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 16 July 2026.

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

6 months to
16 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 134 124 98
Rank change year-on-year -10 -26 +25
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,062 719 1,000
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.02% 2.21% 2.35%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.18% 2.41% 2.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 688 448 619
10th Percentile £306 £325 £284
25th Percentile £409 £400 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - +5.56%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £550
90th Percentile £607 £627 £634
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £475 £465
% change year-on-year -2.58% +2.15% +9.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 12 19
10th Percentile £29.00 £22.08 £18.33
25th Percentile £59.69 £30.00 £22.83
Median hourly rate £73.00 £53.75 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +35.81% +34.38% -35.48%
75th Percentile £78.75 £70.63 £69.38
90th Percentile £90.01 £82.33 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £73.50 £38.25 £52.50
% change year-on-year +92.16% -27.14% -15.32%

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 48,701 29,792 39,645
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.54% 91.70% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,482 18,952 25,549
10th Percentile £325 £287 £288
25th Percentile £419 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +5.26% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,274 1,409 2,702
10th Percentile £15.93 £13.75 £13.00
25th Percentile £21.27 £17.30 £17.00
Median hourly rate £45.00 £26.21 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +71.69% -34.48% -5.88%
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.49 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.04 £74.00 £73.98
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.56 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +81.13% -37.13% +6.67%

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 16 July 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 16 July 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 16 July 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 -13 866 £475 -3.06% 314
UK excluding London -17 614 £463 -2.58% 299
London -25 304 £490 +3.16% 88
Work from Home -40 230 £450 -5.26% 56
North of England -14 216 £486 -1.31% 83
North West -4 157 £486 -2.89% 46
South East -16 151 £473 -5.50% 66
Midlands -12 111 £475 +8.57% 41
West Midlands -1 104 £450 +28.57% 19
Scotland +27 73 £413 -2.94% 29
South West -34 47 £550 +4.76% 36
Yorkshire -45 46 £450 -8.54% 27
East of England -13 40 £455 +4.00% 29
Wales +3 24 £425 -2.86% 12
North East -28 13 £600 +84.62% 11
East Midlands -21 4 £475 -5.00% 21
Northern Ireland +1 2 £468 -18.70% 8

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

For the 6 months to 16 July 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.

1 566 (53.30%) Cisco
2 474 (44.63%) Firewall
3 296 (27.87%) WAN
4 265 (24.95%) Security Cleared
5 257 (24.20%) BGP
6 253 (23.82%) Network Security
7 249 (23.45%) Cisco Certification
8 245 (23.07%) LAN
9 243 (22.88%) VPN
10 229 (21.56%) Palo Alto
11 192 (18.08%) CCNP
12 189 (17.80%) F5
13 186 (17.51%) DNS
14 181 (17.04%) Wireless
15 180 (16.95%) SC Cleared
16 175 (16.48%) OSPF
17 157 (14.78%) Fortinet
18 147 (13.84%) Load Balancing
19 145 (13.65%) VLAN
20 135 (12.71%) Azure
21 132 (12.43%) Juniper
22 127 (11.96%) Migration
22 127 (11.96%) Python
23 113 (10.64%) TCP/IP
24 111 (10.45%) SD-WAN
25 101 (9.51%) Wi-Fi
26 99 (9.32%) CCNA
26 99 (9.32%) High Availability
27 97 (9.13%) Problem-Solving
28 96 (9.04%) Ansible

