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 24 July 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 137 133 101
Rank change year-on-year -4 -32 +21
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,062 714 956
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.01% 2.18% 2.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.17% 2.39% 2.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 675 450 597
10th Percentile £313 £325 £284
25th Percentile £413 £400 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - +5.56%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £550
90th Percentile £620 £638 £634
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £485 £475
% change year-on-year -2.06% +2.11% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 12 15
10th Percentile £29.00 £22.08 £17.98
25th Percentile £68.29 £30.00 £21.57
Median hourly rate £75.75 £53.75 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year +40.93% +10.69% -26.40%
75th Percentile £80.48 £70.63 £70.00
90th Percentile £92.53 £82.33 £75.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £77.50 £38.25 £50.53
% change year-on-year +102.61% -24.30% -18.50%

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 48,872 29,931 38,007
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.61% 91.58% 93.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,492 19,056 24,610
10th Percentile £328 £283 £298
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.02%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £727 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,302 1,437 2,371
10th Percentile £15.81 £13.75 £13.60
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £18.17
Median hourly rate £43.55 £25.15 £40.94
Median % change year-on-year +73.17% -38.57% -6.42%
75th Percentile £67.89 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.92 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £42.91
% change year-on-year +78.93% -41.39% +7.28%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 -15 873 £475 -3.46% 283
UK excluding London -19 619 £475 -2.06% 248
London -32 303 £500 +5.26% 90
Work from Home -38 229 £463 -2.63% 59
North of England -7 219 £500 +1.63% 62
North West -2 159 £500 -2.44% 32
South East -22 150 £475 -5.00% 55
Midlands -5 107 £475 +9.51% 37
West Midlands -6 100 £475 +35.71% 19
Scotland +26 74 £400 -7.25% 26
South West -37 54 £550 +1.38% 36
Yorkshire -39 47 £463 -6.00% 23
East of England -5 42 £470 +17.50% 22
Wales -6 21 £425 -5.56% 11
North East -25 13 £600 +84.62% 8
East Midlands -20 4 £475 -13.64% 17
Northern Ireland +3 1 £550 -4.35% 3

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

For the 6 months to 24 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.

1 572 (53.86%) Cisco
2 473 (44.54%) Firewall
3 295 (27.78%) WAN
4 268 (25.24%) Security Cleared
5 257 (24.20%) BGP
6 248 (23.35%) Network Security
7 246 (23.16%) LAN
8 245 (23.07%) Cisco Certification
9 242 (22.79%) VPN
10 227 (21.37%) Palo Alto
11 190 (17.89%) F5
12 189 (17.80%) CCNP
12 189 (17.80%) Wireless
13 186 (17.51%) DNS
14 177 (16.67%) SC Cleared
15 176 (16.57%) OSPF
16 161 (15.16%) Fortinet
17 149 (14.03%) Load Balancing
18 145 (13.65%) VLAN
19 142 (13.37%) Azure
20 126 (11.86%) Migration
21 123 (11.58%) Juniper
22 120 (11.30%) Python
23 114 (10.73%) TCP/IP
24 109 (10.26%) SD-WAN
25 103 (9.70%) Wi-Fi
26 97 (9.13%) High Availability
26 97 (9.13%) Problem-Solving
27 96 (9.04%) CCNA
28 94 (8.85%) Terraform

