Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £235, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 September 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 175 125 129
Rank change year-on-year -50 +4 -41
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 898 729 724
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.65% 2.22% 1.90%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.79% 2.44% 2.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 577 486 485
10th Percentile £163 £160 £143
25th Percentile £185 £190 £188
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £235 £235 £245
Median % change year-on-year - -4.08% -2.00%
75th Percentile £375 £347 £350
90th Percentile £503 £538 £538
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £230 £228
% change year-on-year -8.70% +1.10% +5.81%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 89 49
10th Percentile £15.24 £16.50 £17.44
25th Percentile £18.25 £21.25 £18.70
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 £28.75
90th Percentile £44.70 £68.00 £58.00
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 50,147 29,864 35,507
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.20% 91.01% 92.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,583 18,880 21,565
10th Percentile £325 £275 £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 £623 £638
90th Percentile £731 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,922 1,610 1,584
10th Percentile £14.50 £13.75 £14.85
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.30 £20.50
Median hourly rate £41.72 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +65.89% -41.51% -3.37%
75th Percentile £67.50 £51.61 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £68.57 £74.96
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.00 £25.08 £43.00
% change year-on-year +67.50% -41.69% -2.27%

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 28 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 28 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 28 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 -51 766 £225 -4.26% 588
UK excluding London -36 582 £210 -8.70% 388
London -27 279 £260 +4.00% 231
South East -43 163 £260 +9.24% 103
North of England -1 135 £200 -9.09% 68
North West 0 100 £200 -5.88% 34
Work from Home -76 93 £305 +10.91% 205
East of England +13 84 £200 -9.09% 47
Scotland +34 81 £313 +17.92% 34
Midlands -63 67 £225 -11.76% 77
West Midlands -66 48 £210 -20.75% 47
South West -83 39 £210 -10.64% 40
Yorkshire -27 32 £210 -6.67% 25
East Midlands -18 19 £270 +38.46% 29
Wales -30 7 £625 +194.12% 9
Northern Ireland +6 6 £175 -12.50% 18
North East -42 4 £239 +1.60% 10
Channel Islands - 1 £550 -

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

For the 6 months to 28 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.

1 527 (58.69%) Windows
2 439 (48.89%) Microsoft
3 402 (44.77%) Active Directory
4 368 (40.98%) Microsoft 365
5 227 (25.28%) Customer Service
6 222 (24.72%) Problem-Solving
7 199 (22.16%) Windows 10
8 187 (20.82%) ITIL
9 178 (19.82%) Security Cleared
10 149 (16.59%) Azure
11 146 (16.26%) Entra ID
12 138 (15.37%) ITSM
12 138 (15.37%) Microsoft Intune
13 124 (13.81%) ServiceNow
14 119 (13.25%) SharePoint
15 108 (12.03%) PowerShell
16 102 (11.36%) DNS
17 97 (10.80%) SC Cleared
18 84 (9.35%) Continuous Improvement
18 84 (9.35%) Windows Server
19 81 (9.02%) Linux
19 81 (9.02%) VPN
20 79 (8.80%) Microsoft Exchange
20 79 (8.80%) Service Delivery
21 78 (8.69%) Asset Management
22 75 (8.35%) Migration
22 75 (8.35%) Service Management
23 74 (8.24%) SQL
24 70 (7.80%) Degree
24 70 (7.80%) VMware

