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 10 March 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 413 475 428
Rank change year-on-year +62 -47 +105
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 285 183 484
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.39% 0.42% 0.58%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.43% 0.46% 0.61%
Number of salaries quoted 265 164 459
10th Percentile £28,750 £28,500 £25,700
25th Percentile £30,500 £30,000 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £31,500
Median % change year-on-year - +11.11% -3.08%
75th Percentile £40,000 £41,500 £36,000
90th Percentile £42,500 £43,750 £41,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £33,500 £33,000 £30,000
% change year-on-year +1.52% +10.00% -4.76%

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 66,799 39,870 79,089
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 91.74% 90.79% 94.61%
Number of salaries quoted 42,341 23,010 60,911
10th Percentile £30,000 £32,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £38,984 £43,750 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £92,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £54,793 £50,000
% change year-on-year -8.75% +9.59% -4.81%

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 10 March 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 10 March 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 +78 275 £34,000 -2.86% 73
UK excluding London +74 229 £33,500 +1.52% 66
South East +6 75 £32,500 -13.33% 27
London +8 56 £40,000 - 16
Work from Home +63 55 £33,000 +1.54% 13
East of England +31 42 £33,500 +3.08% 9
Midlands +15 40 £35,000 +16.67% 3
South West -9 36 £32,500 -2.99% 7
North of England -35 27 £30,000 - 20
West Midlands +22 22 £35,000 - 2
North West -2 18 £30,000 -4.00% 11
East Midlands -23 13 £33,500 +11.67% 1
Scotland -10 9 £40,000 +37.93% 2
Yorkshire -54 9 £33,500 +3.08% 9
Wales - 1 £34,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 10 March 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.

1 177 (62.11%) Microsoft 365
2 168 (58.95%) Windows
3 160 (56.14%) Microsoft
4 128 (44.91%) Active Directory
5 115 (40.35%) Windows Server
6 113 (39.65%) Azure
7 103 (36.14%) Problem-Solving
8 83 (29.12%) DNS
9 77 (27.02%) DHCP
10 75 (26.32%) Firewall
11 69 (24.21%) Windows 10
12 67 (23.51%) VPN
13 66 (23.16%) Microsoft Exchange
14 57 (20.00%) Entra ID
14 57 (20.00%) Wi-Fi
15 54 (18.95%) TCP/IP
16 52 (18.25%) LAN
17 51 (17.89%) Customer Service
17 51 (17.89%) WAN
18 49 (17.19%) Hyper-V
19 46 (16.14%) VLAN
20 45 (15.79%) Microsoft Intune
20 45 (15.79%) SharePoint
20 45 (15.79%) SLA
21 35 (12.28%) VMware
22 34 (11.93%) Google Workspace
22 34 (11.93%) ITIL
22 34 (11.93%) Windows Server 2016
23 33 (11.58%) Windows Server 2019
24 30 (10.53%) ITSM

