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 17 March 2026.

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

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 133 102
Rank change year-on-year -12 -31 +30
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 809 619 944
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.87% 2.11% 2.12%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.04% 2.27% 2.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 543 413 676
10th Percentile £153 £150 £137
25th Percentile £185 £181 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £225 £215
Median % change year-on-year -2.22% +4.65% -14.00%
75th Percentile £369 £375 £300
90th Percentile £500 £488 £444
UK excluding London median daily rate £207 £213 £200
% change year-on-year -2.59% +6.25% -5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 116 39 58
10th Percentile £17.61 £16.67 £15.36
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.36 £17.13
Median hourly rate £24.00 £22.50 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +6.67% +12.50% +1.27%
75th Percentile £30.93 £24.66 £30.00
90th Percentile £53.00 £41.50 £46.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £22.30 £18.00
% change year-on-year +5.74% +23.86% +1.58%

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 39,673 27,289 41,313
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.89% 92.94% 92.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,785 17,711 27,109
10th Percentile £313 £300 £272
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.11%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £485
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.06% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,471 884 2,499
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.25 £12.98
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.04 £16.25
Median hourly rate £35.71 £33.00 £32.90
Median % change year-on-year +8.21% +0.32% -22.60%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.95
90th Percentile £75.79 £77.41 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £32.50 £32.70
% change year-on-year +7.69% -0.60% -19.44%

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 17 March 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 17 March 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 17 March 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 -11 728 £220 -4.35% 260
UK excluding London -7 559 £207 -2.59% 260
London -33 214 £275 -9.09% 43
South East -5 139 £238 +18.75% 85
North of England -36 118 £190 -12.64% 60
South West -3 107 £250 +11.11% 32
Midlands -16 93 £200 -18.37% 28
Work from Home -68 75 £290 -7.57% 62
North West -22 63 £152 -29.53% 33
East of England -8 58 £203 -8.99% 34
West Midlands -49 56 £269 -10.50% 15
Yorkshire -28 46 £205 -11.83% 21
Scotland +19 39 £238 +49.84% 17
East Midlands -3 38 £200 +5.26% 13
North East -14 9 £106 -45.64% 10
Wales -16 9 £200 - 7
Northern Ireland -16 2 £175 +18.24% 7

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

For the 6 months to 17 March 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.

1 379 (46.85%) Windows
2 280 (34.61%) Microsoft
3 251 (31.03%) Microsoft 365
4 236 (29.17%) Security Cleared
5 230 (28.43%) Active Directory
6 191 (23.61%) SC Cleared
7 174 (21.51%) Windows 10
8 165 (20.40%) Customer Service
9 141 (17.43%) Problem-Solving
10 109 (13.47%) Azure
11 101 (12.48%) ServiceNow
12 91 (11.25%) ITIL
12 91 (11.25%) Microsoft Intune
13 78 (9.64%) Migration
14 76 (9.39%) PowerShell
15 64 (7.91%) Linux
16 62 (7.66%) ITSM
17 60 (7.42%) DNS
18 58 (7.17%) Wi-Fi
19 56 (6.92%) Entra ID
19 56 (6.92%) SCCM
19 56 (6.92%) SharePoint
20 54 (6.67%) Asset Management
20 54 (6.67%) DHCP
21 52 (6.43%) TCP/IP
22 48 (5.93%) Workflow
23 46 (5.69%) SQL
24 45 (5.56%) DV Cleared
25 44 (5.44%) Mac OS
25 44 (5.44%) Microsoft Office

