Senior Systems Engineer Job Trends

Senior System Engineer
UK

The median Senior System Engineer salary in the UK is £60,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 4 September 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 334 477 408
Rank change year-on-year +143 -69 -16
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Systems Engineer 606 205 457
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.55% 0.42% 0.57%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.59% 0.47% 0.60%
Number of salaries quoted 337 119 285
10th Percentile £48,750 £47,250 £45,000
25th Percentile £55,000 £51,250 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,560 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.24% -4.07% -6.98%
75th Percentile £65,000 £62,000 £67,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £75,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £56,280 £60,000
% change year-on-year +6.61% -6.20% -6.25%

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

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

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 103,497 43,997 75,693
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.82% 89.68% 95.22%
Number of salaries quoted 71,228 25,950 47,905
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,169 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £76,250 £74,258 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £92,159
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%

Senior Systems Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Senior Systems Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Senior Systems Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Senior Systems Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Senior Systems Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Senior Systems Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Senior Systems Engineer over the 6 months to 4 September 2026.

Salary histogram for Senior Systems Engineer in the UK

Senior Systems Engineer
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Senior Systems Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 4 September 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
England +143 554 £60,000 +4.24% 331
UK excluding London +109 529 £60,000 +6.61% 215
South East +102 238 £56,233 -7.82% 68
South West +4 112 £65,000 +23.57% 43
North of England -39 74 £55,000 +0.38% 29
Work from Home -8 65 £56,000 +14.81% 110
London -19 50 £100,000 +42.86% 143
East of England +14 47 £60,000 -31.43% 39
North West -33 37 £55,000 +0.38% 17
Midlands -28 31 £55,000 - 9
Scotland - 26 £55,000 - 27
Yorkshire -20 25 £50,000 +4.10% 12
East Midlands -23 18 £60,000 +46.34% 1
West Midlands -29 13 £50,000 -9.09% 8
North East - 12 £47,500 - 2
Wales -71 1 £66,300 +6.94%

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

For the 6 months to 4 September 2026, Senior 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 featuring Senior Systems Engineer in the job title.

1 147 (24.26%) Systems Engineering
2 82 (13.53%) Degree
3 78 (12.87%) BPSS Clearance
4 60 (9.90%) Technical Leadership
5 52 (8.58%) Python
6 48 (7.92%) Software Engineering
7 44 (7.26%) AI
8 43 (7.10%) Requirements Management
9 42 (6.93%) Azure
10 39 (6.44%) Problem-Solving
11 36 (5.94%) Data Pipeline
12 35 (5.78%) SQL
13 34 (5.61%) Rational DOORS
14 33 (5.45%) AWS
14 33 (5.45%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
15 32 (5.28%) Agile
16 31 (5.12%) Physics
17 29 (4.79%) Chartered Engineer
17 29 (4.79%) GCP
17 29 (4.79%) MATLAB
18 28 (4.62%) Systems Thinking
19 27 (4.46%) Siemens
20 25 (4.13%) Mathematics
20 25 (4.13%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
20 25 (4.13%) Semantic Search
20 25 (4.13%) SysML
20 25 (4.13%) Validation
21 23 (3.80%) Continuous Improvement
22 22 (3.63%) Coaching
23 21 (3.47%) Machine Learning

