Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £220, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 March 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 147 129 104
Rank change year-on-year -18 -25 +27
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 806 615 943
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.86% 2.10% 2.12%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.03% 2.26% 2.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 543 410 675
10th Percentile £153 £152 £137
25th Percentile £185 £182 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £225 £215
Median % change year-on-year -2.22% +4.65% -14.00%
75th Percentile £369 £375 £300
90th Percentile £500 £488 £445
UK excluding London median daily rate £207 £214 £200
% change year-on-year -3.16% +6.88% -6.98%
Number of hourly rates quoted 113 40 58
10th Percentile £18.16 £16.67 £15.36
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.43 £17.13
Median hourly rate £24.00 £22.75 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +5.49% +13.75% +1.27%
75th Percentile £30.00 £25.50 £30.00
90th Percentile £38.20 £41.50 £46.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £22.50 £18.00
% change year-on-year +4.78% +25.00% +1.58%

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 39,756 27,258 41,316
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.88% 92.98% 92.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,823 17,712 27,111
10th Percentile £313 £300 £273
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.02%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £485
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.06% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,465 888 2,497
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.25 £12.96
25th Percentile £19.10 £21.04 £16.25
Median hourly rate £35.91 £32.50 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.49% - -23.29%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.95
90th Percentile £75.92 £77.28 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +7.69% - -18.75%

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 18 March 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 18 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Support Engineer in the UK

Support 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 Support Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 18 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 -19 723 £220 -4.35% 267
UK excluding London -12 555 £207 -3.16% 262
London -26 215 £275 -8.33% 47
South East -6 140 £238 +18.75% 86
North of England -32 117 £190 -12.64% 60
South West -6 101 £250 +11.11% 34
Midlands -21 92 £200 -18.37% 29
Work from Home -76 74 £290 -7.57% 64
North West -25 62 £152 -29.53% 34
East of England -2 59 £203 -7.95% 34
West Midlands -40 56 £267 -11.00% 15
Yorkshire -32 46 £205 -11.83% 20
Scotland +19 40 £250 +57.73% 17
East Midlands -10 37 £200 +5.26% 14
Wales -12 10 £200 - 5
North East -14 9 £106 -45.64% 10
Northern Ireland -12 2 £175 +18.24% 7

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

For the 6 months to 18 March 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.

1 379 (47.02%) Windows
2 282 (34.99%) Microsoft
3 253 (31.39%) Microsoft 365
4 233 (28.91%) Active Directory
4 233 (28.91%) Security Cleared
5 188 (23.33%) SC Cleared
6 173 (21.46%) Windows 10
7 167 (20.72%) Customer Service
8 143 (17.74%) Problem-Solving
9 111 (13.77%) Azure
10 99 (12.28%) ServiceNow
11 92 (11.41%) ITIL
12 91 (11.29%) Microsoft Intune
13 78 (9.68%) Migration
14 76 (9.43%) PowerShell
15 64 (7.94%) ITSM
16 61 (7.57%) Linux
17 60 (7.44%) DNS
17 60 (7.44%) Wi-Fi
18 58 (7.20%) Entra ID
19 57 (7.07%) SCCM
19 57 (7.07%) SharePoint
20 54 (6.70%) Asset Management
20 54 (6.70%) DHCP
20 54 (6.70%) TCP/IP
21 46 (5.71%) Workflow
22 45 (5.58%) DV Cleared
22 45 (5.58%) Microsoft Office
22 45 (5.58%) SQL
23 44 (5.46%) Android

