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 20 July 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 109 87 62
Rank change year-on-year -22 -25 +6
Contract jobs requiring a Network Engineer 614 413 605
As % of all contract jobs in the UK excluding London 2.27% 2.76% 3.00%
As % of the Job Titles category 2.47% 3.05% 3.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 376 288 373
10th Percentile £306 £325 £275
25th Percentile £406 £396 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year -1.16% - +11.76%
75th Percentile £550 £575 £538
90th Percentile £600 £627 £632
UK median daily rate £475 £475 £475
% change year-on-year - - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 8 12
10th Percentile £31.60 £21.65 £17.71
25th Percentile £69.87 £22.38 £20.18
Median hourly rate £75.75 £38.25 £50.53
Median % change year-on-year +98.04% -24.30% -18.50%
75th Percentile £78.75 £77.94 £75.06
90th Percentile £92.38 £84.99 £75.24
UK median hourly rate £73.50 £53.75 £40.00
% change year-on-year +36.74% +34.38% -37.49%

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 24,876 13,539 18,593
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.13% 90.58% 92.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,156 8,356 11,302
10th Percentile £305 £215 £215
25th Percentile £408 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £495
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -4.04% -1.00%
75th Percentile £600 £575 £598
90th Percentile £688 £650 £675
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,878 1,149 2,153
10th Percentile £15.05 £13.50 £12.88
25th Percentile £20.81 £16.50 £16.37
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.94
Median % change year-on-year +78.93% -38.57% +3.51%
75th Percentile £68.00 £56.44 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £74.53
UK median hourly rate £43.69 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +73.72% -37.13% -6.98%

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 20 July 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 20 July 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 20 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
North of England -12 217 £490 -0.41% 67
North West -3 158 £490 -2.00% 31
South East -24 151 £473 -5.50% 66
Midlands +3 109 £475 +8.57% 40
West Midlands -10 102 £450 +28.57% 19
Scotland +19 73 £413 -2.94% 24
South West -37 50 £550 +3.77% 34
Yorkshire -49 46 £450 -8.54% 26
East of England -4 41 £463 +15.63% 28
Wales -6 22 £425 -2.86% 12
North East -26 13 £600 +84.62% 10
East Midlands -23 4 £475 -5.00% 21
Northern Ireland +2 1 £550 -4.35% 6
Network Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 20 July 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.

1 335 (54.56%) Cisco
2 272 (44.30%) Firewall
3 211 (34.36%) Security Cleared
4 185 (30.13%) LAN
5 181 (29.48%) WAN
6 162 (26.38%) Cisco Certification
7 152 (24.76%) VPN
8 142 (23.13%) Network Security
9 138 (22.48%) BGP
10 137 (22.31%) DNS
10 137 (22.31%) SC Cleared
11 126 (20.52%) F5
12 124 (20.20%) Wireless
13 117 (19.06%) CCNP
14 114 (18.57%) Palo Alto
15 109 (17.75%) Load Balancing
16 95 (15.47%) OSPF
17 81 (13.19%) VMware
18 78 (12.70%) CCNA
19 75 (12.21%) Wi-Fi
20 74 (12.05%) DV Cleared
20 74 (12.05%) Juniper
21 71 (11.56%) VLAN
22 69 (11.24%) TCP/IP
23 64 (10.42%) High Availability
23 64 (10.42%) SD-WAN
24 60 (9.77%) Problem-Solving
24 60 (9.77%) VMware Infrastructure
25 58 (9.45%) Migration
26 55 (8.96%) Azure

