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

6 months to
12 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 167 85 61
Rank change year-on-year -82 -24 +23
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 754 859 1,432
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.64% 2.94% 3.26%
As % of the General category 2.96% 4.65% 5.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 471 481 782
10th Percentile £175 £305 £200
25th Percentile £363 £389 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -7.60%
75th Percentile £575 £605 £588
90th Percentile £675 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £469 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -6.20% +11.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 33 69
10th Percentile £19.27 £14.00 £12.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.20 £12.28
Median hourly rate £23.83 £24.18 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.47% -46.27% -14.29%
75th Percentile £33.13 £60.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £59.50 £63.60 £86.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.79 £23.00 £18.84
% change year-on-year +3.42% +22.11% -64.12%

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 25,470 18,457 25,560
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.54% 63.07% 58.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,820 11,811 16,189
10th Percentile £304 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £644 £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 1,586 753 1,897
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.41 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.25 £18.50 £15.39
Median hourly rate £27.00 £28.75 £27.50
Median % change year-on-year -6.09% +4.55% -21.43%
75th Percentile £59.00 £56.00 £50.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.00 £26.50 £26.00
% change year-on-year -5.66% +1.92% -15.42%

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 12 April 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 12 April 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 12 April 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 -82 657 £475 -5.47% 512
UK excluding London -80 410 £469 -6.20% 422
London -31 272 £500 -5.66% 139
Work from Home -55 175 £475 -5.00% 175
South East -57 169 £469 -6.20% 141
North of England -81 62 £463 -9.31% 94
Midlands -44 60 £525 +2.44% 63
South West -47 49 £525 - 50
West Midlands -52 43 £550 +7.32% 43
East of England -32 37 £475 +18.75% 56
North West -57 26 £463 -11.69% 46
Scotland +2 18 £215 -36.30% 27
North East -13 18 £338 -6.90% 11
East Midlands -26 17 £500 -20.00% 20
Yorkshire -51 17 £481 -10.47% 42
Wales -3 10 £160 -56.16% 10
Northern Ireland 0 8 £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 (1.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 9 (1.19%) Confluence
2 9 (1.19%) OpenStack
3 7 (0.93%) Apache Spark
3 7 (0.93%) SharePoint
4 6 (0.80%) Appian
5 5 (0.66%) Apache Airflow
6 4 (0.53%) Apache
7 3 (0.40%) ArcGIS
7 3 (0.40%) IIS
7 3 (0.40%) JBoss
7 3 (0.40%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 3 (0.40%) Tomcat
7 3 (0.40%) WebLogic
8 2 (0.27%) CMS
8 2 (0.27%) Oracle Spatial
9 1 (0.13%) Camunda
9 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
9 1 (0.13%) Smallworld
Applications
1 35 (4.64%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (3.18%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (1.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.33%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.66%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.27%) MicroStation
6 2 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.27%) Trello
7 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.13%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
7 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
Business Applications
1 16 (2.12%) SAP PSCD
2 15 (1.99%) SAP BRIM
2 15 (1.99%) SAP Hybris
3 8 (1.06%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.80%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 4 (0.53%) BambooHR
6 3 (0.40%) SAP FI
7 2 (0.27%) Primavera
