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 17 March 2026.

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

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 337 389 264
Rank change year-on-year +52 -125 +148
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 313 138 379
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 0.47% 0.85%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.79% 0.51% 0.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 78 66 146
10th Percentile £163 £306 £313
25th Percentile £369 £400 £421
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £469 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.33% -10.71% +5.00%
75th Percentile £543 £569 £575
90th Percentile £579 £738 £646
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £463 £540
% change year-on-year +0.43% -14.35% +8.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 121 23 143
10th Percentile £42.00 £38.30 £39.55
25th Percentile £44.58 £47.21 £47.83
Median hourly rate £58.74 £55.25 £57.44
Median % change year-on-year +6.31% -3.81% -6.60%
75th Percentile £71.99 £72.50 £71.25
90th Percentile £78.75 £79.00 £75.16
UK excluding London median hourly rate £59.67 £55.65 £57.50
% change year-on-year +7.23% -3.23% -6.50%

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 39,673 27,289 41,313
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.89% 92.94% 92.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,785 17,711 27,109
10th Percentile £313 £300 £272
25th Percentile £410 £406 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.11%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £720 £738 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £475 £485
% change year-on-year +1.05% -2.06% -3.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,471 884 2,499
10th Percentile £15.00 £15.25 £12.98
25th Percentile £19.00 £21.04 £16.25
Median hourly rate £35.71 £33.00 £32.90
Median % change year-on-year +8.21% +0.32% -22.60%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £59.95
90th Percentile £75.79 £77.41 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £35.00 £32.50 £32.70
% change year-on-year +7.69% -0.60% -19.44%

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 17 March 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 17 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Systems Engineer in the UK

Systems Engineer
Top 15 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 17 March 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 +39 284 £485 - 380
UK excluding London +56 267 £465 +0.43% 371
South East +7 66 £490 -32.41% 119
East of England +14 64 £452 -16.30% 48
South West +12 48 £500 -15.25% 65
Work from Home -13 47 £467 -6.60% 102
Midlands -21 43 £395 +66.32% 52
North of England -60 37 £450 +6.64% 63
London -58 27 £478 -9.05% 51
North West -32 24 £216 -49.11% 35
East Midlands -12 23 £497 +562.00% 9
West Midlands -49 20 £348 +26.36% 43
Scotland +22 13 £232 -53.70% 26
Yorkshire -49 8 £510 - 14
North East -9 5 £450 +38.46% 14

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

For the 6 months to 17 March 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 97 (30.99%) Security Cleared
2 55 (17.57%) SC Cleared
3 37 (11.82%) Degree
4 36 (11.50%) Systems Engineering
5 31 (9.90%) Validation
6 29 (9.27%) Problem-Solving
7 24 (7.67%) Windows
8 23 (7.35%) DV Cleared
9 20 (6.39%) Siemens
10 19 (6.07%) Decision-Making
10 19 (6.07%) Microsoft
11 18 (5.75%) Rational DOORS
12 17 (5.43%) Customer Service
12 17 (5.43%) Microsoft Office
12 17 (5.43%) TCP/IP
13 16 (5.11%) Ethernet
13 16 (5.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 16 (5.11%) Linux
13 16 (5.11%) Risk Assessment
13 16 (5.11%) Verification and Validation
14 15 (4.79%) Creative Thinking
14 15 (4.79%) Fault Analysis
14 15 (4.79%) Mechatronics
14 15 (4.79%) ServiceNow
15 14 (4.47%) Fortinet
15 14 (4.47%) NetApp
16 13 (4.15%) PowerShell
17 12 (3.83%) Active Directory
17 12 (3.83%) BPSS Clearance
17 12 (3.83%) VMware

