Systems Engineer Contract Job Trends

System Engineer
UK

The median System Engineer daily rate in the UK is £454, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 30 January 2026.

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

6 months to
30 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 377 394 271
Rank change year-on-year +17 -123 +180
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 223 126 388
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.40% 0.87%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.63% 0.43% 0.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 65 54 175
10th Percentile £218 £291 £325
25th Percentile £350 £350 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £454 £450 £550
Median % change year-on-year +0.89% -18.18% +10.00%
75th Percentile £515 £550 £635
90th Percentile £575 £738 £672
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £550
% change year-on-year +5.56% -18.18% +10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 86 17 115
10th Percentile £42.00 - £42.52
25th Percentile £43.75 £23.82 £51.25
Median hourly rate £55.00 £38.85 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +41.57% -32.43% -4.17%
75th Percentile £67.87 £44.50 £71.25
90th Percentile £71.99 £69.75 £75.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £38.85 £57.33
% change year-on-year +41.57% -32.23% -4.45%

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 35,358 29,223 41,314
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.46% 92.91% 93.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 22,294 17,866 27,352
10th Percentile £300 £293 £275
25th Percentile £405 £409 £411
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £638 £638
90th Percentile £719 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £495
% change year-on-year -0.42% -3.64% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,104 859 2,166
10th Percentile £14.39 £15.98 £13.25
25th Percentile £18.50 £21.25 £17.00
Median hourly rate £28.90 £32.50 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year -11.09% -10.96% +4.29%
75th Percentile £61.18 £62.50 £62.50
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.89 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £31.76 £37.50
% change year-on-year -13.41% -15.31% +25.00%

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 30 January 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 30 January 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 30 January 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 +6 197 £454 +0.89% 445
UK excluding London +35 181 £475 +5.56% 431
East of England +13 42 £450 +2.86% 75
South West +13 40 £500 -9.09% 85
Work from Home -5 39 £450 - 174
Midlands -36 32 £300 -7.69% 73
South East -13 30 £300 -35.14% 137
London -34 27 £450 -10.89% 63
North of England -63 26 £450 - 54
North West -26 19 £350 -22.22% 34
East Midlands -18 16 £497 +10.33% 28
West Midlands -31 16 £300 +9.09% 45
Scotland +17 14 £500 -25.93% 22
Yorkshire -52 4 £510 - 7
North East -11 3 £450 +38.46% 13
Wales - 1 - - 7

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

For the 6 months to 30 January 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 69 (30.94%) Security Cleared
2 48 (21.52%) SC Cleared
3 21 (9.42%) Linux
3 21 (9.42%) Systems Engineering
3 21 (9.42%) Validation
3 21 (9.42%) Windows
4 19 (8.52%) Degree
5 17 (7.62%) Problem-Solving
6 13 (5.83%) Microsoft
6 13 (5.83%) Oracle
7 12 (5.38%) Firewall
7 12 (5.38%) PowerShell
7 12 (5.38%) VMware
8 11 (4.93%) Active Directory
8 11 (4.93%) Agile
8 11 (4.93%) Java
8 11 (4.93%) Rational DOORS
8 11 (4.93%) Verification and Validation
9 10 (4.48%) Asset Management
9 10 (4.48%) C
9 10 (4.48%) Cybersecurity
9 10 (4.48%) Disaster Recovery
9 10 (4.48%) High Availability
10 9 (4.04%) Ansible
10 9 (4.04%) Azure
10 9 (4.04%) Migration
10 9 (4.04%) Python
11 8 (3.59%) BPSS Clearance
11 8 (3.59%) Cisco
11 8 (3.59%) NetApp

