IT Engineer Contract Job Trends

IT Engineer
UK

The median IT Engineer daily rate in the UK is £190, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 January 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 216 244 224
Rank change year-on-year +28 -20 +74
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 465 342 469
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.25% 1.04% 1.09%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.37% 1.12% 1.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 267 225 287
10th Percentile £134 £125 £111
25th Percentile £153 £145 £149
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £190 £190 £200
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -
75th Percentile £238 £298 £265
90th Percentile £310 £538 £388
UK excluding London median daily rate £186 £180 £200
% change year-on-year +3.47% -10.00% +14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 125 49 103
10th Percentile £18.01 £15.08 £13.16
25th Percentile £20.50 £15.22 £16.25
Median hourly rate £25.15 £21.59 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +16.49% +21.84% -
75th Percentile - £24.18 £20.00
90th Percentile - £25.33 £25.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.08 £20.80 £17.72
% change year-on-year +20.58% +17.35% -

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 33,832 30,446 40,336
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.22% 92.70% 93.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,457 18,648 27,012
10th Percentile £300 £291 £281
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £480 £500
% change year-on-year -1.04% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,952 945 1,577
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.51 £14.25
25th Percentile £18.22 £21.05 £19.06
Median hourly rate £26.11 £32.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -19.66% -27.78% +41.02%
75th Percentile £58.75 £62.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.76 £46.09
% change year-on-year -20.81% -31.09% +78.99%

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 2 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 2 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for IT Engineer in the UK

IT Engineer
Top 16 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 2 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 +32 421 £190 -5.00% 209
UK excluding London +3 364 £186 +3.47% 213
London +3 94 £200 -21.57% 34
South East +9 91 £185 -7.50% 54
North of England 0 82 £170 -15.00% 58
South West +4 61 £188 - 37
Midlands -35 50 £190 +5.56% 29
East of England +12 49 £190 +5.56% 10
North West -8 45 £152 -15.83% 25
West Midlands -41 30 £250 +25.00% 18
Yorkshire -36 29 £205 -2.38% 30
Scotland +8 27 £195 -2.50% 10
Work from Home -23 25 £300 -4.00% 65
East Midlands -12 22 £140 -22.22% 11
Wales -15 11 £183 +25.86% 13
North East -4 8 £106 -47.00% 7

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

For the 6 months to 2 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.

1 189 (40.65%) Windows
2 147 (31.61%) Microsoft
3 141 (30.32%) Microsoft 365
4 131 (28.17%) Security Cleared
5 128 (27.53%) SC Cleared
6 116 (24.95%) Active Directory
7 102 (21.94%) Windows 10
8 96 (20.65%) Migration
9 84 (18.06%) Customer Service
10 73 (15.70%) Workflow
11 68 (14.62%) Workflow Management
12 63 (13.55%) Problem-Solving
13 52 (11.18%) Asset Management
14 44 (9.46%) Azure
15 42 (9.03%) ServiceNow
16 40 (8.60%) Microsoft Intune
17 35 (7.53%) ITIL
17 35 (7.53%) SCCM
18 33 (7.10%) Microsoft Office
19 28 (6.02%) Firewall
19 28 (6.02%) TCP/IP
20 26 (5.59%) Cybersecurity
20 26 (5.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
20 26 (5.59%) ITSM
21 25 (5.38%) Mac OS
22 24 (5.16%) Microsoft Exchange
23 23 (4.95%) Cisco
23 23 (4.95%) DNS
23 23 (4.95%) Entra ID
23 23 (4.95%) SharePoint

