Network Design Contract Job Trends in the South East

Network Design
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring Network Design skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 14 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
14 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 147 125 144
Rank change year-on-year -22 +19 +23
Contract jobs citing Network Design 37 39 57
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 0.84% 1.16% 1.14%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 1.00% 1.30% 1.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 21 23 7
10th Percentile £463 £206 £434
25th Percentile - £406 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -9.52% +16.67%
75th Percentile - £619 £700
90th Percentile £588 £625 -
England median daily rate £500 £525 £575
% change year-on-year -4.76% -8.70% +27.78%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 1
Median hourly rate - - £70.00
England median hourly rate £74.26 £75.00 £65.98
% change year-on-year -0.99% +13.67% -5.74%

All Process & Methodology Skills
South East

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 the South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 3,699 2,991 4,419
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 84.30% 89.15% 88.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,436 1,847 2,812
10th Percentile £231 £250 £213
25th Percentile £400 £403 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £510 £515
Median % change year-on-year -1.96% -0.97% +2.33%
75th Percentile £600 £623 £615
90th Percentile £688 £675 £688
England median daily rate £500 £525 £538
% change year-on-year -4.76% -2.33% -2.27%
Number of hourly rates quoted 333 116 256
10th Percentile £14.80 £19.64 £18.25
25th Percentile £17.00 £25.93 £26.00
Median hourly rate £23.58 £42.69 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.78% -22.38% +22.22%
75th Percentile £55.00 £62.50 £66.25
90th Percentile £75.00 £73.38 £76.53
England median hourly rate £25.15 £34.50 £42.50
% change year-on-year -27.10% -18.82% +21.43%

Network Design
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Network Design relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East.

Network Design job vacancy trend in the South East

Network Design
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Network Design.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Network Design

Network Design
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Network Design.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing Network Design

Network Design
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 Design within the South East region over the 6 months to 14 January 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
Hampshire -7 19 £500 -16.67% 3
Berkshire -16 17 £475 +5.56%
Thames Valley -22 17 £475 +5.56% 1
Network Design
England

Network Design
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:

Application Platforms
1 6 (16.22%) OpenStack
Applications
1 6 (16.22%) MS Visio
2 2 (5.41%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (5.41%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (5.41%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 6 (16.22%) AWS
1 6 (16.22%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 17 (45.95%) WAN
2 15 (40.54%) LAN
3 13 (35.14%) BGP
4 12 (32.43%) MPLS
5 10 (27.03%) VPN
6 9 (24.32%) Firewall
7 8 (21.62%) TCP/IP
8 7 (18.92%) Network Security
9 6 (16.22%) IPv6
10 5 (13.51%) Cisco IOS
11 4 (10.81%) CATAPAN
11 4 (10.81%) IPsec
11 4 (10.81%) IPv4
11 4 (10.81%) Junos
11 4 (10.81%) VLAN
12 2 (5.41%) DNS
12 2 (5.41%) Internet
12 2 (5.41%) Intranet
12 2 (5.41%) SNMP
12 2 (5.41%) TACACS
General
1 17 (45.95%) Social Skills
2 4 (10.81%) Telecoms
3 3 (8.11%) Analytical Skills
3 3 (8.11%) Public Sector
4 2 (5.41%) Documentation Skills
4 2 (5.41%) Finance
5 1 (2.70%) Electronics
5 1 (2.70%) Manufacturing
5 1 (2.70%) Marketing
5 1 (2.70%) Military
5 1 (2.70%) Retail
Job Titles
1 12 (32.43%) Network Engineer
2 9 (24.32%) Architect
2 9 (24.32%) Designer
2 9 (24.32%) IP Specialist
2 9 (24.32%) Network Designer
2 9 (24.32%) Senior
2 9 (24.32%) Senior Designer
2 9 (24.32%) Senior Network Designer
3 7 (18.92%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
3 7 (18.92%) IP Architect
4 5 (13.51%) Design Engineer
4 5 (13.51%) Network Design Engineer
5 4 (10.81%) Installations Engineer
6 2 (5.41%) Network Architect
6 2 (5.41%) Network Security Architect
6 2 (5.41%) Security Architect
7 1 (2.70%) IP Engineer
7 1 (2.70%) NHS Project Manager
7 1 (2.70%) Principal Engineer
7 1 (2.70%) Product Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (21.62%) NETCONF
1 8 (21.62%) YANG
2 6 (16.22%) REST
3 2 (5.41%) OpenConfig
3 2 (5.41%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 8 (21.62%) Hybrid Cloud
2 6 (16.22%) Cloud Native
2 6 (16.22%) Data Centre
3 2 (5.41%) Analytical Mindset
3 2 (5.41%) Private Cloud
3 2 (5.41%) SCADA
3 2 (5.41%) Self-Motivation
4 1 (2.70%) Data Protection Act
4 1 (2.70%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 1 (2.70%) Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 10 (27.03%) Network Segmentation
2 9 (24.32%) Network Virtualisation
3 8 (21.62%) Network Architecture
4 6 (16.22%) DevOps
4 6 (16.22%) Enterprise Architecture
4 6 (16.22%) Microservices
4 6 (16.22%) Roadmaps
4 6 (16.22%) Strategic Thinking
4 6 (16.22%) TOGAF
5 4 (10.81%) Migration
5 4 (10.81%) Performance Testing
5 4 (10.81%) Problem-Solving
5 4 (10.81%) Stakeholder Engagement
5 4 (10.81%) Stakeholder Management
6 3 (8.11%) Bill of Materials
6 3 (8.11%) Collaborative Working
6 3 (8.11%) Continuous Improvement
6 3 (8.11%) Cybersecurity
6 3 (8.11%) ITIL
6 3 (8.11%) Test Automation
Programming Languages
1 8 (21.62%) Python
Qualifications
1 20 (54.05%) Security Cleared
2 17 (45.95%) Cisco Certification
3 15 (40.54%) DV Cleared
4 9 (24.32%) CCIE
4 9 (24.32%) CCNP
5 8 (21.62%) CCNA
5 8 (21.62%) JNCIE
5 8 (21.62%) JNCIS
6 4 (10.81%) SC Cleared
7 2 (5.41%) Degree
8 1 (2.70%) CISSP
8 1 (2.70%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (2.70%) JNCIA
System Software
1 1 (2.70%) Active Directory
1 1 (2.70%) Firmware
1 1 (2.70%) KVM
1 1 (2.70%) RHEV
1 1 (2.70%) VMware Infrastructure
1 1 (2.70%) VMware NSX
1 1 (2.70%) Xen
Systems Management
1 8 (21.62%) Ansible
2 4 (10.81%) Nagios
3 1 (2.70%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 14 (37.84%) Juniper
2 12 (32.43%) Cisco
3 6 (16.22%) F5
4 4 (10.81%) SolarWinds
5 3 (8.11%) Microsoft
6 2 (5.41%) Fortinet
6 2 (5.41%) VMware
7 1 (2.70%) Meraki
7 1 (2.70%) Nokia
7 1 (2.70%) SAP