Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £233, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 23 September 2026.

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

6 months to
23 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 169 125 124
Rank change year-on-year -44 -1 -36
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 901 719 724
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.64% 2.20% 1.92%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.78% 2.42% 2.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 576 485 487
10th Percentile £163 £160 £142
25th Percentile £185 £190 £188
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £233 £235 £245
Median % change year-on-year -1.06% -4.08% -2.00%
75th Percentile £375 £358 £350
90th Percentile £501 £550 £538
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £230 £225
% change year-on-year -8.70% +2.22% +4.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 81 47
10th Percentile £15.24 £16.50 £18.02
25th Percentile £18.25 £20.15 £19.17
Median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £23.59
Median % change year-on-year -12.52% +6.61% +24.16%
75th Percentile £35.22 £43.75 £27.88
90th Percentile £42.90 £68.00 £58.50
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 50,606 29,766 35,027
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.26% 91.04% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,920 18,783 21,484
10th Percentile £325 £276 £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 £630 £625 £638
90th Percentile £733 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,907 1,587 1,616
10th Percentile £14.50 £13.75 £14.79
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.30 £20.69
Median hourly rate £42.30 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.19% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.70 £51.65 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £69.65 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.08 £43.97
% change year-on-year +69.49% -42.97% +0.50%

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 23 September 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 23 September 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 23 September 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 -46 768 £225 -5.26% 638
UK excluding London -34 588 £210 -8.70% 445
London -32 276 £255 +2.00% 232
South East -51 159 £260 +4.00% 139
North of England -21 137 £200 -5.88% 82
North West +5 101 £200 -5.88% 50
Work from Home -82 94 £300 +9.09% 222
Scotland +39 81 £350 +32.08% 36
East of England +10 81 £200 -9.09% 53
Midlands -64 70 £250 -1.96% 85
West Midlands -55 51 £213 -19.81% 50
South West -69 46 £205 -12.77% 37
Yorkshire -35 33 £200 -9.09% 21
East Midlands -22 19 £270 +38.46% 35
Wales -25 8 £625 +194.12% 6
Northern Ireland +7 6 £175 -12.50% 16
North East -42 4 £239 +22.44% 14
Channel Islands - 1 £550 -

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

For the 6 months to 23 September 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.

1 521 (57.82%) Windows
2 429 (47.61%) Microsoft
3 399 (44.28%) Active Directory
4 365 (40.51%) Microsoft 365
5 225 (24.97%) Customer Service
6 222 (24.64%) Problem-Solving
7 194 (21.53%) Windows 10
8 187 (20.75%) ITIL
9 178 (19.76%) Security Cleared
10 148 (16.43%) Azure
11 144 (15.98%) Entra ID
12 139 (15.43%) ITSM
13 138 (15.32%) Microsoft Intune
14 123 (13.65%) ServiceNow
15 121 (13.43%) SharePoint
16 107 (11.88%) PowerShell
17 101 (11.21%) DNS
18 99 (10.99%) SC Cleared
19 85 (9.43%) Continuous Improvement
20 81 (8.99%) Linux
21 80 (8.88%) Windows Server
22 79 (8.77%) Service Delivery
23 78 (8.66%) Microsoft Exchange
24 77 (8.55%) Asset Management
25 76 (8.44%) Service Management
26 75 (8.32%) VPN
27 73 (8.10%) Degree
27 73 (8.10%) Migration
27 73 (8.10%) SQL
28 69 (7.66%) TCP/IP

