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 7 October 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 174 122 127
Rank change year-on-year -52 +5 -38
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 898 742 712
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.64% 2.25% 1.89%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.78% 2.47% 2.03%
Number of daily rates quoted 580 496 476
10th Percentile £163 £160 £143
25th Percentile £188 £190 £188
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £238 £235 £244
Median % change year-on-year +1.06% -3.59% -2.50%
75th Percentile £378 £349 £350
90th Percentile £510 £538 £519
UK excluding London median daily rate £214 £229 £225
% change year-on-year -6.56% +1.67% +4.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 46 91 48
10th Percentile £15.24 £16.50 £17.17
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.25 £18.56
Median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £23.89
Median % change year-on-year -12.52% +5.30% +25.31%
75th Percentile £25.75 £39.88 £28.91
90th Percentile £46.50 £68.00 £58.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £23.59
% change year-on-year -12.52% +6.61% +24.16%

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 50,571 29,988 35,006
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.10% 90.83% 92.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,735 18,924 21,160
10th Percentile £325 £277 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £638 £621 £638
90th Percentile £736 £725 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +5.26% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 4,035 1,621 1,511
10th Percentile £14.42 £13.75 £14.99
25th Percentile £19.50 £17.30 £20.75
Median hourly rate £41.71 £25.15 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year +65.84% -40.82% -4.49%
75th Percentile £67.50 £50.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £68.00 £74.87
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.71 £25.08 £43.00
% change year-on-year +66.34% -41.69% -2.05%

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 7 October 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 7 October 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 7 October 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 -60 760 £226 -4.04% 763
UK excluding London -39 584 £214 -6.56% 505
London -31 276 £266 +6.50% 303
South East -51 162 £260 +9.24% 135
North of England -8 133 £200 -5.88% 93
North West +15 98 £200 - 49
Work from Home -83 93 £310 +12.73% 255
East of England +16 87 £198 -10.23% 57
Scotland +40 84 £250 -1.96% 45
Midlands -62 68 £213 -16.67% 91
West Midlands -68 49 £210 -23.64% 49
South West -91 35 £218 -10.31% 59
Yorkshire -21 32 £210 -8.70% 33
East Midlands -20 19 £270 +38.46% 39
Northern Ireland +11 8 £175 -12.50% 21
Wales -25 7 £625 +194.12% 14
North East -44 4 £239 +22.44% 13
Channel Islands - 1 £550 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 7 October 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.

1 532 (59.24%) Windows
2 437 (48.66%) Microsoft
3 405 (45.10%) Active Directory
4 374 (41.65%) Microsoft 365
5 227 (25.28%) Customer Service
6 225 (25.06%) Problem-Solving
7 198 (22.05%) Windows 10
8 183 (20.38%) ITIL
9 176 (19.60%) Security Cleared
10 150 (16.70%) Azure
11 147 (16.37%) Entra ID
12 140 (15.59%) ITSM
13 132 (14.70%) Microsoft Intune
14 125 (13.92%) ServiceNow
15 117 (13.03%) SharePoint
16 108 (12.03%) PowerShell
17 103 (11.47%) DNS
18 93 (10.36%) SC Cleared
19 86 (9.58%) Windows Server
20 85 (9.47%) VPN
21 83 (9.24%) Continuous Improvement
22 82 (9.13%) Microsoft Exchange
23 81 (9.02%) Linux
24 80 (8.91%) Service Delivery
25 76 (8.46%) Service Management
26 75 (8.35%) Asset Management
26 75 (8.35%) Root Cause Analysis
27 74 (8.24%) Migration
28 73 (8.13%) VMware
29 71 (7.91%) SQL

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
1 117 (13.03%) SharePoint
2 82 (9.13%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.22%) HCL Notes
4 6 (0.67%) Confluence
4 6 (0.67%) NetWeaver
5 5 (0.56%) MTS
6 3 (0.33%) WebSphere
7 2 (0.22%) Exchange Server 2013
7 2 (0.22%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.22%) Skype for Business
8 1 (0.11%) Appian
8 1 (0.11%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.11%) IIS
8 1 (0.11%) SharePoint 2010
8 1 (0.11%) ThingWorx
Applications
