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 19 July 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 249 201 258
Rank change year-on-year -48 +57 +11
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 523 436 390
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.33% 0.93%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.07% 1.45% 1.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 330 280 248
10th Percentile £150 £126 £124
25th Percentile £167 £150 £145
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £190 £200
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £275 £250 £312
90th Percentile £435 £425 £538
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £165 £178
% change year-on-year +21.21% -7.04% -3.92%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 87 87
10th Percentile £17.72 £18.51 £11.75
25th Percentile £18.59 £18.87 £13.38
Median hourly rate £22.00 £22.30 £18.13
Median % change year-on-year -1.35% +23.00% +2.31%
75th Percentile £25.77 £25.15 £22.00
90th Percentile £34.00 - £24.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.25 £21.28 £16.19
% change year-on-year -0.14% +31.44% -8.63%

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 49,017 30,047 39,139
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.54% 91.68% 93.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,642 19,138 25,289
10th Percentile £325 £285 £290
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +5.26% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,291 1,424 2,548
10th Percentile £15.81 £13.75 £13.25
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £17.72
Median hourly rate £43.50 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +72.96% -37.13% -6.98%
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.33
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.63% +1.90%

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 19 July 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 19 July 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 19 July 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 -50 457 £200 - 191
UK excluding London -53 397 £200 +21.21% 198
London -62 122 £226 -1.96% 31
South East -43 103 £225 +19.21% 55
North of England -41 84 £190 +2.01% 45
East of England +9 50 £200 +5.26% 30
South West -49 49 £195 +21.88% 25
Midlands -49 48 £200 +29.03% 25
North West -40 41 £190 +2.70% 18
Scotland -6 40 £178 -5.33% 11
Yorkshire -30 36 £190 +2.70% 24
East Midlands -6 29 £200 +56.86% 16
Work from Home -73 23 £358 +24.52% 34
Wales -12 20 £190 +29.52% 10
West Midlands -70 18 £185 -5.13% 9
North East -32 8 £450 +125.00% 8
Northern Ireland +1 3 - - 3

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

For the 6 months to 19 July 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.

