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 14 September 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 227 381 269
Rank change year-on-year +154 -112 +79
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 616 179 343
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.14% 0.55% 0.89%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.23% 0.60% 0.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 140 57 75
10th Percentile £324 £281 £325
25th Percentile £400 £365 £369
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year - +5.56% -15.89%
75th Percentile £570 £575 £531
90th Percentile £725 £621 £618
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £425
% change year-on-year - +11.76% -17.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 308 50 115
10th Percentile £46.61 £44.94 £36.34
25th Percentile £56.74 £48.75 £44.94
Median hourly rate £67.47 £56.44 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.54% -13.17% +15.06%
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 49,990 29,768 35,726
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.35% 91.07% 93.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,655 18,799 22,146
10th Percentile £325 £278 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -0.94%
75th Percentile £625 £620 £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 3,750 1,555 1,711
10th Percentile £14.59 £13.69 £14.73
25th Percentile £20.27 £17.00 £20.50
Median hourly rate £42.00 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +67.00% -41.51% -1.71%
75th Percentile £67.50 £51.72 £65.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £45.00
% change year-on-year +68.99% -44.11% +8.43%

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 14 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 14 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 14 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 +139 575 £475 - 966
UK excluding London +107 513 £475 - 747
South East +57 158 £500 +5.26% 231
South West +49 145 £498 +3.38% 130
London -28 89 £475 +2.15% 287
Work from Home -12 88 £465 -8.37% 340
North of England -27 68 £400 -13.51% 96
Midlands -10 59 £463 +8.82% 87
East of England -10 54 £250 -56.52% 111
North West -28 44 £500 +8.11% 44
West Midlands -25 33 £425 - 52
East Midlands 0 26 £475 - 34
Scotland -18 16 £775 +55.00% 92
North East - 15 £350 - 24
Wales 0 13 £465 - 16
Yorkshire - 9 £275 - 38

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

For the 6 months to 14 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.

1 116 (18.83%) Systems Engineering
2 104 (16.88%) Security Cleared
3 89 (14.45%) SC Cleared
4 65 (10.55%) Validation
5 60 (9.74%) Linux
6 54 (8.77%) Windows
7 42 (6.82%) Verification and Validation
8 41 (6.66%) Microsoft
9 40 (6.49%) Rational DOORS
10 35 (5.68%) Degree
11 33 (5.36%) Python
12 32 (5.19%) Azure
13 31 (5.03%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
14 29 (4.71%) Problem-Solving
14 29 (4.71%) Windows Server
15 28 (4.55%) Active Directory
16 27 (4.38%) Configuration Management
17 23 (3.73%) VMware
18 22 (3.57%) Disaster Recovery
18 22 (3.57%) DNS
18 22 (3.57%) VMware Infrastructure
19 21 (3.41%) Ansible
20 20 (3.25%) ITIL
20 20 (3.25%) PowerShell
20 20 (3.25%) Requirements Management
21 19 (3.08%) Firewall
21 19 (3.08%) MATLAB
22 18 (2.92%) DHCP
22 18 (2.92%) Hyper-V
22 18 (2.92%) Root Cause Analysis

