Desktop Support Engineer Job Trends

Desktop Support Engineer
UK

The median Desktop Support Engineer salary in the UK is £35,250 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 10 October 2026.

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

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 718 590 646
Rank change year-on-year -128 +56 -93
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 87 77 106
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.074% 0.16% 0.15%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.080% 0.17% 0.15%
Number of salaries quoted 72 66 73
10th Percentile £29,000 £29,000 £26,250
25th Percentile £30,000 £30,000 £29,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,250 £37,000 £35,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.73% +5.71% +9.38%
75th Percentile £43,750 £40,000 £45,000
90th Percentile £49,500 £55,625 £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 109,405 44,412 69,302
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.66% 89.84% 95.38%
Number of salaries quoted 74,287 25,750 39,695
10th Percentile £30,000 £28,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £40,750 £35,500 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,396 £53,688 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +8.77% -2.39% -8.33%
75th Percentile £76,250 £73,750 £75,000
90th Percentile £98,750 £95,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +19.57% -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 10 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 10 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 -111 84 £35,250 -6.00% 33
UK excluding London -91 66 £35,000 +16.67% 11
North of England -22 41 £35,000 +6.06% 1
London -74 21 £42,500 +10.39% 23
North West - 17 £35,250 - 1
Yorkshire -21 14 £30,000 -9.09%
Midlands -35 13 £45,000 +18.42% 4
East Midlands - 12 £45,000 - 2
Work from Home -48 10 £50,000 +29.03% 4
North East - 10 £30,000 -
South East -51 6 £30,000 +0.84% 2
Scotland +8 3 - - 1
East of England - 3 £42,500 - 2
West Midlands -52 1 £33,500 -11.84% 2

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

For the 6 months to 10 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 53 (60.92%) Microsoft
2 48 (55.17%) Windows
3 45 (51.72%) Microsoft 365
4 28 (32.18%) Microsoft Intune
5 26 (29.89%) Active Directory
6 25 (28.74%) Customer Service
7 20 (22.99%) Azure
7 20 (22.99%) ITSM
8 19 (21.84%) Entra ID
9 17 (19.54%) ITIL
9 17 (19.54%) Microsoft Office
9 17 (19.54%) SharePoint
10 16 (18.39%) User Experience
11 15 (17.24%) PowerShell
11 15 (17.24%) Windows 10
12 14 (16.09%) Microsoft Exchange
13 12 (13.79%) Problem-Solving
13 12 (13.79%) VPN
14 11 (12.64%) Security Cleared
15 10 (11.49%) Cisco
15 10 (11.49%) SC Cleared
15 10 (11.49%) ServiceNow
16 9 (10.34%) Continuous Improvement
16 9 (10.34%) OneDrive
16 9 (10.34%) Wi-Fi
16 9 (10.34%) Windows Server
17 8 (9.20%) Apple
17 8 (9.20%) Degree
17 8 (9.20%) Mobile Device Management
17 8 (9.20%) SCCM

