Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £210, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 2 May 2026.

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

6 months to
2 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 172 128 114
Rank change year-on-year -44 -14 +10
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 743 642 874
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.57% 2.19% 2.01%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.70% 2.37% 2.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 502 410 606
10th Percentile £153 £152 £140
25th Percentile £185 £188 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £210 £239 £210
Median % change year-on-year -12.04% +13.69% -16.00%
75th Percentile £350 £385 £300
90th Percentile £469 £500 £447
UK excluding London median daily rate £203 £225 £200
% change year-on-year -10.00% +12.50% -5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 86 52 56
10th Percentile £18.25 £18.13 £16.25
25th Percentile £21.25 £20.91 £17.72
Median hourly rate £24.41 £24.58 £20.41
Median % change year-on-year -0.68% +20.45% +2.04%
75th Percentile £35.25 £41.50 £29.06
90th Percentile £37.50 £68.00 £46.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £24.18 £18.00
% change year-on-year -6.95% +34.33% -4.00%

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 43,667 27,136 40,368
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.30% 92.52% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,936 17,712 26,266
10th Percentile £315 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.82% -1.90% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +3.16% -3.55% -1.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,813 1,033 2,668
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.14 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £44.00 £29.00 £36.02
Median % change year-on-year +51.72% -19.49% -19.95%
75th Percentile £66.00 £62.50 £60.75
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.46 £28.00 £39.50
% change year-on-year +62.36% -29.11% -6.91%

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 2 May 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 2 May 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 2 May 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 -41 661 £209 -14.59% 305
UK excluding London -38 500 £203 -10.00% 285
London -61 209 £275 -8.33% 53
South East -29 126 £208 -17.00% 92
North of England -50 106 £190 -13.64% 71
Midlands -42 88 £200 -27.27% 33
Work from Home -73 80 £208 -36.15% 79
South West -32 75 £210 -7.69% 37
North West -36 62 £175 -18.60% 40
East of England -12 58 £200 -10.11% 37
West Midlands -58 53 £225 -21.74% 20
Yorkshire -32 41 £190 -19.15% 25
Scotland +16 40 £437 +191.33% 14
East Midlands -7 36 £200 -5.88% 13
Wales -9 11 £200 +5.26% 2
North East -30 3 £166 -15.13% 9
Northern Ireland -6 2 £175 +18.24% 4

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

For the 6 months to 2 May 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.

1 334 (44.95%) Windows
2 257 (34.59%) Microsoft
3 241 (32.44%) Microsoft 365
4 235 (31.63%) Active Directory
5 159 (21.40%) Security Cleared
6 155 (20.86%) Windows 10
7 151 (20.32%) Customer Service
8 138 (18.57%) Problem-Solving
9 130 (17.50%) SC Cleared
10 122 (16.42%) Azure
11 95 (12.79%) Microsoft Intune
12 94 (12.65%) ITIL
13 81 (10.90%) ServiceNow
14 69 (9.29%) Entra ID
15 65 (8.75%) Migration
16 55 (7.40%) ITSM
17 52 (7.00%) SharePoint
18 51 (6.86%) SQL
19 50 (6.73%) PowerShell
20 49 (6.59%) JIRA
21 47 (6.33%) Wi-Fi
22 46 (6.19%) SCCM
23 45 (6.06%) Asset Management
23 45 (6.06%) DNS
24 43 (5.79%) Linux
25 40 (5.38%) Microsoft Office
26 39 (5.25%) Continuous Improvement
26 39 (5.25%) Degree
27 38 (5.11%) Unix
28 36 (4.85%) Oracle

