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 3 July 2026.

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

6 months to
3 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 434 544 471
Rank change year-on-year +110 -73 -20
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 352 127 495
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.27% 0.47%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.30% 0.50%
Number of salaries quoted 299 121 446
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,000 £25,950
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £36,500 £32,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.11% +14.06% -1.54%
75th Percentile £40,000 £42,000 £35,438
90th Percentile £42,500 £43,750 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £34,875 £32,750 £30,000
% change year-on-year +6.49% +9.17% -6.25%

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 90,996 42,434 99,932
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.13% 89.80% 94.75%
Number of salaries quoted 62,462 24,678 72,012
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £56,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -2.65% +7.62% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +3.00% - -5.66%

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 3 July 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 3 July 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 +105 318 £35,000 -4.76% 52
UK excluding London +104 278 £34,875 +6.49% 52
South East +25 82 £32,500 -18.75% 17
London +10 71 £36,000 -10.00% 6
East of England +52 69 £35,000 +7.69% 14
Work from Home +28 67 £33,500 +3.08% 12
North of England -10 52 £33,750 +3.85% 5
North West +20 42 £35,000 +8.53% 3
Scotland +41 27 £33,500 +3.08% 1
Midlands -14 25 £32,500 - 7
South West -56 19 £35,000 +7.69% 9
West Midlands -13 16 £32,000 -8.57% 4
Yorkshire -36 10 £31,000 -22.50%
East Midlands -16 8 £35,000 +16.67% 3
Wales - 4 £35,000 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 3 July 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.

1 215 (61.08%) Microsoft
2 200 (56.82%) Microsoft 365
3 188 (53.41%) Windows
4 135 (38.35%) Active Directory
5 104 (29.55%) Azure
6 103 (29.26%) Problem-Solving
7 96 (27.27%) Customer Service
7 96 (27.27%) Windows Server
8 82 (23.30%) Entra ID
9 79 (22.44%) Microsoft Exchange
10 78 (22.16%) Firewall
11 77 (21.88%) DNS
12 68 (19.32%) DHCP
13 64 (18.18%) SharePoint
13 64 (18.18%) Windows 10
14 52 (14.77%) Wi-Fi
15 50 (14.20%) VPN
16 49 (13.92%) LAN
16 49 (13.92%) Microsoft Intune
16 49 (13.92%) WAN
17 45 (12.78%) SLA
18 43 (12.22%) Hyper-V
19 40 (11.36%) Mac OS
19 40 (11.36%) Service Delivery
20 38 (10.80%) VMware
21 36 (10.23%) TCP/IP
22 34 (9.66%) Windows Server 2019
23 33 (9.38%) Windows Server 2016
24 32 (9.09%) ITIL
24 32 (9.09%) VMware Infrastructure

