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

6 months to
20 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 146 70 64
Rank change year-on-year -76 -6 +18
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 794 1,012 1,378
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.94% 3.28% 3.10%
As % of the General category 3.32% 5.29% 5.28%
Number of daily rates quoted 503 482 801
10th Percentile £170 £281 £200
25th Percentile £315 £399 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £510 £463
Median % change year-on-year -11.76% +10.27% -2.63%
75th Percentile £552 £605 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £504 £450
% change year-on-year -10.63% +11.89% +3.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 60 27 42
10th Percentile £16.90 £18.20 £12.79
25th Percentile £20.50 £21.88 £22.69
Median hourly rate £23.79 £27.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.50% -50.00% +10.00%
75th Percentile £24.50 £58.75 £73.94
90th Percentile £43.70 £67.35 £94.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.75 £23.59 £60.00
% change year-on-year +0.68% -60.68% +43.71%

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 23,915 19,148 26,083
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 58.56% 62.07% 58.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,933 11,608 16,787
10th Percentile £300 £285 £265
25th Percentile £404 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £643 £650
90th Percentile £735 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £477 £500
% change year-on-year -0.42% -4.60% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,478 624 1,661
10th Percentile £13.69 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.45 £20.12 £15.16
Median hourly rate £23.00 £29.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -20.69% +11.54% -5.45%
75th Percentile £51.53 £57.50 £52.50
90th Percentile £73.46 £75.00 £67.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £27.13 £25.00
% change year-on-year -18.89% +8.50% -

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 February 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 February 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 20 February 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 -81 702 £470 -7.94% 633
UK excluding London -74 454 £450 -10.63% 498
London -43 279 £475 -9.09% 205
Work from Home -64 187 £475 -7.32% 205
South East -44 162 £470 -6.00% 165
Midlands -37 79 £500 -2.44% 58
North of England -51 76 £375 -22.08% 107
South West -38 62 £525 -7.89% 54
West Midlands -47 55 £550 +7.32% 35
East of England -30 37 £513 - 73
North West -24 36 £310 -37.06% 72
Scotland +18 25 £330 -40.00% 36
East Midlands -12 24 £158 -60.63% 23
North East -4 23 £175 -51.72% 13
Yorkshire -63 16 £447 -10.63% 25
Northern Ireland +6 11 £150 - 5
Wales +2 9 £160 -56.16% 12

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 13 (1.64%) Confluence
2 11 (1.39%) Appian
2 11 (1.39%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.26%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (1.01%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.50%) Apache
5 4 (0.50%) IIS
5 4 (0.50%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.38%) JBoss
6 3 (0.38%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.38%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.38%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.25%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.25%) CMS
7 2 (0.25%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 56 (7.05%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (3.15%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.64%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (1.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.88%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.50%) Autodesk Inventor
7 3 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.25%) AutoCAD
8 2 (0.25%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
9 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
9 1 (0.13%) MicroStation
9 1 (0.13%) Trello
Business Applications
1 18 (2.27%) SAP BRIM
1 18 (2.27%) SAP Hybris
1 18 (2.27%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.26%) Remedy ITSM
3 6 (0.76%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 3 (0.38%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.38%) Primavera
