This is a list of notable systems engineers, people who were trained in or practice systems engineering, and made notable contributions to this field in theory or practice.

• James S. Albus (1935–2011), American engineer, founder of NIST Intelligent Systems Division
• Genrich Altshuller (1926–1998), Russian engineer; inventor of TRIZ, Theory of Inventive Problem Solving
• Arnaldo Maria Angelini (1909–1999), Italian engineer; Professor of Electrotechnics at the Sapienza University of Rome^[1]
• Fred Ascani (1917–2010), American Major General, "father of systems engineering at Wright Field"

• Dave Bennett (born 1963)
• Benjamin Blanchard (1929–2019), Virginia Polytechnic Institute; SE educator; author of texts on systems engineering and related disciplines^[2]
• Wernher von Braun (1912–1977), chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle^[3]

• Peter Checkland (born 1930), British management scientist and emeritus professor of Systems at Lancaster University; developer of soft systems methodology (SSM), a methodology based on a way of systems thinking
• Boris Chertok (1912–2011), Rocket Space Corporation "Energy", Moscow, Russia; 2004 Simon Ramo Medal winner for significant contributions to systems engineering and technical leadership of control systems design for the orbiting space station Mir^[1]
• Harold Chestnut (1918–2001), American electrical engineer and systems engineer; first president of the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)
• John R. Clymer (born 1942), researcher, practitioner, and teacher in the field of systems engineering; INCOSE Fellow; expert in conceiving, engineering, and demonstrating computeraided design tools for context-sensitive, self-adaptive systems
• Mary (Missy) Cummings (born c. 1966), Associate Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; one of the first female fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy

• Wolt Fabrycky (born 1932), Virginia Polytechnic Institute; SE educator; author of texts on systems engineering and related disciplines^[2]
• Irmgard Flügge-Lotz (1903–1974), Stanford University, developed discontinuous automatic control and laid the foundation for automatic on-off aircraft control in jets
• Kevin Forsberg (born 1934)^[2]
• Jacque Fresco (1916–2017), project director at The Venus Project

• Tom Gilb (born 1940), American systems engineer; inventor of Planguage and Evolutionary Project Management
• Harry H. Goode (1909–1960), American computer engineer and systems engineer; professor at University of Michigan; until his death he was president of the National Joint Computer Committee (NJCC); with Robert Engel Machol, he wrote the famous System Engineering Handbook
• William Gosling (born c. 1930), British electrical engineer, Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Bath, and pioneer of system design in electrical engineering

• Arthur David Hall III (1925–2006), American electrical engineer; worked at Bell Labs; one of the founders of the IEEE; was among the first general systems theorists; wrote A Methodology of Systems Engineering from 1962
• David Heebner, consultant; recipient of 2003 Simon Ramo Medal for leadership in introducing towed line array sonar systems for long range detection of submarines^[1]
• Derek Hitchins^[2] (born 1935), British systems engineer; professor in engineering management, in command & control and in systems science at the Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, England
• Peggy Hodges OBE FRAeS FIMA (1921–2008), British engineer who worked on guided missile technology at GEC Marconi.

• Junichi Iijima (born 1954), Japanese computer scientist; professor of the Department of Industrial Management and Engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology

• Gwilym Jenkins (1933–1982), British statistician and systems engineer; professor of Systems Engineering at Lancaster University; best known for the Box–Jenkins methodology for fitting time series models
• Clarence "Kelly" Johnson (1910–1990), American aircraft engineer and aeronautical innovator; worked for Lockheed for more than four decades, playing a leading role in the design of over 40 aircraft, and acquiring a reputation as one of the most talented and prolific aircraft design engineers of the 20th century

• Rudolf Emil Kálmán (1930–2016), American-Hungarian mathematical system theorist; an electrical engineer by training
• George Klir (1932–2016), Czech-American computer scientist and professor of systems sciences at the Center for Intelligent Systems at the Binghamton University in New York; author of several texts on systems, including Architecture of Systems Problem Solving
• Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (1907–1966), Russian rocket and space systems designer beating the Americans during the Cold War times "space race" by Sputnik and putting the first man in space (Gagarin); his rocket and capsule designs are in principle still in use for supplying the International Space Station (Proton, Soyuz)
• Kurt Kosanke (born c. 1945), German engineer, retired IBM manager, director of the AMICE Consortium and consultant; known for his work in the field of enterprise engineering, enterprise integration and CIMOSA
• Kitaw Ejigu (February 25, 1948 – January 13, 2006), Ethiopian American scientist who worked for NASA as Chief of Spacecraft and Satellite Systems; engineer known for his work on design of space shuttles and spacecraft and made a great influence in NASA