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 (1.60%) Confluence
2 4 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.64%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.32%) Apache
4 1 (0.32%) IIS
4 1 (0.32%) Tomcat
Applications
1 17 (5.43%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.28%) Simulink
3 2 (0.64%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.64%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.32%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.64%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.32%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.32%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.32%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.32%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.32%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 11 (3.51%) AWS
1 11 (3.51%) Azure
2 6 (1.92%) Microsoft 365
3 4 (1.28%) Amazon EC2
3 4 (1.28%) Amazon S3
3 4 (1.28%) Entra ID
3 4 (1.28%) Google Workspace
4 3 (0.96%) GCP
4 3 (0.96%) GitHub
5 2 (0.64%) Cloud Computing
5 2 (0.64%) Cohesity
5 2 (0.64%) OpenShift
5 2 (0.64%) PaaS
6 1 (0.32%) AWS Lambda
6 1 (0.32%) AWS Step Functions
6 1 (0.32%) Power Platform
6 1 (0.32%) PowerApps
6 1 (0.32%) SaaS
6 1 (0.32%) Serverless
6 1 (0.32%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 17 (5.43%) TCP/IP
2 16 (5.11%) Ethernet
3 11 (3.51%) Firewall
4 6 (1.92%) LTE
5 5 (1.60%) TETRA
6 4 (1.28%) Network Security
6 4 (1.28%) SAN
6 4 (1.28%) SNMP
6 4 (1.28%) VPN
7 3 (0.96%) DHCP
7 3 (0.96%) DNS
7 3 (0.96%) LAN
8 2 (0.64%) MIMO
8 2 (0.64%) NAS
8 2 (0.64%) SpaceWire
8 2 (0.64%) SSL
8 2 (0.64%) WAN
8 2 (0.64%) Wi-Fi
9 1 (0.32%) 3GPP
9 1 (0.32%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.64%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.32%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.32%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.32%) DB2
2 1 (0.32%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.32%) Oracle Database
2 1 (0.32%) Pentaho
Development Applications
1 18 (5.75%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (1.92%) JIRA
3 2 (0.64%) ClearCase
4 1 (0.32%) Git
4 1 (0.32%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.32%) Postman
4 1 (0.32%) Selenium
General
1 47 (15.02%) Aerospace
1 47 (15.02%) Social Skills
2 31 (9.90%) Military
3 20 (6.39%) Manufacturing
4 18 (5.75%) Presentation Skills
5 17 (5.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 15 (4.79%) Electronics
7 10 (3.19%) Analytical Skills
8 7 (2.24%) Public Sector
9 5 (1.60%) Banking
9 5 (1.60%) Telecoms
10 4 (1.28%) Avionics
10 4 (1.28%) Retail Banking
11 3 (0.96%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (0.96%) Finance
12 2 (0.64%) Retail
13 1 (0.32%) Games
13 1 (0.32%) Local Government
13 1 (0.32%) Marketing
13 1 (0.32%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.28%) REST
2 3 (0.96%) Middleware
2 3 (0.96%) Software Packaging
3 2 (0.64%) ISPF
3 2 (0.64%) JSON
4 1 (0.32%) GraphQL
4 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Graph
4 1 (0.32%) Node.js
4 1 (0.32%) RabbitMQ
4 1 (0.32%) RESTful
4 1 (0.32%) SAP Fiori
4 1 (0.32%) Unity (Game Engine)
4 1 (0.32%) Unreal Engine
4 1 (0.32%) XML
4 1 (0.32%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 15 (4.79%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (4.79%) Robotics
2 9 (2.88%) Onboarding
3 8 (2.56%) Embedded Systems
4 7 (2.24%) Data Centre
5 5 (1.60%) Legacy Systems
5 5 (1.60%) Operational Technology
5 5 (1.60%) SCADA
6 3 (0.96%) Hybrid Cloud
6 3 (0.96%) Self-Motivation
7 2 (0.64%) Analytical Mindset
