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 13 August 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 339 480 419
Rank change year-on-year +141 -61 +2
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Systems Engineer 582 228 461
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.55% 0.46% 0.55%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.58% 0.51% 0.58%
Number of salaries quoted 304 143 297
10th Percentile £47,500 £47,657 £44,500
25th Percentile £51,760 £50,000 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £65,000 £62,000 £65,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £75,000 £75,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -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 99,901 44,909 79,263
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.03% 89.92% 95.00%
Number of salaries quoted 68,253 26,546 52,909
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £56,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +1.82% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £72,000
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £48,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +8.25% -3.00% -6.54%

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 13 August 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 13 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +110 541 £60,000 +9.09% 252
UK excluding London +97 502 £60,000 +9.09% 142
South East +107 214 £60,000 - 48
South West +10 105 £65,000 +23.57% 31
North of England -41 71 £53,386 -2.57% 23
Work from Home +14 64 £56,000 +13.87% 74
London -17 57 £95,000 +35.71% 115
East of England +13 46 £60,000 -29.41% 23
Midlands -14 46 £60,000 +9.09% 10
North West -27 37 £55,000 +0.38% 15
West Midlands -17 25 £50,000 -9.09% 6
Yorkshire -6 22 £50,861 +5.89% 8
East Midlands -14 21 £60,000 +46.34% 4
Scotland - 17 £49,050 - 8
North East - 12 £47,500 - 2
Wales -58 3 £66,300 +6.94% 2

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

For the 6 months to 13 August 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.

1 154 (26.46%) Systems Engineering
2 85 (14.60%) BPSS Clearance
3 81 (13.92%) Degree
4 59 (10.14%) Technical Leadership
5 58 (9.97%) Python
6 49 (8.42%) AI
6 49 (8.42%) Software Engineering
7 48 (8.25%) Azure
8 44 (7.56%) Requirements Management
9 43 (7.39%) Data Pipeline
10 41 (7.04%) Problem-Solving
11 39 (6.70%) SQL
12 38 (6.53%) AWS
13 36 (6.19%) Rational DOORS
14 34 (5.84%) GCP
14 34 (5.84%) Validation
15 33 (5.67%) Agile
16 32 (5.50%) Machine Learning
17 29 (4.98%) Siemens
17 29 (4.98%) Storytelling
18 28 (4.81%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
18 28 (4.81%) Semantic Search
19 27 (4.64%) Analytics
19 27 (4.64%) MATLAB
19 27 (4.64%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
19 27 (4.64%) Physics
19 27 (4.64%) Power Platform
20 26 (4.47%) Data Engineering
20 26 (4.47%) Data Management
20 26 (4.47%) Generative AI

