Support Engineer Contract Job Trends

Support Engineer
UK

The median Support Engineer daily rate in the UK is £225, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 22 July 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 172 132 102
Rank change year-on-year -40 -30 -5
Contract jobs requiring a Support Engineer 822 690 873
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.56% 2.11% 2.11%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.68% 2.31% 2.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 538 439 600
10th Percentile £162 £160 £140
25th Percentile £185 £200 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £225 £238 £220
Median % change year-on-year -5.16% +7.95% -12.00%
75th Percentile £392 £385 £344
90th Percentile £491 £538 £502
UK excluding London median daily rate £210 £228 £205
% change year-on-year -7.69% +10.98% -6.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 63 57
10th Percentile £16.66 £16.95 £16.70
25th Percentile £18.50 £20.64 £18.03
Median hourly rate £25.77 £25.15 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.47% +14.32% +11.39%
75th Percentile £36.00 £43.75 £25.00
90th Percentile £53.00 £68.00 £54.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £25.15 £22.00
% change year-on-year -12.52% +14.32% +15.79%

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 48,829 29,898 38,441
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.59% 91.63% 93.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,477 19,026 24,867
10th Percentile £325 £283 £295
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.02%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £730 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,287 1,429 2,436
10th Percentile £15.75 £13.75 £13.49
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £18.00
Median hourly rate £43.69 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +73.72% -37.13% -8.57%
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.00 £64.25
90th Percentile £80.52 £73.75 £74.47
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £41.81
% change year-on-year +78.93% -39.85% +4.53%

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 22 July 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 22 July 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 22 July 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 -52 693 £220 -7.37% 265
UK excluding London -34 553 £210 -7.69% 268
London -52 238 £245 -7.98% 38
South East -25 167 £238 -5.00% 75
North of England -61 102 £190 -13.64% 60
Scotland +46 84 £437 +20.55% 26
Work from Home -91 81 £250 -28.57% 67
Midlands -57 66 £250 -9.09% 27
North West -39 64 £190 -13.64% 34
South West -53 62 £210 -10.64% 41
East of England -4 57 £200 - 39
West Midlands -69 42 £250 -9.09% 16
Yorkshire -28 37 £190 -19.15% 20
East Midlands -3 23 £235 +28.42% 11
Wales -28 10 £195 -2.50% 2
Northern Ireland +1 5 £175 - 4
North East -51 1 £290 +48.72% 7
Channel Islands - 1 £550 -

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

For the 6 months to 22 July 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.

