Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £218, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 March 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 152 132 106
Rank change year-on-year -20 -26 +25
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 807 626 934
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.84% 2.12% 2.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.00% 2.28% 2.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 542 415 666
10th Percentile £153 £152 £136
25th Percentile £185 £182 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £218 £225 £213
Median % change year-on-year -3.33% +5.88% -15.00%
75th Percentile £350 £375 £300
90th Percentile £500 £465 £413
UK excluding London median daily rate £207 £218 £200
% change year-on-year -4.83% +8.75% -6.43%
Number of hourly rates quoted 113 39 59
10th Percentile £18.16 £18.13 £16.20
25th Percentile £21.25 £20.82 £17.61
Median hourly rate £24.00 £23.00 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +15.00% -
75th Percentile £30.00 £28.21 £27.64
90th Percentile £37.20 £41.50 £46.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.58 £22.75 £18.00
% change year-on-year +3.63% +26.39% -0.61%

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 40,370 27,451 41,125
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.94% 92.96% 92.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,228 17,896 26,949
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -4.46%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £721 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £487
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.46% -2.60%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,504 902 2,504
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.22 £12.88
25th Percentile £19.25 £21.01 £16.25
Median hourly rate £36.00 £32.91 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +9.41% +1.25% -23.53%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £76.58 £76.25 £71.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £36.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year +10.77% - -19.93%

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 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 22 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 22 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 -17 723 £213 -7.61% 288
UK excluding London -15 557 £207 -4.83% 282
London -33 213 £273 -9.17% 41
South East -4 143 £238 +18.75% 91
North of England -46 117 £190 -13.64% 62
South West -13 99 £250 +11.11% 40
Midlands -21 92 £200 -20.00% 34
Work from Home -73 74 £238 -21.32% 66
North West -21 62 £152 -30.34% 35
East of England -4 60 £203 -7.95% 36
West Midlands -53 56 £267 -11.00% 17
Yorkshire -29 46 £205 -14.58% 21
Scotland +12 40 £250 +57.73% 18
East Midlands -6 37 £200 +5.26% 17
Wales -10 10 £200 +2.56% 4
North East -17 9 £106 -45.64% 10
Northern Ireland -12 2 £175 +18.24% 6

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

For the 6 months to 22 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.

1 384 (47.58%) Windows
2 289 (35.81%) Microsoft
3 256 (31.72%) Microsoft 365
4 239 (29.62%) Active Directory
5 225 (27.88%) Security Cleared
6 182 (22.55%) SC Cleared
7 176 (21.81%) Windows 10
8 171 (21.19%) Customer Service
9 143 (17.72%) Problem-Solving
10 116 (14.37%) Azure
11 98 (12.14%) ServiceNow
12 93 (11.52%) ITIL
13 90 (11.15%) Microsoft Intune
14 78 (9.67%) Migration
15 75 (9.29%) PowerShell
16 64 (7.93%) ITSM
17 61 (7.56%) Entra ID
17 61 (7.56%) SharePoint
18 60 (7.43%) DNS
18 60 (7.43%) Wi-Fi
19 57 (7.06%) Linux
20 54 (6.69%) Asset Management
20 54 (6.69%) DHCP
20 54 (6.69%) SCCM
21 53 (6.57%) TCP/IP
22 46 (5.70%) Microsoft Office
22 46 (5.70%) SQL
22 46 (5.70%) Workflow
23 44 (5.45%) Android
23 44 (5.45%) DV Cleared

