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 28 October 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Oct 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 123 63 74
Rank change year-on-year -60 +11 +11
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 793 1,230 1,357
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.34% 3.36% 2.87%
As % of the General category 3.71% 5.72% 4.83%
Number of daily rates quoted 498 564 872
10th Percentile £170 £262 £256
25th Percentile £341 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - +2.56%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £625
90th Percentile £688 £700 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 51 33
10th Percentile £14.75 £24.18 £14.00
25th Percentile £16.50 £37.50 £20.00
Median hourly rate £24.00 £57.50 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -58.26% +9.52% +77.97%
75th Percentile £43.00 £72.50 £80.00
90th Percentile £75.05 £76.25 -
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.00 £61.75 £57.50
% change year-on-year -62.75% +7.39% +94.92%

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 common skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 21,387 21,493 28,118
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 63.05% 58.73% 59.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 13,331 12,643 18,870
10th Percentile £275 £283 £300
25th Percentile £400 £410 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £644 £663
90th Percentile £738 £756 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £500
% change year-on-year -0.47% -4.55% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,310 824 1,102
10th Percentile £13.60 £15.00 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.17 £16.90 £16.54
Median hourly rate £24.27 £30.00 £29.61
Median % change year-on-year -19.09% +1.32% +18.44%
75th Percentile £43.75 £57.50 £57.14
90th Percentile £67.25 £70.00 £70.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.18 £28.00 £26.89
% change year-on-year -24.38% +4.15% +25.05%

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 28 October 2025.

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 28 October 2025.

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 28 October 2025. 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 -58 697 £464 -7.25% 1,133
UK excluding London -51 448 £450 -10.00% 952
London -32 274 £455 -9.00% 402
Work from Home -57 197 £500 - 344
South East -29 166 £500 -1.48% 439
South West -14 93 £550 +4.76% 80
Midlands -29 64 £375 -18.92% 77
North of England -29 56 £210 -54.59% 193
West Midlands -27 51 £380 -18.50% 52
Scotland +5 33 £330 -8.97% 54
North West -23 32 £190 -57.78% 108
East of England -42 26 £463 +5.71% 120
Yorkshire -35 14 £365 -27.00% 74
East Midlands -4 13 £158 -10.00% 25
Northern Ireland 0 12 £170 -8.11% 7
North East - 10 £175 - 16
Wales -4 3 £168 - 18
Channel Islands -6 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 22 (2.77%) SharePoint
2 16 (2.02%) Confluence
3 15 (1.89%) Apache Spark
3 15 (1.89%) OpenStack
4 8 (1.01%) CMS
4 8 (1.01%) Microsoft Exchange
5 7 (0.88%) Appian
6 5 (0.63%) Headless CMS
7 4 (0.50%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.38%) Camunda
9 2 (0.25%) Apache
9 2 (0.25%) Gunicorn
9 2 (0.25%) Smallworld
10 1 (0.13%) Drupal
10 1 (0.13%) IIS
10 1 (0.13%) Jupyter
Applications
1 43 (5.42%) Microsoft Office
2 29 (3.66%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.64%) Microsoft Project
4 10 (1.26%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (1.01%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.50%) Autodesk Inventor
7 2 (0.25%) Chatbot
7 2 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.13%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.13%) Sketch
Business Applications
1 8 (1.01%) SAP BRIM
1 8 (1.01%) SAP Hybris
1 8 (1.01%) SAP PSCD
2 7 (0.88%) Oracle Assets
2 7 (0.88%) Oracle EBS R12
2 7 (0.88%) Oracle ERP
3 5 (0.63%) Endur
4 4 (0.50%) Primavera
4 4 (0.50%) SAP ERP
5 3 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
6 2 (0.25%) Dynamics CRM
6 2 (0.25%) Oracle EBS
6 2 (0.25%) Salesforce CRM
