Network Engineer Contract Job Trends

Network Engineer
UK

The median Network Engineer daily rate in the UK is £474, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 3 March 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 160 115 88
Rank change year-on-year -45 -27 +71
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 732 700 1,057
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.75% 2.34% 2.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.91% 2.53% 2.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 489 414 622
10th Percentile £299 £313 £300
25th Percentile £400 £402 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £475 £460
Median % change year-on-year -0.21% +3.26% -2.39%
75th Percentile £525 £575 £538
90th Percentile £588 £638 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £458 £450
% change year-on-year +2.51% +1.67% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 6 34
10th Percentile £21.98 £19.25 £23.55
25th Percentile £33.00 - £33.06
Median hourly rate £52.58 £20.00 £53.75
Median % change year-on-year +162.90% -62.79% -14.99%
75th Percentile £72.13 £33.50 £71.42
90th Percentile £74.09 £42.75 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.44 £20.00 £65.98
% change year-on-year +182.20% -69.69% +6.42%

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 38,312 27,714 41,419
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.84% 92.81% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,044 17,552 27,221
10th Percentile £310 £290 £275
25th Percentile £409 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £723 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,352 838 2,415
10th Percentile £14.83 £16.25 £13.05
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.25
Median hourly rate £33.50 £34.31 £34.08
Median % change year-on-year -2.35% +0.66% -15.85%
75th Percentile £64.03 £64.74 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.33 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year - -7.14% -9.68%

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 3 March 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 3 March 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 3 March 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 -42 609 £475 -3.06% 324
UK excluding London -40 460 £469 +2.51% 327
Work from Home -21 216 £425 -10.53% 101
London -49 195 £500 - 73
South East +20 155 £475 -5.00% 96
North of England -54 150 £481 +1.32% 59
North West -24 126 £486 -0.89% 31
Midlands -14 79 £429 -4.72% 60
West Midlands +4 74 £400 -9.35% 30
Scotland +17 44 £415 +0.30% 18
East of England -20 28 £400 +32.23% 30
South West -49 24 £506 +7.14% 43
Yorkshire -67 24 £440 +10.00% 20
Wales -7 20 £500 +42.86% 22
East Midlands -45 3 £500 +11.11% 30
Northern Ireland - 2 £430 - 5
North East -14 1 - - 8

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

For the 6 months to 3 March 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.

1 407 (55.60%) Cisco
2 359 (49.04%) Firewall
3 255 (34.84%) Security Cleared
4 202 (27.60%) Cisco Certification
4 202 (27.60%) WAN
5 186 (25.41%) Palo Alto
6 185 (25.27%) SC Cleared
7 179 (24.45%) LAN
8 173 (23.63%) BGP
9 172 (23.50%) CCNP
10 164 (22.40%) VPN
11 153 (20.90%) Network Security
12 134 (18.31%) DNS
12 134 (18.31%) F5
13 123 (16.80%) OSPF
14 122 (16.67%) Juniper
15 109 (14.89%) TCP/IP
16 108 (14.75%) Load Balancing
17 98 (13.39%) VLAN
18 94 (12.84%) Python
19 89 (12.16%) CCNA
20 86 (11.75%) Problem-Solving
21 83 (11.34%) Wireless
22 79 (10.79%) Ansible
23 78 (10.66%) Wi-Fi
24 76 (10.38%) CheckPoint
25 75 (10.25%) Azure
25 75 (10.25%) VMware
26 73 (9.97%) DV Cleared
27 72 (9.84%) MPLS

