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 31 August 2026.

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

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 146 92
Rank change year-on-year +13 -54 +21
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,102 658 924
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.05% 2.00% 2.39%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.22% 2.19% 2.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 675 423 563
10th Percentile £313 £313 £300
25th Percentile £408 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £490
Median % change year-on-year - -3.06% +8.89%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £558
90th Percentile £625 £638 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £472 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -0.63% - +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 13 16
10th Percentile £29.00 £22.12 £19.25
25th Percentile £59.69 £32.50 £20.60
Median hourly rate £74.00 £57.50 £50.53
Median % change year-on-year +28.70% +13.79% -12.37%
75th Percentile £91.00 £68.75 £75.00
90th Percentile £92.53 £81.65 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £77.50 £41.50 £50.53
% change year-on-year +86.75% -17.87% -15.78%

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 49,691 30,076 35,928
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.46% 91.26% 93.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,638 19,002 22,670
10th Percentile £325 £280 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £620 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,580 1,568 1,839
10th Percentile £14.96 £13.73 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.51 £17.00 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% +1.96%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.78 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.41 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £44.04
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.89% +13.95%

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 31 August 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 31 August 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 31 August 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 -7 894 £480 -1.94% 253
UK excluding London -3 641 £472 -0.63% 185
London -9 322 £500 +1.78% 101
North of England +16 253 £498 +1.63% 43
Work from Home -20 225 £475 +1.33% 70
North West +17 177 £500 +5.26% 21
South East -49 118 £475 -5.00% 36
Midlands -13 105 £475 +21.79% 30
West Midlands -7 95 £475 +31.03% 16
Scotland +21 81 £400 -5.88% 10
Yorkshire -17 63 £450 -8.54% 16
South West -19 57 £550 -7.95% 33
East of England -3 43 £455 +16.29% 28
Wales +13 33 £425 - 10
North East -26 13 £600 - 6
East Midlands -13 8 £500 -16.67% 14
Northern Ireland +1 2 £488 -7.14% 1

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

For the 6 months to 31 August 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.

1 604 (54.81%) Cisco
2 441 (40.02%) Firewall
3 313 (28.40%) WAN
4 265 (24.05%) BGP
5 260 (23.59%) Security Cleared
6 244 (22.14%) Network Security
6 244 (22.14%) VPN
7 239 (21.69%) LAN
8 235 (21.32%) Cisco Certification
9 223 (20.24%) Palo Alto
10 206 (18.69%) Wireless
11 180 (16.33%) CCNP
12 178 (16.15%) DNS
13 176 (15.97%) SC Cleared
14 173 (15.70%) F5
15 168 (15.25%) OSPF
16 158 (14.34%) Fortinet
17 154 (13.97%) VLAN
18 143 (12.98%) Azure
19 138 (12.52%) Load Balancing
20 134 (12.16%) Migration
21 129 (11.71%) Python
22 118 (10.71%) SD-WAN
22 118 (10.71%) Wi-Fi
23 108 (9.80%) TCP/IP
24 99 (8.98%) Problem-Solving
25 98 (8.89%) Ansible
26 96 (8.71%) VMware
27 95 (8.62%) Project Delivery
28 93 (8.44%) CCNA

