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 31 March 2026.

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

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 303 375 277
Rank change year-on-year +72 -98 +125
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 348 141 368
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.78% 0.48% 0.83%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.85% 0.52% 0.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 84 64 126
10th Percentile £117 £304 £313
25th Percentile £369 £400 £414
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -0.10%
75th Percentile £541 £566 £575
90th Percentile £584 £719 £646
UK excluding London median daily rate £452 £463 £525
% change year-on-year -2.27% -11.90% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 139 31 151
10th Percentile £42.00 £41.50 £39.55
25th Percentile £44.58 £47.50 £45.60
Median hourly rate £59.67 £55.00 £57.33
Median % change year-on-year +8.49% -4.06% -6.78%
75th Percentile £74.83 £66.88 £71.25
90th Percentile £80.21 £75.00 £75.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £55.00 £57.50
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -4.17%

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 40,988 26,987 41,095
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.05% 92.82% 92.84%
Number of daily rates quoted 25,540 17,745 26,925
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £406 £408
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% -0.95% -3.67%
75th Percentile £613 £630 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +2.11% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,566 944 2,532
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.02 £12.86
25th Percentile £19.72 £20.92 £16.25
Median hourly rate £38.63 £32.50 £32.90
Median % change year-on-year +18.86% -1.20% -25.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £64.50 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.91 £71.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.00 £31.88 £32.90
% change year-on-year +25.47% -3.09% -21.32%

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 31 March 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 31 March 2026.

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 31 March 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 +46 317 £480 +1.05% 394
UK excluding London +59 300 £452 -2.27% 378
South East +9 81 £490 -31.23% 120
East of England +10 73 £450 -16.67% 43
Work from Home -16 53 £480 -0.26% 109
South West +10 51 £500 -15.25% 76
Midlands -30 45 £395 +66.32% 61
North of England -59 38 £450 +6.64% 57
London -62 30 £480 -7.25% 50
North West -31 26 £216 -49.11% 31
East Midlands -17 24 £386 +414.33% 17
West Midlands -40 21 £395 +43.64% 44
Scotland +19 16 £232 -53.70% 19
Yorkshire -48 7 £510 - 12
North East -10 5 £450 +38.46% 14

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

For the 6 months to 31 March 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.

1 106 (30.46%) Security Cleared
2 60 (17.24%) SC Cleared
3 44 (12.64%) Systems Engineering
4 43 (12.36%) Degree
5 38 (10.92%) Validation
6 29 (8.33%) Problem-Solving
7 24 (6.90%) DV Cleared
7 24 (6.90%) Windows
8 22 (6.32%) Rational DOORS
9 20 (5.75%) Linux
9 20 (5.75%) Siemens
10 19 (5.46%) Decision-Making
11 18 (5.17%) Verification and Validation
12 17 (4.89%) Customer Service
12 17 (4.89%) Microsoft
12 17 (4.89%) Microsoft Office
12 17 (4.89%) TCP/IP
13 16 (4.60%) Ethernet
13 16 (4.60%) Risk Assessment
13 16 (4.60%) ServiceNow
14 15 (4.31%) BPSS Clearance
14 15 (4.31%) Creative Thinking
14 15 (4.31%) Fault Analysis
14 15 (4.31%) Mechatronics
15 14 (4.02%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 14 (4.02%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
15 14 (4.02%) NetApp
15 14 (4.02%) PowerShell
16 13 (3.74%) Fortinet
17 11 (3.16%) Agile