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 10 (1.37%) SharePoint
2 7 (0.96%) Confluence
3 6 (0.82%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.68%) Apache
4 5 (0.68%) IIS
Applications
1 20 (2.73%) MS Visio
2 7 (0.96%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.41%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 75 (10.25%) Azure
2 69 (9.43%) AWS
3 38 (5.19%) GCP
4 16 (2.19%) Entra ID
4 16 (2.19%) GitHub
4 16 (2.19%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 10 (1.37%) Microsoft 365
6 8 (1.09%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 8 (1.09%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 7 (0.96%) Nutanix
8 5 (0.68%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 5 (0.68%) Amazon EC2
8 5 (0.68%) Amazon ELB
8 5 (0.68%) Amazon S3
8 5 (0.68%) AWS Direct Connect
8 5 (0.68%) IaaS
8 5 (0.68%) Mimecast
8 5 (0.68%) SaaS
9 4 (0.55%) Google Compute Engine
9 4 (0.55%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 359 (49.04%) Firewall
2 202 (27.60%) WAN
3 179 (24.45%) LAN
4 173 (23.63%) BGP
5 164 (22.40%) VPN
6 153 (20.90%) Network Security
7 134 (18.31%) DNS
8 123 (16.80%) OSPF
9 109 (14.89%) TCP/IP
10 98 (13.39%) VLAN
11 83 (11.34%) Wireless
12 78 (10.66%) Wi-Fi
13 72 (9.84%) MPLS
14 69 (9.43%) Cisco ISE
15 65 (8.88%) SD-WAN
16 64 (8.74%) Cisco Nexus
16 64 (8.74%) SSL
17 53 (7.24%) IPsec
18 49 (6.69%) BIG-IP
18 49 (6.69%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.41%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 30 (4.10%) Fiddler
2 22 (3.01%) Git
3 17 (2.32%) Jenkins
4 14 (1.91%) JIRA
5 11 (1.50%) Sonatype Nexus
6 10 (1.37%) GitLab
7 1 (0.14%) ClearCase
7 1 (0.14%) Jaeger
General
1 138 (18.85%) Social Skills
2 55 (7.51%) Public Sector
3 46 (6.28%) Banking
4 44 (6.01%) Documentation Skills
5 43 (5.87%) Finance
6 38 (5.19%) Telecoms
7 37 (5.05%) Investment Banking
8 33 (4.51%) Analytical Skills
9 22 (3.01%) Manufacturing
10 20 (2.73%) Legal
11 8 (1.09%) Local Government
12 7 (0.96%) Law
13 6 (0.82%) Financial Institution
13 6 (0.82%) Military
13 6 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.68%) Retail
15 4 (0.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 3 (0.41%) Influencing Skills
16 3 (0.41%) Marketing
16 3 (0.41%) Spanish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (5.33%) 802.1X
2 11 (1.50%) SAML
3 8 (1.09%) LDAP
4 5 (0.68%) RFC 2544
5 4 (0.55%) Middleware
5 4 (0.55%) VML
6 3 (0.41%) CSS
6 3 (0.41%) HTML
6 3 (0.41%) JSON
6 3 (0.41%) REST
7 2 (0.27%) Django
7 2 (0.27%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.27%) OpenTelemetry
7 2 (0.27%) XML
7 2 (0.27%) YANG
8 1 (0.14%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.14%) AWS CDK
8 1 (0.14%) Loki
8 1 (0.14%) OpenConfig
8 1 (0.14%) Ultra Messaging
Miscellaneous
1 161 (21.99%) Data Centre
2 25 (3.42%) Data Protection Act
3 24 (3.28%) Management Information System
4 20 (2.73%) Operational Technology
5 18 (2.46%) Onboarding
5 18 (2.46%) PKI
6 17 (2.32%) Security Posture
7 13 (1.78%) Hybrid Cloud
7 13 (1.78%) NHS
8 11 (1.50%) Self-Motivation
9 8 (1.09%) Clustering
9 8 (1.09%) Public Cloud
10 7 (0.96%) Fibre Optics
11 6 (0.82%) Hedge funds
12 5 (0.68%) Cloud Native
12 5 (0.68%) IoT
13 4 (0.55%) CMDB
13 4 (0.55%) Mainframe
13 4 (0.55%) SCADA
13 4 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 59 (8.06%) Windows
2 34 (4.64%) Linux
3 27 (3.69%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.55%) CatOS
4 4 (0.55%) Unix
5 3 (0.41%) zOS
6 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
6 1 (0.14%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 108 (14.75%) Load Balancing
2 86 (11.75%) Problem-Solving
