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 9 May 2026.

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

6 months to
9 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 131 90
Rank change year-on-year -5 -41 +51
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 928 638 1,015
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.94% 2.19% 2.35%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.11% 2.36% 2.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 604 388 617
10th Percentile £303 £321 £300
25th Percentile £400 £398 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £460
Median % change year-on-year - +3.26% -2.65%
75th Percentile £544 £552 £538
90th Percentile £600 £613 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £460 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +2.22% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 5 22
10th Percentile £44.86 £31.10 £18.72
25th Percentile £56.44 £50.00 £24.25
Median hourly rate £73.00 £57.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +26.96% +43.75% -36.74%
75th Percentile £78.75 £68.75 £73.75
90th Percentile - £73.25 £75.09
UK excluding London median hourly rate £75.25 £45.75 £72.50
% change year-on-year +64.48% -36.90% +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 44,026 26,985 39,997
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.25% 92.51% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,063 17,602 26,016
10th Percentile £319 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.46% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £493 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.68% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,846 1,048 2,675
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.50 £16.28
Median hourly rate £44.00 £28.68 £36.65
Median % change year-on-year +53.44% -21.76% -18.56%
75th Percentile £67.25 £62.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.74
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.68 £27.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +66.12% -31.25% -5.88%

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 9 May 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 9 May 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 9 May 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 -9 774 £475 -3.46% 264
UK excluding London -10 570 £460 +2.22% 238
London -38 239 £500 - 79
Work from Home -5 228 £440 -7.37% 85
South East +5 188 £466 -6.75% 75
North of England -43 162 £472 -3.67% 59
North West -15 130 £474 -1.76% 35
Midlands +7 109 £431 +1.47% 35
West Midlands +18 102 £423 +53.64% 32
East of England -9 46 £453 -4.74% 16
Scotland +17 45 £413 +3.13% 18
South West -31 44 £533 +10.18% 23
Wales -7 26 £425 +21.43% 15
Yorkshire -60 24 £450 -8.54% 16
North East -12 8 £600 +108.70% 8
East Midlands -43 3 £500 +11.11% 3
Northern Ireland - 2 £468 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 9 May 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.

1 501 (53.99%) Cisco
2 409 (44.07%) Firewall
3 299 (32.22%) Security Cleared
4 246 (26.51%) WAN
5 235 (25.32%) Palo Alto
6 233 (25.11%) BGP
7 232 (25.00%) Cisco Certification
8 220 (23.71%) LAN
9 216 (23.28%) SC Cleared
10 202 (21.77%) Network Security
11 197 (21.23%) VPN
12 189 (20.37%) CCNP
13 182 (19.61%) F5
14 165 (17.78%) OSPF
15 162 (17.46%) DNS
16 136 (14.66%) Load Balancing
17 128 (13.79%) VLAN
18 121 (13.04%) Juniper
19 115 (12.39%) Wireless
20 113 (12.18%) Fortinet
21 104 (11.21%) TCP/IP
22 102 (10.99%) Azure
23 96 (10.34%) Problem-Solving
24 95 (10.24%) CCNA
25 94 (10.13%) DV Cleared
25 94 (10.13%) Python
26 93 (10.02%) SD-WAN
27 91 (9.81%) Migration
28 90 (9.70%) VMware
29 87 (9.38%) Aruba