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 (19.54%) SharePoint
2 14 (16.09%) Microsoft Exchange
Applications
1 17 (19.54%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.15%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (1.15%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 45 (51.72%) Microsoft 365
2 20 (22.99%) Azure
3 19 (21.84%) Entra ID
4 9 (10.34%) OneDrive
5 7 (8.05%) Microsoft Copilot
6 6 (6.90%) Power Platform
7 2 (2.30%) Dynamics 365
8 1 (1.15%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 12 (13.79%) VPN
2 9 (10.34%) Wi-Fi
3 6 (6.90%) TCP/IP
4 5 (5.75%) DHCP
4 5 (5.75%) DNS
4 5 (5.75%) Wireless
5 2 (2.30%) Ethernet
5 2 (2.30%) Firewall
5 2 (2.30%) LAN
5 2 (2.30%) VLAN
6 1 (1.15%) SSL
6 1 (1.15%) WAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (6.90%) Power BI
2 1 (1.15%) SQL Server
General
1 22 (25.29%) Social Skills
2 16 (18.39%) Spanish Language
3 10 (11.49%) Finance
4 4 (4.60%) Law
5 3 (3.45%) Back Office
5 3 (3.45%) Banking
5 3 (3.45%) Retail
6 1 (1.15%) Analytical Skills
6 1 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.15%) Front Office
6 1 (1.15%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (1.15%) Legal
6 1 (1.15%) Pharmaceutical
Miscellaneous
1 10 (11.49%) Web Conferencing
2 8 (9.20%) Video Conferencing
3 7 (8.05%) Onboarding
4 6 (6.90%) Driving Licence
5 3 (3.45%) CMDB
6 2 (2.30%) iPhone
7 1 (1.15%) Anti-Spyware
7 1 (1.15%) Data Centre
7 1 (1.15%) Derivative
7 1 (1.15%) Equities
7 1 (1.15%) Fat Client
7 1 (1.15%) Fixed Income
7 1 (1.15%) Foreign Exchange (FX)
7 1 (1.15%) Management Information System
7 1 (1.15%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 48 (55.17%) Windows
2 15 (17.24%) Windows 10
3 9 (10.34%) Windows Server
4 2 (2.30%) Mac OS
5 1 (1.15%) Linux
5 1 (1.15%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 25 (28.74%) Customer Service
2 20 (22.99%) ITSM
3 17 (19.54%) ITIL
4 16 (18.39%) User Experience
5 12 (13.79%) Problem-Solving
6 9 (10.34%) Continuous Improvement
7 8 (9.20%) Mobile Device Management
8 6 (6.90%) AI
8 6 (6.90%) Asset Management
8 6 (6.90%) Business Intelligence
8 6 (6.90%) Data Loss Prevention
8 6 (6.90%) Kalman Filter
8 6 (6.90%) Web Filtering
9 5 (5.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 5 (5.75%) Ticket Management
10 4 (4.60%) Proactive Maintenance
10 4 (4.60%) Proactive Monitoring
11 3 (3.45%) Antivirus Management
11 3 (3.45%) Customer Acquisition
11 3 (3.45%) Customer Experience
Programming Languages
1 15 (17.24%) PowerShell
2 6 (6.90%) Python
3 4 (4.60%) VBScript
4 1 (1.15%) SQL
Qualifications
1 11 (12.64%) Security Cleared
2 10 (11.49%) SC Cleared
3 8 (9.20%) Degree
4 3 (3.45%) CTC Cleared
5 2 (2.30%) DBS Check
5 2 (2.30%) MCSA
5 2 (2.30%) Microsoft Certification
6 1 (1.15%) APMP
6 1 (1.15%) Azure Certification
6 1 (1.15%) DV Cleared
6 1 (1.15%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (4.60%) SLA
System Software
1 26 (29.89%) Active Directory
2 8 (9.20%) Virtual Desktop
3 5 (5.75%) BitLocker
4 2 (2.30%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (1.15%) Hyper-V
5 1 (1.15%) NFS
5 1 (1.15%) Samba
Systems Management
1 28 (32.18%) Microsoft Intune
2 8 (9.20%) SCCM
3 6 (6.90%) Single Sign-On
4 3 (3.45%) Norton AntiVirus
5 2 (2.30%) Jamf Pro
6 1 (1.15%) AirWatch
6 1 (1.15%) WSUS
Vendors
1 53 (60.92%) Microsoft
2 10 (11.49%) Cisco
2 10 (11.49%) ServiceNow
3 8 (9.20%) Apple
4 4 (4.60%) Bloomberg
4 4 (4.60%) Veeam
4 4 (4.60%) VMware
5 3 (3.45%) Symantec
5 3 (3.45%) Tenable
6 1 (1.15%) Citrix
6 1 (1.15%) ConnectWise
6 1 (1.15%) Dell
6 1 (1.15%) Google
6 1 (1.15%) Okta
6 1 (1.15%) Polycom
6 1 (1.15%) Remedy
6 1 (1.15%) Starlink
6 1 (1.15%) Yealink