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 £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 16 January 2026.

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

6 months to
16 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 113 63 65
Rank change year-on-year -50 +2 +57
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 396 475 619
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.15% 3.41% 3.19%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.37% 3.69% 3.42%
Number of daily rates quoted 274 262 339
10th Percentile £300 £285 £280
25th Percentile £400 £391 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £440
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% +2.27% -2.22%
75th Percentile £525 £538 £519
90th Percentile £575 £600 £626
UK median daily rate £475 £475 £450
% change year-on-year - +5.56% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 7 34
10th Percentile £20.23 £19.40 £24.65
25th Percentile £38.83 - £42.50
Median hourly rate £56.44 £20.00 £65.98
Median % change year-on-year +182.20% -69.69% +148.23%
75th Percentile £69.00 £20.28 £71.42
90th Percentile £74.26 £42.34 £74.80
UK median hourly rate £48.72 £20.19 £64.49
% change year-on-year +141.34% -68.70% +27.07%

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 16,701 12,881 18,118
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.62% 92.39% 93.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,257 7,649 11,604
10th Percentile £213 £213 £213
25th Percentile £375 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,683 697 1,392
10th Percentile £13.96 £15.22 £14.00
25th Percentile £17.69 £20.30 £17.75
Median hourly rate £25.15 £31.52 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.21% -29.96% +53.85%
75th Percentile £60.00 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £73.64 £76.06
UK median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -18.46% -23.53% +21.43%

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 16 January 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 16 January 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 16 January 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 -3 141 £500 - 73
North of England -70 119 £481 +6.94% 64
North West -32 103 £500 +2.04% 36
Midlands -32 63 £380 -10.59% 27
West Midlands -9 59 £380 -12.64% 22
Scotland +14 47 £425 +6.25% 17
East of England -15 24 £400 +45.45% 28
South West -46 18 £475 +1.60% 22
Yorkshire -81 15 £435 +6.75% 20
Wales -10 9 £550 +57.14% 10
Northern Ireland 0 3 £475 +6.74% 3
East Midlands -42 3 £650 +73.33% 5
North East -13 2 £600 +23.08% 11
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 16 January 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.

1 261 (65.91%) Cisco
2 191 (48.23%) Firewall
3 188 (47.47%) Security Cleared
4 135 (34.09%) SC Cleared
5 120 (30.30%) WAN
6 114 (28.79%) Cisco Certification
7 107 (27.02%) Palo Alto
8 94 (23.74%) CCNP
9 93 (23.48%) LAN
10 80 (20.20%) BGP
10 80 (20.20%) VPN
11 74 (18.69%) Juniper
12 71 (17.93%) Network Security
13 69 (17.42%) DNS
14 68 (17.17%) F5
15 63 (15.91%) Load Balancing
16 59 (14.90%) CCNA
17 56 (14.14%) TCP/IP
18 52 (13.13%) DV Cleared
19 50 (12.63%) OSPF
19 50 (12.63%) Wireless
20 49 (12.37%) Cisco ISE
20 49 (12.37%) SolarWinds
21 48 (12.12%) CheckPoint
21 48 (12.12%) VLAN
22 47 (11.87%) VMware
23 46 (11.62%) Python
24 42 (10.61%) Network Design
24 42 (10.61%) SSL
25 41 (10.35%) Windows

