2nd Line Engineer Job Trends

Second Line Engineer
UK

The median Second Line Engineer salary in the UK is £33,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 22 December 2025.

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

6 months to
22 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 436 484 359
Rank change year-on-year +48 -125 +216
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 214 235 381
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.42% 0.79%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.40% 0.45% 0.83%
Number of salaries quoted 198 191 354
10th Percentile £29,000 £27,750 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,656 £29,875 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £33,500 £34,000 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year -1.47% +4.62% -
75th Percentile £39,000 £38,750 £38,000
90th Percentile £44,125 £45,000 £43,387
UK excluding London median annual salary £33,000 £32,500 £31,000
% change year-on-year +1.54% +4.84% -1.59%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 53,363 52,464 45,998
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.37% 93.53% 95.24%
Number of salaries quoted 32,877 27,963 35,716
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £44,000 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% - -
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £93,253 £97,500 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £49,000 £52,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -6.67% - -

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 22 December 2025.

Salary histogram for 2nd Line Engineer in the UK

2nd Line Engineer
Top 14 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 22 December 2025. 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 +60 213 £33,500 -1.47% 77
UK excluding London +50 170 £33,000 +1.54% 72
South East +24 52 £32,500 +1.56% 34
London +24 44 £40,000 +6.67% 8
South West +29 41 £33,000 -3.65% 15
Work from Home +69 38 £33,000 - 22
Midlands +37 36 £35,000 +14.75% 7
East of England +26 24 £33,500 +3.08% 13
West Midlands +46 21 £37,500 +25.00% 5
North of England +16 17 £30,000 -7.69% 7
East Midlands -6 12 £33,500 -1.47% 2
North West +32 11 £30,000 -7.69% 4
Yorkshire -10 6 £32,500 +8.33% 3
Scotland +6 1 £40,000 +50.94%

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

For the 6 months to 22 December 2025, 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.

1 144 (67.29%) Microsoft 365
2 139 (64.95%) Windows
3 120 (56.07%) Microsoft
4 105 (49.07%) Active Directory
5 91 (42.52%) Azure
6 80 (37.38%) Windows Server
7 77 (35.98%) Firewall
8 66 (30.84%) DNS
9 64 (29.91%) Problem-Solving
10 61 (28.50%) VPN
11 59 (27.57%) DHCP
12 51 (23.83%) Microsoft Intune
13 50 (23.36%) Entra ID
14 48 (22.43%) TCP/IP
15 45 (21.03%) Customer Service
15 45 (21.03%) Microsoft Exchange
16 44 (20.56%) Hyper-V
16 44 (20.56%) Windows 10
17 43 (20.09%) SharePoint
18 41 (19.16%) VLAN
19 38 (17.76%) VMware
20 35 (16.36%) SLA
21 34 (15.89%) WAN
22 33 (15.42%) LAN
23 30 (14.02%) Apple
23 30 (14.02%) Wi-Fi
24 29 (13.55%) ITIL
24 29 (13.55%) Security Cleared
25 28 (13.08%) SC Cleared
25 28 (13.08%) VMware Infrastructure

