What is a Systems Engineer? An Overview and Job Description

Businesses in all sectors of industry employ Systems Engineers. The role is highly skilled and extremely important where individuals develop, install, operate, and monitor systems based on the needs of the consumer. The result of this process helps the company to enhance customer experiences and increase revenue streams. This is an interdisciplinary role that provides a great deal of variety in terms of the Systems Engineer role and responsibilities.

Duties and responsibilities - What does a Systems Engineer do?

The Systems Engineer job description and role, is vast and complex. Within your role as a Systems Engineer, you are responsible for evaluating the current operating systems and identifying potential improvements in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. This requires a keen eye for detail, critical thinking skills, and an understanding of the business requirements.

Systems Engineer Responsibilities

Your role involves the installation, configuration, improvement, and monitoring of the new as well as installed systems. Using system management tools and armed with your knowledge in systems engineering, you will assess the implications of their usage on the business. You need to be able to work closely with affected departments and other interested parties, including the potential need for training.

Another key responsibility, as part of a Systems Engineer’s job description, is identifying potential issues for users and implementers. This requires excellent communication and interpersonal skills, as well as a sound understanding of the system's capabilities and limitations.

Collaboration with team members, end-users, clients, suppliers, and stakeholders is vital, with a focus on continuous improvement. You need to be able to integrate new systems within existing infrastructures, emphasising the advantages, and minimising disruption.

Your role also involves communicating performance levels to senior management, often via presentations or reports. You need to be able to explain complex technical concepts in a clear and concise manner, and to provide recommendations based on your analysis and insights.

Overall, as a System Engineer, you are a critical member of the team, responsible for ensuring that the organisation's systems are operating at peak performance, and that the business is optimising its use of technology to achieve its goals.

Systems Engineer Job Offers

What qualities are needed to be a successful System Engineer Career?

The best System Engineers tend to be adaptable and can perform to the highest levels when working on even the most complex of operations. They will be skilled at problem-solving, will possess confidence in their own abilities and will revel in the challenges that come their way. Identifying problems and fixing them quickly will be always a major advantage.

Being a good communicator, especially when passing on highly technical information to non-technical individuals, will be a must. There is also a need to be good when working as part of a team, and to understand the value of input from those looking at issues from a slightly different angle. 

Those offering a differing perspective can include Software Engineers, System Administrators, Directors of IT and Network Engineers.

Formal qualifications are often a pre-requisite when pursuing a Systems Engineer career. They should ideally be in relevant disciplines such as software development, system engineering, project management, system analysis, and the like. There are several specialisations in this field, including biosystems, logistics, software, and transportation.

Qualifications and technical skills - How to become a Systems Engineer?

Experience in any of several relevant fields will help in job applications. Prospects can also be improved if the candidate has certifications such as Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE), Red Hat, Citrix, Cisco Certified Network Professional (CCNP) and Oracle Java. Your ability to maintain operating systems will depend on knowledge from these certifications. A thorough understanding of relevant tools will be expected. These tools can include the likes of Teamcenter, MagicDraw, Enterprise Architect, Rational Rhapsody for Systems Engineers and Innoslate. 

Many companies will ask for, at minimum, a Bachelor's degree. Once you become certified, work experience specialisation in computer systems will be crucial to career advancement. Some examples of specialisation include system architecture, access control systems, mission critical infrastructure, and system security. Most systems engineers will also have know-how in service development cycle and application software development.

System Engineers work in a wide variety of industry sectors, so there could be sector-specific applications that need to be researched and understood.

Career development - What is the next step after Systems Engineer?

This role is fast paced, highly skilled and quick to change. The career path of a Systems Engineer often begins with general engineering and software development, and of course many start their career with an internship. Later roles for those with the skills and experience can include Senior Systems Engineer, Lead Development Engineers, and Head of IT.

Salary and remuneration - How much does a Systems Engineer make?

In all corporations, the role of Systems Engineer is a highly important one, and as such the salaries can be excellent. Particular factors include experience, knowledge, and specific value of the individual to the business.

Systems Engineer Job Offers