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 4 October 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 536 548 620
Rank change year-on-year +12 +72 +206
Contract jobs citing DWDM 9 12 16
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.027% 0.032% 0.033%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 0.24% 0.26% 0.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 6 4 9
10th Percentile £326 £428 £330
25th Percentile £363 £461 £450
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £400 £516 £500
Median % change year-on-year -22.52% +3.25% +33.33%
75th Percentile £466 £566 -
90th Percentile £544 £616 £515
UK excluding London median daily rate £389 £516 £200
% change year-on-year -24.70% +158.13% -46.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 1 3
10th Percentile - - £17.45
25th Percentile £19.00 - £22.63
Median hourly rate £20.00 £35.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year -42.86% +7.69% +25.00%
75th Percentile £21.00 - £33.75
90th Percentile - - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.00 £35.00 £23.25
% change year-on-year -42.86% +50.54% -

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 3,808 4,534 6,592
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.47% 11.93% 13.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,393 2,614 4,152
10th Percentile £220 £225 £221
25th Percentile £363 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £606 £610
90th Percentile £680 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £453 £485 £455
% change year-on-year -6.60% +6.59% +1.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 205 202 326
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.16 £16.63
25th Percentile £21.25 £23.90 £22.75
Median hourly rate £41.94 £50.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -16.12% -11.49% +42.74%
75th Percentile £63.75 £65.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £74.20 £75.00 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £57.35 £57.50
% change year-on-year -25.89% -0.26% +27.78%

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 4 October 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 4 October 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 +8 9 £400 -23.81% 12
UK excluding London +3 5 £389 -24.70% 10
London +31 4 £400 -38.46% 2
Work from Home +23 4 £400 - 3
South East +10 3 - - 3
East of England -5 1 - - 4
North West -11 1 £475 - 1
North of England -24 1 £475 - 1
South West - 1 - - 3
West Midlands - 1 £303 - 2
Midlands - 1 £303 - 2

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:

Applications
1 1 (11.11%) Microsoft Office
1 1 (11.11%) MS Visio
Communications & Networking
1 5 (55.56%) Network Security
2 4 (44.44%) WAN
3 3 (33.33%) LAN
3 3 (33.33%) MPLS
4 2 (22.22%) Ethernet
4 2 (22.22%) Firewall
4 2 (22.22%) Internet
4 2 (22.22%) SDH
4 2 (22.22%) VPN
4 2 (22.22%) Wi-Fi
4 2 (22.22%) Wireless
5 1 (11.11%) BGP
5 1 (11.11%) Cisco IOS
5 1 (11.11%) DMZ
5 1 (11.11%) DNS
5 1 (11.11%) IPsec
5 1 (11.11%) L2TP
5 1 (11.11%) NGN
5 1 (11.11%) OSPF
5 1 (11.11%) SSL
Development Applications
1 1 (11.11%) Rational DOORS
General
1 7 (77.78%) Telecoms
2 3 (33.33%) Social Skills
3 2 (22.22%) Analytical Skills
3 2 (22.22%) Finance
3 2 (22.22%) Public Sector
4 1 (11.11%) Banking
4 1 (11.11%) Documentation Skills
4 1 (11.11%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 5 (55.56%) Network Engineer
2 2 (22.22%) Cisco Engineer
2 2 (22.22%) Cisco Network Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Architect
3 1 (11.11%) Delivery Manager
3 1 (11.11%) Fibre Designer
3 1 (11.11%) Implementation Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Network Designer
3 1 (11.11%) Network Implementation Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Network Systems Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Senior
3 1 (11.11%) Senior Cisco Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Senior Cisco Network Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Senior Network Engineer
3 1 (11.11%) Solutions Architect
3 1 (11.11%) Technical Delivery Manager
3 1 (11.11%) Technical Manager
3 1 (11.11%) Telecoms Architect
3 1 (11.11%) Telecoms Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (11.11%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 1 (11.11%) Data Centre
1 1 (11.11%) Data Protection Act
1 1 (11.11%) Fibre Optics
Processes & Methodologies
1 4 (44.44%) Network Design
2 3 (33.33%) Network Monitoring
2 3 (33.33%) Problem-Solving
3 2 (22.22%) Agile
3 2 (22.22%) Change Control
3 2 (22.22%) Decision-Making
3 2 (22.22%) Network Management
3 2 (22.22%) Process Improvement
3 2 (22.22%) Roadmaps
4 1 (11.11%) B2B
4 1 (11.11%) BPMN
4 1 (11.11%) Data Protection
4 1 (11.11%) Enterprise Architecture
4 1 (11.11%) ITIL
4 1 (11.11%) Network Planning
4 1 (11.11%) PRINCE
4 1 (11.11%) Resource Management
4 1 (11.11%) Supplier Management
4 1 (11.11%) TOGAF
4 1 (11.11%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 1 (11.11%) Perl
1 1 (11.11%) PowerShell
1 1 (11.11%) Python
Qualifications
1 3 (33.33%) Degree
1 3 (33.33%) Security Cleared
2 2 (22.22%) SC Cleared
3 1 (11.11%) BC Cleared
3 1 (11.11%) BPSS Clearance
3 1 (11.11%) CCIE
3 1 (11.11%) CCNP
3 1 (11.11%) Cisco Certification
3 1 (11.11%) DV Cleared
3 1 (11.11%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (11.11%) SLA
Systems Management
1 1 (11.11%) Amdocs OSS
1 1 (11.11%) Ansible
Vendors
1 6 (66.67%) Cisco
2 4 (44.44%) Juniper
3 3 (33.33%) Nokia
4 1 (11.11%) Arista
4 1 (11.11%) Aruba
4 1 (11.11%) Ciena
4 1 (11.11%) Cramer
4 1 (11.11%) F5
4 1 (11.11%) Fortinet
4 1 (11.11%) HP
4 1 (11.11%) IBM
4 1 (11.11%) McAfee
4 1 (11.11%) Palo Alto
4 1 (11.11%) Splunk