%) 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 (26.68%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.31%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.05%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (1.05%) Virtual Machines
4 4 (0.84%) 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 47 (9.87%) Microsoft Intune
2 35 (7.35%) SCCM
3 17 (3.57%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.05%) 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
1 153 (32.14%) Microsoft
2 48 (10.08%) ServiceNow
3 27 (5.67%) Dell
4 22 (4.62%) SAP
5 21 (4.41%) Cisco
6 19 (3.99%) Google
6 19 (3.99%) HP
7 17 (3.57%) VMware
8 16 (3.36%) Apple
9 8 (1.68%) Remedy
10 7 (1.47%) Citrix
11 5 (1.05%) Okta
12 4 (0.84%) CrowdStrike
12 4 (0.84%) Sophos
13 3 (0.63%) Bloomberg
13 3 (0.63%) Computacenter
13 3 (0.63%) Datto
13 3 (0.63%) Fortinet
13 3 (0.63%) Veeam
14 2 (0.42%) Rapid7