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 3 August 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 247 351 247
Rank change year-on-year +104 -104 +115
Contract jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 547 216 365
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.03% 0.65% 0.94%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.11% 0.71% 1.01%
Number of daily rates quoted 117 70 80
10th Percentile £240 £363 £313
25th Percentile £383 £414 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -17.81%
75th Percentile £538 £594 £563
90th Percentile £664 £639 £630
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £500 £425
% change year-on-year -7.00% +17.65% -17.07%
Number of hourly rates quoted 261 62 142
10th Percentile £46.61 £45.12 £39.96
25th Percentile £56.74 £51.48 £45.24
Median hourly rate £67.47 £56.44 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +19.54% -5.93% -2.44%
75th Percentile £75.00 £74.69 £70.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £77.33 £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 49,223 30,273 36,284
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.63% 91.43% 92.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,638 19,224 23,532
10th Percentile £331 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -2.33%
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 3,407 1,497 2,061
10th Percentile £15.25 £13.63 £14.16
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.30 £20.12
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +0.58%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.99 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.95 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £44.50 £25.15 £43.90
% change year-on-year +76.94% -42.71% +11.00%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 +88 501 £480 -6.34% 520
UK excluding London +72 458 £465 -7.00% 456
South East +29 140 £500 -9.09% 164
South West +35 114 £498 -9.75% 88
Work from Home -15 78 £465 -15.45% 136
London -27 73 £475 -9.52% 101
East of England +8 66 £375 -31.77% 49
Midlands -8 60 £395 +12.86% 60
North of England -49 47 £450 - 72
West Midlands -33 36 £395 -7.06% 37
North West -41 34 £500 +11.11% 42
East Midlands -3 24 £475 +533.33% 23
Scotland +1 18 £400 -20.00% 19
Wales - 13 £465 - 13
Yorkshire -37 10 £275 - 16
North East -36 3 £450 - 15

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

For the 6 months to 3 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.

1 107 (19.56%) Security Cleared
2 103 (18.83%) Systems Engineering
3 79 (14.44%) SC Cleared
4 56 (10.24%) Validation
5 44 (8.04%) Degree
6 43 (7.86%) Linux
7 42 (7.68%) Windows
8 40 (7.31%) Problem-Solving
9 37 (6.76%) Rational DOORS
10 33 (6.03%) Verification and Validation
11 29 (5.30%) Microsoft
11 29 (5.30%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 27 (4.94%) Active Directory
13 25 (4.57%) Configuration Management
14 22 (4.02%) Azure
15 21 (3.84%) TCP/IP
16 20 (3.66%) Python
17 19 (3.47%) Decision-Making
17 19 (3.47%) EMC
17 19 (3.47%) Windows Server
18 18 (3.29%) Customer Service
18 18 (3.29%) DNS
18 18 (3.29%) Siemens
19 17 (3.11%) BPSS Clearance
19 17 (3.11%) DV Cleared
19 17 (3.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
20 16 (2.93%) Ethernet
20 16 (2.93%) Microsoft Office
20 16 (2.93%) PowerShell
20 16 (2.93%) Risk Assessment

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 (0.73%) SAS
2 3 (0.55%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.55%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.37%) Confluence
4 1 (0.18%) IIS
4 1 (0.18%) JBoss
Applications
1 16 (2.93%) Microsoft Office
2 12 (2.19%) Simulink
3 4 (0.73%) Stateflow
