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 29 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 158 85 60
Rank change year-on-year -73 -25 +23
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 772 851 1,442
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.73% 2.91% 3.26%
As % of the General category 3.07% 4.63% 5.59%
Number of daily rates quoted 482 477 809
10th Percentile £175 £302 £200
25th Percentile £350 £373 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.00% +11.11% -6.25%
75th Percentile £575 £618 £588
90th Percentile £675 £700 £732
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £449
% change year-on-year -10.00% +11.36% +2.63%
Number of hourly rates quoted 58 33 60
10th Percentile £18.33 £14.00 £12.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.20 £12.28
Median hourly rate £23.83 £26.34 £26.75
Median % change year-on-year -9.53% -1.55% -49.05%
75th Percentile £25.00 £60.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £57.75 £63.60 £81.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £23.00 £23.50
% change year-on-year +3.59% -2.13% -55.24%

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 25,116 18,395 25,775
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.38% 62.82% 58.25%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,636 11,802 16,411
10th Percentile £303 £300 £266
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 £645 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,560 717 1,838
10th Percentile £13.71 £15.00 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.11 £19.20 £15.31
Median hourly rate £25.20 £29.07 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.33% +11.81% -25.71%
75th Percentile £58.79 £58.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.10 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £27.70 £25.00
% change year-on-year -13.99% +10.80% -20.97%

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 29 March 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 29 March 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 29 March 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 -80 673 £475 -6.86% 512
UK excluding London -72 436 £450 -10.00% 422
London -19 271 £475 -8.87% 139
Work from Home -51 178 £475 -5.00% 175
South East -53 165 £469 -6.20% 141
Midlands -39 70 £500 -2.44% 63
North of England -64 68 £431 -13.75% 94
South West -42 58 £525 -2.78% 50
West Midlands -39 48 £550 +7.32% 43
East of England -23 38 £475 +11.76% 56
Scotland +16 27 £281 -16.67% 27
North West -61 27 £406 -20.34% 46
East Midlands -17 22 £285 -54.40% 20
North East -2 21 £338 -6.90% 11
Yorkshire -51 19 £481 -8.33% 42
Wales -5 10 £160 -56.16% 10
Northern Ireland -2 7 £150 -72.73% 1

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 10 (1.30%) Confluence
1 10 (1.30%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.17%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (0.91%) Apache Spark
3 7 (0.91%) OpenStack
4 6 (0.78%) Appian
5 4 (0.52%) Apache
5 4 (0.52%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.52%) IIS
6 3 (0.39%) ArcGIS
6 3 (0.39%) JBoss
6 3 (0.39%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.39%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.26%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.13%) Camunda
8 1 (0.13%) CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Smallworld
Applications
1 45 (5.83%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (3.11%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (1.55%) Microsoft Project
5 7 (0.91%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.26%) Autodesk Inventor
6 2 (0.26%) MicroStation
6 2 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.26%) Trello
7 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
7 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
Business Applications
1 17 (2.20%) SAP PSCD
2 16 (2.07%) SAP BRIM
2 16 (2.07%) SAP Hybris
3 10 (1.30%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.78%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 3 (0.39%) BambooHR
5 3 (0.39%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.26%) Primavera
6 2 (0.26%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.13%) Remedy AR System
