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 December 2025.

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

6 months to
18 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 121 138 87
Rank change year-on-year +17 -51 +58
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 841 650 1,130
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.30% 1.90% 2.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.53% 2.05% 2.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 575 443 815
10th Percentile £151 £150 £140
25th Percentile £185 £188 £181
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £240 £238
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +1.05% -
75th Percentile £348 £350 £380
90th Percentile £519 £524 £542
UK excluding London median daily rate £213 £220 £215
% change year-on-year -3.41% +2.33% +2.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 123 41 58
10th Percentile £17.14 £15.22 £15.85
25th Percentile £19.89 £20.50 £17.72
Median hourly rate £24.00 £23.00 £19.06
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +20.67% -2.08%
75th Percentile £30.00 £24.18 £21.75
90th Percentile £43.75 £41.50 £30.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.00 £23.00 £19.50
% change year-on-year +4.35% +17.95% +10.05%

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 33,289 31,718 41,239
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.98% 92.78% 93.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,068 19,534 27,738
10th Percentile £290 £300 £288
25th Percentile £404 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £644
90th Percentile £720 £738 £740
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £489 £500
% change year-on-year -2.86% -2.20% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,959 999 1,468
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.52 £15.14
25th Percentile £18.19 £21.22 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.47 £34.00 £44.50
Median % change year-on-year -25.09% -23.60% +48.33%
75th Percentile £57.50 £62.84 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.46 £72.55 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -22.62% -27.78% +80.76%

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 December 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 18 December 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 18 December 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 +19 760 £225 -6.25% 437
UK excluding London +11 583 £213 -3.41% 434
London -11 209 £235 -24.19% 65
South East +26 183 £238 +8.18% 123
South West +30 109 £250 +11.11% 47
North of England -18 108 £200 -4.76% 102
Work from Home -23 102 £275 -15.38% 131
Midlands +5 99 £250 -3.85% 62
West Midlands -3 71 £275 +4.76% 33
North West -9 60 £165 -17.50% 52
East of England -20 50 £200 -9.09% 70
Yorkshire -27 37 £205 -9.89% 44
East Midlands +8 30 £178 -11.25% 28
Scotland -11 26 £200 +5.26% 18
Wales +12 17 £213 +6.25% 15
North East +2 11 £106 -32.70% 10
Northern Ireland -7 3 £175 +18.24% 7

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

For the 6 months to 18 December 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.

1 434 (51.61%) Windows
2 318 (37.81%) Microsoft
3 261 (31.03%) Security Cleared
4 239 (28.42%) Microsoft 365
5 229 (27.23%) Active Directory
6 199 (23.66%) SC Cleared
7 175 (20.81%) Problem-Solving
8 173 (20.57%) Customer Service
8 173 (20.57%) Windows 10
9 104 (12.37%) Azure
10 102 (12.13%) ITIL
11 99 (11.77%) Linux
12 98 (11.65%) ServiceNow
13 93 (11.06%) Microsoft Intune
14 83 (9.87%) Microsoft Office
15 80 (9.51%) DNS
16 76 (9.04%) Migration
17 72 (8.56%) SCCM
18 69 (8.20%) DHCP
18 69 (8.20%) ITSM
18 69 (8.20%) Service Management
18 69 (8.20%) SharePoint
19 68 (8.09%) VPN
20 66 (7.85%) TCP/IP
21 61 (7.25%) DV Cleared
22 60 (7.13%) Microsoft Exchange
23 59 (7.02%) Android
23 59 (7.02%) PowerShell
24 54 (6.42%) Asset Management
24 54 (6.42%) Oracle

