Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between senior lead systems engineers and systems support engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both a senior lead systems engineer and a systems support engineer. Additionally, a senior lead systems engineer has an average salary of $114,766, which is higher than the $82,561 average annual salary of a systems support engineer.
The top three skills for a senior lead systems engineer include java, systems engineering and architecture. The most important skills for a systems support engineer are linux, troubleshoot, and technical support.
| Senior Lead Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $114,766 | $82,561 |
| Hourly rate | $55.18 | $39.69 |
| Growth rate | 5% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 251,239 | 182,434 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
A senior lead systems engineer specializes in designing and developing systems for different industries. Besides engineering systems, they lead the efforts put into completing various projects and programs. Their duties usually include spearheading the research activities, establishing goals and guidelines, setting timelines, selecting resources, delegating responsibilities, and monitoring operations from planning to production, addressing issues and concerns to solve them promptly and efficiently. Additionally, as a senior lead systems engineer, they must lead and empower teams while implementing safety policies and industry standards.
Systems support engineers are information technology professionals who are responsible for building and maintaining the IT infrastructure of an organization. They are required to provide network administration and technical support to identify complex problem issues and come up with solutions to solve them. They must assist the system support engineers in accomplishing any projects they are working with. They must troubleshoot servers, personal computers, and peripheral equipment while liaising with their customers. They must also create and maintain user accounts and implement group policy management through an active directory.
Senior lead systems engineers and systems support engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Senior Lead Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Average salary | $114,766 | $82,561 |
| Salary range | Between $86,000 And $151,000 | Between $62,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | Novato, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Apple | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Finance |
There are a few differences between a senior lead systems engineer and a systems support engineer in terms of educational background:
| Senior Lead Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 66% | Bachelor's Degree, 61% |
| Most common major | Electrical Engineering | Computer Science |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between senior lead systems engineers' and systems support engineers' demographics:
| Senior Lead Systems Engineer | Systems Support Engineer | |
| Average age | 43 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.2% Female, 13.8% | Male, 89.5% Female, 10.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 8.1% Unknown, 5.0% Hispanic or Latino, 11.8% Asian, 14.1% White, 60.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 8.5% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.2% Asian, 11.5% White, 62.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 9% | 9% |