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 23 December 2025.

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

6 months to
23 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 117 63 71
Rank change year-on-year -54 +8 +58
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 386 508 612
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.11% 3.44% 3.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.34% 3.72% 3.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 276 276 341
10th Percentile £307 £306 £263
25th Percentile £400 £400 £340
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £473 £440
Median % change year-on-year +0.53% +7.39% -
75th Percentile £538 £538 £525
90th Percentile £588 £625 £600
UK median daily rate £475 £475 £450
% change year-on-year - +5.56% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 11 11 30
10th Percentile £20.75 - £24.93
25th Percentile £32.81 £20.00 £42.50
Median hourly rate £56.44 £20.38 £64.49
Median % change year-on-year +177.01% -68.41% +174.43%
75th Percentile £74.26 £54.38 £67.12
90th Percentile £83.00 £75.00 £75.35
UK median hourly rate £52.58 £41.50 £63.00
% change year-on-year +26.70% -34.13% +55.56%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 16,496 13,648 18,182
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.16% 92.40% 93.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 10,138 8,136 11,878
10th Percentile £213 £213 £213
25th Percentile £370 £363 £376
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £575 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,662 770 1,193
10th Percentile £13.88 £15.36 £14.42
25th Percentile £17.50 £20.25 £18.50
Median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £45.88
Median % change year-on-year -22.62% -29.16% +83.52%
75th Percentile £57.88 £64.40 £65.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £71.25 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £25.33 £33.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -23.23% -26.67% +48.76%

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 23 December 2025.

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 23 December 2025.

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 23 December 2025. 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 -9 134 £500 - 112
North of England -69 110 £515 +11.17% 61
North West -37 93 £515 +5.10% 33
Midlands -35 62 £390 -12.36% 51
West Midlands -8 56 £380 -20.63% 37
Scotland +19 49 £425 +6.25% 18
East of England -21 24 £475 +72.73% 37
South West -34 18 £488 +3.17% 41
Yorkshire -79 15 £435 +6.75% 20
Wales -12 8 £550 +49.15% 9
East Midlands -37 5 £650 +73.33% 13
Northern Ireland -3 3 £475 +6.74% 7
North East -8 3 £625 +28.21% 10
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 23 December 2025, 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.

1 248 (64.25%) Cisco
2 179 (46.37%) Security Cleared
3 178 (46.11%) Firewall
4 123 (31.87%) SC Cleared
5 117 (30.31%) Cisco Certification
6 109 (28.24%) WAN
7 93 (24.09%) CCNP
8 92 (23.83%) Palo Alto
9 84 (21.76%) LAN
10 80 (20.73%) Juniper
11 79 (20.47%) VPN
12 71 (18.39%) BGP
13 65 (16.84%) Network Security
14 62 (16.06%) DNS
15 59 (15.28%) F5
16 58 (15.03%) CCNA
17 56 (14.51%) Load Balancing
18 52 (13.47%) DV Cleared
19 51 (13.21%) TCP/IP
20 50 (12.95%) Cisco ISE
21 47 (12.18%) Network Design
21 47 (12.18%) Wireless
22 46 (11.92%) Python
23 45 (11.66%) OSPF
24 44 (11.40%) CheckPoint
25 42 (10.88%) SolarWinds
25 42 (10.88%) Wi-Fi
26 41 (10.62%) VLAN
27 39 (10.10%) Cisco IOS
27 39 (10.10%) VMware

