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 28 October 2025.

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

6 months to
28 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 434 299 329
Rank change year-on-year -135 +30 +152
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 149 289 324
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.44% 0.79% 0.68%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.48% 0.85% 0.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 48 73 178
10th Percentile £240 £315 £325
25th Percentile £350 £363 £428
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £465 £438 £550
Median % change year-on-year +6.29% -20.45% +10.00%
75th Percentile £581 £538 £645
90th Percentile £621 £676 £704
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £425 £560
% change year-on-year +8.82% -24.11% +17.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 74 58
10th Percentile £44.94 £24.65 £35.00
25th Percentile £46.98 £42.24 £51.25
Median hourly rate £63.75 £65.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -1.92% +15.06% +8.21%
75th Percentile £74.06 £70.00 £63.56
90th Percentile £75.79 £76.23 £79.84
UK excluding London median hourly rate £63.75 £65.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -1.92% +15.06% -4.21%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
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 30,820 33,990 44,445
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.86% 92.88% 93.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 19,489 20,492 30,296
10th Percentile £280 £300 £300
25th Percentile £402 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £620 £638 £650
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,712 1,308 1,539
10th Percentile £13.84 £15.05 £14.73
25th Percentile £17.30 £20.30 £19.06
Median hourly rate £25.15 £39.50 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -36.33% -12.22% +64.38%
75th Percentile £50.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £69.43 £73.75 £77.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £40.00 £44.50
% change year-on-year -37.50% -10.11% +93.48%

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 28 October 2025.

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 28 October 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for Systems Engineer in the UK

Systems Engineer
Top 15 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 28 October 2025. 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 -130 129 £465 +4.79% 608
UK excluding London -116 118 £463 +8.82% 580
Work from Home -9 38 £508 +12.78% 198
London -6 25 £493 +5.91% 103
Midlands -37 23 £438 +2.94% 76
North of England -60 21 £463 -38.33% 83
South East -35 20 £379 +8.29% 188
North West -39 20 £463 -38.33% 57
East of England -44 20 £475 +8.57% 87
South West +4 19 £550 - 131
Scotland +3 14 £500 +9.89% 21
West Midlands -21 13 £438 +7.69% 37
East Midlands -20 10 - - 39
Yorkshire -33 1 - - 15
Wales - 1 - - 11

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

For the 6 months to 28 October 2025, 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 32 (21.48%) Security Cleared
2 26 (17.45%) SC Cleared
3 24 (16.11%) Linux
4 20 (13.42%) Validation
5 19 (12.75%) Systems Engineering
6 17 (11.41%) Windows
7 16 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
8 15 (10.07%) Java
8 15 (10.07%) Python
9 12 (8.05%) AWS
9 12 (8.05%) Azure
9 12 (8.05%) Microsoft
9 12 (8.05%) Verification and Validation
10 11 (7.38%) C
10 11 (7.38%) GitHub
10 11 (7.38%) Oracle
11 10 (6.71%) Degree
11 10 (6.71%) DevOps
11 10 (6.71%) Rational DOORS
12 9 (6.04%) Agile
12 9 (6.04%) Firewall
12 9 (6.04%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 9 (6.04%) SQL
12 9 (6.04%) System Testing
12 9 (6.04%) Terraform
13 8 (5.37%) Active Directory
13 8 (5.37%) Ansible
13 8 (5.37%) CI/CD
13 8 (5.37%) Cybersecurity
13 8 (5.37%) Requirements Management

