Network Engineer Contract Job Trends

Network Engineer
UK

The median Network Engineer daily rate in the UK is £474, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 13 May 2026.

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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 128 91
Rank change year-on-year -4 -37 +42
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 929 633 1,009
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.97% 2.18% 2.36%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.13% 2.36% 2.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 606 383 615
10th Percentile £303 £325 £296
25th Percentile £400 £396 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £474 £475 £460
Median % change year-on-year -0.17% +3.26% -2.18%
75th Percentile £542 £550 £538
90th Percentile £600 £613 £645
UK excluding London median daily rate £458 £450 £450
% change year-on-year +1.83% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 5 21
10th Percentile £44.86 £31.10 £18.50
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 £75.24
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 43,568 26,796 39,671
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.46% 92.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,699 17,460 25,789
10th Percentile £320 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.21% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,848 1,033 2,665
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.20 £16.30
Median hourly rate £43.85 £28.18 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +55.59% -24.85% -16.67%
75th Percentile £66.50 £62.25 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.26
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £27.24 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.21% -31.91% -4.94%

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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -12 773 £475 -3.06% 286
UK excluding London -10 567 £458 +1.83% 274
London -37 242 £500 - 79
Work from Home -5 229 £445 -6.32% 79
South East +10 183 £463 -7.50% 80
North of England -43 163 £472 -3.67% 69
North West -12 131 £473 -3.47% 38
Midlands +12 109 £431 +1.47% 36
West Midlands +17 102 £425 +54.55% 25
East of England +1 47 £450 -5.26% 27
Scotland +21 45 £413 +3.13% 20
South West -29 43 £533 +12.80% 26
Wales -5 27 £425 +21.43% 16
Yorkshire -61 24 £450 -8.54% 21
North East -13 8 £600 +108.70% 10
East Midlands -39 3 £500 +11.11% 11
Northern Ireland - 2 £468 - 4

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

For the 6 months to 13 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.

