MPLS Contract Job Trends

Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring MPLS skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 13 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 425 339 294
Rank change year-on-year -86 -45 +217
Contract jobs citing MPLS 190 195 331
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.44% 0.66% 0.74%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 4.38% 4.95% 5.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 123 97 167
10th Percentile £206 £363 £263
25th Percentile £356 £450 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £513 £400
Median % change year-on-year -17.07% +28.13% -11.11%
75th Percentile £538 £625 £575
90th Percentile £625 £675 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £445 £525 £350
% change year-on-year -15.24% +50.00% -17.65%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 3 27
10th Percentile £21.31 £21.05 £14.00
25th Percentile £24.78 £24.88 £24.25
Median hourly rate £31.13 £32.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -4.23% -18.75% +19.40%
75th Percentile £37.03 £34.38 £52.99
90th Percentile £40.24 £34.75 £68.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.13 £19.00 £40.00
% change year-on-year +63.82% -52.50% +19.40%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

MPLS 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 4,333 3,936 6,007
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.12% 13.36% 13.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,797 2,406 3,608
10th Percentile £212 £208 £205
25th Percentile £364 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £485 £497 £475
Median % change year-on-year -2.46% +4.68% -9.09%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £473 £470 £475
% change year-on-year +0.64% -1.05% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 180 139 395
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.31 £14.10
25th Percentile £20.13 £21.46 £18.93
Median hourly rate £40.02 £35.00 £37.50
Median % change year-on-year +14.34% -6.67% +97.37%
75th Percentile £67.58 £63.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £70.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £32.50 £46.39
% change year-on-year +30.00% -29.94% +145.32%

MPLS
Job Vacancy Trend

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

MPLS job vacancy trend in the UK

MPLS
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

MPLS
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing MPLS over the 6 months to 13 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for MPLS in the UK

MPLS
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

MPLS
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing MPLS over the 6 months to 13 March 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for MPLS in the UK

MPLS
Top 14 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing MPLS within the UK over the 6 months to 13 March 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 -105 157 £450 -12.20% 30
UK excluding London -71 111 £445 -15.24% 25
Work from Home -31 57 £413 -17.50% 14
London -78 57 £425 -16.67% 14
South East -69 40 £488 -15.77% 10
Midlands -48 25 £400 +28.00% 3
West Midlands -46 23 £400 +28.00% 2
Scotland +22 15 £215 -46.25% 1
North of England -65 15 £413 -21.43% 5
North West -32 14 £413 -21.43%
South West -25 11 £525 - 3
East of England -25 4 £505 +102.00% 1
Northern Ireland - 2 £430 -
Yorkshire -56 1 - - 5

