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

6 months to
3 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 164 106 70
Rank change year-on-year -58 -36 +6
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 909 829 1,176
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.70% 2.55% 3.07%
As % of the General category 3.07% 4.01% 5.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 508 494 551
10th Percentile £213 £266 £225
25th Percentile £380 £373 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £463 £495
Median % change year-on-year +2.70% -6.57% -1.00%
75th Percentile £564 £575 £618
90th Percentile £675 £684 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £488
% change year-on-year - -7.69% +8.33%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 49 97
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.00 £12.15
25th Percentile £16.25 £14.75 £25.00
Median hourly rate £21.00 £20.75 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year +1.20% -62.27% -4.35%
75th Percentile £50.00 £52.00 £72.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £67.70 £76.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.00 £16.00 £56.25
% change year-on-year +31.25% -71.56% +7.14%

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 29,612 20,656 22,043
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.22% 63.55% 57.57%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,492 12,822 13,546
10th Percentile £313 £275 £290
25th Percentile £417 £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 £740 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £496
% change year-on-year +5.26% -4.14% -0.90%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,296 1,169 1,200
10th Percentile £13.69 £13.50 £14.27
25th Percentile £16.77 £16.17 £17.08
Median hourly rate £30.73 £25.15 £36.50
Median % change year-on-year +22.19% -31.10% +32.73%
75th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £69.65 £70.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £31.48 £22.05 £36.00
% change year-on-year +42.77% -38.75% +38.46%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -75 748 £488 +2.63% 1,321
UK excluding London -64 455 £450 - 754
London -32 346 £513 +7.89% 666
Work from Home -16 265 £478 -2.65% 519
South East -43 199 £470 -6.00% 241
Scotland +11 64 £300 +9.09% 65
North of England -48 58 £463 +2.78% 161
East of England +1 49 £195 -48.00% 95
South West -73 47 £469 -10.67% 76
Yorkshire -21 33 £475 +95.88% 53
Midlands -68 32 £460 +21.05% 102
West Midlands -65 31 £460 +21.05% 55
North West -54 24 £463 -2.63% 95
Wales -11 8 £200 -6.98% 9
Northern Ireland 0 5 £290 +152.17% 19
Channel Islands -2 1 £600 -
East Midlands -22 1 - - 47
North East -42 1 - - 21

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 18 (1.98%) Confluence
2 17 (1.87%) OpenStack
3 14 (1.54%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.10%) ArcGIS
5 8 (0.88%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.44%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.22%) CMS
9 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.11%) Camunda
9 1 (0.11%) IIS
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
9 1 (0.11%) Smallworld
Applications
1 36 (3.96%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (3.30%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (2.64%) MS Visio
4 11 (1.21%) Microsoft Project
5 10 (1.10%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.55%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.33%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.22%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.11%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.11%) Autodesk Inventor
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 19 (2.09%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.10%) SAP BRIM
3 8 (0.88%) SAP FI
3 8 (0.88%) SAP Hybris
4 7 (0.77%) SAP FI-CA
5 6 (0.66%) Remedy ITSM
6 5 (0.55%) NetSuite
6 5 (0.55%) Sage X3
6 5 (0.55%) Salesforce CRM
6 5 (0.55%) SAP S/4HANA
7 3 (0.33%) Remedy AR System
7 3 (0.33%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.11%) BambooHR
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle BRM
8 1 (0.11%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
8 1 (0.11%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.11%) SAP IS-U
