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 22 January 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 366 376 261
Rank change year-on-year +10 -115 +175
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 184 124 327
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.57% 0.46% 0.89%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.62% 0.50% 0.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 50 49 157
10th Percentile £255 £283 £325
25th Percentile £343 £350 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £550
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -18.18% +10.00%
75th Percentile £512 £575 £635
90th Percentile £575 £740 £674
UK median daily rate £475 £450 £550
% change year-on-year +5.56% -18.18% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 82 20 90
10th Percentile £42.00 - £39.55
25th Percentile £43.75 £23.82 £52.50
Median hourly rate £55.00 £38.85 £57.33
Median % change year-on-year +41.57% -32.23% -4.45%
75th Percentile £67.47 £58.63 £65.75
90th Percentile £72.40 £70.13 £75.02
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £38.85 £57.33
% change year-on-year +41.57% -32.23% -4.45%

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 29,665 24,937 34,070
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.62% 92.94% 93.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,946 15,424 23,052
10th Percentile £300 £300 £275
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
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 1,838 759 1,774
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.98 £13.50
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.72
Median hourly rate £28.84 £35.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -17.61% -12.50% +14.29%
75th Percentile £63.26 £64.61 £62.83
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK median hourly rate £27.50 £32.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year -15.38% -18.75% +14.29%

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 22 January 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 22 January 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 22 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 West +20 40 £500 -9.09% 99
East of England +8 38 £465 +6.17% 79
Midlands -36 31 £300 -7.69% 64
London -31 26 £450 -11.76% 58
South East -26 25 £300 -35.14% 142
North of England -62 24 £413 -8.33% 56
North West -32 19 £350 -22.22% 34
West Midlands -38 16 £300 +9.09% 31
East Midlands -15 15 £497 +10.33% 33
Yorkshire -49 4 £510 - 9
North East -12 1 - - 13
Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 22 January 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 61 (33.15%) Security Cleared
2 44 (23.91%) SC Cleared
3 19 (10.33%) Validation
4 17 (9.24%) Systems Engineering
5 13 (7.07%) Linux
5 13 (7.07%) Windows
6 12 (6.52%) Degree
6 12 (6.52%) Rational DOORS
7 11 (5.98%) Microsoft
7 11 (5.98%) VMware
8 10 (5.43%) Active Directory
8 10 (5.43%) Agile
8 10 (5.43%) PowerShell
8 10 (5.43%) Verification and Validation
9 9 (4.89%) Asset Management
9 9 (4.89%) Azure
9 9 (4.89%) Cybersecurity
9 9 (4.89%) Problem-Solving
10 8 (4.35%) Ansible
10 8 (4.35%) Cisco
10 8 (4.35%) Migration
11 7 (3.80%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (3.80%) Oracle
11 7 (3.80%) Requirements Management
11 7 (3.80%) VMware Infrastructure
12 6 (3.26%) Disaster Recovery
12 6 (3.26%) Firewall
12 6 (3.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 6 (3.26%) Service Management
12 6 (3.26%) Signal Processing

