5G Contracts

5G
UK

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies requiring 5G skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited 5G over the 6 months leading up to 31 May 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 May 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 415 425 552
Rank change year-on-year +10 +127 +24
Contract jobs citing 5G 104 147 136
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 0.36% 0.34% 0.24%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 2.79% 2.71% 1.91%
Number of daily rates quoted 79 47 76
10th Percentile £304 £350 £228
25th Percentile £400 £415 £318
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £440
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +7.95% +0.57%
75th Percentile £553 £539 £550
90th Percentile £587 £599 £800
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £440 £425
% change year-on-year -3.41% +3.53% -0.58%
Number of hourly rates quoted 0 3 6
10th Percentile - £31.30 £52.43
25th Percentile - £39.25 £55.75
Median hourly rate - £55.00 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year - -18.52% +7.14%
75th Percentile - £64.69 £70.00
90th Percentile - £69.00 £73.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate - £40.50 £61.00
% change year-on-year - -33.61% -

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

5G 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 3,725 5,430 7,113
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.77% 12.66% 12.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,279 3,247 4,591
10th Percentile £220 £206 £240
25th Percentile £363 £350 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £513
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% -2.44% +2.50%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £638
90th Percentile £675 £688 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £465 £477 £475
% change year-on-year -2.52% +0.42% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 166 413 449
10th Percentile £14.20 £13.50 £9.80
25th Percentile £17.30 £16.30 £10.63
Median hourly rate £37.50 £40.00 £18.50
Median % change year-on-year -6.25% +116.22% -32.73%
75th Percentile £58.75 £63.75 £59.80
90th Percentile £77.50 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £45.88 £18.22
% change year-on-year -34.61% +151.88% -15.28%

5G
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing 5G as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for 5G in the UK

5G
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing 5G.

Daily rate trend for 5G in the UK

5G
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing 5G over the 6 months to 31 May 2025.

Daily rate histogram for 5G in the UK

5G
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing 5G.

Hourly rate trend for 5G in the UK

5G
Top 11 Contract Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing 5G within the UK over the 6 months to 31 May 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
England -3 83 £425 -11.92% 125
UK excluding London +10 59 £425 -3.41% 80
London +38 22 £465 -5.10% 48
South East +21 22 £343 -31.50% 33
Work from Home +28 21 £463 -5.61% 57
East of England +25 20 £538 +25.00% 15
South West +51 15 £425 -29.17% 12
North West +11 7 £205 -40.58% 5
North of England +4 7 £205 -40.58% 8
West Midlands +10 2 £625 - 4
Midlands +10 2 £625 - 8