Business Applications
1 4 (0.73%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
2 1 (0.18%) ResourceLink
2 1 (0.18%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 22 (4.02%) Azure
2 14 (2.56%) AWS
3 12 (2.19%) Microsoft 365
4 11 (2.01%) SaaS
5 10 (1.83%) Entra ID
6 6 (1.10%) GitHub
7 5 (0.91%) OpenShift
8 4 (0.73%) GitHub Actions
9 3 (0.55%) Amazon EC2
9 3 (0.55%) Amazon S3
9 3 (0.55%) Azure Logic Apps
9 3 (0.55%) GCP
10 2 (0.37%) Cloudflare
10 2 (0.37%) IaaS
10 2 (0.37%) OneDrive
11 1 (0.18%) AWS Lambda
11 1 (0.18%) Azure Monitor
11 1 (0.18%) Azure Sentinel
11 1 (0.18%) Azure Service Bus
11 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Purview
Communications & Networking
1 21 (3.84%) TCP/IP
2 18 (3.29%) DNS
3 16 (2.93%) Ethernet
4 14 (2.56%) DHCP
5 12 (2.19%) Firewall
6 10 (1.83%) Network Security
7 8 (1.46%) LAN
8 6 (1.10%) IPv4
8 6 (1.10%) Modbus
9 5 (0.91%) ATM
9 5 (0.91%) VLAN
9 5 (0.91%) VPN
10 3 (0.55%) Kerberos
10 3 (0.55%) NAS
10 3 (0.55%) WAN
11 2 (0.37%) DKIM
11 2 (0.37%) LTE
11 2 (0.37%) SAN
11 2 (0.37%) VoIP
11 2 (0.37%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.37%) SQL Server
1 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
2 1 (0.18%) Big Data
2 1 (0.18%) BusinessObjects
2 1 (0.18%) Db2
2 1 (0.18%) Hadoop
2 1 (0.18%) IBM InfoSphere
2 1 (0.18%) NoSQL
2 1 (0.18%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 37 (6.76%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (1.28%) Rational Rhapsody
3 4 (0.73%) JIRA
4 2 (0.37%) Git
4 2 (0.37%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.18%) CANoe
5 1 (0.18%) Storybook
General
1 76 (13.89%) Aerospace
2 55 (10.05%) Social Skills
3 32 (5.85%) Military
4 28 (5.12%) Avionics
5 23 (4.20%) Manufacturing
6 22 (4.02%) Analytical Skills
7 19 (3.47%) Presentation Skills
8 17 (3.11%) Electronics
9 15 (2.74%) Automotive
9 15 (2.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 11 (2.01%) Finance
11 10 (1.83%) Law
12 6 (1.10%) Public Sector
13 5 (0.91%) Aviation
14 4 (0.73%) Documentation Skills
14 4 (0.73%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (0.73%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.55%) Games
16 1 (0.18%) Banking
16 1 (0.18%) Legal
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (1.10%) NETCONF
1 6 (1.10%) OpenID
1 6 (1.10%) SAML
2 5 (0.91%) REST
3 3 (0.55%) HTML
3 3 (0.55%) ISPF
4 2 (0.37%) FastAPI
4 2 (0.37%) JSON
4 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Graph
4 2 (0.37%) React
5 1 (0.18%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.18%) GraphQL
5 1 (0.18%) Middleware
5 1 (0.18%) Node.js
5 1 (0.18%) OpenGL
5 1 (0.18%) Qt
5 1 (0.18%) RESTful
5 1 (0.18%) SailPoint
5 1 (0.18%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.18%) Streamlit
Miscellaneous
1 15 (2.74%) Industry 4.0
1 15 (2.74%) Robotics
2 12 (2.19%) Operational Technology
3 10 (1.83%) Renewable Energy
4 7 (1.28%) CUDA
4 7 (1.28%) SCADA
4 7 (1.28%) Virtual Team
5 6 (1.10%) IoT
5 6 (1.10%) Mainframe
5 6 (1.10%) Onboarding
5 6 (1.10%) Self-Motivation
6 5 (0.91%) Embedded Systems
7 4 (0.73%) Data Centre
7 4 (0.73%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (0.55%) Acoustics
8 3 (0.55%) Animation
8 3 (0.55%) Life Science
9 2 (0.37%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.37%) Hybrid Cloud
9 2 (0.37%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 43 (7.86%) Linux
2 42 (7.68%) Windows
3 19 (3.47%) Windows Server
4 10 (1.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 6 (1.10%) Windows 10
6 5 (0.91%) Unix
7 3 (0.55%) Android
7 3 (0.55%) MVS
7 3 (0.55%) zOS
8 2 (0.37%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.18%) FreeRTOS
