Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

System Engineer
UK > England

The median System Engineer daily rate in England is £490, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 17 May 2026.

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

 6 months to
17 May 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 286 329 259
Rank change year-on-year +43 -70 +126
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 351 152 327
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.85% 0.62% 0.90%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.92% 0.67% 0.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 104 64 84
10th Percentile £263 £304 £313
25th Percentile £382 £400 £399
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% -2.44%
75th Percentile £536 £618 £588
90th Percentile £600 £668 £668
UK median daily rate £475 £475 £475
% change year-on-year - - -7.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 140 40 150
10th Percentile £42.00 £44.59 £39.91
25th Percentile £51.25 £51.95 £45.98
Median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £58.25
Median % change year-on-year +18.18% -5.58% -2.92%
75th Percentile £78.75 £73.75 £71.25
90th Percentile £81.05 £75.50 £76.75
UK median hourly rate £66.99 £55.00 £57.50
% change year-on-year +21.80% -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 37,948 22,606 33,748
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.41% 92.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,576 15,046 22,372
10th Percentile £318 £296 £283
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £523 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -0.43% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £645
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £510 £513 £525
% change year-on-year -0.49% -2.38% -3.23%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,610 912 2,431
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.75 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £45.56 £30.00 £37.18
Median % change year-on-year +51.85% -19.31% -17.38%
75th Percentile £67.50 £63.75 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £73.75
UK median hourly rate £42.69 £28.17 £36.58
% change year-on-year +51.55% -22.99% -18.72%

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 17 May 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 17 May 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 17 May 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 +9 91 £500 -16.67% 103
East of England +7 70 £450 -18.18% 42
South West +13 64 £500 -9.30% 68
London -51 48 £475 - 38
Midlands -39 39 £300 +9.09% 41
North of England -52 39 £450 +8.70% 33
North West -33 24 £350 -15.46% 21
West Midlands -47 20 £300 +9.09% 25
East Midlands -10 19 £388 +416.67% 16
Yorkshire -49 10 £393 - 9
North East -18 5 £450 +38.46% 3
Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 17 May 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 91 (25.93%) Security Cleared
2 61 (17.38%) Systems Engineering
3 50 (14.25%) SC Cleared
4 38 (10.83%) Degree
5 35 (9.97%) Validation
6 31 (8.83%) Problem-Solving
6 31 (8.83%) Windows
7 29 (8.26%) Rational DOORS
8 24 (6.84%) Microsoft
9 23 (6.55%) DV Cleared
10 20 (5.70%) Decision-Making
10 20 (5.70%) Linux
11 19 (5.41%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
11 19 (5.41%) Verification and Validation
12 18 (5.13%) Customer Service
12 18 (5.13%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 18 (5.13%) Siemens
13 17 (4.84%) Ethernet
13 17 (4.84%) Microsoft Office
13 17 (4.84%) TCP/IP
14 16 (4.56%) Risk Assessment
15 15 (4.27%) Creative Thinking
15 15 (4.27%) Fault Analysis
15 15 (4.27%) Fortinet
15 15 (4.27%) Mechatronics
15 15 (4.27%) ServiceNow
16 13 (3.70%) Azure
16 13 (3.70%) Configuration Management
16 13 (3.70%) NetApp
16 13 (3.70%) VMware

