Principal Systems Engineer Job Trends in England

Principal Systems Engineer
UK > England

The median Principal Systems Engineer salary in England is £65,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 12 January 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 426 520 649
Rank change year-on-year +94 +129 +303
Permanent jobs requiring a Principal Systems Engineer 171 160 41
As % of all permanent jobs in England 0.33% 0.33% 0.083%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.36% 0.36% 0.087%
Number of salaries quoted 78 44 18
10th Percentile £55,000 £52,000 £50,875
25th Percentile £60,000 £58,000 £55,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £66,250 £64,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.89% +3.52% +3.08%
75th Percentile £75,900 £70,763 £78,750
90th Percentile £80,000 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £65,000 £68,750 £64,000
% change year-on-year -5.45% +7.42% +3.08%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in England. 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 permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in England with a recognized job title 47,437 44,591 47,245
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.80% 92.72% 95.14%
Number of salaries quoted 29,917 23,336 37,002
10th Percentile £28,697 £33,500 £31,000
25th Percentile £36,750 £45,000 £41,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,965
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +3.51% -5.75%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £98,750 £97,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
% change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%

Principal Systems Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Principal Systems Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in England.

Principal Systems Engineer job vacancy trend in England

Principal Systems Engineer
Salary Trend in England

Salary distribution trend for Principal Systems Engineer job vacancies in England.

Salary distribution trend for Principal Systems Engineer job vacancies in England

Principal Systems Engineer
Salary Histogram in England

Salary distribution for jobs citing Principal Systems Engineer in England over the 6 months to 12 January 2026.

Salary histogram for Principal Systems Engineer in England

Principal Systems Engineer
Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Principal Systems Engineer within the England region over the 6 months to 12 January 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North of England +44 46 £60,000 +15.87% 1
South West +34 45 £72,950 +21.77% 16
North West +62 42 £55,000 +6.21% 1
South East +17 33 £70,450 -0.21% 16
Midlands -13 22 £70,000 - 3
East of England +31 19 £55,000 - 2
West Midlands +9 13 £70,000 +27.27% 1
East Midlands -26 9 £75,900 +8.43% 2
London +51 5 £70,000 +14.75% 2
Yorkshire - 4 £75,900 -
Principal Systems Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 12 January 2026, Principal Systems Engineer 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 permanent job ads across the England region featuring Principal Systems Engineer in the job title.

1 115 (67.25%) Systems Engineering
2 89 (52.05%) BPSS Clearance
3 50 (29.24%) Degree
4 49 (28.65%) Requirements Management
5 46 (26.90%) Rational DOORS
6 39 (22.81%) Technical Leadership
7 34 (19.88%) ISO/IEC 15288
8 30 (17.54%) IBM
9 21 (12.28%) Signal Processing
9 21 (12.28%) Test Planning
9 21 (12.28%) Validation
10 16 (9.36%) Verification and Validation
11 13 (7.60%) Agile
11 13 (7.60%) Mentoring
12 12 (7.02%) Software Engineering
13 10 (5.85%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
14 9 (5.26%) Change Management
14 9 (5.26%) Chartered Engineer
15 8 (4.68%) Architectural Design
15 8 (4.68%) Enterprise Architecture
15 8 (4.68%) Problem-Solving
15 8 (4.68%) Security Cleared
15 8 (4.68%) Stakeholder Management
16 7 (4.09%) OLE
17 6 (3.51%) JIRA
18 5 (2.92%) Acceptance Criteria
19 4 (2.34%) CATIA
19 4 (2.34%) Coaching
19 4 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 12207
19 4 (2.34%) Mathematics

Principal Systems Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 2 (1.17%) Confluence
Applications
1 4 (2.34%) CATIA
Communications & Networking
1 3 (1.75%) SNA
Development Applications
1 46 (26.90%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (3.51%) JIRA
General
1 21 (12.28%) Electronics
2 8 (4.68%) Social Skills
3 4 (2.34%) Military
4 2 (1.17%) Aerospace
4 2 (1.17%) Publishing
5 1 (0.58%) Advertising
5 1 (0.58%) Automotive
5 1 (0.58%) Telecoms
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (4.09%) OLE
Miscellaneous
1 28 (16.37%) Management Information System
2 21 (12.28%) Algorithms
3 4 (2.34%) Virtual Team
4 3 (1.75%) Acoustics
4 3 (1.75%) Augmented Reality
5 2 (1.17%) Cyber Threat
Processes & Methodologies
1 115 (67.25%) Systems Engineering
2 49 (28.65%) Requirements Management
3 39 (22.81%) Technical Leadership
4 21 (12.28%) Signal Processing
4 21 (12.28%) Test Planning
4 21 (12.28%) Validation
5 16 (9.36%) Verification and Validation
6 13 (7.60%) Agile
6 13 (7.60%) Mentoring
7 12 (7.02%) Software Engineering
8 10 (5.85%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
9 9 (5.26%) Change Management
10 8 (4.68%) Architectural Design
10 8 (4.68%) Enterprise Architecture
10 8 (4.68%) Problem-Solving
10 8 (4.68%) Stakeholder Management
11 5 (2.92%) Acceptance Criteria
12 4 (2.34%) Coaching
12 4 (2.34%) Mathematics
12 4 (2.34%) Physics
Qualifications
1 89 (52.05%) BPSS Clearance
2 50 (29.24%) Degree
3 9 (5.26%) Chartered Engineer
4 8 (4.68%) Security Cleared
5 2 (1.17%) Master's Degree
6 1 (0.58%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (19.88%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 4 (2.34%) ISO/IEC 12207
Vendors
1 30 (17.54%) IBM