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 66 (23.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 45 (15.79%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.35%) Confluence
3 1 (0.35%) IIS
Applications
1 23 (8.07%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.05%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.35%) Adobe Creative Suite
Business Applications
1 5 (1.75%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (1.75%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 177 (62.11%) Microsoft 365
2 113 (39.65%) Azure
3 57 (20.00%) Entra ID
4 34 (11.93%) Google Workspace
5 28 (9.82%) AWS
6 18 (6.32%) OneDrive
7 8 (2.81%) Mimecast
8 4 (1.40%) SaaS
9 1 (0.35%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 83 (29.12%) DNS
2 77 (27.02%) DHCP
3 75 (26.32%) Firewall
4 67 (23.51%) VPN
5 57 (20.00%) Wi-Fi
6 54 (18.95%) TCP/IP
7 52 (18.25%) LAN
8 51 (17.89%) WAN
9 46 (16.14%) VLAN
10 28 (9.82%) VoIP
11 14 (4.91%) Wireless
12 13 (4.56%) Remote Desktop
13 10 (3.51%) IPsec
14 6 (2.11%) SD-WAN
15 5 (1.75%) ADSL
15 5 (1.75%) Broadband
16 4 (1.40%) NetScaler
17 3 (1.05%) DKIM
17 3 (1.05%) DMARC
17 3 (1.05%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.75%) Amazon RDS
2 4 (1.40%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 7 (2.46%) JIRA
General
1 82 (28.77%) Social Skills
2 22 (7.72%) Law
3 20 (7.02%) Marketing
4 11 (3.86%) Manufacturing
5 9 (3.16%) Retail
6 8 (2.81%) Finance
6 8 (2.81%) Telecoms
7 4 (1.40%) Advertising
7 4 (1.40%) Dutch Language
7 4 (1.40%) French Language
7 4 (1.40%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (1.40%) Spanish Language
8 3 (1.05%) Electronics
8 3 (1.05%) Public Sector
9 2 (0.70%) Automotive
9 2 (0.70%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (0.70%) Front Office
9 2 (0.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.35%) Banking
10 1 (0.35%) Legal
Miscellaneous
1 43 (15.09%) Driving Licence
2 11 (3.86%) Onboarding
3 3 (1.05%) Mobile App
3 3 (1.05%) Smartphone
4 2 (0.70%) IoT
4 2 (0.70%) iPad
4 2 (0.70%) iPhone
4 2 (0.70%) Video Conferencing
5 1 (0.35%) Client/Server
5 1 (0.35%) Hedge funds
5 1 (0.35%) PKI
5 1 (0.35%) Security Posture
5 1 (0.35%) Self-Motivation
5 1 (0.35%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 168 (58.95%) Windows
2 115 (40.35%) Windows Server
3 69 (24.21%) Windows 10
4 34 (11.93%) Windows Server 2016
5 33 (11.58%) Windows Server 2019
6 30 (10.53%) Mac OS
7 25 (8.77%) Apple iOS
8 23 (8.07%) Android
9 19 (6.67%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (2.11%) Linux
11 2 (0.70%) Windows 7
11 2 (0.70%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.35%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.35%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (36.14%) Problem-Solving
2 51 (17.89%) Customer Service
3 34 (11.93%) ITIL
4 30 (10.53%) ITSM
4 30 (10.53%) Service Management
5 25 (8.77%) Service Delivery
6 22 (7.72%) Configuration Management
6 22 (7.72%) Cybersecurity
7 21 (7.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 21 (7.37%) Mobile Device Management
8 17 (5.96%) Continuous Improvement
9 16 (5.61%) Mentoring
10 14 (4.91%) Remote Monitoring and Management
11 9 (3.16%) Asset Management
11 9 (3.16%) Collaborative Working
11 9 (3.16%) Proactive Maintenance
12 8 (2.81%) Change Management
13 7 (2.46%) ERP
13 7 (2.46%) Process Improvement
14 6 (2.11%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 15 (5.26%) PowerShell
2 4 (1.40%) SQL
3 1 (0.35%) Python
Qualifications
1 30 (10.53%) Security Cleared
2 29 (10.18%) SC Cleared
3 18 (6.32%) Microsoft Certification
4 8 (2.81%) A+ Certification
4 8 (2.81%) BPSS Clearance
5 7 (2.46%) Degree
6 5 (1.75%) CompTIA Security+
7 4 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
7 4 (1.40%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 3 (1.05%) Network+ Certification
9 2 (0.70%) AWS Certification
9 2 (0.70%) Azure Certification
9 2 (0.70%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.35%) CCNA
10 1 (0.35%) CCNP
10 1 (0.35%) Cisco Certification
10 1 (0.35%) DBS Check
10 1 (0.35%) DV Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (15.79%) SLA
2 7 (2.46%) Cyber Essentials
3 4 (1.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (1.40%) NIST
4 3 (1.05%) Accessibility
4 3 (1.05%) GDPR
4 3 (1.05%) QA
System Software
1 128 (44.91%) Active Directory
2 49 (17.19%) Hyper-V
3 25 (8.77%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (4.21%) Virtual Desktop
5 4 (1.40%) Firmware
6 3 (1.05%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.35%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 45 (15.79%) Microsoft Intune
2 21 (7.37%) Jamf Pro
3 18 (6.32%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 8 (2.81%) SCCM
5 4 (1.40%) Autotask
6 2 (0.70%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.70%) Nagios
7 1 (0.35%) Single Sign-On
7 1 (0.35%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 160 (56.14%) Microsoft
2 35 (12.28%) VMware
3 29 (10.18%) Google
4 25 (8.77%) Apple
5 18 (6.32%) Samsung
6 12 (4.21%) Sophos
7 9 (3.16%) Cisco
7 9 (3.16%) Veeam
8 8 (2.81%) ConnectWise
9 7 (2.46%) Fortinet
10 6 (2.11%) Meraki
10 6 (2.11%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.40%) Adobe
11 4 (1.40%) Aruba
11 4 (1.40%) CheckPoint
11 4 (1.40%) F5
11 4 (1.40%) HP
11 4 (1.40%) Palo Alto
11 4 (1.40%) SolarWinds
12 3 (1.05%) SAP