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 2 March 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 158 115 86
Rank change year-on-year -43 -29 +70
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 724 707 1,054
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.75% 2.34% 2.36%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.91% 2.52% 2.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 485 420 622
10th Percentile £296 £313 £300
25th Percentile £400 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £460
Median % change year-on-year - +3.26% -2.13%
75th Percentile £525 £575 £538
90th Percentile £588 £638 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £458 £450
% change year-on-year +2.62% +1.67% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 12 6 34
10th Percentile £21.98 £19.25 £23.55
25th Percentile £33.00 - £33.06
Median hourly rate £52.58 £20.00 £53.75
Median % change year-on-year +162.90% -62.79% -14.99%
75th Percentile £72.13 £33.50 £71.42
90th Percentile £74.09 £42.75 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £56.44 £20.00 £65.98
% change year-on-year +182.20% -69.69% +6.42%

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 38,005 28,021 41,486
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.82% 92.83% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,844 17,678 27,270
10th Percentile £310 £288 £275
25th Percentile £409 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,343 846 2,411
10th Percentile £14.82 £16.25 £13.05
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.50 £34.06 £34.25
Median % change year-on-year -1.63% -0.57% -14.38%
75th Percentile £64.00 £64.74 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.38 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year - -7.14% -7.03%

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 2 March 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 2 March 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 2 March 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 -48 604 £475 -3.06% 316
UK excluding London -40 456 £470 +2.62% 315
Work from Home -15 215 £425 -10.53% 85
London -62 193 £500 - 79
South East +12 155 £475 -5.00% 88
North of England -55 150 £481 +1.32% 57
North West -24 126 £486 -0.89% 29
Midlands -17 79 £429 -4.72% 55
West Midlands +4 74 £400 -9.35% 29
Scotland +16 43 £418 +0.91% 19
East of England -24 27 £381 +26.03% 30
Yorkshire -67 24 £440 +10.00% 21
South West -53 23 £506 +7.14% 44
Wales -7 19 £525 +50.00% 20
East Midlands -47 3 £500 +11.11% 26
Northern Ireland - 2 £430 - 6
North East -13 1 - - 7

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

For the 6 months to 2 March 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.

1 401 (55.39%) Cisco
2 356 (49.17%) Firewall
3 254 (35.08%) Security Cleared
4 200 (27.62%) Cisco Certification
5 198 (27.35%) WAN
6 185 (25.55%) SC Cleared
7 183 (25.28%) Palo Alto
8 176 (24.31%) LAN
9 170 (23.48%) BGP
9 170 (23.48%) CCNP
10 163 (22.51%) VPN
11 151 (20.86%) Network Security
12 134 (18.51%) DNS
13 130 (17.96%) F5
14 121 (16.71%) Juniper
15 120 (16.57%) OSPF
16 108 (14.92%) TCP/IP
17 106 (14.64%) Load Balancing
18 98 (13.54%) VLAN
19 94 (12.98%) Python
20 89 (12.29%) CCNA
21 85 (11.74%) Problem-Solving
22 82 (11.33%) Wireless
23 78 (10.77%) Ansible
24 77 (10.64%) Wi-Fi
25 76 (10.50%) CheckPoint
26 75 (10.36%) Azure
26 75 (10.36%) VMware
27 72 (9.94%) DV Cleared
27 72 (9.94%) MPLS

