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

6 months to
13 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 428 367 338
Rank change year-on-year -61 -29 +119
Contract jobs citing Network Design 216 160 255
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.43% 0.54% 0.58%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.51% 0.60% 0.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 145 102 124
10th Percentile £388 £362 £363
25th Percentile £438 £463 £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 £699 £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 42,415 26,864 37,189
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 84.78% 91.03% 85.15%
Number of daily rates quoted 26,461 17,061 23,740
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 2,543 1,206 2,581
10th Percentile £14.71 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £20.00 £17.87 £16.00
Median hourly rate £43.96 £27.13 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +62.06% -25.68% +1.67%
75th Percentile £68.00 £56.00 £61.25
90th Percentile £81.25 £73.75 £72.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £43.96 £25.15 £38.12
% change year-on-year +74.79% -34.02% +9.23%

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 13 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 13 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 13 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 -80 183 £525 -4.55% 48
UK excluding London -94 120 £513 -6.82% 40
London -31 65 £525 +9.38% 14
Work from Home -50 60 £500 -4.76% 26
South East -61 41 £500 -13.04% 16
North of England -62 34 £575 +15.00% 6
North West -42 23 £575 +21.05% 5
Scotland -4 15 £450 +12.78% 2
South West -16 15 £565 -11.72% 9
Yorkshire -49 10 £519 +3.80%
West Midlands -49 10 £413 -25.00% 4
Midlands -53 10 £413 -25.00% 5
North East -28 7 £650 +18.18% 1
East of England -23 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 (4.17%) OpenStack
2 3 (1.39%) Confluence
3 2 (0.93%) Apache
3 2 (0.93%) CloudStack
3 2 (0.93%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.93%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.46%) ArcGIS
4 1 (0.46%) Smallworld
Applications
1 7 (3.24%) MS Visio
2 6 (2.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 5 (2.31%) Microsoft Office
4 4 (1.85%) Microsoft Excel
5 3 (1.39%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.46%) Autodesk Inventor
6 1 (0.46%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 2 (0.93%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 71 (32.87%) Azure
2 56 (25.93%) AWS
3 15 (6.94%) OCI
4 10 (4.63%) SaaS
5 9 (4.17%) GCP
6 8 (3.70%) GitHub
7 7 (3.24%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 6 (2.78%) IaaS
9 5 (2.31%) Azure Sentinel
9 5 (2.31%) Entra ID
10 3 (1.39%) AWS Control Tower
10 3 (1.39%) PaaS
11 2 (0.93%) Azure Storage
11 2 (0.93%) Datadog
11 2 (0.93%) GitHub Actions
11 2 (0.93%) IBM Watson
11 2 (0.93%) Microsoft 365
11 2 (0.93%) Nutanix
11 2 (0.93%) OpenShift
12 1 (0.46%) AWS CloudFormation
Communications & Networking
1 86 (39.81%) Firewall
2 75 (34.72%) WAN
3 62 (28.70%) BGP
4 52 (24.07%) OSPF
5 40 (18.52%) VPN
6 39 (18.06%) SD-WAN
7 36 (16.67%) LAN
8 34 (15.74%) Network Security
9 31 (14.35%) Wi-Fi
10 30 (13.89%) VLAN
10 30 (13.89%) VXLAN
11 25 (11.57%) MPLS
12 24 (11.11%) Ethernet VPN
13 22 (10.19%) 5G
14 21 (9.72%) F5 BIG-IP LTM
15 18 (8.33%) 4G
15 18 (8.33%) BIG-IP
16 17 (7.87%) Radio Access Network
17 16 (7.41%) DNS
17 16 (7.41%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.39%) Metadata
2 1 (0.46%) GIS
Development Applications
1 13 (6.02%) GitLab
2 5 (2.31%) JIRA
3 3 (1.39%) Jenkins
4 1 (0.46%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 47 (21.76%) Social Skills
2 24 (11.11%) Telecoms
3 22 (10.19%) Analytical Skills
4 19 (8.80%) Legal
4 19 (8.80%) Public Sector
5 14 (6.48%) Finance
6 10 (4.63%) Documentation Skills
7 4 (1.85%) Banking
7 4 (1.85%) Manufacturing
7 4 (1.85%) Police
7 4 (1.85%) Retail
8 3 (1.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 2 (0.93%) Influencing Skills
9 2 (0.93%) Military
9 2 (0.93%) Retail Banking
10 1 (0.46%) Aviation
10 1 (0.46%) German Language
10 1 (0.46%) Polish Language
10 1 (0.46%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 63 (29.17%) Network Engineer
2 48 (22.22%) Architect
3 47 (21.76%) Senior
4 31 (14.35%) Network Specialist
5 30 (13.89%) Network Architect
6 24 (11.11%) Designer
7 21 (9.72%) Network Design Specialist
8 18 (8.33%) Network Designer
8 18 (8.33%) Senior Network Engineer
