Desktop Support Engineer Job Trends

Desktop Support Engineer
UK

The median Desktop Support Engineer salary in the UK is £36,500 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 25 October 2025.

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

6 months to
25 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 592 639 556
Rank change year-on-year +47 -83 +309
Permanent jobs requiring a Desktop Support Engineer 69 108 190
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.14% 0.16% 0.34%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.16% 0.17% 0.36%
Number of salaries quoted 61 75 181
10th Percentile £29,000 £24,844 -
25th Percentile £30,000 £29,250 £26,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £36,500 £35,000 £32,500
Median % change year-on-year +4.29% +7.69% -
75th Percentile £40,000 £46,250 £38,000
90th Percentile £53,750 £57,500 £57,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £30,000 £29,605 £27,500
% change year-on-year +1.33% +7.65% -3.51%

All Permanent IT Job Vacancies
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 44,505 65,397 53,065
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 90.16% 95.27% 95.59%
Number of salaries quoted 26,370 37,254 41,120
10th Percentile £28,000 £31,250 £32,000
25th Percentile £35,000 £41,750 £43,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £56,509 £60,000
Median % change year-on-year -7.09% -5.82% -
75th Percentile £73,750 £75,000 £80,000
90th Percentile £93,750 £95,000 £97,500
UK excluding London median annual salary £45,000 £50,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year -10.00% -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 25 October 2025.

Salary histogram for Desktop Support Engineer in the UK

Desktop Support Engineer
Top 12 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 25 October 2025. 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 +46 61 £37,500 +7.14% 26
London +60 44 £37,500 -18.92% 13
UK excluding London +32 24 £30,000 +1.33% 24
West Midlands +52 7 £38,000 +12.59%
Midlands +43 7 £38,000 +12.59%
South West +35 7 £29,290 -0.53% 2
Scotland -2 5 £30,000 +13.21% 1
Work from Home +37 4 £37,500 +13.64% 9
North of England +15 2 £26,500 - 5
Yorkshire +14 2 £26,500 - 2
Wales - 2 £35,000 - 2
South East +22 1 £30,000 -10.45% 11

