Software-Defined Networking Contract Job Trends in England

Software-Defined Networking
UK > England

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in England requiring Software-Defined Networking skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 595 493 484
Rank change year-on-year -102 -9 +76
Contract jobs citing Software-Defined Networking 36 24 45
As % of all contract jobs in England 0.077% 0.085% 0.14%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 0.84% 0.73% 1.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 28 15 22
10th Percentile £213 £440 £500
25th Percentile £497 £481 £506
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £516 £550 £563
Median % change year-on-year -6.14% -2.22% -7.02%
75th Percentile £652 £588 £716
90th Percentile £688 £606 £730
UK median daily rate £513 £573 £535
% change year-on-year -10.48% +7.01% -6.96%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £55.00 - -
Median hourly rate £67.00 - -
75th Percentile £70.50 - -
90th Percentile £83.72 - -
UK median hourly rate £67.00 - -

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
England

Software-Defined Networking falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in England.

6 months to
18 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 4,311 3,295 3,883
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in England 9.26% 11.66% 12.16%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,531 2,104 2,234
10th Percentile £261 £216 £240
25th Percentile £400 £360 £384
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £600 £588 £608
90th Percentile £688 £688 £688
UK median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 399 175 147
10th Percentile £16.01 £15.50 £17.87
25th Percentile £21.33 £20.00 £26.25
Median hourly rate £40.00 £34.00 £57.25
Median % change year-on-year +17.65% -40.61% +1.35%
75th Percentile £69.13 £65.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £96.00 £75.00 £75.00
UK median hourly rate £32.50 £34.00 £48.56
% change year-on-year -4.41% -29.98% -13.97%

Software-Defined Networking Job Vacancy Trend in England

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Software-Defined Networking relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in England.

Software-Defined Networking job vacancy trend in England

Software-Defined Networking Daily Rate Trend in England

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software-Defined Networking.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software-Defined Networking

Software-Defined Networking Daily Rate Histogram in England

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Software-Defined Networking in England over the 6 months to 18 October 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Software-Defined Networking in England

Software-Defined Networking Hourly Rate Trend in England

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software-Defined Networking.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in England citing Software-Defined Networking

Software-Defined Networking Hourly Rate Histogram in England

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Software-Defined Networking in England over the 6 months to 18 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Software-Defined Networking in England

Software-Defined Networking 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 Software-Defined Networking within the England region over the 6 months to 18 October 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
South East -50 12 £650 +12.96% 8
London -93 11 £500 -12.66% 22
North West -40 7 £225 -55.45% 2
North of England -52 7 £225 -55.45% 5
South West -37 5 £569 +4.84% 8
Software-Defined Networking
UK

Software-Defined Networking Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in England by Category

The table below expands on the one above by listing co-occurrences one category at a time. It covers the same employment type, locality and period, with up to 20 co-occurrences in each category.

Communications & Networking

RankSkillShareJob Ads
1Firewall61.1%22
2Network Security44.4%16
3BGP33.3%12
3TCP/IP33.3%12
3VPN33.3%12
6VLAN25.0%9
6WAN25.0%9
8DNS22.2%8
9DHCP19.4%7
9VXLAN19.4%7
11Ethernet VPN16.7%6
11OSPF16.7%6
13IP Telephony11.1%4
13NGFW11.1%4
13PSTN11.1%4
16Cisco ASA8.3%3
16Cisco Firepower8.3%3
16SD-WAN8.3%3
16VSAN8.3%3
20Cisco Nexus5.6%2