2nd Line Engineer Job Trends

Second Line Engineer
UK

The median Second Line Engineer salary in the UK is £35,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 11 October 2026.

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

6 months to
11 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 508 552 452
Rank change year-on-year +44 -100 -61
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 313 125 324
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.26% 0.25% 0.45%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.29% 0.28% 0.47%
Number of salaries quoted 245 119 250
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,500 £27,500
25th Percentile £31,250 £30,750 £29,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £33,000 £34,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.06% -2.94% +4.62%
75th Percentile £38,750 £38,500 £38,750
90th Percentile £41,050 £44,000 £45,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £33,000 £32,500
% change year-on-year +6.06% +1.54% +4.84%

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 109,479 44,337 68,935
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.62% 89.81% 95.37%
Number of salaries quoted 74,234 25,787 39,430
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,875 £35,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,015 £53,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.44% -2.73% -8.33%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -8.00% -4.76%

2nd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

2nd Line Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

2nd Line Engineer
Salary Trend

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

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

2nd Line Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing 2nd Line Engineer over the 6 months to 11 October 2026.

Salary histogram for 2nd Line Engineer in the UK

2nd Line Engineer
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 Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 11 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
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England +10 277 £35,000 +6.06% 67
UK excluding London +18 257 £35,000 +6.06% 45
North of England -21 63 £34,000 +4.62% 3
East of England +14 61 £35,000 +4.48% 4
Work from Home 0 57 £35,000 +6.87% 17
London -24 54 £36,000 -7.69% 20
South East -30 54 £33,500 +1.52% 14
North West +14 50 £34,000 +4.62% 3
Midlands -33 35 £32,500 -2.99% 7
Scotland - 29 £30,000 - 2
West Midlands -34 28 £31,250 -5.30% 6
Yorkshire -34 13 £31,000 -4.62%
South West -86 10 £35,000 +6.06% 12
East Midlands -28 7 £35,000 +4.48% 1
Wales - 5 £35,000 - 2

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

For the 6 months to 11 October 2026, 2nd Line Engineer 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 Engineer in the job title.

1 202 (64.54%) Microsoft
2 194 (61.98%) Microsoft 365
3 165 (52.72%) Windows
4 133 (42.49%) Active Directory
5 109 (34.82%) Entra ID
6 91 (29.07%) Customer Service
7 88 (28.12%) Windows Server
8 85 (27.16%) Problem-Solving
9 79 (25.24%) Azure
10 74 (23.64%) Firewall
11 63 (20.13%) Microsoft Exchange
11 63 (20.13%) SharePoint
12 60 (19.17%) DNS
13 55 (17.57%) Microsoft Intune
13 55 (17.57%) VPN
14 51 (16.29%) DHCP
15 49 (15.65%) WAN
16 48 (15.34%) Windows 10
17 47 (15.02%) LAN
18 43 (13.74%) TCP/IP
19 40 (12.78%) VMware
20 38 (12.14%) Hyper-V
21 36 (11.50%) macOS
22 35 (11.18%) Cybersecurity
23 32 (10.22%) Meraki
24 29 (9.27%) Cisco
24 29 (9.27%) Continuous Improvement
24 29 (9.27%) VMware Infrastructure
25 28 (8.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
25 28 (8.95%) Remote Monitoring and Management