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

For the 6 months to 25 October 2025, 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 63 (91.30%) Windows
2 61 (88.41%) Microsoft 365
3 60 (86.96%) Active Directory
4 43 (62.32%) Microsoft
5 36 (52.17%) Windows 10
6 35 (50.72%) Problem-Solving
7 30 (43.48%) Customer Service
7 30 (43.48%) Microsoft Intune
8 27 (39.13%) Microsoft Exchange
9 26 (37.68%) Azure
10 25 (36.23%) ITIL
11 20 (28.99%) SharePoint
12 19 (27.54%) Degree
13 14 (20.29%) Continuous Improvement
13 14 (20.29%) ServiceNow
14 13 (18.84%) Entra ID
15 12 (17.39%) JIRA
15 12 (17.39%) Windows Server
16 11 (15.94%) Asset Management
16 11 (15.94%) LAN
16 11 (15.94%) Mac OS
16 11 (15.94%) VMware
16 11 (15.94%) VPN
16 11 (15.94%) WAN
17 10 (14.49%) Apple
17 10 (14.49%) DHCP
17 10 (14.49%) DNS
17 10 (14.49%) Service Delivery
17 10 (14.49%) VMware Infrastructure
18 9 (13.04%) Incident 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 27 (39.13%) Microsoft Exchange
2 20 (28.99%) SharePoint
Applications
1 8 (11.59%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.90%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (1.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 1 (1.45%) Carpe Diem
1 1 (1.45%) Elite 3E
Cloud Services
1 61 (88.41%) Microsoft 365
2 26 (37.68%) Azure
3 13 (18.84%) Entra ID
4 9 (13.04%) OneDrive
5 3 (4.35%) Dynamics 365
5 3 (4.35%) Power Platform
5 3 (4.35%) SaaS
6 2 (2.90%) AWS
6 2 (2.90%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 11 (15.94%) LAN
1 11 (15.94%) VPN
1 11 (15.94%) WAN
2 10 (14.49%) DHCP
2 10 (14.49%) DNS
3 9 (13.04%) TCP/IP
4 7 (10.14%) Wi-Fi
5 6 (8.70%) Firewall
5 6 (8.70%) WebEx
6 5 (7.25%) Remote Desktop
6 5 (7.25%) VoIP
7 3 (4.35%) PBX
7 3 (4.35%) Structured Cabling
8 2 (2.90%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (2.90%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 12 (17.39%) JIRA
General
1 54 (78.26%) Social Skills
2 6 (8.70%) Advertising
2 6 (8.70%) Front Office
3 5 (7.25%) Aerospace
3 5 (7.25%) Automotive
3 5 (7.25%) Finance
4 4 (5.80%) Banking
5 3 (4.35%) Analytical Skills
5 3 (4.35%) Organisational Skills
6 2 (2.90%) Telecoms
7 1 (1.45%) Billing
7 1 (1.45%) Electronics
7 1 (1.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (1.45%) Law
7 1 (1.45%) Legal
7 1 (1.45%) Manufacturing
7 1 (1.45%) Marketing
7 1 (1.45%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (1.45%) Public Sector
Miscellaneous
1 8 (11.59%) iPhone
1 8 (11.59%) Self-Motivation
2 7 (10.14%) Driving Licence
3 3 (4.35%) BYOD
3 3 (4.35%) Onboarding
3 3 (4.35%) Video Conferencing
4 2 (2.90%) Fat Client
4 2 (2.90%) Mobile App
4 2 (2.90%) Thin Client
5 1 (1.45%) Hedge funds
5 1 (1.45%) Housing Association
5 1 (1.45%) iPad
5 1 (1.45%) Management Information System
5 1 (1.45%) PDA
5 1 (1.45%) Smartphone
Operating Systems
1 63 (91.30%) Windows
2 36 (52.17%) Windows 10
3 12 (17.39%) Windows Server
4 11 (15.94%) Mac OS
5 5 (7.25%) Apple iOS
5 5 (7.25%) Linux
5 5 (7.25%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (4.35%) Windows Server 2016
7 2 (2.90%) Android
8 1 (1.45%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 35 (50.72%) Problem-Solving
2 30 (43.48%) Customer Service
3 25 (36.23%) ITIL
4 14 (20.29%) Continuous Improvement
5 11 (15.94%) Asset Management
6 10 (14.49%) Service Delivery
7 9 (13.04%) Incident Management
8 8 (11.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 8 (11.59%) Inventory Management
8 8 (11.59%) Time Management
9 7 (10.14%) Cybersecurity
9 7 (10.14%) Data Privacy
10 6 (8.70%) Break/Fix
11 5 (7.25%) ITSM
11 5 (7.25%) Trend Analysis
11 5 (7.25%) Virtual Environments
12 3 (4.35%) Problem Management
13 2 (2.90%) Mathematics
13 2 (2.90%) Service Management
13 2 (2.90%) Software Testing
Programming Languages
1 5 (7.25%) PowerShell
2 2 (2.90%) SQL
Qualifications
1 19 (27.54%) Degree
2 7 (10.14%) Microsoft Certification
2 7 (10.14%) Security Cleared
3 3 (4.35%) ITIL Certification
4 2 (2.90%) Azure Certification
5 1 (1.45%) A+ Certification
5 1 (1.45%) Network+ Certification
5 1 (1.45%) SC Cleared
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (4.35%) SLA
System Software
1 60 (86.96%) Active Directory
2 10 (14.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 5 (7.25%) Hyper-V
4 3 (4.35%) BitLocker
5 2 (2.90%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 30 (43.48%) Microsoft Intune
2 9 (13.04%) SCCM
3 3 (4.35%) Jamf Pro
Vendors
1 43 (62.32%) Microsoft
2 14 (20.29%) ServiceNow
3 11 (15.94%) VMware
4 10 (14.49%) Apple
5 6 (8.70%) HP
6 5 (7.25%) Cognizant
6 5 (7.25%) Juniper
7 4 (5.80%) Citrix
7 4 (5.80%) Salesforce
8 2 (2.90%) Polycom
8 2 (2.90%) Zoho
9 1 (1.45%) DocuSign
9 1 (1.45%) iManage
9 1 (1.45%) Intapp
9 1 (1.45%) McAfee
9 1 (1.45%) MobileIron
9 1 (1.45%) SAP