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 (2.07%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.78%) Confluence
3 2 (0.52%) Apache
3 2 (0.52%) IIS
Applications
1 16 (4.15%) MS Visio
2 6 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (1.04%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 3 (0.78%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 2 (0.52%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 27 (6.99%) AWS
1 27 (6.99%) Azure
2 8 (2.07%) Virtual Private Cloud
3 4 (1.04%) Nutanix
4 3 (0.78%) Amazon CloudWatch
4 3 (0.78%) Amazon EC2
4 3 (0.78%) Amazon ELB
4 3 (0.78%) Amazon S3
4 3 (0.78%) Entra ID
4 3 (0.78%) GCP
5 2 (0.52%) AWS Direct Connect
5 2 (0.52%) AWS IoT
5 2 (0.52%) Google Ads
5 2 (0.52%) Mimecast
6 1 (0.26%) Azure DevOps
6 1 (0.26%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 1 (0.26%) GitHub
6 1 (0.26%) IaaS
6 1 (0.26%) Lucidchart
6 1 (0.26%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 178 (46.11%) Firewall
2 109 (28.24%) WAN
3 84 (21.76%) LAN
4 79 (20.47%) VPN
5 71 (18.39%) BGP
6 65 (16.84%) Network Security
7 62 (16.06%) DNS
8 51 (13.21%) TCP/IP
9 50 (12.95%) Cisco ISE
10 47 (12.18%) Wireless
11 45 (11.66%) OSPF
12 42 (10.88%) Wi-Fi
13 41 (10.62%) VLAN
14 39 (10.10%) Cisco IOS
15 36 (9.33%) MPLS
16 35 (9.07%) SD-WAN
17 34 (8.81%) SSL
18 32 (8.29%) IPsec
19 31 (8.03%) Junos
20 26 (6.74%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.26%) Oracle Database
1 1 (0.26%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 18 (4.66%) Fiddler
2 5 (1.30%) JIRA
3 4 (1.04%) GitLab
3 4 (1.04%) Jenkins
3 4 (1.04%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (0.78%) Git
5 1 (0.26%) ClearCase
5 1 (0.26%) Robot Framework
General
1 78 (20.21%) Social Skills
2 48 (12.44%) Public Sector
3 24 (6.22%) Analytical Skills
4 23 (5.96%) Banking
4 23 (5.96%) Telecoms
5 22 (5.70%) Documentation Skills
6 21 (5.44%) Investment Banking
7 15 (3.89%) Manufacturing
8 11 (2.85%) Finance
9 8 (2.07%) Legal
10 3 (0.78%) Electronics
10 3 (0.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (0.78%) Marketing
10 3 (0.78%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.78%) Pharmaceutical
11 2 (0.52%) Financial Institution
11 2 (0.52%) Military
12 1 (0.26%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.26%) Automotive
12 1 (0.26%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (6.22%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.04%) RFC 2544
3 3 (0.78%) LDAP
3 3 (0.78%) SAML
4 1 (0.26%) CSS
4 1 (0.26%) gRPC
4 1 (0.26%) HTML
4 1 (0.26%) Jinja
4 1 (0.26%) JSON
4 1 (0.26%) Node.js
4 1 (0.26%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 70 (18.13%) Data Centre
2 18 (4.66%) Management Information System
3 13 (3.37%) Onboarding
4 11 (2.85%) Operational Technology
4 11 (2.85%) PKI
5 9 (2.33%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (1.55%) NHS
6 6 (1.55%) Security Posture
6 6 (1.55%) Self-Motivation
7 5 (1.30%) Fibre Optics
7 5 (1.30%) Hybrid Cloud
8 4 (1.04%) Driving Licence
8 4 (1.04%) IoT
8 4 (1.04%) SCADA
9 3 (0.78%) 3D Printing
9 3 (0.78%) Legacy Systems
9 3 (0.78%) Virtual Team
10 2 (0.52%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (0.52%) Life Science
10 2 (0.52%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 35 (9.07%) Windows
2 21 (5.44%) Windows Server
3 14 (3.63%) Linux
4 2 (0.52%) CatOS
4 2 (0.52%) Mac OS
4 2 (0.52%) Unix
5 1 (0.26%) Data ONTAP
5 1 (0.26%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.26%) Windows 7
