Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £238, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 21 August 2026.

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

6 months to
21 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 127 120
Rank change year-on-year -38 -7 -28
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 894 705 760
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.67% 2.15% 1.95%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.81% 2.36% 2.10%
Number of daily rates quoted 593 462 523
10th Percentile £163 £160 £140
25th Percentile £189 £200 £181
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £238 £236 £238
Median % change year-on-year +0.53% -0.53% -5.00%
75th Percentile £400 £383 £350
90th Percentile £500 £538 £535
UK excluding London median daily rate £224 £228 £220
% change year-on-year -1.54% +3.41% -1.12%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 70 47
10th Percentile £16.44 £16.50 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £20.79 £18.08
Median hourly rate £24.00 £25.63 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -6.34% +16.48% +15.79%
75th Percentile £37.50 £43.75 £24.59
90th Percentile £53.00 £68.00 £58.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £25.20 £22.00
% change year-on-year -12.70% +14.55% +17.33%

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 49,522 29,914 36,178
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.46% 91.26% 92.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,686 18,901 23,122
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 £730 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,509 1,556 1,977
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.60 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.53 £17.30 £19.59
Median hourly rate £41.74 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.94% -41.51% +2.38%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.25 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +14.67%

Support Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Support Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Support Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Support Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Support Engineer over the 6 months to 21 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Support Engineer in the UK

Support Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Support Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Support Engineer over the 6 months to 21 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Support Engineer in the UK

Support Engineer
Top 18 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Support Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 21 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 -46 757 £225 -5.26% 273
UK excluding London -31 578 £224 -1.54% 263
London -31 277 £275 +10.00% 45
South East -40 159 £250 - 94
North of England -28 137 £200 -9.09% 48
North West -5 93 £200 -12.09% 24
Work from Home -85 89 £300 -13.04% 64
Scotland +54 84 £437 +48.14% 12
Midlands -62 64 £250 -9.09% 41
East of England +1 61 £195 -7.14% 41
South West -68 58 £210 -10.64% 33
West Midlands -67 42 £250 -9.09% 23
Yorkshire -19 41 £200 -9.09% 20
East Midlands -14 21 £270 +47.54% 18
Wales -28 11 £438 +105.88% 2
Northern Ireland -3 4 £175 -30.00% 6
North East -45 4 £239 +22.44% 8
Channel Islands - 1 £550 -

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

For the 6 months to 21 August 2026, Support 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 Support Engineer in the job title.

1 493 (55.15%) Windows
2 402 (44.97%) Microsoft
3 390 (43.62%) Active Directory
4 339 (37.92%) Microsoft 365
5 213 (23.83%) Problem-Solving
6 208 (23.27%) Customer Service
7 188 (21.03%) Windows 10
8 180 (20.13%) Security Cleared
9 178 (19.91%) ITIL
10 152 (17.00%) Azure
11 136 (15.21%) Entra ID
11 136 (15.21%) Microsoft Intune
12 130 (14.54%) ServiceNow
13 119 (13.31%) ITSM
14 115 (12.86%) SharePoint
15 112 (12.53%) SC Cleared
16 103 (11.52%) PowerShell
17 99 (11.07%) DNS
18 77 (8.61%) Continuous Improvement
19 76 (8.50%) Linux
19 76 (8.50%) Windows Server
20 72 (8.05%) SQL
21 71 (7.94%) Asset Management
21 71 (7.94%) VPN
22 68 (7.61%) Microsoft Exchange
22 68 (7.61%) Migration
22 68 (7.61%) Service Delivery
22 68 (7.61%) TCP/IP
23 67 (7.49%) Degree
24 64 (7.16%) Service Management

