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 April 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 293 370 272
Rank change year-on-year +77 -98 +124
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 376 149 363
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.82% 0.51% 0.83%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.89% 0.55% 0.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 100 65 113
10th Percentile £198 £278 £313
25th Percentile £350 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year - -5.00% -2.44%
75th Percentile £533 £575 £563
90th Percentile £588 £718 £644
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £469 £511
% change year-on-year -0.91% -8.31% +2.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 148 33 159
10th Percentile £42.00 £42.19 £39.55
25th Percentile £44.58 £47.50 £45.30
Median hourly rate £60.00 £55.00 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -6.50%
75th Percentile £75.00 £71.25 £71.25
90th Percentile £81.05 £79.00 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £60.00 £55.00 £57.50
% change year-on-year +9.09% -4.35% -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 42,188 27,123 40,371
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.27% 92.63% 92.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,193 17,821 26,390
10th Percentile £313 £300 £275
25th Percentile £413 £407 £409
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.80% -1.00% -2.78%
75th Percentile £613 £628 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £745
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +2.63% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,670 980 2,573
10th Percentile £15.00 £14.83 £12.86
25th Percentile £20.09 £19.91 £16.25
Median hourly rate £41.53 £31.42 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +32.16% -10.22% -22.22%
75th Percentile £65.25 £63.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.03 £75.58 £72.43
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £30.00 £35.00
% change year-on-year +41.67% -14.29% -17.38%

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 April 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 April 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 14 April 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 +58 341 £475 - 325
UK excluding London +72 318 £465 -0.91% 318
South East +17 86 £490 -31.23% 105
East of England +14 79 £450 -18.18% 40
Work from Home -15 60 £452 -6.08% 86
South West +10 55 £500 -15.25% 70
Midlands -31 45 £395 +66.32% 45
London -61 39 £475 -8.21% 34
North of England -65 38 £450 +6.64% 40
North West -32 26 £216 -49.11% 15
East Midlands -13 24 £497 +562.00% 20
West Midlands -46 21 £395 +43.64% 25
Scotland +20 19 £215 -57.00% 18
Yorkshire -54 7 £510 - 11
North East -16 5 £450 +38.46% 14

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

For the 6 months to 14 April 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.

1 110 (29.26%) Security Cleared
2 63 (16.76%) SC Cleared
3 50 (13.30%) Systems Engineering
4 44 (11.70%) Degree
5 41 (10.90%) Validation
6 34 (9.04%) Problem-Solving
7 32 (8.51%) Windows
8 25 (6.65%) Linux
9 24 (6.38%) DV Cleared
9 24 (6.38%) Rational DOORS
10 22 (5.85%) Microsoft
11 20 (5.32%) Siemens
11 20 (5.32%) Verification and Validation
12 19 (5.05%) Decision-Making
13 18 (4.79%) Customer Service
14 17 (4.52%) Ethernet
14 17 (4.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 17 (4.52%) Microsoft Office
14 17 (4.52%) ServiceNow
14 17 (4.52%) TCP/IP
15 16 (4.26%) Risk Assessment
16 15 (3.99%) BPSS Clearance
16 15 (3.99%) Creative Thinking
16 15 (3.99%) Fault Analysis
16 15 (3.99%) Firewall
16 15 (3.99%) Mechatronics
16 15 (3.99%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
17 14 (3.72%) Migration
18 13 (3.46%) Fortinet
18 13 (3.46%) NetApp