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 10 (1.38%) SharePoint
2 7 (0.97%) Confluence
3 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.69%) Apache
4 5 (0.69%) IIS
Applications
1 20 (2.76%) MS Visio
2 7 (0.97%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (0.41%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 75 (10.36%) Azure
2 69 (9.53%) AWS
3 38 (5.25%) GCP
4 16 (2.21%) Entra ID
4 16 (2.21%) GitHub
4 16 (2.21%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 10 (1.38%) Microsoft 365
6 8 (1.10%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 8 (1.10%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 7 (0.97%) Nutanix
8 5 (0.69%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 5 (0.69%) Amazon EC2
8 5 (0.69%) Amazon ELB
8 5 (0.69%) Amazon S3
8 5 (0.69%) AWS Direct Connect
8 5 (0.69%) IaaS
8 5 (0.69%) Mimecast
8 5 (0.69%) SaaS
9 4 (0.55%) Google Compute Engine
9 4 (0.55%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 356 (49.17%) Firewall
2 198 (27.35%) WAN
3 176 (24.31%) LAN
4 170 (23.48%) BGP
5 163 (22.51%) VPN
6 151 (20.86%) Network Security
7 134 (18.51%) DNS
8 120 (16.57%) OSPF
9 108 (14.92%) TCP/IP
10 98 (13.54%) VLAN
11 82 (11.33%) Wireless
12 77 (10.64%) Wi-Fi
13 72 (9.94%) MPLS
14 68 (9.39%) Cisco ISE
15 64 (8.84%) SSL
16 62 (8.56%) SD-WAN
17 61 (8.43%) Cisco Nexus
18 53 (7.32%) IPsec
19 49 (6.77%) BIG-IP
19 49 (6.77%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.41%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.28%) SQL Server Integration Services
3 1 (0.14%) Oracle Database
Development Applications
1 30 (4.14%) Fiddler
2 22 (3.04%) Git
3 17 (2.35%) Jenkins
4 14 (1.93%) JIRA
5 10 (1.38%) GitLab
5 10 (1.38%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.14%) ClearCase
6 1 (0.14%) Jaeger
General
1 137 (18.92%) Social Skills
2 54 (7.46%) Public Sector
3 45 (6.22%) Banking
4 44 (6.08%) Documentation Skills
5 42 (5.80%) Finance
6 38 (5.25%) Telecoms
7 37 (5.11%) Investment Banking
8 33 (4.56%) Analytical Skills
9 22 (3.04%) Manufacturing
10 20 (2.76%) Legal
11 8 (1.10%) Local Government
12 7 (0.97%) Law
13 6 (0.83%) Military
13 6 (0.83%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.69%) Financial Institution
14 5 (0.69%) Retail
15 4 (0.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 3 (0.41%) Influencing Skills
16 3 (0.41%) Marketing
16 3 (0.41%) Spanish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (5.39%) 802.1X
2 11 (1.52%) SAML
3 8 (1.10%) LDAP
4 5 (0.69%) RFC 2544
5 4 (0.55%) Middleware
5 4 (0.55%) VML
6 3 (0.41%) CSS
6 3 (0.41%) HTML
6 3 (0.41%) JSON
6 3 (0.41%) REST
7 2 (0.28%) Django
7 2 (0.28%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.28%) OpenTelemetry
7 2 (0.28%) XML
7 2 (0.28%) YANG
8 1 (0.14%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.14%) AWS CDK
8 1 (0.14%) Loki
8 1 (0.14%) OpenConfig
8 1 (0.14%) Ultra Messaging
Miscellaneous
1 160 (22.10%) Data Centre
2 24 (3.31%) Data Protection Act
2 24 (3.31%) Management Information System
3 20 (2.76%) Operational Technology
4 18 (2.49%) PKI
5 17 (2.35%) Onboarding
5 17 (2.35%) Security Posture
6 13 (1.80%) Hybrid Cloud
6 13 (1.80%) NHS
7 11 (1.52%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (1.10%) Clustering
8 8 (1.10%) Public Cloud
9 7 (0.97%) Fibre Optics
10 6 (0.83%) Hedge funds
11 5 (0.69%) Cloud Native
11 5 (0.69%) IoT
12 4 (0.55%) CMDB
12 4 (0.55%) Mainframe
12 4 (0.55%) SCADA
12 4 (0.55%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 58 (8.01%) Windows
2 33 (4.56%) Linux
3 27 (3.73%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.55%) CatOS
4 4 (0.55%) Unix
5 3 (0.41%) zOS
6 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
