5G NR Contract Job Trends

5G NR (5G New Radio)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring 5G NR skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 20 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
20 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 589 506 591
Rank change year-on-year -83 +85 +212
Contract jobs citing 5G NR 2 35 6
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.005% 0.10% 0.014%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 0.050% 0.81% 0.099%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 28 2
10th Percentile £456 £519 -
25th Percentile £466 £521 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £575 £450
Median % change year-on-year -15.22% +27.78% +46.34%
75th Percentile £516 £628 £475
90th Percentile £529 £680 -
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £575 £450
% change year-on-year -15.22% +27.78% +46.34%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

5G NR 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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 3,984 4,330 6,063
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.81% 12.71% 13.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,595 2,535 3,742
10th Percentile £206 £220 £210
25th Percentile £356 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £584 £600 £613
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 186 152 333
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.26 £21.46 £22.75
Median hourly rate £34.00 £37.25 £56.40
Median % change year-on-year -8.72% -33.95% +37.46%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £72.38 £75.59
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £37.50 £56.49
% change year-on-year +13.33% -33.62% +25.53%

5G NR
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing 5G NR relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

5G NR job vacancy trend in the UK

5G NR
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing 5G NR.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing 5G NR

5G NR
Top 4 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 5G NR within the UK over the 6 months to 20 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
UK excluding London -50 2 £488 -15.22%
England -74 2 £488 -15.22%
East of England -27 1 £525 -5.62%
South West - 1 £450 -

5G NR
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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:

Communications & Networking
1 2 (100.00%) 5G
1 2 (100.00%) LTE
2 1 (50.00%) 3GPP
2 1 (50.00%) 4G
2 1 (50.00%) MIMO
2 1 (50.00%) Radio Access Network
2 1 (50.00%) Wireless
General
1 1 (50.00%) Documentation Skills
1 1 (50.00%) Social Skills
1 1 (50.00%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 1 (50.00%) Design Engineer
1 1 (50.00%) Ericsson Engineer
1 1 (50.00%) RAN Design Engineer
1 1 (50.00%) RAN Engineer
1 1 (50.00%) Software Engineer
1 1 (50.00%) Wireless Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 1 (50.00%) IoT
1 1 (50.00%) NB-IoT
Processes & Methodologies
1 1 (50.00%) Multithreading
1 1 (50.00%) Network Design
1 1 (50.00%) Project Governance
1 1 (50.00%) Software Engineering
Programming Languages
1 1 (50.00%) C
1 1 (50.00%) C++
1 1 (50.00%) Embedded C
1 1 (50.00%) Embedded C++
Qualifications
1 1 (50.00%) Degree
Vendors
1 1 (50.00%) Ericsson
1 1 (50.00%) Mapinfo
1 1 (50.00%) Nokia