1 286 (54.68%) Windows
2 236 (45.12%) Microsoft
3 228 (43.59%) Microsoft 365
4 221 (42.26%) Active Directory
5 140 (26.77%) Customer Service
6 131 (25.05%) Windows 10
7 125 (23.90%) Problem-Solving
8 90 (17.21%) ITIL
9 85 (16.25%) Microsoft Intune
10 83 (15.87%) Azure
11 78 (14.91%) Security Cleared
12 76 (14.53%) ServiceNow
13 70 (13.38%) SC Cleared
14 58 (11.09%) Microsoft Certification
14 58 (11.09%) SAN
15 56 (10.71%) Entra ID
16 54 (10.33%) A+ Certification
16 54 (10.33%) ITSM
17 53 (10.13%) Break/Fix
17 53 (10.13%) Network+ Certification
18 52 (9.94%) SharePoint
19 51 (9.75%) DNS
20 49 (9.37%) VPN
21 48 (9.18%) DHCP
21 48 (9.18%) JIRA
22 47 (8.99%) Dell
23 46 (8.80%) Microsoft Exchange
24 45 (8.60%) CCNA
24 45 (8.60%) Cisco Certification
24 45 (8.60%) 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 52 (9.94%) SharePoint
2 46 (8.80%) Microsoft Exchange
3 9 (1.72%) HCL Notes
4 5 (0.96%) Confluence
Applications
1 20 (3.82%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.19%) Acrobat
3 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
3 1 (0.19%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.38%) NetSuite
1 2 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 228 (43.59%) Microsoft 365
2 83 (15.87%) Azure
3 56 (10.71%) Entra ID
4 29 (5.54%) OneDrive
5 19 (3.63%) Azure DevOps
6 16 (3.06%) SaaS
7 13 (2.49%) AWS
8 11 (2.10%) PaaS
9 10 (1.91%) IaaS
10 5 (0.96%) Datadog
10 5 (0.96%) GitHub
10 5 (0.96%) Mimecast
10 5 (0.96%) Nutanix
10 5 (0.96%) Power Platform
11 4 (0.76%) PowerApps
12 3 (0.57%) Amazon EC2
12 3 (0.57%) Amazon S3
12 3 (0.57%) Google Workspace
13 2 (0.38%) Amazon EKS
13 2 (0.38%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 58 (11.09%) SAN
2 51 (9.75%) DNS
3 49 (9.37%) VPN
4 48 (9.18%) DHCP
5 45 (8.60%) Wi-Fi
6 36 (6.88%) LAN
7 30 (5.74%) TCP/IP
8 25 (4.78%) VLAN
9 20 (3.82%) WAN
10 16 (3.06%) Firewall
11 10 (1.91%) Internet
12 9 (1.72%) WLAN
13 6 (1.15%) VoIP
14 5 (0.96%) IPv4
14 5 (0.96%) IPv6
14 5 (0.96%) Network Security
14 5 (0.96%) Skype
15 4 (0.76%) Remote Desktop
16 3 (0.57%) Unified Communications
17 2 (0.38%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 12 (2.29%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.38%) Power BI
2 2 (0.38%) Relational Database
3 1 (0.19%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.19%) MySQL
3 1 (0.19%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 48 (9.18%) JIRA
2 6 (1.15%) Git
3 5 (0.96%) Chocolatey
3 5 (0.96%) GitLab
General
1 233 (44.55%) Social Skills
2 73 (13.96%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (4.97%) Finance
4 25 (4.78%) Manufacturing
5 21 (4.02%) Banking
5 21 (4.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 16 (3.06%) Public Sector
7 15 (2.87%) Organisational Skills
8 7 (1.34%) Marketing
9 6 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
10 5 (0.96%) Investment Banking
11 4 (0.76%) Financial Institution
11 4 (0.76%) Retail
12 3 (0.57%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.38%) Legal
14 1 (0.19%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.19%) Front Office
14 1 (0.19%) Law
14 1 (0.19%) Local Government
14 1 (0.19%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (0.96%) React
2 3 (0.57%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (0.38%) JSON
3 2 (0.38%) Middleware
3 2 (0.38%) RabbitMQ
3 2 (0.38%) XML
4 1 (0.19%) 802.1X
4 1 (0.19%) PySpark
4 1 (0.19%) Redfish
4 1 (0.19%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 54 (10.33%) Onboarding
2 53 (10.13%) Data Centre
3 45 (8.60%) Analytical Mindset
4 16 (3.06%) Video Conferencing
4 16 (3.06%) Virtual Team
5 15 (2.87%) Self-Motivation
6 12 (2.29%) Driving Licence
7 9 (1.72%) Blackberry
8 8 (1.53%) EPoS
8 8 (1.53%) Operational Technology
9 7 (1.34%) Hybrid Cloud
10 5 (0.96%) CCTV
10 5 (0.96%) Cyber Threat
10 5 (0.96%) SCADA
11 4 (0.76%) iPad
11 4 (0.76%) iPhone
11 4 (0.76%) Renewable Energy
12 3 (0.57%) Enterprise Software
12 3 (0.57%) Fat Client
12 3 (0.57%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 286 (54.68%) Windows
2 131 (25.05%) Windows 10
3 31 (5.93%) Mac OS
4 30 (5.74%) Windows Server
5 18 (3.44%) Apple iOS
6 16 (3.06%) Android
7 7 (1.34%) Linux
8 3 (0.57%) Windows 7
8 3 (0.57%) Windows Server 2019
9 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2008
9 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.19%) Solaris
10 1 (0.19%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 140 (26.77%) Customer Service
2 125 (23.90%) Problem-Solving
3 90 (17.21%) ITIL
4 54 (10.33%) ITSM
5 53 (10.13%) Break/Fix
6 43 (8.22%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 37 (7.07%) Asset Management
8 36 (6.88%) Service Delivery
9 31 (5.93%) Migration
10 30 (5.74%) Continuous Improvement
11 29 (5.54%) Change Management
12 28 (5.35%) User Experience
13 24 (4.59%) Cybersecurity
14 21 (4.02%) DevOps
15 20 (3.82%) Disaster Recovery
16 16 (3.06%) Problem Management
17 13 (2.49%) Data Protection
17 13 (2.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
18 12 (2.29%) CI/CD
18 12 (2.29%) Inventory Management
Programming Languages
1 36 (6.88%) PowerShell
2 23 (4.40%) SQL
3 19 (3.63%) C#
4 10 (1.91%) Python
5 5 (0.96%) JavaScript
5 5 (0.96%) TypeScript
6 2 (0.38%) Java
Qualifications
1 78 (14.91%) Security Cleared
2 70 (13.38%) SC Cleared
3 58 (11.09%) Microsoft Certification
4 54 (10.33%) A+ Certification
5 53 (10.13%) Network+ Certification
6 45 (8.60%) CCNA
6 45 (8.60%) Cisco Certification
6 45 (8.60%) MCSE
7 17 (3.25%) Degree
8 11 (2.10%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.15%) DBS Check
10 5 (0.96%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 2 (0.38%) Azure Certification
12 1 (0.19%) BPSS Clearance
12 1 (0.19%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (5.16%) SLA
2 8 (1.53%) Cyber Essentials
2 8 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (0.76%) GDPR
4 3 (0.57%) NIST
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
5 2 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
5 2 (0.38%) GxP
6 1 (0.19%) ITGC
System Software
1 221 (42.26%) Active Directory
2 17 (3.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (3.06%) Hyper-V
4 4 (0.76%) vSphere
5 3 (0.57%) Docker
5 3 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
6 2 (0.38%) Firmware
6 2 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 85 (16.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (4.78%) SCCM
3 9 (1.72%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (1.34%) WSUS
5 6 (1.15%) Kubernetes
6 5 (0.96%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.76%) Terraform
8 3 (0.57%) Ansible
9 2 (0.38%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.38%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.38%) PaperCut
10 1 (0.19%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.19%) Grafana
10 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
10 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
10 1 (0.19%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 236 (45.12%) Microsoft
2 76 (14.53%) ServiceNow
3 47 (8.99%) Dell
4 29 (5.54%) VMware
5 26 (4.97%) Apple
6 15 (2.87%) Cisco
7 10 (1.91%) Citrix
8 9 (1.72%) Lotus
8 9 (1.72%) Veeam
9 8 (1.53%) HP
10 6 (1.15%) Dynatrace
10 6 (1.15%) Fortinet
10 6 (1.15%) Samsung
10 6 (1.15%) Tenable
11 5 (0.96%) AppDynamics
12 4 (0.76%) Remedy
13 3 (0.57%) Freshdesk
13 3 (0.57%) Google
13 3 (0.57%) Meraki
14 2 (0.38%) Arista