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 3 (0.49%) SAS
2 2 (0.33%) Confluence
2 2 (0.33%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.16%) CMS
3 1 (0.16%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 11 (1.79%) MS Visio
2 8 (1.30%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.16%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 55 (8.96%) Azure
2 42 (6.84%) AWS
3 24 (3.91%) GCP
4 19 (3.09%) GitHub
5 7 (1.14%) Google Kubernetes Engine
5 7 (1.14%) IaaS
5 7 (1.14%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 6 (0.98%) Azure Sentinel
6 6 (0.98%) Microsoft 365
7 5 (0.81%) OCI
8 4 (0.65%) AWS Direct Connect
8 4 (0.65%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (0.65%) Cloudflare
8 4 (0.65%) Entra ID
8 4 (0.65%) GitHub Actions
8 4 (0.65%) Google Compute Engine
8 4 (0.65%) Nutanix
9 3 (0.49%) Catchpoint
9 3 (0.49%) Route 53
10 2 (0.33%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 272 (44.30%) Firewall
2 185 (30.13%) LAN
3 181 (29.48%) WAN
4 152 (24.76%) VPN
5 142 (23.13%) Network Security
6 138 (22.48%) BGP
7 137 (22.31%) DNS
8 124 (20.20%) Wireless
9 95 (15.47%) OSPF
10 75 (12.21%) Wi-Fi
11 71 (11.56%) VLAN
12 69 (11.24%) TCP/IP
13 64 (10.42%) SD-WAN
14 51 (8.31%) BIG-IP
15 49 (7.98%) Cisco Nexus
16 48 (7.82%) DHCP
17 46 (7.49%) SSL
18 44 (7.17%) Cisco ISE
18 44 (7.17%) MPLS
19 43 (7.00%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.16%) Oracle Reports
Development Applications
1 19 (3.09%) Fiddler
1 19 (3.09%) Jenkins
1 19 (3.09%) JIRA
2 12 (1.95%) Git
3 7 (1.14%) GitLab
4 5 (0.81%) Sonatype Nexus
5 2 (0.33%) Browser DevTools
General
1 79 (12.87%) Social Skills
2 38 (6.19%) Banking
3 34 (5.54%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (5.37%) Investment Banking
5 32 (5.21%) Telecoms
6 31 (5.05%) Public Sector
7 21 (3.42%) Documentation Skills
7 21 (3.42%) Finance
8 19 (3.09%) Manufacturing
9 12 (1.95%) Legal
10 9 (1.47%) Aerospace
10 9 (1.47%) Police
11 6 (0.98%) Military
11 6 (0.98%) Retail
12 4 (0.65%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.49%) Law
13 3 (0.49%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.16%) Advertising
14 1 (0.16%) Back Office
14 1 (0.16%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 36 (5.86%) 802.1X
2 7 (1.14%) SAML
3 5 (0.81%) LDAP
3 5 (0.81%) NETCONF
4 3 (0.49%) REST
5 2 (0.33%) Java RMI
5 2 (0.33%) RFC 2544
6 1 (0.16%) Django
6 1 (0.16%) Jinja
6 1 (0.16%) ModSecurity
6 1 (0.16%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 98 (15.96%) Data Centre
2 28 (4.56%) PKI
3 20 (3.26%) Management Information System
4 15 (2.44%) Hybrid Cloud
5 11 (1.79%) Cloud Native
5 11 (1.79%) Data Protection Act
5 11 (1.79%) Operational Technology
6 10 (1.63%) Onboarding
6 10 (1.63%) Security Posture
7 9 (1.47%) Clustering
7 9 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (1.30%) Driving Licence
9 6 (0.98%) Fibre Optics
9 6 (0.98%) NHS
10 4 (0.65%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.49%) SCADA
12 2 (0.33%) CCTV
12 2 (0.33%) Enterprise Cloud
12 2 (0.33%) Video Conferencing
12 2 (0.33%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 53 (8.63%) Windows
2 35 (5.70%) Linux
3 7 (1.14%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.81%) Unix
5 1 (0.16%) Mac OS
5 1 (0.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 1 (0.16%) Solaris
5 1 (0.16%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.16%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.16%) Windows 7
5 1 (0.16%) Windows Server 2008
5 1 (0.16%) Windows Server 2012
