Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

System Engineer
UK > England

The median System Engineer daily rate in England is £480, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 26 February 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 334 372 276
Rank change year-on-year +38 -96 +134
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 253 110 299
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.72% 0.43% 0.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.78% 0.46% 0.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 61 55 127
10th Percentile £300 £263 £320
25th Percentile £369 £375 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.05% -9.52% +5.00%
75th Percentile £540 £638 £581
90th Percentile £575 £750 £649
UK median daily rate £475 £450 £525
% change year-on-year +5.56% -14.29% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 106 18 102
10th Percentile £42.00 £24.30 £39.55
25th Percentile £44.58 £37.40 £50.31
Median hourly rate £58.74 £55.13 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +6.55% -4.13% -5.27%
75th Percentile £71.99 £74.69 £71.10
90th Percentile £78.75 £80.75 £75.14
UK median hourly rate £58.74 £55.00 £57.50
% change year-on-year +6.79% -4.35% -6.50%

All Contract IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. 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 England with a recognized job title 32,499 23,947 34,620
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.90% 92.94% 92.89%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,614 15,190 23,219
10th Percentile £306 £300 £270
25th Percentile £411 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £624 £638 £640
90th Percentile £725 £750 £748
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,088 723 2,142
10th Percentile £15.06 £16.25 £13.19
25th Percentile £18.89 £22.00 £16.30
Median hourly rate £34.38 £36.50 £34.38
Median % change year-on-year -5.80% +6.18% -14.06%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £74.68 £75.20 £71.70
UK median hourly rate £33.17 £35.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year -5.23% - -10.26%

Systems Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Systems Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Systems Engineer job vacancy trend in England

Systems Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Systems Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Systems Engineer job vacancies in England

Systems Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Systems Engineer in England over the 6 months to 26 February 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Systems Engineer in England

Systems Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Systems Engineer job vacancies in England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Systems Engineer job vacancies in England

Systems Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Systems Engineer in England over the 6 months to 26 February 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Systems Engineer in England

Systems Engineer
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Systems Engineer within the England region over the 6 months to 26 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
East of England +27 58 £452 +3.31% 47
South East -2 49 £490 -30.00% 132
South West +11 44 £500 -17.70% 68
Midlands -22 41 £300 +9.09% 57
North of England -53 36 £450 +2.86% 62
London -34 25 £450 -13.04% 25
East Midlands -8 24 £497 +562.00% 13
North West -28 23 £216 -52.11% 39
West Midlands -40 17 £300 +9.09% 44
Yorkshire -58 8 £510 - 14
North East -10 5 £450 +38.46% 9
Systems Engineer
UK

Systems Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 26 February 2026, Systems 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 England region featuring Systems Engineer in the job title.

1 83 (32.81%) Security Cleared
2 47 (18.58%) SC Cleared
3 30 (11.86%) Degree
3 30 (11.86%) Systems Engineering
4 24 (9.49%) Validation
5 22 (8.70%) Problem-Solving
6 19 (7.51%) Decision-Making
6 19 (7.51%) Siemens
7 18 (7.11%) DV Cleared
8 17 (6.72%) TCP/IP
8 17 (6.72%) Windows
9 16 (6.32%) Ethernet
9 16 (6.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 16 (6.32%) Microsoft Office
9 16 (6.32%) Risk Assessment
9 16 (6.32%) ServiceNow
10 15 (5.93%) Creative Thinking
10 15 (5.93%) Customer Service
10 15 (5.93%) Fault Analysis
10 15 (5.93%) Mechatronics
10 15 (5.93%) Rational DOORS
11 14 (5.53%) Fortinet
11 14 (5.53%) Microsoft
11 14 (5.53%) VMware
12 13 (5.14%) Linux
12 13 (5.14%) NetApp
13 12 (4.74%) Verification and Validation
14 11 (4.35%) Agile
14 11 (4.35%) VMware Infrastructure
15 10 (3.95%) Active Directory

