Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

System Engineer
UK > England

The median System Engineer daily rate in England is £454, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 January 2026.

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

 6 months to
11 Jan 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 367 364 263
Rank change year-on-year -3 -101 +181
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 170 128 315
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.55% 0.48% 0.87%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.60% 0.51% 0.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 49 44 157
10th Percentile £248 £270 £325
25th Percentile £330 £350 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £454 £450 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.89% -18.18% +10.00%
75th Percentile £505 £591 £634
90th Percentile £575 £746 £674
UK median daily rate £465 £450 £550
% change year-on-year +3.22% -18.18% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 74 23 75
10th Percentile £42.00 - £39.55
25th Percentile £43.75 £23.82 £51.88
Median hourly rate £55.00 £43.00 £57.33
Median % change year-on-year +27.91% -25.00% -4.45%
75th Percentile £65.00 £69.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.90 £71.00 £75.09
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £42.75 £57.33
% change year-on-year +28.65% -25.43% -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 28,488 25,027 33,935
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.52% 92.90% 93.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,175 15,498 23,097
10th Percentile £300 £300 £275
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £501 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.67% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,738 757 1,541
10th Percentile £14.41 £15.91 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.45 £21.25 £19.06
Median hourly rate £27.50 £35.00 £43.33
Median % change year-on-year -21.43% -19.22% +23.80%
75th Percentile £61.25 £64.73 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.50 £75.00 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £26.50 £32.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -18.46% -23.53% +28.79%

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 11 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 11 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 11 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
East of England +4 36 £454 +3.77% 84
South West +9 33 £500 -9.09% 114
Midlands -30 28 £300 -7.69% 90
South East -1 27 £300 -27.27% 173
London -17 24 £450 +5.88% 63
North of England -46 22 £413 -8.33% 66
North West -33 19 £413 -8.33% 33
West Midlands -25 15 £300 +9.09% 42
East Midlands -17 13 £497 +10.33% 46
Yorkshire -45 3 - - 21
Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 11 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 53 (31.18%) Security Cleared
2 38 (22.35%) SC Cleared
3 18 (10.59%) Validation
4 16 (9.41%) Systems Engineering
5 13 (7.65%) Linux
5 13 (7.65%) Windows
6 11 (6.47%) Degree
6 11 (6.47%) Microsoft
6 11 (6.47%) Rational DOORS
6 11 (6.47%) VMware
7 10 (5.88%) Active Directory
7 10 (5.88%) Agile
7 10 (5.88%) PowerShell
8 9 (5.29%) Asset Management
8 9 (5.29%) Azure
8 9 (5.29%) Cybersecurity
8 9 (5.29%) Verification and Validation
9 8 (4.71%) Ansible
9 8 (4.71%) Cisco
9 8 (4.71%) Problem-Solving
10 7 (4.12%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (4.12%) Migration
10 7 (4.12%) Oracle
10 7 (4.12%) Requirements Management
10 7 (4.12%) VMware Infrastructure
11 6 (3.53%) Disaster Recovery
11 6 (3.53%) Firewall
11 6 (3.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 6 (3.53%) Service Management
12 5 (2.94%) AWS

