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 25 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 449 362 309
Rank change year-on-year -87 -53 +57
Contract jobs citing Network Design 185 157 225
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.40% 0.57% 0.68%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.48% 0.63% 0.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 108 122
10th Percentile £394 £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 £588 £625 £584
90th Percentile £650 £695 £650
UK median daily rate £515 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +3.00% - -12.85%
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 38,748 25,020 28,500
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.82% 90.83% 85.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,949 15,925 18,341
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £404 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £511 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.74% -2.67% -4.55%
75th Percentile £630 £627 £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 2,582 1,471 1,520
10th Percentile £14.25 £14.25 £14.05
25th Percentile £19.00 £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 £70.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £41.56 £25.15 £40.94
% change year-on-year +65.23% -38.57% -3.67%

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 25 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 25 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 25 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 -53 66 £525 +10.53% 12
South East -73 37 £513 -10.87% 14
North of England -57 33 £575 +21.05% 4
North West -34 25 £575 +21.05% 1
South West -48 13 £500 -21.88% 6
Midlands -69 11 £425 - 10
West Midlands -53 10 £425 - 6
East of England -17 7 £525 +28.05% 4
North East -33 7 £650 +18.18% 2
Yorkshire -34 7 £519 -9.74% 1
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 10 (5.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 9 (4.86%) Microsoft Office
3 8 (4.32%) Microsoft Excel
4 7 (3.78%) 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 77 (41.62%) Firewall
2 66 (35.68%) BGP
3 56 (30.27%) WAN
4 50 (27.03%) OSPF
5 31 (16.76%) VLAN
5 31 (16.76%) VPN
6 30 (16.22%) 5G
7 29 (15.68%) LAN
7 29 (15.68%) Network Security
7 29 (15.68%) SD-WAN
8 28 (15.14%) 4G
8 28 (15.14%) Wi-Fi
9 26 (14.05%) VXLAN
10 23 (12.43%) Radio Access Network
11 21 (11.35%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
11 21 (11.35%) MPLS
12 20 (10.81%) Ethernet VPN
13 17 (9.19%) BIG-IP
14 16 (8.65%) Wireless
15 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 41 (22.16%) Social Skills
2 30 (16.22%) Telecoms
3 19 (10.27%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (10.27%) Public Sector
4 8 (4.32%) Legal
4 8 (4.32%) Manufacturing
5 7 (3.78%) Documentation Skills
5 7 (3.78%) Retail
6 5 (2.70%) Finance
7 3 (1.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 2 (1.08%) Banking
8 2 (1.08%) Billing
8 2 (1.08%) Military
8 2 (1.08%) Police
9 1 (0.54%) Aviation
9 1 (0.54%) Cyber-Physical System
9 1 (0.54%) Pharmaceutical
9 1 (0.54%) Polish Language
9 1 (0.54%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 55 (29.73%) Network Engineer
2 44 (23.78%) 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%) Lead
14 7 (3.78%) Solutions Architect
15 6 (3.24%) Consultant
15 6 (3.24%) IP Architect
16 5 (2.70%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 39 (21.08%) Terraform
2 11 (5.95%) NETCONF
2 11 (5.95%) YANG
3 7 (3.78%) 802.1X
4 6 (3.24%) OpenConfig
4 6 (3.24%) REST
4 6 (3.24%) RESTCONF
5 4 (2.16%) Azure Blueprints
6 3 (1.62%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.54%) eBPF
Miscellaneous
1 58 (31.35%) Data Centre
2 44 (23.78%) 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%) Analytical Mindset
6 6 (3.24%) IoT
6 6 (3.24%) Operational Technology
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%) Greenfield Project
10 2 (1.08%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 15 (8.11%) Linux
2 12 (6.49%) 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 36 (19.46%) High Availability
2 34 (18.38%) Network Architecture
2 34 (18.38%) Zero Trust
3 32 (17.30%) Infrastructure as Code
4 30 (16.22%) Stakeholder Management
5 28 (15.14%) Migration
5 28 (15.14%) Problem-Solving
6 27 (14.59%) DevOps
7 26 (14.05%) Roadmaps
8 25 (13.51%) Load Balancing
9 24 (12.97%) Project Delivery
10 23 (12.43%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 22 (11.89%) CI/CD
12 19 (10.27%) Technical Leadership
12 19 (10.27%) Validation
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 41 (22.16%) 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 24 (12.97%) CCNP
5 17 (9.19%) CCIE
6 12 (6.49%) DV Cleared
6 12 (6.49%) JNCIE
7 9 (4.86%) Azure Certification
8 8 (4.32%) AWS Certification
8 8 (4.32%) Degree
9 6 (3.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
10 5 (2.70%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 5 (2.70%) CISSP
11 4 (2.16%) CISM
12 3 (1.62%) CCNA
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 44 (23.78%) 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 73 (39.46%) Cisco
2 40 (21.62%) Palo Alto
3 39 (21.08%) Fortinet
4 38 (20.54%) F5
5 23 (12.43%) Juniper
6 22 (11.89%) Microsoft
7 21 (11.35%) Arista
8 20 (10.81%) Aruba
8 20 (10.81%) Nokia
9 19 (10.27%) Ericsson
10 18 (9.73%) VMware
11 13 (7.03%) Huawei
12 10 (5.41%) Zscaler
13 8 (4.32%) CheckPoint
14 7 (3.78%) Splunk
15 6 (3.24%) Meraki
16 5 (2.70%) Google
16 5 (2.70%) ServiceNow
16 5 (2.70%) SolarWinds
16 5 (2.70%) Veeam