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 July 2026.

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

6 months to
13 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 343 447 464
Rank change year-on-year +104 +17 +8
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Systems Engineer 550 246 471
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.56% 0.50% 0.47%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.59% 0.56% 0.49%
Number of salaries quoted 306 161 333
10th Percentile £47,500 £47,683 £43,239
25th Percentile £50,000 £48,869 £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 £65,000
90th Percentile £80,000 £75,360 £75,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £60,000 £55,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -7.69%

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 92,998 44,238 95,769
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.19% 89.85% 94.73%
Number of salaries quoted 63,730 26,125 68,419
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,000 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year - +4.76% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.12%

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 July 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 July 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 +115 516 £60,000 +9.09% 113
UK excluding London +90 476 £60,000 +9.09% 89
South East +86 187 £60,000 - 39
South West -4 100 £60,000 +14.07% 24
North of England -42 63 £51,772 +3.43% 7
London +13 60 £82,500 +3.13% 25
Work from Home +11 57 £56,000 +6.82% 42
Midlands +2 57 £60,000 +9.09% 8
East of England +19 47 £60,000 -29.41% 11
North West -50 37 £55,000 +9.88% 3
West Midlands -2 34 £50,000 -9.09% 2
East Midlands -15 23 £60,000 +25.00% 6
Scotland +23 19 £49,000 -34.98% 2
Yorkshire -24 14 £50,861 +5.89% 3
North East - 12 £47,500 - 1
Wales -46 3 £66,300 +6.94% 1

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

For the 6 months to 13 July 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.

1 153 (27.82%) Systems Engineering
2 91 (16.55%) BPSS Clearance
3 81 (14.73%) Degree
4 55 (10.00%) Technical Leadership
5 48 (8.73%) Python
6 46 (8.36%) Azure
6 46 (8.36%) Requirements Management
7 42 (7.64%) AI
8 40 (7.27%) Validation
9 39 (7.09%) Software Engineering
10 37 (6.73%) Problem-Solving
10 37 (6.73%) Rational DOORS
11 34 (6.18%) AWS
11 34 (6.18%) Machine Learning
11 34 (6.18%) SQL
12 33 (6.00%) Agile
13 31 (5.64%) Data Pipeline
13 31 (5.64%) GCP
14 30 (5.45%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
14 30 (5.45%) Siemens
15 29 (5.27%) Storytelling
16 28 (5.09%) Systems Thinking
17 27 (4.91%) Analytics
17 27 (4.91%) MATLAB
17 27 (4.91%) SysML
18 26 (4.73%) Cybersecurity
18 26 (4.73%) Data Management
18 26 (4.73%) Generative AI
18 26 (4.73%) ISO/IEC 15288
18 26 (4.73%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation

