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 20 June 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 170 133 111
Rank change year-on-year -37 -22 +6
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 769 631 867
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.52% 2.11% 1.98%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.64% 2.29% 2.13%
Number of daily rates quoted 497 405 583
10th Percentile £156 £160 £140
25th Percentile £185 £200 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £238 £215
Median % change year-on-year -7.37% +10.47% -14.00%
75th Percentile £385 £375 £338
90th Percentile £473 £488 £500
UK excluding London median daily rate £208 £228 £205
% change year-on-year -8.99% +11.22% -3.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 66 49 56
10th Percentile £17.59 £17.82 £16.25
25th Percentile £19.00 £20.64 £18.10
Median hourly rate £23.50 £25.00 £22.40
Median % change year-on-year -6.00% +11.61% +12.00%
75th Percentile £36.00 £47.50 £40.94
90th Percentile £45.25 £68.00 £55.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £24.83 £24.18
% change year-on-year -9.38% +2.69% +30.70%

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 46,784 27,533 40,775
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.37% 92.21% 92.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,447 17,712 26,117
10th Percentile £325 £288 £281
25th Percentile £414 £402 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.00% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,114 1,185 2,993
10th Percentile £15.25 £13.91 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.50 £16.37
Median hourly rate £44.94 £27.50 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +63.40% -26.67% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £73.95
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -3.61%

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 20 June 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 20 June 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 20 June 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 -49 670 £211 -11.02% 225
UK excluding London -43 516 £208 -8.99% 253
London -49 224 £275 +6.49% 35
South East -37 145 £238 -5.00% 69
North of England -71 90 £190 -11.63% 52
Work from Home -80 83 £220 -26.67% 68
Midlands -41 81 £209 -17.43% 32
South West -47 66 £210 -10.64% 40
East of England -3 63 £200 -11.11% 26
Scotland +34 57 £437 +48.14% 27
North West -44 54 £189 -12.21% 36
West Midlands -60 48 £250 -5.66% 15
Yorkshire -43 34 £190 -19.15% 11
East Midlands +3 32 £200 +13.96% 17
Wales -21 9 £250 +25.00% 3
Northern Ireland -3 5 £175 +16.67% 15
North East -49 2 £290 +48.72% 7
Channel Islands - 1 £550 -

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

For the 6 months to 20 June 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.

1 378 (49.15%) Windows
2 289 (37.58%) Active Directory
3 278 (36.15%) Microsoft
4 251 (32.64%) Microsoft 365
5 162 (21.07%) Windows 10
6 160 (20.81%) Problem-Solving
7 152 (19.77%) Security Cleared
8 142 (18.47%) Customer Service
9 135 (17.56%) Azure
10 128 (16.64%) ITIL
11 105 (13.65%) Microsoft Intune
12 101 (13.13%) SC Cleared
13 93 (12.09%) ServiceNow
14 83 (10.79%) Entra ID
15 71 (9.23%) DNS
15 71 (9.23%) SharePoint
16 68 (8.84%) PowerShell
17 66 (8.58%) ITSM
18 58 (7.54%) SQL
19 57 (7.41%) JIRA
19 57 (7.41%) Linux
20 56 (7.28%) Migration
21 51 (6.63%) Windows Server
22 50 (6.50%) VPN
23 49 (6.37%) DHCP
24 48 (6.24%) Continuous Improvement
25 46 (5.98%) Mac OS
25 46 (5.98%) Wi-Fi
26 44 (5.72%) Change Management
26 44 (5.72%) Degree

