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 30 September 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
30 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 117 66
Rank change year-on-year -48 -51 +11
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 928 791 1,207
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.69% 2.41% 3.21%
As % of the General category 3.02% 3.79% 5.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 515 472 530
10th Percentile £261 £211 £242
25th Percentile £367 £367 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.44% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £573 £600
90th Percentile £659 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £500
% change year-on-year - -10.00% +7.53%
Number of hourly rates quoted 51 50 83
10th Percentile £13.92 £14.00 £16.18
25th Percentile £16.01 £14.75 £37.50
Median hourly rate £21.00 £23.00 £65.00
Median % change year-on-year -8.70% -64.62% +44.44%
75th Percentile £32.75 £46.38 £72.50
90th Percentile £54.50 £66.48 £78.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £20.75 £70.00
% change year-on-year -15.66% -70.36% +55.56%

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 30,767 20,862 21,960
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.05% 63.53% 58.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,965 12,966 12,972
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £419 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,633 1,214 1,008
10th Percentile £13.50 £13.50 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.25 £16.17 £17.21
Median hourly rate £29.00 £25.15 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.31% -28.14% +27.27%
75th Percentile £53.75 £46.94 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £29.01 £21.39 £35.00
% change year-on-year +35.62% -38.89% +29.68%

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 30 September 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 30 September 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Telecoms in the UK

Telecoms
Top 18 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 30 September 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 -65 767 £475 +2.43% 1,459
UK excluding London -54 473 £450 - 880
London -37 348 £500 +6.38% 633
Work from Home -18 275 £475 -5.00% 473
South East -41 193 £470 -4.33% 251
East of England +22 71 £325 -31.94% 114
Scotland +17 63 £300 +14.29% 78
North of England -73 57 £463 +68.18% 167
South West -70 47 £500 -4.76% 79
Midlands -65 34 £475 +25.00% 155
Yorkshire -25 32 £475 +95.88% 52
West Midlands -68 32 £481 +26.64% 89
North West -58 23 £463 +48.59% 95
Northern Ireland 0 7 £358 +116.67% 31
Wales -8 7 £200 +19.40% 19
Channel Islands -3 2 £606 -
East Midlands -21 2 £475 +171.43% 66
North East -40 2 £298 +70.00% 22

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 23 (2.48%) Confluence
2 16 (1.72%) OpenStack
3 14 (1.51%) SharePoint
4 9 (0.97%) ArcGIS
5 8 (0.86%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.43%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.22%) CMS
9 1 (0.11%) IIS
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 37 (3.99%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (3.13%) MS Visio
3 26 (2.80%) Microsoft Office
4 12 (1.29%) Microsoft Project
5 8 (0.86%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.54%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.32%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.22%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.11%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.11%) InDesign
9 1 (0.11%) MicroStation
9 1 (0.11%) Photoshop
9 1 (0.11%) Revit
9 1 (0.11%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 25 (2.69%) SAP PSCD
2 17 (1.83%) SAP BRIM
3 13 (1.40%) SAP Hybris
4 10 (1.08%) SAP FI
5 9 (0.97%) SAP FI-CA
6 6 (0.65%) Remedy ITSM
7 5 (0.54%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.54%) Sage X3
7 5 (0.54%) Salesforce CRM
7 5 (0.54%) SAP S/4HANA
8 3 (0.32%) Remedy AR System
8 3 (0.32%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.11%) Dynamics CRM
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle BRM
9 1 (0.11%) Primavera
9 1 (0.11%) SAP CO
9 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
9 1 (0.11%) SAP IS-U
