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 8 May 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
8 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 174 90 63
Rank change year-on-year -84 -27 +20
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 733 808 1,356
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.54% 2.78% 3.14%
As % of the General category 2.86% 4.38% 5.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 458 447 692
10th Percentile £205 £306 £200
25th Percentile £377 £380 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £494 £450
Median % change year-on-year -3.85% +9.78% -7.69%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £588
90th Percentile £675 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £463 £488 £450
% change year-on-year -5.13% +8.33% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 38 96
10th Percentile £17.90 - £12.15
25th Percentile £20.54 £14.00 £13.25
Median hourly rate £23.83 £23.59 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.00% -57.11% +4.76%
75th Percentile £50.00 £59.38 £72.50
90th Percentile £161.75 £67.13 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £23.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +3.59% -61.67% +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 25,651 18,440 25,063
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 54.05% 63.36% 58.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,724 11,753 15,798
10th Percentile £306 £295 £275
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £769
UK excluding London median daily rate £478 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +0.53% -4.04% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,633 780 1,936
10th Percentile £13.95 £14.00 £12.77
25th Percentile £17.50 £17.44 £15.50
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.16
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.82% -8.17%
75th Percentile £61.18 £56.00 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £65.14
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.62 £24.66 £28.50
% change year-on-year +12.00% -13.47% -1.72%

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 8 May 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 8 May 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 8 May 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 -81 640 £475 -5.00% 556
UK excluding London -90 384 £463 -5.13% 438
London -13 275 £500 -2.44% 187
Work from Home -35 195 £478 -0.49% 177
South East -67 155 £453 -7.08% 159
North of England -54 70 £481 -8.33% 78
Midlands -45 56 £538 +4.88% 51
South West -56 48 £511 -2.67% 51
West Midlands -36 44 £550 +7.32% 34
North West -48 35 £463 -12.32% 41
East of England -27 32 £200 -50.00% 64
Yorkshire -39 21 £481 -12.50% 30
Scotland -17 15 £263 -19.23% 40
North East -10 14 £500 +2.56% 9
East Midlands -24 12 £500 -20.00% 16
Northern Ireland +4 7 £150 -72.73%
Wales -9 5 £160 -56.16% 13

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 11 (1.50%) OpenStack
2 8 (1.09%) Confluence
3 6 (0.82%) Appian
3 6 (0.82%) Microsoft Exchange
4 5 (0.68%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (0.68%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.68%) SharePoint
5 4 (0.55%) Anypoint
6 3 (0.41%) ArcGIS
6 3 (0.41%) IIS
6 3 (0.41%) JBoss
6 3 (0.41%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.41%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.41%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.27%) Apache
7 2 (0.27%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.14%) Camunda
8 1 (0.14%) CMS
8 1 (0.14%) Smallworld
Applications
1 26 (3.55%) Microsoft Office
2 16 (2.18%) Microsoft Excel
3 9 (1.23%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 6 (0.82%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.68%) MS Visio
6 3 (0.41%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.27%) MicroStation
7 2 (0.27%) Trello
8 1 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
8 1 (0.14%) FrameMaker
8 1 (0.14%) MadCap Flare
8 1 (0.14%) Revit
8 1 (0.14%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.14%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 16 (2.18%) SAP PSCD
2 15 (2.05%) SAP BRIM
3 14 (1.91%) SAP Hybris
4 9 (1.23%) Remedy ITSM
5 6 (0.82%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 4 (0.55%) BambooHR
7 2 (0.27%) SAP FI
