Network Design Contract Job Trends

Network Design
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Network Design skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 26 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 463 377 342
Rank change year-on-year -86 -35 +34
Contract jobs citing Network Design 218 184 240
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.41% 0.56% 0.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.48% 0.62% 0.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 141 123 127
10th Percentile £363 £399 £363
25th Percentile £425 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.50% - -13.04%
75th Percentile £575 £618 £583
90th Percentile £650 £685 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £505 £500 £475
% change year-on-year +1.00% +5.26% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 8 2 4
10th Percentile £32.65 £56.13 £26.25
25th Percentile £50.31 £57.81 £31.88
Median hourly rate £65.50 £61.25 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +6.94% +11.36% -17.91%
75th Percentile £74.75 £65.31 £75.00
90th Percentile £83.76 £67.38 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.00 £55.00 £55.00
% change year-on-year +30.91% - -21.43%

All Process & Methodology Skills
UK

Network Design falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 45,367 29,590 33,147
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.58% 90.44% 85.35%
Number of daily rates quoted 27,794 18,422 20,982
10th Percentile £325 £300 £310
25th Percentile £425 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -3.67%
75th Percentile £625 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £725 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,879 1,766 1,695
10th Percentile £14.22 £14.20 £13.86
25th Percentile £17.97 £17.30 £18.13
Median hourly rate £41.06 £25.15 £40.50
Median % change year-on-year +63.26% -37.90% -4.71%
75th Percentile £67.89 £47.50 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £67.50 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £22.63 £42.50
% change year-on-year +94.26% -46.75% +6.25%

Network Design
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Network Design job vacancy trend in the UK

Network Design
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Network Design

Network Design
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Network Design over the 6 months to 26 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Network Design in the UK

Network Design
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Network Design

Network Design
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Network Design over the 6 months to 26 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Design in the UK

Network Design
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Network Design within the UK over the 6 months to 26 August 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 -84 185 £525 +2.59% 54
UK excluding London -92 114 £505 +1.00% 37
London -57 66 £525 +10.53% 24
Work from Home -52 65 £494 -15.96% 31
South East -80 36 £513 -10.87% 10
North of England -64 33 £575 +21.05% 5
North West -45 25 £575 +21.05% 1
Scotland -11 15 £378 -11.59% 3
South West -50 13 £500 -21.88% 8
Midlands -59 11 £425 - 9
West Midlands -66 10 £425 - 6
East of England -19 8 £525 +28.05% 2
Yorkshire -34 7 £519 -9.74% 2
North East -35 7 £650 +18.18% 2
Wales -15 1 £363 +101.39% 2
East Midlands - 1 - - 3