Senior 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 15 (2.48%) Apache Airflow
1 15 (2.48%) Apache Spark
1 15 (2.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (1.32%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.50%) FactoryTalk
3 3 (0.50%) WinCC
Applications
1 17 (2.81%) Simulink
2 14 (2.31%) Lightworks
3 12 (1.98%) CATIA
4 10 (1.65%) Chatbot
5 6 (0.99%) Microsoft Office
5 6 (0.99%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 1 (0.17%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 42 (6.93%) Azure
2 33 (5.45%) AWS
3 29 (4.79%) GCP
4 19 (3.14%) Power Platform
5 15 (2.48%) Azure Synapse Analytics
5 15 (2.48%) dbt
5 15 (2.48%) Snowflake
6 9 (1.49%) Microsoft 365
7 7 (1.16%) OneDrive
8 5 (0.83%) Azure DevOps
8 5 (0.83%) SaaS
9 3 (0.50%) Entra ID
10 2 (0.33%) AWS CloudFormation
10 2 (0.33%) AWS Lambda
10 2 (0.33%) Azure AKS
10 2 (0.33%) Azure Service Bus
10 2 (0.33%) Cloudflare
10 2 (0.33%) Datadog
10 2 (0.33%) GitHub Actions
10 2 (0.33%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 12 (1.98%) DNS
2 10 (1.65%) Intrusion Detection
3 7 (1.16%) DHCP
3 7 (1.16%) Wireless
4 4 (0.66%) Firewall
4 4 (0.66%) TCP/IP
5 3 (0.50%) Broadband
5 3 (0.50%) LAN
5 3 (0.50%) Modbus
5 3 (0.50%) Profibus
5 3 (0.50%) SSL
5 3 (0.50%) WAN
6 2 (0.33%) 3GPP
6 2 (0.33%) 5G
6 2 (0.33%) Cisco Nexus
6 2 (0.33%) HTTP
6 2 (0.33%) Internet
6 2 (0.33%) MQTT
6 2 (0.33%) Wi-Fi
7 1 (0.17%) RS-422
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.81%) Power BI
2 15 (2.48%) Amazon Redshift
2 15 (2.48%) BigQuery
2 15 (2.48%) Data Lake
2 15 (2.48%) Data Warehouse
2 15 (2.48%) Elasticsearch
2 15 (2.48%) Looker
2 15 (2.48%) Milvus
2 15 (2.48%) Snowflake Schema
2 15 (2.48%) Tableau
3 13 (2.15%) NoSQL
4 11 (1.82%) SQL Server
5 3 (0.50%) PostgreSQL
6 2 (0.33%) Hadoop
6 2 (0.33%) Redis
6 2 (0.33%) SQL Server Analysis Services
6 2 (0.33%) SQL Server Integration Services
6 2 (0.33%) SQL Server Reporting Services
7 1 (0.17%) Azure SQL Database
7 1 (0.17%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 34 (5.61%) Rational DOORS
2 15 (2.48%) MLflow
3 10 (1.65%) JIRA
4 8 (1.32%) LabVIEW
5 4 (0.66%) Apache Continuum
6 2 (0.33%) NUnit
7 1 (0.17%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.17%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 130 (21.45%) Aerospace
2 75 (12.38%) Finance
3 38 (6.27%) Analytical Skills
4 33 (5.45%) Social Skills
5 28 (4.62%) Electronics
6 24 (3.96%) Military
7 19 (3.14%) Aviation
8 16 (2.64%) Avionics
9 14 (2.31%) Manufacturing
10 13 (2.15%) Documentation Skills
10 13 (2.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 11 (1.82%) Legal
12 10 (1.65%) Retail
13 8 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
14 5 (0.83%) Local Government
15 4 (0.66%) Digital Health
15 4 (0.66%) Law
15 4 (0.66%) Telecoms
16 3 (0.50%) Public Sector
17 2 (0.33%) Games
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (2.64%) PyTorch
2 15 (2.48%) Kafka
2 15 (2.48%) LangChain
2 15 (2.48%) LlamaIndex
2 15 (2.48%) pgvector
2 15 (2.48%) scikit-learn
2 15 (2.48%) TensorFlow
3 12 (1.98%) Node.js
4 10 (1.65%) Next.js
5 6 (0.99%) .NET
6 5 (0.83%) REST
6 5 (0.83%) Terraform
7 4 (0.66%) React
8 3 (0.50%) WinForms
9 2 (0.33%) .NET Framework
9 2 (0.33%) Entity Framework
9 2 (0.33%) gRPC
9 2 (0.33%) JSON
9 2 (0.33%) Protocol Buffers
9 2 (0.33%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 31 (5.12%) Cloud Native
2 24 (3.96%) Driving Licence
3 19 (3.14%) CCTV
