Network Design Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Network Design
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring Network Design skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 1 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
1 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 122 89 136
Rank change year-on-year -33 +47 -28
Contract jobs citing Network Design 16 21 15
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.65% 1.28% 0.54%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.76% 1.38% 0.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 5 8 5
10th Percentile £391 £418 -
25th Percentile £425 £425 £469
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £550 £525
Median % change year-on-year -18.18% +4.76% +9.09%
75th Percentile £500 £594 £700
90th Percentile £508 £658 -
South East median daily rate £500 £575 £488
% change year-on-year -13.04% +17.95% +1.30%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 0 1
Median hourly rate - - £70.00
South East median hourly rate - - £70.00
% change year-on-year - - +34.58%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 2,105 1,518 2,466
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 84.88% 92.73% 89.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,382 892 1,451
10th Percentile £270 £263 £213
25th Percentile £400 £402 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £503 £500
Median % change year-on-year -0.60% +0.60% -
75th Percentile £588 £620 £600
90th Percentile £650 £663 £663
South East median daily rate £500 £503 £500
% change year-on-year -0.50% +0.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 159 50 164
10th Percentile £15.91 £18.68 £16.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £32.06 £20.17
Median hourly rate £35.00 £56.75 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.32% +26.10% -
75th Percentile £83.38 £64.73 £62.54
90th Percentile £97.50 £77.47 £79.78
South East median hourly rate £25.15 £45.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -44.11% - -

Network Design
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

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

Network Design job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

Network Design
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Network Design.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Network Design

Network Design
Daily Rate Histogram in the Thames Valley

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Design in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 1 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Design in the Thames Valley

Network Design
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Network Design.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing Network Design

Network Design
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

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 Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 1 March 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
Berkshire -30 15 £450 -10.00% 3
Buckinghamshire -10 1 - - 1
Network Design
South East

Network Design
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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 3 (18.75%) OpenStack
Applications
1 3 (18.75%) Microsoft Excel
1 3 (18.75%) Microsoft Office
1 3 (18.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 3 (18.75%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 4 (25.00%) AWS
1 4 (25.00%) Azure
Communications & Networking
1 10 (62.50%) BGP
2 9 (56.25%) WAN
3 8 (50.00%) MPLS
4 6 (37.50%) Firewall
4 6 (37.50%) LAN
5 4 (25.00%) TCP/IP
6 3 (18.75%) Network Security
6 3 (18.75%) OSPF
6 3 (18.75%) SNMP
6 3 (18.75%) TACACS
7 2 (12.50%) Cisco Nexus
7 2 (12.50%) IPsec
7 2 (12.50%) Radio Access Network
7 2 (12.50%) VPN
8 1 (6.25%) F5 BIG-IP GTM
8 1 (6.25%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
8 1 (6.25%) Multicast
8 1 (6.25%) NetScaler
8 1 (6.25%) tcpdump
8 1 (6.25%) VXLAN
Development Applications
1 1 (6.25%) JIRA
1 1 (6.25%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 8 (50.00%) Social Skills
2 4 (25.00%) Analytical Skills
2 4 (25.00%) Telecoms
3 3 (18.75%) Documentation Skills
4 1 (6.25%) Influencing Skills
4 1 (6.25%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 6 (37.50%) Architect
1 6 (37.50%) IP Specialist
2 5 (31.25%) Network Engineer
3 4 (25.00%) Network Architect
4 3 (18.75%) IP Architect
4 3 (18.75%) IP Engineer
4 3 (18.75%) IP Network Engineer
5 2 (12.50%) Design Engineer
5 2 (12.50%) IP Design Engineer
5 2 (12.50%) Network Design Engineer
5 2 (12.50%) Network Security Architect
5 2 (12.50%) Security Architect
5 2 (12.50%) Security Specialist
6 1 (6.25%) Core Network Design Engineer
6 1 (6.25%) Core Network Engineer
6 1 (6.25%) Mobile Engineer
6 1 (6.25%) Principal Engineer
6 1 (6.25%) Principal Network Engineer
6 1 (6.25%) Product Architect
6 1 (6.25%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 6 (37.50%) NETCONF
1 6 (37.50%) YANG
2 3 (18.75%) OpenConfig
2 3 (18.75%) REST
2 3 (18.75%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 6 (37.50%) Hybrid Cloud
2 4 (25.00%) Data Centre
3 3 (18.75%) Analytical Mindset
3 3 (18.75%) Cloud Native
3 3 (18.75%) Self-Motivation
4 2 (12.50%) Private Cloud
5 1 (6.25%) Data Protection Act
Processes & Methodologies
1 6 (37.50%) Network Architecture
2 5 (31.25%) Network Segmentation
3 4 (25.00%) Network Virtualisation
3 4 (25.00%) Problem-Solving
4 3 (18.75%) DevOps
4 3 (18.75%) Enterprise Architecture
4 3 (18.75%) Microservices
4 3 (18.75%) Roadmaps
4 3 (18.75%) Strategic Thinking
4 3 (18.75%) TOGAF
5 2 (12.50%) Security Architecture
6 1 (6.25%) Computer Science
6 1 (6.25%) Data Protection
6 1 (6.25%) Fault Management
6 1 (6.25%) High Availability
6 1 (6.25%) Migration
6 1 (6.25%) Regression Testing
6 1 (6.25%) Stakeholder Management
6 1 (6.25%) Test Automation
6 1 (6.25%) Test Strategy
Programming Languages
1 6 (37.50%) Python
Qualifications
1 9 (56.25%) Cisco Certification
2 7 (43.75%) CCIE
3 6 (37.50%) JNCIE
4 4 (25.00%) Security Cleared
5 3 (18.75%) CCNP
5 3 (18.75%) SC Cleared
6 1 (6.25%) CCIP
6 1 (6.25%) CISSP
6 1 (6.25%) Computer Science Degree
6 1 (6.25%) Degree
6 1 (6.25%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (6.25%) NCSC
1 1 (6.25%) NIST
Systems Management
1 6 (37.50%) Ansible
2 1 (6.25%) FortiGate
2 1 (6.25%) Nagios
Vendors
1 8 (50.00%) Cisco
2 6 (37.50%) Juniper
3 5 (31.25%) F5
3 5 (31.25%) Fortinet
4 3 (18.75%) Microsoft
5 2 (12.50%) CheckPoint
5 2 (12.50%) Palo Alto
6 1 (6.25%) BT
6 1 (6.25%) Meraki
6 1 (6.25%) NetScout
6 1 (6.25%) Nokia
6 1 (6.25%) SolarWinds