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 4 January 2026.

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

6 months to
4 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 484 557 415
Rank change year-on-year +73 -142 +208
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Engineer 162 156 328
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.27% 0.29% 0.62%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.30% 0.31% 0.65%
Number of salaries quoted 151 137 309
10th Percentile £36,750 £35,500 £31,750
25th Percentile £41,250 £37,500 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,000 £45,000 £45,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.44% - -
75th Percentile £54,375 £54,500 £52,500
90th Percentile £57,500 £59,000 £57,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £47,000 £45,000 £42,500
% change year-on-year +4.44% +5.88% -3.41%

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 53,448 50,590 50,228
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.53% 92.97% 95.23%
Number of salaries quoted 32,896 26,513 38,772
10th Percentile £28,500 £33,125 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £44,738 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £59,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +1.69% -1.67%
75th Percentile £75,000 £78,000 £77,500
90th Percentile £93,750 £97,500 £97,261
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -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 4 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 4 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 +92 156 £47,000 +4.44% 56
UK excluding London +69 138 £47,000 +4.44% 60
South East +7 42 £47,500 -5.00% 21
Work from Home +70 33 £52,500 +23.53% 17
South West +25 26 £52,500 +23.53% 1
North of England +24 25 £45,000 +14.65% 16
Yorkshire +16 25 £45,000 -18.18% 12
London +63 24 £45,000 -5.26% 11
East of England +30 24 £45,000 +5.88% 6
Midlands +13 16 £52,500 +5.00% 6
East Midlands +8 11 £55,000 +4.76% 3
West Midlands +15 5 £47,000 -6.00% 3
Wales - 5 £45,000 - 8
Scotland - 1 £55,000 - 3

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

For the 6 months to 4 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 74 (45.68%) Microsoft
2 68 (41.98%) Azure
3 59 (36.42%) Windows
4 58 (35.80%) Microsoft 365
5 48 (29.63%) Active Directory
5 48 (29.63%) PowerShell
6 47 (29.01%) Problem-Solving
7 45 (27.78%) Windows Server
8 43 (26.54%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 41 (25.31%) VMware
10 40 (24.69%) ITIL
11 36 (22.22%) Firewall
11 36 (22.22%) Microsoft Intune
11 36 (22.22%) Security Cleared
12 33 (20.37%) Entra ID
13 30 (18.52%) Customer Service
13 30 (18.52%) Microsoft Exchange
14 27 (16.67%) VMware Infrastructure
15 26 (16.05%) SC Cleared
16 25 (15.43%) Cisco
17 23 (14.20%) Hyper-V
18 22 (13.58%) Veeam
19 20 (12.35%) ITSM
20 18 (11.11%) Linux
21 17 (10.49%) DNS
21 17 (10.49%) Project Delivery
22 16 (9.88%) Apple
22 16 (9.88%) DV Cleared
22 16 (9.88%) Service Delivery
22 16 (9.88%) SharePoint