Support 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
1 115 (12.86%) SharePoint
2 68 (7.61%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.34%) NetWeaver
4 11 (1.23%) HCL Notes
5 4 (0.45%) Skype for Business
6 3 (0.34%) Confluence
6 3 (0.34%) MTS
7 2 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
7 2 (0.22%) IIS
7 2 (0.22%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.22%) WebSphere
8 1 (0.11%) Tuxedo
8 1 (0.11%) WebLogic
Applications
1 51 (5.70%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (1.68%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.34%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.22%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.11%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 11 (1.23%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (0.78%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.45%) SAP EHS
4 3 (0.34%) SAP Retail
5 2 (0.22%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.11%) Alphatax
6 1 (0.11%) Bloomberg TOMS
6 1 (0.11%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.11%) Dynamics GP
6 1 (0.11%) Oracle BRM
6 1 (0.11%) SAP BRIM
6 1 (0.11%) SAP FI
6 1 (0.11%) SAP FI-CA
6 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
6 1 (0.11%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 339 (37.92%) Microsoft 365
2 152 (17.00%) Azure
3 136 (15.21%) Entra ID
4 45 (5.03%) OneDrive
5 41 (4.59%) AWS
6 21 (2.35%) SaaS
7 19 (2.13%) GCP
8 15 (1.68%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (1.23%) Power Platform
10 8 (0.89%) Google Workspace
11 6 (0.67%) IaaS
11 6 (0.67%) Mimecast
11 6 (0.67%) PaaS
12 5 (0.56%) AWS CloudFormation
13 4 (0.45%) Cloud Functions
13 4 (0.45%) Google App Engine
13 4 (0.45%) Google Compute Engine
13 4 (0.45%) Google Kubernetes Engine
14 3 (0.34%) Amazon EC2
14 3 (0.34%) Amazon OpenSearch
Communications & Networking
1 99 (11.07%) DNS
2 71 (7.94%) VPN
3 68 (7.61%) TCP/IP
4 57 (6.38%) DHCP
5 41 (4.59%) Wi-Fi
6 35 (3.91%) LAN
7 30 (3.36%) WAN
8 26 (2.91%) Firewall
9 21 (2.35%) Internet
10 19 (2.13%) SAN
11 16 (1.79%) VLAN
12 10 (1.12%) Wireless
13 8 (0.89%) Skype
14 6 (0.67%) Network Security
14 6 (0.67%) SD-WAN
15 5 (0.56%) HTTP
15 5 (0.56%) SMTP
15 5 (0.56%) WebEx
15 5 (0.56%) WLAN
16 4 (0.45%) Remote Desktop
Database & Business Intelligence
1 40 (4.47%) SQL Server
2 17 (1.90%) MySQL
3 12 (1.34%) SAP HANA
4 11 (1.23%) Sybase ASE
5 10 (1.12%) MaxDB
6 9 (1.01%) Power BI
7 8 (0.89%) Relational Database
8 7 (0.78%) Amazon Redshift
8 7 (0.78%) Pentaho
8 7 (0.78%) PostgreSQL
9 5 (0.56%) Amazon RDS
9 5 (0.56%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 3 (0.34%) Big Data
10 3 (0.34%) Data Warehouse
10 3 (0.34%) Elasticsearch
10 3 (0.34%) KDB
10 3 (0.34%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
11 2 (0.22%) MariaDB
11 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 56 (6.26%) JIRA
2 21 (2.35%) Git
3 9 (1.01%) Browser DevTools
4 4 (0.45%) Jenkins
5 3 (0.34%) Android Studio
5 3 (0.34%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.34%) Eclipse
5 3 (0.34%) Xcode
6 2 (0.22%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.22%) Firebug
7 1 (0.11%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
7 1 (0.11%) GitLab
7 1 (0.11%) MSI
7 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.11%) Subversion
7 1 (0.11%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 360 (40.27%) Social Skills
2 111 (12.42%) Analytical Skills
3 80 (8.95%) Finance
4 39 (4.36%) Banking
4 39 (4.36%) Manufacturing
5 26 (2.91%) Organisational Skills
6 22 (2.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 21 (2.35%) Investment Banking
8 18 (2.01%) Retail
9 17 (1.90%) Documentation Skills
10 16 (1.79%) Front Office
11 14 (1.57%) Law
11 14 (1.57%) Telecoms
12 13 (1.45%) Legal
12 13 (1.45%) Public Sector
13 12 (1.34%) Financial Institution
14 10 (1.12%) Spanish Language
15 7 (0.78%) Marketing
16 6 (0.67%) Aerospace
17 5 (0.56%) Aviation
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (1.90%) .NET
2 15 (1.68%) Terraform
3 12 (1.34%) LDAP
4 11 (1.23%) SAP Basis
5 10 (1.12%) XML
6 7 (0.78%) .NET Framework
6 7 (0.78%) JDO
6 7 (0.78%) Oracle GoldenGate
6 7 (0.78%) REST
7 6 (0.67%) SAP Fiori
7 6 (0.67%) SAPUI5
7 6 (0.67%) Software Packaging
8 5 (0.56%) CSS
8 5 (0.56%) SAML
9 4 (0.45%) OAuth
10 3 (0.34%) Ajax
10 3 (0.34%) AngularJS
10 3 (0.34%) Kafka
10 3 (0.34%) React
10 3 (0.34%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 120 (13.42%) Onboarding
2 33 (3.69%) Data Centre
3 29 (3.24%) Video Conferencing
4 23 (2.57%) Analytical Mindset
4 23 (2.57%) Self-Motivation
5 20 (2.24%) PKI
6 16 (1.79%) Data Protection Act
6 16 (1.79%) Driving Licence