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
1 119 (13.25%) SharePoint
2 79 (8.80%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.22%) HCL Notes
4 6 (0.67%) NetWeaver
5 5 (0.56%) Confluence
5 5 (0.56%) 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%) Exchange Server 2010
8 1 (0.11%) IIS
8 1 (0.11%) SharePoint 2010
8 1 (0.11%) ThingWorx
Applications
1 55 (6.12%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (0.67%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.22%) Acrobat
4 2 (0.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.11%) Adobe Creative Suite
5 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
5 1 (0.11%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 5 (0.56%) Remedy ITSM
1 5 (0.56%) SAP S/4HANA
2 4 (0.45%) 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
1 368 (40.98%) Microsoft 365
2 149 (16.59%) Azure
3 146 (16.26%) Entra ID
4 50 (5.57%) OneDrive
5 44 (4.90%) AWS
6 22 (2.45%) SaaS
7 17 (1.89%) GCP
8 8 (0.89%) Google Workspace
9 7 (0.78%) Power Platform
10 6 (0.67%) AWS CloudFormation
10 6 (0.67%) Mimecast
11 5 (0.56%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (0.45%) Amazon CloudWatch
12 4 (0.45%) Amazon EKS
12 4 (0.45%) AWS Direct Connect
12 4 (0.45%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 4 (0.45%) Cloud Functions
12 4 (0.45%) Google Compute Engine
12 4 (0.45%) IaaS
12 4 (0.45%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 102 (11.36%) DNS
2 81 (9.02%) VPN
3 68 (7.57%) TCP/IP
4 57 (6.35%) DHCP
5 38 (4.23%) Wi-Fi
6 37 (4.12%) LAN
7 34 (3.79%) WAN
8 30 (3.34%) Firewall
9 19 (2.12%) Internet
10 15 (1.67%) VLAN
11 14 (1.56%) Wireless
12 11 (1.22%) SAN
13 10 (1.11%) SD-WAN
14 8 (0.89%) WebEx
15 6 (0.67%) BGP
15 6 (0.67%) Network Security
15 6 (0.67%) OSPF
15 6 (0.67%) SMTP
16 5 (0.56%) MPLS
16 5 (0.56%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 29 (3.23%) SQL Server
2 12 (1.34%) MySQL
3 9 (1.00%) PostgreSQL
4 8 (0.89%) Relational Database
5 7 (0.78%) Amazon RDS
6 6 (0.67%) SAP HANA
7 5 (0.56%) MaxDB
7 5 (0.56%) Oracle Database
7 5 (0.56%) Power BI
7 5 (0.56%) 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%) MariaDB
9 2 (0.22%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 1 (0.11%) Amazon Athena
10 1 (0.11%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.11%) Kdb+
10 1 (0.11%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 48 (5.35%) JIRA
2 15 (1.67%) Git
3 5 (0.56%) Browser DevTools
3 5 (0.56%) Jenkins
4 4 (0.45%) Artifactory
5 3 (0.33%) Android Studio
5 3 (0.33%) Eclipse
5 3 (0.33%) Xcode
6 2 (0.22%) Bitbucket
6 2 (0.22%) Firebug
6 2 (0.22%) GitLab
6 2 (0.22%) Team Foundation Server
7 1 (0.11%) Claude Code
7 1 (0.11%) eggPlant
7 1 (0.11%) Gemini Tracker
7 1 (0.11%) Postman
7 1 (0.11%) TeamCity
7 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 377 (41.98%) Social Skills
2 94 (10.47%) Analytical Skills
3 84 (9.35%) Finance
4 47 (5.23%) Manufacturing
5 41 (4.57%) Banking
6 29 (3.23%) Organisational Skills
7 21 (2.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 21 (2.34%) Investment Banking
8 20 (2.23%) Front Office
9 19 (2.12%) Legal
10 17 (1.89%) Documentation Skills
10 17 (1.89%) Retail
11 15 (1.67%) Financial Institution
11 15 (1.67%) Telecoms
12 14 (1.56%) Law
13 12 (1.34%) Public Sector
14 10 (1.11%) Spanish Language
15 7 (0.78%) Marketing
16 6 (0.67%) Aerospace
17 4 (0.45%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 17 (1.89%) .NET
1 17 (1.89%) Terraform
2 12 (1.34%) LDAP
3 11 (1.22%) XML
4 7 (0.78%) .NET Framework
4 7 (0.78%) CSS
5 6 (0.67%) REST
6 5 (0.56%) React
6 5 (0.56%) SAP Basis
6 5 (0.56%) SAP Fiori
6 5 (0.56%) SAPUI5
6 5 (0.56%) Software Packaging
7 4 (0.45%) FIX Protocol
7 4 (0.45%) HTML
7 4 (0.45%) JDO
7 4 (0.45%) Web Services
8 3 (0.33%) Ajax
8 3 (0.33%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.33%) Jakarta EE
8 3 (0.33%) JSP
Miscellaneous
1 136 (15.14%) Onboarding
2 36 (4.01%) Video Conferencing
3 33 (3.67%) Data Centre
4 21 (2.34%) Driving Licence
4 21 (2.34%) Self-Motivation
5 20 (2.23%) PKI
6 18 (2.00%) Hedge funds