5 1 (0.26%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 56 (14.51%) Load Balancing
2 47 (12.18%) Network Design
3 35 (9.07%) Problem-Solving
4 30 (7.77%) Migration
4 30 (7.77%) Network Management
5 27 (6.99%) Cybersecurity
6 26 (6.74%) High Availability
6 26 (6.74%) ITSM
6 26 (6.74%) Network Monitoring
7 25 (6.48%) Service Management
8 23 (5.96%) Project Delivery
9 22 (5.70%) Network Architecture
10 18 (4.66%) Collaborative Working
10 18 (4.66%) Incident Response
11 17 (4.40%) Change Management
12 16 (4.15%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 16 (4.15%) Network Segmentation
13 14 (3.63%) Data Loss Prevention
13 14 (3.63%) DevOps
13 14 (3.63%) Malware Detection/Protection
Programming Languages
1 46 (11.92%) Python
2 15 (3.89%) Bash
3 10 (2.59%) Perl
4 8 (2.07%) Lisp
4 8 (2.07%) PowerShell
5 4 (1.04%) SQL
6 2 (0.52%) Java
7 1 (0.26%) C
7 1 (0.26%) C++
7 1 (0.26%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.26%) Kotlin
7 1 (0.26%) Ruby
7 1 (0.26%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.26%) VB
Qualifications
1 179 (46.37%) Security Cleared
2 123 (31.87%) SC Cleared
3 117 (30.31%) Cisco Certification
4 93 (24.09%) CCNP
5 58 (15.03%) CCNA
6 52 (13.47%) DV Cleared
7 16 (4.15%) Degree
8 10 (2.59%) CCIE
9 9 (2.33%) Network+ Certification
10 8 (2.07%) JNCIA
10 8 (2.07%) JNCIS
11 7 (1.81%) CCDP
12 6 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
12 6 (1.55%) JNCIP
13 3 (0.78%) CompTIA Security+
13 3 (0.78%) Computer Science Degree
14 2 (0.52%) A+ Certification
14 2 (0.52%) CCDA
14 2 (0.52%) CCSA
14 2 (0.52%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (1.04%) Cyber Essentials
1 4 (1.04%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 4 (1.04%) SLA
2 3 (0.78%) GDPR
3 2 (0.52%) NIST
3 2 (0.52%) PCI DSS
3 2 (0.52%) QA
4 1 (0.26%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.26%) GRC
4 1 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
4 1 (0.26%) JSP 440
4 1 (0.26%) PMO
System Software
1 32 (8.29%) VMware NSX
2 26 (6.74%) Active Directory
3 25 (6.48%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (4.15%) Firmware
5 11 (2.85%) Docker
6 4 (1.04%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.52%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.26%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.26%) KVM
8 1 (0.26%) ProxySG
8 1 (0.26%) RHEV
8 1 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.26%) vSphere
8 1 (0.26%) Xen
Systems Management
1 34 (8.81%) Ansible
2 31 (8.03%) FortiGate
3 24 (6.22%) vCenter Server
4 12 (3.11%) Terraform
5 4 (1.04%) Kubernetes
5 4 (1.04%) Nagios
6 3 (0.78%) Cisco CUCM
6 3 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.78%) WhatsUp Gold
7 2 (0.52%) Dell DRAC
8 1 (0.26%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.26%) Backup Exec
8 1 (0.26%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.26%) Grafana
8 1 (0.26%) Microsoft Intune
8 1 (0.26%) Norton AntiVirus
8 1 (0.26%) Proxmox
8 1 (0.26%) SCCM
8 1 (0.26%) SCOM
8 1 (0.26%) WSUS
Vendors
1 248 (64.25%) Cisco
2 92 (23.83%) Palo Alto
3 80 (20.73%) Juniper
4 59 (15.28%) F5
5 44 (11.40%) CheckPoint
6 42 (10.88%) SolarWinds
7 39 (10.10%) VMware
8 36 (9.33%) Meraki
9 31 (8.03%) Blue Coat
9 31 (8.03%) Fortinet
10 28 (7.25%) Aruba
11 26 (6.74%) McAfee
12 24 (6.22%) Microsoft
13 15 (3.89%) NetApp
14 14 (3.63%) ServiceNow
15 12 (3.11%) Nokia
16 11 (2.85%) Zscaler
17 9 (2.33%) Remedy
18 8 (2.07%) Ekahau
19 5 (1.30%) Broadcom