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
1 121 (13.43%) SharePoint
2 78 (8.66%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.22%) HCL Notes
4 6 (0.67%) NetWeaver
5 5 (0.55%) Confluence
5 5 (0.55%) 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%) IIS
8 1 (0.11%) ThingWorx
Applications
1 56 (6.22%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.55%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.33%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.22%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.11%) Adobe Creative Suite
6 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
6 1 (0.11%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (0.55%) Remedy ITSM
1 5 (0.55%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.44%) 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
1 365 (40.51%) Microsoft 365
2 148 (16.43%) Azure
3 144 (15.98%) Entra ID
4 51 (5.66%) OneDrive
5 44 (4.88%) AWS
6 22 (2.44%) SaaS
7 17 (1.89%) GCP
8 8 (0.89%) Google Workspace
8 8 (0.89%) Power Platform
9 6 (0.67%) AWS CloudFormation
9 6 (0.67%) Mimecast
10 5 (0.55%) Amazon EC2
10 5 (0.55%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (0.44%) Amazon CloudWatch
11 4 (0.44%) Amazon EKS
11 4 (0.44%) Google App Engine
11 4 (0.44%) Google Compute Engine
11 4 (0.44%) IaaS
11 4 (0.44%) PaaS
11 4 (0.44%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 101 (11.21%) DNS
2 75 (8.32%) VPN
3 69 (7.66%) TCP/IP
4 55 (6.10%) DHCP
5 38 (4.22%) Wi-Fi
6 37 (4.11%) LAN
7 33 (3.66%) WAN
8 30 (3.33%) Firewall
9 21 (2.33%) Internet
10 16 (1.78%) VLAN
11 15 (1.66%) Wireless
12 12 (1.33%) SAN
13 9 (1.00%) SD-WAN
14 8 (0.89%) WebEx
15 7 (0.78%) Network Security
16 6 (0.67%) SMTP
17 5 (0.55%) BGP
17 5 (0.55%) OSPF
17 5 (0.55%) Skype
17 5 (0.55%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (3.22%) SQL Server
2 13 (1.44%) MySQL
3 9 (1.00%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (0.89%) Relational Database
5 7 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.67%) Power BI
6 6 (0.67%) SAP HANA
7 5 (0.55%) MaxDB
7 5 (0.55%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.55%) Sybase ASE
8 3 (0.33%) Big Data
8 3 (0.33%) Elasticsearch
8 3 (0.33%) KDB
9 2 (0.22%) Amazon Aurora
9 2 (0.22%) Amazon Redshift
9 2 (0.22%) MariaDB
9 2 (0.22%) Pentaho
9 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Analysis Services
10 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 50 (5.55%) JIRA
2 17 (1.89%) Git
3 6 (0.67%) Browser DevTools
4 5 (0.55%) Jenkins
5 4 (0.44%) Artifactory
6 3 (0.33%) Android Studio
6 3 (0.33%) Eclipse
6 3 (0.33%) Xcode
7 2 (0.22%) Bitbucket
7 2 (0.22%) Firebug
7 2 (0.22%) GitLab
7 2 (0.22%) Team Foundation Server
8 1 (0.11%) Claude Code
8 1 (0.11%) eggPlant
8 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
8 1 (0.11%) Postman
8 1 (0.11%) Subversion
8 1 (0.11%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 379 (42.06%) Social Skills
2 97 (10.77%) Analytical Skills
3 83 (9.21%) Finance
4 46 (5.11%) Manufacturing
5 39 (4.33%) Banking
6 28 (3.11%) Organisational Skills
7 23 (2.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 21 (2.33%) Investment Banking
9 20 (2.22%) Front Office
10 19 (2.11%) Legal
11 18 (2.00%) Retail
12 17 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
13 15 (1.66%) Telecoms
14 14 (1.55%) Financial Institution
14 14 (1.55%) Law
15 11 (1.22%) Public Sector
16 10 (1.11%) Spanish Language
17 7 (0.78%) Marketing
18 6 (0.67%) Aerospace
19 4 (0.44%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (1.89%) Terraform
2 16 (1.78%) .NET
3 12 (1.33%) LDAP
4 11 (1.22%) XML
5 7 (0.78%) .NET Framework
6 6 (0.67%) CSS
6 6 (0.67%) REST
7 5 (0.55%) JDO
7 5 (0.55%) SAP Basis
7 5 (0.55%) SAP Fiori
7 5 (0.55%) SAPUI5
7 5 (0.55%) Software Packaging
8 4 (0.44%) FIX Protocol
8 4 (0.44%) HTML
8 4 (0.44%) React
8 4 (0.44%) Web Services
9 3 (0.33%) AngularJS
9 3 (0.33%) GraphQL
9 3 (0.33%) JSP
9 3 (0.33%) Kafka
Miscellaneous
1 132 (14.65%) Onboarding
2 34 (3.77%) Video Conferencing
3 33 (3.66%) Data Centre
4 21 (2.33%) Driving Licence
4 21 (2.33%) Self-Motivation
5 20 (2.22%) PKI
6 18 (2.00%) Hedge funds
7 17 (1.89%) Enterprise Software
8 16 (1.78%) Data Protection Act
9 15 (1.66%) Management Information System
10 14 (1.55%) Analytical Mindset
10 14 (1.55%) Smartphone
