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 May 2026.

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

6 months to
24 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 290 360 248
Rank change year-on-year +70 -112 +130
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 411 161 385
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.85% 0.56% 0.91%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.92% 0.61% 0.98%
Number of daily rates quoted 125 67 92
10th Percentile £240 £313 £313
25th Percentile £382 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £459
Median % change year-on-year - +3.49% -10.44%
75th Percentile £533 £569 £575
90th Percentile £600 £650 £649
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -7.00% +11.11% -7.69%
Number of hourly rates quoted 156 41 177
10th Percentile £42.50 £45.00 £39.55
25th Percentile £54.84 £52.18 £46.39
Median hourly rate £66.99 £55.00 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +21.80% -4.35% -6.50%
75th Percentile £78.75 £73.75 £71.25
90th Percentile £81.05 £75.00 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £67.47 £55.13 £59.44
% change year-on-year +22.39% -7.26% -0.93%

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 44,870 26,596 39,472
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.31% 92.30% 92.82%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,419 17,312 25,704
10th Percentile £325 £289 £280
25th Percentile £413 £405 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £508 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.99% -3.33% -3.31%
75th Percentile £618 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,946 1,014 2,724
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.00 £12.83
25th Percentile £20.35 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £42.50 £28.00 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +51.81% -23.30% -18.89%
75th Percentile £66.44 £60.00 £61.30
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.69 £26.50 £40.00
% change year-on-year +64.87% -33.75% -5.11%

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 May 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 May 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 May 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 +47 360 £495 +4.21% 317
UK excluding London +66 338 £465 -7.00% 299
South East +12 91 £500 -13.04% 95
Work from Home +3 76 £465 - 98
East of England +2 70 £450 -18.18% 34
South West +19 69 £500 -9.30% 64
London -49 51 £475 - 39
North of England -58 40 £450 +8.70% 38
Midlands -44 39 £300 +9.09% 57
North West -32 25 £350 -16.27% 25
Scotland +19 21 £215 -57.00% 11
West Midlands -49 21 £300 +9.09% 45
East Midlands -15 18 £388 +416.67% 12
Wales - 12 £465 - 5
Yorkshire -49 10 £393 - 10
North East -25 5 £450 +38.46% 3

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

For the 6 months to 24 May 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.

1 102 (24.82%) Security Cleared
2 70 (17.03%) Systems Engineering
3 61 (14.84%) SC Cleared
4 44 (10.71%) Degree
5 43 (10.46%) Validation
6 39 (9.49%) Problem-Solving
7 36 (8.76%) Linux
7 36 (8.76%) Windows
8 32 (7.79%) Rational DOORS
9 26 (6.33%) Microsoft
10 24 (5.84%) DV Cleared
11 23 (5.60%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
11 23 (5.60%) Verification and Validation
12 20 (4.87%) Decision-Making
13 19 (4.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 18 (4.38%) Customer Service
14 18 (4.38%) Siemens
15 17 (4.14%) Ethernet
15 17 (4.14%) TCP/IP
16 16 (3.89%) Azure
16 16 (3.89%) Configuration Management
16 16 (3.89%) Firewall
16 16 (3.89%) Microsoft Office
16 16 (3.89%) Risk Assessment
16 16 (3.89%) ServiceNow
17 15 (3.65%) Active Directory
17 15 (3.65%) AWS
17 15 (3.65%) Creative Thinking
17 15 (3.65%) Fault Analysis
17 15 (3.65%) Fortinet

