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 10 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 163 119 67
Rank change year-on-year -44 -52 +10
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 939 776 1,222
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.72% 2.34% 3.22%
As % of the General category 3.05% 3.70% 5.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 515 474 542
10th Percentile £266 £192 £248
25th Percentile £360 £363 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.22% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £669 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £500
% change year-on-year - -10.00% +6.67%
Number of hourly rates quoted 52 51 75
10th Percentile £13.57 £14.00 £22.42
25th Percentile £15.75 £14.75 £37.50
Median hourly rate £17.50 £23.00 £68.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.91% -66.18% +29.52%
75th Percentile £31.00 £41.73 £72.50
90th Percentile £50.00 £65.25 £82.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £21.25 £70.00
% change year-on-year -17.65% -69.64% +33.33%

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 30,832 20,956 22,240
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.48% 63.27% 58.64%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,899 13,033 13,139
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £400 £411
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 £740 £738 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.04% -4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,749 1,247 954
10th Percentile £13.46 £13.51 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.01 £16.17 £17.00
Median hourly rate £27.50 £25.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -23.08% +18.18%
75th Percentile £53.75 £45.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £72.20
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £21.39 £31.97
% change year-on-year +28.56% -33.09% +21.79%

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 10 October 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 10 October 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 10 October 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 -62 781 £470 +1.08% 1,681
UK excluding London -52 484 £450 - 956
London -33 350 £500 +7.53% 796
Work from Home -16 271 £478 -4.50% 530
South East -39 190 £469 -6.20% 283
East of England +25 86 £325 -35.64% 130
Scotland +15 63 £300 -11.76% 94
North of England -68 58 £475 +72.73% 174
South West -65 47 £494 -5.90% 83
Yorkshire -8 35 £475 +48.44% 51
Midlands -75 34 £475 +25.00% 151
West Midlands -70 32 £481 +26.64% 88
North West -61 21 £500 +73.16% 102
Wales -7 7 £200 +19.40% 25
Northern Ireland +1 5 £358 +116.67% 32
Channel Islands -3 2 £606 -
East Midlands -21 2 £475 +171.43% 63
North East -46 2 £298 +70.00% 25

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 25 (2.66%) Confluence
2 15 (1.60%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.49%) OpenStack
4 9 (0.96%) ArcGIS
5 7 (0.75%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.43%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.21%) Apache
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.11%) CMS
8 1 (0.11%) IIS
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 39 (4.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (3.09%) MS Visio
3 25 (2.66%) Microsoft Office
4 14 (1.49%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (0.96%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.53%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.32%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.21%) 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 26 (2.77%) SAP PSCD
2 18 (1.92%) SAP BRIM
3 13 (1.38%) SAP Hybris
4 11 (1.17%) SAP FI
5 10 (1.06%) SAP FI-CA
6 9 (0.96%) SAP S/4HANA
7 6 (0.64%) Remedy ITSM
8 5 (0.53%) NetSuite
8 5 (0.53%) Sage X3
9 4 (0.43%) OpenText VIM for SAP
9 4 (0.43%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.43%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.32%) Remedy AR System
10 3 (0.32%) SAP ERP
11 2 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
12 1 (0.11%) Oracle BRM
12 1 (0.11%) Payment Gateway
12 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
