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 1 July 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 437 552 473
Rank change year-on-year +115 -79 -25
Permanent jobs requiring a 2nd Line Engineer 351 124 496
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.36% 0.27% 0.47%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.39% 0.30% 0.50%
Number of salaries quoted 299 119 447
10th Percentile £29,750 £29,000 £25,950
25th Percentile £31,250 £31,250 £27,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £35,000 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year - +7.69% -
75th Percentile £40,000 £42,000 £36,000
90th Percentile £42,500 £43,750 £40,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £34,750 £32,625 £30,000
% change year-on-year +6.51% +8.75% -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 90,787 41,821 99,953
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.11% 89.76% 94.72%
Number of salaries quoted 62,361 24,209 72,015
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £38,500 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £56,673 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -2.95% +7.95% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £76,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £51,000 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +2.00% - -5.87%

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 1 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 1 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 +114 319 £35,000 -2.10% 54
UK excluding London +97 276 £34,750 +6.51% 53
South East +21 81 £32,500 -18.75% 18
London +4 72 £36,000 -10.00% 7
East of England +49 69 £35,000 +7.69% 15
Work from Home +28 68 £33,500 +3.08% 12
North of England -16 53 £33,500 +3.08% 5
North West +24 43 £35,000 +8.53% 3
Scotland +42 25 £34,250 +5.38% 1
Midlands -30 25 £32,500 - 6
South West -48 19 £35,000 +7.69% 10
West Midlands -21 16 £32,000 -8.57% 3
Yorkshire -37 10 £31,000 -22.50%
East Midlands -27 8 £35,000 +16.67% 3
Wales - 4 £35,000 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 1 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.

1 213 (60.68%) Microsoft
2 200 (56.98%) Microsoft 365
3 189 (53.85%) Windows
4 135 (38.46%) Active Directory
5 106 (30.20%) Azure
6 102 (29.06%) Problem-Solving
7 98 (27.92%) Windows Server
8 94 (26.78%) Customer Service
9 82 (23.36%) Entra ID
10 80 (22.79%) Microsoft Exchange
11 78 (22.22%) DNS
12 77 (21.94%) Firewall
13 69 (19.66%) DHCP
14 66 (18.80%) Windows 10
15 64 (18.23%) SharePoint
16 53 (15.10%) Wi-Fi
17 50 (14.25%) Microsoft Intune
18 49 (13.96%) LAN
18 49 (13.96%) VPN
18 49 (13.96%) WAN
19 45 (12.82%) SLA
20 44 (12.54%) Hyper-V
21 40 (11.40%) Mac OS
21 40 (11.40%) Service Delivery
22 38 (10.83%) VMware
23 37 (10.54%) TCP/IP
24 35 (9.97%) Windows Server 2019
25 34 (9.69%) Windows Server 2016
26 32 (9.12%) ITIL
26 32 (9.12%) 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 80 (22.79%) Microsoft Exchange
2 64 (18.23%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.57%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.28%) IIS
4 1 (0.28%) WordPress
Applications
1 29 (8.26%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.14%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 5 (1.42%) Dynamics NAV
Cloud Services
1 200 (56.98%) Microsoft 365
2 106 (30.20%) Azure
3 82 (23.36%) Entra ID
4 22 (6.27%) Google Workspace
5 18 (5.13%) AWS
6 17 (4.84%) OneDrive
7 12 (3.42%) Power Platform
8 8 (2.28%) Cohesity
9 7 (1.99%) Mimecast
10 5 (1.42%) SaaS
11 3 (0.85%) Dynamics 365
11 3 (0.85%) Microsoft Copilot
11 3 (0.85%) PaaS
11 3 (0.85%) 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 (0.28%) Azure Monitor
13 1 (0.28%) Cloud Computing
Communications & Networking
1 78 (22.22%) DNS
2 77 (21.94%) Firewall
3 69 (19.66%) DHCP
4 53 (15.10%) Wi-Fi
5 49 (13.96%) LAN
5 49 (13.96%) VPN
5 49 (13.96%) WAN
6 37 (10.54%) TCP/IP
7 29 (8.26%) VoIP
8 20 (5.70%) VLAN
9 11 (3.13%) SAN
10 9 (2.56%) Wireless
11 7 (1.99%) Remote Desktop
12 5 (1.42%) ADSL
12 5 (1.42%) IPsec
12 5 (1.42%) SD-WAN
13 4 (1.14%) Broadband