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 (0.86%) Confluence
2 5 (0.54%) Apache
2 5 (0.54%) IIS
3 4 (0.43%) Microsoft Exchange
4 3 (0.32%) SharePoint
5 1 (0.11%) CMS
5 1 (0.11%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 16 (1.72%) MS Visio
2 7 (0.75%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.11%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 102 (10.99%) Azure
2 76 (8.19%) AWS
3 52 (5.60%) GCP
4 24 (2.59%) GitHub
5 16 (1.72%) Entra ID
6 14 (1.51%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 11 (1.19%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 9 (0.97%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 9 (0.97%) Microsoft 365
8 9 (0.97%) Nutanix
9 6 (0.65%) AWS Direct Connect
9 6 (0.65%) Azure Sentinel
9 6 (0.65%) Google Compute Engine
9 6 (0.65%) Mimecast
9 6 (0.65%) Route 53
10 5 (0.54%) OCI
11 4 (0.43%) SaaS
12 3 (0.32%) Catchpoint
12 3 (0.32%) GitHub Actions
12 3 (0.32%) Google Ads
Communications & Networking
1 409 (44.07%) Firewall
2 246 (26.51%) WAN
3 233 (25.11%) BGP
4 220 (23.71%) LAN
5 202 (21.77%) Network Security
6 197 (21.23%) VPN
7 165 (17.78%) OSPF
8 162 (17.46%) DNS
9 128 (13.79%) VLAN
10 115 (12.39%) Wireless
11 104 (11.21%) TCP/IP
12 93 (10.02%) SD-WAN
13 81 (8.73%) Cisco Nexus
14 80 (8.62%) Wi-Fi
15 71 (7.65%) MPLS
16 68 (7.33%) BIG-IP
17 65 (7.00%) IPsec
18 64 (6.90%) Cisco ISE
18 64 (6.90%) Multicast
19 57 (6.14%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.32%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (0.11%) ClickHouse
3 1 (0.11%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 28 (3.02%) Fiddler
2 20 (2.16%) Git
3 18 (1.94%) JIRA
4 17 (1.83%) Jenkins
5 10 (1.08%) Sonatype Nexus
6 8 (0.86%) GitLab
7 2 (0.22%) Browser DevTools
8 1 (0.11%) Jaeger
General
1 130 (14.01%) Social Skills
2 56 (6.03%) Banking
3 46 (4.96%) Finance
4 44 (4.74%) Documentation Skills
5 43 (4.63%) Analytical Skills
6 42 (4.53%) Public Sector
7 40 (4.31%) Investment Banking
8 38 (4.09%) Telecoms
9 28 (3.02%) Manufacturing
10 22 (2.37%) Legal
11 17 (1.83%) Retail
12 10 (1.08%) Aerospace
12 10 (1.08%) Law
13 7 (0.75%) Military
14 6 (0.65%) Police
14 6 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
15 5 (0.54%) Financial Institution
16 4 (0.43%) Local Government
17 3 (0.32%) Influencing Skills
17 3 (0.32%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (4.74%) 802.1X
2 12 (1.29%) SAML
3 11 (1.19%) LDAP
4 7 (0.75%) REST
5 4 (0.43%) VML
6 3 (0.32%) CSS
6 3 (0.32%) HTML
6 3 (0.32%) JSON
7 2 (0.22%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.22%) Django
7 2 (0.22%) Jinja
7 2 (0.22%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.22%) OpenTelemetry
7 2 (0.22%) RFC 2544
8 1 (0.11%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.11%) Loki
8 1 (0.11%) XML
8 1 (0.11%) XMPP
8 1 (0.11%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 195 (21.01%) Data Centre
2 27 (2.91%) Data Protection Act
3 24 (2.59%) Hybrid Cloud
3 24 (2.59%) Management Information System
4 22 (2.37%) PKI
5 15 (1.62%) Operational Technology
6 14 (1.51%) Security Posture
7 12 (1.29%) NHS
7 12 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
8 11 (1.19%) Onboarding
9 9 (0.97%) Cloud Native
9 9 (0.97%) Clustering
10 8 (0.86%) Public Cloud
11 5 (0.54%) CCTV
11 5 (0.54%) CMDB
11 5 (0.54%) IoT
11 5 (0.54%) Virtual Team
12 4 (0.43%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 4 (0.43%) Enterprise Cloud
12 4 (0.43%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 61 (6.57%) Windows
2 37 (3.99%) Linux
3 14 (1.51%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.75%) Unix
5 4 (0.43%) CatOS
