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

6 months to
10 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 170 98 70
Rank change year-on-year -72 -28 +10
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 850 849 1,145
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.59% 2.56% 2.95%
As % of the General category 2.89% 4.04% 5.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 485 494 551
10th Percentile £225 £300 £219
25th Percentile £400 £395 £358
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £475 £475
Median % change year-on-year - - -1.96%
75th Percentile £575 £587 £610
90th Percentile £691 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £475
% change year-on-year -5.26% - +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 44 48 103
10th Percentile £15.83 - £12.15
25th Percentile £17.28 £14.00 £16.46
Median hourly rate £21.00 £22.13 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year -5.08% -61.52% -11.54%
75th Percentile £50.00 £52.81 £72.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £65.25 £76.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.00 £15.50 £57.50
% change year-on-year +35.48% -73.04% +4.55%

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 29,369 21,001 22,288
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.06% 63.35% 57.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,411 13,107 14,053
10th Percentile £313 £279 £290
25th Percentile £413 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £630 £650
90th Percentile £738 £750 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £495
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.99% -1.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,226 1,130 1,377
10th Percentile £13.97 £13.25 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.25 £16.30 £17.00
Median hourly rate £32.00 £25.15 £38.12
Median % change year-on-year +27.24% -34.02% +27.07%
75th Percentile £57.99 £50.38 £58.49
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £22.14 £38.12
% change year-on-year +46.79% -41.92% +46.90%

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 August 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 August 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 10 August 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 -76 714 £475 -3.06% 860
UK excluding London -81 426 £450 -5.26% 572
London -35 320 £516 +7.33% 363
Work from Home -24 252 £475 -1.04% 332
South East -56 193 £460 -8.00% 197
North of England -51 59 £475 -7.32% 114
Scotland +7 51 £300 -7.69% 45
South West -75 46 £450 -18.18% 54
East of England -5 43 £190 -49.33% 49
Midlands -65 35 £475 +25.00% 86
Yorkshire -21 32 £475 +22.58% 33
West Midlands -66 32 £473 +24.34% 54
North West -52 26 £522 -1.56% 58
Northern Ireland +1 3 £175 -51.05% 4
East Midlands -9 3 £500 +33.33% 32
Wales -18 2 £500 +132.56% 30
North East -42 1 - - 26

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 17 (2.00%) Confluence
2 16 (1.88%) OpenStack
3 10 (1.18%) ArcGIS
3 10 (1.18%) SharePoint
4 8 (0.94%) Microsoft Exchange
5 7 (0.82%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.47%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.35%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.24%) CMS
9 1 (0.12%) Apache
9 1 (0.12%) Camunda
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
9 1 (0.12%) Smallworld
Applications
1 28 (3.29%) Microsoft Excel
2 25 (2.94%) Microsoft Office
3 21 (2.47%) MS Visio
4 10 (1.18%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (1.06%) Microsoft Project
6 5 (0.59%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.24%) Spreadsheet
8 1 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 1 (0.12%) Adobe Illustrator
8 1 (0.12%) Autodesk Inventor
8 1 (0.12%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.12%) InDesign
8 1 (0.12%) MicroStation
8 1 (0.12%) Photoshop
8 1 (0.12%) Revit
8 1 (0.12%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.12%) Trello
Business Applications
1 19 (2.24%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.18%) SAP BRIM
3 8 (0.94%) SAP FI
3 8 (0.94%) SAP Hybris
4 7 (0.82%) SAP FI-CA
5 6 (0.71%) Remedy ITSM
6 5 (0.59%) NetSuite
6 5 (0.59%) Sage X3
6 5 (0.59%) Salesforce CRM
6 5 (0.59%) SAP S/4HANA
7 4 (0.47%) BambooHR