8 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 95 (10.45%) Azure
2 93 (10.23%) AWS
3 68 (7.48%) GCP
4 21 (2.31%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (1.87%) GitHub
6 16 (1.76%) Entra ID
7 14 (1.54%) Power Platform
7 14 (1.54%) SaaS
8 10 (1.10%) Azure DevOps
8 10 (1.10%) Cloud Computing
8 10 (1.10%) GitHub Actions
8 10 (1.10%) SAP Commerce Cloud
9 8 (0.88%) dbt
10 7 (0.77%) OneDrive
10 7 (0.77%) Snowflake
11 6 (0.66%) Cloud Functions
11 6 (0.66%) Datadog
12 5 (0.55%) Figma
12 5 (0.55%) Fivetran
12 5 (0.55%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 120 (13.20%) WAN
2 92 (10.12%) LAN
3 88 (9.68%) 5G
4 87 (9.57%) MPLS
5 60 (6.60%) 4G
6 59 (6.49%) Radio Access Network
7 56 (6.16%) Firewall
8 37 (4.07%) SD-WAN
9 35 (3.85%) DNS
10 33 (3.63%) Wi-Fi
11 30 (3.30%) BGP
12 29 (3.19%) Network Security
12 29 (3.19%) SDH
13 28 (3.08%) VoIP
14 27 (2.97%) 3GPP
15 26 (2.86%) LTE
15 26 (2.86%) TCP/IP
16 24 (2.64%) VPN
17 23 (2.53%) 3G
17 23 (2.53%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (1.65%) Data Warehouse
2 13 (1.43%) BigQuery
2 13 (1.43%) NoSQL
2 13 (1.43%) Power BI
3 10 (1.10%) GIS
3 10 (1.10%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (0.99%) Tableau
5 8 (0.88%) Amazon Redshift
5 8 (0.88%) Big Data
6 7 (0.77%) MongoDB
6 7 (0.77%) MySQL
7 6 (0.66%) Redis
8 5 (0.55%) Looker
8 5 (0.55%) Metadata
9 4 (0.44%) Apache Cassandra
9 4 (0.44%) SQL Server
10 3 (0.33%) BusinessObjects
10 3 (0.33%) SAP BW
10 3 (0.33%) SAP Data Services
10 3 (0.33%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 34 (3.74%) JIRA
2 28 (3.08%) Git
3 15 (1.65%) Jenkins
4 10 (1.10%) GitLab
5 7 (0.77%) Selenium
6 3 (0.33%) Robot Framework
7 2 (0.22%) JMeter
7 2 (0.22%) Locust
7 2 (0.22%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.22%) TestCafe
8 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.11%) Newman
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.11%) TestRail
8 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 261 (28.71%) Social Skills
2 137 (15.07%) Finance
3 123 (13.53%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (6.60%) Public Sector
5 36 (3.96%) Billing
6 35 (3.85%) Documentation Skills
7 30 (3.30%) Retail
8 26 (2.86%) Organisational Skills
9 22 (2.42%) Legal
10 19 (2.09%) Marketing
11 18 (1.98%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.76%) Presentation Skills
13 15 (1.65%) Aerospace
13 15 (1.65%) Manufacturing
14 12 (1.32%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 10 (1.10%) Publishing
16 8 (0.88%) Police
17 7 (0.77%) Banking
18 4 (0.44%) Electronics
18 4 (0.44%) Games
Job Titles
1 136 (14.96%) Architect
2 80 (8.80%) Senior
3 68 (7.48%) Analyst
3 68 (7.48%) Consultant
4 66 (7.26%) Lead
5 65 (7.15%) Network Engineer
6 61 (6.71%) Project Manager
7 54 (5.94%) Field Engineer
8 52 (5.72%) Telecoms Engineer
9 42 (4.62%) Solutions Architect
10 39 (4.29%) Designer
11 35 (3.85%) Developer
12 33 (3.63%) Telecoms Manager
13 29 (3.19%) ServiceNow Architect
14 28 (3.08%) Enterprise Architect
15 24 (2.64%) Business Analyst
15 24 (2.64%) Data Engineer
16 22 (2.42%) Telecoms Architect
17 21 (2.31%) Field Telecoms Engineer
17 21 (2.31%) Network Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (6.16%) REST
2 34 (3.74%) SOAP
3 21 (2.31%) Terraform
4 18 (1.98%) Kafka
5 15 (1.65%) Elastic Stack
5 15 (1.65%) NETCONF
5 15 (1.65%) RESTful
5 15 (1.65%) YANG
6 13 (1.43%) HTML
6 13 (1.43%) Middleware
6 13 (1.43%) ONVIF
7 12 (1.32%) CSS
7 12 (1.32%) XML
8 10 (1.10%) AngularJS
8 10 (1.10%) React
9 9 (0.99%) FastAPI
10 8 (0.88%) JSON
10 8 (0.88%) OpenAPI
10 8 (0.88%) Swagger
11 7 (0.77%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 54 (5.94%) Data Centre
2 50 (5.50%) CMDB
3 45 (4.95%) Driving Licence
3 45 (4.95%) Onboarding
4 36 (3.96%) Cloud Native
5 23 (2.53%) Analytical Mindset
6 20 (2.20%) Product Ownership
7 18 (1.98%) Management Information System
8 17 (1.87%) Self-Motivation
8 17 (1.87%) Virtual Team
9 16 (1.76%) Data Protection Act
9 16 (1.76%) Hybrid Cloud
10 14 (1.54%) Video\Live Streaming
11 13 (1.43%) TM Forum
12 11 (1.21%) Video Conferencing
13 10 (1.10%) Data Structures
14 9 (0.99%) Algorithms
14 9 (0.99%) Enterprise Software
14 9 (0.99%) Private Cloud
14 9 (0.99%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 53 (5.83%) Windows
