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

6 months to
18 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 415 338 322
Rank change year-on-year -77 -16 +111
Contract jobs citing Network Design 185 140 236
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.43% 0.56% 0.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.51% 0.62% 0.73%
Number of daily rates quoted 128 91 110
10th Percentile £400 £400 £363
25th Percentile £450 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £470
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +17.02% -10.48%
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 6 1 2
10th Percentile £30.25 - £24.43
25th Percentile £40.94 £66.25 £26.19
Median hourly rate £65.50 £67.50 £29.25
Median % change year-on-year -2.96% +130.77% -58.21%
75th Percentile £72.28 £68.75 £32.19
90th Percentile £72.77 - £33.88
UK median hourly rate £71.00 £67.50 £29.25
% change year-on-year +5.19% +130.77% -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 36,618 22,657 32,179
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.18% 91.33% 85.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,120 14,657 20,816
10th Percentile £325 £303 £300
25th Percentile £415 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £519 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -0.23% -1.00% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £727 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £513 £505 £525
% change year-on-year +1.46% -3.79% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,297 1,070 2,391
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.79
25th Percentile £21.00 £18.11 £16.04
Median hourly rate £47.00 £27.40 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +71.53% -26.93% +5.19%
75th Percentile £68.00 £57.19 £61.30
90th Percentile £82.25 £75.00 £72.50
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £26.21 £37.18
% change year-on-year +67.72% -29.51% +6.14%

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 18 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 18 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 18 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 -24 65 £525 +9.38% 12
South East -52 45 £500 -13.04% 14
North of England -75 34 £575 +21.05% 10
North West -44 23 £575 +21.05% 8
South West -20 15 £565 -11.72% 7
West Midlands -48 10 £413 -25.00% 4
Midlands -51 10 £413 -25.00% 5
Yorkshire -57 10 £519 +3.80% 1
North East -30 7 £650 +18.18% 1
East of England -24 5 £525 +0.96% 3
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 (5.41%) OpenStack
2 2 (1.08%) Apache
2 2 (1.08%) CloudStack
2 2 (1.08%) Confluence
2 2 (1.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.08%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.54%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.54%) Smallworld
Applications
1 6 (3.24%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 5 (2.70%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.70%) MS Visio
3 4 (2.16%) Microsoft Excel
4 3 (1.62%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.54%) Autodesk Inventor
5 1 (0.54%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (1.08%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 64 (34.59%) Azure
2 50 (27.03%) AWS
3 15 (8.11%) OCI
4 10 (5.41%) GCP
4 10 (5.41%) SaaS
5 8 (4.32%) GitHub
6 6 (3.24%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 6 (3.24%) IaaS
7 5 (2.70%) Azure Sentinel
7 5 (2.70%) Entra ID
8 3 (1.62%) AWS Control Tower
8 3 (1.62%) PaaS
9 2 (1.08%) Azure Storage
9 2 (1.08%) Datadog
9 2 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (1.08%) IBM Watson
9 2 (1.08%) Microsoft 365
9 2 (1.08%) OpenShift
10 1 (0.54%) AWS CloudFormation
10 1 (0.54%) AWS Direct Connect
Communications & Networking
1 78 (42.16%) Firewall
2 65 (35.14%) WAN
3 60 (32.43%) BGP
4 48 (25.95%) OSPF
5 36 (19.46%) VPN
6 33 (17.84%) LAN
7 31 (16.76%) Network Security
7 31 (16.76%) SD-WAN
8 28 (15.14%) Wi-Fi
9 26 (14.05%) VLAN
9 26 (14.05%) VXLAN
10 25 (13.51%) MPLS
11 22 (11.89%) 5G
11 22 (11.89%) Ethernet VPN
12 20 (10.81%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
13 18 (9.73%) 4G
14 17 (9.19%) BIG-IP
14 17 (9.19%) Radio Access Network
15 16 (8.65%) DNS
16 14 (7.57%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.62%) Metadata
2 1 (0.54%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (7.03%) GitLab
2 4 (2.16%) JIRA
3 3 (1.62%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.54%) Git
4 1 (0.54%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 43 (23.24%) Social Skills
2 20 (10.81%) Telecoms
3 18 (9.73%) Analytical Skills
3 18 (9.73%) Public Sector
4 11 (5.95%) Legal
5 9 (4.86%) Finance
6 8 (4.32%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (2.16%) Manufacturing
7 4 (2.16%) Police
7 4 (2.16%) Retail
8 3 (1.62%) Banking
8 3 (1.62%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (1.08%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (1.08%) Military
10 1 (0.54%) Aviation