7 2 (0.27%) SAP CO
7 2 (0.27%) SAP FI/CO
7 2 (0.27%) SAP S/4HANA
8 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.13%) Remedy AR System
8 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.13%) SAP FI-CA
8 1 (0.13%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.13%) SAP SRM
8 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 74 (9.81%) Azure
2 64 (8.49%) AWS
3 43 (5.70%) GCP
4 39 (5.17%) Microsoft 365
5 22 (2.92%) Power Platform
6 16 (2.12%) SAP Commerce Cloud
7 11 (1.46%) SaaS
8 9 (1.19%) Azure DevOps
8 9 (1.19%) GitHub
9 7 (0.93%) GitHub Actions
10 6 (0.80%) dbt
11 5 (0.66%) Datadog
11 5 (0.66%) Serverless
12 4 (0.53%) AWS Lambda
12 4 (0.53%) Dagster
12 4 (0.53%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.53%) Figma
12 4 (0.53%) Prefect
12 4 (0.53%) Slack
12 4 (0.53%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 43 (5.70%) Firewall
2 41 (5.44%) WAN
3 40 (5.31%) 5G
4 36 (4.77%) MPLS
5 30 (3.98%) LAN
6 27 (3.58%) SD-WAN
7 26 (3.45%) 4G
7 26 (3.45%) Network Security
8 22 (2.92%) DNS
9 21 (2.79%) BGP
9 21 (2.79%) Radio Access Network
10 20 (2.65%) Internet
10 20 (2.65%) LTE
10 20 (2.65%) VPN
11 17 (2.25%) Wireless
12 16 (2.12%) VoIP
13 15 (1.99%) 3GPP
13 15 (1.99%) Broadband
14 14 (1.86%) OSPF
14 14 (1.86%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 21 (2.79%) Power BI
2 12 (1.59%) Data Warehouse
2 12 (1.59%) Looker
3 11 (1.46%) Tableau
4 10 (1.33%) MySQL
5 9 (1.19%) BigQuery
6 8 (1.06%) Big Data
6 8 (1.06%) Relational Database
7 7 (0.93%) Amazon Redshift
8 6 (0.80%) GIS
8 6 (0.80%) Oracle Database
8 6 (0.80%) PostgreSQL
8 6 (0.80%) SQL Server
9 3 (0.40%) Amazon Athena
9 3 (0.40%) Metadata
9 3 (0.40%) NoSQL
9 3 (0.40%) RDBMS
9 3 (0.40%) Semantic Layer
9 3 (0.40%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.27%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 23 (3.05%) JIRA
2 8 (1.06%) Jenkins
3 7 (0.93%) GitLab
4 5 (0.66%) Git
5 4 (0.53%) JUnit
6 3 (0.40%) Storybook
7 2 (0.27%) Appium
7 2 (0.27%) CircleCI
7 2 (0.27%) JMeter
7 2 (0.27%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.13%) Maven
8 1 (0.13%) Mockito
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 220 (29.18%) Social Skills
2 205 (27.19%) Finance
3 168 (22.28%) Public Sector
4 124 (16.45%) Marketing
5 117 (15.52%) Electronics
6 111 (14.72%) Manufacturing
7 91 (12.07%) Analytical Skills
8 38 (5.04%) Billing
9 20 (2.65%) Organisational Skills
10 18 (2.39%) Legal
11 17 (2.25%) Documentation Skills
11 17 (2.25%) Retail
12 13 (1.72%) Influencing Skills
13 10 (1.33%) Military
14 8 (1.06%) Presentation Skills
15 7 (0.93%) Banking
16 5 (0.66%) Law
17 3 (0.40%) Financial Institution
18 2 (0.27%) Aerospace
18 2 (0.27%) Mandarin Language
Job Titles
1 82 (10.88%) Architect
2 74 (9.81%) Analyst
3 48 (6.37%) Lead
4 46 (6.10%) Senior
5 45 (5.97%) Consultant
6 42 (5.57%) Project Manager
7 39 (5.17%) Business Analyst
8 33 (4.38%) Network Engineer
9 31 (4.11%) Developer
10 28 (3.71%) Solutions Architect
10 28 (3.71%) Telecoms Manager
11 25 (3.32%) IT Support
12 21 (2.79%) Data Engineer
13 20 (2.65%) Desktop Support
14 19 (2.52%) Programme Manager
15 18 (2.39%) ServiceNow Architect
16 17 (2.25%) Coordinator
16 17 (2.25%) Designer
16 17 (2.25%) SAP Consultant
17 15 (1.99%) Telecoms Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.45%) REST
2 16 (2.12%) SOAP
3 11 (1.46%) Elastic Stack
4 10 (1.33%) Kafka
5 8 (1.06%) .NET
5 8 (1.06%) RESTful
6 6 (0.80%) Middleware
6 6 (0.80%) RabbitMQ
6 6 (0.80%) Spring
7 5 (0.66%) React
7 5 (0.66%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.53%) HTML
9 3 (0.40%) 802.1X
9 3 (0.40%) CSS
9 3 (0.40%) GraphQL
9 3 (0.40%) Node.js
9 3 (0.40%) OpenAPI
9 3 (0.40%) Swagger
9 3 (0.40%) Vitest
9 3 (0.40%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 36 (4.77%) Data Centre
2 29 (3.85%) Data Protection Act
3 26 (3.45%) Driving Licence
3 26 (3.45%) Onboarding
4 25 (3.32%) Product Ownership
5 22 (2.92%) Cloud Native
6 18 (2.39%) CMDB
7 13 (1.72%) IoT
7 13 (1.72%) Mobile App
7 13 (1.72%) NHS
8 11 (1.46%) Analytical Mindset
8 11 (1.46%) Distributed Systems
8 11 (1.46%) Legacy Systems
9 10 (1.33%) Virtual Team
10 9 (1.19%) Algorithms
