Desktop Support Engineer Job Trends

Desktop Support Engineer
UK

The median Desktop Support Engineer salary in the UK is £36,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 8 November 2025.

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

6 months to
8 Nov 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 584 633 554
Rank change year-on-year +49 -79 +276
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 81 113 180
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.16% 0.17% 0.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.18% 0.18% 0.35%
Number of salaries quoted 72 76 171
10th Percentile £29,000 £21,250 -
25th Percentile £30,000 £29,238 £26,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £36,500 £34,250 £33,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.57% +3.79% +1.54%
75th Percentile £39,625 £45,000 £39,125
90th Percentile £53,625 £57,500 £57,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £29,605 £27,500
% change year-on-year +18.22% +7.65% -1.79%

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 46,066 64,284 51,077
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.12% 95.03% 95.51%
Number of salaries quoted 28,668 36,353 39,628
10th Percentile £28,250 £31,250 £31,500
25th Percentile £35,000 £42,238 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £57,500 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% -4.17% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £75,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £92,500 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £46,000 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -8.00% -4.76% -

Desktop Support Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Desktop Support Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK

Desktop Support Engineer
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK.

Salary distribution trend for Desktop Support Engineer job vacancies in the UK

Desktop Support Engineer
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing Desktop Support Engineer over the 6 months to 8 November 2025.

Salary histogram for Desktop Support Engineer in the UK

Desktop Support 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 Desktop Support Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 8 November 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 +45 68 £36,500 +6.57% 87
London +64 45 £37,500 -21.05% 48
UK excluding London +58 34 £35,000 +18.22% 69
Work from Home +42 9 £37,500 +11.94% 18
Midlands +66 7 £38,000 +12.59% 3
West Midlands +47 7 £38,000 +12.59% 1
Scotland +7 7 £30,000 +13.21% 6
South West +19 6 £29,290 - 4
North of England +16 5 £26,500 -13.82% 8
Wales - 4 £35,000 -
East of England +19 3 £35,340 +57.07% 3
Yorkshire +9 3 £26,500 -24.29% 3
South East +24 2 £33,250 -0.75% 45
North West +15 2 £27,500 +3.77% 5

Desktop Support Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities

For the 6 months to 8 November 2025, Desktop 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 Desktop Support Engineer in the job title.

1 72 (88.89%) Windows
2 67 (82.72%) Microsoft 365
3 65 (80.25%) Active Directory
4 48 (59.26%) Microsoft
5 41 (50.62%) Windows 10
6 39 (48.15%) Customer Service
6 39 (48.15%) Problem-Solving
7 34 (41.98%) Microsoft Intune
8 30 (37.04%) Azure
9 28 (34.57%) ITIL
10 27 (33.33%) Microsoft Exchange
11 22 (27.16%) SharePoint
12 20 (24.69%) Degree
13 16 (19.75%) Continuous Improvement
13 16 (19.75%) ServiceNow
14 15 (18.52%) VPN
15 14 (17.28%) DHCP
15 14 (17.28%) DNS
16 13 (16.05%) JIRA
16 13 (16.05%) LAN
16 13 (16.05%) Microsoft Office
16 13 (16.05%) WAN
17 12 (14.81%) Mac OS
17 12 (14.81%) Service Delivery
17 12 (14.81%) VMware
18 11 (13.58%) Asset Management
18 11 (13.58%) Entra ID
18 11 (13.58%) OneDrive
18 11 (13.58%) SCCM
18 11 (13.58%) TCP/IP