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 56 (6.92%) SharePoint
2 40 (4.94%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.85%) Skype for Business
4 5 (0.62%) NetWeaver
5 4 (0.49%) Apache
5 4 (0.49%) Confluence
6 3 (0.37%) IIS
7 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.25%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.25%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.25%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.25%) Smallworld
7 2 (0.25%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.12%) Tuxedo
8 1 (0.12%) WebSphere
Applications
1 44 (5.44%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (2.35%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.12%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 9 (1.11%) SAP EHS
2 8 (0.99%) Remedy ITSM
3 7 (0.87%) Shopify
4 6 (0.74%) Teamcenter
5 5 (0.62%) SAP S/4HANA
6 2 (0.25%) Primavera
7 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.12%) Alphatax
7 1 (0.12%) assyst
7 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
7 1 (0.12%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.12%) Dynamics GP
7 1 (0.12%) Eikon
7 1 (0.12%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.12%) NetSuite
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 251 (31.03%) Microsoft 365
2 109 (13.47%) Azure
3 56 (6.92%) Entra ID
4 33 (4.08%) OneDrive
5 25 (3.09%) AWS
6 21 (2.60%) SaaS
7 19 (2.35%) Google Workspace
8 15 (1.85%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (1.36%) Dynamics 365
10 10 (1.24%) Sauce Labs
11 9 (1.11%) Power Platform
12 6 (0.74%) npm
13 5 (0.62%) Amazon S3
13 5 (0.62%) Azure Data Factory
13 5 (0.62%) PaaS
14 4 (0.49%) Datadog
14 4 (0.49%) Snowflake
15 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Purview
15 3 (0.37%) Nutanix
15 3 (0.37%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 60 (7.42%) DNS
2 58 (7.17%) Wi-Fi
3 54 (6.67%) DHCP
4 52 (6.43%) TCP/IP
5 43 (5.32%) VPN
6 36 (4.45%) LAN
7 28 (3.46%) WAN
8 24 (2.97%) Firewall
9 23 (2.84%) Wireless
10 16 (1.98%) Skype
11 13 (1.61%) Network Security
11 13 (1.61%) PABX
12 12 (1.48%) SAN
13 11 (1.36%) Internet
13 11 (1.36%) VLAN
14 10 (1.24%) VoIP
15 8 (0.99%) HTTP
16 7 (0.87%) Cisco IOS
16 7 (0.87%) Junos
16 7 (0.87%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (2.84%) SQL Server
2 18 (2.22%) MySQL
3 16 (1.98%) Relational Database
4 11 (1.36%) Amazon Redshift
5 9 (1.11%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 7 (0.87%) Power BI
7 5 (0.62%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.62%) Pentaho
7 5 (0.62%) SAP HANA
7 5 (0.62%) Sybase ASE
8 4 (0.49%) Amazon Athena
8 4 (0.49%) MaxDB
8 4 (0.49%) Oracle Database 12c
9 3 (0.37%) InfluxDB
9 3 (0.37%) RDBMS
9 3 (0.37%) Tableau
10 2 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
10 2 (0.25%) GIS
10 2 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 43 (5.32%) JIRA
2 16 (1.98%) Browser DevTools
3 14 (1.73%) Git
4 10 (1.24%) Android Studio
4 10 (1.24%) Eclipse
4 10 (1.24%) Xcode
5 6 (0.74%) Maven
6 3 (0.37%) Firebug
6 3 (0.37%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.25%) Fiddler
7 2 (0.25%) MSI
8 1 (0.12%) Atlassian Bamboo
8 1 (0.12%) Hudson
8 1 (0.12%) RStudio
8 1 (0.12%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 340 (42.03%) Social Skills
2 66 (8.16%) Finance
3 59 (7.29%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (6.67%) Manufacturing
5 43 (5.32%) Public Sector
6 39 (4.82%) Banking
7 27 (3.34%) Aerospace
7 27 (3.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 25 (3.09%) Organisational Skills
9 18 (2.22%) Telecoms
10 16 (1.98%) Aviation
11 15 (1.85%) Investment Banking
12 13 (1.61%) Electronics
12 13 (1.61%) Marketing
13 10 (1.24%) Law
14 9 (1.11%) Documentation Skills
14 9 (1.11%) Legal
15 8 (0.99%) Front Office
16 4 (0.49%) Advertising
17 3 (0.37%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (2.60%) Middleware
2 13 (1.61%) CSS
3 10 (1.24%) Ajax
3 10 (1.24%) AngularJS
3 10 (1.24%) GraphQL
3 10 (1.24%) React
4 9 (1.11%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 5 (0.62%) OAuth
5 5 (0.62%) REST
5 5 (0.62%) SAP Basis
5 5 (0.62%) YAML
6 4 (0.49%) Microsoft Graph
6 4 (0.49%) PySpark
6 4 (0.49%) SAML
7 3 (0.37%) .NET
7 3 (0.37%) HTML
7 3 (0.37%) JDO
7 3 (0.37%) XML
8 2 (0.25%) EDI
8 2 (0.25%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 53 (6.55%) Onboarding
2 41 (5.07%) Self-Motivation
3 30 (3.71%) Driving Licence
4 29 (3.58%) Data Centre
5 24 (2.97%) Smartphone
6 17 (2.10%) Analytical Mindset
7 14 (1.73%) PKI
8 13 (1.61%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (1.48%) iPhone
