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 5 July 2026.

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

6 months to
5 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 245 204 249
Rank change year-on-year -41 +45 +24
Contract jobs requiring an IT Engineer 524 428 405
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.01% 1.35% 0.93%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.10% 1.47% 1.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 325 277 253
10th Percentile £150 £126 £125
25th Percentile £165 £150 £149
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £200 £190 £200
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +3.90%
75th Percentile £275 £250 £312
90th Percentile £438 £415 £595
UK excluding London median daily rate £200 £165 £175
% change year-on-year +21.21% -5.71% -7.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 81 78 95
10th Percentile £17.72 £18.51 £11.85
25th Percentile £19.33 £18.87 £14.47
Median hourly rate £22.21 £21.28 £18.13
Median % change year-on-year +4.37% +17.37% +2.31%
75th Percentile £25.77 £25.15 £22.00
90th Percentile £28.88 - £24.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £21.01 £16.60
% change year-on-year +4.71% +26.57% -6.32%

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 47,830 29,215 40,312
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.43% 92.02% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,937 18,656 25,939
10th Percentile £325 £287 £285
25th Percentile £417 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.85% -1.20%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,242 1,317 2,814
10th Percentile £15.72 £13.75 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.14 £17.44 £16.65
Median hourly rate £43.00 £26.45 £38.50
Median % change year-on-year +62.57% -31.30% -10.47%
75th Percentile £67.50 £55.25 £63.31
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.95 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% +1.14%

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 5 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 5 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 5 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 -47 460 £200 +5.26% 198
UK excluding London -46 399 £200 +21.21% 212
London -69 121 £226 -1.96% 37
South East -35 98 £238 +25.00% 59
North of England -41 84 £190 +2.01% 41
East of England +2 55 £200 +5.26% 23
Midlands -49 52 £200 +33.33% 32
South West -34 49 £225 +40.63% 27
North West -32 39 £190 +2.01% 21
Scotland -7 36 £155 -16.78% 14
Yorkshire -35 36 £190 +2.70% 19
East Midlands -4 31 £200 +56.86% 18
Work from Home -62 23 £500 +81.82% 52
Wales -12 22 £190 +29.52% 9
West Midlands -67 20 £185 +15.63% 14
North East -32 10 £450 +125.00% 4
Northern Ireland -1 3 - - 11

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

For the 6 months to 5 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.

1 274 (52.29%) Windows
2 219 (41.79%) Microsoft
3 218 (41.60%) Microsoft 365
4 212 (40.46%) Active Directory
5 138 (26.34%) Customer Service
6 128 (24.43%) Windows 10
7 124 (23.66%) Problem-Solving
8 86 (16.41%) Security Cleared
9 83 (15.84%) ITIL
10 82 (15.65%) Azure
11 79 (15.08%) Microsoft Intune
12 77 (14.69%) SC Cleared
13 73 (13.93%) ServiceNow
14 60 (11.45%) SAN
15 56 (10.69%) Microsoft Certification
16 55 (10.50%) Break/Fix
17 53 (10.11%) A+ Certification
17 53 (10.11%) Network+ Certification
18 52 (9.92%) ITSM
19 49 (9.35%) Dell
19 49 (9.35%) JIRA
20 47 (8.97%) CCNA
20 47 (8.97%) Cisco Certification
20 47 (8.97%) Entra ID
20 47 (8.97%) MCSE
21 46 (8.78%) DNS
22 45 (8.59%) VPN
23 44 (8.40%) Wi-Fi
24 43 (8.21%) DHCP
25 42 (8.02%) Migration

