Desktop Support Engineer Job Trends

Desktop Support Engineer
UK

The median Desktop Support Engineer salary in the UK is £35,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 19 July 2026.

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

6 months to
19 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 644 579 682
Rank change year-on-year -65 +103 -8
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 116 94 189
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.12% 0.19% 0.19%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.12% 0.21% 0.20%
Number of salaries quoted 93 82 169
10th Percentile £27,500 £25,525 £24,240
25th Percentile £30,000 £29,000 £26,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £36,000 £29,290
Median % change year-on-year -2.78% +22.91% -5.52%
75th Percentile £41,500 £40,000 £36,000
90th Percentile £51,000 £52,875 £45,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £30,000 £28,290
% change year-on-year +16.67% +6.04% +2.87%

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 93,983 44,278 92,243
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.25% 89.92% 94.77%
Number of salaries quoted 64,514 26,221 65,394
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,750 £29,250
25th Percentile £40,000 £37,500 £39,596
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £55,000 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year - +3.77% -11.67%
75th Percentile £75,000 £75,000 £70,250
90th Percentile £95,000 £96,250 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +5.00% - -5.66%

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 19 July 2026.

Salary histogram for Desktop Support Engineer in the UK

Desktop Support 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 Desktop Support Engineer within the UK over the 6 months to 19 July 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
UK excluding London -43 94 £35,000 +16.67% 10
England -68 89 £35,000 -4.11% 14
North of England +3 46 £35,000 +6.06% 8
Work from Home +13 26 £34,000 -17.58% 4
Scotland +39 25 £33,000 +10.00%
North West +11 23 £35,500 +18.33% 4
London -58 22 £50,000 +28.21% 6
Yorkshire -26 15 £30,000 -9.09% 2
South West -60 13 £37,500 +28.03%
North East - 8 £30,000 - 2
South East -46 6 £30,000 +1.69% 2
Wales - 2 £34,000 -
East of England -21 1 £35,000 +55.56%
West Midlands -22 1 £33,500 -11.84%
Midlands -34 1 £33,500 -11.84%

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

For the 6 months to 19 July 2026, 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 76 (65.52%) Microsoft
2 69 (59.48%) Windows
3 67 (57.76%) Microsoft 365
4 50 (43.10%) Active Directory
4 50 (43.10%) Customer Service
5 48 (41.38%) ITIL
6 41 (35.34%) Windows 10
7 38 (32.76%) Entra ID
8 32 (27.59%) Microsoft Office
9 31 (26.72%) Microsoft Intune
9 31 (26.72%) SLA
10 28 (24.14%) Continuous Improvement
10 28 (24.14%) Degree
11 27 (23.28%) Security Cleared
12 26 (22.41%) Cisco
12 26 (22.41%) SCCM
13 24 (20.69%) SC Cleared
14 23 (19.83%) Patch Management
15 22 (18.97%) Azure
15 22 (18.97%) ITSM
16 21 (18.10%) Ticket Management
17 19 (16.38%) Analytics
17 19 (16.38%) CTC Cleared
17 19 (16.38%) Customer Acquisition
17 19 (16.38%) Customer Experience
17 19 (16.38%) Cybersecurity
17 19 (16.38%) Software Deployment
18 18 (15.52%) PowerShell
18 18 (15.52%) User Experience
19 17 (14.66%) Microsoft Exchange

