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 14 April 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 418 503 440
Rank change year-on-year +85 -63 +68
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 322 139 496
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.38% 0.34% 0.53%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.41% 0.38% 0.56%
Number of salaries quoted 295 134 471
10th Percentile £28,850 £28,825 £25,950
25th Percentile £30,750 £30,000 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £32,000
Median % change year-on-year - +9.38% -1.54%
75th Percentile £40,000 £41,500 £36,000
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% -5.88%

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 78,468 36,897 87,959
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.53% 89.58% 94.56%
Number of salaries quoted 50,382 23,363 65,606
10th Percentile £30,000 £31,250 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £42,500 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +11.11% -10.00%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £71,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -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 14 April 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 14 April 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 +81 311 £35,000 - 57
UK excluding London +67 255 £33,500 +3.08% 53
South East +9 87 £32,500 -18.75% 21
London +8 66 £40,000 - 13
Work from Home +40 65 £32,500 - 17
East of England +11 50 £35,000 +7.69% 9
Midlands -8 43 £35,000 +14.75% 8
South West -22 40 £33,500 - 3
West Midlands +7 25 £35,000 -7.89% 6
North of England -50 25 £30,000 - 9
North West -16 18 £30,000 - 7
East Midlands -51 13 £35,000 +14.75% 2
Scotland -7 9 £40,000 +23.08% 4
Yorkshire -68 7 £33,500 +3.08% 1
Wales - 1 £34,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 14 April 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.

1 199 (61.80%) Microsoft 365
2 192 (59.63%) Microsoft
3 189 (58.70%) Windows
4 139 (43.17%) Active Directory
5 124 (38.51%) Azure
6 122 (37.89%) Windows Server
7 113 (35.09%) Problem-Solving
8 89 (27.64%) Firewall
9 84 (26.09%) DNS
10 77 (23.91%) DHCP
11 72 (22.36%) Microsoft Exchange
12 71 (22.05%) Entra ID
12 71 (22.05%) Windows 10
13 69 (21.43%) Customer Service
14 68 (21.12%) Wi-Fi
15 65 (20.19%) VPN
16 55 (17.08%) LAN
17 53 (16.46%) WAN
18 52 (16.15%) Microsoft Intune
18 52 (16.15%) SharePoint
18 52 (16.15%) TCP/IP
19 47 (14.60%) Hyper-V
20 45 (13.98%) SLA
21 39 (12.11%) VLAN
21 39 (12.11%) Windows Server 2016
22 38 (11.80%) Google Workspace
22 38 (11.80%) Windows Server 2019
23 36 (11.18%) ITIL
24 34 (10.56%) Google
24 34 (10.56%) VMware

