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 26 January 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 134 148 96
Rank change year-on-year +14 -52 +41
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 802 572 1,010
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.13% 1.83% 2.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.32% 1.97% 2.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 550 381 726
10th Percentile £151 £150 £140
25th Percentile £185 £182 £175
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £225 £225
Median % change year-on-year -2.22% - -6.25%
75th Percentile £338 £350 £338
90th Percentile £500 £525 £490
UK excluding London median daily rate £208 £220 £205
% change year-on-year -5.68% +7.32% +0.24%
Number of hourly rates quoted 115 39 55
10th Percentile £17.14 £15.09 £16.55
25th Percentile £20.20 £19.85 £17.72
Median hourly rate £23.75 £23.00 £20.00
Median % change year-on-year +3.26% +15.00% +3.63%
75th Percentile £25.15 £26.09 £24.77
90th Percentile £36.00 £41.50 £43.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £23.00 £20.00
% change year-on-year -2.17% +15.00% +14.38%

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 34,502 29,046 41,229
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.46% 92.85% 93.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,791 17,729 27,311
10th Percentile £300 £291 £275
25th Percentile £406 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £618 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £480 £495
% change year-on-year -0.52% -3.03% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,057 865 2,093
10th Percentile £14.41 £15.95 £13.29
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.25
Median hourly rate £28.88 £32.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.14% -13.33% +8.49%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.26 £73.95
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -12.70% -21.25% +33.33%

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 26 January 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 26 January 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 26 January 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 +20 734 £220 -4.35% 359
UK excluding London +12 564 £208 -5.68% 364
London 0 203 £260 -8.77% 50
South East +11 162 £238 +16.10% 141
South West +22 110 £250 +11.11% 35
North of England -3 107 £195 -13.33% 70
Midlands +2 101 £200 -21.57% 50
Work from Home -16 97 £250 -17.36% 90
West Midlands -10 66 £250 -3.85% 33
North West +2 59 £152 -29.53% 37
East of England +3 53 £200 -9.09% 40
Yorkshire -24 38 £205 -8.89% 25
East Midlands +1 37 £180 -19.10% 17
Scotland 0 31 £200 +26.18% 24
North East -6 10 £106 -48.29% 11
Wales -7 8 £200 - 8
Northern Ireland -7 2 £163 +9.80% 5

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

For the 6 months to 26 January 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.

1 402 (50.12%) Windows
2 296 (36.91%) Microsoft
3 245 (30.55%) Security Cleared
4 233 (29.05%) Microsoft 365
5 220 (27.43%) Active Directory
6 190 (23.69%) SC Cleared
7 169 (21.07%) Windows 10
8 163 (20.32%) Customer Service
9 159 (19.83%) Problem-Solving