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 71 (9.23%) SharePoint
2 44 (5.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.56%) NetWeaver
4 7 (0.91%) HCL Notes
5 4 (0.52%) Confluence
5 4 (0.52%) IIS
6 3 (0.39%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.26%) Apache
7 2 (0.26%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.26%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.13%) Tuxedo
8 1 (0.13%) WebSphere
Applications
1 40 (5.20%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.56%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.52%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 11 (1.43%) SAP S/4HANA
2 6 (0.78%) Teamcenter
3 4 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.52%) SAP EHS
4 2 (0.26%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.13%) Alphatax
5 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.13%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.13%) Oracle EBS
5 1 (0.13%) SAP GRC
5 1 (0.13%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 251 (32.64%) Microsoft 365
2 135 (17.56%) Azure
3 83 (10.79%) Entra ID
4 34 (4.42%) AWS
5 26 (3.38%) OneDrive
6 21 (2.73%) Azure DevOps
7 19 (2.47%) SaaS
8 13 (1.69%) GCP
9 10 (1.30%) Power Platform
10 9 (1.17%) PaaS
11 7 (0.91%) Amazon S3
12 6 (0.78%) Google Workspace
12 6 (0.78%) IaaS
13 5 (0.65%) Dynamics 365
14 4 (0.52%) Azure Data Factory
14 4 (0.52%) Mimecast
15 3 (0.39%) Amazon EC2
15 3 (0.39%) OpenShift
15 3 (0.39%) Sauce Labs
16 2 (0.26%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 71 (9.23%) DNS
2 50 (6.50%) VPN
3 49 (6.37%) DHCP
4 46 (5.98%) Wi-Fi
5 42 (5.46%) TCP/IP
6 41 (5.33%) LAN
7 25 (3.25%) WAN
8 24 (3.12%) SAN
9 18 (2.34%) Firewall
10 16 (2.08%) Internet
11 13 (1.69%) VLAN
12 11 (1.43%) WLAN
13 10 (1.30%) Wireless
14 7 (0.91%) HTTP
15 6 (0.78%) Skype
15 6 (0.78%) VoIP
16 4 (0.52%) Network Security
16 4 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
17 3 (0.39%) SMTP
17 3 (0.39%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 30 (3.90%) SQL Server
2 17 (2.21%) MySQL
3 13 (1.69%) Amazon Redshift
4 12 (1.56%) SAP HANA
5 11 (1.43%) Sybase ASE
6 10 (1.30%) MaxDB
7 9 (1.17%) Relational Database
8 8 (1.04%) Power BI
9 7 (0.91%) Pentaho
10 6 (0.78%) SQL Server Integration Services
11 5 (0.65%) Amazon RDS
11 5 (0.65%) Oracle Database
11 5 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
12 4 (0.52%) Amazon Athena
12 4 (0.52%) Oracle Database 12c
13 3 (0.39%) Big Data
13 3 (0.39%) Elasticsearch
14 2 (0.26%) Data Warehouse
14 2 (0.26%) MariaDB
14 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 57 (7.41%) JIRA
2 17 (2.21%) Git
3 9 (1.17%) Browser DevTools
4 3 (0.39%) Android Studio
4 3 (0.39%) Eclipse
4 3 (0.39%) Xcode
5 2 (0.26%) Firebug
5 2 (0.26%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.13%) Artifactory
6 1 (0.13%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.13%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.13%) Gemini Tracker
6 1 (0.13%) GitLab
6 1 (0.13%) MSI
6 1 (0.13%) RStudio
6 1 (0.13%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.13%) Subversion
6 1 (0.13%) TeamCity
6 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 291 (37.84%) Social Skills
2 85 (11.05%) Analytical Skills
3 55 (7.15%) Finance
4 45 (5.85%) Manufacturing
5 38 (4.94%) Banking
6 24 (3.12%) Investment Banking
7 20 (2.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 19 (2.47%) Organisational Skills
9 16 (2.08%) Aerospace
10 15 (1.95%) Law
11 14 (1.82%) Aviation
12 13 (1.69%) Documentation Skills
13 11 (1.43%) Retail
14 9 (1.17%) Front Office
15 8 (1.04%) Public Sector
16 7 (0.91%) Financial Institution
16 7 (0.91%) Marketing
17 6 (0.78%) French Language
17 6 (0.78%) Legal
17 6 (0.78%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.43%) SAP Basis
2 10 (1.30%) Oracle GoldenGate
3 9 (1.17%) REST
4 7 (0.91%) .NET
4 7 (0.91%) JDO
4 7 (0.91%) Software Packaging
5 6 (0.78%) SAP Fiori
5 6 (0.78%) SAPUI5
6 5 (0.65%) CSS
6 5 (0.65%) PySpark
6 5 (0.65%) SAML
7 4 (0.52%) OAuth
8 3 (0.39%) AngularJS
8 3 (0.39%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.39%) LDAP
8 3 (0.39%) Middleware
8 3 (0.39%) React
8 3 (0.39%) RESTful
8 3 (0.39%) Web Services
8 3 (0.39%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 68 (8.84%) Onboarding
2 35 (4.55%) Data Centre
3 25 (3.25%) Self-Motivation
4 20 (2.60%) Analytical Mindset
5 19 (2.47%) Virtual Team
6 15 (1.95%) Enterprise Software
