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 3 September 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 135 150 96
Rank change year-on-year +15 -54 +16
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,100 642 922
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.05% 1.98% 2.41%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.22% 2.16% 2.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 678 416 560
10th Percentile £311 £311 £300
25th Percentile £403 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £490
Median % change year-on-year - -3.06% +8.89%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £563
90th Percentile £625 £638 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -2.58% - +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 14 16
10th Percentile £29.00 £22.17 £19.25
25th Percentile £60.47 £32.63 £20.60
Median hourly rate £73.50 £53.75 £50.53
Median % change year-on-year +36.74% +6.37% -12.37%
75th Percentile £91.00 £68.38 £75.00
90th Percentile £92.53 £80.98 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £77.50 £41.50 £50.53
% change year-on-year +86.75% -17.87% -15.78%

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 49,563 29,654 35,643
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.43% 91.23% 93.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,606 18,697 22,460
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,581 1,558 1,825
10th Percentile £14.90 £13.68 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.50 £17.02 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.25 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.99% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.83 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £71.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.95
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.78% +11.13%

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 3 September 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 September 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 September 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 -1 891 £475 -1.55% 384
UK excluding London -3 636 £463 -2.58% 258
London -10 326 £500 +5.26% 172
North of England +20 249 £495 +1.54% 57
Work from Home -19 224 £475 +2.70% 110
North West +21 173 £499 +5.00% 29
South East -48 115 £470 -6.00% 43
Midlands -17 102 £475 +21.79% 43
West Midlands -21 91 £475 +31.03% 24
Scotland +16 80 £400 -5.88% 19
Yorkshire -13 63 £450 -8.07% 20
South West -16 58 £550 -7.95% 47
East of England -7 43 £453 +18.30% 36
Wales +14 35 £394 -12.50% 13
North East -32 13 £600 - 9
East Midlands -18 9 £500 -16.67% 19
Northern Ireland +1 2 £488 -7.14% 6

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

For the 6 months to 3 September 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.

1 608 (55.27%) Cisco
2 443 (40.27%) Firewall
3 311 (28.27%) WAN
4 264 (24.00%) BGP
5 259 (23.55%) Security Cleared
6 245 (22.27%) Network Security
7 240 (21.82%) LAN
8 239 (21.73%) VPN
9 233 (21.18%) Cisco Certification
10 224 (20.36%) Palo Alto
11 208 (18.91%) Wireless
12 180 (16.36%) CCNP
13 176 (16.00%) SC Cleared
14 175 (15.91%) DNS
15 169 (15.36%) F5
15 169 (15.36%) OSPF
16 159 (14.45%) Fortinet
17 155 (14.09%) VLAN
18 141 (12.82%) Azure
19 133 (12.09%) Load Balancing
19 133 (12.09%) Migration
20 130 (11.82%) Python
21 121 (11.00%) Wi-Fi
22 116 (10.55%) SD-WAN
23 106 (9.64%) TCP/IP
24 99 (9.00%) Problem-Solving
25 98 (8.91%) Ansible
26 97 (8.82%) Project Delivery
27 95 (8.64%) VMware
28 92 (8.36%) CCNA

