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 11 May 2026.

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

6 months to
11 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 440 448 389
Rank change year-on-year +8 -59 +97
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Administrator 186 71 197
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.39% 0.24% 0.46%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.42% 0.26% 0.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 93 57 111
10th Percentile £363 £200 £263
25th Percentile £419 £281 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £420 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -16.00% +17.65%
75th Percentile £525 £490 £575
90th Percentile £600 £580 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £438 £450 £550
% change year-on-year -2.78% -18.18% +37.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 21 4 31
10th Percentile - £20.90 £11.77
25th Percentile £17.50 £21.13 £16.35
Median hourly rate £18.50 £22.75 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -18.68% -48.30% -16.19%
75th Percentile £27.72 £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% -16.19%

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 43,945 27,196 39,894
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.28% 92.49% 92.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,960 17,736 25,958
10th Percentile £319 £300 £280
25th Percentile £413 £406 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £513 £525
Median % change year-on-year -1.46% -2.38% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £493 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.68% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,864 1,058 2,674
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.37 £18.50 £16.30
Median hourly rate £44.25 £28.51 £37.34
Median % change year-on-year +55.24% -23.66% -17.02%
75th Percentile £67.25 £62.50 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.59 £27.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +65.76% -31.25% -5.88%

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 11 May 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 11 May 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 11 May 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 -30 145 £438 +1.74% 56
UK excluding London -11 119 £438 -2.78% 56
London -33 46 £438 +12.90% 11
Work from Home -16 37 £525 +28.05% 17
Midlands -49 23 £438 -12.50% 6
North of England - 23 £438 - 12
East of England -18 22 £450 +5.26% 13
South West -21 18 £605 +9.95% 6
Scotland +7 13 £500 +78.57% 2
East Midlands -22 12 £444 -17.13% 5
Yorkshire - 12 £438 - 5
West Midlands -55 11 £438 -10.26% 1
South East -53 10 £475 -3.06% 16
Wales - 8 £468 - 4
North West - 6 £438 - 7
North East - 5 £438 -
Northern Ireland +3 2 £375 +7.14%

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

For the 6 months to 11 May 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 36 (19.35%) Security Cleared
2 33 (17.74%) Microsoft
3 31 (16.67%) Workflow
4 30 (16.13%) Linux
5 29 (15.59%) Avature
6 28 (15.05%) SC Cleared
7 24 (12.90%) Windows
8 20 (10.75%) Active Directory
8 20 (10.75%) Microsoft Excel
9 15 (8.06%) Collaborative Working
9 15 (8.06%) DV Cleared
9 15 (8.06%) High Availability
9 15 (8.06%) Problem-Solving
9 15 (8.06%) Windows Server
10 13 (6.99%) DNS
10 13 (6.99%) ITIL
11 11 (5.91%) BPSS Clearance
11 11 (5.91%) Change Management
11 11 (5.91%) ERP
11 11 (5.91%) Microsoft 365
11 11 (5.91%) VMware
12 10 (5.38%) DB2
12 10 (5.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 9 (4.84%) Azure
13 9 (4.84%) Dynamics 365
13 9 (4.84%) Firewall
13 9 (4.84%) Hyper-V
13 9 (4.84%) Time Management
13 9 (4.84%) VMware Infrastructure
14 8 (4.30%) AWS

