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 29 June 2026.

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

6 months to
29 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 326 469 466
Rank change year-on-year +143 -3 +45
Permanent jobs requiring a Senior Systems Engineer 544 223 508
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.48% 0.48%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.60% 0.54% 0.51%
Number of salaries quoted 306 149 363
10th Percentile £46,250 £47,676 £43,239
25th Percentile £50,000 £48,869 £50,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £54,793 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.50% -8.68% -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 £54,793 £60,000
% change year-on-year +9.50% -8.68% -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 90,300 41,384 100,134
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.10% 89.50% 94.73%
Number of salaries quoted 61,954 23,849 72,187
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -3.51% +8.57% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,250 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +2.50% - -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 29 June 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 29 June 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 +130 506 £60,000 +9.50% 88
UK excluding London +101 468 £60,000 +9.50% 71
South East +82 179 £60,000 - 28
South West -11 95 £60,000 +14.07% 16
North of England -70 64 £51,772 +3.43% 7
London +32 63 £82,500 +3.13% 20
Midlands +8 59 £60,000 +9.09% 9
Work from Home +22 50 £56,000 +2.20% 32
East of England +19 44 £60,000 -29.41% 9
West Midlands +7 37 £50,000 -9.09% 2
North West -36 37 £55,000 +9.88% 3
Scotland +39 24 £49,000 -34.98% 4
East Midlands -3 22 £60,000 +25.00% 7
Yorkshire -18 15 £50,861 +5.89% 1
North East - 12 £47,500 - 3
Wales -38 3 £66,300 +6.94% 1

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

For the 6 months to 29 June 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.

