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 6 April 2026.

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

6 months to
6 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 122 88
Rank change year-on-year -21 -34 +57
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 835 676 1,071
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.85% 2.31% 2.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.00% 2.49% 2.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 554 421 651
10th Percentile £300 £313 £300
25th Percentile £406 £399 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £460
Median % change year-on-year - +3.26% -3.16%
75th Percentile £544 £575 £533
90th Percentile £588 £625 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +5.56% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 5 27
10th Percentile £38.83 £31.10 £22.25
25th Percentile £56.44 £50.00 £28.25
Median hourly rate £72.54 £57.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +26.16% +43.75% -39.39%
75th Percentile £77.63 £68.75 £73.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £73.25 £74.35
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.54 £45.75 £66.50
% change year-on-year +58.56% -31.20% +6.20%

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 41,708 27,129 40,710
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.22% 92.77% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,972 17,847 26,649
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.31%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £743
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,626 961 2,538
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.99 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.91 £20.24 £16.25
Median hourly rate £40.00 £31.76 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year +25.94% -3.95% -26.52%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.25 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.53 £30.93 £34.21
% change year-on-year +34.26% -9.59% -19.25%

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 6 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 6 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 6 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 -34 698 £500 +2.04% 279
UK excluding London -29 526 £475 +5.56% 264
Work from Home -5 220 £445 -5.82% 69
London -58 210 £500 - 60
South East +4 174 £480 -4.00% 72
North of England -54 156 £478 +0.53% 53
North West -17 135 £479 +0.92% 31
Midlands -4 98 £438 +2.94% 53
West Midlands +13 91 £429 +55.91% 31
South West -25 42 £525 +11.11% 31
Scotland +11 40 £415 +3.75% 19
East of England -8 37 £460 -8.00% 25
Wales -9 25 £425 +9.68% 10
Yorkshire -56 21 £450 -2.70% 16
East Midlands -46 3 £500 +11.11% 22
Northern Ireland - 2 £468 - 5
North East -15 1 - - 6

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

For the 6 months to 6 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.

1 451 (54.01%) Cisco
2 385 (46.11%) Firewall
3 286 (34.25%) Security Cleared
4 229 (27.43%) WAN
5 215 (25.75%) BGP
6 213 (25.51%) Cisco Certification
7 205 (24.55%) SC Cleared
8 202 (24.19%) Palo Alto
9 199 (23.83%) LAN
10 183 (21.92%) VPN
11 177 (21.20%) CCNP
12 175 (20.96%) Network Security
13 155 (18.56%) F5
14 154 (18.44%) OSPF
15 143 (17.13%) DNS
16 130 (15.57%) Load Balancing
17 126 (15.09%) Juniper
18 115 (13.77%) VLAN
19 106 (12.69%) TCP/IP
20 93 (11.14%) Wireless
21 92 (11.02%) DV Cleared
22 89 (10.66%) Python
23 88 (10.54%) Azure
23 88 (10.54%) CCNA
24 87 (10.42%) Problem-Solving
25 86 (10.30%) VMware
26 85 (10.18%) Fortinet
27 81 (9.70%) Aruba
28 79 (9.46%) Wi-Fi
29 77 (9.22%) AWS

