Software & IT

systems engineer

Name: Systems Engineer skill & career-path data
Creator: Futureful

Learned from 163 real résumés for this role.

Across 163 real U.S. résumés for a systems engineer, the most distinctive skills are Azure Ad Connect, Cisco Iron Port and Cisco Wireless Lan Controllers — each far more common in this role than across all résumés. This is the real skill fingerprint, learned from résumés, not a job description.

Azure Ad Connect: 2% have it · 596.9× vs average
Cisco Iron Port: 2% have it · 298.4× vs average
Cisco Wireless Lan Controllers: 2% have it · 199.0× vs average

Based on Futureful's analysis of 102,822 U.S. résumés (2026).

What this means

Systems engineers in this group show a broad technical footprint. The most distinctive skills appear on only a small share of résumés, each backed by about three, and they range across networking and infrastructure work like Cisco wireless LAN controllers, HP ProCurve switches, eBGP routing, and Cisco IronPort, plus Azure AD Connect, SQL backups, telecom administration, and new employee onboarding. The career paths here are well documented. Most people arrive from network administrator and systems administrator roles, with smaller numbers coming from IT manager, system engineer, and junior Java developer positions. Moving on, many step into systems administrator or network engineer work, while smaller shares become database administrators, IT managers, or Java developers.

AI summary · grounded only in the real data above · never invents a number

Skill fingerprint

ranked by distinctiveness

The skills that most define this role, more common here than across all résumés. The bar shows how distinctive; the % is how many people in the role have it.

azure ad connect

596.9×

2% · N=3

cisco iron port

298.4×

2% · N=3

cisco wireless lan controllers

199.0×

2% · N=3

hp procurve switches

199.0×

2% · N=3

sql backups

199.0×

2% · N=3

ebgp

199.0×

2% · N=3

new employee onboarding

149.2×

2% · N=3

telecom administration

149.2×

2% · N=3

windows server 2008 - 2016

149.2×

2% · N=3

aruba access points

149.2×

2% · N=3

aruba airwave

149.2×

2% · N=3

fault tolerance

149.2×

2% · N=3

citrix xenserver

149.2×

2% · N=3

printer and peripheral support

149.2×

2% · N=3

microsoft server 2012

149.2×

2% · N=3

Where people go next

Real onward moves from dated work history.

systems administrator9% · N=24 network engineer7% · N=18 database administrator5% · N=12 it manager4% · N=9 java developer4% · N=9 network administrator4% · N=9 project manager2% · N=6 support engineer2% · N=6

Where people come from

The roles that feed into this one.

network administrator1% · N=30 systems administrator3% · N=24 it manager1% · N=9 system engineer8% · N=9 junior java developer1% · N=3 junior network engineer3% · N=3 network & systems administrator33% · N=3 network operations manager17% · N=3

Common questions

Straight answers, every one backed by the real counts on this page.

What skills does a Systems Engineer need?

In 163 real résumés for this role, the most defining skills are Azure Ad Connect (2% have it), Cisco Iron Port (2% have it), Cisco Wireless Lan Controllers (2% have it), Hp Procurve Switches (2% have it), Sql Backups (2% have it). These are the skills that separate this role from the rest of the workforce.

What do people in Systems Engineer roles move on to next?

From real dated work history, the most common next roles are Systems Administrator (9% of moves, N=24), Network Engineer (7% of moves, N=18), Database Administrator (5% of moves, N=12).

What roles lead into Systems Engineer?

The roles that most often feed into this one are Network Administrator (1% of arrivals, N=30), Systems Administrator (3% of arrivals, N=24), It Manager (1% of arrivals, N=9).

Does this page show Systems Engineer salary?

No. Résumés do not carry pay, so Futureful holds no compensation data for this role and never invents a dollar figure. Every statistic here is a skill or career-move count backed by real résumés.

Where does this data come from?

The Futureful Career Atlas is built from 102,822 real US résumés, aggregated with no personal data. 163 of them are Systems Engineer résumés. Every number on this page is a count of real people, and thin pages are kept out of search. Full method: futureful.app/careers/methodology.

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