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 40 (7.63%) Microsoft Exchange
1 40 (7.63%) SharePoint
2 8 (1.53%) HCL Notes
3 5 (0.95%) Confluence
Applications
1 20 (3.82%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.38%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.19%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 2 (0.38%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 218 (41.60%) Microsoft 365
2 82 (15.65%) Azure
3 47 (8.97%) Entra ID
4 24 (4.58%) OneDrive
5 19 (3.63%) Azure DevOps
6 16 (3.05%) SaaS
7 13 (2.48%) AWS
8 11 (2.10%) PaaS
9 9 (1.72%) IaaS
10 5 (0.95%) Datadog
10 5 (0.95%) GitHub
10 5 (0.95%) Nutanix
10 5 (0.95%) Power Platform
11 4 (0.76%) Google Workspace
11 4 (0.76%) Mimecast
11 4 (0.76%) PowerApps
12 3 (0.57%) Amazon EC2
12 3 (0.57%) Amazon S3
12 3 (0.57%) Rubrik
13 2 (0.38%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 60 (11.45%) SAN
2 46 (8.78%) DNS
3 45 (8.59%) VPN
4 44 (8.40%) Wi-Fi
5 43 (8.21%) DHCP
6 36 (6.87%) LAN
7 26 (4.96%) TCP/IP
8 25 (4.77%) VLAN
9 19 (3.63%) WAN
10 16 (3.05%) Firewall
11 11 (2.10%) WLAN
12 10 (1.91%) Internet
13 6 (1.15%) VoIP
14 5 (0.95%) IPv4
14 5 (0.95%) IPv6
14 5 (0.95%) Network Security
14 5 (0.95%) Skype
15 3 (0.57%) Remote Desktop
15 3 (0.57%) Unified Communications
16 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 49 (9.35%) JIRA
2 6 (1.15%) Git
3 5 (0.95%) Chocolatey
3 5 (0.95%) GitLab
General
1 222 (42.37%) Social Skills
2 74 (14.12%) Analytical Skills
3 26 (4.96%) Finance
4 24 (4.58%) Manufacturing
5 22 (4.20%) Banking
6 17 (3.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 16 (3.05%) Public Sector
8 15 (2.86%) Organisational Skills
9 7 (1.34%) Marketing
10 6 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
11 5 (0.95%) Investment Banking
12 4 (0.76%) Financial Institution
12 4 (0.76%) Retail
13 3 (0.57%) Telecoms
14 1 (0.19%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.19%) Front Office
14 1 (0.19%) Japanese Language
14 1 (0.19%) Law
14 1 (0.19%) Legal
14 1 (0.19%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (0.95%) 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 56 (10.69%) Data Centre
2 53 (10.11%) Onboarding
3 47 (8.97%) Analytical Mindset
4 20 (3.82%) Virtual Team
5 16 (3.05%) Video Conferencing
6 15 (2.86%) Self-Motivation
7 10 (1.91%) Driving Licence
8 8 (1.53%) Blackberry
8 8 (1.53%) EPoS
8 8 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
8 8 (1.53%) Operational Technology
9 5 (0.95%) CCTV
9 5 (0.95%) Cyber Threat
9 5 (0.95%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (0.95%) SCADA
10 4 (0.76%) Renewable Energy
11 3 (0.57%) Fat Client
11 3 (0.57%) Greenfield Project
11 3 (0.57%) Life Science
11 3 (0.57%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 274 (52.29%) Windows
2 128 (24.43%) Windows 10
3 31 (5.92%) Mac OS
4 29 (5.53%) Windows Server
5 17 (3.24%) Apple iOS
6 14 (2.67%) Android
7 7 (1.34%) Linux
8 2 (0.38%) Unix
8 2 (0.38%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.38%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.19%) Solaris
9 1 (0.19%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 138 (26.34%) Customer Service
2 124 (23.66%) Problem-Solving
3 83 (15.84%) ITIL
4 55 (10.50%) Break/Fix
5 52 (9.92%) ITSM
6 42 (8.02%) Migration
7 40 (7.63%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 36 (6.87%) Service Delivery
9 30 (5.73%) Asset Management
9 30 (5.73%) Continuous Improvement
10 28 (5.34%) Change Management
11 26 (4.96%) User Experience
12 21 (4.01%) Cybersecurity
12 21 (4.01%) DevOps
12 21 (4.01%) Disaster Recovery
13 18 (3.44%) Workflow
14 16 (3.05%) Problem Management
14 16 (3.05%) Workflow Management
15 14 (2.67%) Data Protection
16 12 (2.29%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 32 (6.11%) PowerShell
2 22 (4.20%) SQL
3 19 (3.63%) C#
4 10 (1.91%) Python
5 5 (0.95%) JavaScript
5 5 (0.95%) TypeScript
6 2 (0.38%) Java
Qualifications
1 86 (16.41%) Security Cleared
2 77 (14.69%) SC Cleared
3 56 (10.69%) Microsoft Certification
4 53 (10.11%) A+ Certification
4 53 (10.11%) Network+ Certification
5 47 (8.97%) CCNA
5 47 (8.97%) Cisco Certification
5 47 (8.97%) MCSE
6 16 (3.05%) Degree
7 11 (2.10%) DV Cleared
8 5 (0.95%) DBS Check
8 5 (0.95%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 2 (0.38%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.19%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (4.77%) SLA
2 9 (1.72%) Cyber Essentials
3 8 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (0.95%) GDPR
5 4 (0.76%) PCI DSS
6 3 (0.57%) NIST
6 3 (0.57%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 2 (0.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.38%) Data Quality
7 2 (0.38%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.38%) GxP
8 1 (0.19%) ITGC
8 1 (0.19%) QA
System Software
1 212 (40.46%) Active Directory
2 15 (2.86%) Hyper-V
2 15 (2.86%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (0.76%) vSphere
4 3 (0.57%) Docker
4 3 (0.57%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.38%) Firmware
5 2 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (0.19%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 79 (15.08%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (4.77%) SCCM
3 9 (1.72%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (1.34%) WSUS
5 6 (1.15%) Kubernetes
6 5 (0.95%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.76%) Terraform
8 3 (0.57%) Ansible
9 2 (0.38%) PaperCut
10 1 (0.19%) Dell DRAC
10 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.19%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.19%) Grafana
10 1 (0.19%) ServiceCenter
Vendors
1 219 (41.79%) Microsoft
2 73 (13.93%) ServiceNow
3 49 (9.35%) Dell
4 24 (4.58%) VMware
5 23 (4.39%) Apple
6 12 (2.29%) Cisco
7 9 (1.72%) Citrix
7 9 (1.72%) HP
7 9 (1.72%) Veeam
8 8 (1.53%) Lotus
9 6 (1.15%) Dynatrace
9 6 (1.15%) Fortinet
9 6 (1.15%) Samsung
9 6 (1.15%) Tenable
10 5 (0.95%) AppDynamics
11 4 (0.76%) Google
12 3 (0.57%) Freshdesk
12 3 (0.57%) IBM
13 2 (0.38%) Arista
13 2 (0.38%) Okta