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 20 August 2026.

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

6 months to
20 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 476 585 475
Rank change year-on-year +109 -110 -77
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 332 107 357
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.31% 0.21% 0.43%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.33% 0.24% 0.45%
Number of salaries quoted 278 100 312
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,725 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,125 £28,477
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £32,875 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year +6.46% +1.15% -0.61%
75th Percentile £38,750 £39,500 £37,000
90th Percentile £42,500 £45,250 £42,800
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £32,500 £32,500
% change year-on-year +7.69% - +1.56%

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 101,050 44,873 78,946
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.99% 89.93% 95.07%
Number of salaries quoted 69,068 26,506 52,274
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £72,250
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £53,171 £48,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +10.77% -4.00% -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 20 August 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 20 August 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 +78 298 £35,000 +6.06% 52
UK excluding London +69 267 £35,000 +7.69% 50
East of England +47 72 £35,000 +7.69% 17
South East +9 68 £32,500 -7.14% 21
Work from Home +20 67 £33,500 +3.08% 11
London -12 62 £36,000 -4.00% 5
North of England -3 50 £35,000 +7.69% 2
North West +14 42 £35,000 +7.69% 1
Scotland +24 26 £30,000 -7.69% 1
Midlands -20 24 £32,500 - 11
South West -65 22 £35,000 +6.06% 1
West Midlands -25 15 £32,000 -2.29% 9
East Midlands -23 9 £35,000 +7.69% 2
Yorkshire -29 8 £31,000 -22.50% 1
Wales - 5 £35,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 20 August 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.

1 208 (62.65%) Microsoft
2 188 (56.63%) Microsoft 365
3 175 (52.71%) Windows
4 126 (37.95%) Active Directory
5 101 (30.42%) Customer Service
6 92 (27.71%) Entra ID
6 92 (27.71%) Problem-Solving
7 85 (25.60%) Windows Server
8 83 (25.00%) Firewall
9 81 (24.40%) Azure
10 70 (21.08%) Microsoft Exchange
11 65 (19.58%) DNS
12 63 (18.98%) SharePoint
13 53 (15.96%) DHCP
14 52 (15.66%) Windows 10
15 48 (14.46%) VPN
16 44 (13.25%) VMware
17 43 (12.95%) Hyper-V
17 43 (12.95%) Microsoft Intune
18 42 (12.65%) TCP/IP
19 41 (12.35%) WAN
20 39 (11.75%) LAN
21 38 (11.45%) VMware Infrastructure
22 36 (10.84%) SLA
23 35 (10.54%) Mac OS
24 33 (9.94%) Service Delivery
25 31 (9.34%) Wi-Fi
26 30 (9.04%) Continuous Improvement
27 27 (8.13%) VoIP
28 26 (7.83%) ITIL

