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

6 months to
20 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 132 63 67
Rank change year-on-year -69 +4 +17
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 783 1,075 1,307
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.10% 3.44% 3.02%
As % of the General category 3.51% 5.57% 5.12%
Number of daily rates quoted 513 505 781
10th Percentile £170 £277 £205
25th Percentile £315 £379 £371
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% -1.04%
75th Percentile £573 £605 £623
90th Percentile £675 £687 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% +3.37%
Number of hourly rates quoted 61 30 39
10th Percentile £17.38 £20.75 £14.90
25th Percentile £20.50 £22.50 £24.38
Median hourly rate £23.83 £33.75 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.41% -43.75% +14.29%
75th Percentile £24.50 £59.38 £78.50
90th Percentile £43.00 £75.00 £95.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.75 £48.56 £67.50
% change year-on-year -51.09% -28.06% +12.50%

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 22,334 19,303 25,535
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 59.91% 61.71% 58.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,075 11,487 16,655
10th Percentile £284 £285 £270
25th Percentile £400 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £538
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.42% -2.18%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £727 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,366 648 1,327
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.62 £13.41
25th Percentile £16.48 £20.00 £15.44
Median hourly rate £23.00 £27.50 £28.25
Median % change year-on-year -16.36% -2.65% +13.00%
75th Percentile £46.00 £53.75 £56.49
90th Percentile £70.00 £72.82 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.50 £26.50 £26.00
% change year-on-year -18.87% +1.92% +15.56%

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 20 January 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 20 January 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 20 January 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 -78 693 £470 -6.93% 716
UK excluding London -58 447 £450 -10.00% 679
London -27 278 £475 -11.63% 118
Work from Home -45 185 £475 -7.32% 253
South East -43 153 £475 -5.00% 251
South West -31 74 £525 -3.67% 79
Midlands -32 73 £400 -20.99% 99
North of England -47 72 £330 -30.53% 102
West Midlands -37 51 £520 +2.72% 60
East of England -29 37 £550 +22.22% 112
North West -24 35 £288 -41.62% 47
Scotland +13 25 £309 -28.41% 30
East Midlands -14 22 £158 -56.55% 37
North East -5 18 £175 -51.72% 17
Yorkshire -51 18 £481 -3.75% 40
Northern Ireland +8 12 £150 - 10
Wales -4 9 £160 -56.16% 22
Channel Islands -2 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 17 (2.17%) Confluence
2 16 (2.04%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.28%) Appian
3 10 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.89%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.77%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.26%) Apache
6 2 (0.26%) CMS
6 2 (0.26%) IIS
7 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.13%) JBoss
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
Applications
1 49 (6.26%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (2.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 13 (1.66%) Microsoft Project
4 10 (1.28%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.51%) Autodesk Inventor
6 3 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.26%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.26%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
8 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
8 1 (0.13%) Trello
Business Applications
1 17 (2.17%) SAP BRIM
1 17 (2.17%) SAP Hybris
1 17 (2.17%) SAP PSCD
2 7 (0.89%) Remedy ITSM
3 4 (0.51%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
3 4 (0.51%) SAP ERP
4 3 (0.38%) Primavera
5 2 (0.26%) Dynamics CRM
5 2 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
5 2 (0.26%) SAP CO
5 2 (0.26%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
5 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 60 (7.66%) Azure
