2nd Line Engineer Job Trends

Second Line Engineer
UK

The median Second Line Engineer salary in the UK is £33,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 16 September 2025.

The table below provides salary benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 563 478 393
Rank change year-on-year -85 -85 +309
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 110 334 455
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 0.22% 0.43% 0.74%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.25% 0.45% 0.79%
Number of salaries quoted 104 267 422
10th Percentile £29,500 £26,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,750 £29,000 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,000 £33,500 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year -1.49% +3.08% -
75th Percentile £38,750 £38,750 £37,875
90th Percentile £47,500 £43,750 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £32,750 £32,500 £32,000
% change year-on-year +0.77% +1.56% +3.23%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 44,155 74,074 57,839
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 89.61% 95.25% 94.01%
Number of salaries quoted 25,862 44,536 44,785
10th Percentile £28,250 £30,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £36,250 £40,000 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year - -8.33% -
75th Percentile £75,000 £73,750 £80,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £92,500 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,500 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -5.00% -4.76% -

2nd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings that featured 2nd Line Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 2nd Line Engineer 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 16 September 2025.

Salary histogram for 2nd Line Engineer in the UK

2nd Line Engineer
Top 13 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 16 September 2025. 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 -83 110 £33,000 -1.49% 67
UK excluding London -65 84 £32,750 +0.77% 68
South East +1 29 £34,000 +0.74% 32
London +10 26 £39,000 -2.50% 7
Work from Home +48 20 £32,500 - 14
Midlands +26 20 £32,500 +8.33% 7
South West +46 19 £33,000 -1.49% 8
North of England +15 15 £32,500 - 16
West Midlands +30 13 £33,000 +10.00% 3
North West -13 12 £32,500 - 8
East Midlands +7 7 £32,500 -4.41% 4
Yorkshire -2 3 £40,000 +23.08% 5
East of England -22 1 £33,500 -4.29% 3

2nd Line Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities

For the 6 months to 16 September 2025, 2nd Line Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads featuring 2nd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 81 (73.64%) Windows
2 68 (61.82%) Microsoft 365
3 61 (55.45%) Microsoft
4 56 (50.91%) Active Directory
5 46 (41.82%) Azure
6 42 (38.18%) Social Skills
7 37 (33.64%) Microsoft Intune
8 35 (31.82%) Firewall
9 30 (27.27%) WAN
9 30 (27.27%) Customer Service
10 29 (26.36%) DNS
10 29 (26.36%) Windows Server
11 27 (24.55%) VPN
12 26 (23.64%) Linux
13 25 (22.73%) Cisco
14 24 (21.82%) VMware
15 23 (20.91%) LAN
16 22 (20.00%) DHCP
17 21 (19.09%) Hyper-V
18 20 (18.18%) ITIL
19 19 (17.27%) Windows 10
20 18 (16.36%) VLAN
20 18 (16.36%) Microsoft Exchange
20 18 (16.36%) Sophos
21 17 (15.45%) SCCM
21 17 (15.45%) Driving Licence
21 17 (15.45%) Problem-Solving
21 17 (15.45%) VMware Infrastructure
21 17 (15.45%) Cybersecurity
21 17 (15.45%) Mentoring

