Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends

System Engineer
UK

The median System Engineer daily rate in the UK is £475, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 7 June 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 276 352 234
Rank change year-on-year +76 -118 +139
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 439 167 436
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.89% 0.57% 1.00%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.96% 0.62% 1.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 70 100
10th Percentile £233 £313 £313
25th Percentile £383 £402 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £480 £450
Median % change year-on-year -1.04% +6.67% -12.20%
75th Percentile £534 £594 £563
90th Percentile £600 £650 £639
UK excluding London median daily rate £470 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -6.00% +11.11% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 173 40 195
10th Percentile £42.75 £46.06 £39.71
25th Percentile £55.00 £52.42 £47.83
Median hourly rate £67.50 £55.52 £59.00
Median % change year-on-year +21.58% -5.90% -4.07%
75th Percentile £78.75 £73.75 £71.25
90th Percentile £81.73 £75.50 £76.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.50 £56.04 £60.00
% change year-on-year +20.45% -6.60% +3.59%

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 45,716 26,993 40,308
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.35% 92.36% 92.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,851 17,397 26,006
10th Percentile £325 £287 £280
25th Percentile £413 £403 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% -4.76% -2.78%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,052 1,108 2,874
10th Percentile £15.05 £14.00 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.75 £17.87 £16.30
Median hourly rate £45.00 £28.30 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.04% -24.55% -16.67%
75th Percentile £67.50 £58.75 £61.60
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.32 £40.00
% change year-on-year +77.73% -36.70% -5.88%

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 7 June 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 7 June 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 7 June 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 +66 389 £495 +0.51% 437
UK excluding London +77 360 £470 -6.00% 403
South East +11 91 £500 -13.04% 144
South West +34 83 £500 -9.30% 94
Work from Home -1 81 £465 -3.63% 104
East of England +11 68 £450 -18.18% 43
London -58 55 £475 -9.52% 60
North of England -49 46 £450 +8.70% 47
Midlands -22 42 £395 +43.64% 63
North West -34 27 £350 -16.27% 24
West Midlands -43 23 £395 +43.64% 43
East Midlands -13 19 £388 +416.67% 20
Scotland +10 18 £215 -57.00% 15
Yorkshire -42 14 £393 - 11
Wales - 12 £465 - 8
North East -22 5 £450 +38.46% 13

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

For the 6 months to 7 June 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.

1 107 (24.37%) Security Cleared
2 81 (18.45%) Systems Engineering
3 66 (15.03%) SC Cleared
4 46 (10.48%) Degree
5 44 (10.02%) Validation
6 39 (8.88%) Problem-Solving
7 37 (8.43%) Linux
7 37 (8.43%) Windows
8 35 (7.97%) Rational DOORS
9 27 (6.15%) Microsoft
10 25 (5.69%) Verification and Validation
11 24 (5.47%) DV Cleared
11 24 (5.47%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 20 (4.56%) Decision-Making
12 20 (4.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 18 (4.10%) Azure
13 18 (4.10%) Customer Service
13 18 (4.10%) Siemens
13 18 (4.10%) TCP/IP
14 16 (3.64%) Active Directory
14 16 (3.64%) Configuration Management
14 16 (3.64%) Ethernet
14 16 (3.64%) Firewall
14 16 (3.64%) Microsoft Office
14 16 (3.64%) Risk Assessment
14 16 (3.64%) ServiceNow
15 15 (3.42%) Creative Thinking
15 15 (3.42%) Fault Analysis
15 15 (3.42%) Fortinet
15 15 (3.42%) Mechatronics

