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 31 May 2026.

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

6 months to
31 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 421 529 474
Rank change year-on-year +108 -55 -5
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 342 129 478
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.37% 0.29% 0.47%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.33% 0.50%
Number of salaries quoted 294 126 446
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,000 £25,950
25th Percentile £30,813 £30,000 £27,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year - +7.69% -
75th Percentile £40,000 £41,500 £35,438
90th Percentile £42,500 £43,750 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £33,500 £32,500 £30,000
% change year-on-year +3.08% +8.33% -5.14%

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 87,015 39,108 95,689
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.46% 89.39% 94.75%
Number of salaries quoted 58,017 22,034 69,856
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,625 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £40,000 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £50,967 £50,000
% change year-on-year -1.90% +1.93% -6.54%

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 31 May 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 31 May 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 +103 325 £35,000 - 53
UK excluding London +87 262 £33,500 +3.08% 47
South East +42 82 £30,000 -25.00% 19
London +16 77 £37,000 -7.50% 13
Work from Home +35 59 £30,000 -7.69% 17
East of England +34 59 £35,000 +7.69% 9
North of England -24 45 £32,500 +4.84% 11
North West +20 35 £33,250 +7.26% 7
Midlands -17 34 £32,500 - 5
South West -37 28 £35,000 +4.48% 2
West Midlands -16 22 £32,500 -7.14% 3
Scotland +17 13 £40,000 +23.08% 1
Yorkshire -46 10 £31,000 -4.62% 1
East Midlands -28 8 £35,000 +16.67% 2
Wales - 1 £34,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 31 May 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.

1 198 (57.89%) Microsoft
2 190 (55.56%) Microsoft 365
3 182 (53.22%) Windows
4 132 (38.60%) Active Directory
5 118 (34.50%) Azure
6 100 (29.24%) Problem-Solving
7 99 (28.95%) Windows Server
8 83 (24.27%) Entra ID
9 81 (23.68%) Firewall
10 77 (22.51%) Customer Service
11 76 (22.22%) Microsoft Exchange
12 75 (21.93%) DNS
13 70 (20.47%) DHCP
14 69 (20.18%) Windows 10
15 63 (18.42%) SharePoint
16 61 (17.84%) Wi-Fi
17 59 (17.25%) WAN
18 58 (16.96%) VPN
19 57 (16.67%) LAN
20 50 (14.62%) Microsoft Intune
21 46 (13.45%) SLA
22 38 (11.11%) Hyper-V
23 36 (10.53%) Service Delivery
23 36 (10.53%) TCP/IP
23 36 (10.53%) Windows Server 2016
23 36 (10.53%) Windows Server 2019
24 35 (10.23%) Mac OS
25 34 (9.94%) Cybersecurity
26 33 (9.65%) ITIL
27 32 (9.36%) VoIP

