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 17 December 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 129 61 71
Rank change year-on-year -68 +10 +14
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 819 1,203 1,271
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.23% 3.50% 2.90%
As % of the General category 3.63% 5.74% 4.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 530 576 805
10th Percentile £163 £278 £264
25th Percentile £313 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - +4.17%
75th Percentile £575 £613 £623
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £453
% change year-on-year -10.00% +10.50% +0.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 75 40 32
10th Percentile £14.75 £21.23 £14.00
25th Percentile £19.22 £24.42 £23.19
Median hourly rate £22.08 £49.28 £53.75
Median % change year-on-year -55.20% -8.32% +7.50%
75th Percentile £24.50 £72.81 £77.75
90th Percentile £41.25 £75.00 £80.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.50 £50.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year -53.00% -16.67% +14.29%

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 common skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for common skills 22,571 20,950 26,148
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 61.35% 60.89% 59.61%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,114 12,512 17,267
10th Percentile £275 £288 £280
25th Percentile £400 £413 £420
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £550
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -4.55% -
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,448 737 1,082
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.31 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.50 £18.13 £16.84
Median hourly rate £23.58 £27.50 £33.00
Median % change year-on-year -14.27% -16.67% +32.00%
75th Percentile £45.46 £53.75 £59.38
90th Percentile £69.75 £70.65 £70.66
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £26.13 £30.00
% change year-on-year -15.79% -12.92% +40.19%

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 17 December 2025.

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 17 December 2025.

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 17 December 2025. 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 -67 720 £461 -7.75% 499
UK excluding London -59 472 £450 -10.00% 465
London -25 281 £450 -14.29% 107
Work from Home -68 189 £475 -7.32% 151
South East -40 171 £500 -1.48% 167
Midlands -26 82 £380 -24.94% 79
South West -32 78 £550 +3.77% 55
North of England -45 62 £275 -32.60% 89
West Midlands -36 60 £450 -12.20% 59
East of England -28 37 £475 - 52
North West -26 34 £250 -38.27% 41
Scotland +14 28 £275 -36.23% 30
East Midlands -12 22 £158 -10.00% 19
Yorkshire -42 18 £365 -27.00% 38
Northern Ireland +1 12 £150 - 4
Wales +4 10 £160 -56.16% 8
North East -9 9 £175 -50.00% 15
Channel Islands -3 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 16 (1.95%) Confluence
1 16 (1.95%) SharePoint
2 10 (1.22%) Microsoft Exchange
3 8 (0.98%) Apache Spark
3 8 (0.98%) OpenStack
4 7 (0.85%) Appian
5 4 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
6 3 (0.37%) CMS
7 2 (0.24%) Apache
7 2 (0.24%) Smallworld
8 1 (0.12%) Drupal
8 1 (0.12%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.12%) IIS
8 1 (0.12%) Jupyter
Applications
1 49 (5.98%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (2.93%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.95%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (1.47%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (1.10%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.49%) Autodesk Inventor
7 3 (0.37%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.24%) AutoCAD
8 2 (0.24%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.12%) Adobe Creative Suite
9 1 (0.12%) FrameMaker
9 1 (0.12%) MadCap Flare