1 430 (52.31%) Windows
2 346 (42.09%) Active Directory
3 335 (40.75%) Microsoft
4 293 (35.64%) Microsoft 365
5 188 (22.87%) Problem-Solving
6 175 (21.29%) Windows 10
7 169 (20.56%) Customer Service
8 159 (19.34%) Security Cleared
9 151 (18.37%) ITIL
10 143 (17.40%) Azure
11 124 (15.09%) Microsoft Intune
12 118 (14.36%) Entra ID
13 115 (13.99%) ServiceNow
14 100 (12.17%) SC Cleared
15 96 (11.68%) SharePoint
16 93 (11.31%) DNS
17 89 (10.83%) ITSM
18 85 (10.34%) PowerShell
19 65 (7.91%) SQL
19 65 (7.91%) VPN
20 64 (7.79%) JIRA
21 61 (7.42%) Continuous Improvement
22 60 (7.30%) DHCP
22 60 (7.30%) Linux
23 57 (6.93%) Microsoft Exchange
24 56 (6.81%) Service Delivery
24 56 (6.81%) TCP/IP
25 55 (6.69%) Mac OS
26 52 (6.33%) Migration
26 52 (6.33%) 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 96 (11.68%) SharePoint
2 57 (6.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 12 (1.46%) NetWeaver
4 10 (1.22%) HCL Notes
5 5 (0.61%) Confluence
6 3 (0.36%) Skype for Business
7 2 (0.24%) IIS
7 2 (0.24%) OpenStack
7 2 (0.24%) WebLogic
8 1 (0.12%) Tuxedo
8 1 (0.12%) WebSphere
Applications
1 40 (4.87%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (1.46%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (0.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.12%) Acrobat
4 1 (0.12%) Chatbot
4 1 (0.12%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 11 (1.34%) SAP S/4HANA
2 7 (0.85%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.49%) SAP EHS
3 4 (0.49%) Teamcenter
4 2 (0.24%) NetSuite
5 1 (0.12%) Alphatax
5 1 (0.12%) Dynamics CRM
5 1 (0.12%) Dynamics GP
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle BRM
5 1 (0.12%) SAP BRIM
5 1 (0.12%) SAP FI
5 1 (0.12%) SAP FI-CA
5 1 (0.12%) SAP FS
5 1 (0.12%) SAP GRC
Cloud Services
1 293 (35.64%) Microsoft 365
2 143 (17.40%) Azure
3 118 (14.36%) Entra ID
4 40 (4.87%) OneDrive
5 31 (3.77%) AWS
6 21 (2.55%) Azure DevOps
7 19 (2.31%) SaaS
8 17 (2.07%) GCP
9 11 (1.34%) Power Platform
10 9 (1.09%) PaaS
11 6 (0.73%) Google Workspace
11 6 (0.73%) IaaS
12 5 (0.61%) Mimecast
13 4 (0.49%) Amazon S3
13 4 (0.49%) Azure Data Factory
14 3 (0.36%) Amazon EC2
14 3 (0.36%) OpenShift
14 3 (0.36%) PowerApps
14 3 (0.36%) Sauce Labs
15 2 (0.24%) Google Compute Engine
Communications & Networking
1 93 (11.31%) DNS
2 65 (7.91%) VPN
3 60 (7.30%) DHCP
4 56 (6.81%) TCP/IP
5 50 (6.08%) Wi-Fi
6 40 (4.87%) LAN
7 25 (3.04%) WAN
8 23 (2.80%) SAN
9 20 (2.43%) Firewall
10 19 (2.31%) Internet
11 15 (1.82%) VLAN
12 8 (0.97%) Wireless
12 8 (0.97%) WLAN
13 7 (0.85%) HTTP
13 7 (0.85%) Skype
14 5 (0.61%) VoIP
15 4 (0.49%) Network Security
15 4 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
15 4 (0.49%) Unified Communications
16 3 (0.36%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 39 (4.74%) SQL Server
2 16 (1.95%) MySQL
3 12 (1.46%) SAP HANA
4 11 (1.34%) Sybase ASE
5 10 (1.22%) MaxDB
6 9 (1.09%) Amazon Redshift
6 9 (1.09%) Power BI
7 8 (0.97%) Relational Database
8 7 (0.85%) Pentaho
9 6 (0.73%) PostgreSQL
9 6 (0.73%) SQL Server Integration Services
10 5 (0.61%) Amazon RDS
10 5 (0.61%) Oracle Database
11 4 (0.49%) Oracle Database 12c
12 3 (0.36%) Big Data
12 3 (0.36%) Elasticsearch
12 3 (0.36%) SQL Server Reporting Services
