Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £225, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 November 2025.

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

6 months to
22 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 117 131 86
Rank change year-on-year +14 -45 +64
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 846 709 1,220
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.35% 1.93% 2.62%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.59% 2.08% 2.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 576 472 892
10th Percentile £155 £150 £140
25th Percentile £188 £188 £184
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £225 £240 £238
Median % change year-on-year -6.25% +1.05% +3.26%
75th Percentile £346 £350 £400
90th Percentile £537 £525 £574
UK excluding London median daily rate £220 £225 £215
% change year-on-year -2.22% +4.65% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 115 51 60
10th Percentile £16.96 £18.00 £14.47
25th Percentile £19.54 £20.75 £17.65
Median hourly rate £24.00 £23.59 £19.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.74% +24.16% -2.56%
75th Percentile £30.13 £26.00 £21.75
90th Percentile £49.00 £48.75 £23.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £23.59 £19.12
% change year-on-year +1.74% +23.38% +7.90%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 32,680 34,083 43,648
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.96% 92.77% 93.65%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,712 20,554 29,563
10th Percentile £281 £300 £292
25th Percentile £402 £410 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £638 £647
90th Percentile £725 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £494 £500
% change year-on-year -3.85% -1.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,932 1,297 1,552
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.21 £15.16
25th Percentile £17.87 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -28.14% -22.22% +50.00%
75th Percentile £56.25 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.92 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £34.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -26.03% -24.44% +83.97%

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 22 November 2025.

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 22 November 2025.

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 22 November 2025. 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 +13 765 £225 -6.25% 573
UK excluding London +6 579 £220 -2.22% 459
London -3 222 £238 -20.83% 185
South East +24 184 £238 +1.87% 149
Work from Home -28 106 £275 -21.43% 158
South West +32 104 £250 +13.64% 47
Midlands +2 100 £250 -3.85% 78
North of England -18 99 £205 +2.50% 97
West Midlands +2 73 £255 -1.92% 51
North West -17 54 £190 -5.00% 55
East of England -8 52 £220 - 47
Yorkshire -32 33 £205 -7.87% 35
East Midlands 0 27 £180 -24.21% 27
Scotland -25 26 £225 -30.77% 30
Wales +12 22 £213 +6.25% 8
North East +4 12 £106 -34.77% 8
Northern Ireland -6 3 £175 +18.24% 7

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

For the 6 months to 22 November 2025, 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.

1 449 (53.07%) Windows
2 328 (38.77%) Microsoft
3 253 (29.91%) Security Cleared
4 252 (29.79%) Microsoft 365
5 243 (28.72%) Active Directory
6 191 (22.58%) Problem-Solving
7 188 (22.22%) SC Cleared
8 168 (19.86%) Windows 10
9 162 (19.15%) Customer Service
10 120 (14.18%) ITIL
11 114 (13.48%) Azure
12 104 (12.29%) ServiceNow
13 98 (11.58%) Linux
13 98 (11.58%) Microsoft Intune
13 98 (11.58%) Microsoft Office
14 91 (10.76%) DNS
15 80 (9.46%) DHCP
16 79 (9.34%) SCCM
17 78 (9.22%) ITSM
18 76 (8.98%) Service Management
18 76 (8.98%) SharePoint
19 75 (8.87%) VPN
20 74 (8.75%) TCP/IP
21 72 (8.51%) Microsoft Exchange
22 61 (7.21%) DV Cleared
22 61 (7.21%) Migration
22 61 (7.21%) PowerShell
23 58 (6.86%) Cisco
24 56 (6.62%) Android
24 56 (6.62%) Windows Server