9 12 (1.48%) Virtual Team
10 11 (1.36%) Enterprise Software
10 11 (1.36%) Legacy Systems
11 10 (1.24%) Mobile App
11 10 (1.24%) SCADA
12 8 (0.99%) Hybrid Cloud
13 7 (0.87%) Management Information System
14 6 (0.74%) iPad
15 5 (0.62%) Video Conferencing
16 4 (0.49%) Hedge funds
17 3 (0.37%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 379 (46.85%) Windows
2 174 (21.51%) Windows 10
3 64 (7.91%) Linux
4 44 (5.44%) Mac OS
5 42 (5.19%) Android
6 40 (4.94%) Windows Server
7 34 (4.20%) Unix
8 31 (3.83%) Apple iOS
9 12 (1.48%) Ubuntu
10 7 (0.87%) Windows 7
10 7 (0.87%) Windows Server 2016
11 5 (0.62%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 4 (0.49%) Windows Server 2019
13 3 (0.37%) CentOS
14 2 (0.25%) Mac OS X
14 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
15 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
15 1 (0.12%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 165 (20.40%) Customer Service
2 141 (17.43%) Problem-Solving
3 91 (11.25%) ITIL
4 78 (9.64%) Migration
5 62 (7.66%) ITSM
6 54 (6.67%) Asset Management
7 48 (5.93%) Workflow
8 40 (4.94%) User Experience
9 38 (4.70%) Workflow Management
10 35 (4.33%) Service Management
11 33 (4.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 32 (3.96%) Root Cause Analysis
13 29 (3.58%) Continuous Improvement
14 28 (3.46%) Logistics
15 27 (3.34%) Break/Fix
15 27 (3.34%) Change Management
15 27 (3.34%) Service Delivery
16 26 (3.21%) Cybersecurity
16 26 (3.21%) Stakeholder Management
17 25 (3.09%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 76 (9.39%) PowerShell
2 46 (5.69%) SQL
3 32 (3.96%) Python
4 28 (3.46%) Java
4 28 (3.46%) JavaScript
5 26 (3.21%) Shell Script
6 16 (1.98%) C#
7 14 (1.73%) Bash
8 12 (1.48%) Ada
8 12 (1.48%) C
8 12 (1.48%) C++
8 12 (1.48%) Perl
9 9 (1.11%) Korn
10 3 (0.37%) VB.NET
11 2 (0.25%) AWK
11 2 (0.25%) Magik
11 2 (0.25%) VBA
11 2 (0.25%) VBScript
12 1 (0.12%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.12%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 236 (29.17%) Security Cleared
2 191 (23.61%) SC Cleared
3 45 (5.56%) DV Cleared
4 26 (3.21%) Degree
4 26 (3.21%) Microsoft Certification
5 16 (1.98%) A+ Certification
6 13 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
6 13 (1.61%) CCNA
6 13 (1.61%) Cisco Certification
6 13 (1.61%) Network+ Certification
7 12 (1.48%) MCSE
8 7 (0.87%) Azure Certification
8 7 (0.87%) ITIL Certification
9 4 (0.49%) Computer Science Degree
9 4 (0.49%) DBS Check
10 3 (0.37%) Master's Degree
10 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Certified Professional
11 2 (0.25%) Server+ Certification
12 1 (0.12%) BC Cleared
12 1 (0.12%) MCITP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (4.08%) SLA
2 9 (1.11%) GDPR
3 5 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (0.37%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.37%) QA
5 1 (0.12%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.12%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.12%) GAAP
5 1 (0.12%) GLP
5 1 (0.12%) GMP
5 1 (0.12%) IFRS
5 1 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 230 (28.43%) Active Directory
2 19 (2.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (1.36%) Hyper-V
4 10 (1.24%) VMware NSX
5 9 (1.11%) Oracle RAC
5 9 (1.11%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (0.99%) Firmware
7 6 (0.74%) Docker
8 3 (0.37%) Virtual Servers
8 3 (0.37%) vSphere
9 2 (0.25%) NFS
10 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.12%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.12%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 91 (11.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 56 (6.92%) SCCM
3 28 (3.46%) Jamf Pro
4 16 (1.98%) Grafana
5 13 (1.61%) Ansible
6 11 (1.36%) Terraform
7 10 (1.24%) vCenter Server
8 9 (1.11%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 9 (1.11%) Oracle RMAN
9 8 (0.99%) Single Sign-On
10 5 (0.62%) Kubernetes
11 4 (0.49%) Kibana
12 2 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 2 (0.25%) McAfee ePO
12 2 (0.25%) Prometheus
12 2 (0.25%) WMI
12 2 (0.25%) WSUS
13 1 (0.12%) Nagios
13 1 (0.12%) NetBackup
13 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 280 (34.61%) Microsoft
2 101 (12.48%) ServiceNow
3 37 (4.57%) Oracle
4 35 (4.33%) SAP
5 29 (3.58%) Dell
6 28 (3.46%) Apple
7 26 (3.21%) Cisco
7 26 (3.21%) VMware
8 21 (2.60%) HP
9 18 (2.22%) Google
10 14 (1.73%) Juniper
10 14 (1.73%) Red Hat
11 13 (1.61%) Splunk
12 10 (1.24%) Bloomberg
12 10 (1.24%) Citrix
12 10 (1.24%) Remedy
12 10 (1.24%) SolarWinds
13 7 (0.87%) McAfee
13 7 (0.87%) Starlink
13 7 (0.87%) Zscaler