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 26 August 2026.

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

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 476 554 484
Rank change year-on-year +78 -70 -83
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 335 107 363
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.31% 0.21% 0.43%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.33% 0.24% 0.46%
Number of salaries quoted 280 99 313
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,700 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £30,875 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £32,750 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year +6.87% +0.77% -
75th Percentile £38,750 £38,750 £37,500
90th Percentile £42,500 £47,500 £43,750
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 102,340 44,909 79,411
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.92% 89.86% 95.11%
Number of salaries quoted 70,155 26,648 51,912
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £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 £74,775 £72,429
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -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 26 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 26 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 +79 301 £35,000 +6.87% 46
UK excluding London +65 270 £35,000 +7.69% 45
East of England +43 73 £35,000 +7.69% 13
Work from Home +35 68 £33,500 +3.08% 11
South East +8 68 £32,500 -5.80% 15
London -18 62 £36,000 -4.00% 2
North of England -15 51 £35,000 +7.69% 6
North West +22 43 £35,000 +7.69% 4
Scotland +30 26 £30,000 -7.69% 1
Midlands -28 25 £32,500 - 11
South West -66 22 £35,000 +6.06% 1
West Midlands -25 16 £31,000 -5.34% 9
East Midlands -17 9 £35,000 +7.69% 2
Yorkshire -33 8 £31,000 -14.48% 2
Wales - 5 £35,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 26 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.

