3rd Line Engineer Job Trends in the South East
Third Line Engineer
England > South East
The median Third Line Engineer salary in the South East is £50,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 28 October 2026.
The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.
| 6 months to 28 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank | 286 | 252 | 270 |
| Rank change year-on-year | -34 | +18 | -89 |
| Permanent 3rd Line Engineer jobs | 60 | 30 | 57 |
| As % of all permanent jobs in the South East | 0.29% | 0.34% | 0.50% |
| As % of the Job Titles category | 0.32% | 0.37% | 0.52% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 53 | 27 | 54 |
| 10th Percentile | £40,250 | £42,500 | - |
| 25th Percentile | £46,250 | £43,750 | £36,250 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £50,000 | £47,500 | £43,750 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +5.26% | +8.57% | -2.78% |
| 75th Percentile | £58,750 | £53,500 | £55,000 |
| 90th Percentile | £59,749 | £55,500 | £56,400 |
| England median annual salary | £50,000 | £47,000 | £42,500 |
| % change year-on-year | +6.38% | +10.59% | -5.56% |
All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East
For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job adverts in the South East matching a recognised job title. The table also shows what proportion of all permanent IT job adverts they make up.
| 6 months to 28 Oct 2026 |
Same period 2025 | Same period 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent job adverts in the South East matching a recognised job title | 18,948 | 8,081 | 10,955 |
| % of permanent job adverts matching a recognised job title | 92.83% | 90.56% | 96.61% |
| Number of salaries quoted | 13,050 | 4,646 | 6,112 |
| 10th Percentile | £30,000 | £27,500 | £31,250 |
| 25th Percentile | £40,000 | £33,750 | £40,000 |
| Median annual salary (50th Percentile) | £55,000 | £47,500 | £55,000 |
| Median % change year-on-year | +15.79% | -13.64% | - |
| 75th Percentile | £70,000 | £65,000 | £70,000 |
| 90th Percentile | £90,000 | £80,000 | £82,500 |
| England median annual salary | £60,000 | £53,500 | £57,500 |
| % change year-on-year | +12.15% | -6.96% | -4.17% |
3rd Line Engineer Job Vacancy Trend in the South East
Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent 3rd Line Engineer job postings relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.
3rd Line Engineer Salary Trend in the South East
Salary distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in the South East.
3rd Line Engineer Salary Histogram in the South East
Salary distribution for 3rd Line Engineer jobs in the South East over the 6 months to 28 October 2026.
3rd Line Engineer Job Locations in the South East
The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in 3rd Line Engineer jobs within the South East region over the 6 months to 28 October 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 |
Job Ads Past 6 Months |
Median Salary Past 6 Months |
Median Salary % Change on Same Period Last Year |
Live Jobs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thames Valley | -2 | 27 | £52,500 | +16.67% | 2 |
| Surrey | -15 | 26 | £50,000 | +5.26% | 3 |
| Buckinghamshire | - | 20 | £55,000 | - | |
| Berkshire | -8 | 4 | £47,500 | +5.56% | |
| Kent | -21 | 3 | £42,500 | +13.33% | |
| Oxfordshire | - | 3 | £40,000 | - | 2 |
| Hampshire | -64 | 2 | £55,000 | +10.00% | 2 |
| Sussex | - | 2 | £45,000 | - | |
| 3rd Line Engineer England |
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3rd Line Engineer Skill Set Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East
For the 6 months to 28 October 2026, 3rd Line Engineer job ads cited the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent 3rd Line Engineer job ads across the South East region.
| Rank | Skill | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Azure | 45.0% | 27 |
| 1 | Infrastructure Engineering | 45.0% | 27 |
| 3 | Microsoft | 38.3% | 23 |
| 4 | SaaS | 30.0% | 18 |
| 5 | Active Directory | 28.3% | 17 |
| 5 | Microsoft Exchange | 28.3% | 17 |
| 7 | Microsoft 365 | 25.0% | 15 |
| 7 | Microsoft Intune | 25.0% | 15 |
| 7 | SharePoint | 25.0% | 15 |
| 10 | Entra ID | 23.3% | 14 |
| 11 | Windows | 20.0% | 12 |
| 12 | Cisco | 18.3% | 11 |
| 12 | Fortinet | 18.3% | 11 |
| 12 | Identity Management | 18.3% | 11 |
| 12 | Root Cause Analysis | 18.3% | 11 |
| 16 | DNS | 16.7% | 10 |
| 16 | Firewall | 16.7% | 10 |
| 16 | ISO/IEC 27001 | 16.7% | 10 |
| 16 | PowerShell | 16.7% | 10 |
| 20 | Change Management | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | CrowdStrike | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | Incident Management | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | JIRA | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | Mimecast | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | R | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | SQL | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | Technical Leadership | 13.3% | 8 |
| 20 | Workflow | 13.3% | 8 |
| 29 | Security Cleared | 11.7% | 7 |
| 29 | Windows Server | 11.7% | 7 |
3rd Line Engineer Skill Set Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East by Category
The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.
Job Titles
| Rank | Job Title | Share | Job Ads |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3rd Line Support Engineer | 55.0% | 33 |
| 2 | IT Support Engineer | 30.0% | 18 |
| 3 | 3rd Line Infrastructure Engineer | 21.7% | 13 |
| 3 | 3rd Line Network Engineer | 21.7% | 13 |
| 5 | Network Engineer | 20.0% | 12 |
| 6 | Software Support Engineer | 16.7% | 10 |
| 7 | Systems Support Engineer | 13.3% | 8 |
| 8 | Azure Engineer | 10.0% | 6 |
| 9 | Cloud Engineer | 8.3% | 5 |
| 10 | 3rd Line Infrastructure Support | 5.0% | 3 |
| 10 | 3rd Line Technical Engineer | 5.0% | 3 |
| 10 | 3rd Line Technical Support | 5.0% | 3 |
| 10 | Infrastructure Support Engineer | 5.0% | 3 |
| 10 | IT Consultant | 5.0% | 3 |
| 10 | Technical Support Consultant | 5.0% | 3 |
| 16 | Project Engineer | 3.3% | 2 |
| 17 | 3rd Line Server Engineer | 1.7% | 1 |
| 17 | Azure Infrastructure Engineer | 1.7% | 1 |
| 17 | Network Infrastructure Engineer | 1.7% | 1 |
| 17 | Windows Infrastructure Engineer | 1.7% | 1 |