Network Design Contract Job Trends in England

Network Design
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Network Design skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 445 361 303
Rank change year-on-year -84 -58 +66
Contract jobs citing Network Design 185 158 223
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.40% 0.57% 0.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.48% 0.63% 0.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 108 120
10th Percentile £396 £400 £363
25th Percentile £450 £445 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £512 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.59% +2.35% -13.04%
75th Percentile £586 £625 £586
90th Percentile £650 £695 £650
UK median daily rate £513 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +2.50% - -13.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 3
10th Percentile £31.45 £56.13 £43.00
25th Percentile £45.63 £57.81 £55.00
Median hourly rate £60.00 £61.25 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.04% -18.33% +9.49%
75th Percentile £72.25 £65.31 -
90th Percentile £80.81 £67.38 -
UK median hourly rate £65.50 £61.25 £55.00
% change year-on-year +6.94% +11.36% -17.91%

All Process & Methodology Skills
England

Network Design falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills in England.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 38,747 25,016 28,488
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.82% 90.80% 85.76%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,944 15,923 18,325
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £404 £423
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £630 £626 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £753
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,579 1,477 1,517
10th Percentile £14.25 £14.23 £14.05
25th Percentile £18.80 £17.87 £18.13
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £81.05 £69.79 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £41.06 £25.15 £40.50
% change year-on-year +63.26% -37.90% -4.71%

Network Design
Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Network Design relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Network Design job vacancy trend in England

Network Design
Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Design.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Design

Network Design
Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Design in England over the 6 months to 26 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Design in England

Network Design
Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Design.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Network Design

Network Design
Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Network Design in England over the 6 months to 26 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Design in England

Network Design
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 Network Design within the England region over the 6 months to 26 August 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
London -57 66 £525 +10.53% 60
South East -80 36 £513 -10.87% 10
North of England -64 33 £575 +21.05% 9
North West -45 25 £575 +21.05% 4
South West -50 13 £500 -21.88% 10
Midlands -59 11 £425 - 11
West Midlands -66 10 £425 - 7
East of England -19 8 £525 +28.05% 5
Yorkshire -34 7 £519 -9.74% 3
North East -35 7 £650 +18.18% 2
East Midlands - 1 - - 4
Network Design
UK

