Free Access No Registration Updated: 2026-06-01

Systems Engineer Career Market Report 2026

4,467 active jobs. 1,084 companies. Median salary $117K. Data from Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, Ashby, SmartRecruiters, Workable, and 14 additional ATS sources. Last computed: 2026-06-01.

4,467
Active Job Openings
1,084
Companies Hiring
$117K
Median Salary (US)
72%
With Salary Data

About This Report

The Systems Engineer market data on this page is updated daily from 800,000+ active job postings across 20 ATS platforms.

Greenhouse Lever Workday Ashby SmartRecruiters Workable + 14 more ATS sources

Salary: Extracted via NLP. Only USD $5K-$3M included. Skills: Named entity recognition, noise-filtered (generic soft skills excluded). Experience: Inferred from title + description. Coverage: 72% of positions include salary data.

Key Findings

Median salary: $117K in the US

Middle 50% of salaries range from $92K to $175K.

Remote roles pay 8% above the US national median

Remote-first employers competing nationally for talent. The premium reflects company quality (remote-first firms tend to be well-funded), not a work-mode bonus.

AI/LLM is the most-demanded skill at 30%

SQL demand rose +8.0pp — fastest-growing skill

Ngc leads hiring with 232 open positions

Biggest salary jump: Lead → Staff (+$41K, +37%)

Salary increase: +$41K · Sample: Lead → Staff

AI automation risk: medium (score 55/100)

Score: 55/100 · AI/LLM demand: 59% of postings

Week-over-week changes reflect dataset expansion, not market surge

Recent growth in tracked postings is from adding new data sources, not a one-week hiring boom. Interpret trend data with this in mind.

Salary by Experience Level

LevelJobsP25MedianP90
Senior384$102K$125K$178K
Mid-Level149$87K$99K$160K
Staff121$130K$154K$208K
Junior91$71K$87K$130K
Lead58$99K$113K$165K
Entry-Level4$80K$83K$160K

What jumps out

Lead → Staff: +$41K (37%) — the biggest single-step increase. The salary curve is back-loaded: the largest raises come at transitions where scope changes from executing tasks to owning outcomes, or from owning outcomes to shaping architecture across teams.

Salary by Country

CountryJobsMedianCurrency
United States707$117KUSD
Remote45$126KUSD
United Kingdom7$62KGBP
India5$12KUSD
Australia5$125KUSD

Work Mode

ModeShare
On-Site6.4%
Remote5.3%
Hybrid1.8%

~80% of postings do not specify work mode. Figures show only positions where it is explicitly stated.

Top Skills in Demand

AI/LLM
30%
Python
30%
Linux
19%
MATLAB / Simulink
13%
MATLAB
13%
AWS
12%
TypeScript
11%
Azure
9%
Data Analysis
9%
Project Management
9%
SQL
8%
Bash
8%

Skills on the Rise

SQL ↑+8.0ppBash ↑+8.0ppCI/CD ↑+7.8ppR ↑+7.4ppKubernetes ↑+7.0pp

Declining in Demand

Electrical ↓-17.1ppAgile ↓-11.1ppJournalism ↓-10.4ppSustainability ↓-8.9ppMental Health ↓-6.6pp

Top Companies Hiring

CompanyOpeningsShare
Ngc2325.2%
Globalhr2204.9%
Leidos821.8%
Bah811.8%
Kbr701.6%
Ag661.5%
Leonardocompany651.5%
Blueorigin591.3%

Top Countries by Job Volume

CountryJobs
United States2,330
India160
Remote154
United Kingdom138
Germany68
Australia45
China45
Canada43

Education Requirements

LevelSharePositions
Associate Degree49.4%1,594
Master's Degree17.5%565
Bachelor's Degree17.0%549
PhD / Doctorate2.1%68
MBA0.1%3

Certifications

ITIL (2%)CompTIA (2%)CDL (1%)CCNA (1%)CISSP (1%)CCNP (1%)

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