Systems Engineering Contract Job Trends in the South West

Systems Engineering
England > South West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South West requiring Systems Engineering skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 16 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 109 92 78
Rank change year-on-year -17 -14 +32
Contract jobs citing Systems Engineering 25 35 68
As % of all contract jobs in the South West 1.08% 1.66% 2.27%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.29% 1.92% 2.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 2 29
10th Percentile - £586 £341
25th Percentile £213 £608 £513
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £225 £659 £600
Median % change year-on-year -65.87% +9.88% +11.63%
75th Percentile £238 £715 £669
90th Percentile - £740 £729
England median daily rate £500 £575 £575
% change year-on-year -13.04% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 14 16 18
10th Percentile £62.60 £49.13 £63.88
25th Percentile £65.75 £60.00 £68.75
Median hourly rate £66.50 £62.75 £76.25
Median % change year-on-year +5.98% -17.70% +23.98%
75th Percentile £93.75 £72.19 £80.00
90th Percentile £119.00 £82.50 £81.50
England median hourly rate £71.50 £62.50 £61.82
% change year-on-year +14.40% +1.11% +3.03%

All Process and Methodology Skills
South West

Systems Engineering falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in the South West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 1,942 1,825 2,602
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West 83.89% 86.74% 87.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,141 1,123 1,736
10th Percentile £263 £281 £300
25th Percentile £413 £425 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year - -4.55% +4.76%
75th Percentile £638 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £731 £725
England median daily rate £505 £525 £544
% change year-on-year -3.81% -3.49% -1.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 291 128 268
10th Percentile £15.25 £18.57 £20.50
25th Percentile £18.87 £47.88 £45.75
Median hourly rate £30.00 £65.00 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -53.85% +8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £65.00 £70.00 £70.00
90th Percentile £67.25 £75.00 £83.40
England median hourly rate £25.15 £35.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -28.14% -21.35% +19.30%

Systems Engineering
Job Vacancy Trend in the South West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Systems Engineering relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South West.

Systems Engineering job vacancy trend in the South West

Systems Engineering
Daily Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Systems Engineering.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Systems Engineering

Systems Engineering
Hourly Rate Trend in the South West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Systems Engineering.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South West citing Systems Engineering

Systems Engineering
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Systems Engineering in the South West over the 6 months to 16 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Systems Engineering in the South West

Systems Engineering
Contract Job Locations in the South West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Systems Engineering within the South West region over the 6 months to 16 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
Bristol -3 22 £225 - 59
Devon - 2 - - 1
Dorset - 1 - - 4
Systems Engineering
England

Systems Engineering
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South West 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 2 (8.00%) Confluence
2 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (4.00%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (12.00%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (12.00%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (8.00%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (4.00%) Simulink
3 1 (4.00%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 2 (8.00%) Primavera
1 2 (8.00%) SAP Oil and Gas
Cloud Services
1 3 (12.00%) Azure
2 2 (8.00%) Azure DevOps
3 1 (4.00%) Entra ID
3 1 (4.00%) Microsoft 365
3 1 (4.00%) OneDrive
3 1 (4.00%) OpenShift
3 1 (4.00%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 2 (8.00%) TCP/IP
2 1 (4.00%) Firewall
2 1 (4.00%) LAN
2 1 (4.00%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (4.00%) MongoDB
1 1 (4.00%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 2 (8.00%) JIRA
1 2 (8.00%) Rational DOORS
2 1 (4.00%) Rational Team Concert
General
1 9 (36.00%) Analytical Skills
1 9 (36.00%) Electronics
2 3 (12.00%) Aerospace
2 3 (12.00%) Finance
2 3 (12.00%) Social Skills
3 2 (8.00%) Telecoms
4 1 (4.00%) Law
4 1 (4.00%) Military
4 1 (4.00%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 9 (36.00%) Embedded Engineer
1 9 (36.00%) Embedded Software Engineer
1 9 (36.00%) Software Engineer
2 4 (16.00%) System Design Authority
3 3 (12.00%) Integration Engineer
3 3 (12.00%) Project Manager
3 3 (12.00%) System Verification Engineer
3 3 (12.00%) Systems Engineer
4 2 (8.00%) Architect
4 2 (8.00%) Senior
4 2 (8.00%) Senior Manager
4 2 (8.00%) Senior Project Manager
4 2 (8.00%) Validation Engineer
4 2 (8.00%) Verification Engineer
5 1 (4.00%) Facilities Management Project Manager
5 1 (4.00%) Facilities Project Manager
5 1 (4.00%) Network Integration Engineer
5 1 (4.00%) Senior Software Project Manager
5 1 (4.00%) Software Engineering Manager
5 1 (4.00%) Software Engineering Project Manager
Miscellaneous
1 9 (36.00%) Embedded Systems
2 4 (16.00%) Legacy Systems
3 1 (4.00%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (4.00%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 7 (28.00%) Linux
2 5 (20.00%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
2 5 (20.00%) Ubuntu
3 3 (12.00%) Windows
4 1 (4.00%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 16 (64.00%) Validation
2 11 (44.00%) Software Engineering
3 8 (32.00%) Collaborative Culture
4 6 (24.00%) Verification and Validation
5 5 (20.00%) API Design
5 5 (20.00%) API Integration
5 5 (20.00%) Architectural Patterns
5 5 (20.00%) CI/CD
5 5 (20.00%) Containerisation
5 5 (20.00%) DevSecOps
5 5 (20.00%) Machine Learning
5 5 (20.00%) OCR
5 5 (20.00%) Patch Management
5 5 (20.00%) Software Architecture
6 4 (16.00%) Requirements Management
7 3 (12.00%) Agile
7 3 (12.00%) Programme Delivery
7 3 (12.00%) Stakeholder Management
8 2 (8.00%) Contract Management
8 2 (8.00%) Workload Management
Programming Languages
1 10 (40.00%) C
2 1 (4.00%) Ada
2 1 (4.00%) Fortran
2 1 (4.00%) JavaScript
2 1 (4.00%) MATLAB
2 1 (4.00%) PowerShell
2 1 (4.00%) Python
Qualifications
1 13 (52.00%) Security Cleared
2 10 (40.00%) SC Cleared
3 8 (32.00%) Degree
4 1 (4.00%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (36.00%) Def Stans
1 9 (36.00%) DO-178B
1 9 (36.00%) MISRA
System Software
1 9 (36.00%) Firmware
2 1 (4.00%) Active Directory
Systems Management
1 5 (20.00%) Kubernetes
1 5 (20.00%) SCOM
2 1 (4.00%) Cilium
2 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (4.00%) Podman
Vendors
1 2 (8.00%) Oracle
1 2 (8.00%) SAP
2 1 (4.00%) IBM
2 1 (4.00%) MathWorks
2 1 (4.00%) Microsoft
2 1 (4.00%) NVIDIA
2 1 (4.00%) Red Hat