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 (0.81%) Microsoft Exchange
2 4 (0.65%) JBoss
2 4 (0.65%) SAS
3 3 (0.49%) SharePoint
4 2 (0.32%) Confluence
5 1 (0.16%) IIS
Applications
1 17 (2.76%) Simulink
2 4 (0.65%) Stateflow
3 1 (0.16%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.16%) Solid Edge
Business Applications
1 3 (0.49%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.16%) ResourceLink
Cloud Services
1 32 (5.19%) Azure
2 16 (2.60%) Microsoft 365
3 15 (2.44%) AWS
3 15 (2.44%) Entra ID
4 12 (1.95%) OpenShift
5 11 (1.79%) SaaS
6 6 (0.97%) GCP
7 5 (0.81%) GitHub
8 4 (0.65%) Azure Monitor
9 3 (0.49%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (0.49%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (0.49%) IaaS
10 2 (0.32%) Cloudflare
10 2 (0.32%) OneDrive
11 1 (0.16%) Anthropic Claude
11 1 (0.16%) AWS Direct Connect
11 1 (0.16%) AWS Lambda
11 1 (0.16%) Azure Sentinel
11 1 (0.16%) Azure Service Bus
11 1 (0.16%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 22 (3.57%) DNS
2 19 (3.08%) Firewall
3 18 (2.92%) DHCP
4 13 (2.11%) TCP/IP
4 13 (2.11%) VPN
5 10 (1.62%) Network Security
6 8 (1.30%) LAN
7 7 (1.14%) Modbus
8 6 (0.97%) IPv4
8 6 (0.97%) Kerberos
8 6 (0.97%) VLAN
9 5 (0.81%) ATM
10 4 (0.65%) WAN
11 3 (0.49%) NAS
11 3 (0.49%) Remote Desktop
11 3 (0.49%) SAN
11 3 (0.49%) Software-Defined Networking
11 3 (0.49%) VoIP
12 2 (0.32%) 4G
12 2 (0.32%) DKIM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (0.97%) GIS
2 4 (0.65%) Big Data
2 4 (0.65%) Hadoop
2 4 (0.65%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.16%) Amazon RDS
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 (6.49%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.14%) Rational Rhapsody
3 4 (0.65%) JIRA
4 3 (0.49%) Git
4 3 (0.49%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.16%) CANoe
5 1 (0.16%) Claude Code
5 1 (0.16%) Storybook
General
1 95 (15.42%) Aerospace
2 50 (8.12%) Social Skills
3 43 (6.98%) Avionics
4 28 (4.55%) Analytical Skills
5 23 (3.73%) Automotive
5 23 (3.73%) Manufacturing
5 23 (3.73%) Military
6 16 (2.60%) Finance
7 10 (1.62%) Electronics
7 10 (1.62%) Law
8 5 (0.81%) Aviation
9 4 (0.65%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (0.65%) Games
9 4 (0.65%) Influencing Skills
10 3 (0.49%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (0.49%) Telecoms
11 2 (0.32%) Public Sector
12 1 (0.16%) Banking
12 1 (0.16%) Local Government
12 1 (0.16%) Publishing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (2.11%) Terraform
2 6 (0.97%) NETCONF
2 6 (0.97%) OpenID
2 6 (0.97%) SAML
3 5 (0.81%) XML
4 3 (0.49%) ARM Templates
4 3 (0.49%) HTML
4 3 (0.49%) ISPF
4 3 (0.49%) REST
5 2 (0.32%) FastAPI
5 2 (0.32%) Microsoft Graph
5 2 (0.32%) Middleware
5 2 (0.32%) React
5 2 (0.32%) RESTful
6 1 (0.16%) CSS
6 1 (0.16%) JSON
6 1 (0.16%) ODBC
6 1 (0.16%) OpenGL
6 1 (0.16%) Qt
6 1 (0.16%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 15 (2.44%) Operational Technology
1 15 (2.44%) SCADA
2 10 (1.62%) Renewable Energy
3 8 (1.30%) Algorithms
3 8 (1.30%) Hybrid Cloud
4 7 (1.14%) Cloud Native
4 7 (1.14%) CUDA
4 7 (1.14%) IoT
4 7 (1.14%) Virtual Team
5 6 (0.97%) CCTV
5 6 (0.97%) Mainframe
5 6 (0.97%) Management Information System
6 5 (0.81%) Clustering
7 4 (0.65%) AI Agents
7 4 (0.65%) Animation
7 4 (0.65%) Data Centre
7 4 (0.65%) Distributed Architecture
7 4 (0.65%) Distributed Computing
7 4 (0.65%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (0.49%) Distributed Systems
Operating Systems
1 60 (9.74%) Linux
2 54 (8.77%) Windows
3 29 (4.71%) Windows Server
4 14 (2.27%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 8 (1.30%) Unix
6 6 (0.97%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.65%) zOS
8 3 (0.49%) Android
8 3 (0.49%) MVS
9 2 (0.32%) Debian
10 1 (0.16%) FreeRTOS
10 1 (0.16%) Rocky
10 1 (0.16%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 116 (18.83%) Systems Engineering
2 65 (10.55%) Validation