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 (1.42%) Confluence
2 4 (1.14%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.57%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.28%) SAS
Applications
1 17 (4.84%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.71%) Simulink
3 2 (0.57%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 1 (0.28%) ResourceLink
1 1 (0.28%) SAP HCM
1 1 (0.28%) SAP HR
1 1 (0.28%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.28%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 13 (3.70%) Azure
2 11 (3.13%) AWS
2 11 (3.13%) SaaS
3 8 (2.28%) Microsoft 365
4 6 (1.71%) OpenShift
5 5 (1.42%) Entra ID
5 5 (1.42%) GitHub
6 3 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
7 2 (0.57%) Cohesity
7 2 (0.57%) Google Workspace
7 2 (0.57%) OneDrive
8 1 (0.28%) Amazon CloudWatch
8 1 (0.28%) AWS Lambda
8 1 (0.28%) Azure Service Bus
8 1 (0.28%) Cloud Computing
8 1 (0.28%) GCP
8 1 (0.28%) PaaS
8 1 (0.28%) Power Platform
8 1 (0.28%) PowerApps
8 1 (0.28%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 17 (4.84%) Ethernet
1 17 (4.84%) TCP/IP
2 8 (2.28%) Firewall
3 7 (1.99%) DNS
4 5 (1.42%) DHCP
4 5 (1.42%) LAN
5 4 (1.14%) WAN
6 3 (0.85%) SNMP
6 3 (0.85%) SpaceWire
7 2 (0.57%) Network Security
7 2 (0.57%) SAN
7 2 (0.57%) VPN
8 1 (0.28%) Modbus
8 1 (0.28%) PSTN
8 1 (0.28%) Unified Communications
8 1 (0.28%) VLAN
8 1 (0.28%) VSAN
8 1 (0.28%) Wi-Fi
8 1 (0.28%) Wireless
8 1 (0.28%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.57%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 29 (8.26%) Rational DOORS
2 5 (1.42%) JIRA
2 5 (1.42%) Rational Rhapsody
3 1 (0.28%) CANoe
General
1 47 (13.39%) Social Skills
2 46 (13.11%) Aerospace
3 37 (10.54%) Military
4 18 (5.13%) Presentation Skills
5 17 (4.84%) Electronics
6 16 (4.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 16 (4.56%) Manufacturing
7 11 (3.13%) Analytical Skills
8 10 (2.85%) Avionics
9 9 (2.56%) Public Sector
10 8 (2.28%) Finance
11 7 (1.99%) Law
12 6 (1.71%) Documentation Skills
13 3 (0.85%) Automotive
14 2 (0.57%) Aviation
14 2 (0.57%) Retail
15 1 (0.28%) Banking
15 1 (0.28%) Digital Health
15 1 (0.28%) Police
15 1 (0.28%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.42%) OpenID
1 5 (1.42%) SAML
2 4 (1.14%) REST
3 3 (0.85%) ISPF
3 3 (0.85%) Software Packaging
4 2 (0.57%) Middleware
5 1 (0.28%) GraphQL
5 1 (0.28%) JSON
5 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.28%) Node.js
5 1 (0.28%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.28%) Qt
5 1 (0.28%) RESTful
5 1 (0.28%) SAP Fiori
Miscellaneous
1 15 (4.27%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (4.27%) Robotics
2 9 (2.56%) Embedded Systems
3 6 (1.71%) IoT
3 6 (1.71%) Onboarding
4 5 (1.42%) Data Centre
4 5 (1.42%) Mainframe
4 5 (1.42%) Operational Technology
5 3 (0.85%) Acoustics
5 3 (0.85%) FPGA
5 3 (0.85%) Hybrid Cloud
5 3 (0.85%) Renewable Energy
6 2 (0.57%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (0.57%) ASIC
6 2 (0.57%) CAN bus
6 2 (0.57%) Enterprise Storage
6 2 (0.57%) Legacy Systems
6 2 (0.57%) Linux Command Line
6 2 (0.57%) Management Information System
6 2 (0.57%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 31 (8.83%) Windows
2 20 (5.70%) Linux
3 6 (1.71%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.42%) Android
5 4 (1.14%) Mac OS
6 3 (0.85%) zOS
7 2 (0.57%) FreeRTOS
7 2 (0.57%) MVS
7 2 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.28%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (17.38%) Systems Engineering
2 35 (9.97%) Validation
3 31 (8.83%) Problem-Solving
4 20 (5.70%) Decision-Making
5 19 (5.41%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
5 19 (5.41%) Verification and Validation
6 18 (5.13%) Customer Service
6 18 (5.13%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 16 (4.56%) Risk Assessment
8 15 (4.27%) Creative Thinking
8 15 (4.27%) Fault Analysis
8 15 (4.27%) Mechatronics
9 13 (3.70%) Configuration Management
10 12 (3.42%) Migration
11 11 (3.13%) Agile
11 11 (3.13%) Continuous Improvement
11 11 (3.13%) Workflow
12 9 (2.56%) Cybersecurity
12 9 (2.56%) SysML
13 7 (1.99%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 9 (2.56%) PowerShell
1 9 (2.56%) Python
2 7 (1.99%) MATLAB
3 5 (1.42%) C
4 4 (1.14%) REXX
5 3 (0.85%) Bash
5 3 (0.85%) JCL
6 2 (0.57%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.28%) C++
7 1 (0.28%) Embedded C
7 1 (0.28%) Embedded C++
7 1 (0.28%) Go
7 1 (0.28%) Java
7 1 (0.28%) SQL
Qualifications
1 91 (25.93%) Security Cleared
2 50 (14.25%) SC Cleared
3 38 (10.83%) Degree
4 23 (6.55%) DV Cleared
5 11 (3.13%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.57%) AWS Certification
6 2 (0.57%) CCNA
6 2 (0.57%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.28%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 1 (0.28%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.28%) CCA
7 1 (0.28%) CCNP
7 1 (0.28%) Chartered Engineer
7 1 (0.28%) CISSP
7 1 (0.28%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.28%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.28%) HND
7 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.28%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (1.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.85%) MIL-STD-1553
3 2 (0.57%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.57%) Def Stans
3 2 (0.57%) NIST
4 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.28%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.28%) DICOM
4 1 (0.28%) DO-254
4 1 (0.28%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.28%) HL7
4 1 (0.28%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.28%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
System Software
1 12 (3.42%) Active Directory
1 12 (3.42%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (1.42%) Firmware
3 4 (1.14%) Hyper-V
3 4 (1.14%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.85%) Embedded Firmware
4 3 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.57%) KVM
5 2 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.57%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.28%) Docker
6 1 (0.28%) Job Entry Subsystem
6 1 (0.28%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.28%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 7 (1.99%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (1.42%) Ansible
2 5 (1.42%) Kubernetes
2 5 (1.42%) Terraform
3 4 (1.14%) SCCM
4 2 (0.57%) Functional Safety
5 1 (0.28%) Control-M
5 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.28%) Packer
5 1 (0.28%) Tivoli NetView
Vendors
1 24 (6.84%) Microsoft
2 18 (5.13%) Siemens
3 15 (4.27%) Fortinet
3 15 (4.27%) ServiceNow
4 13 (3.70%) NetApp
4 13 (3.70%) VMware
5 8 (2.28%) IBM
6 7 (1.99%) EMC
7 5 (1.42%) Cisco
8 3 (0.85%) Broadcom
8 3 (0.85%) Citrix
8 3 (0.85%) Google
8 3 (0.85%) NEC
8 3 (0.85%) Splunk
8 3 (0.85%) Veeam
9 2 (0.57%) Apple
9 2 (0.57%) Brocade
9 2 (0.57%) CyberArk
9 2 (0.57%) Pure Storage
9 2 (0.57%) Red Hat
317 Systems Engineer jobs in England