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 8 (0.73%) SAS
2 6 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
2 6 (0.55%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.45%) Confluence
4 1 (0.091%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.091%) CMS
4 1 (0.091%) FactoryTalk
4 1 (0.091%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.091%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 15 (1.36%) MS Visio
2 12 (1.09%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.36%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 141 (12.82%) Azure
2 87 (7.91%) AWS
3 44 (4.00%) GCP
4 37 (3.36%) GitHub
5 25 (2.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 17 (1.55%) Microsoft 365
7 14 (1.27%) AWS Direct Connect
8 11 (1.00%) AWS CloudFormation
8 11 (1.00%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 10 (0.91%) Entra ID
9 10 (0.91%) IaaS
10 8 (0.73%) GitHub Actions
10 8 (0.73%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 6 (0.55%) Azure DevOps
11 6 (0.55%) Azure Sentinel
11 6 (0.55%) Nutanix
11 6 (0.55%) OCI
12 5 (0.45%) AWS Lambda
12 5 (0.45%) Datadog
12 5 (0.45%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 443 (40.27%) Firewall
2 311 (28.27%) WAN
3 264 (24.00%) BGP
4 245 (22.27%) Network Security
5 240 (21.82%) LAN
6 239 (21.73%) VPN
7 208 (18.91%) Wireless
8 175 (15.91%) DNS
9 169 (15.36%) OSPF
10 155 (14.09%) VLAN
11 121 (11.00%) Wi-Fi
12 116 (10.55%) SD-WAN
13 106 (9.64%) TCP/IP
14 77 (7.00%) MPLS
15 76 (6.91%) Cisco ASA
15 76 (6.91%) DHCP
16 74 (6.73%) Multicast
17 73 (6.64%) Cisco ISE
18 71 (6.45%) Cisco Nexus
19 63 (5.73%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.27%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.18%) GIS
3 1 (0.091%) ClickHouse
3 1 (0.091%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.091%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 30 (2.73%) Git
2 25 (2.27%) Jenkins
3 23 (2.09%) JIRA
4 15 (1.36%) GitLab
5 14 (1.27%) Fiddler
6 5 (0.45%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.18%) Browser DevTools
7 2 (0.18%) Robot Framework
General
1 132 (12.00%) Social Skills
2 86 (7.82%) Finance
3 67 (6.09%) Analytical Skills
4 65 (5.91%) Telecoms
5 61 (5.55%) Banking
6 54 (4.91%) Public Sector
7 32 (2.91%) Investment Banking
8 30 (2.73%) Documentation Skills
9 22 (2.00%) Retail
10 21 (1.91%) Legal
11 19 (1.73%) Manufacturing
12 9 (0.82%) Aerospace
12 9 (0.82%) Police
13 6 (0.55%) Financial Institution
13 6 (0.55%) Pharmaceutical
14 5 (0.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 5 (0.45%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (0.36%) Automotive
15 4 (0.36%) Local Government
15 4 (0.36%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 91 (8.27%) Terraform
2 44 (4.00%) 802.1X
3 16 (1.45%) REST
4 8 (0.73%) NETCONF
4 8 (0.73%) SAML
5 5 (0.45%) JSON
5 5 (0.45%) YAML
6 3 (0.27%) Java RMI
6 3 (0.27%) LDAP
7 2 (0.18%) eBPF
7 2 (0.18%) Jinja
7 2 (0.18%) RFC 2544
8 1 (0.091%) AWS CDK
8 1 (0.091%) Django
8 1 (0.091%) ModSecurity
8 1 (0.091%) RESTCONF
8 1 (0.091%) XML
8 1 (0.091%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 200 (18.18%) Data Centre
2 39 (3.55%) Hybrid Cloud
3 28 (2.55%) PKI
4 25 (2.27%) Cloud Native
5 24 (2.18%) Driving Licence
6 20 (1.82%) Onboarding
7 18 (1.64%) Management Information System
8 16 (1.45%) Operational Technology
9 12 (1.09%) IoT
10 11 (1.00%) Data Protection Act
10 11 (1.00%) Public Cloud
10 11 (1.00%) Security Posture
10 11 (1.00%) Self-Motivation
11 10 (0.91%) Linux Command Line
12 8 (0.73%) Fibre Optics
13 7 (0.64%) CCTV
13 7 (0.64%) Digital Signage
13 7 (0.64%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 7 (0.64%) Distributed Systems
14 6 (0.55%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
Operating Systems
1 70 (6.36%) Windows
2 52 (4.73%) Linux
3 13 (1.18%) Windows Server
4 6 (0.55%) VMS
5 5 (0.45%) Ubuntu
5 5 (0.45%) Unix
