3rd Line Engineer Contract Job Trends in Manchester

Third Line Engineer
North West > Manchester

The median Third Line Engineer daily rate in Manchester is £473, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 11 September 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 115 83 86
Rank change year-on-year -32 +3 +19
Contract jobs requiring a 3rd Line Engineer 4 1 3
As % of all contract jobs in Manchester 0.20% 0.099% 0.25%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.22% 0.11% 0.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 3 0 3
10th Percentile £332 - £273
25th Percentile £381 - £306
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 - £375
Median % change year-on-year - - +21.95%
75th Percentile £496 - £419
90th Percentile £503 - £438
North West median daily rate £363 - £425
% change year-on-year - - +38.21%

All Contract IT Job Roles
Manchester

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in Manchester. 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 Manchester with a recognized job title 1,831 938 1,132
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.83% 92.50% 95.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,081 595 706
10th Percentile £313 £300 £350
25th Percentile £408 £386 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £575 £600
90th Percentile £700 £656 £713
North West median daily rate £500 £450 £493
% change year-on-year +11.11% -8.72% -1.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 191 79 39
10th Percentile £23.13 £13.00 £15.60
25th Percentile £31.38 £14.20 £20.63
Median hourly rate £60.00 £22.32 £31.00
Median % change year-on-year +168.88% -28.02% +63.16%
75th Percentile £75.00 £33.00 £61.25
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.75 £78.20
North West median hourly rate £45.56 £25.15 £37.00
% change year-on-year +81.15% -32.03% +21.15%

3rd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in Manchester

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring '3rd Line Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in Manchester.

3rd Line Engineer job vacancy trend in Manchester

3rd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in Manchester.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in Manchester

3rd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in Manchester

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 3rd Line Engineer in Manchester over the 6 months to 11 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for 3rd Line Engineer in Manchester

3rd Line Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in Manchester

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in Manchester.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in Manchester

3rd Line Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester

For the 6 months to 11 September 2026, 3rd 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 Manchester region featuring 3rd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 2 (50.00%) Microsoft
1 2 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
1 2 (50.00%) Microsoft Exchange
1 2 (50.00%) OneDrive
1 2 (50.00%) SharePoint
1 2 (50.00%) Windows
1 2 (50.00%) Windows Server
2 1 (25.00%) Azure
2 1 (25.00%) Azure AI
2 1 (25.00%) BitLocker
2 1 (25.00%) BPSS Clearance
2 1 (25.00%) Business Continuity
2 1 (25.00%) Capacity Planning
2 1 (25.00%) Change Control
2 1 (25.00%) Clearswift
2 1 (25.00%) Content Management
2 1 (25.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 1 (25.00%) Data Loss Prevention
2 1 (25.00%) Decision-Making
2 1 (25.00%) Degree
2 1 (25.00%) DHCP
2 1 (25.00%) Disaster Recovery
2 1 (25.00%) Incident Management
2 1 (25.00%) Infrastructure Management
2 1 (25.00%) Infrastructure Monitoring
2 1 (25.00%) Kalman Filter
2 1 (25.00%) LAN
2 1 (25.00%) Major Incident Management
2 1 (25.00%) Mentoring
2 1 (25.00%) Microsoft Copilot

3rd Line Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Manchester 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 2 (50.00%) Microsoft Exchange
1 2 (50.00%) SharePoint
2 1 (25.00%) SharePoint Server
Cloud Services
1 2 (50.00%) Microsoft 365
1 2 (50.00%) OneDrive
2 1 (25.00%) Azure
2 1 (25.00%) Azure AI
2 1 (25.00%) Microsoft Copilot
2 1 (25.00%) Power Automate
2 1 (25.00%) Power Platform
2 1 (25.00%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 1 (25.00%) DHCP
1 1 (25.00%) LAN
1 1 (25.00%) SMTP
1 1 (25.00%) VoIP
1 1 (25.00%) WAN
1 1 (25.00%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (25.00%) SQL Server
General
1 1 (25.00%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (25.00%) Legal
1 1 (25.00%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 1 (25.00%) Driving Licence
1 1 (25.00%) Enterprise Storage
1 1 (25.00%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 2 (50.00%) Windows
1 2 (50.00%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (25.00%) Business Continuity
1 1 (25.00%) Capacity Planning
1 1 (25.00%) Change Control
1 1 (25.00%) Content Management
1 1 (25.00%) Continuous Improvement
1 1 (25.00%) Data Loss Prevention
1 1 (25.00%) Decision-Making
1 1 (25.00%) Disaster Recovery
1 1 (25.00%) Incident Management
1 1 (25.00%) Infrastructure Management
1 1 (25.00%) Infrastructure Monitoring
1 1 (25.00%) Kalman Filter
1 1 (25.00%) Major Incident Management
1 1 (25.00%) Mentoring
1 1 (25.00%) Patch Management
1 1 (25.00%) Performance Optimisation
1 1 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
1 1 (25.00%) Project Delivery
1 1 (25.00%) Security Operations
1 1 (25.00%) Technical Leadership
Qualifications
1 1 (25.00%) BPSS Clearance
1 1 (25.00%) Degree
1 1 (25.00%) SC Cleared
1 1 (25.00%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 1 (25.00%) BitLocker
1 1 (25.00%) VMware Infrastructure
Systems Management
1 1 (25.00%) SCCM
1 1 (25.00%) WSUS
Vendors
1 2 (50.00%) Microsoft
2 1 (25.00%) Clearswift
2 1 (25.00%) Proofpoint
2 1 (25.00%) VMware