4 16 (2.64%) Clustering
4 16 (2.64%) Public Cloud
5 12 (1.98%) Distributed Systems
5 12 (1.98%) SCADA
6 11 (1.82%) Management Information System
7 10 (1.65%) Robotics
8 8 (1.32%) Data Centre
8 8 (1.32%) Fibre Optics
9 7 (1.16%) IoT
10 5 (0.83%) Algorithms
10 5 (0.83%) Augmented Reality
10 5 (0.83%) Cyber Security Posture
10 5 (0.83%) Legacy Systems
10 5 (0.83%) PKI
10 5 (0.83%) Renewable Energy
10 5 (0.83%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (0.83%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 15 (2.48%) Windows
2 11 (1.82%) Windows Server
3 10 (1.65%) Linux
4 3 (0.50%) VMS
5 1 (0.17%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 147 (24.26%) Systems Engineering
2 60 (9.90%) Technical Leadership
3 48 (7.92%) Software Engineering
4 44 (7.26%) AI
5 43 (7.10%) Requirements Management
6 39 (6.44%) Problem-Solving
7 36 (5.94%) Data Pipeline
8 33 (5.45%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
9 32 (5.28%) Agile
10 31 (5.12%) Physics
11 28 (4.62%) Systems Thinking
12 25 (4.13%) Mathematics
12 25 (4.13%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
12 25 (4.13%) Semantic Search
12 25 (4.13%) SysML
12 25 (4.13%) Validation
13 23 (3.80%) Continuous Improvement
14 22 (3.63%) Coaching
15 21 (3.47%) Mentoring
15 21 (3.47%) Storytelling
Programming Languages
1 52 (8.58%) Python
2 35 (5.78%) SQL
3 29 (4.79%) MATLAB
4 16 (2.64%) PowerShell
5 6 (0.99%) C#
5 6 (0.99%) C++
6 3 (0.50%) Bash
6 3 (0.50%) Java
6 3 (0.50%) T-SQL
6 3 (0.50%) VB.NET
7 2 (0.33%) C
8 1 (0.17%) R
Qualifications
1 82 (13.53%) Degree
2 78 (12.87%) BPSS Clearance
3 29 (4.79%) Chartered Engineer
4 13 (2.15%) Master's Degree
5 11 (1.82%) Security Cleared
6 10 (1.65%) PhD
7 9 (1.49%) SC Cleared
8 7 (1.16%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.16%) HNC
9 6 (0.99%) HND
10 3 (0.50%) Computer Science Degree
11 2 (0.33%) DV Cleared
11 2 (0.33%) Microsoft Certification
12 1 (0.17%) APMP
12 1 (0.17%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (2.97%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 15 (2.48%) California Consumer Privacy Act
2 15 (2.48%) GDPR
3 8 (1.32%) ISO/IEC 12207
4 3 (0.50%) Accessibility
4 3 (0.50%) IEC 61131
4 3 (0.50%) PMO
5 1 (0.17%) ARP4754
5 1 (0.17%) ARP4761
5 1 (0.17%) Data Quality
5 1 (0.17%) DO-160
5 1 (0.17%) DO-254
5 1 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 20 (3.30%) Docker
2 13 (2.15%) Active Directory
3 6 (0.99%) vSphere
4 5 (0.83%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.66%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.50%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.33%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 18 (2.97%) Kubernetes
2 5 (0.83%) SCCM
3 4 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (0.50%) Grafana
5 2 (0.33%) Ansible
5 2 (0.33%) BMC PATROL
6 1 (0.17%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.17%) Graylog
6 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
6 1 (0.17%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.17%) SCOM
Vendors
1 27 (4.46%) Siemens
2 20 (3.30%) Microsoft
3 17 (2.81%) Databricks
4 15 (2.48%) Cloudera
4 15 (2.48%) Dell
5 14 (2.31%) IBM
6 13 (2.15%) Cisco
7 12 (1.98%) OpenAI
8 10 (1.65%) Rockwell
9 7 (1.16%) Allen-Bradley
9 7 (1.16%) Aruba
9 7 (1.16%) AVEVA
9 7 (1.16%) Wonderware
10 5 (0.83%) ServiceNow
10 5 (0.83%) VMware
11 4 (0.66%) Google
12 2 (0.33%) Dynatrace
12 2 (0.33%) iManage
12 2 (0.33%) Palo Alto
12 2 (0.33%) Qualys