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 22 June 2026.

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

6 months to
22 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 264 367 217
Rank change year-on-year +103 -150 +183
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 468 171 476
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.92% 0.57% 1.09%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.00% 0.62% 1.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 120 67 106
10th Percentile £225 £363 £313
25th Percentile £383 £414 £370
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -12.83%
75th Percentile £533 £588 £563
90th Percentile £600 £650 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £513 £450
% change year-on-year -9.27% +13.89% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 183 45 208
10th Percentile £43.75 £46.48 £39.83
25th Percentile £55.00 £52.50 £47.83
Median hourly rate £67.50 £57.25 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.91% -4.59% -2.44%
75th Percentile £78.75 £73.75 £71.50
90th Percentile £81.73 £76.82 £76.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £70.00 £59.87 £60.00
% change year-on-year +16.92% -0.21% +5.45%

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 46,870 27,596 40,750
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.38% 92.16% 92.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 28,487 17,727 26,108
10th Percentile £325 £288 £281
25th Percentile £414 £402 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +3.30% -4.76% -2.33%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £493
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.65% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,127 1,198 2,996
10th Percentile £15.38 £13.85 £12.86
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.46 £16.39
Median hourly rate £43.61 £27.36 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +59.36% -27.03% -14.77%
75th Percentile £67.50 £57.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £74.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £40.00
% change year-on-year +78.93% -37.13% -1.23%

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 22 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 22 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 22 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 +79 417 £490 -3.92% 342
UK excluding London +76 382 £465 -9.27% 325
South West +36 98 £500 -9.30% 71
South East +7 92 £500 -13.04% 123
Work from Home +5 80 £465 -3.63% 83
East of England +5 66 £450 -18.18% 33
London -44 61 £475 -8.65% 38
Midlands -21 48 £395 +43.64% 54
North of England -49 48 £450 +7.66% 40
North West -28 29 - - 25
West Midlands -40 26 £395 -9.71% 30
East Midlands -2 22 £450 +500.00% 24
Scotland +9 18 £215 -57.00% 8
Yorkshire -41 14 £393 - 11
Wales - 12 £465 - 3
North East -36 5 £450 +38.46% 5

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

For the 6 months to 22 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.

1 112 (23.93%) Security Cleared
2 87 (18.59%) Systems Engineering
3 75 (16.03%) SC Cleared
4 50 (10.68%) Validation
5 47 (10.04%) Degree
6 42 (8.97%) Problem-Solving
7 40 (8.55%) Windows
8 36 (7.69%) Linux
9 35 (7.48%) Rational DOORS
10 29 (6.20%) Microsoft
11 28 (5.98%) Verification and Validation
12 23 (4.91%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
13 22 (4.70%) DV Cleared
14 21 (4.49%) Azure
14 21 (4.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 21 (4.49%) TCP/IP
15 19 (4.06%) Active Directory
15 19 (4.06%) Decision-Making
16 18 (3.85%) Customer Service
16 18 (3.85%) Siemens
17 17 (3.63%) Firewall
17 17 (3.63%) PowerShell
17 17 (3.63%) ServiceNow
18 16 (3.42%) Configuration Management
18 16 (3.42%) Ethernet
18 16 (3.42%) Microsoft Office
18 16 (3.42%) Risk Assessment
19 15 (3.21%) Creative Thinking
19 15 (3.21%) DNS
19 15 (3.21%) Fault Analysis