14 3 (0.85%) Internet
14 3 (0.85%) NAS
14 3 (0.85%) WebEx
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.56%) Power BI
2 4 (1.14%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (0.28%) Carbide.c++
1 1 (0.28%) JIRA
General
1 107 (30.48%) Social Skills
2 16 (4.56%) Telecoms
3 13 (3.70%) Legal
4 12 (3.42%) Documentation Skills
5 7 (1.99%) Finance
6 6 (1.71%) Billing
6 6 (1.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 6 (1.71%) Organisational Skills
6 6 (1.71%) Retail
7 5 (1.42%) Manufacturing
8 3 (0.85%) Advertising
9 2 (0.57%) Analytical Skills
9 2 (0.57%) Automotive
9 2 (0.57%) Military
9 2 (0.57%) Public Sector
10 1 (0.28%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.28%) Law
10 1 (0.28%) Marketing
Miscellaneous
1 38 (10.83%) Driving Licence
2 25 (7.12%) Onboarding
3 9 (2.56%) Smartphone
4 7 (1.99%) Data Centre
5 5 (1.42%) iPhone
6 4 (1.14%) Replication
7 3 (0.85%) IoT
8 2 (0.57%) Enterprise Cloud
8 2 (0.57%) Self-Motivation
9 1 (0.28%) NHS
9 1 (0.28%) Public Cloud
9 1 (0.28%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 189 (53.85%) Windows
2 98 (27.92%) Windows Server
3 66 (18.80%) Windows 10
4 40 (11.40%) Mac OS
5 35 (9.97%) Windows Server 2019
6 34 (9.69%) Windows Server 2016
7 16 (4.56%) Android
8 13 (3.70%) Windows Server 2012
9 8 (2.28%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.14%) Windows 7
11 3 (0.85%) Linux
11 3 (0.85%) VMS
12 2 (0.57%) AIX
12 2 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 2 (0.57%) Windows Server 2008
13 1 (0.28%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 102 (29.06%) Problem-Solving
2 94 (26.78%) Customer Service
3 40 (11.40%) Service Delivery
4 32 (9.12%) ITIL
5 31 (8.83%) Continuous Improvement
6 30 (8.55%) Cybersecurity
7 23 (6.55%) ITSM
8 20 (5.70%) Cloud Security
8 20 (5.70%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 17 (4.84%) Mentoring
10 16 (4.56%) Collaborative Culture
11 14 (3.99%) Incident Management
11 14 (3.99%) Service Management
11 14 (3.99%) User Experience
12 13 (3.70%) Incident Response
13 12 (3.42%) Disaster Recovery
13 12 (3.42%) Remote Monitoring and Management
14 11 (3.13%) Identity Management
14 11 (3.13%) Root Cause Analysis
15 10 (2.85%) AI
Programming Languages
1 28 (7.98%) PowerShell
2 6 (1.71%) SQL
3 4 (1.14%) VBScript
4 3 (0.85%) Python
5 2 (0.57%) Java
Qualifications
1 25 (7.12%) Microsoft Certification
2 22 (6.27%) Security Cleared
3 16 (4.56%) Degree
4 13 (3.70%) SC Cleared
5 8 (2.28%) A+ Certification
5 8 (2.28%) DBS Check
6 6 (1.71%) HND
7 3 (0.85%) HP APS
8 2 (0.57%) Dell Certification
8 2 (0.57%) ITIL Certification
8 2 (0.57%) MCSA
9 1 (0.28%) CompTIA Security+
9 1 (0.28%) DV Cleared
9 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Certified Professional
9 1 (0.28%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 45 (12.82%) SLA
2 6 (1.71%) Accessibility
3 3 (0.85%) GDPR
4 2 (0.57%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (0.57%) QA
System Software
1 135 (38.46%) Active Directory
2 44 (12.54%) Hyper-V
3 32 (9.12%) VMware Infrastructure
4 13 (3.70%) Virtual Desktop
5 10 (2.85%) BitLocker
6 3 (0.85%) Terminal Services
7 2 (0.57%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (0.57%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.28%) Terminal Server
Systems Management
1 50 (14.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (3.42%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 11 (3.13%) SCCM
4 10 (2.85%) Autotask
4 10 (2.85%) WSUS
5 7 (1.99%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.57%) Nagios
6 2 (0.57%) Netcool
6 2 (0.57%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
6 2 (0.57%) ZABBIX
7 1 (0.28%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 213 (60.68%) Microsoft
2 38 (10.83%) VMware
3 21 (5.98%) Google
4 16 (4.56%) Cisco
5 14 (3.99%) HP
6 13 (3.70%) Meraki
7 10 (2.85%) NetApp
7 10 (2.85%) ServiceNow
8 8 (2.28%) SolarWinds
8 8 (2.28%) Sophos
9 7 (1.99%) Veeam
10 6 (1.71%) Fortinet
11 4 (1.14%) Dell
11 4 (1.14%) Sage
11 4 (1.14%) Samsung
12 3 (0.85%) Apple
12 3 (0.85%) Barracuda Networks
12 3 (0.85%) ConnectWise
12 3 (0.85%) Datto
12 3 (0.85%) Snow