3 65 (8.88%) Network Design
4 60 (8.20%) Migration
5 57 (7.79%) High Availability
6 55 (7.51%) Network Monitoring
7 43 (5.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 43 (5.87%) Project Delivery
8 41 (5.60%) Change Management
9 37 (5.05%) Network Architecture
10 36 (4.92%) ITIL
10 36 (4.92%) ITSM
11 35 (4.78%) DevOps
12 34 (4.64%) Network Management
13 33 (4.51%) Stakeholder Management
14 31 (4.23%) Root Cause Analysis
15 29 (3.96%) Collaborative Working
15 29 (3.96%) Data Protection
15 29 (3.96%) Infrastructure as Code
15 29 (3.96%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 94 (12.84%) Python
2 27 (3.69%) Bash
3 13 (1.78%) PowerShell
4 10 (1.37%) Perl
5 8 (1.09%) Lisp
6 7 (0.96%) SQL
7 3 (0.41%) C++
7 3 (0.41%) Java
7 3 (0.41%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.27%) ActionScript
8 2 (0.27%) Go
9 1 (0.14%) Bicep
9 1 (0.14%) C
9 1 (0.14%) Korn
9 1 (0.14%) PHP
9 1 (0.14%) Ruby
9 1 (0.14%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 255 (34.84%) Security Cleared
2 202 (27.60%) Cisco Certification
3 185 (25.27%) SC Cleared
4 172 (23.50%) CCNP
5 89 (12.16%) CCNA
6 73 (9.97%) DV Cleared
7 31 (4.23%) Degree
8 29 (3.96%) JNCIS
9 28 (3.83%) CCIE
10 23 (3.14%) JNCIA
11 20 (2.73%) JNCIP
12 14 (1.91%) Network+ Certification
13 9 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
14 4 (0.55%) CISSP
14 4 (0.55%) DBS Check
15 3 (0.41%) AWS Certification
15 3 (0.41%) CCDP
15 3 (0.41%) GIAC
15 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Certification
15 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (1.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 10 (1.37%) NIST
2 9 (1.23%) SLA
3 7 (0.96%) PCI DSS
4 6 (0.82%) GDPR
5 4 (0.55%) QA
6 3 (0.41%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (0.41%) GRC
7 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.27%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.27%) NCSC
7 2 (0.27%) PMO
8 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.14%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.14%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.14%) SOC 2
System Software
1 46 (6.28%) VMware NSX
2 45 (6.15%) VMware Infrastructure
3 37 (5.05%) Active Directory
4 30 (4.10%) Firmware
5 11 (1.50%) Docker
6 8 (1.09%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.68%) ProxySG
7 5 (0.68%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.68%) vSphere
8 3 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.27%) KVM
9 2 (0.27%) vCloud
9 2 (0.27%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.14%) Citrix Presentation Server
10 1 (0.14%) IAG
10 1 (0.14%) RACF
10 1 (0.14%) RHEV
10 1 (0.14%) Xen
Systems Management
1 79 (10.79%) Ansible
2 56 (7.65%) FortiGate
3 41 (5.60%) Terraform
4 19 (2.60%) vCenter Server
5 11 (1.50%) Grafana
6 10 (1.37%) Prometheus
6 10 (1.37%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (1.09%) Nagios
8 7 (0.96%) Cisco Prime
9 6 (0.82%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (0.55%) CASB
10 4 (0.55%) Kubernetes
10 4 (0.55%) Tivoli NetView
11 3 (0.41%) Dell DRAC
11 3 (0.41%) SCCM
11 3 (0.41%) SCOrch
12 2 (0.27%) Salt
12 2 (0.27%) WSUS
13 1 (0.14%) Amdocs OSS
13 1 (0.14%) ITRS Geneos
Vendors
1 407 (55.60%) Cisco
2 186 (25.41%) Palo Alto
3 134 (18.31%) F5
4 122 (16.67%) Juniper
5 76 (10.38%) CheckPoint
6 75 (10.25%) VMware
7 69 (9.43%) Aruba
8 64 (8.74%) Fortinet
9 63 (8.61%) SolarWinds
10 55 (7.51%) Meraki
11 48 (6.56%) Blue Coat
12 41 (5.60%) McAfee
13 39 (5.33%) Microsoft
14 33 (4.51%) Arista
15 23 (3.14%) NetApp
15 23 (3.14%) ServiceNow
16 22 (3.01%) Splunk
17 18 (2.46%) Nokia
17 18 (2.46%) Zscaler
18 17 (2.32%) Ekahau