3rd Line Engineer Job Trends

Third Line Engineer
UK

The median Third Line Engineer salary in the UK is £47,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 31 October 2025.

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

6 months to
31 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 523 553 433
Rank change year-on-year +30 -120 +309
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Engineer 147 204 322
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.29% 0.30% 0.59%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.32% 0.32% 0.62%
Number of salaries quoted 142 167 297
10th Percentile £33,875 £34,750 £32,500
25th Percentile £39,250 £36,250 £36,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,000 £42,500 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.59% -5.56% -
75th Percentile £53,188 £51,875 £52,500
90th Percentile £57,500 £56,550 £56,915
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,000 £41,750 £43,250
% change year-on-year +12.57% -3.47% -3.89%

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 45,283 64,734 52,203
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.18% 95.22% 95.57%
Number of salaries quoted 27,226 36,793 40,430
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £31,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £42,005 £42,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £57,000 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.89% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £75,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £93,750 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £46,000 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -8.00% -4.76% -

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 31 October 2025.

Salary histogram for 3rd Line Engineer in the UK

3rd 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 3rd Line Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 31 October 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 +28 141 £47,000 +10.59% 59
UK excluding London +12 126 £47,000 +12.57% 55
Work from Home +26 42 £50,000 +25.00% 15
East of England +37 38 £47,000 +10.59% 4
South East +9 33 £47,500 +5.56% 30
Midlands +34 22 £49,739 +10.53% 8
London +41 18 £43,750 -7.89% 15
South West +35 18 £52,500 +16.02% 8
East Midlands +21 13 £55,000 +15.79% 3
North of England -10 12 £40,000 +12.68% 4
North West +9 10 £40,000 - 2
West Midlands +36 9 £47,500 +14.46% 5
Wales +17 2 - - 2
Yorkshire +5 2 £49,250 +21.06% 2
Scotland -2 2 £45,000 +3.45%

