systems engineering jobs in 2026 — demand, top roles hiring, and related skills
As of 2026-09-30, systems engineering appears in 2,937 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the past 90 days — Systems Engineer has the most postings mentioning systems engineering, with demand share up 10.3% vs the prior 4 weeks.
Last updated · 90d ending 2026-09-30
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Frequently asked questions about systems engineering
+Is systems engineering in demand in 2026?
Yes. systems engineering appears in 2,937 job postings indexed by Skillenai over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Systems Engineer accounts for the most postings mentioning systems engineering (48.9% of all postings mentioning systems engineering).
+What jobs require systems engineering?
According to the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30, among roles with at least 20 postings, the highest shares mentioning systems engineering are Space Systems Engineer (85.7% of that role’s postings mention systems engineering), Systems Engineering Manager (53.4% of that role’s postings mention systems engineering), Spacecraft Systems Engineer (44.0% of that role’s postings mention systems engineering).
+What skills are commonly paired with systems engineering?
Across job postings indexed by Skillenai (90 days ending 2026-09-30), systems engineering most often appears alongside Python, requirements management, Risk Management, DOORS, Integration.
+Where is systems engineering most in demand?
As of 2026-09-30, the metro areas posting the most jobs requiring systems engineering are El Segundo, Costa Mesa, Huntsville, Washington, Chantilly, according to the Skillenai jobs index.
+How can I keep up with new systems engineering content and jobs?
Skillenai indexes news, blog posts, and research papers mentioning systems engineering alongside the jobs index. You can subscribe to a daily email digest of new systems engineering content from your Skillenai account.
+Which skills come before and after systems engineering?
The skill-flow chart shows skills documented in adjacent positions across observed employer changes. An outgoing skill is documented in the following position but not the preceding one. These are ideas to explore, not proven prerequisites, acquisition dates, or levels of mastery. Each ribbon counts employer moves with that skill pair; one move can contribute several pairs.
Weekly indexed postings requiring systems engineering — last 90 days
Salary distribution
Box = 25th–75th percentile · tick = median · whisker = 10th–90th · USD, annualized
Career paths around systems engineering
Skills documented before and after this skill across employer changes.
Historical career profiles · all locations
Skills before systems engineering
Skills after systems engineering
How to read this chart · view counts
Each side is an independent set of observed employer moves, not the same people followed through three stages. Ribbon widths compare move counts within that side. Internal moves are not included.
The following position documents a skill that the preceding position does not. Skills must be linked to both positions, with clear dates and no overlap. One move can connect several skill pairs. These patterns suggest skills to explore; they do not establish prerequisites, when a skill was learned, or a higher skill level.
Source: Skillenai talent graph, historical career profiles. Historical descriptions and coverage can change. Only the leading published connections are shown.
| Connection | Moves |
|---|---|
| Before: Work Breakdown Structures (WBS) | 2 |
| Before: security audits | 1 |
| Before: Separation Joints | 1 |
| Before: SharePoint Server | 1 |
| Before: Environmental policy | 1 |
| Before: deployment of IT/GPS/LPR equipment and services | 1 |
| Before: Adobe XD | 1 |
| Before: security protocols | 1 |
| After: security audits | 1 |
| After: social media | 1 |
| After: CPFF | 1 |
| After: testing | 1 |
| After: IT Services | 1 |
| After: product design | 1 |
| After: Azure DevOps | 1 |
| After: volume and acceptance testing | 1 |
Roles most likely to require systems engineering
Among roles with at least 20 postings in the same period.
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | % of role postings mentioning skill |
|---|---|---|
| Space Systems Engineer | 36 | 85.7% |
| Systems Engineering Manager | 39 | 53.4% |
| Spacecraft Systems Engineer | 11 | 44.0% |
| Systems Integration and Test Engineer | 10 | 41.7% |
| Systems Engineer | 1,435 | 38.3% |
| Systems Engineer Intern | 6 | 28.6% |
| Cyber Systems Engineer | 23 | 25.8% |
| Sales Systems Engineer | 6 | 21.4% |
| Systems Integration Engineer | 6 | 21.4% |
| Mechanical Systems Engineer | 7 | 21.2% |
Roles with the most systems engineering postings
| Role | Postings mentioning skill | Share of skill postings |
|---|---|---|
| Systems Engineer | 1,435 | 48.9% |
| Technical Program Manager | 115 | 3.9% |
| Program Manager | 74 | 2.5% |
| Solutions Architect | 64 | 2.2% |
| Software Engineer | 63 | 2.1% |
| Systems Engineering Manager | 39 | 1.3% |
| Space Systems Engineer | 36 | 1.2% |
| Engineering Manager | 34 | 1.2% |
| Systems Architect | 34 | 1.2% |
| Backend Engineer | 24 | 0.8% |
Top companies posting jobs requiring systems engineering
Employers ranked by indexed job postings in the last 90 days.
| Company | Postings · 90 days |
|---|---|
| Northrop Grumman | 325 |
| Globalpr | 120 |
| Anduril | 72 |
| Anduril Industries | 58 |
| GlobaliD | 58 |
| Boeing | 56 |
| RTX | 55 |
| Aero | 54 |
| General Motors | 41 |
| PAE | 40 |
Job postings indexed over the past 90 days, grouped by resolved employer. Counts are postings, not hires. Companies without a published page appear without a link.
Top metros hiring for systems engineering
| Name | Postings | Share |
|---|---|---|
| El Segundo | 80 | 2.7% |
| Costa Mesa | 61 | 2.1% |
| Huntsville | 57 | 1.9% |
| Washington | 51 | 1.7% |
| Chantilly | 49 | 1.7% |
| Long Beach | 49 | 1.7% |
| Annapolis | 43 | 1.5% |
| San Francisco | 43 | 1.5% |
| Cedar Rapids | 42 | 1.4% |
Skills commonly paired with systems engineering
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How this was computed
Counts derive from the Skillenai jobs index over the 90 days ending 2026-09-30. Skills are resolved against the Skillenai canonical taxonomy, so the same entity is counted whether a posting writes 'Python', 'Python 3', or 'python'. Role prevalence divides postings mentioning systems engineering by all postings for each role in the same window, ranking roles with at least 20 postings. Role distribution divides each role’s systems engineering postings by all systems engineering postings, including postings without a role. Shares need not sum to 100% for the displayed roles. Pages refresh weekly (or daily for the top-50 most-requested skills). Adjusted posting share: 1.2% to 1.3%. Demand share change is the relative percentage change between these adjusted shares. Each employer-and-ATS group has at least 10 postings in each 90-day window; its earlier posting count supplies the same weight in both windows. The panel includes 2,596 identified employers and covers 68% of earlier and 72% of latest indexed postings. Windows: 2026-06-02 to 2026-08-31 and 2026-06-30 to 2026-09-28 (UTC; end dates excluded). The windows overlap by 62 days. Dates reflect indexing, not the employer’s posting date. This measures posting mix, not total hiring or market-wide demand. Matching excludes entrants and exits; changes in crawl completeness within an employer or ATS can still affect the result.
- source
- Skillenai jobs index, deduplicated daily
- entity_id
- 99dc8aca2b824d28
- data_as_of
- 2026-09-30
- window_days
- 90
The demand, skills, and geo numbers on this page come from the same Skillenai labor market index that powers our API. Use it for compensation benchmarking, hiring-competition analysis, and skill-adoption tracking.
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