Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends

System Engineer
UK

The median System Engineer daily rate in the UK is £465, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 20 July 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 253 342 251
Rank change year-on-year +89 -91 +118
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 520 214 395
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 0.65% 0.95%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.06% 0.71% 1.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 117 70 83
10th Percentile £225 £363 £313
25th Percentile £382 £414 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £480 £450
Median % change year-on-year -3.13% +6.67% -13.46%
75th Percentile £533 £600 £550
90th Percentile £600 £650 £634
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £500 £425
% change year-on-year -7.00% +17.65% -15.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 234 61 161
10th Percentile £46.61 £45.00 £39.96
25th Percentile £56.74 £51.25 £45.30
Median hourly rate £67.23 £56.44 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.12% -5.93% -1.80%
75th Percentile £77.50 £73.75 £71.25
90th Percentile £81.05 £77.50 £76.86
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £56.44 £65.00
% change year-on-year +19.60% -13.17% +15.06%

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 48,848 30,065 38,836
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.55% 91.66% 93.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,490 19,139 25,111
10th Percentile £325 £285 £291
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £737 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +5.26% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,297 1,430 2,509
10th Percentile £15.79 £13.75 £13.25
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £17.80
Median hourly rate £43.69 £25.15 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +73.72% -37.13% -6.98%
75th Percentile £67.84 £55.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.75 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.94
% change year-on-year +78.93% -38.57% +3.51%

Systems Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Systems Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Systems Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Systems Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Systems Engineer over the 6 months to 20 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Systems Engineer in the UK

Systems Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Systems Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Systems Engineer over the 6 months to 20 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Systems Engineer in the UK

Systems Engineer
Top 16 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 Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 20 July 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 +78 472 £475 -6.17% 361
UK excluding London +52 438 £465 -7.00% 323
South East +25 131 £500 -11.11% 111
South West +23 104 £495 -10.20% 76
Work from Home -9 76 £465 -13.89% 110
East of England +6 67 £450 -18.18% 45
London -38 66 £475 -9.52% 61
Midlands -6 59 £395 +12.86% 42
North of England -59 44 £450 +5.88% 42
West Midlands -37 34 £395 -7.06% 28
North West -46 27 £500 +17.65% 22
East Midlands 0 25 £463 +516.67% 13
Scotland -3 20 £215 -50.86% 5
Wales - 13 £465 - 9
Yorkshire -41 12 £275 - 10
North East -33 5 £450 - 10

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

For the 6 months to 20 July 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 featuring Systems Engineer in the job title.

1 113 (21.73%) Security Cleared
2 97 (18.65%) Systems Engineering
3 76 (14.62%) SC Cleared
4 54 (10.38%) Validation
5 41 (7.88%) Degree
6 40 (7.69%) Windows
7 37 (7.12%) Linux
7 37 (7.12%) Rational DOORS
8 36 (6.92%) Problem-Solving
9 29 (5.58%) Verification and Validation
10 28 (5.38%) Microsoft
11 25 (4.81%) DV Cleared
11 25 (4.81%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 23 (4.42%) Active Directory
13 22 (4.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 21 (4.04%) Azure
14 21 (4.04%) Decision-Making
15 20 (3.85%) Configuration Management
15 20 (3.85%) TCP/IP
16 19 (3.65%) ServiceNow
17 18 (3.46%) Customer Service
17 18 (3.46%) Siemens
18 17 (3.27%) EMC
18 17 (3.27%) Python
19 16 (3.08%) BPSS Clearance
19 16 (3.08%) DNS
19 16 (3.08%) Ethernet
19 16 (3.08%) Microsoft Office
19 16 (3.08%) Risk Assessment
20 15 (2.88%) Creative Thinking

