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 27 January 2026.

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

6 months to
27 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 484 591 592
Rank change year-on-year +107 +1 +105
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 151 102 190
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.24% 0.20% 0.28%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.26% 0.21% 0.29%
Number of salaries quoted 76 68 174
10th Percentile £25,750 - £25,760
25th Percentile £30,000 £21,250 £28,290
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £35,000 £33,500 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.48% +3.08% -
75th Percentile £40,000 £39,063 £37,090
90th Percentile £48,125 £57,500 £52,575
UK excluding London median annual salary £35,000 £28,500 £29,000
% change year-on-year +22.81% -1.72% -1.36%

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 57,089 48,235 65,037
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.82% 92.27% 95.15%
Number of salaries quoted 35,459 24,690 50,853
10th Percentile £28,750 £33,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £37,500 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £60,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -8.33% +9.09% -9.09%
75th Percentile £75,000 £79,569 £75,000
90th Percentile £94,257 £99,000 £95,000
UK excluding London median annual salary £50,000 £54,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -7.41% +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 27 January 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 27 January 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 +99 117 £35,000 +22.81% 14
England +39 92 £35,340 +5.49% 15
Work from Home +108 70 £21,500 -35.82% 3
Scotland - 49 £40,000 - 3
South West +34 38 £35,000 +16.67% 3
London +47 32 £37,750 -31.36% 2
North of England +16 12 £27,000 -5.26% 2
Wales - 8 £35,000 -
North West +28 7 £30,000 +13.21% 2
South East -1 6 £32,000 -4.48% 4
Yorkshire -15 5 £26,500 -7.02%
East of England +6 3 £35,340 +57.07% 2
Midlands +7 1 £27,500 +19.57% 1
West Midlands - 1 £27,500 - 1

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

For the 6 months to 27 January 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.

