3rd Line Support Job Trends in the South East

Third Line Support
England > South East

The median Third Line Support salary in the South East is £41,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 1 January 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 172 259 179
Rank change year-on-year +87 -80 +203
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support 104 43 91
As % of all permanent jobs in the South East 1.00% 0.47% 1.17%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.09% 0.51% 1.24%
Number of salaries quoted 102 39 87
10th Percentile £34,000 £32,700 £34,000
25th Percentile £36,250 £36,250 £35,200
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £41,500 £42,500 £41,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.35% +3.66% +2.50%
75th Percentile £48,125 £55,000 £47,500
90th Percentile £59,500 £59,000 £55,500
England median annual salary £42,500 £42,500 £42,500

All Permanent IT Job Roles
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the South East. 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 permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 9,501 8,467 7,340
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.69% 91.58% 94.58%
Number of salaries quoted 5,887 4,565 5,336
10th Percentile £28,000 £32,500 £29,618
25th Percentile £35,000 £43,750 £38,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £56,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.71% +6.67% -4.55%
75th Percentile £65,000 £72,500 £66,250
90th Percentile £80,000 £85,000 £80,000
England median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% - -1.64%

3rd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring '3rd Line Support' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the South East.

3rd Line Support job vacancy trend in the South East

3rd Line Support
Salary Trend in the South East

Salary distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in the South East.

Salary distribution trend for 3rd Line Support job vacancies in the South East

3rd Line Support
Salary Histogram in the South East

Salary distribution for jobs citing 3rd Line Support in the South East over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Salary histogram for 3rd Line Support in the South East

3rd Line Support
Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing 3rd Line Support within the South East region over the 6 months to 1 January 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley +43 42 £37,500 - 1
Hampshire +59 35 £58,000 +28.18% 4
Buckinghamshire +18 22 £37,500 - 1
Kent +5 17 £42,500 +21.43% 1
Oxfordshire - 13 £41,500 -
Surrey 0 7 £40,000 -27.27% 1
Berkshire - 7 £45,000 -
West Sussex 0 3 £40,000 +6.67%
3rd Line Support
England

3rd Line Support Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 1 January 2026, 3rd Line Support 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 permanent job ads across the South East region featuring 3rd Line Support in the job title.

1 90 (86.54%) Windows
2 85 (81.73%) Microsoft
3 70 (67.31%) Active Directory
4 60 (57.69%) Azure
5 50 (48.08%) Microsoft 365
5 50 (48.08%) Windows Server
6 44 (42.31%) Microsoft Exchange
7 38 (36.54%) Microsoft Intune
8 36 (34.62%) VMware
9 35 (33.65%) Hyper-V
10 34 (32.69%) DHCP
10 34 (32.69%) DNS
11 30 (28.85%) Customer Service
12 28 (26.92%) PowerShell
13 25 (24.04%) Incident Management
13 25 (24.04%) Security Cleared
14 24 (23.08%) DV Cleared
15 23 (22.12%) HPUX
15 23 (22.12%) Mentoring
15 23 (22.12%) Oracle
15 23 (22.12%) Oracle Database
15 23 (22.12%) Oracle Database 10g
15 23 (22.12%) SC Cleared
15 23 (22.12%) Solaris
15 23 (22.12%) Unix
16 22 (21.15%) Exchange Server 2003
16 22 (21.15%) Problem-Solving
16 22 (21.15%) SLA
16 22 (21.15%) Windows Server 2003
17 21 (20.19%) Entra ID