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 (1.07%) Confluence
2 4 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
3 3 (0.64%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.21%) IIS
4 1 (0.21%) SAS
Applications
1 16 (3.42%) Microsoft Office
2 11 (2.35%) Simulink
3 4 (0.85%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 1 (0.21%) ResourceLink
1 1 (0.21%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.21%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 21 (4.49%) Azure
2 14 (2.99%) AWS
3 12 (2.56%) SaaS
4 10 (2.14%) Microsoft 365
5 7 (1.50%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.28%) GitHub
7 5 (1.07%) OpenShift
8 4 (0.85%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (0.64%) Amazon EC2
9 3 (0.64%) Amazon S3
10 2 (0.43%) Azure Logic Apps
10 2 (0.43%) Cohesity
10 2 (0.43%) Google Workspace
10 2 (0.43%) OneDrive
11 1 (0.21%) Anthropic Claude
11 1 (0.21%) AWS Lambda
11 1 (0.21%) Azure Monitor
11 1 (0.21%) Azure Service Bus
11 1 (0.21%) Cloudflare
11 1 (0.21%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 21 (4.49%) TCP/IP
2 17 (3.63%) Firewall
3 16 (3.42%) Ethernet
4 15 (3.21%) DNS
5 12 (2.56%) DHCP
6 6 (1.28%) LTE
6 6 (1.28%) Network Security
6 6 (1.28%) VPN
7 5 (1.07%) LAN
7 5 (1.07%) TETRA
8 4 (0.85%) WAN
9 3 (0.64%) SpaceWire
10 2 (0.43%) MIMO
10 2 (0.43%) PSTN
10 2 (0.43%) SAN
10 2 (0.43%) Unified Communications
10 2 (0.43%) VoIP
10 2 (0.43%) Wireshark
11 1 (0.21%) 4G
11 1 (0.21%) Radio Access Network
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.43%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.21%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.21%) Db2
2 1 (0.21%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.21%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 35 (7.48%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.50%) Rational Rhapsody
3 6 (1.28%) JIRA
4 1 (0.21%) CANoe
General
1 57 (12.18%) Aerospace
2 56 (11.97%) Social Skills
3 38 (8.12%) Military
4 24 (5.13%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (4.91%) Electronics
6 22 (4.70%) Avionics
7 18 (3.85%) Presentation Skills
8 16 (3.42%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 14 (2.99%) Manufacturing
10 10 (2.14%) Law
11 9 (1.92%) Automotive
11 9 (1.92%) Finance
11 9 (1.92%) Public Sector
12 5 (1.07%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.07%) Telecoms
13 4 (0.85%) Aviation
14 2 (0.43%) Retail
15 1 (0.21%) Banking
15 1 (0.21%) Games
15 1 (0.21%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.28%) OpenID
1 6 (1.28%) REST
1 6 (1.28%) SAML
2 3 (0.64%) ISPF
2 3 (0.64%) Software Packaging
3 2 (0.43%) JSON
3 2 (0.43%) Microsoft Graph
3 2 (0.43%) Middleware
4 1 (0.21%) FastAPI
4 1 (0.21%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.21%) HTML
4 1 (0.21%) Node.js
4 1 (0.21%) OpenGL
4 1 (0.21%) Qt
4 1 (0.21%) React
4 1 (0.21%) RESTful
4 1 (0.21%) Streamlit
4 1 (0.21%) Unity (Game Engine)
4 1 (0.21%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 15 (3.21%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (3.21%) Robotics
2 8 (1.71%) Data Centre
2 8 (1.71%) Embedded Systems
3 7 (1.50%) CUDA
3 7 (1.50%) IoT
4 6 (1.28%) Mainframe
5 5 (1.07%) Onboarding
6 4 (0.85%) Operational Technology
6 4 (0.85%) Renewable Energy
6 4 (0.85%) Self-Motivation
7 3 (0.64%) Acoustics
7 3 (0.64%) FPGA
7 3 (0.64%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (0.64%) Virtual Team
8 2 (0.43%) ASIC
8 2 (0.43%) CAN bus
8 2 (0.43%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.43%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (0.43%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 40 (8.55%) Windows
2 36 (7.69%) Linux
3 12 (2.56%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.07%) Android
5 4 (0.85%) Mac OS
6 3 (0.64%) MVS
