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

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 165 114 67
Rank change year-on-year -51 -47 +11
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 931 797 1,212
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.70% 2.40% 3.19%
As % of the General category 3.03% 3.80% 5.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 513 480 540
10th Percentile £256 £204 £247
25th Percentile £360 £371 £372
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £469 £455 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.08% -9.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £667 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £500
% change year-on-year - -10.00% +7.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 52 78
10th Percentile £13.96 £14.00 £20.43
25th Percentile £15.75 £14.75 £37.50
Median hourly rate £17.75 £23.00 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year -22.83% -65.93% +28.57%
75th Percentile £31.00 £44.13 £72.50
90th Percentile £53.60 £65.25 £80.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £20.75 £70.00
% change year-on-year -15.66% -70.36% +33.33%

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 30,700 21,001 22,220
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.19% 63.28% 58.49%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,860 13,046 13,160
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £400 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £650
90th Percentile £744 £738 £770
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £488
% change year-on-year +5.26% -2.56% -2.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,691 1,238 993
10th Percentile £13.48 £13.51 £14.78
25th Percentile £16.21 £16.17 £17.25
Median hourly rate £28.00 £25.08 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year +11.67% -28.36% +27.27%
75th Percentile £53.75 £45.75 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.09 £21.39 £33.00
% change year-on-year +31.32% -35.18% +23.23%

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 4 October 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 4 October 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 4 October 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 -66 772 £470 -0.53% 1,807
UK excluding London -52 476 £450 - 1,052
London -43 349 £500 +6.38% 843
Work from Home -24 274 £478 -4.50% 641
South East -36 192 £469 -5.16% 325
East of England +32 78 £325 -35.64% 135
Scotland +13 63 £300 +9.09% 91
North of England -56 58 £463 +68.18% 207
South West -67 45 £503 -8.64% 95
Midlands -76 33 £478 +25.82% 156
Yorkshire -22 32 £469 +70.45% 64
West Midlands -71 31 £506 +33.06% 91
North West -50 24 £463 +49.19% 117
Wales -9 7 £200 +19.40% 24
Northern Ireland 0 6 £290 +75.76% 33
Channel Islands -3 2 £606 -
East Midlands -16 2 £475 +171.43% 65
North East -40 2 £298 +70.00% 30

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 23 (2.47%) Confluence
2 15 (1.61%) OpenStack
2 15 (1.61%) SharePoint
3 9 (0.97%) ArcGIS
4 7 (0.75%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (0.43%) Anypoint
6 3 (0.32%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.21%) Apache
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Spark
7 2 (0.21%) CMS
8 1 (0.11%) IIS
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 37 (3.97%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (3.11%) MS Visio
3 27 (2.90%) Microsoft Office
4 12 (1.29%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.54%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.32%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.11%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.11%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.11%) InDesign
9 1 (0.11%) MicroStation
9 1 (0.11%) Photoshop
9 1 (0.11%) Revit
9 1 (0.11%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 25 (2.69%) SAP PSCD
2 17 (1.83%) SAP BRIM
3 13 (1.40%) SAP Hybris
4 10 (1.07%) SAP FI
5 9 (0.97%) SAP FI-CA
6 7 (0.75%) SAP S/4HANA
7 6 (0.64%) Remedy ITSM
8 5 (0.54%) NetSuite
8 5 (0.54%) Sage X3
8 5 (0.54%) Salesforce CRM
9 3 (0.32%) Remedy AR System
9 3 (0.32%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.21%) OpenText VIM for SAP
10 2 (0.21%) SAP MM
11 1 (0.11%) Dynamics CRM
