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 June 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 130 126 93
Rank change year-on-year -4 -33 +33
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,018 680 1,028
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.01% 2.27% 2.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.17% 2.47% 2.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 674 418 636
10th Percentile £303 £321 £300
25th Percentile £403 £400 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £485 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.06% +2.11% +5.56%
75th Percentile £548 £575 £550
90th Percentile £600 £625 £644
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £475 £460
% change year-on-year -2.63% +3.26% +5.14%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 9 21
10th Percentile £28.40 £22.41 £18.50
25th Percentile £55.00 £32.50 £23.25
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 £72.50
% change year-on-year +108.57% -51.72% +16.94%

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 46,817 27,571 40,801
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.38% 92.17% 92.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,459 17,717 26,128
10th Percentile £325 £289 £281
25th Percentile £414 £402 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £492
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.36% -1.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,118 1,192 3,003
10th Percentile £15.33 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.58 £16.45
Median hourly rate £43.69 £27.45 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.16% -26.80% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -1.45%

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 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 21 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 21 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 -20 839 £475 -4.04% 213
UK excluding London -15 602 £463 -2.63% 234
London -34 282 £495 -1.00% 51
Work from Home -24 237 £445 -6.32% 56
North of England -16 205 £481 -2.18% 47
South East -13 160 £463 -7.50% 49
North West -1 152 £481 -3.75% 29
Midlands -1 113 £444 +10.94% 35
West Midlands +6 106 £438 +59.09% 14
Scotland +26 63 £418 -0.30% 21
East of England -5 45 £425 +11.11% 23
South West -41 41 £550 +4.76% 27
Yorkshire -52 40 £450 -8.54% 13
Wales -7 24 £425 +9.68% 14
North East -25 13 £600 +108.70% 5
East Midlands -25 4 £475 +5.56% 21
Northern Ireland -1 2 £468 -18.70% 21

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

For the 6 months to 21 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.

