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 contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 24 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 256 227 184
Rank change year-on-year -29 -43 -67
Contract jobs citing LAN 541 404 509
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.99% 1.23% 1.34%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.56% 10.63% 11.21%
Number of daily rates quoted 323 250 277
10th Percentile £213 £190 £220
25th Percentile £325 £313 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% +5.56%
75th Percentile £538 £575 £575
90th Percentile £625 £638 £659
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £393 £425
% change year-on-year +14.43% -7.47% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 37 26 24
10th Percentile £12.71 £14.24 £18.95
25th Percentile £16.25 £24.56 £20.00
Median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% +26.05% -40.50%
75th Percentile £73.00 £37.81 £52.31
90th Percentile £78.75 £59.63 £75.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.00 £30.00 £26.50
% change year-on-year -33.33% +13.21% -33.75%

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 5,121 3,802 4,542
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.33% 11.53% 11.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,964 2,363 2,621
10th Percentile £232 £225 £225
25th Percentile £393 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £478 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.71% -4.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £495
% change year-on-year +5.56% -9.09% +7.03%
Number of hourly rates quoted 423 204 228
10th Percentile £14.24 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £25.11 £23.63
Median hourly rate £33.00 £42.50 £51.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.35% -16.67% -9.72%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £90.00 £72.15 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.50 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -30.59% -25.89% -0.26%

LAN
Job Vacancy Trend

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

LAN job vacancy trend 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 24 September 2026.

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 24 September 2026.

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 24 September 2026. 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 -53 436 £500 +11.11% 456
UK excluding London -13 381 £450 +14.43% 315
London -103 118 £500 +8.11% 143
South East -39 100 £525 +5.00% 111
Work from Home -60 95 £500 +11.11% 177
North of England -29 81 £500 +203.03% 57
Scotland +19 72 £270 -31.34% 13
Midlands -37 48 £355 -16.47% 57
East of England -5 44 £435 +58.18% 40
North West -44 44 £519 +291.77% 35
Yorkshire -3 37 £450 +123.60% 16
West Midlands -41 37 £431 -9.21% 34
South West -29 29 £400 +23.08% 35
East Midlands -12 11 £255 +27.50% 23
Wales -16 5 £425 +83.78% 1
Channel Islands - 3 £600 -
Northern Ireland +2 1 £550 +15.79% 5

LAN
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:

Application Platforms
1 20 (3.70%) Microsoft Exchange
1 20 (3.70%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.66%) OpenStack
3 7 (1.29%) CMS
3 7 (1.29%) Skype for Business
4 4 (0.74%) Confluence
5 2 (0.37%) IIS
Applications
1 30 (5.55%) Microsoft Office
2 26 (4.81%) MS Visio
3 25 (4.62%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.85%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 5 (0.92%) Microsoft Project
6 1 (0.18%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 109 (20.15%) Azure
2 77 (14.23%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (9.98%) AWS
4 32 (5.91%) Entra ID
5 12 (2.22%) GCP
6 11 (2.03%) SaaS
7 10 (1.85%) OneDrive
8 9 (1.66%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 8 (1.48%) AWS Direct Connect
10 6 (1.11%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 5 (0.92%) Azure DevOps
12 4 (0.74%) Microsoft Copilot
12 4 (0.74%) OpenShift
13 3 (0.55%) Azure Sentinel
13 3 (0.55%) Smartsheet
14 2 (0.37%) Google Ads
14 2 (0.37%) IaaS
14 2 (0.37%) Power Platform
15 1 (0.18%) GitHub
15 1 (0.18%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 460 (85.03%) WAN
2 252 (46.58%) Firewall
3 149 (27.54%) VPN
4 133 (24.58%) Network Security
5 119 (22.00%) Wi-Fi
6 118 (21.81%) Wireless
7 115 (21.26%) SD-WAN
8 112 (20.70%) BGP
9 100 (18.48%) MPLS
10 86 (15.90%) DNS
11 82 (15.16%) OSPF
12 80 (14.79%) TCP/IP
13 73 (13.49%) WLAN
14 70 (12.94%) DHCP
15 65 (12.01%) VLAN
16 52 (9.61%) Cisco Nexus
16 52 (9.61%) IPsec
17 36 (6.65%) Cisco ISE
18 35 (6.47%) Cisco ASA
19 24 (4.44%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 6 (1.11%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.18%) DTS
2 1 (0.18%) Metadata
2 1 (0.18%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.18%) Power BI
2 1 (0.18%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 13 (2.40%) JIRA
2 5 (0.92%) Git
3 4 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
4 3 (0.55%) Browser DevTools
5 2 (0.37%) SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
6 1 (0.18%) Fiddler
6 1 (0.18%) MSI
6 1 (0.18%) Visual Studio
General
1 177 (32.72%) Social Skills
2 92 (17.01%) Telecoms
3 54 (9.98%) Analytical Skills
4 50 (9.24%) Public Sector
5 32 (5.91%) Finance
6 25 (4.62%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (4.44%) Organisational Skills
8 18 (3.33%) Banking
9 13 (2.40%) Legal
9 13 (2.40%) Retail
10 9 (1.66%) Police
11 8 (1.48%) Manufacturing
12 7 (1.29%) Influencing Skills
13 5 (0.92%) Financial Institution
13 5 (0.92%) Local Government
14 3 (0.55%) Law
15 2 (0.37%) Billing
15 2 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 2 (0.37%) Military
16 1 (0.18%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 238 (43.99%) Network Engineer
2 67 (12.38%) Senior
3 64 (11.83%) Architect
4 49 (9.06%) Network Architect
5 42 (7.76%) Senior Network Engineer
6 38 (7.02%) IT Support
6 38 (7.02%) Support Engineer
7 29 (5.36%) Cisco Engineer
8 28 (5.18%) IT Engineer
9 26 (4.81%) Field Engineer
10 25 (4.62%) Telecoms Engineer
11 24 (4.44%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
12 23 (4.25%) IT Support Engineer
13 21 (3.88%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 21 (3.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
14 17 (3.14%) Developer
14 17 (3.14%) Network Field Engineer
14 17 (3.14%) Project Engineer
15 16 (2.96%) Consultant
16 15 (2.77%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (4.07%) 802.1X
2 15 (2.77%) Terraform
3 13 (2.40%) NETCONF
4 10 (1.85%) REST
5 9 (1.66%) YANG
6 6 (1.11%) SAML
6 6 (1.11%) XMPP
7 4 (0.74%) OpenConfig
7 4 (0.74%) RESTCONF
8 3 (0.55%) Java RMI
8 3 (0.55%) LDAP
8 3 (0.55%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.55%) YAML
9 2 (0.37%) JSON
9 2 (0.37%) Middleware
9 2 (0.37%) ODBC
9 2 (0.37%) Software Packaging
10 1 (0.18%) .NET
10 1 (0.18%) .NET Framework
10 1 (0.18%) Microsoft Graph
Miscellaneous
1 109 (20.15%) Data Centre
2 41 (7.58%) Driving Licence
3 30 (5.55%) Hybrid Cloud
4 24 (4.44%) Onboarding
5 22 (4.07%) Self-Motivation
5 22 (4.07%) Video Conferencing
6 18 (3.33%) Operational Technology
7 17 (3.14%) PKI
8 14 (2.59%) Private Cloud
9 12 (2.22%) Cloud Native
9 12 (2.22%) Data Protection Act
9 12 (2.22%) Security Posture
10 9 (1.66%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.66%) IoT
