Mid Green occupationEngineering and manufacturing
Systems engineer
Solving some of the most complex engineering challenges by organising all the information needed to understand the whole problem, exploring it and finding the most appropriate solution.
Summary
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design and manage complex systems over their life cycles. The occupation is found in any sector where complex engineered systems are defined, developed and/or operated; some examples are transport (e.g. rail, aviation, automotive, maritime), defence & security, telecommunications, health, manufacturing, construction, and infrastructure. Systems Engineers are found in all parts of the supply chain from Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to multi-national businesses, and in commercial and public sector organisations. The broad purpose of Systems Engineering is to create and execute an interdisciplinary process to ensure that the customer and stakeholder's needs are satisfied in a high quality, trustworthy, cost efficient and schedule compliant manner throughout a system's entire life cycle. Systems Engineers integrate multiple technological elements in complex systems that, in the case of socio-technical systems, may also include organisational elements and human interactions. Socio-technical systems include requirements that span hardware, software, personnel, and community aspects (e.g. a rail network includes human considerations at many different levels). In their daily work, an employee in this occupation interacts with project managers or personnel from business development and/or sales functions. They may assemble and manage teams of domain specialists (such as mechanical, electrical, electronics, software engineers, etc.) and subject matter experts in specific technology or scientific areas. A Systems Engineer will often work in a customer-facing role ensuring that the system meets customer and user needs and preferences, often with responsibility for technical and business communication. Mostly the occupation is office-based, although site visits may be needed during implementation of designed systems. An employee in this occupation will be responsible for overall technical management and coordination within a programme or project and contribute to safety, security and quality of outputs. They may be responsible for specific processes within the lifecycle as, for example, a Requirements Engineer, Systems Architect, or Integration Engineer. For larger programmes or projects, Systems Engineers will typically be responsible for staff and budgets. Jobs typically held by individuals undertaking this occupation include Lead Engineer, Project Engineer, Technical Lead, Acquisition Engineer; Systems Engineer; Test Engineer; Requirements Engineer; Requirements Manager, Systems Architect, Systems Designer, Systems Analyst, Engineering Manager, Systems Specialist, Technical Manager, in-service Engineer, Through-life Systems Engineer, Operation and Support Engineer, Acceptance Engineer, Integration Engineer, Interface Manager.
Typical job titles include
- Systems engineer
Knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSBs)
K1:
Systems engineering lifecycle processes
K2:
The role a system plays in the super system of which it is a part
K3:
The characteristics of good quality requirements and the need for traceability
K4:
The distinction between risk, issue, and opportunity and the different forms of treatment available
K5:
The benefits and risks associated with modelling and analysis
K6:
How creativity, ingenuity, experimentation and accidents or errors, often lead to technological and engineering successes and advances
K7:
Different types of systems architecture and techniques used to support the architectural design process (i.e. the specification of systems elements and their relationships)
K8:
Non-functional design attributes such as manufacturability, testability, reliability, maintainability, affordability, safety, security, human factors, environmental impacts, robustness and resilience, flexibility, interoperability, capability growth, disposal, cost, natural variations, etc.
K9:
Integration as a logical sequence to confirm the system design, architecture, and interfaces
K10:
Interface management and its potential impact on the integrity of the system solution
K11:
Systems verification against specified requirements and characteristics and the need to execute it in a logical sequence
K12:
The relationship between verification, validation, and acceptance
K13:
The purpose and importance of system validation in relevant commercial context
K14:
Scientific, technical, engineering, and mathematics fundamentals and a broad technical domain knowledge for the relevant industry
K15:
How to take account of health and safety legislation and sustainable development requirements in the relevant industry
K16:
The relationship of service quality to user satisfaction and cost, risk, and availability of the operational system
K17:
The elements of a project management plan (including statement of work, work breakdown structure, resource allocation, scheduling, management plan, monitoring, risk management, change requests, record keeping, and acceptance)
K18:
The commercial and financial environment in which a project is being executed (e.g. procurement model, interest rates, exchange rates)
K19:
The role of systems engineering planning as part of an overall project/programme plan
K20:
The legal, commercial, and security constraints that affect the management of data and information (e.g. General Data Protection Regulation, handling of specific commercial contract restrictions)
K21:
Support and sustainability needs of a deployed system or product
Technical Educational Products
- ST0107: Systems engineer (degree) (Level 7) Approved for delivery
- Reference:
- OCC0107
- Status:
Approved occupation
- Average (median) salary:
- £44,134 per year
- SOC 2020 code:
- 2129 Engineering professionals n.e.c.
