Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £223, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 January 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 133 137 86
Rank change year-on-year +4 -51 +58
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 800 587 1,050
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.20% 1.85% 2.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.41% 1.99% 2.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 550 397 754
10th Percentile £151 £150 £140
25th Percentile £185 £188 £180
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £223 £240 £225
Median % change year-on-year -7.29% +6.67% -6.05%
75th Percentile £350 £380 £350
90th Percentile £501 £525 £500
UK excluding London median daily rate £213 £220 £205
% change year-on-year -3.41% +7.32% +1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 119 40 53
10th Percentile £17.14 £15.15 £16.25
25th Percentile £19.77 £19.41 £17.72
Median hourly rate £24.00 £23.00 £19.50
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +17.95% +1.04%
75th Percentile £26.63 £25.14 £23.00
90th Percentile £45.00 £41.50 £38.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.75 £23.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year +3.26% +15.00% +13.57%

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 33,229 29,465 40,074
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.31% 92.70% 93.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,002 18,045 26,741
10th Percentile £300 £291 £280
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £480 £500
% change year-on-year -1.04% -4.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,953 888 1,677
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.60 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.22 £18.93
Median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £42.50
Median % change year-on-year -18.46% -23.53% +28.79%
75th Percentile £60.00 £62.31 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.60 £73.75 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £31.51 £44.78
% change year-on-year -20.18% -29.63% +65.05%

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 11 January 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 11 January 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 11 January 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 +16 726 £225 -6.25% 318
UK excluding London +8 560 £213 -3.41% 319
London -1 198 £250 -16.67% 46
South East +29 167 £250 +19.05% 100
North of England +7 110 £195 -11.36% 73
South West +23 107 £250 +11.11% 32
Midlands +4 100 £223 -27.64% 50
Work from Home -26 98 £275 -15.38% 77
West Midlands 0 70 £250 -28.57% 29
North West -1 63 £152 -28.71% 38
East of England -13 45 £204 -7.39% 39
Yorkshire -26 37 £205 -8.89% 27
East Midlands +1 32 £175 -28.57% 21
Scotland -12 29 £200 +19.76% 18
Wales 0 11 £200 - 10
North East +1 10 £106 - 12
Northern Ireland -7 3 £175 +18.24% 6

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

For the 6 months to 11 January 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.