MPLS
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 8 (4.21%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.05%) Confluence
2 2 (1.05%) OpenStack
2 2 (1.05%) SharePoint
Applications
1 11 (5.79%) Microsoft Office
2 7 (3.68%) MS Visio
3 6 (3.16%) Microsoft Excel
4 5 (2.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (1.05%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.53%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (1.05%) Teamcenter
Cloud Services
1 32 (16.84%) Azure
2 16 (8.42%) AWS
2 16 (8.42%) Entra ID
3 11 (5.79%) GCP
3 11 (5.79%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (4.21%) IaaS
5 7 (3.68%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 5 (2.63%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 3 (1.58%) AWS Direct Connect
7 3 (1.58%) Azure DevOps
7 3 (1.58%) Microsoft Purview
8 2 (1.05%) Azure Functions
8 2 (1.05%) Azure Logic Apps
8 2 (1.05%) Azure Monitor
8 2 (1.05%) Azure Sentinel
8 2 (1.05%) Azure Service Bus
8 2 (1.05%) IBM Watson
8 2 (1.05%) Mimecast
8 2 (1.05%) Power Platform
8 2 (1.05%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 114 (60.00%) WAN
2 98 (51.58%) Firewall
3 96 (50.53%) BGP
4 79 (41.58%) VPN
5 71 (37.37%) LAN
6 59 (31.05%) SD-WAN
7 57 (30.00%) OSPF
8 41 (21.58%) Network Security
9 33 (17.37%) IPsec
10 32 (16.84%) VLAN
11 30 (15.79%) Cisco ASA
12 23 (12.11%) VXLAN
13 22 (11.58%) Ethernet VPN
13 22 (11.58%) Wireless
14 20 (10.53%) EIGRP
15 18 (9.47%) Cisco IOS
16 15 (7.89%) Cisco Nexus
16 15 (7.89%) Multicast
17 14 (7.37%) DNS
17 14 (7.37%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (1.05%) Power BI
1 2 (1.05%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 9 (4.74%) Git
2 5 (2.63%) JIRA
3 2 (1.05%) Sonatype Nexus
4 1 (0.53%) AppScan
4 1 (0.53%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.53%) Metasploit
General
1 46 (24.21%) Social Skills
2 36 (18.95%) Telecoms
3 21 (11.05%) Finance
4 20 (10.53%) Analytical Skills
5 16 (8.42%) Public Sector
6 9 (4.74%) Documentation Skills
7 8 (4.21%) Financial Institution
8 7 (3.68%) Law
9 6 (3.16%) Legal
10 5 (2.63%) Influencing Skills
11 3 (1.58%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.58%) Retail
12 2 (1.05%) Aviation
12 2 (1.05%) Billing
12 2 (1.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 2 (1.05%) Organisational Skills
12 2 (1.05%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.53%) Aerospace
13 1 (0.53%) Police
Job Titles
1 74 (38.95%) Network Engineer
2 28 (14.74%) Architect
3 23 (12.11%) Senior
4 20 (10.53%) Network Architect
5 13 (6.84%) Design Engineer
6 10 (5.26%) Field Engineer
7 9 (4.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 9 (4.74%) Network Design Engineer
7 9 (4.74%) Senior Network Engineer
8 8 (4.21%) IP Engineer
8 8 (4.21%) Solutions Architect
8 8 (4.21%) WAN Engineer
9 7 (3.68%) 2nd Line Engineer
9 7 (3.68%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
9 7 (3.68%) Integration Engineer
9 7 (3.68%) IP Network Engineer
9 7 (3.68%) Network Manager
9 7 (3.68%) Security Engineer
9 7 (3.68%) Support Engineer
10 6 (3.16%) Cisco Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (4.74%) 802.1X
2 8 (4.21%) NETCONF
2 8 (4.21%) YANG
3 6 (3.16%) LDAP
4 5 (2.63%) OpenConfig
4 5 (2.63%) REST
5 4 (2.11%) Jinja
5 4 (2.11%) RESTCONF
6 2 (1.05%) ARM Templates
6 2 (1.05%) Django
6 2 (1.05%) JSON
6 2 (1.05%) RFC 2544
6 2 (1.05%) XML
7 1 (0.53%) EDI
Miscellaneous
1 35 (18.42%) Data Centre
2 19 (10.00%) PKI
3 16 (8.42%) Data Protection Act
4 8 (4.21%) Hybrid Cloud
5 7 (3.68%) Cloud Native