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 (1.22%) Confluence
2 4 (0.97%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.49%) SharePoint
4 1 (0.24%) SAS
Applications
1 16 (3.89%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (1.70%) Simulink
3 3 (0.73%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 1 (0.24%) ResourceLink
1 1 (0.24%) SAP HCM
1 1 (0.24%) SAP HR
1 1 (0.24%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
1 1 (0.24%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 16 (3.89%) Azure
2 15 (3.65%) AWS
3 12 (2.92%) SaaS
4 9 (2.19%) Microsoft 365
5 6 (1.46%) OpenShift
6 5 (1.22%) Entra ID
6 5 (1.22%) GitHub
7 4 (0.97%) Amazon EC2
7 4 (0.97%) Amazon S3
8 3 (0.73%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (0.49%) Cohesity
9 2 (0.49%) Google Workspace
9 2 (0.49%) OneDrive
10 1 (0.24%) Amazon EKS
10 1 (0.24%) AWS Lambda
10 1 (0.24%) Azure Monitor
10 1 (0.24%) Azure Service Bus
10 1 (0.24%) Power Platform
10 1 (0.24%) PowerApps
10 1 (0.24%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 17 (4.14%) Ethernet
1 17 (4.14%) TCP/IP
2 16 (3.89%) Firewall
3 11 (2.68%) DNS
4 9 (2.19%) DHCP
5 6 (1.46%) LTE
6 5 (1.22%) LAN
6 5 (1.22%) TETRA
6 5 (1.22%) VPN
7 4 (0.97%) Network Security
7 4 (0.97%) SNMP
7 4 (0.97%) WAN
8 3 (0.73%) SpaceWire
9 2 (0.49%) MIMO
9 2 (0.49%) PSTN
9 2 (0.49%) SAN
9 2 (0.49%) Unified Communications
9 2 (0.49%) Wireshark
10 1 (0.24%) Wi-Fi
10 1 (0.24%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.49%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.24%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.24%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.24%) DB2
2 1 (0.24%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.24%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 32 (7.79%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (1.46%) Rational Rhapsody
3 5 (1.22%) JIRA
4 1 (0.24%) CANoe
4 1 (0.24%) Jenkins
General
1 55 (13.38%) Social Skills
2 48 (11.68%) Aerospace
3 37 (9.00%) Military
4 21 (5.11%) Electronics
5 20 (4.87%) Analytical Skills
6 18 (4.38%) Manufacturing
6 18 (4.38%) Presentation Skills
7 16 (3.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (3.41%) Avionics
9 9 (2.19%) Public Sector
10 8 (1.95%) Finance
10 8 (1.95%) Law
11 6 (1.46%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.22%) Telecoms
13 4 (0.97%) Automotive
13 4 (0.97%) Banking
14 3 (0.73%) Aviation
14 3 (0.73%) Retail Banking
15 2 (0.49%) Retail
16 1 (0.24%) Games
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.46%) OpenID
1 6 (1.46%) SAML
2 5 (1.22%) REST
3 3 (0.73%) ISPF
3 3 (0.73%) Software Packaging
4 2 (0.49%) JSON
4 2 (0.49%) Middleware
5 1 (0.24%) GraphQL
5 1 (0.24%) HTML
5 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.24%) Node.js
5 1 (0.24%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.24%) Qt
5 1 (0.24%) RESTful
5 1 (0.24%) SAP Fiori
5 1 (0.24%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 1 (0.24%) Unreal Engine
Miscellaneous
1 15 (3.65%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (3.65%) Robotics
2 10 (2.43%) Data Centre
3 9 (2.19%) Embedded Systems
4 7 (1.70%) CUDA
4 7 (1.70%) IoT
4 7 (1.70%) Onboarding
5 5 (1.22%) Mainframe
6 4 (0.97%) Operational Technology
6 4 (0.97%) Renewable Energy
7 3 (0.73%) Acoustics
7 3 (0.73%) FPGA
7 3 (0.73%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (0.73%) Legacy Systems
7 3 (0.73%) Self-Motivation
8 2 (0.49%) Analytical Mindset
8 2 (0.49%) CAN bus
8 2 (0.49%) Data Protection Act
8 2 (0.49%) Enterprise Storage
8 2 (0.49%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 36 (8.76%) Linux
1 36 (8.76%) Windows
2 9 (2.19%) Windows Server
3 5 (1.22%) Android
4 4 (0.97%) Mac OS