5 1 (0.16%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 109 (17.75%) Load Balancing
2 64 (10.42%) High Availability
3 60 (9.77%) Problem-Solving
4 58 (9.45%) Migration
5 53 (8.63%) ITIL
6 50 (8.14%) Network Monitoring
7 40 (6.51%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 38 (6.19%) Project Delivery
9 35 (5.70%) Change Management
10 33 (5.37%) Network Design
10 33 (5.37%) Technical Leadership
11 30 (4.89%) Continuous Improvement
12 28 (4.56%) Validation
13 27 (4.40%) CI/CD
13 27 (4.40%) Service Management
13 27 (4.40%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 26 (4.23%) Network Management
15 25 (4.07%) Agile
15 25 (4.07%) ITSM
15 25 (4.07%) Network Architecture
Programming Languages
1 44 (7.17%) Python
2 7 (1.14%) ActionScript
3 6 (0.98%) Bash
3 6 (0.98%) PowerShell
3 6 (0.98%) SQL
4 2 (0.33%) Perl
5 1 (0.16%) C++
5 1 (0.16%) Groovy
5 1 (0.16%) PHP
Qualifications
1 211 (34.36%) Security Cleared
2 162 (26.38%) Cisco Certification
3 137 (22.31%) SC Cleared
4 117 (19.06%) CCNP
5 78 (12.70%) CCNA
6 74 (12.05%) DV Cleared
7 22 (3.58%) CCIE
8 21 (3.42%) Degree
9 13 (2.12%) JNCIS
10 10 (1.63%) JNCIA
10 10 (1.63%) JNCIP
10 10 (1.63%) Network+ Certification
11 5 (0.81%) CCIE Wireless
11 5 (0.81%) CCSE
11 5 (0.81%) CCSM
11 5 (0.81%) CompTIA Security+
11 5 (0.81%) Server+ Certification
12 4 (0.65%) AWS Certification
12 4 (0.65%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (0.65%) CWDP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (2.12%) SLA
2 9 (1.47%) NIST
2 9 (1.47%) QA
3 8 (1.30%) Disclosure Scotland
4 4 (0.65%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.49%) GDPR
6 2 (0.33%) JSP 440
6 2 (0.33%) NCSC
6 2 (0.33%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.16%) Actionable Recommendations
7 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 1 (0.16%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.16%) GRC
7 1 (0.16%) HMG Security Policy Framework
7 1 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 60 (9.77%) VMware Infrastructure
2 33 (5.37%) VMware NSX
3 27 (4.40%) Firmware
4 21 (3.42%) Active Directory
5 13 (2.12%) vSphere
6 11 (1.79%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.65%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.33%) Docker
8 2 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.16%) Citrix Presentation Server
9 1 (0.16%) FreeRADIUS
9 1 (0.16%) KVM
9 1 (0.16%) Snort
9 1 (0.16%) Squid
9 1 (0.16%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 38 (6.19%) Ansible
2 32 (5.21%) Terraform
3 28 (4.56%) FortiGate
4 6 (0.98%) Kubernetes
5 5 (0.81%) Cisco CUCM
5 5 (0.81%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.65%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.49%) Nagios
8 2 (0.33%) Avamar
8 2 (0.33%) CASB
8 2 (0.33%) Grafana
8 2 (0.33%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.33%) WSUS
9 1 (0.16%) Argo
9 1 (0.16%) Iperf
9 1 (0.16%) Packer
9 1 (0.16%) Puppet
9 1 (0.16%) SolarWinds Orion
9 1 (0.16%) Suricata
9 1 (0.16%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 335 (54.56%) Cisco
2 126 (20.52%) F5
3 114 (18.57%) Palo Alto
4 81 (13.19%) VMware
5 74 (12.05%) Juniper
6 54 (8.79%) Fortinet
7 53 (8.63%) CheckPoint
8 41 (6.68%) Aruba
9 33 (5.37%) SolarWinds
10 30 (4.89%) Microsoft
11 23 (3.75%) Blue Coat
11 23 (3.75%) McAfee
12 21 (3.42%) ServiceNow
13 20 (3.26%) Google
13 20 (3.26%) Meraki
14 18 (2.93%) NetApp
15 16 (2.61%) Extreme Networks
15 16 (2.61%) Splunk
16 15 (2.44%) Arista
17 14 (2.28%) Ekahau