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 April 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 144 128 90
Rank change year-on-year -16 -38 +53
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 858 640 1,057
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.85% 2.17% 2.42%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.00% 2.34% 2.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 566 397 642
10th Percentile £300 £313 £300
25th Percentile £402 £389 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £460
Median % change year-on-year - +3.26% -3.16%
75th Percentile £542 £569 £538
90th Percentile £600 £616 £634
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +2.92% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 5 28
10th Percentile £42.28 £31.10 £22.50
25th Percentile £60.00 £50.00 £30.13
Median hourly rate £74.26 £57.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +29.15% +35.29% -32.79%
75th Percentile £78.75 £68.75 £73.75
90th Percentile - £73.25 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £74.26 £45.75 £70.00
% change year-on-year +62.32% -34.64% +12.90%

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 42,836 27,359 40,556
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.28% 92.64% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,486 17,911 26,489
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,746 1,013 2,627
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.44 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.51 £16.25
Median hourly rate £42.50 £30.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +41.67% -14.29% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.60 £63.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.00 £28.88 £37.18
% change year-on-year +52.38% -22.34% -12.52%

Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Network Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Network Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Network Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Network Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Engineer over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Engineer in the UK

Network Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Network Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Network Engineer over the 6 months to 23 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Engineer in the UK

Network 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 Network Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 23 April 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 -21 712 £480 -2.04% 257
UK excluding London -11 537 £463 +2.92% 251
London -50 214 £500 - 60
Work from Home -9 210 £440 -7.37% 52
South East +6 180 £475 -5.00% 67
North of England -47 148 £474 +0.58% 65
North West -16 122 £475 - 38
Midlands +5 104 £438 +2.94% 43
West Midlands +15 97 £429 +55.91% 23
Scotland +15 44 £413 +3.13% 19
East of England +1 42 £455 -11.22% 30
South West -31 42 £529 +11.96% 17
Yorkshire -50 26 £450 -2.70% 18
Wales -5 25 £425 +13.33% 12
East Midlands -44 3 £500 +11.11% 20
Northern Ireland - 2 £468 - 4
North East -21 1 - - 9

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

For the 6 months to 23 April 2026, Network 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 Network Engineer in the job title.

1 474 (55.24%) Cisco
2 389 (45.34%) Firewall
3 282 (32.87%) Security Cleared
4 234 (27.27%) WAN
5 226 (26.34%) BGP
6 218 (25.41%) Cisco Certification
7 214 (24.94%) Palo Alto
8 209 (24.36%) LAN
9 202 (23.54%) SC Cleared
10 191 (22.26%) VPN
11 186 (21.68%) Network Security
12 179 (20.86%) CCNP
13 168 (19.58%) F5
14 160 (18.65%) OSPF
15 151 (17.60%) DNS
16 124 (14.45%) Load Balancing
17 121 (14.10%) VLAN
18 120 (13.99%) Juniper
19 107 (12.47%) Wireless
20 101 (11.77%) Fortinet
20 101 (11.77%) TCP/IP
21 93 (10.84%) DV Cleared
22 92 (10.72%) Python
23 91 (10.61%) CCNA
24 90 (10.49%) Azure
25 87 (10.14%) SD-WAN
26 86 (10.02%) Problem-Solving
27 83 (9.67%) Aruba
27 83 (9.67%) CheckPoint
28 81 (9.44%) VMware