13 2 (0.24%) Data Warehouse
13 2 (0.24%) MariaDB
13 2 (0.24%) SQL Server Analysis Services
Development Applications
1 64 (7.79%) JIRA
2 20 (2.43%) Git
3 9 (1.09%) Browser DevTools
4 3 (0.36%) Android Studio
4 3 (0.36%) Eclipse
4 3 (0.36%) Jenkins
4 3 (0.36%) Xcode
5 2 (0.24%) Artifactory
5 2 (0.24%) Firebug
6 1 (0.12%) Atlassian Bamboo
6 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.12%) Claude Code
6 1 (0.12%) Gemini Tracker
6 1 (0.12%) GitLab
6 1 (0.12%) MSI
6 1 (0.12%) RStudio
6 1 (0.12%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.12%) Subversion
6 1 (0.12%) TeamCity
6 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 335 (40.75%) Social Skills
2 97 (11.80%) Analytical Skills
3 63 (7.66%) Finance
4 45 (5.47%) Manufacturing
5 35 (4.26%) Banking
6 22 (2.68%) Organisational Skills
7 20 (2.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 17 (2.07%) Investment Banking
9 15 (1.82%) Documentation Skills
9 15 (1.82%) Retail
10 13 (1.58%) Aerospace
10 13 (1.58%) Law
11 12 (1.46%) Aviation
12 9 (1.09%) Financial Institution
12 9 (1.09%) Front Office
12 9 (1.09%) Telecoms
13 8 (0.97%) Legal
13 8 (0.97%) Spanish Language
14 7 (0.85%) Marketing
15 6 (0.73%) Public Sector
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (1.70%) .NET
2 11 (1.34%) SAP Basis
3 10 (1.22%) LDAP
3 10 (1.22%) Oracle GoldenGate
4 9 (1.09%) REST
5 8 (0.97%) XML
6 7 (0.85%) JDO
7 6 (0.73%) SAP Fiori
7 6 (0.73%) SAPUI5
7 6 (0.73%) Software Packaging
8 5 (0.61%) .NET Framework
8 5 (0.61%) CSS
8 5 (0.61%) SAML
9 4 (0.49%) OAuth
10 3 (0.36%) Ajax
10 3 (0.36%) HTML
10 3 (0.36%) JSP
10 3 (0.36%) Middleware
10 3 (0.36%) React
10 3 (0.36%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 98 (11.92%) Onboarding
2 35 (4.26%) Data Centre
3 22 (2.68%) Analytical Mindset
3 22 (2.68%) Self-Motivation
3 22 (2.68%) Video Conferencing
4 16 (1.95%) PKI
5 15 (1.82%) Data Protection Act
6 14 (1.70%) iPhone
7 13 (1.58%) Enterprise Software
7 13 (1.58%) Virtual Team
8 12 (1.46%) Driving Licence
8 12 (1.46%) Legacy Systems
9 11 (1.34%) SCADA
10 10 (1.22%) Blackberry
10 10 (1.22%) Hedge funds
11 9 (1.09%) iPad
12 8 (0.97%) Smartphone
13 7 (0.85%) Management Information System
14 6 (0.73%) BYOD
15 5 (0.61%) CCTV
Operating Systems
1 430 (52.31%) Windows
2 175 (21.29%) Windows 10
3 60 (7.30%) Linux
4 55 (6.69%) Mac OS
5 52 (6.33%) Windows Server
6 41 (4.99%) Unix
7 29 (3.53%) Apple iOS
8 27 (3.28%) Android
9 14 (1.70%) Windows 7
10 8 (0.97%) Ubuntu
11 7 (0.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 7 (0.85%) Windows Server 2019
12 6 (0.73%) Windows Server 2016
13 4 (0.49%) Solaris
14 3 (0.36%) Windows XP
15 2 (0.24%) Mac OS X
15 2 (0.24%) OpenVMS
15 2 (0.24%) VMS
15 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2008
15 2 (0.24%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 188 (22.87%) Problem-Solving
2 169 (20.56%) Customer Service
3 151 (18.37%) ITIL
4 89 (10.83%) ITSM
5 61 (7.42%) Continuous Improvement
6 56 (6.81%) Service Delivery
7 52 (6.33%) Migration
8 51 (6.20%) Asset Management
9 44 (5.35%) Change Management
10 43 (5.23%) Problem Management
11 42 (5.11%) User Experience
12 41 (4.99%) Service Management
13 38 (4.62%) Incident Management
