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

6 months to
9 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 168 105 70
Rank change year-on-year -63 -35 +4
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 919 824 1,183
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.69% 2.52% 3.10%
As % of the General category 3.04% 3.96% 5.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 516 484 542
10th Percentile £213 £263 £221
25th Percentile £380 £373 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £461 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.15% -7.90% -
75th Percentile £563 £575 £611
90th Percentile £672 £675 £732
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £500
% change year-on-year - -10.00% +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 48 90
10th Percentile £14.68 £14.00 £12.75
25th Percentile £16.25 £14.75 £35.00
Median hourly rate £21.00 £21.00 £57.50
Median % change year-on-year - -63.48% +4.55%
75th Percentile £50.00 £51.44 £72.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £68.93 £77.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £20.47 £16.00 £65.00
% change year-on-year +27.91% -75.38% +23.81%

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 30,189 20,828 22,001
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.42% 63.61% 57.74%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,788 12,892 13,343
10th Percentile £313 £275 £290
25th Percentile £419 £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 £738 £738 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,378 1,179 1,137
10th Percentile £13.64 £13.50 £14.67
25th Percentile £16.62 £16.17 £17.44
Median hourly rate £30.00 £25.15 £38.07
Median % change year-on-year +19.28% -33.94% +38.44%
75th Percentile £55.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £68.75 £70.39
UK excluding London median hourly rate £30.74 £21.40 £38.12
% change year-on-year +43.68% -43.87% +46.62%

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 9 September 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 9 September 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 9 September 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 -74 756 £483 +1.68% 1,246
UK excluding London -68 454 £450 - 735
London -40 356 £510 +7.32% 603
Work from Home -23 268 £475 -3.16% 473
South East -46 197 £470 -6.00% 247
Scotland +9 64 £300 +9.09% 59
North of England -56 57 £463 +14.20% 143
East of England 0 49 £195 -48.00% 90
South West -76 49 £469 -10.67% 77
Yorkshire -16 32 £475 +95.88% 54
Midlands -72 31 £450 +18.42% 99
West Midlands -66 30 £450 +18.42% 54
North West -57 24 £463 -2.63% 82
Wales -12 8 £200 -6.98% 13
Northern Ireland 0 5 £290 +152.17% 21
Channel Islands -2 2 £606 -
East Midlands -17 1 - - 45
North East -46 1 - - 15

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 19 (2.07%) Confluence
2 17 (1.85%) OpenStack
3 14 (1.52%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.09%) ArcGIS
5 8 (0.87%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.44%) Anypoint
7 3 (0.33%) Apache Airflow
8 2 (0.22%) CMS
9 1 (0.11%) Apache Spark
9 1 (0.11%) Camunda
9 1 (0.11%) IIS
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
9 1 (0.11%) Smallworld
Applications
1 37 (4.03%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (3.16%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (2.61%) MS Visio
4 11 (1.20%) Microsoft Project
5 10 (1.09%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.54%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.33%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.22%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.11%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.11%) Autodesk Inventor
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 19 (2.07%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.09%) SAP BRIM
3 8 (0.87%) SAP FI
3 8 (0.87%) SAP Hybris
4 7 (0.76%) SAP FI-CA
5 6 (0.65%) Remedy ITSM
6 5 (0.54%) NetSuite
6 5 (0.54%) Sage X3
6 5 (0.54%) Salesforce CRM
6 5 (0.54%) SAP S/4HANA
7 3 (0.33%) Remedy AR System
7 3 (0.33%) SAP ERP
8 1 (0.11%) BambooHR
8 1 (0.11%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.11%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
8 1 (0.11%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.11%) SAP SD