Network 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 7 (0.82%) Confluence
2 5 (0.58%) Apache
2 5 (0.58%) IIS
2 5 (0.58%) SharePoint
3 4 (0.47%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.12%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 16 (1.86%) MS Visio
2 7 (0.82%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 2 (0.23%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 90 (10.49%) Azure
2 76 (8.86%) AWS
3 48 (5.59%) GCP
4 22 (2.56%) GitHub
5 16 (1.86%) Entra ID
6 14 (1.63%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 10 (1.17%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 10 (1.17%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 9 (1.05%) Nutanix
9 8 (0.93%) Microsoft 365
10 6 (0.70%) AWS Direct Connect
10 6 (0.70%) Route 53
11 5 (0.58%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (0.58%) Google Compute Engine
11 5 (0.58%) Mimecast
12 3 (0.35%) Azure DevOps
12 3 (0.35%) Catchpoint
12 3 (0.35%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (0.35%) Google Ads
12 3 (0.35%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 389 (45.34%) Firewall
2 234 (27.27%) WAN
3 226 (26.34%) BGP
4 209 (24.36%) LAN
5 191 (22.26%) VPN
6 186 (21.68%) Network Security
7 160 (18.65%) OSPF
8 151 (17.60%) DNS
9 121 (14.10%) VLAN
10 107 (12.47%) Wireless
11 101 (11.77%) TCP/IP
12 87 (10.14%) SD-WAN
13 73 (8.51%) Cisco Nexus
13 73 (8.51%) Wi-Fi
14 68 (7.93%) MPLS
15 66 (7.69%) Cisco ISE
16 61 (7.11%) BIG-IP
16 61 (7.11%) IPsec
17 57 (6.64%) Multicast
18 56 (6.53%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.35%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.23%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 28 (3.26%) Fiddler
2 20 (2.33%) Git
3 17 (1.98%) JIRA
4 14 (1.63%) Jenkins
5 10 (1.17%) Sonatype Nexus
6 6 (0.70%) GitLab
7 2 (0.23%) Browser DevTools
8 1 (0.12%) Jaeger
General
1 128 (14.92%) Social Skills
2 53 (6.18%) Banking
3 46 (5.36%) Public Sector
4 43 (5.01%) Documentation Skills
5 40 (4.66%) Analytical Skills
6 39 (4.55%) Finance
7 38 (4.43%) Investment Banking
8 33 (3.85%) Telecoms
9 26 (3.03%) Manufacturing
10 23 (2.68%) Legal
11 13 (1.52%) Retail
12 10 (1.17%) Law
13 8 (0.93%) Aerospace
14 5 (0.58%) Financial Institution
14 5 (0.58%) Local Government
14 5 (0.58%) Military
14 5 (0.58%) Police
15 4 (0.47%) Presentation Skills
16 3 (0.35%) Influencing Skills
16 3 (0.35%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (4.55%) 802.1X
2 11 (1.28%) SAML
3 10 (1.17%) LDAP
4 6 (0.70%) REST
5 4 (0.47%) JSON
5 4 (0.47%) VML
6 3 (0.35%) CSS
6 3 (0.35%) HTML
6 3 (0.35%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.23%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.23%) Django
7 2 (0.23%) Jinja
7 2 (0.23%) OpenTelemetry
7 2 (0.23%) RFC 2544
7 2 (0.23%) XML
7 2 (0.23%) YANG
8 1 (0.12%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.12%) Loki
8 1 (0.12%) OpenConfig
Miscellaneous
1 186 (21.68%) Data Centre
2 25 (2.91%) Data Protection Act
3 23 (2.68%) Management Information System
4 22 (2.56%) Hybrid Cloud
5 18 (2.10%) Operational Technology
5 18 (2.10%) PKI
6 15 (1.75%) Security Posture
7 13 (1.52%) Onboarding
8 12 (1.40%) NHS
8 12 (1.40%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (1.05%) Clustering
10 8 (0.93%) Cloud Native
10 8 (0.93%) Public Cloud
11 6 (0.70%) IoT
12 4 (0.47%) CMDB
12 4 (0.47%) Distributed Systems
12 4 (0.47%) Enterprise Cloud
12 4 (0.47%) Enterprise Software
12 4 (0.47%) Mainframe
12 4 (0.47%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 56 (6.53%) Windows
2 33 (3.85%) Linux
3 15 (1.75%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.82%) Unix
5 4 (0.47%) CatOS
5 4 (0.47%) zOS
6 1 (0.12%) Data ONTAP