1 110 (72.85%) Windows
2 105 (69.54%) Microsoft 365
3 87 (57.62%) Customer Service
4 86 (56.95%) Windows 10
5 76 (50.33%) ITIL
6 73 (48.34%) Microsoft
7 72 (47.68%) Microsoft Office
8 71 (47.02%) Degree
9 69 (45.70%) Continuous Improvement
9 69 (45.70%) SLA
10 66 (43.71%) Security Cleared
11 63 (41.72%) Patch Management
11 63 (41.72%) SC Cleared
12 62 (41.06%) Customer Experience
12 62 (41.06%) Cybersecurity
13 61 (40.40%) Cisco
13 61 (40.40%) Ticket Management
14 60 (39.74%) Analytics
14 60 (39.74%) CTC Cleared
14 60 (39.74%) Customer Acquisition
14 60 (39.74%) Software Deployment
15 41 (27.15%) Active Directory
16 36 (23.84%) Entra ID
17 27 (17.88%) Problem-Solving
18 24 (15.89%) People Management
19 21 (13.91%) Microsoft Intune
20 18 (11.92%) Azure
21 16 (10.60%) SharePoint
22 15 (9.93%) Microsoft Exchange
23 14 (9.27%) Time 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 16 (10.60%) SharePoint
2 15 (9.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.32%) Confluence
Applications
1 72 (47.68%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.66%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (1.32%) NetSuite
2 1 (0.66%) Carpe Diem
2 1 (0.66%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.66%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 105 (69.54%) Microsoft 365
2 36 (23.84%) Entra ID
3 18 (11.92%) Azure
4 12 (7.95%) OneDrive
5 6 (3.97%) SaaS
6 5 (3.31%) AWS
7 3 (1.99%) Mimecast
8 1 (0.66%) Dynamics 365
8 1 (0.66%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 10 (6.62%) DHCP
1 10 (6.62%) DNS
1 10 (6.62%) Firewall
2 9 (5.96%) VPN
3 8 (5.30%) LAN
3 8 (5.30%) WAN
4 6 (3.97%) TCP/IP
4 6 (3.97%) WebEx
4 6 (3.97%) Wi-Fi
5 5 (3.31%) VoIP
6 3 (1.99%) VLAN
7 1 (0.66%) Remote Desktop
7 1 (0.66%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (3.31%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 7 (4.64%) JIRA
General
1 113 (74.83%) Social Skills
2 60 (39.74%) Back Office
3 12 (7.95%) Finance
4 10 (6.62%) Organisational Skills
5 7 (4.64%) Front Office
6 6 (3.97%) Analytical Skills
6 6 (3.97%) Marketing
7 5 (3.31%) Banking
7 5 (3.31%) Telecoms
8 4 (2.65%) Electronics
8 4 (2.65%) Manufacturing
8 4 (2.65%) Public Sector
9 3 (1.99%) Aerospace
10 2 (1.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.32%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.66%) Fire and Rescue
11 1 (0.66%) Law
11 1 (0.66%) Legal
11 1 (0.66%) Police
11 1 (0.66%) Retail
Miscellaneous
1 13 (8.61%) Self-Motivation
2 7 (4.64%) Driving Licence
2 7 (4.64%) Mobile App
3 5 (3.31%) Onboarding
4 4 (2.65%) CMDB
5 2 (1.32%) IoT
5 2 (1.32%) Video Conferencing
6 1 (0.66%) BYOD
6 1 (0.66%) Enterprise Software
6 1 (0.66%) Fat Client
6 1 (0.66%) Hedge funds
6 1 (0.66%) Housing Association
6 1 (0.66%) iPhone
6 1 (0.66%) IPTV
6 1 (0.66%) Management Information System
6 1 (0.66%) PDA
6 1 (0.66%) Thin Client
Operating Systems
1 110 (72.85%) Windows
2 86 (56.95%) Windows 10
3 8 (5.30%) Linux
4 7 (4.64%) Android
5 5 (3.31%) Windows Server
5 5 (3.31%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (2.65%) Apple iOS
6 4 (2.65%) Mac OS
7 2 (1.32%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.66%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 87 (57.62%) Customer Service
2 76 (50.33%) ITIL
3 69 (45.70%) Continuous Improvement
4 63 (41.72%) Patch Management
5 62 (41.06%) Customer Experience
5 62 (41.06%) Cybersecurity
6 61 (40.40%) Ticket Management
7 60 (39.74%) Analytics
7 60 (39.74%) Customer Acquisition
7 60 (39.74%) Software Deployment
8 27 (17.88%) Problem-Solving
9 24 (15.89%) People Management
10 14 (9.27%) Time Management
11 12 (7.95%) Service Delivery
12 8 (5.30%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 8 (5.30%) Inventory Management
13 6 (3.97%) CRM
14 5 (3.31%) Analytical Thinking
14 5 (3.31%) Break/Fix
14 5 (3.31%) Exploratory Testing
Programming Languages
1 6 (3.97%) PowerShell
2 2 (1.32%) SQL
3 1 (0.66%) Bash
3 1 (0.66%) Python
Qualifications
1 71 (47.02%) Degree
2 66 (43.71%) Security Cleared
3 63 (41.72%) SC Cleared
4 60 (39.74%) CTC Cleared
5 6 (3.97%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (1.99%) A+ Certification
7 1 (0.66%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.66%) CompTIA Security+
7 1 (0.66%) ITIL Certification
7 1 (0.66%) Network+ Certification
7 1 (0.66%) Server+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 69 (45.70%) SLA
2 1 (0.66%) PMO
System Software
1 41 (27.15%) Active Directory
2 6 (3.97%) VMware Infrastructure
3 3 (1.99%) BitLocker
4 1 (0.66%) Hyper-V
4 1 (0.66%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 21 (13.91%) Microsoft Intune
2 9 (5.96%) SCCM
3 1 (0.66%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 73 (48.34%) Microsoft
2 61 (40.40%) Cisco
3 7 (4.64%) Apple
3 7 (4.64%) Salesforce
3 7 (4.64%) ServiceNow
3 7 (4.64%) VMware
4 6 (3.97%) HP
5 5 (3.31%) Juniper
5 5 (3.31%) Zoho
6 4 (2.65%) SAP
7 3 (1.99%) Citrix
8 1 (0.66%) Adobe
8 1 (0.66%) CrowdStrike
8 1 (0.66%) DocuSign
8 1 (0.66%) iManage
8 1 (0.66%) Intapp
8 1 (0.66%) Logitech
8 1 (0.66%) Tenable
8 1 (0.66%) Yealink
8 1 (0.66%) Zscaler