Systems Engineer 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 5 (0.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (0.77%) SAS
2 4 (0.77%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.58%) Confluence
4 1 (0.19%) IIS
Applications
1 16 (3.08%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.12%) Simulink
3 4 (0.77%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 1 (0.19%) ResourceLink
1 1 (0.19%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.19%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 21 (4.04%) Azure
2 13 (2.50%) AWS
3 12 (2.31%) SaaS
4 11 (2.12%) Microsoft 365
5 9 (1.73%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.15%) GitHub
7 5 (0.96%) OpenShift
8 4 (0.77%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (0.58%) Amazon EC2
9 3 (0.58%) Amazon S3
9 3 (0.58%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (0.58%) OneDrive
10 2 (0.38%) Cloudflare
10 2 (0.38%) GCP
11 1 (0.19%) Amazon EKS
11 1 (0.19%) AWS Step Functions
11 1 (0.19%) Figma
11 1 (0.19%) Power Platform
11 1 (0.19%) PowerApps
11 1 (0.19%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 20 (3.85%) TCP/IP
2 16 (3.08%) DNS
2 16 (3.08%) Ethernet
3 12 (2.31%) DHCP
3 12 (2.31%) Firewall
4 9 (1.73%) Network Security
5 7 (1.35%) LAN
6 5 (0.96%) VPN
7 4 (0.77%) IPv4
7 4 (0.77%) Modbus
7 4 (0.77%) VLAN
7 4 (0.77%) WAN
8 3 (0.58%) SpaceWire
9 2 (0.38%) DKIM
9 2 (0.38%) DMARC
9 2 (0.38%) LTE
9 2 (0.38%) NAS
9 2 (0.38%) Unified Communications
9 2 (0.38%) VoIP
9 2 (0.38%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.38%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.19%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.19%) Db2
2 1 (0.19%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.19%) NoSQL
2 1 (0.19%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.19%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 37 (7.12%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.35%) Rational Rhapsody
3 5 (0.96%) JIRA
4 1 (0.19%) CANoe
4 1 (0.19%) Storybook
General
1 72 (13.85%) Aerospace
2 50 (9.62%) Social Skills
3 38 (7.31%) Military
4 28 (5.38%) Avionics
5 22 (4.23%) Manufacturing
6 20 (3.85%) Analytical Skills
7 19 (3.65%) Electronics
8 16 (3.08%) Presentation Skills
9 15 (2.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 13 (2.50%) Automotive
11 10 (1.92%) Finance
11 10 (1.92%) Law
12 8 (1.54%) Public Sector
13 4 (0.77%) Aviation
13 4 (0.77%) Documentation Skills
14 3 (0.58%) Telecoms
15 2 (0.38%) Games
16 1 (0.19%) Influencing Skills
16 1 (0.19%) Legal
16 1 (0.19%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.15%) OpenID
1 6 (1.15%) SAML
2 5 (0.96%) REST
3 4 (0.77%) NETCONF
4 3 (0.58%) HTML
4 3 (0.58%) ISPF
4 3 (0.58%) Microsoft Graph
4 3 (0.58%) Software Packaging
5 2 (0.38%) FastAPI
5 2 (0.38%) JSON
5 2 (0.38%) React
6 1 (0.19%) CSS
6 1 (0.19%) GraphQL
6 1 (0.19%) Node.js
6 1 (0.19%) Qt
6 1 (0.19%) RESTful
6 1 (0.19%) SailPoint
6 1 (0.19%) Streamlit
6 1 (0.19%) Unity (Game Engine)
6 1 (0.19%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 15 (2.88%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (2.88%) Robotics
2 9 (1.73%) Operational Technology
3 8 (1.54%) Renewable Energy
4 7 (1.35%) CUDA
4 7 (1.35%) IoT
5 6 (1.15%) Mainframe
5 6 (1.15%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (1.15%) Virtual Team
6 5 (0.96%) Embedded Systems
6 5 (0.96%) Onboarding
7 4 (0.77%) SCADA
8 3 (0.58%) Acoustics
8 3 (0.58%) Data Centre
8 3 (0.58%) FPGA
8 3 (0.58%) Life Science
9 2 (0.38%) Animation
9 2 (0.38%) ASIC
9 2 (0.38%) Manufacturing Execution System
9 2 (0.38%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 40 (7.69%) Windows
2 37 (7.12%) Linux
3 14 (2.69%) Windows Server
4 6 (1.15%) Windows 10
5 4 (0.77%) Mac OS
5 4 (0.77%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.58%) Android
6 3 (0.58%) MVS