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 6 (0.56%) Confluence
2 3 (0.28%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.28%) SAS
3 1 (0.094%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.094%) CMS
3 1 (0.094%) OpenStack
3 1 (0.094%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.094%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 16 (1.51%) MS Visio
2 11 (1.04%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 135 (12.71%) Azure
2 88 (8.29%) AWS
3 55 (5.18%) GCP
4 40 (3.77%) GitHub
5 18 (1.69%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 16 (1.51%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 14 (1.32%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 11 (1.04%) AWS CloudFormation
9 10 (0.94%) AWS Direct Connect
9 10 (0.94%) Entra ID
10 9 (0.85%) Microsoft 365
11 8 (0.75%) IaaS
12 7 (0.66%) Nutanix
13 6 (0.56%) Azure Sentinel
13 6 (0.56%) GitHub Actions
13 6 (0.56%) Google Compute Engine
14 5 (0.47%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (0.47%) Cloudflare
14 5 (0.47%) Datadog
14 5 (0.47%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 474 (44.63%) Firewall
2 296 (27.87%) WAN
3 257 (24.20%) BGP
4 253 (23.82%) Network Security
5 245 (23.07%) LAN
6 243 (22.88%) VPN
7 186 (17.51%) DNS
8 181 (17.04%) Wireless
9 175 (16.48%) OSPF
10 145 (13.65%) VLAN
11 113 (10.64%) TCP/IP
12 111 (10.45%) SD-WAN
13 101 (9.51%) Wi-Fi
14 77 (7.25%) Cisco ISE
14 77 (7.25%) Cisco Nexus
15 75 (7.06%) MPLS
15 75 (7.06%) Multicast
16 68 (6.40%) DHCP
17 65 (6.12%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
18 63 (5.93%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.094%) ClickHouse
1 1 (0.094%) GIS
1 1 (0.094%) Oracle Reports
1 1 (0.094%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 28 (2.64%) Jenkins
1 28 (2.64%) JIRA
2 21 (1.98%) Git
3 19 (1.79%) Fiddler
4 10 (0.94%) GitLab
4 10 (0.94%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.19%) Browser DevTools
General
1 143 (13.47%) Social Skills
2 70 (6.59%) Finance
3 62 (5.84%) Banking
4 54 (5.08%) Analytical Skills
5 45 (4.24%) Public Sector
6 44 (4.14%) Telecoms
7 36 (3.39%) Investment Banking
8 34 (3.20%) Documentation Skills
9 22 (2.07%) Retail
10 20 (1.88%) Legal
11 19 (1.79%) Manufacturing
12 9 (0.85%) Aerospace
13 8 (0.75%) Police
14 7 (0.66%) Financial Institution
14 7 (0.66%) Law
15 6 (0.56%) Military
15 6 (0.56%) Pharmaceutical
16 5 (0.47%) Local Government
16 5 (0.47%) Organisational Skills
16 5 (0.47%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (4.80%) 802.1X
2 11 (1.04%) REST
3 10 (0.94%) SAML
4 5 (0.47%) LDAP
4 5 (0.47%) NETCONF
5 2 (0.19%) AWS CDK
5 2 (0.19%) Django
5 2 (0.19%) Java RMI
5 2 (0.19%) Jinja
5 2 (0.19%) RFC 2544
6 1 (0.094%) CSS
6 1 (0.094%) HTML
6 1 (0.094%) JSON
6 1 (0.094%) ModSecurity
6 1 (0.094%) OpenTelemetry
6 1 (0.094%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 200 (18.83%) Data Centre
2 31 (2.92%) Hybrid Cloud
3 30 (2.82%) PKI
4 22 (2.07%) Management Information System
5 20 (1.88%) Data Protection Act
6 19 (1.79%) Security Posture
7 16 (1.51%) Operational Technology
8 15 (1.41%) Cloud Native
8 15 (1.41%) Onboarding
9 11 (1.04%) Driving Licence
9 11 (1.04%) NHS
10 9 (0.85%) Clustering
10 9 (0.85%) IoT
10 9 (0.85%) Linux Command Line
11 8 (0.75%) CCTV
11 8 (0.75%) Self-Motivation
12 7 (0.66%) Public Cloud
13 6 (0.56%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
13 6 (0.56%) Enterprise Cloud
14 5 (0.47%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 72 (6.78%) Windows
2 44 (4.14%) Linux
3 11 (1.04%) Windows Server
4 6 (0.56%) Unix
4 6 (0.56%) VMS
5 5 (0.47%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.38%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.28%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.094%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.094%) Solaris
