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 30 June 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 126 96
Rank change year-on-year -7 -30 +30
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,027 690 1,015
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.00% 2.26% 2.35%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.17% 2.45% 2.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 669 424 627
10th Percentile £303 £325 £300
25th Percentile £405 £400 £379
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - +5.56%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £550
90th Percentile £600 £625 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £475 £463
% change year-on-year -2.63% +2.70% +8.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 9 20
10th Percentile £28.40 £22.41 £18.41
25th Percentile £55.00 £32.50 £23.04
Median hourly rate £72.54 £50.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +45.08% +25.00% -35.48%
75th Percentile £78.75 £61.25 £73.75
90th Percentile - £70.25 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £73.00 £35.00 £52.50
% change year-on-year +108.57% -33.33% -15.32%

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 47,423 28,164 40,143
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.41% 92.05% 92.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,738 18,025 25,769
10th Percentile £325 £288 £283
25th Percentile £415 £401 £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 £493
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,196 1,261 2,867
10th Percentile £15.61 £13.78 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.23 £17.33 £16.50
Median hourly rate £43.00 £27.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.26% -28.00% -12.79%
75th Percentile £67.50 £56.25 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -

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 30 June 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 30 June 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 30 June 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 -19 844 £475 -3.06% 265
UK excluding London -21 606 £463 -2.63% 244
London -39 285 £500 - 75
Work from Home -29 232 £450 -5.26% 71
North of England -15 209 £486 -1.31% 62
North West +1 156 £486 -2.89% 28
South East -19 156 £463 -7.50% 56
Midlands -2 116 £444 +3.20% 40
West Midlands +9 109 £438 +59.09% 16
Scotland +19 67 £413 -1.49% 17
East of England -9 42 £438 +14.38% 31
South West -42 41 £550 +4.76% 24
Yorkshire -50 40 £450 -8.54% 25
Wales -3 25 £425 - 8
North East -23 13 £600 +108.70% 9
East Midlands -25 4 £475 +5.56% 24
Northern Ireland +2 2 £468 -18.70% 9

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

For the 6 months to 30 June 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.

1 541 (52.68%) Cisco
2 446 (43.43%) Firewall
3 290 (28.24%) WAN
4 274 (26.68%) Security Cleared
5 252 (24.54%) Cisco Certification
6 241 (23.47%) LAN
7 240 (23.37%) BGP
8 235 (22.88%) Network Security
9 218 (21.23%) Palo Alto
9 218 (21.23%) VPN
10 197 (19.18%) SC Cleared
11 194 (18.89%) CCNP
12 181 (17.62%) DNS
13 177 (17.23%) F5
14 164 (15.97%) Wireless
15 159 (15.48%) OSPF
16 147 (14.31%) Fortinet
16 147 (14.31%) Load Balancing
17 134 (13.05%) VLAN
18 124 (12.07%) Azure
19 118 (11.49%) Python
20 117 (11.39%) Juniper
21 116 (11.30%) Migration
22 113 (11.00%) SD-WAN
23 104 (10.13%) CCNA
23 104 (10.13%) TCP/IP
24 99 (9.64%) High Availability
25 98 (9.54%) Wi-Fi
26 95 (9.25%) VMware
27 91 (8.86%) Problem-Solving

