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 27 June 2026.

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

 6 months to
27 Jun 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 251 327 228
Rank change year-on-year +76 -99 +139
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 429 158 395
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.99% 0.63% 1.06%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.07% 0.68% 1.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 97 62 86
10th Percentile £240 £363 £313
25th Percentile £383 £408 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £480 £505 £450
Median % change year-on-year -4.95% +12.22% -13.46%
75th Percentile £533 £609 £572
90th Percentile £600 £650 £644
UK median daily rate £475 £485 £450
% change year-on-year -2.06% +7.78% -14.29%
Number of hourly rates quoted 186 45 172
10th Percentile £43.75 £46.71 £39.96
25th Percentile £55.00 £52.50 £47.83
Median hourly rate £66.99 £56.44 £62.58
Median % change year-on-year +18.69% -9.81% +8.83%
75th Percentile £78.75 £73.75 £71.50
90th Percentile £81.05 £76.82 £76.85
UK median hourly rate £67.50 £56.44 £60.00
% change year-on-year +19.60% -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 40,161 23,310 34,627
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.39% 92.25% 92.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,642 15,281 22,628
10th Percentile £325 £294 £293
25th Percentile £419 £405 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.44% -2.38% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £635 £638
90th Percentile £735 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £520 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +4.00% -4.76% -2.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,860 1,068 2,586
10th Percentile £15.99 £13.96 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.93 £17.87 £16.65
Median hourly rate £45.00 £28.50 £39.55
Median % change year-on-year +57.89% -27.94% -9.83%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £43.25 £26.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year +63.21% -29.33% -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 27 June 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 27 June 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 27 June 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 +16 102 £500 -13.04% 127
South West +33 98 £500 -9.30% 81
East of England +2 66 £450 -18.18% 35
London -46 62 £475 -8.65% 47
Midlands -23 52 £395 +43.64% 54
North of England -46 46 £450 +7.66% 47
West Midlands -41 29 £395 -9.71% 29
North West -40 28 - - 26
East Midlands +4 23 £450 +500.00% 25
Yorkshire -28 13 £393 - 13
North East -34 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 27 June 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.

1 100 (23.31%) Security Cleared
2 80 (18.65%) Systems Engineering
3 64 (14.92%) SC Cleared
4 42 (9.79%) Validation
5 40 (9.32%) Degree
6 35 (8.16%) Rational DOORS
7 33 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
8 30 (6.99%) Windows
9 25 (5.83%) Verification and Validation
10 24 (5.59%) Microsoft
11 22 (5.13%) DV Cleared
12 20 (4.66%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 20 (4.66%) TCP/IP
13 19 (4.43%) Decision-Making
13 19 (4.43%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
14 18 (4.20%) Azure
14 18 (4.20%) Customer Service
14 18 (4.20%) Siemens
15 17 (3.96%) Linux
16 16 (3.73%) Ethernet
16 16 (3.73%) Microsoft Office
16 16 (3.73%) Risk Assessment
17 15 (3.50%) Configuration Management
17 15 (3.50%) Creative Thinking
17 15 (3.50%) Fault Analysis
17 15 (3.50%) Fortinet
17 15 (3.50%) Mechatronics
17 15 (3.50%) ServiceNow
18 14 (3.26%) Active Directory
19 13 (3.03%) BPSS Clearance