5 2 (0.25%) SAP CO
5 2 (0.25%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.25%) SAP FI/CO
5 2 (0.25%) SAP S/4HANA
6 1 (0.13%) Remedy AR System
6 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 66 (8.31%) Azure
2 53 (6.68%) Microsoft 365
3 48 (6.05%) AWS
4 32 (4.03%) GCP
5 18 (2.27%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 15 (1.89%) Power Platform
7 13 (1.64%) SaaS
8 10 (1.26%) Dynamics 365
8 10 (1.26%) GitHub
9 9 (1.13%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (1.01%) GitHub Actions
11 5 (0.63%) Tricentis Tosca
12 4 (0.50%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.50%) Miro
13 3 (0.38%) IaaS
13 3 (0.38%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 3 (0.38%) Slack
13 3 (0.38%) Smartsheet
14 2 (0.25%) Figma
14 2 (0.25%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 49 (6.17%) Firewall
2 47 (5.92%) WAN
3 40 (5.04%) LAN
4 39 (4.91%) Wireless
5 34 (4.28%) MPLS
6 29 (3.65%) 5G
7 26 (3.27%) Network Security
7 26 (3.27%) VPN
8 23 (2.90%) 4G
8 23 (2.90%) Radio Access Network
8 23 (2.90%) SD-WAN
9 20 (2.52%) BGP
9 20 (2.52%) DNS
9 20 (2.52%) VoIP
10 19 (2.39%) Broadband
10 19 (2.39%) LTE
11 16 (2.02%) SDH
11 16 (2.02%) VLAN
12 15 (1.89%) 3GPP
13 14 (1.76%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (1.76%) Power BI
2 10 (1.26%) MySQL
3 7 (0.88%) Oracle Database
4 6 (0.76%) GIS
4 6 (0.76%) Relational Database
4 6 (0.76%) SQL Server
4 6 (0.76%) Tableau
5 5 (0.63%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (0.63%) Looker
6 4 (0.50%) Big Data
7 3 (0.38%) Electronic Patient Records
7 3 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.38%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.25%) BigQuery
8 2 (0.25%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.25%) Metadata
9 1 (0.13%) Apache Hudi
9 1 (0.13%) Apache Iceberg
9 1 (0.13%) Geospatial Data
9 1 (0.13%) Power Query
Development Applications
1 29 (3.65%) JIRA
2 15 (1.89%) GitLab
3 9 (1.13%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.76%) Git
4 6 (0.76%) Selenium
5 5 (0.63%) Cucumber
5 5 (0.63%) Robot Framework
5 5 (0.63%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.50%) JUnit
7 3 (0.38%) Storybook
8 2 (0.25%) Appium
8 2 (0.25%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.25%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.25%) JMeter
8 2 (0.25%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.13%) Browser DevTools
9 1 (0.13%) Maven
9 1 (0.13%) Mockito
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) Rational Rhapsody
General
1 257 (32.37%) Finance
2 247 (31.11%) Social Skills
3 226 (28.46%) Public Sector
4 178 (22.42%) Marketing
5 166 (20.91%) Electronics
6 161 (20.28%) Manufacturing
7 87 (10.96%) Analytical Skills
8 36 (4.53%) Billing
9 23 (2.90%) Organisational Skills
10 20 (2.52%) Documentation Skills
11 15 (1.89%) Banking
12 12 (1.51%) Legal
12 12 (1.51%) Retail
13 9 (1.13%) Influencing Skills
14 8 (1.01%) Military
15 6 (0.76%) Law
16 5 (0.63%) Presentation Skills
17 4 (0.50%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 3 (0.38%) Aviation
19 2 (0.25%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 82 (10.33%) Analyst
2 78 (9.82%) Architect
3 48 (6.05%) Business Analyst
4 46 (5.79%) Lead
5 43 (5.42%) IT Support
5 43 (5.42%) Senior
6 41 (5.16%) Project Manager
7 40 (5.04%) Consultant
8 37 (4.66%) Network Engineer
9 36 (4.53%) Desktop Support
10 26 (3.27%) 2nd Line Support
10 26 (3.27%) Developer
11 25 (3.15%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
11 25 (3.15%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
11 25 (3.15%) Solutions Architect
12 20 (2.52%) Coordinator
12 20 (2.52%) Migration Engineer
12 20 (2.52%) Support Engineer
12 20 (2.52%) Telecoms Manager
13 19 (2.39%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.27%) REST
2 22 (2.77%) SOAP
3 9 (1.13%) .NET
4 8 (1.01%) Web Services
4 8 (1.01%) XML
5 7 (0.88%) React
6 6 (0.76%) JSON
6 6 (0.76%) Kafka
6 6 (0.76%) RESTful
6 6 (0.76%) RFC 2544
7 5 (0.63%) 802.1X
7 5 (0.63%) Elastic Stack
7 5 (0.63%) Jinja
7 5 (0.63%) NETCONF
7 5 (0.63%) SailPoint
8 4 (0.50%) HTML
8 4 (0.50%) Node.js
8 4 (0.50%) Spring
8 4 (0.50%) Spring Boot
8 4 (0.50%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 53 (6.68%) Data Centre
2 31 (3.90%) Driving Licence
3 30 (3.78%) Data Protection Act
4 26 (3.27%) Product Ownership
