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 30 April 2026.

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

 6 months to
30 Apr 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 276 330 261
Rank change year-on-year +54 -69 +119
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 360 151 317
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.89% 0.62% 0.85%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.97% 0.67% 0.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 100 66 93
10th Percentile £225 £306 £313
25th Percentile £379 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £478 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +0.53% -5.00% -3.15%
75th Percentile £533 £594 £575
90th Percentile £588 £713 £648
UK median daily rate £475 £469 £475
% change year-on-year +1.33% -1.32% -7.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 151 37 147
10th Percentile £42.00 £43.56 £39.79
25th Percentile £44.58 £52.18 £45.90
Median hourly rate £64.00 £55.00 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +16.36% -4.35% -4.72%
75th Percentile £78.75 £73.25 £71.25
90th Percentile £81.05 £77.00 £76.75
UK median hourly rate £65.00 £55.00 £57.50
% change year-on-year +18.18% -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 37,244 22,538 34,519
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.37% 92.63% 92.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,300 15,012 22,927
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £409 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £510 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £621 £638 £640
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £515 £525
% change year-on-year -2.91% -1.90% -2.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,527 898 2,426
10th Percentile £15.75 £14.20 £12.96
25th Percentile £20.90 £18.51 £16.30
Median hourly rate £47.00 £31.64 £35.96
Median % change year-on-year +48.55% -12.01% -20.09%
75th Percentile £67.50 £64.50 £61.25
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £44.00 £29.07 £36.00
% change year-on-year +51.36% -19.25% -20.00%