8 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.14%) Primavera
8 1 (0.14%) Remedy AR System
8 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.14%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.14%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.14%) SAP FI-CA
8 1 (0.14%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.14%) SAP SD
8 1 (0.14%) SAP SRM
8 1 (0.14%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 66 (9.00%) Azure
2 58 (7.91%) AWS
3 33 (4.50%) GCP
4 28 (3.82%) Microsoft 365
5 19 (2.59%) Power Platform
6 15 (2.05%) SAP Commerce Cloud
7 13 (1.77%) SaaS
8 8 (1.09%) Azure DevOps
8 8 (1.09%) dbt
9 6 (0.82%) GitHub
10 5 (0.68%) Datadog
10 5 (0.68%) Salesforce Service Cloud
10 5 (0.68%) Serverless
11 4 (0.55%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (0.55%) Dagster
11 4 (0.55%) Entra ID
11 4 (0.55%) GitHub Actions
11 4 (0.55%) IaaS
11 4 (0.55%) Prefect
11 4 (0.55%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 45 (6.14%) 5G
1 45 (6.14%) Firewall
2 37 (5.05%) MPLS
2 37 (5.05%) WAN
3 26 (3.55%) 4G
3 26 (3.55%) LAN
3 26 (3.55%) Network Security
4 23 (3.14%) Radio Access Network
5 22 (3.00%) BGP
5 22 (3.00%) DNS
5 22 (3.00%) Internet
5 22 (3.00%) SD-WAN
6 17 (2.32%) 3GPP
6 17 (2.32%) LTE
6 17 (2.32%) VoIP
7 16 (2.18%) VPN
8 14 (1.91%) Broadband
8 14 (1.91%) OSPF
9 13 (1.77%) HTTP
9 13 (1.77%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.46%) Power BI
2 12 (1.64%) Data Warehouse
2 12 (1.64%) Looker
3 11 (1.50%) Tableau
4 9 (1.23%) BigQuery
5 8 (1.09%) Big Data
6 7 (0.95%) Amazon Redshift
6 7 (0.95%) Relational Database
7 6 (0.82%) SQL Server
8 5 (0.68%) MySQL
8 5 (0.68%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.41%) Amazon Athena
9 3 (0.41%) GIS
9 3 (0.41%) PostgreSQL
9 3 (0.41%) Semantic Layer
9 3 (0.41%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.27%) Apache Cassandra
10 2 (0.27%) MongoDB
10 2 (0.27%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.27%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 22 (3.00%) JIRA
2 9 (1.23%) Git
3 7 (0.95%) GitLab
4 5 (0.68%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.27%) Appium
5 2 (0.27%) CircleCI
5 2 (0.27%) JMeter
5 2 (0.27%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.14%) JUnit
6 1 (0.14%) Maven
6 1 (0.14%) Mockito
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
6 1 (0.14%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.14%) TestRail
General
1 207 (28.24%) Social Skills
2 147 (20.05%) Finance
3 111 (15.14%) Public Sector
4 92 (12.55%) Analytical Skills
5 69 (9.41%) Marketing
6 58 (7.91%) Electronics
7 53 (7.23%) Manufacturing
8 43 (5.87%) Billing
9 23 (3.14%) Retail
10 20 (2.73%) Organisational Skills
11 19 (2.59%) Documentation Skills
11 19 (2.59%) Legal
12 14 (1.91%) Influencing Skills
13 7 (0.95%) Banking
13 7 (0.95%) Presentation Skills
14 6 (0.82%) Military
15 5 (0.68%) Publishing
16 3 (0.41%) Financial Institution
16 3 (0.41%) Police
17 2 (0.27%) Back Office
Job Titles
1 94 (12.82%) Architect
2 70 (9.55%) Analyst
3 55 (7.50%) Lead
4 49 (6.68%) Senior
5 39 (5.32%) Consultant
5 39 (5.32%) Solutions Architect
6 38 (5.18%) Network Engineer
6 38 (5.18%) Project Manager
7 37 (5.05%) Telecoms Manager
8 32 (4.37%) Business Analyst
9 25 (3.41%) ServiceNow Architect
10 24 (3.27%) Developer
11 23 (3.14%) Designer
12 21 (2.86%) Data Engineer
13 19 (2.59%) Programme Manager
14 17 (2.32%) Sales Manager
14 17 (2.32%) SAP Consultant
15 15 (2.05%) Design Engineer
15 15 (2.05%) IT Analyst
15 15 (2.05%) IT Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (4.64%) REST
2 19 (2.59%) SOAP
3 13 (1.77%) Kafka
4 11 (1.50%) Elastic Stack
5 10 (1.36%) Middleware
6 7 (0.95%) .NET
6 7 (0.95%) OpenAPI
6 7 (0.95%) Swagger
6 7 (0.95%) XML
7 6 (0.82%) JSON
7 6 (0.82%) RabbitMQ
8 5 (0.68%) ONVIF
9 4 (0.55%) RAML
9 4 (0.55%) RESTful
10 3 (0.41%) 802.1X
10 3 (0.41%) GraphQL
10 3 (0.41%) RFC 2544
10 3 (0.41%) Spring
10 3 (0.41%) Web Services
11 2 (0.27%) XML Schema
Miscellaneous
1 31 (4.23%) Data Protection Act
2 30 (4.09%) Data Centre
2 30 (4.09%) Onboarding
3 23 (3.14%) Product Ownership
4 21 (2.86%) Driving Licence
5 16 (2.18%) CMDB
5 16 (2.18%) Virtual Team
6 15 (2.05%) Cloud Native
7 11 (1.50%) Analytical Mindset
7 11 (1.50%) Distributed Systems
8 10 (1.36%) Self-Motivation
9 9 (1.23%) Legacy Systems
9 9 (1.23%) Management Information System
9 9 (1.23%) NHS