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 (18.52%) Microsoft Exchange
2 16 (9.88%) SharePoint
3 4 (2.47%) Exchange Server 2003
3 4 (2.47%) IIS
4 1 (0.62%) Confluence
Applications
1 5 (3.09%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 5 (3.09%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.62%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 68 (41.98%) Azure
2 58 (35.80%) Microsoft 365
3 33 (20.37%) Entra ID
4 11 (6.79%) AWS
5 7 (4.32%) Power Platform
6 2 (1.23%) Amazon S3
6 2 (1.23%) IaaS
7 1 (0.62%) Amazon EC2
7 1 (0.62%) AWS Lambda
7 1 (0.62%) Azure App Service
7 1 (0.62%) Cloud Computing
7 1 (0.62%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.62%) Google Workspace
7 1 (0.62%) Mimecast
7 1 (0.62%) OneDrive
7 1 (0.62%) PowerApps
7 1 (0.62%) SaaS
7 1 (0.62%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 36 (22.22%) Firewall
2 17 (10.49%) DNS
3 15 (9.26%) DHCP
4 14 (8.64%) VPN
5 11 (6.79%) Wireless
6 10 (6.17%) VLAN
7 8 (4.94%) WAN
7 8 (4.94%) Wi-Fi
8 7 (4.32%) Cisco IOS
8 7 (4.32%) LAN
8 7 (4.32%) VoIP
9 5 (3.09%) IP Telephony
10 4 (2.47%) IPsec
10 4 (2.47%) Network Security
10 4 (2.47%) SMTP
10 4 (2.47%) X.400
10 4 (2.47%) X.500
11 3 (1.85%) Ethernet
11 3 (1.85%) SD-WAN
11 3 (1.85%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (3.70%) SQL Server
2 5 (3.09%) Amazon RDS
2 5 (3.09%) Oracle Database
2 5 (3.09%) Oracle Database 10g
2 5 (3.09%) Power BI
3 3 (1.85%) Data Mining
4 1 (0.62%) Azure SQL Database
Development Applications
1 2 (1.23%) JIRA
General
1 31 (19.14%) Social Skills
2 12 (7.41%) Finance
2 12 (7.41%) Marketing
3 10 (6.17%) Law
4 9 (5.56%) Manufacturing
4 9 (5.56%) Telecoms
5 7 (4.32%) Automotive
5 7 (4.32%) Public Sector
6 6 (3.70%) Electronics
7 5 (3.09%) Retail
8 4 (2.47%) Advertising
9 3 (1.85%) Analytical Skills
10 2 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.23%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.62%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.62%) Banking
11 1 (0.62%) Front Office
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (0.62%) LAMP
Miscellaneous
1 20 (12.35%) Onboarding
2 6 (3.70%) Driving Licence
3 5 (3.09%) Clustering
3 5 (3.09%) Replication
4 4 (2.47%) Enterprise Software
5 3 (1.85%) iPad
6 2 (1.23%) PKI
6 2 (1.23%) YubiKey
7 1 (0.62%) BYOD
7 1 (0.62%) FMCG
7 1 (0.62%) Hybrid Cloud
7 1 (0.62%) Legacy Systems
7 1 (0.62%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.62%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 59 (36.42%) Windows
2 45 (27.78%) Windows Server
3 18 (11.11%) Linux
4 12 (7.41%) Windows 10
5 11 (6.79%) Android
6 7 (4.32%) Apple iOS
6 7 (4.32%) Unix
7 6 (3.70%) Windows Server 2016
8 5 (3.09%) Mac OS
8 5 (3.09%) Solaris
8 5 (3.09%) Windows Server 2003
9 4 (2.47%) HPUX
9 4 (2.47%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (2.47%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 47 (29.01%) Problem-Solving
2 43 (26.54%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 40 (24.69%) ITIL
4 30 (18.52%) Customer Service
5 20 (12.35%) ITSM
6 17 (10.49%) Project Delivery
7 16 (9.88%) Service Delivery
8 15 (9.26%) Mentoring
9 13 (8.02%) Disaster Recovery
10 12 (7.41%) Business Intelligence
11 11 (6.79%) Service Management
12 10 (6.17%) Cybersecurity
12 10 (6.17%) Incident Management
12 10 (6.17%) Logistics
13 9 (5.56%) Server Management
14 8 (4.94%) Presales
14 8 (4.94%) Problem Management
14 8 (4.94%) Root Cause Analysis
15 7 (4.32%) Continuous Improvement
15 7 (4.32%) Service Desk Management
Programming Languages
1 48 (29.63%) PowerShell
2 11 (6.79%) SQL
3 5 (3.09%) Bash
3 5 (3.09%) Python
Qualifications
1 36 (22.22%) Security Cleared
2 26 (16.05%) SC Cleared
3 16 (9.88%) DV Cleared
4 14 (8.64%) Degree
5 12 (7.41%) Cisco Certification
6 10 (6.17%) CCNA
7 9 (5.56%) DBS Check
7 9 (5.56%) Microsoft Certification
8 6 (3.70%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
9 5 (3.09%) HND
9 5 (3.09%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 4 (2.47%) ACMT
10 4 (2.47%) CCNP
11 3 (1.85%) RHCE
12 2 (1.23%) Azure Certification
12 2 (1.23%) Computer Science Degree
13 1 (0.62%) CompTIA Security+
13 1 (0.62%) HP APS
13 1 (0.62%) ITIL Certification
13 1 (0.62%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (9.26%) SLA
2 7 (4.32%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.85%) NIST
4 1 (0.62%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 1 (0.62%) GDPR
System Software
1 48 (29.63%) Active Directory
2 27 (16.67%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (14.20%) Hyper-V
4 9 (5.56%) vSphere
5 6 (3.70%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (3.09%) Docker
7 4 (2.47%) Virtual Machines
8 3 (1.85%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (1.23%) Firmware
9 2 (1.23%) Lustre
9 2 (1.23%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.62%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.62%) VMware NSX
10 1 (0.62%) VMware Workstation
Systems Management
1 36 (22.22%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (7.41%) SCCM
3 11 (6.79%) vCenter Server
4 7 (4.32%) FortiGate
4 7 (4.32%) Jamf Pro
4 7 (4.32%) SCOM
5 4 (2.47%) Ansible
5 4 (2.47%) Autotask
5 4 (2.47%) Kubernetes
6 2 (1.23%) SCSM
6 2 (1.23%) WSUS
7 1 (0.62%) Avamar
7 1 (0.62%) Microsoft Clustering
7 1 (0.62%) NetBackup
7 1 (0.62%) Podman
7 1 (0.62%) Puppet
7 1 (0.62%) Red Hat Satellite
7 1 (0.62%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 74 (45.68%) Microsoft
2 41 (25.31%) VMware
3 25 (15.43%) Cisco
4 22 (13.58%) Veeam
5 16 (9.88%) Apple
6 9 (5.56%) Oracle
7 8 (4.94%) Sophos
8 7 (4.32%) SAP
9 6 (3.70%) arcserve
9 6 (3.70%) Fortinet
10 5 (3.09%) Datto
10 5 (3.09%) Juniper
10 5 (3.09%) Remedy
10 5 (3.09%) ServiceNow
10 5 (3.09%) SolarWinds
11 4 (2.47%) Aruba
11 4 (2.47%) Draytek
11 4 (2.47%) McAfee
11 4 (2.47%) Red Hat
12 3 (1.85%) Trend Micro