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 76 (8.98%) SharePoint
2 72 (8.51%) Microsoft Exchange
3 26 (3.07%) Skype for Business
4 11 (1.30%) Exchange Server 2010
4 11 (1.30%) SharePoint Server
5 10 (1.18%) Exchange Server 2003
5 10 (1.18%) Exchange Server 2007
5 10 (1.18%) Exchange Server 2013
5 10 (1.18%) Office Communications Server
6 6 (0.71%) Confluence
7 3 (0.35%) Apache
7 3 (0.35%) OpenStack
7 3 (0.35%) Smallworld
8 2 (0.24%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.24%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.24%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.24%) Jupyter
9 1 (0.12%) CMS
9 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
9 1 (0.12%) WebSphere
Applications
1 98 (11.58%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (2.96%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.24%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.24%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.12%) DaVinci Resolve
5 1 (0.12%) OmniGraffle
5 1 (0.12%) Pro Tools
5 1 (0.12%) ProjectWise
5 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 8 (0.95%) Remedy ITSM
2 5 (0.59%) Primavera
2 5 (0.59%) SAP EHS
3 3 (0.35%) NetSuite
4 2 (0.24%) Eikon
4 2 (0.24%) Fidessa
4 2 (0.24%) Oracle ERP
5 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
5 1 (0.12%) assyst
5 1 (0.12%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.12%) Eze OMS
5 1 (0.12%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Assets
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 252 (29.79%) Microsoft 365
2 114 (13.48%) Azure
3 43 (5.08%) Entra ID
4 32 (3.78%) AWS
5 25 (2.96%) OneDrive
5 25 (2.96%) SaaS
6 18 (2.13%) Sauce Labs
7 17 (2.01%) Google Workspace
8 13 (1.54%) Power Platform
9 8 (0.95%) Azure DevOps
10 7 (0.83%) npm
11 5 (0.59%) OpenShift
11 5 (0.59%) SuccessFactors
12 3 (0.35%) Azure AKS
12 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Purview
12 3 (0.35%) PowerApps
12 3 (0.35%) Slack
13 2 (0.24%) Amazon EKS
13 2 (0.24%) IaaS
13 2 (0.24%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 91 (10.76%) DNS
2 80 (9.46%) DHCP
3 75 (8.87%) VPN
4 74 (8.75%) TCP/IP
5 44 (5.20%) Firewall
5 44 (5.20%) WAN
6 39 (4.61%) Wireless
7 37 (4.37%) Wi-Fi
8 33 (3.90%) LAN
9 23 (2.72%) Cisco IOS
10 21 (2.48%) VLAN
11 20 (2.36%) Junos
12 19 (2.25%) MPLS
13 17 (2.01%) BGP
13 17 (2.01%) IPsec
13 17 (2.01%) Skype
14 15 (1.77%) Cisco Firepower
14 15 (1.77%) Cisco ISE
15 13 (1.54%) Network Security
15 13 (1.54%) PABX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 34 (4.02%) Relational Database
2 25 (2.96%) MySQL
3 17 (2.01%) SQL Server
4 10 (1.18%) Power BI
5 6 (0.71%) MariaDB
6 5 (0.59%) RDBMS
7 4 (0.47%) Data Warehouse
7 4 (0.47%) InfluxDB
8 3 (0.35%) DB2
8 3 (0.35%) GIS
8 3 (0.35%) Tableau
9 2 (0.24%) Apache Cassandra
9 2 (0.24%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.24%) Oracle Database
10 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
10 1 (0.12%) Informix
10 1 (0.12%) PostgreSQL
10 1 (0.12%) Qlik Sense
10 1 (0.12%) SAP HANA
Development Applications
1 28 (3.31%) Browser DevTools
2 18 (2.13%) Android Studio
2 18 (2.13%) Eclipse
2 18 (2.13%) JIRA
2 18 (2.13%) Xcode
3 14 (1.65%) Git
4 9 (1.06%) Firebug
5 7 (0.83%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.83%) Maven
6 5 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
7 3 (0.35%) Fiddler
8 2 (0.24%) MSI
9 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.12%) ClearCase
9 1 (0.12%) Hudson
9 1 (0.12%) Team Foundation Server
General
1 369 (43.62%) Social Skills
2 83 (9.81%) Finance
3 69 (8.16%) Public Sector
4 61 (7.21%) Analytical Skills
5 42 (4.96%) Manufacturing
6 35 (4.14%) Banking
7 28 (3.31%) Organisational Skills
7 28 (3.31%) Telecoms
8 27 (3.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 17 (2.01%) Aerospace
9 17 (2.01%) Marketing
10 16 (1.89%) Electronics
11 12 (1.42%) Front Office
12 11 (1.30%) Documentation Skills
13 9 (1.06%) Retail
14 8 (0.95%) Investment Banking
14 8 (0.95%) Law
14 8 (0.95%) Legal
15 6 (0.71%) Automotive
15 6 (0.71%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.43%) CSS
2 23 (2.72%) Middleware
3 21 (2.48%) React
4 19 (2.25%) Ajax
4 19 (2.25%) AngularJS
4 19 (2.25%) GraphQL
5 16 (1.89%) XML
6 10 (1.18%) HTML
7 7 (0.83%) JSON
8 5 (0.59%) .NET
8 5 (0.59%) REST
8 5 (0.59%) SOAP
9 4 (0.47%) JDO
9 4 (0.47%) OAuth
10 3 (0.35%) ADO
10 3 (0.35%) Microsoft Graph
11 2 (0.24%) Kafka
11 2 (0.24%) Node.js
11 2 (0.24%) OpenTelemetry
11 2 (0.24%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 34 (4.02%) Onboarding
2 33 (3.90%) Self-Motivation
3 31 (3.66%) Data Centre
4 25 (2.96%) Driving Licence
