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 25 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 218 206 167
Rank change year-on-year -12 -39 -35
Contract jobs citing LAN 593 383 622
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.17% 1.27% 1.43%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.27% 10.29% 11.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 371 226 344
10th Percentile £225 £206 £205
25th Percentile £360 £325 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £475
Median % change year-on-year - -5.26% +1.60%
75th Percentile £538 £573 £638
90th Percentile £620 £625 £721
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +5.88% -10.53% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 17 46
10th Percentile £12.76 £20.38 £12.86
25th Percentile £18.36 £27.00 £15.75
Median hourly rate £22.50 £30.00 £23.15
Median % change year-on-year -25.00% +29.59% -64.38%
75th Percentile £34.26 £40.00 £40.00
90th Percentile £70.60 £50.80 £43.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £30.00 £22.50
% change year-on-year -25.00% +33.33% -64.57%

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 4,832 3,722 5,406
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.50% 12.36% 12.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,960 2,275 3,197
10th Percentile £250 £225 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £481 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.95% -3.80% -
75th Percentile £588 £590 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £481 £473 £490
% change year-on-year +1.85% -3.57% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 297 174 430
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £20.50 £21.00 £17.69
Median hourly rate £27.88 £45.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -38.04% - +136.84%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.97 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.10 £78.50 £72.93
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.69 £35.00 £47.50
% change year-on-year -23.74% -26.32% +150.00%

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 25 June 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 25 June 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 25 June 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 -15 505 £450 -5.26% 148
UK excluding London +4 421 £450 +5.88% 157
South East +5 169 £475 -5.00% 47
London -67 121 £500 +2.04% 33
Work from Home -20 119 £495 -1.00% 61
North of England -42 79 £450 +33.33% 25
Midlands -37 58 £295 -32.57% 29
Scotland +13 48 £450 +14.43% 20
West Midlands -44 43 £340 -15.00% 19
East of England -4 42 £350 -18.60% 13
North West -33 42 £525 +61.54% 13
Yorkshire -24 37 £382 -4.63% 9
South West -55 18 £400 - 17
East Midlands -11 12 £200 -61.90% 10
Wales -17 7 £475 +105.41% 4
Northern Ireland - 3 £468 - 7
Channel Islands - 1 £575 -

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 30 (5.06%) SharePoint
2 22 (3.71%) Microsoft Exchange
3 14 (2.36%) Confluence
4 8 (1.35%) OpenStack
5 5 (0.84%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.34%) CMS
6 2 (0.34%) IIS
7 1 (0.17%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 23 (3.88%) MS Visio
2 17 (2.87%) Microsoft Office
3 12 (2.02%) Microsoft Excel
4 7 (1.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.34%) Acrobat
5 2 (0.34%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.34%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.34%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 136 (22.93%) Azure
2 85 (14.33%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (10.79%) AWS
4 40 (6.75%) Entra ID
5 21 (3.54%) SaaS
6 18 (3.04%) OneDrive
7 13 (2.19%) GCP
8 12 (2.02%) PaaS
9 11 (1.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 8 (1.35%) Power Platform