9 1 (0.11%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 92 (9.91%) Azure
2 88 (9.48%) AWS
3 57 (6.14%) GCP
4 20 (2.16%) GitHub
5 19 (2.05%) Microsoft 365
6 17 (1.83%) Entra ID
7 16 (1.72%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 15 (1.62%) Power Platform
9 13 (1.40%) SaaS
10 12 (1.29%) Azure DevOps
11 10 (1.08%) Cloud Computing
11 10 (1.08%) GitHub Actions
12 8 (0.86%) Microsoft Purview
13 7 (0.75%) dbt
13 7 (0.75%) Miro
13 7 (0.75%) OneDrive
13 7 (0.75%) Snowflake
14 6 (0.65%) Cloud Functions
15 5 (0.54%) Fivetran
15 5 (0.54%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 121 (13.04%) WAN
2 94 (10.13%) 5G
3 92 (9.91%) LAN
4 90 (9.70%) MPLS
5 67 (7.22%) 4G
6 65 (7.00%) Radio Access Network
7 57 (6.14%) Firewall
8 47 (5.06%) Wi-Fi
9 39 (4.20%) Broadband
10 38 (4.09%) SD-WAN
11 35 (3.77%) VoIP
12 33 (3.56%) DNS
13 32 (3.45%) BGP
13 32 (3.45%) Network Security
13 32 (3.45%) SDH
14 29 (3.13%) 3GPP
15 28 (3.02%) TCP/IP
15 28 (3.02%) Wireshark
16 24 (2.59%) LTE
16 24 (2.59%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.40%) Data Warehouse
1 13 (1.40%) NoSQL
1 13 (1.40%) Power BI
2 11 (1.19%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (1.08%) BigQuery
4 9 (0.97%) GIS
5 8 (0.86%) Metadata
5 8 (0.86%) MongoDB
5 8 (0.86%) MySQL
5 8 (0.86%) Tableau
6 7 (0.75%) Amazon Redshift
6 7 (0.75%) Redis
7 4 (0.43%) SQL Server
8 3 (0.32%) Apache Cassandra
8 3 (0.32%) BusinessObjects
8 3 (0.32%) Cloud Spanner
8 3 (0.32%) Hazelcast
8 3 (0.32%) SAP BW
8 3 (0.32%) SAP Data Services
9 2 (0.22%) Tableau Desktop
Development Applications
1 47 (5.06%) JIRA
2 40 (4.31%) Git
3 23 (2.48%) GitLab
4 16 (1.72%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.86%) Selenium
6 5 (0.54%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.32%) JMeter
7 3 (0.32%) Locust
7 3 (0.32%) TestCafe
8 2 (0.22%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.11%) JUnit
9 1 (0.11%) Maven
9 1 (0.11%) Mockito
9 1 (0.11%) Newman
9 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.11%) TestRail
9 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 259 (27.91%) Social Skills
2 143 (15.41%) Finance
3 114 (12.28%) Analytical Skills
4 63 (6.79%) Public Sector
5 37 (3.99%) Billing
6 35 (3.77%) Documentation Skills
7 31 (3.34%) Organisational Skills
8 28 (3.02%) Retail
9 19 (2.05%) Influencing Skills
9 19 (2.05%) Legal
9 19 (2.05%) Manufacturing
10 16 (1.72%) Aerospace
10 16 (1.72%) Marketing
11 14 (1.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 14 (1.51%) Presentation Skills
12 12 (1.29%) Banking
13 9 (0.97%) Publishing
14 7 (0.75%) Police
15 6 (0.65%) Aviation
16 4 (0.43%) Games
Job Titles
1 138 (14.87%) Architect
2 76 (8.19%) Senior
3 74 (7.97%) Lead
4 70 (7.54%) Network Engineer
5 69 (7.44%) Consultant
6 64 (6.90%) Analyst
7 57 (6.14%) Field Engineer
8 55 (5.93%) Project Manager
9 53 (5.71%) Telecoms Engineer
10 38 (4.09%) Developer
11 35 (3.77%) Designer
11 35 (3.77%) Solutions Architect
12 28 (3.02%) Business Analyst
12 28 (3.02%) ServiceNow Architect
13 27 (2.91%) Telecoms Manager
14 26 (2.80%) Enterprise Architect
14 26 (2.80%) SAP Consultant
15 22 (2.37%) Field Telecoms Engineer
15 22 (2.37%) Telecoms Architect
16 21 (2.26%) Network Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (5.60%) REST
2 30 (3.23%) SOAP
3 21 (2.26%) Terraform
4 17 (1.83%) Kafka
5 16 (1.72%) NETCONF
5 16 (1.72%) RESTful
5 16 (1.72%) YANG
6 14 (1.51%) HTML
7 13 (1.40%) CSS
7 13 (1.40%) Elastic Stack
7 13 (1.40%) ONVIF
8 12 (1.29%) JSON
8 12 (1.29%) XML
9 10 (1.08%) AngularJS
9 10 (1.08%) FastAPI
9 10 (1.08%) React
10 8 (0.86%) Middleware
10 8 (0.86%) OpenAPI
10 8 (0.86%) Swagger
11 7 (0.75%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 55 (5.93%) Data Centre
2 45 (4.85%) CMDB
2 45 (4.85%) Driving Licence
3 41 (4.42%) Onboarding
4 33 (3.56%) Cloud Native
5 20 (2.16%) Analytical Mindset
6 19 (2.05%) Management Information System
7 18 (1.94%) Product Ownership
8 17 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
9 15 (1.62%) Video\Live Streaming
10 13 (1.40%) Hybrid Cloud
11 12 (1.29%) Data Structures
11 12 (1.29%) TM Forum
12 11 (1.19%) Enterprise Software
12 11 (1.19%) Legacy Systems
12 11 (1.19%) Self-Motivation
12 11 (1.19%) Virtual Team
13 10 (1.08%) AI Agents
13 10 (1.08%) Social Media
13 10 (1.08%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 57 (6.14%) Windows
