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 18 July 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 439 557 465
Rank change year-on-year +118 -92 -48
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 349 125 457
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.35% 0.25% 0.47%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.37% 0.28% 0.49%
Number of salaries quoted 295 119 409
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,000 £26,000
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £32,000
Median % change year-on-year - +9.38% -1.54%
75th Percentile £38,750 £41,500 £36,000
90th Percentile £42,500 £43,750 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £32,750 £30,000
% change year-on-year +6.87% +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 93,597 44,099 92,655
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.23% 89.94% 94.77%
Number of salaries quoted 64,237 26,080 65,729
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,035
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £39,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £52,806
Median % change year-on-year - +4.15% -11.99%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £70,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.12%

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 18 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 18 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 +80 314 £35,000 - 58
UK excluding London +83 272 £35,000 +6.87% 53
South East +21 75 £32,500 -14.47% 20
London +20 74 £36,000 -7.69% 9
East of England +56 73 £35,000 +7.69% 17
Work from Home +28 70 £33,500 +3.08% 17
North of England -24 50 £34,500 +6.15% 9
North West +30 42 £35,000 +7.69%
Scotland +39 27 £33,500 +3.08%
Midlands -25 25 £32,500 - 3
West Midlands -12 18 £32,000 -8.57% 3
South West -52 17 £35,000 +0.72% 10
Yorkshire -37 8 £31,000 -22.50% 5
East Midlands -17 7 £35,000 +12.00%
Wales - 5 £35,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 18 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.

1 217 (62.18%) Microsoft
2 201 (57.59%) Microsoft 365
3 188 (53.87%) Windows
4 136 (38.97%) Active Directory
5 101 (28.94%) Problem-Solving
6 100 (28.65%) Azure
7 99 (28.37%) Customer Service
8 92 (26.36%) Windows Server
9 89 (25.50%) Entra ID
10 80 (22.92%) Firewall
10 80 (22.92%) Microsoft Exchange
11 76 (21.78%) DNS
12 66 (18.91%) DHCP
13 64 (18.34%) SharePoint
14 63 (18.05%) Windows 10
15 50 (14.33%) VPN
16 49 (14.04%) LAN
16 49 (14.04%) Wi-Fi
17 48 (13.75%) Microsoft Intune
17 48 (13.75%) WAN
18 43 (12.32%) SLA
19 42 (12.03%) Hyper-V
20 40 (11.46%) Mac OS
20 40 (11.46%) Service Delivery
21 39 (11.17%) TCP/IP
21 39 (11.17%) VMware
22 33 (9.46%) VMware Infrastructure
23 30 (8.60%) Continuous Improvement
23 30 (8.60%) Cybersecurity
23 30 (8.60%) 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 80 (22.92%) Microsoft Exchange
2 64 (18.34%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.57%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.29%) IIS
4 1 (0.29%) WordPress
Applications
1 28 (8.02%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.43%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (1.43%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 201 (57.59%) Microsoft 365
2 100 (28.65%) Azure
3 89 (25.50%) Entra ID
4 21 (6.02%) Google Workspace
5 17 (4.87%) AWS
6 16 (4.58%) OneDrive
7 12 (3.44%) Power Platform
8 8 (2.29%) Cohesity
9 7 (2.01%) Mimecast
10 5 (1.43%) SaaS
11 3 (0.86%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (0.86%) Microsoft Copilot
11 3 (0.86%) PaaS
11 3 (0.86%) Power Automate
12 2 (0.57%) Amazon EC2
12 2 (0.57%) Azure Storage
12 2 (0.57%) Rubrik
12 2 (0.57%) Virtual Private Cloud
13 1 (0.29%) Azure Monitor
13 1 (0.29%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 80 (22.92%) Firewall
2 76 (21.78%) DNS
3 66 (18.91%) DHCP
4 50 (14.33%) VPN
5 49 (14.04%) LAN
5 49 (14.04%) Wi-Fi
6 48 (13.75%) WAN
7 39 (11.17%) TCP/IP
8 29 (8.31%) VoIP
9 19 (5.44%) VLAN
10 11 (3.15%) SAN
11 10 (2.87%) Wireless
12 6 (1.72%) Remote Desktop
13 5 (1.43%) ADSL
13 5 (1.43%) Broadband
13 5 (1.43%) IPsec
13 5 (1.43%) MPLS
