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 5 April 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
5 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 415 324 305
Rank change year-on-year -91 -19 +151
Contract jobs citing Network Design 174 155 244
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.45% 0.64% 0.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.52% 0.70% 0.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 89 124
10th Percentile £401 £400 £363
25th Percentile £453 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +15.79% -1.30%
75th Percentile £574 £625 £550
90th Percentile £675 £728 £627
UK median daily rate £515 £525 £475
% change year-on-year -1.90% +10.53% -4.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 1 4
10th Percentile £30.25 - £23.55
25th Percentile £44.81 £66.25 £24.00
Median hourly rate £71.77 £67.50 £47.25
Median % change year-on-year +6.33% +42.86% -32.50%
75th Percentile £73.83 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.26 - -
UK median hourly rate £71.77 £67.50 £47.25
% change year-on-year +6.33% +42.86% -32.50%

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 33,286 22,141 32,539
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.92% 90.87% 86.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 21,341 14,591 21,484
10th Percentile £313 £311 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -3.81% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £614 £638 £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 2,040 863 2,161
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.99 £12.92
25th Percentile £19.45 £19.00 £15.89
Median hourly rate £37.50 £32.50 £33.07
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% -1.71% -11.83%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £58.70
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.10 £70.66
UK median hourly rate £35.71 £31.52 £33.00
% change year-on-year +13.29% -4.48% -11.53%

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 5 April 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 5 April 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 5 April 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 71 £525 +5.00% 16
South East -48 37 £500 -13.04% 14
North of England -85 22 £525 +5.00% 14
North West -52 17 £525 - 12
South West -25 15 £490 -7.76% 5
West Midlands -45 15 £463 +5.71% 2
Midlands -57 15 £463 +5.71% 3
East of England -23 8 £450 +12.50% 7
Yorkshire -59 5 £650 +36.84% 1
North East -13 1 - - 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 4 (2.30%) OpenStack
2 2 (1.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.15%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.57%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.57%) Confluence
3 1 (0.57%) Smallworld
Applications
1 8 (4.60%) MS Visio
2 5 (2.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.87%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (2.30%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.57%) Autodesk Inventor
4 1 (0.57%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (1.15%) DELMIA
1 2 (1.15%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.57%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 41 (23.56%) Azure
2 29 (16.67%) AWS
3 11 (6.32%) GCP
4 6 (3.45%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 5 (2.87%) PaaS
6 3 (1.72%) AWS Direct Connect
6 3 (1.72%) Dynamics 365
6 3 (1.72%) GitHub
6 3 (1.72%) IaaS
6 3 (1.72%) Microsoft 365
6 3 (1.72%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 2 (1.15%) IBM Watson
8 1 (0.57%) AWS CloudFormation
8 1 (0.57%) Azure Sentinel
8 1 (0.57%) Cloud Computing
8 1 (0.57%) Entra ID
8 1 (0.57%) Google Ads
8 1 (0.57%) Mimecast
8 1 (0.57%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 73 (41.95%) Firewall
2 64 (36.78%) WAN
3 44 (25.29%) BGP
4 40 (22.99%) LAN
5 39 (22.41%) VPN
6 38 (21.84%) Network Security
7 30 (17.24%) MPLS
8 29 (16.67%) Wi-Fi
9 28 (16.09%) 5G
10 26 (14.94%) OSPF
11 25 (14.37%) VLAN
12 21 (12.07%) Radio Access Network
12 21 (12.07%) SD-WAN
13 20 (11.49%) TCP/IP
14 19 (10.92%) 4G
15 16 (9.20%) IPsec
16 15 (8.62%) Cisco ISE
17 14 (8.05%) DNS
18 13 (7.47%) DHCP
18 13 (7.47%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.30%) GIS
Development Applications
1 5 (2.87%) Git
2 2 (1.15%) JIRA
3 1 (0.57%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 47 (27.01%) Social Skills
2 31 (17.82%) Telecoms
3 20 (11.49%) Analytical Skills
4 17 (9.77%) Public Sector
5 11 (6.32%) Documentation Skills
6 10 (5.75%) Finance
7 8 (4.60%) Legal
8 5 (2.87%) Influencing Skills
8 5 (2.87%) Police
9 4 (2.30%) Presentation Skills
10 3 (1.72%) Banking
10 3 (1.72%) Manufacturing
11 2 (1.15%) Aviation
11 2 (1.15%) Electronics
12 1 (0.57%) Aerospace
12 1 (0.57%) Local Government
12 1 (0.57%) Marketing
12 1 (0.57%) Publishing