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 (0.73%) SAS
2 6 (0.54%) SharePoint
3 5 (0.45%) Confluence
3 5 (0.45%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.091%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.091%) CMS
4 1 (0.091%) FactoryTalk
4 1 (0.091%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.091%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 15 (1.36%) MS Visio
2 12 (1.09%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (0.36%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 143 (12.98%) Azure
2 88 (7.99%) AWS
3 47 (4.26%) GCP
4 37 (3.36%) GitHub
5 25 (2.27%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 16 (1.45%) Microsoft 365
7 14 (1.27%) AWS Direct Connect
8 12 (1.09%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 11 (1.00%) AWS CloudFormation
10 10 (0.91%) Entra ID
10 10 (0.91%) IaaS
11 8 (0.73%) GitHub Actions
11 8 (0.73%) Google Kubernetes Engine
12 7 (0.64%) Nutanix
13 6 (0.54%) Azure DevOps
13 6 (0.54%) Azure Sentinel
13 6 (0.54%) OCI
14 5 (0.45%) Amazon CloudWatch
14 5 (0.45%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (0.45%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 441 (40.02%) Firewall
2 313 (28.40%) WAN
3 265 (24.05%) BGP
4 244 (22.14%) Network Security
4 244 (22.14%) VPN
5 239 (21.69%) LAN
6 206 (18.69%) Wireless
7 178 (16.15%) DNS
8 168 (15.25%) OSPF
9 154 (13.97%) VLAN
10 118 (10.71%) SD-WAN
10 118 (10.71%) Wi-Fi
11 108 (9.80%) TCP/IP
12 76 (6.90%) Cisco ASA
12 76 (6.90%) DHCP
12 76 (6.90%) MPLS
13 75 (6.81%) Multicast
14 73 (6.62%) Cisco ISE
15 70 (6.35%) Cisco Nexus
16 64 (5.81%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.27%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.18%) GIS
3 1 (0.091%) ClickHouse
3 1 (0.091%) Oracle Reports
3 1 (0.091%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 31 (2.81%) Git
2 26 (2.36%) Jenkins
3 23 (2.09%) JIRA
4 15 (1.36%) Fiddler
4 15 (1.36%) GitLab
5 5 (0.45%) Sonatype Nexus
6 2 (0.18%) Browser DevTools
6 2 (0.18%) Robot Framework
General
1 132 (11.98%) Social Skills
2 85 (7.71%) Finance
3 67 (6.08%) Analytical Skills
4 66 (5.99%) Telecoms
5 63 (5.72%) Banking
6 54 (4.90%) Public Sector
7 34 (3.09%) Investment Banking
8 30 (2.72%) Documentation Skills
9 22 (2.00%) Legal
9 22 (2.00%) Retail
10 19 (1.72%) Manufacturing
11 9 (0.82%) Aerospace
11 9 (0.82%) Police
12 6 (0.54%) Financial Institution
12 6 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
13 5 (0.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 5 (0.45%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (0.36%) Automotive
14 4 (0.36%) Law
14 4 (0.36%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 92 (8.35%) Terraform
2 45 (4.08%) 802.1X
3 15 (1.36%) REST
4 8 (0.73%) NETCONF
4 8 (0.73%) SAML
5 5 (0.45%) JSON
5 5 (0.45%) YAML
6 3 (0.27%) Java RMI
6 3 (0.27%) LDAP
7 2 (0.18%) eBPF
7 2 (0.18%) Jinja
7 2 (0.18%) RFC 2544
8 1 (0.091%) AWS CDK
8 1 (0.091%) Django
8 1 (0.091%) ModSecurity
8 1 (0.091%) RESTCONF
8 1 (0.091%) XML
8 1 (0.091%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 194 (17.60%) Data Centre
2 40 (3.63%) Hybrid Cloud
3 28 (2.54%) PKI
4 25 (2.27%) Cloud Native
5 24 (2.18%) Driving Licence
6 19 (1.72%) Management Information System
7 18 (1.63%) Onboarding
8 16 (1.45%) Operational Technology
9 11 (1.00%) Data Protection Act
9 11 (1.00%) IoT
9 11 (1.00%) Public Cloud
9 11 (1.00%) Security Posture
10 10 (0.91%) Linux Command Line
10 10 (0.91%) Self-Motivation
11 8 (0.73%) Fibre Optics
12 7 (0.64%) CCTV
12 7 (0.64%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
12 7 (0.64%) Distributed Systems
13 6 (0.54%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
13 6 (0.54%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 70 (6.35%) Windows
2 53 (4.81%) Linux
3 13 (1.18%) Windows Server
4 6 (0.54%) VMS
5 5 (0.45%) Ubuntu