1 533 (52.36%) Cisco
2 441 (43.32%) Firewall
3 286 (28.09%) WAN
4 280 (27.50%) Security Cleared
5 250 (24.56%) Cisco Certification
6 241 (23.67%) LAN
7 234 (22.99%) BGP
8 228 (22.40%) Network Security
9 224 (22.00%) Palo Alto
10 209 (20.53%) VPN
11 203 (19.94%) SC Cleared
12 194 (19.06%) CCNP
13 176 (17.29%) F5
14 175 (17.19%) DNS
15 154 (15.13%) OSPF
15 154 (15.13%) Wireless
16 146 (14.34%) Fortinet
16 146 (14.34%) Load Balancing
17 138 (13.56%) VLAN
18 119 (11.69%) Azure
19 116 (11.39%) Python
20 115 (11.30%) Juniper
21 114 (11.20%) Migration
22 110 (10.81%) SD-WAN
23 104 (10.22%) TCP/IP
24 102 (10.02%) CCNA
25 98 (9.63%) High Availability
26 96 (9.43%) Wi-Fi
27 92 (9.04%) VMware
28 90 (8.84%) 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 7 (0.69%) Confluence
2 5 (0.49%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.29%) Apache
3 3 (0.29%) IIS
3 3 (0.29%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.098%) CMS
4 1 (0.098%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.098%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 17 (1.67%) MS Visio
2 10 (0.98%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.29%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 119 (11.69%) Azure
2 85 (8.35%) AWS
3 53 (5.21%) GCP
4 37 (3.63%) GitHub
5 18 (1.77%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 17 (1.67%) Entra ID
7 14 (1.38%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 13 (1.28%) Google Kubernetes Engine
9 11 (1.08%) AWS CloudFormation
9 11 (1.08%) Microsoft 365
10 10 (0.98%) AWS Direct Connect
11 9 (0.88%) IaaS
12 8 (0.79%) Nutanix
13 7 (0.69%) Azure Sentinel
14 6 (0.59%) GitHub Actions
14 6 (0.59%) Google Compute Engine
14 6 (0.59%) Route 53
15 5 (0.49%) Amazon CloudWatch
15 5 (0.49%) Amazon EC2
15 5 (0.49%) AWS Lambda
Communications & Networking
1 441 (43.32%) Firewall
2 286 (28.09%) WAN
3 241 (23.67%) LAN
4 234 (22.99%) BGP
5 228 (22.40%) Network Security
6 209 (20.53%) VPN
7 175 (17.19%) DNS
8 154 (15.13%) OSPF
8 154 (15.13%) Wireless
9 138 (13.56%) VLAN
10 110 (10.81%) SD-WAN
11 104 (10.22%) TCP/IP
12 96 (9.43%) Wi-Fi
13 74 (7.27%) Cisco Nexus
14 72 (7.07%) MPLS
15 70 (6.88%) Multicast
16 68 (6.68%) BIG-IP
17 65 (6.39%) Cisco ISE
18 59 (5.80%) DHCP
19 58 (5.70%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.20%) SQL Server
1 2 (0.20%) SQL Server Integration Services
2 1 (0.098%) ClickHouse
2 1 (0.098%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 30 (2.95%) JIRA
2 29 (2.85%) Jenkins
3 23 (2.26%) Fiddler
4 17 (1.67%) Git
5 9 (0.88%) Sonatype Nexus
6 8 (0.79%) GitLab
7 2 (0.20%) Browser DevTools
General
1 136 (13.36%) Social Skills
2 58 (5.70%) Finance
3 57 (5.60%) Banking
4 43 (4.22%) Analytical Skills
5 40 (3.93%) Telecoms
6 38 (3.73%) Documentation Skills
6 38 (3.73%) Investment Banking
7 36 (3.54%) Public Sector
8 24 (2.36%) Legal
9 23 (2.26%) Manufacturing
10 20 (1.96%) Retail
11 10 (0.98%) Law
12 9 (0.88%) Aerospace
13 7 (0.69%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.59%) Pharmaceutical
15 5 (0.49%) Military
15 5 (0.49%) Organisational Skills
15 5 (0.49%) Police
16 4 (0.39%) Local Government
16 4 (0.39%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 48 (4.72%) 802.1X
2 11 (1.08%) REST
3 9 (0.88%) SAML
4 8 (0.79%) LDAP
5 2 (0.20%) AWS CDK
5 2 (0.20%) CSS
5 2 (0.20%) Django
5 2 (0.20%) HTML
5 2 (0.20%) Jinja
5 2 (0.20%) RFC 2544
6 1 (0.098%) Java RMI
6 1 (0.098%) JSON
6 1 (0.098%) ModSecurity
6 1 (0.098%) NETCONF
6 1 (0.098%) OpenTelemetry
6 1 (0.098%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 204 (20.04%) Data Centre
2 27 (2.65%) Hybrid Cloud
3 26 (2.55%) Data Protection Act
4 23 (2.26%) PKI
5 22 (2.16%) Management Information System
5 22 (2.16%) Security Posture
6 19 (1.87%) Onboarding
7 14 (1.38%) Cloud Native
7 14 (1.38%) Operational Technology
8 10 (0.98%) NHS
9 9 (0.88%) Clustering
10 8 (0.79%) Self-Motivation
11 7 (0.69%) CCTV
12 6 (0.59%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 6 (0.59%) Enterprise Cloud
12 6 (0.59%) Linux Command Line
13 5 (0.49%) Public Cloud
14 4 (0.39%) Distributed Systems
14 4 (0.39%) IoT
14 4 (0.39%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 74 (7.27%) Windows
