Telecoms Contract Job Trends

Telecommunications
UK

The table below looks at the prevalence of the term Telecoms in contract job vacancies. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited Telecoms over the 6 months leading up to 11 June 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
11 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 192 101 61
Rank change year-on-year -91 -40 +22
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 700 754 1,346
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.40% 2.57% 3.08%
As % of the General category 2.60% 4.05% 5.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 416 432 645
10th Percentile £213 £310 £200
25th Percentile £400 £400 £315
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £480 £450
Median % change year-on-year +0.26% +6.67% -8.16%
75th Percentile £575 £578 £600
90th Percentile £684 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £464 £480 £450
% change year-on-year -3.39% +6.67% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 35 102
10th Percentile £17.30 - £12.15
25th Percentile £21.00 £14.00 £13.40
Median hourly rate £24.50 £27.40 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -10.58% -39.11% -14.29%
75th Percentile £52.25 £62.24 £72.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £65.25 £76.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £16.90 £45.00
% change year-on-year +40.96% -62.44% -14.29%

All General Skills
UK

Telecoms falls under the General Skills category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring general skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 26,921 18,634 24,968
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.96% 63.44% 57.22%
Number of daily rates quoted 16,272 11,755 15,666
10th Percentile £313 £280 £275
25th Percentile £413 £402 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £507 £525
Median % change year-on-year +1.08% -3.43% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £495 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +4.21% -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,790 862 2,008
10th Percentile £13.95 £13.46 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.87 £16.73 £15.50
Median hourly rate £31.50 £27.70 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +13.72% -7.67% -6.25%
75th Percentile £60.60 £53.95 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £74.88 £67.41
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.98 £24.34 £28.42
% change year-on-year +27.29% -14.36% +3.35%

Telecoms
Job Vacancy Trend

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

Telecoms job vacancy trend in the UK

Telecoms
Daily Rate Trend

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

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

Telecoms
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Telecoms over the 6 months to 11 June 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Telecoms in the UK

Telecoms
Hourly Rate Trend

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

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

Telecoms
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Telecoms over the 6 months to 11 June 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Telecoms in the UK

Telecoms
Top 17 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Telecoms 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 -99 616 £475 -3.85% 593
UK excluding London -97 351 £464 -3.39% 457
London -27 280 £500 +3.95% 202
Work from Home -40 192 £500 +5.26% 210
South East -67 142 £459 -7.09% 165
North of England -60 71 £481 -8.77% 92
South West -53 45 £511 +20.24% 39
Midlands -56 40 £500 -3.61% 66
North West -52 33 £463 -12.32% 52
East of England -16 32 £198 -47.33% 56
West Midlands -55 32 £525 +27.27% 43
Yorkshire -38 24 £481 -8.33% 30
Scotland -21 20 £305 -6.15% 34
North East -16 14 £500 -11.50% 10
East Midlands -22 8 £500 -20.00% 23
Northern Ireland -1 3 £175 -51.05% 7
Wales -15 1 £500 +90.48% 9

