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 September 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 230 371 257
Rank change year-on-year +141 -114 +97
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 610 184 359
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.13% 0.56% 0.93%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.22% 0.62% 1.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 144 57 75
10th Percentile £316 £313 £318
25th Percentile £400 £400 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +5.56% -15.89%
75th Percentile £546 £575 £538
90th Percentile £725 £621 £628
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £425
% change year-on-year - +11.76% -17.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 302 50 129
10th Percentile £46.61 £44.94 £37.05
25th Percentile £56.74 £48.75 £44.94
Median hourly rate £67.47 £56.44 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +19.54% -9.70% +10.64%
75th Percentile £74.25 £73.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.79 £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 50,015 29,838 35,858
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.41% 91.17% 93.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,814 18,799 22,503
10th Percentile £325 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,645 1,551 1,794
10th Percentile £14.85 £13.60 £14.50
25th Percentile £20.48 £16.95 £20.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.89 £53.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £79.60 £70.16 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +12.50%

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 September 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 September 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 September 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 +143 565 £475 - 852
UK excluding London +101 508 £475 - 715
South East +35 153 £500 +5.26% 227
South West +48 142 £498 +3.38% 126
London -17 89 £475 -8.65% 221
Work from Home -11 87 £465 -12.26% 275
North of England -25 64 £400 -11.11% 104
Midlands -19 59 £450 +5.88% 78
East of England -1 57 £233 -57.73% 110
North West -32 42 £500 +11.11% 52
West Midlands -27 33 £425 - 50
East Midlands +1 26 £475 - 27
Scotland -20 20 £550 +10.00% 74
Wales -3 13 £465 - 9
North East - 13 £350 - 27
Yorkshire - 9 £275 - 34

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

For the 6 months to 7 September 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.

1 113 (18.52%) Systems Engineering
2 106 (17.38%) Security Cleared
3 88 (14.43%) SC Cleared
4 67 (10.98%) Validation
5 59 (9.67%) Linux
6 56 (9.18%) Windows
7 44 (7.21%) Verification and Validation
8 40 (6.56%) Microsoft
8 40 (6.56%) Rational DOORS
9 33 (5.41%) Degree
10 32 (5.25%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
11 30 (4.92%) Active Directory
11 30 (4.92%) Problem-Solving
11 30 (4.92%) Windows Server
12 29 (4.75%) Azure
13 28 (4.59%) Python
14 26 (4.26%) Configuration Management
15 23 (3.77%) DNS
15 23 (3.77%) VMware
16 22 (3.61%) VMware Infrastructure
17 21 (3.44%) PowerShell
18 20 (3.28%) Ansible
18 20 (3.28%) Disaster Recovery
18 20 (3.28%) ITIL
19 19 (3.11%) DHCP
19 19 (3.11%) Firewall
19 19 (3.11%) Requirements Management
20 18 (2.95%) MATLAB
21 17 (2.79%) BPSS Clearance
21 17 (2.79%) Hyper-V

