Systems Engineer Contracts in England

System Engineer
UK > England

The median System Engineer daily rate in England is £505, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 June 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Jun 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 333 224 378
Rank change year-on-year -109 +154 +126
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 163 398 267
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.64% 1.07% 0.56%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.69% 1.15% 0.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 62 87 134
10th Percentile £363 £313 £391
25th Percentile £408 £363 £430
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £450 £525
Median % change year-on-year +12.22% -14.29% +5.00%
75th Percentile £609 £569 £675
90th Percentile £650 £643 £791
UK median daily rate £485 £450 £525
% change year-on-year +7.78% -14.29% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 45 172 64
10th Percentile £46.71 £39.96 £46.40
25th Percentile £52.50 £47.83 £52.06
Median hourly rate £56.44 £62.66 £57.33
Median % change year-on-year -9.92% +9.29% +14.66%
75th Percentile £73.75 £71.50 £65.75
90th Percentile £76.82 £76.85 £70.00
UK median hourly rate £56.44 £60.00 £61.10
% change year-on-year -5.93% -1.80% +30.34%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 23,505 34,499 44,660
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.12% 92.91% 94.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,375 22,541 31,653
10th Percentile £293 £298 £313
25th Percentile £404 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +2.33%
75th Percentile £630 £638 £663
90th Percentile £750 £750 £763
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +1.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,094 2,589 1,357
10th Percentile £13.90 £12.86 £14.39
25th Percentile £17.87 £16.74 £19.92
Median hourly rate £28.50 £39.55 £43.86
Median % change year-on-year -27.94% -9.83% +77.50%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.51 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £27.00 £37.50 £43.00
% change year-on-year -28.00% -12.79% +71.71%

Systems Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings that featured Systems Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for Systems Engineer in England

Systems Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing Systems Engineer in England.

Daily rate trend for Systems Engineer in England

Systems Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Systems Engineer in England over the 6 months to 30 June 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Systems Engineer in England

Systems Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing Systems Engineer in England.

Hourly rate trend for Systems Engineer in England

Systems Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Systems Engineer in England over the 6 months to 30 June 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 30 June 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
London +24 36 £520 +15.56% 493
East of England -1 36 £550 +179.54% 141
South East -13 24 £575 +27.78% 305
North of England -29 24 £418 - 196
South West -16 21 £551 -8.13% 205
North West -15 20 £422 - 134
Midlands -4 16 £275 -38.89% 187
East Midlands -1 8 £75 -84.62% 67
West Midlands -4 8 £438 +2.94% 120
North East -7 3 £325 - 18
Yorkshire +1 1 - - 45
Systems Engineer
UK

Systems Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 30 June 2025, Systems Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring Systems Engineer in the job title.

1 49 (30.06%) Security Cleared
2 41 (25.15%) SC Cleared
3 34 (20.86%) Systems Engineering
4 31 (19.02%) Validation
5 29 (17.79%) Problem-Solving
5 29 (17.79%) Social Skills
6 25 (15.34%) VMware
7 24 (14.72%) Verification and Validation
8 19 (11.66%) Microsoft
9 18 (11.04%) Linux
10 17 (10.43%) Python
11 16 (9.82%) Agile
12 15 (9.20%) Aerospace
12 15 (9.20%) Unix
12 15 (9.20%) VMware Infrastructure
13 14 (8.59%) Windows
14 13 (7.98%) Azure
14 13 (7.98%) Rational DOORS
14 13 (7.98%) Self-Motivation
15 12 (7.36%) Roadmaps
15 12 (7.36%) AWS
15 12 (7.36%) Requirements Management
15 12 (7.36%) Degree
15 12 (7.36%) SQL
16 11 (6.75%) Management Information System
16 11 (6.75%) Teamcenter
16 11 (6.75%) Confluence
16 11 (6.75%) Presentation Skills
17 10 (6.13%) TestOps
17 10 (6.13%) Project Delivery