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 69 (8.20%) SharePoint
2 60 (7.13%) Microsoft Exchange
3 22 (2.62%) Skype for Business
4 9 (1.07%) Exchange Server 2010
4 9 (1.07%) SharePoint Server
5 8 (0.95%) Exchange Server 2003
5 8 (0.95%) Exchange Server 2007
5 8 (0.95%) Exchange Server 2013
5 8 (0.95%) Office Communications Server
6 4 (0.48%) Confluence
7 3 (0.36%) Smallworld
8 2 (0.24%) Apache
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%) IIS
9 1 (0.12%) SAS
9 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 83 (9.87%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (3.09%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.24%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.12%) AutoCAD
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 9 (1.07%) SAP EHS
2 7 (0.83%) Remedy ITSM
3 6 (0.71%) Shopify
4 5 (0.59%) Primavera
5 3 (0.36%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.24%) Eikon
6 2 (0.24%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.12%) assyst
7 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
7 1 (0.12%) Eze OMS
7 1 (0.12%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 239 (28.42%) Microsoft 365
2 104 (12.37%) Azure
3 38 (4.52%) Entra ID
4 27 (3.21%) AWS
5 26 (3.09%) SaaS
6 23 (2.73%) OneDrive
7 21 (2.50%) Sauce Labs
8 18 (2.14%) Google Workspace
9 10 (1.19%) Power Platform
10 9 (1.07%) npm
11 8 (0.95%) Azure DevOps
12 7 (0.83%) Dynamics 365
13 6 (0.71%) OpenShift
14 5 (0.59%) Slack
14 5 (0.59%) SuccessFactors
15 4 (0.48%) Microsoft Purview
16 3 (0.36%) Azure AKS
17 2 (0.24%) Amazon EKS
17 2 (0.24%) Amazon OpenSearch
17 2 (0.24%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 80 (9.51%) DNS
2 69 (8.20%) DHCP
3 68 (8.09%) VPN
4 66 (7.85%) TCP/IP
5 38 (4.52%) Wireless
6 37 (4.40%) Firewall
6 37 (4.40%) Wi-Fi
7 33 (3.92%) WAN
8 22 (2.62%) LAN
9 21 (2.50%) VLAN
10 20 (2.38%) Cisco IOS
10 20 (2.38%) Junos
11 19 (2.26%) MPLS
12 17 (2.02%) BGP
12 17 (2.02%) IPsec
13 15 (1.78%) Cisco Firepower
13 15 (1.78%) Cisco ISE
13 15 (1.78%) Skype
14 14 (1.66%) Network Security
15 13 (1.55%) PABX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 36 (4.28%) Relational Database
2 29 (3.45%) MySQL
3 13 (1.55%) SQL Server
4 9 (1.07%) Power BI
5 7 (0.83%) MariaDB
6 6 (0.71%) RDBMS
7 5 (0.59%) InfluxDB
8 3 (0.36%) GIS
8 3 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 3 (0.36%) Tableau
9 2 (0.24%) Apache Cassandra
9 2 (0.24%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.24%) Oracle Database
10 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
10 1 (0.12%) DB2
10 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
10 1 (0.12%) Informix
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle ODI
10 1 (0.12%) PostgreSQL
10 1 (0.12%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 32 (3.80%) Browser DevTools
2 21 (2.50%) Android Studio
2 21 (2.50%) Eclipse
2 21 (2.50%) Xcode
3 19 (2.26%) JIRA
4 15 (1.78%) Git
5 10 (1.19%) Firebug
6 9 (1.07%) Maven
7 7 (0.83%) Jenkins
8 4 (0.48%) Sonatype Nexus
9 2 (0.24%) Fiddler
9 2 (0.24%) MSI
10 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.12%) ClearCase
10 1 (0.12%) Hudson
General
1 377 (44.83%) Social Skills
2 74 (8.80%) Finance
3 63 (7.49%) Public Sector
4 57 (6.78%) Analytical Skills
5 39 (4.64%) Manufacturing
6 34 (4.04%) Banking
7 30 (3.57%) Organisational Skills
8 29 (3.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 22 (2.62%) Telecoms
10 21 (2.50%) Aerospace
11 15 (1.78%) Electronics
11 15 (1.78%) Marketing
12 12 (1.43%) Front Office
13 11 (1.31%) Law
14 10 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
15 9 (1.07%) Legal
16 8 (0.95%) Retail
17 7 (0.83%) Aviation
17 7 (0.83%) Investment Banking
18 6 (0.71%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (3.80%) CSS
2 25 (2.97%) Middleware
3 22 (2.62%) Ajax
3 22 (2.62%) AngularJS
3 22 (2.62%) GraphQL
3 22 (2.62%) React
4 17 (2.02%) XML
5 10 (1.19%) HTML
6 7 (0.83%) JSON
7 5 (0.59%) REST
7 5 (0.59%) SOAP
8 4 (0.48%) .NET
8 4 (0.48%) JDO
9 3 (0.36%) ADO
10 2 (0.24%) EDI
10 2 (0.24%) Kafka
10 2 (0.24%) Node.js
10 2 (0.24%) OAuth
10 2 (0.24%) XMPP
10 2 (0.24%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 40 (4.76%) Onboarding
2 35 (4.16%) Self-Motivation
3 32 (3.80%) Driving Licence
4 29 (3.45%) Data Centre
5 24 (2.85%) PKI
6 22 (2.62%) Mobile App
7 19 (2.26%) Data Protection Act
7 19 (2.26%) Smartphone
8 14 (1.66%) Analytical Mindset
9 13 (1.55%) iPhone
9 13 (1.55%) Management Information System
10 11 (1.31%) Video Conferencing