3rd Line Support Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 44 (42.31%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (21.15%) Exchange Server 2003
3 11 (10.58%) SharePoint
4 5 (4.81%) Exchange Server 2013
Applications
1 4 (3.85%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 1 (0.96%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 60 (57.69%) Azure
2 50 (48.08%) Microsoft 365
3 21 (20.19%) Entra ID
4 8 (7.69%) AWS
5 5 (4.81%) Mimecast
6 1 (0.96%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 34 (32.69%) DHCP
1 34 (32.69%) DNS
2 18 (17.31%) Firewall
3 13 (12.50%) VLAN
4 11 (10.58%) LAN
4 11 (10.58%) VPN
4 11 (10.58%) WAN
4 11 (10.58%) Wi-Fi
5 9 (8.65%) TCP/IP
5 9 (8.65%) Wireless
6 7 (6.73%) SAN
7 5 (4.81%) Internet
8 3 (2.88%) VoIP
9 2 (1.92%) STUN
9 2 (1.92%) VoLTE
9 2 (1.92%) Wireshark
10 1 (0.96%) Cisco IOS
10 1 (0.96%) Cisco ISE
10 1 (0.96%) Junos
10 1 (0.96%) SMTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 23 (22.12%) Oracle Database
1 23 (22.12%) Oracle Database 10g
Development Applications
1 1 (0.96%) JIRA
General
1 50 (48.08%) Social Skills
2 2 (1.92%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (1.92%) Telecoms
3 1 (0.96%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.92%) FreeSWITCH
1 2 (1.92%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 14 (13.46%) Self-Motivation
2 7 (6.73%) Onboarding
3 6 (5.77%) Replication
4 2 (1.92%) Driving Licence
4 2 (1.92%) Management Information System
5 1 (0.96%) FMCG
5 1 (0.96%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 90 (86.54%) Windows
2 50 (48.08%) Windows Server
3 23 (22.12%) HPUX
3 23 (22.12%) Solaris
3 23 (22.12%) Unix
4 22 (21.15%) Windows Server 2003
5 21 (20.19%) Windows 7
5 21 (20.19%) Windows Server 2008
6 9 (8.65%) Windows 10
7 5 (4.81%) Android
7 5 (4.81%) Apple iOS
7 5 (4.81%) Mac OS
8 3 (2.88%) Linux
9 2 (1.92%) Windows Server 2012
9 2 (1.92%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (28.85%) Customer Service
2 25 (24.04%) Incident Management
3 23 (22.12%) Mentoring
4 22 (21.15%) Problem-Solving
5 11 (10.58%) Coaching
5 11 (10.58%) ITIL
6 8 (7.69%) Knowledge Transfer
7 7 (6.73%) Business Continuity
8 5 (4.81%) Agile
8 5 (4.81%) Information Security
8 5 (4.81%) ITSM
8 5 (4.81%) Migration
8 5 (4.81%) Project Delivery
9 4 (3.85%) Logistics
9 4 (3.85%) Project Management
9 4 (3.85%) Stakeholder Management
9 4 (3.85%) Tech Ops
10 3 (2.88%) Collaborative Working
10 3 (2.88%) Cybersecurity
10 3 (2.88%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 28 (26.92%) PowerShell
2 21 (20.19%) Perl
Qualifications
1 25 (24.04%) Security Cleared
2 24 (23.08%) DV Cleared
3 23 (22.12%) SC Cleared
4 7 (6.73%) Azure Certification
5 4 (3.85%) DBS Check
6 2 (1.92%) CCNP
6 2 (1.92%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.92%) Computer Science Degree
6 2 (1.92%) Degree
6 2 (1.92%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 2 (1.92%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (21.15%) SLA
2 6 (5.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 5 (4.81%) Cyber Essentials
3 5 (4.81%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.96%) NIST
System Software
1 70 (67.31%) Active Directory
2 35 (33.65%) Hyper-V
3 14 (13.46%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (4.81%) Virtual Machines
5 2 (1.92%) Firmware
6 1 (0.96%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 38 (36.54%) Microsoft Intune
2 6 (5.77%) SCCM
3 2 (1.92%) vCenter Server
4 1 (0.96%) Avamar
4 1 (0.96%) SCOM
Vendors
1 85 (81.73%) Microsoft
2 36 (34.62%) VMware
3 23 (22.12%) Oracle
4 11 (10.58%) Cisco
5 8 (7.69%) HP
6 7 (6.73%) Veeam
7 5 (4.81%) arcserve
7 5 (4.81%) Barracuda Networks
7 5 (4.81%) Dell
7 5 (4.81%) Meraki
7 5 (4.81%) Sophos
7 5 (4.81%) Ubiquiti
8 1 (0.96%) Citrix
8 1 (0.96%) EMC
8 1 (0.96%) Juniper
8 1 (0.96%) SolarWinds