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

6 months to
26 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 427 344 320
Rank change year-on-year -83 -24 +114
Contract jobs citing Network Design 190 145 235
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.44% 0.58% 0.63%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.51% 0.63% 0.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 124 96 109
10th Percentile £400 £400 £363
25th Percentile £447 £463 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +15.79% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £638 £575
90th Percentile £675 £694 £640
UK median daily rate £525 £525 £475
% change year-on-year - +10.53% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 2 3
10th Percentile £31.45 £56.13 £25.60
25th Percentile £45.63 £57.81 £29.13
Median hourly rate £60.00 £61.25 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -2.04% +75.00% -50.00%
75th Percentile £72.02 £65.31 £55.00
90th Percentile £72.72 £67.38 £67.00
UK median hourly rate £65.50 £61.25 £35.00
% change year-on-year +6.94% +75.00% -50.00%

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 37,044 23,037 31,936
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 85.35% 91.39% 85.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 23,386 14,872 20,693
10th Percentile £325 £300 £304
25th Percentile £417 £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 £729 £750 £750
UK median daily rate £515 £502 £525
% change year-on-year +2.54% -4.33% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,321 1,118 2,341
10th Percentile £15.25 £14.20 £12.79
25th Percentile £21.00 £17.87 £16.06
Median hourly rate £47.50 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +88.87% -34.02% +8.48%
75th Percentile £68.55 £55.00 £61.60
90th Percentile £82.25 £72.50 £72.90
UK median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £37.50
% change year-on-year +74.79% -32.93% +7.14%