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 (1.14%) Confluence
2 4 (0.91%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.46%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.23%) SAS
Applications
1 16 (3.64%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.05%) Simulink
3 4 (0.91%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 1 (0.23%) ResourceLink
1 1 (0.23%) SAP HCM
1 1 (0.23%) SAP HR
1 1 (0.23%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.23%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 18 (4.10%) Azure
2 14 (3.19%) AWS
3 12 (2.73%) SaaS
4 9 (2.05%) Microsoft 365
5 6 (1.37%) GitHub
5 6 (1.37%) OpenShift
6 5 (1.14%) Entra ID
7 4 (0.91%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (0.68%) Amazon EC2
8 3 (0.68%) Amazon S3
9 2 (0.46%) Cohesity
9 2 (0.46%) Google Workspace
9 2 (0.46%) OneDrive
10 1 (0.23%) Amazon EKS
10 1 (0.23%) AWS Lambda
10 1 (0.23%) Azure Monitor
10 1 (0.23%) Azure Service Bus
10 1 (0.23%) Power Platform
10 1 (0.23%) PowerApps
10 1 (0.23%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 18 (4.10%) TCP/IP
2 16 (3.64%) Ethernet
2 16 (3.64%) Firewall
3 12 (2.73%) DNS
4 10 (2.28%) DHCP
5 6 (1.37%) LTE
6 5 (1.14%) LAN
6 5 (1.14%) TETRA
6 5 (1.14%) VPN
7 4 (0.91%) Network Security
7 4 (0.91%) WAN
8 3 (0.68%) SpaceWire
9 2 (0.46%) MIMO
9 2 (0.46%) PSTN
9 2 (0.46%) SAN
9 2 (0.46%) Unified Communications
9 2 (0.46%) Wireshark
10 1 (0.23%) 3GPP
10 1 (0.23%) SNMP
10 1 (0.23%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.46%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.23%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.23%) Db2
2 1 (0.23%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.23%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 35 (7.97%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.59%) Rational Rhapsody
3 5 (1.14%) JIRA
4 1 (0.23%) CANoe
General
1 55 (12.53%) Social Skills
2 53 (12.07%) Aerospace
3 39 (8.88%) Military
4 22 (5.01%) Electronics
5 21 (4.78%) Analytical Skills
6 20 (4.56%) Avionics
7 18 (4.10%) Presentation Skills
8 16 (3.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 14 (3.19%) Manufacturing
10 10 (2.28%) Law
11 9 (2.05%) Public Sector
12 8 (1.82%) Finance
13 7 (1.59%) Automotive
14 5 (1.14%) Documentation Skills
14 5 (1.14%) Telecoms
15 4 (0.91%) Aviation
16 2 (0.46%) Retail
17 1 (0.23%) Banking
17 1 (0.23%) Games
17 1 (0.23%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.37%) OpenID
1 6 (1.37%) SAML
2 5 (1.14%) REST
3 3 (0.68%) ISPF
3 3 (0.68%) Software Packaging
4 2 (0.46%) JSON
4 2 (0.46%) Middleware
5 1 (0.23%) FastAPI
5 1 (0.23%) GraphQL
5 1 (0.23%) HTML
5 1 (0.23%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.23%) Node.js
5 1 (0.23%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.23%) Qt
5 1 (0.23%) React
5 1 (0.23%) RESTful
5 1 (0.23%) SAP Fiori
5 1 (0.23%) Streamlit
5 1 (0.23%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 1 (0.23%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 15 (3.42%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (3.42%) Robotics
2 8 (1.82%) Data Centre
2 8 (1.82%) Embedded Systems
3 7 (1.59%) CUDA
3 7 (1.59%) IoT
4 6 (1.37%) Mainframe
5 4 (0.91%) Onboarding
5 4 (0.91%) Operational Technology
5 4 (0.91%) Renewable Energy
6 3 (0.68%) Acoustics
6 3 (0.68%) FPGA
6 3 (0.68%) Hybrid Cloud
6 3 (0.68%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (0.46%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (0.46%) ASIC
7 2 (0.46%) CAN bus
7 2 (0.46%) Data Protection Act
7 2 (0.46%) Enterprise Storage
7 2 (0.46%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 37 (8.43%) Linux
1 37 (8.43%) Windows
2 10 (2.28%) Windows Server
3 5 (1.14%) Android
4 4 (0.91%) Mac OS
