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 1 October 2026.

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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 706 592 662
Rank change year-on-year -114 +70 -106
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 92 80 108
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.078% 0.16% 0.14%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.084% 0.18% 0.15%
Number of salaries quoted 79 69 73
10th Percentile £27,500 £29,000 £26,300
25th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £29,290
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £36,500 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.11% +4.29% +9.38%
75th Percentile £43,750 £40,500 £45,000
90th Percentile £50,000 £62,500 £57,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £30,000 £29,605
% change year-on-year +16.67% +1.33% +7.65%

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 109,576 44,426 71,253
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.91% 89.79% 95.29%
Number of salaries quoted 74,908 25,599 41,366
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,250 £30,750
25th Percentile £40,875 £36,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £59,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.27% - -8.33%
75th Percentile £77,500 £74,258 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £93,750
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 1 October 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 1 October 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 -107 89 £35,000 -6.67% 28
UK excluding London -91 70 £35,000 +16.67% 19
North of England -35 46 £35,000 +6.06% 3
London -84 22 £42,500 +10.39% 11
Yorkshire -23 18 £30,000 -9.09% 2
North West - 18 £35,000 - 1
Midlands -41 12 £45,000 +18.42% 7
East Midlands - 11 £45,000 - 2
North East - 10 £30,000 -
Work from Home -40 9 £50,000 +29.03% 4
South East -56 6 £30,000 +1.69% 3
Scotland +12 3 - - 1
East of England - 3 £42,500 - 4
West Midlands -53 1 £33,500 -11.84% 5

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

For the 6 months to 1 October 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 59 (64.13%) Microsoft
2 51 (55.43%) Windows
3 48 (52.17%) Microsoft 365
4 32 (34.78%) Microsoft Intune
5 29 (31.52%) Active Directory
6 28 (30.43%) Customer Service
7 22 (23.91%) Azure
7 22 (23.91%) Entra ID
8 21 (22.83%) ITIL
9 20 (21.74%) ITSM
10 19 (20.65%) User Experience
11 18 (19.57%) Windows 10
12 17 (18.48%) SharePoint
13 16 (17.39%) Microsoft Office
13 16 (17.39%) PowerShell
14 14 (15.22%) Microsoft Exchange
15 12 (13.04%) Continuous Improvement
15 12 (13.04%) Problem-Solving
16 11 (11.96%) Security Cleared
16 11 (11.96%) VPN
17 10 (10.87%) Cisco
17 10 (10.87%) SC Cleared
18 9 (9.78%) OneDrive
18 9 (9.78%) Python
18 9 (9.78%) ServiceNow
18 9 (9.78%) Wi-Fi
18 9 (9.78%) Windows Server
19 8 (8.70%) Apple
19 8 (8.70%) Degree
19 8 (8.70%) Mobile Device 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 17 (18.48%) SharePoint
2 14 (15.22%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 16 (17.39%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.17%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (1.09%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 48 (52.17%) Microsoft 365
2 22 (23.91%) Azure
2 22 (23.91%) Entra ID
3 9 (9.78%) OneDrive
4 7 (7.61%) Microsoft Copilot
5 6 (6.52%) Power Platform
6 2 (2.17%) Dynamics 365
7 1 (1.09%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 11 (11.96%) VPN
2 9 (9.78%) Wi-Fi
3 5 (5.43%) DHCP
3 5 (5.43%) DNS
3 5 (5.43%) TCP/IP
3 5 (5.43%) Wireless
4 3 (3.26%) VLAN
5 2 (2.17%) Ethernet
5 2 (2.17%) Firewall
5 2 (2.17%) LAN
6 1 (1.09%) SSL
6 1 (1.09%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (6.52%) Power BI
2 1 (1.09%) SQL Server
General
1 25 (27.17%) Social Skills
2 16 (17.39%) Spanish Language
3 11 (11.96%) Finance
4 4 (4.35%) Law
5 3 (3.26%) Back Office
5 3 (3.26%) Banking
5 3 (3.26%) Retail
6 2 (2.17%) Documentation Skills
6 2 (2.17%) Front Office
7 1 (1.09%) Analytical Skills
7 1 (1.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (1.09%) Legal
7 1 (1.09%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 10 (10.87%) Web Conferencing
2 8 (8.70%) Video Conferencing
3 7 (7.61%) Onboarding
4 6 (6.52%) Driving Licence
5 3 (3.26%) CMDB
6 2 (2.17%) Derivative
6 2 (2.17%) Equities
6 2 (2.17%) Fixed Income
6 2 (2.17%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
6 2 (2.17%) iPhone
7 1 (1.09%) Data Centre
7 1 (1.09%) Fat Client
7 1 (1.09%) Management Information System
7 1 (1.09%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 51 (55.43%) Windows
2 18 (19.57%) Windows 10
3 9 (9.78%) Windows Server
4 2 (2.17%) Mac OS
5 1 (1.09%) Linux
5 1 (1.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 28 (30.43%) Customer Service
2 21 (22.83%) ITIL
3 20 (21.74%) ITSM
4 19 (20.65%) User Experience
5 12 (13.04%) Continuous Improvement
5 12 (13.04%) Problem-Solving
6 8 (8.70%) Mobile Device Management
7 6 (6.52%) AI
7 6 (6.52%) Asset Management
7 6 (6.52%) Business Intelligence
7 6 (6.52%) Data Loss Prevention
7 6 (6.52%) Kalman Filter
7 6 (6.52%) Web Filtering
8 5 (5.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 5 (5.43%) Ticket Management
9 4 (4.35%) Proactive Maintenance
9 4 (4.35%) Proactive Monitoring
10 3 (3.26%) Customer Acquisition
10 3 (3.26%) Cybersecurity
10 3 (3.26%) Patch Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (17.39%) PowerShell
2 9 (9.78%) Python
3 4 (4.35%) VBScript
4 2 (2.17%) SQL
Qualifications
1 11 (11.96%) Security Cleared
2 10 (10.87%) SC Cleared
3 8 (8.70%) Degree
4 3 (3.26%) CTC Cleared
5 2 (2.17%) DBS Check
5 2 (2.17%) MCSA
5 2 (2.17%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (1.09%) APMP
6 1 (1.09%) Azure Certification
6 1 (1.09%) DV Cleared
6 1 (1.09%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (4.35%) SLA
System Software
1 29 (31.52%) Active Directory
2 8 (8.70%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (5.43%) BitLocker
4 2 (2.17%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (1.09%) Hyper-V
5 1 (1.09%) NFS
5 1 (1.09%) Samba
Systems Management
1 32 (34.78%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (8.70%) SCCM
3 6 (6.52%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (3.26%) Norton AntiVirus
5 2 (2.17%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (1.09%) WSUS
Vendors
1 59 (64.13%) Microsoft
2 10 (10.87%) Cisco
3 9 (9.78%) ServiceNow
4 8 (8.70%) Apple
5 5 (5.43%) Bloomberg
6 4 (4.35%) Veeam
6 4 (4.35%) VMware
7 3 (3.26%) Symantec
7 3 (3.26%) Tenable
8 1 (1.09%) Citrix
8 1 (1.09%) ConnectWise
8 1 (1.09%) Dell
8 1 (1.09%) Google
8 1 (1.09%) Polycom
8 1 (1.09%) Remedy
8 1 (1.09%) Starlink
8 1 (1.09%) Yealink