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 11 June 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 175 135 109
Rank change year-on-year -40 -26 +7
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 767 624 861
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.54% 2.12% 1.97%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.67% 2.30% 2.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 494 399 591
10th Percentile £153 £157 £138
25th Percentile £183 £200 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £220 £240 £213
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +12.94% -15.00%
75th Percentile £375 £384 £338
90th Percentile £473 £489 £488
UK excluding London median daily rate £207 £230 £200
% change year-on-year -9.89% +15.00% -5.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 71 54 54
10th Percentile £18.07 £18.10 £16.25
25th Percentile £20.50 £19.04 £18.03
Median hourly rate £23.83 £24.83 £22.40
Median % change year-on-year -4.05% +10.85% +8.74%
75th Percentile £35.61 £35.63 £40.31
90th Percentile £37.50 £68.00 £55.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £24.83 £24.18
% change year-on-year -9.38% +2.69% +24.00%

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 46,065 27,116 40,535
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.33% 92.32% 92.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,032 17,461 26,079
10th Percentile £325 £288 £280
25th Percentile £413 £402 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.55% -4.76% -2.60%
75th Percentile £621 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,078 1,132 2,932
10th Percentile £15.13 £13.87 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.79 £16.30
Median hourly rate £43.00 £27.70 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +55.23% -26.13% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £61.60
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -5.88%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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 -55 672 £210 -13.40% 252
UK excluding London -35 519 £207 -9.89% 235
London -46 220 £275 +3.29% 54
South East -29 145 £225 -10.00% 68
North of England -73 91 £190 -11.63% 60
Midlands -46 86 £204 -22.92% 34
Work from Home -85 82 £213 -29.17% 74
South West -40 68 £210 -10.64% 36
East of England -3 63 £195 -13.33% 24
North West -40 57 £190 -11.63% 39
Scotland +27 55 £394 +33.39% 14
West Midlands -61 50 £238 -13.64% 19
East Midlands -2 37 £200 -5.88% 15
Yorkshire -37 32 £190 -19.15% 16
Wales -20 9 £250 +25.00%
Northern Ireland -1 4 £175 +16.67% 7
North East -42 2 £290 +48.72% 7
Channel Islands - 1 £550 -

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

For the 6 months to 11 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.

1 364 (47.46%) Windows
2 280 (36.51%) Active Directory
3 274 (35.72%) Microsoft
4 247 (32.20%) Microsoft 365
5 159 (20.73%) Windows 10
6 156 (20.34%) Security Cleared
7 153 (19.95%) Problem-Solving
8 140 (18.25%) Azure
9 139 (18.12%) Customer Service
10 124 (16.17%) ITIL
11 107 (13.95%) Microsoft Intune
11 107 (13.95%) SC Cleared
12 92 (11.99%) ServiceNow
13 85 (11.08%) Entra ID
14 68 (8.87%) SharePoint
15 67 (8.74%) DNS
15 67 (8.74%) PowerShell
16 64 (8.34%) ITSM
17 59 (7.69%) Migration
18 56 (7.30%) JIRA
18 56 (7.30%) SQL
19 52 (6.78%) Linux
20 48 (6.26%) Windows Server
21 47 (6.13%) DHCP
21 47 (6.13%) VPN
22 45 (5.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
23 44 (5.74%) Wi-Fi
24 43 (5.61%) Continuous Improvement
25 42 (5.48%) Mac OS
25 42 (5.48%) SCCM