Network Design
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 12 (5.50%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.38%) Apache
2 3 (1.38%) CloudStack
3 1 (0.46%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.46%) Confluence
3 1 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.46%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.46%) Smallworld
Applications
1 10 (4.59%) MS Visio
2 9 (4.13%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 8 (3.67%) Microsoft Office
4 7 (3.21%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (1.38%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.46%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.46%) CPLEX
6 1 (0.46%) MicroStation
Cloud Services
1 62 (28.44%) Azure
2 58 (26.61%) AWS
3 15 (6.88%) OCI
4 10 (4.59%) SaaS
5 9 (4.13%) GCP
6 8 (3.67%) GitHub
7 7 (3.21%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 7 (3.21%) Entra ID
7 7 (3.21%) OpenShift
8 6 (2.75%) IaaS
9 5 (2.29%) Nutanix
10 4 (1.83%) Azure Sentinel
11 3 (1.38%) AWS Control Tower
12 2 (0.92%) Azure Storage
12 2 (0.92%) Datadog
12 2 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
12 2 (0.92%) PaaS
13 1 (0.46%) AWS Direct Connect
13 1 (0.46%) Microsoft 365
13 1 (0.46%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 96 (44.04%) Firewall
2 75 (34.40%) BGP
3 60 (27.52%) OSPF
3 60 (27.52%) WAN
4 42 (19.27%) VLAN
5 38 (17.43%) VPN
6 37 (16.97%) Network Security
7 33 (15.14%) LAN
8 32 (14.68%) SD-WAN
8 32 (14.68%) VXLAN
9 30 (13.76%) 5G
10 29 (13.30%) Wi-Fi
11 28 (12.84%) 4G
12 25 (11.47%) Ethernet VPN
12 25 (11.47%) MPLS
13 24 (11.01%) Radio Access Network
14 22 (10.09%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 18 (8.26%) BIG-IP
15 18 (8.26%) Wireless
16 15 (6.88%) DNS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.38%) Metadata
2 1 (0.46%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (5.96%) GitLab
2 3 (1.38%) Jenkins
3 2 (0.92%) JIRA
4 1 (0.46%) Git
General
1 48 (22.02%) Social Skills
2 37 (16.97%) Telecoms
3 23 (10.55%) Analytical Skills
4 20 (9.17%) Public Sector
5 13 (5.96%) Documentation Skills
6 12 (5.50%) Manufacturing
7 9 (4.13%) Legal
8 7 (3.21%) Retail
9 5 (2.29%) Finance
10 3 (1.38%) Automotive
10 3 (1.38%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 2 (0.92%) Banking
11 2 (0.92%) Billing
11 2 (0.92%) Military
11 2 (0.92%) Police
12 1 (0.46%) Aviation
12 1 (0.46%) Cyber-Physical System
12 1 (0.46%) German Language
12 1 (0.46%) Polish Language
12 1 (0.46%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 71 (32.57%) Network Engineer
2 50 (22.94%) Architect
3 49 (22.48%) Senior
4 33 (15.14%) Network Specialist
5 28 (12.84%) Network Architect
6 25 (11.47%) Senior Network Engineer
7 22 (10.09%) Network Design Specialist
8 19 (8.72%) Designer
9 16 (7.34%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 13 (5.96%) Design Engineer
10 13 (5.96%) Network Designer
10 13 (5.96%) Security Architect
10 13 (5.96%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 11 (5.05%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
11 11 (5.05%) Senior Network Specialist
12 9 (4.13%) Consultant
13 8 (3.67%) Network Design Engineer
14 7 (3.21%) Lead
14 7 (3.21%) Senior Architect
14 7 (3.21%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 40 (18.35%) Terraform
2 10 (4.59%) NETCONF
2 10 (4.59%) YANG
3 7 (3.21%) 802.1X
4 6 (2.75%) REST
5 5 (2.29%) OpenConfig
5 5 (2.29%) RESTCONF
6 4 (1.83%) Azure Blueprints
6 4 (1.83%) Kafka
7 3 (1.38%) Elastic Stack
8 1 (0.46%) eBPF
Miscellaneous
1 66 (30.28%) Data Centre
2 44 (20.18%) Hybrid Cloud
3 27 (12.39%) Cloud Native
4 11 (5.05%) Management Information System
5 10 (4.59%) Operational Technology
6 8 (3.67%) Data Protection Act
6 8 (3.67%) IoT