2 47 (5.17%) Linux
3 14 (1.54%) Windows 10
4 12 (1.32%) Windows Server
5 11 (1.21%) Unix
6 9 (0.99%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.44%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.33%) Android
8 3 (0.33%) VMS
9 2 (0.22%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.22%) CentOS
9 2 (0.22%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.22%) OpenVMS
10 1 (0.11%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
10 1 (0.11%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.11%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 197 (21.67%) Stakeholder Management
2 130 (14.30%) Agile
3 119 (13.09%) Problem-Solving
4 92 (10.12%) ITIL
4 92 (10.12%) Project Delivery
5 88 (9.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 79 (8.69%) AI
7 77 (8.47%) Roadmaps
8 76 (8.36%) Service Management
9 75 (8.25%) Project Management
10 74 (8.14%) CI/CD
11 72 (7.92%) Migration
12 70 (7.70%) Continuous Improvement
13 69 (7.59%) Validation
14 60 (6.60%) Decision-Making
15 57 (6.27%) Change Management
15 57 (6.27%) CRM
16 55 (6.05%) Technical Leadership
17 54 (5.94%) Customer Service
17 54 (5.94%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 80 (8.80%) Python
2 43 (4.73%) SQL
3 32 (3.52%) JavaScript
4 24 (2.64%) Bash
5 15 (1.65%) Java
6 10 (1.10%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.88%) Apex Code
8 7 (0.77%) C#
8 7 (0.77%) R
9 6 (0.66%) Shell Script
10 5 (0.55%) SOQL
11 4 (0.44%) ABAP
11 4 (0.44%) C++
11 4 (0.44%) DataWeave
11 4 (0.44%) TypeScript
12 3 (0.33%) LookML
13 2 (0.22%) Bicep
13 2 (0.22%) C
13 2 (0.22%) DCL
14 1 (0.11%) Ada
Qualifications
1 168 (18.48%) Security Cleared
2 105 (11.55%) SC Cleared
3 93 (10.23%) Degree
4 70 (7.70%) Cisco Certification
5 47 (5.17%) CCNA
6 29 (3.19%) DV Cleared
7 25 (2.75%) CCNP
7 25 (2.75%) PMP
8 24 (2.64%) Computer Science Degree
8 24 (2.64%) Microsoft Certification
9 22 (2.42%) A+ Certification
10 21 (2.31%) BPSS Clearance
11 19 (2.09%) PMI Certification
12 13 (1.43%) CCIE
12 13 (1.43%) MCSA
13 12 (1.32%) CISSP
14 11 (1.21%) Azure Certification
14 11 (1.21%) Master's Degree
15 9 (0.99%) AWS Certification
15 9 (0.99%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (3.63%) QA
2 30 (3.30%) SLA
3 28 (3.08%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 23 (2.53%) PMO
5 21 (2.31%) GRC
6 20 (2.20%) GDPR
7 18 (1.98%) NCSC
8 11 (1.21%) Data Quality
9 9 (0.99%) NIST
10 3 (0.33%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.33%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.22%) EU AI Act
12 1 (0.11%) ISO 31000
12 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 15288
12 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 1 (0.11%) SOC 1
System Software
1 29 (3.19%) Docker
2 23 (2.53%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.31%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (0.88%) VMware NSX
5 5 (0.55%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (0.55%) vSphere
6 3 (0.33%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.11%) Ceph
7 1 (0.11%) Firmware
7 1 (0.11%) KVM
7 1 (0.11%) NDS
7 1 (0.11%) NetIQ eDirectory
7 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 50 (5.50%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.42%) Ansible
3 17 (1.87%) Grafana
3 17 (1.87%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.88%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.55%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.44%) Cilium
6 4 (0.44%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.44%) Istio
7 3 (0.33%) Check_MK
7 3 (0.33%) Kibana
7 3 (0.33%) Podman
7 3 (0.33%) SolarWinds Orion
7 3 (0.33%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.33%) vRealize
8 2 (0.22%) Amdocs OSS
8 2 (0.22%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.22%) QRadar
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle RMAN
9 1 (0.11%) SCCM
Vendors
1 123 (13.53%) Microsoft
2 121 (13.31%) Cisco
3 90 (9.90%) ServiceNow
4 62 (6.82%) Nokia
5 47 (5.17%) Salesforce
6 35 (3.85%) VMware
7 28 (3.08%) SAP
8 26 (2.86%) Google
9 25 (2.75%) Ericsson
10 22 (2.42%) Juniper
11 21 (2.31%) BT
12 19 (2.09%) F5
12 19 (2.09%) MuleSoft
13 17 (1.87%) Fortinet
14 13 (1.43%) Palo Alto
15 12 (1.32%) BMC
16 11 (1.21%) Oracle
17 10 (1.10%) Arista
17 10 (1.10%) Huawei
17 10 (1.10%) Splunk