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 (2.17%) Confluence
2 2 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.54%) Apache
3 1 (0.54%) IIS
3 1 (0.54%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.54%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (2.17%) Simulink
2 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.54%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.54%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.09%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.54%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.54%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 9 (4.89%) Azure
2 5 (2.72%) AWS
3 3 (1.63%) Entra ID
3 3 (1.63%) GCP
3 3 (1.63%) Google Workspace
3 3 (1.63%) Microsoft 365
4 2 (1.09%) Cloud Computing
4 2 (1.09%) Cohesity
5 1 (0.54%) Azure Sentinel
5 1 (0.54%) GitHub
5 1 (0.54%) IaaS
5 1 (0.54%) OpenShift
5 1 (0.54%) PaaS
5 1 (0.54%) Slack
5 1 (0.54%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 6 (3.26%) Firewall
2 4 (2.17%) SAN
2 4 (2.17%) TCP/IP
3 3 (1.63%) SNMP
3 3 (1.63%) Wireless
4 2 (1.09%) Ethernet
4 2 (1.09%) Modbus
4 2 (1.09%) NAS
4 2 (1.09%) SSL
5 1 (0.54%) Cisco IOS
5 1 (0.54%) HTTP
5 1 (0.54%) LAN
5 1 (0.54%) Link 16
5 1 (0.54%) Network Security
5 1 (0.54%) Tactical Data Link
5 1 (0.54%) VoIP
5 1 (0.54%) VPN
5 1 (0.54%) VSAN
5 1 (0.54%) WAN
5 1 (0.54%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.54%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.54%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 12 (6.52%) Rational DOORS
2 5 (2.72%) JIRA
3 1 (0.54%) ClearCase
3 1 (0.54%) Git
3 1 (0.54%) Postman
3 1 (0.54%) Selenium
General
1 38 (20.65%) Aerospace
2 23 (12.50%) Social Skills
3 16 (8.70%) Manufacturing
4 14 (7.61%) Military
5 5 (2.72%) Electronics
6 4 (2.17%) Finance
7 3 (1.63%) Analytical Skills
7 3 (1.63%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.63%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.09%) Banking
8 2 (1.09%) Legal
8 2 (1.09%) Marketing
8 2 (1.09%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (1.09%) Public Sector
8 2 (1.09%) Retail
9 1 (0.54%) Avionics
9 1 (0.54%) Local Government
9 1 (0.54%) Police
9 1 (0.54%) Retail Banking
9 1 (0.54%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.09%) ISPF
1 2 (1.09%) Middleware
2 1 (0.54%) Kafka
2 1 (0.54%) RabbitMQ
2 1 (0.54%) REST
2 1 (0.54%) SAP Fiori
2 1 (0.54%) XML
2 1 (0.54%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.43%) SCADA
2 7 (3.80%) Operational Technology
3 6 (3.26%) Legacy Systems
3 6 (3.26%) Onboarding
4 4 (2.17%) Data Centre
4 4 (2.17%) Embedded Systems
5 3 (1.63%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (1.09%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.09%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (1.09%) Clustering
6 2 (1.09%) Enterprise Storage
6 2 (1.09%) Mainframe
6 2 (1.09%) Management Information System
6 2 (1.09%) Replication
7 1 (0.54%) Acoustics
7 1 (0.54%) Driving Licence
7 1 (0.54%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (0.54%) Renewable Energy
7 1 (0.54%) Security Posture
7 1 (0.54%) State Machine
Operating Systems
1 13 (7.07%) Linux
1 13 (7.07%) Windows
2 6 (3.26%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 2 (1.09%) Android
3 2 (1.09%) Mac OS
3 2 (1.09%) zOS
4 1 (0.54%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.54%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 1 (0.54%) Unix
4 1 (0.54%) VMS
4 1 (0.54%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 19 (10.33%) Validation
2 17 (9.24%) Systems Engineering
3 10 (5.43%) Agile
3 10 (5.43%) Verification and Validation
4 9 (4.89%) Asset Management
4 9 (4.89%) Cybersecurity
4 9 (4.89%) Problem-Solving
5 8 (4.35%) Migration
6 7 (3.80%) Requirements Management
7 6 (3.26%) Disaster Recovery
7 6 (3.26%) Service Management
7 6 (3.26%) Signal Processing
8 5 (2.72%) Continuous Improvement
8 5 (2.72%) DevOps
8 5 (2.72%) Integration Testing
8 5 (2.72%) Mentoring
8 5 (2.72%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
8 5 (2.72%) Performance Tuning
9 4 (2.17%) Infrastructure as Code
9 4 (2.17%) Safety Engineering
Programming Languages
1 10 (5.43%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.72%) MATLAB
2 5 (2.72%) Python
3 4 (2.17%) Java
4 2 (1.09%) C
4 2 (1.09%) C++
4 2 (1.09%) JavaScript
4 2 (1.09%) JCL
4 2 (1.09%) REXX
4 2 (1.09%) Shell Script
4 2 (1.09%) SQL
5 1 (0.54%) Bash
5 1 (0.54%) C#
5 1 (0.54%) Embedded C
5 1 (0.54%) Embedded C++
5 1 (0.54%) Korn
5 1 (0.54%) Perl
Qualifications
1 61 (33.15%) Security Cleared
2 44 (23.91%) SC Cleared
3 12 (6.52%) Degree
4 7 (3.80%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (2.17%) DV Cleared
6 2 (1.09%) CCNA
6 2 (1.09%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.54%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.54%) HND
7 1 (0.54%) ISACA
7 1 (0.54%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.54%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (1.63%) IEC 61131
2 1 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials
2 1 (0.54%) Def Stans
2 1 (0.54%) IEC 61508
2 1 (0.54%) ISO 26262
2 1 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 10 (5.43%) Active Directory
2 7 (3.80%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.63%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (1.09%) Hyper-V
4 2 (1.09%) KVM
4 2 (1.09%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 2 (1.09%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (1.09%) vSphere
5 1 (0.54%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.54%) Firmware
5 1 (0.54%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 1 (0.54%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 8 (4.35%) Ansible
2 5 (2.72%) Terraform
3 4 (2.17%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.09%) SCCM
4 2 (1.09%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.54%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.54%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.54%) WSUS
5 1 (0.54%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 11 (5.98%) Microsoft
1 11 (5.98%) VMware
2 8 (4.35%) Cisco
3 7 (3.80%) Oracle
4 5 (2.72%) Rockwell
4 5 (2.72%) Siemens
5 4 (2.17%) Google
5 4 (2.17%) IBM
5 4 (2.17%) Red Hat
5 4 (2.17%) SAP
5 4 (2.17%) ServiceNow
5 4 (2.17%) Veeam
5 4 (2.17%) Wonderware
6 3 (1.63%) Okta
7 2 (1.09%) Brocade
7 2 (1.09%) CyberArk
7 2 (1.09%) Fortinet
7 2 (1.09%) Palo Alto
7 2 (1.09%) Pure Storage
7 2 (1.09%) Splunk