8 1 (0.11%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 93 (10.12%) AWS
1 93 (10.12%) Azure
2 67 (7.29%) GCP
3 21 (2.29%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (1.85%) GitHub
5 16 (1.74%) Entra ID
6 14 (1.52%) Power Platform
6 14 (1.52%) SaaS
7 10 (1.09%) Cloud Computing
7 10 (1.09%) GitHub Actions
7 10 (1.09%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 9 (0.98%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (0.87%) dbt
10 7 (0.76%) OneDrive
10 7 (0.76%) Snowflake
11 6 (0.65%) Cloud Functions
12 5 (0.54%) Figma
12 5 (0.54%) Fivetran
12 5 (0.54%) OpenShift
12 5 (0.54%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 120 (13.06%) WAN
2 93 (10.12%) LAN
3 92 (10.01%) 5G
4 86 (9.36%) MPLS
5 63 (6.86%) Radio Access Network
6 62 (6.75%) 4G
7 57 (6.20%) Firewall
8 37 (4.03%) SD-WAN
9 35 (3.81%) DNS
10 33 (3.59%) Wi-Fi
11 30 (3.26%) 3GPP
11 30 (3.26%) BGP
12 29 (3.16%) Network Security
12 29 (3.16%) SDH
13 28 (3.05%) VoIP
14 27 (2.94%) LTE
15 26 (2.83%) TCP/IP
16 25 (2.72%) Wireshark
17 24 (2.61%) VPN
18 23 (2.50%) 3G
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (1.63%) Data Warehouse
2 13 (1.41%) BigQuery
2 13 (1.41%) NoSQL
2 13 (1.41%) Power BI
3 10 (1.09%) GIS
3 10 (1.09%) PostgreSQL
4 9 (0.98%) Tableau
5 8 (0.87%) Amazon Redshift
6 7 (0.76%) Big Data
6 7 (0.76%) MongoDB
6 7 (0.76%) MySQL
7 6 (0.65%) Redis
8 5 (0.54%) Looker
8 5 (0.54%) Metadata
9 4 (0.44%) Apache Cassandra
9 4 (0.44%) SQL Server
10 3 (0.33%) BusinessObjects
10 3 (0.33%) SAP BW
10 3 (0.33%) SAP Data Services
10 3 (0.33%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 36 (3.92%) JIRA
2 28 (3.05%) Git
3 15 (1.63%) Jenkins
4 10 (1.09%) GitLab
5 7 (0.76%) Selenium
6 3 (0.33%) Robot Framework
7 2 (0.22%) JMeter
7 2 (0.22%) Locust
7 2 (0.22%) Sonatype Nexus
7 2 (0.22%) TestCafe
8 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.11%) Newman
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
8 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
8 1 (0.11%) TestRail
8 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
8 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 266 (28.94%) Social Skills
2 137 (14.91%) Finance
3 124 (13.49%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (6.53%) Public Sector
5 36 (3.92%) Documentation Skills
6 35 (3.81%) Billing
7 30 (3.26%) Retail
8 28 (3.05%) Organisational Skills
9 22 (2.39%) Legal
10 19 (2.07%) Influencing Skills
10 19 (2.07%) Marketing
11 16 (1.74%) Manufacturing
11 16 (1.74%) Presentation Skills
12 15 (1.63%) Aerospace
13 13 (1.41%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 10 (1.09%) Publishing
15 8 (0.87%) Police
16 7 (0.76%) Banking
17 4 (0.44%) Electronics
17 4 (0.44%) Games
Job Titles
1 136 (14.80%) Architect
2 80 (8.71%) Senior
3 70 (7.62%) Analyst
4 69 (7.51%) Consultant
4 69 (7.51%) Lead
5 66 (7.18%) Network Engineer
6 62 (6.75%) Project Manager
7 55 (5.98%) Field Engineer
8 52 (5.66%) Telecoms Engineer
9 41 (4.46%) Solutions Architect
10 39 (4.24%) Designer
11 35 (3.81%) Developer
12 34 (3.70%) Telecoms Manager
13 29 (3.16%) ServiceNow Architect
14 28 (3.05%) Enterprise Architect
15 26 (2.83%) Business Analyst
16 24 (2.61%) Data Engineer
17 22 (2.39%) Telecoms Architect
18 21 (2.29%) Field Telecoms Engineer
18 21 (2.29%) Network Field Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (6.09%) REST
2 34 (3.70%) SOAP
3 21 (2.29%) Terraform
4 18 (1.96%) Kafka
5 16 (1.74%) Elastic Stack
5 16 (1.74%) NETCONF
5 16 (1.74%) YANG
6 15 (1.63%) RESTful
7 13 (1.41%) HTML
7 13 (1.41%) Middleware
7 13 (1.41%) ONVIF
8 12 (1.31%) CSS
8 12 (1.31%) XML
9 10 (1.09%) AngularJS
9 10 (1.09%) React
10 9 (0.98%) FastAPI
11 8 (0.87%) JSON
11 8 (0.87%) OpenAPI
11 8 (0.87%) Swagger
12 7 (0.76%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 55 (5.98%) Data Centre
2 50 (5.44%) CMDB
3 46 (5.01%) Driving Licence
4 45 (4.90%) Onboarding
5 36 (3.92%) Cloud Native
6 22 (2.39%) Analytical Mindset
7 21 (2.29%) Product Ownership
8 18 (1.96%) Management Information System
9 17 (1.85%) Virtual Team
10 16 (1.74%) Data Protection Act
10 16 (1.74%) Hybrid Cloud
10 16 (1.74%) Self-Motivation
11 14 (1.52%) Video\Live Streaming
12 13 (1.41%) TM Forum
13 11 (1.20%) Video Conferencing
14 10 (1.09%) Data Structures
15 9 (0.98%) Algorithms