Telecoms
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 (1.29%) OpenStack
2 8 (1.14%) Confluence
3 6 (0.86%) Apache Airflow
3 6 (0.86%) Appian
4 4 (0.57%) Anypoint
4 4 (0.57%) Apache Spark
5 3 (0.43%) ArcGIS
5 3 (0.43%) IIS
5 3 (0.43%) JBoss
5 3 (0.43%) Microsoft Exchange
5 3 (0.43%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 3 (0.43%) SharePoint
5 3 (0.43%) Tomcat
5 3 (0.43%) WebLogic
6 2 (0.29%) Apache
6 2 (0.29%) Oracle Spatial
7 1 (0.14%) Camunda
7 1 (0.14%) CMS
7 1 (0.14%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
7 1 (0.14%) Smallworld
Applications
1 21 (3.00%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (2.43%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.29%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 8 (1.14%) MS Visio
5 5 (0.71%) AutoCAD
6 4 (0.57%) Microsoft Project
7 2 (0.29%) MicroStation
8 1 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
8 1 (0.14%) Revit
8 1 (0.14%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 12 (1.71%) Remedy ITSM
1 12 (1.71%) SAP PSCD
2 11 (1.57%) SAP BRIM
3 10 (1.43%) SAP Hybris
4 6 (0.86%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.57%) BambooHR
6 3 (0.43%) Salesforce CRM
6 3 (0.43%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.29%) NetSuite
7 2 (0.29%) Remedy AR System
7 2 (0.29%) Sage X3
7 2 (0.29%) SAP FI-CA
8 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.14%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.14%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.14%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
8 1 (0.14%) SAP SD
8 1 (0.14%) SAP SRM
8 1 (0.14%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 60 (8.57%) Azure
2 59 (8.43%) AWS
3 37 (5.29%) GCP
4 20 (2.86%) Power Platform
5 16 (2.29%) Microsoft 365
6 14 (2.00%) SaaS
7 11 (1.57%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 9 (1.29%) dbt
9 7 (1.00%) Snowflake
10 6 (0.86%) Datadog
10 6 (0.86%) Serverless
11 5 (0.71%) AWS Lambda
11 5 (0.71%) Azure DevOps
11 5 (0.71%) Prefect
12 4 (0.57%) Amazon S3
12 4 (0.57%) Boomi
12 4 (0.57%) Dagster
12 4 (0.57%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.57%) Figma
12 4 (0.57%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 50 (7.14%) MPLS
2 48 (6.86%) WAN
3 46 (6.57%) 5G
4 39 (5.57%) LAN
5 36 (5.14%) Firewall
6 27 (3.86%) 4G
7 26 (3.71%) Radio Access Network
8 24 (3.43%) BGP
8 24 (3.43%) Network Security
8 24 (3.43%) VoIP
9 23 (3.29%) SD-WAN
10 21 (3.00%) Internet
11 19 (2.71%) 3GPP
11 19 (2.71%) LTE
12 17 (2.43%) OSPF
12 17 (2.43%) VPN
13 16 (2.29%) VLAN
14 14 (2.00%) DNS
15 13 (1.86%) Broadband
15 13 (1.86%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.86%) Power BI
2 13 (1.86%) Data Warehouse
3 12 (1.71%) Looker
3 12 (1.71%) Tableau
4 11 (1.57%) BigQuery
5 9 (1.29%) Amazon Redshift
6 7 (1.00%) Big Data
6 7 (1.00%) Relational Database
7 6 (0.86%) SQL Server
8 5 (0.71%) MySQL
9 4 (0.57%) Oracle Database
10 3 (0.43%) Amazon Athena
10 3 (0.43%) GIS
10 3 (0.43%) InfluxDB
10 3 (0.43%) PostgreSQL
10 3 (0.43%) Semantic Layer
10 3 (0.43%) Star Schema
11 2 (0.29%) Metadata
11 2 (0.29%) Power Query
11 2 (0.29%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 21 (3.00%) JIRA