1 161 (29.60%) Systems Engineering
2 102 (18.75%) BPSS Clearance
3 76 (13.97%) Degree
4 54 (9.93%) Technical Leadership
5 51 (9.38%) Requirements Management
6 46 (8.46%) Azure
7 41 (7.54%) AI
7 41 (7.54%) Python
7 41 (7.54%) Rational DOORS
8 38 (6.99%) Agile
8 38 (6.99%) Validation
9 34 (6.25%) Machine Learning
10 33 (6.07%) Problem-Solving
10 33 (6.07%) SQL
10 33 (6.07%) Systems Thinking
11 32 (5.88%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
11 32 (5.88%) Siemens
11 32 (5.88%) Software Engineering
12 31 (5.70%) AWS
12 31 (5.70%) Cybersecurity
13 30 (5.51%) ISO/IEC 15288
14 29 (5.33%) Analytics
14 29 (5.33%) GCP
14 29 (5.33%) SysML
15 28 (5.15%) Storytelling
16 27 (4.96%) MATLAB
17 26 (4.78%) Data Pipeline
17 26 (4.78%) Generative AI
17 26 (4.78%) Mentoring
17 26 (4.78%) 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 (4.41%) Apache Airflow
1 24 (4.41%) Apache Spark
2 13 (2.39%) Microsoft Exchange
3 6 (1.10%) SharePoint
4 3 (0.55%) FactoryTalk
4 3 (0.55%) WinCC
Applications
1 17 (3.13%) Simulink
2 14 (2.57%) CATIA
3 12 (2.21%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (1.29%) Lightworks
5 3 (0.55%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 1 (0.18%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 46 (8.46%) Azure
2 31 (5.70%) AWS
3 29 (5.33%) GCP
4 25 (4.60%) Power Platform
5 24 (4.41%) dbt
6 23 (4.23%) Azure Synapse Analytics
6 23 (4.23%) Snowflake
7 12 (2.21%) Microsoft 365
8 7 (1.29%) Entra ID
9 6 (1.10%) Google Workspace
10 5 (0.92%) OneDrive
11 3 (0.55%) AWS Lambda
11 3 (0.55%) SaaS
11 3 (0.55%) Serverless
12 2 (0.37%) Azure DevOps
12 2 (0.37%) Azure Machine Learning
12 2 (0.37%) Copilot Studio
12 2 (0.37%) IaaS
12 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Copilot
12 2 (0.37%) Vertex AI
Communications & Networking
1 15 (2.76%) Broadband
2 10 (1.84%) Intrusion Detection
3 9 (1.65%) DNS
4 7 (1.29%) DHCP
5 5 (0.92%) Tactical Data Link
6 3 (0.55%) Firewall
6 3 (0.55%) Modbus
6 3 (0.55%) Profibus
6 3 (0.55%) TCP/IP
7 1 (0.18%) HTTP
7 1 (0.18%) MPLS
7 1 (0.18%) MQTT
7 1 (0.18%) Multicast
7 1 (0.18%) OSPF
7 1 (0.18%) RS-422
7 1 (0.18%) Software-Defined Radio
7 1 (0.18%) SSL
7 1 (0.18%) VPN
7 1 (0.18%) VSAN
7 1 (0.18%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 25 (4.60%) Power BI
2 24 (4.41%) BigQuery
3 23 (4.23%) Amazon Redshift
3 23 (4.23%) Data Lake
3 23 (4.23%) Data Warehouse
3 23 (4.23%) Elasticsearch
3 23 (4.23%) Looker
3 23 (4.23%) Snowflake Schema
3 23 (4.23%) Tableau
4 7 (1.29%) SQL Server
5 2 (0.37%) Metadata
5 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Analysis Services
5 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Integration Services
5 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Reporting Services
6 1 (0.18%) Apache Arrow
6 1 (0.18%) Apache Iceberg
6 1 (0.18%) KDB
6 1 (0.18%) MongoDB
6 1 (0.18%) Parquet
6 1 (0.18%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 41 (7.54%) Rational DOORS
2 23 (4.23%) MLflow
3 11 (2.02%) JIRA
4 6 (1.10%) Apache Continuum
5 5 (0.92%) LabVIEW
6 3 (0.55%) Jenkins
7 2 (0.37%) TeamCity
8 1 (0.18%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 88 (16.18%) Aerospace
2 48 (8.82%) Finance
3 38 (6.99%) Analytical Skills
4 34 (6.25%) Social Skills
5 31 (5.70%) Electronics
6 19 (3.49%) Manufacturing
7 17 (3.13%) Military
8 13 (2.39%) Organisational Skills
9 12 (2.21%) Documentation Skills
10 11 (2.02%) Avionics
11 9 (1.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (1.65%) Legal
12 6 (1.10%) Games
12 6 (1.10%) Retail
13 5 (0.92%) Law
13 5 (0.92%) Local Government
14 4 (0.74%) Aviation
14 4 (0.74%) Digital Health
15 3 (0.55%) Telecoms
16 2 (0.37%) Aeronautics
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 25 (4.60%) Kafka
1 25 (4.60%) LangChain
2 24 (4.41%) PyTorch
