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 25 December 2025.

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

6 months to
25 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 121 139 90
Rank change year-on-year +18 -49 +55
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 838 642 1,085
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.26% 1.89% 2.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.48% 2.04% 2.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 573 439 784
10th Percentile £151 £150 £140
25th Percentile £185 £188 £180
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £240 £225
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +6.67% -5.66%
75th Percentile £345 £355 £352
90th Percentile £508 £520 £503
UK excluding London median daily rate £213 £220 £210
% change year-on-year -3.41% +4.76% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 123 43 55
10th Percentile £17.14 £15.78 £16.10
25th Percentile £19.77 £19.17 £17.72
Median hourly rate £24.00 £23.00 £19.12
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +20.29% -1.95%
75th Percentile £28.63 £24.18 £21.88
90th Percentile £43.75 £41.50 £30.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £23.00 £19.50
% change year-on-year +3.59% +17.95% +10.05%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 33,803 31,437 40,517
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.09% 92.75% 93.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,362 19,311 27,163
10th Percentile £294 £300 £283
25th Percentile £405 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £616 £638 £640
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,992 980 1,517
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.50 £14.86
25th Percentile £18.19 £21.03 £19.25
Median hourly rate £25.20 £33.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.64% -26.67% +45.77%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.00 £73.75 £77.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £46.18
% change year-on-year -22.62% -29.62% +84.72%

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 25 December 2025.

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 25 December 2025.

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 25 December 2025. 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 +21 758 £220 -8.33% 378
UK excluding London +9 583 £213 -3.41% 354
London -16 205 £235 -24.19% 66
South East +19 184 £238 +9.43% 109
North of England -21 112 £200 -6.98% 93
South West +32 107 £250 +11.11% 33
Midlands +8 100 £250 -5.66% 46
Work from Home -22 99 £275 -15.38% 84
West Midlands -2 72 £275 +3.77% 27
North West -17 64 £168 -16.25% 44
East of England -18 47 £195 -11.36% 56
Yorkshire -26 37 £205 -9.89% 42
East Midlands +2 30 £175 -40.68% 19
Scotland -9 26 £200 +12.04% 11
Wales +2 16 £213 +6.25% 13
North East +2 11 £106 -34.77% 12
Northern Ireland -7 3 £175 +18.24% 3

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

For the 6 months to 25 December 2025, 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.

1 428 (51.07%) Windows
2 318 (37.95%) Microsoft
3 260 (31.03%) Security Cleared
4 237 (28.28%) Microsoft 365
5 227 (27.09%) Active Directory
6 200 (23.87%) SC Cleared
7 174 (20.76%) Windows 10
8 170 (20.29%) Problem-Solving
9 169 (20.17%) Customer Service
10 107 (12.77%) Azure
11 99 (11.81%) ITIL
11 99 (11.81%) Linux
12 97 (11.58%) ServiceNow
13 94 (11.22%) Microsoft Intune
14 80 (9.55%) Microsoft Office
15 78 (9.31%) DNS
16 76 (9.07%) Migration
17 72 (8.59%) SCCM
18 69 (8.23%) Service Management
19 68 (8.11%) SharePoint
20 67 (8.00%) DHCP
20 67 (8.00%) VPN
21 65 (7.76%) ITSM
21 65 (7.76%) TCP/IP
22 59 (7.04%) Android
22 59 (7.04%) DV Cleared
23 58 (6.92%) Microsoft Exchange
23 58 (6.92%) PowerShell
24 56 (6.68%) Asset Management
25 52 (6.21%) Windows Server