11 7 (1.18%) PowerApps
12 6 (1.01%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 5 (0.84%) AWS Direct Connect
13 5 (0.84%) Azure DevOps
13 5 (0.84%) IaaS
14 4 (0.67%) Nutanix
15 3 (0.51%) Azure Sentinel
15 3 (0.51%) Google Ads
16 2 (0.34%) IBM Watson
17 1 (0.17%) Amazon Bedrock
Communications & Networking
1 491 (82.80%) WAN
2 286 (48.23%) Firewall
3 158 (26.64%) VPN
4 148 (24.96%) BGP
5 140 (23.61%) SD-WAN
5 140 (23.61%) Wi-Fi
6 130 (21.92%) OSPF
7 125 (21.08%) Network Security
8 123 (20.74%) DNS
9 110 (18.55%) Wireless
10 92 (15.51%) DHCP
11 88 (14.84%) MPLS
12 78 (13.15%) VLAN
13 74 (12.48%) WLAN
14 70 (11.80%) TCP/IP
15 52 (8.77%) IPsec
16 48 (8.09%) Cisco ISE
17 45 (7.59%) BIG-IP
17 45 (7.59%) Cisco Nexus
18 38 (6.41%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (0.84%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.17%) DTS
2 1 (0.17%) NoSQL
2 1 (0.17%) Oracle Reports
2 1 (0.17%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.17%) Power BI
2 1 (0.17%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 31 (5.23%) JIRA
2 5 (0.84%) Sonatype Nexus
3 4 (0.67%) Browser DevTools
4 2 (0.34%) Git
4 2 (0.34%) GitLab
4 2 (0.34%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.17%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.17%) Fiddler
5 1 (0.17%) MSI
5 1 (0.17%) Visual Studio
General
1 165 (27.82%) Social Skills
2 52 (8.77%) Telecoms
3 47 (7.93%) Public Sector
4 42 (7.08%) Analytical Skills
5 38 (6.41%) Finance
6 32 (5.40%) Documentation Skills
7 22 (3.71%) Legal
7 22 (3.71%) Manufacturing
8 18 (3.04%) Financial Institution
9 17 (2.87%) Organisational Skills
10 10 (1.69%) Banking
11 9 (1.52%) Law
11 9 (1.52%) Military
12 7 (1.18%) Retail
13 6 (1.01%) Influencing Skills
13 6 (1.01%) Police
14 3 (0.51%) Billing
14 3 (0.51%) German Language
14 3 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 3 (0.51%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 243 (40.98%) Network Engineer
2 84 (14.17%) Architect
3 64 (10.79%) Senior
4 57 (9.61%) Network Architect
5 41 (6.91%) IT Support
5 41 (6.91%) Support Engineer
6 35 (5.90%) IT Engineer
7 30 (5.06%) Cisco Engineer
8 29 (4.89%) IT Support Engineer
8 29 (4.89%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 29 (4.89%) Senior Network Engineer
9 28 (4.72%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 27 (4.55%) Cisco Network Engineer
11 26 (4.38%) Analyst
11 26 (4.38%) Lead
12 20 (3.37%) Technical Architect
13 16 (2.70%) LAN Engineer
13 16 (2.70%) Network Manager
14 15 (2.53%) Field Engineer
14 15 (2.53%) Test Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (8.43%) 802.1X
2 10 (1.69%) Microsoft Graph
2 10 (1.69%) SAML
3 9 (1.52%) LDAP
4 8 (1.35%) NETCONF
4 8 (1.35%) REST
4 8 (1.35%) YANG
5 5 (0.84%) Middleware
6 3 (0.51%) Software Packaging
6 3 (0.51%) XMPP
7 2 (0.34%) .NET
7 2 (0.34%) Django
7 2 (0.34%) RFC 2544
8 1 (0.17%) .NET Framework
8 1 (0.17%) CSS
8 1 (0.17%) HTML
8 1 (0.17%) Java RMI
8 1 (0.17%) OpenConfig
8 1 (0.17%) RESTCONF
8 1 (0.17%) SailPoint
Miscellaneous
1 121 (20.40%) Data Centre
2 31 (5.23%) PKI
3 29 (4.89%) Hybrid Cloud
4 26 (4.38%) Clustering
5 24 (4.05%) Onboarding
6 17 (2.87%) Security Posture
7 14 (2.36%) Driving Licence
8 13 (2.19%) Cloud Native
8 13 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
9 11 (1.85%) Data Protection Act
9 11 (1.85%) Public Cloud
10 10 (1.69%) NHS
10 10 (1.69%) Operational Technology
10 10 (1.69%) Virtual Team
11 9 (1.52%) Private Cloud
12 8 (1.35%) IoT
13 7 (1.18%) Analytical Mindset
13 7 (1.18%) CCTV
13 7 (1.18%) Enterprise Software
14 6 (1.01%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 181 (30.52%) Windows
2 52 (8.77%) Windows Server
3 37 (6.24%) Linux
4 30 (5.06%) Windows 10
5 18 (3.04%) Windows Server 2019
6 15 (2.53%) Mac OS
7 10 (1.69%) Android
8 8 (1.35%) Windows 7
9 7 (1.18%) Apple iOS