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 (2.24%) Confluence
2 4 (1.79%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.90%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.45%) Apache
4 1 (0.45%) CMS
4 1 (0.45%) IIS
4 1 (0.45%) Tomcat
Applications
1 6 (2.69%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.24%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (1.79%) Simulink
4 1 (0.45%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.90%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.45%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.45%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 9 (4.04%) Azure
2 7 (3.14%) GitHub
3 6 (2.69%) AWS
4 5 (2.24%) Microsoft 365
5 4 (1.79%) Entra ID
5 4 (1.79%) Google Workspace
6 3 (1.35%) GCP
7 2 (0.90%) Cloud Computing
7 2 (0.90%) Cohesity
7 2 (0.90%) OpenShift
7 2 (0.90%) PaaS
8 1 (0.45%) Amazon EC2
8 1 (0.45%) Amazon S3
8 1 (0.45%) Azure Sentinel
8 1 (0.45%) IaaS
8 1 (0.45%) OneDrive
8 1 (0.45%) Power Platform
8 1 (0.45%) SaaS
8 1 (0.45%) Slack
8 1 (0.45%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 12 (5.38%) Firewall
2 5 (2.24%) SAN
3 4 (1.79%) LTE
3 4 (1.79%) TCP/IP
3 4 (1.79%) TETRA
4 3 (1.35%) SNMP
4 3 (1.35%) SSL
4 3 (1.35%) VPN
4 3 (1.35%) Wireless
5 2 (0.90%) Ethernet
5 2 (0.90%) LAN
5 2 (0.90%) MIMO
5 2 (0.90%) Modbus
5 2 (0.90%) NAS
5 2 (0.90%) Network Security
5 2 (0.90%) SpaceWire
5 2 (0.90%) WAN
5 2 (0.90%) Wi-Fi
6 1 (0.45%) HTTP
6 1 (0.45%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (2.69%) Oracle Database
2 1 (0.45%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.45%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.45%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 11 (4.93%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (3.14%) ClearCase
3 6 (2.69%) JIRA
4 1 (0.45%) Git
4 1 (0.45%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.45%) Postman
4 1 (0.45%) Selenium
General
1 40 (17.94%) Aerospace
2 35 (15.70%) Social Skills
3 21 (9.42%) Manufacturing
4 16 (7.17%) Military
5 10 (4.48%) Electronics
6 9 (4.04%) Analytical Skills
7 7 (3.14%) Public Sector
8 5 (2.24%) Banking
8 5 (2.24%) Telecoms
9 4 (1.79%) Avionics
9 4 (1.79%) Finance
9 4 (1.79%) Retail Banking
10 3 (1.35%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.35%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.90%) Legal
11 2 (0.90%) Marketing
11 2 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.90%) Retail
12 1 (0.45%) Games
12 1 (0.45%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (0.90%) ISPF
1 2 (0.90%) Kafka
1 2 (0.90%) Middleware
2 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Graph
2 1 (0.45%) RabbitMQ
2 1 (0.45%) REST
2 1 (0.45%) SAP Fiori
2 1 (0.45%) Spring
2 1 (0.45%) Spring Boot
2 1 (0.45%) Unity (Game Engine)
2 1 (0.45%) Unreal Engine
2 1 (0.45%) XML
2 1 (0.45%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 10 (4.48%) SCADA
2 7 (3.14%) Data Centre
2 7 (3.14%) Legacy Systems
2 7 (3.14%) Onboarding
2 7 (3.14%) Operational Technology
3 4 (1.79%) Embedded Systems
4 3 (1.35%) Hybrid Cloud
5 2 (0.90%) Algorithms
5 2 (0.90%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (0.90%) ASIC
5 2 (0.90%) CAN bus
5 2 (0.90%) Cyber Threat
5 2 (0.90%) Data Protection Act
5 2 (0.90%) Distributed Systems
5 2 (0.90%) Enterprise Storage
5 2 (0.90%) IoT
5 2 (0.90%) Life Science
5 2 (0.90%) Mainframe
5 2 (0.90%) Management Information System
5 2 (0.90%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 21 (9.42%) Linux
1 21 (9.42%) Windows
2 7 (3.14%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 2 (0.90%) Android
3 2 (0.90%) Mac OS
3 2 (0.90%) zOS
4 1 (0.45%) FreeRTOS
4 1 (0.45%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
4 1 (0.45%) Unix
4 1 (0.45%) VMS
4 1 (0.45%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 21 (9.42%) Systems Engineering
1 21 (9.42%) Validation
2 17 (7.62%) Problem-Solving
3 11 (4.93%) Agile
3 11 (4.93%) Verification and Validation
4 10 (4.48%) Asset Management
4 10 (4.48%) Cybersecurity
4 10 (4.48%) Disaster Recovery
4 10 (4.48%) High Availability
5 9 (4.04%) Migration
6 7 (3.14%) Computer Science
6 7 (3.14%) Root Cause Analysis
6 7 (3.14%) Service Management
6 7 (3.14%) Signal Processing
7 6 (2.69%) Continuous Improvement
7 6 (2.69%) Integration Testing
7 6 (2.69%) Mentoring
7 6 (2.69%) Requirements Management
7 6 (2.69%) Security Management
7 6 (2.69%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 12 (5.38%) PowerShell
2 11 (4.93%) Java
3 10 (4.48%) C
4 9 (4.04%) Python
5 8 (3.59%) SQL
6 7 (3.14%) Shell Script
7 6 (2.69%) MATLAB
8 4 (1.79%) C++
9 2 (0.90%) JavaScript
9 2 (0.90%) JCL
9 2 (0.90%) REXX
10 1 (0.45%) Bash
10 1 (0.45%) C#
10 1 (0.45%) Embedded C
10 1 (0.45%) Embedded C++
10 1 (0.45%) Groovy
10 1 (0.45%) Korn
10 1 (0.45%) Lua
10 1 (0.45%) Perl
Qualifications
1 69 (30.94%) Security Cleared
2 48 (21.52%) SC Cleared
3 19 (8.52%) Degree
4 8 (3.59%) BPSS Clearance
5 6 (2.69%) DV Cleared
6 2 (0.90%) CCNA
6 2 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.45%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.45%) HND
7 1 (0.45%) ISACA
7 1 (0.45%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.45%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.45%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (1.35%) IEC 61131
2 2 (0.90%) MIL-STD-1553
3 1 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.45%) Def Stans
3 1 (0.45%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (0.45%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.45%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 11 (4.93%) Active Directory
2 8 (3.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.35%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (1.35%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.90%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.90%) KVM
4 2 (0.90%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 2 (0.90%) vSphere
5 1 (0.45%) Docker
5 1 (0.45%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.45%) Firmware
5 1 (0.45%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 1 (0.45%) Virtual Servers
5 1 (0.45%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 9 (4.04%) Ansible
2 6 (2.69%) Terraform
3 5 (2.24%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (0.90%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.90%) SCCM
4 2 (0.90%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.45%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.45%) Kubernetes
5 1 (0.45%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.45%) WSUS
5 1 (0.45%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 13 (5.83%) Microsoft
1 13 (5.83%) Oracle
2 12 (5.38%) VMware
3 8 (3.59%) Cisco
3 8 (3.59%) NetApp
4 5 (2.24%) Google
4 5 (2.24%) IBM
4 5 (2.24%) Red Hat
4 5 (2.24%) Rockwell
4 5 (2.24%) ServiceNow
4 5 (2.24%) Siemens
5 4 (1.79%) SAP
5 4 (1.79%) Veeam
5 4 (1.79%) Wonderware
6 3 (1.35%) Fortinet
6 3 (1.35%) Okta
7 2 (0.90%) Broadcom
7 2 (0.90%) CyberArk
7 2 (0.90%) Palo Alto
7 2 (0.90%) Splunk