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 10 August 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 244 340 255
Rank change year-on-year +96 -85 +96
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 557 218 365
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.04% 0.66% 0.94%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.13% 0.72% 1.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 122 72 81
10th Percentile £251 £363 £313
25th Percentile £383 £414 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -18.18%
75th Percentile £536 £600 £538
90th Percentile £673 £638 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £500 £425
% change year-on-year -5.00% +17.65% -17.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 268 61 138
10th Percentile £46.61 £45.00 £39.96
25th Percentile £56.74 £51.25 £45.24
Median hourly rate £67.00 £56.44 £61.25
Median % change year-on-year +18.70% -7.85% +3.09%
75th Percentile £75.00 £73.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £77.50 £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 49,375 30,298 36,046
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.56% 91.39% 92.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,671 19,217 23,307
10th Percentile £328 £283 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.87%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £727 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,467 1,516 2,023
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.60 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.72 £17.21 £20.50
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.63 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.11 £45.00
% change year-on-year +69.26% -44.20% +20.00%

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 10 August 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 10 August 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 10 August 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 +92 511 £488 -5.57% 565
UK excluding London +78 465 £475 -5.00% 464
South East +30 146 £500 -9.09% 168
South West +29 118 £495 -10.20% 90
Work from Home -6 80 £465 -15.45% 160
London -48 76 £475 -10.06% 140
East of England +5 64 £250 -54.55% 54
Midlands -12 57 £450 +5.88% 61
North of England -38 49 £500 +15.74% 64
North West -29 37 £500 +15.74% 33
West Midlands -24 35 £395 -22.93% 36
East Midlands +2 22 £475 +533.33% 25
Scotland -4 18 £400 -20.00% 19
Wales - 13 £465 - 18
Yorkshire -32 10 £275 - 16
North East -41 2 £338 - 16

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

For the 6 months to 10 August 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 (20.11%) Security Cleared
2 103 (18.49%) Systems Engineering
3 87 (15.62%) SC Cleared
4 58 (10.41%) Validation
5 51 (9.16%) Linux
6 47 (8.44%) Windows
7 46 (8.26%) Degree
8 41 (7.36%) Problem-Solving
9 37 (6.64%) Rational DOORS
10 35 (6.28%) Microsoft
10 35 (6.28%) Verification and Validation
11 31 (5.57%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 29 (5.21%) Active Directory
13 28 (5.03%) Configuration Management
14 27 (4.85%) Azure
15 26 (4.67%) TCP/IP
16 25 (4.49%) Windows Server
17 24 (4.31%) Python
18 21 (3.77%) DNS
19 19 (3.41%) BPSS Clearance
19 19 (3.41%) PowerShell
20 18 (3.23%) Customer Service
20 18 (3.23%) Decision-Making
20 18 (3.23%) EMC
20 18 (3.23%) Siemens
20 18 (3.23%) VMware
20 18 (3.23%) VMware Infrastructure
21 17 (3.05%) DHCP
21 17 (3.05%) Firewall
22 16 (2.87%) Ansible

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 4 (0.72%) SAS
2 3 (0.54%) JBoss
2 3 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.54%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.36%) Confluence
4 1 (0.18%) IIS
Applications
1 16 (2.87%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (2.15%) Simulink