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 (1.44%) Confluence
2 3 (0.86%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.29%) Apache
3 1 (0.29%) IIS
3 1 (0.29%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.29%) Tomcat
Applications
1 17 (4.89%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.15%) Simulink
3 2 (0.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.29%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.57%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.29%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.29%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.29%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.29%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.29%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 11 (3.16%) AWS
2 9 (2.59%) Azure
3 5 (1.44%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (1.15%) Amazon EC2
4 4 (1.15%) Amazon S3
5 3 (0.86%) GitHub
5 3 (0.86%) Google Workspace
6 2 (0.57%) Cloud Computing
6 2 (0.57%) Cohesity
6 2 (0.57%) Entra ID
6 2 (0.57%) GCP
6 2 (0.57%) OpenShift
6 2 (0.57%) SaaS
7 1 (0.29%) AWS Lambda
7 1 (0.29%) AWS Step Functions
7 1 (0.29%) Azure Logic Apps
7 1 (0.29%) PaaS
7 1 (0.29%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.29%) PowerApps
7 1 (0.29%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 17 (4.89%) TCP/IP
2 16 (4.60%) Ethernet
3 9 (2.59%) Firewall
4 6 (1.72%) LTE
5 5 (1.44%) TETRA
6 4 (1.15%) DHCP
6 4 (1.15%) DNS
6 4 (1.15%) SNMP
6 4 (1.15%) VPN
7 3 (0.86%) Network Security
7 3 (0.86%) SAN
8 2 (0.57%) LAN
8 2 (0.57%) MIMO
8 2 (0.57%) NAS
8 2 (0.57%) SpaceWire
8 2 (0.57%) SSL
9 1 (0.29%) 3GPP
9 1 (0.29%) PSTN
9 1 (0.29%) VLAN
9 1 (0.29%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.57%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.29%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.29%) DB2
2 1 (0.29%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.29%) Oracle Database
2 1 (0.29%) Pentaho
2 1 (0.29%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 22 (6.32%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (1.72%) JIRA
3 2 (0.57%) ClearCase
4 1 (0.29%) Git
4 1 (0.29%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.29%) Postman
4 1 (0.29%) Selenium
General
1 51 (14.66%) Social Skills
2 49 (14.08%) Aerospace
3 34 (9.77%) Military
4 22 (6.32%) Manufacturing
5 18 (5.17%) Electronics
5 18 (5.17%) Presentation Skills
6 17 (4.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 10 (2.87%) Analytical Skills
8 8 (2.30%) Public Sector
9 5 (1.44%) Banking
9 5 (1.44%) Finance
9 5 (1.44%) Telecoms
10 4 (1.15%) Avionics
10 4 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
10 4 (1.15%) Retail Banking
11 2 (0.57%) Retail
12 1 (0.29%) Games
12 1 (0.29%) Marketing
12 1 (0.29%) Organisational Skills
12 1 (0.29%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.15%) ISPF
1 4 (1.15%) REST
2 3 (0.86%) Middleware
2 3 (0.86%) Software Packaging
3 2 (0.57%) JSON
4 1 (0.29%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.29%) HTML
4 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.29%) Node.js
4 1 (0.29%) RabbitMQ
4 1 (0.29%) RESTful
4 1 (0.29%) SAP Fiori
4 1 (0.29%) Unity (Game Engine)
4 1 (0.29%) Unreal Engine
4 1 (0.29%) XML
4 1 (0.29%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 15 (4.31%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (4.31%) Robotics
2 8 (2.30%) Embedded Systems
3 7 (2.01%) Data Centre
3 7 (2.01%) Onboarding
4 6 (1.72%) Operational Technology
5 5 (1.44%) Legacy Systems
6 4 (1.15%) Mainframe
6 4 (1.15%) SCADA
7 3 (0.86%) Acoustics
7 3 (0.86%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (0.86%) Management Information System
7 3 (0.86%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (0.57%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.57%) Cyber Threat
8 2 (0.57%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.57%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (0.57%) Linux Command Line
8 2 (0.57%) Renewable Energy
8 2 (0.57%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 24 (6.90%) Windows
2 20 (5.75%) Linux
3 7 (2.01%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (1.44%) Android
4 5 (1.44%) Mac OS
4 5 (1.44%) Windows Server
5 4 (1.15%) zOS
6 1 (0.29%) FreeRTOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 44 (12.64%) Systems Engineering
2 38 (10.92%) Validation
3 29 (8.33%) Problem-Solving
4 19 (5.46%) Decision-Making
5 18 (5.17%) Verification and Validation
6 17 (4.89%) Customer Service
7 16 (4.60%) Risk Assessment
8 15 (4.31%) Creative Thinking
8 15 (4.31%) Fault Analysis
8 15 (4.31%) Mechatronics
9 14 (4.02%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 14 (4.02%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
10 11 (3.16%) Agile
11 10 (2.87%) Computer Science
11 10 (2.87%) High Availability
11 10 (2.87%) Migration
12 9 (2.59%) Asset Management
12 9 (2.59%) Disaster Recovery
12 9 (2.59%) Root Cause Analysis
13 8 (2.30%) Configuration Management
Programming Languages
1 14 (4.02%) PowerShell
2 11 (3.16%) Python
3 6 (1.72%) MATLAB
4 4 (1.15%) C
4 4 (1.15%) JCL
4 4 (1.15%) REXX
5 3 (0.86%) C++
5 3 (0.86%) Java
5 3 (0.86%) JavaScript
5 3 (0.86%) SQL
6 2 (0.57%) Bash
6 2 (0.57%) C#
7 1 (0.29%) Embedded C
7 1 (0.29%) Embedded C++
7 1 (0.29%) Go
7 1 (0.29%) Groovy
7 1 (0.29%) Lua
7 1 (0.29%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 106 (30.46%) Security Cleared
2 60 (17.24%) SC Cleared
3 43 (12.36%) Degree
4 24 (6.90%) DV Cleared
5 15 (4.31%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.57%) CCNA
6 2 (0.57%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.29%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.29%) CCNP
7 1 (0.29%) CISSP
7 1 (0.29%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.29%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.29%) HND
7 1 (0.29%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.29%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (0.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 2 (0.57%) Data Quality
2 2 (0.57%) MIL-STD-1553
2 2 (0.57%) NIST
3 1 (0.29%) DICOM
3 1 (0.29%) DO-254
3 1 (0.29%) HL7
3 1 (0.29%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.29%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.29%) NIST 800
System Software
1 10 (2.87%) Active Directory
1 10 (2.87%) VMware Infrastructure
2 5 (1.44%) Firmware
3 4 (1.15%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.86%) Embedded Firmware
4 3 (0.86%) KVM
5 2 (0.57%) Docker
5 2 (0.57%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.57%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.29%) Job Entry Subsystem
6 1 (0.29%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.29%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 6 (1.72%) Ansible
2 5 (1.44%) Microsoft Intune
2 5 (1.44%) Terraform
3 4 (1.15%) SCCM
4 3 (0.86%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.29%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.29%) MOM
5 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.29%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 20 (5.75%) Siemens
2 17 (4.89%) Microsoft
3 16 (4.60%) ServiceNow
4 14 (4.02%) NetApp
5 13 (3.74%) Fortinet
6 11 (3.16%) VMware
7 7 (2.01%) Oracle
8 6 (1.72%) EMC
8 6 (1.72%) Red Hat
9 5 (1.44%) IBM
9 5 (1.44%) Splunk
10 4 (1.15%) Cisco
10 4 (1.15%) Google
10 4 (1.15%) SAP
11 3 (0.86%) Citrix
11 3 (0.86%) Veeam
12 2 (0.57%) Brocade
12 2 (0.57%) CyberArk
12 2 (0.57%) NEC
12 2 (0.57%) Rockwell