7 1 (0.13%) SAP FI-CA
7 1 (0.13%) SAP SRM
7 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 75 (9.72%) Azure
2 60 (7.77%) AWS
3 44 (5.70%) GCP
3 44 (5.70%) Microsoft 365
4 20 (2.59%) Power Platform
5 17 (2.20%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 14 (1.81%) SaaS
7 9 (1.17%) Azure DevOps
8 8 (1.04%) GitHub
9 7 (0.91%) Dynamics 365
10 6 (0.78%) GitHub Actions
11 5 (0.65%) Datadog
11 5 (0.65%) dbt
12 4 (0.52%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.52%) Figma
12 4 (0.52%) Miro
12 4 (0.52%) Serverless
12 4 (0.52%) Slack
13 3 (0.39%) Dagster
13 3 (0.39%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 49 (6.35%) WAN
2 42 (5.44%) 5G
3 40 (5.18%) Firewall
4 38 (4.92%) LAN
4 38 (4.92%) MPLS
5 28 (3.63%) 4G
6 27 (3.50%) Network Security
6 27 (3.50%) SD-WAN
7 26 (3.37%) Radio Access Network
8 25 (3.24%) Wireless
9 21 (2.72%) BGP
10 20 (2.59%) VPN
11 19 (2.46%) DNS
11 19 (2.46%) Internet
11 19 (2.46%) LTE
12 18 (2.33%) SDH
13 17 (2.20%) Broadband
13 17 (2.20%) VoIP
14 15 (1.94%) 2G
15 14 (1.81%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (2.46%) Power BI
2 12 (1.55%) Data Warehouse
2 12 (1.55%) MySQL
3 11 (1.42%) Looker
4 10 (1.30%) Tableau
5 8 (1.04%) Big Data
5 8 (1.04%) BigQuery
5 8 (1.04%) Oracle Database
5 8 (1.04%) Relational Database
6 7 (0.91%) GIS
7 6 (0.78%) SQL Server
8 5 (0.65%) Amazon Redshift
8 5 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
9 3 (0.39%) Metadata
9 3 (0.39%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.39%) RDBMS
9 3 (0.39%) Semantic Layer
9 3 (0.39%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.26%) Apache Cassandra
10 2 (0.26%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 24 (3.11%) JIRA
2 7 (0.91%) Jenkins
3 6 (0.78%) Git
3 6 (0.78%) GitLab
4 4 (0.52%) JUnit
5 3 (0.39%) Storybook
6 2 (0.26%) Appium
6 2 (0.26%) CircleCI
6 2 (0.26%) JMeter
6 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
6 2 (0.26%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.13%) Maven
7 1 (0.13%) Mockito
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.13%) Selenium
7 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 231 (29.92%) Finance
2 230 (29.79%) Social Skills
3 188 (24.35%) Public Sector
4 141 (18.26%) Marketing
5 133 (17.23%) Electronics
6 127 (16.45%) Manufacturing
7 89 (11.53%) Analytical Skills
8 41 (5.31%) Billing
9 23 (2.98%) Organisational Skills
10 19 (2.46%) Legal
11 18 (2.33%) Documentation Skills
12 13 (1.68%) Retail
13 12 (1.55%) Influencing Skills
14 10 (1.30%) Military
15 8 (1.04%) Banking
16 6 (0.78%) Law
17 5 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
18 3 (0.39%) Financial Institution
18 3 (0.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
19 2 (0.26%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 84 (10.88%) Architect
2 76 (9.84%) Analyst
3 47 (6.09%) Lead
4 45 (5.83%) Consultant
5 43 (5.57%) Project Manager
5 43 (5.57%) Senior
6 42 (5.44%) Business Analyst
7 35 (4.53%) Network Engineer
8 33 (4.27%) IT Support
9 29 (3.76%) Solutions Architect
10 26 (3.37%) Desktop Support
10 26 (3.37%) Telecoms Manager
11 25 (3.24%) Developer
12 19 (2.46%) Telecoms Engineer
13 18 (2.33%) Coordinator
13 18 (2.33%) Data Engineer
13 18 (2.33%) ServiceNow Architect
14 17 (2.20%) Field Engineer
14 17 (2.20%) IT Engineer
14 17 (2.20%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.76%) REST
2 19 (2.46%) SOAP
3 9 (1.17%) Kafka
4 8 (1.04%) .NET
4 8 (1.04%) Elastic Stack
5 6 (0.78%) Middleware
5 6 (0.78%) RabbitMQ
5 6 (0.78%) RESTful
6 5 (0.65%) Spring
6 5 (0.65%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.52%) HTML
7 4 (0.52%) React
7 4 (0.52%) Web Services
8 3 (0.39%) CSS
8 3 (0.39%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.39%) Node.js
8 3 (0.39%) PySpark
8 3 (0.39%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.39%) Swagger
8 3 (0.39%) Vitest
Miscellaneous
1 44 (5.70%) Data Centre
2 31 (4.02%) Driving Licence
3 28 (3.63%) Data Protection Act
4 27 (3.50%) Product Ownership
5 26 (3.37%) Onboarding
6 19 (2.46%) Cloud Native
7 18 (2.33%) CMDB
8 16 (2.07%) IoT
9 14 (1.81%) NHS
10 13 (1.68%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (1.68%) Mobile App
11 12 (1.55%) Virtual Team
12 11 (1.42%) Distributed Systems
