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 17 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 410 319 310
Rank change year-on-year -91 -9 +139
Contract jobs citing Network Design 169 161 253
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.46% 0.66% 0.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.72% 0.77%
Number of daily rates quoted 121 93 128
10th Percentile £400 £400 £363
25th Percentile £425 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £538 £475
Median % change year-on-year -6.98% +13.16% -
75th Percentile £575 £625 £578
90th Percentile £675 £698 £683
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -4.76% +10.53% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 6
10th Percentile £29.05 - £23.75
25th Percentile £36.25 - £34.68
Median hourly rate £72.54 - £65.98
75th Percentile £74.26 - £69.00
90th Percentile - - £70.00
UK median hourly rate £72.54 - £65.98
% change year-on-year - - -5.74%

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 31,848 22,266 32,932
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 86.46% 90.63% 86.90%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,386 14,474 21,796
10th Percentile £313 £310 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £503 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.29% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £640 £650
90th Percentile £725 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,978 815 2,152
10th Percentile £15.29 £15.18 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.87 £21.00 £16.06
Median hourly rate £30.79 £34.11 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -9.73% +4.95% -12.87%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £57.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £77.50 £70.50
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £32.50 £32.50
% change year-on-year -7.69% - -7.14%

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 17 March 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 17 March 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 17 March 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 -36 72 £525 +2.44% 15
South East -44 36 £500 -13.04% 9
North of England -84 20 £531 +6.20% 13
Midlands -45 17 £400 -8.57% 2
West Midlands -52 17 £400 -8.57% 2
North West -43 16 £525 +5.00% 11
South West -27 13 £490 -6.22% 2
East of England -21 8 £450 +12.50% 6
Yorkshire -58 4 £663 +35.90% 2
North East -12 1 - -
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 3 (1.78%) OpenStack
2 2 (1.18%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.18%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.59%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.59%) Confluence
3 1 (0.59%) Smallworld
Applications
1 8 (4.73%) MS Visio
2 5 (2.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.96%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (2.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.59%) Autodesk Inventor
4 1 (0.59%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (1.18%) DELMIA
1 2 (1.18%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.59%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 41 (24.26%) Azure
2 29 (17.16%) AWS
3 12 (7.10%) GCP
4 6 (3.55%) PaaS
5 5 (2.96%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 4 (2.37%) Dynamics 365
6 4 (2.37%) Microsoft 365
7 3 (1.78%) AWS Direct Connect
7 3 (1.78%) IaaS
7 3 (1.78%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 2 (1.18%) GitHub
8 2 (1.18%) IBM Watson
9 1 (0.59%) Akamai
9 1 (0.59%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (0.59%) Azure Sentinel
9 1 (0.59%) Cloudflare
9 1 (0.59%) Entra ID
9 1 (0.59%) Google Ads
9 1 (0.59%) Mimecast
9 1 (0.59%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 70 (41.42%) Firewall
2 66 (39.05%) WAN
3 42 (24.85%) BGP
4 39 (23.08%) LAN
4 39 (23.08%) Network Security
5 38 (22.49%) VPN
6 32 (18.93%) MPLS
7 29 (17.16%) Wi-Fi
8 24 (14.20%) VLAN
9 23 (13.61%) 5G
10 22 (13.02%) TCP/IP
11 20 (11.83%) OSPF
11 20 (11.83%) SD-WAN
12 18 (10.65%) Radio Access Network
13 16 (9.47%) 4G
13 16 (9.47%) IPsec
14 14 (8.28%) Cisco ISE
15 13 (7.69%) DNS
15 13 (7.69%) Wireless
16 12 (7.10%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.37%) GIS
Development Applications
1 5 (2.96%) Git
2 2 (1.18%) JIRA
3 1 (0.59%) GitLab
3 1 (0.59%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 49 (28.99%) Social Skills
2 33 (19.53%) Telecoms
3 24 (14.20%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (11.24%) Public Sector
5 12 (7.10%) Finance
6 10 (5.92%) Documentation Skills
7 7 (4.14%) Legal
8 6 (3.55%) Influencing Skills
9 5 (2.96%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (2.37%) Police
11 3 (1.78%) Aviation
11 3 (1.78%) Manufacturing
12 2 (1.18%) Banking
12 2 (1.18%) Electronics
