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

6 months to
26 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 401 317 316
Rank change year-on-year -84 -1 +134
Contract jobs citing Network Design 173 155 245
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.46% 0.64% 0.65%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.53% 0.70% 0.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 125 91 123
10th Percentile £400 £400 £363
25th Percentile £450 £456 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% +15.79% -2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £625 £550
90th Percentile £675 £725 £601
UK median daily rate £500 £538 £475
% change year-on-year -6.98% +13.16% -3.80%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 5
10th Percentile £29.05 - £23.65
25th Percentile £36.25 - £24.25
Median hourly rate £72.54 - £65.98
75th Percentile £74.26 - £70.00
90th Percentile - - -
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 32,394 22,046 32,724
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 86.25% 90.85% 86.79%
Number of daily rates quoted 20,755 14,514 21,646
10th Percentile £313 £313 £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 1,983 845 2,157
10th Percentile £15.34 £15.00 £13.00
25th Percentile £18.87 £20.30 £16.00
Median hourly rate £35.55 £32.50 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.38% -1.52% -12.00%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £58.75
90th Percentile £76.20 £76.25 £71.90
UK median hourly rate £34.50 £32.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +7.81% -1.54% -9.72%

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 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 26 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 26 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 -24 74 £525 +6.33% 16
South East -53 36 £500 -13.04% 14
North of England -78 21 £525 +5.00% 14
North West -47 17 £525 - 12
West Midlands -50 17 £400 -8.57% 2
Midlands -52 17 £400 -8.57% 3
South West -28 13 £490 -7.76% 5
East of England -21 8 £450 +12.50% 7
Yorkshire -57 4 £663 +35.90% 1
North East -12 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 3 (1.73%) OpenStack
2 2 (1.16%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.16%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.58%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.58%) Confluence
3 1 (0.58%) Smallworld
Applications
1 8 (4.62%) MS Visio
2 5 (2.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.89%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (2.31%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.58%) Autodesk Inventor
4 1 (0.58%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (1.16%) DELMIA
1 2 (1.16%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.58%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 42 (24.28%) Azure
2 29 (16.76%) AWS
3 11 (6.36%) GCP
4 6 (3.47%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 5 (2.89%) PaaS
6 4 (2.31%) Microsoft 365
7 3 (1.73%) AWS Direct Connect
7 3 (1.73%) Dynamics 365
7 3 (1.73%) GitHub
7 3 (1.73%) IaaS
7 3 (1.73%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 2 (1.16%) IBM Watson
9 1 (0.58%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (0.58%) Azure Sentinel
9 1 (0.58%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (0.58%) Entra ID
9 1 (0.58%) Google Ads
9 1 (0.58%) Mimecast
9 1 (0.58%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 72 (41.62%) Firewall
2 65 (37.57%) WAN
3 43 (24.86%) BGP
4 41 (23.70%) Network Security
5 40 (23.12%) VPN
6 39 (22.54%) LAN
7 32 (18.50%) MPLS
8 30 (17.34%) Wi-Fi
9 25 (14.45%) 5G
9 25 (14.45%) VLAN
10 22 (12.72%) OSPF
11 21 (12.14%) TCP/IP
12 20 (11.56%) SD-WAN
13 19 (10.98%) Radio Access Network
14 18 (10.40%) IPsec
15 17 (9.83%) 4G
16 14 (8.09%) Cisco ISE
17 13 (7.51%) DNS
17 13 (7.51%) Wireless
18 12 (6.94%) DHCP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.31%) GIS
Development Applications
1 5 (2.89%) Git
2 2 (1.16%) JIRA
3 1 (0.58%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 48 (27.75%) Social Skills
2 31 (17.92%) Telecoms
3 23 (13.29%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (10.98%) Public Sector
5 11 (6.36%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (6.36%) Finance
6 8 (4.62%) Legal
7 5 (2.89%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (2.31%) Police
8 4 (2.31%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (1.73%) Banking
9 3 (1.73%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.16%) Aviation
10 2 (1.16%) Electronics
11 1 (0.58%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.58%) Marketing
