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

6 months to
8 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 158 76 64
Rank change year-on-year -82 -12 +19
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 763 938 1,407
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.80% 3.12% 3.15%
As % of the General category 3.12% 4.99% 5.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 478 483 800
10th Percentile £170 £300 £200
25th Percentile £333 £379 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £459 £513 £450
Median % change year-on-year -10.44% +13.89% -7.69%
75th Percentile £560 £618 £594
90th Percentile £675 £700 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £504 £450
% change year-on-year -10.63% +11.89% +0.28%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 30 54
10th Percentile £17.68 £14.00 £12.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £21.06 £13.25
Median hourly rate £23.83 £26.92 £36.75
Median % change year-on-year -11.49% -26.76% -30.00%
75th Percentile £24.75 £59.38 £67.17
90th Percentile £44.40 £64.20 £87.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.79 £23.00 £25.00
% change year-on-year +3.42% -8.00% -52.38%

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 24,434 18,815 26,114
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 57.65% 62.58% 58.51%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,295 11,716 16,713
10th Percentile £300 £291 £263
25th Percentile £405 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £490
% change year-on-year - -3.06% -2.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,496 659 1,809
10th Percentile £13.57 £15.25 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.00 £20.06 £15.33
Median hourly rate £24.00 £29.07 £25.50
Median % change year-on-year -17.44% +14.00% -20.31%
75th Percentile £55.00 £58.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.68 £27.37 £24.87
% change year-on-year -17.13% +10.04% -6.36%

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 8 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 8 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 8 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 -86 669 £475 -7.32% 503
UK excluding London -77 434 £450 -10.63% 429
London -30 267 £475 -13.64% 142
Work from Home -62 184 £475 -7.32% 158
South East -49 154 £469 -6.20% 169
Midlands -52 75 £500 -2.44% 46
North of England -54 72 £388 -20.51% 91
South West -41 58 £525 -2.78% 38
West Midlands -55 51 £550 +7.32% 26
East of England -24 37 £513 +5.67% 57
North West -44 32 £306 -39.95% 50
Scotland +21 27 £330 -10.51% 26
East Midlands -15 24 £158 -60.63% 20
North East +2 23 £175 -51.72% 9
Yorkshire -56 16 £481 -6.10% 34
Northern Ireland -1 9 £150 -72.73% 3
Wales -4 9 £160 -56.16% 13

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 (1.31%) Appian
1 10 (1.31%) Confluence
1 10 (1.31%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.18%) Apache Spark
2 9 (1.18%) Microsoft Exchange
3 5 (0.66%) OpenStack
4 4 (0.52%) Apache
4 4 (0.52%) Apache Airflow
4 4 (0.52%) IIS
5 3 (0.39%) JBoss
5 3 (0.39%) Oracle SOA Suite
5 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
5 3 (0.39%) WebLogic
6 2 (0.26%) ArcGIS
6 2 (0.26%) CMS
6 2 (0.26%) Oracle Spatial
7 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 51 (6.68%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (3.01%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.83%) Microsoft Project
4 11 (1.44%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.92%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.52%) Autodesk Inventor
7 2 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
7 2 (0.26%) Trello
8 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
8 1 (0.13%) Chatbot
8 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
8 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
8 1 (0.13%) MicroStation
Business Applications
1 18 (2.36%) SAP BRIM
1 18 (2.36%) SAP Hybris
1 18 (2.36%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.31%) Remedy ITSM