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 (1.33%) Confluence
2 3 (0.80%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.27%) SAS
3 1 (0.27%) SharePoint
Applications
1 17 (4.52%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.33%) Simulink
3 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.27%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.53%) SAP Oil and Gas
2 1 (0.27%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.27%) SAP HCM
2 1 (0.27%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.27%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.27%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 10 (2.66%) AWS
2 8 (2.13%) Azure
2 8 (2.13%) SaaS
3 7 (1.86%) Microsoft 365
4 4 (1.06%) Amazon EC2
4 4 (1.06%) Amazon S3
5 3 (0.80%) Cloud Computing
5 3 (0.80%) Google Workspace
6 2 (0.53%) Cohesity
6 2 (0.53%) Entra ID
6 2 (0.53%) GitHub
6 2 (0.53%) OpenShift
7 1 (0.27%) Amazon CloudWatch
7 1 (0.27%) AWS Lambda
7 1 (0.27%) AWS Step Functions
7 1 (0.27%) Azure Logic Apps
7 1 (0.27%) GCP
7 1 (0.27%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.27%) PowerApps
7 1 (0.27%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 17 (4.52%) Ethernet
1 17 (4.52%) TCP/IP
2 15 (3.99%) Firewall
3 7 (1.86%) DHCP
3 7 (1.86%) DNS
4 6 (1.60%) LTE
5 5 (1.33%) TETRA
6 4 (1.06%) Network Security
6 4 (1.06%) SNMP
6 4 (1.06%) VPN
7 3 (0.80%) SAN
7 3 (0.80%) SpaceWire
8 2 (0.53%) LAN
8 2 (0.53%) MIMO
8 2 (0.53%) NAS
8 2 (0.53%) SSL
9 1 (0.27%) 3GPP
9 1 (0.27%) PSTN
9 1 (0.27%) Unified Communications
9 1 (0.27%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.53%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.27%) Amazon RDS
2 1 (0.27%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.27%) DB2
2 1 (0.27%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.27%) Pentaho
2 1 (0.27%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 24 (6.38%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (1.60%) JIRA
3 1 (0.27%) CANoe
3 1 (0.27%) ClearCase
3 1 (0.27%) Git
3 1 (0.27%) Jenkins
3 1 (0.27%) Postman
3 1 (0.27%) Selenium
General
1 52 (13.83%) Social Skills
2 51 (13.56%) Aerospace
3 35 (9.31%) Military
4 22 (5.85%) Manufacturing
5 20 (5.32%) Electronics
6 18 (4.79%) Presentation Skills
7 17 (4.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 16 (4.26%) Analytical Skills
9 10 (2.66%) Finance
10 8 (2.13%) Public Sector
11 6 (1.60%) Banking
11 6 (1.60%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.33%) Telecoms
13 4 (1.06%) Avionics
13 4 (1.06%) Retail Banking
14 2 (0.53%) Automotive
14 2 (0.53%) Retail
15 1 (0.27%) Games
15 1 (0.27%) Marketing
15 1 (0.27%) Police
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.60%) OpenID
1 6 (1.60%) SAML
2 5 (1.33%) ISPF
2 5 (1.33%) REST
3 3 (0.80%) Middleware
3 3 (0.80%) Software Packaging
4 2 (0.53%) JSON
5 1 (0.27%) GraphQL
5 1 (0.27%) HTML
5 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
5 1 (0.27%) Node.js
5 1 (0.27%) RabbitMQ
5 1 (0.27%) RESTful
5 1 (0.27%) SAP Fiori
5 1 (0.27%) Unity (Game Engine)
5 1 (0.27%) Unreal Engine
5 1 (0.27%) XML
5 1 (0.27%) XSD
Miscellaneous
1 15 (3.99%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (3.99%) Robotics
2 9 (2.39%) Embedded Systems
3 8 (2.13%) IoT
3 8 (2.13%) Operational Technology
4 7 (1.86%) Data Centre
4 7 (1.86%) Onboarding
5 6 (1.60%) Mainframe
6 5 (1.33%) Legacy Systems
7 4 (1.06%) Renewable Energy
7 4 (1.06%) SCADA
8 3 (0.80%) Acoustics