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 (0.66%) JBoss
1 4 (0.66%) Microsoft Exchange
1 4 (0.66%) SAS
2 3 (0.49%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.33%) Confluence
4 1 (0.16%) IIS
Applications
1 16 (2.62%) Simulink
2 4 (0.66%) Stateflow
3 1 (0.16%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 3 (0.49%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.16%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 29 (4.75%) Azure
2 17 (2.79%) Microsoft 365
3 16 (2.62%) AWS
4 14 (2.30%) Entra ID
5 11 (1.80%) OpenShift
5 11 (1.80%) SaaS
6 5 (0.82%) GCP
6 5 (0.82%) GitHub
7 4 (0.66%) Azure Monitor
8 3 (0.49%) Azure Logic Apps
8 3 (0.49%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (0.49%) IaaS
9 2 (0.33%) Amazon EC2
9 2 (0.33%) Amazon S3
9 2 (0.33%) Cloudflare
9 2 (0.33%) OneDrive
10 1 (0.16%) Amazon EKS
10 1 (0.16%) AWS Step Functions
10 1 (0.16%) Figma
10 1 (0.16%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 23 (3.77%) DNS
2 19 (3.11%) DHCP
2 19 (3.11%) Firewall
3 13 (2.13%) TCP/IP
4 11 (1.80%) Network Security
4 11 (1.80%) VPN
5 8 (1.31%) LAN
6 7 (1.15%) Modbus
7 6 (0.98%) IPv4
7 6 (0.98%) Kerberos
7 6 (0.98%) VLAN
8 5 (0.82%) ATM
9 4 (0.66%) WAN
10 3 (0.49%) NAS
10 3 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
10 3 (0.49%) SAN
10 3 (0.49%) Software-Defined Networking
10 3 (0.49%) VoIP
11 2 (0.33%) DKIM
11 2 (0.33%) DMARC
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.66%) Big Data
1 4 (0.66%) Hadoop
1 4 (0.66%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.33%) GIS
3 1 (0.16%) Db2
3 1 (0.16%) Geospatial Data
3 1 (0.16%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.16%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.16%) QGIS
3 1 (0.16%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 40 (6.56%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.15%) Rational Rhapsody
3 4 (0.66%) JIRA
4 3 (0.49%) Git
4 3 (0.49%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.16%) CANoe
5 1 (0.16%) Storybook
General
1 93 (15.25%) Aerospace
2 50 (8.20%) Social Skills
3 40 (6.56%) Avionics
4 29 (4.75%) Analytical Skills
5 26 (4.26%) Military
6 22 (3.61%) Manufacturing
7 21 (3.44%) Automotive
8 14 (2.30%) Finance
9 11 (1.80%) Electronics
10 10 (1.64%) Law
11 5 (0.82%) Aviation
12 4 (0.66%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.66%) Games
12 4 (0.66%) Influencing Skills
12 4 (0.66%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (0.66%) Telecoms
13 2 (0.33%) Public Sector
14 1 (0.16%) Banking
14 1 (0.16%) Legal
14 1 (0.16%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.80%) Terraform
2 6 (0.98%) NETCONF
2 6 (0.98%) OpenID
2 6 (0.98%) SAML
3 3 (0.49%) ARM Templates
3 3 (0.49%) HTML
3 3 (0.49%) ISPF
3 3 (0.49%) REST
4 2 (0.33%) FastAPI
4 2 (0.33%) Microsoft Graph
4 2 (0.33%) Middleware
4 2 (0.33%) React
4 2 (0.33%) RESTful
5 1 (0.16%) JSON
5 1 (0.16%) Node.js
5 1 (0.16%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.16%) OpenLayers
5 1 (0.16%) Qt
5 1 (0.16%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.16%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 14 (2.30%) Operational Technology
2 11 (1.80%) Renewable Energy
2 11 (1.80%) SCADA
3 8 (1.31%) Virtual Team
4 7 (1.15%) Algorithms
4 7 (1.15%) CUDA
4 7 (1.15%) Hybrid Cloud
4 7 (1.15%) IoT
5 6 (0.98%) Cloud Native
5 6 (0.98%) Mainframe
5 6 (0.98%) Management Information System
6 5 (0.82%) CCTV
6 5 (0.82%) Clustering
6 5 (0.82%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (0.66%) AI Agents
7 4 (0.66%) Animation
7 4 (0.66%) Data Centre
7 4 (0.66%) Distributed Architecture
7 4 (0.66%) Distributed Computing
7 4 (0.66%) Legacy Systems
Operating Systems
1 59 (9.67%) Linux
2 56 (9.18%) Windows
3 30 (4.92%) Windows Server
4 15 (2.46%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (1.15%) Unix
6 6 (0.98%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.66%) zOS
8 3 (0.49%) Android
8 3 (0.49%) MVS
9 2 (0.33%) Debian
10 1 (0.16%) FreeRTOS
10 1 (0.16%) Rocky