15 9 (0.98%) Enterprise Software
15 9 (0.98%) Private Cloud
15 9 (0.98%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 53 (5.77%) Windows
2 47 (5.11%) Linux
3 14 (1.52%) Windows 10
4 12 (1.31%) Windows Server
5 11 (1.20%) Unix
6 9 (0.98%) Mac OS
7 3 (0.33%) Android
7 3 (0.33%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.33%) VMS
8 2 (0.22%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.22%) CentOS
8 2 (0.22%) Embedded Linux
8 2 (0.22%) OpenVMS
9 1 (0.11%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
9 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.11%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 203 (22.09%) Stakeholder Management
2 131 (14.25%) Agile
3 118 (12.84%) Problem-Solving
4 92 (10.01%) ITIL
4 92 (10.01%) Project Delivery
5 89 (9.68%) Stakeholder Engagement
6 82 (8.92%) AI
7 77 (8.38%) Project Management
7 77 (8.38%) Roadmaps
7 77 (8.38%) Service Management
8 74 (8.05%) CI/CD
9 73 (7.94%) Migration
10 70 (7.62%) Validation
11 69 (7.51%) Continuous Improvement
12 60 (6.53%) Decision-Making
13 57 (6.20%) Change Management
13 57 (6.20%) CRM
14 55 (5.98%) Technical Leadership
15 54 (5.88%) ITSM
16 53 (5.77%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 80 (8.71%) Python
2 42 (4.57%) SQL
3 32 (3.48%) JavaScript
4 25 (2.72%) Bash
5 15 (1.63%) Java
6 10 (1.09%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.87%) Apex Code
8 7 (0.76%) C#
8 7 (0.76%) R
9 6 (0.65%) Shell Script
10 5 (0.54%) SOQL
11 4 (0.44%) ABAP
11 4 (0.44%) C++
11 4 (0.44%) DataWeave
11 4 (0.44%) TypeScript
12 3 (0.33%) LookML
13 2 (0.22%) Bicep
13 2 (0.22%) C
13 2 (0.22%) DCL
14 1 (0.11%) Ada
Qualifications
1 168 (18.28%) Security Cleared
2 104 (11.32%) SC Cleared
3 96 (10.45%) Degree
4 71 (7.73%) Cisco Certification
5 47 (5.11%) CCNA
6 30 (3.26%) DV Cleared
7 26 (2.83%) CCNP
8 25 (2.72%) PMP
9 24 (2.61%) Microsoft Certification
10 23 (2.50%) Computer Science Degree
11 22 (2.39%) A+ Certification
11 22 (2.39%) BPSS Clearance
12 19 (2.07%) PMI Certification
13 14 (1.52%) CCIE
14 13 (1.41%) CISSP
14 13 (1.41%) MCSA
15 12 (1.31%) Master's Degree
16 10 (1.09%) Azure Certification
17 9 (0.98%) CISM
17 9 (0.98%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 36 (3.92%) QA
2 29 (3.16%) SLA
3 27 (2.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 23 (2.50%) PMO
5 21 (2.29%) GRC
6 19 (2.07%) GDPR
7 18 (1.96%) NCSC
8 11 (1.20%) Data Quality
9 8 (0.87%) NIST
10 3 (0.33%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.33%) PCI DSS
10 3 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.22%) EU AI Act
12 1 (0.11%) ISO 31000
12 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 15288
12 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 42001
12 1 (0.11%) SOC 1
System Software
1 28 (3.05%) Docker
2 23 (2.50%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.29%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (0.87%) VMware NSX
5 5 (0.54%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (0.54%) vSphere
6 3 (0.33%) Hyper-V
7 1 (0.11%) Ceph
7 1 (0.11%) Firmware
7 1 (0.11%) KVM
7 1 (0.11%) NDS
7 1 (0.11%) NetIQ eDirectory
7 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 49 (5.33%) Kubernetes
2 23 (2.50%) Ansible
3 16 (1.74%) Grafana
3 16 (1.74%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.87%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.54%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.44%) Cilium
6 4 (0.44%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.44%) Istio
7 3 (0.33%) Check_MK
7 3 (0.33%) Kibana
7 3 (0.33%) Podman
7 3 (0.33%) SolarWinds Orion
7 3 (0.33%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.33%) vRealize
8 2 (0.22%) Amdocs OSS
8 2 (0.22%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.22%) QRadar
9 1 (0.11%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.11%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 124 (13.49%) Microsoft
2 121 (13.17%) Cisco
3 90 (9.79%) ServiceNow
4 63 (6.86%) Nokia
5 47 (5.11%) Salesforce
6 35 (3.81%) VMware
7 28 (3.05%) SAP
8 26 (2.83%) Ericsson
9 25 (2.72%) Google
10 22 (2.39%) Juniper
11 21 (2.29%) BT
12 19 (2.07%) F5
12 19 (2.07%) MuleSoft
13 17 (1.85%) Fortinet
14 13 (1.41%) Palo Alto
15 12 (1.31%) BMC
16 11 (1.20%) Splunk
17 10 (1.09%) Arista
17 10 (1.09%) Huawei
17 10 (1.09%) Oracle