9 1 (0.18%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (18.83%) Systems Engineering
2 56 (10.24%) Validation
3 40 (7.31%) Problem-Solving
4 33 (6.03%) Verification and Validation
5 29 (5.30%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
6 25 (4.57%) Configuration Management
7 19 (3.47%) Decision-Making
8 18 (3.29%) Customer Service
9 17 (3.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 16 (2.93%) Risk Assessment
11 15 (2.74%) Creative Thinking
11 15 (2.74%) Fault Analysis
11 15 (2.74%) Mechatronics
12 14 (2.56%) AI
13 13 (2.38%) Root Cause Analysis
13 13 (2.38%) SysML
13 13 (2.38%) Workflow
14 12 (2.19%) Continuous Improvement
15 11 (2.01%) ITIL
15 11 (2.01%) Requirements Management
Programming Languages
1 20 (3.66%) Python
2 16 (2.93%) PowerShell
3 14 (2.56%) MATLAB
4 7 (1.28%) Bash
5 5 (0.91%) REXX
6 4 (0.73%) C
7 3 (0.55%) Java
7 3 (0.55%) JCL
7 3 (0.55%) SQL
8 2 (0.37%) Bicep
8 2 (0.37%) C++
8 2 (0.37%) Perl
8 2 (0.37%) TypeScript
9 1 (0.18%) C#
9 1 (0.18%) Go
9 1 (0.18%) JavaScript
9 1 (0.18%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 107 (19.56%) Security Cleared
2 79 (14.44%) SC Cleared
3 44 (8.04%) Degree
4 17 (3.11%) BPSS Clearance
4 17 (3.11%) DV Cleared
5 5 (0.91%) Azure Certification
5 5 (0.91%) Chartered Engineer
5 5 (0.91%) Microsoft Certification
6 4 (0.73%) CCNA
6 4 (0.73%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (0.37%) AWS Certification
7 2 (0.37%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 1 (0.18%) CCA
8 1 (0.18%) CCNP
8 1 (0.18%) CISSP
8 1 (0.18%) CompTIA CySA+
8 1 (0.18%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.18%) HND
8 1 (0.18%) Master's Degree
8 1 (0.18%) Numerate Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (0.73%) Def Stans
1 4 (0.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 3 (0.55%) Data Quality
2 3 (0.55%) GxP
2 3 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 3 (0.55%) NCSC
3 2 (0.37%) DO-254
3 2 (0.37%) NIST
3 2 (0.37%) QA
4 1 (0.18%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.18%) ARP4761
4 1 (0.18%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.18%) DICOM
4 1 (0.18%) HAZOP
4 1 (0.18%) HL7
4 1 (0.18%) IEC 61508
4 1 (0.18%) ISO 26262
4 1 (0.18%) MIL-STD-1553
4 1 (0.18%) NIST 800
System Software
1 27 (4.94%) Active Directory
2 12 (2.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 8 (1.46%) Hyper-V
4 6 (1.10%) Slurm Workload Manager
5 5 (0.91%) Docker
5 5 (0.91%) Firmware
5 5 (0.91%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.91%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.37%) Embedded Firmware
6 2 (0.37%) KVM
6 2 (0.37%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.18%) Job Entry Subsystem
7 1 (0.18%) Microsoft App-V
Systems Management
1 12 (2.19%) Ansible
2 11 (2.01%) Puppet
3 9 (1.65%) Kubernetes
4 8 (1.46%) Microsoft Intune
5 6 (1.10%) Terraform
6 4 (0.73%) Progress Chef
7 3 (0.55%) SCCM
8 2 (0.37%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.37%) Functional Safety
8 2 (0.37%) Tivoli NetView
9 1 (0.18%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.18%) Control-M
9 1 (0.18%) Istio
9 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.18%) MOM
9 1 (0.18%) Packer
9 1 (0.18%) PingFederate
9 1 (0.18%) Red Hat Satellite
9 1 (0.18%) Salt
9 1 (0.18%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 29 (5.30%) Microsoft
2 19 (3.47%) EMC
3 18 (3.29%) Siemens
4 14 (2.56%) ServiceNow
5 12 (2.19%) IBM
5 12 (2.19%) VMware
6 9 (1.65%) Fortinet
7 8 (1.46%) Red Hat
8 7 (1.28%) Cisco
8 7 (1.28%) NetApp
8 7 (1.28%) NVIDIA
9 4 (0.73%) SaltStack
9 4 (0.73%) Sparx
9 4 (0.73%) Splunk
10 3 (0.55%) NEC
10 3 (0.55%) Perforce
11 2 (0.37%) AVEVA
11 2 (0.37%) Broadcom
11 2 (0.37%) CyberArk
11 2 (0.37%) SAP