3 6 (0.79%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 3 (0.39%) BambooHR
4 3 (0.39%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.39%) Primavera
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
6 1 (0.13%) Remedy AR System
6 1 (0.13%) SAP SRM
6 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 69 (9.04%) Azure
2 50 (6.55%) AWS
2 50 (6.55%) Microsoft 365
3 32 (4.19%) GCP
4 18 (2.36%) SAP Commerce Cloud
5 17 (2.23%) Power Platform
6 13 (1.70%) SaaS
7 10 (1.31%) Azure DevOps
7 10 (1.31%) Dynamics 365
8 9 (1.18%) GitHub
9 7 (0.92%) GitHub Actions
10 4 (0.52%) Entra ID
10 4 (0.52%) Miro
10 4 (0.52%) Slack
10 4 (0.52%) Tricentis Tosca
11 3 (0.39%) Asana
11 3 (0.39%) dbt
11 3 (0.39%) Salesforce Service Cloud
11 3 (0.39%) Smartsheet
11 3 (0.39%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 47 (6.16%) WAN
2 44 (5.77%) Firewall
3 36 (4.72%) LAN
3 36 (4.72%) Wireless
4 34 (4.46%) MPLS
5 33 (4.33%) 5G
6 26 (3.41%) 4G
7 25 (3.28%) Network Security
7 25 (3.28%) Radio Access Network
7 25 (3.28%) SD-WAN
8 22 (2.88%) VPN
9 19 (2.49%) BGP
9 19 (2.49%) LTE
10 18 (2.36%) Broadband
10 18 (2.36%) DNS
10 18 (2.36%) VoIP
11 16 (2.10%) Internet
11 16 (2.10%) SDH
12 14 (1.83%) 3GPP
13 13 (1.70%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (2.10%) Power BI
2 11 (1.44%) MySQL
3 9 (1.18%) Tableau
4 8 (1.05%) Data Warehouse
4 8 (1.05%) Looker
4 8 (1.05%) Oracle Database
5 6 (0.79%) GIS
5 6 (0.79%) Relational Database
5 6 (0.79%) SQL Server
6 5 (0.66%) Big Data
6 5 (0.66%) BigQuery
7 4 (0.52%) Amazon Redshift
7 4 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.39%) RDBMS
9 2 (0.26%) Data Lake
9 2 (0.26%) Electronic Patient Records
9 2 (0.26%) Metadata
9 2 (0.26%) NoSQL
10 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
10 1 (0.13%) Geospatial Data
Development Applications
1 25 (3.28%) JIRA
2 12 (1.57%) GitLab
3 8 (1.05%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.79%) Git
5 5 (0.66%) Robot Framework
5 5 (0.66%) Selenium
6 4 (0.52%) Cucumber
6 4 (0.52%) JUnit
6 4 (0.52%) SonarQube
7 3 (0.39%) Storybook
8 2 (0.26%) Appium
8 2 (0.26%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.26%) JMeter
8 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.13%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.13%) Maven
9 1 (0.13%) Mockito
9 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.13%) TestRail
General
1 245 (32.11%) Finance
2 222 (29.10%) Social Skills
3 207 (27.13%) Public Sector
4 164 (21.49%) Marketing
5 153 (20.05%) Electronics
6 147 (19.27%) Manufacturing
7 79 (10.35%) Analytical Skills
8 38 (4.98%) Billing
9 22 (2.88%) Organisational Skills
10 19 (2.49%) Documentation Skills
11 14 (1.83%) Legal
12 13 (1.70%) Retail
13 9 (1.18%) Influencing Skills
13 9 (1.18%) Military
14 8 (1.05%) Banking
15 6 (0.79%) Law
16 4 (0.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 4 (0.52%) Presentation Skills
17 2 (0.26%) Aviation
17 2 (0.26%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 81 (10.62%) Architect
2 78 (10.22%) Analyst
3 48 (6.29%) Business Analyst
4 45 (5.90%) Lead
5 42 (5.50%) Consultant
6 40 (5.24%) IT Support
7 39 (5.11%) Network Engineer
8 37 (4.85%) Senior
9 35 (4.59%) Project Manager
10 34 (4.46%) Desktop Support
11 26 (3.41%) Solutions Architect
12 25 (3.28%) Developer
13 24 (3.15%) 2nd Line Support
14 23 (3.01%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
14 23 (3.01%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
15 20 (2.62%) Coordinator
15 20 (2.62%) Migration Engineer
16 19 (2.49%) IT Engineer
16 19 (2.49%) Telecoms Manager
17 18 (2.36%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (3.54%) REST
2 22 (2.88%) SOAP
3 9 (1.18%) .NET
4 7 (0.92%) Kafka
4 7 (0.92%) React
4 7 (0.92%) Web Services
5 6 (0.79%) RESTful
5 6 (0.79%) XML
6 5 (0.66%) Elastic Stack
6 5 (0.66%) JSON
6 5 (0.66%) RFC 2544
7 4 (0.52%) 802.1X
7 4 (0.52%) HTML
7 4 (0.52%) Jinja
7 4 (0.52%) NETCONF
7 4 (0.52%) Node.js
7 4 (0.52%) RabbitMQ
7 4 (0.52%) SailPoint
7 4 (0.52%) Spring