5 4 (0.43%) VMS
5 4 (0.43%) zOS
6 1 (0.11%) Data ONTAP
6 1 (0.11%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.11%) Solaris
6 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
6 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 136 (14.66%) Load Balancing
2 96 (10.34%) Problem-Solving
3 91 (9.81%) Migration
4 85 (9.16%) High Availability
5 67 (7.22%) Network Monitoring
6 63 (6.79%) Network Design
7 54 (5.82%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 54 (5.82%) Project Delivery
8 53 (5.71%) ITIL
9 49 (5.28%) Change Management
10 46 (4.96%) Validation
11 43 (4.63%) Infrastructure as Code
12 40 (4.31%) Network Management
13 39 (4.20%) Data Protection
14 35 (3.77%) ITSM
14 35 (3.77%) Technical Leadership
15 34 (3.66%) DevOps
16 32 (3.45%) Zero Trust
17 31 (3.34%) Cloud Security
17 31 (3.34%) Collaborative Working
Programming Languages
1 94 (10.13%) Python
2 14 (1.51%) Bash
3 9 (0.97%) SQL
4 6 (0.65%) PowerShell
5 4 (0.43%) Java
6 3 (0.32%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.22%) ActionScript
7 2 (0.22%) Bicep
7 2 (0.22%) C
7 2 (0.22%) C++
7 2 (0.22%) Go
8 1 (0.11%) Korn
8 1 (0.11%) Lisp
8 1 (0.11%) Perl
8 1 (0.11%) PHP
8 1 (0.11%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 299 (32.22%) Security Cleared
2 232 (25.00%) Cisco Certification
3 216 (23.28%) SC Cleared
4 189 (20.37%) CCNP
5 95 (10.24%) CCNA
6 94 (10.13%) DV Cleared
7 41 (4.42%) Degree
8 30 (3.23%) CCIE
9 26 (2.80%) JNCIS
10 22 (2.37%) JNCIA
11 16 (1.72%) JNCIP
12 15 (1.62%) Network+ Certification
13 11 (1.19%) Computer Science Degree
14 6 (0.65%) Azure Certification
14 6 (0.65%) CompTIA Security+
15 5 (0.54%) CCSE
16 4 (0.43%) AWS Certification
16 4 (0.43%) CWNA
16 4 (0.43%) DBS Check
17 3 (0.32%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (1.40%) SLA
2 8 (0.86%) NIST
2 8 (0.86%) QA
3 7 (0.75%) Disclosure Scotland
4 6 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 5 (0.54%) PCI DSS
6 4 (0.43%) Actionable Recommendations
7 3 (0.32%) GDPR
7 3 (0.32%) GRC
7 3 (0.32%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.22%) NCSC
8 2 (0.22%) PMO
9 1 (0.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.11%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 64 (6.90%) VMware Infrastructure
2 42 (4.53%) VMware NSX
3 32 (3.45%) Firmware
4 26 (2.80%) Active Directory
5 9 (0.97%) VMware ESXi
6 7 (0.75%) vSphere
7 6 (0.65%) Hyper-V
8 5 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.22%) KVM
10 2 (0.22%) ProxySG
10 2 (0.22%) vCloud
11 1 (0.11%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.11%) Docker
11 1 (0.11%) IAG
11 1 (0.11%) iptables
11 1 (0.11%) RHEV
11 1 (0.11%) Snort
11 1 (0.11%) Xen
Systems Management
1 86 (9.27%) Ansible
2 66 (7.11%) Terraform
3 63 (6.79%) FortiGate
4 11 (1.19%) Grafana
4 11 (1.19%) Single Sign-On
5 9 (0.97%) Cisco Prime
5 9 (0.97%) Prometheus
6 6 (0.65%) Kubernetes
6 6 (0.65%) Microsoft Intune
6 6 (0.65%) Nagios
7 4 (0.43%) Tivoli NetView
7 4 (0.43%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.32%) WSUS
9 2 (0.22%) Salt
9 2 (0.22%) SCOM
10 1 (0.11%) Avamar
10 1 (0.11%) CASB
10 1 (0.11%) Iperf
10 1 (0.11%) Proxmox
10 1 (0.11%) Suricata
Vendors
1 501 (53.99%) Cisco
2 235 (25.32%) Palo Alto
3 182 (19.61%) F5
4 121 (13.04%) Juniper
5 113 (12.18%) Fortinet
6 90 (9.70%) VMware
7 87 (9.38%) Aruba
8 86 (9.27%) CheckPoint
9 57 (6.14%) Arista
10 50 (5.39%) Meraki
11 46 (4.96%) SolarWinds
12 41 (4.42%) Microsoft
13 36 (3.88%) Blue Coat
14 31 (3.34%) McAfee
15 28 (3.02%) Google
15 28 (3.02%) Infoblox
16 25 (2.69%) Zscaler
17 23 (2.48%) NetApp
17 23 (2.48%) ServiceNow
18 20 (2.16%) Extreme Networks