• Robert J. Lano, systems engineer at TRW corporation; originator of the N² chart^[4]
• Donald J. Leonard (born 1933), American engineer, AT&T executive, received the 1996 IEEE Simon Ramo Medal
• Donald H. Liles (born c. 1948), American systems engineer; Emeritus Professor at the University of Texas at Arlington

• Robert Engel Machol (1917–1998), early American systems engineer
• Richard J. Mayer (born 1952), American engineer, developer of IDEF family of modeling languages
• John S. Mayo (born 1930), American engineer; seventh president of Bell Labs
• Harold Mooz (born c. 1932),^[2] INCOSE systems engineering pioneer (2001); author of Visualizing Project Management (1996) and Communicating Project Management (2003); contributing author to The Wiley Guide to Managing Projects (2004); recipient of the CIA Seal Medallion
• Philip M'Pherson (1927–2016), British systems engineer; founder of the Department of Systems Science at City University^[2]
• George Mueller (1918–2015), American engineer; associate administrator of NASA during Apollo Program; pioneer of the "all-up" testing concept

• James G. Nell (born 1938), American engineer; principal investigator of the Manufacturing Enterprise Integration Project at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST); known for his work on enterprise integration

• Hermann Oberth (1894–1989), Romanian/German space pioneer; derived basic rocket equations and described in principle all features of rockets and space stations still valid today; author of Die Rakete zu den Planetenraeumen (1923) and Wege zur Raumschiffahrt (1929); mentor of Wernher von Braun
• Tuncer Őren (born c. 1935), Turkish/Canadian systems engineer; professor emeritus of Computer Science at the School of Information Technology and Engineering (SITE) of the University of Ottawa

• Bradford Parkinson (born 1935), American professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Stanford University; recipient of the Simon Ramo Medal for leading the concept development of GPS^[1]
• Samuel C. Phillips (1921–1990), USAF general; Director of NASA's Apollo Manned Lunar Landing Program

• Simon Ramo (1913–2016), American physicist, engineer, and business leader; led development of microwave and missile technology; sometimes known as the "father of the ICBM"^[2]
• Eberhardt Rechtin (1926–2006), American systems engineer and respected authority in aerospace systems and systems architecture^[2]
• Allen B. Rosenstein (1920–2018), American systems engineer and Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of California at Los Angeles

• Andrew P. Sage (1933–2014), School of Information Technology and Engineering, George Mason University; recipient of the 2000 Simon Ramo Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of systems engineering;^[1] series editor of a textbook series on systems engineering and management for John Wiley & Son^[2]
• Robert Seamans (1918–2008), NASA Deputy Administrator and MIT professor
• Joseph Francis Shea (1925–1999), systems engineer on the Titan I ballistic missile; head of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office^[5]
• Nikolai Sheremetevsky, Advisor to Director, All Russia Institute for Electromechanics; recipient of the 2004 Simon Ramo Medal for significant contributions to systems engineering and technical leadership of control systems design for the orbiting space station Mir^[1]
• Neil Siegel (born 1954), Vice-President and Chief Engineer of the Northrop Grumman Corporation; lead systems engineer for many US Army systems; member of the US National Academy of Engineering; Fellow of the IEEE; recipient of the Simon Ramo Medal in 2011 for his work on the US Army's digital battlefield system
• William W. Simmons (born 1932), American physicist and development of electro-optical devices
• Edward Sussengeth (1932–2015), American engineer, developer of APL programming language and multiple IBM computer systems
• Alistair Sutcliffe (born 1951), British engineer; professor at University of Manchester

• Arnold Tustin (1899–1994), British engineer; Professor of Engineering at the University of Birmingham and at Imperial College London; made important contributions to the development of control engineering and its application to electrical machines

• John N. Warfield (1925–2009), American electrical engineering and systems scientist; member of the Academic Committee of the International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics
• Kevin Warwick (born 1954), Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) at Coventry University; previously Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading; best known for his implant research linking humans and technology as a system
• Brian Wilson (born 1933), British systems scientist and honorary professor at Cardiff University; known for his development of soft systems methodology (SSM) and enterprise modelling
• A. Wayne Wymore (1927–2011), American mathematician and systems engineer; founder and first Chairman of Systems and Industrial Engineering (SIE) Department at the University of Arizona;^[2] one of the first Fellows of International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)

• Lists of engineers – for lists of engineers from other disciplines
• List of systems scientists
• People in systems and control
• List of systems engineering at universities
• INCOSE Pioneer Award