12 1 (0.11%) SAP IS-U
12 1 (0.11%) SAP SD
Cloud Services
1 89 (9.48%) Azure
2 83 (8.84%) AWS
3 58 (6.18%) GCP
4 19 (2.02%) Entra ID
4 19 (2.02%) GitHub
4 19 (2.02%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (1.81%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 15 (1.60%) Power Platform
6 15 (1.60%) SaaS
7 11 (1.17%) Azure DevOps
8 10 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
9 9 (0.96%) GitHub Actions
9 9 (0.96%) Microsoft Purview
9 9 (0.96%) OneDrive
10 7 (0.75%) Miro
11 6 (0.64%) Cloud Functions
11 6 (0.64%) dbt
11 6 (0.64%) Snowflake
12 5 (0.53%) Fivetran
12 5 (0.53%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 117 (12.46%) WAN
2 96 (10.22%) 5G
3 89 (9.48%) LAN
3 89 (9.48%) MPLS
4 72 (7.67%) 4G
5 70 (7.45%) Radio Access Network
6 54 (5.75%) Firewall
7 53 (5.64%) Wi-Fi
8 49 (5.22%) Broadband
9 38 (4.05%) VoIP
10 36 (3.83%) SD-WAN
11 32 (3.41%) SDH
11 32 (3.41%) Wireshark
12 31 (3.30%) 3GPP
12 31 (3.30%) BGP
12 31 (3.30%) DNS
13 30 (3.19%) Network Security
13 30 (3.19%) TCP/IP
14 27 (2.88%) LTE
15 22 (2.34%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.38%) NoSQL
2 12 (1.28%) Data Warehouse
3 11 (1.17%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (1.17%) Power BI
4 10 (1.06%) GIS
5 9 (0.96%) BigQuery
5 9 (0.96%) Metadata
6 8 (0.85%) MongoDB
6 8 (0.85%) MySQL
7 7 (0.75%) Redis
7 7 (0.75%) Tableau
8 5 (0.53%) Amazon Redshift
9 4 (0.43%) SQL Server
10 3 (0.32%) Apache Cassandra
10 3 (0.32%) Big Data
10 3 (0.32%) BusinessObjects
10 3 (0.32%) Cloud Spanner
10 3 (0.32%) Hazelcast
10 3 (0.32%) SAP BW
10 3 (0.32%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 52 (5.54%) JIRA
2 42 (4.47%) Git
3 24 (2.56%) GitLab
4 15 (1.60%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.85%) Selenium
6 5 (0.53%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.32%) JMeter
7 3 (0.32%) Locust
7 3 (0.32%) TestCafe
8 2 (0.21%) 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%) Postman
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
1 257 (27.37%) Social Skills
2 147 (15.65%) Finance
3 117 (12.46%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (6.60%) Public Sector
5 40 (4.26%) Billing
6 34 (3.62%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.51%) Organisational Skills
8 24 (2.56%) Retail
9 22 (2.34%) Legal
9 22 (2.34%) Manufacturing
10 21 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.70%) Aerospace
11 16 (1.70%) Marketing
12 14 (1.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 13 (1.38%) Banking
14 12 (1.28%) Presentation Skills
15 9 (0.96%) Publishing
16 7 (0.75%) Police
17 6 (0.64%) Aviation
18 5 (0.53%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 143 (15.23%) Architect
2 76 (8.09%) Senior
3 74 (7.88%) Lead
4 70 (7.45%) Consultant
5 67 (7.14%) Network Engineer
6 61 (6.50%) Analyst
7 58 (6.18%) Field Engineer
8 57 (6.07%) Project Manager
9 54 (5.75%) Telecoms Engineer
10 37 (3.94%) Solutions Architect
11 35 (3.73%) Developer
12 34 (3.62%) Designer
13 28 (2.98%) ServiceNow Architect
14 27 (2.88%) Business Analyst
15 26 (2.77%) Enterprise Architect
15 26 (2.77%) SAP Consultant
15 26 (2.77%) Telecoms Manager
16 23 (2.45%) Test Engineer
17 22 (2.34%) Field Telecoms Engineer
17 22 (2.34%) Telecoms Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (5.64%) REST
2 31 (3.30%) SOAP
3 19 (2.02%) Terraform
4 18 (1.92%) Kafka
5 16 (1.70%) NETCONF
5 16 (1.70%) RESTful
5 16 (1.70%) YANG
6 14 (1.49%) HTML
7 13 (1.38%) CSS
7 13 (1.38%) JSON
7 13 (1.38%) ONVIF
7 13 (1.38%) XML
8 10 (1.06%) AngularJS
8 10 (1.06%) Elastic Stack
9 9 (0.96%) FastAPI
9 9 (0.96%) Middleware
9 9 (0.96%) React
10 8 (0.85%) OpenAPI
10 8 (0.85%) Swagger
11 7 (0.75%) Flask
Miscellaneous
1 55 (5.86%) Data Centre
2 46 (4.90%) Driving Licence
3 44 (4.69%) CMDB
4 39 (4.15%) Onboarding
5 32 (3.41%) Cloud Native
6 22 (2.34%) Management Information System
6 22 (2.34%) Product Ownership
7 19 (2.02%) Analytical Mindset
8 16 (1.70%) Data Protection Act
9 15 (1.60%) Video\Live Streaming
10 14 (1.49%) Enterprise Software
11 13 (1.38%) Data Structures
12 12 (1.28%) Fibre Optics
12 12 (1.28%) TM Forum
13 11 (1.17%) AI Agents
13 11 (1.17%) Legacy Systems
13 11 (1.17%) Social Media
13 11 (1.17%) Video Conferencing