10 1 (0.54%) Polish Language
10 1 (0.54%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.54%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 51 (27.57%) Network Engineer
2 45 (24.32%) Senior
3 37 (20.00%) Architect
4 31 (16.76%) Network Specialist
5 23 (12.43%) Network Architect
6 21 (11.35%) Designer
6 21 (11.35%) Network Design Specialist
7 17 (9.19%) Senior Network Engineer
8 16 (8.65%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 16 (8.65%) Network Designer
9 13 (7.03%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 8 (4.32%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
10 8 (4.32%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
10 8 (4.32%) Senior Network Specialist
11 7 (3.78%) IP Architect
11 7 (3.78%) Lead
12 6 (3.24%) Security Architect
12 6 (3.24%) Senior Designer
12 6 (3.24%) Senior Network Designer
13 5 (2.70%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (4.86%) NETCONF
1 9 (4.86%) YANG
2 8 (4.32%) REST
3 7 (3.78%) 802.1X
4 4 (2.16%) Azure Blueprints
5 2 (1.08%) Django
5 2 (1.08%) Elastic Stack
5 2 (1.08%) OpenConfig
5 2 (1.08%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 56 (30.27%) Data Centre
2 40 (21.62%) Hybrid Cloud
3 29 (15.68%) Cloud Native
4 7 (3.78%) Data Protection Act
4 7 (3.78%) Management Information System
5 6 (3.24%) PKI
6 5 (2.70%) Security Posture
7 4 (2.16%) CMDB
7 4 (2.16%) IoT
7 4 (2.16%) Operational Technology
8 3 (1.62%) Data Fabric
8 3 (1.62%) Product Ownership
8 3 (1.62%) Public Cloud
8 3 (1.62%) SCADA
9 2 (1.08%) EMC VMAX
9 2 (1.08%) EMC VNX
9 2 (1.08%) Enterprise Storage
9 2 (1.08%) Onboarding
9 2 (1.08%) Private Cloud
9 2 (1.08%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 18 (9.73%) Linux
2 17 (9.19%) Windows
3 12 (6.49%) Windows Server
4 6 (3.24%) Ubuntu
5 4 (2.16%) Alpine Linux
5 4 (2.16%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.08%) Data ONTAP
6 2 (1.08%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (21.62%) Network Architecture
2 36 (19.46%) High Availability
2 36 (19.46%) Infrastructure as Code
3 31 (16.76%) Zero Trust
4 29 (15.68%) DevOps
4 29 (15.68%) Problem-Solving
5 27 (14.59%) Load Balancing
6 26 (14.05%) CI/CD
6 26 (14.05%) Migration
6 26 (14.05%) Roadmaps
7 22 (11.89%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 18 (9.73%) Continuous Improvement
8 18 (9.73%) Stakeholder Management
9 16 (8.65%) Validation
10 15 (8.11%) Capacity Planning
10 15 (8.11%) Cybersecurity
10 15 (8.11%) Project Delivery
11 14 (7.57%) Network Segmentation
11 14 (7.57%) TOGAF
12 12 (6.49%) Network Virtualisation
Programming Languages
1 40 (21.62%) Python
2 10 (5.41%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.78%) Bicep
4 5 (2.70%) Bash
5 2 (1.08%) SQL
6 1 (0.54%) ActionScript
Qualifications
1 59 (31.89%) Security Cleared
2 41 (22.16%) Cisco Certification
3 36 (19.46%) SC Cleared
4 28 (15.14%) CCNP
5 17 (9.19%) DV Cleared
6 15 (8.11%) CCIE
7 11 (5.95%) AWS Certification
7 11 (5.95%) Azure Certification
8 10 (5.41%) Degree
8 10 (5.41%) JNCIE
9 6 (3.24%) CCNA
10 5 (2.70%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 5 (2.70%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 4 (2.16%) CISM
11 4 (2.16%) CISSP
11 4 (2.16%) JNCIS
12 2 (1.08%) Microsoft Certification
12 2 (1.08%) PMI Certification
12 2 (1.08%) PMP
12 2 (1.08%) Project+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.41%) NIST
2 4 (2.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.62%) NCSC
3 3 (1.62%) SLA
4 2 (1.08%) GDPR
4 2 (1.08%) HIPAA
4 2 (1.08%) NIST 800
4 2 (1.08%) QA
4 2 (1.08%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.54%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.54%) Def Stans
System Software
1 17 (9.19%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (5.95%) VMware NSX
3 9 (4.86%) Active Directory
4 7 (3.78%) Hyper-V
5 6 (3.24%) vSphere
6 3 (1.62%) Firmware
7 2 (1.08%) EMC RecoverPoint
7 2 (1.08%) KVM
7 2 (1.08%) NFS
7 2 (1.08%) SRDF
7 2 (1.08%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.54%) Docker
Systems Management
1 40 (21.62%) Ansible
2 35 (18.92%) Terraform
3 10 (5.41%) Kubernetes
4 8 (4.32%) FortiGate
5 5 (2.70%) Grafana
5 5 (2.70%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.62%) Nagios
6 3 (1.62%) vCenter Server
7 2 (1.08%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (1.08%) Argo
7 2 (1.08%) Check_MK
7 2 (1.08%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (1.08%) EMC VPLEX
7 2 (1.08%) McAfee ePO
7 2 (1.08%) NetBackup
7 2 (1.08%) SCCM
7 2 (1.08%) SnapMirror
7 2 (1.08%) SnapVault
8 1 (0.54%) Iperf
8 1 (0.54%) QRadar
Vendors
1 69 (37.30%) Cisco
2 41 (22.16%) Palo Alto
3 34 (18.38%) F5
4 27 (14.59%) Fortinet
5 23 (12.43%) Microsoft
6 21 (11.35%) Juniper
6 21 (11.35%) VMware
7 20 (10.81%) Arista
8 19 (10.27%) Aruba
9 15 (8.11%) Nokia
10 14 (7.57%) Ericsson
11 13 (7.03%) Huawei
12 9 (4.86%) CheckPoint
12 9 (4.86%) SolarWinds
13 8 (4.32%) Meraki
14 7 (3.78%) Splunk
14 7 (3.78%) Zscaler
15 5 (2.70%) Google
16 4 (2.16%) Qualys
16 4 (2.16%) Veeam