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 79 (22.44%) Microsoft Exchange
2 64 (18.18%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.57%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.28%) IIS
4 1 (0.28%) WordPress
Applications
1 28 (7.95%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.14%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (1.42%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 200 (56.82%) Microsoft 365
2 104 (29.55%) Azure
3 82 (23.30%) Entra ID
4 21 (5.97%) Google Workspace
5 17 (4.83%) AWS
5 17 (4.83%) OneDrive
6 12 (3.41%) Power Platform
7 8 (2.27%) Cohesity
8 7 (1.99%) Mimecast
9 5 (1.42%) SaaS
10 3 (0.85%) Dynamics 365
10 3 (0.85%) Microsoft Copilot
10 3 (0.85%) PaaS
10 3 (0.85%) Power Automate
11 2 (0.57%) Amazon EC2
11 2 (0.57%) Azure Storage
11 2 (0.57%) Rubrik
11 2 (0.57%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 1 (0.28%) Azure Monitor
12 1 (0.28%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 78 (22.16%) Firewall
2 77 (21.88%) DNS
3 68 (19.32%) DHCP
4 52 (14.77%) Wi-Fi
5 50 (14.20%) VPN
6 49 (13.92%) LAN
6 49 (13.92%) WAN
7 36 (10.23%) TCP/IP
8 29 (8.24%) VoIP
9 20 (5.68%) VLAN
10 11 (3.13%) SAN
11 9 (2.56%) Wireless
12 7 (1.99%) Remote Desktop
13 5 (1.42%) ADSL
13 5 (1.42%) IPsec
13 5 (1.42%) SD-WAN
14 4 (1.14%) Broadband
15 3 (0.85%) Internet
15 3 (0.85%) MPLS
15 3 (0.85%) NAS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.56%) Power BI
2 4 (1.14%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.28%) Carbide.c++
1 1 (0.28%) JIRA
General
1 110 (31.25%) Social Skills
2 17 (4.83%) Telecoms
3 13 (3.69%) Documentation Skills
3 13 (3.69%) Legal
4 7 (1.99%) Finance
5 6 (1.70%) Billing
5 6 (1.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 6 (1.70%) Organisational Skills
5 6 (1.70%) Retail
6 5 (1.42%) Manufacturing
7 3 (0.85%) Advertising
8 2 (0.57%) Analytical Skills
8 2 (0.57%) Automotive
8 2 (0.57%) Military
8 2 (0.57%) Public Sector
9 1 (0.28%) Aerospace
9 1 (0.28%) Law
9 1 (0.28%) Marketing
Miscellaneous
1 40 (11.36%) Driving Licence
2 25 (7.10%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.56%) Smartphone
4 7 (1.99%) Data Centre
5 5 (1.42%) iPhone
6 4 (1.14%) Replication
7 3 (0.85%) IoT
8 2 (0.57%) Enterprise Cloud
8 2 (0.57%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.28%) NHS
9 1 (0.28%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.28%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 188 (53.41%) Windows
2 96 (27.27%) Windows Server
3 64 (18.18%) Windows 10
4 40 (11.36%) Mac OS
5 34 (9.66%) Windows Server 2019
6 33 (9.38%) Windows Server 2016
7 16 (4.55%) Android
8 12 (3.41%) Windows Server 2012
9 8 (2.27%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.14%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.85%) Linux
11 3 (0.85%) VMS
12 2 (0.57%) AIX
12 2 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2008
13 1 (0.28%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 103 (29.26%) Problem-Solving
2 96 (27.27%) Customer Service
3 40 (11.36%) Service Delivery
4 32 (9.09%) ITIL
5 31 (8.81%) Continuous Improvement
6 30 (8.52%) Cybersecurity
7 23 (6.53%) ITSM
8 20 (5.68%) Cloud Security
8 20 (5.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 17 (4.83%) Mentoring
10 16 (4.55%) Collaborative Culture
11 15 (4.26%) User Experience
12 14 (3.98%) Incident Management
12 14 (3.98%) Service Management
13 13 (3.69%) Incident Response
13 13 (3.69%) Remote Monitoring and Management
14 12 (3.41%) Disaster Recovery
15 11 (3.13%) Identity Management
15 11 (3.13%) Project Delivery
15 11 (3.13%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 28 (7.95%) PowerShell
2 6 (1.70%) SQL
3 4 (1.14%) VBScript
4 3 (0.85%) Python
5 2 (0.57%) Java
Qualifications
1 25 (7.10%) Microsoft Certification
2 22 (6.25%) Security Cleared
3 16 (4.55%) Degree
4 13 (3.69%) SC Cleared
5 8 (2.27%) A+ Certification
5 8 (2.27%) DBS Check
6 6 (1.70%) HND
7 3 (0.85%) HP APS
8 2 (0.57%) Dell Certification
8 2 (0.57%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (0.57%) MCSA
9 1 (0.28%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (0.28%) DV Cleared
9 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.28%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (12.78%) SLA
2 6 (1.70%) Accessibility
3 3 (0.85%) GDPR
4 2 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.57%) QA
System Software
1 135 (38.35%) Active Directory
2 43 (12.22%) Hyper-V
3 32 (9.09%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (3.69%) Virtual Desktop
5 10 (2.84%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.85%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.28%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 49 (13.92%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (3.13%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 11 (3.13%) SCCM
3 10 (2.84%) Autotask
3 10 (2.84%) WSUS
4 7 (1.99%) FortiGate
5 2 (0.57%) Nagios
5 2 (0.57%) Netcool
5 2 (0.57%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 2 (0.57%) ZABBIX
6 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 215 (61.08%) Microsoft
2 38 (10.80%) VMware
3 20 (5.68%) Google
4 16 (4.55%) Cisco
5 14 (3.98%) HP
5 14 (3.98%) Meraki
6 10 (2.84%) NetApp
6 10 (2.84%) ServiceNow
7 8 (2.27%) SolarWinds
7 8 (2.27%) Sophos
8 7 (1.99%) Fortinet
8 7 (1.99%) Veeam
9 4 (1.14%) Dell
9 4 (1.14%) Sage
9 4 (1.14%) Samsung
10 3 (0.85%) Apple
10 3 (0.85%) ConnectWise
10 3 (0.85%) Datto
10 3 (0.85%) Fujitsu
10 3 (0.85%) Snow