Systems Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 11 (6.75%) Confluence
2 10 (6.13%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.45%) Skype for Business
4 2 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 5 (3.07%) Simulink
2 1 (0.61%) CANalyzer
2 1 (0.61%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.61%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 11 (6.75%) Teamcenter
2 6 (3.68%) Kondor
Cloud Services
1 13 (7.98%) Azure
2 12 (7.36%) AWS
3 8 (4.91%) GitHub
4 6 (3.68%) Microsoft 365
5 5 (3.07%) Amazon CloudWatch
5 5 (3.07%) Amazon EC2
5 5 (3.07%) AWS Lambda
5 5 (3.07%) Serverless
6 3 (1.84%) Amazon S3
6 3 (1.84%) AWS CloudFormation
6 3 (1.84%) GCP
7 2 (1.23%) Entra ID
7 2 (1.23%) SaaS
8 1 (0.61%) Amazon Cognito
8 1 (0.61%) Amazon Kinesis
8 1 (0.61%) Amazon SQS
8 1 (0.61%) AWS CloudTrail
8 1 (0.61%) Cloud Computing
8 1 (0.61%) IaaS
8 1 (0.61%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 10 (6.13%) Firewall
2 9 (5.52%) DNS
3 7 (4.29%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.68%) Network Security
5 5 (3.07%) DHCP
6 4 (2.45%) SpaceWire
7 3 (1.84%) SAN
7 3 (1.84%) Skype
7 3 (1.84%) Software-Defined Radio
7 3 (1.84%) VoIP
7 3 (1.84%) VPN
7 3 (1.84%) VSAN
8 2 (1.23%) HTTP
8 2 (1.23%) HTTPS
8 2 (1.23%) Radio Access Network
8 2 (1.23%) SSH
8 2 (1.23%) SSL
8 2 (1.23%) VLAN
8 2 (1.23%) Wireless
9 1 (0.61%) J1939
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (3.07%) MongoDB
1 5 (3.07%) SQL Server
2 4 (2.45%) PostgreSQL
3 3 (1.84%) MySQL
4 2 (1.23%) MariaDB
5 1 (0.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 13 (7.98%) Rational DOORS
2 4 (2.45%) Git
2 4 (2.45%) Rational Statemate
3 3 (1.84%) JIRA
4 2 (1.23%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.61%) Eclipse
5 1 (0.61%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.61%) JIRA Agile
5 1 (0.61%) NetBeans
5 1 (0.61%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 29 (17.79%) Social Skills
2 15 (9.20%) Aerospace
3 11 (6.75%) Presentation Skills
4 10 (6.13%) Finance
5 7 (4.29%) Telecoms
6 6 (3.68%) Manufacturing
6 6 (3.68%) Military
7 4 (2.45%) Public Sector
8 3 (1.84%) Analytical Skills
8 3 (1.84%) Avionics
9 2 (1.23%) Aviation
9 2 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.61%) Automotive
10 1 (0.61%) Electronics
10 1 (0.61%) Financial Institution
10 1 (0.61%) French Language
10 1 (0.61%) Local Government
10 1 (0.61%) Marketing
10 1 (0.61%) Social Housing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.45%) Kafka
2 2 (1.23%) FHIR
2 2 (1.23%) JSON
2 2 (1.23%) Qt
2 2 (1.23%) RESTful
2 2 (1.23%) XML
3 1 (0.61%) .NET
3 1 (0.61%) .NET Framework
3 1 (0.61%) AWS Amplify
3 1 (0.61%) Elastic Stack
3 1 (0.61%) Middleware
3 1 (0.61%) Node.js
3 1 (0.61%) Oracle Fusion
3 1 (0.61%) POSIX
3 1 (0.61%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 13 (7.98%) Self-Motivation
2 11 (6.75%) Management Information System
3 6 (3.68%) Algorithms
3 6 (3.68%) SWIFT Messaging Network
4 4 (2.45%) Product Ownership
4 4 (2.45%) Renewable Energy
4 4 (2.45%) Security Posture
5 3 (1.84%) Data Centre
5 3 (1.84%) Hybrid Cloud
5 3 (1.84%) PKI
5 3 (1.84%) SCADA
6 2 (1.23%) Data Protection Act
6 2 (1.23%) GNSS
6 2 (1.23%) Mainframe
6 2 (1.23%) Onboarding
6 2 (1.23%) Operational Technology
6 2 (1.23%) PACS
6 2 (1.23%) Robotics
6 2 (1.23%) Video\Live Streaming
7 1 (0.61%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 18 (11.04%) Linux
2 15 (9.20%) Unix
3 14 (8.59%) Windows
4 6 (3.68%) VMS
5 4 (2.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (1.84%) CentOS
6 3 (1.84%) Ubuntu
6 3 (1.84%) Windows Server
7 2 (1.23%) Android