5G
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 2 (1.92%) Camunda
2 1 (0.96%) Confluence
2 1 (0.96%) OpenStack
Applications
1 8 (7.69%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (1.92%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 1 (0.96%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 1 (0.96%) Primavera
Cloud Services
1 3 (2.88%) Azure
2 2 (1.92%) AWS
2 2 (1.92%) PaaS
2 2 (1.92%) SaaS
3 1 (0.96%) Azure DevOps
3 1 (0.96%) GCP
3 1 (0.96%) OpenShift
3 1 (0.96%) Power Platform
Communications & Networking
1 58 (55.77%) 4G
2 43 (41.35%) LTE
3 41 (39.42%) Radio Access Network
4 38 (36.54%) 3G
5 25 (24.04%) VoLTE
6 22 (21.15%) Diameter Protocol
6 22 (21.15%) Wireshark
7 19 (18.27%) 2G
7 19 (18.27%) RANAP
8 18 (17.31%) 5G NR
9 16 (15.38%) Wireless
10 8 (7.69%) VoIP
11 6 (5.77%) VoWiFi
12 5 (4.81%) Firewall
12 5 (4.81%) MPLS
13 4 (3.85%) Software-Defined Radio
14 3 (2.88%) GPON
14 3 (2.88%) Structured Cabling
14 3 (2.88%) VXLAN
14 3 (2.88%) xDSL
Development Applications
1 2 (1.92%) JIRA
2 1 (0.96%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 47 (45.19%) Telecoms
2 42 (40.38%) Social Skills
3 9 (8.65%) Billing
4 3 (2.88%) Analytical Skills
5 2 (1.92%) Multimedia
6 1 (0.96%) Aviation
6 1 (0.96%) Electronics
6 1 (0.96%) Fire and Rescue
6 1 (0.96%) French Language
6 1 (0.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (0.96%) Local Government
6 1 (0.96%) Police
6 1 (0.96%) Presentation Skills
6 1 (0.96%) Public Sector
Job Titles
1 10 (9.62%) Project Manager
2 8 (7.69%) Senior
3 7 (6.73%) CUDA Engineer
3 7 (6.73%) Design Engineer
3 7 (6.73%) Embedded Engineer
3 7 (6.73%) Embedded Linux Engineer
3 7 (6.73%) Linux Engineer
4 6 (5.77%) Architect
4 6 (5.77%) OSS Project Manager
4 6 (5.77%) Telecoms Manager
4 6 (5.77%) Telecoms Project Manager
5 5 (4.81%) Analyst
5 5 (4.81%) Field Engineer
5 5 (4.81%) Field Test Engineer
5 5 (4.81%) Network Manager
5 5 (4.81%) Test Analyst
5 5 (4.81%) Test Engineer
6 4 (3.85%) Senior Analyst
6 4 (3.85%) Senior Test Analyst
7 3 (2.88%) Network Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (1.92%) OpenAPI
1 2 (1.92%) REST
1 2 (1.92%) RESTful
1 2 (1.92%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 15 (14.42%) IoT
2 10 (9.62%) Cloud Native
3 7 (6.73%) CUDA
3 7 (6.73%) Smartphone
4 4 (3.85%) Data Centre
4 4 (3.85%) Driving Licence
4 4 (3.85%) Embedded Systems
4 4 (3.85%) FPGA
4 4 (3.85%) NB-IoT
5 3 (2.88%) Replication
5 3 (2.88%) TM Forum
6 2 (1.92%) CCTV
6 2 (1.92%) Fibre Optics
6 2 (1.92%) Industrial Internet of Things
6 2 (1.92%) Onboarding
6 2 (1.92%) Operational Technology
6 2 (1.92%) SCADA
6 2 (1.92%) Video Conferencing
7 1 (0.96%) Private Cloud
7 1 (0.96%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 11 (10.58%) Linux
2 7 (6.73%) Android
2 7 (6.73%) Apple iOS
2 7 (6.73%) Embedded Linux
3 1 (0.96%) VMS
3 1 (0.96%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 26 (25.00%) Network Architecture
2 21 (20.19%) Problem-Solving
3 20 (19.23%) Customer Experience
3 20 (19.23%) Performance Analysis
4 19 (18.27%) Performance Improvement
4 19 (18.27%) Translating Business Requirements
5 12 (11.54%) Validation
6 11 (10.58%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 10 (9.62%) Agile
8 9 (8.65%) Fault Management
8 9 (8.65%) Stakeholder Management
9 8 (7.69%) CRM
9 8 (7.69%) Migration
9 8 (7.69%) Network Design
9 8 (7.69%) Project Management
10 7 (6.73%) Network Management
10 7 (6.73%) Risk Management
11 6 (5.77%) Analytics
11 6 (5.77%) Computer Science
11 6 (5.77%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 3 (2.88%) C++
1 3 (2.88%) Python
2 2 (1.92%) Go
2 2 (1.92%) Java
3 1 (0.96%) C#
Qualifications
1 9 (8.65%) Degree
2 7 (6.73%) PMI Certification
2 7 (6.73%) PMP
2 7 (6.73%) Security Cleared
3 5 (4.81%) SC Cleared
4 4 (3.85%) BPSS Clearance
5 3 (2.88%) DV Cleared
5 3 (2.88%) Master's Degree
6 2 (1.92%) CCNP
6 2 (1.92%) Cisco Certification
6 2 (1.92%) TOGAF Certification
7 1 (0.96%) AWS Certification
7 1 (0.96%) Azure Certification
7 1 (0.96%) CISSP
7 1 (0.96%) Computer Science Degree
7 1 (0.96%) ISEB
7 1 (0.96%) JNCIA
7 1 (0.96%) JNCIP
7 1 (0.96%) JNCIS
7 1 (0.96%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (3.85%) SLA
2 2 (1.92%) NCSC
2 2 (1.92%) OASIS TOSCA
3 1 (0.96%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 1 (0.96%) QA
System Software
1 2 (1.92%) Docker
1 2 (1.92%) VMware Infrastructure
2 1 (0.96%) VMware NSX
2 1 (0.96%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 8 (7.69%) Amdocs OSS
2 6 (5.77%) Kubernetes
3 3 (2.88%) Ansible
3 3 (2.88%) NSN NetAct
Vendors
1 25 (24.04%) Nokia
2 19 (18.27%) Empirix
2 19 (18.27%) Ericsson
2 19 (18.27%) NetScout
3 9 (8.65%) Microsoft
4 8 (7.69%) Amdocs
4 8 (7.69%) NetCracker
5 7 (6.73%) NVIDIA
6 6 (5.77%) Ciena
6 6 (5.77%) Cisco
7 5 (4.81%) Juniper
8 4 (3.85%) Palo Alto
8 4 (3.85%) ServiceNow
9 3 (2.88%) F5
9 3 (2.88%) Huawei
9 3 (2.88%) VMware
10 2 (1.92%) Mavenir
11 1 (0.96%) Arista
11 1 (0.96%) Ribbon
11 1 (0.96%) Samsung