10 109 (13.59%) Azure
11 96 (11.97%) ITIL
11 96 (11.97%) Microsoft Intune
12 92 (11.47%) Linux
12 92 (11.47%) ServiceNow
13 76 (9.48%) Migration
14 70 (8.73%) Microsoft Office
14 70 (8.73%) SCCM
15 68 (8.48%) ITSM
16 64 (7.98%) SharePoint
17 63 (7.86%) DNS
18 62 (7.73%) Service Management
19 61 (7.61%) PowerShell
20 59 (7.36%) DHCP
21 58 (7.23%) TCP/IP
21 58 (7.23%) VPN
22 56 (6.98%) DV Cleared
23 52 (6.48%) Android
24 51 (6.36%) Asset Management
25 50 (6.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
25 50 (6.23%) Microsoft Exchange

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 64 (7.98%) SharePoint
2 50 (6.23%) Microsoft Exchange
3 18 (2.24%) Skype for Business
4 5 (0.62%) Exchange Server 2010
4 5 (0.62%) SharePoint Server
5 4 (0.50%) Apache
5 4 (0.50%) Exchange Server 2003
5 4 (0.50%) Exchange Server 2007
5 4 (0.50%) Exchange Server 2013
5 4 (0.50%) Office Communications Server
6 2 (0.25%) Apache Airflow
6 2 (0.25%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.25%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.25%) IIS
6 2 (0.25%) Jupyter
6 2 (0.25%) Smallworld
7 1 (0.12%) Confluence
Applications
1 70 (8.73%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (2.99%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.12%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.12%) DaVinci Resolve
4 1 (0.12%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.12%) OmniGraffle
4 1 (0.12%) Pro Tools
4 1 (0.12%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 9 (1.12%) SAP EHS
2 7 (0.87%) Remedy ITSM
2 7 (0.87%) Shopify
3 5 (0.62%) Primavera
4 3 (0.37%) NetSuite
4 3 (0.37%) Teamcenter
5 1 (0.12%) Aladdin
5 1 (0.12%) assyst
5 1 (0.12%) Bloomberg TOMS
5 1 (0.12%) Eikon
5 1 (0.12%) Fidessa
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Receivables
5 1 (0.12%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 233 (29.05%) Microsoft 365
2 109 (13.59%) Azure
3 46 (5.74%) Entra ID
4 31 (3.87%) AWS
5 26 (3.24%) OneDrive
6 25 (3.12%) SaaS
7 17 (2.12%) Google Workspace
8 16 (2.00%) Sauce Labs
9 10 (1.25%) Dynamics 365
10 8 (1.00%) Power Platform
11 7 (0.87%) npm
12 5 (0.62%) Azure Data Factory
13 4 (0.50%) Amazon S3
13 4 (0.50%) Azure DevOps
13 4 (0.50%) Microsoft Purview
13 4 (0.50%) OpenShift
14 3 (0.37%) Slack
15 2 (0.25%) Amazon EKS
15 2 (0.25%) Datadog
15 2 (0.25%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 63 (7.86%) DNS
2 59 (7.36%) DHCP
3 58 (7.23%) TCP/IP
3 58 (7.23%) VPN
4 39 (4.86%) Wi-Fi
5 33 (4.11%) Firewall
5 33 (4.11%) Wireless
6 28 (3.49%) WAN
7 22 (2.74%) LAN
8 21 (2.62%) VLAN
9 18 (2.24%) Junos
10 16 (2.00%) Cisco IOS
10 16 (2.00%) MPLS
11 15 (1.87%) Cisco Firepower
11 15 (1.87%) Cisco ISE
11 15 (1.87%) Skype
12 14 (1.75%) BGP
12 14 (1.75%) IPsec
12 14 (1.75%) Network Security
13 13 (1.62%) PABX
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (3.12%) Relational Database
2 21 (2.62%) MySQL
3 13 (1.62%) SQL Server
4 7 (0.87%) Power BI
5 6 (0.75%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 5 (0.62%) Amazon Redshift
7 4 (0.50%) Amazon Athena
7 4 (0.50%) RDBMS
8 3 (0.37%) InfluxDB
8 3 (0.37%) Oracle Database
9 2 (0.25%) GIS
9 2 (0.25%) MariaDB
9 2 (0.25%) Tableau