6 16 (1.79%) Hedge funds
7 15 (1.68%) iPhone
8 14 (1.57%) Enterprise Software
9 13 (1.45%) Smartphone
10 12 (1.34%) Legacy Systems
11 11 (1.23%) Blackberry
12 10 (1.12%) iPad
12 10 (1.12%) Virtual Team
13 8 (0.89%) Management Information System
14 7 (0.78%) CMDB
14 7 (0.78%) Distributed Systems
14 7 (0.78%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 493 (55.15%) Windows
2 188 (21.03%) Windows 10
3 76 (8.50%) Linux
3 76 (8.50%) Windows Server
4 58 (6.49%) Mac OS
5 40 (4.47%) Apple iOS
6 38 (4.25%) Unix
7 36 (4.03%) Android
8 19 (2.13%) Windows 7
9 9 (1.01%) Ubuntu
9 9 (1.01%) Windows Server 2019
10 7 (0.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 5 (0.56%) Windows Server 2016
12 4 (0.45%) OpenVMS
12 4 (0.45%) Solaris
12 4 (0.45%) VMS
12 4 (0.45%) Windows Server 2008
12 4 (0.45%) Windows Server 2012
13 3 (0.34%) Windows XP
14 2 (0.22%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 213 (23.83%) Problem-Solving
2 208 (23.27%) Customer Service
3 178 (19.91%) ITIL
4 119 (13.31%) ITSM
5 77 (8.61%) Continuous Improvement
6 71 (7.94%) Asset Management
7 68 (7.61%) Migration
7 68 (7.61%) Service Delivery
8 64 (7.16%) Service Management
9 54 (6.04%) Problem Management
10 53 (5.93%) Root Cause Analysis
10 53 (5.93%) User Experience
11 51 (5.70%) Incident Management
12 47 (5.26%) Identity Access Management
13 43 (4.81%) Change Management
14 42 (4.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 38 (4.25%) Runbook
16 34 (3.80%) Data Protection
17 33 (3.69%) DevOps
18 29 (3.24%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 103 (11.52%) PowerShell
2 72 (8.05%) SQL
3 47 (5.26%) Python
4 29 (3.24%) Java
5 24 (2.68%) C#
6 23 (2.57%) JavaScript
7 20 (2.24%) Bash
8 14 (1.57%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.78%) C++
9 7 (0.78%) Korn
10 5 (0.56%) Perl
10 5 (0.56%) T-SQL
11 3 (0.34%) Go
11 3 (0.34%) Tcl
12 2 (0.22%) DCL
12 2 (0.22%) VBA
13 1 (0.11%) C
13 1 (0.11%) Search Processing Language
13 1 (0.11%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.11%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 180 (20.13%) Security Cleared
2 112 (12.53%) SC Cleared
3 67 (7.49%) Degree
4 52 (5.82%) DV Cleared
5 32 (3.58%) A+ Certification
6 26 (2.91%) Microsoft Certification
7 20 (2.24%) Network+ Certification
8 19 (2.13%) Cisco Certification
9 17 (1.90%) CCNA
10 15 (1.68%) BPSS Clearance
10 15 (1.68%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 13 (1.45%) MCSE
12 11 (1.23%) DBS Check
13 10 (1.12%) Computer Science Degree
14 7 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
14 7 (0.78%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 6 (0.67%) Azure Certification
16 4 (0.45%) NVQ Level 4
17 2 (0.22%) CCNP
18 1 (0.11%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 63 (7.05%) SLA
2 6 (0.67%) QA
3 5 (0.56%) Data Quality
4 4 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
5 3 (0.34%) GDPR
5 3 (0.34%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 2 (0.22%) GxP
6 2 (0.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 1 (0.11%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.11%) GLP
7 1 (0.11%) GMP
7 1 (0.11%) GRC
7 1 (0.11%) ITGC
7 1 (0.11%) NCSC
System Software
1 390 (43.62%) Active Directory
2 48 (5.37%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (3.02%) Hyper-V
4 25 (2.80%) VMware ESXi
5 18 (2.01%) VMware NSX
6 17 (1.90%) Virtual Desktop
7 13 (1.45%) vCloud
8 10 (1.12%) Docker
9 7 (0.78%) Oracle RAC
9 7 (0.78%) vSphere
10 5 (0.56%) BitLocker
10 5 (0.56%) NFS
11 4 (0.45%) Firmware
12 3 (0.34%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.34%) Terminal Services
13 2 (0.22%) zsh
14 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
14 1 (0.11%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 136 (15.21%) Microsoft Intune
2 56 (6.26%) SCCM
3 25 (2.80%) vCenter Server
4 21 (2.35%) Single Sign-On
5 19 (2.13%) SCOM
6 16 (1.79%) Jamf Pro
7 15 (1.68%) Kubernetes
8 14 (1.57%) Grafana
9 12 (1.34%) Ansible
10 7 (0.78%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
10 7 (0.78%) Oracle RMAN
10 7 (0.78%) WSUS
11 5 (0.56%) Red Hat Satellite
12 4 (0.45%) ITRS Geneos
13 3 (0.34%) AirWatch
13 3 (0.34%) Nagios
13 3 (0.34%) NetBackup
13 3 (0.34%) Puppet
13 3 (0.34%) vMotion
13 3 (0.34%) vRealize
Vendors
1 402 (44.97%) Microsoft
2 130 (14.54%) ServiceNow
3 63 (7.05%) VMware
4 40 (4.47%) Apple
5 33 (3.69%) Okta
5 33 (3.69%) Oracle
6 29 (3.24%) Cisco
7 27 (3.02%) Google
8 26 (2.91%) Citrix
9 22 (2.46%) SAP
10 21 (2.35%) BeyondTrust
11 16 (1.79%) Dell
12 15 (1.68%) Meraki
12 15 (1.68%) Splunk
13 14 (1.57%) Sybase
14 12 (1.34%) Bloomberg
14 12 (1.34%) iManage
15 11 (1.23%) HP
15 11 (1.23%) Lotus
15 11 (1.23%) Samsung