13 9 (1.17%) Analytical Mindset
13 9 (1.17%) Self-Motivation
14 8 (1.04%) Algorithms
15 7 (0.91%) Enterprise Cloud
15 7 (0.91%) Fibre Optics
16 6 (0.78%) Management Information System
16 6 (0.78%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 39 (5.05%) Windows
2 30 (3.89%) Android
3 23 (2.98%) Mac OS
4 21 (2.72%) Linux
5 20 (2.59%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.91%) Unix
7 6 (0.78%) Apple iOS
8 5 (0.65%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.65%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.39%) Debian
9 3 (0.39%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.39%) VMS
10 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.13%) CentOS
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 146 (18.91%) Business Intelligence
2 132 (17.10%) Programme Management
3 126 (16.32%) Digital Marketing
4 118 (15.28%) Stakeholder Management
5 108 (13.99%) Agile
6 99 (12.82%) Problem-Solving
7 81 (10.49%) Migration
8 80 (10.36%) Continuous Improvement
9 69 (8.94%) ITIL
10 67 (8.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 55 (7.12%) Project Management
12 54 (6.99%) Logistics
13 51 (6.61%) Workflow
14 50 (6.48%) Customer Service
15 49 (6.35%) Decision-Making
16 44 (5.70%) Analytics
17 43 (5.57%) Project Delivery
17 43 (5.57%) Roadmaps
18 42 (5.44%) DevOps
19 40 (5.18%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 56 (7.25%) Python
2 42 (5.44%) SQL
3 21 (2.72%) JavaScript
4 20 (2.59%) Java
5 10 (1.30%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.17%) Bash
7 6 (0.78%) C++
7 6 (0.78%) R
7 6 (0.78%) TypeScript
8 5 (0.65%) Go
9 4 (0.52%) C#
9 4 (0.52%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.39%) C
10 3 (0.39%) LookML
11 2 (0.26%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.26%) BeanShell
11 2 (0.26%) PHP
11 2 (0.26%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.13%) Bicep
12 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 174 (22.54%) Security Cleared
2 142 (18.39%) SC Cleared
3 67 (8.68%) Degree
4 26 (3.37%) DV Cleared
5 20 (2.59%) BPSS Clearance
6 17 (2.20%) Cisco Certification
6 17 (2.20%) PMP
7 14 (1.81%) Computer Science Degree
8 12 (1.55%) CCNP
8 12 (1.55%) PMI Certification
9 11 (1.42%) ITIL Certification
10 10 (1.30%) ACCA
11 9 (1.17%) Azure Certification
12 8 (1.04%) Microsoft Certification
13 7 (0.91%) AWS Certification
13 7 (0.91%) CCIE
13 7 (0.91%) CIMA
14 6 (0.78%) CCNA
14 6 (0.78%) Network+ Certification
15 5 (0.65%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (4.02%) SLA
2 24 (3.11%) GDPR
3 21 (2.72%) PMO
4 20 (2.59%) QA
5 17 (2.20%) Data Quality
6 16 (2.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 11 (1.42%) GRC
8 10 (1.30%) NIST
9 9 (1.17%) NCSC
10 7 (0.91%) RMADS
11 5 (0.65%) JSP 440
11 5 (0.65%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 4 (0.52%) IFRS
13 3 (0.39%) Accessibility
13 3 (0.39%) GAAP
14 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
14 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
14 2 (0.26%) PCI DSS
15 1 (0.13%) EU AI Act
15 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 21 (2.72%) Active Directory
2 14 (1.81%) Docker
3 3 (0.39%) QEMU
4 2 (0.26%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.13%) Firmware
5 1 (0.13%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 28 (3.63%) Kubernetes
2 14 (1.81%) Ansible
3 12 (1.55%) Grafana
4 9 (1.17%) Prometheus
4 9 (1.17%) Terraform
5 6 (0.78%) SCCM
6 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.52%) Argo
8 3 (0.39%) Amdocs OSS
8 3 (0.39%) Cisco Prime
8 3 (0.39%) Iperf
8 3 (0.39%) Podman
9 2 (0.26%) EMC NetWorker
9 2 (0.26%) Nmap
9 2 (0.26%) vRealize
10 1 (0.13%) Consul
10 1 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.13%) Fluentd
10 1 (0.13%) Rancher
10 1 (0.13%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 151 (19.56%) SAP
2 94 (12.18%) Cisco
3 93 (12.05%) Microsoft
4 55 (7.12%) ServiceNow
5 35 (4.53%) Nokia
6 25 (3.24%) Juniper
7 23 (2.98%) Oracle
8 21 (2.72%) Fortinet
9 17 (2.20%) Dell
9 17 (2.20%) Ericsson
10 16 (2.07%) HP
11 15 (1.94%) Apple
11 15 (1.94%) Google
12 14 (1.81%) Salesforce
13 12 (1.55%) BT
13 12 (1.55%) F5
13 12 (1.55%) Huawei
13 12 (1.55%) Remedy
14 11 (1.42%) CheckPoint
14 11 (1.42%) Meraki