What could you earn working in medical imaging?

Working in the medical imaging sector and want to know if your pay stacks up to the market average?
 

We've mapped the market through thousands of conversations we've had with candidates and employers to bring you the latest salary figures. So here's the low down on what you can earn if you're in a Service Engineering or Applications role.

What are the average salaries for Service Engineers?

The average salary you can earn as a Service Engineer in medical imaging depends mostly upon the years of experience you have (everyone act surprised!) and the modalities you specialise in. 

As an entry level engineer or a trainee, you can expect to earn between £28,000 and £32,000. With two years' experience this can rise to up to £40,000, and once you've got over 5 years' experience under your belt you can easily start to earn in excess of £50,000. 

Bonus is a new thing we've started to see for Service Engineers over the past few years, and companies that aren't offering some form of OTE are starting to become fewer and further between. Typically this bonus figure will sit at around 10%.

What about if you're working in Applications?

Salaries for Applications Specialists in medical imaging vary depending on the modality you work with. For those specialising in X-Ray, you can expect to earn between £43,000 - £48,000 on average, with a bonus of up to £8,000 on top. If your speciality is Ultrasound, CT or MRI, your salary is more likely to fall between £55,000 and £60,000, with a bonus of up to £10,000.

So what's the reason for the difference? Well, really it comes down to two things. The first is skill, and the second is risk. The technology is more complex to work on, meaning that specialists in this area are likely to have more niche skills, as well as posing more danger to the person working on it due to the size and strength of the magnets being used. Both of these factors mean Apps Specialists in this area can earn slightly more than their X-Ray counterparts. Plus, this mirrors NHS bandings too.

Is there anything else you should know?

The biggest thing outside of basic salary and bonus that's on offer to people working across Engineering and Applications is a car benefit. Both profiles of role tend to spend a decent chunk of their time on the road, and the packages offered by medical imaging companies will tend to reflect this. 

Across the board company cars or car allowances are offered, with the latter usually sitting between £500 and £600 per month, depending on seniority and role. Increasingly EVs are also on offer.

We're also starting to see generous food/lunch allowances on offer for people who are on the road a lot!

Want more insight?

For more on what you could earn in medical imaging, and more, download our 2025 Medical Imaging report here.