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 24 (4.12%) Apache Airflow
1 24 (4.12%) Apache Spark
2 15 (2.58%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (1.37%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.52%) FactoryTalk
4 3 (0.52%) WinCC
Applications
1 14 (2.41%) CATIA
1 14 (2.41%) Lightworks
1 14 (2.41%) Simulink
2 10 (1.72%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (0.86%) Chatbot
4 2 (0.34%) Windchill
Business Applications
1 1 (0.17%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 48 (8.25%) Azure
2 38 (6.53%) AWS
3 34 (5.84%) GCP
4 27 (4.64%) Power Platform
5 24 (4.12%) dbt
6 23 (3.95%) Azure Synapse Analytics
6 23 (3.95%) Snowflake
7 12 (2.06%) Microsoft 365
8 7 (1.20%) OneDrive
9 5 (0.86%) Azure DevOps
9 5 (0.86%) SaaS
10 3 (0.52%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (0.52%) Entra ID
10 3 (0.52%) Serverless
11 2 (0.34%) Azure AKS
11 2 (0.34%) Azure Machine Learning
11 2 (0.34%) Copilot Studio
11 2 (0.34%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Copilot
11 2 (0.34%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 12 (2.06%) DNS
2 10 (1.72%) Intrusion Detection
3 7 (1.20%) Broadband
3 7 (1.20%) DHCP
4 6 (1.03%) Wireless
5 5 (0.86%) Firewall
6 4 (0.69%) TCP/IP
7 3 (0.52%) LAN
7 3 (0.52%) Modbus
7 3 (0.52%) Profibus
7 3 (0.52%) SSL
7 3 (0.52%) WAN
8 2 (0.34%) 3GPP
8 2 (0.34%) 5G
8 2 (0.34%) Cisco Nexus
8 2 (0.34%) HTTP
8 2 (0.34%) Internet
8 2 (0.34%) MQTT
8 2 (0.34%) Tactical Data Link
8 2 (0.34%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (4.30%) Power BI
2 24 (4.12%) BigQuery
3 23 (3.95%) Amazon Redshift
3 23 (3.95%) Data Lake
3 23 (3.95%) Data Warehouse
3 23 (3.95%) Elasticsearch
3 23 (3.95%) Looker
3 23 (3.95%) Snowflake Schema
3 23 (3.95%) Tableau
4 11 (1.89%) SQL Server
5 7 (1.20%) NoSQL
6 3 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
7 2 (0.34%) Hadoop
7 2 (0.34%) Metadata
7 2 (0.34%) Redis
7 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Analysis Services
7 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Integration Services
7 2 (0.34%) SQL Server Reporting Services
8 1 (0.17%) Parquet
8 1 (0.17%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 36 (6.19%) Rational DOORS
2 23 (3.95%) MLflow
3 11 (1.89%) JIRA
4 8 (1.37%) LabVIEW
5 6 (1.03%) Apache Continuum
6 2 (0.34%) NUnit
7 1 (0.17%) Jenkins
7 1 (0.17%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 117 (20.10%) Aerospace
2 67 (11.51%) Finance
3 48 (8.25%) Analytical Skills
4 38 (6.53%) Social Skills
5 33 (5.67%) Electronics
6 21 (3.61%) Manufacturing
7 16 (2.75%) Military
8 14 (2.41%) Aviation
8 14 (2.41%) Avionics
9 13 (2.23%) Documentation Skills
9 13 (2.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 11 (1.89%) Legal
11 10 (1.72%) Organisational Skills
12 9 (1.55%) Retail
13 5 (0.86%) Law
13 5 (0.86%) Local Government
14 4 (0.69%) Digital Health
14 4 (0.69%) Telecoms
15 3 (0.52%) Public Sector
16 2 (0.34%) Games
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (4.30%) Kafka
1 25 (4.30%) LangChain
2 24 (4.12%) PyTorch
3 23 (3.95%) LlamaIndex
3 23 (3.95%) pgvector
3 23 (3.95%) scikit-learn
3 23 (3.95%) TensorFlow
4 7 (1.20%) Next.js
5 6 (1.03%) .NET
5 6 (1.03%) Node.js
5 6 (1.03%) REST
6 4 (0.69%) React
7 3 (0.52%) WinForms
8 2 (0.34%) .NET Core
8 2 (0.34%) .NET Framework
8 2 (0.34%) Entity Framework
8 2 (0.34%) gRPC
8 2 (0.34%) JSON
8 2 (0.34%) Protocol Buffers
8 2 (0.34%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 37 (6.36%) Cloud Native