7 14 (1.82%) Data Protection Act
7 14 (1.82%) PKI
8 13 (1.69%) Smartphone
8 13 (1.69%) Video Conferencing
9 12 (1.56%) iPhone
9 12 (1.56%) Legacy Systems
10 10 (1.30%) SCADA
11 9 (1.17%) Driving Licence
12 8 (1.04%) Hedge funds
13 7 (0.91%) Blackberry
13 7 (0.91%) iPad
14 5 (0.65%) BYOD
14 5 (0.65%) Hybrid Cloud
14 5 (0.65%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 378 (49.15%) Windows
2 162 (21.07%) Windows 10
3 57 (7.41%) Linux
4 51 (6.63%) Windows Server
5 46 (5.98%) Mac OS
6 41 (5.33%) Unix
7 25 (3.25%) Apple iOS
8 21 (2.73%) Android
9 17 (2.21%) Windows 7
10 7 (0.91%) Windows Server 2016
11 6 (0.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 5 (0.65%) Ubuntu
13 4 (0.52%) Solaris
13 4 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
13 4 (0.52%) Windows XP
14 3 (0.39%) Windows Server 2012
15 2 (0.26%) Mac OS X
16 1 (0.13%) VMS
16 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
16 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 160 (20.81%) Problem-Solving
2 142 (18.47%) Customer Service
3 128 (16.64%) ITIL
4 66 (8.58%) ITSM
5 56 (7.28%) Migration
6 48 (6.24%) Continuous Improvement
7 44 (5.72%) Change Management
8 43 (5.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 42 (5.46%) Service Delivery
10 37 (4.81%) Asset Management
11 36 (4.68%) Incident Management
12 35 (4.55%) DevOps
13 32 (4.16%) Problem Management
13 32 (4.16%) Root Cause Analysis
13 32 (4.16%) Service Management
14 31 (4.03%) User Experience
15 26 (3.38%) Data Protection
16 22 (2.86%) Agile
16 22 (2.86%) Break/Fix
16 22 (2.86%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 68 (8.84%) PowerShell
2 58 (7.54%) SQL
3 30 (3.90%) Python
4 20 (2.60%) C#
5 19 (2.47%) Java
6 16 (2.08%) Shell Script
7 15 (1.95%) JavaScript
8 13 (1.69%) Bash
9 10 (1.30%) Korn
10 7 (0.91%) C++
10 7 (0.91%) Perl
11 1 (0.13%) C
11 1 (0.13%) DCL
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
1 152 (19.77%) Security Cleared
2 101 (13.13%) SC Cleared
3 44 (5.72%) Degree
4 36 (4.68%) DV Cleared
5 25 (3.25%) Microsoft Certification
6 23 (2.99%) A+ Certification
7 21 (2.73%) CCNA
7 21 (2.73%) Cisco Certification
7 21 (2.73%) Network+ Certification
8 16 (2.08%) MCSE
9 12 (1.56%) BPSS Clearance
10 9 (1.17%) Azure Certification
11 8 (1.04%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (0.91%) DBS Check
12 7 (0.91%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 6 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
14 4 (0.52%) NVQ Level 4
15 3 (0.39%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 1 (0.13%) AWS Certification
16 1 (0.13%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 39 (5.07%) SLA
2 4 (0.52%) GDPR
2 4 (0.52%) QA
3 3 (0.39%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (0.39%) Data Quality
4 2 (0.26%) GLP
4 2 (0.26%) GMP
4 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 1 (0.13%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.13%) GRC
5 1 (0.13%) GxP
5 1 (0.13%) ITGC
System Software
1 289 (37.58%) Active Directory
2 33 (4.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (2.34%) Hyper-V
4 17 (2.21%) VMware ESXi
5 15 (1.95%) VMware NSX
6 11 (1.43%) Virtual Desktop
7 10 (1.30%) Oracle RAC
7 10 (1.30%) vCloud
8 6 (0.78%) vSphere
9 5 (0.65%) NFS
10 4 (0.52%) BitLocker
10 4 (0.52%) Docker
11 3 (0.39%) Firmware
11 3 (0.39%) Microsoft App-V
11 3 (0.39%) Terminal Services
12 2 (0.26%) Virtual Servers
13 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
13 1 (0.13%) XenDesktop
13 1 (0.13%) zsh
Systems Management
1 105 (13.65%) Microsoft Intune
2 43 (5.59%) SCCM
3 20 (2.60%) Jamf Pro
3 20 (2.60%) Single Sign-On
4 17 (2.21%) vCenter Server
5 11 (1.43%) Grafana
5 11 (1.43%) SCOM
6 10 (1.30%) Ansible
6 10 (1.30%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
6 10 (1.30%) Oracle RMAN
7 6 (0.78%) Kubernetes
7 6 (0.78%) Terraform
8 5 (0.65%) Red Hat Satellite
9 3 (0.39%) AirWatch
9 3 (0.39%) Nagios
9 3 (0.39%) Puppet
9 3 (0.39%) vMotion
9 3 (0.39%) vRealize
10 2 (0.26%) McAfee ePO
10 2 (0.26%) WMI
Vendors
1 278 (36.15%) Microsoft
2 93 (12.09%) ServiceNow
3 39 (5.07%) VMware
4 31 (4.03%) Oracle
5 28 (3.64%) Apple
6 21 (2.73%) SAP
7 20 (2.60%) Dell
8 16 (2.08%) Citrix
9 15 (1.95%) Cisco
9 15 (1.95%) Google
9 15 (1.95%) Okta
10 14 (1.82%) HP
11 11 (1.43%) Sybase
12 9 (1.17%) McAfee
13 8 (1.04%) Denodo
13 8 (1.04%) Meraki
13 8 (1.04%) Red Hat
13 8 (1.04%) Starlink
13 8 (1.04%) Talend
14 7 (0.91%) Remedy