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

For the 6 months to 31 October 2025, 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 97 (65.99%) Microsoft
2 91 (61.90%) Azure
3 81 (55.10%) Microsoft 365
3 81 (55.10%) Windows
4 71 (48.30%) PowerShell
5 66 (44.90%) Windows Server
6 55 (37.41%) ITIL
7 50 (34.01%) Active Directory
8 46 (31.29%) Microsoft Exchange
9 45 (30.61%) VMware
10 43 (29.25%) Microsoft Intune
11 42 (28.57%) Hyper-V
12 41 (27.89%) Cisco
13 40 (27.21%) Problem-Solving
14 39 (26.53%) Entra ID
15 38 (25.85%) Firewall
15 38 (25.85%) VMware Infrastructure
16 33 (22.45%) Veeam
17 31 (21.09%) Security Cleared
18 28 (19.05%) Infrastructure Engineering
19 27 (18.37%) DNS
20 24 (16.33%) SharePoint
21 23 (15.65%) Customer Service
21 23 (15.65%) Windows Server 2019
22 21 (14.29%) Task Automation
23 19 (12.93%) DHCP
23 19 (12.93%) ITSM
23 19 (12.93%) Patch Management
24 18 (12.24%) Degree
24 18 (12.24%) 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 46 (31.29%) Microsoft Exchange
2 24 (16.33%) SharePoint
3 5 (3.40%) IIS
4 4 (2.72%) Exchange Server 2003
Applications
1 6 (4.08%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.68%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 5 (3.40%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 91 (61.90%) Azure
2 81 (55.10%) Microsoft 365
3 39 (26.53%) Entra ID
4 13 (8.84%) AWS
5 6 (4.08%) Power Platform
6 5 (3.40%) Azure Sentinel
7 3 (2.04%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (1.36%) AWS Lambda
8 2 (1.36%) Azure App Service
8 2 (1.36%) Azure Storage
8 2 (1.36%) GCP
8 2 (1.36%) OneDrive
8 2 (1.36%) PowerApps
8 2 (1.36%) Serverless
9 1 (0.68%) Amazon ECS
9 1 (0.68%) Azure DevOps
9 1 (0.68%) Azure Monitor
9 1 (0.68%) Azure Table
9 1 (0.68%) Dynamics 365
9 1 (0.68%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 38 (25.85%) Firewall
2 27 (18.37%) DNS
3 19 (12.93%) DHCP
4 14 (9.52%) VLAN
5 13 (8.84%) Wireless
6 11 (7.48%) VPN
7 10 (6.80%) LAN
7 10 (6.80%) WAN
8 9 (6.12%) Cisco IOS
8 9 (6.12%) VoIP
9 8 (5.44%) SAN
10 7 (4.76%) Wi-Fi
11 6 (4.08%) Internet
11 6 (4.08%) iSCSI
11 6 (4.08%) TCP/IP
12 5 (3.40%) IP Telephony
12 5 (3.40%) IPsec
13 4 (2.72%) Junos
13 4 (2.72%) X.400
13 4 (2.72%) X.500
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (6.12%) SQL Server
2 5 (3.40%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (3.40%) Oracle Database
2 5 (3.40%) Oracle Database 10g
3 3 (2.04%) Data Mining
3 3 (2.04%) Power BI
4 1 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 1 (0.68%) JIRA
General
1 37 (25.17%) Social Skills
2 15 (10.20%) Marketing
3 14 (9.52%) Finance
4 11 (7.48%) Public Sector
4 11 (7.48%) Telecoms
5 10 (6.80%) Law
5 10 (6.80%) Manufacturing
6 9 (6.12%) Electronics
7 7 (4.76%) Automotive
8 5 (3.40%) Billing
9 3 (2.04%) Analytical Skills
9 3 (2.04%) Organisational Skills
10 2 (1.36%) Advertising
10 2 (1.36%) Games
10 2 (1.36%) Retail
11 1 (0.68%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.68%) Documentation Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.68%) .NET
1 1 (0.68%) LAMP
Miscellaneous
1 20 (13.61%) Onboarding
2 11 (7.48%) Driving Licence
3 6 (4.08%) Clustering
4 4 (2.72%) Enterprise Software
4 4 (2.72%) Replication
5 3 (2.04%) iPad
5 3 (2.04%) PKI
5 3 (2.04%) Social Media
6 2 (1.36%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (0.68%) BYOD
7 1 (0.68%) FMCG
7 1 (0.68%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.68%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.68%) NHS
7 1 (0.68%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 81 (55.10%) Windows
2 66 (44.90%) Windows Server
3 23 (15.65%) Windows Server 2019
4 16 (10.88%) Linux
5 12 (8.16%) Windows 10
6 11 (7.48%) Android
7 8 (5.44%) Windows Server 2016
8 7 (4.76%) Apple iOS
8 7 (4.76%) Unix
9 6 (4.08%) Mac OS
10 5 (3.40%) Solaris
11 4 (2.72%) HPUX
11 4 (2.72%) Windows Server 2003
12 1 (0.68%) CentOS
12 1 (0.68%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.68%) VMS
12 1 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 55 (37.41%) ITIL
2 40 (27.21%) Problem-Solving
3 28 (19.05%) Infrastructure Engineering
4 23 (15.65%) Customer Service
5 21 (14.29%) Task Automation
6 19 (12.93%) ITSM
6 19 (12.93%) Patch Management
7 18 (12.24%) Mentoring
8 16 (10.88%) Migration
9 15 (10.20%) Service Delivery
10 13 (8.84%) Business Intelligence
10 13 (8.84%) Project Delivery
10 13 (8.84%) Server Management
11 11 (7.48%) Cloud Security
11 11 (7.48%) Disaster Recovery
12 10 (6.80%) Remote Monitoring and Management
12 10 (6.80%) Root Cause Analysis
13 9 (6.12%) Digital Marketing
13 9 (6.12%) Incident Management
13 9 (6.12%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 71 (48.30%) PowerShell
2 5 (3.40%) SQL
3 3 (2.04%) Bash
3 3 (2.04%) Python
4 1 (0.68%) C#
4 1 (0.68%) Java
Qualifications
1 31 (21.09%) Security Cleared
2 18 (12.24%) Degree
2 18 (12.24%) SC Cleared
3 16 (10.88%) Cisco Certification
4 15 (10.20%) CCNA
5 13 (8.84%) DV Cleared
6 11 (7.48%) Microsoft Certification
7 8 (5.44%) DBS Check
8 6 (4.08%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 5 (3.40%) ACMT
9 5 (3.40%) Azure Certification
9 5 (3.40%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
10 3 (2.04%) CCNP
10 3 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
10 3 (2.04%) HND
11 2 (1.36%) CompTIA Security+
11 2 (1.36%) MCSE
11 2 (1.36%) Network+ Certification
12 1 (0.68%) AWS Certification
12 1 (0.68%) Linux+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (8.84%) SLA
2 11 (7.48%) Cyber Essentials
3 2 (1.36%) GDPR
4 1 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.68%) HIPAA
4 1 (0.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (0.68%) NIST
4 1 (0.68%) PCI DSS
4 1 (0.68%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 50 (34.01%) Active Directory
2 42 (28.57%) Hyper-V
3 38 (25.85%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (5.44%) vSphere
5 7 (4.76%) Docker
6 6 (4.08%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (2.72%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (2.72%) XenApp
8 2 (1.36%) Firmware
8 2 (1.36%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (1.36%) VMware NSX
9 1 (0.68%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.68%) Dovecot
9 1 (0.68%) Postfix
Systems Management
1 43 (29.25%) Microsoft Intune
2 15 (10.20%) Backup Exec
3 14 (9.52%) SCCM
4 10 (6.80%) Autotask
4 10 (6.80%) Jamf Pro
4 10 (6.80%) vCenter Server
5 6 (4.08%) Kubernetes
6 4 (2.72%) FortiGate
7 3 (2.04%) SCOM
8 2 (1.36%) Grafana
8 2 (1.36%) Prometheus
8 2 (1.36%) SCSM
9 1 (0.68%) Ansible
9 1 (0.68%) Avamar
9 1 (0.68%) Microsoft Clustering
9 1 (0.68%) NetBackup
9 1 (0.68%) Podman
9 1 (0.68%) Terraform
9 1 (0.68%) WhatsUp Gold
9 1 (0.68%) ZABBIX
Vendors
1 97 (65.99%) Microsoft
2 45 (30.61%) VMware
3 41 (27.89%) Cisco
4 33 (22.45%) Veeam
5 17 (11.56%) Apple
6 14 (9.52%) Datto
7 11 (7.48%) Sophos
8 10 (6.80%) Aruba
8 10 (6.80%) HP
8 10 (6.80%) Meraki
8 10 (6.80%) Oracle
8 10 (6.80%) SAP
9 7 (4.76%) Juniper
9 7 (4.76%) SolarWinds
10 6 (4.08%) arcserve
10 6 (4.08%) Citrix
11 5 (3.40%) Remedy
11 5 (3.40%) ServiceNow
12 4 (2.72%) Fortinet
12 4 (2.72%) Ubiquiti