Systems Engineer Job Trends in the South East

System Engineer
England > South East

The median System Engineer salary in the South East is £56,465 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 16 May 2026.

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

6 months to
16 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 29 139 63
Rank change year-on-year +110 -76 +129
Permanent jobs requiring a Systems Engineer 651 152 622
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 4.51% 1.95% 3.80%
As % of the Job Titles category 4.75% 2.31% 4.04%
Number of salaries quoted 376 95 421
10th Percentile £40,000 £38,544 £34,000
25th Percentile £48,938 £45,500 £37,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,465 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +2.66% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,875 £62,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £70,600 £70,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £52,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year +4.56% +5.20% -4.76%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 the South East with a recognized job title 13,708 6,585 15,385
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 95.01% 84.44% 93.92%
Number of salaries quoted 9,358 3,597 11,237
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £37,500 £37,500 £36,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £53,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.87% +7.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £82,500 £77,500
England median annual salary £55,000 £57,560 £53,500
% change year-on-year -4.45% +7.59% -12.01%

Systems Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

Systems Engineer job vacancy trend in the South East

Systems Engineer
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for Systems Engineer job vacancies in the South East.

Salary distribution trend for Systems Engineer job vacancies in the South East

Systems Engineer
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing Systems Engineer in the South East over the 6 months to 16 May 2026.

Salary histogram for Systems Engineer in the South East

Systems Engineer
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Systems Engineer within the South East region over the 6 months to 16 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Hampshire +50 328 £60,000 +9.09% 37
Thames Valley +72 87 £52,500 +5.00% 27
Kent +9 84 £52,500 -4.55% 6
Surrey +23 60 £52,500 +14.13% 12
West Sussex +14 40 £55,500 +5.71% 2
Isle of Wight +2 40 £75,900 +8.43% 1
Berkshire +40 39 £50,000 - 6
Buckinghamshire +16 26 £65,000 +47.73% 8
Oxfordshire +9 22 £55,000 +4.76% 16
Sussex - 8 £60,000 -
East Sussex -16 4 £45,000 -
Systems Engineer
England

Systems Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 16 May 2026, 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 South East region featuring Systems Engineer in the job title.

1 178 (27.34%) Systems Engineering
2 158 (24.27%) BPSS Clearance
3 107 (16.44%) Degree
4 100 (15.36%) Rational DOORS
5 84 (12.90%) Technical Leadership
6 82 (12.60%) Validation
7 72 (11.06%) Verification and Validation
8 60 (9.22%) Software Engineering
9 55 (8.45%) Problem-Solving
10 49 (7.53%) MATLAB
11 47 (7.22%) Requirements Management
12 46 (7.07%) ISO/IEC 15288
13 45 (6.91%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
14 42 (6.45%) Physics
15 41 (6.30%) IBM
15 41 (6.30%) Mathematics
16 39 (5.99%) Agile
16 39 (5.99%) Chartered Engineer
17 38 (5.84%) Customer Requirements
18 37 (5.68%) Cybersecurity
19 36 (5.53%) Security Cleared
19 36 (5.53%) Systems Thinking
20 35 (5.38%) Simulink
21 33 (5.07%) Siemens
22 32 (4.92%) Azure
22 32 (4.92%) Change Management
23 30 (4.61%) Information Assurance
24 28 (4.30%) Decision-Making
25 25 (3.84%) Coaching
25 25 (3.84%) SysML