10 9 (1.66%) NHS
11 8 (1.48%) Public Cloud
11 8 (1.48%) Smartphone
11 8 (1.48%) Virtual Team
12 7 (1.29%) SCADA
13 6 (1.11%) EPoS
Operating Systems
1 137 (25.32%) Windows
2 45 (8.32%) Windows Server
3 34 (6.28%) Linux
4 32 (5.91%) Windows 10
5 16 (2.96%) Mac OS
6 12 (2.22%) Windows 7
7 9 (1.66%) Unix
8 5 (0.92%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (0.74%) Android
10 3 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (0.55%) Ubuntu
11 2 (0.37%) Apple iOS
11 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2012
11 2 (0.37%) Windows Server 2016
12 1 (0.18%) CatOS
12 1 (0.18%) CentOS
12 1 (0.18%) Solaris
12 1 (0.18%) Windows Server 2003
Processes & Methodologies
1 101 (18.67%) Problem-Solving
2 87 (16.08%) ITIL
3 76 (14.05%) Project Delivery
4 61 (11.28%) High Availability
5 60 (11.09%) Continuous Improvement
6 56 (10.35%) Stakeholder Management
7 50 (9.24%) Load Balancing
8 48 (8.87%) Roadmaps
9 47 (8.69%) Network Architecture
10 42 (7.76%) Customer Service
11 41 (7.58%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 39 (7.21%) Migration
13 37 (6.84%) Technical Leadership
14 36 (6.65%) Zero Trust
15 35 (6.47%) Mentoring
15 35 (6.47%) Network Design
15 35 (6.47%) Network Monitoring
16 34 (6.28%) Service Management
17 32 (5.91%) Change Management
17 32 (5.91%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 32 (5.91%) Python
2 22 (4.07%) PowerShell
3 6 (1.11%) VB
3 6 (1.11%) VBScript
4 3 (0.55%) SQL
5 2 (0.37%) Bash
5 2 (0.37%) Bicep
5 2 (0.37%) T-SQL
6 1 (0.18%) C
6 1 (0.18%) C++
Qualifications
1 164 (30.31%) Security Cleared
2 154 (28.47%) Cisco Certification
3 102 (18.85%) SC Cleared
4 99 (18.30%) CCNP
5 65 (12.01%) CCNA
6 47 (8.69%) DV Cleared
7 41 (7.58%) CCIE
8 34 (6.28%) Degree
9 14 (2.59%) Azure Certification
10 11 (2.03%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (1.66%) A+ Certification
11 9 (1.66%) AWS Certification
11 9 (1.66%) JNCIE
11 9 (1.66%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.66%) PMP
12 8 (1.48%) ITIL Foundation Certificate
13 7 (1.29%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 6 (1.11%) BPSS Clearance
14 6 (1.11%) JNCIP
14 6 (1.11%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (4.44%) SLA
2 12 (2.22%) QA
3 10 (1.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (1.48%) NIST
5 7 (1.29%) NCSC
6 6 (1.11%) Disclosure Scotland
7 4 (0.74%) PMO
8 3 (0.55%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.55%) GRC
8 3 (0.55%) JSP 440
9 2 (0.37%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.37%) GDPR
9 2 (0.37%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.18%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.18%) Data Quality
10 1 (0.18%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.18%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 81 (14.97%) Active Directory
2 47 (8.69%) VMware Infrastructure
3 21 (3.88%) VMware NSX
4 13 (2.40%) vSphere
5 12 (2.22%) Firmware
6 9 (1.66%) Virtual Desktop
6 9 (1.66%) Virtual Machines
7 7 (1.29%) BitLocker
7 7 (1.29%) Hyper-V
8 6 (1.11%) VMware ESXi
9 5 (0.92%) Virtual Servers
10 4 (0.74%) FreeRADIUS
11 2 (0.37%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.18%) NFS
12 1 (0.18%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 32 (5.91%) Ansible
1 32 (5.91%) FortiGate
2 23 (4.25%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (2.59%) SCCM
4 8 (1.48%) Cisco CUCM
4 8 (1.48%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (1.11%) vCenter Server
6 5 (0.92%) Cisco Prime
7 4 (0.74%) Nagios
8 3 (0.55%) Grafana
8 3 (0.55%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.37%) CASB
9 2 (0.37%) Prometheus
9 2 (0.37%) VxRail
10 1 (0.18%) AirWatch
10 1 (0.18%) Backup Exec
10 1 (0.18%) Iperf
10 1 (0.18%) Progress Chef
10 1 (0.18%) TrustSec
10 1 (0.18%) vRealize Orchestrator
Vendors
1 278 (51.39%) Cisco
2 145 (26.80%) Microsoft
3 89 (16.45%) Palo Alto
4 76 (14.05%) VMware
5 74 (13.68%) Fortinet
6 52 (9.61%) F5
7 51 (9.43%) Juniper
8 46 (8.50%) SolarWinds
9 42 (7.76%) Aruba
10 33 (6.10%) CheckPoint
11 32 (5.91%) Meraki
12 28 (5.18%) ServiceNow
13 21 (3.88%) Nokia
14 20 (3.70%) Zscaler
15 10 (1.85%) Splunk
16 9 (1.66%) Arista
16 9 (1.66%) Extreme Networks
16 9 (1.66%) Google
16 9 (1.66%) HP
17 8 (1.48%) Ekahau