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 (2.02%) SharePoint
2 6 (1.52%) Confluence
3 5 (1.26%) Apache
3 5 (1.26%) IIS
Applications
1 18 (4.55%) MS Visio
2 6 (1.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.01%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (0.51%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 27 (6.82%) AWS
1 27 (6.82%) Azure
2 7 (1.77%) Virtual Private Cloud
3 6 (1.52%) Entra ID
4 5 (1.26%) Nutanix
5 3 (0.76%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 3 (0.76%) Amazon EC2
5 3 (0.76%) Amazon ELB
5 3 (0.76%) Amazon S3
5 3 (0.76%) GCP
5 3 (0.76%) IaaS
5 3 (0.76%) Mimecast
5 3 (0.76%) PaaS
5 3 (0.76%) SaaS
6 2 (0.51%) AWS IoT
6 2 (0.51%) Google Ads
7 1 (0.25%) AWS Direct Connect
7 1 (0.25%) Azure DevOps
7 1 (0.25%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 1 (0.25%) Azure Sentinel
Communications & Networking
1 191 (48.23%) Firewall
2 120 (30.30%) WAN
3 93 (23.48%) LAN
4 80 (20.20%) BGP
4 80 (20.20%) VPN
5 71 (17.93%) Network Security
6 69 (17.42%) DNS
7 56 (14.14%) TCP/IP
8 50 (12.63%) OSPF
8 50 (12.63%) Wireless
9 49 (12.37%) Cisco ISE
10 48 (12.12%) VLAN
11 42 (10.61%) SSL
12 39 (9.85%) IPsec
12 39 (9.85%) SD-WAN
12 39 (9.85%) Wi-Fi
13 37 (9.34%) Cisco IOS
14 34 (8.59%) MPLS
14 34 (8.59%) Wireshark
15 31 (7.83%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.25%) Oracle Database
1 1 (0.25%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 24 (6.06%) Fiddler
2 7 (1.77%) JIRA
3 4 (1.01%) GitLab
3 4 (1.01%) Jenkins
3 4 (1.01%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (0.76%) Git
5 1 (0.25%) ClearCase
5 1 (0.25%) Robot Framework
General
1 70 (17.68%) Social Skills
2 42 (10.61%) Public Sector
3 29 (7.32%) Banking
4 27 (6.82%) Documentation Skills
4 27 (6.82%) Investment Banking
5 21 (5.30%) Telecoms
6 20 (5.05%) Analytical Skills
7 18 (4.55%) Manufacturing
8 9 (2.27%) Finance
8 9 (2.27%) Legal
9 3 (0.76%) Electronics
9 3 (0.76%) Marketing
10 2 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.51%) Law
10 2 (0.51%) Military
10 2 (0.51%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.25%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.25%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.25%) Police
11 1 (0.25%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (6.31%) 802.1X
2 5 (1.26%) LDAP
2 5 (1.26%) SAML
3 4 (1.01%) RFC 2544
4 1 (0.25%) gRPC
4 1 (0.25%) Jinja
4 1 (0.25%) JSON
4 1 (0.25%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 91 (22.98%) Data Centre
2 19 (4.80%) Management Information System
3 13 (3.28%) Onboarding
4 11 (2.78%) Operational Technology
5 10 (2.53%) Self-Motivation
6 9 (2.27%) Data Protection Act
6 9 (2.27%) PKI
7 8 (2.02%) NHS
7 8 (2.02%) Security Posture
8 5 (1.26%) Fibre Optics
9 4 (1.01%) Driving Licence
9 4 (1.01%) IoT
10 3 (0.76%) 3D Printing
10 3 (0.76%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (0.76%) Hybrid Cloud
10 3 (0.76%) Legacy Systems
10 3 (0.76%) Virtual Team
11 2 (0.51%) Life Science
11 2 (0.51%) Linux Command Line
11 2 (0.51%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 41 (10.35%) Windows
2 25 (6.31%) Windows Server
3 17 (4.29%) Linux
4 3 (0.76%) CatOS
5 1 (0.25%) Data ONTAP
5 1 (0.25%) Unix
5 1 (0.25%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.25%) Windows 7
5 1 (0.25%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 63 (15.91%) Load Balancing
