3rd Line Engineer Job Trends

Third Line Engineer
UK

The median Third Line Engineer salary in the UK is £45,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 14 January 2026.

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

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 486 546 410
Rank change year-on-year +60 -136 +199
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Engineer 168 155 342
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.28% 0.29% 0.61%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.31% 0.31% 0.64%
Number of salaries quoted 158 136 320
10th Percentile £36,750 £35,875 £31,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £45,250 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year -0.55% +0.56% -
75th Percentile £53,750 £54,625 £52,500
90th Percentile £57,500 £62,125 £56,623
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,000 £45,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year +4.44% +5.88% -5.56%

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 54,426 49,714 53,040
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.72% 92.90% 95.25%
Number of salaries quoted 33,710 25,743 40,880
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,625 £30,000
25th Percentile £37,000 £45,000 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £57,500
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +4.35% -4.17%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,750 £77,500
90th Percentile £95,000 £97,500 £96,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,609 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.96% +5.22% -5.25%

3rd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring '3rd Line Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

3rd Line Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

3rd Line Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for 3rd Line Engineer job vacancies in the UK

3rd Line Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing 3rd Line Engineer over the 6 months to 14 January 2026.

Salary histogram for 3rd Line Engineer in the UK

3rd 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 3rd Line Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 14 January 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 +71 161 £45,500 +1.11% 50
UK excluding London +69 144 £47,000 +4.44% 46
South East +21 42 £47,500 -6.40% 22
Work from Home +56 33 £50,000 +17.65% 20
North of England +18 32 £45,000 +12.50% 8
Yorkshire +17 32 £45,000 -18.18% 6
South West +27 26 £52,500 +23.53% 3
London +55 24 £45,000 -5.26% 11
East of England +31 22 £42,500 - 7
Midlands +14 16 £52,500 +5.00% 4
East Midlands -1 11 £55,000 -15.38% 1
Wales - 6 £45,000 - 1
West Midlands +7 5 £47,000 -6.00% 3
Scotland - 1 £55,000 - 3

3rd Line Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 14 January 2026, 3rd 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 3rd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 73 (43.45%) Microsoft
2 65 (38.69%) Azure
3 59 (35.12%) Windows
4 57 (33.93%) Microsoft 365
5 48 (28.57%) Problem-Solving
6 47 (27.98%) PowerShell
7 46 (27.38%) Active Directory
8 44 (26.19%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 43 (25.60%) VMware
9 43 (25.60%) Windows Server
10 41 (24.40%) ITIL
11 39 (23.21%) Security Cleared
12 35 (20.83%) Microsoft Intune
13 34 (20.24%) Firewall
14 31 (18.45%) Entra ID
15 30 (17.86%) Microsoft Exchange
16 29 (17.26%) Customer Service
16 29 (17.26%) SC Cleared
16 29 (17.26%) VMware Infrastructure
17 24 (14.29%) Cisco
17 24 (14.29%) Veeam
18 22 (13.10%) Hyper-V
19 20 (11.90%) ITSM
20 17 (10.12%) SharePoint
21 16 (9.52%) Apple
21 16 (9.52%) DV Cleared
21 16 (9.52%) Linux
21 16 (9.52%) Project Delivery
22 15 (8.93%) DNS
22 15 (8.93%) Mentoring