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 (0.84%) Confluence
2 6 (0.72%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.60%) Apache
3 5 (0.60%) IIS
4 3 (0.36%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 16 (1.92%) MS Visio
2 8 (0.96%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Excel
4 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.36%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 88 (10.54%) Azure
2 77 (9.22%) AWS
3 47 (5.63%) GCP
4 21 (2.51%) GitHub
5 16 (1.92%) Entra ID
6 14 (1.68%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 10 (1.20%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 10 (1.20%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 10 (1.20%) Microsoft 365
8 8 (0.96%) Nutanix
9 7 (0.84%) AWS Direct Connect
10 6 (0.72%) Mimecast
10 6 (0.72%) Route 53
11 5 (0.60%) Google Compute Engine
12 4 (0.48%) Azure Sentinel
12 4 (0.48%) IaaS
12 4 (0.48%) SaaS
13 3 (0.36%) Catchpoint
13 3 (0.36%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (0.36%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 385 (46.11%) Firewall
2 229 (27.43%) WAN
3 215 (25.75%) BGP
4 199 (23.83%) LAN
5 183 (21.92%) VPN
6 175 (20.96%) Network Security
7 154 (18.44%) OSPF
8 143 (17.13%) DNS
9 115 (13.77%) VLAN
10 106 (12.69%) TCP/IP
11 93 (11.14%) Wireless
12 79 (9.46%) Wi-Fi
13 75 (8.98%) MPLS
14 74 (8.86%) SD-WAN
15 69 (8.26%) Cisco ISE
16 66 (7.90%) Cisco Nexus
17 58 (6.95%) BIG-IP
18 56 (6.71%) IPsec
19 55 (6.59%) SSL
20 52 (6.23%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.36%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (0.12%) Oracle Database
3 1 (0.12%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 29 (3.47%) Fiddler
2 21 (2.51%) Git
3 18 (2.16%) JIRA
4 13 (1.56%) Jenkins
5 9 (1.08%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.60%) GitLab
7 2 (0.24%) Browser DevTools
8 1 (0.12%) ClearCase
8 1 (0.12%) Jaeger
General
1 131 (15.69%) Social Skills
2 54 (6.47%) Banking
3 50 (5.99%) Public Sector
4 45 (5.39%) Documentation Skills
5 44 (5.27%) Finance
6 43 (5.15%) Analytical Skills
7 38 (4.55%) Investment Banking
8 32 (3.83%) Telecoms
9 22 (2.63%) Manufacturing
10 21 (2.51%) Legal
11 10 (1.20%) Law
11 10 (1.20%) Retail
12 6 (0.72%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.60%) Local Government
13 5 (0.60%) Military
13 5 (0.60%) Police
14 4 (0.48%) Aerospace
14 4 (0.48%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (0.36%) Pharmaceutical
16 2 (0.24%) Electronics
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (5.03%) 802.1X
2 10 (1.20%) SAML
3 9 (1.08%) LDAP
4 5 (0.60%) REST
5 4 (0.48%) VML
6 3 (0.36%) CSS
6 3 (0.36%) HTML
6 3 (0.36%) JSON
6 3 (0.36%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.24%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.24%) Django
7 2 (0.24%) OpenTelemetry
7 2 (0.24%) RFC 2544
7 2 (0.24%) XML
7 2 (0.24%) YANG
8 1 (0.12%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.12%) Jinja
8 1 (0.12%) Loki
8 1 (0.12%) OpenConfig
Miscellaneous
1 178 (21.32%) Data Centre
2 24 (2.87%) Data Protection Act
2 24 (2.87%) Management Information System
3 19 (2.28%) Hybrid Cloud
3 19 (2.28%) Operational Technology
4 17 (2.04%) PKI
5 16 (1.92%) Security Posture
6 13 (1.56%) Onboarding
7 12 (1.44%) NHS
8 11 (1.32%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (1.08%) Clustering
10 8 (0.96%) Public Cloud
11 7 (0.84%) Cloud Native
12 5 (0.60%) IoT
13 4 (0.48%) CMDB
13 4 (0.48%) Enterprise Cloud
13 4 (0.48%) Enterprise Software
13 4 (0.48%) Mainframe
13 4 (0.48%) Virtual Team
14 3 (0.36%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 57 (6.83%) Windows
2 32 (3.83%) Linux
