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 31 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 420 341 344
Rank change year-on-year -79 +3 +127
Contract jobs citing Network Design 195 177 273
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.44% 0.61% 0.62%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.51% 0.67% 0.71%
Number of daily rates quoted 137 106 141
10th Percentile £400 £363 £363
25th Percentile £450 £450 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £531 £475
Median % change year-on-year -5.88% +11.84% -5.00%
75th Percentile £588 £622 £588
90th Percentile £675 £700 £638
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £538 £450
% change year-on-year -6.98% +19.44% -6.25%
Number of hourly rates quoted 6 1 4
10th Percentile £30.25 - £23.55
25th Percentile £44.81 £66.25 £24.00
Median hourly rate £71.77 £67.50 £47.25
Median % change year-on-year +6.33% +42.86% -32.50%
75th Percentile £73.83 £68.75 £70.00
90th Percentile £74.26 - -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £72.54 - £70.00

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 38,122 26,294 38,266
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 85.61% 90.44% 86.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 24,155 17,082 24,859
10th Percentile £313 £308 £300
25th Percentile £413 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £613 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £738 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £485 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -0.51% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,251 966 2,351
10th Percentile £14.96 £15.00 £12.84
25th Percentile £18.87 £20.24 £16.00
Median hourly rate £35.50 £31.88 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +11.36% -1.91% -10.48%
75th Percentile £65.00 £63.75 £57.50
90th Percentile £77.50 £76.72 £70.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £33.00 £31.50 £31.50
% change year-on-year +4.76% - -12.50%

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 31 March 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 31 March 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 31 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 -94 170 £500 -8.05% 55
UK excluding London -92 108 £500 -6.98% 44
London -47 70 £525 +6.33% 16
South East -53 36 £500 -13.04% 14
Work from Home -48 35 £519 +3.70% 16
North of England -82 21 £525 +5.00% 14
North West -41 17 £525 - 12
West Midlands -43 16 £431 -1.43% 2
Midlands -55 16 £431 -1.43% 3
South West -27 14 £490 -7.76% 5
Scotland +12 10 £650 +36.84% 1
East of England -28 8 £450 +12.50% 7
Yorkshire -58 4 £663 +35.90% 1
Northern Ireland - 2 £600 -
North East -12 1 - - 1
Wales -15 1 - - 2

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 3 (1.54%) OpenStack
2 2 (1.03%) Confluence
2 2 (1.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (1.03%) Skype for Business
3 1 (0.51%) ArcGIS
3 1 (0.51%) Smallworld
Applications
1 8 (4.10%) MS Visio
2 5 (2.56%) Microsoft Excel
2 5 (2.56%) Microsoft Office
3 4 (2.05%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.51%) Autodesk Inventor