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 68 (8.11%) SharePoint
2 58 (6.92%) Microsoft Exchange
3 21 (2.51%) Skype for Business
4 8 (0.95%) Exchange Server 2010
4 8 (0.95%) SharePoint Server
5 7 (0.84%) Exchange Server 2003
5 7 (0.84%) Exchange Server 2007
5 7 (0.84%) Exchange Server 2013
5 7 (0.84%) Office Communications Server
6 4 (0.48%) Confluence
7 2 (0.24%) Apache
7 2 (0.24%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.24%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.24%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.24%) Jupyter
7 2 (0.24%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.12%) CMS
8 1 (0.12%) IIS
8 1 (0.12%) SAS
8 1 (0.12%) Tomcat
Applications
1 80 (9.55%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (3.10%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.24%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.12%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.12%) DaVinci Resolve
5 1 (0.12%) OmniGraffle
5 1 (0.12%) Pro Tools
5 1 (0.12%) ProjectWise
5 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (1.07%) SAP EHS
2 7 (0.84%) Shopify
3 6 (0.72%) Remedy ITSM
4 5 (0.60%) Primavera
5 3 (0.36%) NetSuite
6 2 (0.24%) Eikon
6 2 (0.24%) Fidessa
7 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
7 1 (0.12%) assyst
7 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
7 1 (0.12%) Eze OMS
7 1 (0.12%) Infor CloudSuite Industrial (formerly SyteLine)
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle ERP
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
7 1 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 237 (28.28%) Microsoft 365
2 107 (12.77%) Azure
3 39 (4.65%) Entra ID
4 28 (3.34%) AWS
5 27 (3.22%) SaaS
6 23 (2.74%) OneDrive
7 21 (2.51%) Sauce Labs
8 18 (2.15%) Google Workspace
9 10 (1.19%) Power Platform
10 8 (0.95%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (0.95%) Dynamics 365
10 8 (0.95%) npm
11 5 (0.60%) OpenShift
11 5 (0.60%) Slack
12 4 (0.48%) Microsoft Purview
12 4 (0.48%) SuccessFactors
13 3 (0.36%) Azure AKS
14 2 (0.24%) Amazon EKS
14 2 (0.24%) Amazon OpenSearch
14 2 (0.24%) Azure Data Factory
Communications & Networking
1 78 (9.31%) DNS
2 67 (8.00%) DHCP
2 67 (8.00%) VPN
3 65 (7.76%) TCP/IP
4 39 (4.65%) Wireless
5 36 (4.30%) Firewall
5 36 (4.30%) Wi-Fi
6 32 (3.82%) WAN
7 21 (2.51%) LAN
7 21 (2.51%) VLAN
8 20 (2.39%) Junos
9 19 (2.27%) Cisco IOS
9 19 (2.27%) MPLS
10 17 (2.03%) BGP
10 17 (2.03%) IPsec
11 15 (1.79%) Cisco Firepower
11 15 (1.79%) Cisco ISE
11 15 (1.79%) Skype
12 14 (1.67%) Network Security
13 13 (1.55%) PABX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 35 (4.18%) Relational Database
2 29 (3.46%) MySQL
3 13 (1.55%) SQL Server
4 9 (1.07%) Power BI
5 7 (0.84%) MariaDB
6 5 (0.60%) RDBMS
7 4 (0.48%) InfluxDB
8 3 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
8 3 (0.36%) Tableau
9 2 (0.24%) Apache Cassandra
9 2 (0.24%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.24%) GIS
9 2 (0.24%) Oracle Database
10 1 (0.12%) Amazon Athena
10 1 (0.12%) Amazon Redshift
10 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
10 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle ODI
10 1 (0.12%) PostgreSQL
10 1 (0.12%) Qlik Sense
Development Applications
1 32 (3.82%) Browser DevTools
2 21 (2.51%) Android Studio
2 21 (2.51%) Eclipse
2 21 (2.51%) Xcode
3 19 (2.27%) JIRA
4 13 (1.55%) Git
5 10 (1.19%) Firebug
6 8 (0.95%) Maven
7 6 (0.72%) Jenkins
8 3 (0.36%) Sonatype Nexus
9 2 (0.24%) Fiddler
9 2 (0.24%) MSI
10 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket
10 1 (0.12%) ClearCase
10 1 (0.12%) Hudson
General
1 375 (44.75%) Social Skills
2 72 (8.59%) Finance
3 63 (7.52%) Public Sector
4 57 (6.80%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (4.53%) Manufacturing
6 35 (4.18%) Banking
7 31 (3.70%) Organisational Skills
8 28 (3.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 22 (2.63%) Telecoms
10 21 (2.51%) Aerospace
11 15 (1.79%) Electronics
11 15 (1.79%) Marketing
12 13 (1.55%) Front Office
12 13 (1.55%) Law
13 10 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
13 10 (1.19%) Investment Banking
14 9 (1.07%) Legal
15 8 (0.95%) Retail
16 7 (0.84%) Aviation
17 6 (0.72%) Automotive
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (3.82%) CSS
2 25 (2.98%) Middleware
3 22 (2.63%) Ajax
3 22 (2.63%) AngularJS
3 22 (2.63%) GraphQL
3 22 (2.63%) React
4 16 (1.91%) XML
5 10 (1.19%) HTML
6 6 (0.72%) JSON
7 5 (0.60%) REST
7 5 (0.60%) SOAP
8 4 (0.48%) .NET
8 4 (0.48%) JDO
9 3 (0.36%) ADO
9 3 (0.36%) PySpark
10 2 (0.24%) EDI
10 2 (0.24%) Kafka
10 2 (0.24%) Microsoft Graph
10 2 (0.24%) OpenTelemetry
10 2 (0.24%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 42 (5.01%) Onboarding
2 36 (4.30%) Self-Motivation
3 31 (3.70%) Driving Licence
