How To Hire a Systems Engineer
Complete with job descriptions, skill profiles, and interview templates. Use this Systems Engineer hiring guide to help you make the right decisions, fast.
Systems Engineer Recruitment Guide
What does a Systems Engineer do?
A System Engineer will design, implement and maintain an environment comprising a large number of networked digital devices such as computers and IOT devices. They manage all systems and infrastructure to ensure the highest level of systems are available.
Day to day tasks of a Systems Engineer
- Maintain and monitor a large digital network environment
- Provide support to consumers of their infrastructure
- Ensure accessibility of the infrastructure
- Ensure the highest level of security
- Maintain adequate backups
- Provision VMs when needed
Systems Engineer definition
System Engineers primary responsibilities are to design, implement, maintain, test and retire digital devices in a networked environment in a highly automated fashion. This process is done in a holistic manner using knowledge from different areas of engineering and science in order to successfully manage the complete life cycle of a digital environment.
HIRING PROCESS
Systems Engineer Hiring Process
Build the ideal candidate profile
Skills needed for a Systems Engineer
A System Engineer must be very technically savvy with good collaboration skills as they will often work as a part of a large team to maintain and monitor a large collection of devices in environments. An example would be various different VMs and servers in a production environment.
- Operating System
- Network
- Communication
Pro Tip
Candidate’s need to understand networks in great detail so they can figure out problems happening between two VMs. For example, understanding if SSH packets are getting dropped between two VMs or if SSH is just broken on one of the VMs.
WRITE A JOB DESCRIPTION BASED ON SKILLS
How to write a Systems Engineer job description
Once you’ve determined the skills required for the role, you can write the job description to advertise for your position. Here’s what to include in your Systems Engineer job description:
Job Title: What position are you hiring for?
Summary: What makes your company unique? What would it be like to work for you?
Responsibilities: An overview of the role’s day-to-day activities, and how the position contributes to the organization
Requirements: Skills a candidate must have to perform the job successfully
Benefits: Details of compensation, benefits, and any perks on offer
Pro Tip
In building your candidate profile, remember you’ve already identified what skills are needed to succeed in the role. Here’s where to list your “must-have” skills and maybe a couple of “nice-to-have” skills. For example, a System Engineer must be very skilled in using a piece of technology called Ansible.
SELECTING THE IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sample skill tests for a Systems Engineer
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Question 1
Network
Question Type: Video
Explain the difference between a container and a VM?
Question 2
Communication
Question Type: Text
Explain the difference between the following storage technologies:
– NAS
– SAN
– VSAN
– BLOCK STORAGE
Question 3
Operating System
Question Type: Video
Have you had experience with AWS?
Please elaborate on your level of experience and which products sets you are familiar with in AWS
INTERVIEW TOP PERFORMERS
How to interview a Systems Engineer
Once your Vervoe skills assessment has surfaced the most qualified people for your open role, you can focus on interviewing these candidates. The interview should focus on any skills that require development that were highlighted from the skills assessment.
Now you know that candidates can do the job, the interview becomes more of a relationship building exercise where you can get to know the candidate on a more personal level, understand their motivations, and how they would fit in with the team.
Making An Offer
How much does it cost to hire a Systems Engineer?
The US average for a System Engineer is $98,910 according to Indeed.com, whilst the salary reported on Glassdoor.com is $89,467. According to Payscale.com, ninety percent of System Engineers will take home upto $123,000 and the lowest ten percent will be paid up to $54,000. Alternatively Salary.com reports the median salary to only be $71,311.
Systems Engineer Salary United States
A System Engineer salary in the United states ranges from $54,000 – $123,000 (USD. This salary will be heavily dependent on the location of the organisation and the bonuses the engineer might make for their hard work.
Systems Engineer Salary United Kingdom
The salary for a System Engineer in the United Kingdom can range from £29,000 and £81,000 (GBP). This would be heavily dependent on the location of the organisation and the seniority of the position.
Systems Engineer Salary Australia
The salary for a System Engineer is between $70,000 – $148,000 (AUD). This would be heavily dependent on the seniority, industry of the organisation and most importantly the scale of operations that the engineer will look after.