1 210 (62.69%) Microsoft
2 190 (56.72%) Microsoft 365
3 176 (52.54%) Windows
4 126 (37.61%) Active Directory
5 101 (30.15%) Customer Service
6 92 (27.46%) Entra ID
6 92 (27.46%) Problem-Solving
7 87 (25.97%) Windows Server
8 83 (24.78%) Firewall
9 80 (23.88%) Azure
10 71 (21.19%) Microsoft Exchange
11 66 (19.70%) DNS
12 64 (19.10%) SharePoint
13 54 (16.12%) DHCP
14 52 (15.52%) Windows 10
15 48 (14.33%) VPN
16 44 (13.13%) VMware
17 43 (12.84%) Hyper-V
17 43 (12.84%) Microsoft Intune
17 43 (12.84%) TCP/IP
18 40 (11.94%) WAN
19 38 (11.34%) LAN
19 38 (11.34%) VMware Infrastructure
20 36 (10.75%) SLA
21 35 (10.45%) Mac OS
22 33 (9.85%) Service Delivery
23 32 (9.55%) Wi-Fi
24 30 (8.96%) Continuous Improvement
25 27 (8.06%) VoIP
26 26 (7.76%) 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 71 (21.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 64 (19.10%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.60%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 22 (6.57%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.79%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.30%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 190 (56.72%) Microsoft 365
2 92 (27.46%) Entra ID
3 80 (23.88%) Azure
4 17 (5.07%) Google Workspace
5 15 (4.48%) AWS
5 15 (4.48%) OneDrive
5 15 (4.48%) Power Platform
6 9 (2.69%) Cohesity
7 5 (1.49%) SaaS
8 4 (1.19%) Microsoft Copilot
9 3 (0.90%) Dynamics 365
9 3 (0.90%) PaaS
9 3 (0.90%) Power Automate
9 3 (0.90%) PowerApps
10 2 (0.60%) Amazon EC2
10 2 (0.60%) Azure Storage
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 (24.78%) Firewall
2 66 (19.70%) DNS
3 54 (16.12%) DHCP
4 48 (14.33%) VPN
5 43 (12.84%) TCP/IP
6 40 (11.94%) WAN
7 38 (11.34%) LAN
8 32 (9.55%) Wi-Fi
9 27 (8.06%) VoIP
10 16 (4.78%) VLAN
11 12 (3.58%) SAN
11 12 (3.58%) Wireless
12 8 (2.39%) MPLS
13 5 (1.49%) IPsec
13 5 (1.49%) SSL
14 4 (1.19%) Internet
14 4 (1.19%) NAS
14 4 (1.19%) Structured Cabling
15 3 (0.90%) BGP
15 3 (0.90%) SD-WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.69%) Power BI
2 4 (1.19%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (0.60%) JIRA
2 1 (0.30%) Carbide.c++
General
1 122 (36.42%) Social Skills
2 23 (6.87%) Legal
3 17 (5.07%) Telecoms
4 12 (3.58%) Documentation Skills
4 12 (3.58%) Organisational Skills
5 7 (2.09%) Analytical Skills
5 7 (2.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 6 (1.79%) Billing
7 5 (1.49%) Retail
8 4 (1.19%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.19%) Public Sector
9 3 (0.90%) Advertising
9 3 (0.90%) Finance
10 2 (0.60%) Military
11 1 (0.30%) Aerospace
Miscellaneous
1 47 (14.03%) Driving Licence
2 34 (10.15%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.69%) Data Centre
4 8 (2.39%) Smartphone
5 5 (1.49%) iPhone
6 4 (1.19%) Replication
7 3 (0.90%) Hybrid Cloud
7 3 (0.90%) IoT
7 3 (0.90%) iPad
8 2 (0.60%) Enterprise Cloud
8 2 (0.60%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.30%) Educational Technology
9 1 (0.30%) Enterprise Storage
9 1 (0.30%) Hedge funds
9 1 (0.30%) Management Information System
9 1 (0.30%) NHS
9 1 (0.30%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.30%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 176 (52.54%) Windows
2 87 (25.97%) Windows Server
3 52 (15.52%) Windows 10
4 35 (10.45%) Mac OS
5 20 (5.97%) Windows Server 2019
6 18 (5.37%) Windows Server 2016
7 12 (3.58%) Android
8 4 (1.19%) 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 (30.15%) Customer Service
2 92 (27.46%) Problem-Solving
3 33 (9.85%) Service Delivery
4 30 (8.96%) Continuous Improvement
5 26 (7.76%) ITIL
6 25 (7.46%) Cybersecurity
7 22 (6.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 21 (6.27%) Remote Monitoring and Management
9 19 (5.67%) Collaborative Culture
10 18 (5.37%) ITSM
11 16 (4.78%) Disaster Recovery
11 16 (4.78%) Project Delivery
12 15 (4.48%) Client Onboarding
12 15 (4.48%) Cloud Security
12 15 (4.48%) Mentoring
13 14 (4.18%) User Experience
14 13 (3.88%) Incident Management
15 11 (3.28%) Identity Management
16 10 (2.99%) AI
16 10 (2.99%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 24 (7.16%) PowerShell
2 6 (1.79%) SQL
3 4 (1.19%) VBScript
4 3 (0.90%) Python
5 2 (0.60%) Java
Qualifications
1 21 (6.27%) Security Cleared
2 20 (5.97%) Microsoft Certification
3 15 (4.48%) Degree
4 11 (3.28%) SC Cleared
5 9 (2.69%) DBS Check
6 7 (2.09%) A+ Certification
7 6 (1.79%) 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 (10.75%) SLA
2 8 (2.39%) GDPR
3 4 (1.19%) Accessibility
3 4 (1.19%) Cyber Essentials
System Software
1 126 (37.61%) Active Directory
2 43 (12.84%) Hyper-V
3 38 (11.34%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (2.99%) BitLocker
5 9 (2.69%) 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 (12.84%) Microsoft Intune
2 10 (2.99%) Autotask
2 10 (2.99%) SCCM
2 10 (2.99%) WSUS
3 7 (2.09%) FortiGate
4 4 (1.19%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
5 3 (0.90%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 2 (0.60%) Netcool
6 2 (0.60%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 210 (62.69%) Microsoft
2 44 (13.13%) VMware
3 19 (5.67%) Cisco
3 19 (5.67%) Meraki
4 17 (5.07%) Fortinet
4 17 (5.07%) Google
5 14 (4.18%) HP
6 12 (3.58%) ServiceNow
7 11 (3.28%) NetApp
8 9 (2.69%) Veeam
9 7 (2.09%) SonicWALL
10 5 (1.49%) Citrix
10 5 (1.49%) Dell
10 5 (1.49%) SolarWinds
10 5 (1.49%) Sophos
11 4 (1.19%) Draytek
11 4 (1.19%) Juniper
11 4 (1.19%) Sage
12 3 (0.90%) Barracuda Networks
12 3 (0.90%) Samsung