2nd Line Support Job Trends

Second Line Support
UK

The median Second Line Support salary in the UK is £32,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 January 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 225 377 280
Rank change year-on-year +152 -97 +126
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Support 578 359 581
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.96% 0.67% 1.04%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.06% 0.72% 1.10%
Number of salaries quoted 539 247 532
10th Percentile £27,000 £27,600 £25,275
25th Percentile £29,000 £30,000 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £32,000 £33,500 £32,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.48% +4.69% +1.59%
75th Percentile £36,250 £39,500 £38,000
90th Percentile £40,250 £45,000 £42,536
UK excluding London median annual salary £31,500 £32,500 £30,000
% change year-on-year -3.08% +8.33% -

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK

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

Permanent vacancies in the UK with a recognized job title 54,426 49,714 53,040
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.72% 92.90% 95.25%
Number of salaries quoted 33,710 25,743 40,880
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,625 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,000 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,609 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.96% +5.22% -5.25%

2nd Line Support
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring '2nd Line Support' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

2nd Line Support job vacancy trend in the UK

2nd Line Support
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for 2nd Line Support job vacancies in the UK

2nd Line Support
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Support over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for 2nd Line Support in the UK

2nd Line Support
Top 15 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing 2nd Line Support within the UK over the 6 months to 14 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
England +162 555 £32,000 -4.48% 66
UK excluding London +153 529 £31,500 -3.08% 74
South East +87 165 £32,750 -2.24% 22
Midlands +111 143 £30,500 -6.15% 13
Work from Home +126 137 £31,500 -3.08% 19
North of England +63 97 £30,000 - 12
East Midlands +47 87 £30,000 -4.76% 3
South West +46 62 £31,750 -5.22% 7
Yorkshire +25 52 £29,000 -1.69% 7
West Midlands +58 51 £31,500 -6.67% 10
London +16 48 £40,000 +2.56% 6
North West +38 43 £30,000 -4.76% 3
East of England +16 40 £33,500 +4.69% 12
Scotland +14 22 £30,000 - 10
North East +12 2 £26,000 -13.33% 2

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

For the 6 months to 14 January 2026, 2nd 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 featuring 2nd Line Support in the job title.

1 297 (51.38%) Windows
2 271 (46.89%) Microsoft 365
3 269 (46.54%) Microsoft
4 213 (36.85%) Active Directory
5 189 (32.70%) Problem-Solving
6 170 (29.41%) Customer Service
7 163 (28.20%) Azure
8 157 (27.16%) Windows Server
9 131 (22.66%) Firewall
10 129 (22.32%) DNS
11 121 (20.93%) DHCP
12 111 (19.20%) Mentoring
13 110 (19.03%) SLA
14 108 (18.69%) VPN
15 106 (18.34%) Windows 10
16 95 (16.44%) Continuous Improvement
17 93 (16.09%) Entra ID
18 88 (15.22%) ITIL
19 87 (15.05%) Microsoft Intune
20 81 (14.01%) Microsoft Exchange
20 81 (14.01%) TCP/IP
21 79 (13.67%) SQL
22 71 (12.28%) SharePoint
23 68 (11.76%) Hyper-V
23 68 (11.76%) VLAN
24 65 (11.25%) VMware
25 64 (11.07%) WAN
26 63 (10.90%) LAN
27 61 (10.55%) Microsoft Office
28 55 (9.52%) Security Cleared