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 63 (20.13%) Microsoft Exchange
1 63 (20.13%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.64%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 17 (5.43%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.60%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.32%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 4 (1.28%) NetSuite
1 4 (1.28%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 194 (61.98%) Microsoft 365
2 109 (34.82%) Entra ID
3 79 (25.24%) Azure
4 20 (6.39%) Google Workspace
5 15 (4.79%) OneDrive
6 12 (3.83%) AWS
6 12 (3.83%) Power Platform
7 6 (1.92%) Cohesity
7 6 (1.92%) Microsoft Copilot
8 3 (0.96%) Dynamics 365
8 3 (0.96%) GCP
8 3 (0.96%) PowerApps
8 3 (0.96%) SaaS
9 2 (0.64%) Amazon EC2
9 2 (0.64%) Rubrik
9 2 (0.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 1 (0.32%) Azure Storage
10 1 (0.32%) Cloud Computing
10 1 (0.32%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 74 (23.64%) Firewall
2 60 (19.17%) DNS
3 55 (17.57%) VPN
4 51 (16.29%) DHCP
5 49 (15.65%) WAN
6 47 (15.02%) LAN
7 43 (13.74%) TCP/IP
8 28 (8.95%) Wi-Fi
9 25 (7.99%) VoIP
10 22 (7.03%) VLAN
11 12 (3.83%) MPLS
12 9 (2.88%) SAN
12 9 (2.88%) Wireless
13 6 (1.92%) Structured Cabling
14 5 (1.60%) IPsec
14 5 (1.60%) SSL
15 4 (1.28%) Internet
16 3 (0.96%) BGP
16 3 (0.96%) SD-WAN
17 2 (0.64%) Skype
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.92%) Power BI
2 4 (1.28%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.32%) Carbide.c++
1 1 (0.32%) JIRA
General
1 134 (42.81%) Social Skills
2 23 (7.35%) Organisational Skills
3 22 (7.03%) Legal
4 20 (6.39%) Telecoms
5 9 (2.88%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (2.56%) Advertising
7 6 (1.92%) Billing
7 6 (1.92%) Finance
8 5 (1.60%) Analytical Skills
8 5 (1.60%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (1.60%) Retail
9 4 (1.28%) Public Sector
10 3 (0.96%) Manufacturing
11 1 (0.32%) Aerospace
Miscellaneous
1 57 (18.21%) Driving Licence
2 33 (10.54%) Onboarding
3 7 (2.24%) Data Centre
4 5 (1.60%) iPhone
5 4 (1.28%) Replication
6 3 (0.96%) Hybrid Cloud
6 3 (0.96%) IoT
6 3 (0.96%) iPad
6 3 (0.96%) Self-Motivation
6 3 (0.96%) Smartphone
7 2 (0.64%) Enterprise Cloud
8 1 (0.32%) Educational Technology
8 1 (0.32%) Enterprise Storage
8 1 (0.32%) Hedge funds
8 1 (0.32%) Management Information System
Operating Systems
1 165 (52.72%) Windows
2 88 (28.12%) Windows Server
3 48 (15.34%) Windows 10
4 36 (11.50%) macOS
5 11 (3.51%) Windows Server 2016
5 11 (3.51%) Windows Server 2019
6 6 (1.92%) Android
7 2 (0.64%) AIX
7 2 (0.64%) Linux
7 2 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 2 (0.64%) VMS
7 2 (0.64%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (29.07%) Customer Service
2 85 (27.16%) Problem-Solving
3 35 (11.18%) Cybersecurity
4 29 (9.27%) Continuous Improvement
5 28 (8.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 28 (8.95%) Remote Monitoring and Management
6 27 (8.63%) ITIL
7 26 (8.31%) Service Delivery
8 20 (6.39%) User Experience
9 19 (6.07%) Stakeholder Management
10 18 (5.75%) Collaborative Culture
11 17 (5.43%) Client Onboarding
12 16 (5.11%) Disaster Recovery
13 15 (4.79%) ITSM
13 15 (4.79%) Project Delivery
13 15 (4.79%) Root Cause Analysis
14 14 (4.47%) Cloud Security
15 13 (4.15%) Kalman Filter
16 12 (3.83%) Mentoring
16 12 (3.83%) Technology Transformation
Programming Languages
1 18 (5.75%) PowerShell
2 5 (1.60%) SQL
3 4 (1.28%) VBScript
4 2 (0.64%) Java
Qualifications
1 18 (5.75%) Security Cleared
2 12 (3.83%) SC Cleared
3 11 (3.51%) Degree
3 11 (3.51%) Microsoft Certification
4 6 (1.92%) HND
5 4 (1.28%) DBS Check
6 3 (0.96%) CCNA
6 3 (0.96%) Cisco Certification
7 2 (0.64%) A+ Certification
7 2 (0.64%) CCNP
7 2 (0.64%) Dell Certification
7 2 (0.64%) MCSA
8 1 (0.32%) Azure Certification
8 1 (0.32%) HP APS
8 1 (0.32%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (0.32%) JNCIS
8 1 (0.32%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 26 (8.31%) SLA
2 9 (2.88%) GDPR
3 8 (2.56%) Cyber Essentials
4 5 (1.60%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 2 (0.64%) Accessibility
System Software
1 133 (42.49%) Active Directory
2 38 (12.14%) Hyper-V
3 29 (9.27%) VMware Infrastructure
4 6 (1.92%) BitLocker
4 6 (1.92%) Virtual Desktop
5 2 (0.64%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.32%) Firmware
6 1 (0.32%) Terminal Server
6 1 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 55 (17.57%) Microsoft Intune
2 13 (4.15%) Jamf Pro
3 7 (2.24%) Autotask
3 7 (2.24%) WSUS
4 6 (1.92%) FortiGate
4 6 (1.92%) SCCM
5 5 (1.60%) SmoothWall
6 4 (1.28%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 2 (0.64%) Netcool
7 2 (0.64%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 202 (64.54%) Microsoft
2 40 (12.78%) VMware
3 32 (10.22%) Meraki
4 29 (9.27%) Cisco
5 24 (7.67%) Google
6 23 (7.35%) Fortinet
7 15 (4.79%) Apple
8 14 (4.47%) Veeam
9 12 (3.83%) ServiceNow
10 9 (2.88%) HP
10 9 (2.88%) Juniper
11 8 (2.56%) NetApp
11 8 (2.56%) SonicWALL
12 7 (2.24%) Palo Alto
13 6 (1.92%) Draytek
14 5 (1.60%) Citrix
14 5 (1.60%) Dell
14 5 (1.60%) TOWER Software
15 4 (1.28%) Datto
16 3 (0.96%) LogicMonitor