Network Architect Contract Job Trends in the South East

Network Architect
England > South East

The median Network Architect daily rate in the South East is £575, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 25 December 2025.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 169 130 115
Rank change year-on-year -39 -15 +55
Contract jobs requiring a Network Architect 25 36 90
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.56% 0.98% 1.81%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.63% 1.05% 1.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 18 26 22
10th Percentile £520 £513 £413
25th Percentile £552 £553 £480
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £575 £593 £576
Median % change year-on-year -2.95% +2.91% -4.04%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £684
90th Percentile £641 £686 £709
England median daily rate £566 £613 £625
% change year-on-year -7.55% -2.00% +3.31%

All Contract IT Job Vacancies
South East

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the South East. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the South East with a recognized job title 3,996 3,424 4,672
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 90.28% 92.84% 93.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,592 2,151 3,028
10th Percentile £220 £235 £205
25th Percentile £400 £400 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £505 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.99% +1.00% -
75th Percentile £600 £625 £607
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
England median daily rate £508 £525 £528
% change year-on-year -3.33% -0.47% -4.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 365 125 244
10th Percentile £13.75 £18.94 £16.25
25th Percentile £16.50 £24.50 £26.00
Median hourly rate £25.15 £42.88 £54.78
Median % change year-on-year -41.35% -21.72% +46.80%
75th Percentile £57.50 £63.00 £66.25
90th Percentile £83.90 £73.01 £76.53
England median hourly rate £26.30 £35.50 £45.88
% change year-on-year -25.92% -22.62% +41.17%

Network Architect
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'Network Architect' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Network Architect job vacancy trend in the South East

Network Architect
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Architect job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for Network Architect job vacancies in the South East

Network Architect
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Architect in the South East over the 6 months to 25 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for Network Architect in the South East

Network Architect
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Architect job vacancies in the South East.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for Network Architect job vacancies in the South East

Network Architect
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Network Architect within the South East region over the 6 months to 25 December 2025. 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
Hampshire -12 13 £575 -4.17% 1
Thames Valley -16 11 £550 -9.09%
Berkshire -16 8 £450 -22.95%
Buckinghamshire +7 2 - -
Oxfordshire -14 1 £650 +4.00%
Kent - 1 £563 -
Network Architect
England

Network Architect Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East

For the 6 months to 25 December 2025, Network Architect contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the South East region featuring Network Architect in the job title.

1 17 (68.00%) Cisco
2 16 (64.00%) Security Cleared
3 15 (60.00%) DV Cleared
4 13 (52.00%) LAN
5 12 (48.00%) Juniper
6 8 (32.00%) WAN
7 7 (28.00%) Firewall
8 5 (20.00%) Agile
8 5 (20.00%) Architectural Design
8 5 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
8 5 (20.00%) Technical Leadership
8 5 (20.00%) VPN
9 4 (16.00%) MPLS
9 4 (16.00%) SD-WAN
9 4 (16.00%) SLA
10 3 (12.00%) BGP
10 3 (12.00%) CCNP
10 3 (12.00%) Cisco Certification
10 3 (12.00%) Continuous Improvement
10 3 (12.00%) Fortinet
10 3 (12.00%) Palo Alto
10 3 (12.00%) Performance Optimisation
10 3 (12.00%) Proactive Maintenance
10 3 (12.00%) SC Cleared
11 2 (8.00%) CCIE
11 2 (8.00%) CheckPoint
11 2 (8.00%) Degree
11 2 (8.00%) Design Patterns
11 2 (8.00%) EIGRP
11 2 (8.00%) Endace

Network Architect Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (4.00%) AWS
1 1 (4.00%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 13 (52.00%) LAN
2 8 (32.00%) WAN
3 7 (28.00%) Firewall
4 5 (20.00%) VPN
5 4 (16.00%) MPLS
5 4 (16.00%) SD-WAN
6 3 (12.00%) BGP
7 2 (8.00%) EIGRP
7 2 (8.00%) OSPF
8 1 (4.00%) Broadband
8 1 (4.00%) DMVPN
8 1 (4.00%) NaaS
8 1 (4.00%) NetScaler
8 1 (4.00%) Network Security
8 1 (4.00%) Radio Access Network
8 1 (4.00%) TETRA
8 1 (4.00%) VXLAN
General
1 4 (16.00%) Telecoms
2 3 (12.00%) Public Sector
2 3 (12.00%) Social Skills
3 2 (8.00%) Analytical Skills
4 1 (4.00%) Documentation Skills
4 1 (4.00%) Police
Miscellaneous
1 3 (12.00%) Data Centre
1 3 (12.00%) Enterprise Cloud
2 2 (8.00%) Cloud Native
2 2 (8.00%) Onboarding
3 1 (4.00%) Data Protection Act
3 1 (4.00%) Hybrid Cloud
3 1 (4.00%) Private Cloud
Processes & Methodologies
1 5 (20.00%) Agile
1 5 (20.00%) Architectural Design
1 5 (20.00%) Problem-Solving
1 5 (20.00%) Technical Leadership
2 3 (12.00%) Continuous Improvement
2 3 (12.00%) Performance Optimisation
2 3 (12.00%) Proactive Maintenance
3 2 (8.00%) Design Patterns
3 2 (8.00%) High Availability
3 2 (8.00%) Impact Assessments
3 2 (8.00%) Integration Patterns
3 2 (8.00%) Migration
3 2 (8.00%) Network Architecture
3 2 (8.00%) Network Design
3 2 (8.00%) Requirements Management
3 2 (8.00%) Stakeholder Management
3 2 (8.00%) Zero Trust
4 1 (4.00%) Bill of Materials
4 1 (4.00%) Generative AI
4 1 (4.00%) Service Catalogue
Qualifications
1 16 (64.00%) Security Cleared
2 15 (60.00%) DV Cleared
3 3 (12.00%) CCNP
3 3 (12.00%) Cisco Certification
3 3 (12.00%) SC Cleared
4 2 (8.00%) CCIE
4 2 (8.00%) Degree
5 1 (4.00%) CCSE
5 1 (4.00%) CCSM
5 1 (4.00%) CISSP
5 1 (4.00%) Computer Science Degree
5 1 (4.00%) VCDX
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (16.00%) SLA
System Software
1 1 (4.00%) VMware Infrastructure
1 1 (4.00%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 2 (8.00%) Endace
Vendors
1 17 (68.00%) Cisco
2 12 (48.00%) Juniper
3 3 (12.00%) Fortinet
3 3 (12.00%) Palo Alto
4 2 (8.00%) CheckPoint
4 2 (8.00%) Zscaler
5 1 (4.00%) Aruba
5 1 (4.00%) Citrix
5 1 (4.00%) Meraki
5 1 (4.00%) Virgin Media
5 1 (4.00%) VMware