1 406 (50.75%) Windows
2 296 (37.00%) Microsoft
3 252 (31.50%) Security Cleared
4 224 (28.00%) Microsoft 365
5 212 (26.50%) Active Directory
6 196 (24.50%) SC Cleared
7 162 (20.25%) Customer Service
7 162 (20.25%) Windows 10
8 159 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
9 103 (12.88%) Azure
10 94 (11.75%) Linux
10 94 (11.75%) ServiceNow
11 93 (11.63%) ITIL
12 86 (10.75%) Microsoft Intune
13 75 (9.38%) Migration
14 73 (9.13%) Microsoft Office
15 72 (9.00%) DNS
16 67 (8.38%) SCCM
17 66 (8.25%) Service Management
17 66 (8.25%) SharePoint
18 64 (8.00%) DHCP
19 62 (7.75%) ITSM
19 62 (7.75%) VPN
20 61 (7.63%) TCP/IP
21 57 (7.13%) Android
21 57 (7.13%) DV Cleared
22 55 (6.88%) PowerShell
23 54 (6.75%) Microsoft Exchange
24 53 (6.63%) Windows Server
25 52 (6.50%) Asset 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 66 (8.25%) SharePoint
2 54 (6.75%) Microsoft Exchange
3 20 (2.50%) Skype for Business
4 7 (0.88%) Exchange Server 2010
4 7 (0.88%) SharePoint Server
5 6 (0.75%) Exchange Server 2003
5 6 (0.75%) Exchange Server 2007
5 6 (0.75%) Exchange Server 2013
5 6 (0.75%) Office Communications Server
6 4 (0.50%) Apache
7 3 (0.38%) IIS
8 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.25%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.25%) ArcGIS
8 2 (0.25%) Confluence
8 2 (0.25%) Jupyter
8 2 (0.25%) Smallworld
9 1 (0.13%) CMS
9 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
Applications
1 73 (9.13%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (2.88%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.38%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.25%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.13%) DaVinci Resolve
5 1 (0.13%) OmniGraffle
5 1 (0.13%) Pro Tools
5 1 (0.13%) ProjectWise
5 1 (0.13%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (1.13%) SAP EHS
2 7 (0.88%) Remedy ITSM
2 7 (0.88%) Shopify
3 5 (0.63%) Primavera
4 3 (0.38%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.13%) Aladdin
5 1 (0.13%) assyst
5 1 (0.13%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.13%) Eikon
5 1 (0.13%) Fidessa
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.13%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 224 (28.00%) Microsoft 365
2 103 (12.88%) Azure
3 41 (5.13%) Entra ID
4 30 (3.75%) AWS
5 28 (3.50%) SaaS
6 23 (2.88%) OneDrive
7 19 (2.38%) Sauce Labs
8 18 (2.25%) Google Workspace
9 9 (1.13%) Power Platform
10 8 (1.00%) Azure DevOps
11 7 (0.88%) Dynamics 365
11 7 (0.88%) npm
12 4 (0.50%) Microsoft Purview
12 4 (0.50%) OpenShift
12 4 (0.50%) Slack
13 3 (0.38%) Amazon S3
13 3 (0.38%) Azure Data Factory
14 2 (0.25%) Amazon EKS
14 2 (0.25%) Azure AKS
14 2 (0.25%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 72 (9.00%) DNS
2 64 (8.00%) DHCP
3 62 (7.75%) VPN
4 61 (7.63%) TCP/IP
5 38 (4.75%) Wireless
6 35 (4.38%) Wi-Fi
7 34 (4.25%) Firewall
8 28 (3.50%) WAN
9 20 (2.50%) VLAN
10 19 (2.38%) Junos
11 18 (2.25%) LAN
12 17 (2.13%) MPLS
13 16 (2.00%) Cisco IOS
14 15 (1.88%) BGP
14 15 (1.88%) Cisco Firepower
14 15 (1.88%) Cisco ISE
14 15 (1.88%) IPsec
14 15 (1.88%) Skype
15 13 (1.63%) Network Security
15 13 (1.63%) PABX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (3.63%) Relational Database
2 24 (3.00%) MySQL
3 12 (1.50%) SQL Server
4 8 (1.00%) Power BI
5 4 (0.50%) MariaDB
5 4 (0.50%) RDBMS
5 4 (0.50%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 3 (0.38%) Amazon Athena
6 3 (0.38%) Amazon Redshift
6 3 (0.38%) InfluxDB
6 3 (0.38%) Oracle Database
7 2 (0.25%) Electronic Patient Records
7 2 (0.25%) GIS
7 2 (0.25%) Tableau
8 1 (0.13%) Apache Cassandra
8 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.13%) Elasticsearch
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle ODI
8 1 (0.13%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 27 (3.38%) Browser DevTools
2 19 (2.38%) Android Studio
2 19 (2.38%) Eclipse
2 19 (2.38%) Xcode
3 16 (2.00%) JIRA
4 9 (1.13%) Git
5 7 (0.88%) Firebug
5 7 (0.88%) Maven
6 3 (0.38%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.25%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.25%) MSI
8 1 (0.13%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.13%) ClearCase
8 1 (0.13%) Hudson
General
1 348 (43.50%) Social Skills
2 69 (8.63%) Finance
3 58 (7.25%) Public Sector
4 56 (7.00%) Analytical Skills
5 37 (4.63%) Banking
6 34 (4.25%) Manufacturing
7 28 (3.50%) Organisational Skills
8 25 (3.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 21 (2.63%) Aerospace
9 21 (2.63%) Telecoms
10 14 (1.75%) Electronics
10 14 (1.75%) Law
10 14 (1.75%) Marketing
11 13 (1.63%) Front Office
12 12 (1.50%) Investment Banking
13 9 (1.13%) Documentation Skills
13 9 (1.13%) Legal
14 7 (0.88%) Aviation
15 6 (0.75%) Automotive
15 6 (0.75%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (3.38%) CSS
2 24 (3.00%) Middleware
3 20 (2.50%) Ajax
3 20 (2.50%) AngularJS
3 20 (2.50%) GraphQL
3 20 (2.50%) React
4 11 (1.38%) XML
5 7 (0.88%) HTML
6 5 (0.63%) PySpark
6 5 (0.63%) REST
6 5 (0.63%) SOAP
7 4 (0.50%) .NET
7 4 (0.50%) JDO
7 4 (0.50%) JSON
8 3 (0.38%) ADO