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 61 (7.56%) SharePoint
2 39 (4.83%) Microsoft Exchange
3 15 (1.86%) Skype for Business
4 6 (0.74%) NetWeaver
5 4 (0.50%) Apache
5 4 (0.50%) 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 46 (5.70%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (1.86%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.25%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 9 (1.12%) SAP EHS
2 8 (0.99%) Remedy ITSM
3 7 (0.87%) Shopify
4 6 (0.74%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.74%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.25%) NetSuite
5 2 (0.25%) Primavera
6 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
6 1 (0.12%) Alphatax
6 1 (0.12%) assyst
6 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
6 1 (0.12%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.12%) Dynamics GP
6 1 (0.12%) Eikon
6 1 (0.12%) Fidessa
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 256 (31.72%) Microsoft 365
2 116 (14.37%) Azure
3 61 (7.56%) Entra ID
4 33 (4.09%) OneDrive
5 24 (2.97%) AWS
6 21 (2.60%) SaaS
7 19 (2.35%) Google Workspace
8 17 (2.11%) Azure DevOps
9 11 (1.36%) Dynamics 365
10 10 (1.24%) Power Platform
10 10 (1.24%) Sauce Labs
11 5 (0.62%) Amazon S3
11 5 (0.62%) Azure Data Factory
11 5 (0.62%) npm
11 5 (0.62%) PaaS
12 4 (0.50%) Datadog
12 4 (0.50%) Snowflake
13 3 (0.37%) GCP
13 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Purview
13 3 (0.37%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 60 (7.43%) DNS
1 60 (7.43%) Wi-Fi
2 54 (6.69%) DHCP
3 53 (6.57%) TCP/IP
4 42 (5.20%) VPN
5 36 (4.46%) LAN
6 29 (3.59%) WAN
7 24 (2.97%) Firewall
8 23 (2.85%) Wireless
9 16 (1.98%) Skype
10 13 (1.61%) Network Security
11 12 (1.49%) SAN
12 11 (1.36%) Internet
13 10 (1.24%) VLAN
13 10 (1.24%) VoIP
14 8 (0.99%) HTTP
14 8 (0.99%) PABX
15 7 (0.87%) Cisco IOS
15 7 (0.87%) Cisco ISE
15 7 (0.87%) Junos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 24 (2.97%) SQL Server
2 18 (2.23%) MySQL
3 15 (1.86%) Relational Database
4 11 (1.36%) Amazon Redshift
5 9 (1.12%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 8 (0.99%) Power BI
7 6 (0.74%) SAP HANA
7 6 (0.74%) Sybase ASE
8 5 (0.62%) MaxDB
8 5 (0.62%) Oracle Database
8 5 (0.62%) Pentaho
9 4 (0.50%) Amazon Athena
9 4 (0.50%) Oracle Database 12c
10 3 (0.37%) InfluxDB
10 3 (0.37%) Tableau
11 2 (0.25%) Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.25%) GIS
11 2 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
11 2 (0.25%) RDBMS
11 2 (0.25%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 44 (5.45%) 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 5 (0.62%) 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
1 341 (42.26%) Social Skills
2 66 (8.18%) Finance
3 60 (7.43%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (6.69%) Manufacturing
5 41 (5.08%) Public Sector
6 39 (4.83%) Banking
7 28 (3.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 25 (3.10%) Organisational Skills
9 24 (2.97%) Aerospace
10 18 (2.23%) Telecoms
11 15 (1.86%) Aviation
11 15 (1.86%) Investment Banking
12 13 (1.61%) Electronics
12 13 (1.61%) Marketing
13 9 (1.12%) Law
13 9 (1.12%) Legal
14 8 (0.99%) Documentation Skills
14 8 (0.99%) Front Office
15 4 (0.50%) Advertising
16 3 (0.37%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 15 (1.86%) 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 (1.12%) Oracle GoldenGate
5 6 (0.74%) SAP Basis
6 5 (0.62%) OAuth
6 5 (0.62%) REST
6 5 (0.62%) YAML
7 4 (0.50%) .NET
7 4 (0.50%) JDO
7 4 (0.50%) Microsoft Graph
7 4 (0.50%) PySpark
7 4 (0.50%) SAML
8 3 (0.37%) HTML
8 3 (0.37%) XML
9 2 (0.25%) EDI
9 2 (0.25%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 53 (6.57%) Onboarding
2 38 (4.71%) Self-Motivation
3 30 (3.72%) Driving Licence
4 28 (3.47%) Data Centre
5 19 (2.35%) Smartphone
6 18 (2.23%) Analytical Mindset
7 14 (1.73%) PKI
8 13 (1.61%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (1.49%) iPhone
9 12 (1.49%) 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 6 (0.74%) iPad
13 6 (0.74%) Management Information System