Systems Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 5 (1.98%) Confluence
2 4 (1.58%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.79%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.40%) Apache
4 1 (0.40%) IIS
4 1 (0.40%) Tomcat
Applications
1 16 (6.32%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.58%) Simulink
3 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.40%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.40%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.79%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.40%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.40%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.40%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.40%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 9 (3.56%) Azure
2 6 (2.37%) AWS
3 5 (1.98%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (1.58%) Entra ID
4 4 (1.58%) Google Workspace
5 3 (1.19%) GCP
6 2 (0.79%) Cloud Computing
6 2 (0.79%) Cohesity
6 2 (0.79%) GitHub
6 2 (0.79%) OpenShift
6 2 (0.79%) PaaS
7 1 (0.40%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.40%) GitHub Actions
7 1 (0.40%) IaaS
7 1 (0.40%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.40%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.40%) PowerApps
7 1 (0.40%) SaaS
7 1 (0.40%) Slack
7 1 (0.40%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 17 (6.72%) TCP/IP
2 16 (6.32%) Ethernet
3 6 (2.37%) Firewall
4 4 (1.58%) SAN
5 3 (1.19%) SNMP
6 2 (0.79%) LAN
6 2 (0.79%) NAS
6 2 (0.79%) SpaceWire
6 2 (0.79%) WAN
6 2 (0.79%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (0.40%) Cisco IOS
7 1 (0.40%) Link 16
7 1 (0.40%) Modbus
7 1 (0.40%) Network Security
7 1 (0.40%) RS-232
7 1 (0.40%) RS-485
7 1 (0.40%) Tactical Data Link
7 1 (0.40%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.40%) VSAN
7 1 (0.40%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.40%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.40%) Pentaho
1 1 (0.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 15 (5.93%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (2.37%) JIRA
3 1 (0.40%) ClearCase
3 1 (0.40%) Git
3 1 (0.40%) Postman
3 1 (0.40%) Selenium
General
1 47 (18.58%) Aerospace
2 37 (14.62%) Social Skills
3 27 (10.67%) Military
4 17 (6.72%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 17 (6.72%) Manufacturing
4 17 (6.72%) Presentation Skills
5 10 (3.95%) Electronics
6 6 (2.37%) Public Sector
7 4 (1.58%) Avionics
8 3 (1.19%) Analytical Skills
8 3 (1.19%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (1.19%) Finance
9 2 (0.79%) Banking
9 2 (0.79%) Legal
9 2 (0.79%) Retail
10 1 (0.40%) Digital Health
10 1 (0.40%) Local Government
10 1 (0.40%) Marketing
10 1 (0.40%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.40%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.19%) Software Packaging
2 2 (0.79%) ISPF
2 2 (0.79%) Middleware
2 2 (0.79%) REST
3 1 (0.40%) GraphQL
3 1 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.40%) RabbitMQ
3 1 (0.40%) SAP Fiori
3 1 (0.40%) XML
3 1 (0.40%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 15 (5.93%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (5.93%) Robotics
2 7 (2.77%) Onboarding
2 7 (2.77%) SCADA
3 6 (2.37%) Embedded Systems
3 6 (2.37%) Operational Technology
4 5 (1.98%) Legacy Systems
5 4 (1.58%) Data Centre
6 3 (1.19%) Hybrid Cloud
7 2 (0.79%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (0.79%) ASIC
7 2 (0.79%) CAN bus
7 2 (0.79%) Clustering
7 2 (0.79%) Enterprise Storage
7 2 (0.79%) FPGA
7 2 (0.79%) IoT
7 2 (0.79%) Mainframe
7 2 (0.79%) Management Information System
7 2 (0.79%) Replication
8 1 (0.40%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 17 (6.72%) Windows
2 13 (5.14%) Linux
3 7 (2.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (1.98%) Mac OS
5 2 (0.79%) Android
5 2 (0.79%) zOS
6 1 (0.40%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.40%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
6 1 (0.40%) VMS
6 1 (0.40%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (11.86%) Systems Engineering
2 24 (9.49%) Validation
3 22 (8.70%) Problem-Solving
4 19 (7.51%) Decision-Making
5 16 (6.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 16 (6.32%) Risk Assessment
6 15 (5.93%) Creative Thinking
6 15 (5.93%) Customer Service
6 15 (5.93%) Fault Analysis
6 15 (5.93%) Mechatronics
7 12 (4.74%) Verification and Validation
8 11 (4.35%) Agile
9 10 (3.95%) Migration
10 9 (3.56%) Asset Management
10 9 (3.56%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
11 8 (3.16%) Cybersecurity
12 7 (2.77%) Continuous Improvement
13 6 (2.37%) Requirements Management
13 6 (2.37%) Signal Processing
13 6 (2.37%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (3.95%) PowerShell
2 5 (1.98%) MATLAB
3 4 (1.58%) Python
4 3 (1.19%) C
5 2 (0.79%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.79%) JCL
5 2 (0.79%) REXX
6 1 (0.40%) Bash
6 1 (0.40%) C#
6 1 (0.40%) C++
6 1 (0.40%) Embedded C
6 1 (0.40%) Embedded C++
6 1 (0.40%) Go
6 1 (0.40%) Java
6 1 (0.40%) Korn
6 1 (0.40%) Shell Script
6 1 (0.40%) SQL
Qualifications
1 83 (32.81%) Security Cleared
2 47 (18.58%) SC Cleared
3 30 (11.86%) Degree
4 18 (7.11%) DV Cleared
5 10 (3.95%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.79%) CCNA
6 2 (0.79%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.40%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.40%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.40%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 2 (0.79%) Data Quality
1 2 (0.79%) IEC 61131
1 2 (0.79%) MIL-STD-1553
2 1 (0.40%) Def Stans
2 1 (0.40%) DO-254
2 1 (0.40%) IEC 61508
2 1 (0.40%) ISO 26262
2 1 (0.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 1 (0.40%) NIST
System Software
1 11 (4.35%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (3.95%) Active Directory
3 3 (1.19%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.19%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.79%) Embedded Firmware
4 2 (0.79%) Firmware
4 2 (0.79%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.79%) KVM
4 2 (0.79%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 2 (0.79%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.79%) vSphere
5 1 (0.40%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 1 (0.40%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 7 (2.77%) Ansible
1 7 (2.77%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (1.98%) Terraform
3 4 (1.58%) SCCM
4 2 (0.79%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.40%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.40%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.40%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.40%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 19 (7.51%) Siemens
2 16 (6.32%) ServiceNow
3 14 (5.53%) Fortinet
3 14 (5.53%) Microsoft
3 14 (5.53%) VMware
4 13 (5.14%) NetApp
5 7 (2.77%) Cisco
5 7 (2.77%) Oracle
6 5 (1.98%) EMC
6 5 (1.98%) Google
6 5 (1.98%) IBM
6 5 (1.98%) Red Hat
7 4 (1.58%) Rockwell
7 4 (1.58%) Veeam
8 3 (1.19%) Citrix
8 3 (1.19%) SAP
9 2 (0.79%) Apple
9 2 (0.79%) Broadcom
9 2 (0.79%) Brocade
9 2 (0.79%) Wonderware