3 23 (4.23%) LlamaIndex
3 23 (4.23%) pgvector
3 23 (4.23%) scikit-learn
3 23 (4.23%) TensorFlow
4 8 (1.47%) REST
5 6 (1.10%) GraphQL
5 6 (1.10%) LDAP
5 6 (1.10%) OAuth
5 6 (1.10%) OpenID
5 6 (1.10%) SAML
5 6 (1.10%) SOAP
6 3 (0.55%) .NET
7 2 (0.37%) Akka
7 2 (0.37%) LangGraph
7 2 (0.37%) React
7 2 (0.37%) WinForms
8 1 (0.18%) Ray
Miscellaneous
1 26 (4.78%) Public Cloud
2 25 (4.60%) Driving Licence
3 24 (4.41%) Clustering
4 23 (4.23%) Cloud Native
5 20 (3.68%) Management Information System
6 17 (3.13%) CCTV
6 17 (3.13%) SCADA
7 8 (1.47%) Distributed Systems
7 8 (1.47%) Self-Motivation
8 6 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
8 6 (1.10%) Cyberattack
8 6 (1.10%) Renewable Energy
9 5 (0.92%) Cyber Security Posture
9 5 (0.92%) Fibre Optics
9 5 (0.92%) IoT
9 5 (0.92%) Legacy Systems
10 4 (0.74%) Algorithms
10 4 (0.74%) Embedded Systems
10 4 (0.74%) PKI
11 3 (0.55%) Data Centre
Operating Systems
1 16 (2.94%) Linux
2 13 (2.39%) Windows
3 10 (1.84%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.92%) Ubuntu
5 3 (0.55%) VMS
6 1 (0.18%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 161 (29.60%) Systems Engineering
2 54 (9.93%) Technical Leadership
3 51 (9.38%) Requirements Management
4 41 (7.54%) AI
5 38 (6.99%) Agile
5 38 (6.99%) Validation
6 34 (6.25%) Machine Learning
7 33 (6.07%) Problem-Solving
7 33 (6.07%) Systems Thinking
8 32 (5.88%) Model-Based Systems Engineering
8 32 (5.88%) Software Engineering
9 31 (5.70%) Cybersecurity
10 29 (5.33%) Analytics
10 29 (5.33%) SysML
11 28 (5.15%) Storytelling
12 26 (4.78%) Data Pipeline
12 26 (4.78%) Generative AI
12 26 (4.78%) Mentoring
12 26 (4.78%) Retrieval-Augmented Generation
12 26 (4.78%) Semantic Search
Programming Languages
1 41 (7.54%) Python
2 33 (6.07%) SQL
3 27 (4.96%) MATLAB
4 14 (2.57%) PowerShell
5 8 (1.47%) T-SQL
6 7 (1.29%) Bash
7 5 (0.92%) Java
8 4 (0.74%) C++
9 3 (0.55%) C#
9 3 (0.55%) Scala
10 2 (0.37%) C
10 2 (0.37%) Rust
10 2 (0.37%) VB.NET
11 1 (0.18%) R
Qualifications
1 102 (18.75%) BPSS Clearance
2 76 (13.97%) Degree
3 22 (4.04%) Chartered Engineer
4 15 (2.76%) HNC
5 12 (2.21%) Master's Degree
6 11 (2.02%) HND
7 8 (1.47%) PhD
7 8 (1.47%) Security Cleared
8 7 (1.29%) DBS Check
8 7 (1.29%) 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 30 (5.51%) ISO/IEC 15288
2 23 (4.23%) California Consumer Privacy Act
2 23 (4.23%) GDPR
3 10 (1.84%) ISO/IEC 12207
4 6 (1.10%) NCSC
4 6 (1.10%) NIST
5 4 (0.74%) IEC 61508
5 4 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 3 (0.55%) Accessibility
6 3 (0.55%) IEC 61131
6 3 (0.55%) PMO
7 2 (0.37%) ISO/IEC 17025
8 1 (0.18%) ARP4754
8 1 (0.18%) ARP4761
8 1 (0.18%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.18%) DO-160
8 1 (0.18%) DO-254
System Software
1 16 (2.94%) Active Directory
2 7 (1.29%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.10%) vSphere
4 5 (0.92%) Hyper-V
5 4 (0.74%) Docker
6 3 (0.55%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.37%) KVM
8 1 (0.18%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 8 (1.47%) Kubernetes
2 5 (0.92%) SCCM
3 2 (0.37%) Ansible
3 2 (0.37%) BMC PATROL
3 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (0.37%) Terraform
4 1 (0.18%) Failover Clustering
4 1 (0.18%) Grafana
4 1 (0.18%) Graylog
4 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
4 1 (0.18%) Prometheus
4 1 (0.18%) SCOM
Vendors
1 32 (5.88%) Siemens
2 23 (4.23%) Cloudera
2 23 (4.23%) Databricks
2 23 (4.23%) Dell
3 22 (4.04%) Microsoft
4 20 (3.68%) IBM
5 11 (2.02%) Allen-Bradley
5 11 (2.02%) Cisco
5 11 (2.02%) Rockwell
6 7 (1.29%) AVEVA
6 7 (1.29%) VMware
6 7 (1.29%) Wonderware
7 5 (0.92%) Aruba
7 5 (0.92%) NVIDIA
8 2 (0.37%) Foundry
8 2 (0.37%) Google
8 2 (0.37%) iManage
8 2 (0.37%) Intapp
9 1 (0.18%) Fortinet
9 1 (0.18%) SonicWALL