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 57 (7.07%) SharePoint
2 39 (4.84%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.86%) Skype for Business
4 5 (0.62%) NetWeaver
5 4 (0.50%) Apache
5 4 (0.50%) Confluence
6 3 (0.37%) IIS
7 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.25%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.25%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.25%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.25%) Smallworld
7 2 (0.25%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.12%) Tuxedo
8 1 (0.12%) WebSphere
Applications
1 45 (5.58%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (1.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 9 (1.12%) SAP EHS
2 8 (0.99%) Remedy ITSM
3 7 (0.87%) Shopify
4 6 (0.74%) Teamcenter
5 5 (0.62%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.25%) Primavera
7 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.12%) Alphatax
7 1 (0.12%) assyst
7 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
7 1 (0.12%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.12%) Dynamics GP
7 1 (0.12%) Eikon
7 1 (0.12%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 253 (31.39%) Microsoft 365
2 111 (13.77%) Azure
3 58 (7.20%) Entra ID
4 33 (4.09%) OneDrive
5 25 (3.10%) AWS
6 21 (2.61%) SaaS
7 19 (2.36%) Google Workspace
8 15 (1.86%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (1.36%) Dynamics 365
10 10 (1.24%) Sauce Labs
11 9 (1.12%) Power Platform
12 6 (0.74%) npm
13 5 (0.62%) Amazon S3
13 5 (0.62%) Azure Data Factory
13 5 (0.62%) PaaS
14 4 (0.50%) Datadog
14 4 (0.50%) Snowflake
15 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Purview
15 3 (0.37%) Nutanix
15 3 (0.37%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 60 (7.44%) DNS
1 60 (7.44%) Wi-Fi
2 54 (6.70%) DHCP
2 54 (6.70%) TCP/IP
3 44 (5.46%) VPN
4 37 (4.59%) LAN
5 29 (3.60%) WAN
6 25 (3.10%) Firewall
7 23 (2.85%) Wireless
8 16 (1.99%) Skype
9 13 (1.61%) Network Security
10 12 (1.49%) SAN
11 11 (1.36%) Internet
11 11 (1.36%) VLAN
12 10 (1.24%) PABX
12 10 (1.24%) VoIP
13 8 (0.99%) HTTP
14 7 (0.87%) Cisco Firepower
14 7 (0.87%) Cisco ISE
14 7 (0.87%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.85%) SQL Server
2 18 (2.23%) MySQL
3 16 (1.99%) Relational Database
4 11 (1.36%) Amazon Redshift
5 9 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (0.87%) Power BI
7 5 (0.62%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.62%) Pentaho
7 5 (0.62%) SAP HANA
7 5 (0.62%) Sybase ASE
8 4 (0.50%) Amazon Athena
8 4 (0.50%) MaxDB
8 4 (0.50%) Oracle Database 12c
9 3 (0.37%) InfluxDB
9 3 (0.37%) RDBMS
9 3 (0.37%) Tableau
10 2 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.25%) GIS
10 2 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 43 (5.33%) JIRA
2 16 (1.99%) Browser DevTools
3 14 (1.74%) Git
4 10 (1.24%) Android Studio
4 10 (1.24%) Eclipse
4 10 (1.24%) Xcode
5 6 (0.74%) Maven
6 3 (0.37%) Firebug
6 3 (0.37%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.25%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.25%) MSI
8 1 (0.12%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.12%) Hudson
8 1 (0.12%) RStudio
8 1 (0.12%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 340 (42.18%) Social Skills
2 66 (8.19%) Finance
3 59 (7.32%) Analytical Skills
4 53 (6.58%) Manufacturing
5 43 (5.33%) Public Sector
6 39 (4.84%) Banking
7 27 (3.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 26 (3.23%) Aerospace
9 25 (3.10%) Organisational Skills
10 18 (2.23%) Telecoms
11 16 (1.99%) Aviation
12 15 (1.86%) Investment Banking
13 13 (1.61%) Electronics
13 13 (1.61%) Marketing
14 9 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
14 9 (1.12%) Law
14 9 (1.12%) Legal
15 8 (0.99%) Front Office
16 4 (0.50%) Advertising
17 3 (0.37%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 19 (2.36%) Middleware
2 13 (1.61%) CSS
3 10 (1.24%) Ajax
3 10 (1.24%) AngularJS
3 10 (1.24%) GraphQL
3 10 (1.24%) React
4 9 (1.12%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 5 (0.62%) OAuth
5 5 (0.62%) REST
5 5 (0.62%) SAP Basis
5 5 (0.62%) YAML
6 4 (0.50%) Microsoft Graph
6 4 (0.50%) PySpark
6 4 (0.50%) SAML
7 3 (0.37%) .NET
7 3 (0.37%) HTML
7 3 (0.37%) JDO
7 3 (0.37%) XML
8 2 (0.25%) EDI
8 2 (0.25%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 53 (6.58%) Onboarding
2 39 (4.84%) Self-Motivation
3 30 (3.72%) Driving Licence
4 29 (3.60%) Data Centre
5 21 (2.61%) Smartphone
6 17 (2.11%) Analytical Mindset
7 14 (1.74%) PKI
8 13 (1.61%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (1.49%) iPhone
9 12 (1.49%) Virtual Team
