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 20 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 409 357 323
Rank change year-on-year -52 -34 +106
Contract jobs citing Network Design 191 141 238
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.44% 0.57% 0.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.52% 0.62% 0.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 128 91 111
10th Percentile £400 £400 £363
25th Percentile £450 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +15.79% -8.43%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £575
90th Percentile £675 £700 £638
UK median daily rate £525 £550 £475
% change year-on-year -4.55% +15.79% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 2
10th Percentile £31.45 £56.13 £24.43
25th Percentile £45.63 £57.81 £26.19
Median hourly rate £60.00 £61.25 £29.25
Median % change year-on-year -2.04% +109.40% -58.21%
75th Percentile £72.02 £65.31 £32.19
90th Percentile £72.72 £67.38 £33.88
UK median hourly rate £65.50 £61.25 £29.25
% change year-on-year +6.94% +109.40% -58.21%

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 36,836 22,759 32,181
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.26% 91.40% 85.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,282 14,723 20,802
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £415 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £520 £515 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.97% -1.90% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £730 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £502 £525
% change year-on-year +2.19% -4.48% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,303 1,078 2,398
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.79
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.10 £16.06
Median hourly rate £47.50 £27.40 £37.63
Median % change year-on-year +73.36% -27.18% +4.81%
75th Percentile £68.75 £56.25 £61.30
90th Percentile £82.25 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.50 £37.50
% change year-on-year +72.39% -32.00% +7.05%

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 20 June 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 20 June 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 20 June 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 -41 66 £525 +9.38% 10
South East -58 46 £505 -12.17% 13
North of England -81 34 £575 +21.05% 12
North West -53 23 £575 +21.05% 8
South West -23 16 £565 -11.72% 6
Yorkshire -55 10 £519 +3.80% 3
Midlands -55 10 £413 -25.00% 5
West Midlands -56 10 £413 -25.00% 4
North East -29 7 £650 +18.18% 1
East of England -30 5 £525 +0.96% 2
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 10 (5.24%) OpenStack
2 2 (1.05%) Apache
2 2 (1.05%) CloudStack
2 2 (1.05%) Confluence
2 2 (1.05%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.05%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.52%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.52%) Smallworld
Applications
1 6 (3.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 5 (2.62%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.62%) MS Visio
3 4 (2.09%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (1.57%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.52%) Autodesk Inventor
5 1 (0.52%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (1.05%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 66 (34.55%) Azure
2 51 (26.70%) AWS
3 15 (7.85%) OCI
4 10 (5.24%) GCP
4 10 (5.24%) SaaS
5 9 (4.71%) GitHub
6 7 (3.66%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 6 (3.14%) IaaS
8 5 (2.62%) Azure Sentinel
8 5 (2.62%) Entra ID
9 3 (1.57%) AWS Control Tower
9 3 (1.57%) PaaS
10 2 (1.05%) Azure Storage
10 2 (1.05%) Datadog
10 2 (1.05%) GitHub Actions
10 2 (1.05%) IBM Watson
10 2 (1.05%) Microsoft 365
10 2 (1.05%) OpenShift
11 1 (0.52%) AWS CloudFormation
11 1 (0.52%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 82 (42.93%) Firewall
2 66 (34.55%) WAN
3 61 (31.94%) BGP
4 49 (25.65%) OSPF
5 37 (19.37%) VPN
6 33 (17.28%) LAN
7 32 (16.75%) Network Security
7 32 (16.75%) SD-WAN
8 28 (14.66%) VLAN
8 28 (14.66%) Wi-Fi
9 27 (14.14%) VXLAN
10 25 (13.09%) MPLS
11 24 (12.57%) 5G
12 22 (11.52%) Ethernet VPN
13 21 (10.99%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 20 (10.47%) 4G
15 17 (8.90%) BIG-IP
15 17 (8.90%) Radio Access Network
16 16 (8.38%) DNS
17 15 (7.85%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.57%) Metadata
2 1 (0.52%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (6.81%) GitLab
2 4 (2.09%) JIRA
3 3 (1.57%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.52%) Git
4 1 (0.52%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 44 (23.04%) Social Skills
2 22 (11.52%) Telecoms
3 20 (10.47%) Public Sector
4 18 (9.42%) Analytical Skills
5 11 (5.76%) Legal
6 9 (4.71%) Finance
7 8 (4.19%) Documentation Skills
8 5 (2.62%) Retail
9 4 (2.09%) Manufacturing
9 4 (2.09%) Police
10 3 (1.57%) Banking
10 3 (1.57%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 3 (1.57%) Military
11 2 (1.05%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.52%) Aviation
12 1 (0.52%) Polish Language