9 9 (1.23%) TM Forum
10 8 (1.09%) EPoS
10 8 (1.09%) Mobile App
11 7 (0.95%) Hybrid Cloud
11 7 (0.95%) IoT
12 6 (0.82%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 36 (4.91%) Windows
2 21 (2.86%) Linux
3 19 (2.59%) Windows 10
4 9 (1.23%) Android
5 8 (1.09%) Unix
6 5 (0.68%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.68%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.41%) Debian
8 3 (0.41%) Mac OS
8 3 (0.41%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.41%) VMS
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.14%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 113 (15.42%) Stakeholder Management
2 101 (13.78%) Agile
3 91 (12.41%) Problem-Solving
4 73 (9.96%) Continuous Improvement
5 70 (9.55%) Business Intelligence
6 67 (9.14%) ITIL
7 60 (8.19%) Migration
8 59 (8.05%) Programme Management
9 57 (7.78%) Project Management
9 57 (7.78%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 54 (7.37%) Decision-Making
11 51 (6.96%) Digital Marketing
12 48 (6.55%) Customer Service
13 47 (6.41%) Project Delivery
14 46 (6.28%) Analytics
15 45 (6.14%) Data Protection
16 44 (6.00%) Roadmaps
17 42 (5.73%) CI/CD
18 39 (5.32%) CRM
18 39 (5.32%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 53 (7.23%) Python
2 36 (4.91%) SQL
3 18 (2.46%) JavaScript
4 17 (2.32%) Java
5 11 (1.50%) Bash
6 7 (0.95%) C#
6 7 (0.95%) C++
7 6 (0.82%) Go
7 6 (0.82%) PowerShell
8 5 (0.68%) R
9 4 (0.55%) DataWeave
9 4 (0.55%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.41%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.41%) C
10 3 (0.41%) LookML
10 3 (0.41%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.27%) PHP
11 2 (0.27%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.14%) ABAP
12 1 (0.14%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 134 (18.28%) Security Cleared
2 103 (14.05%) SC Cleared
3 68 (9.28%) Degree
4 27 (3.68%) Cisco Certification
5 23 (3.14%) DV Cleared
6 18 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
7 17 (2.32%) Microsoft Certification
7 17 (2.32%) PMP
8 15 (2.05%) A+ Certification
8 15 (2.05%) CCNA
8 15 (2.05%) CCNP
9 13 (1.77%) BPSS Clearance
10 11 (1.50%) PMI Certification
11 10 (1.36%) Network+ Certification
12 7 (0.95%) ACCA
12 7 (0.95%) AWS Certification
12 7 (0.95%) Azure Certification
12 7 (0.95%) CIMA
12 7 (0.95%) Master's Degree
13 6 (0.82%) ISTQB
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (3.00%) SLA
2 21 (2.86%) GDPR
3 20 (2.73%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 20 (2.73%) QA
4 18 (2.46%) PMO
5 13 (1.77%) Data Quality
6 11 (1.50%) NCSC
7 9 (1.23%) NIST
8 8 (1.09%) GRC
9 7 (0.95%) RMADS
10 5 (0.68%) JSP 440
11 2 (0.27%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.14%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 1 (0.14%) EU AI Act
12 1 (0.14%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.14%) IFRS
12 1 (0.14%) IFRS 9
12 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 1 (0.14%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 19 (2.59%) Active Directory
2 12 (1.64%) Docker
3 10 (1.36%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.55%) vSphere
5 3 (0.41%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.41%) QEMU
6 2 (0.27%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.27%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.14%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 36 (4.91%) Kubernetes
2 15 (2.05%) Ansible
3 14 (1.91%) Grafana
4 11 (1.50%) Prometheus
4 11 (1.50%) Terraform
5 6 (0.82%) SCCM
6 4 (0.55%) Argo
6 4 (0.55%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.41%) Iperf
7 3 (0.41%) Podman
8 2 (0.27%) Amdocs OSS
8 2 (0.27%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.27%) Kibana
8 2 (0.27%) Nmap
8 2 (0.27%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.27%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.27%) vRealize
9 1 (0.14%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.14%) Rancher
Vendors
1 87 (11.87%) Microsoft
2 73 (9.96%) SAP
3 66 (9.00%) Cisco
4 61 (8.32%) ServiceNow
5 38 (5.18%) Nokia
6 25 (3.41%) Salesforce
7 19 (2.59%) BT
7 19 (2.59%) Ericsson
7 19 (2.59%) Oracle
8 17 (2.32%) Fortinet
8 17 (2.32%) Juniper
9 15 (2.05%) Google
10 14 (1.91%) CheckPoint
10 14 (1.91%) Huawei
11 13 (1.77%) F5
12 12 (1.64%) Palo Alto
12 12 (1.64%) VMware
13 11 (1.50%) Meraki
13 11 (1.50%) MuleSoft
13 11 (1.50%) Remedy