6 3 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.64%) zOS
7 2 (0.43%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.21%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.21%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 87 (18.59%) Systems Engineering
2 50 (10.68%) Validation
3 42 (8.97%) Problem-Solving
4 28 (5.98%) Verification and Validation
5 23 (4.91%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 21 (4.49%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 19 (4.06%) Decision-Making
8 18 (3.85%) Customer Service
9 16 (3.42%) Configuration Management
9 16 (3.42%) Risk Assessment
10 15 (3.21%) Creative Thinking
10 15 (3.21%) Fault Analysis
10 15 (3.21%) Mechatronics
11 13 (2.78%) Root Cause Analysis
11 13 (2.78%) Workflow
12 11 (2.35%) Agile
12 11 (2.35%) Computer Science
12 11 (2.35%) Continuous Improvement
12 11 (2.35%) Migration
13 10 (2.14%) AI
Programming Languages
1 17 (3.63%) PowerShell
2 15 (3.21%) MATLAB
3 13 (2.78%) Python
4 5 (1.07%) Bash
4 5 (1.07%) REXX
5 4 (0.85%) C
6 3 (0.64%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.64%) JCL
7 2 (0.43%) Java
8 1 (0.21%) C#
8 1 (0.21%) C++
8 1 (0.21%) Go
8 1 (0.21%) Lua
8 1 (0.21%) SQL
8 1 (0.21%) TypeScript
Qualifications
1 112 (23.93%) Security Cleared
2 75 (16.03%) SC Cleared
3 47 (10.04%) Degree
4 22 (4.70%) DV Cleared
5 13 (2.78%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (0.85%) Azure Certification
6 4 (0.85%) Microsoft Certification
7 2 (0.43%) AWS Certification
7 2 (0.43%) CCNA
7 2 (0.43%) Chartered Engineer
7 2 (0.43%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (0.21%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 1 (0.21%) CCA
8 1 (0.21%) CCNP
8 1 (0.21%) CISSP
8 1 (0.21%) CompTIA CySA+
8 1 (0.21%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.21%) HND
8 1 (0.21%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.21%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (0.85%) Def Stans
1 4 (0.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.64%) MIL-STD-1553
3 2 (0.43%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.43%) NIST
3 2 (0.43%) QA
4 1 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.21%) DICOM
4 1 (0.21%) DO-254
4 1 (0.21%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.21%) HL7
4 1 (0.21%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.21%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.21%) NIST 800
4 1 (0.21%) SLA
System Software
1 19 (4.06%) Active Directory
2 13 (2.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.71%) Virtual Desktop
4 6 (1.28%) Hyper-V
4 6 (1.28%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 4 (0.85%) Firmware
5 4 (0.85%) Virtual Machines
6 3 (0.64%) Docker
6 3 (0.64%) KVM
7 2 (0.43%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (0.43%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.21%) Job Entry Subsystem
8 1 (0.21%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.21%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.21%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 12 (2.56%) Ansible
2 9 (1.92%) Microsoft Intune
3 7 (1.50%) Terraform
4 6 (1.28%) Kubernetes
4 6 (1.28%) Puppet
5 5 (1.07%) SCCM
6 2 (0.43%) Functional Safety
6 2 (0.43%) Tivoli NetView
7 1 (0.21%) Control-M
7 1 (0.21%) Jamf Pro
7 1 (0.21%) MOM
7 1 (0.21%) Packer
7 1 (0.21%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 29 (6.20%) Microsoft
2 18 (3.85%) Siemens
3 17 (3.63%) ServiceNow
4 15 (3.21%) Fortinet
5 14 (2.99%) VMware
6 13 (2.78%) NetApp
7 12 (2.56%) IBM
8 8 (1.71%) EMC
9 7 (1.50%) NVIDIA
10 5 (1.07%) Cisco
11 4 (0.85%) Splunk
12 3 (0.64%) Broadcom
12 3 (0.64%) Citrix
12 3 (0.64%) Google
12 3 (0.64%) NEC
13 2 (0.43%) Apple
13 2 (0.43%) Oracle
13 2 (0.43%) Pure Storage
13 2 (0.43%) Red Hat
13 2 (0.43%) SAP