2nd Line Engineer Contract Job Trends

Second Line Engineer
UK

The median Second Line Engineer daily rate in the UK is £240, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 1 September 2026.

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

 6 months to
1 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 580 446 472
Rank change year-on-year -134 +26 -22
Contract jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 87 108 110
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.16% 0.33% 0.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.18% 0.36% 0.31%
Number of daily rates quoted 59 80 87
10th Percentile £181 £150 £144
25th Percentile £202 £169 £175
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £240 £200 £210
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -4.76% +5.00%
75th Percentile £303 £254 £266
90th Percentile £338 £313 £315
UK excluding London median daily rate £240 £200 £205
% change year-on-year +20.00% -2.44% +2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 11 5
10th Percentile - £18.10 £18.68
25th Percentile £15.24 £18.69 £19.64
Median hourly rate £24.75 £21.25 £22.58
Median % change year-on-year +16.47% -5.89% +10.15%
75th Percentile £55.00 £24.95 £24.18
90th Percentile - £28.00 £39.67
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £20.06 £22.58
% change year-on-year +12.16% -11.16% +15.44%

All Contract IT Job Roles
UK

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies. 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 UK with a recognized job title 49,606 29,880 35,937
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.46% 91.25% 93.08%
Number of daily rates quoted 29,580 18,873 22,662
10th Percentile £325 £281 £300
25th Percentile £425 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -1.69%
75th Percentile £625 £623 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 3,581 1,559 1,838
10th Percentile £14.96 £13.69 £14.16
25th Percentile £20.53 £17.04 £20.00
Median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +68.99% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £67.84 £53.81 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.33 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £25.15 £43.95
% change year-on-year +68.99% -42.78% +11.13%

2nd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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.

2nd Line Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

2nd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

2nd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Engineer over the 6 months to 1 September 2026.

Daily rate histogram for 2nd Line Engineer in the UK

2nd Line Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

2nd Line Engineer
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing 2nd Line Engineer over the 6 months to 1 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for 2nd Line Engineer in the UK

2nd Line Engineer
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

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 UK over the 6 months to 1 September 2026. 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
England -139 83 £240 +20.00% 68
UK excluding London -114 61 £240 +20.00% 63
North of England -68 30 £240 +33.33% 4
London -78 26 £240 +9.71% 9
North West -51 12 £245 +22.50% 2
North East -42 9 £250 +28.21% 1
Yorkshire -43 9 £190 +26.67% 1
Midlands -62 9 £218 -20.91% 18
East of England -20 7 £240 +20.00% 18
South West -37 7 £270 +38.46%
Work from Home -51 7 £270 +8.00% 17
West Midlands -54 7 £210 -23.64% 13
South East -76 4 £254 +18.02% 25
Wales - 3 - -
East Midlands -17 2 £238 +18.75% 5
Scotland -21 1 - - 1

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

For the 6 months to 1 September 2026, 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 featuring 2nd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 77 (88.51%) Windows
2 61 (70.11%) Microsoft 365
3 55 (63.22%) Active Directory
4 41 (47.13%) Microsoft
5 35 (40.23%) Windows 10
6 22 (25.29%) Entra ID
7 17 (19.54%) Problem-Solving
8 16 (18.39%) DNS
8 16 (18.39%) User Experience
9 14 (16.09%) Customer Service
9 14 (16.09%) ITSM
9 14 (16.09%) TCP/IP
10 13 (14.94%) ITIL
10 13 (14.94%) SharePoint
11 12 (13.79%) SCCM
12 11 (12.64%) Mac OS
12 11 (12.64%) Microsoft Intune
12 11 (12.64%) Service Management
13 10 (11.49%) Azure
13 10 (11.49%) Continuous Improvement
13 10 (11.49%) DHCP
13 10 (11.49%) Security Cleared
13 10 (11.49%) VPN
14 9 (10.34%) Apple iOS
14 9 (10.34%) Microsoft Exchange
14 9 (10.34%) ServiceNow
14 9 (10.34%) Windows Server
15 8 (9.20%) Android
15 8 (9.20%) Migration
15 8 (9.20%) SC Cleared

