Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between team lead engineers and systems engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 4-6 years to become a team lead engineer, becoming a systems engineer takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a team lead engineer has an average salary of $114,867, which is higher than the $82,834 average annual salary of a systems engineer.
The top three skills for a team lead engineer include python, architecture and java. The most important skills for a systems engineer are python, linux, and C++.
| Team Lead Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $114,867 | $82,834 |
| Hourly rate | $55.22 | $39.82 |
| Growth rate | 2% | 21% |
| Number of jobs | 235,155 | 145,936 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 2 |
A team leads engineer is in charge of spearheading and overseeing the efforts of an engineering team, ensuring efficiency and smooth workflow. Although the duties may depend on one's industry of employment, it typically includes designing and developing systems according to project requirements, setting objectives and construction guidelines, delegating tasks, managing budgets and schedules, and monitoring the workflow, performing corrective measures as needed. Furthermore, as a team leads engineer, it is essential to encourage the workforce to reach goals, all while enforcing the company's safety standards and regulations.
Systems engineers are responsible for creating and overseeing systems related to the overall operations of the organization. They are in charge of assessing the organization's needs in terms of systems and creating plans to address these needs. These systems are usually related to the production or manufacturing of company products. Systems engineers create end-to-end processes that ensure efficiency and effectiveness. They make sure that the processes they put in place adhere to safety and security policies and guidelines. They also do routine checks and continuously find ways to further improve production and other systems.
Team lead engineers and systems engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Team Lead Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Average salary | $114,867 | $82,834 |
| Salary range | Between $84,000 And $156,000 | Between $62,000 And $109,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Meta | The Citadel |
| Best paying industry | Technology | Automotive |
There are a few differences between a team lead engineer and a systems engineer in terms of educational background:
| Team Lead Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 69% | Bachelor's Degree, 70% |
| Most common major | Mechanical Engineering | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Northwestern University | California State University - Long Beach |
Here are the differences between team lead engineers' and systems engineers' demographics:
| Team Lead Engineer | Systems Engineer | |
| Average age | 41 | 39 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 86.7% Female, 13.3% | Male, 86.1% Female, 13.9% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 3.3% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 14.5% White, 68.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1% | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 8.4% Asian, 29.7% White, 52.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 5% | 8% |