7 2 (1.23%) MVS
7 2 (1.23%) SUSE
7 2 (1.23%) Windows XP
8 1 (0.61%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.61%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 34 (20.86%) Systems Engineering
2 31 (19.02%) Validation
3 29 (17.79%) Problem-Solving
4 24 (14.72%) Verification and Validation
5 16 (9.82%) Agile
6 12 (7.36%) Requirements Management
6 12 (7.36%) Roadmaps
7 10 (6.13%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
7 10 (6.13%) Project Delivery
7 10 (6.13%) Service Delivery
7 10 (6.13%) System Testing
7 10 (6.13%) TestOps
8 9 (5.52%) CI/CD
8 9 (5.52%) Data Management
8 9 (5.52%) PDM
9 8 (4.91%) Cybersecurity
9 8 (4.91%) Stakeholder Management
9 8 (4.91%) Technical Leadership
10 7 (4.29%) ITIL
10 7 (4.29%) SysML
Programming Languages
1 17 (10.43%) Python
2 12 (7.36%) SQL
3 8 (4.91%) Bash
4 7 (4.29%) C
4 7 (4.29%) MATLAB
4 7 (4.29%) PowerShell
5 5 (3.07%) Java
6 4 (2.45%) C++
6 4 (2.45%) JavaScript
6 4 (2.45%) Perl
6 4 (2.45%) Tcl
7 3 (1.84%) VBA
8 2 (1.23%) C#
8 2 (1.23%) REXX
9 1 (0.61%) Embedded C
9 1 (0.61%) Embedded C++
9 1 (0.61%) Ladder Logic
Qualifications
1 49 (30.06%) Security Cleared
2 41 (25.15%) SC Cleared
3 12 (7.36%) Degree
4 9 (5.52%) Cisco Certification
4 9 (5.52%) DV Cleared
5 6 (3.68%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (3.07%) CCNA
6 5 (3.07%) RIBA
7 4 (2.45%) CCIE
8 3 (1.84%) HND
9 2 (1.23%) AWS Certification
9 2 (1.23%) CCNP
9 2 (1.23%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (1.23%) MCP
9 2 (1.23%) RHCSA
9 2 (1.23%) VCAP
9 2 (1.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 1 (0.61%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.61%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.61%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.45%) Def Stans
2 3 (1.84%) NIST
3 2 (1.23%) DICOM
3 2 (1.23%) GDPR
3 2 (1.23%) HL7
3 2 (1.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 2 (1.23%) QA
3 2 (1.23%) SLA
4 1 (0.61%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.61%) IEC 61131
4 1 (0.61%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.61%) MISRA
4 1 (0.61%) MISRA C
4 1 (0.61%) Software Quality Assurance
System Software
1 15 (9.20%) VMware Infrastructure
2 6 (3.68%) vSphere
3 4 (2.45%) Active Directory
3 4 (2.45%) Docker
3 4 (2.45%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (1.84%) KVM
4 3 (1.84%) VMware ESXi
4 3 (1.84%) VMware NSX
5 2 (1.23%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.23%) XenDesktop
6 1 (0.61%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.61%) iptables
6 1 (0.61%) Microsoft App-V
6 1 (0.61%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 9 (5.52%) Ansible
2 5 (3.07%) Terraform
3 3 (1.84%) PowerCLI
3 3 (1.84%) Puppet
3 3 (1.84%) SCCM
3 3 (1.84%) SELinux
3 3 (1.84%) vCenter Server
3 3 (1.84%) VxRail
4 2 (1.23%) Failover Clustering
4 2 (1.23%) Kubernetes
4 2 (1.23%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (1.23%) Podman
4 2 (1.23%) Progress Chef
4 2 (1.23%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.61%) Backup Exec
5 1 (0.61%) Grafana
5 1 (0.61%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.61%) NetBackup
5 1 (0.61%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.61%) Wonderware InTouch
Vendors
1 25 (15.34%) VMware
2 19 (11.66%) Microsoft
3 9 (5.52%) Cisco
4 7 (4.29%) Bloomberg
5 6 (3.68%) Refinitiv
5 6 (3.68%) Sybase
6 4 (2.45%) Citrix
6 4 (2.45%) Dell
6 4 (2.45%) IBM
6 4 (2.45%) Red Hat
7 3 (1.84%) EMC
7 3 (1.84%) Remedy
8 2 (1.23%) Broadcom
8 2 (1.23%) Ericsson
8 2 (1.23%) Fortinet
8 2 (1.23%) Meraki
8 2 (1.23%) Oracle
8 2 (1.23%) SAP
8 2 (1.23%) Twitter
9 1 (0.61%) ServiceNow