- SOC 2020 sub unit groups:
- 2129/99 Engineering professionals n.e.c.
- 2125/99 Production and process engineers n.e.c.
- 2127/00 Engineering project managers and project engineers
- 2481/02 Planning engineers
- 2481/99 Quality control and planning engineers n.e.c.
S1:
Select appropriate lifecycle for a system or element of a system and establish its lifecycle stages and the relationships between them
S2:
Define context of a system from a range of viewpoints including system boundaries and external interfaces
S3:
Use appropriate methods to analyse stakeholder needs to produce good quality, consistent requirements with acceptance criteria and manage them throughout system development
S4:
Identify, analyse, recommend treatment, and monitor and communicate risks and opportunities throughout project
S5:
Generate a physical, mathematical, or logical representation of a system entity, phenomenon or process
S6:
Apply creativity, innovation and problem solving techniques to system development or operation
S7:
Define the systems architecture and derived requirements to produce an implementable solution that enables a balanced and optimum result that considers all stakeholder requirements across all stages of the lifecycle.
S8:
Identify, define, and control interactions across system or system element boundaries
S9:
Assemble a set of system elements and aggregate into the realised system, product, or service using appropriate techniques to test interfaces, manage data flows, implement control mechanisms, and verify that elements and aggregates perform as expected
S10:
Define verification plans (including tests) to obtain objective evidence that a system of system element fulfils its specified requirements and characteristics
S11:
Provide objective evidence that the operational system fulfils its business or mission objectives and stakeholder requirements and expectations.
S12:
Communicate effectively with all stakeholders of the project using the most appropriate medium and techniques including written and verbal presentation,
S13:
Integrate a system into its operational environment, including the provision of support activities (e.g. specification of site preparation, training, logistics, etc.)
S14:
Define and collect operation data for monitoring and control of a system
S15:
Initiate design change proposals in response to system failure or degradation
S16:
Create and maintain project management plan, including work breakdown structure, scheduling, and risk management
S17:
Balance project scope, time, cost, risk, and resources to optimise product or service quality and return on investment
S18:
Manage and control system elements and configuration over the project or programme lifecycle ensuring overall coherence of the design is maintained in a verifiable manner throughout the lifecycle
S19:
Plan, execute, and control the storage and provision of information to stakeholders.
S20:
Define, coordinate and maintain effective and workable plans across multiple disciplines
S21:
Identify concepts and ideas in sciences, technologies and engineering disciplines beyond their own discipline that could benefit the project solution
S22:
Partition between discipline technologies and work with specialists to derive discipline specific requirements
Technical Educational Products
- ST0107: Systems engineer (degree) (Level 7) Approved for delivery
- Reference:
- OCC0107
- Status:
- Approved occupation
- Average (median) salary:
- £44,134 per year
- SOC 2020 code:
- 2129 Engineering professionals n.e.c.
- SOC 2020 sub unit groups:
- 2129/99 Engineering professionals n.e.c.
- 2125/99 Production and process engineers n.e.c.
- 2127/00 Engineering project managers and project engineers
- 2481/02 Planning engineers
- 2481/99 Quality control and planning engineers n.e.c.
B1:
Adopt and encourage within the team an holistic thinking approach to system development
B2:
Perform negotiations with stakeholders recognizing different styles of negotiating parties and adapts own style accordingly
B3:
Adopt and encourage within the team a critical thinking approach using a logical critique of work including assumptions, approaches, arguments, conclusions, and decisions
B4:
Take personal responsibility for health and safety practices and sustainable development
B5:
Operate with integrity and in an ethical manner, and ensure that team members perform with integrity and in an ethical manner
B6:
Take a proactive and systematic approach to resolving operational issues
B7:
Maintain awareness of developments in sciences, technologies and related engineering disciplines.
Technical Educational Products
- ST0107: Systems engineer (degree) (Level 7) Approved for delivery
- Reference:
- OCC0107
- Status:
- Approved occupation
- Average (median) salary:
- £44,134 per year
- SOC 2020 code:
- 2129 Engineering professionals n.e.c.
- SOC 2020 sub unit groups:
- 2129/99 Engineering professionals n.e.c.
- 2125/99 Production and process engineers n.e.c.
- 2127/00 Engineering project managers and project engineers
- 2481/02 Planning engineers
- 2481/99 Quality control and planning engineers n.e.c.