13 1 (0.59%) Aerospace
13 1 (0.59%) Local Government
13 1 (0.59%) Marketing
13 1 (0.59%) Military
13 1 (0.59%) Publishing
13 1 (0.59%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 55 (32.54%) Network Engineer
2 43 (25.44%) Architect
3 34 (20.12%) Network Architect
4 22 (13.02%) Network Specialist
5 20 (11.83%) Senior
6 18 (10.65%) Network Design Specialist
7 16 (9.47%) Design Engineer
8 14 (8.28%) Network Design Engineer
9 13 (7.69%) Designer
10 12 (7.10%) Network Designer
11 9 (5.33%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 9 (5.33%) Senior Designer
11 9 (5.33%) Senior Network Designer
12 8 (4.73%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 8 (4.73%) Solutions Architect
13 7 (4.14%) Senior Network Engineer
14 6 (3.55%) IP Specialist
14 6 (3.55%) Lead
14 6 (3.55%) Support Engineer
15 5 (2.96%) Azure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (6.51%) 802.1X
2 7 (4.14%) NETCONF
2 7 (4.14%) YANG
3 4 (2.37%) OpenConfig
3 4 (2.37%) OpenID
3 4 (2.37%) RESTCONF
3 4 (2.37%) SAML
4 2 (1.18%) Django
4 2 (1.18%) REST
5 1 (0.59%) JSON
5 1 (0.59%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 41 (24.26%) Data Centre
2 12 (7.10%) Hybrid Cloud
3 10 (5.92%) Data Protection Act
4 8 (4.73%) IoT
5 5 (2.96%) PKI
5 5 (2.96%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (2.37%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.37%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.37%) NB-IoT
7 3 (1.78%) Distributed Architecture
7 3 (1.78%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.78%) Onboarding
7 3 (1.78%) SCADA
8 2 (1.18%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 2 (1.18%) Private Cloud
8 2 (1.18%) Product Ownership
8 2 (1.18%) Security Posture
8 2 (1.18%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.59%) Greenfield Project
9 1 (0.59%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 10 (5.92%) Windows
2 5 (2.96%) Linux
2 5 (2.96%) Windows Server
3 2 (1.18%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (21.89%) Network Architecture
2 30 (17.75%) Load Balancing
3 26 (15.38%) Problem-Solving
4 19 (11.24%) High Availability
5 17 (10.06%) Migration
6 16 (9.47%) Security Architecture
7 15 (8.88%) Roadmaps
8 14 (8.28%) Data Protection
8 14 (8.28%) Network Management
9 13 (7.69%) Stakeholder Management
10 12 (7.10%) Cybersecurity
10 12 (7.10%) DevOps
10 12 (7.10%) ITIL
11 11 (6.51%) Infrastructure as Code
11 11 (6.51%) Mentoring
11 11 (6.51%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 11 (6.51%) Zero Trust
12 10 (5.92%) Observability
12 10 (5.92%) Root Cause Analysis
12 10 (5.92%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 25 (14.79%) Python
2 7 (4.14%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.14%) SQL
3 5 (2.96%) Bash
4 2 (1.18%) Perl
5 1 (0.59%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 64 (37.87%) Security Cleared
2 45 (26.63%) Cisco Certification
3 38 (22.49%) SC Cleared
4 36 (21.30%) CCNP
5 23 (13.61%) DV Cleared
6 20 (11.83%) CCIE
7 17 (10.06%) Degree
8 12 (7.10%) CCNA
8 12 (7.10%) JNCIS
9 9 (5.33%) AWS Certification
10 8 (4.73%) CISSP
10 8 (4.73%) JNCIE
11 7 (4.14%) Azure Certification
12 6 (3.55%) JNCIP
13 5 (2.96%) Computer Science Degree
14 4 (2.37%) (ISC)2 CCSP
14 4 (2.37%) CCSP
15 3 (1.78%) CCIE Security
16 2 (1.18%) BPSS Clearance
16 2 (1.18%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.92%) GDPR
2 8 (4.73%) NIST
3 6 (3.55%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (2.96%) PCI DSS
5 2 (1.18%) NCSC
5 2 (1.18%) SLA
6 1 (0.59%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.59%) DO-160
6 1 (0.59%) QA
System Software
1 11 (6.51%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (5.92%) VMware NSX
3 7 (4.14%) Active Directory
4 4 (2.37%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.18%) KVM
6 1 (0.59%) Docker
6 1 (0.59%) Firmware
6 1 (0.59%) RHEV
6 1 (0.59%) Xen
Systems Management
1 21 (12.43%) Ansible
2 13 (7.69%) FortiGate
2 13 (7.69%) Terraform
3 5 (2.96%) Nagios
4 3 (1.78%) Kubernetes
5 2 (1.18%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (1.18%) McAfee ePO
6 1 (0.59%) Cisco Prime
6 1 (0.59%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.59%) Grafana
6 1 (0.59%) Iperf
6 1 (0.59%) Network Intrusion Detection System
6 1 (0.59%) Nmap
6 1 (0.59%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.59%) Proxmox
6 1 (0.59%) SCCM
Vendors
1 76 (44.97%) Cisco
2 39 (23.08%) Palo Alto
3 35 (20.71%) Juniper
4 24 (14.20%) F5
4 24 (14.20%) Fortinet
5 22 (13.02%) Meraki
5 22 (13.02%) Microsoft
6 14 (8.28%) VMware
7 13 (7.69%) Nokia
8 10 (5.92%) CheckPoint
8 10 (5.92%) SolarWinds
9 9 (5.33%) Aruba
10 8 (4.73%) Ericsson
11 5 (2.96%) Huawei
12 4 (2.37%) Arista
12 4 (2.37%) Ekahau
13 3 (1.78%) McAfee
13 3 (1.78%) NetScout
14 2 (1.18%) Forcepoint
14 2 (1.18%) IBM