LAN Contract Job Trends

Local Area Network (LAN)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring LAN skills. It covers vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 224 192 118
Rank change year-on-year -32 -74 +76
Contract jobs citing LAN 404 503 1,076
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.23% 1.32% 2.17%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.61% 11.09% 16.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 250 264 716
10th Percentile £190 £221 £210
25th Percentile £305 £350 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.26% +5.56% -
75th Percentile £575 £575 £600
90th Percentile £638 £665 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £384 £425 £425
% change year-on-year -9.71% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 26 38
10th Percentile £21.05 £16.69 £17.72
25th Percentile £27.50 £20.00 £19.32
Median hourly rate £30.00 £23.15 £39.02
Median % change year-on-year +29.59% -40.67% +72.46%
75th Percentile £39.69 £40.25 £65.75
90th Percentile £65.73 £75.12 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.00 £22.40 £40.00
% change year-on-year +33.93% -44.00% +81.82%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

LAN 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 3,807 4,537 6,564
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 11.56% 11.86% 13.23%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,354 2,642 4,185
10th Percentile £225 £225 £226
25th Percentile £363 £375 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £476 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -4.80% - -
75th Percentile £588 £608 £613
90th Percentile £677 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £452 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -9.70% +11.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 198 255 300
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.16 £16.77
25th Percentile £25.15 £21.37 £22.94
Median hourly rate £43.00 £50.50 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -14.85% -10.60% +36.12%
75th Percentile £64.69 £65.00 £67.50
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £75.70
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £57.35 £57.50
% change year-on-year -25.89% -0.26% +27.78%

LAN
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Job vacancy trend for LAN in the UK

LAN
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

LAN
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing LAN over the 6 months to 17 September 2025.

Daily rate histogram for LAN in the UK

LAN
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

LAN
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing LAN over the 6 months to 17 September 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for LAN in the UK

LAN
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing LAN within the UK over the 6 months to 17 September 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 -21 354 £450 -7.22% 241
UK excluding London -39 235 £384 -9.71% 219
London +22 141 £500 -2.44% 69
Work from Home -29 89 £463 -2.63% 93
South East -4 76 £500 - 74
North of England -30 49 £175 -61.11% 48
North West -16 40 £133 -73.23% 22
Midlands -43 40 £383 -10.00% 37
West Midlands -18 35 £450 -5.26% 28
Scotland +1 24 £393 +4.87% 22
South West +21 21 £325 -25.29% 14
East of England -6 16 £294 -41.25% 27
Wales +9 10 £231 +5.11% 2
Yorkshire -37 6 £201 -32.92% 17
East Midlands -32 5 £200 -46.67% 9
North East -2 3 £375 +25.00% 11
Northern Ireland -7 2 £475 - 3