5 5 (0.45%) Unix
5 5 (0.45%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (0.36%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 4 (0.36%) zOS
7 3 (0.27%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (0.18%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.091%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.091%) Solaris
9 1 (0.091%) Windows 10
9 1 (0.091%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.091%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 138 (12.52%) Load Balancing
2 134 (12.16%) Migration
3 99 (8.98%) Problem-Solving
4 95 (8.62%) Project Delivery
5 88 (7.99%) High Availability
6 80 (7.26%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 78 (7.08%) Validation
8 75 (6.81%) ITIL
9 71 (6.44%) Network Design
10 70 (6.35%) Infrastructure as Code
11 65 (5.90%) Change Management
12 60 (5.44%) Network Monitoring
13 49 (4.45%) Zero Trust
14 46 (4.17%) Technical Leadership
15 43 (3.90%) CI/CD
16 41 (3.72%) Continuous Improvement
17 40 (3.63%) DevOps
18 37 (3.36%) Network Segmentation
18 37 (3.36%) Stakeholder Engagement
19 36 (3.27%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 129 (11.71%) Python
2 25 (2.27%) Bash
3 17 (1.54%) PowerShell
4 7 (0.64%) ActionScript
5 6 (0.54%) C++
5 6 (0.54%) SQL
6 3 (0.27%) C
6 3 (0.27%) Java
7 2 (0.18%) Bicep
7 2 (0.18%) Go
7 2 (0.18%) Groovy
7 2 (0.18%) Perl
7 2 (0.18%) Search Processing Language
7 2 (0.18%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.091%) Lisp
Qualifications
1 260 (23.59%) Security Cleared
2 235 (21.32%) Cisco Certification
3 180 (16.33%) CCNP
4 176 (15.97%) SC Cleared
5 93 (8.44%) CCNA
6 81 (7.35%) DV Cleared
7 46 (4.17%) CCIE
8 32 (2.90%) Degree
9 13 (1.18%) CISSP
10 12 (1.09%) JNCIS
11 9 (0.82%) JNCIP
11 9 (0.82%) Network+ Certification
12 8 (0.73%) CCSE
12 8 (0.73%) Computer Science Degree
13 6 (0.54%) CCIE Security
13 6 (0.54%) CWNA
13 6 (0.54%) DBS Check
13 6 (0.54%) JNCIA
14 5 (0.45%) CCIE Wireless
14 5 (0.45%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (2.18%) SLA
2 13 (1.18%) QA
3 10 (0.91%) NIST
4 7 (0.64%) Disclosure Scotland
4 7 (0.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.27%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.18%) Data Quality
6 2 (0.18%) GDPR
6 2 (0.18%) JSP 440
7 1 (0.091%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.091%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.091%) GRC
7 1 (0.091%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 1 (0.091%) NIST 800
System Software
1 71 (6.44%) VMware Infrastructure
2 32 (2.90%) Firmware
3 30 (2.72%) VMware NSX
4 28 (2.54%) Active Directory
5 12 (1.09%) vSphere
6 11 (1.00%) VMware ESXi
7 7 (0.64%) Hyper-V
8 5 (0.45%) Virtual Machines
9 3 (0.27%) Docker
9 3 (0.27%) FreeRADIUS
10 2 (0.18%) Squid
10 2 (0.18%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.091%) iptables
11 1 (0.091%) Snort
11 1 (0.091%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 98 (8.89%) Ansible
2 70 (6.35%) FortiGate
3 28 (2.54%) Kubernetes
4 14 (1.27%) Cisco Prime
5 9 (0.82%) Istio
6 6 (0.54%) Cisco CUCM
6 6 (0.54%) Grafana
6 6 (0.54%) Prometheus
6 6 (0.54%) Puppet
7 5 (0.45%) Cilium
8 4 (0.36%) Microsoft Intune
8 4 (0.36%) Nagios
8 4 (0.36%) Packer
8 4 (0.36%) Progress Chef
8 4 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
8 4 (0.36%) systemd
8 4 (0.36%) vRealize
9 3 (0.27%) TrustSec
10 2 (0.18%) SCCM
10 2 (0.18%) SCOM
Vendors
1 604 (54.81%) Cisco
2 223 (20.24%) Palo Alto
3 173 (15.70%) F5
4 158 (14.34%) Fortinet
5 96 (8.71%) VMware
6 92 (8.35%) Juniper
7 80 (7.26%) CheckPoint
8 73 (6.62%) Arista
9 67 (6.08%) Meraki
10 63 (5.72%) Aruba
11 56 (5.08%) Microsoft
12 44 (3.99%) Zscaler
13 36 (3.27%) SolarWinds
14 29 (2.63%) Google
15 26 (2.36%) Infoblox
16 25 (2.27%) Blue Coat
16 25 (2.27%) Nokia
17 24 (2.18%) ServiceNow
18 19 (1.72%) McAfee
18 19 (1.72%) NetApp