3 4 (0.72%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 3 (0.54%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.18%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.18%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 27 (4.85%) Azure
2 15 (2.69%) Microsoft 365
3 14 (2.51%) AWS
4 13 (2.33%) Entra ID
5 11 (1.97%) SaaS
6 9 (1.62%) OpenShift
7 6 (1.08%) GitHub
8 4 (0.72%) GCP
8 4 (0.72%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (0.54%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (0.54%) Azure Monitor
9 3 (0.54%) IaaS
10 2 (0.36%) Amazon EC2
10 2 (0.36%) Amazon S3
10 2 (0.36%) Cloudflare
10 2 (0.36%) OneDrive
11 1 (0.18%) Amazon EKS
11 1 (0.18%) Cloud Computing
11 1 (0.18%) Figma
11 1 (0.18%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 26 (4.67%) TCP/IP
2 21 (3.77%) DNS
3 17 (3.05%) DHCP
3 17 (3.05%) Firewall
4 16 (2.87%) Ethernet
5 11 (1.97%) Network Security
6 9 (1.62%) LAN
6 9 (1.62%) VPN
7 6 (1.08%) IPv4
7 6 (1.08%) Modbus
7 6 (1.08%) VLAN
8 5 (0.90%) ATM
8 5 (0.90%) Kerberos
9 4 (0.72%) NAS
9 4 (0.72%) WAN
10 3 (0.54%) SAN
11 2 (0.36%) DKIM
11 2 (0.36%) Software-Defined Networking
11 2 (0.36%) VoIP
11 2 (0.36%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.54%) Big Data
1 3 (0.54%) Hadoop
2 2 (0.36%) Db2
2 2 (0.36%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 1 (0.18%) BusinessObjects
3 1 (0.18%) IBM InfoSphere
3 1 (0.18%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.18%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 37 (6.64%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.26%) Rational Rhapsody
3 4 (0.72%) JIRA
4 3 (0.54%) Git
4 3 (0.54%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.18%) CANoe
5 1 (0.18%) Storybook
General
1 84 (15.08%) Aerospace
2 62 (11.13%) Social Skills
3 28 (5.03%) Avionics
3 28 (5.03%) Military
4 27 (4.85%) Analytical Skills
5 24 (4.31%) Manufacturing
6 19 (3.41%) Presentation Skills
7 15 (2.69%) Automotive
7 15 (2.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (2.51%) Electronics
9 12 (2.15%) Finance
10 10 (1.80%) Law
11 5 (0.90%) Aviation
12 4 (0.72%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.72%) Games
12 4 (0.72%) Influencing Skills
12 4 (0.72%) Public Sector
12 4 (0.72%) Telecoms
13 1 (0.18%) Legal
13 1 (0.18%) Pharmaceutical
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.08%) NETCONF
1 6 (1.08%) OpenID
1 6 (1.08%) SAML
2 5 (0.90%) REST
3 3 (0.54%) HTML
3 3 (0.54%) ISPF
4 2 (0.36%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.36%) FastAPI
4 2 (0.36%) JSON
4 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Graph
4 2 (0.36%) Middleware
4 2 (0.36%) React
5 1 (0.18%) CSS
5 1 (0.18%) GraphQL
5 1 (0.18%) Node.js
5 1 (0.18%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.18%) Qt
5 1 (0.18%) RESTful
5 1 (0.18%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.18%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 15 (2.69%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (2.69%) Robotics
2 12 (2.15%) Operational Technology
3 10 (1.80%) Renewable Energy
4 8 (1.44%) Virtual Team
5 7 (1.26%) CUDA
5 7 (1.26%) IoT
5 7 (1.26%) SCADA
6 6 (1.08%) Embedded Systems
6 6 (1.08%) Mainframe
6 6 (1.08%) Onboarding
7 5 (0.90%) Hybrid Cloud
7 5 (0.90%) Self-Motivation
8 4 (0.72%) Animation
8 4 (0.72%) Clustering
8 4 (0.72%) Data Centre
8 4 (0.72%) Legacy Systems
9 3 (0.54%) Acoustics
9 3 (0.54%) Cloud Native
9 3 (0.54%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 51 (9.16%) Linux
2 47 (8.44%) Windows
3 25 (4.49%) Windows Server
4 13 (2.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (1.08%) Unix
5 6 (1.08%) Windows 10
6 4 (0.72%) zOS
7 3 (0.54%) Android
7 3 (0.54%) MVS
8 1 (0.18%) FreeRTOS
8 1 (0.18%) Mac OS
8 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (18.49%) Systems Engineering
2 58 (10.41%) Validation
3 41 (7.36%) Problem-Solving