3rd 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 30 (17.86%) Microsoft Exchange
2 17 (10.12%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.38%) Exchange Server 2003
3 4 (2.38%) IIS
4 1 (0.60%) Confluence
Applications
1 4 (2.38%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 5 (2.98%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.60%) NetSuite
2 1 (0.60%) Oracle EBS
Cloud Services
1 65 (38.69%) Azure
2 57 (33.93%) Microsoft 365
3 31 (18.45%) Entra ID
4 9 (5.36%) AWS
5 6 (3.57%) Power Platform
6 2 (1.19%) IaaS
6 2 (1.19%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.60%) Amazon S3
7 1 (0.60%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.60%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.60%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 34 (20.24%) Firewall
2 15 (8.93%) DNS
3 14 (8.33%) DHCP
3 14 (8.33%) VPN
4 11 (6.55%) Wireless
5 10 (5.95%) VLAN
6 8 (4.76%) WAN
6 8 (4.76%) Wi-Fi
7 7 (4.17%) Cisco IOS
7 7 (4.17%) LAN
7 7 (4.17%) VoIP
8 5 (2.98%) IP Telephony
9 4 (2.38%) IPsec
9 4 (2.38%) Network Security
9 4 (2.38%) SMTP
9 4 (2.38%) X.400
9 4 (2.38%) X.500
10 3 (1.79%) Ethernet
10 3 (1.79%) SD-WAN
11 2 (1.19%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (4.17%) SQL Server
2 5 (2.98%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (2.98%) Oracle Database
2 5 (2.98%) Oracle Database 10g
2 5 (2.98%) Power BI
3 3 (1.79%) Data Mining
Development Applications
1 2 (1.19%) JIRA
General
1 31 (18.45%) Social Skills
2 12 (7.14%) Finance
2 12 (7.14%) Marketing
3 10 (5.95%) Law
4 9 (5.36%) Manufacturing
5 8 (4.76%) Public Sector
5 8 (4.76%) Telecoms
6 7 (4.17%) Automotive
7 6 (3.57%) Electronics
8 4 (2.38%) Advertising
8 4 (2.38%) Analytical Skills
8 4 (2.38%) Retail
9 2 (1.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (1.19%) Organisational Skills
10 1 (0.60%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.60%) Banking
10 1 (0.60%) Front Office
Miscellaneous
1 20 (11.90%) Onboarding
2 6 (3.57%) Driving Licence
3 5 (2.98%) Replication
4 4 (2.38%) Clustering
4 4 (2.38%) Enterprise Software
5 3 (1.79%) iPad
6 2 (1.19%) YubiKey
7 1 (0.60%) BYOD
7 1 (0.60%) CMDB
7 1 (0.60%) FMCG
7 1 (0.60%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.60%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.60%) NHS
7 1 (0.60%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 59 (35.12%) Windows
2 43 (25.60%) Windows Server
3 16 (9.52%) Linux
4 12 (7.14%) Windows 10
5 11 (6.55%) Android
6 7 (4.17%) Apple iOS
6 7 (4.17%) Unix
7 6 (3.57%) Mac OS
7 6 (3.57%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (2.98%) Solaris
8 5 (2.98%) Windows Server 2003
9 4 (2.38%) HPUX
9 4 (2.38%) Windows Server 2012
10 3 (1.79%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 48 (28.57%) Problem-Solving
2 44 (26.19%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 41 (24.40%) ITIL
4 29 (17.26%) Customer Service
5 20 (11.90%) ITSM
6 16 (9.52%) Project Delivery
7 15 (8.93%) Mentoring
7 15 (8.93%) Service Delivery
8 13 (7.74%) Disaster Recovery
9 11 (6.55%) Business Intelligence
9 11 (6.55%) Service Management
10 10 (5.95%) Cybersecurity
10 10 (5.95%) Incident Management
10 10 (5.95%) Logistics
11 9 (5.36%) Problem Management
11 9 (5.36%) Root Cause Analysis
12 8 (4.76%) Continuous Improvement
12 8 (4.76%) Presales
12 8 (4.76%) Server Management
13 7 (4.17%) Service Desk Management
Programming Languages
1 47 (27.98%) PowerShell
2 11 (6.55%) SQL
3 4 (2.38%) Bash
3 4 (2.38%) Python
Qualifications
1 39 (23.21%) Security Cleared
2 29 (17.26%) SC Cleared
3 16 (9.52%) DV Cleared
4 14 (8.33%) Degree
5 11 (6.55%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (5.95%) DBS Check
7 9 (5.36%) CCNA
8 7 (4.17%) Microsoft Certification
9 6 (3.57%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 5 (2.98%) HND
11 4 (2.38%) ACMT
11 4 (2.38%) CCNP
11 4 (2.38%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 3 (1.79%) RHCE
13 1 (0.60%) Azure Certification
13 1 (0.60%) CompTIA Security+
13 1 (0.60%) Computer Science Degree
13 1 (0.60%) HP APS
13 1 (0.60%) ITIL Certification
13 1 (0.60%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (8.93%) SLA
2 7 (4.17%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.79%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.79%) NIST
4 1 (0.60%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.60%) GDPR
System Software
1 46 (27.38%) Active Directory
2 29 (17.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (13.10%) Hyper-V
4 9 (5.36%) vSphere
5 6 (3.57%) VMware ESXi
6 4 (2.38%) Docker
6 4 (2.38%) Virtual Desktop
6 4 (2.38%) Virtual Machines
7 2 (1.19%) Lustre
7 2 (1.19%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.60%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.60%) Firmware
8 1 (0.60%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 1 (0.60%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.60%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.60%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 35 (20.83%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (7.14%) SCCM
3 10 (5.95%) vCenter Server
4 7 (4.17%) FortiGate
4 7 (4.17%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (4.17%) SCOM
5 4 (2.38%) Autotask
5 4 (2.38%) Kubernetes
6 3 (1.79%) Ansible
7 2 (1.19%) SCSM
7 2 (1.19%) WSUS
8 1 (0.60%) Avamar
8 1 (0.60%) Proxmox
8 1 (0.60%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 73 (43.45%) Microsoft
2 43 (25.60%) VMware
3 24 (14.29%) Cisco
3 24 (14.29%) Veeam
4 16 (9.52%) Apple
5 10 (5.95%) Oracle
6 8 (4.76%) Sophos
7 6 (3.57%) arcserve
7 6 (3.57%) Fortinet
7 6 (3.57%) SAP
8 5 (2.98%) Datto
8 5 (2.98%) Juniper
8 5 (2.98%) Remedy
8 5 (2.98%) ServiceNow
8 5 (2.98%) SolarWinds
9 4 (2.38%) Aruba
9 4 (2.38%) Draytek
9 4 (2.38%) McAfee
10 3 (1.79%) Meraki
10 3 (1.79%) Trend Micro