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 6 (0.58%) Confluence
2 4 (0.39%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.19%) SAS
3 2 (0.19%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.097%) Apache
4 1 (0.097%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.097%) CMS
4 1 (0.097%) IIS
4 1 (0.097%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.097%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 18 (1.75%) MS Visio
2 10 (0.97%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 124 (12.07%) Azure
2 86 (8.37%) AWS
3 53 (5.16%) GCP
4 37 (3.60%) GitHub
5 17 (1.66%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 16 (1.56%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 13 (1.27%) Entra ID
8 12 (1.17%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 11 (1.07%) AWS CloudFormation
10 10 (0.97%) AWS Direct Connect
11 9 (0.88%) IaaS
11 9 (0.88%) Microsoft 365
12 7 (0.68%) Azure Sentinel
12 7 (0.68%) Nutanix
13 6 (0.58%) GitHub Actions
13 6 (0.58%) Google Compute Engine
14 5 (0.49%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 5 (0.49%) Amazon EC2
14 5 (0.49%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (0.49%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 446 (43.43%) Firewall
2 290 (28.24%) WAN
3 241 (23.47%) LAN
4 240 (23.37%) BGP
5 235 (22.88%) Network Security
6 218 (21.23%) VPN
7 181 (17.62%) DNS
8 164 (15.97%) Wireless
9 159 (15.48%) OSPF
10 134 (13.05%) VLAN
11 113 (11.00%) SD-WAN
12 104 (10.13%) TCP/IP
13 98 (9.54%) Wi-Fi
14 76 (7.40%) Cisco Nexus
15 73 (7.11%) MPLS
16 71 (6.91%) Multicast
17 68 (6.62%) Cisco ISE
18 67 (6.52%) BIG-IP
19 62 (6.04%) DHCP
20 58 (5.65%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.097%) ClickHouse
1 1 (0.097%) GIS
1 1 (0.097%) Oracle Reports
1 1 (0.097%) QGIS
1 1 (0.097%) SQL Server
1 1 (0.097%) SQL Server Integration Services
Development Applications
1 29 (2.82%) Jenkins
1 29 (2.82%) JIRA
2 22 (2.14%) Fiddler
3 17 (1.66%) Git
4 9 (0.88%) Sonatype Nexus
5 8 (0.78%) GitLab
6 2 (0.19%) Browser DevTools
General
1 140 (13.63%) Social Skills
2 63 (6.13%) Finance
3 60 (5.84%) Banking
4 48 (4.67%) Analytical Skills
5 43 (4.19%) Telecoms
6 38 (3.70%) Investment Banking
7 37 (3.60%) Public Sector
8 35 (3.41%) Documentation Skills
9 22 (2.14%) Legal
10 21 (2.04%) Manufacturing
11 20 (1.95%) Retail
12 9 (0.88%) Aerospace
13 8 (0.78%) Law
14 7 (0.68%) Financial Institution
15 6 (0.58%) Pharmaceutical
15 6 (0.58%) Police
16 5 (0.49%) Influencing Skills
16 5 (0.49%) Military
16 5 (0.49%) Organisational Skills
16 5 (0.49%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 47 (4.58%) 802.1X
2 11 (1.07%) REST
3 9 (0.88%) SAML
4 8 (0.78%) LDAP
5 2 (0.19%) AWS CDK
5 2 (0.19%) CSS
5 2 (0.19%) Django
5 2 (0.19%) HTML
5 2 (0.19%) Jinja
5 2 (0.19%) RFC 2544
6 1 (0.097%) Java RMI
6 1 (0.097%) JSON
6 1 (0.097%) ModSecurity
6 1 (0.097%) NETCONF
6 1 (0.097%) OpenTelemetry
6 1 (0.097%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 200 (19.47%) Data Centre
2 27 (2.63%) Hybrid Cloud
3 24 (2.34%) Data Protection Act
3 24 (2.34%) PKI
4 23 (2.24%) Management Information System
5 21 (2.04%) Security Posture
6 16 (1.56%) Onboarding
6 16 (1.56%) Operational Technology
7 14 (1.36%) Cloud Native
8 10 (0.97%) NHS
9 9 (0.88%) Clustering
10 8 (0.78%) CCTV
11 7 (0.68%) Self-Motivation
12 6 (0.58%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 6 (0.58%) Enterprise Cloud
12 6 (0.58%) Linux Command Line
13 5 (0.49%) Public Cloud
14 4 (0.39%) Driving Licence
14 4 (0.39%) IoT
14 4 (0.39%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 74 (7.21%) Windows
2 41 (3.99%) Linux
3 13 (1.27%) Windows Server
4 6 (0.58%) Unix
4 6 (0.58%) VMS
5 5 (0.49%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.29%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (0.19%) CatOS
8 2 (0.19%) Ubuntu
8 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (0.19%) zOS