11 11 (1.22%) Blackberry
11 11 (1.22%) iPhone
11 11 (1.22%) Virtual Team
12 10 (1.11%) CMDB
13 9 (1.00%) Distributed Systems
14 7 (0.78%) iPad
14 7 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
15 6 (0.67%) BYOD
Operating Systems
1 521 (57.82%) Windows
2 194 (21.53%) Windows 10
3 81 (8.99%) Linux
4 80 (8.88%) Windows Server
5 67 (7.44%) Mac OS
6 47 (5.22%) Android
7 43 (4.77%) Apple iOS
8 28 (3.11%) Unix
9 18 (2.00%) Windows 7
10 13 (1.44%) Ubuntu
10 13 (1.44%) Windows Server 2019
11 8 (0.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 5 (0.55%) CentOS
12 5 (0.55%) VMS
13 4 (0.44%) OpenVMS
13 4 (0.44%) Solaris
13 4 (0.44%) Windows Server 2008
14 3 (0.33%) Windows Server 2012
14 3 (0.33%) Windows XP
15 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 225 (24.97%) Customer Service
2 222 (24.64%) Problem-Solving
3 187 (20.75%) ITIL
4 139 (15.43%) ITSM
5 85 (9.43%) Continuous Improvement
6 79 (8.77%) Service Delivery
7 77 (8.55%) Asset Management
8 76 (8.44%) Service Management
9 73 (8.10%) Migration
10 66 (7.33%) Root Cause Analysis
11 53 (5.88%) Problem Management
12 52 (5.77%) User Experience
13 50 (5.55%) Incident Management
14 46 (5.11%) Identity Access Management
15 43 (4.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 43 (4.77%) Technical Leadership
16 37 (4.11%) Data Protection
17 36 (4.00%) Runbook
18 32 (3.55%) Task Automation
19 31 (3.44%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 107 (11.88%) PowerShell
2 73 (8.10%) SQL
3 50 (5.55%) Python
4 30 (3.33%) Java
5 25 (2.77%) JavaScript
6 22 (2.44%) Bash
7 16 (1.78%) C#
8 8 (0.89%) Shell Script
9 7 (0.78%) C++
10 5 (0.55%) Perl
10 5 (0.55%) Tcl
10 5 (0.55%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.44%) Go
11 4 (0.44%) PL/SQL
12 2 (0.22%) DCL
13 1 (0.11%) Korn
13 1 (0.11%) Search Processing Language
13 1 (0.11%) TypeScript
13 1 (0.11%) VBA
13 1 (0.11%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 178 (19.76%) Security Cleared
2 99 (10.99%) SC Cleared
3 73 (8.10%) Degree
4 63 (6.99%) DV Cleared
5 31 (3.44%) A+ Certification
6 21 (2.33%) Microsoft Certification
7 19 (2.11%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 14 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
8 14 (1.55%) Network+ Certification
9 13 (1.44%) Cisco Certification
10 12 (1.33%) DBS Check
11 10 (1.11%) CCNA
12 9 (1.00%) Computer Science Degree
13 7 (0.78%) MCSE
13 7 (0.78%) Microsoft Certified Professional
14 6 (0.67%) Azure Certification
15 5 (0.55%) ITIL Certification
16 4 (0.44%) NVQ Level 4
17 3 (0.33%) OCA
17 3 (0.33%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (6.66%) SLA
2 7 (0.78%) QA
3 4 (0.44%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 3 (0.33%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.33%) GDPR
4 3 (0.33%) GxP
5 2 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.11%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.11%) GRC
6 1 (0.11%) ITGC
6 1 (0.11%) NCSC
System Software
1 399 (44.28%) Active Directory
2 52 (5.77%) VMware Infrastructure
3 32 (3.55%) VMware ESXi
4 24 (2.66%) Hyper-V
5 19 (2.11%) Virtual Desktop
6 17 (1.89%) VMware NSX
7 15 (1.66%) vCloud
8 10 (1.11%) Docker
9 7 (0.78%) vSphere
10 5 (0.55%) BitLocker
10 5 (0.55%) NFS
11 4 (0.44%) Firmware
12 3 (0.33%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.33%) Terminal Services
13 2 (0.22%) zsh
14 1 (0.11%) Oracle RAC
14 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 138 (15.32%) Microsoft Intune
2 65 (7.21%) SCCM
3 32 (3.55%) vCenter Server
4 26 (2.89%) SCOM
5 20 (2.22%) Single Sign-On
6 18 (2.00%) Kubernetes
7 17 (1.89%) Jamf Pro
8 14 (1.55%) Ansible
9 9 (1.00%) Grafana
10 7 (0.78%) WSUS
11 5 (0.55%) Red Hat Satellite
12 4 (0.44%) ITRS Geneos
12 4 (0.44%) Prometheus
13 3 (0.33%) Nagios
13 3 (0.33%) Puppet
13 3 (0.33%) vMotion
14 2 (0.22%) AirWatch
14 2 (0.22%) Kibana
14 2 (0.22%) NetBackup
14 2 (0.22%) vRealize
Vendors
1 429 (47.61%) Microsoft
2 123 (13.65%) ServiceNow
3 69 (7.66%) VMware
4 43 (4.77%) Apple
5 39 (4.33%) Cisco
6 31 (3.44%) Okta
7 30 (3.33%) Citrix
8 29 (3.22%) Oracle
9 28 (3.11%) Google
10 21 (2.33%) BeyondTrust
11 18 (2.00%) Splunk
12 16 (1.78%) Meraki
12 16 (1.78%) SAP
13 14 (1.55%) Bloomberg
14 13 (1.44%) iManage
14 13 (1.44%) Samsung
15 12 (1.33%) Broadcom
16 11 (1.22%) Dell
16 11 (1.22%) Lotus
16 11 (1.22%) SolarWinds