2 54 (5.82%) Linux
3 13 (1.40%) Windows Server
4 12 (1.29%) Windows 10
5 11 (1.19%) Unix
6 9 (0.97%) Mac OS
7 7 (0.75%) VMS
8 4 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.32%) Android
9 3 (0.32%) CentOS
10 2 (0.22%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.22%) Embedded Linux
10 2 (0.22%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.11%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
11 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.11%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 208 (22.41%) Stakeholder Management
2 123 (13.25%) Problem-Solving
3 121 (13.04%) Agile
4 88 (9.48%) ITIL
5 87 (9.38%) AI
6 85 (9.16%) Project Delivery
7 78 (8.41%) Migration
8 77 (8.30%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 72 (7.76%) Validation
10 71 (7.65%) CI/CD
10 71 (7.65%) Roadmaps
11 70 (7.54%) Continuous Improvement
12 69 (7.44%) Project Management
12 69 (7.44%) Service Management
13 58 (6.25%) Change Management
13 58 (6.25%) Test Automation
14 52 (5.60%) DevOps
14 52 (5.60%) Technical Leadership
15 51 (5.50%) Decision-Making
16 50 (5.39%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 86 (9.27%) Python
2 37 (3.99%) SQL
3 31 (3.34%) JavaScript
4 26 (2.80%) Bash
5 20 (2.16%) Java
6 10 (1.08%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.86%) Shell Script
8 7 (0.75%) C#
9 6 (0.65%) Apex Code
10 5 (0.54%) R
10 5 (0.54%) SOQL
11 4 (0.43%) ABAP
11 4 (0.43%) C++
11 4 (0.43%) DataWeave
11 4 (0.43%) TypeScript
12 3 (0.32%) C
13 2 (0.22%) Bicep
13 2 (0.22%) DCL
14 1 (0.11%) LookML
14 1 (0.11%) Rust
Qualifications
1 166 (17.89%) Security Cleared
2 104 (11.21%) SC Cleared
3 92 (9.91%) Degree
4 75 (8.08%) Cisco Certification
5 48 (5.17%) CCNA
6 30 (3.23%) DV Cleared
7 29 (3.13%) CCNP
8 27 (2.91%) BPSS Clearance
9 22 (2.37%) Microsoft Certification
10 21 (2.26%) PMP
11 20 (2.16%) A+ Certification
12 18 (1.94%) PMI Certification
13 17 (1.83%) CCIE
13 17 (1.83%) CISSP
14 16 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
15 13 (1.40%) Master's Degree
15 13 (1.40%) MCSA
16 12 (1.29%) JNCIE
17 10 (1.08%) CISM
18 7 (0.75%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 43 (4.63%) QA
2 24 (2.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (2.48%) SLA
4 21 (2.26%) PMO
5 20 (2.16%) GRC
6 18 (1.94%) NCSC
7 14 (1.51%) GDPR
8 12 (1.29%) Data Quality
9 6 (0.65%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.54%) NIST
11 4 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.32%) Accessibility
12 3 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.32%) PCI DSS
13 2 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 1 (0.11%) EU AI Act
14 1 (0.11%) GAAP
14 1 (0.11%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.11%) ISO 31000
14 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 32 (3.45%) Docker
2 24 (2.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (2.37%) Active Directory
4 11 (1.19%) VMware NSX
5 6 (0.65%) Firmware
6 5 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
6 5 (0.54%) vSphere
7 3 (0.32%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.11%) Ceph
8 1 (0.11%) KVM
8 1 (0.11%) NDS
8 1 (0.11%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 45 (4.85%) Kubernetes
2 23 (2.48%) Ansible
3 13 (1.40%) Grafana
3 13 (1.40%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.86%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.43%) Cilium
6 4 (0.43%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.43%) Istio
6 4 (0.43%) Kibana
6 4 (0.43%) SolarWinds Orion
7 3 (0.32%) Check_MK
7 3 (0.32%) Podman
7 3 (0.32%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.32%) vRealize
8 2 (0.22%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.22%) QRadar
9 1 (0.11%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.11%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.11%) SCCM
Vendors
1 130 (14.01%) Cisco
2 124 (13.36%) Microsoft
3 80 (8.62%) ServiceNow
4 64 (6.90%) Nokia
5 44 (4.74%) Salesforce
6 38 (4.09%) VMware
7 34 (3.66%) SAP
8 28 (3.02%) Ericsson
9 23 (2.48%) Juniper
10 18 (1.94%) BT
10 18 (1.94%) Fortinet
10 18 (1.94%) Google
10 18 (1.94%) MuleSoft
11 17 (1.83%) F5
12 15 (1.62%) Palo Alto
13 12 (1.29%) BMC
14 11 (1.19%) Arista
14 11 (1.19%) Splunk
14 11 (1.19%) Zscaler
15 10 (1.08%) Oracle