5 23 (2.72%) PKI
6 21 (2.48%) Data Protection Act
7 20 (2.36%) Mobile App
8 15 (1.77%) Smartphone
8 15 (1.77%) Video Conferencing
9 13 (1.54%) iPhone
10 12 (1.42%) Management Information System
10 12 (1.42%) Replication
11 11 (1.30%) Analytical Mindset
12 9 (1.06%) Operational Technology
13 7 (0.83%) iPad
13 7 (0.83%) Legacy Systems
13 7 (0.83%) NHS
14 5 (0.59%) Enterprise Software
14 5 (0.59%) Virtual Team
15 4 (0.47%) CMDB
Operating Systems
1 449 (53.07%) Windows
2 168 (19.86%) Windows 10
3 98 (11.58%) Linux
4 56 (6.62%) Android
4 56 (6.62%) Windows Server
5 46 (5.44%) Apple iOS
6 44 (5.20%) Mac OS
7 32 (3.78%) Unix
8 13 (1.54%) Ubuntu
9 11 (1.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 10 (1.18%) Windows Server 2003
11 8 (0.95%) Windows 7
12 5 (0.59%) CentOS
12 5 (0.59%) Mac OS X
13 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
13 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.12%) VMS
14 1 (0.12%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 191 (22.58%) Problem-Solving
2 162 (19.15%) Customer Service
3 120 (14.18%) ITIL
4 78 (9.22%) ITSM
5 76 (8.98%) Service Management
6 61 (7.21%) Migration
7 53 (6.26%) Asset Management
8 45 (5.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 44 (5.20%) Workflow
10 34 (4.02%) User Experience
11 33 (3.90%) Business Intelligence
12 32 (3.78%) Cybersecurity
12 32 (3.78%) OO
13 31 (3.66%) Service Delivery
14 29 (3.43%) Root Cause Analysis
14 29 (3.43%) Workflow Management
15 26 (3.07%) Incident Management
16 25 (2.96%) Continuous Improvement
16 25 (2.96%) Logistics
17 24 (2.84%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 61 (7.21%) PowerShell
2 45 (5.32%) Java
3 43 (5.08%) JavaScript
3 43 (5.08%) Python
4 29 (3.43%) SQL
5 20 (2.36%) Bash
5 20 (2.36%) Perl
6 17 (2.01%) Shell Script
7 16 (1.89%) C
8 13 (1.54%) C++
9 12 (1.42%) Ada
10 4 (0.47%) C#
11 3 (0.35%) Magik
11 3 (0.35%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.24%) AWK
12 2 (0.24%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.12%) ABAP
13 1 (0.12%) Data Analysis Expressions
13 1 (0.12%) Korn
13 1 (0.12%) VBA
Qualifications
1 253 (29.91%) Security Cleared
2 188 (22.22%) SC Cleared
3 61 (7.21%) DV Cleared
4 48 (5.67%) Degree
5 31 (3.66%) Microsoft Certification
6 14 (1.65%) Azure Certification
7 13 (1.54%) Network+ Certification
8 12 (1.42%) Cisco Certification
8 12 (1.42%) DBS Check
9 11 (1.30%) CCNA
9 11 (1.30%) Server+ Certification
10 10 (1.18%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.06%) A+ Certification
11 9 (1.06%) BPSS Clearance
12 7 (0.83%) ITIL Certification
13 5 (0.59%) MCSE
14 4 (0.47%) MCP
14 4 (0.47%) MCSA
15 3 (0.35%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 2 (0.24%) MOS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (4.26%) SLA
2 14 (1.65%) QA
3 9 (1.06%) GDPR
4 5 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.35%) Accessibility
6 2 (0.24%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.12%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.12%) GAAP
7 1 (0.12%) GMP
7 1 (0.12%) GxP
7 1 (0.12%) IFRS
System Software
1 243 (28.72%) Active Directory
2 31 (3.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (2.48%) Hyper-V
4 19 (2.25%) Virtual Desktop
5 16 (1.89%) VMware NSX
6 12 (1.42%) Firmware
7 10 (1.18%) Brightmail
7 10 (1.18%) Docker
7 10 (1.18%) ISA Server
7 10 (1.18%) vSphere
8 3 (0.35%) Terminal Services
9 2 (0.24%) Microsoft App-V
9 2 (0.24%) NFS
9 2 (0.24%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
9 2 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.12%) DFS Replication
10 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.12%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 98 (11.58%) Microsoft Intune
2 79 (9.34%) SCCM
3 33 (3.90%) Jamf Pro
4 25 (2.96%) Ansible
5 21 (2.48%) Terraform
6 18 (2.13%) vCenter Server
7 11 (1.30%) Kubernetes
8 10 (1.18%) Microsoft Clustering
9 9 (1.06%) SCOM
10 8 (0.95%) Grafana
11 6 (0.71%) Red Hat Satellite
12 5 (0.59%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 5 (0.59%) AirWatch
13 4 (0.47%) ITRS Geneos
13 4 (0.47%) Kibana
14 3 (0.35%) Single Sign-On
15 2 (0.24%) Autotask
15 2 (0.24%) FortiGate
15 2 (0.24%) OpenView
15 2 (0.24%) WSUS
Vendors
1 328 (38.77%) Microsoft
2 104 (12.29%) ServiceNow
3 58 (6.86%) Cisco
4 52 (6.15%) Apple
5 51 (6.03%) Oracle
6 46 (5.44%) VMware
7 33 (3.90%) Juniper
8 31 (3.66%) SAP
9 26 (3.07%) SolarWinds
10 25 (2.96%) HP
11 23 (2.72%) Citrix
12 21 (2.48%) Splunk
13 19 (2.25%) Red Hat
14 18 (2.13%) Google
15 12 (1.42%) Dell
15 12 (1.42%) Remedy
16 11 (1.30%) Bloomberg
17 7 (0.83%) McAfee
17 7 (0.83%) Starlink
18 6 (0.71%) Zscaler