11 1 (0.58%) Military
11 1 (0.58%) Publishing
11 1 (0.58%) Retail
11 1 (0.58%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 59 (34.10%) Network Engineer
2 41 (23.70%) Architect
3 32 (18.50%) Network Architect
4 23 (13.29%) Network Specialist
5 20 (11.56%) Senior
6 19 (10.98%) Network Design Specialist
7 16 (9.25%) Design Engineer
7 16 (9.25%) Designer
8 15 (8.67%) Network Designer
9 14 (8.09%) Network Design Engineer
10 10 (5.78%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 9 (5.20%) Senior Designer
11 9 (5.20%) Senior Network Designer
12 8 (4.62%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 8 (4.62%) Solutions Architect
13 7 (4.05%) Lead
13 7 (4.05%) Senior Network Engineer
14 6 (3.47%) IP Specialist
14 6 (3.47%) Support Engineer
15 5 (2.89%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (6.36%) 802.1X
2 7 (4.05%) NETCONF
2 7 (4.05%) YANG
3 4 (2.31%) OpenConfig
3 4 (2.31%) RESTCONF
4 3 (1.73%) OpenID
4 3 (1.73%) SAML
5 2 (1.16%) Django
5 2 (1.16%) REST
6 1 (0.58%) JSON
6 1 (0.58%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 44 (25.43%) Data Centre
2 13 (7.51%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (5.20%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (4.05%) IoT
5 5 (2.89%) PKI
5 5 (2.89%) Self-Motivation
6 4 (2.31%) Analytical Mindset
6 4 (2.31%) Cloud Native
6 4 (2.31%) NB-IoT
7 3 (1.73%) Distributed Architecture
7 3 (1.73%) Management Information System
7 3 (1.73%) SCADA
8 2 (1.16%) Greenfield Project
8 2 (1.16%) Onboarding
8 2 (1.16%) Private Cloud
8 2 (1.16%) Product Ownership
8 2 (1.16%) Security Posture
8 2 (1.16%) Virtual Team
9 1 (0.58%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 1 (0.58%) Hedge funds
Operating Systems
1 10 (5.78%) Windows
2 5 (2.89%) Linux
2 5 (2.89%) Windows Server
3 2 (1.16%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (21.39%) Network Architecture
2 30 (17.34%) Load Balancing
3 26 (15.03%) Problem-Solving
4 20 (11.56%) High Availability
5 17 (9.83%) Migration
6 16 (9.25%) Security Architecture
7 15 (8.67%) Network Management
7 15 (8.67%) Roadmaps
8 14 (8.09%) Data Protection
9 13 (7.51%) Stakeholder Management
10 12 (6.94%) Cybersecurity
10 12 (6.94%) Infrastructure as Code
10 12 (6.94%) ITIL
10 12 (6.94%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 12 (6.94%) Zero Trust
11 11 (6.36%) Mentoring
11 11 (6.36%) TOGAF
12 10 (5.78%) Continuous Improvement
12 10 (5.78%) DevOps
12 10 (5.78%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 25 (14.45%) Python
2 7 (4.05%) PowerShell
2 7 (4.05%) SQL
3 5 (2.89%) Bash
4 2 (1.16%) Perl
5 1 (0.58%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 68 (39.31%) Security Cleared
2 47 (27.17%) Cisco Certification
3 40 (23.12%) SC Cleared
4 38 (21.97%) CCNP
5 24 (13.87%) DV Cleared
6 20 (11.56%) CCIE
7 16 (9.25%) Degree
8 13 (7.51%) CCNA
8 13 (7.51%) JNCIS
9 9 (5.20%) AWS Certification
10 8 (4.62%) Azure Certification
10 8 (4.62%) CISSP
10 8 (4.62%) JNCIE
11 6 (3.47%) JNCIP
12 4 (2.31%) (ISC)2 CCSP
12 4 (2.31%) CCSP
12 4 (2.31%) Computer Science Degree
13 3 (1.73%) CCIE Security
14 2 (1.16%) BPSS Clearance
14 2 (1.16%) VCAP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.78%) GDPR
2 8 (4.62%) NIST
3 6 (3.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 5 (2.89%) PCI DSS
5 2 (1.16%) NCSC
5 2 (1.16%) SLA
6 1 (0.58%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.58%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.58%) DO-160
6 1 (0.58%) QA
System Software
1 12 (6.94%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (6.36%) VMware NSX
3 7 (4.05%) Active Directory
4 4 (2.31%) Hyper-V
5 2 (1.16%) KVM
6 1 (0.58%) Docker
6 1 (0.58%) Firmware
6 1 (0.58%) RHEV
6 1 (0.58%) vSphere
6 1 (0.58%) Xen
Systems Management
1 22 (12.72%) Ansible
2 14 (8.09%) FortiGate
2 14 (8.09%) Terraform
3 5 (2.89%) Nagios
4 4 (2.31%) Kubernetes
5 2 (1.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 2 (1.16%) McAfee ePO
6 1 (0.58%) Cisco Prime
6 1 (0.58%) Failover Clustering
6 1 (0.58%) Grafana
6 1 (0.58%) Iperf
6 1 (0.58%) Network Intrusion Detection System
6 1 (0.58%) Nmap
6 1 (0.58%) Prometheus
6 1 (0.58%) Proxmox
6 1 (0.58%) SCCM
Vendors
1 79 (45.66%) Cisco
2 39 (22.54%) Palo Alto
3 38 (21.97%) Juniper
4 24 (13.87%) F5
4 24 (13.87%) Fortinet
5 22 (12.72%) Microsoft
6 21 (12.14%) Meraki
7 16 (9.25%) VMware
8 13 (7.51%) Nokia
9 10 (5.78%) SolarWinds
10 9 (5.20%) Aruba
10 9 (5.20%) CheckPoint
11 8 (4.62%) Ericsson
12 6 (3.47%) Huawei
13 4 (2.31%) Arista
13 4 (2.31%) Ekahau
14 3 (1.73%) IBM
14 3 (1.73%) McAfee
14 3 (1.73%) NetScout
14 3 (1.73%) Zscaler