10 9 (1.19%) Self-Motivation
11 8 (1.06%) Hybrid Cloud
12 6 (0.80%) Fibre Optics
12 6 (0.80%) Management Information System
13 5 (0.66%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 40 (5.31%) Windows
2 24 (3.18%) Linux
3 22 (2.92%) Android
3 22 (2.92%) Windows 10
4 16 (2.12%) Mac OS
5 8 (1.06%) Unix
6 5 (0.66%) Apple iOS
6 5 (0.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
6 5 (0.66%) Windows Server
7 3 (0.40%) Debian
7 3 (0.40%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.40%) VMS
8 2 (0.27%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.13%) CentOS
9 1 (0.13%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 132 (17.51%) Business Intelligence
2 116 (15.38%) Programme Management
3 115 (15.25%) Stakeholder Management
4 110 (14.59%) Digital Marketing
5 104 (13.79%) Agile
6 96 (12.73%) Problem-Solving
7 84 (11.14%) Migration
8 77 (10.21%) Continuous Improvement
9 64 (8.49%) ITIL
9 64 (8.49%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 59 (7.82%) Project Management
11 52 (6.90%) Logistics
12 49 (6.50%) Customer Service
13 48 (6.37%) Analytics
13 48 (6.37%) Workflow
14 47 (6.23%) Decision-Making
15 44 (5.84%) Roadmaps
16 43 (5.70%) CI/CD
16 43 (5.70%) Project Delivery
17 41 (5.44%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 57 (7.56%) Python
2 41 (5.44%) SQL
3 22 (2.92%) JavaScript
4 19 (2.52%) Java
5 11 (1.46%) Bash
6 8 (1.06%) PowerShell
7 7 (0.93%) C++
7 7 (0.93%) R
7 7 (0.93%) TypeScript
8 6 (0.80%) Go
9 5 (0.66%) C#
10 3 (0.40%) C
10 3 (0.40%) LookML
10 3 (0.40%) Shell Script
11 2 (0.27%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.27%) PHP
11 2 (0.27%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.13%) Bicep
12 1 (0.13%) Cypher
12 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 168 (22.28%) Security Cleared
2 135 (17.90%) SC Cleared
3 65 (8.62%) Degree
4 30 (3.98%) DV Cleared
5 19 (2.52%) PMP
6 17 (2.25%) Cisco Certification
7 16 (2.12%) BPSS Clearance
8 15 (1.99%) Computer Science Degree
9 13 (1.72%) PMI Certification
10 12 (1.59%) CCNP
11 11 (1.46%) ITIL Certification
12 9 (1.19%) Microsoft Certification
13 8 (1.06%) Azure Certification
14 7 (0.93%) A+ Certification
14 7 (0.93%) ACCA
14 7 (0.93%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.93%) CCIE
14 7 (0.93%) CIMA
14 7 (0.93%) Network+ Certification
15 6 (0.80%) CCNA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (3.71%) SLA
2 20 (2.65%) GDPR
2 20 (2.65%) PMO
3 19 (2.52%) QA
4 16 (2.12%) Data Quality
4 16 (2.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.46%) NCSC
6 10 (1.33%) GRC
7 9 (1.19%) NIST
8 7 (0.93%) RMADS
9 5 (0.66%) JSP 440
10 3 (0.40%) Accessibility
11 2 (0.27%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 1 (0.13%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 1 (0.13%) HIPAA
12 1 (0.13%) HMG Security Policy Framework
12 1 (0.13%) NEBOSH
12 1 (0.13%) PCI DSS
12 1 (0.13%) SOC 1
12 1 (0.13%) WCAG
System Software
1 22 (2.92%) Active Directory
2 15 (1.99%) Docker
3 7 (0.93%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.40%) QEMU
5 2 (0.27%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.13%) Firmware
6 1 (0.13%) Virtual Servers
6 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 36 (4.77%) Kubernetes
2 15 (1.99%) Ansible
3 14 (1.86%) Grafana
4 11 (1.46%) Prometheus
4 11 (1.46%) Terraform
5 6 (0.80%) SCCM
6 4 (0.53%) Argo
6 4 (0.53%) Microsoft Intune
7 3 (0.40%) Cisco Prime
7 3 (0.40%) Iperf
7 3 (0.40%) Podman
8 2 (0.27%) Amdocs OSS
8 2 (0.27%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.27%) Kibana
8 2 (0.27%) Nmap
8 2 (0.27%) vRealize
9 1 (0.13%) Consul
9 1 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.13%) Fluentd
9 1 (0.13%) Rancher
Vendors
1 133 (17.64%) SAP
2 89 (11.80%) Microsoft
3 86 (11.41%) Cisco
4 54 (7.16%) ServiceNow
5 34 (4.51%) Nokia
6 21 (2.79%) Juniper
6 21 (2.79%) Oracle
7 20 (2.65%) Ericsson
7 20 (2.65%) Fortinet
8 16 (2.12%) Google
9 15 (1.99%) Salesforce
10 14 (1.86%) BT
10 14 (1.86%) Huawei
11 13 (1.72%) CheckPoint
11 13 (1.72%) F5
12 11 (1.46%) Meraki
13 10 (1.33%) Dell
13 10 (1.33%) Palo Alto
13 10 (1.33%) Remedy
13 10 (1.33%) VMware