Senior Systems Architect Contract Job Trends

Senior System Architect
UK

The median Senior System Architect daily rate in the UK is £800, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 February 2026.

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

6 months to
28 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 603 518 587
Rank change year-on-year -85 +69 -
Contract jobs requiring a Senior Systems Architect 5 2 2
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.012% 0.007% 0.004%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.013% 0.007% 0.005%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 2 1
10th Percentile £735 - -
25th Percentile £750 £565 £438
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £800 £585 £475
Median % change year-on-year +36.75% +23.16% -
75th Percentile £850 £605 £513
90th Percentile £865 - -
UK excluding London median daily rate £800 - £475

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 the UK with a recognized job title 38,243 28,404 41,374
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.82% 92.82% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,036 17,847 27,236
10th Percentile £310 £293 £275
25th Percentile £409 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +1.32% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,330 852 2,355
10th Percentile £14.64 £16.25 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.46 £16.30
Median hourly rate £33.50 £34.75 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -3.60% -0.71% -12.50%
75th Percentile £63.75 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £72.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.50 £32.50 £35.00
% change year-on-year -3.08% -7.14% -6.67%

Senior Systems Architect
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Senior Systems Architect' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Senior Systems Architect job vacancy trend in the UK

Senior Systems Architect
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior Systems Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Senior Systems Architect job vacancies in the UK

Senior Systems Architect
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior Systems Architect job vacancies in the UK.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Senior Systems Architect job vacancies in the UK

Senior Systems Architect
Top 5 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Senior Systems Architect within the UK over the 6 months to 28 February 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
Work from Home - 5 £800 - 4
England -87 2 £800 +36.75% 4
UK excluding London - 2 £800 - 4
Midlands - 2 £800 - 4
West Midlands - 2 £800 - 4

Senior Systems Architect Skill Set
Top 15 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 28 February 2026, Senior Systems Architect 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 featuring Senior Systems Architect in the job title.

1 3 (60.00%) Pega
2 2 (40.00%) Azure
2 2 (40.00%) Azure Synapse Analytics
2 2 (40.00%) Data Engineering
2 2 (40.00%) SAP Data Services
2 2 (40.00%) SC Cleared
2 2 (40.00%) Security Cleared
2 2 (40.00%) Single Sign-On
3 1 (20.00%) Agile
3 1 (20.00%) AI
3 1 (20.00%) Analytics
3 1 (20.00%) Case Management
3 1 (20.00%) Enterprise Architecture
3 1 (20.00%) Scrum
3 1 (20.00%) Stakeholder Management

Senior Systems Architect Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Cloud Services
1 2 (40.00%) Azure
1 2 (40.00%) Azure Synapse Analytics
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (40.00%) SAP Data Services
General
1 2 (40.00%) Finance
1 2 (40.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
2 1 (20.00%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 2 (40.00%) Data Centre
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (40.00%) Data Engineering
2 1 (20.00%) Agile
2 1 (20.00%) AI
2 1 (20.00%) Analytics
2 1 (20.00%) Case Management
2 1 (20.00%) Enterprise Architecture
2 1 (20.00%) Scrum
2 1 (20.00%) Stakeholder Management
Qualifications
1 2 (40.00%) SC Cleared
1 2 (40.00%) Security Cleared
Systems Management
1 2 (40.00%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 3 (60.00%) Pega