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 21 May 2026.

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

6 months to
21 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 581 573 682
Rank change year-on-year -8 +109 +46
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 151 89 208
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.16% 0.20% 0.21%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.18% 0.23% 0.23%
Number of salaries quoted 87 77 188
10th Percentile £27,500 £21,250 £24,240
25th Percentile £30,500 £27,750 £26,900
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £33,000 £29,605
Median % change year-on-year +6.06% +11.47% -8.91%
75th Percentile £41,250 £40,500 £35,000
90th Percentile £44,650 £53,750 £45,750
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £29,500 £28,290
% change year-on-year +18.64% +4.28% +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 86,124 39,293 92,007
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.36% 89.47% 94.64%
Number of salaries quoted 56,991 22,669 67,426
10th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%
75th Percentile £75,000 £77,500 £71,000
90th Percentile £95,000 £100,000 £90,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £51,729 £50,000
% change year-on-year -3.34% +3.46% -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 21 May 2026.

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 21 May 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 +21 133 £35,000 +18.64% 7
England -47 99 £35,000 +6.06% 10
Work from Home +72 55 £34,000 -1.45%
Scotland +44 48 £40,000 +33.33%
South West -22 39 £37,500 +25.00%
North of England -12 34 £35,000 +6.06% 6
London -42 18 £46,000 +15.00% 4
North West +20 17 £40,500 +43.36% 4
Yorkshire -31 17 £30,000 -9.09%
South East -42 6 £32,250 +9.32% 1
Wales - 4 £34,000 -
East of England -23 1 £35,000 +55.56%
Midlands -27 1 £33,500 +45.65%
West Midlands - 1 £33,500 -

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

For the 6 months to 21 May 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 94 (62.25%) Windows
2 91 (60.26%) Microsoft 365
3 83 (54.97%) Microsoft
4 79 (52.32%) Customer Service
5 75 (49.67%) ITIL
5 75 (49.67%) Windows 10
6 64 (42.38%) SLA
7 59 (39.07%) Continuous Improvement
8 54 (35.76%) Degree
8 54 (35.76%) Microsoft Office
8 54 (35.76%) Patch Management
8 54 (35.76%) Security Cleared
9 50 (33.11%) SC Cleared
10 49 (32.45%) Active Directory
10 49 (32.45%) Cisco
10 49 (32.45%) Cybersecurity
11 48 (31.79%) Analytics
11 48 (31.79%) CTC Cleared
11 48 (31.79%) Customer Acquisition
11 48 (31.79%) Customer Experience
11 48 (31.79%) Entra ID
11 48 (31.79%) Software Deployment
11 48 (31.79%) Ticket Management
12 27 (17.88%) SCCM
13 24 (15.89%) Microsoft Intune
14 20 (13.25%) Service Delivery
15 17 (11.26%) Azure
16 16 (10.60%) ITSM
16 16 (10.60%) People Management
17 15 (9.93%) Service Management

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 7 (4.64%) Microsoft Exchange
2 1 (0.66%) SharePoint
Applications
1 54 (35.76%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (2.65%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.66%) Acrobat
3 1 (0.66%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.66%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 91 (60.26%) Microsoft 365
2 48 (31.79%) Entra ID
3 17 (11.26%) Azure
4 3 (1.99%) OneDrive
5 2 (1.32%) AWS
5 2 (1.32%) SaaS
6 1 (0.66%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 11 (7.28%) VLAN
2 9 (5.96%) DHCP
2 9 (5.96%) DNS
2 9 (5.96%) LAN
3 8 (5.30%) WAN
4 6 (3.97%) Wi-Fi
5 5 (3.31%) TCP/IP
6 4 (2.65%) VPN
7 3 (1.99%) Firewall
8 1 (0.66%) Internet
8 1 (0.66%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.32%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (3.31%) JIRA
General
1 90 (59.60%) Social Skills
2 48 (31.79%) Back Office
3 15 (9.93%) Finance
4 11 (7.28%) Organisational Skills
5 8 (5.30%) Manufacturing
5 8 (5.30%) Retail
6 5 (3.31%) Banking
7 4 (2.65%) Front Office
8 3 (1.99%) Analytical Skills
8 3 (1.99%) Documentation Skills
9 2 (1.32%) Electronics
9 2 (1.32%) Marketing
9 2 (1.32%) Public Sector
9 2 (1.32%) Telecoms
10 1 (0.66%) Aerospace
10 1 (0.66%) Fire and Rescue
10 1 (0.66%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.66%) Police
Miscellaneous
1 14 (9.27%) CMDB
2 9 (5.96%) Management Information System
3 8 (5.30%) Driving Licence
4 6 (3.97%) Self-Motivation
5 4 (2.65%) Derivative
5 4 (2.65%) Equities
5 4 (2.65%) Fixed Income
5 4 (2.65%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 3 (1.99%) Mobile App
7 2 (1.32%) Onboarding
8 1 (0.66%) Fat Client
8 1 (0.66%) IoT
8 1 (0.66%) iPhone
8 1 (0.66%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 94 (62.25%) Windows
2 75 (49.67%) Windows 10
3 3 (1.99%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.32%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (52.32%) Customer Service
2 75 (49.67%) ITIL
3 59 (39.07%) Continuous Improvement
4 54 (35.76%) Patch Management
5 49 (32.45%) Cybersecurity
6 48 (31.79%) Analytics
6 48 (31.79%) Customer Acquisition
6 48 (31.79%) Customer Experience
6 48 (31.79%) Software Deployment
6 48 (31.79%) Ticket Management
7 20 (13.25%) Service Delivery
8 16 (10.60%) ITSM
8 16 (10.60%) People Management
9 15 (9.93%) Service Management
10 13 (8.61%) Configuration Management
11 12 (7.95%) Problem-Solving
11 12 (7.95%) User Experience
12 9 (5.96%) Incident Management
13 8 (5.30%) Critical Thinking
14 7 (4.64%) Disaster Recovery
Programming Languages
1 9 (5.96%) Python
2 7 (4.64%) PowerShell
3 4 (2.65%) SQL
4 1 (0.66%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 54 (35.76%) Degree
1 54 (35.76%) Security Cleared
2 50 (33.11%) SC Cleared
3 48 (31.79%) CTC Cleared
4 4 (2.65%) A+ Certification
5 3 (1.99%) Server+ Certification
6 1 (0.66%) CompTIA Security+
6 1 (0.66%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
6 1 (0.66%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 64 (42.38%) SLA
2 5 (3.31%) PMO
System Software
1 49 (32.45%) Active Directory
2 7 (4.64%) BitLocker
3 2 (1.32%) VMware Infrastructure
4 1 (0.66%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.66%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 27 (17.88%) SCCM
2 24 (15.89%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (0.66%) Norton AntiVirus
Vendors
1 83 (54.97%) Microsoft
2 49 (32.45%) Cisco
3 6 (3.97%) Adobe
3 6 (3.97%) Tenable
4 5 (3.31%) Bloomberg
4 5 (3.31%) Citrix
4 5 (3.31%) CrowdStrike
4 5 (3.31%) McAfee
4 5 (3.31%) Zscaler
5 3 (1.99%) ServiceNow
6 2 (1.32%) Apple
6 2 (1.32%) SAP
6 2 (1.32%) Veeam
6 2 (1.32%) VMware
6 2 (1.32%) Zoho
7 1 (0.66%) Dell
7 1 (0.66%) Polycom
7 1 (0.66%) Snow
7 1 (0.66%) Symantec
7 1 (0.66%) Yealink