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
Cloud Services
1 73 (9.21%) Azure
2 67 (8.45%) AWS
3 50 (6.31%) Microsoft 365
4 40 (5.04%) GCP
5 33 (4.16%) SaaS
6 22 (2.77%) Power Platform
7 11 (1.39%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (1.13%) Dynamics 365
9 8 (1.01%) GitHub
9 8 (1.01%) SAP Commerce Cloud
10 7 (0.88%) Entra ID
10 7 (0.88%) Tricentis Tosca
11 5 (0.63%) Cloud Computing
11 5 (0.63%) Google Kubernetes Engine
11 5 (0.63%) Miro
11 5 (0.63%) OpenShift
12 4 (0.50%) Apigee
12 4 (0.50%) dbt
12 4 (0.50%) PaaS
12 4 (0.50%) Stackdriver
Communications & Networking
1 57 (7.19%) Firewall
2 49 (6.18%) LAN
3 48 (6.05%) WAN
4 45 (5.67%) Wireless
5 33 (4.16%) 5G
6 30 (3.78%) 4G
7 29 (3.66%) Radio Access Network
8 28 (3.53%) VPN
9 23 (2.90%) Network Security
10 22 (2.77%) MPLS
11 21 (2.65%) DNS
11 21 (2.65%) VoIP
12 20 (2.52%) BGP
12 20 (2.52%) Broadband
12 20 (2.52%) LTE
13 19 (2.40%) SD-WAN
13 19 (2.40%) Wi-Fi
14 16 (2.02%) Wireshark
15 14 (1.77%) OSPF
16 13 (1.64%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.65%) Power BI
2 19 (2.40%) Tableau
3 14 (1.77%) GIS
4 12 (1.51%) Big Data
5 8 (1.01%) Data Warehouse
5 8 (1.01%) Geospatial Data
5 8 (1.01%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.76%) MongoDB
6 6 (0.76%) MySQL
7 5 (0.63%) QGIS
7 5 (0.63%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.50%) BigQuery
8 4 (0.50%) Electronic Patient Records
8 4 (0.50%) SAP BW
9 3 (0.38%) Metadata
9 3 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
10 2 (0.25%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.25%) Oracle Database 12c
10 2 (0.25%) Power Query
10 2 (0.25%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 23 (2.90%) JIRA
2 18 (2.27%) GitLab
3 13 (1.64%) Git
4 9 (1.13%) Postman
5 8 (1.01%) Robot Framework
5 8 (1.01%) Selenium
6 7 (0.88%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.88%) Jenkins
6 7 (0.88%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.50%) Clang
7 4 (0.50%) Cypress.io
7 4 (0.50%) GCC
8 3 (0.38%) Gradle
8 3 (0.38%) Maven
8 3 (0.38%) Rational DOORS
9 2 (0.25%) Mercurial
9 2 (0.25%) Sonatype Nexus
9 2 (0.25%) Subversion
10 1 (0.13%) GoCD
10 1 (0.13%) TestRail
General
1 299 (37.70%) Finance
2 256 (32.28%) Social Skills
3 236 (29.76%) Public Sector
4 194 (24.46%) Marketing
5 187 (23.58%) Manufacturing
6 182 (22.95%) Electronics
7 110 (13.87%) Analytical Skills
8 26 (3.28%) Documentation Skills
8 26 (3.28%) Legal
9 23 (2.90%) Organisational Skills
10 19 (2.40%) Billing
11 13 (1.64%) Law
12 11 (1.39%) Automotive
12 11 (1.39%) Retail
13 10 (1.26%) Banking
14 9 (1.13%) French Language
14 9 (1.13%) Influencing Skills
15 8 (1.01%) Back Office
16 7 (0.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 6 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 86 (10.84%) Architect
2 74 (9.33%) Analyst
3 50 (6.31%) Consultant
4 47 (5.93%) Project Manager
5 44 (5.55%) IT Support
6 42 (5.30%) Senior
7 41 (5.17%) Network Engineer
8 39 (4.92%) Desktop Support
8 39 (4.92%) Lead
9 36 (4.54%) Developer
10 34 (4.29%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
10 34 (4.29%) 2nd Line Support
11 33 (4.16%) Business Analyst
12 28 (3.53%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
13 26 (3.28%) Solutions Architect
14 24 (3.03%) Support Engineer
14 24 (3.03%) Test Engineer
15 22 (2.77%) Delivery Manager
15 22 (2.77%) Telecoms Manager
16 19 (2.40%) Network Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (2.65%) REST
2 15 (1.89%) React
3 12 (1.51%) SOAP
4 11 (1.39%) JSON
4 11 (1.39%) XML
5 10 (1.26%) Node.js
5 10 (1.26%) RFC 2544
5 10 (1.26%) SailPoint
6 9 (1.13%) Jinja
7 8 (1.01%) .NET
7 8 (1.01%) Next.js
8 7 (0.88%) 802.1X
8 7 (0.88%) HTML
8 7 (0.88%) NETCONF
8 7 (0.88%) Web Services
9 6 (0.76%) AngularJS
9 6 (0.76%) GraphQL
9 6 (0.76%) PySpark
9 6 (0.76%) RESTful
9 6 (0.76%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 70 (8.83%) Data Centre
2 31 (3.91%) Cloud Native
3 25 (3.15%) Product Ownership
4 23 (2.90%) Driving Licence
4 23 (2.90%) Legacy Systems
5 21 (2.65%) Fibre Optics
6 19 (2.40%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.14%) Self-Motivation
8 14 (1.77%) CMDB
8 14 (1.77%) Data Protection Act