2 42 (10.61%) Network Design
3 33 (8.33%) Problem-Solving
4 31 (7.83%) Network Monitoring
5 29 (7.32%) Network Management
6 28 (7.07%) Cybersecurity
6 28 (7.07%) High Availability
6 28 (7.07%) Migration
6 28 (7.07%) Project Delivery
7 25 (6.31%) ITSM
8 24 (6.06%) Network Architecture
9 23 (5.81%) Service Management
10 20 (5.05%) Collaborative Working
10 20 (5.05%) Data Loss Prevention
10 20 (5.05%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 20 (5.05%) Malware Detection/Protection
11 18 (4.55%) Change Management
11 18 (4.55%) Network Segmentation
12 17 (4.29%) Knowledge Transfer
13 16 (4.04%) Incident Response
Programming Languages
1 46 (11.62%) Python
2 15 (3.79%) Bash
3 10 (2.53%) Perl
4 8 (2.02%) Lisp
4 8 (2.02%) PowerShell
5 4 (1.01%) SQL
6 1 (0.25%) C
6 1 (0.25%) C++
6 1 (0.25%) Java
6 1 (0.25%) Ruby
6 1 (0.25%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 188 (47.47%) Security Cleared
2 135 (34.09%) SC Cleared
3 114 (28.79%) Cisco Certification
4 94 (23.74%) CCNP
5 59 (14.90%) CCNA
6 52 (13.13%) DV Cleared
7 12 (3.03%) Degree
8 11 (2.78%) CCIE
9 9 (2.27%) JNCIS
10 8 (2.02%) Network+ Certification
11 7 (1.77%) JNCIA
11 7 (1.77%) JNCIP
12 6 (1.52%) CCDP
13 5 (1.26%) BPSS Clearance
14 3 (0.76%) CompTIA Security+
15 2 (0.51%) Computer Science Degree
15 2 (0.51%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
16 1 (0.25%) CCIE Collaboration
16 1 (0.25%) CCIE Data Center
16 1 (0.25%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 5 (1.26%) SLA
2 4 (1.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (0.76%) QA
4 2 (0.51%) NIST
4 2 (0.51%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.51%) PMO
5 1 (0.25%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.25%) Disclosure Scotland
5 1 (0.25%) GDPR
5 1 (0.25%) GRC
5 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 1 (0.25%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
5 1 (0.25%) JSP 440
System Software
1 39 (9.85%) VMware NSX
2 30 (7.58%) Active Directory
2 30 (7.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 19 (4.80%) Firmware
4 11 (2.78%) Docker
5 5 (1.26%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.51%) vCloud
7 1 (0.25%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.25%) KVM
7 1 (0.25%) ProxySG
7 1 (0.25%) RHEV
7 1 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.25%) vSphere
7 1 (0.25%) Xen
Systems Management
1 37 (9.34%) Ansible
2 24 (6.06%) FortiGate
3 22 (5.56%) vCenter Server
4 10 (2.53%) Terraform
5 5 (1.26%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.01%) Kubernetes
6 4 (1.01%) Nagios
7 3 (0.76%) Cisco Prime
7 3 (0.76%) WhatsUp Gold
8 2 (0.51%) Dell DRAC
8 2 (0.51%) Microsoft Intune
9 1 (0.25%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.25%) Backup Exec
9 1 (0.25%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.25%) Norton AntiVirus
9 1 (0.25%) Proxmox
9 1 (0.25%) SCCM
9 1 (0.25%) SCOM
9 1 (0.25%) WSUS
Vendors
1 261 (65.91%) Cisco
2 107 (27.02%) Palo Alto
3 74 (18.69%) Juniper
4 68 (17.17%) F5
5 49 (12.37%) SolarWinds
6 48 (12.12%) CheckPoint
7 47 (11.87%) VMware
8 40 (10.10%) Aruba
9 39 (9.85%) Meraki
10 37 (9.34%) Blue Coat
11 32 (8.08%) McAfee
12 28 (7.07%) Fortinet
13 25 (6.31%) Microsoft
14 18 (4.55%) NetApp
15 12 (3.03%) ServiceNow
16 10 (2.53%) Ekahau
16 10 (2.53%) Nokia
17 9 (2.27%) Remedy
18 7 (1.77%) Zscaler
19 5 (1.26%) Broadcom