10 11 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
10 11 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
11 10 (1.24%) Mobile App
11 10 (1.24%) SCADA
12 8 (0.99%) Hybrid Cloud
13 7 (0.87%) Management Information System
14 6 (0.74%) iPad
15 5 (0.62%) Video Conferencing
16 4 (0.50%) Hedge funds
17 3 (0.37%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 379 (47.02%) Windows
2 173 (21.46%) Windows 10
3 61 (7.57%) Linux
4 44 (5.46%) Android
4 44 (5.46%) Mac OS
5 41 (5.09%) Windows Server
6 34 (4.22%) Unix
7 31 (3.85%) Apple iOS
8 9 (1.12%) Ubuntu
9 7 (0.87%) Windows 7
9 7 (0.87%) Windows Server 2016
10 5 (0.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 4 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
12 3 (0.37%) CentOS
13 2 (0.25%) Mac OS X
13 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
14 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
14 1 (0.12%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 167 (20.72%) Customer Service
2 143 (17.74%) Problem-Solving
3 92 (11.41%) ITIL
4 78 (9.68%) Migration
5 64 (7.94%) ITSM
6 54 (6.70%) Asset Management
7 46 (5.71%) Workflow
8 40 (4.96%) User Experience
9 38 (4.71%) Workflow Management
10 36 (4.47%) Service Management
11 32 (3.97%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 32 (3.97%) Root Cause Analysis
12 30 (3.72%) Continuous Improvement
13 28 (3.47%) Logistics
13 28 (3.47%) Service Delivery
14 27 (3.35%) Break/Fix
14 27 (3.35%) Change Management
14 27 (3.35%) Stakeholder Management
15 26 (3.23%) Cybersecurity
16 25 (3.10%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 76 (9.43%) PowerShell
2 45 (5.58%) SQL
3 32 (3.97%) Python
4 28 (3.47%) Java
5 25 (3.10%) JavaScript
6 23 (2.85%) Shell Script
7 16 (1.99%) C#
8 14 (1.74%) Bash
9 12 (1.49%) Perl
10 9 (1.12%) Ada
10 9 (1.12%) C
10 9 (1.12%) C++
10 9 (1.12%) Korn
11 3 (0.37%) VB.NET
12 2 (0.25%) AWK
12 2 (0.25%) Magik
12 2 (0.25%) VBA
12 2 (0.25%) VBScript
13 1 (0.12%) Tcl
13 1 (0.12%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 233 (28.91%) Security Cleared
2 188 (23.33%) SC Cleared
3 45 (5.58%) DV Cleared
4 28 (3.47%) Degree
5 26 (3.23%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (1.99%) A+ Certification
7 13 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.61%) CCNA
7 13 (1.61%) Cisco Certification
7 13 (1.61%) Network+ Certification
8 12 (1.49%) MCSE
9 7 (0.87%) Azure Certification
9 7 (0.87%) ITIL Certification
10 4 (0.50%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (0.50%) DBS Check
11 3 (0.37%) Master's Degree
11 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 2 (0.25%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 2 (0.25%) Server+ Certification
13 1 (0.12%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (3.97%) SLA
2 7 (0.87%) GDPR
3 6 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
5 3 (0.37%) Data Quality
5 3 (0.37%) QA
6 1 (0.12%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.12%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.12%) GAAP
6 1 (0.12%) GLP
6 1 (0.12%) GMP
6 1 (0.12%) IFRS
6 1 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 233 (28.91%) Active Directory
2 19 (2.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (1.36%) Hyper-V
4 10 (1.24%) VMware NSX
5 9 (1.12%) Oracle RAC
5 9 (1.12%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (0.99%) Firmware
7 6 (0.74%) Docker
8 3 (0.37%) Virtual Servers
8 3 (0.37%) vSphere
9 2 (0.25%) NFS
10 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.12%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.12%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 91 (11.29%) Microsoft Intune
2 57 (7.07%) SCCM
3 28 (3.47%) Jamf Pro
4 16 (1.99%) Grafana
5 13 (1.61%) Ansible
6 11 (1.36%) Terraform
7 10 (1.24%) vCenter Server
8 9 (1.12%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 9 (1.12%) Oracle RMAN
9 8 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
10 5 (0.62%) Kubernetes
11 4 (0.50%) Kibana
12 2 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 2 (0.25%) McAfee ePO
12 2 (0.25%) PaperCut
12 2 (0.25%) Prometheus
12 2 (0.25%) WMI
12 2 (0.25%) WSUS
13 1 (0.12%) Nagios
13 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 282 (34.99%) Microsoft
2 99 (12.28%) ServiceNow
3 37 (4.59%) Oracle
4 35 (4.34%) SAP
5 29 (3.60%) Dell
6 28 (3.47%) Apple
7 26 (3.23%) Cisco
7 26 (3.23%) VMware
8 22 (2.73%) HP
9 18 (2.23%) Google
10 14 (1.74%) Juniper
11 13 (1.61%) Splunk
12 11 (1.36%) Red Hat
13 10 (1.24%) Bloomberg
13 10 (1.24%) Citrix
13 10 (1.24%) Remedy
13 10 (1.24%) SolarWinds
14 8 (0.99%) McAfee
15 7 (0.87%) Starlink
15 7 (0.87%) Zscaler