LAN
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 19 (4.70%) SharePoint
2 12 (2.97%) OpenStack
3 11 (2.72%) Microsoft Exchange
4 4 (0.99%) Confluence
5 2 (0.50%) nginx
6 1 (0.25%) Apache
6 1 (0.25%) CICS
6 1 (0.25%) IBM HTTP Server
6 1 (0.25%) Tomcat
6 1 (0.25%) WebSphere
6 1 (0.25%) WebSphere Application Server
Applications
1 31 (7.67%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (3.22%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 11 (2.72%) MS Visio
4 6 (1.49%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (0.74%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.50%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 3 (0.74%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.25%) Dynamics CRM
Cloud Services
1 79 (19.55%) Azure
2 58 (14.36%) AWS
3 38 (9.41%) Microsoft 365
4 18 (4.46%) Entra ID
5 8 (1.98%) GCP
6 6 (1.49%) OneDrive
6 6 (1.49%) OpenShift
7 5 (1.24%) Azure DevOps
8 4 (0.99%) GitHub
8 4 (0.99%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 2 (0.50%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (0.50%) Microsoft Purview
9 2 (0.50%) Power Platform
9 2 (0.50%) SaaS
10 1 (0.25%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 1 (0.25%) Amazon EventBridge
10 1 (0.25%) AWS CloudTrail
10 1 (0.25%) AWS KMS
10 1 (0.25%) Serverless
10 1 (0.25%) WhatsApp
Communications & Networking
1 306 (75.74%) WAN
2 169 (41.83%) Firewall
3 108 (26.73%) VPN
4 90 (22.28%) Wi-Fi
5 87 (21.53%) SD-WAN
6 86 (21.29%) Wireless
7 76 (18.81%) DNS
8 66 (16.34%) TCP/IP
9 60 (14.85%) DHCP
10 58 (14.36%) BGP
11 57 (14.11%) Cisco Nexus
11 57 (14.11%) MPLS
12 56 (13.86%) Network Security
13 47 (11.63%) OSPF
13 47 (11.63%) WLAN
14 37 (9.16%) VLAN
15 23 (5.69%) Cisco IOS
16 22 (5.45%) VoIP
17 20 (4.95%) SAN
18 19 (4.70%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.23%) SQL Server
2 5 (1.24%) Oracle Database
3 4 (0.99%) Apache Cassandra
4 2 (0.50%) DB2
4 2 (0.50%) Oracle Reports
4 2 (0.50%) Power BI
4 2 (0.50%) Relational Database
5 1 (0.25%) Amazon RDS
5 1 (0.25%) MySQL
5 1 (0.25%) NoSQL
5 1 (0.25%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 9 (2.23%) JIRA
2 5 (1.24%) Git
2 5 (1.24%) Sonatype Nexus
3 4 (0.99%) GitLab
4 2 (0.50%) Bitbucket
4 2 (0.50%) eggPlant
5 1 (0.25%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.25%) JIRA Agile
General
1 131 (32.43%) Social Skills
2 46 (11.39%) Telecoms
3 42 (10.40%) Analytical Skills
4 35 (8.66%) Public Sector
5 31 (7.67%) Finance
6 24 (5.94%) Documentation Skills
7 17 (4.21%) Manufacturing
8 11 (2.72%) Legal
9 8 (1.98%) Banking
10 7 (1.73%) Law
11 6 (1.49%) Presentation Skills
12 5 (1.24%) Local Government
13 4 (0.99%) Electronics
13 4 (0.99%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 4 (0.99%) Military
13 4 (0.99%) Retail
14 3 (0.74%) Games
14 3 (0.74%) Organisational Skills
15 2 (0.50%) Aerospace
15 2 (0.50%) German Language
Job Titles
1 113 (27.97%) Network Engineer
2 91 (22.52%) Architect
3 64 (15.84%) Network Architect
4 40 (9.90%) Support Engineer
5 27 (6.68%) Analyst
6 24 (5.94%) Senior
7 19 (4.70%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 19 (4.70%) Technical Architect
8 18 (4.46%) 2nd Line Support
8 18 (4.46%) Technical Support
9 16 (3.96%) Desktop Support
9 16 (3.96%) IT Engineer
9 16 (3.96%) IT Support
10 15 (3.71%) IT Technician
10 15 (3.71%) Support Analyst
10 15 (3.71%) Test Engineer
11 13 (3.22%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 13 (3.22%) Desktop Engineer
11 13 (3.22%) Desktop Support Engineer
12 12 (2.97%) Lead
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 14 (3.47%) Middleware
2 7 (1.73%) NETCONF
2 7 (1.73%) YANG
3 6 (1.49%) REST
4 5 (1.24%) XML
5 4 (0.99%) JSON
6 3 (0.74%) EDI
6 3 (0.74%) Node.js
7 2 (0.50%) .NET
7 2 (0.50%) .NET Framework
7 2 (0.50%) 802.1X
7 2 (0.50%) HTML
7 2 (0.50%) React
7 2 (0.50%) RFC 2544
7 2 (0.50%) SOAP
7 2 (0.50%) Spring
7 2 (0.50%) Spring Boot
8 1 (0.25%) ADO
8 1 (0.25%) Jinja
8 1 (0.25%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 61 (15.10%) Data Centre
2 22 (5.45%) Self-Motivation
3 17 (4.21%) Virtual Team
4 15 (3.71%) Management Information System
5 13 (3.22%) Cloud Native
