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 21 March 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 157 113 88
Rank change year-on-year -44 -25 +65
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 791 712 1,071
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.80% 2.43% 2.42%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.96% 2.61% 2.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 528 439 644
10th Percentile £300 £325 £300
25th Percentile £400 £400 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +5.56% -4.76%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £533
90th Percentile £588 £625 £626
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £465 £450
% change year-on-year +2.15% +3.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 4 31
10th Percentile £20.75 £27.95 £20.74
25th Percentile £40.56 £42.13 £24.75
Median hourly rate £56.44 £53.75 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% +34.38% -36.74%
75th Percentile £72.54 £65.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.26 £71.75 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.89 £45.75 £62.75
% change year-on-year +39.64% -27.09% +1.21%

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 40,298 27,260 41,112
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.93% 92.94% 92.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,195 17,769 26,943
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.37%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £721 £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 2,491 893 2,499
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.25 £12.92
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.05 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.00 £33.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% +1.54% -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £76.58 £76.25 £71.77
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +10.77% - -18.75%

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 21 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 21 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 21 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 -42 663 £490 -2.00% 257
UK excluding London -32 503 £475 +2.15% 247
Work from Home -10 219 £441 -7.11% 48
London -67 203 £500 - 52
South East +2 171 £495 -1.00% 76
North of England -49 160 £481 -1.79% 47
North West -14 139 £481 -1.79% 27
Midlands -11 91 £438 -2.78% 47
West Midlands +1 85 £420 -1.18% 27
Scotland +17 42 £406 -1.52% 14
East of England -4 33 £425 -15.00% 26
South West -45 31 £511 +8.20% 27
Wales -6 23 £425 +9.68% 9
Yorkshire -59 21 £440 -4.86% 15
East Midlands -46 3 £500 +11.11% 20
North East -16 1 - - 5
Northern Ireland - 1 £385 - 5

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

For the 6 months to 21 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.

1 430 (54.36%) Cisco
2 373 (47.16%) Firewall
3 274 (34.64%) Security Cleared
4 218 (27.56%) WAN
5 210 (26.55%) Cisco Certification
6 199 (25.16%) BGP
7 196 (24.78%) Palo Alto
8 193 (24.40%) SC Cleared
9 189 (23.89%) LAN
10 177 (22.38%) VPN
11 176 (22.25%) CCNP
12 167 (21.11%) Network Security
13 151 (19.09%) F5
14 143 (18.08%) DNS
14 143 (18.08%) OSPF
15 127 (16.06%) Load Balancing
16 126 (15.93%) Juniper
17 110 (13.91%) TCP/IP
18 109 (13.78%) VLAN
19 94 (11.88%) Python
20 91 (11.50%) Azure
20 91 (11.50%) CCNA
20 91 (11.50%) Wireless
21 88 (11.13%) DV Cleared
21 88 (11.13%) VMware
22 87 (11.00%) Problem-Solving
23 83 (10.49%) AWS
24 80 (10.11%) Ansible
25 78 (9.86%) Aruba
25 78 (9.86%) Fortinet