3 16 (1.92%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.60%) Unix
5 4 (0.48%) CatOS
5 4 (0.48%) 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
Processes & Methodologies
1 130 (15.57%) Load Balancing
2 87 (10.42%) Problem-Solving
3 74 (8.86%) Migration
4 70 (8.38%) High Availability
5 68 (8.14%) Network Design
6 56 (6.71%) Network Monitoring
7 51 (6.11%) Change Management
7 51 (6.11%) ITIL
8 41 (4.91%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 40 (4.79%) Project Delivery
10 37 (4.43%) Network Architecture
11 35 (4.19%) ITSM
11 35 (4.19%) Network Management
11 35 (4.19%) Validation
12 34 (4.07%) Stakeholder Management
13 33 (3.95%) Collaborative Working
13 33 (3.95%) DevOps
14 32 (3.83%) Data Protection
15 31 (3.71%) Infrastructure as Code
16 29 (3.47%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 89 (10.66%) Python
2 18 (2.16%) Bash
3 10 (1.20%) PowerShell
3 10 (1.20%) SQL
4 7 (0.84%) Perl
5 4 (0.48%) Lisp
6 3 (0.36%) Java
6 3 (0.36%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.24%) ActionScript
7 2 (0.24%) Bicep
7 2 (0.24%) Go
8 1 (0.12%) C
8 1 (0.12%) C++
8 1 (0.12%) Korn
8 1 (0.12%) PHP
8 1 (0.12%) Ruby
8 1 (0.12%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 286 (34.25%) Security Cleared
2 213 (25.51%) Cisco Certification
3 205 (24.55%) SC Cleared
4 177 (21.20%) CCNP
5 92 (11.02%) DV Cleared
6 88 (10.54%) CCNA
7 34 (4.07%) CCIE
8 33 (3.95%) Degree
9 28 (3.35%) JNCIS
10 22 (2.63%) JNCIA
11 18 (2.16%) JNCIP
12 11 (1.32%) Network+ Certification
13 10 (1.20%) Computer Science Degree
14 5 (0.60%) AWS Certification
15 4 (0.48%) Azure Certification
15 4 (0.48%) CCSE
15 4 (0.48%) CISSP
15 4 (0.48%) DBS Check
16 3 (0.36%) CWNA
16 3 (0.36%) GIAC
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (1.20%) SLA
2 8 (0.96%) NIST
3 7 (0.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (0.60%) GDPR
4 5 (0.60%) PCI DSS
5 4 (0.48%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (0.36%) Disclosure Scotland
6 3 (0.36%) GRC
6 3 (0.36%) QA
7 2 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.24%) NCSC
7 2 (0.24%) PMO
8 1 (0.12%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.12%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.12%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.12%) JSP 440
System Software
1 60 (7.19%) VMware Infrastructure
2 46 (5.51%) VMware NSX
3 29 (3.47%) Firmware
4 27 (3.23%) Active Directory
5 7 (0.84%) VMware ESXi
5 7 (0.84%) vSphere
6 5 (0.60%) Docker
6 5 (0.60%) ProxySG
7 4 (0.48%) Hyper-V
8 3 (0.36%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.24%) KVM
9 2 (0.24%) vCloud
10 1 (0.12%) Citrix Presentation Server
10 1 (0.12%) IAG
10 1 (0.12%) RHEV
10 1 (0.12%) Snort
10 1 (0.12%) Xen
Systems Management
1 76 (9.10%) Ansible
2 56 (6.71%) FortiGate
3 51 (6.11%) Terraform
4 11 (1.32%) Grafana
5 10 (1.20%) Prometheus
6 9 (1.08%) Single Sign-On
6 9 (1.08%) vCenter Server
7 8 (0.96%) Cisco Prime
7 8 (0.96%) Nagios
8 6 (0.72%) Kubernetes
8 6 (0.72%) Microsoft Intune
9 4 (0.48%) Tivoli NetView
10 2 (0.24%) Salt
10 2 (0.24%) WSUS
11 1 (0.12%) CASB
11 1 (0.12%) Iperf
11 1 (0.12%) Proxmox
11 1 (0.12%) SCOM
11 1 (0.12%) Suricata
11 1 (0.12%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 451 (54.01%) Cisco
2 202 (24.19%) Palo Alto
3 155 (18.56%) F5
4 126 (15.09%) Juniper
5 86 (10.30%) VMware
6 85 (10.18%) Fortinet
7 81 (9.70%) Aruba
8 74 (8.86%) CheckPoint
9 52 (6.23%) SolarWinds
10 51 (6.11%) Meraki
11 50 (5.99%) Arista
12 41 (4.91%) Blue Coat
13 38 (4.55%) McAfee
14 36 (4.31%) Microsoft
15 25 (2.99%) Google
16 24 (2.87%) ServiceNow
17 23 (2.75%) NetApp
18 22 (2.63%) Infoblox
19 19 (2.28%) Ekahau
19 19 (2.28%) Splunk