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 12 November 2026.
The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 12 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 306 | 479 | 434 |
| Rank change year-on-year | +173 | -45 | -7 |
| Permanent Senior Systems Engineer jobs | 772 | 174 | 350 |
| As % of all permanent jobs in the UK | 0.63% | 0.33% | 0.52% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.68% | 0.37% | 0.55% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 449 | 87 | 194 |
| 10th Percentile | £47,500 | £48,000 | £45,000 |
| 25th Percentile | £55,000 | £55,000 | £49,822 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £60,000 | £60,000 | £60,000 |
| 75th Percentile | £70,000 | £65,000 | £70,000 |
| 90th Percentile | £80,000 | £80,000 | £75,000 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £60,000 | £60,000 | £60,000 |
All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.
| 6 months to 12 Nov 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent job adverts in the UK matching a recognised job title | 113,326 | 47,055 | 63,902 |
| % of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title | 91.78% | 89.88% | 94.87% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 74,791 | 28,951 | 35,850 |
| 10th Percentile | £31,250 | £28,250 | £31,250 |
| 25th Percentile | £41,250 | £35,000 | £42,500 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £60,000 | £52,500 | £57,500 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +14.29% | -8.70% | -4.17% |
| 75th Percentile | £76,444 | £73,750 | £75,000 |
| 90th Percentile | £98,000 | £92,500 | £95,000 |
| UK excluding London median annual salary | £55,000 | £46,350 | £50,000 |
| % change year-on-year | +18.66% | -7.30% | -4.76% |
Senior Systems Engineer Job Vacancy Trend
Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent Senior Systems Engineer job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.
Senior Systems Engineer Salary Trend
Salary distribution trend for Senior Systems Engineer job vacancies in the UK.
Senior Systems Engineer Salary Histogram
Salary distribution for Senior Systems Engineer jobs over the 6 months to 12 November 2026.
Senior Systems Engineer Top 17 Job Locations
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in Senior Systems Engineer jobs within the UK over the 6 months to 12 November 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Salary Past 6 Months |
Median Salary % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | +181 | 720 | £60,000 | - | 567 |
| UK excluding London | +146 | 702 | £60,000 | - | 350 |
| South East | +131 | 352 | £55,000 | -8.33% | 121 |
| South West | +39 | 160 | £65,000 | +8.33% | 33 |
| Work from Home | -5 | 88 | £60,000 | -7.69% | 202 |
| North of England | -37 | 73 | £65,000 | +18.18% | 34 |
| East of England | +6 | 70 | £65,000 | -23.53% | 63 |
| London | -38 | 48 | £100,000 | +25.00% | 196 |
| North West | -52 | 44 | £65,000 | +13.04% | 21 |
| Scotland | - | 29 | £55,000 | - | 42 |
| North East | - | 17 | £70,000 | - | 1 |
| Midlands | -78 | 16 | £60,000 | +9.09% | 39 |
| Yorkshire | -21 | 12 | £50,000 | +29.87% | 12 |
| East Midlands | -55 | 10 | £60,000 | +8.11% | 15 |
| West Midlands | -65 | 6 | £60,000 | +9.09% | 24 |
| Wales | -64 | 1 | £66,300 | +27.66% | 14 |
| Northern Ireland | -85 | 1 | - | - | 6 |
Senior Systems Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities
For the 6 months to 12 November 2026, Senior Systems Engineer job ads cited 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 Senior Systems Engineer job ads.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Systems Engineering | 21.8% | 168 |
| 2 | Degree | 11.8% | 91 |
| 3 | Technical Leadership | 9.5% | 73 |
| 4 | BPSS Clearance | 7.5% | 58 |
| 5 | Validation | 5.7% | 44 |
| 6 | Model-Based Systems Engineering | 5.4% | 42 |
| 6 | Requirements Management | 5.4% | 42 |
| 8 | Rational DOORS | 5.2% | 40 |
| 9 | Agile | 4.9% | 38 |
| 9 | Continuous Improvement | 4.9% | 38 |
| 9 | Software Engineering | 4.9% | 38 |
| 12 | Physics | 4.8% | 37 |
| 13 | Python | 4.7% | 36 |
| 14 | Customer Requirements | 4.5% | 35 |
| 14 | Problem-Solving | 4.5% | 35 |
| 16 | Azure | 4.3% | 33 |
| 16 | Microsoft | 4.3% | 33 |
| 18 | MATLAB | 4.0% | 31 |
| 18 | SysML | 4.0% | 31 |
| 18 | Systems Thinking | 4.0% | 31 |
| 21 | Chartered Engineer | 3.9% | 30 |
| 22 | Wireless | 3.6% | 28 |
| 23 | Lightworks | 3.5% | 27 |
| 23 | Mentoring | 3.5% | 27 |
| 25 | Coaching | 3.4% | 26 |
| 25 | Mathematics | 3.4% | 26 |
| 25 | Security Cleared | 3.4% | 26 |
| 28 | AI | 3.2% | 25 |
| 28 | DevOps | 3.2% | 25 |
| 28 | Siemens | 3.2% | 25 |
Senior Systems Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Systems Engineer | 88.2% | 681 |
| 2 | Senior Data Warehouse Specialist | 7.3% | 56 |
| 3 | Network Systems Engineer | 5.3% | 41 |
| 4 | Network Engineer | 4.8% | 37 |
| 5 | Senior Electronics Engineer | 4.7% | 36 |
| 6 | Senior Cloud Engineer | 4.1% | 32 |
| 6 | Senior Network Specialist | 4.1% | 32 |
| 8 | Senior Software Engineer | 3.2% | 25 |
| 9 | Cloud Specialist | 3.1% | 24 |
| 9 | Senior Server Engineer | 3.1% | 24 |
| 9 | Senior Server Specialist | 3.1% | 24 |
| 12 | Optical Engineer | 2.7% | 21 |
| 13 | Senior Security Engineer | 2.5% | 19 |
| 14 | Principal Systems Engineer | 1.7% | 13 |
| 15 | Senior Embedded Engineer | 1.6% | 12 |
| 15 | Senior IT Engineer | 1.6% | 12 |
| 17 | Data Centre Engineer | 1.4% | 11 |
| 17 | Lead Systems Engineer | 1.4% | 11 |
| 19 | Control Systems Engineer | 1.3% | 10 |
| 19 | DevOps Systems Engineer | 1.3% | 10 |