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 24 August 2026.

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

6 months to
24 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 249 352 257
Rank change year-on-year +103 -95 +94
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 572 211 374
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.07% 0.64% 0.96%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.15% 0.70% 1.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 134 70 80
10th Percentile £263 £359 £313
25th Percentile £383 £402 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +5.56% -17.43%
75th Percentile £536 £572 £538
90th Percentile £669 £626 £625
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £480 £425
% change year-on-year -1.04% +12.94% -17.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 290 58 137
10th Percentile £46.61 £44.98 £39.19
25th Percentile £55.61 £48.44 £44.94
Median hourly rate £66.45 £56.24 £62.50
Median % change year-on-year +18.15% -10.02% +10.64%
75th Percentile £74.95 £73.25 £70.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.24 £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 49,592 30,105 36,124
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.46% 91.25% 93.00%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,685 19,016 22,990
10th Percentile £325 £280 £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 £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 3,534 1,573 1,935
10th Percentile £15.00 £13.69 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.67 £17.30 £19.59
Median hourly rate £42.13 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.50% -41.51% -1.71%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £71.49 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +7.50%

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 24 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 24 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 24 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 +105 529 £478 +0.53% 357
UK excluding London +73 477 £475 -1.04% 363
South East +40 147 £500 +5.26% 128
South West +39 131 £505 +2.54% 74
Work from Home -23 82 £465 -12.26% 100
London -32 82 £475 -9.09% 41
Midlands -7 60 £475 -7.32% 43
East of England -13 54 £250 -54.55% 40
North of England -38 54 £419 -6.94% 54
North West -33 37 £500 +11.11% 29
West Midlands -21 35 £395 -22.93% 27
East Midlands +2 25 £475 - 16
Scotland -12 18 £400 -20.00% 27
Wales - 13 £465 - 8
Yorkshire - 9 £275 - 14
North East -32 8 £350 - 13

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

For the 6 months to 24 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.

1 105 (18.36%) Security Cleared
2 104 (18.18%) Systems Engineering
3 87 (15.21%) SC Cleared
4 63 (11.01%) Validation
5 54 (9.44%) Linux
6 51 (8.92%) Windows
7 40 (6.99%) Verification and Validation
8 38 (6.64%) Microsoft
9 33 (5.77%) Rational DOORS
10 31 (5.42%) Degree
11 29 (5.07%) Active Directory
11 29 (5.07%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 27 (4.72%) Azure
12 27 (4.72%) Problem-Solving
13 26 (4.55%) Configuration Management
13 26 (4.55%) Python
13 26 (4.55%) Windows Server
14 21 (3.67%) DNS
15 19 (3.32%) PowerShell
15 19 (3.32%) VMware
15 19 (3.32%) VMware Infrastructure
16 18 (3.15%) EMC
17 17 (2.97%) Ansible
17 17 (2.97%) DHCP
17 17 (2.97%) Disaster Recovery
17 17 (2.97%) Firewall
17 17 (2.97%) ITIL
18 16 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
18 16 (2.80%) MATLAB
18 16 (2.80%) Microsoft 365

