Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

System Engineer
UK > England

The median System Engineer daily rate in England is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 4 August 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 237 314 239
Rank change year-on-year +77 -75 +125
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 505 192 335
As % of all contract jobs in England 1.12% 0.70% 1.00%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.21% 0.76% 1.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 98 59 73
10th Percentile £225 £363 £315
25th Percentile £382 £410 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £513 £450
Median % change year-on-year -7.32% +13.89% -18.18%
75th Percentile £584 £608 £563
90th Percentile £721 £650 £634
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -18.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 252 60 131
10th Percentile £48.75 £44.99 £39.96
25th Percentile £56.74 £51.95 £45.30
Median hourly rate £66.45 £56.44 £62.66
Median % change year-on-year +17.73% -9.92% +9.29%
75th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £71.38
90th Percentile £80.95 £77.63 £76.86
UK median hourly rate £67.00 £56.44 £60.00
% change year-on-year +18.70% -5.93% -2.44%

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 41,773 25,317 31,124
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.56% 91.70% 92.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,362 16,429 20,502
10th Percentile £329 £286 £300
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £627 £625 £638
90th Percentile £738 £738 £750
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,095 1,308 1,828
10th Percentile £15.93 £13.54 £14.16
25th Percentile £22.00 £17.50 £21.25
Median hourly rate £45.00 £25.32 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year +77.73% -43.73% +5.88%
75th Percentile £68.00 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%

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 4 August 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 4 August 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 4 August 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 +33 142 £500 -9.09% 176
South West +28 116 £498 -9.75% 96
London -23 74 £475 -9.52% 134
East of England +3 65 £250 -54.55% 54
Midlands -13 60 £423 +20.71% 66
North of England -36 47 £475 +5.56% 71
West Midlands -30 36 £395 -7.06% 39
North West -40 34 £500 +11.11% 37
East Midlands +4 24 £475 +533.33% 27
Yorkshire -32 11 £275 - 17
North East -39 2 £338 - 18
Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 4 August 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.

1 102 (20.20%) Security Cleared
2 97 (19.21%) Systems Engineering
3 74 (14.65%) SC Cleared
4 47 (9.31%) Degree
4 47 (9.31%) Validation
5 38 (7.52%) Problem-Solving
6 37 (7.33%) Rational DOORS
7 35 (6.93%) Windows
8 32 (6.34%) Verification and Validation
9 27 (5.35%) Microsoft
10 25 (4.95%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
11 24 (4.75%) Linux
12 23 (4.55%) Azure
12 23 (4.55%) TCP/IP
13 22 (4.36%) Active Directory
13 22 (4.36%) Configuration Management
14 20 (3.96%) EMC
15 19 (3.76%) BPSS Clearance
16 18 (3.56%) Customer Service
16 18 (3.56%) Siemens
17 17 (3.37%) Decision-Making
17 17 (3.37%) Python
17 17 (3.37%) Windows Server
18 16 (3.17%) DNS
18 16 (3.17%) DV Cleared
18 16 (3.17%) Ethernet
18 16 (3.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
18 16 (3.17%) Microsoft Office
18 16 (3.17%) Risk Assessment
19 15 (2.97%) Creative Thinking

