What is a Systems Architect?

The chief duty of a systems architect is to design and develop computer systems and networks to increase efficiency, productivity, and security. Their job is essential in helping a company reach its business objectives, as well as maintaining business continuity by preventing unexpected breakdowns or, worse - cybersecurity attacks.

The secondary duties of a systems architect typically involve conducting research to determine the company's needs, gathering data, troubleshooting issues, developing strategies to improve existing systems, and implementing these strategies in a timely manner. Furthermore, a systems architect may also be responsible for training subordinate employees and ensuring that everyone complies with company standards and regulations.

For many employers, the minimum educational requirement for this role is a bachelor's degree in computer science or other relevant fields. In terms of experience, a lot of employers require applicants to have at least six months to a year of experience, depending on their company standards.

On average, systems architects take home around $93,000 in basic salary per year. When it comes to job opportunities, the best industries to consider are technology, manufacturing, and insurance.

What Does a Systems Architect Do

There are certain skills that many systems architects have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed organizational skills, technical skills and visualization skills.

Learn more about what a Systems Architect does

How To Become a Systems Architect

If you're interested in becoming a systems architect, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 66.7% of systems architects have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 21.3% of systems architects have master's degrees. Even though most systems architects have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Systems Architect
Top Systems Architect Jobs Near You

Systems Architect Career Paths

As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a systems architect can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as solutions architect, progress to a title such as project manager and then eventually end up with the title senior infrastructure project manager.

Systems Architect

Average Salary for a Systems Architect

Systems Architects in America make an average salary of $103,764 per year or $50 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $141,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $76,000 per year.
Average Systems Architect Salary
$103,764 Yearly
$49.89 hourly
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Roles and Types of Systems Architect

The role of a systems architect includes a wide range of responsibilities. These responsibilities can vary based on an individual's specific job, company, or industry.Here are some general systems architect responsibilities:

  • Identify appropriate solutions and/or products and designs that will best prepare the company to meet future business objectives. Design the appropriate solution that is based on the business requirements document the design in the form of a conceptual approach which will be used as the basis for sizing
  • Review and analyze identity, credential, and access management (icam)-related policies
  • Job description for is sr. delivery analyst ingram micro inc. ingram micro inc. is committed to creating a diverse environment

There are several types of systems architect, including:

Systems Engineer

Role:

If you're looking for a job that has a lot of job opportunities tied to it, look no further. Systems engineers are in full demand from all sorts of companies across multiple industries. Everyone needs an "I.T." person in their midst because it's no secret that very few actually know how to use technology.

Sure, most people may refer to you as the I.T. person, but your job is much more complicated than that. Of course, the majority of your time will be spent managing the I.T. services and solving any issues that present themselves, but you will have days that you'll have to recover important emails or divert a disaster.

The only thing stopping you from becoming a systems engineer is a bachelor's degree. Once you've got that under your belt, you'll be on your way to becoming a systems engineer. A really important aspect of being a systems engineer is having the communication skills necessary. The hardest part of your job will be "dumbing" down technology terms so that people can understand what's going on with the I.T. system. Once you get through that, the rest of your job will be easy peasy.

  • Average Salary: $82,834
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Architect

Role:

From designing to planning, architects have a hand in houses, factories, office buildings and other structures. Working from an office, architects spend their days developing plans for such structures and meet with clients to ensure their dream is being carried out.

While it all sounds like fun and games, you do need a good amount of education and experience to be able to become an architect. A bachelor's degree is step one. Then you need experience through a paid internship. Before accepting a job offer, you even need to pass the Architect Registration Examination.

  • Average Salary: $86,635
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Solutions Architect

Role:

A solutions architect develops and oversees the processes involved in integrating IT systems to meet an organization's needs. He/She reviews project challenges to identify alternatives and minimize risks, evaluates the existing system infrastructure, and works with project management and IT development teams to improve the infrastructure. Additionally, he/she informs stakeholders on the progress of product development processes and budgets. Asides from that, he/she develops and implements a framework for necessary contributions from different departments.

Most solutions architects have at least a bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a related field. Employers will require at least six years of relevant work experience. However, you must possess technical, analytical, communication, project management, and leadership skills. You must also have experience developing IT and cloud infrastructure. Plus, you must be familiar with operating systems. Solutions architects are paid about $127,285 a year. Their salary is between $90,000 and $180,000.

  • Average Salary: $116,327
  • Degree: Bachelor's Degree
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States With The Most Systems Architect Jobs

Mouse over a state to see the number of active systems architect jobs in each state. The darker areas on the map show where systems architects earn the highest salaries across all 50 states.