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 (4.36%) Apache Airflow
1 24 (4.36%) Apache Spark
2 13 (2.36%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.09%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.55%) FactoryTalk
4 3 (0.55%) WinCC
Applications
1 15 (2.73%) Simulink
2 12 (2.18%) CATIA
2 12 (2.18%) Microsoft Office
3 11 (2.00%) Lightworks
4 3 (0.55%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 46 (8.36%) Azure
2 34 (6.18%) AWS
3 31 (5.64%) GCP
4 25 (4.55%) Power Platform
5 24 (4.36%) dbt
6 23 (4.18%) Azure Synapse Analytics
6 23 (4.18%) Snowflake
7 11 (2.00%) Microsoft 365
8 5 (0.91%) Entra ID
8 5 (0.91%) OneDrive
9 4 (0.73%) Google Workspace
10 3 (0.55%) AWS Lambda
10 3 (0.55%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (0.55%) SaaS
10 3 (0.55%) Serverless
11 2 (0.36%) AWS CloudFormation
11 2 (0.36%) Azure Machine Learning
11 2 (0.36%) IaaS
11 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Copilot
11 2 (0.36%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 11 (2.00%) Broadband
2 10 (1.82%) DNS
2 10 (1.82%) Intrusion Detection
3 7 (1.27%) DHCP
4 5 (0.91%) Tactical Data Link
5 4 (0.73%) Firewall
5 4 (0.73%) TCP/IP
6 3 (0.55%) Modbus
6 3 (0.55%) Profibus
7 2 (0.36%) HTTP
7 2 (0.36%) LAN
7 2 (0.36%) MQTT
7 2 (0.36%) WAN
8 1 (0.18%) Cisco Nexus
8 1 (0.18%) Internet
8 1 (0.18%) Network Security
8 1 (0.18%) SSL
8 1 (0.18%) VPN
8 1 (0.18%) Wi-Fi
8 1 (0.18%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (4.55%) Power BI
2 24 (4.36%) BigQuery
3 23 (4.18%) Amazon Redshift
3 23 (4.18%) Data Lake
3 23 (4.18%) Data Warehouse
3 23 (4.18%) Elasticsearch
3 23 (4.18%) Looker
3 23 (4.18%) Snowflake Schema
3 23 (4.18%) Tableau
4 9 (1.64%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.36%) Metadata
5 2 (0.36%) NoSQL
5 2 (0.36%) PostgreSQL
5 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Analysis Services
5 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 2 (0.36%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 1 (0.18%) Apache Arrow
6 1 (0.18%) Hadoop
6 1 (0.18%) KDB
6 1 (0.18%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 37 (6.73%) Rational DOORS
2 23 (4.18%) MLflow
3 11 (2.00%) JIRA
4 7 (1.27%) LabVIEW
5 4 (0.73%) Apache Continuum
6 1 (0.18%) Jenkins
6 1 (0.18%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 98 (17.82%) Aerospace
2 50 (9.09%) Finance
3 42 (7.64%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (6.36%) Electronics
4 35 (6.36%) Social Skills
5 20 (3.64%) Manufacturing
6 15 (2.73%) Military
7 13 (2.36%) Documentation Skills
7 13 (2.36%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (2.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 10 (1.82%) Avionics
10 9 (1.64%) Legal
11 7 (1.27%) Aviation
12 6 (1.09%) Retail
13 5 (0.91%) Law
13 5 (0.91%) Local Government
14 4 (0.73%) Digital Health
14 4 (0.73%) Games
15 3 (0.55%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.36%) Aeronautics
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (4.55%) Kafka
1 25 (4.55%) LangChain
2 24 (4.36%) PyTorch
3 23 (4.18%) LlamaIndex
3 23 (4.18%) pgvector
3 23 (4.18%) scikit-learn
3 23 (4.18%) TensorFlow
4 6 (1.09%) REST
5 4 (0.73%) .NET
5 4 (0.73%) GraphQL
5 4 (0.73%) LDAP
5 4 (0.73%) OAuth
5 4 (0.73%) OpenID
5 4 (0.73%) SAML
5 4 (0.73%) SOAP
6 3 (0.55%) WinForms
7 2 (0.36%) JSON
7 2 (0.36%) Protocol Buffers
7 2 (0.36%) React
7 2 (0.36%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 26 (4.73%) Cloud Native
1 26 (4.73%) Public Cloud
2 25 (4.55%) Driving Licence