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 6 (3.23%) Microsoft Exchange
1 6 (3.23%) SharePoint
2 2 (1.08%) Confluence
Applications
1 20 (10.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (3.23%) Spreadsheet
3 3 (1.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.54%) iTrent
Cloud Services
1 11 (5.91%) Microsoft 365
2 9 (4.84%) Azure
2 9 (4.84%) Dynamics 365
3 8 (4.30%) AWS
4 5 (2.69%) GCP
4 5 (2.69%) IaaS
5 4 (2.15%) Entra ID
6 3 (1.61%) Amazon S3
6 3 (1.61%) Veeva
7 1 (0.54%) Amazon EC2
7 1 (0.54%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.54%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 13 (6.99%) DNS
2 9 (4.84%) Firewall
3 8 (4.30%) DHCP
4 5 (2.69%) Network Security
5 4 (2.15%) SAN
5 4 (2.15%) WAN
6 3 (1.61%) Intrusion Detection
7 2 (1.08%) iSCSI
7 2 (1.08%) LAN
7 2 (1.08%) NAS
7 2 (1.08%) TCP/IP
8 1 (0.54%) GSM
8 1 (0.54%) Kerberos
8 1 (0.54%) SSL
8 1 (0.54%) VPN
8 1 (0.54%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (5.38%) DB2
2 5 (2.69%) Oracle Database
2 5 (2.69%) SQL Server
3 2 (1.08%) Data Warehouse
3 2 (1.08%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 2 (1.08%) Git
1 2 (1.08%) JIRA
2 1 (0.54%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 21 (11.29%) Finance
2 16 (8.60%) Social Skills
3 14 (7.53%) Public Sector
4 13 (6.99%) Banking
5 10 (5.38%) Organisational Skills
6 5 (2.69%) Local Government
7 4 (2.15%) Aerospace
7 4 (2.15%) Analytical Skills
7 4 (2.15%) Fire and Rescue
7 4 (2.15%) Law
7 4 (2.15%) Police
7 4 (2.15%) Telecoms
8 3 (1.61%) Retail
9 2 (1.08%) Legal
10 1 (0.54%) Documentation Skills
10 1 (0.54%) Electronics
10 1 (0.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.54%) Manufacturing
10 1 (0.54%) Marketing
10 1 (0.54%) Military
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.08%) Oracle Fusion
1 2 (1.08%) YAML
2 1 (0.54%) CSS
2 1 (0.54%) HTML
2 1 (0.54%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 10 (5.38%) Mainframe
2 7 (3.76%) Operational Technology
3 6 (3.23%) Data Centre
3 6 (3.23%) Onboarding
4 5 (2.69%) PKI
5 3 (1.61%) Management Information System
5 3 (1.61%) NHS
5 3 (1.61%) SCADA
5 3 (1.61%) Security Posture
6 2 (1.08%) Clustering
6 2 (1.08%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.54%) Driving Licence
7 1 (0.54%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (0.54%) Enterprise Storage
7 1 (0.54%) Learning Management System
7 1 (0.54%) LIMS
Operating Systems
1 30 (16.13%) Linux
2 24 (12.90%) Windows
3 15 (8.06%) Windows Server
4 10 (5.38%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (4.30%) Unix
6 6 (3.23%) zOS
7 4 (2.15%) Ubuntu
8 2 (1.08%) Debian
8 2 (1.08%) Windows Server 2016
8 2 (1.08%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (16.67%) Workflow
2 15 (8.06%) Collaborative Working
2 15 (8.06%) High Availability
2 15 (8.06%) Problem-Solving
3 13 (6.99%) ITIL
4 11 (5.91%) Change Management
4 11 (5.91%) ERP
5 9 (4.84%) Time Management
6 7 (3.76%) Knowledge Transfer
6 7 (3.76%) Service Delivery
7 6 (3.23%) Problem Management
7 6 (3.23%) Security Patching
7 6 (3.23%) Validation
8 5 (2.69%) Configuration Management
8 5 (2.69%) Continuous Improvement
8 5 (2.69%) Data Cleansing
8 5 (2.69%) Patch Management
8 5 (2.69%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 5 (2.69%) System Testing
9 4 (2.15%) Infrastructure Management
Programming Languages
1 7 (3.76%) PowerShell
2 5 (2.69%) Bash
2 5 (2.69%) SQL
3 3 (1.61%) Python
4 2 (1.08%) C++
5 1 (0.54%) Perl
Qualifications
1 36 (19.35%) Security Cleared
2 28 (15.05%) SC Cleared
3 15 (8.06%) DV Cleared
4 11 (5.91%) BPSS Clearance
5 5 (2.69%) Degree
6 2 (1.08%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 2 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
6 2 (1.08%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 1 (0.54%) HND
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.15%) SLA
2 3 (1.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (1.61%) JSP 440
3 1 (0.54%) Accessibility
3 1 (0.54%) COBIT
3 1 (0.54%) Data Quality
3 1 (0.54%) HL7
3 1 (0.54%) NIST
System Software
1 20 (10.75%) Active Directory
2 9 (4.84%) Hyper-V
2 9 (4.84%) VMware Infrastructure
3 2 (1.08%) Firmware
3 2 (1.08%) QEMU
3 2 (1.08%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.54%) ACF2
4 1 (0.54%) GPFS
4 1 (0.54%) RACF
4 1 (0.54%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 1 (0.54%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 7 (3.76%) Ansible
2 5 (2.69%) Microsoft Intune
3 3 (1.61%) SCCM
4 2 (1.08%) EMC NetWorker
4 2 (1.08%) EMC VPLEX
4 2 (1.08%) Grafana
4 2 (1.08%) Podman
4 2 (1.08%) Prometheus
4 2 (1.08%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (1.08%) vCenter Server
5 1 (0.54%) BladeLogic
5 1 (0.54%) Failover Clustering
5 1 (0.54%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.54%) Network Intrusion Detection System
5 1 (0.54%) Progress Chef
5 1 (0.54%) WSUS
Vendors
1 33 (17.74%) Microsoft
2 29 (15.59%) Avature
3 11 (5.91%) VMware
4 8 (4.30%) Red Hat
5 7 (3.76%) Oracle
6 6 (3.23%) Broadcom
6 6 (3.23%) Cisco
7 5 (2.69%) Dell
7 5 (2.69%) Google
8 4 (2.15%) Fortinet
8 4 (2.15%) SAP
9 3 (1.61%) Palo Alto
10 2 (1.08%) Brocade
10 2 (1.08%) EMC
10 2 (1.08%) F5
10 2 (1.08%) Isilon
10 2 (1.08%) NVIDIA
10 2 (1.08%) Okta
10 2 (1.08%) SolarWinds
10 2 (1.08%) Thales