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 76 (22.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 63 (18.42%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.58%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.29%) Confluence
4 1 (0.29%) IIS
4 1 (0.29%) WordPress
Applications
1 30 (8.77%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.17%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (1.46%) Dynamics NAV
2 1 (0.29%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 190 (55.56%) Microsoft 365
2 118 (34.50%) Azure
3 83 (24.27%) Entra ID
4 30 (8.77%) Google Workspace
5 23 (6.73%) AWS
6 22 (6.43%) OneDrive
7 11 (3.22%) Power Platform
8 7 (2.05%) Mimecast
9 4 (1.17%) Cohesity
10 3 (0.88%) Dynamics 365
10 3 (0.88%) Microsoft Copilot
10 3 (0.88%) PaaS
10 3 (0.88%) Power Automate
10 3 (0.88%) SaaS
11 2 (0.58%) Azure Storage
12 1 (0.29%) Amazon EC2
12 1 (0.29%) Azure Monitor
12 1 (0.29%) Cloud Computing
12 1 (0.29%) GCP
12 1 (0.29%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 81 (23.68%) Firewall
2 75 (21.93%) DNS
3 70 (20.47%) DHCP
4 61 (17.84%) Wi-Fi
5 59 (17.25%) WAN
6 58 (16.96%) VPN
7 57 (16.67%) LAN
8 36 (10.53%) TCP/IP
9 32 (9.36%) VoIP
10 28 (8.19%) VLAN
11 13 (3.80%) Wireless
12 11 (3.22%) Remote Desktop
13 7 (2.05%) SD-WAN
14 6 (1.75%) IPsec
14 6 (1.75%) SAN
15 5 (1.46%) ADSL
16 4 (1.17%) Broadband
16 4 (1.17%) NetScaler
17 3 (0.88%) NAS
17 3 (0.88%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.34%) Power BI
2 2 (0.58%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.29%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 3 (0.88%) JIRA
2 1 (0.29%) Carbide.c++
General
1 90 (26.32%) Social Skills
2 15 (4.39%) Telecoms
3 14 (4.09%) Legal
4 10 (2.92%) Manufacturing
5 9 (2.63%) Finance
6 8 (2.34%) Retail
7 6 (1.75%) Advertising
7 6 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (1.75%) Marketing
8 5 (1.46%) Billing
8 5 (1.46%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 5 (1.46%) Law
9 4 (1.17%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (0.58%) Analytical Skills
10 2 (0.58%) Automotive
10 2 (0.58%) Electronics
10 2 (0.58%) Military
10 2 (0.58%) Public Sector
11 1 (0.29%) Aerospace
Miscellaneous
1 25 (7.31%) Driving Licence
2 18 (5.26%) Onboarding
3 10 (2.92%) Smartphone
4 3 (0.88%) Data Centre
4 3 (0.88%) IoT
5 2 (0.58%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (0.29%) Enterprise Cloud
6 1 (0.29%) iPhone
6 1 (0.29%) Mobile App
6 1 (0.29%) NHS
6 1 (0.29%) Public Cloud
6 1 (0.29%) Replication
6 1 (0.29%) Security Posture
6 1 (0.29%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 182 (53.22%) Windows
2 99 (28.95%) Windows Server
3 69 (20.18%) Windows 10
4 36 (10.53%) Windows Server 2016
4 36 (10.53%) Windows Server 2019
5 35 (10.23%) Mac OS
6 17 (4.97%) Windows Server 2012
7 16 (4.68%) Android
8 12 (3.51%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.17%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.88%) VMS
11 2 (0.58%) Linux
11 2 (0.58%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.29%) AIX
12 1 (0.29%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (29.24%) Problem-Solving
2 77 (22.51%) Customer Service
3 36 (10.53%) Service Delivery
4 34 (9.94%) Cybersecurity
5 33 (9.65%) ITIL
6 23 (6.73%) Continuous Improvement
7 21 (6.14%) ITSM
8 18 (5.26%) Service Management
9 15 (4.39%) Cloud Security
9 15 (4.39%) Remote Monitoring and Management
10 14 (4.09%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 13 (3.80%) Mentoring
12 12 (3.51%) Incident Management
12 12 (3.51%) Incident Response
13 11 (3.22%) Business Intelligence
14 10 (2.92%) Collaborative Culture
14 10 (2.92%) Identity Management
14 10 (2.92%) Mobile Device Management
14 10 (2.92%) User Experience
15 9 (2.63%) Configuration Management
Programming Languages
1 23 (6.73%) PowerShell
2 3 (0.88%) Python
2 3 (0.88%) SQL
3 2 (0.58%) VBScript
4 1 (0.29%) Java
Qualifications
1 25 (7.31%) Microsoft Certification
1 25 (7.31%) Security Cleared
2 20 (5.85%) SC Cleared
3 14 (4.09%) Degree
4 8 (2.34%) A+ Certification
4 8 (2.34%) DBS Check
5 5 (1.46%) CompTIA Security+
5 5 (1.46%) HND
6 3 (0.88%) HP APS
7 2 (0.58%) ITIL Certification
7 2 (0.58%) Network+ Certification
8 1 (0.29%) Dell Certification
8 1 (0.29%) DV Cleared
8 1 (0.29%) MCSA
8 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 46 (13.45%) SLA
2 7 (2.05%) Cyber Essentials
3 6 (1.75%) Accessibility
4 4 (1.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.17%) NIST
5 3 (0.88%) GDPR
5 3 (0.88%) QA
System Software
1 132 (38.60%) Active Directory
2 38 (11.11%) Hyper-V
3 22 (6.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (4.09%) Virtual Desktop
5 11 (3.22%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.88%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.29%) Terminal Server
7 1 (0.29%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.29%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 50 (14.62%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (4.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 12 (3.51%) SCCM
4 9 (2.63%) Autotask
5 6 (1.75%) FortiGate
6 5 (1.46%) WSUS
7 4 (1.17%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.58%) Nagios
9 1 (0.29%) Netcool
Vendors
1 198 (57.89%) Microsoft
2 29 (8.48%) Google
3 28 (8.19%) VMware
4 12 (3.51%) HP
5 11 (3.22%) Cisco
6 9 (2.63%) Meraki
7 8 (2.34%) Sophos
8 7 (2.05%) Apple
8 7 (2.05%) Fortinet
8 7 (2.05%) Samsung
8 7 (2.05%) ServiceNow
8 7 (2.05%) SolarWinds
9 5 (1.46%) Veeam
10 4 (1.17%) Aruba
10 4 (1.17%) CheckPoint
10 4 (1.17%) F5
10 4 (1.17%) NetApp
10 4 (1.17%) Palo Alto
10 4 (1.17%) Sage
11 3 (0.88%) SonicWALL