7 2 (0.64%) ASIC
7 2 (0.64%) CAN bus
7 2 (0.64%) Cyber Threat
7 2 (0.64%) Enterprise Storage
7 2 (0.64%) IoT
7 2 (0.64%) Life Science
7 2 (0.64%) Mainframe
7 2 (0.64%) Management Information System
7 2 (0.64%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 24 (7.67%) Windows
2 16 (5.11%) Linux
3 7 (2.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
4 6 (1.92%) Mac OS
5 5 (1.60%) Windows Server
6 2 (0.64%) Android
6 2 (0.64%) zOS
7 1 (0.32%) FreeRTOS
7 1 (0.32%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 36 (11.50%) Systems Engineering
2 31 (9.90%) Validation
3 29 (9.27%) Problem-Solving
4 19 (6.07%) Decision-Making
5 17 (5.43%) Customer Service
6 16 (5.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 16 (5.11%) Risk Assessment
6 16 (5.11%) Verification and Validation
7 15 (4.79%) Creative Thinking
7 15 (4.79%) Fault Analysis
7 15 (4.79%) Mechatronics
8 11 (3.51%) Agile
8 11 (3.51%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
9 10 (3.19%) High Availability
10 9 (2.88%) Asset Management
10 9 (2.88%) Computer Science
10 9 (2.88%) Disaster Recovery
10 9 (2.88%) Migration
11 8 (2.56%) Continuous Improvement
11 8 (2.56%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 13 (4.15%) PowerShell
2 8 (2.56%) Python
3 6 (1.92%) MATLAB
4 4 (1.28%) C
5 3 (0.96%) C++
5 3 (0.96%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.64%) Bash
6 2 (0.64%) Java
6 2 (0.64%) JCL
6 2 (0.64%) REXX
6 2 (0.64%) SQL
7 1 (0.32%) C#
7 1 (0.32%) Embedded C
7 1 (0.32%) Embedded C++
7 1 (0.32%) Go
7 1 (0.32%) Groovy
7 1 (0.32%) Lua
7 1 (0.32%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 97 (30.99%) Security Cleared
2 55 (17.57%) SC Cleared
3 37 (11.82%) Degree
4 23 (7.35%) DV Cleared
5 12 (3.83%) BPSS Clearance
6 4 (1.28%) CCNA
6 4 (1.28%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.32%) CCNP
7 1 (0.32%) CISSP
7 1 (0.32%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.32%) HND
7 1 (0.32%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.32%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.32%) RHCE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (0.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 2 (0.64%) Data Quality
2 2 (0.64%) MIL-STD-1553
2 2 (0.64%) NIST
3 1 (0.32%) DO-254
3 1 (0.32%) IEC 61131
3 1 (0.32%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.32%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.32%) NIST 800
System Software
1 12 (3.83%) Active Directory
2 10 (3.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 4 (1.28%) Virtual Desktop
4 3 (0.96%) Embedded Firmware
4 3 (0.96%) Firmware
4 3 (0.96%) KVM
5 2 (0.64%) Docker
5 2 (0.64%) Hyper-V
5 2 (0.64%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 2 (0.64%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.64%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.64%) vSphere
6 1 (0.32%) Job Entry Subsystem
6 1 (0.32%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 7 (2.24%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (1.92%) Ansible
2 6 (1.92%) Terraform
3 5 (1.60%) SCCM
4 3 (0.96%) Kubernetes
5 2 (0.64%) Jamf Pro
5 2 (0.64%) Single Sign-On
6 1 (0.32%) FortiGate
6 1 (0.32%) MOM
6 1 (0.32%) Red Hat Satellite
Vendors
1 20 (6.39%) Siemens
2 19 (6.07%) Microsoft
3 15 (4.79%) ServiceNow
4 14 (4.47%) Fortinet
4 14 (4.47%) NetApp
5 12 (3.83%) VMware
6 7 (2.24%) Oracle
7 6 (1.92%) Cisco
7 6 (1.92%) EMC
7 6 (1.92%) IBM
7 6 (1.92%) Red Hat
8 5 (1.60%) Google
9 4 (1.28%) SAP
9 4 (1.28%) Veeam
10 3 (0.96%) Citrix
10 3 (0.96%) Rockwell
10 3 (0.96%) Splunk
11 2 (0.64%) Broadcom
11 2 (0.64%) Okta
11 2 (0.64%) Pure Storage