3rd Line Engineer Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Third Line Engineer
South East > Thames Valley

The median Third Line Engineer daily rate in the Thames Valley is £450, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 14 December 2025.

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

6 months to
14 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 125 119 139
Rank change year-on-year -6 +20 +26
Contract jobs requiring a 3rd Line Engineer 3 1 2
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.15% 0.049% 0.080%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.16% 0.054% 0.085%
Number of daily rates quoted 1 1 1
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £425 £363 -
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £375 £275
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% +36.36% -21.43%
75th Percentile £475 £388 -
90th Percentile - - -
South East median daily rate £500 £400 £450
% change year-on-year +25.00% -11.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
Median hourly rate £89.63 - -
South East median hourly rate £89.63 - -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
Thames Valley

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the Thames Valley. 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 Thames Valley with a recognized job title 1,882 1,854 2,358
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 91.05% 91.69% 94.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,237 1,098 1,527
10th Percentile £268 £254 £213
25th Percentile £400 £402 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £638 £600
90th Percentile £650 £675 £675
South East median daily rate £500 £513 £513
% change year-on-year -2.44% - +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 127 56 110
10th Percentile £14.75 £15.77 £16.40
25th Percentile £18.00 £21.72 £24.63
Median hourly rate £25.15 £46.12 £50.53
Median % change year-on-year -45.47% -8.72% +152.64%
75th Percentile £71.75 £62.59 £65.19
90th Percentile £94.86 £66.31 £72.62
South East median hourly rate £25.00 £46.12 £52.20
% change year-on-year -45.80% -11.64% +49.14%

3rd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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 the Thames Valley.

3rd Line Engineer job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

3rd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley

3rd Line Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley

3rd Line Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 3rd Line Engineer within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 14 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
Buckinghamshire - 2 £450 - 6
Oxfordshire - 1 - - 1
3rd Line Engineer
South East

3rd Line Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley

For the 6 months to 14 December 2025, 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 Thames Valley region featuring 3rd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 2 (66.67%) Entra ID
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft
1 2 (66.67%) PowerShell
1 2 (66.67%) Security Cleared
1 2 (66.67%) Windows
2 1 (33.33%) A+ Certification
2 1 (33.33%) Active Directory
2 1 (33.33%) Azure
2 1 (33.33%) Business Intelligence
2 1 (33.33%) CheckPoint
2 1 (33.33%) Cisco
2 1 (33.33%) Cisco Certification
2 1 (33.33%) Computer Science
2 1 (33.33%) Degree
2 1 (33.33%) DHCP
2 1 (33.33%) DNS
2 1 (33.33%) DV Cleared
2 1 (33.33%) Firewall
2 1 (33.33%) GDPR
2 1 (33.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 1 (33.33%) ITIL
2 1 (33.33%) ITSM
2 1 (33.33%) JIRA
2 1 (33.33%) Mac OS
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Certification
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Intune
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Purview
2 1 (33.33%) Palo Alto

3rd Line Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Exchange
1 1 (33.33%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 2 (66.67%) Entra ID
2 1 (33.33%) Azure
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Purview
2 1 (33.33%) Power Platform
2 1 (33.33%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 1 (33.33%) DHCP
1 1 (33.33%) DNS
1 1 (33.33%) Firewall
1 1 (33.33%) TCP/IP
1 1 (33.33%) VPN
1 1 (33.33%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (33.33%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 1 (33.33%) JIRA
General
1 1 (33.33%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (33.33%) Finance
1 1 (33.33%) Organisational Skills
1 1 (33.33%) Social Skills
Miscellaneous
1 1 (33.33%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 2 (66.67%) Windows
2 1 (33.33%) Mac OS
2 1 (33.33%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (33.33%) Business Intelligence
1 1 (33.33%) Computer Science
1 1 (33.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
1 1 (33.33%) ITIL
1 1 (33.33%) ITSM
1 1 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
1 1 (33.33%) Root Cause Analysis
1 1 (33.33%) Service Management
1 1 (33.33%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 2 (66.67%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 2 (66.67%) Security Cleared
2 1 (33.33%) A+ Certification
2 1 (33.33%) Cisco Certification
2 1 (33.33%) Degree
2 1 (33.33%) DV Cleared
2 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Certification
2 1 (33.33%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (33.33%) GDPR
System Software
1 1 (33.33%) Active Directory
1 1 (33.33%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 1 (33.33%) Microsoft Intune
1 1 (33.33%) SCCM
1 1 (33.33%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 2 (66.67%) Microsoft
2 1 (33.33%) CheckPoint
2 1 (33.33%) Cisco
2 1 (33.33%) Palo Alto
2 1 (33.33%) ServiceNow