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 13 May 2026.

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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 422 533 458
Rank change year-on-year +111 -75 +21
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 317 131 478
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.35% 0.30% 0.50%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.38% 0.34% 0.52%
Number of salaries quoted 280 128 455
10th Percentile £29,000 £28,500 £25,950
25th Percentile £30,594 £29,750 £27,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year - +7.69% -
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 £30,750
% change year-on-year +3.08% +5.69% -2.38%

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 83,861 38,850 91,176
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.26% 89.47% 94.56%
Number of salaries quoted 55,212 22,832 66,939
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,670 £52,686
Median % change year-on-year -4.63% +9.46% -12.19%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £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% -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 13 May 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 13 May 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 +112 302 £35,000 - 72
UK excluding London +73 249 £33,500 +3.08% 62
South East +40 84 £31,250 -21.38% 17
London +13 67 £37,500 -3.85% 16
Work from Home +32 54 £30,000 -7.69% 19
East of England +31 52 £35,000 +7.69% 14
Midlands -14 35 £35,000 +7.69% 11
North of England -15 34 £30,500 +1.67% 14
South West -31 30 £34,000 +1.49% 7
North West +15 25 £30,000 - 8
West Midlands -6 22 £32,500 -9.72% 10
Scotland +16 13 £40,000 +23.08% 1
East Midlands -23 9 £35,000 +12.00% 1
Yorkshire -64 9 £31,000 -4.62% 3
Wales - 1 £34,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 13 May 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.

1 183 (57.73%) Microsoft
2 180 (56.78%) Microsoft 365
3 165 (52.05%) Windows
4 125 (39.43%) Active Directory
5 111 (35.02%) Azure
6 100 (31.55%) Problem-Solving
7 94 (29.65%) Windows Server
8 75 (23.66%) DNS
8 75 (23.66%) Firewall
9 74 (23.34%) Entra ID
10 72 (22.71%) DHCP
11 67 (21.14%) Customer Service
12 64 (20.19%) Microsoft Exchange
13 62 (19.56%) Windows 10
14 61 (19.24%) Wi-Fi
15 59 (18.61%) VPN
16 55 (17.35%) WAN
17 53 (16.72%) LAN
18 52 (16.40%) SharePoint
19 45 (14.20%) SLA
20 42 (13.25%) Microsoft Intune
21 37 (11.67%) Hyper-V
22 36 (11.36%) TCP/IP
23 34 (10.73%) ITIL
24 33 (10.41%) Windows Server 2016
24 33 (10.41%) Windows Server 2019
25 32 (10.09%) VLAN
25 32 (10.09%) VoIP
26 29 (9.15%) Cybersecurity
26 29 (9.15%) Mac OS

