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 27 May 2026.

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

6 months to
27 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 434 522 472
Rank change year-on-year +88 -50 +3
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 337 127 473
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.30% 0.48%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.33% 0.50%
Number of salaries quoted 291 124 449
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,000 £25,910
25th Percentile £30,625 £30,000 £27,000
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 £42,000 £43,750 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £33,500 £32,500 £30,250
% change year-on-year +3.08% +7.44% -3.97%

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 86,844 37,958 93,943
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.41% 89.30% 94.71%
Number of salaries quoted 57,790 21,252 68,852
10th Percentile £30,000 £29,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £40,500 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £51,058 £50,000
% change year-on-year -2.07% +2.12% -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 27 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 27 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 +105 321 £35,000 - 60
UK excluding London +98 262 £33,500 +3.08% 51
South East +40 84 £30,000 -24.53% 19
London +20 73 £37,500 -6.25% 14
East of England +24 57 £35,000 +7.69% 11
Work from Home +34 56 £30,000 -7.69% 15
North of England -10 44 £31,000 +1.64% 11
North West +11 34 £31,000 +3.33% 7
Midlands -13 34 £33,750 +3.85% 8
South West -41 29 £34,500 +2.99% 2
West Midlands -22 21 £32,500 -7.14% 6
Scotland +10 13 £40,000 +23.08% 1
Yorkshire -45 10 £31,000 -4.62% 1
East Midlands -34 9 £35,000 +16.67% 2
Wales - 1 £34,000 -

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

For the 6 months to 27 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.

1 193 (57.27%) Microsoft
2 185 (54.90%) Microsoft 365
3 175 (51.93%) Windows
4 128 (37.98%) Active Directory
5 115 (34.12%) Azure
6 101 (29.97%) Problem-Solving
7 96 (28.49%) Windows Server
8 81 (24.04%) Entra ID
9 79 (23.44%) Firewall
10 75 (22.26%) DNS
11 73 (21.66%) Customer Service
12 72 (21.36%) DHCP
12 72 (21.36%) Microsoft Exchange
13 66 (19.58%) Windows 10
14 61 (18.10%) Wi-Fi
15 58 (17.21%) SharePoint
15 58 (17.21%) VPN
15 58 (17.21%) WAN
16 56 (16.62%) LAN
17 47 (13.95%) Microsoft Intune
17 47 (13.95%) SLA
18 38 (11.28%) Hyper-V
18 38 (11.28%) TCP/IP
19 35 (10.39%) Windows Server 2016
19 35 (10.39%) Windows Server 2019
20 33 (9.79%) ITIL
21 32 (9.50%) Mac OS
21 32 (9.50%) Service Delivery
21 32 (9.50%) VoIP
22 31 (9.20%) Cybersecurity