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 5 (0.47%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.28%) SAS
3 3 (0.28%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.094%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.094%) CMS
4 1 (0.094%) OpenStack
4 1 (0.094%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 14 (1.32%) MS Visio
2 11 (1.04%) Microsoft Office
3 2 (0.19%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 142 (13.37%) Azure
2 88 (8.29%) AWS
3 57 (5.37%) GCP
4 42 (3.95%) GitHub
5 19 (1.79%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 16 (1.51%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 13 (1.22%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 13 (1.22%) Microsoft 365
8 12 (1.13%) Entra ID
9 11 (1.04%) AWS CloudFormation
9 11 (1.04%) AWS Direct Connect
10 10 (0.94%) IaaS
11 8 (0.75%) GitHub Actions
12 7 (0.66%) Nutanix
13 6 (0.56%) Azure Sentinel
13 6 (0.56%) Google Compute Engine
13 6 (0.56%) OCI
14 5 (0.47%) AWS Lambda
14 5 (0.47%) Azure DevOps
14 5 (0.47%) Cloudflare
Communications & Networking
1 473 (44.54%) Firewall
2 295 (27.78%) WAN
3 257 (24.20%) BGP
4 248 (23.35%) Network Security
5 246 (23.16%) LAN
6 242 (22.79%) VPN
7 189 (17.80%) Wireless
8 186 (17.51%) DNS
9 176 (16.57%) OSPF
10 145 (13.65%) VLAN
11 114 (10.73%) TCP/IP
12 109 (10.26%) SD-WAN
13 103 (9.70%) Wi-Fi
14 79 (7.44%) Cisco ISE
15 77 (7.25%) Multicast
16 73 (6.87%) DHCP
17 71 (6.69%) Cisco Nexus
17 71 (6.69%) MPLS
18 65 (6.12%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
19 62 (5.84%) BIG-IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.19%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.094%) ClickHouse
2 1 (0.094%) GIS
2 1 (0.094%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.094%) QGIS
Development Applications
1 32 (3.01%) Jenkins
2 28 (2.64%) JIRA
3 26 (2.45%) Git
4 18 (1.69%) Fiddler
5 12 (1.13%) GitLab
6 6 (0.56%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.19%) Browser DevTools
General
1 141 (13.28%) Social Skills
2 72 (6.78%) Finance
3 62 (5.84%) Banking
4 55 (5.18%) Analytical Skills
5 46 (4.33%) Public Sector
6 45 (4.24%) 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
12 9 (0.85%) Police
13 7 (0.66%) Financial Institution
13 7 (0.66%) Law
14 6 (0.56%) Military
14 6 (0.56%) Pharmaceutical
15 5 (0.47%) Local Government
15 5 (0.47%) Organisational Skills
16 4 (0.38%) Presentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 51 (4.80%) 802.1X
2 11 (1.04%) REST
3 10 (0.94%) SAML
4 6 (0.56%) NETCONF
5 5 (0.47%) LDAP
6 3 (0.28%) Java RMI
7 2 (0.19%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.19%) eBPF
7 2 (0.19%) Jinja
7 2 (0.19%) JSON
7 2 (0.19%) RFC 2544
8 1 (0.094%) CSS
8 1 (0.094%) HTML
8 1 (0.094%) ModSecurity
8 1 (0.094%) OpenTelemetry
8 1 (0.094%) XMPP
8 1 (0.094%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 192 (18.08%) Data Centre
2 36 (3.39%) Hybrid Cloud
3 32 (3.01%) PKI
4 22 (2.07%) Management Information System
5 21 (1.98%) Cloud Native
6 19 (1.79%) Security Posture
7 16 (1.51%) Data Protection Act
7 16 (1.51%) Operational Technology
8 15 (1.41%) Onboarding
9 14 (1.32%) Driving Licence
10 10 (0.94%) Linux Command Line
10 10 (0.94%) Self-Motivation
11 9 (0.85%) Clustering
11 9 (0.85%) IoT
12 8 (0.75%) CCTV
13 7 (0.66%) NHS
13 7 (0.66%) Public Cloud
14 6 (0.56%) Distributed Systems
14 6 (0.56%) Enterprise Cloud
14 6 (0.56%) Fibre Optics
Operating Systems
1 72 (6.78%) Windows
2 48 (4.52%) Linux
3 11 (1.04%) Windows Server
4 7 (0.66%) Unix
5 6 (0.56%) VMS
6 5 (0.47%) Ubuntu
