2nd Line Engineer Contract Job Trends in London

Second Line Engineer
England > London

The median Second Line Engineer daily rate in London is £208, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 4 November 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 354 341 356
Rank change year-on-year -13 +15 +108
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 25 35 65
As % of all contract jobs in London 0.18% 0.23% 0.32%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.20% 0.24% 0.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 17 28 55
10th Percentile £164 £155 £108
25th Percentile £185 £197 £159
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £208 £225 £200
Median % change year-on-year -7.78% +12.50% -16.67%
75th Percentile £260 £288 £238
90th Percentile £308 £328 £295
England median daily rate £210 £225 £200
% change year-on-year -6.67% +12.50% -9.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 3
10th Percentile - - £15.97
25th Percentile - - £18.51
Median hourly rate £24.00 £21.00 £23.50
Median % change year-on-year +14.29% -10.64% -6.00%
75th Percentile - - £25.13
90th Percentile - - £25.65
England median hourly rate £21.25 £23.14 £20.50
% change year-on-year -8.15% +12.85% -14.58%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in London. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in London with a recognized job title 12,689 14,601 18,994
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.53% 94.01% 93.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 8,418 9,436 13,820
10th Percentile £335 £339 £350
25th Percentile £425 £450 £456
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £540 £550 £575
Median % change year-on-year -1.82% -4.35% -
75th Percentile £663 £675 £688
90th Percentile £775 £794 £798
England median daily rate £510 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -2.86% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 224 156 211
10th Percentile £17.50 £17.25 £18.16
25th Percentile £22.50 £24.33 £21.75
Median hourly rate £26.89 £38.00 £39.83
Median % change year-on-year -29.24% -4.59% +21.62%
75th Percentile £47.50 £60.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £66.92 £80.75 £75.00
England median hourly rate £25.15 £40.66 £45.88
% change year-on-year -38.15% -11.37% +52.93%

2nd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in London

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '2nd Line Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in London.

2nd Line Engineer job vacancy trend in London

2nd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in London

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in London.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in London

2nd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in London

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Engineer in London over the 6 months to 4 November 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 2nd Line Engineer in London

2nd Line Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in London

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in London.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in London

2nd Line Engineer
Contract Job Locations in London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 2nd Line Engineer within the London region over the 6 months to 4 November 2025. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Central London +3 6 £198 -1.25% 7
West London -8 3 £250 +38.89% 2
South London - 1 - - 4
2nd Line Engineer
England

2nd Line Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London

For the 6 months to 4 November 2025, 2nd Line Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the London region featuring 2nd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 18 (72.00%) Windows
2 12 (48.00%) Active Directory
2 12 (48.00%) Microsoft
2 12 (48.00%) Microsoft 365
3 10 (40.00%) Windows 10
4 7 (28.00%) Azure
5 6 (24.00%) ServiceNow
6 5 (20.00%) Citrix
6 5 (20.00%) ITIL
7 4 (16.00%) Apple iOS
7 4 (16.00%) Customer Service
7 4 (16.00%) Entra ID
7 4 (16.00%) ITSM
7 4 (16.00%) Microsoft Exchange
7 4 (16.00%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (16.00%) Problem-Solving
7 4 (16.00%) SCCM
7 4 (16.00%) VPN
8 3 (12.00%) Android
8 3 (12.00%) Degree
8 3 (12.00%) Mobile Device Management
8 3 (12.00%) Remedy
8 3 (12.00%) Remedy ITSM
8 3 (12.00%) Virtual Desktop
8 3 (12.00%) Wi-Fi
9 2 (8.00%) Continuous Improvement
9 2 (8.00%) Cybersecurity
9 2 (8.00%) Incident Management
9 2 (8.00%) LAN
9 2 (8.00%) Root Cause Analysis

2nd Line Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in London by Category

The following tables expand on the one above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. They cover the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each category:

Application Platforms
1 4 (16.00%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (4.00%) SharePoint
Applications
1 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Excel
1 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (4.00%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 3 (12.00%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 12 (48.00%) Microsoft 365
2 7 (28.00%) Azure
3 4 (16.00%) Entra ID
4 1 (4.00%) AWS
4 1 (4.00%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 4 (16.00%) VPN
2 3 (12.00%) Wi-Fi
3 2 (8.00%) LAN
3 2 (8.00%) TCP/IP
3 2 (8.00%) WAN
4 1 (4.00%) DHCP
4 1 (4.00%) DNS
4 1 (4.00%) Firewall
4 1 (4.00%) Remote Desktop
4 1 (4.00%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (4.00%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 1 (4.00%) JIRA
General
1 13 (52.00%) Social Skills
2 5 (20.00%) Finance
3 3 (12.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 2 (8.00%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (8.00%) Local Government
4 2 (8.00%) Public Sector
5 1 (4.00%) Banking
5 1 (4.00%) Documentation Skills
5 1 (4.00%) Games
5 1 (4.00%) Legal
5 1 (4.00%) Multimedia
5 1 (4.00%) Publishing
5 1 (4.00%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (4.00%) Node.js
1 1 (4.00%) RESTful
Miscellaneous
1 2 (8.00%) Onboarding
2 1 (4.00%) CCTV
2 1 (4.00%) Data Protection Act
2 1 (4.00%) Hedge funds
2 1 (4.00%) Video Conferencing
2 1 (4.00%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 18 (72.00%) Windows
2 10 (40.00%) Windows 10
3 4 (16.00%) Apple iOS
4 3 (12.00%) Android
5 1 (4.00%) Linux
5 1 (4.00%) Mac OS
5 1 (4.00%) Mac OS X
5 1 (4.00%) Unix
5 1 (4.00%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (20.00%) ITIL
2 4 (16.00%) Customer Service
2 4 (16.00%) ITSM
2 4 (16.00%) Problem-Solving
3 3 (12.00%) Mobile Device Management
4 2 (8.00%) Continuous Improvement
4 2 (8.00%) Cybersecurity
4 2 (8.00%) Incident Management
4 2 (8.00%) Root Cause Analysis
4 2 (8.00%) Service Delivery
4 2 (8.00%) Service Management
5 1 (4.00%) Asset Management
5 1 (4.00%) Computer Science
5 1 (4.00%) Data Protection
5 1 (4.00%) Data Security
5 1 (4.00%) Line Management
5 1 (4.00%) Network Management
5 1 (4.00%) Process Improvement
5 1 (4.00%) Test Automation
5 1 (4.00%) Test Scripting
Programming Languages
1 1 (4.00%) Java
1 1 (4.00%) PowerShell
1 1 (4.00%) Shell Script
1 1 (4.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 3 (12.00%) Degree
2 1 (4.00%) BPSS Clearance
2 1 (4.00%) CCNA
2 1 (4.00%) Cisco Certification
2 1 (4.00%) Computer Science Degree
2 1 (4.00%) MCP
2 1 (4.00%) MCSA
2 1 (4.00%) MCSE
2 1 (4.00%) Microsoft Certification
2 1 (4.00%) SC Cleared
2 1 (4.00%) Security Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (4.00%) SLA
System Software
1 12 (48.00%) Active Directory
2 3 (12.00%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (4.00%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (4.00%) vSphere
3 1 (4.00%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 4 (16.00%) Microsoft Intune
1 4 (16.00%) SCCM
2 1 (4.00%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 12 (48.00%) Microsoft
2 6 (24.00%) ServiceNow
3 5 (20.00%) Citrix
4 3 (12.00%) Remedy
5 1 (4.00%) Sage
5 1 (4.00%) VMware