9 1 (0.12%) Sketch
9 1 (0.12%) Trello
Business Applications
1 14 (1.71%) SAP BRIM
1 14 (1.71%) SAP Hybris
1 14 (1.71%) SAP PSCD
2 5 (0.61%) Endur
3 4 (0.49%) Primavera
3 4 (0.49%) SAP ERP
4 2 (0.24%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.24%) Oracle EBS
4 2 (0.24%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.24%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.24%) SAP CO
4 2 (0.24%) SAP FI
4 2 (0.24%) SAP FI/CO
4 2 (0.24%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 69 (8.42%) Azure
2 62 (7.57%) AWS
3 53 (6.47%) Microsoft 365
4 40 (4.88%) GCP
5 22 (2.69%) SaaS
6 17 (2.08%) Power Platform
7 14 (1.71%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 12 (1.47%) GitHub
9 10 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
10 8 (0.98%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (0.98%) Entra ID
10 8 (0.98%) GitHub Actions
11 7 (0.85%) Miro
11 7 (0.85%) Tricentis Tosca
12 6 (0.73%) IaaS
13 5 (0.61%) OpenShift
14 4 (0.49%) Cloud Computing
14 4 (0.49%) PaaS
14 4 (0.49%) Power Automate
14 4 (0.49%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 58 (7.08%) Firewall
2 53 (6.47%) WAN
3 48 (5.86%) LAN
4 45 (5.49%) Wireless
5 32 (3.91%) VPN
6 29 (3.54%) SD-WAN
7 28 (3.42%) 5G
8 27 (3.30%) Broadband
9 25 (3.05%) Radio Access Network
10 24 (2.93%) 4G
10 24 (2.93%) DNS
11 23 (2.81%) VoIP
12 21 (2.56%) MPLS
12 21 (2.56%) Network Security
12 21 (2.56%) Wi-Fi
13 17 (2.08%) BGP
13 17 (2.08%) Wireshark
14 16 (1.95%) LTE
15 15 (1.83%) SDH
16 13 (1.59%) 3GPP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (1.83%) Power BI
2 12 (1.47%) Tableau
3 9 (1.10%) Data Warehouse
4 8 (0.98%) MySQL
5 7 (0.85%) Big Data
6 6 (0.73%) GIS
6 6 (0.73%) MongoDB
7 5 (0.61%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.49%) Electronic Patient Records
8 4 (0.49%) Oracle Database
8 4 (0.49%) PostgreSQL
8 4 (0.49%) SAP BW
9 3 (0.37%) BigQuery
10 2 (0.24%) Hadoop
10 2 (0.24%) NoSQL
10 2 (0.24%) Power Query
11 1 (0.12%) Azure SQL Database
11 1 (0.12%) Data Mining
11 1 (0.12%) Oracle Exadata
11 1 (0.12%) RDBMS
Development Applications
1 27 (3.30%) JIRA
2 22 (2.69%) GitLab
3 11 (1.34%) Jenkins
4 9 (1.10%) Postman
5 8 (0.98%) Robot Framework
5 8 (0.98%) Selenium
6 7 (0.85%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.85%) SonarQube
7 5 (0.61%) Git
8 4 (0.49%) Cypress.io
8 4 (0.49%) JUnit
9 3 (0.37%) Clang
9 3 (0.37%) GCC
9 3 (0.37%) Rational DOORS
9 3 (0.37%) Storybook
10 2 (0.24%) Appium
10 2 (0.24%) CircleCI
10 2 (0.24%) Maven
10 2 (0.24%) Mercurial
10 2 (0.24%) Subversion
General
1 304 (37.12%) Finance
2 275 (33.58%) Public Sector
3 261 (31.87%) Social Skills
4 218 (26.62%) Marketing
5 210 (25.64%) Manufacturing
6 207 (25.27%) Electronics
7 86 (10.50%) Analytical Skills
8 30 (3.66%) Documentation Skills
9 26 (3.17%) Legal
10 23 (2.81%) Organisational Skills
11 21 (2.56%) Billing
12 14 (1.71%) Law
13 11 (1.34%) Retail
14 10 (1.22%) Automotive
14 10 (1.22%) Banking
15 9 (1.10%) Military
16 7 (0.85%) Back Office
16 7 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
17 6 (0.73%) Influencing Skills
18 5 (0.61%) French Language
Job Titles
1 98 (11.97%) Architect
2 79 (9.65%) Analyst
3 49 (5.98%) Project Manager
4 47 (5.74%) IT Support
5 45 (5.49%) Business Analyst
6 44 (5.37%) Consultant
6 44 (5.37%) Desktop Support
7 37 (4.52%) Lead
7 37 (4.52%) Senior
8 34 (4.15%) Network Engineer
9 29 (3.54%) 2nd Line Support
10 28 (3.42%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
10 28 (3.42%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
11 26 (3.17%) Network Architect
11 26 (3.17%) Solutions Architect
12 25 (3.05%) Network Specialist
13 22 (2.69%) Developer
13 22 (2.69%) Support Engineer
14 21 (2.56%) Support Technician
14 21 (2.56%) Telecoms Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.17%) REST
2 17 (2.08%) SOAP
3 12 (1.47%) JSON
3 12 (1.47%) React
4 11 (1.34%) XML
5 9 (1.10%) RESTful