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 4 (0.79%) SAS
2 3 (0.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.59%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.40%) Confluence
4 1 (0.20%) JBoss
Applications
1 16 (3.17%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (2.38%) Simulink
3 4 (0.79%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 4 (0.79%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.20%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.20%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 23 (4.55%) Azure
2 11 (2.18%) AWS
2 11 (2.18%) Microsoft 365
3 10 (1.98%) SaaS
4 9 (1.78%) Entra ID
5 7 (1.39%) OpenShift
6 6 (1.19%) GitHub
7 4 (0.79%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (0.59%) Azure Logic Apps
8 3 (0.59%) GCP
9 2 (0.40%) Azure Monitor
9 2 (0.40%) Cloudflare
9 2 (0.40%) OneDrive
10 1 (0.20%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (0.20%) Amazon EKS
10 1 (0.20%) AWS Step Functions
10 1 (0.20%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (0.20%) Azure Service Bus
10 1 (0.20%) Figma
10 1 (0.20%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 23 (4.55%) TCP/IP
2 16 (3.17%) DNS
2 16 (3.17%) Ethernet
3 14 (2.77%) Firewall
4 12 (2.38%) DHCP
5 10 (1.98%) Network Security
6 9 (1.78%) LAN
7 7 (1.39%) VPN
8 6 (1.19%) IPv4
8 6 (1.19%) Modbus
9 5 (0.99%) ATM
9 5 (0.99%) VLAN
10 4 (0.79%) WAN
11 3 (0.59%) Kerberos
12 2 (0.40%) DKIM
12 2 (0.40%) DMARC
12 2 (0.40%) NAS
12 2 (0.40%) SAN
12 2 (0.40%) Software-Defined Networking
12 2 (0.40%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.40%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.20%) Big Data
2 1 (0.20%) Db2
2 1 (0.20%) Hadoop
2 1 (0.20%) NoSQL
2 1 (0.20%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 37 (7.33%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.39%) Rational Rhapsody
3 3 (0.59%) JIRA
4 1 (0.20%) CANoe
4 1 (0.20%) Git
4 1 (0.20%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.20%) Storybook
General
1 81 (16.04%) Aerospace
2 54 (10.69%) Social Skills
3 31 (6.14%) Military
4 28 (5.54%) Avionics
5 22 (4.36%) Manufacturing
6 19 (3.76%) Analytical Skills
6 19 (3.76%) Presentation Skills
7 17 (3.37%) Electronics
8 15 (2.97%) Automotive
8 15 (2.97%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 12 (2.38%) Finance
10 10 (1.98%) Law
11 5 (0.99%) Aviation
11 5 (0.99%) Public Sector
12 4 (0.79%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.59%) Documentation Skills
13 3 (0.59%) Games
13 3 (0.59%) Telecoms
14 1 (0.20%) Banking
14 1 (0.20%) Financial Institution
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.19%) NETCONF
2 5 (0.99%) OpenID
2 5 (0.99%) SAML
3 4 (0.79%) REST
4 3 (0.59%) ISPF
5 2 (0.40%) ARM Templates
5 2 (0.40%) HTML
5 2 (0.40%) Microsoft Graph
6 1 (0.20%) CSS
6 1 (0.20%) GraphQL
6 1 (0.20%) JSON
6 1 (0.20%) Middleware
6 1 (0.20%) Node.js
6 1 (0.20%) OpenGL
6 1 (0.20%) Qt
6 1 (0.20%) RESTful
6 1 (0.20%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 15 (2.97%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (2.97%) Robotics
2 11 (2.18%) Operational Technology
3 9 (1.78%) Renewable Energy
4 7 (1.39%) SCADA
5 6 (1.19%) Mainframe
6 5 (0.99%) Embedded Systems
6 5 (0.99%) IoT
6 5 (0.99%) Onboarding
6 5 (0.99%) Virtual Team
7 4 (0.79%) Data Centre
7 4 (0.79%) Hybrid Cloud
7 4 (0.79%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (0.59%) Acoustics
8 3 (0.59%) Animation
8 3 (0.59%) Cloud Native
8 3 (0.59%) Management Information System
8 3 (0.59%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.40%) Clustering
9 2 (0.40%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 35 (6.93%) Windows
2 24 (4.75%) Linux
3 17 (3.37%) Windows Server
4 7 (1.39%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (1.19%) Windows 10
6 4 (0.79%) Unix
6 4 (0.79%) zOS
7 3 (0.59%) Android
7 3 (0.59%) MVS