10 5 (0.84%) Unix
10 5 (0.84%) VMS
10 5 (0.84%) Windows Server 2012
11 3 (0.51%) CatOS
11 3 (0.51%) Ubuntu
11 3 (0.51%) Windows Server 2003
12 2 (0.34%) AIX
12 2 (0.34%) Windows Server 2016
13 1 (0.17%) CentOS
13 1 (0.17%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 1 (0.17%) Solaris
Processes & Methodologies
1 96 (16.19%) ITIL
2 85 (14.33%) High Availability
3 82 (13.83%) Problem-Solving
4 72 (12.14%) Load Balancing
5 55 (9.27%) Migration
5 55 (9.27%) Project Delivery
5 55 (9.27%) Stakeholder Management
6 50 (8.43%) Continuous Improvement
7 49 (8.26%) Network Architecture
8 48 (8.09%) Change Management
9 46 (7.76%) Roadmaps
10 42 (7.08%) ITSM
11 40 (6.75%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 40 (6.75%) Technical Leadership
12 39 (6.58%) Agile
13 38 (6.41%) Network Monitoring
14 37 (6.24%) Network Design
15 35 (5.90%) Service Management
16 34 (5.73%) Disaster Recovery
17 31 (5.23%) Observability
Programming Languages
1 42 (7.08%) Python
2 41 (6.91%) PowerShell
3 10 (1.69%) SQL
4 5 (0.84%) VBScript
5 4 (0.67%) VB
6 2 (0.34%) C++
6 2 (0.34%) JavaScript
7 1 (0.17%) Bicep
7 1 (0.17%) C
7 1 (0.17%) Java
7 1 (0.17%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 199 (33.56%) Security Cleared
2 179 (30.19%) Cisco Certification
3 128 (21.59%) SC Cleared
4 112 (18.89%) CCNP
5 66 (11.13%) CCNA
6 64 (10.79%) DV Cleared
7 47 (7.93%) CCIE
8 46 (7.76%) Degree
9 17 (2.87%) PMP
10 14 (2.36%) Azure Certification
10 14 (2.36%) Microsoft Certification
10 14 (2.36%) PMI Certification
11 13 (2.19%) JNCIP
12 12 (2.02%) JNCIS
13 11 (1.85%) JNCIA
13 11 (1.85%) JNCIE
14 10 (1.69%) AWS Certification
15 7 (1.18%) Computer Science Degree
16 6 (1.01%) CCSE
16 6 (1.01%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 17 (2.87%) QA
2 15 (2.53%) SLA
3 11 (1.85%) NIST
4 10 (1.69%) NCSC
5 8 (1.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 7 (1.18%) Disclosure Scotland
7 5 (0.84%) GDPR
8 3 (0.51%) Cyber Essentials
8 3 (0.51%) PMO
9 2 (0.34%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.34%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.17%) Actionable Recommendations
10 1 (0.17%) DICOM
10 1 (0.17%) ISO 9001
10 1 (0.17%) NEBOSH
10 1 (0.17%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.17%) RMADS
10 1 (0.17%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 101 (17.03%) Active Directory
2 58 (9.78%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (4.55%) VMware NSX
4 20 (3.37%) vSphere
5 9 (1.52%) Firmware
6 8 (1.35%) Hyper-V
7 6 (1.01%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (0.67%) BitLocker
8 4 (0.67%) Virtual Desktop
9 3 (0.51%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.51%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.17%) Citrix Presentation Server
10 1 (0.17%) Docker
10 1 (0.17%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.17%) ProxySG
Systems Management
1 52 (8.77%) FortiGate
2 36 (6.07%) Ansible
3 32 (5.40%) Microsoft Intune
4 20 (3.37%) Terraform
5 16 (2.70%) SCCM
6 13 (2.19%) Single Sign-On
7 11 (1.85%) Jamf Pro
8 6 (1.01%) Cisco Prime
9 4 (0.67%) Cisco CUCM
9 4 (0.67%) Progress Chef
9 4 (0.67%) vRealize Orchestrator
10 3 (0.51%) Endace
10 3 (0.51%) Nagios
10 3 (0.51%) vCenter Server
11 2 (0.34%) AirWatch
11 2 (0.34%) CASB
11 2 (0.34%) Grafana
11 2 (0.34%) WSUS
12 1 (0.17%) EMC VPLEX
12 1 (0.17%) Prometheus
Vendors
1 295 (49.75%) Cisco
2 132 (22.26%) Microsoft
3 104 (17.54%) Palo Alto
4 93 (15.68%) F5
5 76 (12.82%) VMware
6 74 (12.48%) Juniper
7 68 (11.47%) SolarWinds
8 63 (10.62%) Aruba
9 61 (10.29%) Fortinet
10 57 (9.61%) CheckPoint
11 33 (5.56%) ServiceNow
12 32 (5.40%) Extreme Networks
13 29 (4.89%) Splunk
14 26 (4.38%) Meraki
15 20 (3.37%) Zscaler
16 16 (2.70%) Dell
16 16 (2.70%) Ekahau
17 11 (1.85%) Veeam
18 10 (1.69%) Arista
18 10 (1.69%) Citrix