10 1 (0.12%) Apache Cassandra
10 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
10 1 (0.12%) Elasticsearch
10 1 (0.12%) Electronic Patient Records
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle ODI
10 1 (0.12%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 22 (2.74%) Browser DevTools
2 16 (2.00%) Android Studio
2 16 (2.00%) Eclipse
2 16 (2.00%) Xcode
3 15 (1.87%) JIRA
4 9 (1.12%) Git
5 7 (0.87%) Maven
6 5 (0.62%) Firebug
7 3 (0.37%) Jenkins
8 2 (0.25%) Fiddler
8 2 (0.25%) MSI
9 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.12%) ClearCase
9 1 (0.12%) Hudson
General
1 347 (43.27%) Social Skills
2 72 (8.98%) Finance
3 57 (7.11%) Analytical Skills
4 55 (6.86%) Public Sector
5 42 (5.24%) Banking
5 42 (5.24%) Manufacturing
6 28 (3.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 24 (2.99%) Organisational Skills
8 22 (2.74%) Aerospace
9 21 (2.62%) Telecoms
10 16 (2.00%) Investment Banking
11 14 (1.75%) Electronics
11 14 (1.75%) Law
11 14 (1.75%) Marketing
12 13 (1.62%) Front Office
13 10 (1.25%) Aviation
14 9 (1.12%) Documentation Skills
15 8 (1.00%) Legal
16 6 (0.75%) Automotive
17 5 (0.62%) French Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (3.12%) Middleware
2 22 (2.74%) CSS
3 17 (2.12%) Ajax
3 17 (2.12%) AngularJS
3 17 (2.12%) GraphQL
3 17 (2.12%) React
4 6 (0.75%) PySpark
4 6 (0.75%) REST
4 6 (0.75%) XML
5 5 (0.62%) HTML
5 5 (0.62%) SOAP
5 5 (0.62%) YAML
6 4 (0.50%) JDO
7 2 (0.25%) .NET
7 2 (0.25%) ADO
7 2 (0.25%) EDI
7 2 (0.25%) Kafka
7 2 (0.25%) Microsoft Graph
7 2 (0.25%) OAuth
7 2 (0.25%) OpenTelemetry
Miscellaneous
1 40 (4.99%) Onboarding
2 38 (4.74%) Self-Motivation
3 30 (3.74%) Driving Licence
4 25 (3.12%) PKI
5 24 (2.99%) Smartphone
6 21 (2.62%) Data Centre
7 17 (2.12%) Data Protection Act
7 17 (2.12%) Mobile App
8 14 (1.75%) Analytical Mindset
9 13 (1.62%) Management Information System
10 12 (1.50%) iPhone
11 11 (1.37%) Video Conferencing
12 10 (1.25%) Enterprise Software
12 10 (1.25%) Virtual Team
13 8 (1.00%) Hybrid Cloud
14 7 (0.87%) iPad
14 7 (0.87%) Legacy Systems
15 6 (0.75%) Replication
16 4 (0.50%) Operational Technology
17 3 (0.37%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 402 (50.12%) Windows
2 169 (21.07%) Windows 10
3 92 (11.47%) Linux
4 52 (6.48%) Android
5 49 (6.11%) Windows Server
6 45 (5.61%) Mac OS
7 40 (4.99%) Apple iOS
8 31 (3.87%) Unix
9 12 (1.50%) Ubuntu
10 10 (1.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 10 (1.25%) Windows 7
11 4 (0.50%) CentOS
11 4 (0.50%) Windows Server 2003
11 4 (0.50%) Windows Server 2016
12 3 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
13 2 (0.25%) Windows Server 2019
14 1 (0.12%) Mac OS X
14 1 (0.12%) Windows 8
14 1 (0.12%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 163 (20.32%) Customer Service
2 159 (19.83%) Problem-Solving
3 96 (11.97%) ITIL
4 76 (9.48%) Migration
5 68 (8.48%) ITSM
6 62 (7.73%) Service Management
7 51 (6.36%) Asset Management
8 50 (6.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 48 (5.99%) Workflow
10 38 (4.74%) Workflow Management
11 35 (4.36%) User Experience
12 31 (3.87%) Root Cause Analysis
13 29 (3.62%) Logistics
13 29 (3.62%) Service Delivery
14 27 (3.37%) Continuous Improvement
15 26 (3.24%) OO