6 5 (0.47%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (0.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.28%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (0.19%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.094%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.094%) Solaris
10 1 (0.094%) Windows 10
10 1 (0.094%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.094%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.094%) zOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 149 (14.03%) Load Balancing
2 126 (11.86%) Migration
3 97 (9.13%) High Availability
3 97 (9.13%) Problem-Solving
4 88 (8.29%) Project Delivery
5 74 (6.97%) ITIL
6 70 (6.59%) Change Management
7 68 (6.40%) Network Design
8 65 (6.12%) Infrastructure as Code
9 63 (5.93%) Validation
10 62 (5.84%) Network Monitoring
11 61 (5.74%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 47 (4.43%) Zero Trust
13 45 (4.24%) Continuous Improvement
14 44 (4.14%) DevOps
14 44 (4.14%) Technical Leadership
15 41 (3.86%) CI/CD
16 38 (3.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
17 37 (3.48%) ITSM
18 35 (3.30%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 120 (11.30%) Python
2 21 (1.98%) Bash
3 13 (1.22%) PowerShell
4 9 (0.85%) ActionScript
5 8 (0.75%) SQL
6 4 (0.38%) C++
7 3 (0.28%) Bicep
7 3 (0.28%) C
7 3 (0.28%) Java
8 2 (0.19%) Groovy
8 2 (0.19%) Perl
9 1 (0.094%) Go
9 1 (0.094%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.094%) Lisp
9 1 (0.094%) PHP
9 1 (0.094%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 268 (25.24%) Security Cleared
2 245 (23.07%) Cisco Certification
3 189 (17.80%) CCNP
4 177 (16.67%) SC Cleared
5 96 (9.04%) CCNA
6 92 (8.66%) DV Cleared
7 42 (3.95%) CCIE
8 38 (3.58%) Degree
9 18 (1.69%) JNCIS
10 16 (1.51%) JNCIP
11 13 (1.22%) Network+ Certification
12 11 (1.04%) JNCIA
13 10 (0.94%) CISSP
14 9 (0.85%) Computer Science Degree
15 8 (0.75%) CCSE
16 6 (0.56%) Azure Certification
16 6 (0.56%) CompTIA Security+
17 5 (0.47%) AWS Certification
17 5 (0.47%) CCIE Wireless
17 5 (0.47%) CCSM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (1.88%) 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 71 (6.69%) VMware Infrastructure
2 33 (3.11%) Firmware
3 31 (2.92%) VMware NSX
4 30 (2.82%) Active Directory
5 16 (1.51%) VMware ESXi
6 13 (1.22%) vSphere
7 6 (0.56%) Hyper-V
8 5 (0.47%) Virtual Machines
9 4 (0.38%) Docker
9 4 (0.38%) Virtual Servers
10 2 (0.19%) FreeRADIUS
10 2 (0.19%) Squid
11 1 (0.094%) Citrix Presentation Server
11 1 (0.094%) IAG
11 1 (0.094%) iptables
11 1 (0.094%) KVM
11 1 (0.094%) Snort
11 1 (0.094%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 94 (8.85%) Terraform
2 89 (8.38%) Ansible
3 79 (7.44%) FortiGate
4 15 (1.41%) Kubernetes
5 13 (1.22%) Cisco Prime
6 9 (0.85%) Grafana
7 7 (0.66%) Prometheus
8 6 (0.56%) Cisco CUCM
9 5 (0.47%) Puppet
9 5 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
10 4 (0.38%) Istio
10 4 (0.38%) Packer
11 3 (0.28%) Microsoft Intune
11 3 (0.28%) Nagios
11 3 (0.28%) systemd
12 2 (0.19%) Nessus
12 2 (0.19%) SCCM
12 2 (0.19%) SCOM
12 2 (0.19%) vCenter Server
12 2 (0.19%) WSUS
Vendors
1 572 (53.86%) Cisco
2 227 (21.37%) Palo Alto
3 190 (17.89%) F5
4 161 (15.16%) Fortinet
5 123 (11.58%) Juniper
6 93 (8.76%) VMware
7 80 (7.53%) CheckPoint
8 69 (6.50%) Aruba
9 68 (6.40%) Arista
10 51 (4.80%) Meraki
10 51 (4.80%) Microsoft
11 46 (4.33%) Zscaler
12 38 (3.58%) SolarWinds
13 36 (3.39%) Google
14 32 (3.01%) Infoblox
15 29 (2.73%) Blue Coat
16 26 (2.45%) ServiceNow
17 22 (2.07%) McAfee
18 20 (1.88%) Extreme Networks
19 19 (1.79%) NetApp