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 3 (2.01%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.34%) NetWeaver
2 2 (1.34%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.67%) Apache
3 1 (0.67%) CMS
3 1 (0.67%) Confluence
3 1 (0.67%) IIS
3 1 (0.67%) Tomcat
Applications
1 6 (4.03%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.68%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (2.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (1.34%) CANalyzer
3 2 (1.34%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 2 (1.34%) SAP Oil and Gas
1 2 (1.34%) Teamcenter
2 1 (0.67%) Pegasus Opera
Cloud Services
1 12 (8.05%) AWS
1 12 (8.05%) Azure
2 11 (7.38%) GitHub
3 7 (4.70%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (2.68%) AWS CloudFormation
5 3 (2.01%) Amazon S3
5 3 (2.01%) Entra ID
5 3 (2.01%) GitHub Actions
6 2 (1.34%) Amazon CloudWatch
6 2 (1.34%) Amazon EC2
6 2 (1.34%) AWS Lambda
6 2 (1.34%) GCP
6 2 (1.34%) GitHub Copilot
6 2 (1.34%) Google Workspace
6 2 (1.34%) Serverless
7 1 (0.67%) Azure Data Factory
7 1 (0.67%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.67%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.67%) Slack
7 1 (0.67%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 9 (6.04%) Firewall
2 4 (2.68%) SSL
2 4 (2.68%) VPN
3 3 (2.01%) DHCP
3 3 (2.01%) DNS
3 3 (2.01%) TCP/IP
3 3 (2.01%) Wireless
4 2 (1.34%) LAN
4 2 (1.34%) SAN
4 2 (1.34%) Software-Defined Radio
4 2 (1.34%) VoIP
4 2 (1.34%) WAN
5 1 (0.67%) Ethernet
5 1 (0.67%) FCAPS
5 1 (0.67%) HTTP
5 1 (0.67%) J1939
5 1 (0.67%) Link 16
5 1 (0.67%) SpaceWire
5 1 (0.67%) Tactical Data Link
5 1 (0.67%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (4.03%) Oracle Database
2 2 (1.34%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.67%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.67%) Metadata
Development Applications
1 10 (6.71%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (4.03%) ClearCase
3 2 (1.34%) Git
3 2 (1.34%) Jenkins
3 2 (1.34%) JIRA
3 2 (1.34%) Rational Statemate
3 2 (1.34%) Snyk
4 1 (0.67%) CANoe
4 1 (0.67%) CMake
4 1 (0.67%) GitLab
4 1 (0.67%) Gradle
4 1 (0.67%) LabVIEW
4 1 (0.67%) Postman
4 1 (0.67%) Selenium
General
1 20 (13.42%) Social Skills
2 19 (12.75%) Aerospace
3 6 (4.03%) Manufacturing
3 6 (4.03%) Public Sector
4 5 (3.36%) Electronics
5 4 (2.68%) Analytical Skills
5 4 (2.68%) Telecoms
6 3 (2.01%) Documentation Skills
6 3 (2.01%) Finance
6 3 (2.01%) Military
7 2 (1.34%) Avionics
7 2 (1.34%) Banking
7 2 (1.34%) French Language
7 2 (1.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 2 (1.34%) Legal
7 2 (1.34%) Social Housing
8 1 (0.67%) Local Government
8 1 (0.67%) Marketing
8 1 (0.67%) Presentation Skills
8 1 (0.67%) Retail Banking
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (2.68%) Kafka
2 3 (2.01%) Web Services
3 2 (1.34%) Spring
3 2 (1.34%) Spring Boot
4 1 (0.67%) Bazel
4 1 (0.67%) FastAPI
4 1 (0.67%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.67%) Middleware
4 1 (0.67%) Oracle Fusion
4 1 (0.67%) React
4 1 (0.67%) Redux
4 1 (0.67%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 9 (6.04%) SCADA
2 7 (4.70%) Renewable Energy
3 5 (3.36%) Onboarding
4 4 (2.68%) Algorithms
4 4 (2.68%) Distributed Systems
4 4 (2.68%) Legacy Systems
5 3 (2.01%) Operational Technology
6 2 (1.34%) Data Centre
6 2 (1.34%) Driving Licence
6 2 (1.34%) Embedded Systems
6 2 (1.34%) Life Science
6 2 (1.34%) Management Information System
6 2 (1.34%) Replication
6 2 (1.34%) Robotics
6 2 (1.34%) Security Posture
7 1 (0.67%) CAN bus
7 1 (0.67%) Data Protection Act
7 1 (0.67%) Device Driver
7 1 (0.67%) Graphic Design