4 4 (0.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (0.68%) MVS
5 3 (0.68%) zOS
6 1 (0.23%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.23%) Unix
6 1 (0.23%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (18.45%) Systems Engineering
2 44 (10.02%) Validation
3 39 (8.88%) Problem-Solving
4 25 (5.69%) Verification and Validation
5 24 (5.47%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 20 (4.56%) Decision-Making
6 20 (4.56%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 18 (4.10%) Customer Service
8 16 (3.64%) Configuration Management
8 16 (3.64%) Risk Assessment
9 15 (3.42%) Creative Thinking
9 15 (3.42%) Fault Analysis
9 15 (3.42%) Mechatronics
10 13 (2.96%) Workflow
11 12 (2.73%) Migration
12 11 (2.51%) Agile
12 11 (2.51%) Computer Science
12 11 (2.51%) Root Cause Analysis
13 10 (2.28%) Continuous Improvement
13 10 (2.28%) Performance Tuning
Programming Languages
1 13 (2.96%) MATLAB
1 13 (2.96%) PowerShell
2 12 (2.73%) Python
3 5 (1.14%) Bash
3 5 (1.14%) REXX
4 4 (0.91%) C
5 3 (0.68%) JavaScript
5 3 (0.68%) JCL
6 2 (0.46%) Java
7 1 (0.23%) C#
7 1 (0.23%) C++
7 1 (0.23%) Go
7 1 (0.23%) Lua
7 1 (0.23%) SQL
7 1 (0.23%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 107 (24.37%) Security Cleared
2 66 (15.03%) SC Cleared
3 46 (10.48%) Degree
4 24 (5.47%) DV Cleared
5 10 (2.28%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.46%) AWS Certification
6 2 (0.46%) Azure Certification
6 2 (0.46%) CCNA
6 2 (0.46%) Chartered Engineer
6 2 (0.46%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (0.46%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.23%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 1 (0.23%) CCA
7 1 (0.23%) CCNP
7 1 (0.23%) CISSP
7 1 (0.23%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.23%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.23%) HND
7 1 (0.23%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (0.91%) Def Stans
1 4 (0.91%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.68%) MIL-STD-1553
3 2 (0.46%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.46%) NIST
4 1 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.23%) DICOM
4 1 (0.23%) DO-254
4 1 (0.23%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.23%) HL7
4 1 (0.23%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.23%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.23%) NIST 800
4 1 (0.23%) QA
System Software
1 16 (3.64%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.37%) Hyper-V
3 6 (1.37%) Slurm Workload Manager
3 6 (1.37%) Virtual Desktop
4 4 (0.91%) Firmware
5 3 (0.68%) Docker
5 3 (0.68%) KVM
5 3 (0.68%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.46%) Embedded Firmware
6 2 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.46%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.23%) Job Entry Subsystem
7 1 (0.23%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.23%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.23%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 12 (2.73%) Ansible
2 7 (1.59%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (1.59%) Terraform
3 6 (1.37%) Kubernetes
3 6 (1.37%) Puppet
4 5 (1.14%) SCCM
5 2 (0.46%) Functional Safety
5 2 (0.46%) Tivoli NetView
6 1 (0.23%) Control-M
6 1 (0.23%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (0.23%) MOM
6 1 (0.23%) Packer
Vendors
1 27 (6.15%) Microsoft
2 18 (4.10%) Siemens
3 16 (3.64%) ServiceNow
4 15 (3.42%) Fortinet
4 15 (3.42%) VMware
5 13 (2.96%) NetApp
6 12 (2.73%) IBM
7 7 (1.59%) EMC
7 7 (1.59%) NVIDIA
8 5 (1.14%) Cisco
9 4 (0.91%) Broadcom
9 4 (0.91%) Splunk
10 3 (0.68%) Citrix
10 3 (0.68%) Google
10 3 (0.68%) NEC
10 3 (0.68%) Red Hat
10 3 (0.68%) Veeam
11 2 (0.46%) Apple
11 2 (0.46%) Oracle
11 2 (0.46%) SAP