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

6 months to
2 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 443 355 316
Rank change year-on-year -88 -39 +35
Contract jobs citing Network Design 183 160 221
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.40% 0.58% 0.67%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.47% 0.64% 0.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 126 110 118
10th Percentile £396 £400 £400
25th Percentile £450 £436 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% - -13.04%
75th Percentile £588 £625 £588
90th Percentile £650 £690 £661
UK median daily rate £514 £500 £500
% change year-on-year +2.75% - -13.04%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 3
10th Percentile £31.45 £56.13 £43.00
25th Percentile £45.63 £57.81 £55.00
Median hourly rate £60.00 £61.25 £75.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.04% -18.33% +9.49%
75th Percentile £72.25 £65.31 -
90th Percentile £80.81 £67.38 -
UK median hourly rate £65.50 £61.25 £55.00
% change year-on-year +6.94% +11.36% -17.91%

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 38,700 24,856 28,392
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 84.86% 90.77% 85.87%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,864 15,818 18,112
10th Percentile £325 £300 £313
25th Percentile £425 £404 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £510 £525
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -2.86% -4.55%
75th Percentile £631 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £753
UK median daily rate £525 £500 £525
% change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.54%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,605 1,463 1,438
10th Percentile £14.22 £14.25 £14.16
25th Percentile £18.50 £17.87 £18.56
Median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year +74.79% -41.51% +1.18%
75th Percentile £68.00 £50.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £68.75 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £41.00 £25.15 £42.50
% change year-on-year +63.02% -40.82% +2.41%