9 1 (0.094%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.094%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.094%) Windows Server 2008
9 1 (0.094%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (13.84%) Load Balancing
2 127 (11.96%) Migration
3 99 (9.32%) High Availability
4 97 (9.13%) Problem-Solving
5 80 (7.53%) Project Delivery
6 72 (6.78%) ITIL
7 69 (6.50%) Change Management
8 68 (6.40%) Network Design
9 65 (6.12%) Network Monitoring
10 63 (5.93%) Validation
11 61 (5.74%) Infrastructure as Code
12 55 (5.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 45 (4.24%) Technical Leadership
13 45 (4.24%) Zero Trust
14 41 (3.86%) CI/CD
15 40 (3.77%) Continuous Improvement
15 40 (3.77%) DevOps
16 39 (3.67%) ITSM
17 37 (3.48%) Data Protection
17 37 (3.48%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 127 (11.96%) Python
2 18 (1.69%) Bash
3 12 (1.13%) PowerShell
4 9 (0.85%) ActionScript
5 8 (0.75%) SQL
6 3 (0.28%) Bicep
6 3 (0.28%) C
6 3 (0.28%) C++
6 3 (0.28%) Java
7 2 (0.19%) Groovy
7 2 (0.19%) Perl
8 1 (0.094%) Go
8 1 (0.094%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.094%) Korn
8 1 (0.094%) Lisp
8 1 (0.094%) PHP
8 1 (0.094%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 265 (24.95%) Security Cleared
2 249 (23.45%) Cisco Certification
3 192 (18.08%) CCNP
4 180 (16.95%) SC Cleared
5 99 (9.32%) CCNA
6 89 (8.38%) DV Cleared
7 43 (4.05%) CCIE
8 40 (3.77%) Degree
9 20 (1.88%) JNCIS
10 16 (1.51%) JNCIP
11 14 (1.32%) JNCIA
12 13 (1.22%) Network+ Certification
13 10 (0.94%) CISSP
13 10 (0.94%) Computer Science Degree
14 8 (0.75%) CCSE
15 6 (0.56%) Azure Certification
15 6 (0.56%) CompTIA Security+
16 5 (0.47%) AWS Certification
16 5 (0.47%) CCIE Wireless
16 5 (0.47%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (1.51%) SLA
2 12 (1.13%) NIST
3 10 (0.94%) QA
4 9 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 8 (0.75%) Disclosure Scotland
6 4 (0.38%) GDPR
6 4 (0.38%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.28%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (0.28%) GRC
8 2 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.19%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.19%) NCSC
9 1 (0.094%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.094%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.094%) HMG Security Policy Framework
9 1 (0.094%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 69 (6.50%) VMware Infrastructure
2 35 (3.30%) VMware NSX
3 33 (3.11%) Firmware
4 28 (2.64%) Active Directory
5 16 (1.51%) VMware ESXi
5 16 (1.51%) vSphere
6 6 (0.56%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.38%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.19%) Docker
9 2 (0.19%) Squid
10 1 (0.094%) Citrix Presentation Server
10 1 (0.094%) FreeRADIUS
10 1 (0.094%) IAG
10 1 (0.094%) iptables
10 1 (0.094%) KVM
10 1 (0.094%) Snort
10 1 (0.094%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 96 (9.04%) Ansible
2 89 (8.38%) Terraform
3 80 (7.53%) FortiGate
4 11 (1.04%) Kubernetes
5 9 (0.85%) Cisco Prime
6 8 (0.75%) Grafana
7 6 (0.56%) Prometheus
8 5 (0.47%) Cisco CUCM
8 5 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (0.38%) Istio
9 4 (0.38%) Packer
9 4 (0.38%) Puppet
10 3 (0.28%) Nagios
11 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Intune
11 2 (0.19%) Nessus
11 2 (0.19%) SCCM
11 2 (0.19%) SCOM
11 2 (0.19%) systemd
11 2 (0.19%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.19%) WSUS
Vendors
1 566 (53.30%) Cisco
2 229 (21.56%) Palo Alto
3 189 (17.80%) F5
4 157 (14.78%) Fortinet
5 132 (12.43%) Juniper
6 94 (8.85%) VMware
7 78 (7.34%) CheckPoint
8 73 (6.87%) Arista
9 66 (6.21%) Aruba
10 55 (5.18%) Meraki
11 48 (4.52%) Microsoft
12 43 (4.05%) Zscaler
13 38 (3.58%) SolarWinds
14 35 (3.30%) Google
15 33 (3.11%) Infoblox
16 30 (2.82%) Blue Coat
17 25 (2.35%) ServiceNow
18 23 (2.17%) McAfee
19 20 (1.88%) Extreme Networks
20 19 (1.79%) Splunk