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 (8.87%) SharePoint
2 40 (5.22%) 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 38 (4.95%) 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
4 2 (0.26%) Shopify
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
Cloud Services
1 247 (32.20%) Microsoft 365
2 140 (18.25%) Azure
3 85 (11.08%) Entra ID
4 33 (4.30%) AWS
5 25 (3.26%) OneDrive
6 22 (2.87%) SaaS
7 21 (2.74%) Azure DevOps
8 12 (1.56%) GCP
9 10 (1.30%) Power Platform
10 8 (1.04%) PaaS
11 7 (0.91%) Amazon S3
12 6 (0.78%) Dynamics 365
12 6 (0.78%) Google Workspace
13 5 (0.65%) Azure Data Factory
13 5 (0.65%) IaaS
14 4 (0.52%) Mimecast
14 4 (0.52%) Sauce Labs
15 3 (0.39%) Amazon EC2
16 2 (0.26%) Matillion
16 2 (0.26%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 67 (8.74%) DNS
2 47 (6.13%) DHCP
2 47 (6.13%) VPN
3 44 (5.74%) Wi-Fi
4 40 (5.22%) LAN
5 39 (5.08%) TCP/IP
6 24 (3.13%) SAN
6 24 (3.13%) WAN
7 16 (2.09%) Firewall
8 14 (1.83%) VLAN
9 13 (1.69%) Internet
10 11 (1.43%) WLAN
11 10 (1.30%) Wireless
12 7 (0.91%) HTTP
13 6 (0.78%) Skype
13 6 (0.78%) VoIP
14 4 (0.52%) Remote Desktop
15 3 (0.39%) Network Security
15 3 (0.39%) Unified Communications
16 2 (0.26%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 31 (4.04%) SQL Server
2 17 (2.22%) MySQL
3 13 (1.69%) Amazon Redshift
4 12 (1.56%) SAP HANA
5 11 (1.43%) Sybase ASE
6 10 (1.30%) MaxDB
6 10 (1.30%) Relational Database
7 8 (1.04%) Power BI
8 7 (0.91%) Pentaho
8 7 (0.91%) SQL Server Integration Services
9 5 (0.65%) Oracle Database
9 5 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
10 4 (0.52%) Amazon Athena
10 4 (0.52%) Amazon RDS
10 4 (0.52%) Oracle Database 12c
11 2 (0.26%) Big Data
11 2 (0.26%) Data Warehouse
11 2 (0.26%) Elasticsearch
11 2 (0.26%) MariaDB
11 2 (0.26%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 56 (7.30%) JIRA
2 18 (2.35%) Git
3 10 (1.30%) Browser DevTools
4 4 (0.52%) Android Studio
4 4 (0.52%) Eclipse
4 4 (0.52%) Xcode
5 2 (0.26%) Firebug
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%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.13%) Maven
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
1 288 (37.55%) Social Skills
2 81 (10.56%) Analytical Skills
3 56 (7.30%) Finance
4 44 (5.74%) Manufacturing
5 37 (4.82%) Banking
6 24 (3.13%) Investment Banking
7 22 (2.87%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 18 (2.35%) Law
8 18 (2.35%) Organisational Skills
9 16 (2.09%) Aerospace
10 14 (1.83%) Aviation
10 14 (1.83%) Documentation Skills
11 9 (1.17%) Front Office
11 9 (1.17%) Retail
12 7 (0.91%) Financial Institution
12 7 (0.91%) Legal
12 7 (0.91%) Marketing
12 7 (0.91%) Public Sector
13 6 (0.78%) French Language
13 6 (0.78%) Spanish Language
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%) JDO
4 7 (0.91%) Software Packaging
5 6 (0.78%) .NET
5 6 (0.78%) CSS
5 6 (0.78%) SAP Fiori
5 6 (0.78%) SAPUI5
6 5 (0.65%) PySpark
6 5 (0.65%) SAML
7 4 (0.52%) Ajax
7 4 (0.52%) AngularJS
7 4 (0.52%) GraphQL
7 4 (0.52%) OAuth
7 4 (0.52%) React
7 4 (0.52%) YAML
8 3 (0.39%) JSP
8 3 (0.39%) RESTful
8 3 (0.39%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 65 (8.47%) Onboarding
2 34 (4.43%) Data Centre
3 23 (3.00%) Self-Motivation
4 20 (2.61%) Analytical Mindset
5 18 (2.35%) Virtual Team
6 15 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
6 15 (1.96%) Smartphone
7 14 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
8 12 (1.56%) iPhone
8 12 (1.56%) PKI
9 11 (1.43%) Legacy Systems
10 10 (1.30%) SCADA
10 10 (1.30%) Video Conferencing
11 8 (1.04%) Hedge funds
12 7 (0.91%) Blackberry
12 7 (0.91%) Driving Licence
13 6 (0.78%) Hybrid Cloud
13 6 (0.78%) iPad
14 5 (0.65%) CCTV
15 4 (0.52%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 364 (47.46%) Windows
2 159 (20.73%) Windows 10
3 52 (6.78%) Linux
