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 31 August 2026.

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

6 months to
31 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 713 594 684
Rank change year-on-year -119 +90 -78
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 80 94 122
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.073% 0.19% 0.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.078% 0.21% 0.16%
Number of salaries quoted 73 83 97
10th Percentile £27,500 £28,250 £26,150
25th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £36,500 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.11% +12.31% -
75th Percentile £41,500 £40,000 £38,750
90th Percentile £52,250 £56,750 £56,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £31,250 £29,290
% change year-on-year +12.00% +6.69% +6.51%

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 103,220 45,012 77,418
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.88% 89.83% 95.16%
Number of salaries quoted 70,861 26,764 49,481
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £75,000 £74,521 £72,500
90th Percentile £97,500 £95,000 £91,250
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -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 31 August 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 31 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 -106 76 £35,000 -4.11% 16
UK excluding London -101 60 £35,000 +12.00% 14
North of England -34 43 £35,000 +6.06% 7
London -76 20 £48,750 +28.29% 3
North West - 18 £35,250 - 6
Yorkshire -31 15 £30,000 -9.09% 1
North East - 10 £30,000 - 1
Work from Home -37 8 £50,000 +29.03% 3
Midlands -36 5 £45,000 +18.42% 2
Scotland -2 4 £26,000 -13.33%
South East -41 4 £30,000 +1.69% 5
East Midlands - 4 £45,000 - 1
South West -78 2 £32,000 +9.25% 1
East of England - 2 £42,500 -
West Midlands -33 1 £33,500 -11.84% 1

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

For the 6 months to 31 August 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 55 (68.75%) Microsoft
2 47 (58.75%) Windows
3 42 (52.50%) Microsoft 365
4 34 (42.50%) Active Directory
5 30 (37.50%) Microsoft Intune
6 24 (30.00%) Customer Service
6 24 (30.00%) ITIL
7 21 (26.25%) Windows 10
8 20 (25.00%) Azure
9 19 (23.75%) Entra ID
10 18 (22.50%) PowerShell
10 18 (22.50%) User Experience
11 16 (20.00%) Microsoft Office
12 15 (18.75%) Microsoft Exchange
13 14 (17.50%) ITSM
14 12 (15.00%) Continuous Improvement
14 12 (15.00%) SCCM
15 11 (13.75%) SharePoint
16 10 (12.50%) Cisco
16 10 (12.50%) Degree
16 10 (12.50%) Security Cleared
17 9 (11.25%) OneDrive
17 9 (11.25%) Python
17 9 (11.25%) ServiceNow
18 8 (10.00%) Mobile Device Management
18 8 (10.00%) SC Cleared
18 8 (10.00%) Virtual Desktop
19 7 (8.75%) Bloomberg
19 7 (8.75%) Microsoft Copilot
19 7 (8.75%) SLA

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 15 (18.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (13.75%) SharePoint
Applications
1 16 (20.00%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (5.00%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (1.25%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 42 (52.50%) Microsoft 365
2 20 (25.00%) Azure
3 19 (23.75%) Entra ID
4 9 (11.25%) OneDrive
5 7 (8.75%) Microsoft Copilot
6 6 (7.50%) Power Platform
7 1 (1.25%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (1.25%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 7 (8.75%) VLAN
2 6 (7.50%) DNS
3 5 (6.25%) DHCP
3 5 (6.25%) TCP/IP
3 5 (6.25%) VPN
3 5 (6.25%) Wi-Fi
3 5 (6.25%) Wireless
4 4 (5.00%) LAN
5 3 (3.75%) WAN
6 2 (2.50%) Ethernet
6 2 (2.50%) Firewall
7 1 (1.25%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (7.50%) Power BI
General
1 21 (26.25%) Social Skills
2 14 (17.50%) Finance
3 5 (6.25%) Spanish Language
4 4 (5.00%) Banking
4 4 (5.00%) Front Office
4 4 (5.00%) Law
4 4 (5.00%) Retail
5 3 (3.75%) Back Office
5 3 (3.75%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.25%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (1.25%) Legal
6 1 (1.25%) Manufacturing
6 1 (1.25%) Organisational Skills
Miscellaneous
1 10 (12.50%) Web Conferencing
2 7 (8.75%) Driving Licence
2 7 (8.75%) Onboarding
3 4 (5.00%) CMDB
3 4 (5.00%) Derivative
3 4 (5.00%) Equities
3 4 (5.00%) Fixed Income
3 4 (5.00%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
4 2 (2.50%) Management Information System
4 2 (2.50%) Video Conferencing
5 1 (1.25%) Data Centre
5 1 (1.25%) Fat Client
5 1 (1.25%) iPhone
5 1 (1.25%) Self-Motivation
5 1 (1.25%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 47 (58.75%) Windows
2 21 (26.25%) Windows 10
3 6 (7.50%) Windows Server
4 1 (1.25%) Linux
4 1 (1.25%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 24 (30.00%) Customer Service
1 24 (30.00%) ITIL
2 18 (22.50%) User Experience
3 14 (17.50%) ITSM
4 12 (15.00%) Continuous Improvement
5 8 (10.00%) Mobile Device Management
6 6 (7.50%) AI
6 6 (7.50%) Asset Management
6 6 (7.50%) Business Intelligence
6 6 (7.50%) Data Loss Prevention
6 6 (7.50%) Kalman Filter
6 6 (7.50%) Web Filtering
7 5 (6.25%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 5 (6.25%) Problem-Solving
7 5 (6.25%) Ticket Management
8 4 (5.00%) Patch Management
8 4 (5.00%) Proactive Maintenance
8 4 (5.00%) Proactive Monitoring
9 3 (3.75%) Cybersecurity
9 3 (3.75%) Software Deployment
Programming Languages
1 18 (22.50%) PowerShell
2 9 (11.25%) Python
3 4 (5.00%) SQL
3 4 (5.00%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 10 (12.50%) Degree
1 10 (12.50%) Security Cleared
2 8 (10.00%) SC Cleared
3 3 (3.75%) CTC Cleared
4 2 (2.50%) MCSA
4 2 (2.50%) Microsoft Certification
5 1 (1.25%) A+ Certification
5 1 (1.25%) APMP
5 1 (1.25%) Azure Certification
5 1 (1.25%) DV Cleared
5 1 (1.25%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
5 1 (1.25%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (8.75%) SLA
System Software
1 34 (42.50%) Active Directory
2 8 (10.00%) Virtual Desktop
3 6 (7.50%) BitLocker
4 2 (2.50%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (1.25%) Hyper-V
5 1 (1.25%) NFS
5 1 (1.25%) Samba
Systems Management
1 30 (37.50%) Microsoft Intune
2 12 (15.00%) SCCM
3 6 (7.50%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (3.75%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 55 (68.75%) Microsoft
2 10 (12.50%) Cisco
3 9 (11.25%) ServiceNow
4 7 (8.75%) Bloomberg
5 5 (6.25%) Apple
6 4 (5.00%) Veeam
6 4 (5.00%) VMware
7 3 (3.75%) Symantec
7 3 (3.75%) Tenable
8 1 (1.25%) Citrix
8 1 (1.25%) ConnectWise
8 1 (1.25%) Dell
8 1 (1.25%) Polycom
8 1 (1.25%) Remedy
8 1 (1.25%) Snow
8 1 (1.25%) Starlink
8 1 (1.25%) Yealink