8 3 (0.38%) YAML
9 2 (0.25%) Kafka
9 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Graph
9 2 (0.25%) OAuth
9 2 (0.25%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 40 (5.00%) Onboarding
2 38 (4.75%) Self-Motivation
3 30 (3.75%) Driving Licence
4 26 (3.25%) PKI
5 24 (3.00%) Smartphone
6 22 (2.75%) Data Centre
7 20 (2.50%) Mobile App
8 16 (2.00%) Data Protection Act
9 14 (1.75%) Analytical Mindset
10 13 (1.63%) Management Information System
11 9 (1.13%) iPhone
11 9 (1.13%) Video Conferencing
12 8 (1.00%) Enterprise Software
12 8 (1.00%) Replication
13 7 (0.88%) Legacy Systems
14 6 (0.75%) iPad
15 5 (0.63%) Hybrid Cloud
15 5 (0.63%) Virtual Team
16 4 (0.50%) Operational Technology
17 3 (0.38%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 406 (50.75%) Windows
2 162 (20.25%) Windows 10
3 94 (11.75%) Linux
4 57 (7.13%) Android
5 53 (6.63%) Windows Server
6 46 (5.75%) Mac OS
7 41 (5.13%) Apple iOS
8 32 (4.00%) Unix
9 12 (1.50%) Ubuntu
10 10 (1.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 10 (1.25%) Windows 7
11 6 (0.75%) Windows Server 2003
12 4 (0.50%) CentOS
13 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2016
14 1 (0.13%) Mac OS X
14 1 (0.13%) Windows 8
14 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.13%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 162 (20.25%) Customer Service
2 159 (19.88%) Problem-Solving
3 93 (11.63%) ITIL
4 75 (9.38%) Migration
5 66 (8.25%) Service Management
6 62 (7.75%) ITSM
7 52 (6.50%) Asset Management
8 48 (6.00%) Workflow
9 45 (5.63%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 38 (4.75%) User Experience
11 37 (4.63%) Workflow Management
12 30 (3.75%) Logistics
12 30 (3.75%) OO
12 30 (3.75%) Root Cause Analysis
13 29 (3.63%) Service Delivery
14 27 (3.38%) Continuous Improvement
15 24 (3.00%) Business Intelligence
15 24 (3.00%) Stakeholder Management
16 22 (2.75%) Cybersecurity
16 22 (2.75%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 55 (6.88%) PowerShell
2 41 (5.13%) Java
3 40 (5.00%) JavaScript
4 36 (4.50%) Python
5 25 (3.13%) SQL
6 20 (2.50%) Perl
7 17 (2.13%) Shell Script
8 13 (1.63%) C
8 13 (1.63%) C++
9 12 (1.50%) Ada
10 10 (1.25%) Bash
11 2 (0.25%) AWK
11 2 (0.25%) C#
11 2 (0.25%) Magik
11 2 (0.25%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.25%) VB.NET
12 1 (0.13%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.13%) Tcl
12 1 (0.13%) VBA
12 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 252 (31.50%) Security Cleared
2 196 (24.50%) SC Cleared
3 57 (7.13%) DV Cleared
4 39 (4.88%) Degree
5 27 (3.38%) Microsoft Certification
6 17 (2.13%) Azure Certification
7 13 (1.63%) A+ Certification
7 13 (1.63%) Network+ Certification
8 11 (1.38%) BPSS Clearance
8 11 (1.38%) Server+ Certification
9 9 (1.13%) DBS Check
10 7 (0.88%) ITIL Certification
11 6 (0.75%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (0.50%) MCP
13 3 (0.38%) CCNA
13 3 (0.38%) Cisco Certification
13 3 (0.38%) Master's Degree
13 3 (0.38%) MCSE
14 2 (0.25%) AWS Certification
14 2 (0.25%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (3.88%) SLA
2 9 (1.13%) GDPR
3 5 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.50%) QA
5 2 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.13%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.13%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.13%) GAAP
6 1 (0.13%) IFRS
6 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.13%) SOC 2
System Software
1 212 (26.50%) Active Directory
2 29 (3.63%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (2.25%) Hyper-V
4 16 (2.00%) VMware NSX
5 14 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (1.00%) Docker
7 6 (0.75%) Brightmail
7 6 (0.75%) Firmware
7 6 (0.75%) ISA Server
8 4 (0.50%) vSphere
9 3 (0.38%) Terminal Services
10 2 (0.25%) NFS
10 2 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
11 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.13%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
11 1 (0.13%) VMware Workstation
11 1 (0.13%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 86 (10.75%) Microsoft Intune
2 67 (8.38%) SCCM
3 30 (3.75%) Jamf Pro
4 21 (2.63%) Ansible
5 18 (2.25%) vCenter Server
6 16 (2.00%) Terraform
7 11 (1.38%) Grafana
8 7 (0.88%) Kubernetes
9 6 (0.75%) Microsoft Clustering
9 6 (0.75%) Red Hat Satellite
10 5 (0.63%) Kibana
10 5 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
11 4 (0.50%) ITRS Geneos
12 3 (0.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 3 (0.38%) SCOM
13 2 (0.25%) AirWatch
13 2 (0.25%) FortiGate
13 2 (0.25%) Prometheus
13 2 (0.25%) WSUS
14 1 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
Vendors
1 296 (37.00%) Microsoft
2 94 (11.75%) ServiceNow
3 47 (5.88%) Cisco
4 43 (5.38%) Apple
4 43 (5.38%) VMware
5 41 (5.13%) Oracle
6 30 (3.75%) Juniper
7 29 (3.63%) SAP
8 27 (3.38%) HP
9 22 (2.75%) Splunk
10 21 (2.63%) Google
10 21 (2.63%) SolarWinds
11 19 (2.38%) Dell
11 19 (2.38%) Red Hat
12 15 (1.88%) Citrix
13 11 (1.38%) Bloomberg
14 9 (1.13%) Remedy
15 7 (0.88%) McAfee
15 7 (0.88%) New Relic
15 7 (0.88%) Palo Alto