Systems Administrator Contract Job Trends

System Administrator (Sysadmin)
UK

The median System Administrator (Sysadmin) daily rate in the UK is £438, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 16 April 2026.

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

6 months to
16 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 453 473 386
Rank change year-on-year +20 -87 +138
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 177 62 206
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.39% 0.21% 0.47%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.42% 0.23% 0.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 92 48 114
10th Percentile £351 £193 £245
25th Percentile £419 £295 £338
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £425 £475
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -10.43% +11.65%
75th Percentile £538 £490 £575
90th Percentile £600 £575 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £439 £450 £550
% change year-on-year -2.50% -18.18% +29.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 4 30
10th Percentile £16.70 £20.90 £11.77
25th Percentile £17.50 £21.13 £17.29
Median hourly rate £18.00 £22.75 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.88% -48.30% -17.87%
75th Percentile £24.86 £23.94 £59.95
90th Percentile £34.62 £24.28 £61.60
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.50 £22.25 £44.00
% change year-on-year -16.85% -49.43% -17.87%

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 42,358 27,131 40,661
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.24% 92.61% 92.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,304 17,800 26,582
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £517 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.29% -1.52% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £626 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,673 984 2,591
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.55 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.27 £19.25 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.94 £30.79 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +36.20% -12.02% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.90 £75.43 £72.45
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.69 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +42.28% -14.29% -17.38%

Systems Administrator
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Systems Administrator job vacancy trend in the UK

Systems Administrator
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Systems Administrator
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Systems Administrator over the 6 months to 16 April 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Systems Administrator in the UK

Systems Administrator
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Systems Administrator
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Systems Administrator over the 6 months to 16 April 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Systems Administrator in the UK

Systems Administrator
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Systems Administrator within the UK over the 6 months to 16 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
England -5 142 £438 -0.57% 56
UK excluding London -18 107 £439 -2.50% 50
London -29 50 £438 +12.90% 14
Work from Home -10 45 £450 +9.76% 29
North of England -45 27 £438 +9.38% 13
Midlands -52 23 £438 -14.63% 7
East of England -21 20 £450 +4.65% 8
Yorkshire -41 15 £438 +9.38% 6
South West -19 13 £610 +10.82% 6
Scotland +10 12 £500 +156.41% 3
East Midlands -22 12 £444 -17.13% 5
West Midlands -54 11 £438 -12.50% 2
South East -50 8 £475 -3.06% 14
North West - 7 £438 - 5
North East - 5 £438 - 2
Wales - 2 - - 1
Northern Ireland - 2 £375 -

Systems Administrator Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 16 April 2026, Systems Administrator 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 Systems Administrator in the job title.

1 34 (19.21%) Microsoft
2 32 (18.08%) Security Cleared
3 31 (17.51%) Workflow
4 30 (16.95%) Linux
5 29 (16.38%) Avature
6 23 (12.99%) SC Cleared
6 23 (12.99%) Windows
7 19 (10.73%) Microsoft Excel
8 17 (9.60%) DV Cleared
9 16 (9.04%) Active Directory
9 16 (9.04%) Microsoft 365
10 15 (8.47%) High Availability
11 14 (7.91%) Problem-Solving
12 13 (7.34%) Continuous Improvement
13 12 (6.78%) Change Management
13 12 (6.78%) DNS
13 12 (6.78%) Firewall
13 12 (6.78%) Time Management
14 11 (6.21%) Collaborative Working
15 10 (5.65%) DB2
15 10 (5.65%) PowerShell
15 10 (5.65%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
16 9 (5.08%) Azure
16 9 (5.08%) ITIL
16 9 (5.08%) SharePoint
16 9 (5.08%) Windows Server
17 8 (4.52%) AWS
17 8 (4.52%) ERP
17 8 (4.52%) IaaS
17 8 (4.52%) Red Hat

Systems Administrator 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:

Application Platforms
1 9 (5.08%) SharePoint
2 6 (3.39%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.13%) Confluence
Applications
1 19 (10.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 7 (3.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 6 (3.39%) Spreadsheet
4 1 (0.56%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.56%) iTrent
1 1 (0.56%) Magento
1 1 (0.56%) Sage 200
1 1 (0.56%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 16 (9.04%) Microsoft 365
2 9 (5.08%) Azure
3 8 (4.52%) AWS
3 8 (4.52%) IaaS
4 7 (3.95%) Entra ID
5 6 (3.39%) SaaS
6 5 (2.82%) Dynamics 365
6 5 (2.82%) GCP
7 3 (1.69%) Amazon S3
7 3 (1.69%) PaaS
8 2 (1.13%) Veeva
9 1 (0.56%) Amazon EC2
9 1 (0.56%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 12 (6.78%) DNS
1 12 (6.78%) Firewall
2 7 (3.95%) DHCP
2 7 (3.95%) Network Security
3 4 (2.26%) SAN
3 4 (2.26%) VPN
4 2 (1.13%) iSCSI
4 2 (1.13%) LAN
4 2 (1.13%) NAS
5 1 (0.56%) Intrusion Detection
5 1 (0.56%) SSL
5 1 (0.56%) WAN
5 1 (0.56%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (5.65%) DB2
2 5 (2.82%) Oracle Database
3 3 (1.69%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (1.13%) Data Warehouse
4 2 (1.13%) SQL Server
5 1 (0.56%) MySQL
Development Applications
1 2 (1.13%) Git
1 2 (1.13%) JIRA
2 1 (0.56%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 22 (12.43%) Social Skills
2 18 (10.17%) Finance
3 13 (7.34%) Banking
4 11 (6.21%) Public Sector
5 6 (3.39%) Legal
5 6 (3.39%) Organisational Skills
6 5 (2.82%) Local Government
7 4 (2.26%) Aerospace
7 4 (2.26%) Analytical Skills
7 4 (2.26%) Fire and Rescue
7 4 (2.26%) Telecoms
8 2 (1.13%) Documentation Skills
8 2 (1.13%) Retail
9 1 (0.56%) Electronics
9 1 (0.56%) German Language
9 1 (0.56%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (0.56%) Manufacturing
9 1 (0.56%) Marketing
9 1 (0.56%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.13%) Oracle Fusion
1 2 (1.13%) YAML
2 1 (0.56%) CSS
2 1 (0.56%) HTML
2 1 (0.56%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.65%) Mainframe
1 10 (5.65%) Onboarding
2 7 (3.95%) PKI
3 3 (1.69%) Clustering
3 3 (1.69%) Data Centre
3 3 (1.69%) NHS
4 2 (1.13%) Data Structures
4 2 (1.13%) Legacy Systems
4 2 (1.13%) Management Information System
4 2 (1.13%) Security Posture
5 1 (0.56%) Enterprise Software
5 1 (0.56%) Enterprise Storage
5 1 (0.56%) Learning Management System
5 1 (0.56%) LIMS
5 1 (0.56%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 30 (16.95%) Linux
2 23 (12.99%) Windows
3 10 (5.65%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 9 (5.08%) Windows Server
5 8 (4.52%) Unix
6 6 (3.39%) zOS
7 4 (2.26%) Ubuntu
8 2 (1.13%) Debian
8 2 (1.13%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (1.13%) Windows Server 2019
9 1 (0.56%) Mac OS
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (17.51%) Workflow
2 15 (8.47%) High Availability
3 14 (7.91%) Problem-Solving
4 13 (7.34%) Continuous Improvement
5 12 (6.78%) Change Management
5 12 (6.78%) Time Management
6 11 (6.21%) Collaborative Working
7 9 (5.08%) ITIL
8 8 (4.52%) ERP
8 8 (4.52%) Security Patching
8 8 (4.52%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 6 (3.39%) Knowledge Management
9 6 (3.39%) Knowledge Transfer
9 6 (3.39%) Service Delivery
10 5 (2.82%) Configuration Management
10 5 (2.82%) Network Management
11 4 (2.26%) Generative AI
11 4 (2.26%) Infrastructure as Code
11 4 (2.26%) Performance Management
11 4 (2.26%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 10 (5.65%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.82%) Bash
3 3 (1.69%) Python
3 3 (1.69%) SQL
4 2 (1.13%) C++
5 1 (0.56%) Perl
Qualifications
1 32 (18.08%) Security Cleared
2 23 (12.99%) SC Cleared
3 17 (9.60%) DV Cleared
4 6 (3.39%) BPSS Clearance
5 4 (2.26%) Degree
6 3 (1.69%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 2 (1.13%) Microsoft Certification
7 2 (1.13%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.26%) SLA
2 3 (1.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (1.69%) JSP 440
3 2 (1.13%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.56%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.56%) COBIT
4 1 (0.56%) GDPR
4 1 (0.56%) HL7
4 1 (0.56%) NIST
4 1 (0.56%) PMO
System Software
1 16 (9.04%) Active Directory
2 5 (2.82%) Hyper-V
2 5 (2.82%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.13%) Firmware
3 2 (1.13%) QEMU
3 2 (1.13%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 2 (1.13%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.56%) ACF2
4 1 (0.56%) GPFS
4 1 (0.56%) RACF
4 1 (0.56%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 7 (3.95%) Ansible
2 6 (3.39%) Microsoft Intune
3 5 (2.82%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (1.69%) SCCM
4 3 (1.69%) Terraform
5 2 (1.13%) EMC NetWorker
5 2 (1.13%) EMC VPLEX
5 2 (1.13%) Grafana
5 2 (1.13%) Podman
5 2 (1.13%) Prometheus
5 2 (1.13%) vCenter Server
6 1 (0.56%) BladeLogic
6 1 (0.56%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.56%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.56%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (0.56%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.56%) WSUS
Vendors
1 34 (19.21%) Microsoft
2 29 (16.38%) Avature
3 8 (4.52%) Red Hat
4 7 (3.95%) Oracle
4 7 (3.95%) VMware
5 6 (3.39%) Broadcom
6 5 (2.82%) Dell
6 5 (2.82%) Google
7 4 (2.26%) Fortinet
8 3 (1.69%) Cisco
8 3 (1.69%) Palo Alto
8 3 (1.69%) SAP
8 3 (1.69%) ServiceNow
9 2 (1.13%) EMC
9 2 (1.13%) F5
9 2 (1.13%) Isilon
9 2 (1.13%) NVIDIA
9 2 (1.13%) Okta
9 2 (1.13%) SolarWinds
9 2 (1.13%) Thales