3rd Line Support Engineer Job Trends

Third Line Support Engineer
UK

The median Third Line Support Engineer salary in the UK is £47,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 7 August 2026.

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

6 months to
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 668 576 658
Rank change year-on-year -92 +82 +32
Permanent jobs requiring a 3rd Line Support Engineer 119 106 172
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.11% 0.21% 0.21%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.12% 0.24% 0.22%
Number of salaries quoted 117 103 168
10th Percentile £37,500 £33,750 £31,250
25th Percentile £41,250 £38,000 £35,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,500 £47,500 £42,000
Median % change year-on-year - +13.10% +5.00%
75th Percentile £57,500 £52,500 £50,063
90th Percentile £58,750 £65,750 £53,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £47,500 £42,000
% change year-on-year -5.26% +13.10% +5.00%

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 98,814 44,648 79,271
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.12% 90.01% 94.96%
Number of salaries quoted 67,613 26,525 53,451
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,500 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £71,991
90th Percentile £96,250 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £49,600 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.85% -0.80% -6.54%

3rd Line Support Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

3rd Line Support Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

3rd Line Support Engineer
Salary Trend

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

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

3rd Line Support Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing 3rd Line Support Engineer over the 6 months to 7 August 2026.

Salary histogram for 3rd Line Support Engineer in the UK

3rd Line Support Engineer
Top 13 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing 3rd Line Support Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 7 August 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 -96 98 £51,250 +7.89% 11
UK excluding London -64 96 £45,000 -5.26% 11
South East +13 47 £55,000 +15.79% 4
Work from Home -16 41 £57,500 +15.00% 4
London -32 23 £55,000 +6.80% 1
Wales - 21 £45,000 -
Midlands -46 11 £41,000 -18.00% 3
East Midlands -32 8 £35,500 -29.00%
Yorkshire -20 7 £47,500 +15.15%
North of England -58 7 £47,500 +20.25% 3
East of England -47 5 £36,500 -23.16% 1
South West -64 5 £50,000 +19.05%
West Midlands -39 3 £45,000 -10.00% 3

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

For the 6 months to 7 August 2026, 3rd Line Support 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 Support Engineer in the job title.

1 94 (78.99%) Microsoft
2 85 (71.43%) Microsoft 365
3 67 (56.30%) Windows
4 65 (54.62%) Active Directory
5 64 (53.78%) Azure
5 64 (53.78%) Entra ID
6 55 (46.22%) Microsoft Exchange
7 47 (39.50%) SharePoint
8 46 (38.66%) SaaS
9 45 (37.82%) Firewall
10 41 (34.45%) Microsoft Intune
11 36 (30.25%) Windows Server
12 31 (26.05%) Technical Leadership
13 30 (25.21%) Hyper-V
13 30 (25.21%) VMware
13 30 (25.21%) VMware Infrastructure
14 29 (24.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 27 (22.69%) Mentoring
16 25 (21.01%) Change Management
17 24 (20.17%) Incident Management
18 23 (19.33%) Identity Management
18 23 (19.33%) ITIL
18 23 (19.33%) Security Cleared
18 23 (19.33%) VLAN
19 22 (18.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
20 21 (17.65%) JIRA
20 21 (17.65%) Mac OS
21 20 (16.81%) Mimecast
21 20 (16.81%) SC Cleared
22 19 (15.97%) CrowdStrike