2 11 (1.57%) Git
3 3 (0.43%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.29%) GitLab
4 2 (0.29%) Robot Framework
5 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
5 1 (0.14%) JMeter
5 1 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
5 1 (0.14%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.14%) TestRail
General
1 192 (27.43%) Social Skills
2 115 (16.43%) Finance
3 98 (14.00%) Analytical Skills
4 69 (9.86%) Public Sector
5 40 (5.71%) Billing
6 36 (5.14%) Marketing
7 27 (3.86%) Retail
8 25 (3.57%) Electronics
9 21 (3.00%) Manufacturing
10 17 (2.43%) Documentation Skills
10 17 (2.43%) Legal
11 14 (2.00%) Organisational Skills
12 13 (1.86%) Influencing Skills
13 8 (1.14%) Presentation Skills
14 6 (0.86%) Banking
14 6 (0.86%) Military
15 5 (0.71%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 5 (0.71%) Publishing
16 4 (0.57%) Aerospace
16 4 (0.57%) Police
Job Titles
1 97 (13.86%) Architect
2 56 (8.00%) Analyst
3 55 (7.86%) Senior
4 53 (7.57%) Lead
5 46 (6.57%) Consultant
6 41 (5.86%) Solutions Architect
7 38 (5.43%) Network Engineer
7 38 (5.43%) Telecoms Manager
8 33 (4.71%) Project Manager
9 29 (4.14%) Designer
10 26 (3.71%) Developer
11 25 (3.57%) ServiceNow Architect
12 21 (3.00%) Business Analyst
12 21 (3.00%) Data Engineer
12 21 (3.00%) Sales Manager
13 19 (2.71%) Delivery Manager
14 18 (2.57%) Programme Manager
15 17 (2.43%) Enterprise Architect
15 17 (2.43%) Telecoms Architect
16 14 (2.00%) Telecoms Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 38 (5.43%) REST
2 24 (3.43%) SOAP
3 11 (1.57%) Middleware
4 10 (1.43%) Kafka
5 9 (1.29%) .NET
5 9 (1.29%) ONVIF
6 8 (1.14%) Elastic Stack
6 8 (1.14%) XML
7 6 (0.86%) JSON
7 6 (0.86%) OpenAPI
7 6 (0.86%) Swagger
8 5 (0.71%) RESTful
9 4 (0.57%) .NET Framework
9 4 (0.57%) RAML
10 3 (0.43%) GraphQL
10 3 (0.43%) NETCONF
10 3 (0.43%) OpenTelemetry
10 3 (0.43%) RabbitMQ
10 3 (0.43%) RFC 2544
10 3 (0.43%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 34 (4.86%) Data Centre
2 30 (4.29%) CMDB
3 29 (4.14%) Onboarding
4 25 (3.57%) Cloud Native
5 24 (3.43%) Data Protection Act
6 18 (2.57%) Product Ownership
7 17 (2.43%) Driving Licence
8 16 (2.29%) Virtual Team
9 14 (2.00%) Analytical Mindset
10 13 (1.86%) Distributed Systems
11 9 (1.29%) Video\Live Streaming
12 8 (1.14%) EPoS
12 8 (1.14%) Self-Motivation
12 8 (1.14%) TM Forum
13 7 (1.00%) Hybrid Cloud
13 7 (1.00%) Management Information System
14 6 (0.86%) NHS
14 6 (0.86%) Web Conferencing
15 5 (0.71%) Legacy Systems
15 5 (0.71%) Mainframe
Operating Systems
1 26 (3.71%) Windows
2 23 (3.29%) Linux
3 12 (1.71%) Windows 10
4 10 (1.43%) Unix
5 4 (0.57%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 3 (0.43%) Debian
6 3 (0.43%) Ubuntu
6 3 (0.43%) VMS
6 3 (0.43%) Windows Server
7 2 (0.29%) Android
7 2 (0.29%) Embedded Linux
8 1 (0.14%) Apple iOS
8 1 (0.14%) Oracle Linux
8 1 (0.14%) Windows 7
8 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 114 (16.29%) Stakeholder Management
2 92 (13.14%) Problem-Solving
3 90 (12.86%) Agile
4 67 (9.57%) ITIL
5 62 (8.86%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 60 (8.57%) Continuous Improvement
7 58 (8.29%) Decision-Making
8 53 (7.57%) Project Management