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 26 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 26 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 26 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 -37 64 £525 +9.66% 13
South East -56 45 £513 -10.87% 16
North of England -71 34 £575 +21.05% 13
North West -53 23 £575 +21.05% 8
South West -30 16 £565 -11.72% 6
Yorkshire -42 10 £519 +3.80% 4
West Midlands -56 10 £413 -25.00% 3
Midlands -61 10 £413 -25.00% 4
North East -25 7 £650 +18.18% 1
East of England -25 6 £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 11 (5.79%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.58%) Apache
2 3 (1.58%) CloudStack
3 2 (1.05%) Confluence
3 2 (1.05%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (1.05%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.53%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.53%) Smallworld
Applications
1 7 (3.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 6 (3.16%) Microsoft Office
3 5 (2.63%) Microsoft Excel
3 5 (2.63%) MS Visio
4 3 (1.58%) AutoCAD
5 1 (0.53%) Autodesk Inventor
5 1 (0.53%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 1 (0.53%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 64 (33.68%) Azure
2 51 (26.84%) AWS
3 15 (7.89%) OCI
4 10 (5.26%) GCP
4 10 (5.26%) SaaS
5 9 (4.74%) GitHub
6 7 (3.68%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 7 (3.68%) IaaS
7 5 (2.63%) Azure Sentinel
7 5 (2.63%) Entra ID
8 3 (1.58%) AWS Control Tower
8 3 (1.58%) OpenShift
8 3 (1.58%) PaaS
9 2 (1.05%) Azure Storage
9 2 (1.05%) Datadog
9 2 (1.05%) GitHub Actions
9 2 (1.05%) IBM Watson
9 2 (1.05%) Microsoft 365
10 1 (0.53%) AWS CloudFormation
10 1 (0.53%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 83 (43.68%) Firewall
2 66 (34.74%) WAN
3 63 (33.16%) BGP
4 50 (26.32%) OSPF
5 36 (18.95%) VPN
6 33 (17.37%) LAN
7 32 (16.84%) SD-WAN
8 31 (16.32%) Network Security
9 28 (14.74%) Wi-Fi
10 27 (14.21%) VLAN
10 27 (14.21%) VXLAN
11 26 (13.68%) 5G
11 26 (13.68%) MPLS
12 22 (11.58%) 4G
12 22 (11.58%) Ethernet VPN
13 21 (11.05%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 18 (9.47%) Radio Access Network
15 17 (8.95%) BIG-IP
16 16 (8.42%) DNS
17 15 (7.89%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.58%) Metadata
2 1 (0.53%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (6.84%) GitLab
2 4 (2.11%) JIRA
3 3 (1.58%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.53%) Git
4 1 (0.53%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 43 (22.63%) Social Skills
2 25 (13.16%) Telecoms
3 20 (10.53%) Public Sector
4 19 (10.00%) Analytical Skills
5 10 (5.26%) Legal
6 8 (4.21%) Documentation Skills
6 8 (4.21%) Finance
7 5 (2.63%) Retail
8 4 (2.11%) Police
9 3 (1.58%) Banking
9 3 (1.58%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 3 (1.58%) Manufacturing
9 3 (1.58%) Military
10 2 (1.05%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.53%) Aviation
11 1 (0.53%) Billing
11 1 (0.53%) Polish Language
11 1 (0.53%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.53%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 54 (28.42%) Network Engineer
2 43 (22.63%) Senior
3 40 (21.05%) Architect
4 32 (16.84%) Network Specialist
5 26 (13.68%) Network Architect
6 21 (11.05%) Network Design Specialist
7 18 (9.47%) Designer
7 18 (9.47%) Senior Network Engineer
8 16 (8.42%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 13 (6.84%) Network Designer
9 13 (6.84%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 9 (4.74%) Design Engineer
10 9 (4.74%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
10 9 (4.74%) Senior Network Specialist
11 8 (4.21%) Lead
11 8 (4.21%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 7 (3.68%) IP Architect
12 7 (3.68%) Security Architect
13 5 (2.63%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
13 5 (2.63%) Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (5.26%) NETCONF
1 10 (5.26%) YANG
2 8 (4.21%) REST
3 7 (3.68%) 802.1X
4 4 (2.11%) Azure Blueprints
5 3 (1.58%) Elastic Stack
5 3 (1.58%) OpenConfig
5 3 (1.58%) RESTCONF
6 2 (1.05%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 59 (31.05%) Data Centre
2 44 (23.16%) Hybrid Cloud
3 29 (15.26%) Cloud Native
4 8 (4.21%) Data Protection Act
5 7 (3.68%) Management Information System
6 6 (3.16%) PKI
7 5 (2.63%) Public Cloud
7 5 (2.63%) Security Posture
8 4 (2.11%) CMDB
8 4 (2.11%) IoT
8 4 (2.11%) Operational Technology
9 3 (1.58%) Analytical Mindset
9 3 (1.58%) Data Fabric
9 3 (1.58%) Onboarding
9 3 (1.58%) Private Cloud
9 3 (1.58%) Product Ownership
9 3 (1.58%) SCADA
10 2 (1.05%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 2 (1.05%) EMC VNX
10 2 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 19 (10.00%) Linux
2 17 (8.95%) Windows
3 13 (6.84%) Windows Server
4 8 (4.21%) Ubuntu
5 4 (2.11%) Alpine Linux
5 4 (2.11%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (1.05%) Data ONTAP
6 2 (1.05%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 41 (21.58%) Network Architecture
2 37 (19.47%) High Availability
3 35 (18.42%) Infrastructure as Code
4 33 (17.37%) Zero Trust
5 30 (15.79%) DevOps
6 29 (15.26%) Roadmaps
7 28 (14.74%) Migration
7 28 (14.74%) Problem-Solving
8 27 (14.21%) Load Balancing
9 25 (13.16%) CI/CD
10 23 (12.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 20 (10.53%) Stakeholder Management
12 19 (10.00%) Capacity Planning
12 19 (10.00%) Project Delivery
13 18 (9.47%) Validation
14 17 (8.95%) Continuous Improvement
15 16 (8.42%) Cybersecurity
15 16 (8.42%) Technical Leadership
16 15 (7.89%) TOGAF
17 14 (7.37%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 42 (22.11%) Python
2 9 (4.74%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.68%) Bicep
4 4 (2.11%) Bash
5 1 (0.53%) ActionScript
5 1 (0.53%) SQL
Qualifications
1 60 (31.58%) Security Cleared
2 44 (23.16%) Cisco Certification
3 39 (20.53%) SC Cleared
4 31 (16.32%) CCNP
5 17 (8.95%) CCIE
6 15 (7.89%) DV Cleared
7 11 (5.79%) AWS Certification
7 11 (5.79%) Azure Certification
7 11 (5.79%) Degree
7 11 (5.79%) JNCIE
8 6 (3.16%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
8 6 (3.16%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
9 5 (2.63%) CISSP
10 4 (2.11%) CCNA
10 4 (2.11%) CISM
11 3 (1.58%) JNCIS
12 2 (1.05%) BC Cleared
12 2 (1.05%) CEH
12 2 (1.05%) ISSAP
12 2 (1.05%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.26%) NIST
2 4 (2.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.58%) NCSC
3 3 (1.58%) 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 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.53%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.53%) Def Stans
System Software
1 18 (9.47%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (5.79%) VMware NSX
3 9 (4.74%) Active Directory
4 8 (4.21%) vSphere
5 7 (3.68%) Hyper-V
6 3 (1.58%) Firmware
6 3 (1.58%) VMware ESXi
7 2 (1.05%) EMC RecoverPoint
7 2 (1.05%) KVM
7 2 (1.05%) NFS
7 2 (1.05%) SRDF
8 1 (0.53%) Docker
Systems Management
1 42 (22.11%) Ansible
2 36 (18.95%) Terraform
3 11 (5.79%) Kubernetes
4 8 (4.21%) FortiGate
5 6 (3.16%) Grafana
5 6 (3.16%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.58%) Check_MK
6 3 (1.58%) vCenter Server
7 2 (1.05%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (1.05%) Argo
7 2 (1.05%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (1.05%) EMC VPLEX
7 2 (1.05%) McAfee ePO
7 2 (1.05%) Nagios
7 2 (1.05%) NetBackup
7 2 (1.05%) SCCM
7 2 (1.05%) SnapMirror
7 2 (1.05%) SnapVault
8 1 (0.53%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.53%) Nmap
Vendors
1 73 (38.42%) Cisco
2 43 (22.63%) Palo Alto
3 35 (18.42%) F5
4 33 (17.37%) Fortinet
5 24 (12.63%) Microsoft
6 23 (12.11%) Juniper
7 22 (11.58%) VMware
8 20 (10.53%) Arista
9 18 (9.47%) Aruba
10 15 (7.89%) Nokia
11 14 (7.37%) Ericsson
12 13 (6.84%) Huawei
13 11 (5.79%) CheckPoint
14 8 (4.21%) Meraki
14 8 (4.21%) SolarWinds
14 8 (4.21%) Zscaler
15 7 (3.68%) Splunk
16 5 (2.63%) Google
16 5 (2.63%) Veeam
17 4 (2.11%) Qualys