4 4 (0.97%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 3 (0.73%) zOS
6 2 (0.49%) FreeRTOS
6 2 (0.49%) MVS
7 1 (0.24%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (17.03%) Systems Engineering
2 43 (10.46%) Validation
3 39 (9.49%) Problem-Solving
4 23 (5.60%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
4 23 (5.60%) Verification and Validation
5 20 (4.87%) Decision-Making
6 19 (4.62%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 18 (4.38%) Customer Service
8 16 (3.89%) Configuration Management
8 16 (3.89%) Risk Assessment
9 15 (3.65%) Creative Thinking
9 15 (3.65%) Fault Analysis
9 15 (3.65%) Mechatronics
10 13 (3.16%) Migration
11 12 (2.92%) Workflow
12 11 (2.68%) Agile
12 11 (2.68%) Computer Science
12 11 (2.68%) Continuous Improvement
13 10 (2.43%) Disaster Recovery
13 10 (2.43%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 13 (3.16%) PowerShell
2 12 (2.92%) Python
3 10 (2.43%) MATLAB
4 5 (1.22%) C
5 4 (0.97%) Bash
5 4 (0.97%) REXX
6 3 (0.73%) JavaScript
6 3 (0.73%) JCL
7 2 (0.49%) C++
7 2 (0.49%) Java
8 1 (0.24%) C#
8 1 (0.24%) Embedded C
8 1 (0.24%) Embedded C++
8 1 (0.24%) Go
8 1 (0.24%) Groovy
8 1 (0.24%) Lua
8 1 (0.24%) SQL
Qualifications
1 102 (24.82%) Security Cleared
2 61 (14.84%) SC Cleared
3 44 (10.71%) Degree
4 24 (5.84%) DV Cleared
5 10 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.49%) AWS Certification
6 2 (0.49%) CCNA
6 2 (0.49%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.24%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
7 1 (0.24%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.24%) CCA
7 1 (0.24%) CCNP
7 1 (0.24%) Chartered Engineer
7 1 (0.24%) CISSP
7 1 (0.24%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.24%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.24%) HND
7 1 (0.24%) Master's Degree
7 1 (0.24%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (0.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.73%) Def Stans
2 3 (0.73%) MIL-STD-1553
3 2 (0.49%) Data Quality
3 2 (0.49%) NIST
4 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.24%) DICOM
4 1 (0.24%) DO-254
4 1 (0.24%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.24%) HL7
4 1 (0.24%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.24%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.24%) NIST 800
4 1 (0.24%) QA
System Software
1 15 (3.65%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.41%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.46%) Hyper-V
3 6 (1.46%) Slurm Workload Manager
4 5 (1.22%) Firmware
4 5 (1.22%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.73%) Docker
5 3 (0.73%) Embedded Firmware
5 3 (0.73%) KVM
5 3 (0.73%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.49%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.49%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.24%) Job Entry Subsystem
7 1 (0.24%) Microsoft App-V
7 1 (0.24%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.24%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 12 (2.92%) Ansible
2 7 (1.70%) Kubernetes
2 7 (1.70%) Microsoft Intune
2 7 (1.70%) Terraform
3 6 (1.46%) Puppet
4 5 (1.22%) SCCM
5 2 (0.49%) Functional Safety
6 1 (0.24%) Control-M
6 1 (0.24%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (0.24%) MOM
6 1 (0.24%) Packer
6 1 (0.24%) Tivoli NetView
Vendors
1 26 (6.33%) Microsoft
2 18 (4.38%) Siemens
3 16 (3.89%) ServiceNow
4 15 (3.65%) Fortinet
4 15 (3.65%) VMware
5 13 (3.16%) NetApp
6 11 (2.68%) IBM
7 7 (1.70%) EMC
7 7 (1.70%) NVIDIA
8 5 (1.22%) Cisco
9 4 (0.97%) Splunk
10 3 (0.73%) Broadcom
10 3 (0.73%) Citrix
10 3 (0.73%) Google
10 3 (0.73%) NEC
10 3 (0.73%) Red Hat
10 3 (0.73%) Veeam
11 2 (0.49%) Apple
11 2 (0.49%) CyberArk
11 2 (0.49%) Pure Storage