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 (0.70%) JBoss
1 4 (0.70%) SAS
2 3 (0.52%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.52%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.35%) Confluence
4 1 (0.17%) IIS
Applications
1 14 (2.45%) Simulink
2 4 (0.70%) Stateflow
3 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 3 (0.52%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.17%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 27 (4.72%) Azure
2 16 (2.80%) Microsoft 365
3 14 (2.45%) AWS
4 13 (2.27%) Entra ID
5 11 (1.92%) SaaS
6 9 (1.57%) OpenShift
7 5 (0.87%) GCP
7 5 (0.87%) GitHub
8 3 (0.52%) Azure Logic Apps
8 3 (0.52%) Azure Monitor
8 3 (0.52%) GitHub Actions
8 3 (0.52%) IaaS
9 2 (0.35%) Amazon EC2
9 2 (0.35%) Amazon S3
9 2 (0.35%) Cloudflare
9 2 (0.35%) OneDrive
10 1 (0.17%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (0.17%) AWS Lambda
10 1 (0.17%) Cloud Computing
10 1 (0.17%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 21 (3.67%) DNS
2 17 (2.97%) DHCP
2 17 (2.97%) Firewall
3 11 (1.92%) Network Security
3 11 (1.92%) TCP/IP
4 9 (1.57%) LAN
4 9 (1.57%) VPN
5 6 (1.05%) IPv4
5 6 (1.05%) Kerberos
5 6 (1.05%) Modbus
5 6 (1.05%) VLAN
6 5 (0.87%) ATM
7 4 (0.70%) WAN
8 3 (0.52%) NAS
8 3 (0.52%) SAN
9 2 (0.35%) DKIM
9 2 (0.35%) DMARC
9 2 (0.35%) Remote Desktop
9 2 (0.35%) Software-Defined Networking
9 2 (0.35%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.70%) Big Data
1 4 (0.70%) Hadoop
1 4 (0.70%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.35%) GIS
2 2 (0.35%) SQL Server Reporting Services
3 1 (0.17%) Db2
3 1 (0.17%) Geospatial Data
3 1 (0.17%) NoSQL
3 1 (0.17%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.17%) QGIS
3 1 (0.17%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 33 (5.77%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.22%) Rational Rhapsody
3 4 (0.70%) JIRA
4 3 (0.52%) Git
4 3 (0.52%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.17%) CANoe
5 1 (0.17%) Storybook
General
1 81 (14.16%) Aerospace
2 47 (8.22%) Social Skills
3 28 (4.90%) Analytical Skills
3 28 (4.90%) Avionics
4 25 (4.37%) Military
5 24 (4.20%) Manufacturing
6 16 (2.80%) Automotive
7 14 (2.45%) Electronics
8 13 (2.27%) Finance
9 10 (1.75%) Law
10 5 (0.87%) Aviation
11 4 (0.70%) Documentation Skills
11 4 (0.70%) Games
11 4 (0.70%) Influencing Skills
11 4 (0.70%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (0.70%) Telecoms
12 3 (0.52%) Public Sector
13 1 (0.17%) Banking
13 1 (0.17%) Legal
13 1 (0.17%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (1.57%) Terraform
2 6 (1.05%) NETCONF
2 6 (1.05%) OpenID
2 6 (1.05%) SAML
3 3 (0.52%) HTML
3 3 (0.52%) ISPF
3 3 (0.52%) REST
4 2 (0.35%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.35%) FastAPI
4 2 (0.35%) Microsoft Graph
4 2 (0.35%) Middleware
4 2 (0.35%) React
4 2 (0.35%) RESTful
5 1 (0.17%) JSON
5 1 (0.17%) Node.js
5 1 (0.17%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.17%) OpenLayers
5 1 (0.17%) Qt
5 1 (0.17%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.17%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 12 (2.10%) Operational Technology
2 10 (1.75%) Renewable Energy
2 10 (1.75%) SCADA
3 8 (1.40%) Virtual Team
4 7 (1.22%) CUDA
4 7 (1.22%) IoT
5 6 (1.05%) Embedded Systems
5 6 (1.05%) Mainframe
6 5 (0.87%) Clustering
6 5 (0.87%) Hybrid Cloud
6 5 (0.87%) Management Information System
6 5 (0.87%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (0.70%) Animation
7 4 (0.70%) Cloud Native
7 4 (0.70%) Data Centre
7 4 (0.70%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (0.70%) Onboarding
8 3 (0.52%) Acoustics
8 3 (0.52%) CCTV
8 3 (0.52%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 54 (9.44%) Linux
2 51 (8.92%) Windows
3 26 (4.55%) Windows Server
4 14 (2.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 7 (1.22%) Unix
6 6 (1.05%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.70%) zOS
8 3 (0.52%) Android