14 5 (0.62%) Video Conferencing
15 4 (0.50%) Hedge funds
16 3 (0.37%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 384 (47.58%) Windows
2 176 (21.81%) Windows 10
3 57 (7.06%) Linux
4 44 (5.45%) Android
5 43 (5.33%) Mac OS
6 42 (5.20%) Windows Server
7 34 (4.21%) Unix
8 31 (3.84%) Apple iOS
9 7 (0.87%) Windows 7
9 7 (0.87%) Windows Server 2016
10 6 (0.74%) Ubuntu
11 4 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 4 (0.50%) Windows Server 2019
12 2 (0.25%) CentOS
12 2 (0.25%) Mac OS X
12 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2012
13 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2008
13 1 (0.12%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 171 (21.19%) Customer Service
2 143 (17.72%) Problem-Solving
3 93 (11.52%) ITIL
4 78 (9.67%) Migration
5 64 (7.93%) ITSM
6 54 (6.69%) Asset Management
7 46 (5.70%) Workflow
8 40 (4.96%) User Experience
9 37 (4.58%) Service Management
9 37 (4.58%) Workflow Management
10 32 (3.97%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 32 (3.97%) Root Cause Analysis
11 31 (3.84%) Continuous Improvement
12 29 (3.59%) Change Management
12 29 (3.59%) Logistics
13 27 (3.35%) Break/Fix
13 27 (3.35%) Incident Management
14 26 (3.22%) Service Delivery
14 26 (3.22%) Stakeholder Management
15 25 (3.10%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 75 (9.29%) PowerShell
2 46 (5.70%) SQL
3 31 (3.84%) Python
4 27 (3.35%) Java
5 22 (2.73%) JavaScript
6 20 (2.48%) Shell Script
7 17 (2.11%) C#
8 13 (1.61%) Bash
9 12 (1.49%) Perl
10 9 (1.12%) Korn
11 6 (0.74%) Ada
11 6 (0.74%) C
11 6 (0.74%) C++
12 3 (0.37%) VB.NET
13 2 (0.25%) AWK
13 2 (0.25%) Magik
13 2 (0.25%) VBA
13 2 (0.25%) VBScript
14 1 (0.12%) PL/SQL
14 1 (0.12%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 225 (27.88%) Security Cleared
2 182 (22.55%) SC Cleared
3 44 (5.45%) DV Cleared
4 29 (3.59%) Degree
5 24 (2.97%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (1.98%) A+ Certification
7 13 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.61%) CCNA
7 13 (1.61%) Cisco Certification
7 13 (1.61%) Network+ Certification
8 12 (1.49%) MCSE
9 7 (0.87%) Azure Certification
9 7 (0.87%) ITIL Certification
10 4 (0.50%) Computer Science Degree
10 4 (0.50%) DBS Check
11 3 (0.37%) Master's Degree
11 3 (0.37%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 2 (0.25%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
12 2 (0.25%) Server+ Certification
13 1 (0.12%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (3.84%) SLA
2 6 (0.74%) GDPR
3 4 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
3 4 (0.50%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (0.37%) QA
5 2 (0.25%) GLP
5 2 (0.25%) GMP
6 1 (0.12%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.12%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.12%) GAAP
6 1 (0.12%) IFRS
6 1 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 239 (29.62%) Active Directory
2 19 (2.35%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (1.36%) Hyper-V
4 10 (1.24%) VMware NSX
5 9 (1.12%) Oracle RAC
5 9 (1.12%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (0.99%) Firmware
7 5 (0.62%) 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 90 (11.15%) Microsoft Intune
2 54 (6.69%) SCCM
3 27 (3.35%) Jamf Pro
4 15 (1.86%) Grafana
5 13 (1.61%) Ansible
6 11 (1.36%) Terraform
7 10 (1.24%) vCenter Server
8 9 (1.12%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 9 (1.12%) Oracle RMAN
9 7 (0.87%) Single Sign-On
10 5 (0.62%) Kubernetes
11 4 (0.50%) Kibana
12 2 (0.25%) Active Directory Federation Services
12 2 (0.25%) McAfee ePO
12 2 (0.25%) PaperCut
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
Vendors
1 289 (35.81%) Microsoft
2 98 (12.14%) ServiceNow
3 37 (4.58%) Oracle
4 36 (4.46%) SAP
5 29 (3.59%) Dell
6 27 (3.35%) Apple
7 26 (3.22%) Cisco
8 25 (3.10%) VMware
9 22 (2.73%) HP
10 18 (2.23%) Google
11 14 (1.73%) Juniper
12 13 (1.61%) Splunk
13 10 (1.24%) Bloomberg
13 10 (1.24%) Remedy
13 10 (1.24%) SolarWinds
14 9 (1.12%) McAfee
15 8 (0.99%) Citrix
15 8 (0.99%) Red Hat
15 8 (0.99%) Starlink
16 6 (0.74%) Denodo