Average Salary: Job Openings:

Number Of Systems Architect Jobs By State

RankStateNumber of JobsAverage Salary
1California9,538$118,301
2Texas5,812$93,471
3Florida3,777$84,012
4Illinois3,456$92,350
5Virginia3,319$105,346
6New York3,115$99,609
7Georgia2,817$92,221
8Massachusetts2,586$101,741
9Pennsylvania2,562$97,157
10North Carolina2,532$97,543
11Washington2,432$98,942
12Maryland1,934$108,886
13New Jersey1,905$101,379
14Ohio1,899$91,331
15Arizona1,785$96,780
16Michigan1,695$88,330
17Minnesota1,689$88,276
18Colorado1,633$94,365
19Oregon1,443$95,726
20Missouri1,246$90,725
21Indiana1,146$88,650
22Connecticut1,022$96,033
23Wisconsin1,004$88,756
24Utah953$85,697
25Tennessee908$85,207
26Alabama706$85,228
27South Carolina682$90,915
28Iowa648$83,962
29Kansas623$88,423
30Kentucky600$91,807
31Arkansas513$86,164
32Nevada476$105,932
33Nebraska452$92,983
34Louisiana452$83,193
35Idaho432$93,262
36Oklahoma423$80,365
37Rhode Island421$86,282
38New Hampshire420$103,311
39New Mexico414$83,167
40Delaware337$104,269
41Mississippi295$89,123
42Montana280$87,675
43North Dakota272$90,336
44West Virginia250$94,859
45Vermont250$89,746
46Maine248$103,126
47South Dakota209$82,322
48Alaska201$89,305
49Hawaii181$100,365
50Wyoming164$90,495

Systems Architect Education

Systems Architect Majors

Computer Science
31.5 %
Electrical Engineering
15.2 %
Business
8.6 %

Systems Architect Degrees

Bachelors

66.7 %

Masters

21.3 %

Associate

6.9 %

Top Colleges for Systems Architects

1. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,832

Enrollment

4,550

2. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

In-State Tuition

$51,354

Enrollment

7,083

3. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

In-State Tuition

$50,420

Enrollment

7,582

4. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,695

Enrollment

6,596

5. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

6. Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GA • Private

In-State Tuition

$12,424

Enrollment

15,201

7. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,188

Enrollment

15,105

8. Georgetown University

Washington, DC • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,104

Enrollment

7,089

9. Dartmouth College

Hanover, NH • Private

In-State Tuition

$55,453

Enrollment

4,312

10. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

In-State Tuition

$54,568

Enrollment

8,451

Top Skills For a Systems Architect

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 10.1% of systems architects listed cloud on their resume, but soft skills such as organizational skills and technical skills are important as well.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Systems Architect Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Systems Architect templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Systems Architect resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Systems Architect Resume
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Systems Architect diversity

Systems Architect Gender Distribution

Male
Male
90%
Female
Female
10%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

  • Among systems architects, 9.8% of them are women, while 90.2% are men.

  • The most common race/ethnicity among systems architects is White, which makes up 67.7% of all systems architects.

  • The most common foreign language among systems architects is Spanish at 24.4%.

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Best States For a Systems Architect

Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a systems architect. The best states for people in this position are California, Maryland, Nevada, and Virginia. Systems architects make the most in California with an average salary of $118,301. Whereas in Maryland and Nevada, they would average $108,886 and $105,932, respectively. While systems architects would only make an average of $105,346 in Virginia, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.

1. California

Total Systems Architect Jobs: 9,538
Highest 10% Earn:
$170,000
Location Quotient:
1.27

$118,301

Avg. Salary

View 9,538 Systems Architect Jobs In CA

2. Virginia

Total Systems Architect Jobs: 3,319
Highest 10% Earn:
$146,000
Location Quotient:
1.37

$105,346

Avg. Salary

View 3,319 Systems Architect Jobs In VA

3. Delaware

Total Systems Architect Jobs: 337
Highest 10% Earn:
$144,000
Location Quotient:
1.05

$104,269

Avg. Salary

View 337 Systems Architect Jobs In DE
Full List Of Best States For Systems Architects

How Do Systems Architects Rate Their Jobs?

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Top Systems Architect Employers

We've made finding a great employer to work for easy by doing the hard work for you. We looked into employers that employ systems architects and discovered their number of systems architect opportunities and average salary. Through our research, we concluded that Tech Mahindra was the best, especially with an average salary of $86,994. Pegasystems follows up with an average salary of $114,653, and then comes Intel with an average of $115,461. In addition, we know most people would rather work from home. So instead of having to change careers, we identified the best employers for remote work as a systems architect. The employers include Lockheed Martin, Standard Insurance Company, and Verizon Communications

Most Common Employers For Systems Architect

RankCompanyAverage SalaryHourly RateJob Openings
1Cisco$156,364$75.17108
2NetApp$151,205$72.6999
3AT&T$129,425$62.2238
4Guidewire Software$124,636$59.9241
5Micron Technology$121,808$58.5647
6Intel$115,461$55.51131
7Pegasystems$114,653$55.12150
8Bank of America$111,099$53.4143
9Peraton$110,594$53.1738
10Wells Fargo$109,011$52.4164
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Updated April 6, 2023