8 1 (0.20%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.20%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (19.21%) Systems Engineering
2 47 (9.31%) Validation
3 38 (7.52%) Problem-Solving
4 32 (6.34%) Verification and Validation
5 25 (4.95%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 22 (4.36%) Configuration Management
7 18 (3.56%) Customer Service
8 17 (3.37%) Decision-Making
9 16 (3.17%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 16 (3.17%) Risk Assessment
10 15 (2.97%) Creative Thinking
10 15 (2.97%) Fault Analysis
10 15 (2.97%) Mechatronics
11 13 (2.57%) SysML
11 13 (2.57%) Workflow
12 12 (2.38%) Continuous Improvement
12 12 (2.38%) Disaster Recovery
12 12 (2.38%) ITIL
12 12 (2.38%) Root Cause Analysis
13 11 (2.18%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (3.37%) Python
2 14 (2.77%) PowerShell
3 13 (2.57%) MATLAB
4 6 (1.19%) Bash
4 6 (1.19%) REXX
5 3 (0.59%) Bicep
5 3 (0.59%) C
5 3 (0.59%) JCL
6 2 (0.40%) Java
6 2 (0.40%) SQL
7 1 (0.20%) C++
7 1 (0.20%) COBOL
7 1 (0.20%) Go
7 1 (0.20%) Perl
7 1 (0.20%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 102 (20.20%) Security Cleared
2 74 (14.65%) SC Cleared
3 47 (9.31%) Degree
4 19 (3.76%) BPSS Clearance
5 16 (3.17%) DV Cleared
6 6 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (0.99%) Azure Certification
7 5 (0.99%) Chartered Engineer
7 5 (0.99%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.79%) CCNA
9 3 (0.59%) CCA
9 3 (0.59%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 2 (0.40%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.40%) CCNP
10 2 (0.40%) Computer Science Degree
11 1 (0.20%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 1 (0.20%) CompTIA CySA+
11 1 (0.20%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.20%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.20%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (1.19%) Def Stans
2 4 (0.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (0.59%) Data Quality
3 3 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 15288
3 3 (0.59%) NCSC
4 2 (0.40%) DO-254
4 2 (0.40%) GxP
4 2 (0.40%) NIST
4 2 (0.40%) QA
5 1 (0.20%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.20%) ARP4761
5 1 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (0.20%) DICOM
5 1 (0.20%) HAZOP
5 1 (0.20%) HL7
5 1 (0.20%) IEC 61508
5 1 (0.20%) MIL-STD-1553
5 1 (0.20%) NIST 800
5 1 (0.20%) WCAG
System Software
1 22 (4.36%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.38%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (1.98%) Hyper-V
4 5 (0.99%) Firmware
5 4 (0.79%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (0.79%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.59%) Docker
7 2 (0.40%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.40%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.20%) Job Entry Subsystem
8 1 (0.20%) KVM
8 1 (0.20%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 9 (1.78%) Kubernetes
2 8 (1.58%) Ansible
2 8 (1.58%) Terraform
3 7 (1.39%) Microsoft Intune
4 4 (0.79%) Puppet
5 3 (0.59%) Progress Chef
6 2 (0.40%) Failover Clustering
6 2 (0.40%) Functional Safety
6 2 (0.40%) Istio
6 2 (0.40%) Tivoli NetView
7 1 (0.20%) Amdocs OSS
7 1 (0.20%) Control-M
7 1 (0.20%) Grafana
7 1 (0.20%) Microsoft Clustering
7 1 (0.20%) Packer
7 1 (0.20%) PingFederate
7 1 (0.20%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.20%) Red Hat Satellite
7 1 (0.20%) SCCM
7 1 (0.20%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 27 (5.35%) Microsoft
2 20 (3.96%) EMC
3 18 (3.56%) Siemens
4 12 (2.38%) VMware
5 11 (2.18%) IBM
6 10 (1.98%) ServiceNow
7 8 (1.58%) Cisco
7 8 (1.58%) Fortinet
8 7 (1.39%) Red Hat
9 6 (1.19%) NetApp
10 4 (0.79%) Sparx
11 3 (0.59%) NEC
11 3 (0.59%) Perforce
11 3 (0.59%) SaltStack
11 3 (0.59%) Splunk
12 2 (0.40%) BeyondTrust
12 2 (0.40%) Broadcom
12 2 (0.40%) CrowdStrike
12 2 (0.40%) CyberArk
12 2 (0.40%) Rockwell