4 35 (6.28%) Verification and Validation
5 31 (5.57%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 28 (5.03%) Configuration Management
7 18 (3.23%) Customer Service
7 18 (3.23%) Decision-Making
8 16 (2.87%) Disaster Recovery
8 16 (2.87%) ITIL
8 16 (2.87%) Risk Assessment
9 15 (2.69%) Creative Thinking
9 15 (2.69%) Fault Analysis
9 15 (2.69%) Mechatronics
10 14 (2.51%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 14 (2.51%) Root Cause Analysis
11 13 (2.33%) AI
11 13 (2.33%) Continuous Improvement
11 13 (2.33%) Infrastructure as Code
11 13 (2.33%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 24 (4.31%) Python
2 19 (3.41%) PowerShell
3 14 (2.51%) MATLAB
4 10 (1.80%) Bash
5 6 (1.08%) C
5 6 (1.08%) REXX
6 4 (0.72%) C++
7 3 (0.54%) Bicep
7 3 (0.54%) Java
7 3 (0.54%) JCL
7 3 (0.54%) Perl
7 3 (0.54%) SQL
8 2 (0.36%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.18%) C#
9 1 (0.18%) COBOL
9 1 (0.18%) Go
9 1 (0.18%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.18%) Rust
9 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 112 (20.11%) Security Cleared
2 87 (15.62%) SC Cleared
3 46 (8.26%) Degree
4 19 (3.41%) BPSS Clearance
5 13 (2.33%) DV Cleared
6 6 (1.08%) Azure Certification
6 6 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (0.90%) Chartered Engineer
7 5 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.72%) CCNA
9 3 (0.54%) CCA
9 3 (0.54%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 2 (0.36%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.36%) CCNP
10 2 (0.36%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (0.36%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.18%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 1 (0.18%) CompTIA CySA+
11 1 (0.18%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.18%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (1.08%) Def Stans
2 4 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (0.54%) Data Quality
3 3 (0.54%) GxP
3 3 (0.54%) ISO/IEC 15288
3 3 (0.54%) NCSC
4 2 (0.36%) DO-254
4 2 (0.36%) NIST
4 2 (0.36%) QA
5 1 (0.18%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.18%) ARP4761
5 1 (0.18%) DICOM
5 1 (0.18%) GMP
5 1 (0.18%) HAZOP
5 1 (0.18%) HL7
5 1 (0.18%) IEC 61508
5 1 (0.18%) MIL-STD-1553
5 1 (0.18%) NIST 800
5 1 (0.18%) SLA
5 1 (0.18%) WCAG
System Software
1 29 (5.21%) Active Directory
2 18 (3.23%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (2.33%) Hyper-V
4 7 (1.26%) Docker
5 6 (1.08%) Firmware
5 6 (1.08%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 5 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.72%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (0.54%) Embedded Firmware
9 2 (0.36%) KVM
9 2 (0.36%) VMware Workstation
10 1 (0.18%) Job Entry Subsystem
10 1 (0.18%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 16 (2.87%) Ansible
2 14 (2.51%) Puppet
3 13 (2.33%) Kubernetes
4 10 (1.80%) Terraform
5 8 (1.44%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (0.90%) Progress Chef
7 4 (0.72%) Failover Clustering
8 3 (0.54%) Red Hat Satellite
9 2 (0.36%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.36%) Grafana
9 2 (0.36%) Istio
9 2 (0.36%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.36%) Salt
9 2 (0.36%) SCCM
9 2 (0.36%) Tivoli NetView
10 1 (0.18%) Amdocs OSS
10 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Clustering
10 1 (0.18%) MOM
10 1 (0.18%) PingFederate
10 1 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 35 (6.28%) Microsoft
2 18 (3.23%) EMC
2 18 (3.23%) Siemens
2 18 (3.23%) VMware
3 12 (2.15%) IBM
3 12 (2.15%) Red Hat
4 10 (1.80%) Cisco
4 10 (1.80%) ServiceNow
5 7 (1.26%) NVIDIA
6 5 (0.90%) Fortinet
6 5 (0.90%) SaltStack
7 4 (0.72%) Perforce
7 4 (0.72%) Splunk
8 3 (0.54%) NEC
8 3 (0.54%) NetApp
8 3 (0.54%) Rockwell
8 3 (0.54%) Sparx
9 2 (0.36%) AVEVA
9 2 (0.36%) Broadcom
9 2 (0.36%) SAP