Network Engineer Contract Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
UK > UK excluding London

The median Network Engineer daily rate in the UK excluding London is £470, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 25 February 2026.

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

6 months to
25 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 119 73 60
Rank change year-on-year -46 -13 +53
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 441 434 663
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.14% 3.27% 3.20%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.35% 3.54% 3.44%
Number of daily rates quoted 293 250 382
10th Percentile £300 £300 £295
25th Percentile £388 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £465 £450
Median % change year-on-year +1.08% +3.33% -
75th Percentile £525 £550 £519
90th Percentile £575 £613 £635
UK median daily rate £475 £477 £460
% change year-on-year -0.47% +3.75% -0.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 9 5 25
10th Percentile £20.40 £19.10 £21.85
25th Percentile £44.86 - £42.50
Median hourly rate £56.44 £20.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +182.20% -69.69% +6.42%
75th Percentile £72.54 - £73.75
90th Percentile £74.26 - -
UK median hourly rate £52.58 £20.00 £56.25
% change year-on-year +162.90% -64.44% -10.17%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. 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 excluding London with a recognized job title 18,782 12,271 19,292
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.28% 92.40% 93.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 11,276 7,524 12,071
10th Percentile £231 £210 £213
25th Percentile £381 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £475 £488
Median % change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
75th Percentile £580 £588 £594
90th Percentile £675 £675 £684
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,009 638 1,939
10th Percentile £14.25 £15.42 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.00 £15.95
Median hourly rate £30.11 £32.50 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -7.37% -7.14% -2.78%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £73.46 £75.00 £71.90
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -7.14% - -10.88%

Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Network Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Network Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 25 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Engineer in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the UK excluding London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in the UK excluding London

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Network Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 25 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Engineer in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Network Engineer within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 25 February 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
South East +9 153 £485 -3.00% 82
North of England -67 142 £481 - 51
North West -27 120 £481 -1.79% 29
Midlands -13 78 £419 -7.71% 40
West Midlands -1 72 £390 -11.61% 22
Scotland +13 42 £418 +0.60% 27
East of England -19 27 £381 +26.03% 23
South West -61 22 £500 +5.82% 40
Yorkshire -72 22 £470 +17.50% 15
Wales -6 15 £550 +62.96% 14
East Midlands -39 4 £500 -2.44% 18
Northern Ireland - 2 £430 - 5
North East -17 1 - - 7
South Coast - 1 £575 -
Network Engineer
UK

Network Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 25 February 2026, Network 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 across the UK excluding London region featuring Network Engineer in the job title.

1 275 (62.36%) Cisco
2 215 (48.75%) Firewall
3 193 (43.76%) Security Cleared
4 137 (31.07%) SC Cleared
5 129 (29.25%) WAN
6 128 (29.02%) Cisco Certification
7 118 (26.76%) LAN
8 108 (24.49%) Palo Alto
9 107 (24.26%) CCNP
10 101 (22.90%) BGP
11 98 (22.22%) DNS
11 98 (22.22%) VPN
12 85 (19.27%) F5
13 84 (19.05%) Network Security
14 80 (18.14%) Load Balancing
15 78 (17.69%) Juniper
16 69 (15.65%) OSPF
17 66 (14.97%) TCP/IP
18 62 (14.06%) CCNA
19 60 (13.61%) VMware
20 57 (12.93%) DV Cleared
21 54 (12.24%) Cisco ISE
22 53 (12.02%) CheckPoint
22 53 (12.02%) VLAN
23 51 (11.56%) Wireless
24 50 (11.34%) SolarWinds
25 49 (11.11%) Python
26 47 (10.66%) SSL
27 45 (10.20%) Ansible
27 45 (10.20%) Aruba