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 2 September 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 2 September 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 2 September 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 -54 66 £525 +10.53% 95
South East -74 36 £519 -11.70% 19
North of England -70 32 £575 +21.05% 10
North West -46 24 £575 +21.05% 7
South West -48 12 £533 -16.80% 17
Midlands -63 11 £425 - 17
West Midlands -56 10 £425 - 11
East of England -18 8 £525 +28.05% 10
Yorkshire -35 7 £519 -9.74% 1
North East -39 7 £650 +18.18% 2
East Midlands - 1 - - 6
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 12 (6.56%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.64%) Apache
2 3 (1.64%) CloudStack
3 1 (0.55%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.55%) Confluence
3 1 (0.55%) Smallworld
Applications
1 8 (4.37%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 7 (3.83%) Microsoft Office
3 6 (3.28%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (2.73%) MS Visio
5 3 (1.64%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.55%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.55%) CPLEX
6 1 (0.55%) MicroStation
Cloud Services
1 56 (30.60%) Azure
2 49 (26.78%) AWS
3 15 (8.20%) OCI
4 10 (5.46%) SaaS
5 9 (4.92%) GCP
5 9 (4.92%) GitHub
6 7 (3.83%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 7 (3.83%) OpenShift
7 6 (3.28%) IaaS
8 4 (2.19%) Azure Sentinel
8 4 (2.19%) Entra ID
9 3 (1.64%) AWS Control Tower
9 3 (1.64%) GitHub Actions
10 2 (1.09%) Azure Storage
10 2 (1.09%) Datadog
10 2 (1.09%) PaaS
11 1 (0.55%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 1 (0.55%) AWS Direct Connect
11 1 (0.55%) Microsoft 365
11 1 (0.55%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 76 (41.53%) Firewall
2 67 (36.61%) BGP
3 52 (28.42%) WAN
4 51 (27.87%) OSPF
5 32 (17.49%) VLAN
6 31 (16.94%) VPN
7 30 (16.39%) Network Security
8 29 (15.85%) 5G
8 29 (15.85%) LAN
8 29 (15.85%) SD-WAN
9 27 (14.75%) 4G
10 26 (14.21%) VXLAN
11 25 (13.66%) Wi-Fi
12 23 (12.57%) Radio Access Network
13 21 (11.48%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 20 (10.93%) Ethernet VPN
15 19 (10.38%) MPLS
16 17 (9.29%) BIG-IP
17 14 (7.65%) DNS
17 14 (7.65%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.64%) Metadata
2 1 (0.55%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (7.10%) GitLab
2 3 (1.64%) Jenkins
3 2 (1.09%) JIRA
4 1 (0.55%) Git
General
1 39 (21.31%) Social Skills
2 31 (16.94%) Telecoms
3 19 (10.38%) Public Sector
4 17 (9.29%) Analytical Skills
5 9 (4.92%) Documentation Skills
5 9 (4.92%) Manufacturing
6 8 (4.37%) Legal
7 7 (3.83%) Retail
8 5 (2.73%) Finance
9 3 (1.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (1.09%) Banking
10 2 (1.09%) Billing
10 2 (1.09%) Cyber-Physical System
10 2 (1.09%) Military
10 2 (1.09%) Police
11 1 (0.55%) Aviation
11 1 (0.55%) Local Government
11 1 (0.55%) Pharmaceutical
11 1 (0.55%) Polish Language
11 1 (0.55%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 54 (29.51%) Network Engineer
2 42 (22.95%) Senior
3 38 (20.77%) Architect
4 31 (16.94%) Network Specialist
5 24 (13.11%) Network Architect
6 22 (12.02%) Senior Network Engineer
7 20 (10.93%) Network Design Specialist
8 18 (9.84%) Designer
9 16 (8.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 13 (7.10%) Network Designer
10 13 (7.10%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (6.01%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
11 11 (6.01%) Senior Network Specialist
12 9 (4.92%) Design Engineer
13 8 (4.37%) Security Architect
14 7 (3.83%) Consultant
14 7 (3.83%) Lead
14 7 (3.83%) RAN Engineer
15 6 (3.28%) IP Architect
15 6 (3.28%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (22.40%) Terraform
2 9 (4.92%) NETCONF
2 9 (4.92%) YANG
3 6 (3.28%) REST
4 5 (2.73%) 802.1X
5 4 (2.19%) Azure Blueprints
5 4 (2.19%) OpenConfig
5 4 (2.19%) RESTCONF
6 3 (1.64%) Elastic Stack
7 1 (0.55%) eBPF
7 1 (0.55%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 57 (31.15%) Data Centre
2 42 (22.95%) Hybrid Cloud
3 27 (14.75%) Cloud Native
4 8 (4.37%) Public Cloud
5 7 (3.83%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (3.83%) Operational Technology
6 6 (3.28%) IoT
6 6 (3.28%) Private Cloud
7 5 (2.73%) Analytical Mindset
7 5 (2.73%) PKI
8 4 (2.19%) CMDB
8 4 (2.19%) Management Information System
8 4 (2.19%) Security Posture
9 3 (1.64%) Data Fabric
9 3 (1.64%) Product Ownership
9 3 (1.64%) SCADA
10 2 (1.09%) EMC VMAX
10 2 (1.09%) EMC VNX
10 2 (1.09%) Enterprise Software
10 2 (1.09%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 15 (8.20%) Linux
2 12 (6.56%) Windows
3 8 (4.37%) Ubuntu
3 8 (4.37%) Windows Server
4 4 (2.19%) Alpine Linux
4 4 (2.19%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
5 2 (1.09%) Data ONTAP
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (20.22%) High Availability
2 34 (18.58%) Network Architecture
2 34 (18.58%) Zero Trust
3 33 (18.03%) Stakeholder Management
4 32 (17.49%) Infrastructure as Code
5 30 (16.39%) Migration
6 28 (15.30%) DevOps
7 27 (14.75%) Roadmaps
8 25 (13.66%) Load Balancing
9 24 (13.11%) Problem-Solving
10 23 (12.57%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 23 (12.57%) Project Delivery
11 22 (12.02%) CI/CD
12 21 (11.48%) Validation
13 19 (10.38%) Technical Leadership
14 17 (9.29%) Capacity Planning
14 17 (9.29%) Cybersecurity
15 15 (8.20%) Continuous Improvement
16 14 (7.65%) TOGAF
17 13 (7.10%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 40 (21.86%) Python
2 6 (3.28%) Bicep
3 5 (2.73%) PowerShell
4 2 (1.09%) Bash
5 1 (0.55%) ActionScript
5 1 (0.55%) JavaScript
Qualifications
1 51 (27.87%) Security Cleared
2 36 (19.67%) Cisco Certification
3 32 (17.49%) SC Cleared
4 24 (13.11%) CCNP
5 15 (8.20%) CCIE
6 11 (6.01%) DV Cleared
7 10 (5.46%) JNCIE
8 9 (4.92%) AWS Certification
8 9 (4.92%) Azure Certification
9 8 (4.37%) Degree
10 6 (3.28%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 5 (2.73%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
11 5 (2.73%) CISSP
12 4 (2.19%) CISM
13 3 (1.64%) CCNA
14 2 (1.09%) ISSAP
14 2 (1.09%) Microsoft Certification
14 2 (1.09%) NCDA
14 2 (1.09%) NCIE
14 2 (1.09%) VCDX
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.46%) NIST
2 7 (3.83%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.64%) NIST 800
3 3 (1.64%) SOC 2
4 2 (1.09%) Actionable Recommendations
4 2 (1.09%) GDPR
4 2 (1.09%) GxP
4 2 (1.09%) HIPAA
4 2 (1.09%) QA
4 2 (1.09%) Sarbanes-Oxley
4 2 (1.09%) SLA
5 1 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.55%) Def Stans
5 1 (0.55%) NCSC
System Software
1 16 (8.74%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (5.46%) vSphere
3 8 (4.37%) VMware NSX
4 4 (2.19%) Active Directory
5 3 (1.64%) Firmware
5 3 (1.64%) Hyper-V
5 3 (1.64%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (1.09%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (1.09%) FreeRADIUS
6 2 (1.09%) NFS
6 2 (1.09%) SRDF
7 1 (0.55%) Docker
7 1 (0.55%) KVM
Systems Management
1 42 (22.95%) Ansible
2 12 (6.56%) Kubernetes
3 7 (3.83%) FortiGate
4 6 (3.28%) Grafana
4 6 (3.28%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.64%) Check_MK
5 3 (1.64%) vCenter Server
6 2 (1.09%) Argo
6 2 (1.09%) EMC NetWorker
6 2 (1.09%) EMC VPLEX
6 2 (1.09%) NetBackup
6 2 (1.09%) SnapMirror
6 2 (1.09%) SnapVault
7 1 (0.55%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.55%) QRadar
7 1 (0.55%) SCCM
7 1 (0.55%) Suricata
7 1 (0.55%) vRealize
Vendors
1 72 (39.34%) Cisco
2 39 (21.31%) Palo Alto
3 37 (20.22%) Fortinet
4 36 (19.67%) F5
5 21 (11.48%) Arista
5 21 (11.48%) Juniper
6 20 (10.93%) Nokia
7 19 (10.38%) Aruba
7 19 (10.38%) Ericsson
7 19 (10.38%) Microsoft
8 18 (9.84%) VMware
9 11 (6.01%) Huawei
10 10 (5.46%) Zscaler
11 7 (3.83%) CheckPoint
11 7 (3.83%) Splunk
12 5 (2.73%) Google
12 5 (2.73%) ServiceNow
12 5 (2.73%) SolarWinds
12 5 (2.73%) Veeam
13 4 (2.19%) Rapid7