Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

System Engineer
UK > England

The median System Engineer daily rate in England is £450, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 December 2025.

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

6 months to
28 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 355 365 280
Rank change year-on-year +10 -85 +186
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 189 140 300
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.60% 0.49% 0.82%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.65% 0.53% 0.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 50 48 157
10th Percentile £255 £296 £350
25th Percentile £333 £350 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -18.18% +14.00%
75th Percentile £555 £581 £638
90th Percentile £600 £741 £675
UK median daily rate £450 £450 £550
% change year-on-year - -18.18% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 76 27 65
10th Percentile £42.00 £23.82 £38.62
25th Percentile £44.58 £24.16 £51.25
Median hourly rate £55.00 £47.50 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -15.91% -5.85%
75th Percentile £65.62 £70.00 £61.99
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.50 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £55.00 £47.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year +15.79% -15.91% -5.85%

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 28,855 26,419 34,294
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.37% 92.90% 93.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,399 16,416 23,451
10th Percentile £295 £300 £285
25th Percentile £406 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £530
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% -0.94% -3.64%
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 1,769 832 1,438
10th Percentile £14.38 £15.92 £14.75
25th Percentile £18.26 £21.25 £19.62
Median hourly rate £27.00 £35.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.86% -22.22% +38.46%
75th Percentile £61.18 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £71.60 £74.40 £77.00
UK median hourly rate £25.47 £32.50 £45.00
% change year-on-year -21.63% -27.78% +44.81%

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025.

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 28 December 2025. 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 +28 40 £505 -8.18% 134
East of England -2 40 £454 +3.77% 75
Midlands -30 32 £300 -22.58% 70
South East -9 29 £300 -27.27% 173
London -13 28 £480 -4.00% 65
North of England -47 22 £450 - 62
North West -31 19 £450 - 43
West Midlands -23 17 £300 -7.69% 43
East Midlands -14 15 £497 +10.33% 26
Yorkshire -44 3 - - 13
Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 28 December 2025, 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 51 (26.98%) Security Cleared
2 37 (19.58%) SC Cleared
3 20 (10.58%) Validation
4 13 (6.88%) Systems Engineering
5 12 (6.35%) Azure
5 12 (6.35%) Linux
5 12 (6.35%) Microsoft
5 12 (6.35%) Rational DOORS
6 11 (5.82%) Python
6 11 (5.82%) Verification and Validation
7 10 (5.29%) Active Directory
7 10 (5.29%) Windows
8 9 (4.76%) Agile
8 9 (4.76%) Asset Management
8 9 (4.76%) Cybersecurity
8 9 (4.76%) VMware
9 8 (4.23%) AWS
9 8 (4.23%) Cisco
9 8 (4.23%) Degree
9 8 (4.23%) DevOps
9 8 (4.23%) Java
9 8 (4.23%) Problem-Solving
10 7 (3.70%) Ansible
10 7 (3.70%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (3.70%) Firewall
10 7 (3.70%) PowerShell
10 7 (3.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 7 (3.70%) Requirements Management
10 7 (3.70%) Terraform
11 6 (3.17%) Mentoring