5 7 (3.68%) Driving Licence
5 7 (3.68%) Security Posture
6 6 (3.16%) Analytical Mindset
6 6 (3.16%) Operational Technology
7 5 (2.63%) Onboarding
7 5 (2.63%) Virtual Team
8 4 (2.11%) Management Information System
8 4 (2.11%) SCADA
8 4 (2.11%) Self-Motivation
9 3 (1.58%) CESG
9 3 (1.58%) Distributed Architecture
9 3 (1.58%) Public Cloud
10 2 (1.05%) Algorithms
10 2 (1.05%) Fibre Optics
10 2 (1.05%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 13 (6.84%) Linux
2 11 (5.79%) Windows
3 7 (3.68%) Windows Server
4 6 (3.16%) Ubuntu
5 4 (2.11%) Unix
6 1 (0.53%) Kali Linux
6 1 (0.53%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 33 (17.37%) Network Design
2 28 (14.74%) Migration
3 26 (13.68%) Problem-Solving
4 23 (12.11%) Stakeholder Management
5 21 (11.05%) Change Management
6 20 (10.53%) Cybersecurity
7 19 (10.00%) Data Protection
7 19 (10.00%) Roadmaps
8 18 (9.47%) Project Delivery
8 18 (9.47%) Zero Trust
9 17 (8.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 17 (8.95%) ITIL
9 17 (8.95%) Load Balancing
10 15 (7.89%) DevOps
10 15 (7.89%) Network Architecture
10 15 (7.89%) Network Segmentation
10 15 (7.89%) Project Management
10 15 (7.89%) Technical Leadership
11 14 (7.37%) Stakeholder Engagement
12 12 (6.32%) Network Monitoring
Programming Languages
1 40 (21.05%) Python
2 4 (2.11%) PHP
3 3 (1.58%) SQL
4 2 (1.05%) Bash
4 2 (1.05%) C
4 2 (1.05%) Lisp
5 1 (0.53%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 74 (38.95%) Security Cleared
2 59 (31.05%) SC Cleared
3 45 (23.68%) Cisco Certification
4 36 (18.95%) CCNP
5 25 (13.16%) CCIE
6 18 (9.47%) DV Cleared
7 15 (7.89%) CCNA
8 8 (4.21%) JNCIE
9 6 (3.16%) BPSS Clearance
9 6 (3.16%) CISSP
9 6 (3.16%) Degree
9 6 (3.16%) GIAC
9 6 (3.16%) JNCIS
10 5 (2.63%) AWS Certification
10 5 (2.63%) CCDP
10 5 (2.63%) CCIE Security
10 5 (2.63%) CCSP
11 4 (2.11%) (ISC)2 CCSP
11 4 (2.11%) Azure Certification
11 4 (2.11%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.84%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 12 (6.32%) NIST
2 12 (6.32%) SLA
3 8 (4.21%) NCSC
4 7 (3.68%) PCI DSS
5 6 (3.16%) GDPR
6 4 (2.11%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (2.11%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 3 (1.58%) RMADS
8 2 (1.05%) Government Security Classifications
8 2 (1.05%) JSP 440
8 2 (1.05%) QA
9 1 (0.53%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.53%) COBIT
9 1 (0.53%) GRC
9 1 (0.53%) HMG Security Policy Framework
System Software
1 15 (7.89%) Active Directory
2 12 (6.32%) VMware Infrastructure
3 7 (3.68%) VMware ESXi
4 6 (3.16%) VMware NSX
5 2 (1.05%) VMware Workstation
6 1 (0.53%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 36 (18.95%) Ansible
2 9 (4.74%) Cisco Prime
2 9 (4.74%) Microsoft Intune
3 8 (4.21%) FortiGate
4 7 (3.68%) Terraform
5 6 (3.16%) vCenter Server
6 4 (2.11%) Grafana
6 4 (2.11%) Prometheus
7 3 (1.58%) Salt
7 3 (1.58%) SCOM
8 2 (1.05%) CASB
8 2 (1.05%) Cisco CUCM
8 2 (1.05%) Iperf
8 2 (1.05%) Nmap
9 1 (0.53%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.53%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.53%) Nessus
9 1 (0.53%) Progress Chef
Vendors
1 111 (58.42%) Cisco
2 48 (25.26%) Palo Alto
3 45 (23.68%) Juniper
4 41 (21.58%) Fortinet
5 36 (18.95%) F5
6 30 (15.79%) Microsoft
7 24 (12.63%) CheckPoint
8 21 (11.05%) Nokia
9 18 (9.47%) Aruba
10 17 (8.95%) Meraki
10 17 (8.95%) VMware
11 15 (7.89%) SolarWinds
12 12 (6.32%) Arista
13 7 (3.68%) ADVA
13 7 (3.68%) Splunk
14 6 (3.16%) ServiceNow
14 6 (3.16%) Zscaler
15 5 (2.63%) NetScout
16 4 (2.11%) BigPanda
16 4 (2.11%) Tufin