Systems Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 8 (1.23%) Microsoft Exchange
2 3 (0.46%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.31%) CMS
4 1 (0.15%) ArchestrA
4 1 (0.15%) Confluence
Applications
1 35 (5.38%) Simulink
2 24 (3.69%) CATIA
3 3 (0.46%) Lightworks
3 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Office
4 2 (0.31%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 2 (0.31%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.15%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 1 (0.15%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 32 (4.92%) Azure
2 19 (2.92%) AWS
3 18 (2.76%) SaaS
4 15 (2.30%) Azure DevOps
5 12 (1.84%) Microsoft 365
6 5 (0.77%) Entra ID
7 3 (0.46%) Mimecast
8 2 (0.31%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (0.31%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.15%) Azure Machine Learning
9 1 (0.15%) Copilot Studio
9 1 (0.15%) Dynamics 365
9 1 (0.15%) GCP
9 1 (0.15%) Google Workspace
9 1 (0.15%) Microsoft Copilot
9 1 (0.15%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 8 (1.23%) ATM
2 7 (1.08%) Wireless
3 4 (0.61%) Firewall
4 3 (0.46%) DHCP
4 3 (0.46%) DNS
4 3 (0.46%) Wi-Fi
5 2 (0.31%) Broadband
5 2 (0.31%) Modbus
5 2 (0.31%) MQTT
5 2 (0.31%) Remote Desktop
6 1 (0.15%) Network Security
6 1 (0.15%) Software-Defined Networking
6 1 (0.15%) Software-Defined Radio
6 1 (0.15%) TCP/IP
6 1 (0.15%) VLAN
6 1 (0.15%) VPN
6 1 (0.15%) VSAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (0.61%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.31%) GIS
2 2 (0.31%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 100 (15.36%) Rational DOORS
2 23 (3.53%) JIRA
3 5 (0.77%) Apache Continuum
3 5 (0.77%) LabVIEW
General
1 122 (18.74%) Aerospace
2 69 (10.60%) Finance
3 62 (9.52%) Electronics
4 46 (7.07%) Analytical Skills
5 37 (5.68%) Aviation
6 36 (5.53%) Social Skills
7 34 (5.22%) Military
8 14 (2.15%) Manufacturing
9 7 (1.08%) Legal
10 6 (0.92%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 6 (0.92%) Telecoms
11 5 (0.77%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (0.61%) Documentation Skills
12 4 (0.61%) Italian Language
12 4 (0.61%) Japanese Language
13 3 (0.46%) Aeronautics
13 3 (0.46%) Automotive
13 3 (0.46%) Retail
13 3 (0.46%) Social Housing
14 2 (0.31%) Back Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (1.08%) OLE
2 2 (0.31%) Middleware
3 1 (0.15%) GraphQL
3 1 (0.15%) LangChain
3 1 (0.15%) LangGraph
3 1 (0.15%) LDAP
3 1 (0.15%) OAuth
3 1 (0.15%) OpenID
3 1 (0.15%) REST
3 1 (0.15%) SAML
3 1 (0.15%) SOAP
Miscellaneous
1 28 (4.30%) Management Information System
2 26 (3.99%) Acoustics
3 25 (3.84%) Embedded Systems
4 18 (2.76%) CCTV
4 18 (2.76%) Driving Licence
5 7 (1.08%) Algorithms
5 7 (1.08%) NHS
5 7 (1.08%) SCADA
6 6 (0.92%) Analytical Mindset
6 6 (0.92%) Augmented Reality
7 4 (0.61%) FPGA
7 4 (0.61%) Security Posture
8 3 (0.46%) Legacy Systems
8 3 (0.46%) Self-Motivation
8 3 (0.46%) Virtual Team
9 2 (0.31%) Clustering
9 2 (0.31%) IoT
9 2 (0.31%) Manufacturing Execution System
9 2 (0.31%) Product Ownership
10 1 (0.15%) Robotics
Operating Systems
1 24 (3.69%) Linux
2 16 (2.46%) Windows
3 15 (2.30%) Ubuntu
4 3 (0.46%) Windows Server
5 2 (0.31%) Windows Server 2016
5 2 (0.31%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 178 (27.34%) Systems Engineering
2 84 (12.90%) Technical Leadership
3 82 (12.60%) Validation
4 72 (11.06%) Verification and Validation
5 60 (9.22%) Software Engineering
6 55 (8.45%) Problem-Solving
7 47 (7.22%) Requirements Management
8 45 (6.91%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
9 42 (6.45%) Physics
10 41 (6.30%) Mathematics
11 39 (5.99%) Agile
12 38 (5.84%) Customer Requirements
13 37 (5.68%) Cybersecurity
14 36 (5.53%) Systems Thinking
15 32 (4.92%) Change Management
16 30 (4.61%) Information Assurance
17 28 (4.30%) Decision-Making
18 25 (3.84%) Coaching
18 25 (3.84%) SysML
19 23 (3.53%) Asset Management
Programming Languages
1 49 (7.53%) MATLAB
2 16 (2.46%) Bash
3 11 (1.69%) Python
4 10 (1.54%) PowerShell
5 9 (1.38%) SQL
6 6 (0.92%) C
7 3 (0.46%) R
8 2 (0.31%) C#
8 2 (0.31%) C++
8 2 (0.31%) Embedded C
8 2 (0.31%) Embedded C++
9 1 (0.15%) Java
9 1 (0.15%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 158 (24.27%) BPSS Clearance
2 107 (16.44%) Degree
3 39 (5.99%) Chartered Engineer
4 36 (5.53%) Security Cleared
5 22 (3.38%) SC Cleared
6 20 (3.07%) DV Cleared
7 11 (1.69%) HNC
8 10 (1.54%) DBS Check
9 4 (0.61%) HND
10 2 (0.31%) CCNA
10 2 (0.31%) Cisco Certification
10 2 (0.31%) MCSA
10 2 (0.31%) MCSE
10 2 (0.31%) Microsoft Certification
11 1 (0.15%) AWS Certification
11 1 (0.15%) Azure Certification
11 1 (0.15%) City & Guilds
11 1 (0.15%) Master's Degree
11 1 (0.15%) NVQ Level 3
11 1 (0.15%) Postgraduate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (7.07%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 16 (2.46%) ISO/IEC 12207
3 7 (1.08%) Def Stans
4 4 (0.61%) ARP4754
4 4 (0.61%) DO-254
4 4 (0.61%) ECSS
4 4 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.46%) QA
6 2 (0.31%) Accessibility
6 2 (0.31%) GDPR
6 2 (0.31%) HAZOP
6 2 (0.31%) IEC 61508
7 1 (0.15%) COSHH
7 1 (0.15%) NCSC
7 1 (0.15%) NIST
7 1 (0.15%) SLA
System Software
1 11 (1.69%) Active Directory
2 7 (1.08%) Hyper-V
3 5 (0.77%) Firmware
4 1 (0.15%) Virtual Machines
4 1 (0.15%) VMware ESXi
4 1 (0.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.15%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 16 (2.46%) Ansible
1 16 (2.46%) Terraform
2 7 (1.08%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.31%) BMC PATROL
3 2 (0.31%) Failover Clustering
3 2 (0.31%) Functional Safety
Vendors
1 41 (6.30%) IBM
2 33 (5.07%) Siemens
3 16 (2.46%) Microsoft
4 15 (2.30%) Red Hat
5 5 (0.77%) VMware
6 4 (0.61%) EMC
7 3 (0.46%) Cisco
7 3 (0.46%) CrowdStrike
7 3 (0.46%) Xilinx
8 2 (0.31%) Adobe
8 2 (0.31%) Citrix
8 2 (0.31%) Dell
8 2 (0.31%) Draytek
8 2 (0.31%) Facebook
8 2 (0.31%) Fortinet
8 2 (0.31%) Instagram
8 2 (0.31%) Juniper
8 2 (0.31%) SonicWALL
8 2 (0.31%) Veeam
8 2 (0.31%) WatchGuard