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 30 April 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 30 April 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 30 April 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 +20 91 £500 -28.57% 75
East of England +4 80 £450 -18.18% 25
South West +12 62 £498 -9.75% 65
Midlands -34 44 £348 +46.32% 51
London -44 44 £475 - 37
North of England -66 40 £450 +6.64% 30
North West -37 27 £216 -49.11% 15
East Midlands -8 24 £497 +562.00% 15
West Midlands -44 20 £300 +9.09% 36
Yorkshire -50 8 £510 - 10
North East -15 5 £450 +38.46% 5
Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 30 April 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 99 (27.50%) Security Cleared
2 55 (15.28%) SC Cleared
3 53 (14.72%) Systems Engineering
4 37 (10.28%) Degree
5 35 (9.72%) Validation
6 28 (7.78%) Windows
7 27 (7.50%) Problem-Solving
8 25 (6.94%) Rational DOORS
9 23 (6.39%) DV Cleared
10 22 (6.11%) Microsoft
11 21 (5.83%) Linux
12 19 (5.28%) Decision-Making
12 19 (5.28%) Siemens
13 18 (5.00%) Customer Service
14 17 (4.72%) Ethernet
14 17 (4.72%) Microsoft Office
14 17 (4.72%) TCP/IP
14 17 (4.72%) Verification and Validation
15 16 (4.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 16 (4.44%) Risk Assessment
15 16 (4.44%) ServiceNow
16 15 (4.17%) Creative Thinking
16 15 (4.17%) Fault Analysis
16 15 (4.17%) Fortinet
16 15 (4.17%) Mechatronics
16 15 (4.17%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
17 14 (3.89%) BPSS Clearance
18 13 (3.61%) Migration
18 13 (3.61%) NetApp
19 12 (3.33%) 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 (1.39%) Confluence
2 4 (1.11%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.56%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.28%) SAS
Applications
1 17 (4.72%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.39%) Simulink
3 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.28%) MS Visio
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 10 (2.78%) Azure
2 9 (2.50%) SaaS
3 7 (1.94%) AWS
3 7 (1.94%) Microsoft 365
4 3 (0.83%) Cloud Computing
4 3 (0.83%) Entra ID
4 3 (0.83%) GitHub
4 3 (0.83%) OpenShift
5 2 (0.56%) Cohesity
5 2 (0.56%) Google Workspace
6 1 (0.28%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 1 (0.28%) AWS Step Functions
6 1 (0.28%) Azure Logic Apps
6 1 (0.28%) Azure Monitor
6 1 (0.28%) Azure Service Bus
6 1 (0.28%) GCP
6 1 (0.28%) GitHub Actions
6 1 (0.28%) OneDrive
6 1 (0.28%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.28%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 17 (4.72%) Ethernet
1 17 (4.72%) TCP/IP
2 9 (2.50%) Firewall
3 5 (1.39%) DNS
3 5 (1.39%) LAN
4 4 (1.11%) WAN
5 3 (0.83%) DHCP
5 3 (0.83%) SAN
5 3 (0.83%) SNMP
5 3 (0.83%) SpaceWire
6 2 (0.56%) Network Security
6 2 (0.56%) VPN
7 1 (0.28%) NAS
7 1 (0.28%) PSTN
7 1 (0.28%) SSL
7 1 (0.28%) Unified Communications
7 1 (0.28%) VLAN
7 1 (0.28%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (0.28%) Wireless
7 1 (0.28%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.56%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.28%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 25 (6.94%) Rational DOORS
2 5 (1.39%) JIRA
3 1 (0.28%) CANoe
3 1 (0.28%) ClearCase
3 1 (0.28%) Git
General
1 53 (14.72%) Aerospace
2 46 (12.78%) Social Skills
3 36 (10.00%) Military
4 19 (5.28%) Manufacturing
5 18 (5.00%) Electronics
5 18 (5.00%) Presentation Skills
6 16 (4.44%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 10 (2.78%) Finance
8 9 (2.50%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (2.50%) Public Sector
9 6 (1.67%) Avionics
9 6 (1.67%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.11%) Law
11 2 (0.56%) Automotive
11 2 (0.56%) Retail
12 1 (0.28%) Banking
12 1 (0.28%) Marketing
12 1 (0.28%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.28%) Police
12 1 (0.28%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (1.39%) ISPF
1 5 (1.39%) OpenID
1 5 (1.39%) SAML
2 4 (1.11%) REST
3 3 (0.83%) Middleware
3 3 (0.83%) Software Packaging
4 1 (0.28%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.28%) JSON
4 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.28%) Node.js
4 1 (0.28%) RabbitMQ
4 1 (0.28%) RESTful
4 1 (0.28%) SAP Fiori
4 1 (0.28%) XML
4 1 (0.28%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 15 (4.17%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (4.17%) Robotics
2 9 (2.50%) Embedded Systems
3 7 (1.94%) IoT
3 7 (1.94%) Mainframe
3 7 (1.94%) Operational Technology
4 6 (1.67%) Onboarding
5 4 (1.11%) Data Centre
6 3 (0.83%) Acoustics
6 3 (0.83%) FPGA
6 3 (0.83%) Hybrid Cloud
6 3 (0.83%) Management Information System
6 3 (0.83%) Renewable Energy
7 2 (0.56%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (0.56%) ASIC
7 2 (0.56%) Clustering
7 2 (0.56%) Enterprise Storage
7 2 (0.56%) Linux Command Line
7 2 (0.56%) SCADA
7 2 (0.56%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 28 (7.78%) Windows
2 21 (5.83%) Linux
3 5 (1.39%) Android
3 5 (1.39%) Mac OS
3 5 (1.39%) Windows Server
3 5 (1.39%) zOS
4 4 (1.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (0.56%) FreeRTOS
5 2 (0.56%) MVS
6 1 (0.28%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 53 (14.72%) Systems Engineering
2 35 (9.72%) Validation
3 27 (7.50%) Problem-Solving
4 19 (5.28%) Decision-Making
5 18 (5.00%) Customer Service
6 17 (4.72%) Verification and Validation
7 16 (4.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 16 (4.44%) Risk Assessment
8 15 (4.17%) Creative Thinking
8 15 (4.17%) Fault Analysis
8 15 (4.17%) Mechatronics
8 15 (4.17%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
9 13 (3.61%) Migration
10 10 (2.78%) Cybersecurity
11 9 (2.50%) Agile
11 9 (2.50%) SysML
12 8 (2.22%) Asset Management
12 8 (2.22%) Continuous Improvement
12 8 (2.22%) Stakeholder Management
13 7 (1.94%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (2.50%) Python
2 8 (2.22%) PowerShell
3 6 (1.67%) MATLAB
3 6 (1.67%) REXX
4 5 (1.39%) C
4 5 (1.39%) JCL
5 2 (0.56%) Bash
5 2 (0.56%) Java
5 2 (0.56%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.56%) SQL
6 1 (0.28%) C#
6 1 (0.28%) C++
6 1 (0.28%) Embedded C
6 1 (0.28%) Embedded C++
6 1 (0.28%) Go
Qualifications
1 99 (27.50%) Security Cleared
2 55 (15.28%) SC Cleared
3 37 (10.28%) Degree
4 23 (6.39%) DV Cleared
5 14 (3.89%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.56%) CCNA
6 2 (0.56%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.28%) AWS 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
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (0.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 3 (0.83%) MIL-STD-1553
2 2 (0.56%) Data Quality
2 2 (0.56%) NIST
3 1 (0.28%) DICOM
3 1 (0.28%) DO-254
3 1 (0.28%) HAZOP
3 1 (0.28%) HL7
3 1 (0.28%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.28%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.28%) NIST 800
System Software
1 11 (3.06%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (2.78%) Active Directory
3 5 (1.39%) Firmware
4 3 (0.83%) Embedded Firmware
4 3 (0.83%) Hyper-V
4 3 (0.83%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.56%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 2 (0.56%) KVM
5 2 (0.56%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.28%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.67%) Microsoft Intune
2 4 (1.11%) Ansible
3 3 (0.83%) SCCM
3 3 (0.83%) Terraform
4 2 (0.56%) Functional Safety
4 2 (0.56%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.28%) Control-M
5 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.28%) Tivoli NetView
Vendors
1 22 (6.11%) Microsoft
2 19 (5.28%) Siemens
3 16 (4.44%) ServiceNow
4 15 (4.17%) Fortinet
5 13 (3.61%) NetApp
6 12 (3.33%) VMware
7 7 (1.94%) EMC
8 6 (1.67%) Cisco
9 5 (1.39%) Splunk
10 4 (1.11%) IBM
10 4 (1.11%) Red Hat
11 3 (0.83%) Broadcom
11 3 (0.83%) Citrix
11 3 (0.83%) Google
11 3 (0.83%) NEC
11 3 (0.83%) Oracle
11 3 (0.83%) Veeam
12 2 (0.56%) Brocade
12 2 (0.56%) CyberArk
12 2 (0.56%) Pure Storage
276 Systems Engineer jobs in England