Engineer Salaries in Birmingham
We conduct salary research every 6 months to provide the latest insights into maintenance engineer salaries in Birmingham and the surrounding areas – and the next instalment is here!
Between April and September 2024, the team has analysed 310 maintenance engineer job adverts across Birmingham to bring you the average salaries that take into account the different shift patterns and skillset biases.
48% of job adverts displayed the salary as a range. Emphasising the importance of experience in determining final offers. Companies are using these ranges to attract a higher number of applications.
To note, this blog utilised job listings found in Birmingham as well ad Solihull, Bromsgrove, Oldbury, Wolverhampton, Dudley and Walsall.
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Now, let’s get into it!
Average Salary Around Birmingham – £43,200
This is a 3.2% increase since Q1 2024. But it needs to increase more! The market has experienced a moderate rise, indicating companies are recognising the need to pay higher salaries to attract talent. However, businesses are still not offering substantial pay increases to remain competitive.
Businesses are spending money on contractors at the moment because they don’t have enough full-time workers. This costs more money and time. It would make more sense to just offer a higher salary to get full-time skilled engineers.
!!Once again, our average comes out on top and is over 32% more than the TotalJobs average. Even though these are reported findings, the fact that companies are advertising gives insights into the market!!
Our average includes all shift types. And Days roles notoriously pay slightly less than shifts that involve unsociable hours. In fact…
Days:
Made up 15% of the data
Shift roles:
Made up 74% of the data
*The remaining 10% is accounted for by ads that didn’t state a shift type.
If we exclude Days roles, the average salary is…
Old Average – £43,286
Shift Average – £45,870
(6% increase)
I’m glad it’s increased since last year but, this is still very low. You’d need to be paying much higher to get a good engineer to work shifts, they’re looking at £48,000 – £55,000 and often going to bigger blue-chip businesses who are offering £60,000 – £70,000.
In order to attract good engineers, manufacturers will have to increase their salaries or look at hiring semi-skilled engineers who they can train for 6 months.
Now let’s look at just Days roles, the average salary is…
Old Average – £39,150
Days Average – £35,000
(10.6% decrease)
It should be at least £40,000, so this is bad. And probably due to businesses having less money currently to spend on extra heads because of the economic climate right now.
The decrease could also reflect companies offering more opportunities for shift work due to demand or engineers preferring shift roles due to better pay.

You’ve gotten this far! If you’re on the lookout for Maintenance Engineer jobs in and around Birmingham click the button.
Keep reading to see what shifts we are seeing a lot of…
Shift Patterns Around Birmingham
Similar to the last report, the most common shift April-September 2024 is 4 on 4 off (30% of adverts). There are different variations to this shift – nights only, days only, or rotating – but the overarching average is…
£49,000
(7% increase since last report)
It’s definitely the most common shift. But it still doesn’t pay enough to attract engineers to move from their current roles. People need a 20% uplift if they’re going to move. About 8-10 grand. If you want good people, you need to pay more.
Thought it would be worthwhile to mention the love-hate Panama shift.
£47,500
(0.05% increase since last report)
The average salary for the panama shift has remained relatively static (the increase teeny), signalling that companies are not yet seeing the need to increase compensation for this less common shift – only 8% of adverts.
So, if you want good people, you need to pay more. As people won’t move for a couple of grand. Remember, it’s not competitive if paying what others pay. You need to pay more to entice engineers to leave their current role and move to your business.
There’s much more details and insight into shifts in the downloadable report – don’t miss out!
Skillsets Around Birmingham
Below are the number of adverts divided into each skillset bias – electrical, mechanical and multi-skilled. From the job adverts we analysed, this was the breakdown. 👇
ELEC
30%
MECH
25%
MULTI
45%
This somewhat reflects what I’m seeing in the market right now. The overall trend shows a slightly more balanced demand between electrical, mechanical, and multi-skilled engineers, with multi-skilled engineers continuing to hold a significant portion of job adverts.
There’s been a slight increase in demand for mechanical engineers (6%), while the demand for multi-skilled engineers has decreased from 53% to 45%. Electrical engineering roles have maintained steady demand, with only a minor increase of 2%.
When it comes to the average salary for each bias, here’s the order from highest to lowest earnings:
MULTI
£45,500
(9.7% increase)
ELEC
£43,311
(1.8% increase)
MECH
£41,000
(1.8% decrease)
Multi-skilled engineers now command the highest average salary, up significantly from the previous report. Mechanical Engineers saw a slight decline, and Electrical Engineers experienced a small drop as well (in our last report electrical roles were on top for highest average salary)
Overall, the trend shows that multi-skilled engineers are increasingly being compensated at a premium due to their ability to cover both mechanical and electrical duties.
Hope to see these all increasing over the next 6 months! Will be interesting to go over it all again in September.
Summary
- Average salary has increased by 3.2%, with shift roles rising 6% overall.
- Shift demand remains focused on 4 on 4 off patterns, with pay rising moderately to £49,000.
- Days role salaries dropped by 10.6%, indicating less competition for these roles.
- Skillset demand shifted slightly towards mechanical engineers, while multi-skilled engineers continue to dominate in pay increases.
This highlights the evolving trends in the maintenance engineering job market between late 2023 and mid-2024. However, companies need to push salaries higher and just do more to stay competitive and attract top talent.
What do businesses need to be doing to attract engineers?
Focus on training, development and benefits!!!
Unfortunately, most manufacturers don’t have an attractive package to tempt engineers to join them. The standard holiday allowance, 5% pension, and free fruit Fridays just don’t cut it anymore. The companies that are hiring good engineers are offering signing up bonuses, share save schemes, enhanced pension, healthcare, budget for training and more.
We explored these benefits and more in lots of detail. As well as average salaries based on industry, the highest and lowest salary found, and much more. Everything we found is in our extensive guide on Maintenance Engineer Salaries in the West Midlands.
So while the blog summarises how much maintenance engineers around Birmingham can earn, there’s more information and details for you to see!
Download the Full Guide
Check out salaries around the area.
This isn’t the only insight series Stirling Warrington does. We also have guides for Maintenance Engineer Salaries in Warwickshire and the East Midlands.
We’re also working on a Merseyside and Yorkshire addition.
The Experts Behind this Blog!
Jonny Gardner. Associate Director
(West Midlands Engineering Recruitment Specialist)
I’ve looked at the research and shared thoughts on the findings, as well as my insight into what’s going on. I work exclusively on Maintenance roles across the West Midlands, so know the area like the back of my hand.
The Marketing Team.
Our marketing team has worked in recruitment for a few years and has seen a lot of changes. They pulled together the research and created the report.