9 16 (7.41%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 13 (6.02%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 8 (3.70%) Design Engineer
11 8 (3.70%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 8 (3.70%) Security Architect
11 8 (3.70%) Senior Data Warehouse Specialist
11 8 (3.70%) Senior Network Specialist
11 8 (3.70%) Technical Architect
12 7 (3.24%) Consultant
12 7 (3.24%) Senior Designer
12 7 (3.24%) Senior Network Designer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (3.70%) NETCONF
1 8 (3.70%) YANG
2 7 (3.24%) 802.1X
2 7 (3.24%) REST
3 4 (1.85%) Azure Blueprints
3 4 (1.85%) Kafka
4 2 (0.93%) Django
4 2 (0.93%) Elastic Stack
4 2 (0.93%) OpenConfig
4 2 (0.93%) RESTCONF
Miscellaneous
1 61 (28.24%) Data Centre
2 38 (17.59%) Hybrid Cloud
3 28 (12.96%) Cloud Native
4 14 (6.48%) Management Information System
5 9 (4.17%) Data Protection Act
6 6 (2.78%) PKI
7 4 (1.85%) CMDB
7 4 (1.85%) IoT
7 4 (1.85%) Operational Technology
7 4 (1.85%) Security Posture
8 3 (1.39%) CCTV
8 3 (1.39%) Data Fabric
8 3 (1.39%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 3 (1.39%) Product Ownership
8 3 (1.39%) Public Cloud
9 2 (0.93%) Enterprise Software
9 2 (0.93%) Enterprise Storage
9 2 (0.93%) Hedge funds
9 2 (0.93%) Private Cloud
9 2 (0.93%) Replication
Operating Systems
1 18 (8.33%) Linux
2 17 (7.87%) Windows
3 12 (5.56%) Windows Server
4 6 (2.78%) Ubuntu
5 4 (1.85%) Alpine Linux
5 4 (1.85%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 2 (0.93%) Data ONTAP
6 2 (0.93%) Windows Server 2016
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (21.30%) Network Architecture
2 37 (17.13%) High Availability
3 36 (16.67%) Problem-Solving
4 35 (16.20%) Infrastructure as Code
5 32 (14.81%) Migration
6 30 (13.89%) Zero Trust
7 29 (13.43%) Roadmaps
8 28 (12.96%) DevOps
9 27 (12.50%) Load Balancing
10 26 (12.04%) CI/CD
11 22 (10.19%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 21 (9.72%) Project Delivery
12 21 (9.72%) Stakeholder Management
12 21 (9.72%) Validation
13 20 (9.26%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 19 (8.80%) Continuous Improvement
15 16 (7.41%) Cybersecurity
15 16 (7.41%) Technical Leadership
16 15 (6.94%) Capacity Planning
17 14 (6.48%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 39 (18.06%) Python
2 10 (4.63%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.24%) Bicep
4 5 (2.31%) Bash
5 2 (0.93%) SQL
6 1 (0.46%) ActionScript
Qualifications
1 75 (34.72%) Security Cleared
2 55 (25.46%) Cisco Certification
3 47 (21.76%) SC Cleared
4 40 (18.52%) CCNP
5 23 (10.65%) DV Cleared
6 19 (8.80%) CCIE
7 12 (5.56%) Degree
8 11 (5.09%) Azure Certification
8 11 (5.09%) CCNA
9 10 (4.63%) AWS Certification
9 10 (4.63%) JNCIE
10 5 (2.31%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 5 (2.31%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
11 4 (1.85%) CISSP
11 4 (1.85%) JNCIS
12 3 (1.39%) CEH
12 3 (1.39%) CISM
12 3 (1.39%) RIBA
13 2 (0.93%) ISSAP
13 2 (0.93%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (5.56%) NIST
2 5 (2.31%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 3 (1.39%) JSP 440
3 3 (1.39%) NCSC
3 3 (1.39%) SLA
4 2 (0.93%) GDPR
4 2 (0.93%) HIPAA
4 2 (0.93%) NIST 800
4 2 (0.93%) QA
4 2 (0.93%) SOC 2
5 1 (0.46%) Actionable Recommendations
5 1 (0.46%) Cyber Essentials
5 1 (0.46%) Def Stans
5 1 (0.46%) Disclosure Scotland
System Software
1 18 (8.33%) VMware Infrastructure
2 11 (5.09%) VMware NSX
3 10 (4.63%) Hyper-V
4 9 (4.17%) Active Directory
5 6 (2.78%) vSphere
6 3 (1.39%) Firmware
7 2 (0.93%) EMC RecoverPoint
7 2 (0.93%) KVM
7 2 (0.93%) NFS
7 2 (0.93%) SRDF
7 2 (0.93%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.46%) Docker
Systems Management
1 38 (17.59%) Ansible
2 34 (15.74%) Terraform
3 13 (6.02%) FortiGate
4 10 (4.63%) Kubernetes
5 4 (1.85%) Grafana
5 4 (1.85%) Prometheus
6 3 (1.39%) Nagios
6 3 (1.39%) vCenter Server
7 2 (0.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 2 (0.93%) Argo
7 2 (0.93%) Check_MK
7 2 (0.93%) Cisco Prime
7 2 (0.93%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (0.93%) EMC VPLEX
7 2 (0.93%) McAfee ePO
7 2 (0.93%) NetBackup
7 2 (0.93%) Network Intrusion Detection System
7 2 (0.93%) SCCM
7 2 (0.93%) SnapMirror
7 2 (0.93%) SnapVault
Vendors
1 90 (41.67%) Cisco
2 51 (23.61%) Palo Alto
3 35 (16.20%) F5
4 31 (14.35%) Fortinet
5 29 (13.43%) Microsoft
6 24 (11.11%) Aruba
6 24 (11.11%) Juniper
6 24 (11.11%) VMware
7 20 (9.26%) Arista
8 16 (7.41%) Nokia
9 14 (6.48%) CheckPoint
9 14 (6.48%) Ericsson
10 13 (6.02%) Huawei
11 10 (4.63%) Meraki
12 9 (4.17%) SolarWinds
13 8 (3.70%) Zscaler
14 7 (3.24%) Splunk
15 5 (2.31%) EMC
16 4 (1.85%) Google
16 4 (1.85%) Qualys