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 9 (1.14%) SharePoint
2 7 (0.88%) Confluence
3 5 (0.63%) Apache
3 5 (0.63%) IIS
3 5 (0.63%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 19 (2.40%) MS Visio
2 7 (0.88%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 91 (11.50%) Azure
2 83 (10.49%) AWS
3 47 (5.94%) GCP
4 20 (2.53%) GitHub
5 16 (2.02%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 15 (1.90%) Entra ID
7 10 (1.26%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 10 (1.26%) Microsoft 365
8 9 (1.14%) Azure ExpressRoute
9 8 (1.01%) Nutanix
10 7 (0.88%) AWS Direct Connect
11 6 (0.76%) Mimecast
11 6 (0.76%) Route 53
12 5 (0.63%) Google Compute Engine
12 5 (0.63%) IaaS
12 5 (0.63%) SaaS
13 4 (0.51%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (0.51%) Azure Sentinel
13 4 (0.51%) PaaS
14 3 (0.38%) Cloudflare
Communications & Networking
1 373 (47.16%) Firewall
2 218 (27.56%) WAN
3 199 (25.16%) BGP
4 189 (23.89%) LAN
5 177 (22.38%) VPN
6 167 (21.11%) Network Security
7 143 (18.08%) DNS
7 143 (18.08%) OSPF
8 110 (13.91%) TCP/IP
9 109 (13.78%) VLAN
10 91 (11.50%) Wireless
11 76 (9.61%) Wi-Fi
12 72 (9.10%) Cisco ISE
12 72 (9.10%) MPLS
13 70 (8.85%) SD-WAN
14 61 (7.71%) Cisco Nexus
15 58 (7.33%) BIG-IP
16 57 (7.21%) SSL
17 54 (6.83%) Wireshark
18 53 (6.70%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.38%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (0.13%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 31 (3.92%) Fiddler
2 22 (2.78%) Git
3 17 (2.15%) Jenkins
3 17 (2.15%) JIRA
4 10 (1.26%) Sonatype Nexus
5 9 (1.14%) GitLab
6 1 (0.13%) Browser DevTools
6 1 (0.13%) ClearCase
6 1 (0.13%) Jaeger
General
1 139 (17.57%) Social Skills
2 54 (6.83%) Banking
3 51 (6.45%) Public Sector
4 46 (5.82%) Documentation Skills
5 45 (5.69%) Finance
6 40 (5.06%) Investment Banking
7 39 (4.93%) Analytical Skills
8 35 (4.42%) Telecoms
9 21 (2.65%) Manufacturing
10 20 (2.53%) Legal
11 8 (1.01%) Law
12 7 (0.88%) Retail
13 6 (0.76%) Financial Institution
13 6 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.63%) Local Government
14 5 (0.63%) Military
15 4 (0.51%) Police
16 3 (0.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 3 (0.38%) Influencing Skills
16 3 (0.38%) Marketing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (5.31%) 802.1X
2 9 (1.14%) LDAP
2 9 (1.14%) SAML
3 4 (0.51%) REST
3 4 (0.51%) VML
4 3 (0.38%) CSS
4 3 (0.38%) HTML
4 3 (0.38%) JSON
5 2 (0.25%) AWS CDK
5 2 (0.25%) Django
5 2 (0.25%) NETCONF
5 2 (0.25%) OpenTelemetry
5 2 (0.25%) RFC 2544
5 2 (0.25%) XML
5 2 (0.25%) YANG
6 1 (0.13%) ARM Templates
6 1 (0.13%) FIX Protocol
6 1 (0.13%) Loki
6 1 (0.13%) OpenConfig
6 1 (0.13%) Ultra Messaging
Miscellaneous
1 162 (20.48%) Data Centre
2 27 (3.41%) Data Protection Act
3 25 (3.16%) Management Information System
4 18 (2.28%) Operational Technology
5 17 (2.15%) PKI
6 16 (2.02%) Hybrid Cloud
6 16 (2.02%) Security Posture
7 13 (1.64%) NHS
7 13 (1.64%) Onboarding
8 10 (1.26%) Public Cloud
8 10 (1.26%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (1.14%) Clustering
10 7 (0.88%) Cloud Native
11 5 (0.63%) Hedge funds
11 5 (0.63%) IoT
12 4 (0.51%) CMDB
12 4 (0.51%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 4 (0.51%) Enterprise Cloud
12 4 (0.51%) Fibre Optics
12 4 (0.51%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 58 (7.33%) Windows
2 31 (3.92%) Linux
3 21 (2.65%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.51%) CatOS
4 4 (0.51%) Unix
4 4 (0.51%) zOS
5 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