2 42 (4.13%) Linux
3 14 (1.38%) Windows Server
4 6 (0.59%) Unix
4 6 (0.59%) VMS
5 4 (0.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 4 (0.39%) Windows Server 2019
6 2 (0.20%) CatOS
6 2 (0.20%) Ubuntu
6 2 (0.20%) Windows Server 2012
6 2 (0.20%) zOS
7 1 (0.098%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.098%) Solaris
7 1 (0.098%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.098%) Windows 7
7 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2008
7 1 (0.098%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 146 (14.34%) Load Balancing
2 114 (11.20%) Migration
3 98 (9.63%) High Availability
4 90 (8.84%) Problem-Solving
5 77 (7.56%) Project Delivery
6 69 (6.78%) Network Monitoring
7 65 (6.39%) Network Design
8 61 (5.99%) ITIL
9 59 (5.80%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 58 (5.70%) Infrastructure as Code
11 56 (5.50%) Validation
12 54 (5.30%) Change Management
13 44 (4.32%) Technical Leadership
14 43 (4.22%) Data Protection
15 41 (4.03%) DevOps
16 40 (3.93%) CI/CD
16 40 (3.93%) ITSM
16 40 (3.93%) Zero Trust
17 36 (3.54%) Network Management
17 36 (3.54%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 116 (11.39%) Python
2 15 (1.47%) Bash
3 12 (1.18%) PowerShell
4 9 (0.88%) ActionScript
5 8 (0.79%) SQL
6 3 (0.29%) Bicep
6 3 (0.29%) C
6 3 (0.29%) Java
7 2 (0.20%) C++
7 2 (0.20%) Groovy
7 2 (0.20%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.20%) Perl
8 1 (0.098%) Go
8 1 (0.098%) Korn
8 1 (0.098%) Lisp
8 1 (0.098%) PHP
Qualifications
1 280 (27.50%) Security Cleared
2 250 (24.56%) Cisco Certification
3 203 (19.94%) SC Cleared
4 194 (19.06%) CCNP
5 102 (10.02%) CCNA
6 84 (8.25%) DV Cleared
7 40 (3.93%) CCIE
8 38 (3.73%) Degree
9 15 (1.47%) JNCIA
9 15 (1.47%) JNCIS
10 13 (1.28%) Network+ Certification
11 11 (1.08%) JNCIP
12 9 (0.88%) CCSE
12 9 (0.88%) Computer Science Degree
13 7 (0.69%) CISSP
14 6 (0.59%) Azure Certification
14 6 (0.59%) CompTIA Security+
15 5 (0.49%) AWS Certification
15 5 (0.49%) CWNA
15 5 (0.49%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (1.57%) SLA
2 12 (1.18%) NIST
3 11 (1.08%) QA
4 8 (0.79%) Disclosure Scotland
5 5 (0.49%) GDPR
5 5 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (0.49%) PCI DSS
6 4 (0.39%) Actionable Recommendations
6 4 (0.39%) GRC
7 2 (0.20%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 2 (0.20%) JSP 440
7 2 (0.20%) NCSC
8 1 (0.098%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.098%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.098%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.098%) PMO
System Software
1 67 (6.58%) VMware Infrastructure
2 37 (3.63%) VMware NSX
3 33 (3.24%) Firmware
4 31 (3.05%) Active Directory
5 15 (1.47%) VMware ESXi
6 12 (1.18%) vSphere
7 7 (0.69%) Hyper-V
8 4 (0.39%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.39%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.29%) Virtual Desktop
10 2 (0.20%) Squid
10 2 (0.20%) vCloud
11 1 (0.098%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.098%) Docker
11 1 (0.098%) FreeRADIUS
11 1 (0.098%) IAG
11 1 (0.098%) iptables
11 1 (0.098%) KVM
11 1 (0.098%) Snort
Systems Management
1 88 (8.64%) Ansible
2 80 (7.86%) Terraform
3 71 (6.97%) FortiGate
4 9 (0.88%) Cisco Prime
4 9 (0.88%) Grafana
5 8 (0.79%) Kubernetes
5 8 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
6 7 (0.69%) Prometheus
7 6 (0.59%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (0.39%) Packer
8 4 (0.39%) Puppet
9 3 (0.29%) Cisco CUCM
10 2 (0.20%) Avamar
10 2 (0.20%) CASB
10 2 (0.20%) Istio
10 2 (0.20%) Nagios
10 2 (0.20%) SCOM
10 2 (0.20%) Tivoli NetView
10 2 (0.20%) WSUS
11 1 (0.098%) Nessus
Vendors
1 533 (52.36%) Cisco
2 224 (22.00%) Palo Alto
3 176 (17.29%) F5
4 146 (14.34%) Fortinet
5 115 (11.30%) Juniper
6 92 (9.04%) VMware
7 79 (7.76%) Aruba
8 71 (6.97%) CheckPoint
9 65 (6.39%) Arista
10 48 (4.72%) Microsoft
11 47 (4.62%) Meraki
12 43 (4.22%) SolarWinds
13 36 (3.54%) Zscaler
14 33 (3.24%) Google
15 32 (3.14%) Blue Coat
16 31 (3.05%) Infoblox
17 26 (2.55%) McAfee
17 26 (2.55%) ServiceNow
18 21 (2.06%) Extreme Networks
19 20 (1.96%) NetApp