Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends in England

System Engineer
UK > England

The median System Engineer daily rate in England is £478, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 12 March 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 313 355 269
Rank change year-on-year +42 -86 +152
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 281 126 321
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.77% 0.51% 0.84%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.84% 0.55% 0.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 70 57 129
10th Percentile £259 £285 £313
25th Percentile £383 £400 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £485 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.55% -7.62% +4.90%
75th Percentile £543 £638 £575
90th Percentile £576 £738 £645
UK median daily rate £475 £463 £525
% change year-on-year +2.70% -11.90% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 121 22 119
10th Percentile £42.00 £37.90 £39.55
25th Percentile £44.58 £47.50 £47.38
Median hourly rate £59.67 £55.65 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +7.23% -3.23% -6.50%
75th Percentile £71.99 £73.13 £70.96
90th Percentile £78.75 £79.50 £75.16
UK median hourly rate £59.67 £55.25 £57.47
% change year-on-year +8.00% -3.86% -6.55%

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 33,519 22,927 35,267
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.01% 93.04% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,140 15,037 23,588
10th Percentile £310 £300 £270
25th Percentile £413 £409 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £638 £638
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 2,206 758 2,285
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.32 £13.00
25th Percentile £19.34 £21.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £37.00 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +5.71% +7.69% -23.29%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £76.25 £77.28 £71.25
UK median hourly rate £35.00 £33.45 £32.50
% change year-on-year +4.63% +2.92% -23.29%