3 42 (6.82%) Verification and Validation
4 31 (5.03%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
5 29 (4.71%) Problem-Solving
6 27 (4.38%) Configuration Management
7 22 (3.57%) Disaster Recovery
8 20 (3.25%) ITIL
8 20 (3.25%) Requirements Management
9 18 (2.92%) Root Cause Analysis
10 17 (2.76%) Infrastructure as Code
11 15 (2.44%) AI
12 14 (2.27%) Stakeholder Management
13 13 (2.11%) Business Continuity
13 13 (2.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 13 (2.11%) Migration
13 13 (2.11%) Performance Tuning
13 13 (2.11%) Project Management
13 13 (2.11%) Test Automation
13 13 (2.11%) Workflow
Programming Languages
1 33 (5.36%) Python
2 20 (3.25%) PowerShell
3 19 (3.08%) MATLAB
4 12 (1.95%) Bash
5 9 (1.46%) SQL
6 8 (1.30%) C
7 6 (0.97%) C++
7 6 (0.97%) REXX
8 4 (0.65%) Bicep
9 3 (0.49%) Java
9 3 (0.49%) JCL
9 3 (0.49%) Perl
9 3 (0.49%) Rust
10 2 (0.32%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.16%) C#
11 1 (0.16%) COBOL
11 1 (0.16%) Go
11 1 (0.16%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 104 (16.88%) Security Cleared
2 89 (14.45%) SC Cleared
3 35 (5.68%) Degree
4 15 (2.44%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (1.14%) Azure Certification
5 7 (1.14%) Microsoft Certification
6 6 (0.97%) DV Cleared
7 5 (0.81%) Chartered Engineer
8 4 (0.65%) Computer Science Degree
8 4 (0.65%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 3 (0.49%) CCA
9 3 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
9 3 (0.49%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 3 (0.49%) Master's Degree
10 2 (0.32%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.32%) CCNA
11 1 (0.16%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 1 (0.16%) HNC
11 1 (0.16%) HND
11 1 (0.16%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (1.14%) Def Stans
2 5 (0.81%) QA
3 3 (0.49%) GxP
3 3 (0.49%) ISO/IEC 15288
3 3 (0.49%) NCSC
4 1 (0.16%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.16%) ARP4761
4 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.16%) Data Quality
4 1 (0.16%) DICOM
4 1 (0.16%) Disclosure Scotland
4 1 (0.16%) DO-254
4 1 (0.16%) GMP
4 1 (0.16%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.16%) HL7
4 1 (0.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.16%) MIL-STD-1553
4 1 (0.16%) SLA
4 1 (0.16%) WCAG
System Software
1 28 (4.55%) Active Directory
2 22 (3.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (2.92%) Hyper-V
4 8 (1.30%) Docker
5 6 (0.97%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 6 (0.97%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.65%) Firmware
6 4 (0.65%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.32%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.16%) Embedded Firmware
8 1 (0.16%) Job Entry Subsystem
8 1 (0.16%) KVM
8 1 (0.16%) Microsoft App-V
8 1 (0.16%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.16%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 21 (3.41%) Ansible
2 16 (2.60%) Puppet
3 15 (2.44%) Kubernetes
4 10 (1.62%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (0.97%) Progress Chef
6 5 (0.81%) Failover Clustering
6 5 (0.81%) Red Hat Satellite
7 4 (0.65%) Grafana
7 4 (0.65%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.49%) Istio
9 2 (0.32%) Functional Safety
9 2 (0.32%) Salt
9 2 (0.32%) SCCM
9 2 (0.32%) Tivoli NetView
10 1 (0.16%) Amdocs OSS
10 1 (0.16%) Check_MK
10 1 (0.16%) Control-M
10 1 (0.16%) Packer
10 1 (0.16%) Podman
10 1 (0.16%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 41 (6.66%) Microsoft
2 23 (3.73%) VMware
3 16 (2.60%) EMC
4 15 (2.44%) Red Hat
5 11 (1.79%) Cisco
6 10 (1.62%) IBM
7 7 (1.14%) NVIDIA
8 6 (0.97%) SaltStack
8 6 (0.97%) ServiceNow
9 5 (0.81%) AVEVA
10 4 (0.65%) Perforce
11 3 (0.49%) Fortinet
11 3 (0.49%) Okta
11 3 (0.49%) Rockwell
11 3 (0.49%) Sparx
11 3 (0.49%) Splunk
12 2 (0.32%) BeyondTrust
12 2 (0.32%) CrowdStrike
12 2 (0.32%) CyberArk
12 2 (0.32%) Google