1 55 (6.12%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.34%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.67%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.22%) Acrobat
4 2 (0.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.11%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.11%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (0.56%) Remedy ITSM
1 5 (0.56%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.45%) SAP EHS
3 3 (0.33%) SAP Retail
4 1 (0.11%) Bloomberg TOMS
4 1 (0.11%) Oracle BRM
4 1 (0.11%) SAP BRIM
4 1 (0.11%) SAP FI
4 1 (0.11%) SAP FI-CA
4 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
4 1 (0.11%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 374 (41.65%) Microsoft 365
2 150 (16.70%) Azure
3 147 (16.37%) Entra ID
4 53 (5.90%) OneDrive
5 47 (5.23%) AWS
6 22 (2.45%) SaaS
7 15 (1.67%) GCP
8 8 (0.89%) Google Workspace
9 6 (0.67%) AWS CloudFormation
10 5 (0.56%) AWS Direct Connect
10 5 (0.56%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 5 (0.56%) Power Platform
11 4 (0.45%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 4 (0.45%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (0.45%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (0.45%) Cloud Functions
11 4 (0.45%) Google App Engine
11 4 (0.45%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 4 (0.45%) Mimecast
11 4 (0.45%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 103 (11.47%) DNS
2 85 (9.47%) VPN
3 68 (7.57%) TCP/IP
4 59 (6.57%) DHCP
5 42 (4.68%) LAN
6 38 (4.23%) Wi-Fi
7 36 (4.01%) WAN
8 33 (3.67%) Firewall
9 20 (2.23%) Internet
10 16 (1.78%) VLAN
11 14 (1.56%) Wireless
12 11 (1.22%) SD-WAN
13 9 (1.00%) SAN
14 8 (0.89%) WebEx
15 7 (0.78%) BGP
15 7 (0.78%) Network Security
15 7 (0.78%) OSPF
15 7 (0.78%) SMTP
16 6 (0.67%) MPLS
17 5 (0.56%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 28 (3.12%) SQL Server
2 11 (1.22%) MySQL
3 9 (1.00%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (0.89%) Relational Database
5 7 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.67%) SAP HANA
7 5 (0.56%) MaxDB
7 5 (0.56%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.56%) Sybase ASE
8 3 (0.33%) Big Data
8 3 (0.33%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.33%) KDB
8 3 (0.33%) Power BI
9 2 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.22%) MariaDB
9 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.11%) Apache Cassandra
10 1 (0.11%) Hadoop
10 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 48 (5.35%) JIRA
2 13 (1.45%) Git
3 5 (0.56%) Browser DevTools
3 5 (0.56%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.45%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.33%) Android Studio
5 3 (0.33%) Eclipse
5 3 (0.33%) Xcode
6 2 (0.22%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.22%) Firebug
6 2 (0.22%) GitLab
6 2 (0.22%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.11%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.11%) eggPlant
7 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
7 1 (0.11%) Postman
7 1 (0.11%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 379 (42.20%) Social Skills
2 92 (10.24%) Analytical Skills
3 89 (9.91%) Finance
4 50 (5.57%) Manufacturing
5 45 (5.01%) Banking
6 30 (3.34%) Organisational Skills
7 21 (2.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 21 (2.34%) Investment Banking
8 20 (2.23%) Front Office
9 18 (2.00%) Legal
10 17 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
10 17 (1.89%) Financial Institution
10 17 (1.89%) Retail
11 16 (1.78%) Telecoms
12 14 (1.56%) Law
13 13 (1.45%) Public Sector
14 10 (1.11%) Spanish Language
15 7 (0.78%) Aerospace
15 7 (0.78%) Marketing
16 4 (0.45%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (1.78%) Terraform
2 15 (1.67%) .NET
3 12 (1.34%) LDAP
3 12 (1.34%) XML
4 8 (0.89%) CSS
5 7 (0.78%) .NET Framework
6 6 (0.67%) React
6 6 (0.67%) REST
7 5 (0.56%) HTML
7 5 (0.56%) SAP Basis
7 5 (0.56%) SAP Fiori
7 5 (0.56%) SAPUI5
7 5 (0.56%) Software Packaging
8 4 (0.45%) FIX Protocol
8 4 (0.45%) Web Services
9 3 (0.33%) Ajax
9 3 (0.33%) AngularJS
9 3 (0.33%) JSON
9 3 (0.33%) JSP
9 3 (0.33%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 135 (15.03%) Onboarding
2 38 (4.23%) Video Conferencing
3 33 (3.67%) Data Centre
4 22 (2.45%) Driving Licence
4 22 (2.45%) Self-Motivation
5 20 (2.23%) PKI
6 18 (2.00%) Hedge funds
6 18 (2.00%) Management Information System
7 17 (1.89%) Enterprise Software
8 16 (1.78%) Data Protection Act
9 14 (1.56%) Smartphone