11 1 (0.11%) Primavera
11 1 (0.11%) SAP CO
11 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
11 1 (0.11%) SAP SD
11 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 92 (9.88%) Azure
2 89 (9.56%) AWS
3 59 (6.34%) GCP
4 20 (2.15%) GitHub
4 20 (2.15%) Microsoft 365
5 18 (1.93%) Entra ID
6 16 (1.72%) Power Platform
6 16 (1.72%) SAP Commerce Cloud
7 15 (1.61%) SaaS
8 12 (1.29%) Azure DevOps
9 10 (1.07%) Cloud Computing
9 10 (1.07%) GitHub Actions
10 9 (0.97%) Microsoft Purview
11 8 (0.86%) OneDrive
12 7 (0.75%) dbt
12 7 (0.75%) Miro
12 7 (0.75%) Snowflake
13 6 (0.64%) Cloud Functions
14 5 (0.54%) Fivetran
14 5 (0.54%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 118 (12.67%) WAN
2 92 (9.88%) 5G
3 91 (9.77%) LAN
4 89 (9.56%) MPLS
5 66 (7.09%) 4G
6 65 (6.98%) Radio Access Network
7 55 (5.91%) Firewall
8 49 (5.26%) Wi-Fi
9 42 (4.51%) Broadband
10 36 (3.87%) SD-WAN
10 36 (3.87%) VoIP
11 32 (3.44%) BGP
11 32 (3.44%) SDH
12 30 (3.22%) DNS
12 30 (3.22%) Network Security
13 28 (3.01%) 3GPP
13 28 (3.01%) Wireshark
14 27 (2.90%) TCP/IP
15 23 (2.47%) LTE
15 23 (2.47%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.40%) Data Warehouse
1 13 (1.40%) NoSQL
1 13 (1.40%) Power BI
2 12 (1.29%) PostgreSQL
3 10 (1.07%) BigQuery
4 9 (0.97%) GIS
4 9 (0.97%) Metadata
5 8 (0.86%) MongoDB
5 8 (0.86%) MySQL
5 8 (0.86%) Tableau
6 7 (0.75%) Amazon Redshift
6 7 (0.75%) Redis
7 4 (0.43%) SQL Server
8 3 (0.32%) Apache Cassandra
8 3 (0.32%) Big Data
8 3 (0.32%) BusinessObjects
8 3 (0.32%) Cloud Spanner
8 3 (0.32%) Hazelcast
8 3 (0.32%) SAP BW
8 3 (0.32%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 47 (5.05%) JIRA
2 40 (4.30%) Git
3 23 (2.47%) GitLab
4 17 (1.83%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.86%) Selenium
6 5 (0.54%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.32%) JMeter
7 3 (0.32%) Locust
7 3 (0.32%) TestCafe
8 2 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.11%) JUnit
9 1 (0.11%) Maven
9 1 (0.11%) Mockito
9 1 (0.11%) Newman
9 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.11%) TestRail
9 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 259 (27.82%) Social Skills
2 145 (15.57%) Finance
3 112 (12.03%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (6.55%) Public Sector
5 39 (4.19%) Billing
6 34 (3.65%) Documentation Skills
7 31 (3.33%) Organisational Skills
8 28 (3.01%) Retail
9 21 (2.26%) Legal
9 21 (2.26%) Manufacturing
10 19 (2.04%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.72%) Aerospace
12 15 (1.61%) Marketing
13 14 (1.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 14 (1.50%) Presentation Skills
14 13 (1.40%) Banking
15 9 (0.97%) Publishing
16 7 (0.75%) Police
17 6 (0.64%) Aviation
18 4 (0.43%) Games
Job Titles
1 140 (15.04%) Architect
2 75 (8.06%) Lead
3 73 (7.84%) Senior
4 70 (7.52%) Consultant
5 69 (7.41%) Network Engineer
6 64 (6.87%) Analyst
7 57 (6.12%) Field Engineer
8 54 (5.80%) Project Manager
9 53 (5.69%) Telecoms Engineer
10 39 (4.19%) Developer
11 37 (3.97%) Solutions Architect
12 32 (3.44%) Designer
13 28 (3.01%) Business Analyst
13 28 (3.01%) ServiceNow Architect
14 26 (2.79%) Enterprise Architect
15 25 (2.69%) SAP Consultant
15 25 (2.69%) Telecoms Manager
16 22 (2.36%) Field Telecoms Engineer
16 22 (2.36%) Telecoms Architect
17 21 (2.26%) Network Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (5.69%) REST
2 31 (3.33%) SOAP
3 21 (2.26%) Terraform
4 18 (1.93%) Kafka
5 17 (1.83%) RESTful
6 16 (1.72%) NETCONF
6 16 (1.72%) YANG
7 14 (1.50%) HTML
8 13 (1.40%) CSS
8 13 (1.40%) Elastic Stack
8 13 (1.40%) ONVIF
9 12 (1.29%) JSON
9 12 (1.29%) XML
10 10 (1.07%) AngularJS
10 10 (1.07%) FastAPI
10 10 (1.07%) React
11 9 (0.97%) Middleware
12 8 (0.86%) OpenAPI
12 8 (0.86%) Swagger
13 7 (0.75%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 54 (5.80%) Data Centre
2 45 (4.83%) CMDB
2 45 (4.83%) Driving Licence
3 41 (4.40%) Onboarding
4 33 (3.54%) Cloud Native
5 19 (2.04%) Management Information System
5 19 (2.04%) Product Ownership
6 18 (1.93%) Analytical Mindset
7 17 (1.83%) Data Protection Act
8 15 (1.61%) Video\Live Streaming
9 13 (1.40%) Enterprise Software
9 13 (1.40%) Hybrid Cloud
10 12 (1.29%) Data Structures
10 12 (1.29%) TM Forum
11 11 (1.18%) AI Agents
11 11 (1.18%) Legacy Systems
11 11 (1.18%) Self-Motivation