2 53 (6.77%) Microsoft 365
3 46 (5.87%) AWS
4 30 (3.83%) GCP
5 17 (2.17%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 14 (1.79%) SaaS
7 13 (1.66%) GitHub
8 12 (1.53%) Power Platform
9 10 (1.28%) Dynamics 365
10 9 (1.15%) Azure DevOps
11 8 (1.02%) Entra ID
11 8 (1.02%) GitHub Actions
12 7 (0.89%) Tricentis Tosca
13 5 (0.64%) Miro
14 4 (0.51%) Power Automate
15 3 (0.38%) Asana
15 3 (0.38%) IaaS
15 3 (0.38%) Salesforce Service Cloud
15 3 (0.38%) Slack
15 3 (0.38%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 50 (6.39%) Firewall
2 47 (6.00%) WAN
3 44 (5.62%) Wireless
4 37 (4.73%) LAN
5 27 (3.45%) MPLS
5 27 (3.45%) VPN
6 25 (3.19%) 5G
6 25 (3.19%) Network Security
7 22 (2.81%) 4G
8 21 (2.68%) DNS
8 21 (2.68%) Radio Access Network
8 21 (2.68%) SD-WAN
9 19 (2.43%) Broadband
9 19 (2.43%) LTE
9 19 (2.43%) VoIP
10 18 (2.30%) BGP
11 15 (1.92%) SDH
12 14 (1.79%) Wireshark
13 13 (1.66%) 3GPP
14 12 (1.53%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (1.28%) Power BI
2 9 (1.15%) MySQL
3 7 (0.89%) Tableau
4 5 (0.64%) Oracle Database
4 5 (0.64%) SQL Server
5 4 (0.51%) Big Data
5 4 (0.51%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (0.51%) Electronic Patient Records
5 4 (0.51%) GIS
5 4 (0.51%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.51%) SAP BW
6 3 (0.38%) Relational Database
7 2 (0.26%) BigQuery
7 2 (0.26%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.26%) Power Query
7 2 (0.26%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.13%) Looker
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Exadata
8 1 (0.13%) Redis
Development Applications
1 29 (3.70%) JIRA
2 20 (2.55%) GitLab
3 10 (1.28%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.02%) Robot Framework
4 8 (1.02%) Selenium
5 7 (0.89%) Cucumber
5 7 (0.89%) SonarQube
6 6 (0.77%) Git
6 6 (0.77%) Postman
7 4 (0.51%) JUnit
8 3 (0.38%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.38%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.38%) Storybook
9 2 (0.26%) Appium
9 2 (0.26%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.26%) JMeter
9 2 (0.26%) Maven
10 1 (0.13%) GoCD
10 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.13%) TestRail
General
1 277 (35.38%) Finance
2 253 (32.31%) Public Sector
3 240 (30.65%) Social Skills
4 203 (25.93%) Marketing
5 193 (24.65%) Electronics
6 190 (24.27%) Manufacturing
7 84 (10.73%) Analytical Skills
8 33 (4.21%) Billing
9 30 (3.83%) Documentation Skills
10 21 (2.68%) Organisational Skills
11 16 (2.04%) Banking
12 12 (1.53%) Legal
13 11 (1.40%) Retail
14 8 (1.02%) Military
15 5 (0.64%) Law
16 4 (0.51%) General Ledger
16 4 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 4 (0.51%) Influencing Skills
16 4 (0.51%) Presentation Skills
17 3 (0.38%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 79 (10.09%) Architect
2 78 (9.96%) Analyst
3 46 (5.87%) Business Analyst
3 46 (5.87%) Project Manager
4 44 (5.62%) Senior
5 43 (5.49%) Consultant
6 42 (5.36%) IT Support
7 39 (4.98%) Lead
8 36 (4.60%) Desktop Support
9 34 (4.34%) Network Engineer
10 26 (3.32%) 2nd Line Support
11 25 (3.19%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
11 25 (3.19%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
12 24 (3.07%) Solutions Architect
13 22 (2.81%) Developer
14 21 (2.68%) SAP Consultant
14 21 (2.68%) Support Engineer
15 20 (2.55%) Migration Engineer
15 20 (2.55%) Network Specialist
16 19 (2.43%) Coordinator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (2.94%) REST
2 18 (2.30%) SOAP
3 11 (1.40%) XML
4 9 (1.15%) JSON
4 9 (1.15%) RESTful
4 9 (1.15%) SailPoint
5 8 (1.02%) 802.1X
6 7 (0.89%) Jinja
6 7 (0.89%) NETCONF
6 7 (0.89%) React
6 7 (0.89%) Web Services
7 6 (0.77%) RFC 2544
7 6 (0.77%) YANG
8 5 (0.64%) Elastic Stack
8 5 (0.64%) Node.js
8 5 (0.64%) Spring
9 4 (0.51%) .NET
9 4 (0.51%) HTML
9 4 (0.51%) Spring Boot
10 3 (0.38%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 57 (7.28%) Data Centre
2 33 (4.21%) Driving Licence
3 28 (3.58%) Data Protection Act
3 28 (3.58%) Product Ownership
4 20 (2.55%) CMDB
4 20 (2.55%) Onboarding
5 18 (2.30%) Legacy Systems
5 18 (2.30%) NHS
6 17 (2.17%) Cloud Native
7 15 (1.92%) IoT
8 13 (1.66%) Fibre Optics
