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 13 February 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 381 412 285
Rank change year-on-year +31 -127 +163
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 244 120 363
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.39% 0.81%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.67% 0.42% 0.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 67 53 152
10th Percentile £263 £268 £325
25th Percentile £354 £350 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -14.29% +5.00%
75th Percentile £518 £638 £614
90th Percentile £575 £738 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £545
% change year-on-year +5.56% -17.43% +9.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 92 20 117
10th Percentile £42.00 £23.82 £40.84
25th Percentile £44.37 £25.81 £50.00
Median hourly rate £55.00 £42.75 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +28.65% -25.65% -4.17%
75th Percentile £70.00 £71.88 £71.25
90th Percentile £78.45 £75.50 £75.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £55.00 £42.75 £57.50
% change year-on-year +28.65% -25.65% -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 36,628 28,781 41,506
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.57% 92.94% 93.17%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,025 17,777 27,347
10th Percentile £300 £290 £275
25th Percentile £406 £406 £410
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 £476 £477 £490
% change year-on-year -0.21% -2.65% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,228 824 2,299
10th Percentile £14.50 £15.94 £13.15
25th Percentile £18.86 £21.25 £16.40
Median hourly rate £30.00 £33.52 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.50% -4.23% -2.23%
75th Percentile £61.94 £63.75 £60.75
90th Percentile £72.51 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.60 £31.76 £35.00
% change year-on-year -6.80% -9.26% -

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 13 February 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 13 February 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 13 February 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 +22 220 £475 - 424
UK excluding London +47 203 £475 +5.56% 420
East of England +12 44 £452 +3.31% 53
South West +20 43 £500 -20.00% 58
Midlands -30 40 £300 +9.09% 81
Work from Home -4 38 £450 -5.26% 132
South East -21 36 £490 -30.00% 142
North of England -50 32 £450 - 64
London -33 25 £450 -11.76% 34
East Midlands -13 23 £497 +10.33% 21
North West -33 20 £413 -8.33% 44
West Midlands -40 17 £300 +9.09% 60
Scotland +19 11 £59 -91.33% 28
Yorkshire -58 7 £510 - 7
North East -10 5 £450 +38.46% 13
Wales - 1 - - 5

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

For the 6 months to 13 February 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 81 (33.20%) Security Cleared
2 51 (20.90%) SC Cleared
3 27 (11.07%) Systems Engineering
4 23 (9.43%) Validation
5 21 (8.61%) Degree
6 20 (8.20%) Windows
7 16 (6.56%) DV Cleared
7 16 (6.56%) Linux
7 16 (6.56%) Microsoft
7 16 (6.56%) Problem-Solving
7 16 (6.56%) VMware
8 15 (6.15%) ServiceNow
9 13 (5.33%) Firewall
9 13 (5.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 13 (5.33%) PowerShell
10 12 (4.92%) Active Directory
10 12 (4.92%) Fortinet
10 12 (4.92%) NetApp
10 12 (4.92%) VMware Infrastructure
11 11 (4.51%) Agile
11 11 (4.51%) High Availability
11 11 (4.51%) Rational DOORS
11 11 (4.51%) Verification and Validation
12 10 (4.10%) Asset Management
12 10 (4.10%) Azure
12 10 (4.10%) Cybersecurity
12 10 (4.10%) Disaster Recovery
13 9 (3.69%) Migration
14 8 (3.28%) Ansible
14 8 (3.28%) BPSS Clearance