4 1 (0.51%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (1.03%) DELMIA
1 2 (1.03%) Dynamics CRM
2 1 (0.51%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 48 (24.62%) Azure
2 35 (17.95%) AWS
3 11 (5.64%) GCP
4 7 (3.59%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 5 (2.56%) PaaS
6 4 (2.05%) Microsoft 365
7 3 (1.54%) AWS Direct Connect
7 3 (1.54%) Dynamics 365
7 3 (1.54%) GitHub
7 3 (1.54%) IaaS
7 3 (1.54%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 2 (1.03%) IBM Watson
9 1 (0.51%) AWS CloudFormation
9 1 (0.51%) AWS IoT
9 1 (0.51%) Azure Sentinel
9 1 (0.51%) Cloud Computing
9 1 (0.51%) Entra ID
9 1 (0.51%) Google Ads
9 1 (0.51%) Mimecast
9 1 (0.51%) SaaS
Communications & Networking
1 77 (39.49%) Firewall
2 76 (38.97%) WAN
3 46 (23.59%) LAN
4 44 (22.56%) BGP
4 44 (22.56%) Network Security
5 43 (22.05%) VPN
6 32 (16.41%) Wi-Fi
7 31 (15.90%) MPLS
7 31 (15.90%) SD-WAN
7 31 (15.90%) VLAN
8 25 (12.82%) 5G
8 25 (12.82%) OSPF
8 25 (12.82%) TCP/IP
9 19 (9.74%) Radio Access Network
10 18 (9.23%) IPsec
11 17 (8.72%) 4G
11 17 (8.72%) Wireless
12 16 (8.21%) DNS
13 15 (7.69%) DHCP
14 14 (7.18%) Cisco ISE
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (2.05%) GIS
Development Applications
1 5 (2.56%) Git
2 3 (1.54%) JIRA
3 1 (0.51%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 49 (25.13%) Social Skills
2 28 (14.36%) Telecoms
3 23 (11.79%) Analytical Skills
4 18 (9.23%) Public Sector
5 16 (8.21%) Finance
5 16 (8.21%) Legal
6 11 (5.64%) Documentation Skills
7 5 (2.56%) Influencing Skills
8 4 (2.05%) Banking
8 4 (2.05%) Police
8 4 (2.05%) Presentation Skills
9 3 (1.54%) Manufacturing
10 2 (1.03%) Aviation
10 2 (1.03%) Electronics
10 2 (1.03%) Retail Banking
11 1 (0.51%) Aerospace
11 1 (0.51%) German Language
11 1 (0.51%) Local Government
11 1 (0.51%) Marketing
11 1 (0.51%) Retail
Job Titles
1 66 (33.85%) Network Engineer
2 52 (26.67%) Architect
3 39 (20.00%) Network Architect
4 23 (11.79%) Network Specialist
5 20 (10.26%) Senior
6 19 (9.74%) Network Design Specialist
7 17 (8.72%) Design Engineer
8 16 (8.21%) Designer
9 15 (7.69%) Network Design Engineer
9 15 (7.69%) Network Designer
10 10 (5.13%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 9 (4.62%) Senior Designer
11 9 (4.62%) Senior Network Designer
11 9 (4.62%) Solutions Architect
12 8 (4.10%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
12 8 (4.10%) Technical Architect
13 7 (3.59%) Lead
13 7 (3.59%) Senior Network Engineer
14 6 (3.08%) Consultant
14 6 (3.08%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (6.15%) 802.1X
2 7 (3.59%) NETCONF
2 7 (3.59%) YANG
3 4 (2.05%) OpenConfig
3 4 (2.05%) RESTCONF
4 3 (1.54%) Kafka
4 3 (1.54%) OpenID
4 3 (1.54%) SAML
5 2 (1.03%) Django
5 2 (1.03%) REST
6 1 (0.51%) JSON
6 1 (0.51%) Middleware
6 1 (0.51%) XML
Miscellaneous
1 46 (23.59%) Data Centre
2 13 (6.67%) Hybrid Cloud
3 10 (5.13%) Data Protection Act
4 9 (4.62%) Management Information System
5 8 (4.10%) IoT
6 5 (2.56%) Self-Motivation
7 4 (2.05%) Analytical Mindset
7 4 (2.05%) Cloud Native
7 4 (2.05%) NB-IoT
7 4 (2.05%) PKI
8 3 (1.54%) CCTV
8 3 (1.54%) Distributed Architecture
8 3 (1.54%) Operational Technology
