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 27 July 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 254 344 259
Rank change year-on-year +90 -85 +111
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 539 214 369
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.02% 0.65% 0.92%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.10% 0.71% 0.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 70 79
10th Percentile £230 £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 £563
90th Percentile £600 £650 £635
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £500 £425
% change year-on-year -7.00% +17.65% -13.92%
Number of hourly rates quoted 246 62 144
10th Percentile £46.61 £45.12 £39.96
25th Percentile £56.74 £51.48 £45.28
Median hourly rate £66.99 £56.44 £61.25
Median % change year-on-year +18.69% -7.85% +0.91%
75th Percentile £76.88 £74.69 £70.17
90th Percentile £81.05 £77.33 £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 48,898 30,175 37,360
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.61% 91.56% 93.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,518 19,205 24,201
10th Percentile £329 £284 £300
25th Percentile £423 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,323 1,465 2,247
10th Percentile £15.75 £13.71 £13.86
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £18.32
Median hourly rate £43.00 £25.15 £42.03
Median % change year-on-year +70.97% -40.16% -2.26%
75th Percentile £68.00 £55.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.17 £73.75 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -41.51% +8.72%

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 27 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 27 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 27 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 +93 492 £475 -6.17% 385
UK excluding London +64 456 £465 -7.00% 327
South East +29 139 £500 -11.11% 119
South West +26 109 £498 -9.75% 71
Work from Home -11 77 £465 -13.89% 120
London -27 67 £475 -9.52% 78
East of England +3 66 £450 -18.18% 41
Midlands -13 61 £395 +12.86% 47
North of England -52 49 £450 +5.88% 42
West Midlands -26 35 £395 -7.06% 31
North West -39 33 £500 +17.65% 19
East Midlands +2 26 £475 +533.33% 16
Scotland +8 19 £308 -29.71% 7
Wales - 13 £465 - 9
Yorkshire -36 12 £275 - 12
North East -38 4 £450 - 11

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

For the 6 months to 27 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.

1 110 (20.41%) Security Cleared
2 101 (18.74%) Systems Engineering
3 74 (13.73%) SC Cleared
4 55 (10.20%) Validation
5 45 (8.35%) Windows
6 44 (8.16%) Degree
7 38 (7.05%) Problem-Solving
8 37 (6.86%) Linux
8 37 (6.86%) Rational DOORS
9 32 (5.94%) Microsoft
10 31 (5.75%) Verification and Validation
11 29 (5.38%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 28 (5.19%) Active Directory
13 24 (4.45%) DV Cleared
14 22 (4.08%) Azure
15 21 (3.90%) Decision-Making
15 21 (3.90%) Infrastructure Engineering
16 20 (3.71%) Configuration Management
16 20 (3.71%) TCP/IP
17 19 (3.53%) EMC
17 19 (3.53%) ServiceNow
18 18 (3.34%) Customer Service
18 18 (3.34%) Python
18 18 (3.34%) Siemens
18 18 (3.34%) Windows Server
19 17 (3.15%) BPSS Clearance
19 17 (3.15%) DNS
20 16 (2.97%) Ethernet
20 16 (2.97%) Microsoft Office
20 16 (2.97%) PowerShell