3rd Line Support 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 55 (46.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 47 (39.50%) SharePoint
3 4 (3.36%) Exchange Server 2007
3 4 (3.36%) Exchange Server 2010
3 4 (3.36%) Exchange Server 2013
4 1 (0.84%) Confluence
Applications
1 4 (3.36%) Microsoft Office
Business Applications
1 3 (2.52%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.84%) NetSuite
Cloud Services
1 85 (71.43%) Microsoft 365
2 64 (53.78%) Azure
2 64 (53.78%) Entra ID
3 46 (38.66%) SaaS
4 20 (16.81%) Mimecast
5 11 (9.24%) Google Workspace
6 6 (5.04%) AWS
6 6 (5.04%) OneDrive
7 4 (3.36%) Power Automate
8 3 (2.52%) IaaS
8 3 (2.52%) Power Platform
9 1 (0.84%) Google Docs
9 1 (0.84%) PaaS
9 1 (0.84%) Slack
Communications & Networking
1 45 (37.82%) Firewall
2 23 (19.33%) VLAN
3 17 (14.29%) DNS
4 14 (11.76%) DHCP
4 14 (11.76%) VPN
5 13 (10.92%) Wi-Fi
6 8 (6.72%) TCP/IP
6 8 (6.72%) Wireless
7 7 (5.88%) Network Security
8 6 (5.04%) LAN
8 6 (5.04%) SAN
9 5 (4.20%) WAN
10 4 (3.36%) DMZ
10 4 (3.36%) Wireshark
11 3 (2.52%) Remote Desktop
12 1 (0.84%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 7 (5.88%) SQL Server
2 2 (1.68%) Amazon RDS
Development Applications
1 21 (17.65%) JIRA
2 1 (0.84%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
General
1 37 (31.09%) Social Skills
2 20 (16.81%) Legal
3 11 (9.24%) Public Sector
4 6 (5.04%) Analytical Skills
5 4 (3.36%) Organisational Skills
6 2 (1.68%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (1.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (0.84%) Law
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (5.04%) .NET
2 3 (2.52%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 10 (8.40%) Video Conferencing
2 7 (5.88%) Driving Licence
2 7 (5.88%) Enterprise Software
3 6 (5.04%) Onboarding
3 6 (5.04%) Self-Motivation
4 4 (3.36%) Cyber Threat
5 3 (2.52%) PKI
6 2 (1.68%) Management Information System
7 1 (0.84%) Clustering
7 1 (0.84%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 67 (56.30%) Windows
2 36 (30.25%) Windows Server
3 21 (17.65%) Mac OS
4 19 (15.97%) Linux
5 15 (12.61%) Windows Server 2016
6 13 (10.92%) Windows Server 2012
7 10 (8.40%) Windows Server 2019
8 4 (3.36%) Windows Server 2008
9 3 (2.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 2 (1.68%) VMS
11 1 (0.84%) Apple iOS
Processes & Methodologies
1 31 (26.05%) Technical Leadership
2 29 (24.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 27 (22.69%) Mentoring
4 25 (21.01%) Change Management
5 24 (20.17%) Incident Management
6 23 (19.33%) Identity Management
6 23 (19.33%) ITIL
7 19 (15.97%) Root Cause Analysis
7 19 (15.97%) Workflow
8 17 (14.29%) Project Delivery
9 16 (13.45%) Kalman Filter
10 14 (11.76%) Problem Management
10 14 (11.76%) Problem-Solving
10 14 (11.76%) Remote Monitoring and Management
10 14 (11.76%) Server Management
11 13 (10.92%) Customer Service
11 13 (10.92%) Disaster Recovery
11 13 (10.92%) Security Management
11 13 (10.92%) Web Filtering
12 12 (10.08%) Continuous Improvement
Programming Languages
1 19 (15.97%) R
2 14 (11.76%) SQL
3 12 (10.08%) PowerShell
4 7 (5.88%) T-SQL
5 6 (5.04%) C#
6 1 (0.84%) Google Apps Script
6 1 (0.84%) Python
Qualifications
1 23 (19.33%) Security Cleared
2 20 (16.81%) SC Cleared
3 12 (10.08%) CCNA
3 12 (10.08%) Cisco Certification
4 11 (9.24%) Microsoft Certification
5 9 (7.56%) Degree
6 7 (5.88%) Azure Certification
7 4 (3.36%) AWS Certification
7 4 (3.36%) MCSA
7 4 (3.36%) Microsoft Certified Professional
8 3 (2.52%) DV Cleared
9 2 (1.68%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (18.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 13 (10.92%) Cyber Essentials
3 3 (2.52%) SLA
4 2 (1.68%) PCI DSS
5 1 (0.84%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
System Software
1 65 (54.62%) Active Directory
2 30 (25.21%) Hyper-V
2 30 (25.21%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (10.08%) Virtual Desktop
4 7 (5.88%) Virtual Machines
5 3 (2.52%) vSphere
6 2 (1.68%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 41 (34.45%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (11.76%) Autotask
3 11 (9.24%) Proxmox
3 11 (9.24%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
4 10 (8.40%) Jamf Pro
5 4 (3.36%) Iperf
6 3 (2.52%) WSUS
7 2 (1.68%) MaaS360
8 1 (0.84%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 94 (78.99%) Microsoft
2 30 (25.21%) VMware
3 19 (15.97%) CrowdStrike
4 18 (15.13%) Cisco
5 17 (14.29%) SonicWALL
6 14 (11.76%) HP
7 11 (9.24%) Google
8 10 (8.40%) Aruba
8 10 (8.40%) Datto
8 10 (8.40%) Meraki
8 10 (8.40%) Ubiquiti
9 6 (5.04%) Fortinet
9 6 (5.04%) Veeam
10 5 (4.20%) ConnectWise
11 4 (3.36%) Dell
11 4 (3.36%) Palo Alto
11 4 (3.36%) Ruckus Wireless
12 3 (2.52%) McAfee
12 3 (2.52%) Remedy
12 3 (2.52%) ServiceNow