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 17 (14.66%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (6.90%) SharePoint
Applications
1 32 (27.59%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (3.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.86%) Acrobat
3 1 (0.86%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.86%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 67 (57.76%) Microsoft 365
2 38 (32.76%) Entra ID
3 22 (18.97%) Azure
4 8 (6.90%) OneDrive
5 7 (6.03%) Microsoft Copilot
6 6 (5.17%) Power Platform
7 1 (0.86%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (0.86%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 9 (7.76%) VLAN
2 8 (6.90%) DHCP
2 8 (6.90%) DNS
3 7 (6.03%) LAN
3 7 (6.03%) TCP/IP
4 5 (4.31%) WAN
4 5 (4.31%) Wi-Fi
4 5 (4.31%) Wireless
5 2 (1.72%) Ethernet
5 2 (1.72%) VPN
6 1 (0.86%) Firewall
6 1 (0.86%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (5.17%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 5 (4.31%) JIRA
General
1 48 (41.38%) Social Skills
2 19 (16.38%) Back Office
3 18 (15.52%) Finance
4 8 (6.90%) Retail
5 7 (6.03%) Banking
6 6 (5.17%) Manufacturing
6 6 (5.17%) Organisational Skills
7 4 (3.45%) Front Office
8 3 (2.59%) Documentation Skills
8 3 (2.59%) Law
9 1 (0.86%) Inclusion and Diversity
Miscellaneous
1 14 (12.07%) CMDB
2 9 (7.76%) Management Information System
2 9 (7.76%) Web Conferencing
3 8 (6.90%) Driving Licence
4 7 (6.03%) Onboarding
5 4 (3.45%) Derivative
5 4 (3.45%) Equities
5 4 (3.45%) Fixed Income
5 4 (3.45%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 3 (2.59%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (0.86%) Fat Client
7 1 (0.86%) iPhone
7 1 (0.86%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 69 (59.48%) Windows
2 41 (35.34%) Windows 10
3 5 (4.31%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 50 (43.10%) Customer Service
2 48 (41.38%) ITIL
3 28 (24.14%) Continuous Improvement
4 23 (19.83%) Patch Management
5 22 (18.97%) ITSM
6 21 (18.10%) Ticket Management
7 19 (16.38%) Analytics
7 19 (16.38%) Customer Acquisition
7 19 (16.38%) Customer Experience
7 19 (16.38%) Cybersecurity
7 19 (16.38%) Software Deployment
8 18 (15.52%) User Experience
9 15 (12.93%) Service Delivery
9 15 (12.93%) Service Management
10 13 (11.21%) Mobile Device Management
11 11 (9.48%) Configuration Management
12 9 (7.76%) Asset Management
12 9 (7.76%) Incident Management
13 8 (6.90%) Problem-Solving
14 6 (5.17%) Critical Thinking
Programming Languages
1 18 (15.52%) PowerShell
2 9 (7.76%) Python
3 4 (3.45%) SQL
3 4 (3.45%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 28 (24.14%) Degree
2 27 (23.28%) Security Cleared
3 24 (20.69%) SC Cleared
4 19 (16.38%) CTC Cleared
5 3 (2.59%) A+ Certification
5 3 (2.59%) Server+ Certification
6 2 (1.72%) MCSA
6 2 (1.72%) Microsoft Certification
7 1 (0.86%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (26.72%) SLA
2 5 (4.31%) PMO
System Software
1 50 (43.10%) Active Directory
2 8 (6.90%) BitLocker
3 7 (6.03%) Virtual Desktop
4 2 (1.72%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.86%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 31 (26.72%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (22.41%) SCCM
3 6 (5.17%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (2.59%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 76 (65.52%) Microsoft
2 26 (22.41%) Cisco
3 8 (6.90%) ServiceNow
3 8 (6.90%) Tenable
4 7 (6.03%) Bloomberg
5 6 (5.17%) Adobe
6 5 (4.31%) Apple
6 5 (4.31%) Citrix
6 5 (4.31%) CrowdStrike
6 5 (4.31%) McAfee
6 5 (4.31%) Zscaler
7 4 (3.45%) Veeam
7 4 (3.45%) VMware
8 3 (2.59%) Symantec
9 1 (0.86%) ConnectWise
9 1 (0.86%) Dell
9 1 (0.86%) Polycom
9 1 (0.86%) Snow
9 1 (0.86%) Starlink
9 1 (0.86%) Yealink