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 72 (22.36%) Microsoft Exchange
2 52 (16.15%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.31%) Confluence
3 1 (0.31%) IIS
3 1 (0.31%) WordPress
Applications
1 26 (8.07%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.93%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (1.55%) Dynamics CRM
1 5 (1.55%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 199 (61.80%) Microsoft 365
2 124 (38.51%) Azure
3 71 (22.05%) Entra ID
4 38 (11.80%) Google Workspace
5 25 (7.76%) AWS
6 21 (6.52%) OneDrive
7 7 (2.17%) Mimecast
7 7 (2.17%) SaaS
8 3 (0.93%) Cohesity
8 3 (0.93%) Microsoft Copilot
8 3 (0.93%) PaaS
8 3 (0.93%) Power Automate
8 3 (0.93%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.31%) Azure Monitor
9 1 (0.31%) Azure Storage
9 1 (0.31%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 89 (27.64%) Firewall
2 84 (26.09%) DNS
3 77 (23.91%) DHCP
4 68 (21.12%) Wi-Fi
5 65 (20.19%) VPN
6 55 (17.08%) LAN
7 53 (16.46%) WAN
8 52 (16.15%) TCP/IP
9 39 (12.11%) VLAN
10 31 (9.63%) VoIP
11 18 (5.59%) Wireless
12 11 (3.42%) Remote Desktop
13 10 (3.11%) IPsec
14 6 (1.86%) SD-WAN
15 5 (1.55%) ADSL
16 4 (1.24%) Broadband
16 4 (1.24%) NetScaler
17 3 (0.93%) NAS
17 3 (0.93%) SAN
17 3 (0.93%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.55%) Amazon RDS
2 4 (1.24%) SQL Server
3 3 (0.93%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 7 (2.17%) JIRA
General
1 88 (27.33%) Social Skills
2 14 (4.35%) Law
3 12 (3.73%) Marketing
4 11 (3.42%) Manufacturing
5 10 (3.11%) Finance
6 9 (2.80%) Retail
6 9 (2.80%) Telecoms
7 7 (2.17%) Legal
8 5 (1.55%) Advertising
8 5 (1.55%) Documentation Skills
9 4 (1.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (1.24%) Organisational Skills
10 3 (0.93%) Dutch Language
10 3 (0.93%) Electronics
10 3 (0.93%) French Language
10 3 (0.93%) Public Sector
10 3 (0.93%) Spanish Language
11 2 (0.62%) Analytical Skills
11 2 (0.62%) Automotive
11 2 (0.62%) Military
Miscellaneous
1 37 (11.49%) Driving Licence
2 16 (4.97%) Onboarding
3 7 (2.17%) Smartphone
4 2 (0.62%) Data Centre
4 2 (0.62%) IoT
4 2 (0.62%) iPad
4 2 (0.62%) iPhone
4 2 (0.62%) Mobile App
5 1 (0.31%) Hedge funds
5 1 (0.31%) NHS
5 1 (0.31%) PKI
5 1 (0.31%) Public Cloud
5 1 (0.31%) Security Posture
5 1 (0.31%) Self-Motivation
5 1 (0.31%) Video Conferencing
5 1 (0.31%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 189 (58.70%) Windows
2 122 (37.89%) Windows Server
3 71 (22.05%) Windows 10
4 39 (12.11%) Windows Server 2016
5 38 (11.80%) Windows Server 2019
6 31 (9.63%) Mac OS
7 20 (6.21%) Android
7 20 (6.21%) Apple iOS
7 20 (6.21%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (1.24%) Linux
9 2 (0.62%) Windows 7
9 2 (0.62%) Windows Server 2008
10 1 (0.31%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.31%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (35.09%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (21.43%) Customer Service
3 36 (11.18%) ITIL
4 31 (9.63%) Service Delivery
5 25 (7.76%) Cybersecurity
6 24 (7.45%) ITSM
7 22 (6.83%) Service Management
8 17 (5.28%) Mentoring
9 15 (4.66%) Continuous Improvement
9 15 (4.66%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 15 (4.66%) Mobile Device Management
9 15 (4.66%) Remote Monitoring and Management
10 14 (4.35%) Configuration Management
11 9 (2.80%) Asset Management
11 9 (2.80%) Computer Science
11 9 (2.80%) Proactive Maintenance
12 8 (2.48%) Change Management
12 8 (2.48%) Collaborative Working
12 8 (2.48%) Project Delivery
12 8 (2.48%) Time Management
Programming Languages
1 18 (5.59%) PowerShell
2 5 (1.55%) SQL
3 3 (0.93%) Python
Qualifications
1 25 (7.76%) Microsoft Certification
1 25 (7.76%) Security Cleared
2 20 (6.21%) SC Cleared
3 11 (3.42%) Degree
4 9 (2.80%) A+ Certification
5 8 (2.48%) DBS Check
6 5 (1.55%) BPSS Clearance
6 5 (1.55%) CompTIA Security+
7 4 (1.24%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 3 (0.93%) Computer Science Degree
8 3 (0.93%) Network+ Certification
9 2 (0.62%) DV Cleared
9 2 (0.62%) HP APS
9 2 (0.62%) ITIL Certification
10 1 (0.31%) CCNA
10 1 (0.31%) CCNP
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (13.98%) SLA
2 7 (2.17%) Cyber Essentials
3 5 (1.55%) GDPR
4 4 (1.24%) Accessibility
4 4 (1.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.24%) NIST
5 3 (0.93%) QA
System Software
1 139 (43.17%) Active Directory
2 47 (14.60%) Hyper-V
3 25 (7.76%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (4.04%) Virtual Desktop
5 7 (2.17%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.93%) Firmware
6 3 (0.93%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.31%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 52 (16.15%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (5.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 11 (3.42%) Jamf Pro
4 8 (2.48%) SCCM
5 7 (2.17%) Autotask
6 3 (0.93%) WSUS
7 2 (0.62%) FortiGate
7 2 (0.62%) Nagios
8 1 (0.31%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 192 (59.63%) Microsoft
2 34 (10.56%) Google
2 34 (10.56%) VMware
3 14 (4.35%) Apple
4 13 (4.04%) Sophos
5 11 (3.42%) Samsung
6 9 (2.80%) HP
7 8 (2.48%) Cisco
7 8 (2.48%) Fortinet
7 8 (2.48%) Veeam
8 7 (2.17%) Meraki
8 7 (2.17%) SolarWinds
9 6 (1.86%) ConnectWise
10 5 (1.55%) ServiceNow
11 4 (1.24%) Aruba
11 4 (1.24%) CheckPoint
11 4 (1.24%) F5
11 4 (1.24%) Freshdesk
11 4 (1.24%) Palo Alto
12 3 (0.93%) NetApp