8 3 (0.35%) Remedy AR System
8 3 (0.35%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.12%) SAP CO
9 1 (0.12%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.12%) SAP FS
9 1 (0.12%) SAP IBP
9 1 (0.12%) SAP SD
9 1 (0.12%) SAP SRM
9 1 (0.12%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 96 (11.29%) Azure
2 90 (10.59%) AWS
3 64 (7.53%) GCP
4 21 (2.47%) Power Platform
5 19 (2.24%) Microsoft 365
6 16 (1.88%) GitHub
7 15 (1.76%) Entra ID
8 14 (1.65%) SaaS
9 11 (1.29%) dbt
10 10 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
10 10 (1.18%) Cloud Computing
10 10 (1.18%) SAP Commerce Cloud
10 10 (1.18%) Snowflake
11 9 (1.06%) GitHub Actions
12 6 (0.71%) Cloud Functions
12 6 (0.71%) Datadog
12 6 (0.71%) Serverless
13 5 (0.59%) Fivetran
13 5 (0.59%) OneDrive
13 5 (0.59%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 94 (11.06%) WAN
2 79 (9.29%) 5G
3 77 (9.06%) LAN
4 70 (8.24%) MPLS
5 59 (6.94%) 4G
6 50 (5.88%) Radio Access Network
7 46 (5.41%) Firewall
8 32 (3.76%) DNS
9 31 (3.65%) SD-WAN
10 26 (3.06%) 3G
11 25 (2.94%) BGP
12 24 (2.82%) Network Security
12 24 (2.82%) SDH
12 24 (2.82%) Wi-Fi
13 23 (2.71%) LTE
13 23 (2.71%) TCP/IP
14 22 (2.59%) VoIP
15 21 (2.47%) VPN
16 20 (2.35%) 3GPP
16 20 (2.35%) Broadband
Database & Business Intelligence
1 20 (2.35%) Power BI
2 19 (2.24%) Data Warehouse
3 14 (1.65%) BigQuery
4 13 (1.53%) Tableau
5 12 (1.41%) Amazon Redshift
5 12 (1.41%) Looker
6 11 (1.29%) NoSQL
7 10 (1.18%) GIS
8 8 (0.94%) Big Data
8 8 (0.94%) PostgreSQL
9 6 (0.71%) MySQL
10 5 (0.59%) Apache Cassandra
10 5 (0.59%) MongoDB
10 5 (0.59%) SQL Server
11 4 (0.47%) InfluxDB
12 3 (0.35%) Hazelcast
12 3 (0.35%) Oracle Database
12 3 (0.35%) Redis
12 3 (0.35%) Relational Database
12 3 (0.35%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 31 (3.65%) JIRA
2 21 (2.47%) Git
3 12 (1.41%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.71%) GitLab
5 5 (0.59%) Selenium
6 2 (0.24%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.24%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.12%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.12%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.12%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.12%) TestRail
7 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.12%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 241 (28.35%) Social Skills
2 134 (15.76%) Finance
3 110 (12.94%) Analytical Skills
4 59 (6.94%) Public Sector
5 37 (4.35%) Billing
6 29 (3.41%) Documentation Skills
7 28 (3.29%) Retail
8 25 (2.94%) Organisational Skills
9 24 (2.82%) Legal
10 23 (2.71%) Marketing
11 19 (2.24%) Influencing Skills
12 15 (1.76%) Aerospace
13 14 (1.65%) Presentation Skills
14 13 (1.53%) Manufacturing
15 10 (1.18%) Publishing
16 9 (1.06%) Inclusion and Diversity
17 8 (0.94%) Police
18 6 (0.71%) Electronics
19 4 (0.47%) Military
20 3 (0.35%) Games
Job Titles
1 131 (15.41%) Architect
2 79 (9.29%) Senior
3 66 (7.76%) Consultant
3 66 (7.76%) Lead
4 61 (7.18%) Analyst
5 54 (6.35%) Project Manager
6 48 (5.65%) Network Engineer
7 46 (5.41%) Solutions Architect
8 41 (4.82%) Telecoms Engineer
9 37 (4.35%) Designer
10 36 (4.24%) Field Engineer
11 35 (4.12%) Telecoms Manager
12 32 (3.76%) Developer
13 29 (3.41%) ServiceNow Architect
14 26 (3.06%) Data Engineer
14 26 (3.06%) Enterprise Architect
15 21 (2.47%) Programme Manager
15 21 (2.47%) Telecoms Architect
16 20 (2.35%) Platform Engineer
16 20 (2.35%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (5.88%) REST
2 32 (3.76%) SOAP
3 18 (2.12%) Kafka
4 13 (1.53%) ONVIF
4 13 (1.53%) RESTful
5 12 (1.41%) Elastic Stack
5 12 (1.41%) Middleware
5 12 (1.41%) XML
6 11 (1.29%) NETCONF
6 11 (1.29%) YANG
7 10 (1.18%) AngularJS
7 10 (1.18%) HTML
7 10 (1.18%) React
8 9 (1.06%) CSS
8 9 (1.06%) OpenAPI
8 9 (1.06%) Swagger
9 7 (0.82%) JSON
10 6 (0.71%) FastAPI
10 6 (0.71%) RabbitMQ
10 6 (0.71%) Redux
Miscellaneous
1 50 (5.88%) CMDB
2 46 (5.41%) Data Centre
3 38 (4.47%) Onboarding
4 32 (3.76%) Driving Licence
5 30 (3.53%) Cloud Native
6 19 (2.24%) Analytical Mindset
6 19 (2.24%) Virtual Team
7 18 (2.12%) Data Protection Act
7 18 (2.12%) Product Ownership
8 17 (2.00%) Hybrid Cloud
9 16 (1.88%) Management Information System
10 15 (1.76%) Self-Motivation
11 13 (1.53%) Video\Live Streaming
12 11 (1.29%) Algorithms
