3rd Line Engineer Contracts in England

Third Line Engineer
UK > England

The median Third Line Engineer daily rate in England is £550, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 28 June 2025.

The table below provides contractor rate benchmarking and summary statistics, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Jun 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 437 428 467
Rank change year-on-year -9 +39 +50
Contract jobs requiring a 3rd Line Engineer 62 117 172
As % of all contract jobs advertised in England 0.24% 0.31% 0.36%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.26% 0.34% 0.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 52 66 115
10th Percentile £282 £256 £263
25th Percentile £359 £288 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £550 £375 £388
Median % change year-on-year +46.67% -3.23% -0.64%
75th Percentile £600 £419 £450
90th Percentile - £500 £538
UK median daily rate £470 £375 £388
% change year-on-year +25.20% -3.23% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
Median hourly rate £24.66 - -
UK median hourly rate £24.66 - -

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
England

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in England. 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 contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in England with a recognized job title 23,430 34,648 44,562
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.17% 92.87% 94.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,353 22,650 31,596
10th Percentile £293 £295 £313
25th Percentile £404 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% -4.55% +2.33%
75th Percentile £630 £638 £663
90th Percentile £750 £750 £763
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% +1.42%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,078 2,591 1,341
10th Percentile £13.85 £12.86 £14.25
25th Percentile £17.87 £16.65 £20.00
Median hourly rate £28.50 £39.55 £44.00
Median % change year-on-year -27.94% -10.11% +76.00%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £74.54 £77.50
UK median hourly rate £27.00 £37.50 £43.81
% change year-on-year -28.00% -14.39% +71.78%

3rd Line Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Job postings that featured 3rd Line Engineer in the job title as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in England.

Job vacancy trend for 3rd Line Engineer in England

3rd Line Engineer
Contractor Daily Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 3rd Line Engineer in England.

Daily rate trend for 3rd Line Engineer in England

3rd Line Engineer
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 3rd Line Engineer in England over the 6 months to 28 June 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 3rd Line Engineer in England

3rd Line Engineer
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend in England

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 3rd Line Engineer in England.

Hourly rate trend for 3rd Line Engineer in England

3rd Line Engineer
Contract Job Locations in England

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 3rd Line Engineer within the England region over the 6 months to 28 June 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
South East +56 28 £575 +53.33% 19
London +38 19 £375 -2.60% 14
North West +2 6 £350 -12.50% 15
North of England -7 6 £350 -7.89% 32
Midlands -15 5 £286 -1.38% 13
West Midlands -18 5 £286 -3.05% 8
East of England +25 3 £467 +55.50% 10
South West +36 1 £350 - 5
3rd Line Engineer
UK

3rd Line Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England

For the 6 months to 28 June 2025, 3rd Line Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the England region featuring 3rd Line Engineer in the job title.

1 45 (72.58%) Windows
2 42 (67.74%) Active Directory
3 41 (66.13%) Microsoft
4 31 (50.00%) VMware
5 28 (45.16%) Windows Server
6 27 (43.55%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 26 (41.94%) VMware Infrastructure
8 25 (40.32%) Security Cleared
9 22 (35.48%) DNS
9 22 (35.48%) Microsoft Exchange
10 21 (33.87%) Azure
11 20 (32.26%) DV Cleared
11 20 (32.26%) DHCP
12 19 (30.65%) ITIL
13 18 (29.03%) Linux
13 18 (29.03%) PowerShell
14 17 (27.42%) VPN
14 17 (27.42%) Firewall
14 17 (27.42%) vCenter Server
15 16 (25.81%) Microsoft 365
15 16 (25.81%) DevOps
15 16 (25.81%) PKI
16 15 (24.19%) SAN
17 13 (20.97%) Hyper-V
17 13 (20.97%) IaaS
18 12 (19.35%) PaaS
18 12 (19.35%) VMware ESXi
18 12 (19.35%) Ansible
18 12 (19.35%) Entra ID
18 12 (19.35%) Clustering

