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

6 months to
11 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 433 366 343
Rank change year-on-year -67 -23 +104
Contract jobs citing Network Design 213 161 259
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.43% 0.55% 0.59%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.50% 0.60% 0.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 143 103 126
10th Percentile £389 £362 £363
25th Percentile £444 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £550 £475
Median % change year-on-year -4.55% +15.79% -9.52%
75th Percentile £588 £625 £600
90th Percentile £675 £698 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £513 £550 £450
% change year-on-year -6.82% +22.22% -10.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 7 1 2
10th Percentile £31.45 - £24.43
25th Percentile £45.63 £66.25 £26.19
Median hourly rate £71.00 £67.50 £29.25
Median % change year-on-year +5.19% +130.77% -58.21%
75th Percentile £72.77 £68.75 £32.19
90th Percentile £75.80 - £33.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £71.77 - £35.00
% change year-on-year - - -50.00%

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 42,291 26,731 37,187
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.76% 91.01% 85.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,385 16,984 23,772
10th Percentile £325 £300 £300
25th Percentile £413 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £508 £525
Median % change year-on-year +0.99% -3.33% -4.55%
75th Percentile £619 £625 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,541 1,182 2,587
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.87 £16.00
Median hourly rate £43.96 £27.28 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +61.14% -25.26% +1.39%
75th Percentile £68.00 £56.00 £61.16
90th Percentile £81.25 £73.75 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.00 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +78.93% -34.02% +8.91%

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 11 June 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 11 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Network Design in the UK

Network Design
Top 15 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 11 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 -71 180 £525 -4.55% 43
UK excluding London -87 120 £513 -6.82% 35
London -47 62 £525 +9.38% 12
Work from Home -34 59 £506 -3.57% 20
South East -57 42 £500 -13.04% 15
North of England -80 33 £575 +15.00% 6
North West -50 22 £575 +21.05% 5
Scotland -3 15 £450 +12.78% 2
South West -19 15 £565 -11.72% 6
Yorkshire -48 10 £519 +3.80%
West Midlands -56 10 £413 -25.00% 4
Midlands -62 10 £413 -25.00% 4
North East -22 7 £650 +18.18% 1
East of England -20 6 £525 +0.96% 2
Northern Ireland - 2 £600 -