10 1 (0.16%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (18.52%) Systems Engineering
2 67 (10.98%) Validation
3 44 (7.21%) Verification and Validation
4 32 (5.25%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
5 30 (4.92%) Problem-Solving
6 26 (4.26%) Configuration Management
7 20 (3.28%) Disaster Recovery
7 20 (3.28%) ITIL
8 19 (3.11%) Requirements Management
9 17 (2.79%) Root Cause Analysis
10 15 (2.46%) AI
11 14 (2.30%) Infrastructure as Code
11 14 (2.30%) Project Management
12 13 (2.13%) Migration
12 13 (2.13%) Performance Tuning
12 13 (2.13%) Test Automation
12 13 (2.13%) Workflow
13 12 (1.97%) Agile
13 12 (1.97%) Continuous Improvement
13 12 (1.97%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 28 (4.59%) Python
2 21 (3.44%) PowerShell
3 18 (2.95%) MATLAB
4 12 (1.97%) Bash
5 8 (1.31%) C
6 6 (0.98%) C++
6 6 (0.98%) REXX
7 5 (0.82%) SQL
8 4 (0.66%) Bicep
9 3 (0.49%) Java
9 3 (0.49%) JCL
9 3 (0.49%) Perl
9 3 (0.49%) Rust
10 2 (0.33%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.16%) C#
11 1 (0.16%) COBOL
11 1 (0.16%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 106 (17.38%) Security Cleared
2 88 (14.43%) SC Cleared
3 33 (5.41%) Degree
4 17 (2.79%) BPSS Clearance
5 8 (1.31%) DV Cleared
6 7 (1.15%) Azure Certification
6 7 (1.15%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (0.82%) Chartered Engineer
7 5 (0.82%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.66%) CCNA
8 4 (0.66%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (0.66%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 3 (0.49%) CCA
9 3 (0.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 2 (0.33%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.33%) CCNP
10 2 (0.33%) HND
11 1 (0.16%) HNC
11 1 (0.16%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.16%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (1.15%) Def Stans
2 3 (0.49%) GxP
2 3 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 3 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.49%) NCSC
2 3 (0.49%) QA
3 1 (0.16%) Accessibility
3 1 (0.16%) ARP4761
3 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.16%) Data Quality
3 1 (0.16%) DICOM
3 1 (0.16%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (0.16%) DO-254
3 1 (0.16%) HAZOP
3 1 (0.16%) HL7
3 1 (0.16%) MIL-STD-1553
3 1 (0.16%) NIST
3 1 (0.16%) NIST 800
3 1 (0.16%) SLA
3 1 (0.16%) WCAG
System Software
1 30 (4.92%) Active Directory
2 22 (3.61%) VMware Infrastructure
3 17 (2.79%) Hyper-V
4 8 (1.31%) Docker
5 6 (0.98%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 5 (0.82%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (0.66%) Firmware
7 4 (0.66%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.33%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.16%) Embedded Firmware
9 1 (0.16%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 1 (0.16%) KVM
9 1 (0.16%) Microsoft App-V
9 1 (0.16%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.16%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 20 (3.28%) Ansible
2 16 (2.62%) Puppet
3 13 (2.13%) Kubernetes
4 9 (1.48%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.98%) Progress Chef
6 5 (0.82%) Failover Clustering
6 5 (0.82%) Red Hat Satellite
7 4 (0.66%) Grafana
7 4 (0.66%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.49%) Istio
9 2 (0.33%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.33%) Salt
9 2 (0.33%) SCCM
9 2 (0.33%) Tivoli NetView
10 1 (0.16%) Amdocs OSS
10 1 (0.16%) Check_MK
10 1 (0.16%) Control-M
10 1 (0.16%) Microsoft Clustering
10 1 (0.16%) Packer
10 1 (0.16%) Podman
Vendors
1 40 (6.56%) Microsoft
2 23 (3.77%) VMware
3 16 (2.62%) EMC
4 15 (2.46%) Red Hat
5 13 (2.13%) Cisco
6 10 (1.64%) IBM
7 7 (1.15%) NVIDIA
8 6 (0.98%) SaltStack
8 6 (0.98%) ServiceNow
9 5 (0.82%) AVEVA
10 4 (0.66%) Perforce
11 3 (0.49%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.49%) NEC
11 3 (0.49%) Okta
11 3 (0.49%) Rockwell
11 3 (0.49%) Sparx
11 3 (0.49%) Splunk
12 2 (0.33%) BeyondTrust
12 2 (0.33%) CrowdStrike
12 2 (0.33%) CyberArk