12 1 (0.57%) Retail
12 1 (0.57%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 59 (33.91%) Network Engineer
2 39 (22.41%) Architect
3 31 (17.82%) Network Architect
4 26 (14.94%) Network Specialist
5 21 (12.07%) Network Design Specialist
5 21 (12.07%) Senior
6 19 (10.92%) Designer
7 16 (9.20%) Design Engineer
8 15 (8.62%) Network Designer
9 14 (8.05%) Network Design Engineer
10 12 (6.90%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 9 (5.17%) Senior Designer
11 9 (5.17%) Senior Network Designer
12 8 (4.60%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 8 (4.60%) Senior Network Engineer
12 8 (4.60%) Solutions Architect
13 7 (4.02%) Lead
14 6 (3.45%) IP Specialist
15 5 (2.87%) Technical Architect
16 4 (2.30%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (6.32%) 802.1X
2 7 (4.02%) NETCONF
2 7 (4.02%) YANG
3 4 (2.30%) OpenConfig
3 4 (2.30%) RESTCONF
4 3 (1.72%) OpenID
4 3 (1.72%) SAML
5 2 (1.15%) Django
5 2 (1.15%) REST
6 1 (0.57%) JSON
6 1 (0.57%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 44 (25.29%) Data Centre
2 13 (7.47%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (5.17%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (4.02%) IoT
5 5 (2.87%) Cloud Native
5 5 (2.87%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (2.30%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.30%) NB-IoT
7 3 (1.72%) Distributed Architecture
7 3 (1.72%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.72%) PKI
7 3 (1.72%) SCADA
8 2 (1.15%) Greenfield Project
8 2 (1.15%) Onboarding
8 2 (1.15%) Private Cloud
8 2 (1.15%) Product Ownership
8 2 (1.15%) Security Posture
8 2 (1.15%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.57%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 1 (0.57%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 9 (5.17%) Windows
2 6 (3.45%) Linux
3 5 (2.87%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.15%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (21.26%) Network Architecture
2 28 (16.09%) Load Balancing
3 24 (13.79%) Problem-Solving
4 22 (12.64%) High Availability
5 19 (10.92%) Migration
6 15 (8.62%) Roadmaps
6 15 (8.62%) Security Architecture
7 14 (8.05%) Data Protection
7 14 (8.05%) Network Management
8 13 (7.47%) Stakeholder Management
8 13 (7.47%) Zero Trust
9 12 (6.90%) Cybersecurity
9 12 (6.90%) ITIL
9 12 (6.90%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 11 (6.32%) Infrastructure as Code
10 11 (6.32%) Mentoring
10 11 (6.32%) Network Segmentation
10 11 (6.32%) TOGAF
11 10 (5.75%) Continuous Improvement
11 10 (5.75%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 25 (14.37%) Python
2 7 (4.02%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.02%) SQL
3 5 (2.87%) Bash
4 2 (1.15%) Perl
5 1 (0.57%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 67 (38.51%) Security Cleared
2 46 (26.44%) Cisco Certification
3 41 (23.56%) SC Cleared
4 37 (21.26%) CCNP
5 24 (13.79%) DV Cleared
6 20 (11.49%) CCIE
7 14 (8.05%) Degree
8 13 (7.47%) CCNA
9 12 (6.90%) JNCIS
10 9 (5.17%) AWS Certification
11 8 (4.60%) Azure Certification
11 8 (4.60%) CISSP
11 8 (4.60%) JNCIE
12 5 (2.87%) JNCIP
13 4 (2.30%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (2.30%) CCSP
13 4 (2.30%) Computer Science Degree
14 3 (1.72%) CCIE Security
15 2 (1.15%) BPSS Clearance
15 2 (1.15%) VCDX
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.75%) GDPR
2 8 (4.60%) NIST
3 6 (3.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (2.87%) PCI DSS
5 2 (1.15%) NCSC
5 2 (1.15%) SLA
6 1 (0.57%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.57%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.57%) DO-160
6 1 (0.57%) QA
System Software
1 13 (7.47%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (6.32%) VMware NSX
3 7 (4.02%) Active Directory
4 4 (2.30%) Hyper-V
5 3 (1.72%) KVM
6 1 (0.57%) Docker
6 1 (0.57%) Firmware
6 1 (0.57%) RHEV
6 1 (0.57%) vSphere
6 1 (0.57%) Xen
Systems Management
1 21 (12.07%) Ansible
2 14 (8.05%) FortiGate
3 13 (7.47%) Terraform
4 5 (2.87%) Kubernetes
4 5 (2.87%) Nagios
5 2 (1.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (1.15%) McAfee ePO
6 1 (0.57%) Cisco Prime
6 1 (0.57%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.57%) Grafana
6 1 (0.57%) Iperf
6 1 (0.57%) Network Intrusion Detection System
6 1 (0.57%) Nmap
6 1 (0.57%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.57%) Proxmox
6 1 (0.57%) SCCM
Vendors
1 82 (47.13%) Cisco
2 40 (22.99%) Palo Alto
3 34 (19.54%) Juniper
4 25 (14.37%) Fortinet
5 24 (13.79%) F5
6 22 (12.64%) Microsoft
7 21 (12.07%) Meraki
8 17 (9.77%) VMware
9 16 (9.20%) Nokia
10 11 (6.32%) Ericsson
11 10 (5.75%) Aruba
11 10 (5.75%) SolarWinds
12 9 (5.17%) CheckPoint
13 8 (4.60%) Huawei
14 4 (2.30%) Arista
14 4 (2.30%) Ekahau
15 3 (1.72%) IBM
15 3 (1.72%) McAfee
15 3 (1.72%) NetScout
15 3 (1.72%) Zscaler