14 37 (4.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 36 (4.38%) Identity Access Management
16 35 (4.26%) Root Cause Analysis
17 32 (3.89%) DevOps
18 29 (3.53%) Data Protection
19 28 (3.41%) High Availability
20 27 (3.28%) Break/Fix
Programming Languages
1 85 (10.34%) PowerShell
2 65 (7.91%) SQL
3 33 (4.01%) Python
4 27 (3.28%) C#
5 20 (2.43%) Java
6 17 (2.07%) Bash
6 17 (2.07%) Shell Script
7 15 (1.82%) JavaScript
8 10 (1.22%) Korn
9 7 (0.85%) C++
10 6 (0.73%) Perl
11 4 (0.49%) T-SQL
12 2 (0.24%) DCL
12 2 (0.24%) Go
12 2 (0.24%) VBScript
13 1 (0.12%) C
13 1 (0.12%) R
13 1 (0.12%) VB.NET
13 1 (0.12%) VBA
Qualifications
1 159 (19.34%) Security Cleared
2 100 (12.17%) SC Cleared
3 51 (6.20%) Degree
4 43 (5.23%) DV Cleared
5 33 (4.01%) Microsoft Certification
6 29 (3.53%) A+ Certification
7 24 (2.92%) Network+ Certification
8 21 (2.55%) CCNA
8 21 (2.55%) Cisco Certification
9 16 (1.95%) MCSE
10 15 (1.82%) BPSS Clearance
11 9 (1.09%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.09%) DBS Check
12 7 (0.85%) Azure Certification
12 7 (0.85%) Microsoft Certified Professional
13 6 (0.73%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 5 (0.61%) ITIL Certification
15 4 (0.49%) NVQ Level 4
16 1 (0.12%) AWS Certification
16 1 (0.12%) CTC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (5.47%) SLA
2 4 (0.49%) Data Quality
2 4 (0.49%) GDPR
2 4 (0.49%) QA
3 3 (0.36%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (0.36%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 2 (0.24%) GLP
4 2 (0.24%) GMP
4 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 1 (0.12%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.12%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.12%) GRC
5 1 (0.12%) GxP
5 1 (0.12%) ITGC
System Software
1 346 (42.09%) Active Directory
2 40 (4.87%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (2.80%) VMware ESXi
4 21 (2.55%) Hyper-V
5 17 (2.07%) VMware NSX
6 13 (1.58%) Virtual Desktop
7 12 (1.46%) vCloud
8 10 (1.22%) Oracle RAC
9 7 (0.85%) vSphere
10 5 (0.61%) Docker
10 5 (0.61%) NFS
11 4 (0.49%) BitLocker
12 3 (0.36%) Microsoft App-V
12 3 (0.36%) Terminal Services
13 2 (0.24%) Firmware
13 2 (0.24%) zsh
14 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
14 1 (0.12%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 124 (15.09%) Microsoft Intune
2 47 (5.72%) SCCM
3 23 (2.80%) vCenter Server
4 20 (2.43%) Single Sign-On
5 19 (2.31%) Jamf Pro
6 17 (2.07%) SCOM
7 12 (1.46%) Grafana
8 10 (1.22%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
8 10 (1.22%) Oracle RMAN
9 9 (1.09%) Ansible
10 8 (0.97%) Kubernetes
10 8 (0.97%) Terraform
11 5 (0.61%) Red Hat Satellite
12 3 (0.36%) AirWatch
12 3 (0.36%) ITRS Geneos
12 3 (0.36%) Nagios
12 3 (0.36%) Puppet
12 3 (0.36%) vMotion
12 3 (0.36%) vRealize
13 2 (0.24%) WMI
Vendors
1 335 (40.75%) Microsoft
2 115 (13.99%) ServiceNow
3 51 (6.20%) VMware
4 35 (4.26%) Apple
5 31 (3.77%) Oracle
6 28 (3.41%) Okta
7 22 (2.68%) SAP
8 21 (2.55%) Dell
9 20 (2.43%) Citrix
10 19 (2.31%) Google
11 18 (2.19%) BeyondTrust
11 18 (2.19%) Cisco
12 14 (1.70%) HP
13 11 (1.34%) Meraki
13 11 (1.34%) Sybase
14 10 (1.22%) Lotus
14 10 (1.22%) Remedy
15 9 (1.09%) McAfee
15 9 (1.09%) Splunk
16 8 (0.97%) Red Hat