Network Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 8 (1.81%) SharePoint
2 6 (1.36%) Confluence
3 5 (1.13%) Apache
3 5 (1.13%) IIS
4 1 (0.23%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 18 (4.08%) MS Visio
2 6 (1.36%) Microsoft Office
3 3 (0.68%) Microsoft Excel
4 2 (0.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (0.45%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 29 (6.58%) AWS
2 27 (6.12%) Azure
3 9 (2.04%) GCP
4 7 (1.59%) Entra ID
4 7 (1.59%) Virtual Private Cloud
5 5 (1.13%) Nutanix
6 4 (0.91%) SaaS
7 3 (0.68%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 3 (0.68%) Amazon EC2
7 3 (0.68%) Amazon ELB
7 3 (0.68%) Amazon S3
7 3 (0.68%) Catchpoint
7 3 (0.68%) GitHub
7 3 (0.68%) Google Ads
7 3 (0.68%) Google Kubernetes Engine
7 3 (0.68%) IaaS
7 3 (0.68%) Mimecast
7 3 (0.68%) PaaS
8 2 (0.45%) AWS IoT
8 2 (0.45%) Google Compute Engine
Communications & Networking
1 215 (48.75%) Firewall
2 129 (29.25%) WAN
3 118 (26.76%) LAN
4 101 (22.90%) BGP
5 98 (22.22%) DNS
5 98 (22.22%) VPN
6 84 (19.05%) Network Security
7 69 (15.65%) OSPF
8 66 (14.97%) TCP/IP
9 54 (12.24%) Cisco ISE
10 53 (12.02%) VLAN
11 51 (11.56%) Wireless
12 47 (10.66%) SSL
13 44 (9.98%) BIG-IP
14 41 (9.30%) IPsec
14 41 (9.30%) Wi-Fi
15 39 (8.84%) Wireshark
16 38 (8.62%) MPLS
17 36 (8.16%) HTTP
18 35 (7.94%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.23%) Oracle Database
1 1 (0.23%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 30 (6.80%) Fiddler
2 11 (2.49%) JIRA
3 9 (2.04%) Sonatype Nexus
4 7 (1.59%) Jenkins
5 5 (1.13%) Git
6 3 (0.68%) GitLab
7 1 (0.23%) ClearCase
General
1 71 (16.10%) Social Skills
2 38 (8.62%) Public Sector
3 37 (8.39%) Banking
4 35 (7.94%) Investment Banking
5 33 (7.48%) Documentation Skills
6 26 (5.90%) Telecoms
7 17 (3.85%) Manufacturing
8 12 (2.72%) Analytical Skills
9 11 (2.49%) Finance
10 10 (2.27%) Legal
11 4 (0.91%) Military
12 3 (0.68%) Electronics
12 3 (0.68%) Law
12 3 (0.68%) Marketing
13 2 (0.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 2 (0.45%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.45%) Pharmaceutical
13 2 (0.45%) Police
14 1 (0.23%) Financial Institution
14 1 (0.23%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 30 (6.80%) 802.1X
2 7 (1.59%) LDAP
3 5 (1.13%) RFC 2544
3 5 (1.13%) SAML
4 1 (0.23%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 109 (24.72%) Data Centre
2 22 (4.99%) Management Information System
3 14 (3.17%) PKI
4 13 (2.95%) Operational Technology
5 12 (2.72%) NHS
6 11 (2.49%) Onboarding
7 10 (2.27%) Data Protection Act
7 10 (2.27%) Security Posture
7 10 (2.27%) Self-Motivation
8 7 (1.59%) Clustering
9 5 (1.13%) Fibre Optics
9 5 (1.13%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (0.91%) IoT
11 3 (0.68%) 3D Printing
11 3 (0.68%) Driving Licence
11 3 (0.68%) Enterprise Software
11 3 (0.68%) Linux Command Line
11 3 (0.68%) Public Cloud
12 2 (0.45%) Product Ownership
12 2 (0.45%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 45 (10.20%) Windows
2 25 (5.67%) Windows Server
3 19 (4.31%) Linux
4 3 (0.68%) CatOS
5 1 (0.23%) Data ONTAP
5 1 (0.23%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.23%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (18.14%) Load Balancing
2 39 (8.84%) Problem-Solving
3 36 (8.16%) Network Design