6 1 (0.12%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.12%) Solaris
6 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.12%) VMS
6 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 124 (14.45%) Load Balancing
2 86 (10.02%) Problem-Solving
3 79 (9.21%) Migration
4 78 (9.09%) High Availability
5 61 (7.11%) Network Design
6 57 (6.64%) Network Monitoring
7 50 (5.83%) ITIL
8 49 (5.71%) Change Management
9 46 (5.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 46 (5.36%) Project Delivery
10 41 (4.78%) Validation
11 38 (4.43%) Infrastructure as Code
11 38 (4.43%) ITSM
12 37 (4.31%) Network Management
13 35 (4.08%) Data Protection
14 33 (3.85%) DevOps
15 32 (3.73%) Stakeholder Management
16 31 (3.61%) Technical Leadership
17 30 (3.50%) Collaborative Working
18 29 (3.38%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 92 (10.72%) Python
2 15 (1.75%) Bash
3 8 (0.93%) SQL
4 7 (0.82%) PowerShell
5 4 (0.47%) Java
6 3 (0.35%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.35%) Lisp
6 3 (0.35%) Perl
7 2 (0.23%) ActionScript
7 2 (0.23%) Bicep
7 2 (0.23%) C
7 2 (0.23%) C++
7 2 (0.23%) Go
8 1 (0.12%) Korn
8 1 (0.12%) PHP
8 1 (0.12%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 282 (32.87%) Security Cleared
2 218 (25.41%) Cisco Certification
3 202 (23.54%) SC Cleared
4 179 (20.86%) CCNP
5 93 (10.84%) DV Cleared
6 91 (10.61%) CCNA
7 35 (4.08%) Degree
8 33 (3.85%) CCIE
9 26 (3.03%) JNCIS
10 22 (2.56%) JNCIA
11 16 (1.86%) JNCIP
12 12 (1.40%) Network+ Certification
13 11 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
14 4 (0.47%) AWS Certification
14 4 (0.47%) Azure Certification
14 4 (0.47%) CCSE
14 4 (0.47%) CWNA
14 4 (0.47%) DBS Check
15 3 (0.35%) CWNE
15 3 (0.35%) CWSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (1.28%) SLA
2 7 (0.82%) NIST
3 6 (0.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 6 (0.70%) QA
4 5 (0.58%) Disclosure Scotland
4 5 (0.58%) PCI DSS
5 4 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (0.35%) GDPR
6 3 (0.35%) GRC
7 2 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 2 (0.23%) NCSC
7 2 (0.23%) PMO
8 1 (0.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.12%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.12%) JSP 440
System Software
1 59 (6.88%) VMware Infrastructure
2 44 (5.13%) VMware NSX
3 29 (3.38%) Firmware
4 24 (2.80%) Active Directory
5 8 (0.93%) VMware ESXi
5 8 (0.93%) vSphere
6 5 (0.58%) Hyper-V
6 5 (0.58%) Virtual Servers
7 3 (0.35%) ProxySG
7 3 (0.35%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.23%) KVM
8 2 (0.23%) vCloud
8 2 (0.23%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.12%) Citrix Presentation Server
9 1 (0.12%) Docker
9 1 (0.12%) IAG
9 1 (0.12%) iptables
9 1 (0.12%) RHEV
9 1 (0.12%) Snort
9 1 (0.12%) Xen
Systems Management
1 80 (9.32%) Ansible
2 61 (7.11%) FortiGate
3 59 (6.88%) Terraform
4 10 (1.17%) Grafana
4 10 (1.17%) Single Sign-On
5 9 (1.05%) Prometheus
6 8 (0.93%) Cisco Prime
7 7 (0.82%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (0.82%) vCenter Server
8 6 (0.70%) Kubernetes
8 6 (0.70%) Nagios
9 4 (0.47%) Tivoli NetView
10 2 (0.23%) Salt
10 2 (0.23%) SCOM
10 2 (0.23%) WSUS
11 1 (0.12%) Cacti
11 1 (0.12%) Iperf
11 1 (0.12%) SCCM
11 1 (0.12%) WhatsUp Gold
11 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 474 (55.24%) Cisco
2 214 (24.94%) Palo Alto
3 168 (19.58%) F5
4 120 (13.99%) Juniper
5 101 (11.77%) Fortinet
6 83 (9.67%) Aruba
6 83 (9.67%) CheckPoint
7 81 (9.44%) VMware
8 51 (5.94%) Arista
9 49 (5.71%) Meraki
9 49 (5.71%) SolarWinds
10 40 (4.66%) Microsoft
11 36 (4.20%) Blue Coat
12 33 (3.85%) McAfee
13 24 (2.80%) Google
13 24 (2.80%) ServiceNow
14 23 (2.68%) NetApp
15 22 (2.56%) Infoblox
16 20 (2.33%) Ekahau
16 20 (2.33%) Zscaler