9 50 (7.14%) Migration
10 48 (6.86%) Project Delivery
11 47 (6.71%) Customer Service
12 46 (6.57%) CRM
12 46 (6.57%) Roadmaps
13 45 (6.43%) Analytics
14 44 (6.29%) CI/CD
15 42 (6.00%) Service Management
16 41 (5.86%) ITSM
17 40 (5.71%) Validation
18 38 (5.43%) Data Protection
18 38 (5.43%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 50 (7.14%) Python
2 35 (5.00%) SQL
3 16 (2.29%) Java
4 14 (2.00%) JavaScript
5 10 (1.43%) C#
6 8 (1.14%) C++
7 6 (0.86%) Bash
7 6 (0.86%) R
8 4 (0.57%) DataWeave
9 3 (0.43%) Apex Code
9 3 (0.43%) C
9 3 (0.43%) LookML
10 2 (0.29%) PL/SQL
10 2 (0.29%) PowerShell
10 2 (0.29%) Shell Script
10 2 (0.29%) TypeScript
11 1 (0.14%) ABAP
11 1 (0.14%) Go
11 1 (0.14%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.14%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 117 (16.71%) Security Cleared
2 84 (12.00%) SC Cleared
3 69 (9.86%) Degree
4 40 (5.71%) Cisco Certification
5 25 (3.57%) CCNA
6 21 (3.00%) DV Cleared
6 21 (3.00%) Microsoft Certification
7 19 (2.71%) A+ Certification
7 19 (2.71%) CCNP
8 18 (2.57%) Computer Science Degree
9 14 (2.00%) PMP
10 13 (1.86%) BPSS Clearance
11 11 (1.57%) Network+ Certification
12 10 (1.43%) PMI Certification
13 9 (1.29%) MCSA
14 8 (1.14%) Master's Degree
15 7 (1.00%) AWS Certification
15 7 (1.00%) Azure Certification
16 6 (0.86%) ACCA
16 6 (0.86%) CIMA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (3.14%) SLA
2 18 (2.57%) GDPR
2 18 (2.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (2.43%) PMO
4 14 (2.00%) NCSC
4 14 (2.00%) QA
5 13 (1.86%) Data Quality
6 11 (1.57%) GRC
7 8 (1.14%) NIST
8 5 (0.71%) RMADS
9 3 (0.43%) JSP 440
10 1 (0.14%) Accessibility
10 1 (0.14%) California Consumer Privacy Act
10 1 (0.14%) HMG Security Policy Framework
10 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 42001
10 1 (0.14%) NEBOSH
10 1 (0.14%) PCI DSS
10 1 (0.14%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 1 (0.14%) SOC 1
10 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 14 (2.00%) Active Directory
2 11 (1.57%) Docker
3 10 (1.43%) VMware Infrastructure
4 5 (0.71%) vSphere
5 3 (0.43%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.43%) QEMU
5 3 (0.43%) VMware ESXi
5 3 (0.43%) VMware NSX
6 1 (0.14%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 39 (5.57%) Kubernetes
2 15 (2.14%) Ansible
3 14 (2.00%) Grafana
3 14 (2.00%) Prometheus
3 14 (2.00%) Terraform
4 4 (0.57%) Cisco Prime
5 3 (0.43%) Iperf
5 3 (0.43%) Podman
5 3 (0.43%) vCenter Server
5 3 (0.43%) vRealize
6 2 (0.29%) Amdocs OSS
6 2 (0.29%) FortiGate
6 2 (0.29%) Nmap
6 2 (0.29%) NSN NetAct
7 1 (0.14%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.14%) Failover Clustering
7 1 (0.14%) Kibana
7 1 (0.14%) Microsoft Intune
7 1 (0.14%) SCCM
7 1 (0.14%) SolarWinds Orion
Vendors
1 79 (11.29%) Microsoft
2 65 (9.29%) Cisco
2 65 (9.29%) ServiceNow
3 41 (5.86%) Nokia
4 35 (5.00%) SAP
5 26 (3.71%) Salesforce
6 23 (3.29%) Oracle
7 21 (3.00%) BT
8 19 (2.71%) Ericsson
9 15 (2.14%) Fortinet
9 15 (2.14%) Juniper
9 15 (2.14%) Remedy
9 15 (2.14%) VMware
10 14 (2.00%) Huawei
11 13 (1.86%) CheckPoint
11 13 (1.86%) Google
12 11 (1.57%) F5
12 11 (1.57%) MuleSoft
13 8 (1.14%) Databricks
13 8 (1.14%) Palo Alto