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 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (0.74%) SAS
2 4 (0.74%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.56%) Confluence
4 1 (0.19%) IIS
Applications
1 16 (2.97%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.04%) Simulink
3 4 (0.74%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 4 (0.74%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.19%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.19%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 22 (4.08%) Azure
2 14 (2.60%) AWS
3 13 (2.41%) Microsoft 365
4 12 (2.23%) SaaS
5 11 (2.04%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.11%) GitHub
7 5 (0.93%) OpenShift
8 4 (0.74%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (0.56%) Amazon EC2
9 3 (0.56%) Amazon S3
9 3 (0.56%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (0.56%) GCP
9 3 (0.56%) OneDrive
10 2 (0.37%) Cloudflare
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 (3.71%) TCP/IP
2 17 (3.15%) DNS
3 16 (2.97%) Ethernet
4 13 (2.41%) DHCP
5 12 (2.23%) Firewall
6 10 (1.86%) Network Security
7 8 (1.48%) LAN
8 5 (0.93%) IPv4
8 5 (0.93%) Modbus
8 5 (0.93%) VLAN
8 5 (0.93%) VPN
9 4 (0.74%) ATM
9 4 (0.74%) WAN
10 3 (0.56%) NAS
10 3 (0.56%) SpaceWire
11 2 (0.37%) DKIM
11 2 (0.37%) DMARC
11 2 (0.37%) LTE
11 2 (0.37%) Unified Communications
11 2 (0.37%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.37%) SQL Server
1 2 (0.37%) 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
Development Applications
1 37 (6.86%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.30%) Rational Rhapsody
3 5 (0.93%) JIRA
4 1 (0.19%) CANoe
4 1 (0.19%) Storybook
General
1 74 (13.73%) Aerospace
2 54 (10.02%) Social Skills
3 37 (6.86%) Military
4 30 (5.57%) Avionics
5 24 (4.45%) Manufacturing
6 20 (3.71%) Analytical Skills
7 19 (3.53%) Electronics
7 19 (3.53%) Presentation Skills
8 15 (2.78%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 14 (2.60%) Automotive
10 10 (1.86%) Finance
10 10 (1.86%) Law
11 7 (1.30%) Public Sector
12 4 (0.74%) Aviation
12 4 (0.74%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.74%) Games
12 4 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
12 4 (0.74%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.19%) Banking
13 1 (0.19%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.11%) OpenID
1 6 (1.11%) SAML
2 5 (0.93%) NETCONF
2 5 (0.93%) REST
3 3 (0.56%) HTML
3 3 (0.56%) ISPF
3 3 (0.56%) Microsoft Graph
3 3 (0.56%) Software Packaging
4 2 (0.37%) FastAPI
4 2 (0.37%) JSON
4 2 (0.37%) React
5 1 (0.19%) GraphQL
5 1 (0.19%) Node.js
5 1 (0.19%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.19%) Qt
5 1 (0.19%) RESTful
5 1 (0.19%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.19%) Streamlit
5 1 (0.19%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 1 (0.19%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 15 (2.78%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (2.78%) Robotics
2 11 (2.04%) Operational Technology
3 9 (1.67%) Renewable Energy
4 7 (1.30%) CUDA
4 7 (1.30%) IoT
5 6 (1.11%) Mainframe
5 6 (1.11%) Onboarding
5 6 (1.11%) SCADA
5 6 (1.11%) Self-Motivation
5 6 (1.11%) Virtual Team
6 5 (0.93%) Embedded Systems
7 4 (0.74%) Animation
7 4 (0.74%) Data Centre
7 4 (0.74%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (0.56%) Acoustics
8 3 (0.56%) FPGA
8 3 (0.56%) Life Science
9 2 (0.37%) CAN bus
9 2 (0.37%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 45 (8.35%) Windows
2 37 (6.86%) Linux
3 18 (3.34%) Windows Server
4 6 (1.11%) Windows 10
5 4 (0.74%) Mac OS
5 4 (0.74%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.56%) Android
6 3 (0.56%) MVS
6 3 (0.56%) zOS
7 2 (0.37%) Unix
8 1 (0.19%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.19%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (18.74%) Systems Engineering
2 55 (10.20%) Validation
3 38 (7.05%) Problem-Solving
4 31 (5.75%) Verification and Validation
5 29 (5.38%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 21 (3.90%) Decision-Making
6 21 (3.90%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 20 (3.71%) Configuration Management
8 18 (3.34%) Customer Service
9 16 (2.97%) Risk Assessment
10 15 (2.78%) AI
10 15 (2.78%) Creative Thinking
10 15 (2.78%) Fault Analysis
10 15 (2.78%) Mechatronics
11 13 (2.41%) SysML
11 13 (2.41%) Workflow
12 12 (2.23%) Continuous Improvement
12 12 (2.23%) Root Cause Analysis
12 12 (2.23%) Stakeholder Management
13 10 (1.86%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 18 (3.34%) Python
2 16 (2.97%) PowerShell
3 13 (2.41%) MATLAB
4 6 (1.11%) Bash
5 5 (0.93%) REXX
6 4 (0.74%) C
7 3 (0.56%) Java
7 3 (0.56%) JCL
7 3 (0.56%) SQL
8 2 (0.37%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.19%) Bicep
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
1 110 (20.41%) Security Cleared
2 74 (13.73%) SC Cleared
3 44 (8.16%) Degree
4 24 (4.45%) DV Cleared
5 17 (3.15%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (0.93%) Chartered Engineer
6 5 (0.93%) Microsoft Certification
7 4 (0.74%) Azure Certification
7 4 (0.74%) CCNA
7 4 (0.74%) Cisco Certification
8 2 (0.37%) AWS Certification
9 1 (0.19%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
9 1 (0.19%) CCA
9 1 (0.19%) CCNP
9 1 (0.19%) CISSP
9 1 (0.19%) CompTIA CySA+
9 1 (0.19%) Computer Science Degree
9 1 (0.19%) HND
9 1 (0.19%) Master's Degree
9 1 (0.19%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (0.74%) Def Stans
1 4 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.56%) Data Quality
2 3 (0.56%) GxP
2 3 (0.56%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 3 (0.56%) MIL-STD-1553
2 3 (0.56%) NCSC
3 2 (0.37%) NIST
3 2 (0.37%) QA
4 1 (0.19%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.19%) DICOM
4 1 (0.19%) DO-254
4 1 (0.19%) GMP
4 1 (0.19%) HAZOP
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 28 (5.19%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.41%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.48%) Virtual Desktop
4 7 (1.30%) Hyper-V
5 6 (1.11%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 5 (0.93%) Docker
6 5 (0.93%) Firmware
6 5 (0.93%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.37%) KVM
7 2 (0.37%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.19%) Job Entry Subsystem
8 1 (0.19%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 11 (2.04%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (1.86%) Ansible
3 8 (1.48%) Kubernetes
4 7 (1.30%) Puppet
5 6 (1.11%) Terraform
6 5 (0.93%) SCCM
7 2 (0.37%) Functional Safety
7 2 (0.37%) Tivoli NetView
8 1 (0.19%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.19%) Control-M
8 1 (0.19%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.19%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.19%) Microsoft Clustering
8 1 (0.19%) MOM
8 1 (0.19%) Packer
8 1 (0.19%) PingFederate
8 1 (0.19%) Progress Chef
8 1 (0.19%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 32 (5.94%) Microsoft
2 19 (3.53%) EMC
2 19 (3.53%) ServiceNow
3 18 (3.34%) Siemens
4 14 (2.60%) Fortinet
5 13 (2.41%) VMware
6 12 (2.23%) IBM
6 12 (2.23%) NetApp
7 7 (1.30%) NVIDIA
8 6 (1.11%) Cisco
9 4 (0.74%) Sparx
9 4 (0.74%) Splunk
10 3 (0.56%) Broadcom
10 3 (0.56%) Citrix
10 3 (0.56%) NEC
10 3 (0.56%) Perforce
10 3 (0.56%) Red Hat
11 2 (0.37%) AVEVA
11 2 (0.37%) CrowdStrike
11 2 (0.37%) SAP