6 1 (0.14%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 106 (14.64%) Load Balancing
2 85 (11.74%) Problem-Solving
3 65 (8.98%) Network Design
4 58 (8.01%) Migration
5 56 (7.73%) High Availability
6 55 (7.60%) Network Monitoring
7 43 (5.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 42 (5.80%) Project Delivery
9 40 (5.52%) Change Management
10 37 (5.11%) Network Architecture
11 36 (4.97%) ITIL
11 36 (4.97%) ITSM
12 35 (4.83%) DevOps
13 33 (4.56%) Network Management
14 32 (4.42%) Stakeholder Management
15 31 (4.28%) Root Cause Analysis
16 29 (4.01%) Collaborative Working
16 29 (4.01%) Infrastructure as Code
17 28 (3.87%) Cybersecurity
17 28 (3.87%) Malware Detection/Protection
Programming Languages
1 94 (12.98%) Python
2 27 (3.73%) Bash
3 13 (1.80%) PowerShell
4 10 (1.38%) Perl
5 8 (1.10%) Lisp
6 7 (0.97%) SQL
7 3 (0.41%) C++
7 3 (0.41%) Java
7 3 (0.41%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.28%) Go
9 1 (0.14%) ActionScript
9 1 (0.14%) Bicep
9 1 (0.14%) C
9 1 (0.14%) Korn
9 1 (0.14%) PHP
9 1 (0.14%) Ruby
9 1 (0.14%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 254 (35.08%) Security Cleared
2 200 (27.62%) Cisco Certification
3 185 (25.55%) SC Cleared
4 170 (23.48%) CCNP
5 89 (12.29%) CCNA
6 72 (9.94%) DV Cleared
7 31 (4.28%) Degree
8 29 (4.01%) JNCIS
9 28 (3.87%) CCIE
10 23 (3.18%) JNCIA
11 20 (2.76%) JNCIP
12 14 (1.93%) Network+ Certification
13 9 (1.24%) Computer Science Degree
14 4 (0.55%) CISSP
14 4 (0.55%) DBS Check
15 3 (0.41%) AWS Certification
15 3 (0.41%) CCDP
15 3 (0.41%) GIAC
15 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Certification
15 3 (0.41%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (1.38%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 10 (1.38%) NIST
2 8 (1.10%) SLA
3 7 (0.97%) PCI DSS
4 6 (0.83%) GDPR
5 4 (0.55%) QA
6 3 (0.41%) Actionable Recommendations
6 3 (0.41%) GRC
7 2 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.28%) Disclosure Scotland
7 2 (0.28%) NCSC
7 2 (0.28%) PMO
8 1 (0.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 1 (0.14%) HMG Security Policy Framework
8 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.14%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.14%) SOC 2
System Software
1 46 (6.35%) VMware NSX
2 45 (6.22%) VMware Infrastructure
3 37 (5.11%) Active Directory
4 30 (4.14%) Firmware
5 11 (1.52%) Docker
6 8 (1.10%) Hyper-V
7 5 (0.69%) ProxySG
7 5 (0.69%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (0.69%) vSphere
8 3 (0.41%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.28%) KVM
9 2 (0.28%) vCloud
9 2 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.14%) Citrix Presentation Server
10 1 (0.14%) IAG
10 1 (0.14%) RACF
10 1 (0.14%) RHEV
10 1 (0.14%) Xen
Systems Management
1 78 (10.77%) Ansible
2 53 (7.32%) FortiGate
3 41 (5.66%) Terraform
4 19 (2.62%) vCenter Server
5 11 (1.52%) Grafana
6 10 (1.38%) Prometheus
6 10 (1.38%) Single Sign-On
7 8 (1.10%) Nagios
8 7 (0.97%) Cisco Prime
9 6 (0.83%) Microsoft Intune
10 4 (0.55%) CASB
10 4 (0.55%) Kubernetes
10 4 (0.55%) Tivoli NetView
11 3 (0.41%) Dell DRAC
11 3 (0.41%) SCCM
11 3 (0.41%) SCOrch
12 2 (0.28%) Salt
12 2 (0.28%) WSUS
13 1 (0.14%) Norton AntiVirus
13 1 (0.14%) OMEGAMON
Vendors
1 401 (55.39%) Cisco
2 183 (25.28%) Palo Alto
3 130 (17.96%) F5
4 121 (16.71%) Juniper
5 76 (10.50%) CheckPoint
6 75 (10.36%) VMware
7 69 (9.53%) Aruba
8 63 (8.70%) SolarWinds
9 62 (8.56%) Fortinet
10 54 (7.46%) Meraki
11 48 (6.63%) Blue Coat
12 41 (5.66%) McAfee
13 39 (5.39%) Microsoft
14 33 (4.56%) Arista
15 23 (3.18%) NetApp
15 23 (3.18%) ServiceNow
16 22 (3.04%) Splunk
17 18 (2.49%) Nokia
18 17 (2.35%) Ekahau
18 17 (2.35%) Zscaler