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 12 March 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 12 March 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 12 March 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 +17 64 £450 -8.86% 49
South East +3 63 £490 -32.41% 110
South West +16 47 £500 -17.70% 69
Midlands -27 43 £395 +66.32% 52
North of England -56 37 £450 +6.64% 63
London -57 27 £475 -9.52% 45
North West -36 24 £216 -49.11% 36
East Midlands -14 23 £497 +562.00% 10
West Midlands -46 20 £348 +26.36% 42
Yorkshire -58 8 £510 - 15
North East -11 5 £450 +38.46% 12
Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 12 March 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 (32.38%) Security Cleared
2 51 (18.15%) SC Cleared
3 35 (12.46%) Systems Engineering
4 33 (11.74%) Degree
5 27 (9.61%) Validation
6 22 (7.83%) DV Cleared
7 20 (7.12%) Problem-Solving
7 20 (7.12%) Siemens
8 19 (6.76%) Decision-Making
8 19 (6.76%) Windows
9 18 (6.41%) Rational DOORS
10 17 (6.05%) Customer Service
10 17 (6.05%) Microsoft
10 17 (6.05%) TCP/IP
11 16 (5.69%) Ethernet
11 16 (5.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 16 (5.69%) Microsoft Office
11 16 (5.69%) Risk Assessment
12 15 (5.34%) Creative Thinking
12 15 (5.34%) Fault Analysis
12 15 (5.34%) Mechatronics
12 15 (5.34%) Verification and Validation
13 14 (4.98%) Fortinet
13 14 (4.98%) ServiceNow
14 13 (4.63%) NetApp
15 12 (4.27%) BPSS Clearance
15 12 (4.27%) Linux
16 11 (3.91%) Agile
16 11 (3.91%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
16 11 (3.91%) 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 (1.78%) Confluence
2 4 (1.42%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.71%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.36%) Apache
4 1 (0.36%) IIS
4 1 (0.36%) Tomcat
Applications
1 16 (5.69%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.42%) Simulink
3 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.36%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.36%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.71%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.36%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.36%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.36%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.36%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 9 (3.20%) Azure
2 6 (2.14%) AWS
2 6 (2.14%) Microsoft 365
3 4 (1.42%) Entra ID
3 4 (1.42%) Google Workspace
4 3 (1.07%) GCP
5 2 (0.71%) Cloud Computing
5 2 (0.71%) Cohesity
5 2 (0.71%) GitHub
5 2 (0.71%) OpenShift
5 2 (0.71%) PaaS
6 1 (0.36%) Azure Sentinel
6 1 (0.36%) GitHub Actions
6 1 (0.36%) IaaS
6 1 (0.36%) OneDrive
6 1 (0.36%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.36%) PowerApps
6 1 (0.36%) SaaS
6 1 (0.36%) Slack
6 1 (0.36%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 17 (6.05%) TCP/IP
2 16 (5.69%) Ethernet
3 4 (1.42%) Firewall
4 3 (1.07%) LAN
4 3 (1.07%) SAN
4 3 (1.07%) SNMP
5 2 (0.71%) Network Security
5 2 (0.71%) SpaceWire
5 2 (0.71%) WAN
5 2 (0.71%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.36%) Cisco IOS
6 1 (0.36%) Link 16
6 1 (0.36%) Modbus
6 1 (0.36%) NAS
6 1 (0.36%) RS-232
6 1 (0.36%) RS-485
6 1 (0.36%) Tactical Data Link
6 1 (0.36%) Unified Communications
6 1 (0.36%) VSAN
6 1 (0.36%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.71%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.36%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.36%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 18 (6.41%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (2.14%) JIRA
3 1 (0.36%) ClearCase
3 1 (0.36%) Git
3 1 (0.36%) Postman
3 1 (0.36%) Selenium
General
1 48 (17.08%) Aerospace
2 38 (13.52%) Social Skills
3 31 (11.03%) Military
4 18 (6.41%) Manufacturing
4 18 (6.41%) Presentation Skills
5 17 (6.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (4.63%) Electronics
7 7 (2.49%) Public Sector
8 4 (1.42%) Avionics
9 3 (1.07%) Analytical Skills
9 3 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
9 3 (1.07%) Finance
10 2 (0.71%) Banking
10 2 (0.71%) Retail
11 1 (0.36%) Digital Health
11 1 (0.36%) Local Government
11 1 (0.36%) Marketing
11 1 (0.36%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.36%) Police
11 1 (0.36%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.07%) Software Packaging
2 2 (0.71%) ISPF
2 2 (0.71%) Middleware
2 2 (0.71%) REST
3 1 (0.36%) GraphQL
3 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.36%) RabbitMQ
3 1 (0.36%) SAP Fiori
3 1 (0.36%) XML
3 1 (0.36%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 15 (5.34%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (5.34%) Robotics
2 8 (2.85%) Embedded Systems
2 8 (2.85%) Onboarding
3 5 (1.78%) Operational Technology
3 5 (1.78%) SCADA
4 4 (1.42%) Data Centre
4 4 (1.42%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (1.07%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (0.71%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (0.71%) ASIC
6 2 (0.71%) CAN bus
6 2 (0.71%) Clustering
6 2 (0.71%) Enterprise Storage
6 2 (0.71%) FPGA
6 2 (0.71%) IoT
6 2 (0.71%) Mainframe
6 2 (0.71%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.36%) NHS
7 1 (0.36%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 19 (6.76%) Windows
2 12 (4.27%) Linux
3 6 (2.14%) Mac OS
3 6 (2.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 2 (0.71%) Android
4 2 (0.71%) Windows Server
4 2 (0.71%) zOS
5 1 (0.36%) FreeRTOS
5 1 (0.36%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (12.46%) Systems Engineering
2 27 (9.61%) Validation
3 20 (7.12%) Problem-Solving
4 19 (6.76%) Decision-Making
5 17 (6.05%) Customer Service
6 16 (5.69%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 16 (5.69%) Risk Assessment
7 15 (5.34%) Creative Thinking
7 15 (5.34%) Fault Analysis
7 15 (5.34%) Mechatronics
7 15 (5.34%) Verification and Validation
8 11 (3.91%) Agile
8 11 (3.91%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
9 9 (3.20%) Asset Management
10 8 (2.85%) Continuous Improvement
10 8 (2.85%) Migration
11 7 (2.49%) Requirements Management
12 6 (2.14%) Computer Science
12 6 (2.14%) Signal Processing
12 6 (2.14%) SysML
Programming Languages
1 9 (3.20%) PowerShell
2 5 (1.78%) MATLAB
3 3 (1.07%) C
3 3 (1.07%) Python
4 2 (0.71%) JavaScript
4 2 (0.71%) JCL
4 2 (0.71%) REXX
5 1 (0.36%) C#
5 1 (0.36%) C++
5 1 (0.36%) Embedded C
5 1 (0.36%) Embedded C++
5 1 (0.36%) Go
5 1 (0.36%) Java
5 1 (0.36%) SQL
Qualifications
1 91 (32.38%) Security Cleared
2 51 (18.15%) SC Cleared
3 33 (11.74%) Degree
4 22 (7.83%) DV Cleared
5 12 (4.27%) BPSS Clearance
6 3 (1.07%) CCNA
6 3 (1.07%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.36%) CCNP
7 1 (0.36%) CISSP
7 1 (0.36%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.36%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.36%) HND
7 1 (0.36%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.36%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (1.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 2 (0.71%) Data Quality
2 2 (0.71%) MIL-STD-1553
2 2 (0.71%) NIST
3 1 (0.36%) Def Stans
3 1 (0.36%) DO-254
3 1 (0.36%) IEC 61131
3 1 (0.36%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.36%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.36%) NIST 800
System Software
1 9 (3.20%) Active Directory
1 9 (3.20%) VMware Infrastructure
2 3 (1.07%) Embedded Firmware
2 3 (1.07%) Firmware
2 3 (1.07%) Virtual Desktop
3 2 (0.71%) Hyper-V
3 2 (0.71%) KVM
3 2 (0.71%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 2 (0.71%) VMware ESXi
3 2 (0.71%) vSphere
4 1 (0.36%) Job Entry Subsystem
4 1 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.36%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 7 (2.49%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (1.78%) Ansible
3 4 (1.42%) SCCM
3 4 (1.42%) Terraform
4 2 (0.71%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.71%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.36%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.36%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.36%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 20 (7.12%) Siemens
2 17 (6.05%) Microsoft
3 14 (4.98%) Fortinet
3 14 (4.98%) ServiceNow
4 13 (4.63%) NetApp
5 11 (3.91%) VMware
6 7 (2.49%) Oracle
7 6 (2.14%) Cisco
7 6 (2.14%) EMC
8 5 (1.78%) Google
8 5 (1.78%) Red Hat
9 4 (1.42%) IBM
9 4 (1.42%) Veeam
10 3 (1.07%) Citrix
10 3 (1.07%) Rockwell
10 3 (1.07%) SAP
11 2 (0.71%) Broadcom
11 2 (0.71%) Brocade
11 2 (0.71%) Pure Storage
11 2 (0.71%) Splunk