7 4 (0.52%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 52 (6.82%) Data Centre
2 31 (4.06%) Data Protection Act
3 30 (3.93%) Driving Licence
4 24 (3.15%) Product Ownership
5 21 (2.75%) Onboarding
6 17 (2.23%) CMDB
7 16 (2.10%) IoT
8 14 (1.83%) Cloud Native
8 14 (1.83%) NHS
9 13 (1.70%) Legacy Systems
9 13 (1.70%) Mobile App
10 10 (1.31%) Fibre Optics
11 8 (1.05%) Analytical Mindset
11 8 (1.05%) Distributed Systems
11 8 (1.05%) Virtual Team
12 7 (0.92%) Enterprise Cloud
12 7 (0.92%) SCADA
13 6 (0.79%) Algorithms
13 6 (0.79%) Management Information System
13 6 (0.79%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 39 (5.11%) Android
2 36 (4.72%) Windows
3 31 (4.06%) Mac OS
4 19 (2.49%) Linux
5 18 (2.36%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.92%) Unix
7 6 (0.79%) Apple iOS
8 5 (0.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.66%) 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
1 158 (20.71%) Business Intelligence
2 152 (19.92%) Programme Management
3 147 (19.27%) Digital Marketing
4 117 (15.33%) Stakeholder Management
5 103 (13.50%) Agile
5 103 (13.50%) Problem-Solving
6 85 (11.14%) Migration
7 79 (10.35%) Continuous Improvement
8 62 (8.13%) ITIL
9 59 (7.73%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 56 (7.34%) Logistics
11 51 (6.68%) Customer Service
11 51 (6.68%) Workflow
12 45 (5.90%) Project Management
13 40 (5.24%) Decision-Making
14 39 (5.11%) DevOps
15 38 (4.98%) CI/CD
15 38 (4.98%) Roadmaps
16 37 (4.85%) Data Protection
17 36 (4.72%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 52 (6.82%) Python
2 35 (4.59%) SQL
3 27 (3.54%) JavaScript
4 18 (2.36%) Java
5 10 (1.31%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.18%) Bash
6 9 (1.18%) TypeScript
7 6 (0.79%) C#
8 5 (0.66%) C++
8 5 (0.66%) Go
9 4 (0.52%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.39%) C
10 3 (0.39%) PHP
10 3 (0.39%) R
11 2 (0.26%) BeanShell
11 2 (0.26%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.13%) Bicep
12 1 (0.13%) Cypher
12 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 181 (23.72%) Security Cleared
2 154 (20.18%) SC Cleared
3 56 (7.34%) Degree
4 23 (3.01%) DV Cleared
5 19 (2.49%) BPSS Clearance
6 17 (2.23%) Cisco Certification
7 12 (1.57%) CCNP
7 12 (1.57%) PMP
8 10 (1.31%) ACCA
9 9 (1.18%) ITIL Certification
9 9 (1.18%) PMI Certification
10 7 (0.92%) CCNA
10 7 (0.92%) CIMA
10 7 (0.92%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (0.79%) Azure Certification
11 6 (0.79%) CCIE
11 6 (0.79%) ISTQB
11 6 (0.79%) Microsoft Certification
12 5 (0.66%) JNCIP
13 4 (0.52%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (3.80%) QA
1 29 (3.80%) SLA
2 22 (2.88%) GDPR
3 19 (2.49%) PMO
4 18 (2.36%) Data Quality
5 13 (1.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 9 (1.18%) GRC
6 9 (1.18%) NCSC
7 8 (1.05%) NIST
8 7 (0.92%) RMADS
9 5 (0.66%) Accessibility
9 5 (0.66%) JSP 440
10 4 (0.52%) IFRS
10 4 (0.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.39%) GAAP
12 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.26%) PCI DSS
13 1 (0.13%) COSO
13 1 (0.13%) FISMA
System Software
1 19 (2.49%) Active Directory
2 13 (1.70%) 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 22 (2.88%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.97%) Ansible
3 9 (1.18%) Terraform
4 7 (0.92%) Grafana
5 6 (0.79%) SCCM
6 5 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.52%) Argo
7 4 (0.52%) Prometheus
8 3 (0.39%) Cisco Prime
8 3 (0.39%) Iperf
8 3 (0.39%) Podman
9 2 (0.26%) Amdocs OSS
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%) HP ALM
10 1 (0.13%) Rancher
10 1 (0.13%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 174 (22.80%) SAP
2 111 (14.55%) Cisco
3 89 (11.66%) Microsoft
4 44 (5.77%) ServiceNow
5 32 (4.19%) Nokia
6 27 (3.54%) Juniper
7 25 (3.28%) HP
8 24 (3.15%) Dell
9 23 (3.01%) Apple
9 23 (3.01%) Oracle
10 21 (2.75%) Fortinet
11 17 (2.23%) Ericsson
12 15 (1.97%) Salesforce
13 13 (1.70%) CheckPoint
13 13 (1.70%) F5
14 12 (1.57%) Meraki
14 12 (1.57%) Remedy
15 11 (1.44%) Palo Alto
16 9 (1.18%) BT
16 9 (1.18%) Google