12 10 (1.07%) Fibre Optics
12 10 (1.07%) Video Conferencing
12 10 (1.07%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 57 (6.12%) Windows
2 54 (5.80%) Linux
3 13 (1.40%) Windows Server
4 12 (1.29%) Windows 10
5 11 (1.18%) Unix
6 9 (0.97%) Mac OS
7 7 (0.75%) VMS
8 4 (0.43%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.32%) Android
9 3 (0.32%) CentOS
10 2 (0.21%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.21%) Embedded Linux
10 2 (0.21%) OpenVMS
11 1 (0.11%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
11 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.11%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 209 (22.45%) Stakeholder Management
2 121 (13.00%) Problem-Solving
3 120 (12.89%) Agile
4 90 (9.67%) AI
5 89 (9.56%) ITIL
6 84 (9.02%) Project Delivery
7 77 (8.27%) Migration
8 76 (8.16%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 73 (7.84%) CI/CD
10 71 (7.63%) Validation
11 70 (7.52%) Continuous Improvement
11 70 (7.52%) Roadmaps
11 70 (7.52%) Service Management
12 65 (6.98%) Project Management
13 60 (6.44%) Test Automation
14 57 (6.12%) Change Management
15 52 (5.59%) DevOps
15 52 (5.59%) Technical Leadership
16 51 (5.48%) Decision-Making
17 50 (5.37%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 86 (9.24%) Python
2 39 (4.19%) SQL
3 31 (3.33%) JavaScript
4 27 (2.90%) Bash
5 22 (2.36%) Java
6 10 (1.07%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.86%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.64%) Apex Code
8 6 (0.64%) C#
9 5 (0.54%) SOQL
10 4 (0.43%) ABAP
10 4 (0.43%) DataWeave
10 4 (0.43%) R
10 4 (0.43%) TypeScript
11 3 (0.32%) C
11 3 (0.32%) C++
12 2 (0.21%) Bicep
12 2 (0.21%) DCL
13 1 (0.11%) Ada
13 1 (0.11%) Go
Qualifications
1 162 (17.40%) Security Cleared
2 100 (10.74%) SC Cleared
3 89 (9.56%) Degree
4 75 (8.06%) Cisco Certification
5 48 (5.16%) CCNA
6 29 (3.11%) CCNP
7 28 (3.01%) DV Cleared
8 27 (2.90%) BPSS Clearance
9 22 (2.36%) Microsoft Certification
10 20 (2.15%) A+ Certification
11 19 (2.04%) PMP
12 17 (1.83%) CCIE
12 17 (1.83%) CISSP
12 17 (1.83%) PMI Certification
13 16 (1.72%) Computer Science Degree
14 13 (1.40%) Master's Degree
14 13 (1.40%) MCSA
15 12 (1.29%) JNCIE
16 10 (1.07%) CISM
17 7 (0.75%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 44 (4.73%) QA
2 24 (2.58%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 23 (2.47%) SLA
4 20 (2.15%) GRC
4 20 (2.15%) PMO
5 18 (1.93%) NCSC
6 14 (1.50%) GDPR
7 13 (1.40%) Data Quality
8 6 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.54%) NIST
10 4 (0.43%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.32%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.32%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.11%) EU AI Act
13 1 (0.11%) GAAP
13 1 (0.11%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.11%) ISO 31000
13 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 35 (3.76%) Docker
2 23 (2.47%) VMware Infrastructure
3 22 (2.36%) Active Directory
4 11 (1.18%) VMware NSX
5 6 (0.64%) Firmware
6 5 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.43%) vSphere
8 2 (0.21%) Hyper-V
9 1 (0.11%) Ceph
9 1 (0.11%) KVM
9 1 (0.11%) NDS
9 1 (0.11%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 47 (5.05%) Kubernetes
2 23 (2.47%) Ansible
3 14 (1.50%) Grafana
3 14 (1.50%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.86%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
5 5 (0.54%) Kibana
6 4 (0.43%) Cilium
6 4 (0.43%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.43%) Istio
6 4 (0.43%) SolarWinds Orion
7 3 (0.32%) Check_MK
7 3 (0.32%) Podman
7 3 (0.32%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.32%) vRealize
8 2 (0.21%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.21%) QRadar
9 1 (0.11%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.11%) Proxmox
9 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 125 (13.43%) Cisco
2 124 (13.32%) Microsoft
3 79 (8.49%) ServiceNow
4 63 (6.77%) Nokia
5 43 (4.62%) Salesforce
6 37 (3.97%) VMware
7 35 (3.76%) SAP
8 27 (2.90%) Ericsson
9 21 (2.26%) Juniper
10 19 (2.04%) Google
11 18 (1.93%) Fortinet
11 18 (1.93%) MuleSoft
12 17 (1.83%) BT
13 15 (1.61%) F5
14 14 (1.50%) Palo Alto
15 12 (1.29%) BMC
16 11 (1.18%) Arista
16 11 (1.18%) Splunk
16 11 (1.18%) Zscaler
17 10 (1.07%) Oracle