2nd Line Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 18 (16.36%) Microsoft Exchange
2 14 (12.73%) SharePoint
3 5 (4.55%) IIS
Applications
1 4 (3.64%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.91%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (0.91%) Carpe Diem
1 1 (0.91%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 68 (61.82%) Microsoft 365
2 46 (41.82%) Azure
3 16 (14.55%) Entra ID
4 6 (5.45%) OneDrive
5 4 (3.64%) Azure AKS
5 4 (3.64%) Azure DevOps
5 4 (3.64%) GitHub
6 3 (2.73%) Google Workspace
7 2 (1.82%) AWS
8 1 (0.91%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 35 (31.82%) Firewall
2 30 (27.27%) WAN
3 29 (26.36%) DNS
4 27 (24.55%) VPN
5 23 (20.91%) LAN
6 22 (20.00%) DHCP
7 18 (16.36%) VLAN
8 14 (12.73%) VoIP
9 11 (10.00%) Wi-Fi
10 9 (8.18%) IPsec
10 9 (8.18%) SD-WAN
10 9 (8.18%) TCP/IP
11 7 (6.36%) Wireless
12 5 (4.55%) Cisco IOS
13 3 (2.73%) Internet
13 3 (2.73%) PBX
13 3 (2.73%) SAN
14 2 (1.82%) Network Security
15 1 (0.91%) Ethernet
15 1 (0.91%) MPLS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (7.27%) SQL Server
2 5 (4.55%) Amazon RDS
3 4 (3.64%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 4 (3.64%) Git
1 4 (3.64%) Jenkins
General
1 42 (38.18%) Social Skills
2 10 (9.09%) Manufacturing
3 9 (8.18%) Advertising
4 8 (7.27%) Marketing
4 8 (7.27%) Telecoms
5 7 (6.36%) Finance
6 6 (5.45%) Public Sector
7 5 (4.55%) Electronics
7 5 (4.55%) Games
7 5 (4.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 5 (4.55%) Law
8 2 (1.82%) Legal
9 1 (0.91%) Analytical Skills
9 1 (0.91%) Automotive
9 1 (0.91%) Financial Institution
9 1 (0.91%) Organisational Skills
9 1 (0.91%) Presentation Skills
9 1 (0.91%) Retail
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (3.64%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 17 (15.45%) Driving Licence
2 6 (5.45%) iPhone
3 5 (4.55%) Clustering
3 5 (4.55%) Onboarding
4 3 (2.73%) Enterprise Cloud
4 3 (2.73%) Smartphone
4 3 (2.73%) Social Media
5 2 (1.82%) Digital Signage
6 1 (0.91%) Fat Client
6 1 (0.91%) PropTech
6 1 (0.91%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (0.91%) Team-Oriented Environment
6 1 (0.91%) Thin Client
6 1 (0.91%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 81 (73.64%) Windows
2 29 (26.36%) Windows Server
3 26 (23.64%) Linux
4 19 (17.27%) Windows 10
5 8 (7.27%) Mac OS
6 7 (6.36%) Windows Server 2019
7 4 (3.64%) Windows Server 2016
8 3 (2.73%) Android
8 3 (2.73%) Apple iOS
8 3 (2.73%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.91%) VMS
9 1 (0.91%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 30 (27.27%) Customer Service
2 20 (18.18%) ITIL
3 17 (15.45%) Cybersecurity
3 17 (15.45%) Mentoring
3 17 (15.45%) Problem-Solving
4 13 (11.82%) DevOps
5 9 (8.18%) Containerisation
5 9 (8.18%) Infrastructure as Code
5 9 (8.18%) Mobile Device Management
6 8 (7.27%) Security Monitoring
6 8 (7.27%) Task Automation
7 7 (6.36%) Collaborative Culture
7 7 (6.36%) Data Privacy
7 7 (6.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 6 (5.45%) Customer Engagement
8 6 (5.45%) Disaster Recovery
8 6 (5.45%) ITSM
8 6 (5.45%) Network Management
9 5 (4.55%) Business Intelligence
9 5 (4.55%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 15 (13.64%) PowerShell
2 5 (4.55%) Bicep
3 4 (3.64%) SQL
4 3 (2.73%) Java
Qualifications
1 14 (12.73%) SC Cleared
1 14 (12.73%) Security Cleared
2 10 (9.09%) Degree
3 7 (6.36%) BPSS Clearance
3 7 (6.36%) Microsoft Certification
4 5 (4.55%) ACMT
4 5 (4.55%) CCNA
4 5 (4.55%) Cisco Certification
4 5 (4.55%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
5 4 (3.64%) DBS Check
5 4 (3.64%) MCSA
6 3 (2.73%) Dell Certification
6 3 (2.73%) ITIL Certification
7 2 (1.82%) Azure Certification
7 2 (1.82%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (0.91%) A+ Certification
8 1 (0.91%) CCNP
8 1 (0.91%) MCITP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (7.27%) SLA
2 5 (4.55%) Cyber Essentials
3 2 (1.82%) ISO 9000
System Software
1 56 (50.91%) Active Directory
2 21 (19.09%) Hyper-V
3 17 (15.45%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (8.18%) Docker
5 8 (7.27%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (2.73%) XenApp
7 1 (0.91%) Firmware
7 1 (0.91%) VMware Workstation
7 1 (0.91%) XenDesktop
Systems Management
1 37 (33.64%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (15.45%) SCCM
3 9 (8.18%) Kubernetes
4 6 (5.45%) Jamf Pro
5 5 (4.55%) Autotask
5 5 (4.55%) MaaS360
5 5 (4.55%) vCenter Server
6 4 (3.64%) Terraform
7 3 (2.73%) FortiGate
7 3 (2.73%) SmoothWall
7 3 (2.73%) WSUS
8 2 (1.82%) SCOM
8 2 (1.82%) SCSM
Vendors
1 61 (55.45%) Microsoft
2 25 (22.73%) Cisco
3 24 (21.82%) VMware
4 18 (16.36%) Sophos
5 9 (8.18%) Apple
6 8 (7.27%) ConnectWise
7 7 (6.36%) Veeam
8 6 (5.45%) Datto
8 6 (5.45%) Fujitsu
9 5 (4.55%) HP
9 5 (4.55%) Juniper
9 5 (4.55%) McAfee
9 5 (4.55%) Meraki
9 5 (4.55%) Oracle
9 5 (4.55%) SAP
10 4 (3.64%) Citrix
10 4 (3.64%) Dell
10 4 (3.64%) Google
11 3 (2.73%) Fortinet
11 3 (2.73%) Red Hat