5 5 (0.45%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.36%) zOS
7 3 (0.27%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (0.18%) Mac OS
8 2 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.091%) Solaris
9 1 (0.091%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.091%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.091%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 133 (12.09%) Load Balancing
1 133 (12.09%) Migration
2 99 (9.00%) Problem-Solving
3 97 (8.82%) Project Delivery
4 88 (8.00%) High Availability
5 82 (7.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 77 (7.00%) ITIL
6 77 (7.00%) Validation
7 72 (6.55%) Network Design
8 69 (6.27%) Infrastructure as Code
9 65 (5.91%) Change Management
10 60 (5.45%) Network Monitoring
11 49 (4.45%) Zero Trust
12 46 (4.18%) Technical Leadership
13 42 (3.82%) CI/CD
13 42 (3.82%) Continuous Improvement
14 39 (3.55%) DevOps
15 38 (3.45%) Network Segmentation
15 38 (3.45%) Stakeholder Engagement
16 36 (3.27%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 130 (11.82%) Python
2 26 (2.36%) Bash
3 18 (1.64%) PowerShell
4 7 (0.64%) ActionScript
5 6 (0.55%) C++
5 6 (0.55%) SQL
6 3 (0.27%) C
6 3 (0.27%) Java
7 2 (0.18%) Bicep
7 2 (0.18%) Go
7 2 (0.18%) Groovy
7 2 (0.18%) Perl
7 2 (0.18%) Search Processing Language
7 2 (0.18%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.091%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 259 (23.55%) Security Cleared
2 233 (21.18%) Cisco Certification
3 180 (16.36%) CCNP
4 176 (16.00%) SC Cleared
5 92 (8.36%) CCNA
6 79 (7.18%) DV Cleared
7 45 (4.09%) CCIE
8 31 (2.82%) Degree
9 13 (1.18%) CISSP
10 12 (1.09%) JNCIS
11 9 (0.82%) JNCIP
11 9 (0.82%) Network+ Certification
12 8 (0.73%) CCSE
13 7 (0.64%) Computer Science Degree
14 6 (0.55%) CCIE Security
14 6 (0.55%) DBS Check
14 6 (0.55%) JNCIA
15 5 (0.45%) AWS Certification
15 5 (0.45%) Azure Certification
15 5 (0.45%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (2.18%) SLA
2 13 (1.18%) QA
3 10 (0.91%) NIST
4 7 (0.64%) Disclosure Scotland
4 7 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.27%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.18%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.18%) GDPR
6 2 (0.18%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.091%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.091%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.091%) GRC
7 1 (0.091%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 1 (0.091%) NIST 800
System Software
1 69 (6.27%) VMware Infrastructure
2 31 (2.82%) Firmware
3 30 (2.73%) Active Directory
4 29 (2.64%) VMware NSX
5 12 (1.09%) vSphere
6 11 (1.00%) VMware ESXi
7 7 (0.64%) Hyper-V
8 5 (0.45%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.27%) Docker
9 3 (0.27%) FreeRADIUS
9 3 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.18%) Squid
11 1 (0.091%) iptables
11 1 (0.091%) Snort
11 1 (0.091%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 98 (8.91%) Ansible
2 70 (6.36%) FortiGate
3 28 (2.55%) Kubernetes
4 15 (1.36%) Cisco Prime
5 9 (0.82%) Istio
6 6 (0.55%) Cisco CUCM
6 6 (0.55%) Puppet
7 5 (0.45%) Cilium
7 5 (0.45%) Grafana
7 5 (0.45%) Prometheus
8 4 (0.36%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (0.36%) Nagios
8 4 (0.36%) Packer
8 4 (0.36%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
8 4 (0.36%) systemd
8 4 (0.36%) vRealize
9 3 (0.27%) TrustSec
10 2 (0.18%) Avamar
10 2 (0.18%) SCCM
Vendors
1 608 (55.27%) Cisco
2 224 (20.36%) Palo Alto
3 169 (15.36%) F5
4 159 (14.45%) Fortinet
5 95 (8.64%) VMware
6 88 (8.00%) Juniper
7 81 (7.36%) CheckPoint
8 74 (6.73%) Arista
9 70 (6.36%) Meraki
10 63 (5.73%) Aruba
11 56 (5.09%) Microsoft
12 44 (4.00%) Zscaler
13 36 (3.27%) SolarWinds
14 27 (2.45%) Google
15 26 (2.36%) Infoblox
15 26 (2.36%) Nokia
16 25 (2.27%) ServiceNow
17 24 (2.18%) Blue Coat
18 18 (1.64%) McAfee
18 18 (1.64%) NetApp