4 27 (3.22%) Data Centre
5 26 (3.10%) PKI
6 22 (2.63%) Mobile App
7 20 (2.39%) Smartphone
8 18 (2.15%) Data Protection Act
9 14 (1.67%) Analytical Mindset
10 13 (1.55%) Management Information System
11 11 (1.31%) iPhone
12 10 (1.19%) Video Conferencing
13 9 (1.07%) Replication
14 7 (0.84%) iPad
14 7 (0.84%) Legacy Systems
15 6 (0.72%) Enterprise Software
16 5 (0.60%) Virtual Team
17 4 (0.48%) Hybrid Cloud
17 4 (0.48%) Operational Technology
18 3 (0.36%) Fat Client
Operating Systems
1 428 (51.07%) Windows
2 174 (20.76%) Windows 10
3 99 (11.81%) Linux
4 59 (7.04%) Android
5 52 (6.21%) Windows Server
6 48 (5.73%) Mac OS
7 42 (5.01%) Apple iOS
8 35 (4.18%) Unix
9 12 (1.43%) Ubuntu
10 11 (1.31%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 8 (0.95%) Windows 7
12 7 (0.84%) Windows Server 2003
13 5 (0.60%) CentOS
14 3 (0.36%) Mac OS X
15 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
15 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2016
16 1 (0.12%) Windows 8
16 1 (0.12%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 170 (20.29%) Problem-Solving
2 169 (20.17%) Customer Service
3 99 (11.81%) ITIL
4 76 (9.07%) Migration
5 69 (8.23%) Service Management
6 65 (7.76%) ITSM
7 56 (6.68%) Asset Management
8 50 (5.97%) Workflow
9 42 (5.01%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 41 (4.89%) User Experience
11 36 (4.30%) Workflow Management
12 35 (4.18%) OO
13 34 (4.06%) Root Cause Analysis
14 30 (3.58%) Logistics
15 29 (3.46%) Service Delivery
16 27 (3.22%) Business Intelligence
16 27 (3.22%) Continuous Improvement
17 25 (2.98%) Cybersecurity
18 24 (2.86%) Incident Management
18 24 (2.86%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 58 (6.92%) PowerShell
2 46 (5.49%) Java
3 45 (5.37%) JavaScript
4 41 (4.89%) Python
5 29 (3.46%) SQL
6 23 (2.74%) Perl
7 17 (2.03%) Shell Script
8 15 (1.79%) C
9 14 (1.67%) Bash
10 13 (1.55%) C++
11 12 (1.43%) Ada
12 2 (0.24%) AWK
12 2 (0.24%) C#
12 2 (0.24%) Magik
12 2 (0.24%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.24%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.12%) Korn
13 1 (0.12%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.12%) VBA
13 1 (0.12%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 260 (31.03%) Security Cleared
2 200 (23.87%) SC Cleared
3 59 (7.04%) DV Cleared
4 42 (5.01%) Degree
5 27 (3.22%) Microsoft Certification
6 16 (1.91%) Azure Certification
7 13 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
7 13 (1.55%) Network+ Certification
8 12 (1.43%) A+ Certification
8 12 (1.43%) DBS Check
9 11 (1.31%) Server+ Certification
10 8 (0.95%) Computer Science Degree
10 8 (0.95%) ITIL Certification
11 5 (0.60%) CCNA
11 5 (0.60%) Cisco Certification
12 4 (0.48%) MCP
13 3 (0.36%) Master's Degree
13 3 (0.36%) MCSE
14 2 (0.24%) CompTIA Security+
14 2 (0.24%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (3.94%) SLA
2 9 (1.07%) GDPR
3 5 (0.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 5 (0.60%) QA
4 2 (0.24%) Accessibility
4 2 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.12%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.12%) GAAP
5 1 (0.12%) IFRS
5 1 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 227 (27.09%) Active Directory
2 30 (3.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (2.15%) Hyper-V
4 16 (1.91%) VMware NSX
5 14 (1.67%) Virtual Desktop
6 10 (1.19%) Firmware
7 9 (1.07%) Docker
8 7 (0.84%) Brightmail
8 7 (0.84%) ISA Server
9 4 (0.48%) vSphere
10 3 (0.36%) Terminal Services
11 2 (0.24%) NFS
11 2 (0.24%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.24%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.12%) Tivoli Workload Scheduler
12 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
12 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
12 1 (0.12%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 94 (11.22%) Microsoft Intune
2 72 (8.59%) SCCM
3 32 (3.82%) Jamf Pro
4 21 (2.51%) Ansible
5 20 (2.39%) Terraform
6 18 (2.15%) vCenter Server
7 12 (1.43%) Grafana
8 8 (0.95%) Kubernetes
9 7 (0.84%) Microsoft Clustering
10 6 (0.72%) Red Hat Satellite
11 5 (0.60%) Kibana
12 4 (0.48%) ITRS Geneos
12 4 (0.48%) Single Sign-On
13 3 (0.36%) Active Directory Federation Services
13 3 (0.36%) AirWatch
13 3 (0.36%) SCOM
14 2 (0.24%) FortiGate
14 2 (0.24%) Prometheus
14 2 (0.24%) WSUS
15 1 (0.12%) logstash
Vendors
1 318 (37.95%) Microsoft
2 97 (11.58%) ServiceNow
3 51 (6.09%) Oracle
4 49 (5.85%) Cisco
5 48 (5.73%) Apple
6 45 (5.37%) VMware
7 33 (3.94%) SAP
8 32 (3.82%) Juniper
9 31 (3.70%) HP
10 24 (2.86%) Splunk
11 21 (2.51%) Google
12 19 (2.27%) Dell
12 19 (2.27%) Red Hat
12 19 (2.27%) SolarWinds
13 17 (2.03%) Citrix
14 12 (1.43%) Bloomberg
15 8 (0.95%) McAfee
15 8 (0.95%) Remedy
16 7 (0.84%) New Relic
16 7 (0.84%) Starlink