14 4 (1.15%) Internet
14 4 (1.15%) SD-WAN
15 3 (0.86%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.58%) Power BI
2 4 (1.15%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 2 (0.57%) JIRA
2 1 (0.29%) Carbide.c++
General
1 113 (32.38%) Social Skills
2 19 (5.44%) Telecoms
3 16 (4.58%) Legal
4 13 (3.72%) Documentation Skills
5 8 (2.29%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 7 (2.01%) Finance
6 7 (2.01%) Organisational Skills
7 6 (1.72%) Billing
7 6 (1.72%) Retail
8 5 (1.43%) Manufacturing
9 3 (0.86%) Advertising
9 3 (0.86%) Public Sector
10 2 (0.57%) Analytical Skills
10 2 (0.57%) Military
11 1 (0.29%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.29%) Automotive
11 1 (0.29%) Law
11 1 (0.29%) Marketing
Miscellaneous
1 41 (11.75%) Driving Licence
2 28 (8.02%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.58%) Smartphone
4 8 (2.29%) Data Centre
5 5 (1.43%) iPhone
6 4 (1.15%) Replication
7 3 (0.86%) IoT
8 2 (0.57%) Enterprise Cloud
8 2 (0.57%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.29%) Hedge funds
9 1 (0.29%) iPad
9 1 (0.29%) NHS
9 1 (0.29%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.29%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 188 (53.87%) Windows
2 92 (26.36%) Windows Server
3 63 (18.05%) Windows 10
4 40 (11.46%) Mac OS
5 30 (8.60%) Windows Server 2019
6 29 (8.31%) Windows Server 2016
7 16 (4.58%) Android
8 10 (2.87%) Windows Server 2012
9 8 (2.29%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.15%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.86%) Linux
11 3 (0.86%) VMS
12 2 (0.57%) AIX
12 2 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2008
13 1 (0.29%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (28.94%) Problem-Solving
2 99 (28.37%) Customer Service
3 40 (11.46%) Service Delivery
4 30 (8.60%) Continuous Improvement
4 30 (8.60%) Cybersecurity
4 30 (8.60%) ITIL
5 23 (6.59%) ITSM
6 21 (6.02%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 18 (5.16%) Cloud Security
7 18 (5.16%) Mentoring
8 16 (4.58%) Collaborative Culture
9 15 (4.30%) Remote Monitoring and Management
9 15 (4.30%) User Experience
10 14 (4.01%) Incident Management
11 13 (3.72%) Project Delivery
11 13 (3.72%) Service Management
12 12 (3.44%) Disaster Recovery
12 12 (3.44%) Incident Response
13 11 (3.15%) Identity Management
14 10 (2.87%) Business Intelligence
Programming Languages
1 30 (8.60%) PowerShell
2 6 (1.72%) SQL
3 4 (1.15%) VBScript
4 3 (0.86%) Python
5 2 (0.57%) Java
Qualifications
1 24 (6.88%) Microsoft Certification
2 22 (6.30%) Security Cleared
3 16 (4.58%) Degree
4 13 (3.72%) SC Cleared
5 8 (2.29%) A+ Certification
5 8 (2.29%) DBS Check
6 6 (1.72%) HND
7 3 (0.86%) HP APS
8 2 (0.57%) Dell Certification
8 2 (0.57%) MCSA
9 1 (0.29%) CCNA
9 1 (0.29%) CCNP
9 1 (0.29%) Cisco Certification
9 1 (0.29%) DV Cleared
9 1 (0.29%) ITIL Certification
9 1 (0.29%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (12.32%) SLA
2 6 (1.72%) Accessibility
3 3 (0.86%) GDPR
4 1 (0.29%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (0.29%) QA
System Software
1 136 (38.97%) Active Directory
2 42 (12.03%) Hyper-V
3 33 (9.46%) VMware Infrastructure
4 12 (3.44%) Virtual Desktop
5 10 (2.87%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.86%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.29%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 48 (13.75%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (3.15%) SCCM
3 10 (2.87%) Autotask
3 10 (2.87%) WSUS
4 9 (2.58%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 7 (2.01%) FortiGate
6 3 (0.86%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 2 (0.57%) Netcool
7 2 (0.57%) ZABBIX
8 1 (0.29%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.29%) Nagios
Vendors
1 217 (62.18%) Microsoft
2 39 (11.17%) VMware
3 20 (5.73%) Google
4 17 (4.87%) Cisco
4 17 (4.87%) Meraki
5 14 (4.01%) HP
6 12 (3.44%) ServiceNow
7 10 (2.87%) Fortinet
7 10 (2.87%) NetApp
8 8 (2.29%) Sophos
9 7 (2.01%) SolarWinds
9 7 (2.01%) Veeam
10 4 (1.15%) Dell
10 4 (1.15%) Sage
10 4 (1.15%) Samsung
11 3 (0.86%) Barracuda Networks
11 3 (0.86%) Fujitsu
11 3 (0.86%) Juniper
11 3 (0.86%) Snow
11 3 (0.86%) SonicWALL