12 1 (0.52%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.52%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 53 (27.75%) Network Engineer
2 44 (23.04%) Senior
3 40 (20.94%) Architect
4 31 (16.23%) Network Specialist
5 26 (13.61%) Network Architect
6 21 (10.99%) Network Design Specialist
7 20 (10.47%) Designer
8 17 (8.90%) Senior Network Engineer
9 16 (8.38%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 15 (7.85%) Network Designer
11 13 (6.81%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 8 (4.19%) Design Engineer
12 8 (4.19%) Lead
12 8 (4.19%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 8 (4.19%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
12 8 (4.19%) Senior Network Specialist
13 7 (3.66%) IP Architect
13 7 (3.66%) Security Architect
14 5 (2.62%) Security Engineer
14 5 (2.62%) Senior Network Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (4.71%) NETCONF
1 9 (4.71%) YANG
2 8 (4.19%) REST
3 7 (3.66%) 802.1X
4 4 (2.09%) Azure Blueprints
5 2 (1.05%) Django
5 2 (1.05%) Elastic Stack
5 2 (1.05%) OpenConfig
5 2 (1.05%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 59 (30.89%) Data Centre
2 42 (21.99%) Hybrid Cloud
3 29 (15.18%) Cloud Native
4 7 (3.66%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (3.66%) Management Information System
5 6 (3.14%) PKI
6 5 (2.62%) Security Posture
7 4 (2.09%) CMDB
7 4 (2.09%) IoT
7 4 (2.09%) Operational Technology
8 3 (1.57%) Data Fabric
8 3 (1.57%) Onboarding
8 3 (1.57%) Product Ownership
8 3 (1.57%) Public Cloud
8 3 (1.57%) SCADA
9 2 (1.05%) EMC VMAX
9 2 (1.05%) EMC VNX
9 2 (1.05%) Enterprise Storage
9 2 (1.05%) Private Cloud
9 2 (1.05%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 19 (9.95%) Linux
2 17 (8.90%) Windows
3 12 (6.28%) Windows Server
4 7 (3.66%) Ubuntu
5 4 (2.09%) Alpine Linux
5 4 (2.09%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.05%) Data ONTAP
6 2 (1.05%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 42 (21.99%) Network Architecture
2 36 (18.85%) High Availability
2 36 (18.85%) Infrastructure as Code
3 33 (17.28%) Zero Trust
4 29 (15.18%) DevOps
4 29 (15.18%) Problem-Solving
5 28 (14.66%) Roadmaps
6 27 (14.14%) Load Balancing
6 27 (14.14%) Migration
7 26 (13.61%) CI/CD
8 22 (11.52%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 20 (10.47%) Stakeholder Management
10 18 (9.42%) Continuous Improvement
10 18 (9.42%) Validation
11 17 (8.90%) Capacity Planning
11 17 (8.90%) Project Delivery
12 16 (8.38%) Cybersecurity
13 15 (7.85%) TOGAF
14 14 (7.33%) Network Segmentation
14 14 (7.33%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 41 (21.47%) Python
2 10 (5.24%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.66%) Bicep
4 5 (2.62%) Bash
5 2 (1.05%) SQL
6 1 (0.52%) ActionScript
Qualifications
1 62 (32.46%) Security Cleared
2 44 (23.04%) Cisco Certification
3 38 (19.90%) SC Cleared
4 31 (16.23%) CCNP
5 18 (9.42%) DV Cleared
6 16 (8.38%) CCIE
7 11 (5.76%) AWS Certification
7 11 (5.76%) Azure Certification
7 11 (5.76%) Degree
8 10 (5.24%) JNCIE
9 6 (3.14%) CCNA
10 5 (2.62%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 5 (2.62%) CISSP
10 5 (2.62%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 4 (2.09%) CISM
11 4 (2.09%) JNCIS
12 2 (1.05%) Microsoft Certification
12 2 (1.05%) PMI Certification
12 2 (1.05%) PMP
12 2 (1.05%) Project+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.24%) NIST
2 4 (2.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.57%) NCSC
3 3 (1.57%) SLA
4 2 (1.05%) GDPR
4 2 (1.05%) HIPAA
4 2 (1.05%) NIST 800
4 2 (1.05%) QA
4 2 (1.05%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.52%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.52%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.52%) Def Stans
System Software
1 17 (8.90%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (5.76%) VMware NSX
3 9 (4.71%) Active Directory
4 7 (3.66%) Hyper-V
4 7 (3.66%) vSphere
5 3 (1.57%) Firmware
5 3 (1.57%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (1.05%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (1.05%) KVM
6 2 (1.05%) NFS
6 2 (1.05%) SRDF
7 1 (0.52%) Docker
Systems Management
1 41 (21.47%) Ansible
2 36 (18.85%) Terraform
3 10 (5.24%) Kubernetes
4 9 (4.71%) FortiGate
5 5 (2.62%) Grafana
5 5 (2.62%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.57%) Nagios
6 3 (1.57%) vCenter Server
7 2 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (1.05%) Argo
7 2 (1.05%) Check_MK
7 2 (1.05%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (1.05%) EMC VPLEX
7 2 (1.05%) McAfee ePO
7 2 (1.05%) NetBackup
7 2 (1.05%) SCCM
7 2 (1.05%) SnapMirror
7 2 (1.05%) SnapVault
8 1 (0.52%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.52%) Iperf
Vendors
1 72 (37.70%) Cisco
2 44 (23.04%) Palo Alto
3 35 (18.32%) F5
4 30 (15.71%) Fortinet
5 23 (12.04%) Juniper
5 23 (12.04%) Microsoft
6 21 (10.99%) VMware
7 20 (10.47%) Arista
8 19 (9.95%) Aruba
9 15 (7.85%) Nokia
10 14 (7.33%) Ericsson
11 13 (6.81%) Huawei
12 11 (5.76%) CheckPoint
13 9 (4.71%) SolarWinds
14 8 (4.19%) Meraki
14 8 (4.19%) Zscaler
15 7 (3.66%) Splunk
16 5 (2.62%) Google
17 4 (2.09%) Qualys
17 4 (2.09%) Veeam