2nd Line Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 13 (14.94%) SharePoint
2 9 (10.34%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (2.30%) IIS
4 1 (1.15%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 7 (8.05%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 61 (70.11%) Microsoft 365
2 22 (25.29%) Entra ID
3 10 (11.49%) Azure
4 2 (2.30%) OneDrive
5 1 (1.15%) AWS
5 1 (1.15%) Google Workspace
Communications & Networking
1 16 (18.39%) DNS
2 14 (16.09%) TCP/IP
3 10 (11.49%) DHCP
3 10 (11.49%) VPN
4 8 (9.20%) Wi-Fi
5 6 (6.90%) LAN
6 5 (5.75%) Internet
7 4 (4.60%) WAN
8 2 (2.30%) Skype
9 1 (1.15%) Remote Desktop
9 1 (1.15%) SAN
9 1 (1.15%) VLAN
9 1 (1.15%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.15%) Amazon RDS
1 1 (1.15%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 6 (6.90%) JIRA
General
1 40 (45.98%) Social Skills
2 7 (8.05%) Finance
3 5 (5.75%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (5.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 4 (4.60%) Retail
5 3 (3.45%) Public Sector
6 2 (2.30%) Banking
6 2 (2.30%) Pharmaceutical
7 1 (1.15%) Legal
7 1 (1.15%) Manufacturing
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.30%) Software Packaging
2 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 9 (10.34%) Onboarding
2 6 (6.90%) Driving Licence
3 5 (5.75%) Analytical Mindset
4 4 (4.60%) CCTV
4 4 (4.60%) iPhone
5 3 (3.45%) Smartphone
6 2 (2.30%) CMDB
7 1 (1.15%) Data Centre
7 1 (1.15%) iPad
7 1 (1.15%) Operational Technology
7 1 (1.15%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 77 (88.51%) Windows
2 35 (40.23%) Windows 10
3 11 (12.64%) Mac OS
4 9 (10.34%) Apple iOS
4 9 (10.34%) Windows Server
5 8 (9.20%) Android
6 5 (5.75%) Linux
7 4 (4.60%) Ubuntu
8 3 (3.45%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (2.30%) Windows 7
10 1 (1.15%) OpenVMS
10 1 (1.15%) VMS
10 1 (1.15%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (1.15%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (19.54%) Problem-Solving
2 16 (18.39%) User Experience
3 14 (16.09%) Customer Service
3 14 (16.09%) ITSM
4 13 (14.94%) ITIL
5 11 (12.64%) Service Management
6 10 (11.49%) Continuous Improvement
7 8 (9.20%) Migration
8 7 (8.05%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 6 (6.90%) Break/Fix
10 5 (5.75%) Asset Management
10 5 (5.75%) Data Protection
11 4 (4.60%) Configuration Management
11 4 (4.60%) Incident Management
11 4 (4.60%) Operational Stability
11 4 (4.60%) Service Delivery
12 3 (3.45%) Antivirus Management
12 3 (3.45%) Decision-Making
12 3 (3.45%) Inventory Management
12 3 (3.45%) Mobile Device Management
Programming Languages
1 3 (3.45%) PowerShell
1 3 (3.45%) SQL
Qualifications
1 10 (11.49%) Security Cleared
2 8 (9.20%) SC Cleared
3 7 (8.05%) Degree
4 4 (4.60%) CCNA
4 4 (4.60%) Cisco Certification
4 4 (4.60%) DV Cleared
5 3 (3.45%) DBS Check
5 3 (3.45%) ITIL Certification
6 2 (2.30%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
7 1 (1.15%) CCNP
7 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (8.05%) SLA
2 1 (1.15%) Cyber Essentials
2 1 (1.15%) JSP 440
2 1 (1.15%) NCSC
System Software
1 55 (63.22%) Active Directory
2 2 (2.30%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.15%) BitLocker
3 1 (1.15%) Hyper-V
3 1 (1.15%) Virtual Desktop
3 1 (1.15%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 12 (13.79%) SCCM
2 11 (12.64%) Microsoft Intune
3 2 (2.30%) AirWatch
3 2 (2.30%) Jamf Pro
3 2 (2.30%) WSUS
4 1 (1.15%) Cisco CUCM
4 1 (1.15%) NetBackup
Vendors
1 41 (47.13%) Microsoft
2 9 (10.34%) ServiceNow
3 6 (6.90%) Cisco
4 5 (5.75%) Apple
5 4 (4.60%) HP
5 4 (4.60%) VMware
6 3 (3.45%) Citrix
6 3 (3.45%) Freshdesk
6 3 (3.45%) Google
6 3 (3.45%) Samsung
7 2 (2.30%) Bloomberg
7 2 (2.30%) Meraki
8 1 (1.15%) Atlassian
8 1 (1.15%) McAfee
8 1 (1.15%) Oracle
8 1 (1.15%) Snow
8 1 (1.15%) Sophos
8 1 (1.15%) Tanium
8 1 (1.15%) Veeam
8 1 (1.15%) Veritas
69 2nd Line Engineer jobs Nationwide