6 8 (3.67%) Public Cloud
7 6 (2.75%) Analytical Mindset
8 5 (2.29%) PKI
8 5 (2.29%) Private Cloud
8 5 (2.29%) Security Posture
9 4 (1.83%) CMDB
10 3 (1.38%) Data Fabric
10 3 (1.38%) Enterprise Software
10 3 (1.38%) Onboarding
10 3 (1.38%) Product Ownership
10 3 (1.38%) SCADA
11 2 (0.92%) EMC VNX
11 2 (0.92%) Greenfield Project
Operating Systems
1 15 (6.88%) Linux
2 13 (5.96%) Windows
3 9 (4.13%) Windows Server
4 8 (3.67%) Ubuntu
5 4 (1.83%) Alpine Linux
5 4 (1.83%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.92%) Data ONTAP
7 1 (0.46%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (18.35%) High Availability
1 40 (18.35%) Migration
1 40 (18.35%) Network Architecture
1 40 (18.35%) Zero Trust
2 39 (17.89%) Stakeholder Management
3 36 (16.51%) Problem-Solving
4 35 (16.06%) Project Delivery
5 32 (14.68%) Infrastructure as Code
6 29 (13.30%) Roadmaps
6 29 (13.30%) Validation
7 28 (12.84%) Technical Leadership
8 27 (12.39%) DevOps
9 26 (11.93%) Load Balancing
10 23 (10.55%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 21 (9.63%) CI/CD
11 21 (9.63%) Cybersecurity
12 19 (8.72%) Continuous Improvement
13 18 (8.26%) Capacity Planning
14 17 (7.80%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 15 (6.88%) Data Protection
Programming Languages
1 41 (18.81%) Python
2 6 (2.75%) Bicep
2 6 (2.75%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.92%) Bash
4 1 (0.46%) ActionScript
Qualifications
1 64 (29.36%) Security Cleared
2 57 (26.15%) Cisco Certification
3 42 (19.27%) CCNP
3 42 (19.27%) SC Cleared
4 20 (9.17%) CCIE
5 15 (6.88%) CCNA
6 13 (5.96%) DV Cleared
7 12 (5.50%) Degree
7 12 (5.50%) JNCIE
8 9 (4.13%) Azure Certification
9 8 (3.67%) AWS Certification
10 7 (3.21%) CISSP
11 6 (2.75%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 5 (2.29%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 4 (1.83%) CISM
14 2 (0.92%) GIAC
14 2 (0.92%) ISSAP
14 2 (0.92%) Microsoft Certification
14 2 (0.92%) NCDA
14 2 (0.92%) VCDX
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (5.50%) NIST
2 8 (3.67%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 4 (1.83%) Cyber Essentials
4 3 (1.38%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 3 (1.38%) GxP
4 3 (1.38%) NIST 800
4 3 (1.38%) Sarbanes-Oxley
5 2 (0.92%) Actionable Recommendations
5 2 (0.92%) GDPR
5 2 (0.92%) HIPAA
5 2 (0.92%) QA
5 2 (0.92%) SLA
5 2 (0.92%) SOC 2
6 1 (0.46%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.46%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.46%) NCSC
System Software
1 19 (8.72%) VMware Infrastructure
2 10 (4.59%) Hyper-V
2 10 (4.59%) vSphere
3 8 (3.67%) Active Directory
3 8 (3.67%) VMware NSX
4 4 (1.83%) Firmware
5 3 (1.38%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.92%) EMC RecoverPoint
6 2 (0.92%) FreeRADIUS
6 2 (0.92%) NFS
6 2 (0.92%) SRDF
7 1 (0.46%) KVM
Systems Management
1 45 (20.64%) Ansible
2 11 (5.05%) Kubernetes
3 8 (3.67%) FortiGate
4 6 (2.75%) Grafana
4 6 (2.75%) Prometheus
5 3 (1.38%) Check_MK
5 3 (1.38%) Cisco Prime
5 3 (1.38%) SolarWinds Orion
5 3 (1.38%) vCenter Server
6 2 (0.92%) Argo
6 2 (0.92%) EMC NetWorker
6 2 (0.92%) EMC VPLEX
6 2 (0.92%) NetBackup
6 2 (0.92%) SnapMirror
6 2 (0.92%) SnapVault
7 1 (0.46%) McAfee ePO
7 1 (0.46%) QRadar
7 1 (0.46%) SCCM
7 1 (0.46%) Suricata
7 1 (0.46%) vRealize
Vendors
1 91 (41.74%) Cisco
2 50 (22.94%) Palo Alto
3 41 (18.81%) Fortinet
4 39 (17.89%) F5
5 29 (13.30%) Microsoft
6 24 (11.01%) Nokia
6 24 (11.01%) VMware
7 23 (10.55%) Aruba
7 23 (10.55%) Juniper
8 21 (9.63%) Arista
9 20 (9.17%) Ericsson
10 13 (5.96%) CheckPoint
10 13 (5.96%) Huawei
11 12 (5.50%) Zscaler
12 9 (4.13%) Splunk
13 7 (3.21%) Meraki
14 6 (2.75%) ServiceNow
14 6 (2.75%) SolarWinds
15 5 (2.29%) Google
15 5 (2.29%) Veeam