16 25 (3.12%) Cybersecurity
16 25 (3.12%) Stakeholder Management
17 23 (2.87%) Incident Management
18 22 (2.74%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 61 (7.61%) PowerShell
2 37 (4.61%) Java
2 37 (4.61%) JavaScript
3 34 (4.24%) Python
4 28 (3.49%) SQL
5 18 (2.24%) Perl
6 17 (2.12%) Shell Script
7 13 (1.62%) C
7 13 (1.62%) C++
8 12 (1.50%) Ada
9 11 (1.37%) Bash
10 2 (0.25%) AWK
10 2 (0.25%) C#
10 2 (0.25%) Magik
10 2 (0.25%) TypeScript
10 2 (0.25%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.12%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.12%) Tcl
11 1 (0.12%) VBA
11 1 (0.12%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 245 (30.55%) Security Cleared
2 190 (23.69%) SC Cleared
3 56 (6.98%) DV Cleared
4 35 (4.36%) Degree
5 26 (3.24%) Microsoft Certification
6 19 (2.37%) Azure Certification
7 12 (1.50%) Network+ Certification
8 11 (1.37%) Server+ Certification
9 10 (1.25%) A+ Certification
10 9 (1.12%) BPSS Clearance
11 8 (1.00%) ITIL Certification
12 7 (0.87%) DBS Check
13 5 (0.62%) Computer Science Degree
14 4 (0.50%) MCP
15 3 (0.37%) CCNA
15 3 (0.37%) Cisco Certification
15 3 (0.37%) Master's Degree
15 3 (0.37%) MCSE
16 2 (0.25%) CompTIA Security+
16 2 (0.25%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (3.74%) SLA
2 7 (0.87%) GDPR
3 5 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (0.50%) QA
5 2 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
6 1 (0.12%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.12%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.12%) GAAP
6 1 (0.12%) IFRS
6 1 (0.12%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.12%) SOC 2
System Software
1 220 (27.43%) Active Directory
2 30 (3.74%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (2.24%) Hyper-V
4 16 (2.00%) VMware NSX
5 15 (1.87%) Virtual Desktop
6 8 (1.00%) Docker
7 7 (0.87%) Firmware
8 5 (0.62%) vSphere
9 4 (0.50%) Brightmail
9 4 (0.50%) ISA Server
10 3 (0.37%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.25%) NFS
12 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
12 1 (0.12%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.12%) Virtual Machines
12 1 (0.12%) VMware ESXi
12 1 (0.12%) VMware Workstation
12 1 (0.12%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 96 (11.97%) Microsoft Intune
2 70 (8.73%) SCCM
3 29 (3.62%) Jamf Pro
4 20 (2.49%) Ansible
5 18 (2.24%) vCenter Server
6 12 (1.50%) Grafana
6 12 (1.50%) Terraform
7 6 (0.75%) Kubernetes
7 6 (0.75%) Red Hat Satellite
8 5 (0.62%) Kibana
8 5 (0.62%) Single Sign-On
9 4 (0.50%) ITRS Geneos
9 4 (0.50%) Microsoft Clustering
10 3 (0.37%) Active Directory Federation Services
10 3 (0.37%) SCOM
11 2 (0.25%) FortiGate
11 2 (0.25%) Prometheus
11 2 (0.25%) WSUS
12 1 (0.12%) logstash
12 1 (0.12%) Nagios
Vendors
1 296 (36.91%) Microsoft
2 92 (11.47%) ServiceNow
3 44 (5.49%) Cisco
3 44 (5.49%) VMware
4 39 (4.86%) Apple
5 36 (4.49%) Oracle
6 29 (3.62%) Juniper
7 27 (3.37%) SAP
8 24 (2.99%) HP
9 21 (2.62%) SolarWinds
10 20 (2.49%) Google
11 19 (2.37%) Dell
11 19 (2.37%) Red Hat
11 19 (2.37%) Splunk
12 14 (1.75%) Citrix
13 10 (1.25%) Bloomberg
14 9 (1.12%) Remedy
15 7 (0.87%) McAfee
15 7 (0.87%) New Relic
15 7 (0.87%) Twitter