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 25 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 25 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 266 | 220 | 256 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -46 | +36 | -8 |
| Contract IT Engineer jobs | 534 | 430 | 342 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 0.97% | 1.28% | 0.93% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 1.06% | 1.41% | 1.00% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 371 | 263 | 219 |
| 10th Percentile | £155 | £126 | £126 |
| 25th Percentile | £163 | £150 | £154 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £200 | £190 | £200 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -5.00% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £263 | £238 | £300 |
| 90th Percentile | £400 | £336 | £538 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £200 | £183 | £180 |
| % change year-on-year | +9.59% | +1.39% | -5.26% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 52 | 120 | 47 |
| 10th Percentile | £17.72 | £18.83 | £12.00 |
| 25th Percentile | £18.31 | £18.87 | £15.22 |
| Median hourly rate | £22.00 | £25.15 | £21.59 |
| Median % change year-on-year | -12.52% | +16.49% | +21.84% |
| 75th Percentile | £25.75 | - | £24.18 |
| 90th Percentile | - | - | - |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £21.00 | £25.15 | £21.30 |
| % change year-on-year | -16.50% | +18.10% | +20.17% |
All Contract IT Job Roles
UK
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all contract IT job adverts they make up.
| 6 months to 25 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title | 50,285 | 30,568 | 34,355 |
| % of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title | 91.74% | 90.89% | 92.93% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,557 | 19,319 | 20,715 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £280 | £300 |
| 25th Percentile | £425 | £402 | £413 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £525 | £500 | £525 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.00% | -4.76% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £638 | £621 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £738 | £725 | £738 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £500 | £475 | £490 |
| % change year-on-year | +5.26% | -3.06% | -2.00% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 4,194 | 1,701 | 1,345 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.22 | £13.80 | £15.04 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.00 | £17.30 | £20.30 |
| Median hourly rate | £41.00 | £25.15 | £40.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +63.02% | -37.13% | -10.11% |
| 75th Percentile | £67.84 | £50.00 | £65.00 |
| 90th Percentile | £80.00 | £69.65 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.00 | £25.00 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +60.00% | -37.50% | -9.09% |
IT Engineer Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT Engineer job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
IT Engineer Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for IT Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
IT Engineer Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for IT Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 25 October 2026.
IT Engineer Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for IT Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
IT Engineer Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution for IT Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 25 October 2026.
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 Engineer jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 25 October 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate Past 6 Months |
Median Daily Rate % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | -60 | 465 | £200 | +5.26% | 459 |
| UK excluding London | -45 | 394 | £200 | +9.59% | 334 |
| London | -55 | 132 | £215 | +7.50% | 134 |
| South East | -48 | 97 | £250 | +35.14% | 86 |
| North of England | -44 | 73 | £200 | +21.21% | 72 |
| East of England | +14 | 70 | £195 | +2.63% | 31 |
| North West | -17 | 54 | £200 | +31.15% | 39 |
| Midlands | -38 | 53 | £175 | -7.89% | 53 |
| Scotland | -2 | 48 | £210 | +5.00% | 27 |
| South West | -53 | 42 | £215 | -11.34% | 50 |
| Work from Home | -60 | 33 | £330 | +14.78% | 144 |
| West Midlands | -37 | 29 | £175 | -30.00% | 24 |
| East Midlands | -16 | 24 | £213 | +66.67% | 29 |
| Yorkshire | -35 | 18 | £200 | -2.44% | 26 |
| Wales | -11 | 7 | £295 | +81.54% | 10 |
| Northern Ireland | +5 | 4 | - | - | 10 |
| North East | -43 | 2 | £175 | +65.09% | 9 |
IT Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 25 October 2026, IT Engineer contract job ads cited 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 IT Engineer job ads.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Windows | 64.0% | 342 |
| 2 | Microsoft | 55.8% | 298 |
| 3 | Microsoft 365 | 49.6% | 265 |
| 4 | Active Directory | 44.6% | 238 |
| 5 | Customer Service | 32.2% | 172 |
| 6 | Windows 10 | 30.9% | 165 |
| 7 | Problem-Solving | 26.8% | 143 |
| 8 | ITIL | 20.6% | 110 |
| 9 | Microsoft Intune | 18.9% | 101 |
| 10 | Security Cleared | 16.5% | 88 |
| 11 | Azure | 16.3% | 87 |
| 12 | ServiceNow | 15.9% | 85 |
| 13 | ITSM | 15.2% | 81 |
| 13 | SharePoint | 15.2% | 81 |
| 15 | Entra ID | 15.0% | 80 |
| 16 | SC Cleared | 14.4% | 77 |
| 17 | VPN | 12.9% | 69 |
| 18 | Microsoft Exchange | 10.3% | 55 |
| 19 | Asset Management | 9.9% | 53 |
| 20 | Windows Server | 9.2% | 49 |
| 21 | Continuous Improvement | 8.6% | 46 |
| 22 | TCP/IP | 8.4% | 45 |
| 23 | DNS | 8.2% | 44 |
| 24 | SCCM | 7.9% | 42 |
| 25 | Infrastructure Engineering | 7.7% | 41 |
| 26 | Service Management | 7.3% | 39 |
| 27 | DHCP | 7.1% | 38 |
| 27 | macOS | 7.1% | 38 |
| 27 | PowerShell | 7.1% | 38 |
| 27 | Service Delivery | 7.1% | 38 |
IT Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | IT Support Engineer | 68.4% | 365 |
| 2 | IT Infrastructure Engineer | 7.3% | 39 |
| 3 | EPoS Engineer | 6.4% | 34 |
| 4 | 2nd Line Support Engineer | 6.0% | 32 |
| 4 | Field Engineer | 6.0% | 32 |
| 6 | Senior IT Engineer | 4.3% | 23 |
| 7 | 1st/2nd Line Support Engineer | 3.7% | 20 |
| 8 | IT Security Engineer | 3.6% | 19 |
| 9 | Field Service Engineer | 3.4% | 18 |
| 10 | 1st Line Support Engineer | 3.0% | 16 |
| 11 | 3rd Line Support Engineer | 2.6% | 14 |
| 11 | Desktop Support | 2.6% | 14 |
| 13 | 2nd/3rd Line Support Engineer | 2.4% | 13 |
| 13 | Deskside Support Engineer | 2.4% | 13 |
| 13 | Infrastructure Support Engineer | 2.4% | 13 |
| 16 | 2nd/3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer | 2.1% | 11 |
| 16 | 3rd Line Infrastructure Support | 2.1% | 11 |
| 16 | Field Support Engineer | 2.1% | 11 |
| 19 | Network Engineer | 1.9% | 10 |
| 20 | Infrastructure Security Engineer | 1.7% | 9 |