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 52 (7.00%) SharePoint
2 23 (3.10%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (0.94%) NetWeaver
4 4 (0.54%) Confluence
4 4 (0.54%) IIS
5 3 (0.40%) Apache
5 3 (0.40%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.27%) OpenStack
6 2 (0.27%) WebLogic
7 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
7 1 (0.13%) Apache Spark
7 1 (0.13%) HCL Notes
7 1 (0.13%) Jupyter
7 1 (0.13%) Tuxedo
7 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
Applications
1 40 (5.38%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (0.67%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 11 (1.48%) SAP EHS
2 8 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
3 7 (0.94%) Shopify
4 6 (0.81%) SAP S/4HANA
4 6 (0.81%) Teamcenter
5 2 (0.27%) NetSuite
6 1 (0.13%) Alphatax
6 1 (0.13%) assyst
6 1 (0.13%) Bloomberg TOMS
6 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
6 1 (0.13%) Dynamics GP
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
6 1 (0.13%) Oracle Receivables
6 1 (0.13%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 241 (32.44%) Microsoft 365
2 122 (16.42%) Azure
3 69 (9.29%) Entra ID
4 24 (3.23%) AWS
5 23 (3.10%) OneDrive
6 21 (2.83%) Azure DevOps
7 20 (2.69%) SaaS
8 13 (1.75%) Google Workspace
9 12 (1.62%) Power Platform
10 11 (1.48%) Dynamics 365
11 9 (1.21%) GCP
12 6 (0.81%) Amazon S3
12 6 (0.81%) Sauce Labs
13 5 (0.67%) Azure Data Factory
13 5 (0.67%) npm
13 5 (0.67%) PaaS
14 4 (0.54%) Datadog
14 4 (0.54%) Mimecast
14 4 (0.54%) Snowflake
15 2 (0.27%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 47 (6.33%) Wi-Fi
2 45 (6.06%) DNS
3 35 (4.71%) DHCP
4 33 (4.44%) LAN
4 33 (4.44%) VPN
5 30 (4.04%) TCP/IP
6 21 (2.83%) Firewall
6 21 (2.83%) WAN
7 18 (2.42%) SAN
8 14 (1.88%) Wireless
9 8 (1.08%) Internet
9 8 (1.08%) Network Security
10 7 (0.94%) HTTP
10 7 (0.94%) VLAN
10 7 (0.94%) VoIP
11 6 (0.81%) WLAN
12 5 (0.67%) AMQP
12 5 (0.67%) Skype
13 4 (0.54%) Unified Communications
14 3 (0.40%) Softphone
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (3.10%) SQL Server
2 20 (2.69%) MySQL
3 15 (2.02%) Relational Database
4 13 (1.75%) Amazon Redshift
5 10 (1.35%) Power BI
6 9 (1.21%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 7 (0.94%) Pentaho
7 7 (0.94%) SAP HANA
8 6 (0.81%) Sybase ASE
9 5 (0.67%) MaxDB
9 5 (0.67%) Oracle Database
9 5 (0.67%) PostgreSQL
10 4 (0.54%) Amazon Athena
10 4 (0.54%) Oracle Database 12c
11 3 (0.40%) InfluxDB
11 3 (0.40%) MariaDB
12 2 (0.27%) Data Warehouse
12 2 (0.27%) RDBMS
12 2 (0.27%) SQL Server Reporting Services
12 2 (0.27%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 49 (6.59%) JIRA
2 20 (2.69%) Git
3 13 (1.75%) Browser DevTools
4 6 (0.81%) Android Studio
4 6 (0.81%) Eclipse
4 6 (0.81%) Xcode
5 5 (0.67%) Maven
6 3 (0.40%) Firebug
6 3 (0.40%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
7 1 (0.13%) MSI
7 1 (0.13%) RStudio
7 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
7 1 (0.13%) Subversion
7 1 (0.13%) TeamCity
General
1 290 (39.03%) Social Skills
2 72 (9.69%) Analytical Skills
3 51 (6.86%) Finance
4 50 (6.73%) Manufacturing
5 36 (4.85%) Banking
6 27 (3.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 23 (3.10%) Aerospace
8 18 (2.42%) Investment Banking
9 17 (2.29%) Aviation
10 15 (2.02%) Law
10 15 (2.02%) Public Sector
11 11 (1.48%) Organisational Skills
12 10 (1.35%) Front Office
12 10 (1.35%) Legal
12 10 (1.35%) Telecoms
13 7 (0.94%) Documentation Skills
14 6 (0.81%) French Language
14 6 (0.81%) Retail
15 5 (0.67%) Marketing
16 4 (0.54%) Advertising
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (1.35%) Oracle GoldenGate
2 9 (1.21%) CSS
3 8 (1.08%) REST
4 7 (0.94%) JDO
5 6 (0.81%) .NET
5 6 (0.81%) Ajax
5 6 (0.81%) AngularJS
5 6 (0.81%) GraphQL
5 6 (0.81%) Middleware
5 6 (0.81%) React
5 6 (0.81%) SAP Basis
6 5 (0.67%) SAML
6 5 (0.67%) YAML
7 4 (0.54%) HTML
7 4 (0.54%) OAuth
7 4 (0.54%) PySpark
8 3 (0.40%) JSP
8 3 (0.40%) RESTful
8 3 (0.40%) Software Packaging
8 3 (0.40%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 52 (7.00%) Onboarding
2 29 (3.90%) Self-Motivation
3 28 (3.77%) Data Centre
4 23 (3.10%) Analytical Mindset
4 23 (3.10%) Driving Licence
5 13 (1.75%) Smartphone
6 12 (1.62%) Data Protection Act
6 12 (1.62%) Virtual Team
7 11 (1.48%) iPhone
8 10 (1.35%) Enterprise Software
8 10 (1.35%) PKI
