Principal Network Engineer Contract Job Trends

Principal Network Engineer
UK

The median Principal Network Engineer daily rate in the UK is £355, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 January 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 584 510 588
Rank change year-on-year -74 +78 +188
Contract jobs requiring a Principal Network Engineer 4 6 3
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.011% 0.019% 0.007%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.012% 0.020% 0.007%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 4 1
10th Percentile £351 £445 -
25th Percentile £351 £474 £563
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £355 £500 £575
Median % change year-on-year -29.00% -13.04% +24.26%
75th Percentile £435 £510 £588
90th Percentile £482 - -
UK excluding London median daily rate £355 £500 -
% change year-on-year -29.00% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 2
10th Percentile - - £73.58
25th Percentile - - £75.19
Median hourly rate - - £79.13
75th Percentile - - £81.81
90th Percentile - - £82.68
UK excluding London median hourly rate - - -

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 33,229 29,465 40,074
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.31% 92.70% 93.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,002 18,045 26,741
10th Percentile £300 £291 £280
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £480 £500
% change year-on-year -1.04% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,953 888 1,677
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.60 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.22 £18.93
Median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.46% -23.53% +28.79%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.31 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.60 £73.75 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.51 £44.78
% change year-on-year -20.18% -29.63% +65.05%

Principal Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Principal Network Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Principal Network Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Principal Network Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Principal Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Principal Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Principal Network Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Principal Network Engineer over the 6 months to 11 January 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Principal Network Engineer in the UK

Principal Network Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Principal Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Principal Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Principal Network Engineer
Top 6 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Principal Network Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 11 January 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
UK excluding London -55 4 £355 -29.00%
England -46 3 £355 -29.00%
Midlands - 2 £353 -
West Midlands - 2 £353 -
South East -8 1 £500 -
Scotland - 1 - -

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

For the 6 months to 11 January 2026, Principal 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 Principal Network Engineer in the job title.

1 3 (75.00%) Firewall
2 2 (50.00%) 802.1X
2 2 (50.00%) Blue Coat
2 2 (50.00%) Change Management
2 2 (50.00%) CheckPoint
2 2 (50.00%) Cisco
2 2 (50.00%) Cisco IPT
2 2 (50.00%) DMVPN
2 2 (50.00%) DNS
2 2 (50.00%) F5
2 2 (50.00%) Inventory Management
2 2 (50.00%) IPsec
2 2 (50.00%) Juniper
2 2 (50.00%) Network Design
2 2 (50.00%) SC Cleared
2 2 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 2 (50.00%) SSL
2 2 (50.00%) VPN
2 2 (50.00%) WAN
2 2 (50.00%) Wireless
3 1 (25.00%) Architecture Governance
3 1 (25.00%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (25.00%) Compliance Management
3 1 (25.00%) Cybersecurity
3 1 (25.00%) Data Flow Diagram
3 1 (25.00%) Data Protection
3 1 (25.00%) Degree
3 1 (25.00%) GRC
3 1 (25.00%) Infoblox
3 1 (25.00%) Information Security

Principal 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:

Communications & Networking
1 3 (75.00%) Firewall
2 2 (50.00%) Cisco IPT
2 2 (50.00%) DMVPN
2 2 (50.00%) DNS
2 2 (50.00%) IPsec
2 2 (50.00%) SSL
2 2 (50.00%) VPN
2 2 (50.00%) WAN
2 2 (50.00%) Wireless
3 1 (25.00%) Intrusion Detection
General
1 2 (50.00%) Telecoms
2 1 (25.00%) Manufacturing
2 1 (25.00%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (50.00%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 3 (75.00%) Data Centre
2 1 (25.00%) Life Science
2 1 (25.00%) Operational Technology
2 1 (25.00%) Renewable Energy
2 1 (25.00%) SCADA
2 1 (25.00%) Security Posture
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (50.00%) Change Management
1 2 (50.00%) Inventory Management
1 2 (50.00%) Network Design
2 1 (25.00%) Architecture Governance
2 1 (25.00%) Compliance Management
2 1 (25.00%) Cybersecurity
2 1 (25.00%) Data Flow Diagram
2 1 (25.00%) Data Protection
2 1 (25.00%) Information Security
2 1 (25.00%) Information Security Management
2 1 (25.00%) Migration
2 1 (25.00%) Network Architecture
2 1 (25.00%) Penetration Testing
2 1 (25.00%) Risk Assessment
2 1 (25.00%) Risk Management
2 1 (25.00%) Security Management
2 1 (25.00%) Vulnerability Management
2 1 (25.00%) Workflow
Qualifications
1 2 (50.00%) SC Cleared
1 2 (50.00%) Security Cleared
2 1 (25.00%) BPSS Clearance
2 1 (25.00%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (25.00%) GRC
1 1 (25.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 1 (25.00%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 1 (25.00%) Virtual Machines
Vendors
1 2 (50.00%) Blue Coat
1 2 (50.00%) CheckPoint
1 2 (50.00%) Cisco
1 2 (50.00%) F5
1 2 (50.00%) Juniper
2 1 (25.00%) Infoblox
2 1 (25.00%) Rockwell