8 3 (0.80%) FPGA
8 3 (0.80%) Hybrid Cloud
8 3 (0.80%) Management Information System
8 3 (0.80%) Self-Motivation
9 2 (0.53%) Analytical Mindset
9 2 (0.53%) Cyber Threat
9 2 (0.53%) Linux Command Line
9 2 (0.53%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 32 (8.51%) Windows
2 25 (6.65%) Linux
3 6 (1.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
3 6 (1.60%) Windows Server
4 5 (1.33%) Android
4 5 (1.33%) Mac OS
4 5 (1.33%) zOS
5 2 (0.53%) FreeRTOS
6 1 (0.27%) MVS
6 1 (0.27%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 50 (13.30%) Systems Engineering
2 41 (10.90%) Validation
3 34 (9.04%) Problem-Solving
4 20 (5.32%) Verification and Validation
5 19 (5.05%) Decision-Making
6 18 (4.79%) Customer Service
7 17 (4.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 16 (4.26%) Risk Assessment
9 15 (3.99%) Creative Thinking
9 15 (3.99%) Fault Analysis
9 15 (3.99%) Mechatronics
9 15 (3.99%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
10 14 (3.72%) Migration
11 11 (2.93%) Agile
11 11 (2.93%) Root Cause Analysis
12 10 (2.66%) Computer Science
12 10 (2.66%) Cybersecurity
12 10 (2.66%) High Availability
13 9 (2.39%) Signal Processing
13 9 (2.39%) SysML
Programming Languages
1 13 (3.46%) PowerShell
2 12 (3.19%) Python
3 8 (2.13%) MATLAB
4 5 (1.33%) C
4 5 (1.33%) JCL
4 5 (1.33%) REXX
5 3 (0.80%) Bash
5 3 (0.80%) Java
5 3 (0.80%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.53%) C#
6 2 (0.53%) C++
6 2 (0.53%) SQL
7 1 (0.27%) Embedded C
7 1 (0.27%) Embedded C++
7 1 (0.27%) Go
7 1 (0.27%) Groovy
7 1 (0.27%) Lua
Qualifications
1 110 (29.26%) Security Cleared
2 63 (16.76%) SC Cleared
3 44 (11.70%) Degree
4 24 (6.38%) DV Cleared
5 15 (3.99%) BPSS Clearance
6 2 (0.53%) CCNA
6 2 (0.53%) Cisco Certification
7 1 (0.27%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.27%) CCA
7 1 (0.27%) CCNP
7 1 (0.27%) CISSP
7 1 (0.27%) CompTIA CySA+
7 1 (0.27%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.27%) HND
7 1 (0.27%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (0.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 3 (0.80%) MIL-STD-1553
2 2 (0.53%) Data Quality
2 2 (0.53%) NIST
3 1 (0.27%) DICOM
3 1 (0.27%) DO-254
3 1 (0.27%) HL7
3 1 (0.27%) IEC 61508
3 1 (0.27%) ISO 26262
3 1 (0.27%) NIST 800
System Software
1 12 (3.19%) Active Directory
2 10 (2.66%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (1.33%) Firmware
4 4 (1.06%) Virtual Desktop
5 3 (0.80%) Embedded Firmware
5 3 (0.80%) KVM
6 2 (0.53%) Docker
6 2 (0.53%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.53%) Job Entry Subsystem
6 2 (0.53%) Slurm Workload Manager
6 2 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.27%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.27%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 5 (1.33%) Ansible
1 5 (1.33%) Microsoft Intune
1 5 (1.33%) Terraform
2 4 (1.06%) SCCM
3 3 (0.80%) Kubernetes
4 2 (0.53%) Functional Safety
5 1 (0.27%) Control-M
5 1 (0.27%) Jamf Pro
5 1 (0.27%) MOM
5 1 (0.27%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 22 (5.85%) Microsoft
2 20 (5.32%) Siemens
3 17 (4.52%) ServiceNow
4 13 (3.46%) Fortinet
4 13 (3.46%) NetApp
5 11 (2.93%) VMware
6 7 (1.86%) EMC
7 6 (1.60%) Splunk
8 5 (1.33%) IBM
8 5 (1.33%) Oracle
8 5 (1.33%) Red Hat
9 4 (1.06%) Cisco
9 4 (1.06%) Google
9 4 (1.06%) SAP
10 3 (0.80%) Citrix
10 3 (0.80%) CyberArk
10 3 (0.80%) NEC
10 3 (0.80%) Veeam
11 2 (0.53%) Apple
11 2 (0.53%) Rockwell