14 10 (1.06%) Hybrid Cloud
14 10 (1.06%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 56 (5.96%) Windows
2 54 (5.75%) Linux
3 14 (1.49%) Windows Server
4 10 (1.06%) Mac OS
4 10 (1.06%) Unix
4 10 (1.06%) Windows 10
5 8 (0.85%) VMS
6 4 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.32%) CentOS
8 2 (0.21%) Android
8 2 (0.21%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.21%) Embedded Linux
8 2 (0.21%) OpenVMS
9 1 (0.11%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
9 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 221 (23.54%) Stakeholder Management
2 128 (13.63%) Problem-Solving
3 127 (13.53%) Agile
4 91 (9.69%) AI
5 90 (9.58%) ITIL
6 85 (9.05%) Project Delivery
7 79 (8.41%) Migration
8 78 (8.31%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 76 (8.09%) Continuous Improvement
10 74 (7.88%) Validation
11 73 (7.77%) Service Management
12 70 (7.45%) CI/CD
12 70 (7.45%) Roadmaps
13 67 (7.14%) Project Management
14 61 (6.50%) Test Automation
15 57 (6.07%) Change Management
16 52 (5.54%) Technical Leadership
17 51 (5.43%) Decision-Making
17 51 (5.43%) DevOps
18 50 (5.32%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 83 (8.84%) Python
2 38 (4.05%) SQL
3 30 (3.19%) JavaScript
4 25 (2.66%) Bash
5 22 (2.34%) Java
6 9 (0.96%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.85%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.64%) Apex Code
8 6 (0.64%) C#
9 5 (0.53%) SOQL
10 4 (0.43%) ABAP
10 4 (0.43%) DataWeave
10 4 (0.43%) R
11 3 (0.32%) C
11 3 (0.32%) C++
11 3 (0.32%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.21%) DCL
13 1 (0.11%) Ada
13 1 (0.11%) Bicep
13 1 (0.11%) Rust
Qualifications
1 164 (17.47%) Security Cleared
2 98 (10.44%) SC Cleared
3 91 (9.69%) Degree
4 76 (8.09%) Cisco Certification
5 50 (5.32%) CCNA
6 32 (3.41%) BPSS Clearance
7 28 (2.98%) CCNP
8 27 (2.88%) DV Cleared
9 21 (2.24%) Microsoft Certification
10 19 (2.02%) A+ Certification
10 19 (2.02%) PMP
11 17 (1.81%) CCIE
11 17 (1.81%) PMI Certification
12 15 (1.60%) CISSP
12 15 (1.60%) Computer Science Degree
13 13 (1.38%) Master's Degree
13 13 (1.38%) MCSA
14 12 (1.28%) JNCIE
15 8 (0.85%) CISM
16 7 (0.75%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (5.22%) QA
2 22 (2.34%) SLA
3 21 (2.24%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (2.13%) GRC
4 20 (2.13%) PMO
5 16 (1.70%) NCSC
6 15 (1.60%) GDPR
7 14 (1.49%) Data Quality
8 6 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.53%) NIST
9 5 (0.53%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.43%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.32%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.11%) EU AI Act
13 1 (0.11%) GAAP
13 1 (0.11%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.11%) ISO 31000
13 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 35 (3.73%) Docker
2 23 (2.45%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.24%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.17%) VMware NSX
5 7 (0.75%) Firmware
6 5 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.43%) vSphere
8 3 (0.32%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.21%) NDS
9 2 (0.21%) NetIQ eDirectory
10 1 (0.11%) Ceph
10 1 (0.11%) KVM
10 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 41 (4.37%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.34%) Ansible
3 12 (1.28%) Grafana
3 12 (1.28%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.85%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.53%) 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%) NSN NetAct
7 3 (0.32%) Podman
7 3 (0.32%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.32%) vRealize
8 2 (0.21%) QRadar
9 1 (0.11%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.11%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.11%) SCCM
Vendors
1 127 (13.53%) Microsoft
2 122 (12.99%) Cisco
3 78 (8.31%) ServiceNow
4 69 (7.35%) Nokia
5 43 (4.58%) Salesforce
6 38 (4.05%) SAP
7 35 (3.73%) VMware
8 33 (3.51%) Ericsson
9 21 (2.24%) Juniper
10 18 (1.92%) Fortinet
10 18 (1.92%) Google
10 18 (1.92%) MuleSoft
11 17 (1.81%) BT
12 14 (1.49%) F5
13 13 (1.38%) Palo Alto
14 12 (1.28%) BMC
15 11 (1.17%) Arista
15 11 (1.17%) Oracle
15 11 (1.17%) Zscaler
16 10 (1.06%) Adobe