4 48 (6.26%) Windows Server
5 42 (5.48%) Mac OS
6 40 (5.22%) Unix
7 27 (3.52%) Apple iOS
8 22 (2.87%) Android
9 17 (2.22%) Windows 7
10 7 (0.91%) Windows Server 2016
11 6 (0.78%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 4 (0.52%) Solaris
12 4 (0.52%) Ubuntu
12 4 (0.52%) Windows Server 2019
12 4 (0.52%) Windows XP
13 3 (0.39%) Windows Server 2012
14 2 (0.26%) Mac OS X
15 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2003
15 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (19.95%) Problem-Solving
2 139 (18.12%) Customer Service
3 124 (16.17%) ITIL
4 64 (8.34%) ITSM
5 59 (7.69%) Migration
6 45 (5.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 43 (5.61%) Continuous Improvement
8 41 (5.35%) Change Management
9 39 (5.08%) Asset Management
9 39 (5.08%) Service Delivery
10 34 (4.43%) DevOps
10 34 (4.43%) Incident Management
11 33 (4.30%) Service Management
12 32 (4.17%) Root Cause Analysis
12 32 (4.17%) User Experience
13 30 (3.91%) Problem Management
14 27 (3.52%) Data Protection
15 22 (2.87%) Break/Fix
16 21 (2.74%) Agile
16 21 (2.74%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 67 (8.74%) PowerShell
2 56 (7.30%) SQL
3 29 (3.78%) Python
4 20 (2.61%) C#
5 18 (2.35%) Java
6 16 (2.09%) JavaScript
7 15 (1.96%) Shell Script
8 12 (1.56%) Bash
9 10 (1.30%) Korn
10 8 (1.04%) Perl
11 6 (0.78%) C++
12 1 (0.13%) C
12 1 (0.13%) R
12 1 (0.13%) T-SQL
12 1 (0.13%) VB.NET
12 1 (0.13%) VBA
12 1 (0.13%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 156 (20.34%) Security Cleared
2 107 (13.95%) SC Cleared
3 41 (5.35%) Degree
4 35 (4.56%) DV Cleared
5 25 (3.26%) Microsoft Certification
6 22 (2.87%) A+ Certification
7 20 (2.61%) CCNA
7 20 (2.61%) Cisco Certification
7 20 (2.61%) Network+ Certification
8 16 (2.09%) MCSE
9 11 (1.43%) BPSS Clearance
10 9 (1.17%) Azure Certification
11 8 (1.04%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (0.91%) DBS Check
13 6 (0.78%) ITIL Certification
14 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Certified Professional
15 4 (0.52%) NVQ Level 4
16 2 (0.26%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
17 1 (0.13%) AWS Certification
17 1 (0.13%) MCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (4.82%) 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
5 1 (0.13%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.13%) GRC
5 1 (0.13%) GxP
5 1 (0.13%) ITGC
5 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 280 (36.51%) Active Directory
2 32 (4.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (2.22%) Hyper-V
4 15 (1.96%) VMware ESXi
5 14 (1.83%) VMware NSX
6 11 (1.43%) Virtual Desktop
7 10 (1.30%) Oracle RAC
8 9 (1.17%) vCloud
9 6 (0.78%) vSphere
10 5 (0.65%) NFS
11 3 (0.39%) BitLocker
11 3 (0.39%) Docker
11 3 (0.39%) Firmware
12 2 (0.26%) Microsoft App-V
12 2 (0.26%) 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
1 107 (13.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 42 (5.48%) SCCM
3 21 (2.74%) Jamf Pro
4 20 (2.61%) Single Sign-On
5 15 (1.96%) vCenter Server
6 12 (1.56%) Grafana
7 10 (1.30%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 10 (1.30%) Oracle RMAN
7 10 (1.30%) SCOM
8 9 (1.17%) Ansible
9 7 (0.91%) Terraform
10 5 (0.65%) Kubernetes
10 5 (0.65%) Red Hat Satellite
11 3 (0.39%) vRealize
12 2 (0.26%) AirWatch
12 2 (0.26%) Kibana
12 2 (0.26%) McAfee ePO
12 2 (0.26%) PaperCut
12 2 (0.26%) Puppet
12 2 (0.26%) vMotion
Vendors
1 274 (35.72%) Microsoft
2 92 (11.99%) ServiceNow
3 37 (4.82%) VMware
4 32 (4.17%) Oracle
5 24 (3.13%) Apple
6 22 (2.87%) Dell
7 21 (2.74%) SAP
8 15 (1.96%) Okta
9 14 (1.83%) Citrix
9 14 (1.83%) HP
10 13 (1.69%) Cisco
10 13 (1.69%) Google
11 11 (1.43%) Sybase
12 9 (1.17%) McAfee
13 8 (1.04%) Denodo
13 8 (1.04%) Red Hat
13 8 (1.04%) Starlink
13 8 (1.04%) Talend
14 7 (0.91%) Lotus
14 7 (0.91%) Remedy