9 13 (1.64%) Analytical Mindset
10 12 (1.51%) Virtual Team
11 11 (1.39%) Algorithms
11 11 (1.39%) NHS
12 10 (1.26%) IoT
13 9 (1.13%) Cyber Threat
14 7 (0.88%) Cyber Defence
14 7 (0.88%) Management Information System
14 7 (0.88%) SCADA
14 7 (0.88%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 44 (5.55%) Windows
2 30 (3.78%) Linux
3 28 (3.53%) Android
4 24 (3.03%) Mac OS
5 9 (1.13%) Windows Server
6 7 (0.88%) Unix
6 7 (0.88%) Windows 10
7 5 (0.63%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.25%) Check Point GAiA
8 2 (0.25%) Mac OS X
8 2 (0.25%) VMS
8 2 (0.25%) Windows 8
8 2 (0.25%) Windows XP
9 1 (0.13%) CentOS
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.13%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 204 (25.73%) Business Intelligence
2 188 (23.71%) Programme Management
3 180 (22.70%) Digital Marketing
4 151 (19.04%) Problem-Solving
5 126 (15.89%) Agile
6 105 (13.24%) Stakeholder Management
7 80 (10.09%) Stakeholder Engagement
8 70 (8.83%) Migration
9 64 (8.07%) Continuous Improvement
10 62 (7.82%) ITIL
11 61 (7.69%) DevOps
12 54 (6.81%) Project Management
13 53 (6.68%) CI/CD
14 52 (6.56%) AI
15 50 (6.31%) Project Delivery
16 48 (6.05%) Change Management
17 47 (5.93%) Customer Service
17 47 (5.93%) Service Delivery
17 47 (5.93%) Service Management
18 44 (5.55%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 81 (10.21%) Python
2 57 (7.19%) SQL
3 23 (2.90%) JavaScript
4 21 (2.65%) PowerShell
5 16 (2.02%) Java
6 13 (1.64%) Bash
6 13 (1.64%) C#
7 11 (1.39%) TypeScript
8 10 (1.26%) C
8 10 (1.26%) C++
9 4 (0.50%) ABAP
9 4 (0.50%) PHP
10 3 (0.38%) BeanShell
10 3 (0.38%) Go
10 3 (0.38%) PL/SQL
11 2 (0.25%) Kotlin
11 2 (0.25%) R
11 2 (0.25%) SystemVerilog
12 1 (0.13%) Bicep
12 1 (0.13%) Scala
Qualifications
1 211 (26.61%) Security Cleared
2 167 (21.06%) SC Cleared
3 68 (8.58%) Degree
4 44 (5.55%) DV Cleared
5 26 (3.28%) Cisco Certification
6 21 (2.65%) Master's Degree
7 18 (2.27%) CISSP
8 16 (2.02%) CCNP
9 13 (1.64%) CCNA
10 11 (1.39%) BPSS Clearance
11 9 (1.13%) CCIE
11 9 (1.13%) CESG Certified Professional
11 9 (1.13%) CISM
11 9 (1.13%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (1.13%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.13%) PMP
12 7 (0.88%) ACCA
13 6 (0.76%) JNCIE
13 6 (0.76%) JNCIP
14 5 (0.63%) CCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (5.04%) SLA
2 34 (4.29%) QA
3 19 (2.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (1.89%) Data Quality
5 14 (1.77%) GDPR
5 14 (1.77%) Sarbanes-Oxley
6 12 (1.51%) NIST
6 12 (1.51%) PMO
7 9 (1.13%) Accessibility
7 9 (1.13%) NCSC
7 9 (1.13%) RMADS
8 7 (0.88%) GRC
8 7 (0.88%) JSP 440
9 4 (0.50%) ISO 9001
9 4 (0.50%) NEBOSH
9 4 (0.50%) P3O
10 3 (0.38%) GAAP
10 3 (0.38%) IFRS
10 3 (0.38%) WCAG
11 2 (0.25%) ISO 26262
System Software
1 25 (3.15%) Docker
2 22 (2.77%) Active Directory
3 10 (1.26%) vSphere
4 6 (0.76%) Virtual Machines
4 6 (0.76%) VMware Infrastructure
5 5 (0.63%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (0.38%) Firmware
7 2 (0.25%) Ceph
7 2 (0.25%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.25%) Oracle RAC
7 2 (0.25%) XenApp
8 1 (0.13%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 39 (4.92%) Ansible
2 35 (4.41%) Kubernetes
3 28 (3.53%) Terraform
4 9 (1.13%) NSN NetAct
5 6 (0.76%) HP ALM
5 6 (0.76%) Puppet
6 5 (0.63%) Amdocs OSS
6 5 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.38%) Data Guard
7 3 (0.38%) Grafana
7 3 (0.38%) Istio
7 3 (0.38%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 3 (0.38%) Oracle RMAN
7 3 (0.38%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.25%) Cisco Prime
8 2 (0.25%) EMC NetWorker
8 2 (0.25%) Nmap
8 2 (0.25%) Norton AntiVirus
8 2 (0.25%) OpenView
8 2 (0.25%) SCCM
Vendors
1 210 (26.48%) SAP
2 122 (15.38%) Cisco
3 103 (12.99%) Microsoft
4 34 (4.29%) Nokia
5 32 (4.04%) HP
6 29 (3.66%) Dell
6 29 (3.66%) Oracle
6 29 (3.66%) Salesforce
6 29 (3.66%) ServiceNow
7 27 (3.40%) Juniper
8 24 (3.03%) Apple
9 23 (2.90%) Ericsson
10 18 (2.27%) Google
10 18 (2.27%) Remedy
11 17 (2.14%) F5
12 16 (2.02%) CheckPoint
12 16 (2.02%) Fortinet
13 13 (1.64%) Databricks
14 11 (1.39%) VMware
15 10 (1.26%) Splunk