Network Design
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England 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 12 (6.49%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.62%) Apache
2 3 (1.62%) CloudStack
3 1 (0.54%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.54%) Confluence
3 1 (0.54%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.54%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.54%) Smallworld
Applications
1 9 (4.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 8 (4.32%) Microsoft Office
3 7 (3.78%) Microsoft Excel
4 6 (3.24%) MS Visio
5 3 (1.62%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.54%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.54%) CPLEX
6 1 (0.54%) MicroStation
Cloud Services
1 56 (30.27%) Azure
2 48 (25.95%) AWS
3 15 (8.11%) OCI
4 10 (5.41%) SaaS
5 9 (4.86%) GCP
6 8 (4.32%) GitHub
7 7 (3.78%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 7 (3.78%) OpenShift
8 6 (3.24%) IaaS
9 4 (2.16%) Azure Sentinel
9 4 (2.16%) Entra ID
10 3 (1.62%) AWS Control Tower
11 2 (1.08%) Azure Storage
11 2 (1.08%) Datadog
11 2 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (1.08%) PaaS
12 1 (0.54%) AWS Direct Connect
12 1 (0.54%) Microsoft 365
12 1 (0.54%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 78 (42.16%) Firewall
2 67 (36.22%) BGP
3 55 (29.73%) WAN
4 51 (27.57%) OSPF
5 33 (17.84%) VLAN
6 31 (16.76%) VPN
7 30 (16.22%) 5G
7 30 (16.22%) LAN
7 30 (16.22%) Network Security
8 29 (15.68%) SD-WAN
9 28 (15.14%) 4G
10 26 (14.05%) VXLAN
10 26 (14.05%) Wi-Fi
11 24 (12.97%) Radio Access Network
12 21 (11.35%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 20 (10.81%) Ethernet VPN
13 20 (10.81%) MPLS
14 17 (9.19%) BIG-IP
15 15 (8.11%) Wireless
16 14 (7.57%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.62%) Metadata
2 1 (0.54%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (7.03%) GitLab
2 3 (1.62%) Jenkins
3 2 (1.08%) JIRA
4 1 (0.54%) Git
General
1 40 (21.62%) Social Skills
2 31 (16.76%) Telecoms
3 19 (10.27%) Public Sector
4 18 (9.73%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (4.86%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (4.32%) Legal
6 8 (4.32%) Manufacturing
7 7 (3.78%) Retail
8 5 (2.70%) Finance
9 3 (1.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.08%) Banking
10 2 (1.08%) Billing
10 2 (1.08%) Military
10 2 (1.08%) Police
11 1 (0.54%) Aviation
11 1 (0.54%) Cyber-Physical System
11 1 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.54%) Polish Language
11 1 (0.54%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 55 (29.73%) Network Engineer
2 43 (23.24%) Senior
3 38 (20.54%) Architect
4 33 (17.84%) Network Specialist
5 23 (12.43%) Network Architect
5 23 (12.43%) Senior Network Engineer
6 22 (11.89%) Network Design Specialist
7 17 (9.19%) Designer
8 16 (8.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 13 (7.03%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 12 (6.49%) Network Designer
11 11 (5.95%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
11 11 (5.95%) Senior Network Specialist
12 9 (4.86%) Design Engineer
13 8 (4.32%) Security Architect
14 7 (3.78%) Consultant
14 7 (3.78%) Lead
14 7 (3.78%) Solutions Architect
15 6 (3.24%) IP Architect
15 6 (3.24%) RAN Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (21.08%) Terraform
2 10 (5.41%) NETCONF
2 10 (5.41%) YANG
3 6 (3.24%) 802.1X
3 6 (3.24%) REST
4 5 (2.70%) OpenConfig
4 5 (2.70%) RESTCONF
5 4 (2.16%) Azure Blueprints
6 3 (1.62%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.54%) eBPF
Miscellaneous
1 57 (30.81%) Data Centre
2 43 (23.24%) Hybrid Cloud
3 27 (14.59%) Cloud Native
4 8 (4.32%) Public Cloud
5 7 (3.78%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (3.24%) Operational Technology
7 5 (2.70%) Analytical Mindset
7 5 (2.70%) IoT
7 5 (2.70%) PKI
7 5 (2.70%) Private Cloud
8 4 (2.16%) CMDB
8 4 (2.16%) Management Information System
8 4 (2.16%) Security Posture
9 3 (1.62%) Data Fabric
9 3 (1.62%) Product Ownership
9 3 (1.62%) SCADA
10 2 (1.08%) EMC VMAX
10 2 (1.08%) EMC VNX
10 2 (1.08%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 15 (8.11%) Linux
2 13 (7.03%) Windows
3 9 (4.86%) Windows Server
4 8 (4.32%) Ubuntu
5 4 (2.16%) Alpine Linux
5 4 (2.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.08%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.54%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (20.00%) High Availability
2 34 (18.38%) Network Architecture
2 34 (18.38%) Zero Trust
3 31 (16.76%) Infrastructure as Code
3 31 (16.76%) Stakeholder Management
4 30 (16.22%) Migration
5 27 (14.59%) DevOps
5 27 (14.59%) Problem-Solving
6 26 (14.05%) Roadmaps
7 25 (13.51%) Load Balancing
8 24 (12.97%) Project Delivery
9 23 (12.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 21 (11.35%) CI/CD
11 20 (10.81%) Validation
12 19 (10.27%) Technical Leadership
13 18 (9.73%) Capacity Planning
14 16 (8.65%) Continuous Improvement
14 16 (8.65%) Cybersecurity
15 13 (7.03%) TOGAF
16 12 (6.49%) Network Virtualisation
Programming Languages
1 40 (21.62%) Python
2 6 (3.24%) Bicep
2 6 (3.24%) PowerShell
3 2 (1.08%) Bash
4 1 (0.54%) ActionScript
Qualifications
1 52 (28.11%) Security Cleared
2 38 (20.54%) Cisco Certification
3 33 (17.84%) SC Cleared
4 25 (13.51%) CCNP
5 16 (8.65%) CCIE
6 12 (6.49%) DV Cleared
7 11 (5.95%) JNCIE
8 9 (4.86%) Azure Certification
9 8 (4.32%) AWS Certification
9 8 (4.32%) Degree
10 6 (3.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 5 (2.70%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 5 (2.70%) CISSP
12 4 (2.16%) CCNA
12 4 (2.16%) CISM
13 2 (1.08%) ISSAP
13 2 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
13 2 (1.08%) NCDA
13 2 (1.08%) NCIE
13 2 (1.08%) VCDX
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (4.86%) NIST
2 5 (2.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.62%) NIST 800
4 2 (1.08%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (1.08%) GDPR
4 2 (1.08%) GxP
4 2 (1.08%) HIPAA
4 2 (1.08%) QA
4 2 (1.08%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 2 (1.08%) SLA
4 2 (1.08%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.54%) Def Stans
5 1 (0.54%) NCSC
System Software
1 16 (8.65%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (5.41%) vSphere
3 8 (4.32%) VMware NSX
4 5 (2.70%) Active Directory
5 4 (2.16%) Hyper-V
6 3 (1.62%) Firmware
6 3 (1.62%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (1.08%) EMC RecoverPoint
7 2 (1.08%) FreeRADIUS
7 2 (1.08%) NFS
7 2 (1.08%) SRDF
8 1 (0.54%) KVM
Systems Management
1 43 (23.24%) Ansible
2 11 (5.95%) Kubernetes
3 7 (3.78%) FortiGate
4 6 (3.24%) Grafana
4 6 (3.24%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.62%) Check_MK
5 3 (1.62%) vCenter Server
6 2 (1.08%) Argo
6 2 (1.08%) EMC NetWorker
6 2 (1.08%) EMC VPLEX
6 2 (1.08%) NetBackup
6 2 (1.08%) SnapMirror
6 2 (1.08%) SnapVault
7 1 (0.54%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.54%) McAfee ePO
7 1 (0.54%) QRadar
7 1 (0.54%) SCCM
7 1 (0.54%) Suricata
7 1 (0.54%) vRealize
Vendors
1 72 (38.92%) Cisco
2 40 (21.62%) Palo Alto
3 38 (20.54%) Fortinet
4 37 (20.00%) F5
5 22 (11.89%) Juniper
6 21 (11.35%) Arista
6 21 (11.35%) Microsoft
6 21 (11.35%) Nokia
7 20 (10.81%) Aruba
7 20 (10.81%) Ericsson
8 18 (9.73%) VMware
9 13 (7.03%) Huawei
10 10 (5.41%) Zscaler
11 8 (4.32%) CheckPoint
12 7 (3.78%) Splunk
13 5 (2.70%) Google
13 5 (2.70%) ServiceNow
13 5 (2.70%) SolarWinds
13 5 (2.70%) Veeam
14 4 (2.16%) Qualys