7 17 (1.89%) Enterprise Software
8 16 (1.78%) Data Protection Act
8 16 (1.78%) Management Information System
9 13 (1.45%) Analytical Mindset
9 13 (1.45%) Smartphone
10 11 (1.22%) Blackberry
10 11 (1.22%) iPhone
10 11 (1.22%) Virtual Team
11 10 (1.11%) CMDB
12 9 (1.00%) Distributed Systems
13 7 (0.78%) iPad
14 6 (0.67%) BYOD
14 6 (0.67%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 527 (58.69%) Windows
2 199 (22.16%) Windows 10
3 84 (9.35%) Windows Server
4 81 (9.02%) Linux
5 69 (7.68%) Mac OS
6 46 (5.12%) Android
7 43 (4.79%) Apple iOS
8 28 (3.12%) Unix
9 18 (2.00%) Windows 7
10 13 (1.45%) Ubuntu
10 13 (1.45%) Windows Server 2019
11 8 (0.89%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 5 (0.56%) CentOS
12 5 (0.56%) VMS
13 4 (0.45%) OpenVMS
13 4 (0.45%) Solaris
13 4 (0.45%) Windows Server 2008
13 4 (0.45%) Windows Server 2012
14 3 (0.33%) Windows XP
15 2 (0.22%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (25.28%) Customer Service
2 222 (24.72%) Problem-Solving
3 187 (20.82%) ITIL
4 138 (15.37%) ITSM
5 84 (9.35%) Continuous Improvement
6 79 (8.80%) Service Delivery
7 78 (8.69%) Asset Management
8 75 (8.35%) Migration
8 75 (8.35%) Service Management
9 69 (7.68%) Root Cause Analysis
10 53 (5.90%) User Experience
11 52 (5.79%) Problem Management
12 49 (5.46%) Incident Management
13 48 (5.35%) Identity Access Management
14 43 (4.79%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 43 (4.79%) Technical Leadership
15 36 (4.01%) Data Protection
15 36 (4.01%) Runbook
16 31 (3.45%) Disaster Recovery
16 31 (3.45%) Task Automation
Programming Languages
1 108 (12.03%) PowerShell
2 74 (8.24%) SQL
3 49 (5.46%) Python
4 30 (3.34%) Java
5 24 (2.67%) JavaScript
6 21 (2.34%) Bash
7 17 (1.89%) C#
8 8 (0.89%) Shell Script
9 6 (0.67%) C++
10 5 (0.56%) Perl
10 5 (0.56%) Tcl
10 5 (0.56%) T-SQL
11 4 (0.45%) Go
11 4 (0.45%) 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 (19.82%) Security Cleared
2 97 (10.80%) SC Cleared
3 70 (7.80%) Degree
4 65 (7.24%) DV Cleared
5 30 (3.34%) A+ Certification
6 21 (2.34%) Microsoft Certification
7 19 (2.12%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 14 (1.56%) BPSS Clearance
9 13 (1.45%) Network+ Certification
10 11 (1.22%) Cisco Certification
11 10 (1.11%) DBS Check
12 9 (1.00%) Computer Science Degree
13 8 (0.89%) CCNA
14 7 (0.78%) Azure Certification
14 7 (0.78%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 6 (0.67%) MCSE
16 5 (0.56%) ITIL Certification
17 4 (0.45%) NVQ Level 4
18 3 (0.33%) OCA
18 3 (0.33%) Oracle Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 61 (6.79%) SLA
2 7 (0.78%) QA
3 4 (0.45%) 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
1 402 (44.77%) Active Directory
2 53 (5.90%) VMware Infrastructure
3 32 (3.56%) VMware ESXi
4 25 (2.78%) Hyper-V
5 19 (2.12%) Virtual Desktop
6 17 (1.89%) VMware NSX
7 15 (1.67%) vCloud
8 10 (1.11%) Docker
9 7 (0.78%) BitLocker
9 7 (0.78%) vSphere
10 5 (0.56%) NFS
11 4 (0.45%) Firmware
12 3 (0.33%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.33%) Terminal Services
13 2 (0.22%) Virtual Machines
13 2 (0.22%) zsh
14 1 (0.11%) Oracle RAC
14 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 138 (15.37%) Microsoft Intune
2 64 (7.13%) SCCM
3 32 (3.56%) vCenter Server
4 26 (2.90%) SCOM
5 18 (2.00%) Kubernetes
5 18 (2.00%) Single Sign-On
6 15 (1.67%) Jamf Pro
7 14 (1.56%) Ansible
8 8 (0.89%) Grafana
9 7 (0.78%) WSUS
10 5 (0.56%) Red Hat Satellite
11 4 (0.45%) ITRS Geneos
11 4 (0.45%) Prometheus
12 3 (0.33%) Nagios
12 3 (0.33%) Puppet
12 3 (0.33%) vMotion
13 2 (0.22%) AirWatch
13 2 (0.22%) FortiGate
13 2 (0.22%) Kibana
13 2 (0.22%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 439 (48.89%) Microsoft
2 124 (13.81%) ServiceNow
3 70 (7.80%) VMware
4 43 (4.79%) Apple
5 38 (4.23%) Cisco
6 30 (3.34%) Citrix
6 30 (3.34%) Okta
6 30 (3.34%) Oracle
7 27 (3.01%) Google
8 21 (2.34%) BeyondTrust
9 17 (1.89%) Splunk
10 16 (1.78%) SAP
11 14 (1.56%) Bloomberg
11 14 (1.56%) Meraki
12 13 (1.45%) iManage
12 13 (1.45%) Samsung
13 11 (1.22%) Broadcom
13 11 (1.22%) Dell
13 11 (1.22%) Lotus
13 11 (1.22%) SolarWinds