4 35 (7.94%) High Availability
4 35 (7.94%) Network Monitoring
5 31 (7.03%) Migration
6 27 (6.12%) Data Loss Prevention
6 27 (6.12%) ITIL
6 27 (6.12%) ITSM
6 27 (6.12%) Malware Detection/Protection
6 27 (6.12%) Project Delivery
6 27 (6.12%) Service Management
7 26 (5.90%) Collaborative Working
8 25 (5.67%) Network Architecture
9 22 (4.99%) Network Management
10 21 (4.76%) Cybersecurity
11 18 (4.08%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 18 (4.08%) Network Segmentation
12 17 (3.85%) Change Management
13 15 (3.40%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 49 (11.11%) Python
2 12 (2.72%) Bash
3 8 (1.81%) Lisp
4 7 (1.59%) Perl
4 7 (1.59%) PowerShell
5 5 (1.13%) SQL
6 1 (0.23%) C
6 1 (0.23%) C++
6 1 (0.23%) Java
6 1 (0.23%) PHP
6 1 (0.23%) Ruby
6 1 (0.23%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 193 (43.76%) Security Cleared
2 137 (31.07%) SC Cleared
3 128 (29.02%) Cisco Certification
4 107 (24.26%) CCNP
5 62 (14.06%) CCNA
6 57 (12.93%) DV Cleared
7 19 (4.31%) Degree
8 17 (3.85%) JNCIS
9 14 (3.17%) JNCIA
10 13 (2.95%) CCIE
11 11 (2.49%) JNCIP
12 10 (2.27%) Network+ Certification
13 6 (1.36%) Computer Science Degree
14 2 (0.45%) BPSS Clearance
14 2 (0.45%) CCDP
14 2 (0.45%) CompTIA Security+
14 2 (0.45%) ISTQB
14 2 (0.45%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
14 2 (0.45%) MCSE
14 2 (0.45%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (1.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 5 (1.13%) NIST
2 4 (0.91%) PCI DSS
2 4 (0.91%) SLA
3 3 (0.68%) QA
4 2 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.45%) GDPR
4 2 (0.45%) NCSC
4 2 (0.45%) PMO
5 1 (0.23%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.23%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.23%) GRC
5 1 (0.23%) HMG Security Policy Framework
5 1 (0.23%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 1 (0.23%) JSP 440
System Software
1 42 (9.52%) VMware NSX
2 37 (8.39%) VMware Infrastructure
3 30 (6.80%) Active Directory
4 23 (5.22%) Firmware
5 8 (1.81%) Docker
6 5 (1.13%) Hyper-V
7 4 (0.91%) vSphere
8 2 (0.45%) KVM
8 2 (0.45%) vCloud
8 2 (0.45%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.23%) Citrix Presentation Server
9 1 (0.23%) ProxySG
9 1 (0.23%) RHEV
9 1 (0.23%) Xen
Systems Management
1 45 (10.20%) Ansible
2 28 (6.35%) FortiGate
3 19 (4.31%) vCenter Server
4 17 (3.85%) Terraform
5 6 (1.36%) Nagios
6 5 (1.13%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (0.91%) Cisco Prime
8 3 (0.68%) Microsoft Intune
9 2 (0.45%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.45%) Kubernetes
9 2 (0.45%) WSUS
10 1 (0.23%) Amdocs OSS
10 1 (0.23%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.23%) CASB
10 1 (0.23%) Nessus
10 1 (0.23%) Norton AntiVirus
10 1 (0.23%) Proxmox
10 1 (0.23%) SCOM
10 1 (0.23%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 275 (62.36%) Cisco
2 108 (24.49%) Palo Alto
3 85 (19.27%) F5
4 78 (17.69%) Juniper
5 60 (13.61%) VMware
6 53 (12.02%) CheckPoint
7 50 (11.34%) SolarWinds
8 45 (10.20%) Aruba
9 41 (9.30%) Blue Coat
10 37 (8.39%) McAfee
11 32 (7.26%) Meraki
12 28 (6.35%) Fortinet
13 23 (5.22%) Microsoft
14 21 (4.76%) NetApp
15 15 (3.40%) ServiceNow
16 13 (2.95%) Ekahau
17 10 (2.27%) Arista
17 10 (2.27%) Remedy
18 9 (2.04%) Extreme Networks
19 8 (1.81%) Splunk