5 1 (0.13%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 127 (16.06%) Load Balancing
2 87 (11.00%) Problem-Solving
3 65 (8.22%) High Availability
3 65 (8.22%) Network Design
4 63 (7.96%) Migration
5 56 (7.08%) Network Monitoring
6 48 (6.07%) ITIL
7 46 (5.82%) Change Management
8 41 (5.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 40 (5.06%) Project Delivery
10 38 (4.80%) DevOps
11 36 (4.55%) ITSM
12 35 (4.42%) Network Architecture
12 35 (4.42%) Stakeholder Management
13 33 (4.17%) Data Protection
13 33 (4.17%) Infrastructure as Code
13 33 (4.17%) Network Management
14 32 (4.05%) Collaborative Working
14 32 (4.05%) Root Cause Analysis
15 31 (3.92%) Malware Detection/Protection
Programming Languages
1 94 (11.88%) Python
2 22 (2.78%) Bash
3 12 (1.52%) PowerShell
4 10 (1.26%) SQL
5 8 (1.01%) Perl
6 7 (0.88%) Lisp
7 3 (0.38%) Java
7 3 (0.38%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.25%) ActionScript
8 2 (0.25%) Bicep
8 2 (0.25%) Go
9 1 (0.13%) C
9 1 (0.13%) C++
9 1 (0.13%) Korn
9 1 (0.13%) PHP
9 1 (0.13%) Ruby
9 1 (0.13%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 274 (34.64%) Security Cleared
2 210 (26.55%) Cisco Certification
3 193 (24.40%) SC Cleared
4 176 (22.25%) CCNP
5 91 (11.50%) CCNA
6 88 (11.13%) DV Cleared
7 33 (4.17%) CCIE
7 33 (4.17%) Degree
8 29 (3.67%) JNCIS
9 23 (2.91%) JNCIA
10 20 (2.53%) JNCIP
11 13 (1.64%) Network+ Certification
12 11 (1.39%) Computer Science Degree
13 5 (0.63%) AWS Certification
14 4 (0.51%) CCSE
14 4 (0.51%) CISSP
14 4 (0.51%) DBS Check
15 3 (0.38%) CCDP
15 3 (0.38%) GIAC
15 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (1.39%) SLA
2 8 (1.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 8 (1.01%) NIST
3 5 (0.63%) GDPR
3 5 (0.63%) PCI DSS
4 3 (0.38%) Actionable Recommendations
4 3 (0.38%) GRC
5 2 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.25%) NCSC
5 2 (0.25%) PMO
5 2 (0.25%) QA
6 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
6 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.13%) JSP 440
System Software
1 59 (7.46%) VMware Infrastructure
2 47 (5.94%) VMware NSX
3 32 (4.05%) Active Directory
4 31 (3.92%) Firmware
5 7 (0.88%) Docker
5 7 (0.88%) VMware ESXi
6 6 (0.76%) vSphere
7 5 (0.63%) ProxySG
8 4 (0.51%) Hyper-V
9 3 (0.38%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.25%) KVM
10 2 (0.25%) vCloud
10 2 (0.25%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (0.13%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.13%) IAG
11 1 (0.13%) RHEV
11 1 (0.13%) Snort
11 1 (0.13%) Xen
Systems Management
1 80 (10.11%) Ansible
2 54 (6.83%) FortiGate
3 50 (6.32%) Terraform
4 15 (1.90%) vCenter Server
5 13 (1.64%) Grafana
6 12 (1.52%) Prometheus
7 8 (1.01%) Nagios
7 8 (1.01%) Single Sign-On
8 7 (0.88%) Cisco Prime
9 6 (0.76%) Kubernetes
9 6 (0.76%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (0.51%) Tivoli NetView
11 3 (0.38%) CASB
12 2 (0.25%) Dell DRAC
12 2 (0.25%) Salt
12 2 (0.25%) SCCM
12 2 (0.25%) SCOrch
12 2 (0.25%) WSUS
13 1 (0.13%) SCOM
13 1 (0.13%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 430 (54.36%) Cisco
2 196 (24.78%) Palo Alto
3 151 (19.09%) F5
4 126 (15.93%) Juniper
5 88 (11.13%) VMware
6 78 (9.86%) Aruba
6 78 (9.86%) Fortinet
7 74 (9.36%) CheckPoint
8 56 (7.08%) SolarWinds
9 52 (6.57%) Meraki
10 46 (5.82%) Blue Coat
11 43 (5.44%) McAfee
12 41 (5.18%) Microsoft
13 39 (4.93%) Arista
14 24 (3.03%) NetApp
14 24 (3.03%) ServiceNow
15 22 (2.78%) Google
16 21 (2.65%) Ekahau
17 20 (2.53%) Infoblox
18 18 (2.28%) Splunk