9 1 (0.097%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.097%) Solaris
9 1 (0.097%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.097%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.097%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (14.31%) Load Balancing
2 116 (11.30%) Migration
3 99 (9.64%) High Availability
4 91 (8.86%) Problem-Solving
5 75 (7.30%) Project Delivery
6 66 (6.43%) Network Design
7 65 (6.33%) Network Monitoring
8 63 (6.13%) ITIL
9 59 (5.74%) Infrastructure as Code
10 57 (5.55%) Change Management
11 55 (5.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 55 (5.36%) Validation
12 42 (4.09%) Technical Leadership
13 41 (3.99%) Data Protection
13 41 (3.99%) Zero Trust
14 40 (3.89%) DevOps
14 40 (3.89%) ITSM
15 39 (3.80%) CI/CD
15 39 (3.80%) Continuous Improvement
16 36 (3.51%) Network Management
Programming Languages
1 118 (11.49%) Python
2 15 (1.46%) Bash
3 12 (1.17%) PowerShell
4 9 (0.88%) ActionScript
5 8 (0.78%) SQL
6 3 (0.29%) Bicep
6 3 (0.29%) C
6 3 (0.29%) Java
7 2 (0.19%) C++
7 2 (0.19%) Groovy
7 2 (0.19%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.19%) Perl
8 1 (0.097%) Go
8 1 (0.097%) Korn
8 1 (0.097%) Lisp
8 1 (0.097%) PHP
Qualifications
1 274 (26.68%) Security Cleared
2 252 (24.54%) Cisco Certification
3 197 (19.18%) SC Cleared
4 194 (18.89%) CCNP
5 104 (10.13%) CCNA
6 83 (8.08%) DV Cleared
7 42 (4.09%) CCIE
7 42 (4.09%) Degree
8 15 (1.46%) JNCIA
8 15 (1.46%) JNCIS
9 13 (1.27%) Network+ Certification
10 11 (1.07%) JNCIP
11 10 (0.97%) Computer Science Degree
12 9 (0.88%) CCSE
13 8 (0.78%) CISSP
14 6 (0.58%) Azure Certification
14 6 (0.58%) CompTIA Security+
15 5 (0.49%) AWS Certification
15 5 (0.49%) CCIE Wireless
15 5 (0.49%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (1.56%) SLA
2 12 (1.17%) NIST
3 11 (1.07%) QA
4 8 (0.78%) Disclosure Scotland
5 6 (0.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 5 (0.49%) GDPR
6 5 (0.49%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
7 4 (0.39%) GRC
8 2 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.19%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.19%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.19%) NCSC
9 1 (0.097%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.097%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.097%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.097%) PMO
System Software
1 69 (6.72%) VMware Infrastructure
2 36 (3.51%) VMware NSX
3 33 (3.21%) Firmware
4 31 (3.02%) Active Directory
5 16 (1.56%) VMware ESXi
6 13 (1.27%) vSphere
7 6 (0.58%) Hyper-V
8 5 (0.49%) Virtual Machines
9 4 (0.39%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.19%) Squid
10 2 (0.19%) vCloud
10 2 (0.19%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.097%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.097%) Docker
11 1 (0.097%) FreeRADIUS
11 1 (0.097%) IAG
11 1 (0.097%) iptables
11 1 (0.097%) KVM
11 1 (0.097%) Snort
Systems Management
1 87 (8.47%) Ansible
2 81 (7.89%) Terraform
3 75 (7.30%) FortiGate
4 9 (0.88%) Grafana
5 8 (0.78%) Kubernetes
5 8 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
6 7 (0.68%) Cisco Prime
6 7 (0.68%) Prometheus
7 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (0.39%) Packer
8 4 (0.39%) Puppet
9 3 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
10 2 (0.19%) Avamar
10 2 (0.19%) CASB
10 2 (0.19%) Istio
10 2 (0.19%) Nagios
10 2 (0.19%) Nessus
10 2 (0.19%) Tivoli NetView
10 2 (0.19%) vCenter Server
10 2 (0.19%) WSUS
Vendors
1 541 (52.68%) Cisco
2 218 (21.23%) Palo Alto
3 177 (17.23%) F5
4 147 (14.31%) Fortinet
5 117 (11.39%) Juniper
6 95 (9.25%) VMware
7 72 (7.01%) Aruba
7 72 (7.01%) CheckPoint
8 68 (6.62%) Arista
9 51 (4.97%) Microsoft
10 49 (4.77%) Meraki
11 38 (3.70%) SolarWinds
11 38 (3.70%) Zscaler
12 33 (3.21%) Google
13 31 (3.02%) Blue Coat
13 31 (3.02%) Infoblox
14 27 (2.63%) ServiceNow
15 25 (2.43%) McAfee
16 21 (2.04%) Extreme Networks
17 20 (1.95%) Splunk