DWDM Contract Job Trends

Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring DWDM skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 18 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 583 530 581
Rank change year-on-year -53 +51 +191
Contract jobs citing DWDM 12 14 24
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.033% 0.041% 0.054%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 0.30% 0.32% 0.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 8 4 12
10th Percentile £301 £446 £326
25th Percentile £338 £467 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £516 £430
Median % change year-on-year -22.52% +20.06% -4.44%
75th Percentile £441 £550 £500
90th Percentile £471 £573 £568
UK excluding London median daily rate £376 £516 £430
% change year-on-year -27.12% +20.06% +14.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 7
10th Percentile - - £27.50
25th Percentile £19.00 - £29.38
Median hourly rate £20.00 - £32.50
75th Percentile £21.00 - £33.75
90th Percentile - - £35.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.00 - £30.00

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

DWDM 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 3,956 4,337 6,093
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.81% 12.69% 13.80%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,581 2,546 3,755
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 £585 £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 184 152 340
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.32 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.13 £22.24 £22.00
Median hourly rate £34.50 £37.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -8.00% -31.82% +34.05%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.50 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.63 £75.71
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £39.25 £56.49
% change year-on-year +8.28% -30.52% +25.53%

DWDM
Job Vacancy Trend

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

DWDM job vacancy trend in the UK

DWDM
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DWDM.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DWDM

DWDM
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing DWDM over the 6 months to 18 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for DWDM in the UK

DWDM
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DWDM.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing DWDM

DWDM
Top 11 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing DWDM within the UK over the 6 months to 18 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
England -40 12 £400 -22.52% 2
UK excluding London -50 8 £376 -27.12% 2
South East -22 5 £450 -11.33%
London 0 4 £400 -
Work from Home -8 4 £400 -
South West - 3 £513 - 1
East of England -21 2 - -
Midlands - 1 £303 - 1
North West - 1 £303 -
West Midlands - 1 £303 - 1
North of England - 1 £303 -

DWDM
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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (8.33%) AWS
1 1 (8.33%) Azure
1 1 (8.33%) GCP
Communications & Networking
1 4 (33.33%) LAN
1 4 (33.33%) SDH
1 4 (33.33%) WAN
2 3 (25.00%) MPLS
2 3 (25.00%) Network Security
3 2 (16.67%) Firewall
3 2 (16.67%) Unified Communications
4 1 (8.33%) 5G
4 1 (8.33%) Cisco ISE
4 1 (8.33%) Ethernet
4 1 (8.33%) Internet
4 1 (8.33%) NGN
4 1 (8.33%) Radio Access Network
4 1 (8.33%) Wi-Fi
Development Applications
1 2 (16.67%) Rational DOORS
General
1 10 (83.33%) Telecoms
2 5 (41.67%) Social Skills
3 3 (25.00%) Public Sector
4 2 (16.67%) Analytical Skills
4 2 (16.67%) Finance
Job Titles
1 5 (41.67%) Network Engineer
2 3 (25.00%) Architect
2 3 (25.00%) Solutions Architect
3 2 (16.67%) Delivery Manager
3 2 (16.67%) Technical Delivery Manager
3 2 (16.67%) Technical Manager
3 2 (16.67%) Telecoms Architect
4 1 (8.33%) Cisco Engineer
4 1 (8.33%) Cisco Network Engineer
4 1 (8.33%) Data Architect
4 1 (8.33%) Designer
4 1 (8.33%) Fibre Designer
4 1 (8.33%) Network Designer
4 1 (8.33%) Network Systems Engineer
4 1 (8.33%) Telecoms Engineer
4 1 (8.33%) Transmission Engineer
Miscellaneous
1 2 (16.67%) Data Centre
1 2 (16.67%) Fibre Optics
2 1 (8.33%) Data Protection Act
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (33.33%) Network Design
1 4 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
2 3 (25.00%) Agile
2 3 (25.00%) Change Control
2 3 (25.00%) Network Management
2 3 (25.00%) Network Monitoring
3 2 (16.67%) ArchiMate
3 2 (16.67%) Boundary Protection
3 2 (16.67%) BPMN
3 2 (16.67%) Enterprise Architecture
3 2 (16.67%) ITIL
3 2 (16.67%) Mentoring
3 2 (16.67%) Process Improvement
3 2 (16.67%) Project Governance
3 2 (16.67%) Resource Management
3 2 (16.67%) Stakeholder Engagement
3 2 (16.67%) Strategic Roadmap
3 2 (16.67%) Supplier Management
3 2 (16.67%) TOGAF
3 2 (16.67%) Waterfall
Qualifications
1 5 (41.67%) Security Cleared
2 4 (33.33%) SC Cleared
3 2 (16.67%) Degree
4 1 (8.33%) BC Cleared
4 1 (8.33%) BPSS Clearance
4 1 (8.33%) CCNP
4 1 (8.33%) Cisco Certification
4 1 (8.33%) DV Cleared
4 1 (8.33%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (8.33%) SLA
Systems Management
1 1 (8.33%) Amdocs OSS
Vendors
1 7 (58.33%) Cisco
2 5 (41.67%) Juniper
2 5 (41.67%) Nokia
3 2 (16.67%) F5
3 2 (16.67%) IBM
3 2 (16.67%) Palo Alto
4 1 (8.33%) Ciena
4 1 (8.33%) Cramer
4 1 (8.33%) Fortinet
4 1 (8.33%) SolarWinds