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 3 (1.59%) Confluence
1 3 (1.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.06%) NetWeaver
2 2 (1.06%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.53%) Apache
3 1 (0.53%) IIS
3 1 (0.53%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (2.12%) Simulink
2 1 (0.53%) CANalyzer
2 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 1 (0.53%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (1.06%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.53%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.53%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 12 (6.35%) Azure
2 8 (4.23%) AWS
3 5 (2.65%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (2.12%) GitHub
5 3 (1.59%) Entra ID
5 3 (1.59%) GitHub Actions
6 2 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
6 2 (1.06%) GCP
6 2 (1.06%) GitHub Copilot
6 2 (1.06%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.53%) Amazon S3
7 1 (0.53%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.53%) IaaS
7 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Purview
7 1 (0.53%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.53%) OpenShift
7 1 (0.53%) PaaS
7 1 (0.53%) Slack
7 1 (0.53%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 7 (3.70%) Firewall
2 3 (1.59%) SAN
2 3 (1.59%) SNMP
2 3 (1.59%) TCP/IP
2 3 (1.59%) Wireless
3 2 (1.06%) Ethernet
3 2 (1.06%) LAN
3 2 (1.06%) Modbus
3 2 (1.06%) NAS
3 2 (1.06%) Software-Defined Radio
3 2 (1.06%) SSL
3 2 (1.06%) WAN
4 1 (0.53%) Cisco IOS
4 1 (0.53%) HTTP
4 1 (0.53%) Link 16
4 1 (0.53%) Network Security
4 1 (0.53%) RS-232
4 1 (0.53%) RS-485
4 1 (0.53%) Tactical Data Link
4 1 (0.53%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.53%) Azure SQL Database
1 1 (0.53%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.53%) Metadata
1 1 (0.53%) Pentaho
1 1 (0.53%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 12 (6.35%) Rational DOORS
2 4 (2.12%) JIRA
3 2 (1.06%) Git
4 1 (0.53%) CANoe
4 1 (0.53%) ClearCase
4 1 (0.53%) CMake
4 1 (0.53%) GitLab
4 1 (0.53%) Gradle
4 1 (0.53%) LabVIEW
4 1 (0.53%) Postman
4 1 (0.53%) Selenium
General
1 44 (23.28%) Aerospace
2 19 (10.05%) Social Skills
3 13 (6.88%) Manufacturing
4 10 (5.29%) Military
5 6 (3.17%) Electronics
6 4 (2.12%) Documentation Skills
7 3 (1.59%) Analytical Skills
7 3 (1.59%) Finance
8 2 (1.06%) Banking
8 2 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.06%) Legal
8 2 (1.06%) Marketing
8 2 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (1.06%) Public Sector
9 1 (0.53%) Avionics
9 1 (0.53%) Digital Health
9 1 (0.53%) Local Government
9 1 (0.53%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.53%) Retail Banking
9 1 (0.53%) Social Housing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.59%) Kafka
2 2 (1.06%) ISPF
2 2 (1.06%) Web Services
3 1 (0.53%) Bazel
3 1 (0.53%) FastAPI
3 1 (0.53%) GraphQL
3 1 (0.53%) Middleware
3 1 (0.53%) RabbitMQ
3 1 (0.53%) React
3 1 (0.53%) Redux
3 1 (0.53%) REST
3 1 (0.53%) SAP Fiori
3 1 (0.53%) Spring
3 1 (0.53%) Spring Boot
3 1 (0.53%) XML
3 1 (0.53%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.29%) SCADA
2 7 (3.70%) Operational Technology
3 6 (3.17%) Onboarding
3 6 (3.17%) Renewable Energy
4 5 (2.65%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (1.59%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.59%) Distributed Systems
5 3 (1.59%) Replication
6 2 (1.06%) Algorithms
6 2 (1.06%) Clustering
6 2 (1.06%) Enterprise Storage
6 2 (1.06%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (1.06%) Mainframe
7 1 (0.53%) Acoustics
7 1 (0.53%) Analytical Mindset
7 1 (0.53%) Driving Licence
7 1 (0.53%) IoT
7 1 (0.53%) Linux Command Line
7 1 (0.53%) Public Cloud
7 1 (0.53%) State Machine
Operating Systems
1 12 (6.35%) Linux
2 10 (5.29%) Windows
3 7 (3.70%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (1.06%) Mac OS
4 2 (1.06%) zOS
5 1 (0.53%) Android
5 1 (0.53%) CentOS
5 1 (0.53%) FreeRTOS
5 1 (0.53%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
5 1 (0.53%) Ubuntu
5 1 (0.53%) Unix
5 1 (0.53%) VMS
5 1 (0.53%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (10.58%) Validation
2 13 (6.88%) Systems Engineering
3 11 (5.82%) Verification and Validation
4 9 (4.76%) Agile
4 9 (4.76%) Asset Management
4 9 (4.76%) Cybersecurity
5 8 (4.23%) DevOps
5 8 (4.23%) Problem-Solving
6 7 (3.70%) Requirements Management
7 6 (3.17%) Mentoring
7 6 (3.17%) Migration
7 6 (3.17%) Service Management
7 6 (3.17%) Stakeholder Management
8 5 (2.65%) Disaster Recovery
8 5 (2.65%) Infrastructure as Code
8 5 (2.65%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 5 (2.65%) Integration Testing
8 5 (2.65%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
8 5 (2.65%) Performance Tuning
8 5 (2.65%) System Testing
Programming Languages
1 11 (5.82%) Python
2 8 (4.23%) Java
3 7 (3.70%) PowerShell
4 5 (2.65%) MATLAB
5 4 (2.12%) SQL
6 3 (1.59%) C
6 3 (1.59%) C++
6 3 (1.59%) Go
7 2 (1.06%) Bash
7 2 (1.06%) JCL
7 2 (1.06%) REXX
7 2 (1.06%) Shell Script
8 1 (0.53%) C#
8 1 (0.53%) Embedded C
8 1 (0.53%) Embedded C++
8 1 (0.53%) JavaScript
8 1 (0.53%) Korn
8 1 (0.53%) Perl
Qualifications
1 51 (26.98%) Security Cleared
2 37 (19.58%) SC Cleared
3 8 (4.23%) Degree
4 7 (3.70%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (1.59%) DV Cleared
6 2 (1.06%) CCNA
6 2 (1.06%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.06%) RHCE
7 1 (0.53%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.53%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.53%) HND
7 1 (0.53%) ISACA
7 1 (0.53%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.53%) RHCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (1.59%) IEC 61131
2 2 (1.06%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (1.06%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (0.53%) Def Stans
3 1 (0.53%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 10 (5.29%) Active Directory
2 6 (3.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (2.12%) Docker
4 2 (1.06%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 2 (1.06%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (1.06%) VMware ESXi
5 1 (0.53%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.53%) Firmware
5 1 (0.53%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.53%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 1 (0.53%) KVM
5 1 (0.53%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 7 (3.70%) Ansible
1 7 (3.70%) Terraform
2 5 (2.65%) Microsoft Intune
3 4 (2.12%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.06%) SCCM
4 2 (1.06%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.53%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.53%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.53%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.53%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.53%) WSUS
5 1 (0.53%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 12 (6.35%) Microsoft
2 9 (4.76%) VMware
3 8 (4.23%) Cisco
4 6 (3.17%) Oracle
4 6 (3.17%) SAP
5 5 (2.65%) Rockwell
5 5 (2.65%) Siemens
6 4 (2.12%) IBM
6 4 (2.12%) Red Hat
6 4 (2.12%) Wonderware
7 3 (1.59%) Okta
7 3 (1.59%) ServiceNow
7 3 (1.59%) Veeam
8 2 (1.06%) Axway
8 2 (1.06%) CyberArk
8 2 (1.06%) Google
8 2 (1.06%) Palo Alto
8 2 (1.06%) Splunk
9 1 (0.53%) Brocade
9 1 (0.53%) Cerner