2nd Line Engineer Contract Job Trends in the North of England

Second Line Engineer
England > North of England

The median Second Line Engineer daily rate in the North of England is £205, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 18 December 2025.

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

6 months to
18 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 189 132 158
Rank change year-on-year -57 +26 +30
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 23 30 28
As % of all contract jobs in the North of England 0.49% 0.84% 0.60%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.54% 0.91% 0.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 18 21 20
10th Percentile £200 £149 £122
25th Percentile £203 £150 £163
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £205 £180 £193
Median % change year-on-year +13.89% -6.49% -12.50%
75th Percentile £238 £215 £256
90th Percentile £241 £288 £288
England median daily rate £210 £223 £205
% change year-on-year -5.62% +8.54% -8.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 4 6
10th Percentile - £18.94 -
25th Percentile - £20.29 -
Median hourly rate £200.00 £22.09 £17.72
Median % change year-on-year +805.39% +24.66% -20.36%
75th Percentile - £23.40 -
90th Percentile - £23.87 £18.61
England median hourly rate £21.25 £24.18 £19.00
% change year-on-year -12.12% +27.26% -24.00%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
North of England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the North of England. 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 the North of England with a recognized job title 4,292 3,308 4,346
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.55% 92.09% 93.36%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,878 1,910 2,911
10th Percentile £213 £230 £270
25th Percentile £363 £369 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £468 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year -1.47% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £593
90th Percentile £650 £656 £675
England median daily rate £510 £525 £533
% change year-on-year -2.86% -1.50% -3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 268 170 208
10th Percentile £16.46 £15.35 £15.49
25th Percentile £20.00 £18.00 £17.72
Median hourly rate £30.99 £25.03 £27.90
Median % change year-on-year +23.81% -10.29% +29.77%
75th Percentile £55.25 £42.50 £46.18
90th Percentile £72.88 £60.50 £61.99
England median hourly rate £26.50 £36.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -26.39% -20.00% +38.46%

2nd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the North of England

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 the North of England.

2nd Line Engineer job vacancy trend in the North of England

2nd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in the North of England.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in the North of England

2nd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in the North of England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Engineer in the North of England over the 6 months to 18 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 2nd Line Engineer in the North of England

2nd Line Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the North of England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in the North of England.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 2nd Line Engineer job vacancies in the North of England

2nd Line Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the North of England

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 North of England region over the 6 months to 18 December 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
Yorkshire -29 17 £205 +5.13% 4
North West -34 5 £225 +28.57% 8
North East -8 1 £195 +20.00% 1
2nd Line Engineer
England

2nd Line Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England

For the 6 months to 18 December 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 North of England region featuring 2nd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 19 (82.61%) Windows
2 15 (65.22%) Microsoft
3 14 (60.87%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (56.52%) Active Directory
5 11 (47.83%) Entra ID
6 9 (39.13%) Azure
6 9 (39.13%) Microsoft Office
7 8 (34.78%) Microsoft Intune
7 8 (34.78%) Problem-Solving
8 7 (30.43%) Google
8 7 (30.43%) Windows Server
9 6 (26.09%) Firewall
9 6 (26.09%) Google Workspace
9 6 (26.09%) Linux
9 6 (26.09%) Network Security
10 5 (21.74%) ITIL
10 5 (21.74%) PowerShell
10 5 (21.74%) Windows 10
11 4 (17.39%) DHCP
11 4 (17.39%) DNS
11 4 (17.39%) SharePoint
11 4 (17.39%) TCP/IP
12 3 (13.04%) Android
12 3 (13.04%) Cisco
12 3 (13.04%) Kalman Filter
12 3 (13.04%) LAN
12 3 (13.04%) Meraki
12 3 (13.04%) Microsoft Exchange
12 3 (13.04%) Migration
12 3 (13.04%) VoIP

2nd Line Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North of England 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 (17.39%) SharePoint
2 3 (13.04%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 9 (39.13%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (4.35%) SystmOne
Cloud Services
1 14 (60.87%) Microsoft 365
2 11 (47.83%) Entra ID
3 9 (39.13%) Azure
4 6 (26.09%) Google Workspace
5 1 (4.35%) Mimecast
5 1 (4.35%) OneDrive
5 1 (4.35%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 6 (26.09%) Firewall
1 6 (26.09%) Network Security
2 4 (17.39%) DHCP
2 4 (17.39%) DNS
2 4 (17.39%) TCP/IP
3 3 (13.04%) LAN
3 3 (13.04%) VoIP
3 3 (13.04%) VPN
3 3 (13.04%) WAN
4 1 (4.35%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (4.35%) Electronic Patient Records
1 1 (4.35%) Power BI
General
1 12 (52.17%) Social Skills
2 6 (26.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 1 (4.35%) Law
Miscellaneous
1 3 (13.04%) iPhone
2 1 (4.35%) CCTV
2 1 (4.35%) Management Information System
2 1 (4.35%) NHS
2 1 (4.35%) Smartcard
Operating Systems
1 19 (82.61%) Windows
2 7 (30.43%) Windows Server
3 6 (26.09%) Linux
4 5 (21.74%) Windows 10
5 3 (13.04%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 8 (34.78%) Problem-Solving
2 5 (21.74%) ITIL
3 3 (13.04%) Kalman Filter
3 3 (13.04%) Migration
3 3 (13.04%) Web Filtering
4 2 (8.70%) Customer Service
4 2 (8.70%) ITSM
4 2 (8.70%) Service Delivery
4 2 (8.70%) Service Management
5 1 (4.35%) Business Intelligence
5 1 (4.35%) Coaching
5 1 (4.35%) Cybersecurity
5 1 (4.35%) Information Governance
5 1 (4.35%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 1 (4.35%) Network Management
5 1 (4.35%) Patch Management
5 1 (4.35%) RBAC
5 1 (4.35%) Remote Monitoring and Management
Programming Languages
1 5 (21.74%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 1 (4.35%) DBS Check
1 1 (4.35%) Degree
1 1 (4.35%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (4.35%) SLA
System Software
1 13 (56.52%) Active Directory
2 1 (4.35%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 8 (34.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 2 (8.70%) Jamf Pro
2 2 (8.70%) SCCM
Vendors
1 15 (65.22%) Microsoft
2 7 (30.43%) Google
3 3 (13.04%) Cisco
3 3 (13.04%) Meraki
4 1 (4.35%) Apple
4 1 (4.35%) Sophos
4 1 (4.35%) WatchGuard