8 3 (1.54%) SCADA
9 2 (1.03%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 2 (1.03%) Hedge funds
9 2 (1.03%) Private Cloud
9 2 (1.03%) Product Ownership
9 2 (1.03%) Security Posture
9 2 (1.03%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 10 (5.13%) Windows
2 6 (3.08%) Linux
3 5 (2.56%) Windows Server
4 2 (1.03%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 42 (21.54%) Network Architecture
2 29 (14.87%) Load Balancing
3 27 (13.85%) Problem-Solving
4 21 (10.77%) High Availability
5 20 (10.26%) Migration
6 19 (9.74%) Roadmaps
7 17 (8.72%) Security Architecture
8 16 (8.21%) Cybersecurity
8 16 (8.21%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 16 (8.21%) Stakeholder Management
9 15 (7.69%) Data Protection
10 14 (7.18%) Network Management
11 13 (6.67%) ITIL
11 13 (6.67%) Zero Trust
12 12 (6.15%) Infrastructure as Code
12 12 (6.15%) Network Segmentation
12 12 (6.15%) TOGAF
13 11 (5.64%) Continuous Improvement
13 11 (5.64%) Mentoring
13 11 (5.64%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 26 (13.33%) Python
2 7 (3.59%) PowerShell
2 7 (3.59%) SQL
3 5 (2.56%) Bash
4 3 (1.54%) Perl
5 1 (0.51%) Bicep
5 1 (0.51%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 76 (38.97%) Security Cleared
2 55 (28.21%) Cisco Certification
3 47 (24.10%) SC Cleared
4 44 (22.56%) CCNP
5 29 (14.87%) DV Cleared
6 25 (12.82%) CCIE
7 15 (7.69%) Degree
8 14 (7.18%) CCNA
9 13 (6.67%) JNCIS
10 9 (4.62%) AWS Certification
10 9 (4.62%) CISSP
11 8 (4.10%) Azure Certification
11 8 (4.10%) JNCIE
12 6 (3.08%) JNCIP
13 4 (2.05%) (ISC)2 CCSP
13 4 (2.05%) CCSP
13 4 (2.05%) Computer Science Degree
14 3 (1.54%) CCIE Security
14 3 (1.54%) RIBA
15 2 (1.03%) SANS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (5.13%) GDPR
1 10 (5.13%) NIST
2 7 (3.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 5 (2.56%) PCI DSS
4 3 (1.54%) JSP 440
5 2 (1.03%) NCSC
5 2 (1.03%) SLA
6 1 (0.51%) Actionable Recommendations
6 1 (0.51%) Def Stans
6 1 (0.51%) DO-160
6 1 (0.51%) QA
System Software
1 13 (6.67%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (5.64%) VMware NSX
3 7 (3.59%) Active Directory
4 4 (2.05%) Hyper-V
5 3 (1.54%) KVM
6 1 (0.51%) Docker
6 1 (0.51%) Firmware
6 1 (0.51%) RHEV
6 1 (0.51%) vSphere
6 1 (0.51%) Xen
Systems Management
1 22 (11.28%) Ansible
2 19 (9.74%) FortiGate
3 14 (7.18%) Terraform
4 5 (2.56%) Nagios
5 4 (2.05%) Kubernetes
6 2 (1.03%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 2 (1.03%) McAfee ePO
6 2 (1.03%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 1 (0.51%) Cisco Prime
7 1 (0.51%) Failover Clustering
7 1 (0.51%) Grafana
7 1 (0.51%) Iperf
7 1 (0.51%) Nmap
7 1 (0.51%) Prometheus
7 1 (0.51%) Proxmox
7 1 (0.51%) SCCM
Vendors
1 93 (47.69%) Cisco
2 49 (25.13%) Palo Alto
3 36 (18.46%) Juniper
4 27 (13.85%) Microsoft
5 26 (13.33%) Fortinet
6 24 (12.31%) F5
7 22 (11.28%) Meraki
8 17 (8.72%) VMware
9 14 (7.18%) Aruba
10 13 (6.67%) Nokia
11 10 (5.13%) CheckPoint
11 10 (5.13%) SolarWinds
12 8 (4.10%) Ericsson
13 7 (3.59%) Arista
14 6 (3.08%) Huawei
15 5 (2.56%) Ekahau
16 3 (1.54%) IBM
16 3 (1.54%) McAfee
16 3 (1.54%) NetScout
16 3 (1.54%) Zscaler