8 10 (1.35%) SCADA
9 9 (1.21%) Legacy Systems
10 8 (1.08%) Hybrid Cloud
11 7 (0.94%) Video Conferencing
12 6 (0.81%) Mobile App
13 4 (0.54%) iPad
13 4 (0.54%) Management Information System
14 3 (0.40%) CMDB
15 2 (0.27%) Fat Client
Operating Systems
1 334 (44.95%) Windows
2 155 (20.86%) Windows 10
3 43 (5.79%) Linux
4 38 (5.11%) Unix
5 34 (4.58%) Mac OS
5 34 (4.58%) Windows Server
6 28 (3.77%) Android
7 23 (3.10%) Apple iOS
8 13 (1.75%) Windows 7
9 6 (0.81%) Windows Server 2016
10 3 (0.40%) Mac OS X
10 3 (0.40%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.40%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (0.40%) Windows Server 2019
11 2 (0.27%) CentOS
12 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.13%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 151 (20.32%) Customer Service
2 138 (18.57%) Problem-Solving
3 94 (12.65%) ITIL
4 65 (8.75%) Migration
5 55 (7.40%) ITSM
6 45 (6.06%) Asset Management
7 39 (5.25%) Continuous Improvement
8 36 (4.85%) User Experience
9 35 (4.71%) Root Cause Analysis
10 32 (4.31%) Change Management
11 31 (4.17%) Break/Fix
12 30 (4.04%) DevOps
12 30 (4.04%) Workflow
13 29 (3.90%) Service Management
14 28 (3.77%) Incident Management
15 26 (3.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 23 (3.10%) Logistics
16 23 (3.10%) Service Delivery
16 23 (3.10%) Stakeholder Management
16 23 (3.10%) Workflow Management
Programming Languages
1 51 (6.86%) SQL
2 50 (6.73%) PowerShell
3 26 (3.50%) Python
4 24 (3.23%) Java
5 20 (2.69%) C#
6 19 (2.56%) JavaScript
7 17 (2.29%) Shell Script
8 10 (1.35%) Korn
8 10 (1.35%) Perl
9 8 (1.08%) Bash
10 2 (0.27%) C++
11 1 (0.13%) AWK
11 1 (0.13%) C
11 1 (0.13%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.13%) R
11 1 (0.13%) T-SQL
11 1 (0.13%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.13%) VBA
11 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 159 (21.40%) Security Cleared
2 130 (17.50%) SC Cleared
3 39 (5.25%) Degree
4 25 (3.36%) DV Cleared
4 25 (3.36%) Microsoft Certification
5 22 (2.96%) A+ Certification
6 20 (2.69%) CCNA
6 20 (2.69%) Cisco Certification
7 17 (2.29%) MCSE
8 16 (2.15%) Network+ Certification
9 15 (2.02%) BPSS Clearance
10 10 (1.35%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.21%) Azure Certification
12 7 (0.94%) DBS Check
13 6 (0.81%) ITIL Certification
14 3 (0.40%) Master's Degree
15 2 (0.27%) NVQ Level 4
16 1 (0.13%) CCNP
16 1 (0.13%) MCITP
16 1 (0.13%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (3.63%) SLA
2 5 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials
3 4 (0.54%) Data Quality
4 3 (0.40%) GDPR
4 3 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (0.40%) QA
5 2 (0.27%) GLP
5 2 (0.27%) GMP
6 1 (0.13%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.13%) GAAP
6 1 (0.13%) GRC
6 1 (0.13%) GxP
6 1 (0.13%) IFRS
6 1 (0.13%) ITGC
6 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 1 (0.13%) SOC 2
System Software
1 235 (31.63%) Active Directory
2 20 (2.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (1.48%) Hyper-V
4 10 (1.35%) Oracle RAC
5 7 (0.94%) Virtual Desktop
6 6 (0.81%) VMware NSX
7 5 (0.67%) Firmware
7 5 (0.67%) vSphere
8 4 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.40%) Docker
10 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.13%) vCloud
10 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
10 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 95 (12.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 46 (6.19%) SCCM
3 20 (2.69%) Jamf Pro
4 17 (2.29%) Grafana
5 13 (1.75%) Single Sign-On
6 12 (1.62%) Terraform
7 11 (1.48%) Ansible
8 10 (1.35%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 10 (1.35%) Oracle RMAN
9 5 (0.67%) Kubernetes
10 4 (0.54%) vCenter Server
11 3 (0.40%) Kibana
11 3 (0.40%) vRealize
11 3 (0.40%) WSUS
12 2 (0.27%) AirWatch
12 2 (0.27%) McAfee ePO
12 2 (0.27%) PaperCut
12 2 (0.27%) Prometheus
12 2 (0.27%) WMI
13 1 (0.13%) SCOM
Vendors
1 257 (34.59%) Microsoft
2 81 (10.90%) ServiceNow
3 36 (4.85%) Oracle
4 31 (4.17%) Dell
5 29 (3.90%) SAP
6 22 (2.96%) Apple
6 22 (2.96%) VMware
7 21 (2.83%) Cisco
8 20 (2.69%) HP
9 17 (2.29%) Google
10 11 (1.48%) Bloomberg
11 10 (1.35%) McAfee
11 10 (1.35%) Remedy
12 9 (1.21%) Citrix
12 9 (1.21%) Okta
13 8 (1.08%) Denodo
13 8 (1.08%) Splunk
13 8 (1.08%) Starlink
13 8 (1.08%) Talend
14 7 (0.94%) Meraki