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 (2.35%) Confluence
2 3 (1.76%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.18%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.59%) Apache
4 1 (0.59%) IIS
4 1 (0.59%) NetWeaver
4 1 (0.59%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (2.35%) Simulink
2 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.59%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.59%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.18%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.59%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.59%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 9 (5.29%) Azure
2 5 (2.94%) AWS
3 4 (2.35%) Microsoft 365
4 3 (1.76%) Entra ID
5 2 (1.18%) Cloud Computing
5 2 (1.18%) Cohesity
5 2 (1.18%) GCP
5 2 (1.18%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.59%) Azure Sentinel
6 1 (0.59%) GitHub
6 1 (0.59%) IaaS
6 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Copilot
6 1 (0.59%) Microsoft Purview
6 1 (0.59%) OneDrive
6 1 (0.59%) OpenShift
6 1 (0.59%) Power Automate
6 1 (0.59%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.59%) PowerApps
6 1 (0.59%) Slack
6 1 (0.59%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 6 (3.53%) Firewall
2 4 (2.35%) SAN
2 4 (2.35%) TCP/IP
3 3 (1.76%) SNMP
3 3 (1.76%) Wireless
4 2 (1.18%) Ethernet
4 2 (1.18%) Modbus
4 2 (1.18%) NAS
4 2 (1.18%) SSL
5 1 (0.59%) Cisco IOS
5 1 (0.59%) HTTP
5 1 (0.59%) LAN
5 1 (0.59%) Link 16
5 1 (0.59%) RS-232
5 1 (0.59%) RS-485
5 1 (0.59%) Tactical Data Link
5 1 (0.59%) VoIP
5 1 (0.59%) VPN
5 1 (0.59%) VSAN
5 1 (0.59%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.59%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.59%) Metadata
1 1 (0.59%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 11 (6.47%) Rational DOORS
2 5 (2.94%) JIRA
3 1 (0.59%) ClearCase
3 1 (0.59%) Git
3 1 (0.59%) Postman
3 1 (0.59%) Selenium
General
1 37 (21.76%) Aerospace
2 21 (12.35%) Social Skills
3 15 (8.82%) Manufacturing
4 12 (7.06%) Military
5 5 (2.94%) Electronics
6 4 (2.35%) Documentation Skills
6 4 (2.35%) Finance
7 3 (1.76%) Analytical Skills
7 3 (1.76%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.18%) Banking
8 2 (1.18%) Legal
8 2 (1.18%) Marketing
8 2 (1.18%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.59%) Digital Health
9 1 (0.59%) Local Government
9 1 (0.59%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.59%) Public Sector
9 1 (0.59%) Retail Banking
9 1 (0.59%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.18%) ISPF
2 1 (0.59%) Kafka
2 1 (0.59%) Middleware
2 1 (0.59%) RabbitMQ
2 1 (0.59%) REST
2 1 (0.59%) SAP Fiori
2 1 (0.59%) Web Services
2 1 (0.59%) XML
2 1 (0.59%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.88%) SCADA
2 7 (4.12%) Operational Technology
3 6 (3.53%) Onboarding
4 5 (2.94%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (1.76%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.76%) Embedded Systems
5 3 (1.76%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (1.18%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.18%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (1.18%) Clustering
6 2 (1.18%) Enterprise Storage
6 2 (1.18%) Mainframe
6 2 (1.18%) Replication
7 1 (0.59%) Acoustics
7 1 (0.59%) Distributed Systems
7 1 (0.59%) Driving Licence
7 1 (0.59%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (0.59%) Renewable Energy
7 1 (0.59%) Security Posture
7 1 (0.59%) State Machine
Operating Systems
1 13 (7.65%) Linux
1 13 (7.65%) Windows
2 6 (3.53%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 2 (1.18%) Android
3 2 (1.18%) Mac OS
3 2 (1.18%) zOS
4 1 (0.59%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.59%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 1 (0.59%) Unix
4 1 (0.59%) VMS
4 1 (0.59%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 18 (10.59%) Validation
2 16 (9.41%) Systems Engineering
3 10 (5.88%) Agile
4 9 (5.29%) Asset Management
4 9 (5.29%) Cybersecurity
4 9 (5.29%) Verification and Validation
5 8 (4.71%) Problem-Solving
6 7 (4.12%) Migration
6 7 (4.12%) Requirements Management
7 6 (3.53%) Disaster Recovery
7 6 (3.53%) Service Management
8 5 (2.94%) Continuous Improvement
8 5 (2.94%) DevOps
8 5 (2.94%) Mentoring
8 5 (2.94%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
8 5 (2.94%) Performance Tuning
8 5 (2.94%) Signal Processing
8 5 (2.94%) Stakeholder Management
9 4 (2.35%) High Availability
9 4 (2.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 10 (5.88%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.94%) Python
3 4 (2.35%) Java
3 4 (2.35%) MATLAB
4 3 (1.76%) SQL
5 2 (1.18%) C
5 2 (1.18%) C++
5 2 (1.18%) JavaScript
5 2 (1.18%) JCL
5 2 (1.18%) REXX
5 2 (1.18%) Shell Script
6 1 (0.59%) Bash
6 1 (0.59%) C#
6 1 (0.59%) Embedded C
6 1 (0.59%) Embedded C++
6 1 (0.59%) Korn
6 1 (0.59%) Perl
Qualifications
1 53 (31.18%) Security Cleared
2 38 (22.35%) SC Cleared
3 11 (6.47%) Degree
4 7 (4.12%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (1.76%) DV Cleared
6 2 (1.18%) CCNA
6 2 (1.18%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.59%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.59%) HND
7 1 (0.59%) ISACA
7 1 (0.59%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.59%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (1.76%) IEC 61131
2 2 (1.18%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.59%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (0.59%) Def Stans
3 1 (0.59%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.59%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 10 (5.88%) Active Directory
2 7 (4.12%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.76%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (1.18%) Hyper-V
4 2 (1.18%) KVM
4 2 (1.18%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 2 (1.18%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (1.18%) vSphere
5 1 (0.59%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.59%) Firmware
5 1 (0.59%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 1 (0.59%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 8 (4.71%) Ansible
2 5 (2.94%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (2.94%) Terraform
3 2 (1.18%) SCCM
3 2 (1.18%) Single Sign-On
4 1 (0.59%) FortiGate
4 1 (0.59%) Jamf Pro
4 1 (0.59%) Red Hat Satellite
4 1 (0.59%) WSUS
4 1 (0.59%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 11 (6.47%) Microsoft
1 11 (6.47%) VMware
2 8 (4.71%) Cisco
3 7 (4.12%) Oracle
4 5 (2.94%) Rockwell
4 5 (2.94%) SAP
4 5 (2.94%) Siemens
5 4 (2.35%) IBM
5 4 (2.35%) Red Hat
5 4 (2.35%) Veeam
5 4 (2.35%) Wonderware
6 3 (1.76%) Okta
6 3 (1.76%) ServiceNow
7 2 (1.18%) Brocade
7 2 (1.18%) CyberArk
7 2 (1.18%) Google
7 2 (1.18%) Palo Alto
7 2 (1.18%) Pure Storage
7 2 (1.18%) Splunk
8 1 (0.59%) Fortinet
545 Systems Engineer jobs in England