6 3 (0.58%) zOS
7 2 (0.38%) Unix
8 1 (0.19%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.19%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (18.65%) Systems Engineering
2 54 (10.38%) Validation
3 36 (6.92%) Problem-Solving
4 29 (5.58%) Verification and Validation
5 25 (4.81%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 22 (4.23%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 21 (4.04%) Decision-Making
8 20 (3.85%) Configuration Management
9 18 (3.46%) Customer Service
10 16 (3.08%) Risk Assessment
11 15 (2.88%) Creative Thinking
11 15 (2.88%) Fault Analysis
11 15 (2.88%) Mechatronics
12 13 (2.50%) Workflow
13 12 (2.31%) Continuous Improvement
13 12 (2.31%) Root Cause Analysis
14 11 (2.12%) AI
15 10 (1.92%) Agile
15 10 (1.92%) Migration
15 10 (1.92%) SysML
Programming Languages
1 17 (3.27%) Python
2 15 (2.88%) MATLAB
3 14 (2.69%) PowerShell
4 6 (1.15%) Bash
5 5 (0.96%) REXX
6 4 (0.77%) C
7 3 (0.58%) Java
7 3 (0.58%) JCL
7 3 (0.58%) SQL
8 2 (0.38%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.19%) C#
9 1 (0.19%) C++
9 1 (0.19%) Go
9 1 (0.19%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.19%) Lua
9 1 (0.19%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 113 (21.73%) Security Cleared
2 76 (14.62%) SC Cleared
3 41 (7.88%) Degree
4 25 (4.81%) DV Cleared
5 16 (3.08%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (0.96%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (0.77%) Azure Certification
8 3 (0.58%) CCNA
8 3 (0.58%) Cisco Certification
9 2 (0.38%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.38%) Chartered Engineer
10 1 (0.19%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 1 (0.19%) CCA
10 1 (0.19%) CCNP
10 1 (0.19%) CISSP
10 1 (0.19%) CompTIA CySA+
10 1 (0.19%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.19%) HND
10 1 (0.19%) Master's Degree
10 1 (0.19%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (0.77%) Def Stans
1 4 (0.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.58%) Data Quality
2 3 (0.58%) MIL-STD-1553
2 3 (0.58%) NCSC
3 2 (0.38%) GxP
3 2 (0.38%) NIST
3 2 (0.38%) QA
4 1 (0.19%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.19%) DICOM
4 1 (0.19%) DO-254
4 1 (0.19%) GMP
4 1 (0.19%) HL7
4 1 (0.19%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.19%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.19%) NIST 800
4 1 (0.19%) SLA
4 1 (0.19%) WCAG
System Software
1 23 (4.42%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.31%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.54%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (1.15%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 5 (0.96%) Docker
5 5 (0.96%) Firmware
5 5 (0.96%) Hyper-V
5 5 (0.96%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.38%) Embedded Firmware
6 2 (0.38%) KVM
6 2 (0.38%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.19%) Job Entry Subsystem
7 1 (0.19%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 11 (2.12%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (1.92%) Ansible
3 8 (1.54%) Kubernetes
4 7 (1.35%) Puppet
5 5 (0.96%) SCCM
5 5 (0.96%) Terraform
6 2 (0.38%) Functional Safety
6 2 (0.38%) Tivoli NetView
7 1 (0.19%) Amdocs OSS
7 1 (0.19%) Control-M
7 1 (0.19%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.19%) MOM
7 1 (0.19%) Packer
7 1 (0.19%) PingFederate
7 1 (0.19%) Progress Chef
7 1 (0.19%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 28 (5.38%) Microsoft
2 19 (3.65%) ServiceNow
3 18 (3.46%) Siemens
4 17 (3.27%) EMC
5 15 (2.88%) Fortinet
6 13 (2.50%) NetApp
7 12 (2.31%) IBM
7 12 (2.31%) VMware
8 7 (1.35%) NVIDIA
9 6 (1.15%) Cisco
10 4 (0.77%) Splunk
11 3 (0.58%) Broadcom
11 3 (0.58%) Citrix
11 3 (0.58%) NEC
11 3 (0.58%) Red Hat
12 2 (0.38%) CyberArk
12 2 (0.38%) SAP
13 1 (0.19%) Dynatrace
13 1 (0.19%) Rockwell
13 1 (0.19%) SaltStack