How To Become A Senior Staff Systems Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a senior staff systems engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Ariful Azad Ph.D.

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a senior staff systems engineer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $67.28 an hour? That's $139,932 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 21% and produce 284,100 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a Senior Staff Systems Engineer?

Dr. Ariful Azad Ph.D.

Director of Graduate Studies for the Dept. of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Assistant Professor of Intelligent Systems Engineering, Indiana University Bloomington

Look for a job that you would enjoy doing, even if it takes some time to find such a position. Internships are great to explore various options.

ScoreSenior Staff Systems EngineerUS Average

Salary

8.6

Avg. Salary $139,932

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

4.7

Growth Rate 21%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

4.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 30.05%

Black or African American 4.31%

Hispanic or Latino 8.03%

Unknown 4.76%

White 52.69%

Gender

female 12.05%

male 87.95%

Age - 38

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 38

Stress Level

4.7

Stress level is manageable

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.8

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

6.2

Work Life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a senior staff systems engineer

Explore senior staff systems engineer education requirements

Most common senior staff systems engineer degrees

Bachelor's

61.6 %

Master's

24.3 %

Associate

9.0 %

Start to develop specific senior staff systems engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Java	9.26%
Systems Engineering	6.84%
C++	5.90%
MATLAB	5.79%
RF	4.35%

Complete relevant senior staff systems engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New senior staff systems engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a senior staff systems engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real senior staff systems engineer resumes.

Research senior staff systems engineer duties and responsibilities

Develop and integrate software that drives flight control system hardware and achieves product requirements for an international avionics customer base.
Used Chicago, GPO, and DoD style manuals.
Design electrical heater control with improve immunity to RF.
Organize and perform the RF spectrum interference analysis with mitigation solutions.

Get senior staff systems engineer experience

Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become a senior staff systems engineer. The most common roles before becoming a senior staff systems engineer include senior systems engineer, systems engineer team lead and systems engineer staff.

Prepare your senior staff systems engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your senior staff systems engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a senior staff systems engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Senior Staff Systems Engineer Resume templates

Build a professional Senior Staff Systems Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Senior Staff Systems Engineer resume.

Apply for senior staff systems engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a senior staff systems engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

Average senior staff systems engineer salary

The average Senior Staff Systems Engineer salary in the United States is $139,932 per year or $67 per hour. Senior staff systems engineer salaries range between $108,000 and $181,000 per year.

Average Senior Staff Systems Engineer Salary

$139,932 Yearly

$67.28 hourly