3 24 (4.36%) Clustering
4 17 (3.09%) CCTV
4 17 (3.09%) SCADA
5 16 (2.91%) Management Information System
6 8 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
6 8 (1.45%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (1.27%) Fibre Optics
8 6 (1.09%) Renewable Energy
9 5 (0.91%) Cyber Security Posture
9 5 (0.91%) IoT
9 5 (0.91%) Legacy Systems
9 5 (0.91%) PKI
9 5 (0.91%) Robotics
10 4 (0.73%) Algorithms
10 4 (0.73%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (0.73%) Cyberattack
10 4 (0.73%) Embedded Systems
Operating Systems
1 18 (3.27%) Linux
2 14 (2.55%) Windows
3 11 (2.00%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.91%) Ubuntu
5 3 (0.55%) VMS
6 1 (0.18%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 153 (27.82%) Systems Engineering
2 55 (10.00%) Technical Leadership
3 46 (8.36%) Requirements Management
4 42 (7.64%) AI
5 40 (7.27%) Validation
6 39 (7.09%) Software Engineering
7 37 (6.73%) Problem-Solving
8 34 (6.18%) Machine Learning
9 33 (6.00%) Agile
10 31 (5.64%) Data Pipeline
11 30 (5.45%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
12 29 (5.27%) Storytelling
13 28 (5.09%) Systems Thinking
14 27 (4.91%) Analytics
14 27 (4.91%) SysML
15 26 (4.73%) Cybersecurity
15 26 (4.73%) Data Management
15 26 (4.73%) Generative AI
15 26 (4.73%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
15 26 (4.73%) Semantic Search
Programming Languages
1 48 (8.73%) Python
2 34 (6.18%) SQL
3 27 (4.91%) MATLAB
4 12 (2.18%) PowerShell
5 7 (1.27%) T-SQL
6 6 (1.09%) C++
6 6 (1.09%) Java
7 5 (0.91%) Bash
8 4 (0.73%) C#
9 3 (0.55%) VB.NET
10 2 (0.36%) C
10 2 (0.36%) Rust
11 1 (0.18%) R
11 1 (0.18%) Scala
Qualifications
1 91 (16.55%) BPSS Clearance
2 81 (14.73%) Degree
3 24 (4.36%) Chartered Engineer
4 15 (2.73%) Master's Degree
5 12 (2.18%) HNC
6 10 (1.82%) PhD
7 8 (1.45%) HND
7 8 (1.45%) Security Cleared
8 7 (1.27%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.27%) SC Cleared
9 3 (0.55%) Computer Science Degree
10 1 (0.18%) APMP
10 1 (0.18%) Azure Certification
10 1 (0.18%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (4.73%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 23 (4.18%) California Consumer Privacy Act
2 23 (4.18%) GDPR
3 8 (1.45%) ISO/IEC 12207
4 4 (0.73%) IEC 61508
4 4 (0.73%) NCSC
4 4 (0.73%) NIST
5 3 (0.55%) Accessibility
5 3 (0.55%) IEC 61131
5 3 (0.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 3 (0.55%) PMO
6 2 (0.36%) ISO/IEC 17025
7 1 (0.18%) ARP4754
7 1 (0.18%) ARP4761
7 1 (0.18%) Data Quality
7 1 (0.18%) DO-160
7 1 (0.18%) DO-254
System Software
1 15 (2.73%) Active Directory
2 7 (1.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.09%) Docker
3 6 (1.09%) Hyper-V
3 6 (1.09%) vSphere
4 3 (0.55%) Firmware
4 3 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (0.36%) KVM
Systems Management
1 8 (1.45%) Kubernetes
2 5 (0.91%) SCCM
3 3 (0.55%) Terraform
4 2 (0.36%) Ansible
4 2 (0.36%) BMC PATROL
4 2 (0.36%) Microsoft Intune
5 1 (0.18%) Failover Clustering
5 1 (0.18%) Grafana
5 1 (0.18%) Graylog
5 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
5 1 (0.18%) Prometheus
5 1 (0.18%) SCOM
Vendors
1 30 (5.45%) Siemens
2 23 (4.18%) Cloudera
2 23 (4.18%) Databricks
2 23 (4.18%) Dell
3 22 (4.00%) Microsoft
4 18 (3.27%) IBM
5 12 (2.18%) Cisco
6 11 (2.00%) Allen-Bradley
6 11 (2.00%) Rockwell
7 7 (1.27%) AVEVA
7 7 (1.27%) VMware
7 7 (1.27%) Wonderware
8 6 (1.09%) Aruba
9 5 (0.91%) NVIDIA
10 2 (0.36%) Foundry
10 2 (0.36%) Google
10 2 (0.36%) iManage
10 2 (0.36%) Intapp
11 1 (0.18%) Meraki
11 1 (0.18%) Palo Alto