10 11 (1.22%) Analytical Mindset
10 11 (1.22%) Blackberry
10 11 (1.22%) CMDB
10 11 (1.22%) Virtual Team
11 10 (1.11%) iPhone
12 9 (1.00%) Distributed Systems
13 8 (0.89%) Life Science
14 7 (0.78%) iPad
15 6 (0.67%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 532 (59.24%) Windows
2 198 (22.05%) Windows 10
3 86 (9.58%) Windows Server
4 81 (9.02%) Linux
5 67 (7.46%) Mac OS
6 47 (5.23%) Android
7 43 (4.79%) Apple iOS
8 27 (3.01%) Unix
9 17 (1.89%) Windows 7
10 13 (1.45%) Ubuntu
10 13 (1.45%) Windows Server 2019
11 8 (0.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 6 (0.67%) VMS
13 5 (0.56%) CentOS
14 4 (0.45%) OpenVMS
14 4 (0.45%) Solaris
14 4 (0.45%) Windows Server 2008
14 4 (0.45%) Windows Server 2012
15 3 (0.33%) Windows XP
16 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (25.28%) Customer Service
2 225 (25.06%) Problem-Solving
3 183 (20.38%) ITIL
4 140 (15.59%) ITSM
5 83 (9.24%) Continuous Improvement
6 80 (8.91%) Service Delivery
7 76 (8.46%) Service Management
8 75 (8.35%) Asset Management
8 75 (8.35%) Root Cause Analysis
9 74 (8.24%) Migration
10 53 (5.90%) User Experience
11 51 (5.68%) Problem Management
12 48 (5.35%) Identity Access Management
13 47 (5.23%) Incident Management
14 44 (4.90%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 43 (4.79%) Technical Leadership
16 38 (4.23%) Runbook
17 37 (4.12%) Data Protection
18 33 (3.67%) Disaster Recovery
19 31 (3.45%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 108 (12.03%) PowerShell
2 71 (7.91%) SQL
3 51 (5.68%) Python
4 31 (3.45%) Java
5 26 (2.90%) JavaScript
6 21 (2.34%) Bash
7 17 (1.89%) C#
8 8 (0.89%) Shell Script
9 6 (0.67%) C++
10 5 (0.56%) Go
10 5 (0.56%) Perl
10 5 (0.56%) Tcl
10 5 (0.56%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.45%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.22%) DCL
13 1 (0.11%) Search Processing Language
13 1 (0.11%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.11%) VBA
13 1 (0.11%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 176 (19.60%) Security Cleared
2 93 (10.36%) SC Cleared
3 69 (7.68%) Degree
4 67 (7.46%) DV Cleared
5 29 (3.23%) A+ Certification
6 20 (2.23%) Microsoft Certification
7 19 (2.12%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 14 (1.56%) BPSS Clearance
9 11 (1.22%) Network+ Certification
10 10 (1.11%) Cisco Certification
10 10 (1.11%) DBS Check
11 9 (1.00%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (0.78%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 6 (0.67%) Azure Certification
13 6 (0.67%) CCNA
14 5 (0.56%) ITIL Certification
15 4 (0.45%) MCSE
15 4 (0.45%) NVQ Level 4
16 3 (0.33%) CCNP
16 3 (0.33%) OCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 63 (7.02%) SLA
2 7 (0.78%) QA
3 4 (0.45%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 3 (0.33%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.33%) GDPR
5 2 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.22%) GxP
6 1 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.11%) GRC
6 1 (0.11%) ITGC
6 1 (0.11%) NCSC
System Software
1 405 (45.10%) Active Directory
2 54 (6.01%) VMware Infrastructure
3 33 (3.67%) VMware ESXi
4 25 (2.78%) Hyper-V
5 20 (2.23%) Virtual Desktop
6 17 (1.89%) VMware NSX
7 15 (1.67%) vCloud
8 10 (1.11%) Docker
9 8 (0.89%) vSphere
10 7 (0.78%) BitLocker
11 5 (0.56%) NFS
12 4 (0.45%) Firmware
13 3 (0.33%) Microsoft App-V
13 3 (0.33%) Terminal Services
14 2 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
14 2 (0.22%) zsh
15 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 132 (14.70%) Microsoft Intune
2 67 (7.46%) SCCM
3 33 (3.67%) vCenter Server
4 26 (2.90%) SCOM
5 19 (2.12%) Kubernetes
6 18 (2.00%) Single Sign-On
7 16 (1.78%) Ansible
8 15 (1.67%) Jamf Pro
9 7 (0.78%) Grafana
9 7 (0.78%) WSUS
10 5 (0.56%) Red Hat Satellite
11 4 (0.45%) ITRS Geneos
11 4 (0.45%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.33%) FortiGate
12 3 (0.33%) Nagios
12 3 (0.33%) Puppet
12 3 (0.33%) vMotion
13 2 (0.22%) Failover Clustering
13 2 (0.22%) NetBackup
13 2 (0.22%) vRealize
Vendors
1 437 (48.66%) Microsoft
2 125 (13.92%) ServiceNow
3 73 (8.13%) VMware
4 43 (4.79%) Apple
5 40 (4.45%) Cisco
6 32 (3.56%) Citrix
7 30 (3.34%) Okta
7 30 (3.34%) Oracle
8 25 (2.78%) Google
9 21 (2.34%) BeyondTrust
10 17 (1.89%) Splunk
11 16 (1.78%) SAP
12 15 (1.67%) Bloomberg
13 14 (1.56%) Meraki
14 12 (1.34%) Samsung
15 11 (1.22%) Broadcom
15 11 (1.22%) iManage
15 11 (1.22%) Lotus
15 11 (1.22%) SolarWinds
16 10 (1.11%) Red Hat