13 10 (1.18%) Data Structures
13 10 (1.18%) Distributed Systems
13 10 (1.18%) TM Forum
14 9 (1.06%) Private Cloud
14 9 (1.06%) Video Conferencing
15 8 (0.94%) EPoS
Operating Systems
1 39 (4.59%) Windows
2 32 (3.76%) Linux
3 14 (1.65%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.29%) Unix
5 10 (1.18%) Windows Server
6 7 (0.82%) Mac OS
7 4 (0.47%) Android
8 3 (0.35%) Apple iOS
8 3 (0.35%) VMS
9 2 (0.24%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.24%) OpenVMS
9 2 (0.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.12%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.12%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.12%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.12%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 162 (19.06%) Stakeholder Management
2 126 (14.82%) Agile
3 108 (12.71%) Problem-Solving
4 84 (9.88%) Project Delivery
5 83 (9.76%) ITIL
6 82 (9.65%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 72 (8.47%) AI
8 69 (8.12%) Roadmaps
9 68 (8.00%) CI/CD
10 65 (7.65%) Continuous Improvement
10 65 (7.65%) Service Management
11 64 (7.53%) Project Management
12 62 (7.29%) Migration
13 58 (6.82%) Decision-Making
14 56 (6.59%) Validation
15 54 (6.35%) Change Management
16 53 (6.24%) Technical Leadership
17 52 (6.12%) Analytics
18 51 (6.00%) CRM
18 51 (6.00%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 73 (8.59%) Python
2 46 (5.41%) SQL
3 32 (3.76%) JavaScript
4 16 (1.88%) Bash
5 15 (1.76%) Java
6 9 (1.06%) C#
6 9 (1.06%) PowerShell
7 7 (0.82%) Apex Code
7 7 (0.82%) R
8 5 (0.59%) C++
9 4 (0.47%) ABAP
9 4 (0.47%) DataWeave
9 4 (0.47%) Shell Script
9 4 (0.47%) SOQL
9 4 (0.47%) TypeScript
10 3 (0.35%) LookML
11 2 (0.24%) C
11 2 (0.24%) DCL
12 1 (0.12%) Ada
12 1 (0.12%) Go
Qualifications
1 149 (17.53%) Security Cleared
2 100 (11.76%) SC Cleared
3 85 (10.00%) Degree
4 57 (6.71%) Cisco Certification
5 40 (4.71%) CCNA
6 23 (2.71%) Microsoft Certification
7 21 (2.47%) A+ Certification
7 21 (2.47%) CCNP
7 21 (2.47%) Computer Science Degree
7 21 (2.47%) DV Cleared
7 21 (2.47%) PMP
8 17 (2.00%) PMI Certification
9 16 (1.88%) BPSS Clearance
10 13 (1.53%) MCSA
11 10 (1.18%) Azure Certification
12 9 (1.06%) AWS Certification
12 9 (1.06%) CCIE
13 8 (0.94%) CISSP
13 8 (0.94%) Master's Degree
13 8 (0.94%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (3.29%) SLA
2 27 (3.18%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 24 (2.82%) QA
4 23 (2.71%) GDPR
5 20 (2.35%) GRC
6 18 (2.12%) NCSC
6 18 (2.12%) PMO
7 14 (1.65%) Data Quality
8 9 (1.06%) NIST
9 3 (0.35%) Actionable Recommendations
9 3 (0.35%) Cyber Essentials
9 3 (0.35%) PCI DSS
9 3 (0.35%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 2 (0.24%) Accessibility
10 2 (0.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
10 2 (0.24%) EU AI Act
11 1 (0.12%) ISO 31000
11 1 (0.12%) ISO/IEC 15288
11 1 (0.12%) ISO/IEC 42001
11 1 (0.12%) SOC 1
System Software
1 25 (2.94%) Docker
2 22 (2.59%) Active Directory
3 20 (2.35%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (0.94%) VMware NSX
5 5 (0.59%) vSphere
6 4 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.35%) Hyper-V
8 1 (0.12%) Ceph
8 1 (0.12%) Firmware
8 1 (0.12%) KVM
8 1 (0.12%) NDS
8 1 (0.12%) NetIQ eDirectory
8 1 (0.12%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 47 (5.53%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.59%) Terraform
3 18 (2.12%) Ansible
4 16 (1.88%) Grafana
4 16 (1.88%) Prometheus
5 7 (0.82%) Microsoft Intune
6 5 (0.59%) Jamf Pro
7 3 (0.35%) Amdocs OSS
7 3 (0.35%) Check_MK
7 3 (0.35%) Kibana
7 3 (0.35%) Podman
7 3 (0.35%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.35%) vRealize
8 2 (0.24%) Cisco Prime
8 2 (0.24%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.24%) QRadar
8 2 (0.24%) SolarWinds Orion
9 1 (0.12%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle RMAN
9 1 (0.12%) SCCM
Vendors
1 115 (13.53%) Microsoft
2 96 (11.29%) Cisco
3 87 (10.24%) ServiceNow
4 54 (6.35%) Nokia
5 42 (4.94%) Salesforce
6 34 (4.00%) VMware
7 28 (3.29%) SAP
8 23 (2.71%) BT
8 23 (2.71%) Ericsson
8 23 (2.71%) Google
9 19 (2.24%) F5
9 19 (2.24%) Juniper
10 18 (2.12%) Fortinet
10 18 (2.12%) MuleSoft
11 16 (1.88%) Huawei
12 12 (1.41%) BMC
12 12 (1.41%) Palo Alto
13 10 (1.18%) CheckPoint
13 10 (1.18%) Oracle
14 9 (1.06%) Zscaler