8 13 (1.66%) Mobile App
9 10 (1.28%) Self-Motivation
9 10 (1.28%) Virtual Team
10 9 (1.15%) Analytical Mindset
10 9 (1.15%) Cyber Threat
10 9 (1.15%) SCADA
11 8 (1.02%) Operational Technology
12 7 (0.89%) Management Information System
13 6 (0.77%) Enterprise Cloud
Operating Systems
1 43 (5.49%) Windows
2 39 (4.98%) Android
3 32 (4.09%) Mac OS
4 18 (2.30%) Windows 10
5 17 (2.17%) Linux
6 9 (1.15%) Windows Server
7 8 (1.02%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.38%) Debian
9 3 (0.38%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.38%) Unix
9 3 (0.38%) VMS
10 1 (0.13%) CentOS
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 196 (25.03%) Business Intelligence
2 194 (24.78%) Programme Management
3 188 (24.01%) Digital Marketing
4 128 (16.35%) Agile
5 118 (15.07%) Problem-Solving
6 113 (14.43%) Stakeholder Management
7 93 (11.88%) Migration
8 75 (9.58%) Continuous Improvement
9 74 (9.45%) ITIL
10 72 (9.20%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 55 (7.02%) Logistics
12 54 (6.90%) Workflow
13 50 (6.39%) Customer Service
13 50 (6.39%) Project Management
14 46 (5.87%) Change Management
14 46 (5.87%) CI/CD
15 45 (5.75%) Service Delivery
16 44 (5.62%) DevOps
16 44 (5.62%) Roadmaps
17 42 (5.36%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 57 (7.28%) Python
2 34 (4.34%) JavaScript
3 29 (3.70%) SQL
4 16 (2.04%) Java
5 14 (1.79%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.40%) TypeScript
7 9 (1.15%) Bash
8 7 (0.89%) C
8 7 (0.89%) C++
9 5 (0.64%) C#
9 5 (0.64%) Go
10 4 (0.51%) ABAP
11 3 (0.38%) BeanShell
11 3 (0.38%) PHP
12 2 (0.26%) R
12 2 (0.26%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.13%) Groovy
13 1 (0.13%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.13%) Scala
13 1 (0.13%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 205 (26.18%) Security Cleared
2 168 (21.46%) SC Cleared
3 58 (7.41%) Degree
4 27 (3.45%) DV Cleared
5 21 (2.68%) Cisco Certification
6 19 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
7 15 (1.92%) CCNP
8 11 (1.40%) Computer Science Degree
8 11 (1.40%) PMP
9 9 (1.15%) CCIE
9 9 (1.15%) ITIL Certification
10 8 (1.02%) ACCA
10 8 (1.02%) CCNA
10 8 (1.02%) PMI Certification
11 7 (0.89%) JNCIP
12 6 (0.77%) CIMA
12 6 (0.77%) CISSP
12 6 (0.77%) Master's Degree
12 6 (0.77%) Microsoft Certification
13 5 (0.64%) DBS Check
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 34 (4.34%) SLA
2 31 (3.96%) QA
3 19 (2.43%) PMO
4 18 (2.30%) GDPR
5 13 (1.66%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 11 (1.40%) Data Quality
7 9 (1.15%) GRC
8 8 (1.02%) Accessibility
9 6 (0.77%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.77%) RMADS
10 5 (0.64%) NCSC
10 5 (0.64%) NIST
10 5 (0.64%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.38%) GAAP
11 3 (0.38%) IFRS
12 2 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.26%) ISO 26262
12 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 27 (3.45%) Active Directory
2 19 (2.43%) Docker
3 6 (0.77%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.38%) QEMU
4 3 (0.38%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.26%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.13%) Firmware
6 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 26 (3.32%) Ansible
2 19 (2.43%) Kubernetes
3 12 (1.53%) Terraform
4 7 (0.89%) SCCM
5 5 (0.64%) Argo
5 5 (0.64%) Grafana
5 5 (0.64%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.38%) Podman
6 3 (0.38%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.38%) vRealize
7 2 (0.26%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (0.26%) Iperf
7 2 (0.26%) Nmap
7 2 (0.26%) Puppet
8 1 (0.13%) Cisco CUCM
8 1 (0.13%) Cisco Prime
8 1 (0.13%) Data Guard
8 1 (0.13%) HP ALM
8 1 (0.13%) SCOM
8 1 (0.13%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 218 (27.84%) SAP
2 123 (15.71%) Cisco
3 92 (11.75%) Microsoft
4 43 (5.49%) ServiceNow
5 34 (4.34%) Juniper
6 32 (4.09%) Nokia
7 25 (3.19%) HP
8 24 (3.07%) Apple
8 24 (3.07%) Dell
9 21 (2.68%) F5
9 21 (2.68%) Remedy
9 21 (2.68%) Salesforce
10 17 (2.17%) CheckPoint
10 17 (2.17%) Ericsson
10 17 (2.17%) Oracle
11 14 (1.79%) Fortinet
12 13 (1.66%) Google
13 11 (1.40%) Meraki
13 11 (1.40%) Palo Alto
14 8 (1.02%) Actix