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 64 (20.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 52 (16.40%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.32%) Confluence
3 1 (0.32%) IIS
3 1 (0.32%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.32%) WordPress
Applications
1 27 (8.52%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (1.58%) Dynamics NAV
2 3 (0.95%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 180 (56.78%) Microsoft 365
2 111 (35.02%) Azure
3 74 (23.34%) Entra ID
4 28 (8.83%) Google Workspace
5 23 (7.26%) AWS
6 19 (5.99%) OneDrive
7 7 (2.21%) Mimecast
7 7 (2.21%) Power Platform
8 3 (0.95%) Cohesity
8 3 (0.95%) Microsoft Copilot
8 3 (0.95%) PaaS
8 3 (0.95%) Power Automate
8 3 (0.95%) SaaS
9 2 (0.63%) Azure Storage
9 2 (0.63%) Dynamics 365
10 1 (0.32%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.32%) Azure Monitor
10 1 (0.32%) GCP
10 1 (0.32%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 75 (23.66%) DNS
1 75 (23.66%) Firewall
2 72 (22.71%) DHCP
3 61 (19.24%) Wi-Fi
4 59 (18.61%) VPN
5 55 (17.35%) WAN
6 53 (16.72%) LAN
7 36 (11.36%) TCP/IP
8 32 (10.09%) VLAN
8 32 (10.09%) VoIP
9 16 (5.05%) Wireless
10 10 (3.15%) Remote Desktop
11 8 (2.52%) IPsec
12 7 (2.21%) SD-WAN
13 5 (1.58%) ADSL
14 4 (1.26%) Broadband
14 4 (1.26%) NetScaler
14 4 (1.26%) SAN
15 3 (0.95%) NAS
15 3 (0.95%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.58%) Power BI
2 2 (0.63%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.32%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 5 (1.58%) JIRA
General
1 80 (25.24%) Social Skills
2 14 (4.42%) Telecoms
3 11 (3.47%) Legal
4 10 (3.15%) Manufacturing
5 9 (2.84%) Finance
5 9 (2.84%) Retail
6 8 (2.52%) Law
7 7 (2.21%) Marketing
8 6 (1.89%) Advertising
9 5 (1.58%) Documentation Skills
9 5 (1.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 4 (1.26%) Organisational Skills
11 2 (0.63%) Analytical Skills
11 2 (0.63%) Automotive
11 2 (0.63%) Billing
11 2 (0.63%) Electronics
11 2 (0.63%) Military
11 2 (0.63%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 25 (7.89%) Driving Licence
2 18 (5.68%) Onboarding
3 8 (2.52%) Smartphone
4 2 (0.63%) Data Centre
4 2 (0.63%) Self-Motivation
5 1 (0.32%) Enterprise Cloud
5 1 (0.32%) IoT
5 1 (0.32%) Mobile App
5 1 (0.32%) NHS
5 1 (0.32%) PKI
5 1 (0.32%) Public Cloud
5 1 (0.32%) Security Posture
5 1 (0.32%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 165 (52.05%) Windows
2 94 (29.65%) Windows Server
3 62 (19.56%) Windows 10
4 33 (10.41%) Windows Server 2016
4 33 (10.41%) Windows Server 2019
5 29 (9.15%) Mac OS
6 17 (5.36%) Windows Server 2012
7 16 (5.05%) Android
8 13 (4.10%) Apple iOS
9 3 (0.95%) VMS
9 3 (0.95%) Windows 7
10 2 (0.63%) Linux
10 2 (0.63%) Windows Server 2008
11 1 (0.32%) AIX
11 1 (0.32%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.32%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 100 (31.55%) Problem-Solving
2 67 (21.14%) Customer Service
3 34 (10.73%) ITIL
4 29 (9.15%) Cybersecurity
5 27 (8.52%) Service Delivery
6 19 (5.99%) Service Management
7 18 (5.68%) ITSM
8 17 (5.36%) Continuous Improvement
9 14 (4.42%) Remote Monitoring and Management
10 13 (4.10%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 11 (3.47%) Incident Management
11 11 (3.47%) Mobile Device Management
12 10 (3.15%) Cloud Security
12 10 (3.15%) Configuration Management
12 10 (3.15%) Incident Response
12 10 (3.15%) Mentoring
13 9 (2.84%) ERP
14 8 (2.52%) Business Intelligence
14 8 (2.52%) Change Management
14 8 (2.52%) Identity Management
Programming Languages
1 21 (6.62%) PowerShell
2 3 (0.95%) Python
2 3 (0.95%) SQL
3 1 (0.32%) Java
Qualifications
1 23 (7.26%) Security Cleared
2 22 (6.94%) Microsoft Certification
3 18 (5.68%) SC Cleared
4 11 (3.47%) Degree
5 8 (2.52%) A+ Certification
5 8 (2.52%) DBS Check
6 5 (1.58%) CompTIA Security+
7 3 (0.95%) HP APS
7 3 (0.95%) Network+ Certification
8 2 (0.63%) DV Cleared
8 2 (0.63%) HND
8 2 (0.63%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.32%) CCNA
9 1 (0.32%) CCNP
9 1 (0.32%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.32%) Dell Certification
9 1 (0.32%) MCSA
9 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (14.20%) SLA
2 7 (2.21%) Cyber Essentials
3 5 (1.58%) Accessibility
4 4 (1.26%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.26%) NIST
5 3 (0.95%) GDPR
5 3 (0.95%) QA
System Software
1 125 (39.43%) Active Directory
2 37 (11.67%) Hyper-V
3 19 (5.99%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (3.47%) Virtual Desktop
5 8 (2.52%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.95%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.32%) Firmware
7 1 (0.32%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.32%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.32%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 42 (13.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (5.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 9 (2.84%) SCCM
4 7 (2.21%) Autotask
5 5 (1.58%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.26%) FortiGate
6 4 (1.26%) WSUS
7 2 (0.63%) Nagios
8 1 (0.32%) Netcool
8 1 (0.32%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 183 (57.73%) Microsoft
2 27 (8.52%) Google
3 24 (7.57%) VMware
4 12 (3.79%) HP
5 10 (3.15%) Cisco
6 8 (2.52%) Apple
6 8 (2.52%) Fortinet
6 8 (2.52%) Samsung
6 8 (2.52%) SolarWinds
6 8 (2.52%) Sophos
7 7 (2.21%) Meraki
8 4 (1.26%) Aruba
8 4 (1.26%) CheckPoint
8 4 (1.26%) F5
8 4 (1.26%) Palo Alto
8 4 (1.26%) ServiceNow
8 4 (1.26%) Veeam
9 3 (0.95%) Barracuda Networks
9 3 (0.95%) Sage
9 3 (0.95%) SonicWALL