5 19 (2.39%) Onboarding
6 18 (2.27%) CMDB
7 17 (2.14%) NHS
8 15 (1.89%) IoT
9 14 (1.76%) Cloud Native
9 14 (1.76%) Legacy Systems
10 12 (1.51%) Fibre Optics
10 12 (1.51%) Mobile App
11 8 (1.01%) Virtual Team
12 7 (0.88%) Analytical Mindset
12 7 (0.88%) Cyber Threat
12 7 (0.88%) Enterprise Cloud
12 7 (0.88%) Management Information System
12 7 (0.88%) SCADA
12 7 (0.88%) Self-Motivation
13 6 (0.76%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 41 (5.16%) Windows
2 38 (4.79%) Android
3 32 (4.03%) Mac OS
4 19 (2.39%) Windows 10
5 18 (2.27%) Linux
6 7 (0.88%) Apple iOS
6 7 (0.88%) Unix
7 6 (0.76%) Windows Server
8 4 (0.50%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.38%) Debian
9 3 (0.38%) Ubuntu
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
1 170 (21.41%) Business Intelligence
2 166 (20.91%) Programme Management
3 161 (20.28%) Digital Marketing
4 120 (15.11%) Stakeholder Management
5 117 (14.74%) Agile
6 116 (14.61%) Problem-Solving
7 90 (11.34%) Migration
8 78 (9.82%) Continuous Improvement
9 69 (8.69%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 67 (8.44%) ITIL
11 57 (7.18%) Logistics
12 54 (6.80%) Customer Service
13 53 (6.68%) Workflow
14 48 (6.05%) Project Management
15 41 (5.16%) Change Management
15 41 (5.16%) DevOps
16 40 (5.04%) CI/CD
17 38 (4.79%) Roadmaps
18 37 (4.66%) Decision-Making
18 37 (4.66%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 53 (6.68%) Python
2 34 (4.28%) SQL
3 32 (4.03%) JavaScript
4 18 (2.27%) Java
5 11 (1.39%) Bash
5 11 (1.39%) TypeScript
6 10 (1.26%) PowerShell
7 5 (0.63%) C#
7 5 (0.63%) Go
8 4 (0.50%) C++
8 4 (0.50%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.38%) C
9 3 (0.38%) PHP
9 3 (0.38%) PL/SQL
9 3 (0.38%) R
10 2 (0.25%) BeanShell
11 1 (0.13%) Bicep
11 1 (0.13%) Cypher
11 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
11 1 (0.13%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 192 (24.18%) Security Cleared
2 158 (19.90%) SC Cleared
3 60 (7.56%) Degree
4 25 (3.15%) DV Cleared
5 19 (2.39%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (2.39%) Cisco Certification
6 14 (1.76%) CCNP
7 12 (1.51%) PMP
8 10 (1.26%) ACCA
8 10 (1.26%) Computer Science Degree
9 9 (1.13%) PMI Certification
10 8 (1.01%) CCIE
10 8 (1.01%) ITIL Certification
11 7 (0.88%) CCNA
11 7 (0.88%) CIMA
11 7 (0.88%) Microsoft Certification
12 6 (0.76%) ISTQB
13 5 (0.63%) Azure Certification
13 5 (0.63%) JNCIP
13 5 (0.63%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (4.03%) QA
2 31 (3.90%) SLA
3 20 (2.52%) PMO
4 18 (2.27%) GDPR
5 15 (1.89%) Data Quality
6 11 (1.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.13%) GRC
7 9 (1.13%) NCSC
8 7 (0.88%) Accessibility
8 7 (0.88%) NIST
8 7 (0.88%) RMADS
9 5 (0.63%) JSP 440
10 4 (0.50%) IFRS
10 4 (0.50%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.38%) GAAP
12 2 (0.25%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.25%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.25%) WCAG
13 1 (0.13%) COSO
13 1 (0.13%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 22 (2.77%) Active Directory
2 12 (1.51%) Docker
3 3 (0.38%) QEMU
3 3 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.25%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.25%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.13%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 20 (2.52%) Kubernetes
2 19 (2.39%) Ansible
3 10 (1.26%) Terraform
4 7 (0.88%) SCCM
5 5 (0.63%) Grafana
5 5 (0.63%) Iperf
5 5 (0.63%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.50%) Argo
6 4 (0.50%) Nmap
7 3 (0.38%) Cisco Prime
7 3 (0.38%) Podman
8 2 (0.25%) EMC NetWorker
8 2 (0.25%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.25%) vRealize
9 1 (0.13%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.13%) Data Guard
9 1 (0.13%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.13%) HAProxy
9 1 (0.13%) Kibana
9 1 (0.13%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 188 (23.68%) SAP
2 116 (14.61%) Cisco
3 94 (11.84%) Microsoft
4 45 (5.67%) ServiceNow
5 31 (3.90%) Nokia
6 28 (3.53%) Juniper
7 25 (3.15%) HP
7 25 (3.15%) Oracle
8 24 (3.02%) Apple
8 24 (3.02%) Dell
9 23 (2.90%) Fortinet
10 16 (2.02%) CheckPoint
10 16 (2.02%) Remedy
10 16 (2.02%) Salesforce
11 15 (1.89%) Ericsson
12 14 (1.76%) F5
13 13 (1.64%) Palo Alto
14 11 (1.39%) Meraki
15 10 (1.26%) BT
16 9 (1.13%) Google