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 (0.93%) Confluence
1 4 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.70%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.47%) SAS
Applications
1 16 (3.73%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.56%) Simulink
3 4 (0.93%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 1 (0.23%) ResourceLink
1 1 (0.23%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.23%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 18 (4.20%) Azure
2 11 (2.56%) SaaS
3 10 (2.33%) AWS
4 9 (2.10%) Microsoft 365
5 6 (1.40%) Entra ID
5 6 (1.40%) GitHub
6 5 (1.17%) OpenShift
7 4 (0.93%) GitHub Actions
8 2 (0.47%) Azure Logic Apps
8 2 (0.47%) Google Workspace
8 2 (0.47%) OneDrive
9 1 (0.23%) Anthropic Claude
9 1 (0.23%) AWS Lambda
9 1 (0.23%) Azure Monitor
9 1 (0.23%) Azure Service Bus
9 1 (0.23%) Cloudflare
9 1 (0.23%) Cohesity
9 1 (0.23%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.23%) PowerApps
9 1 (0.23%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 20 (4.66%) TCP/IP
2 16 (3.73%) Ethernet
3 11 (2.56%) DNS
4 9 (2.10%) Firewall
5 8 (1.86%) DHCP
6 5 (1.17%) LAN
7 4 (0.93%) WAN
8 3 (0.70%) Network Security
8 3 (0.70%) SpaceWire
8 3 (0.70%) VPN
9 2 (0.47%) Modbus
9 2 (0.47%) PSTN
9 2 (0.47%) Unified Communications
9 2 (0.47%) VoIP
10 1 (0.23%) 4G
10 1 (0.23%) SAN
10 1 (0.23%) VLAN
10 1 (0.23%) Wi-Fi
10 1 (0.23%) Wireless
10 1 (0.23%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.47%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 35 (8.16%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.63%) Rational Rhapsody
3 5 (1.17%) JIRA
4 1 (0.23%) CANoe
General
1 61 (14.22%) Aerospace
2 46 (10.72%) Social Skills
3 38 (8.86%) Military
4 24 (5.59%) Avionics
5 19 (4.43%) Electronics
6 17 (3.96%) Presentation Skills
7 16 (3.73%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (3.26%) Analytical Skills
8 14 (3.26%) Manufacturing
9 10 (2.33%) Automotive
9 10 (2.33%) Law
10 9 (2.10%) Finance
10 9 (2.10%) Public Sector
11 4 (0.93%) Aviation
11 4 (0.93%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (0.47%) Retail
13 1 (0.23%) Banking
13 1 (0.23%) Police
13 1 (0.23%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.17%) OpenID
1 5 (1.17%) REST
1 5 (1.17%) SAML
2 3 (0.70%) ISPF
2 3 (0.70%) Software Packaging
3 2 (0.47%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (0.47%) Middleware
4 1 (0.23%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.23%) JSON
4 1 (0.23%) Node.js
4 1 (0.23%) OpenGL
4 1 (0.23%) Qt
4 1 (0.23%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 15 (3.50%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (3.50%) Robotics
2 8 (1.86%) Embedded Systems
3 6 (1.40%) IoT
3 6 (1.40%) Mainframe
4 5 (1.17%) Data Centre
4 5 (1.17%) Operational Technology
4 5 (1.17%) Renewable Energy
5 4 (0.93%) Onboarding
6 3 (0.70%) Acoustics
6 3 (0.70%) FPGA
6 3 (0.70%) Virtual Team
7 2 (0.47%) AI Agents
7 2 (0.47%) ASIC
7 2 (0.47%) CAN bus
7 2 (0.47%) Hybrid Cloud
7 2 (0.47%) Legacy Systems
7 2 (0.47%) Linux Command Line
7 2 (0.47%) Management Information System
7 2 (0.47%) SCADA
Operating Systems
1 30 (6.99%) Windows
2 17 (3.96%) Linux
3 8 (1.86%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.93%) Android
4 4 (0.93%) Mac OS
5 3 (0.70%) MVS
5 3 (0.70%) zOS
6 2 (0.47%) Windows 10
7 1 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.23%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 1 (0.23%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (18.65%) Systems Engineering
2 42 (9.79%) Validation
3 33 (7.69%) Problem-Solving
4 25 (5.83%) Verification and Validation
5 20 (4.66%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 19 (4.43%) Decision-Making
6 19 (4.43%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
7 18 (4.20%) Customer Service
8 16 (3.73%) Risk Assessment
9 15 (3.50%) Configuration Management
9 15 (3.50%) Creative Thinking
9 15 (3.50%) Fault Analysis
9 15 (3.50%) Mechatronics
10 13 (3.03%) Workflow
11 10 (2.33%) Agile
11 10 (2.33%) Continuous Improvement
11 10 (2.33%) Migration
11 10 (2.33%) SysML
12 8 (1.86%) Cybersecurity
13 7 (1.63%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 13 (3.03%) MATLAB
2 11 (2.56%) PowerShell
3 10 (2.33%) Python
4 5 (1.17%) REXX
5 4 (0.93%) C
6 3 (0.70%) Bash
6 3 (0.70%) JCL
7 1 (0.23%) Go
7 1 (0.23%) Java
7 1 (0.23%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.23%) SQL
Qualifications
1 100 (23.31%) Security Cleared
2 64 (14.92%) SC Cleared
3 40 (9.32%) Degree
4 22 (5.13%) DV Cleared
5 13 (3.03%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (0.93%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (0.70%) Azure Certification
8 2 (0.47%) AWS Certification
8 2 (0.47%) CCNA
8 2 (0.47%) Chartered Engineer
8 2 (0.47%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.23%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.23%) CCA
9 1 (0.23%) CCNP
9 1 (0.23%) CISSP
9 1 (0.23%) CompTIA CySA+
9 1 (0.23%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (0.23%) HND
9 1 (0.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (0.93%) Def Stans
1 4 (0.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.70%) MIL-STD-1553
3 2 (0.47%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.47%) NIST
3 2 (0.47%) QA
4 1 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.23%) DICOM
4 1 (0.23%) DO-254
4 1 (0.23%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.23%) HL7
4 1 (0.23%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.23%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.23%) NIST 800
System Software
1 14 (3.26%) Active Directory
2 11 (2.56%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (1.63%) Virtual Desktop
4 5 (1.17%) Firmware
4 5 (1.17%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.70%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.47%) Embedded Firmware
6 2 (0.47%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.23%) Docker
7 1 (0.23%) Job Entry Subsystem
7 1 (0.23%) KVM
7 1 (0.23%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.23%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.23%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.23%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 9 (2.10%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (1.17%) Ansible
2 5 (1.17%) Kubernetes
2 5 (1.17%) Terraform
3 4 (0.93%) SCCM
4 2 (0.47%) Functional Safety
4 2 (0.47%) Tivoli NetView
5 1 (0.23%) Control-M
5 1 (0.23%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.23%) Packer
5 1 (0.23%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 24 (5.59%) Microsoft
2 18 (4.20%) Siemens
3 15 (3.50%) Fortinet
3 15 (3.50%) ServiceNow
4 13 (3.03%) NetApp
5 12 (2.80%) VMware
6 11 (2.56%) EMC
6 11 (2.56%) IBM
7 5 (1.17%) Cisco
8 3 (0.70%) Broadcom
8 3 (0.70%) Citrix
8 3 (0.70%) Google
8 3 (0.70%) NEC
8 3 (0.70%) Splunk
9 2 (0.47%) Apple
9 2 (0.47%) CyberArk
10 1 (0.23%) BMC
10 1 (0.23%) Hitachi
10 1 (0.23%) Juniper
10 1 (0.23%) Red Hat
371 Systems Engineer jobs in England