2nd Line Support 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 81 (14.01%) Microsoft Exchange
2 71 (12.28%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.56%) IIS
4 6 (1.04%) Confluence
4 6 (1.04%) Exchange Server 2013
5 1 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2007
5 1 (0.17%) Exchange Server 2010
Applications
1 61 (10.55%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (2.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.04%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 4 (0.69%) CATIA
5 1 (0.17%) AutoCAD
Business Applications
1 5 (0.87%) Dynamics CRM
2 2 (0.35%) Remedy ITSM
3 1 (0.17%) Carpe Diem
3 1 (0.17%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 271 (46.89%) Microsoft 365
2 163 (28.20%) Azure
3 93 (16.09%) Entra ID
4 45 (7.79%) SaaS
5 24 (4.15%) AWS
6 23 (3.98%) Google Workspace
7 22 (3.81%) OneDrive
8 3 (0.52%) Amazon EC2
8 3 (0.52%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 2 (0.35%) Azure Sentinel
9 2 (0.35%) Mimecast
9 2 (0.35%) Power Platform
10 1 (0.17%) Datadog
10 1 (0.17%) GCP
10 1 (0.17%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 131 (22.66%) Firewall
2 129 (22.32%) DNS
3 121 (20.93%) DHCP
4 108 (18.69%) VPN
5 81 (14.01%) TCP/IP
6 68 (11.76%) VLAN
7 64 (11.07%) WAN
8 63 (10.90%) LAN
9 50 (8.65%) Remote Desktop
10 48 (8.30%) Wi-Fi
11 32 (5.54%) VoIP
11 32 (5.54%) Wireless
12 9 (1.56%) IPsec
13 8 (1.38%) PBX
13 8 (1.38%) Unified Communications
14 7 (1.21%) Internet
15 6 (1.04%) DECT
15 6 (1.04%) DSL
15 6 (1.04%) Wireshark
16 5 (0.87%) Kerberos
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (3.63%) SQL Server
2 11 (1.90%) Amazon RDS
3 6 (1.04%) MySQL
4 3 (0.52%) Oracle Database
5 2 (0.35%) Power BI
5 2 (0.35%) Relational Database
6 1 (0.17%) FileMaker
Development Applications
1 21 (3.63%) JIRA
2 1 (0.17%) Git
General
1 275 (47.58%) Social Skills
2 59 (10.21%) Retail
3 56 (9.69%) Analytical Skills
4 54 (9.34%) Law
5 52 (9.00%) Marketing
6 32 (5.54%) Telecoms
7 23 (3.98%) Organisational Skills
8 22 (3.81%) Manufacturing
9 20 (3.46%) Finance
10 16 (2.77%) Advertising
10 16 (2.77%) Legal
11 9 (1.56%) Public Sector
12 7 (1.21%) Electronics
13 5 (0.87%) Pharmaceutical
14 4 (0.69%) Back Office
14 4 (0.69%) Dutch Language
14 4 (0.69%) French Language
14 4 (0.69%) Games
14 4 (0.69%) German Language
14 4 (0.69%) Spanish Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (0.87%) LDAP
2 3 (0.52%) Middleware
3 2 (0.35%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 108 (18.69%) Driving Licence
2 62 (10.73%) Onboarding
3 15 (2.60%) Self-Motivation
4 12 (2.08%) Data Centre
5 8 (1.38%) EPoS
6 7 (1.21%) IoT
7 6 (1.04%) Web Conferencing
8 5 (0.87%) iPhone
8 5 (0.87%) PKI
9 4 (0.69%) Client/Server
9 4 (0.69%) Clustering
9 4 (0.69%) Management Information System
10 3 (0.52%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (0.52%) Hybrid Cloud
10 3 (0.52%) iSeries
10 3 (0.52%) Linux Command Line
10 3 (0.52%) Social Media
10 3 (0.52%) Video Conferencing
11 2 (0.35%) Cyber Threat
11 2 (0.35%) Mobile App
Operating Systems
1 297 (51.38%) Windows
2 157 (27.16%) Windows Server
3 106 (18.34%) Windows 10
4 43 (7.44%) Windows Server 2019
5 37 (6.40%) Mac OS
6 29 (5.02%) Android
6 29 (5.02%) Apple iOS
7 24 (4.15%) Linux
8 23 (3.98%) Windows Server 2016
9 9 (1.56%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (1.04%) Windows 7
10 6 (1.04%) Windows 8
11 3 (0.52%) AIX
11 3 (0.52%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 189 (32.70%) Problem-Solving
2 170 (29.41%) Customer Service
3 111 (19.20%) Mentoring
4 95 (16.44%) Continuous Improvement
5 88 (15.22%) ITIL
6 47 (8.13%) CRM
7 45 (7.79%) Logistics
7 45 (7.79%) Service Delivery
8 42 (7.27%) ERP
9 41 (7.09%) Root Cause Analysis
10 39 (6.75%) Analytical Thinking
10 39 (6.75%) Data Privacy
11 38 (6.57%) ITSM
12 37 (6.40%) E-Commerce
13 36 (6.23%) Mobile Device Management
14 33 (5.71%) Incident Management
15 32 (5.54%) Cybersecurity
16 28 (4.84%) Service Management
17 27 (4.67%) Remote Monitoring and Management
18 24 (4.15%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 79 (13.67%) SQL
2 37 (6.40%) C#
3 31 (5.36%) PowerShell
4 5 (0.87%) VB
5 4 (0.69%) Bicep
5 4 (0.69%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.17%) Python
6 1 (0.17%) VBA
Qualifications
1 55 (9.52%) Security Cleared
2 52 (9.00%) SC Cleared
3 30 (5.19%) Microsoft Certification
4 26 (4.50%) Degree
5 23 (3.98%) MCP
6 15 (2.60%) Azure Certification
7 12 (2.08%) MCSE
8 11 (1.90%) CCNA
8 11 (1.90%) Cisco Certification
8 11 (1.90%) MCSA
9 10 (1.73%) CCA
9 10 (1.73%) Citrix Certification
10 8 (1.38%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 8 (1.38%) Network+ Certification
11 6 (1.04%) A+ Certification
11 6 (1.04%) AWS Certification
11 6 (1.04%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (1.04%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (1.04%) MCITP
12 4 (0.69%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 110 (19.03%) SLA
2 35 (6.06%) QA
3 21 (3.63%) Cyber Essentials
3 21 (3.63%) GDPR
4 11 (1.90%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 4 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 4 (0.69%) NIST
6 3 (0.52%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.17%) Accessibility
System Software
1 213 (36.85%) Active Directory
2 68 (11.76%) Hyper-V
3 46 (7.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (1.56%) Virtual Desktop
5 5 (0.87%) BitLocker
5 5 (0.87%) Firmware
5 5 (0.87%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (0.69%) Docker
6 4 (0.69%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (0.69%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 87 (15.05%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (4.33%) SCCM
3 21 (3.63%) Jamf Pro
4 16 (2.77%) Autotask
5 9 (1.56%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 5 (0.87%) WSUS
7 4 (0.69%) Kubernetes
7 4 (0.69%) MaaS360
7 4 (0.69%) vCenter Server
8 3 (0.52%) FortiGate
8 3 (0.52%) Netcool
9 2 (0.35%) PaperCut
10 1 (0.17%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.17%) EMC NetWorker
Vendors
1 269 (46.54%) Microsoft
2 65 (11.25%) VMware
3 45 (7.79%) Apple
4 35 (6.06%) Cisco
5 20 (3.46%) Google
6 19 (3.29%) Samsung
7 17 (2.94%) Datto
8 15 (2.60%) Citrix
8 15 (2.60%) Meraki
9 14 (2.42%) Sophos
10 11 (1.90%) Veeam
11 9 (1.56%) ServiceNow
12 8 (1.38%) HP
12 8 (1.38%) SolarWinds
13 7 (1.21%) Adobe
13 7 (1.21%) Oracle
13 7 (1.21%) SAP
14 6 (1.04%) ConnectWise
14 6 (1.04%) Fortinet
14 6 (1.04%) McAfee