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 72 (21.36%) Microsoft Exchange
2 58 (17.21%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.59%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.30%) Confluence
4 1 (0.30%) IIS
4 1 (0.30%) WordPress
Applications
1 30 (8.90%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (1.48%) Dynamics NAV
2 1 (0.30%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 185 (54.90%) Microsoft 365
2 115 (34.12%) Azure
3 81 (24.04%) Entra ID
4 29 (8.61%) Google Workspace
5 23 (6.82%) AWS
6 21 (6.23%) OneDrive
7 10 (2.97%) Power Platform
8 7 (2.08%) Mimecast
9 3 (0.89%) Cohesity
9 3 (0.89%) Dynamics 365
9 3 (0.89%) Microsoft Copilot
9 3 (0.89%) PaaS
9 3 (0.89%) Power Automate
9 3 (0.89%) SaaS
10 2 (0.59%) Azure Storage
11 1 (0.30%) Amazon EC2
11 1 (0.30%) Azure Monitor
11 1 (0.30%) GCP
11 1 (0.30%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 79 (23.44%) Firewall
2 75 (22.26%) DNS
3 72 (21.36%) DHCP
4 61 (18.10%) Wi-Fi
5 58 (17.21%) VPN
5 58 (17.21%) WAN
6 56 (16.62%) LAN
7 38 (11.28%) TCP/IP
8 32 (9.50%) VoIP
9 29 (8.61%) VLAN
10 15 (4.45%) Wireless
11 11 (3.26%) Remote Desktop
12 7 (2.08%) IPsec
12 7 (2.08%) SD-WAN
13 5 (1.48%) ADSL
13 5 (1.48%) SAN
14 4 (1.19%) Broadband
14 4 (1.19%) NetScaler
15 3 (0.89%) NAS
15 3 (0.89%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (2.08%) Power BI
2 2 (0.59%) SQL Server
3 1 (0.30%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 3 (0.89%) JIRA
General
1 86 (25.52%) Social Skills
2 15 (4.45%) Telecoms
3 13 (3.86%) Legal
4 9 (2.67%) Finance
4 9 (2.67%) Manufacturing
5 8 (2.37%) Retail
6 7 (2.08%) Marketing
7 6 (1.78%) Documentation Skills
7 6 (1.78%) Law
8 5 (1.48%) Advertising
8 5 (1.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 4 (1.19%) Billing
9 4 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (0.59%) Analytical Skills
10 2 (0.59%) Automotive
10 2 (0.59%) Electronics
10 2 (0.59%) Military
10 2 (0.59%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 26 (7.72%) Driving Licence
2 18 (5.34%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.67%) Smartphone
4 2 (0.59%) Data Centre
4 2 (0.59%) IoT
4 2 (0.59%) Self-Motivation
5 1 (0.30%) Enterprise Cloud
5 1 (0.30%) Mobile App
5 1 (0.30%) NHS
5 1 (0.30%) Public Cloud
5 1 (0.30%) Replication
5 1 (0.30%) Security Posture
5 1 (0.30%) Video\Live Streaming
Operating Systems
1 175 (51.93%) Windows
2 96 (28.49%) Windows Server
3 66 (19.58%) Windows 10
4 35 (10.39%) Windows Server 2016
4 35 (10.39%) Windows Server 2019
5 32 (9.50%) Mac OS
6 17 (5.04%) Windows Server 2012
7 16 (4.75%) Android
8 13 (3.86%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.19%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.89%) VMS
11 2 (0.59%) Linux
11 2 (0.59%) Windows Server 2008
12 1 (0.30%) AIX
12 1 (0.30%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.30%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (29.97%) Problem-Solving
2 73 (21.66%) Customer Service
3 33 (9.79%) ITIL
4 32 (9.50%) Service Delivery
5 31 (9.20%) Cybersecurity
6 22 (6.53%) Continuous Improvement
7 20 (5.93%) ITSM
8 19 (5.64%) Service Management
9 15 (4.45%) Remote Monitoring and Management
10 14 (4.15%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 13 (3.86%) Cloud Security
12 12 (3.56%) Incident Management
12 12 (3.56%) Incident Response
12 12 (3.56%) Mentoring
13 11 (3.26%) Mobile Device Management
14 10 (2.97%) Business Intelligence
14 10 (2.97%) Configuration Management
15 9 (2.67%) ERP
15 9 (2.67%) Identity Management
15 9 (2.67%) User Experience
Programming Languages
1 23 (6.82%) PowerShell
2 3 (0.89%) Python
2 3 (0.89%) SQL
3 2 (0.59%) VBScript
4 1 (0.30%) Java
Qualifications
1 25 (7.42%) Security Cleared
2 24 (7.12%) Microsoft Certification
3 21 (6.23%) SC Cleared
4 12 (3.56%) Degree
5 8 (2.37%) A+ Certification
5 8 (2.37%) DBS Check
6 5 (1.48%) CompTIA Security+
7 4 (1.19%) HND
8 3 (0.89%) HP APS
9 2 (0.59%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (0.59%) Network+ Certification
10 1 (0.30%) Dell Certification
10 1 (0.30%) DV Cleared
10 1 (0.30%) MCSA
10 1 (0.30%) Microsoft Certified Professional
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 47 (13.95%) SLA
2 7 (2.08%) Cyber Essentials
3 6 (1.78%) Accessibility
4 4 (1.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 4 (1.19%) NIST
5 3 (0.89%) GDPR
5 3 (0.89%) QA
System Software
1 128 (37.98%) Active Directory
2 38 (11.28%) Hyper-V
3 21 (6.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 14 (4.15%) Virtual Desktop
5 11 (3.26%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.89%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.30%) Terminal Server
7 1 (0.30%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.30%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 47 (13.95%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (4.75%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 12 (3.56%) SCCM
4 8 (2.37%) Autotask
5 5 (1.48%) FortiGate
5 5 (1.48%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.19%) WSUS
7 2 (0.59%) Nagios
8 1 (0.30%) Netcool
Vendors
1 193 (57.27%) Microsoft
2 28 (8.31%) Google
3 26 (7.72%) VMware
4 12 (3.56%) HP
5 9 (2.67%) Cisco
6 8 (2.37%) Apple
6 8 (2.37%) Samsung
6 8 (2.37%) Sophos
7 7 (2.08%) Fortinet
7 7 (2.08%) Meraki
7 7 (2.08%) ServiceNow
7 7 (2.08%) SolarWinds
8 5 (1.48%) Veeam
9 4 (1.19%) Aruba
9 4 (1.19%) CheckPoint
9 4 (1.19%) F5
9 4 (1.19%) Palo Alto
9 4 (1.19%) Sage
10 3 (0.89%) NetApp
10 3 (0.89%) SonicWALL