6 12 (2.97%) Driving Licence
6 12 (2.97%) Hybrid Cloud
7 11 (2.72%) SCADA
8 9 (2.23%) Video Conferencing
9 8 (1.98%) CMDB
9 8 (1.98%) NHS
9 8 (1.98%) Onboarding
9 8 (1.98%) Public Cloud
10 7 (1.73%) Enterprise Software
11 6 (1.49%) Fibre Optics
11 6 (1.49%) Security Operations Centre
12 5 (1.24%) CCTV
12 5 (1.24%) Data Protection Act
12 5 (1.24%) Security Posture
13 4 (0.99%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 97 (24.01%) Windows
2 40 (9.90%) Linux
3 30 (7.43%) Windows Server
4 27 (6.68%) Windows 10
5 14 (3.47%) Unix
5 14 (3.47%) Windows Server 2016
6 13 (3.22%) Windows Server 2019
7 11 (2.72%) Mac OS
8 8 (1.98%) Windows Server 2003
8 8 (1.98%) Windows Server 2012
9 7 (1.73%) Android
10 6 (1.49%) Windows 8
11 5 (1.24%) Windows Server 2008
11 5 (1.24%) Windows XP
12 3 (0.74%) Apple iOS
13 2 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 2 (0.50%) Solaris
13 2 (0.50%) Windows 7
14 1 (0.25%) AIX
14 1 (0.25%) Mac OS X
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (18.07%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (15.35%) Network Design
3 54 (13.37%) ITIL
4 40 (9.90%) Network Architecture
5 39 (9.65%) Network Monitoring
6 38 (9.41%) Migration
7 36 (8.91%) Customer Service
8 35 (8.66%) Project Management
9 28 (6.93%) Service Management
10 27 (6.68%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 24 (5.94%) Cybersecurity
11 24 (5.94%) Project Delivery
12 23 (5.69%) Agile
12 23 (5.69%) Change Management
13 22 (5.45%) Continuous Improvement
14 21 (5.20%) Load Balancing
14 21 (5.20%) Roadmaps
15 19 (4.70%) High Availability
15 19 (4.70%) Mentoring
15 19 (4.70%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 40 (9.90%) Python
2 13 (3.22%) Java
3 7 (1.73%) SQL
4 5 (1.24%) VB
5 4 (0.99%) PowerShell
6 3 (0.74%) Perl
6 3 (0.74%) Shell Script
7 2 (0.50%) C
7 2 (0.50%) C#
7 2 (0.50%) C++
8 1 (0.25%) Bash
8 1 (0.25%) Go
Qualifications
1 113 (27.97%) Cisco Certification
2 89 (22.03%) Security Cleared
3 77 (19.06%) CCNP
4 51 (12.62%) SC Cleared
5 44 (10.89%) CCNA
6 37 (9.16%) Degree
7 29 (7.18%) DV Cleared
8 27 (6.68%) CCIE
9 18 (4.46%) Microsoft Certification
10 16 (3.96%) JNCIE
11 13 (3.22%) ISTQB
11 13 (3.22%) ISTQB Foundation Certification
12 10 (2.48%) AWS Certification
12 10 (2.48%) Computer Science Degree
12 10 (2.48%) ISEB
13 8 (1.98%) BPSS Clearance
13 8 (1.98%) CCSA
14 7 (1.73%) HNC
14 7 (1.73%) MCSE
15 6 (1.49%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (4.46%) SLA
2 7 (1.73%) QA
3 4 (0.99%) Accessibility
4 3 (0.74%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 3 (0.74%) PCI DSS
5 2 (0.50%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
6 1 (0.25%) COBIT
6 1 (0.25%) GDPR
6 1 (0.25%) GxP
6 1 (0.25%) NIST
System Software
1 64 (15.84%) Active Directory
2 25 (6.19%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (2.97%) Firmware
4 10 (2.48%) VMware NSX
5 9 (2.23%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.24%) Virtual Desktop
7 2 (0.50%) Docker
8 1 (0.25%) KVM
8 1 (0.25%) NFS
8 1 (0.25%) SRDF
8 1 (0.25%) Veritas Cluster Server
8 1 (0.25%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.25%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.25%) vSphere
8 1 (0.25%) Xen
8 1 (0.25%) XenApp
Systems Management
1 35 (8.66%) Ansible
2 23 (5.69%) FortiGate
3 19 (4.70%) SCCM
4 18 (4.46%) Terraform
5 11 (2.72%) Cisco Prime
6 8 (1.98%) Microsoft Intune
7 5 (1.24%) Cisco CUCM
7 5 (1.24%) HP ALM
8 4 (0.99%) AppManager
8 4 (0.99%) CA Spectrum
8 4 (0.99%) Kubernetes
8 4 (0.99%) vCenter Server
9 3 (0.74%) Backup Exec
9 3 (0.74%) CASB
10 2 (0.50%) HAProxy
10 2 (0.50%) Icinga
10 2 (0.50%) Nagios
10 2 (0.50%) Observium
10 2 (0.50%) OpenView
10 2 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 211 (52.23%) Cisco
2 71 (17.57%) Microsoft
3 64 (15.84%) Juniper
4 59 (14.60%) Fortinet
5 49 (12.13%) Palo Alto
6 40 (9.90%) F5
7 37 (9.16%) VMware
8 26 (6.44%) Meraki
9 24 (5.94%) SolarWinds
10 21 (5.20%) Citrix
11 20 (4.95%) CheckPoint
12 19 (4.70%) ServiceNow
13 17 (4.21%) Aruba
14 14 (3.47%) Oracle
15 13 (3.22%) Remedy
16 11 (2.72%) HP
17 10 (2.48%) Zscaler
18 9 (2.23%) MuleSoft
19 7 (1.73%) Peregrine
20 5 (1.24%) Sophos