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 (5.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (4.95%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.22%) Confluence
3 1 (0.22%) IIS
3 1 (0.22%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.22%) Tomcat
Applications
1 33 (7.10%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (1.72%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.86%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.22%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 7 (1.51%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.22%) Pegasus Opera
2 1 (0.22%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 141 (30.32%) Microsoft 365
2 44 (9.46%) Azure
3 23 (4.95%) Entra ID
4 19 (4.09%) Google Workspace
5 10 (2.15%) OneDrive
6 8 (1.72%) AWS
7 7 (1.51%) SaaS
8 5 (1.08%) Azure Stack
9 4 (0.86%) Slack
10 3 (0.65%) Mimecast
10 3 (0.65%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.43%) AWS IoT
11 2 (0.43%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.43%) Google Drive
11 2 (0.43%) IaaS
11 2 (0.43%) PaaS
12 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Copilot
12 1 (0.22%) Microsoft Purview
12 1 (0.22%) Power Automate
12 1 (0.22%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 28 (6.02%) Firewall
1 28 (6.02%) TCP/IP
2 23 (4.95%) DNS
3 21 (4.52%) DHCP
4 19 (4.09%) VPN
5 17 (3.66%) Wi-Fi
6 15 (3.23%) Network Security
7 14 (3.01%) ATM
8 13 (2.80%) LAN
9 12 (2.58%) Wireless
10 10 (2.15%) WAN
11 9 (1.94%) VLAN
12 8 (1.72%) SAN
13 7 (1.51%) PABX
14 6 (1.29%) VoIP
15 4 (0.86%) Remote Desktop
16 3 (0.65%) Ethernet
16 3 (0.65%) IP Telephony
16 3 (0.65%) Modbus
16 3 (0.65%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.08%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.43%) Power BI
3 1 (0.22%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.22%) Metadata
3 1 (0.22%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 6 (1.29%) JIRA
2 1 (0.22%) Hudson
General
1 191 (41.08%) Social Skills
2 35 (7.53%) Finance
3 29 (6.24%) Manufacturing
4 27 (5.81%) Public Sector
5 19 (4.09%) Electronics
5 19 (4.09%) Marketing
5 19 (4.09%) Telecoms
6 18 (3.87%) Organisational Skills
7 17 (3.66%) Banking
8 16 (3.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 10 (2.15%) Analytical Skills
10 9 (1.94%) Aerospace
11 5 (1.08%) Law
12 4 (0.86%) Documentation Skills
13 3 (0.65%) Investment Banking
13 3 (0.65%) Pharmaceutical
13 3 (0.65%) Retail
14 2 (0.43%) Automotive
14 2 (0.43%) Front Office
14 2 (0.43%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.43%) Middleware
2 1 (0.22%) JSON
2 1 (0.22%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 39 (8.39%) Driving Licence
2 21 (4.52%) Onboarding
3 19 (4.09%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (3.66%) Operational Technology
5 14 (3.01%) EPoS
5 14 (3.01%) Smartphone
6 10 (2.15%) Data Centre
7 6 (1.29%) Legacy Systems
8 5 (1.08%) Analytical Mindset
8 5 (1.08%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (1.08%) Video Conferencing
9 4 (0.86%) iPhone
9 4 (0.86%) Management Information System
9 4 (0.86%) SCADA
10 3 (0.65%) CCTV
10 3 (0.65%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (0.65%) Replication
11 2 (0.43%) 3D Printing
11 2 (0.43%) FMCG
11 2 (0.43%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 189 (40.65%) Windows
2 102 (21.94%) Windows 10
3 25 (5.38%) Mac OS
4 22 (4.73%) Android
5 20 (4.30%) Apple iOS
6 18 (3.87%) Linux
6 18 (3.87%) Windows Server
7 5 (1.08%) Windows 7
8 3 (0.65%) Mac OS X
9 2 (0.43%) Solaris
9 2 (0.43%) Unix
9 2 (0.43%) VMS
9 2 (0.43%) Windows 8
10 1 (0.22%) CentOS
10 1 (0.22%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (20.65%) Migration
2 84 (18.06%) Customer Service
3 73 (15.70%) Workflow
4 68 (14.62%) Workflow Management
5 63 (13.55%) Problem-Solving
6 52 (11.18%) Asset Management
7 35 (7.53%) ITIL
8 26 (5.59%) Cybersecurity
8 26 (5.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 26 (5.59%) ITSM
9 21 (4.52%) Business Intelligence
10 19 (4.09%) Break/Fix
10 19 (4.09%) Digital Marketing
10 19 (4.09%) Programme Management
11 18 (3.87%) Logistics
12 15 (3.23%) User Experience
13 11 (2.37%) Business Continuity
13 11 (2.37%) Service Management
14 10 (2.15%) IT Asset Management
14 10 (2.15%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 20 (4.30%) PowerShell
2 4 (0.86%) SQL
3 3 (0.65%) Python
4 1 (0.22%) Bash
4 1 (0.22%) C
4 1 (0.22%) Java
Qualifications
1 131 (28.17%) Security Cleared
2 128 (27.53%) SC Cleared
3 21 (4.52%) DBS Check
4 12 (2.58%) Network+ Certification
5 10 (2.15%) A+ Certification
5 10 (2.15%) Degree
6 9 (1.94%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (1.72%) Cisco Certification
7 8 (1.72%) DV Cleared
8 7 (1.51%) CCNA
9 6 (1.29%) MCSE
10 5 (1.08%) Azure Certification
11 4 (0.86%) BPSS Clearance
12 2 (0.43%) CCNP
12 2 (0.43%) Computer Science Degree
13 1 (0.22%) BC Cleared
13 1 (0.22%) ISACA
13 1 (0.22%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 1 (0.22%) MCP
13 1 (0.22%) PRINCE2 Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (3.01%) SLA
2 3 (0.65%) GDPR
3 2 (0.43%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 116 (24.95%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.29%) Hyper-V
4 5 (1.08%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.08%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (0.65%) Firmware
6 1 (0.22%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.22%) Terminal Services
6 1 (0.22%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.22%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.22%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 40 (8.60%) Microsoft Intune
2 35 (7.53%) SCCM
3 15 (3.23%) Jamf Pro
4 5 (1.08%) WSUS
5 2 (0.43%) Ansible
5 2 (0.43%) FortiGate
5 2 (0.43%) SCOM
5 2 (0.43%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.22%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 1 (0.22%) Autotask
6 1 (0.22%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 147 (31.61%) Microsoft
2 42 (9.03%) ServiceNow
3 23 (4.95%) Cisco
4 22 (4.73%) Apple
4 22 (4.73%) Dell
4 22 (4.73%) HP
4 22 (4.73%) SAP
5 20 (4.30%) Google
5 20 (4.30%) VMware
6 8 (1.72%) Citrix
6 8 (1.72%) Remedy
7 6 (1.29%) Okta
8 4 (0.86%) CrowdStrike
8 4 (0.86%) Sophos
9 3 (0.65%) Bloomberg
9 3 (0.65%) CheckPoint
9 3 (0.65%) Datto
9 3 (0.65%) Reuters
9 3 (0.65%) Veeam
10 2 (0.43%) Rapid7