8 3 (0.52%) MVS
9 2 (0.35%) Debian
10 1 (0.17%) FreeRTOS
10 1 (0.17%) Mac OS
10 1 (0.17%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 104 (18.18%) Systems Engineering
2 63 (11.01%) Validation
3 40 (6.99%) Verification and Validation
4 29 (5.07%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
5 27 (4.72%) Problem-Solving
6 26 (4.55%) Configuration Management
7 17 (2.97%) Disaster Recovery
7 17 (2.97%) ITIL
8 14 (2.45%) Project Management
8 14 (2.45%) Root Cause Analysis
9 13 (2.27%) Test Automation
9 13 (2.27%) Workflow
10 12 (2.10%) AI
10 12 (2.10%) Infrastructure as Code
10 12 (2.10%) Performance Tuning
11 11 (1.92%) Agile
11 11 (1.92%) Continuous Improvement
12 10 (1.75%) Migration
12 10 (1.75%) Network Architecture
12 10 (1.75%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 26 (4.55%) Python
2 19 (3.32%) PowerShell
3 16 (2.80%) MATLAB
4 9 (1.57%) Bash
5 6 (1.05%) C
5 6 (1.05%) REXX
6 5 (0.87%) SQL
7 4 (0.70%) C++
8 3 (0.52%) Bicep
8 3 (0.52%) Java
8 3 (0.52%) JCL
8 3 (0.52%) Perl
9 2 (0.35%) TypeScript
10 1 (0.17%) C#
10 1 (0.17%) COBOL
10 1 (0.17%) Rust
10 1 (0.17%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 105 (18.36%) Security Cleared
2 87 (15.21%) SC Cleared
3 31 (5.42%) Degree
4 16 (2.80%) BPSS Clearance
5 10 (1.75%) DV Cleared
6 6 (1.05%) Azure Certification
6 6 (1.05%) Microsoft Certification
7 5 (0.87%) Chartered Engineer
7 5 (0.87%) Cisco Certification
8 4 (0.70%) CCNA
9 3 (0.52%) CCA
9 3 (0.52%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 2 (0.35%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.35%) CCNP
10 2 (0.35%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (0.35%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
11 1 (0.17%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 1 (0.17%) CompTIA CySA+
11 1 (0.17%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.17%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 6 (1.05%) Def Stans
2 3 (0.52%) GxP
2 3 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 3 (0.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.52%) NCSC
2 3 (0.52%) QA
3 1 (0.17%) Accessibility
3 1 (0.17%) ARP4761
3 1 (0.17%) Data Quality
3 1 (0.17%) DICOM
3 1 (0.17%) Disclosure Scotland
3 1 (0.17%) DO-254
3 1 (0.17%) GMP
3 1 (0.17%) HAZOP
3 1 (0.17%) HL7
3 1 (0.17%) MIL-STD-1553
3 1 (0.17%) NIST
3 1 (0.17%) NIST 800
3 1 (0.17%) SLA
3 1 (0.17%) WCAG
System Software
1 29 (5.07%) Active Directory
2 19 (3.32%) VMware Infrastructure
3 14 (2.45%) Hyper-V
4 6 (1.05%) Docker
4 6 (1.05%) Firmware
4 6 (1.05%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 5 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.70%) Virtual Desktop
7 3 (0.52%) Embedded Firmware
8 2 (0.35%) VMware Workstation
9 1 (0.17%) Job Entry Subsystem
9 1 (0.17%) KVM
9 1 (0.17%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 17 (2.97%) Ansible
2 16 (2.80%) Puppet
3 11 (1.92%) Kubernetes
4 8 (1.40%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (1.05%) Progress Chef
6 5 (0.87%) Failover Clustering
7 4 (0.70%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.35%) Functional Safety
8 2 (0.35%) Grafana
8 2 (0.35%) Istio
8 2 (0.35%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.35%) Salt
8 2 (0.35%) SCCM
8 2 (0.35%) Tivoli NetView
9 1 (0.17%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.17%) Control-M
9 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.17%) Packer
9 1 (0.17%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.17%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 38 (6.64%) Microsoft
2 19 (3.32%) VMware
3 18 (3.15%) EMC
4 13 (2.27%) Red Hat
5 12 (2.10%) Cisco
6 10 (1.75%) IBM
7 7 (1.22%) NVIDIA
8 6 (1.05%) SaltStack
8 6 (1.05%) ServiceNow
9 4 (0.70%) AVEVA
9 4 (0.70%) Perforce
10 3 (0.52%) Fortinet
10 3 (0.52%) NEC
10 3 (0.52%) Rockwell
10 3 (0.52%) Siemens
10 3 (0.52%) Sparx
10 3 (0.52%) Splunk
11 2 (0.35%) BeyondTrust
11 2 (0.35%) CrowdStrike
11 2 (0.35%) CyberArk