3rd Line Engineer Skill Set
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in England by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 22 (35.48%) Microsoft Exchange
2 11 (17.74%) SharePoint
3 4 (6.45%) Apache
3 4 (6.45%) Exchange Server 2003
3 4 (6.45%) Exchange Server 2007
3 4 (6.45%) Exchange Server 2010
3 4 (6.45%) Exchange Server 2013
3 4 (6.45%) Office Communications Server
3 4 (6.45%) SharePoint Server
3 4 (6.45%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 6 (9.68%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 21 (33.87%) Azure
2 16 (25.81%) Microsoft 365
3 13 (20.97%) IaaS
4 12 (19.35%) Entra ID
4 12 (19.35%) PaaS
5 8 (12.90%) AWS
5 8 (12.90%) GCP
5 8 (12.90%) OpenShift
6 3 (4.84%) Nutanix
6 3 (4.84%) OneDrive
7 1 (1.61%) Azure Monitor
7 1 (1.61%) Google Workspace
7 1 (1.61%) Microsoft Copilot
7 1 (1.61%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 22 (35.48%) DNS
2 20 (32.26%) DHCP
3 17 (27.42%) Firewall
3 17 (27.42%) VPN
4 15 (24.19%) SAN
5 9 (14.52%) SMTP
6 7 (11.29%) Fibre Channel
7 4 (6.45%) DDNS
7 4 (6.45%) LAN
7 4 (6.45%) Network Security
7 4 (6.45%) WAN
8 3 (4.84%) WLAN
9 2 (3.23%) BGP
9 2 (3.23%) IPsec
9 2 (3.23%) MPLS
10 1 (1.61%) NAS
10 1 (1.61%) PBX
10 1 (1.61%) VLAN
10 1 (1.61%) VoIP
10 1 (1.61%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (12.90%) Amazon RDS
1 8 (12.90%) Big Data
1 8 (12.90%) Elasticsearch
2 1 (1.61%) SQL Server Reporting Services
Development Applications
1 4 (6.45%) MSI
1 4 (6.45%) Robot Framework
1 4 (6.45%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 10 (16.13%) Public Sector
2 4 (6.45%) Social Skills
3 3 (4.84%) Banking
3 3 (4.84%) Finance
4 2 (3.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 2 (3.23%) Legal
5 1 (1.61%) Analytical Skills
5 1 (1.61%) Games
5 1 (1.61%) Local Government
5 1 (1.61%) Organisational Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (1.61%) ARM Templates
1 1 (1.61%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 16 (25.81%) PKI
2 12 (19.35%) Clustering
3 11 (17.74%) Data Centre
4 7 (11.29%) Replication
5 1 (1.61%) CMDB
5 1 (1.61%) Driving Licence
5 1 (1.61%) Hybrid Cloud
5 1 (1.61%) NHS
5 1 (1.61%) Onboarding
5 1 (1.61%) Smartphone
5 1 (1.61%) Social Media
5 1 (1.61%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 45 (72.58%) Windows
2 28 (45.16%) Windows Server
3 18 (29.03%) Linux
4 11 (17.74%) Windows Server 2003
5 9 (14.52%) Windows Server 2019
6 6 (9.68%) Mac OS
7 4 (6.45%) CentOS
7 4 (6.45%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 4 (6.45%) Windows 10
8 2 (3.23%) Android
8 2 (3.23%) Apple iOS
8 2 (3.23%) Unix
8 2 (3.23%) Windows Server 2012
8 2 (3.23%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 27 (43.55%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 19 (30.65%) ITIL
3 16 (25.81%) DevOps
4 10 (16.13%) Software Deployment
5 9 (14.52%) Cybersecurity
6 8 (12.90%) Artificial Intelligence
6 8 (12.90%) Machine Learning
7 6 (9.68%) High Availability
7 6 (9.68%) Infrastructure as Code
7 6 (9.68%) Proactive Maintenance
7 6 (9.68%) Security Patching
8 5 (8.06%) Customer Service
8 5 (8.06%) Patch Management
8 5 (8.06%) Problem-Solving
9 4 (6.45%) Batch Scripting
9 4 (6.45%) Deployment Automation
9 4 (6.45%) Enterprise Search
9 4 (6.45%) Prototyping
9 4 (6.45%) Roadmaps
9 4 (6.45%) Strategic Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 18 (29.03%) PowerShell
2 4 (6.45%) PHP
2 4 (6.45%) Python
2 4 (6.45%) SQL
3 3 (4.84%) Bash
3 3 (4.84%) Shell Script
4 1 (1.61%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 25 (40.32%) Security Cleared
2 20 (32.26%) DV Cleared
3 9 (14.52%) Degree
4 8 (12.90%) Microsoft Certification
5 5 (8.06%) SC Cleared
6 4 (6.45%) DBS Check
7 2 (3.23%) MCSE
7 2 (3.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
8 1 (1.61%) Azure Certification
8 1 (1.61%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (1.61%) CCNA
8 1 (1.61%) CESG Certified Professional
8 1 (1.61%) Cisco Certification
8 1 (1.61%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
8 1 (1.61%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (11.29%) SLA
System Software
1 42 (67.74%) Active Directory
2 26 (41.94%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (20.97%) Hyper-V
4 12 (19.35%) VMware ESXi
5 11 (17.74%) Docker
6 9 (14.52%) BitLocker
6 9 (14.52%) Microsoft App-V
6 9 (14.52%) Terminal Services
7 5 (8.06%) DFS Replication
7 5 (8.06%) vSphere
8 4 (6.45%) Brightmail
8 4 (6.45%) ISA Server
9 3 (4.84%) VMware NSX
10 2 (3.23%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (1.61%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 17 (27.42%) vCenter Server
2 12 (19.35%) Ansible
3 10 (16.13%) Microsoft Intune
4 9 (14.52%) vMotion
5 8 (12.90%) Kubernetes
5 8 (12.90%) Nagios
5 8 (12.90%) Puppet
5 8 (12.90%) SCCM
6 5 (8.06%) Terraform
7 4 (6.45%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (6.45%) Microsoft Clustering
7 4 (6.45%) WMI
8 3 (4.84%) Backup Exec
8 3 (4.84%) Failover Clustering
8 3 (4.84%) Podman
8 3 (4.84%) SCOM
9 2 (3.23%) AirWatch
9 2 (3.23%) WSUS
10 1 (1.61%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (1.61%) McAfee ePO
Vendors
1 41 (66.13%) Microsoft
2 31 (50.00%) VMware
3 11 (17.74%) Citrix
3 11 (17.74%) Symantec
4 8 (12.90%) Google
4 8 (12.90%) HP
5 7 (11.29%) Cisco
6 4 (6.45%) Apple
6 4 (6.45%) Veeam
7 3 (4.84%) LogicMonitor
7 3 (4.84%) McAfee
7 3 (4.84%) SolarWinds
8 2 (3.23%) Adobe
8 2 (3.23%) Juniper
9 1 (1.61%) Canon
9 1 (1.61%) Commvault
9 1 (1.61%) Dell
9 1 (1.61%) Fortinet
9 1 (1.61%) Meraki
9 1 (1.61%) ServiceNow
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