2 26 (4.47%) Public Cloud
3 25 (4.30%) Driving Licence
4 24 (4.12%) Clustering
5 18 (3.09%) CCTV
6 17 (2.92%) Management Information System
6 17 (2.92%) SCADA
7 10 (1.72%) Distributed Systems
8 9 (1.55%) Robotics
9 8 (1.37%) Fibre Optics
10 7 (1.20%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (1.03%) Renewable Energy
12 5 (0.86%) Algorithms
12 5 (0.86%) Cyber Security Posture
12 5 (0.86%) IoT
12 5 (0.86%) Legacy Systems
12 5 (0.86%) PKI
13 4 (0.69%) Data Centre
13 4 (0.69%) Embedded Systems
14 3 (0.52%) Virtual Reality
Operating Systems
1 16 (2.75%) Windows
2 14 (2.41%) Linux
3 11 (1.89%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.52%) VMS
5 2 (0.34%) Ubuntu
6 1 (0.17%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 154 (26.46%) Systems Engineering
2 59 (10.14%) Technical Leadership
3 49 (8.42%) AI
3 49 (8.42%) Software Engineering
4 44 (7.56%) Requirements Management
5 43 (7.39%) Data Pipeline
6 41 (7.04%) Problem-Solving
7 34 (5.84%) Validation
8 33 (5.67%) Agile
9 32 (5.50%) Machine Learning
10 29 (4.98%) Storytelling
11 28 (4.81%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
11 28 (4.81%) Semantic Search
12 27 (4.64%) Analytics
12 27 (4.64%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 27 (4.64%) Physics
13 26 (4.47%) Data Engineering
13 26 (4.47%) Data Management
13 26 (4.47%) Generative AI
14 25 (4.30%) RBAC
Programming Languages
1 58 (9.97%) Python
2 39 (6.70%) SQL
3 27 (4.64%) MATLAB
4 14 (2.41%) PowerShell
5 7 (1.20%) C++
5 7 (1.20%) Java
6 6 (1.03%) C#
7 3 (0.52%) Bash
7 3 (0.52%) T-SQL
7 3 (0.52%) VB.NET
8 2 (0.34%) C
9 1 (0.17%) R
9 1 (0.17%) Scala
Qualifications
1 85 (14.60%) BPSS Clearance
2 81 (13.92%) Degree
3 24 (4.12%) Chartered Engineer
4 14 (2.41%) Master's Degree
5 11 (1.89%) PhD
6 10 (1.72%) HNC
6 10 (1.72%) Security Cleared
7 9 (1.55%) SC Cleared
8 7 (1.20%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.20%) HND
9 3 (0.52%) Computer Science Degree
10 2 (0.34%) DV Cleared
10 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Certification
11 1 (0.17%) APMP
11 1 (0.17%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (3.95%) California Consumer Privacy Act
1 23 (3.95%) GDPR
2 21 (3.61%) ISO/IEC 15288
3 10 (1.72%) ISO/IEC 12207
4 4 (0.69%) IEC 61508
5 3 (0.52%) Accessibility
5 3 (0.52%) IEC 61131
5 3 (0.52%) PMO
6 1 (0.17%) ARP4754
6 1 (0.17%) ARP4761
6 1 (0.17%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.17%) DO-160
6 1 (0.17%) DO-254
6 1 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 17025
6 1 (0.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
System Software
1 14 (2.41%) Docker
2 13 (2.23%) Active Directory
3 6 (1.03%) vSphere
4 5 (0.86%) VMware Infrastructure
5 4 (0.69%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.52%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.34%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 14 (2.41%) Kubernetes
2 5 (0.86%) SCCM
2 5 (0.86%) Terraform
3 4 (0.69%) Microsoft Intune
4 3 (0.52%) Grafana
5 2 (0.34%) Ansible
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 29 (4.98%) Siemens
2 25 (4.30%) Databricks
3 23 (3.95%) Cloudera
3 23 (3.95%) Dell
3 23 (3.95%) Microsoft
4 19 (3.26%) IBM
5 13 (2.23%) Cisco
6 11 (1.89%) Allen-Bradley
6 11 (1.89%) Rockwell
7 7 (1.20%) Aruba
7 7 (1.20%) AVEVA
7 7 (1.20%) Wonderware
8 6 (1.03%) OpenAI
9 5 (0.86%) ServiceNow
9 5 (0.86%) VMware
10 2 (0.34%) Dynatrace
10 2 (0.34%) Foundry
10 2 (0.34%) Google
10 2 (0.34%) iManage
10 2 (0.34%) Qualys