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 (2.05%) Confluence
2 4 (1.64%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.82%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.41%) Apache
4 1 (0.41%) CMS
4 1 (0.41%) IIS
4 1 (0.41%) Tomcat
Applications
1 4 (1.64%) Simulink
2 2 (0.82%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.82%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.41%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.82%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.41%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.41%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.41%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 10 (4.10%) Azure
2 7 (2.87%) AWS
3 5 (2.05%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (1.64%) Entra ID
4 4 (1.64%) Google Workspace
5 3 (1.23%) GCP
6 2 (0.82%) Amazon EC2
6 2 (0.82%) Amazon S3
6 2 (0.82%) Cloud Computing
6 2 (0.82%) Cohesity
6 2 (0.82%) GitHub
6 2 (0.82%) OpenShift
6 2 (0.82%) PaaS
7 1 (0.41%) Azure Sentinel
7 1 (0.41%) IaaS
7 1 (0.41%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.41%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.41%) SaaS
7 1 (0.41%) Slack
7 1 (0.41%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 13 (5.33%) Firewall
2 6 (2.46%) LTE
3 5 (2.05%) SAN
3 5 (2.05%) TETRA
4 4 (1.64%) SNMP
4 4 (1.64%) VPN
5 3 (1.23%) NAS
5 3 (1.23%) Network Security
5 3 (1.23%) TCP/IP
5 3 (1.23%) Wireless
6 2 (0.82%) LAN
6 2 (0.82%) MIMO
6 2 (0.82%) SpaceWire
6 2 (0.82%) SSL
6 2 (0.82%) WAN
6 2 (0.82%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (0.41%) 3GPP
7 1 (0.41%) DHCP
7 1 (0.41%) PSTN
7 1 (0.41%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.41%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (0.41%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (0.41%) Oracle Database
1 1 (0.41%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 11 (4.51%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (2.46%) JIRA
3 2 (0.82%) ClearCase
4 1 (0.41%) Git
4 1 (0.41%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.41%) Postman
4 1 (0.41%) Selenium
General
1 40 (16.39%) Aerospace
2 33 (13.52%) Social Skills
3 25 (10.25%) Military
4 21 (8.61%) Manufacturing
5 13 (5.33%) Electronics
6 10 (4.10%) Analytical Skills
7 8 (3.28%) Public Sector
8 5 (2.05%) Banking
8 5 (2.05%) Telecoms
9 4 (1.64%) Avionics
9 4 (1.64%) Finance
9 4 (1.64%) Retail Banking
10 3 (1.23%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.82%) Legal
11 2 (0.82%) Marketing
11 2 (0.82%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.82%) Retail
12 1 (0.41%) Games
12 1 (0.41%) Local Government
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.23%) Software Packaging
2 2 (0.82%) ISPF
2 2 (0.82%) Middleware
2 2 (0.82%) REST
3 1 (0.41%) JSON
3 1 (0.41%) Microsoft Graph
3 1 (0.41%) RabbitMQ
3 1 (0.41%) SAP Fiori
3 1 (0.41%) Unity (Game Engine)
3 1 (0.41%) Unreal Engine
3 1 (0.41%) XML
3 1 (0.41%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 8 (3.28%) SCADA
2 7 (2.87%) Data Centre
2 7 (2.87%) Operational Technology
3 6 (2.46%) Legacy Systems
3 6 (2.46%) Onboarding
4 4 (1.64%) Embedded Systems
5 3 (1.23%) Hybrid Cloud
6 2 (0.82%) Algorithms
6 2 (0.82%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (0.82%) ASIC
6 2 (0.82%) CAN bus
6 2 (0.82%) Clustering
6 2 (0.82%) Cyber Threat
6 2 (0.82%) Enterprise Storage
6 2 (0.82%) FPGA
6 2 (0.82%) IoT
6 2 (0.82%) Life Science
6 2 (0.82%) Mainframe
6 2 (0.82%) Management Information System
6 2 (0.82%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 20 (8.20%) Windows
2 16 (6.56%) Linux
3 7 (2.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 5 (2.05%) Mac OS
5 2 (0.82%) Android
5 2 (0.82%) Windows Server
5 2 (0.82%) zOS
6 1 (0.41%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.41%) SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
6 1 (0.41%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (11.07%) Systems Engineering
2 23 (9.43%) Validation
3 16 (6.56%) Problem-Solving
4 13 (5.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 11 (4.51%) Agile
5 11 (4.51%) High Availability
5 11 (4.51%) Verification and Validation
6 10 (4.10%) Asset Management
6 10 (4.10%) Cybersecurity
6 10 (4.10%) Disaster Recovery
7 9 (3.69%) Migration
8 7 (2.87%) Computer Science
8 7 (2.87%) Mentoring
8 7 (2.87%) Root Cause Analysis
8 7 (2.87%) Service Management
8 7 (2.87%) Signal Processing
8 7 (2.87%) Software Testing
9 6 (2.46%) Continuous Improvement
9 6 (2.46%) DevOps
9 6 (2.46%) Requirements Management
Programming Languages
1 13 (5.33%) PowerShell
2 7 (2.87%) Python
3 6 (2.46%) MATLAB
4 5 (2.05%) C
5 4 (1.64%) C++
6 3 (1.23%) Java
6 3 (1.23%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.82%) Bash
7 2 (0.82%) JCL
7 2 (0.82%) REXX
7 2 (0.82%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.82%) SQL
8 1 (0.41%) C#
8 1 (0.41%) Embedded C
8 1 (0.41%) Embedded C++
8 1 (0.41%) Groovy
8 1 (0.41%) Korn
8 1 (0.41%) Lua
Qualifications
1 81 (33.20%) Security Cleared
2 51 (20.90%) SC Cleared
3 21 (8.61%) Degree
4 16 (6.56%) DV Cleared
5 8 (3.28%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.82%) CCNA
6 2 (0.82%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.41%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.41%) ISACA
7 1 (0.41%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.41%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.41%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (1.23%) IEC 61131
2 2 (0.82%) MIL-STD-1553
3 1 (0.41%) Cyber Essentials
3 1 (0.41%) Def Stans
3 1 (0.41%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (0.41%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.41%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 12 (4.92%) Active Directory
1 12 (4.92%) VMware Infrastructure
2 4 (1.64%) Virtual Desktop
3 3 (1.23%) KVM
3 3 (1.23%) Virtual Machines
3 3 (1.23%) VMware ESXi
4 2 (0.82%) Docker
4 2 (0.82%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.82%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 2 (0.82%) vSphere
5 1 (0.41%) Embedded Firmware
5 1 (0.41%) Firmware
5 1 (0.41%) Job Entry Subsystem
5 1 (0.41%) Virtual Servers
5 1 (0.41%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 8 (3.28%) Ansible
1 8 (3.28%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (2.46%) Terraform
3 4 (1.64%) SCCM
4 2 (0.82%) Jamf Pro
4 2 (0.82%) Kubernetes
4 2 (0.82%) Single Sign-On
5 1 (0.41%) FortiGate
5 1 (0.41%) MOM
5 1 (0.41%) Red Hat Satellite
5 1 (0.41%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 16 (6.56%) Microsoft
1 16 (6.56%) VMware
2 15 (6.15%) ServiceNow
3 12 (4.92%) Fortinet
3 12 (4.92%) NetApp
4 8 (3.28%) Cisco
4 8 (3.28%) Oracle
5 5 (2.05%) Google
5 5 (2.05%) IBM
5 5 (2.05%) Red Hat
5 5 (2.05%) Rockwell
5 5 (2.05%) Siemens
6 4 (1.64%) EMC
6 4 (1.64%) SAP
6 4 (1.64%) Veeam
7 3 (1.23%) Citrix
7 3 (1.23%) Okta
7 3 (1.23%) Splunk
7 3 (1.23%) Wonderware
8 2 (0.82%) CyberArk