11 10 (1.19%) Replication
12 7 (0.83%) Enterprise Software
12 7 (0.83%) iPad
12 7 (0.83%) Legacy Systems
13 5 (0.59%) NHS
14 4 (0.48%) Operational Technology
14 4 (0.48%) Virtual Team
15 3 (0.36%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 434 (51.61%) Windows
2 173 (20.57%) Windows 10
3 99 (11.77%) Linux
4 59 (7.02%) Android
5 52 (6.18%) Windows Server
6 50 (5.95%) Mac OS
7 43 (5.11%) Apple iOS
8 35 (4.16%) Unix
9 12 (1.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 12 (1.43%) Ubuntu
10 8 (0.95%) Windows Server 2003
11 7 (0.83%) Windows 7
12 6 (0.71%) CentOS
13 3 (0.36%) Mac OS X
14 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
15 1 (0.12%) Windows 8
15 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 175 (20.81%) Problem-Solving
2 173 (20.57%) Customer Service
3 102 (12.13%) ITIL
4 76 (9.04%) Migration
5 69 (8.20%) ITSM
5 69 (8.20%) Service Management
6 54 (6.42%) Asset Management
7 49 (5.83%) Workflow
8 41 (4.88%) User Experience
9 39 (4.64%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 36 (4.28%) Workflow Management
11 35 (4.16%) OO
12 34 (4.04%) Root Cause Analysis
13 29 (3.45%) Logistics
13 29 (3.45%) Service Delivery
14 28 (3.33%) Business Intelligence
14 28 (3.33%) Continuous Improvement
15 27 (3.21%) Cybersecurity
16 24 (2.85%) Data Protection
16 24 (2.85%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 59 (7.02%) PowerShell
2 49 (5.83%) Java
3 45 (5.35%) JavaScript
4 41 (4.88%) Python
5 30 (3.57%) SQL
6 23 (2.73%) Perl
7 17 (2.02%) Shell Script
8 16 (1.90%) Bash
8 16 (1.90%) C
9 13 (1.55%) C++
10 12 (1.43%) Ada
11 3 (0.36%) Magik
12 2 (0.24%) AWK
12 2 (0.24%) C#
12 2 (0.24%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.24%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.12%) Korn
13 1 (0.12%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.12%) VBA
13 1 (0.12%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 261 (31.03%) Security Cleared
2 199 (23.66%) SC Cleared
3 61 (7.25%) DV Cleared
4 46 (5.47%) Degree
5 28 (3.33%) Microsoft Certification
6 14 (1.66%) Azure Certification
7 13 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.55%) Network+ Certification
8 12 (1.43%) DBS Check
9 11 (1.31%) A+ Certification
9 11 (1.31%) Server+ Certification
10 9 (1.07%) Computer Science Degree
11 8 (0.95%) ITIL Certification
12 7 (0.83%) Cisco Certification
13 6 (0.71%) CCNA
14 4 (0.48%) MCP
15 3 (0.36%) Master's Degree
15 3 (0.36%) MCSE
16 2 (0.24%) CompTIA Security+
16 2 (0.24%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (3.92%) SLA
2 9 (1.07%) GDPR
3 6 (0.71%) QA
4 5 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.36%) Accessibility
6 2 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.12%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.12%) GAAP
7 1 (0.12%) IFRS
7 1 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
7 1 (0.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 229 (27.23%) Active Directory
2 30 (3.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (2.26%) Hyper-V
4 16 (1.90%) VMware NSX
5 15 (1.78%) Virtual Desktop
6 11 (1.31%) Firmware
7 10 (1.19%) Docker
8 8 (0.95%) Brightmail
8 8 (0.95%) ISA Server
9 4 (0.48%) vSphere
10 3 (0.36%) Terminal Services
11 2 (0.24%) NFS
11 2 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.12%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
12 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
12 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
12 1 (0.12%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 93 (11.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 72 (8.56%) SCCM
3 36 (4.28%) Jamf Pro
4 23 (2.73%) Ansible
5 22 (2.62%) Terraform
6 18 (2.14%) vCenter Server
7 13 (1.55%) Grafana
8 8 (0.95%) Kubernetes
8 8 (0.95%) Microsoft Clustering
9 6 (0.71%) Red Hat Satellite
10 5 (0.59%) Kibana
11 4 (0.48%) AirWatch
11 4 (0.48%) ITRS Geneos
11 4 (0.48%) SCOM
12 3 (0.36%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.36%) Single Sign-On
13 2 (0.24%) FortiGate
13 2 (0.24%) Prometheus
13 2 (0.24%) WSUS
14 1 (0.12%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 318 (37.81%) Microsoft
2 98 (11.65%) ServiceNow
3 54 (6.42%) Oracle
4 52 (6.18%) Apple
5 51 (6.06%) Cisco
6 45 (5.35%) VMware
7 34 (4.04%) SAP
8 33 (3.92%) Juniper
9 31 (3.69%) HP
10 25 (2.97%) Splunk
11 20 (2.38%) Google
11 20 (2.38%) SolarWinds
12 19 (2.26%) Citrix
12 19 (2.26%) Red Hat
13 18 (2.14%) Dell
14 12 (1.43%) Bloomberg
15 10 (1.19%) Remedy
16 8 (0.95%) McAfee
17 7 (0.83%) New Relic
17 7 (0.83%) Starlink