1 496 (53.39%) Cisco
2 403 (43.38%) Firewall
3 294 (31.65%) Security Cleared
4 248 (26.70%) WAN
5 235 (25.30%) Palo Alto
6 232 (24.97%) Cisco Certification
7 230 (24.76%) BGP
8 221 (23.79%) LAN
9 214 (23.04%) SC Cleared
10 198 (21.31%) Network Security
11 197 (21.21%) VPN
12 189 (20.34%) CCNP
13 181 (19.48%) F5
14 163 (17.55%) DNS
15 161 (17.33%) OSPF
16 136 (14.64%) Load Balancing
17 127 (13.67%) VLAN
18 115 (12.38%) Fortinet
18 115 (12.38%) Juniper
19 114 (12.27%) Wireless
20 106 (11.41%) TCP/IP
21 104 (11.19%) Azure
22 96 (10.33%) Problem-Solving
23 95 (10.23%) Migration
24 94 (10.12%) Python
25 93 (10.01%) SD-WAN
26 92 (9.90%) VMware
27 91 (9.80%) CCNA
28 90 (9.69%) DV Cleared
29 87 (9.36%) 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 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
1 104 (11.19%) Azure
2 76 (8.18%) AWS
3 54 (5.81%) GCP
4 25 (2.69%) GitHub
5 16 (1.72%) Entra ID
6 14 (1.51%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 11 (1.18%) Google Kubernetes Engine
8 9 (0.97%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 9 (0.97%) Microsoft 365
8 9 (0.97%) Nutanix
9 7 (0.75%) Azure Sentinel
10 6 (0.65%) AWS Direct Connect
10 6 (0.65%) Google Compute Engine
10 6 (0.65%) Mimecast
10 6 (0.65%) Route 53
11 5 (0.54%) OCI
12 4 (0.43%) SaaS
13 3 (0.32%) Catchpoint
13 3 (0.32%) GitHub Actions
13 3 (0.32%) Google Ads
Communications & Networking
1 403 (43.38%) Firewall
2 248 (26.70%) WAN
3 230 (24.76%) BGP
4 221 (23.79%) LAN
5 198 (21.31%) Network Security
6 197 (21.21%) VPN
7 163 (17.55%) DNS
8 161 (17.33%) OSPF
9 127 (13.67%) VLAN
10 114 (12.27%) Wireless
11 106 (11.41%) TCP/IP
12 93 (10.01%) SD-WAN
13 84 (9.04%) Wi-Fi
14 81 (8.72%) Cisco Nexus
15 69 (7.43%) MPLS
16 68 (7.32%) BIG-IP
17 64 (6.89%) IPsec
17 64 (6.89%) Multicast
18 62 (6.67%) Cisco ISE
19 58 (6.24%) 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 (3.01%) Fiddler
2 20 (2.15%) Git
3 18 (1.94%) Jenkins
3 18 (1.94%) JIRA
4 10 (1.08%) Sonatype Nexus
5 8 (0.86%) GitLab
6 2 (0.22%) Browser DevTools
7 1 (0.11%) Jaeger
General
1 124 (13.35%) Social Skills
2 56 (6.03%) Banking
3 48 (5.17%) Finance
4 45 (4.84%) Analytical Skills
5 42 (4.52%) Documentation Skills
6 40 (4.31%) Investment Banking
6 40 (4.31%) Public Sector
7 37 (3.98%) Telecoms
8 28 (3.01%) Manufacturing
9 20 (2.15%) Legal
10 17 (1.83%) Retail
11 10 (1.08%) Aerospace
11 10 (1.08%) Law
12 7 (0.75%) Military
13 6 (0.65%) Police
13 6 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
14 5 (0.54%) Financial Institution
15 3 (0.32%) Influencing Skills
16 2 (0.22%) Billing
16 2 (0.22%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 44 (4.74%) 802.1X
2 12 (1.29%) SAML
3 11 (1.18%) 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%) Loki
8 1 (0.11%) XML
8 1 (0.11%) XMPP
8 1 (0.11%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 201 (21.64%) Data Centre
2 27 (2.91%) Data Protection Act
3 24 (2.58%) Hybrid Cloud
3 24 (2.58%) Management Information System
4 21 (2.26%) PKI
5 15 (1.61%) Operational Technology
6 14 (1.51%) Security Posture
7 12 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
8 11 (1.18%) Onboarding
9 10 (1.08%) NHS
10 9 (0.97%) Cloud Native
10 9 (0.97%) Clustering
11 8 (0.86%) Public Cloud
12 6 (0.65%) CCTV
13 5 (0.54%) CMDB
13 5 (0.54%) IoT
13 5 (0.54%) Virtual Team
14 4 (0.43%) Enterprise Cloud
14 4 (0.43%) Enterprise Software
14 4 (0.43%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 63 (6.78%) Windows
2 38 (4.09%) Linux
3 14 (1.51%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.75%) Unix
5 5 (0.54%) VMS
6 4 (0.43%) CatOS
6 4 (0.43%) zOS
7 1 (0.11%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.11%) Mac OS
7 1 (0.11%) Solaris
7 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
7 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2012
7 1 (0.11%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 136 (14.64%) Load Balancing
2 96 (10.33%) Problem-Solving
3 95 (10.23%) Migration
4 82 (8.83%) High Availability
5 66 (7.10%) Network Monitoring
6 62 (6.67%) Network Design
7 55 (5.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 55 (5.92%) ITIL
8 54 (5.81%) Project Delivery
9 48 (5.17%) Change Management
10 45 (4.84%) Validation
11 44 (4.74%) Infrastructure as Code
12 40 (4.31%) Network Management
13 39 (4.20%) Data Protection
14 35 (3.77%) DevOps
14 35 (3.77%) Technical Leadership
15 33 (3.55%) ITSM
16 32 (3.44%) Zero Trust
17 31 (3.34%) Cloud Security
18 30 (3.23%) Data Loss Prevention
Programming Languages
1 94 (10.12%) Python
2 14 (1.51%) Bash
3 9 (0.97%) SQL
4 5 (0.54%) 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
1 294 (31.65%) Security Cleared
2 232 (24.97%) Cisco Certification
3 214 (23.04%) SC Cleared
4 189 (20.34%) CCNP
5 91 (9.80%) CCNA
6 90 (9.69%) DV Cleared
7 41 (4.41%) Degree
8 32 (3.44%) CCIE
9 22 (2.37%) JNCIS
10 19 (2.05%) JNCIA
11 15 (1.61%) Network+ Certification
12 13 (1.40%) JNCIP
13 11 (1.18%) Computer Science Degree
14 6 (0.65%) Azure Certification
14 6 (0.65%) CCSE
14 6 (0.65%) CompTIA Security+
15 4 (0.43%) AWS Certification
15 4 (0.43%) CCSM
15 4 (0.43%) CWNA
16 3 (0.32%) CCIE Wireless
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (1.40%) SLA
2 9 (0.97%) QA
3 8 (0.86%) NIST
4 7 (0.75%) Disclosure Scotland
5 5 (0.54%) 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%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.22%) NCSC
8 2 (0.22%) PMO
9 1 (0.11%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 1 (0.11%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 66 (7.10%) VMware Infrastructure
2 41 (4.41%) VMware NSX
3 30 (3.23%) Firmware
4 26 (2.80%) Active Directory
5 10 (1.08%) VMware ESXi
6 8 (0.86%) vSphere
7 6 (0.65%) Hyper-V
8 5 (0.54%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (0.43%) Virtual Machines
10 3 (0.32%) Virtual Desktop
11 2 (0.22%) KVM
11 2 (0.22%) ProxySG
11 2 (0.22%) vCloud
12 1 (0.11%) Citrix Presentation Server
12 1 (0.11%) Docker
12 1 (0.11%) IAG
12 1 (0.11%) iptables
12 1 (0.11%) RHEV
12 1 (0.11%) Snort
12 1 (0.11%) Xen
Systems Management
1 87 (9.36%) Ansible
2 67 (7.21%) Terraform
3 62 (6.67%) FortiGate
4 11 (1.18%) Grafana
4 11 (1.18%) 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
8 3 (0.32%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.32%) WSUS
9 2 (0.22%) Salt
9 2 (0.22%) SCOM
10 1 (0.11%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.11%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.11%) Norton AntiVirus
10 1 (0.11%) SolarWinds Orion
10 1 (0.11%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 496 (53.39%) Cisco
2 235 (25.30%) Palo Alto
3 181 (19.48%) F5
4 115 (12.38%) Fortinet
4 115 (12.38%) Juniper
5 92 (9.90%) VMware
6 87 (9.36%) Aruba
7 86 (9.26%) CheckPoint
8 59 (6.35%) Arista
9 50 (5.38%) Meraki
10 46 (4.95%) SolarWinds
11 41 (4.41%) Microsoft
12 36 (3.88%) Blue Coat
13 31 (3.34%) McAfee
14 30 (3.23%) Google
15 28 (3.01%) Infoblox
16 24 (2.58%) NetApp
16 24 (2.58%) Zscaler
17 23 (2.48%) ServiceNow
18 21 (2.26%) Extreme Networks