Network Engineer Contract Job Trends
Network Engineer
UK
The median Network Engineer daily rate in the UK is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 October 2026.
The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 23 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 150 | 162 | 90 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +12 | -72 | +22 |
| Contract Network Engineer jobs | 1,078 | 607 | 960 |
| As % of all contract jobs in the UK | 1.95% | 1.81% | 2.58% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 2.13% | 1.99% | 2.78% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 615 | 406 | 552 |
| 10th Percentile | £301 | £314 | £319 |
| 25th Percentile | £400 | £400 | £409 |
| Median daily rate (50th Percentile) | £475 | £475 | £490 |
| Median % change year-on-year | - | -3.06% | +8.89% |
| 75th Percentile | £538 | £572 | £588 |
| 90th Percentile | £620 | £638 | £648 |
| UK excluding London median daily rate | £463 | £476 | £475 |
| % change year-on-year | -2.78% | +0.26% | +11.76% |
| Number of hourly rates quoted | 68 | 13 | 17 |
| 10th Percentile | £8.00 | £21.01 | £19.40 |
| 25th Percentile | £48.81 | £22.50 | £20.00 |
| Median hourly rate | £68.75 | £34.00 | £38.00 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +102.21% | -10.53% | -37.96% |
| 75th Percentile | £75.56 | £58.75 | £53.75 |
| 90th Percentile | £92.53 | £79.85 | £69.00 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £68.75 | £35.00 | £20.38 |
| % change year-on-year | +96.43% | +71.78% | -69.12% |
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 23 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contract job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title | 50,638 | 30,447 | 34,540 |
| % of contract job adverts matching a recognised job title | 91.79% | 90.86% | 92.95% |
| Number of daily rates quoted | 29,785 | 19,268 | 20,825 |
| 10th Percentile | £325 | £278 | £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 | £623 | £638 |
| 90th Percentile | £737 | £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 | 4,202 | 1,682 | 1,373 |
| 10th Percentile | £14.25 | £13.80 | £15.07 |
| 25th Percentile | £19.25 | £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 | £68.75 | £73.75 |
| UK excluding London median hourly rate | £40.00 | £25.00 | £40.00 |
| % change year-on-year | +60.00% | -37.50% | -9.09% |
Network Engineer Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of contract Network Engineer job postings relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.
Network Engineer Daily Rate Trend
Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
Network Engineer Daily Rate Histogram
Daily rate distribution for Network Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 23 October 2026.
Network Engineer Hourly Rate Trend
Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
Network Engineer Hourly Rate Histogram
Hourly rate distribution for Network Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 23 October 2026.
Network Engineer Top 18 Contract Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in Network Engineer jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 23 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 | +8 | 884 | £475 | -2.51% | 668 |
| UK excluding London | -1 | 625 | £463 | -2.78% | 438 |
| London | +6 | 338 | £500 | +5.26% | 253 |
| North of England | +14 | 242 | £500 | +1.63% | 95 |
| Work from Home | -44 | 211 | £463 | +2.89% | 230 |
| North West | +15 | 166 | £500 | - | 47 |
| Midlands | -11 | 103 | £475 | +18.75% | 71 |
| West Midlands | -28 | 80 | £475 | +21.79% | 41 |
| South East | -72 | 79 | £463 | -7.50% | 107 |
| Scotland | +6 | 77 | £390 | -10.86% | 33 |
| Yorkshire | -9 | 63 | £463 | -5.52% | 33 |
| South West | -3 | 62 | £535 | -14.06% | 63 |
| East of England | -1 | 55 | £410 | +4.79% | 43 |
| Wales | +26 | 38 | £363 | - | 19 |
| East Midlands | +5 | 23 | £475 | -26.92% | 30 |
| North East | -27 | 13 | £600 | -4.00% | 15 |
| Northern Ireland | -1 | 2 | £425 | -10.53% | 7 |
| Channel Islands | -3 | 2 | £600 | +36.36% | 1 |
Network Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 23 October 2026, Network 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 Network Engineer job ads.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cisco | 53.0% | 571 |
| 2 | Firewall | 39.5% | 426 |
| 3 | WAN | 26.1% | 281 |
| 4 | BGP | 22.3% | 240 |
| 5 | Security Cleared | 22.2% | 239 |
| 6 | Network Security | 21.7% | 234 |
| 7 | LAN | 20.4% | 220 |
| 7 | VPN | 20.4% | 220 |
| 9 | Cisco Certification | 20.1% | 217 |
| 10 | Wireless | 19.4% | 209 |
| 11 | Palo Alto | 19.1% | 206 |
| 12 | CCNP | 16.0% | 172 |
| 13 | OSPF | 14.7% | 158 |
| 14 | SC Cleared | 14.4% | 155 |
| 15 | DNS | 14.1% | 152 |
| 16 | Python | 13.5% | 146 |
| 17 | Fortinet | 13.4% | 144 |
| 17 | VLAN | 13.4% | 144 |
| 19 | Migration | 12.4% | 134 |
| 20 | Azure | 12.1% | 130 |
| 21 | F5 | 11.6% | 125 |
| 22 | Problem-Solving | 10.8% | 116 |
| 23 | Load Balancing | 10.7% | 115 |
| 23 | TCP/IP | 10.7% | 115 |
| 25 | SD-WAN | 9.7% | 105 |
| 25 | Wi-Fi | 9.7% | 105 |
| 27 | Project Delivery | 9.0% | 97 |
| 28 | Ansible | 8.9% | 96 |
| 29 | MPLS | 8.7% | 94 |
| 30 | CCNA | 8.2% | 88 |
Network 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 | Senior Network Engineer | 19.0% | 205 |
| 2 | Cisco Network Engineer | 10.4% | 112 |
| 3 | SC Cleared Network Engineer | 7.8% | 84 |
| 4 | Network Security Engineer | 7.5% | 81 |
| 5 | Network Infrastructure Engineer | 4.1% | 44 |
| 6 | DV Cleared Network Engineer | 3.8% | 41 |
| 7 | Cloud Engineer | 3.6% | 39 |
| 8 | Cloud Network Engineer | 3.2% | 35 |
| 9 | Data Network Engineer | 3.0% | 32 |
| 9 | Network Field Engineer | 3.0% | 32 |
| 11 | Automation Engineer | 2.7% | 29 |
| 12 | Azure Engineer | 2.3% | 25 |
| 13 | Senior Cisco Network Engineer | 2.1% | 23 |
| 14 | Data Engineer | 1.9% | 21 |
| 14 | Telecoms Engineer | 1.9% | 21 |
| 16 | Cisco Security Engineer | 1.7% | 18 |
| 16 | Core Network Engineer | 1.7% | 18 |
| 16 | Network Operations Engineer | 1.7% | 18 |
| 16 | Web Engineer | 1.7% | 18 |
| 20 | Firewall Engineer | 1.6% | 17 |