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 45 (21.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 43 (20.09%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.34%) IIS
4 1 (0.47%) Confluence
Applications
1 11 (5.14%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.87%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.47%) Adobe Creative Suite
Business Applications
1 5 (2.34%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.47%) Carpe Diem
2 1 (0.47%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 144 (67.29%) Microsoft 365
2 91 (42.52%) Azure
3 50 (23.36%) Entra ID
4 19 (8.88%) Google Workspace
5 15 (7.01%) AWS
5 15 (7.01%) OneDrive
6 4 (1.87%) Azure AKS
6 4 (1.87%) Azure DevOps
6 4 (1.87%) GitHub
6 4 (1.87%) SaaS
7 1 (0.47%) GCP
7 1 (0.47%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 77 (35.98%) Firewall
2 66 (30.84%) DNS
3 61 (28.50%) VPN
4 59 (27.57%) DHCP
5 48 (22.43%) TCP/IP
6 41 (19.16%) VLAN
7 34 (15.89%) WAN
8 33 (15.42%) LAN
9 30 (14.02%) Wi-Fi
10 17 (7.94%) Wireless
11 15 (7.01%) VoIP
12 13 (6.07%) IPsec
13 6 (2.80%) Cisco IOS
13 6 (2.80%) Remote Desktop
14 4 (1.87%) SD-WAN
15 3 (1.40%) DKIM
15 3 (1.40%) DMARC
15 3 (1.40%) NetScaler
15 3 (1.40%) PBX
16 2 (0.93%) PSTN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (5.14%) SQL Server
2 10 (4.67%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 7 (3.27%) JIRA
2 4 (1.87%) Git
2 4 (1.87%) Jenkins
General
1 79 (36.92%) Social Skills
2 27 (12.62%) Marketing
3 26 (12.15%) Law
4 16 (7.48%) Manufacturing
5 11 (5.14%) Finance
6 10 (4.67%) Telecoms
7 9 (4.21%) Advertising
8 8 (3.74%) Electronics
8 8 (3.74%) Public Sector
9 5 (2.34%) Games
10 4 (1.87%) Dutch Language
10 4 (1.87%) French Language
10 4 (1.87%) Retail
10 4 (1.87%) Spanish Language
11 3 (1.40%) Legal
12 2 (0.93%) Front Office
12 2 (0.93%) Organisational Skills
13 1 (0.47%) Analytical Skills
13 1 (0.47%) Financial Institution
13 1 (0.47%) German Language
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.87%) ARM Templates
Miscellaneous
1 44 (20.56%) Driving Licence
2 13 (6.07%) Onboarding
3 7 (3.27%) iPhone
4 5 (2.34%) Clustering
5 3 (1.40%) Mobile App
5 3 (1.40%) Video Conferencing
6 2 (0.93%) Digital Signage
6 2 (0.93%) Enterprise Cloud
6 2 (0.93%) IoT
6 2 (0.93%) iPad
6 2 (0.93%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (0.47%) Client/Server
7 1 (0.47%) Hedge funds
7 1 (0.47%) PKI
7 1 (0.47%) Smartphone
7 1 (0.47%) Team-Oriented Environment
7 1 (0.47%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 139 (64.95%) Windows
2 80 (37.38%) Windows Server
3 44 (20.56%) Windows 10
4 24 (11.21%) Apple iOS
5 22 (10.28%) Android
5 22 (10.28%) Mac OS
6 18 (8.41%) Linux
7 17 (7.94%) Windows Server 2019
8 14 (6.54%) Windows Server 2016
9 6 (2.80%) Windows Server 2012
10 2 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 64 (29.91%) Problem-Solving
2 45 (21.03%) Customer Service
3 29 (13.55%) ITIL
4 25 (11.68%) Mentoring
5 24 (11.21%) Service Management
6 22 (10.28%) Mobile Device Management
7 20 (9.35%) ITSM
8 19 (8.88%) Configuration Management
9 18 (8.41%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 16 (7.48%) Cybersecurity
11 15 (7.01%) Remote Monitoring and Management
11 15 (7.01%) Service Delivery
12 14 (6.54%) Continuous Improvement
13 13 (6.07%) DevOps
14 9 (4.21%) Asset Management
14 9 (4.21%) Containerisation
14 9 (4.21%) Infrastructure as Code
14 9 (4.21%) Migration
15 8 (3.74%) Digital Marketing
15 8 (3.74%) Programme Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.94%) PowerShell
2 6 (2.80%) SQL
3 5 (2.34%) Bicep
4 2 (0.93%) Java
Qualifications
1 29 (13.55%) Security Cleared
2 28 (13.08%) SC Cleared
3 15 (7.01%) BPSS Clearance
4 13 (6.07%) Microsoft Certification
5 8 (3.74%) Degree
6 7 (3.27%) A+ Certification
7 5 (2.34%) ACMT
7 5 (2.34%) Computer Science Degree
7 5 (2.34%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 4 (1.87%) MCP
9 3 (1.40%) CompTIA Security+
10 2 (0.93%) AWS Certification
10 2 (0.93%) Azure Certification
10 2 (0.93%) Dell Certification
10 2 (0.93%) MCSA
10 2 (0.93%) Network+ Certification
11 1 (0.47%) CCNA
11 1 (0.47%) CCNP
11 1 (0.47%) Cisco Certification
11 1 (0.47%) MCITP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 35 (16.36%) SLA
2 9 (4.21%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.40%) GDPR
3 3 (1.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.40%) NIST
4 1 (0.47%) Accessibility
4 1 (0.47%) QA
System Software
1 105 (49.07%) Active Directory
2 44 (20.56%) Hyper-V
3 28 (13.08%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (4.21%) Docker
5 7 (3.27%) VMware ESXi
6 6 (2.80%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (1.87%) Firmware
8 1 (0.47%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.47%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 51 (23.83%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (10.75%) Jamf Pro
3 18 (8.41%) SCCM
4 9 (4.21%) Autotask
4 9 (4.21%) Kubernetes
5 6 (2.80%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 6 (2.80%) vCenter Server
6 5 (2.34%) FortiGate
6 5 (2.34%) MaaS360
7 4 (1.87%) Terraform
8 2 (0.93%) WSUS
9 1 (0.47%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 120 (56.07%) Microsoft
2 38 (17.76%) VMware
3 30 (14.02%) Apple
4 25 (11.68%) Sophos
5 20 (9.35%) Samsung
6 15 (7.01%) ConnectWise
6 15 (7.01%) Google
7 13 (6.07%) Cisco
8 10 (4.67%) Veeam
9 8 (3.74%) SAP
10 7 (3.27%) ServiceNow
11 6 (2.80%) Fortinet
12 5 (2.34%) Datto
12 5 (2.34%) HP
12 5 (2.34%) Juniper
12 5 (2.34%) McAfee
12 5 (2.34%) Oracle
13 4 (1.87%) Adobe
13 4 (1.87%) Meraki
14 3 (1.40%) Freshdesk