7 1 (0.67%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 24 (16.11%) Linux
2 17 (11.41%) Windows
3 9 (6.04%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 4 (2.68%) Unix
5 3 (2.01%) CentOS
5 3 (2.01%) Ubuntu
5 3 (2.01%) Windows Server
6 1 (0.67%) Android
6 1 (0.67%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.67%) Mac OS
6 1 (0.67%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
6 1 (0.67%) VMS
6 1 (0.67%) VxWorks
Processes & Methodologies
1 20 (13.42%) Validation
2 19 (12.75%) Systems Engineering
3 16 (10.74%) Problem-Solving
4 12 (8.05%) Verification and Validation
5 10 (6.71%) DevOps
6 9 (6.04%) Agile
6 9 (6.04%) System Testing
7 8 (5.37%) CI/CD
7 8 (5.37%) Cybersecurity
7 8 (5.37%) Requirements Management
8 6 (4.03%) Infrastructure as Code
8 6 (4.03%) Mentoring
8 6 (4.03%) Process Improvement
8 6 (4.03%) Requirements Engineering
8 6 (4.03%) Software Engineering
9 5 (3.36%) AI
9 5 (3.36%) ERP
9 5 (3.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 5 (3.36%) Project Delivery
9 5 (3.36%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 15 (10.07%) Java
1 15 (10.07%) Python
2 11 (7.38%) C
3 9 (6.04%) SQL
4 7 (4.70%) Shell Script
5 6 (4.03%) Bash
6 5 (3.36%) C++
7 4 (2.68%) MATLAB
7 4 (2.68%) PowerShell
8 3 (2.01%) Go
9 2 (1.34%) C#
9 2 (1.34%) JavaScript
10 1 (0.67%) Embedded C
10 1 (0.67%) Embedded C++
10 1 (0.67%) Korn
10 1 (0.67%) Ladder Logic
10 1 (0.67%) Perl
10 1 (0.67%) Ruby
10 1 (0.67%) Tcl
10 1 (0.67%) VBA
Qualifications
1 32 (21.48%) Security Cleared
2 26 (17.45%) SC Cleared
3 10 (6.71%) Degree
4 5 (3.36%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (2.01%) DV Cleared
6 2 (1.34%) CCNA
6 2 (1.34%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.34%) RHCE
7 1 (0.67%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.67%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.67%) HND
7 1 (0.67%) ISACA
7 1 (0.67%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.67%) RHCSA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (2.68%) IEC 61131
2 2 (1.34%) Cyber Essentials
2 2 (1.34%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.67%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (0.67%) Def Stans
3 1 (0.67%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (0.67%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.67%) QA
System Software
1 8 (5.37%) Active Directory
2 5 (3.36%) Docker
3 3 (2.01%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (2.01%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (1.34%) vSphere
5 1 (0.67%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.67%) Firmware
5 1 (0.67%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.67%) Virtual Servers
5 1 (0.67%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 9 (6.04%) Terraform
2 8 (5.37%) Ansible
3 5 (3.36%) Microsoft Intune
4 4 (2.68%) Kubernetes
5 2 (1.34%) Prometheus
5 2 (1.34%) SCCM
5 2 (1.34%) SELinux
5 2 (1.34%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.67%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.67%) Grafana
6 1 (0.67%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (0.67%) Nagios
6 1 (0.67%) Podman
6 1 (0.67%) Progress Chef
6 1 (0.67%) Puppet
6 1 (0.67%) Red Hat Satellite
6 1 (0.67%) WSUS
6 1 (0.67%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 12 (8.05%) Microsoft
2 11 (7.38%) Oracle
3 8 (5.37%) VMware
4 6 (4.03%) Cisco
4 6 (4.03%) IBM
4 6 (4.03%) NetApp
4 6 (4.03%) SAP
5 5 (3.36%) Siemens
6 4 (2.68%) Rockwell
6 4 (2.68%) Wonderware
7 3 (2.01%) Axway
7 3 (2.01%) Okta
7 3 (2.01%) Red Hat
8 2 (1.34%) CyberArk
8 2 (1.34%) Google
8 2 (1.34%) Palo Alto
8 2 (1.34%) Remedy
8 2 (1.34%) ServiceNow
9 1 (0.67%) Meraki
9 1 (0.67%) Rapid7