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 9 (4.23%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.41%) Confluence
3 2 (0.94%) Apache
3 2 (0.94%) CloudStack
3 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.94%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.47%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.47%) Smallworld
Applications
1 7 (3.29%) MS Visio
2 6 (2.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (2.35%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (1.41%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.47%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.47%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (0.94%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 70 (32.86%) Azure
2 55 (25.82%) AWS
3 15 (7.04%) OCI
4 10 (4.69%) SaaS
5 9 (4.23%) GCP
6 7 (3.29%) GitHub
7 6 (2.82%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 6 (2.82%) IaaS
8 5 (2.35%) Azure Sentinel
8 5 (2.35%) Entra ID
9 3 (1.41%) AWS Control Tower
9 3 (1.41%) PaaS
10 2 (0.94%) Azure Storage
10 2 (0.94%) Datadog
10 2 (0.94%) GitHub Actions
10 2 (0.94%) IBM Watson
10 2 (0.94%) Microsoft 365
10 2 (0.94%) Nutanix
10 2 (0.94%) OpenShift
11 1 (0.47%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 83 (38.97%) Firewall
2 74 (34.74%) WAN
3 60 (28.17%) BGP
4 50 (23.47%) OSPF
5 39 (18.31%) SD-WAN
6 38 (17.84%) VPN
7 35 (16.43%) LAN
8 32 (15.02%) Network Security
9 30 (14.08%) VXLAN
9 30 (14.08%) Wi-Fi
10 29 (13.62%) VLAN
11 24 (11.27%) Ethernet VPN
11 24 (11.27%) MPLS
12 22 (10.33%) 5G
13 20 (9.39%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
14 18 (8.45%) 4G
14 18 (8.45%) BIG-IP
15 17 (7.98%) Radio Access Network
16 16 (7.51%) DNS
17 14 (6.57%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.41%) Metadata
2 1 (0.47%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (6.10%) GitLab
2 5 (2.35%) JIRA
3 3 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.47%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 46 (21.60%) Social Skills
2 25 (11.74%) Telecoms
3 22 (10.33%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (8.92%) Legal
4 19 (8.92%) Public Sector
5 14 (6.57%) Finance
6 10 (4.69%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.88%) Banking
7 4 (1.88%) Manufacturing
7 4 (1.88%) Police
8 3 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 3 (1.41%) Retail
9 2 (0.94%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.94%) Military
9 2 (0.94%) Retail Banking
10 1 (0.47%) Aviation
10 1 (0.47%) German Language
10 1 (0.47%) Polish Language
10 1 (0.47%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 61 (28.64%) Network Engineer
2 48 (22.54%) Architect
3 46 (21.60%) Senior
4 31 (14.55%) Network Specialist
5 30 (14.08%) Network Architect
6 24 (11.27%) Designer
7 21 (9.86%) Network Design Specialist
8 18 (8.45%) Network Designer
9 17 (7.98%) Senior Network Engineer
10 16 (7.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 13 (6.10%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (4.23%) Design Engineer
13 8 (3.76%) Network Design Engineer
13 8 (3.76%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
13 8 (3.76%) Security Architect
13 8 (3.76%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
13 8 (3.76%) Senior Network Specialist
13 8 (3.76%) Technical Architect
14 7 (3.29%) Senior Designer
14 7 (3.29%) Senior Network Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (3.76%) NETCONF
1 8 (3.76%) YANG
2 7 (3.29%) 802.1X
2 7 (3.29%) REST
3 4 (1.88%) Azure Blueprints
3 4 (1.88%) Kafka
4 2 (0.94%) Django
4 2 (0.94%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (0.94%) OpenConfig
4 2 (0.94%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 60 (28.17%) Data Centre
2 37 (17.37%) Hybrid Cloud
3 28 (13.15%) Cloud Native
4 14 (6.57%) Management Information System
5 8 (3.76%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (2.82%) PKI
7 4 (1.88%) CMDB
7 4 (1.88%) IoT
7 4 (1.88%) Operational Technology
7 4 (1.88%) Security Posture
8 3 (1.41%) CCTV
8 3 (1.41%) Data Fabric
8 3 (1.41%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 3 (1.41%) Product Ownership
8 3 (1.41%) Public Cloud
9 2 (0.94%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.94%) Enterprise Storage
9 2 (0.94%) Hedge funds
9 2 (0.94%) Private Cloud
9 2 (0.94%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 18 (8.45%) Linux
2 17 (7.98%) Windows
3 12 (5.63%) Windows Server
4 6 (2.82%) Ubuntu
5 4 (1.88%) Alpine Linux
5 4 (1.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.94%) Data ONTAP
6 2 (0.94%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 43 (20.19%) Network Architecture
2 37 (17.37%) High Availability
3 36 (16.90%) Problem-Solving
4 34 (15.96%) Infrastructure as Code
5 31 (14.55%) Migration
6 29 (13.62%) Zero Trust
7 28 (13.15%) DevOps
7 28 (13.15%) Roadmaps
8 27 (12.68%) Load Balancing
9 26 (12.21%) CI/CD
10 22 (10.33%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 20 (9.39%) Project Delivery
11 20 (9.39%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 20 (9.39%) Stakeholder Management
11 20 (9.39%) Validation
12 18 (8.45%) Continuous Improvement
13 15 (7.04%) Capacity Planning
13 15 (7.04%) Cybersecurity
13 15 (7.04%) Technical Leadership
14 14 (6.57%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 38 (17.84%) Python
2 10 (4.69%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.29%) Bicep
4 5 (2.35%) Bash
5 2 (0.94%) SQL
6 1 (0.47%) ActionScript
Qualifications
1 74 (34.74%) Security Cleared
2 54 (25.35%) Cisco Certification
3 46 (21.60%) SC Cleared
4 39 (18.31%) CCNP
5 23 (10.80%) DV Cleared
6 18 (8.45%) CCIE
7 12 (5.63%) Degree
8 11 (5.16%) Azure Certification
8 11 (5.16%) CCNA
9 10 (4.69%) AWS Certification
9 10 (4.69%) JNCIE
10 5 (2.35%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 5 (2.35%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 4 (1.88%) CISSP
11 4 (1.88%) JNCIS
12 3 (1.41%) CEH
12 3 (1.41%) CISM
12 3 (1.41%) RIBA
13 2 (0.94%) NCDA
13 2 (0.94%) VCDX
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (5.63%) NIST
2 5 (2.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.41%) JSP 440
3 3 (1.41%) NCSC
3 3 (1.41%) SLA
4 2 (0.94%) GDPR
4 2 (0.94%) HIPAA
4 2 (0.94%) NIST 800
4 2 (0.94%) QA
4 2 (0.94%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.47%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.47%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.47%) Def Stans
5 1 (0.47%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 18 (8.45%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (5.16%) VMware NSX
3 10 (4.69%) Hyper-V
4 9 (4.23%) Active Directory
5 6 (2.82%) vSphere
6 3 (1.41%) Firmware
7 2 (0.94%) EMC RecoverPoint
7 2 (0.94%) KVM
7 2 (0.94%) NFS
7 2 (0.94%) SRDF
7 2 (0.94%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.47%) Docker
Systems Management
1 37 (17.37%) Ansible
2 32 (15.02%) Terraform
3 12 (5.63%) FortiGate
4 10 (4.69%) Kubernetes
5 4 (1.88%) Grafana
5 4 (1.88%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.41%) Nagios
6 3 (1.41%) vCenter Server
7 2 (0.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.94%) Argo
7 2 (0.94%) Check_MK
7 2 (0.94%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (0.94%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (0.94%) EMC VPLEX
7 2 (0.94%) McAfee ePO
7 2 (0.94%) NetBackup
7 2 (0.94%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 2 (0.94%) SCCM
7 2 (0.94%) SnapMirror
7 2 (0.94%) SnapVault
Vendors
1 89 (41.78%) Cisco
2 50 (23.47%) Palo Alto
3 33 (15.49%) F5
4 30 (14.08%) Fortinet
5 29 (13.62%) Microsoft
6 24 (11.27%) Aruba
6 24 (11.27%) VMware
7 23 (10.80%) Juniper
8 20 (9.39%) Arista
9 17 (7.98%) Nokia
10 14 (6.57%) CheckPoint
10 14 (6.57%) Ericsson
11 13 (6.10%) Huawei
12 10 (4.69%) Meraki
13 9 (4.23%) SolarWinds
14 7 (3.29%) Splunk
14 7 (3.29%) Zscaler
15 5 (2.35%) EMC
16 4 (1.88%) Google
16 4 (1.88%) Qualys