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 70 (21.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 63 (18.98%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.60%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 21 (6.33%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.30%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 188 (56.63%) Microsoft 365
2 92 (27.71%) Entra ID
3 81 (24.40%) Azure
4 18 (5.42%) Google Workspace
5 15 (4.52%) AWS
5 15 (4.52%) OneDrive
6 14 (4.22%) Power Platform
7 9 (2.71%) Cohesity
8 5 (1.51%) SaaS
9 3 (0.90%) Dynamics 365
9 3 (0.90%) Microsoft Copilot
9 3 (0.90%) PaaS
9 3 (0.90%) Power Automate
10 2 (0.60%) Amazon EC2
10 2 (0.60%) Azure Storage
10 2 (0.60%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.60%) Rubrik
10 2 (0.60%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 1 (0.30%) Azure Monitor
11 1 (0.30%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 83 (25.00%) Firewall
2 65 (19.58%) DNS
3 53 (15.96%) DHCP
4 48 (14.46%) VPN
5 42 (12.65%) TCP/IP
6 41 (12.35%) WAN
7 39 (11.75%) LAN
8 31 (9.34%) Wi-Fi
9 27 (8.13%) VoIP
10 15 (4.52%) VLAN
11 12 (3.61%) SAN
11 12 (3.61%) Wireless
12 8 (2.41%) MPLS
13 5 (1.51%) IPsec
13 5 (1.51%) SSL
14 4 (1.20%) Internet
14 4 (1.20%) NAS
15 3 (0.90%) BGP
15 3 (0.90%) SD-WAN
15 3 (0.90%) Structured Cabling
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.71%) Power BI
2 4 (1.20%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (0.60%) JIRA
2 1 (0.30%) Carbide.c++
General
1 121 (36.45%) Social Skills
2 23 (6.93%) Legal
3 17 (5.12%) Telecoms
4 12 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (3.31%) Organisational Skills
6 7 (2.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 6 (1.81%) Analytical Skills
7 6 (1.81%) Billing
8 5 (1.51%) Retail
9 4 (1.20%) Manufacturing
9 4 (1.20%) Public Sector
10 3 (0.90%) Advertising
10 3 (0.90%) Finance
11 2 (0.60%) Military
12 1 (0.30%) Aerospace
Miscellaneous
1 45 (13.55%) Driving Licence
2 34 (10.24%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.71%) Data Centre
3 9 (2.71%) Smartphone
4 5 (1.51%) iPhone
5 4 (1.20%) Replication
6 3 (0.90%) IoT
6 3 (0.90%) iPad
7 2 (0.60%) Enterprise Cloud
7 2 (0.60%) Hybrid Cloud
7 2 (0.60%) Self-Motivation
8 1 (0.30%) Educational Technology
8 1 (0.30%) Enterprise Storage
8 1 (0.30%) Hedge funds
8 1 (0.30%) Management Information System
8 1 (0.30%) NHS
8 1 (0.30%) Public Cloud
8 1 (0.30%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 175 (52.71%) Windows
2 85 (25.60%) Windows Server
3 52 (15.66%) Windows 10
4 35 (10.54%) Mac OS
5 20 (6.02%) Windows Server 2019
6 18 (5.42%) Windows Server 2016
7 12 (3.61%) Android
8 4 (1.20%) Apple iOS
9 3 (0.90%) Linux
9 3 (0.90%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.60%) AIX
10 2 (0.60%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (0.60%) VMS
10 2 (0.60%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (30.42%) Customer Service
2 92 (27.71%) Problem-Solving
3 33 (9.94%) Service Delivery
4 30 (9.04%) Continuous Improvement
5 26 (7.83%) ITIL
6 24 (7.23%) Cybersecurity
7 21 (6.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 20 (6.02%) Remote Monitoring and Management
9 19 (5.72%) Collaborative Culture
9 19 (5.72%) ITSM
10 16 (4.82%) Disaster Recovery
10 16 (4.82%) Project Delivery
11 15 (4.52%) Client Onboarding
11 15 (4.52%) Cloud Security
11 15 (4.52%) Mentoring
12 14 (4.22%) User Experience
13 13 (3.92%) Incident Management
14 11 (3.31%) Identity Management
15 10 (3.01%) AI
15 10 (3.01%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 24 (7.23%) PowerShell
2 6 (1.81%) SQL
3 4 (1.20%) VBScript
4 3 (0.90%) Python
5 2 (0.60%) Java
Qualifications
1 21 (6.33%) Security Cleared
2 20 (6.02%) Microsoft Certification
3 15 (4.52%) Degree
4 11 (3.31%) SC Cleared
5 9 (2.71%) DBS Check
6 7 (2.11%) A+ Certification
7 6 (1.81%) HND
8 3 (0.90%) CCNA
8 3 (0.90%) Cisco Certification
8 3 (0.90%) HP APS
9 2 (0.60%) CCNP
9 2 (0.60%) Dell Certification
9 2 (0.60%) MCSA
10 1 (0.30%) DV Cleared
10 1 (0.30%) JNCIS
10 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Certified Professional
10 1 (0.30%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (10.84%) SLA
2 8 (2.41%) GDPR
3 4 (1.20%) Accessibility
4 3 (0.90%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 126 (37.95%) Active Directory
2 43 (12.95%) Hyper-V
3 38 (11.45%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (3.01%) BitLocker
5 9 (2.71%) Virtual Desktop
6 3 (0.90%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.60%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.60%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.30%) Firmware
8 1 (0.30%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 43 (12.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (3.01%) Autotask
2 10 (3.01%) SCCM
2 10 (3.01%) WSUS
3 7 (2.11%) FortiGate
4 4 (1.20%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 3 (0.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 2 (0.60%) Netcool
6 2 (0.60%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 208 (62.65%) Microsoft
2 44 (13.25%) VMware
3 19 (5.72%) Cisco
3 19 (5.72%) Meraki
4 18 (5.42%) Google
5 16 (4.82%) Fortinet
6 14 (4.22%) HP
7 12 (3.61%) ServiceNow
8 11 (3.31%) NetApp
9 9 (2.71%) Veeam
10 6 (1.81%) SonicWALL
11 5 (1.51%) Citrix
11 5 (1.51%) Dell
11 5 (1.51%) SolarWinds
11 5 (1.51%) Sophos
12 4 (1.20%) Juniper
12 4 (1.20%) Sage
13 3 (0.90%) Barracuda Networks
13 3 (0.90%) Draytek
13 3 (0.90%) Fujitsu