Desktop 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 27 (33.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 22 (27.16%) SharePoint
3 1 (1.23%) Confluence
Applications
1 13 (16.05%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.47%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (1.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (2.47%) NetSuite
2 1 (1.23%) Carpe Diem
2 1 (1.23%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 67 (82.72%) Microsoft 365
2 30 (37.04%) Azure
3 11 (13.58%) Entra ID
3 11 (13.58%) OneDrive
4 4 (4.94%) SaaS
5 3 (3.70%) AWS
5 3 (3.70%) Dynamics 365
5 3 (3.70%) Mimecast
5 3 (3.70%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 15 (18.52%) VPN
2 14 (17.28%) DHCP
2 14 (17.28%) DNS
3 13 (16.05%) LAN
3 13 (16.05%) WAN
4 11 (13.58%) TCP/IP
5 10 (12.35%) Wi-Fi
6 7 (8.64%) Firewall
7 6 (7.41%) Remote Desktop
7 6 (7.41%) WebEx
8 5 (6.17%) VoIP
9 2 (2.47%) Wireless
10 1 (1.23%) PBX
10 1 (1.23%) Structured Cabling
10 1 (1.23%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (3.70%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 13 (16.05%) JIRA
General
1 64 (79.01%) Social Skills
2 8 (9.88%) Finance
3 7 (8.64%) Front Office
4 6 (7.41%) Advertising
5 5 (6.17%) Aerospace
5 5 (6.17%) Automotive
5 5 (6.17%) Banking
6 4 (4.94%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (4.94%) Marketing
6 4 (4.94%) Organisational Skills
7 3 (3.70%) Telecoms
8 2 (2.47%) Electronics
8 2 (2.47%) Manufacturing
8 2 (2.47%) Presentation Skills
8 2 (2.47%) Public Sector
9 1 (1.23%) Back Office
9 1 (1.23%) Billing
9 1 (1.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 1 (1.23%) Law
9 1 (1.23%) Legal
Miscellaneous
1 10 (12.35%) Self-Motivation
2 9 (11.11%) Driving Licence
3 8 (9.88%) iPhone
4 4 (4.94%) Mobile App
4 4 (4.94%) Onboarding
4 4 (4.94%) Video Conferencing
5 3 (3.70%) BYOD
6 2 (2.47%) Fat Client
6 2 (2.47%) Thin Client
7 1 (1.23%) Enterprise Software
7 1 (1.23%) Hedge funds
7 1 (1.23%) Housing Association
7 1 (1.23%) IoT
7 1 (1.23%) iPad
7 1 (1.23%) IPTV
7 1 (1.23%) PDA
7 1 (1.23%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 72 (88.89%) Windows
2 41 (50.62%) Windows 10
3 12 (14.81%) Mac OS
4 10 (12.35%) Windows Server
5 7 (8.64%) Apple iOS
5 7 (8.64%) Linux
6 5 (6.17%) Android
6 5 (6.17%) Windows Server 2019
7 3 (3.70%) Windows 7
7 3 (3.70%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 39 (48.15%) Customer Service
1 39 (48.15%) Problem-Solving
2 28 (34.57%) ITIL
3 16 (19.75%) Continuous Improvement
4 12 (14.81%) Service Delivery
5 11 (13.58%) Asset Management
6 10 (12.35%) Inventory Management
6 10 (12.35%) Time Management
7 9 (11.11%) Incident Management
8 8 (9.88%) Cybersecurity
8 8 (9.88%) Data Privacy
8 8 (9.88%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 6 (7.41%) Break/Fix
10 5 (6.17%) ITSM
10 5 (6.17%) Trend Analysis
10 5 (6.17%) Virtual Environments
11 3 (3.70%) CRM
11 3 (3.70%) Exploratory Testing
11 3 (3.70%) Migration
11 3 (3.70%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 7 (8.64%) PowerShell
2 2 (2.47%) SQL
3 1 (1.23%) Bash
3 1 (1.23%) Python
Qualifications
1 20 (24.69%) Degree
2 10 (12.35%) Microsoft Certification
2 10 (12.35%) Security Cleared
3 4 (4.94%) SC Cleared
4 3 (3.70%) ITIL Certification
5 2 (2.47%) A+ Certification
5 2 (2.47%) Azure Certification
6 1 (1.23%) CTC Cleared
6 1 (1.23%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (4.94%) SLA
System Software
1 65 (80.25%) Active Directory
2 11 (13.58%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (7.41%) Hyper-V
4 3 (3.70%) BitLocker
5 2 (2.47%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 34 (41.98%) Microsoft Intune
2 11 (13.58%) SCCM
3 3 (3.70%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 48 (59.26%) Microsoft
2 16 (19.75%) ServiceNow
3 12 (14.81%) VMware
4 10 (12.35%) Apple
5 7 (8.64%) Salesforce
6 6 (7.41%) HP
7 5 (6.17%) Cognizant
7 5 (6.17%) Juniper
8 4 (4.94%) Citrix
9 3 (3.70%) Zoho
10 2 (2.47%) Cisco
10 2 (2.47%) Polycom
10 2 (2.47%) SAP
11 1 (1.23%) DocuSign
11 1 (1.23%) iManage
11 1 (1.23%) Intapp
11 1 (1.23%) Logitech
11 1 (1.23%) McAfee
11 1 (1.23%) MobileIron
11 1 (1.23%) Yealink