5 9 (1.10%) SailPoint
6 8 (0.98%) 802.1X
7 7 (0.85%) Jinja
7 7 (0.85%) NETCONF
7 7 (0.85%) Node.js
7 7 (0.85%) Web Services
8 6 (0.73%) HTML
8 6 (0.73%) RFC 2544
8 6 (0.73%) YANG
9 5 (0.61%) CSS
9 5 (0.61%) Spring
9 5 (0.61%) Swagger
10 4 (0.49%) Kafka
10 4 (0.49%) Oracle Fusion
Miscellaneous
1 68 (8.30%) Data Centre
2 34 (4.15%) Driving Licence
3 27 (3.30%) Legacy Systems
3 27 (3.30%) Product Ownership
4 25 (3.05%) Cloud Native
5 22 (2.69%) Data Protection Act
6 20 (2.44%) Onboarding
7 19 (2.32%) CMDB
8 18 (2.20%) Fibre Optics
9 16 (1.95%) Mobile App
9 16 (1.95%) NHS
10 14 (1.71%) IoT
11 13 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
12 12 (1.47%) Virtual Team
13 10 (1.22%) Self-Motivation
14 9 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
15 8 (0.98%) Renewable Energy
15 8 (0.98%) SCADA
16 7 (0.85%) Management Information System
16 7 (0.85%) Operational Technology
Operating Systems
1 51 (6.23%) Windows
2 40 (4.88%) Android
3 32 (3.91%) Mac OS
4 19 (2.32%) Linux
5 17 (2.08%) Windows 10
6 9 (1.10%) Apple iOS
6 9 (1.10%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.49%) Unix
8 1 (0.12%) CentOS
8 1 (0.12%) Oracle Linux
8 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.12%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 222 (27.11%) Business Intelligence
2 212 (25.89%) Programme Management
3 206 (25.15%) Digital Marketing
4 138 (16.85%) Problem-Solving
5 135 (16.48%) Agile
6 115 (14.04%) Stakeholder Management
7 101 (12.33%) Migration
8 82 (10.01%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 73 (8.91%) ITIL
10 72 (8.79%) Continuous Improvement
11 62 (7.57%) Workflow
12 57 (6.96%) Logistics
13 56 (6.84%) Customer Service
14 53 (6.47%) Project Management
15 52 (6.35%) AI
15 52 (6.35%) DevOps
16 51 (6.23%) Service Delivery
17 50 (6.11%) CI/CD
18 49 (5.98%) Network Design
19 45 (5.49%) Change Management
Programming Languages
1 71 (8.67%) Python
2 38 (4.64%) JavaScript
3 37 (4.52%) SQL
4 18 (2.20%) Java
5 17 (2.08%) PowerShell
6 12 (1.47%) Bash
7 11 (1.34%) TypeScript
8 9 (1.10%) C
8 9 (1.10%) C++
9 8 (0.98%) C#
9 8 (0.98%) Go
10 6 (0.73%) PHP
11 4 (0.49%) ABAP
12 3 (0.37%) BeanShell
12 3 (0.37%) R
13 2 (0.24%) Kotlin
13 2 (0.24%) Shell Script
14 1 (0.12%) Apex Code
14 1 (0.12%) Groovy
14 1 (0.12%) Scala
Qualifications
1 236 (28.82%) Security Cleared
2 187 (22.83%) SC Cleared
3 74 (9.04%) Degree
4 41 (5.01%) DV Cleared
5 26 (3.17%) Cisco Certification
6 18 (2.20%) CCNP
7 15 (1.83%) Master's Degree
8 14 (1.71%) BPSS Clearance
8 14 (1.71%) PMP
9 13 (1.59%) CISSP
10 12 (1.47%) CCNA
11 11 (1.34%) PMI Certification
12 10 (1.22%) CCIE
12 10 (1.22%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (1.10%) ITIL Certification
14 8 (0.98%) Azure Certification
15 7 (0.85%) CESG Certified Professional
16 6 (0.73%) CISM
16 6 (0.73%) JNCIP
17 5 (0.61%) ACCA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (4.52%) QA
2 32 (3.91%) SLA
3 18 (2.20%) GDPR
3 18 (2.20%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (2.08%) PMO
5 15 (1.83%) Data Quality
6 10 (1.22%) Accessibility
6 10 (1.22%) GRC
7 8 (0.98%) NCSC
7 8 (0.98%) NIST
8 7 (0.85%) RMADS
9 5 (0.61%) JSP 440
9 5 (0.61%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.37%) GAAP
10 3 (0.37%) IFRS
10 3 (0.37%) WCAG
11 2 (0.24%) Actionable Recommendations
11 2 (0.24%) California Consumer Privacy Act
11 2 (0.24%) Def Stans
11 2 (0.24%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 30 (3.66%) Active Directory
2 25 (3.05%) Docker
3 6 (0.73%) Virtual Machines
3 6 (0.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 3 (0.37%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (0.24%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.12%) Firmware
6 1 (0.12%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 28 (3.42%) Ansible
2 24 (2.93%) Kubernetes
3 19 (2.32%) Terraform
4 6 (0.73%) Grafana
4 6 (0.73%) Microsoft Intune
4 6 (0.73%) SCCM
5 4 (0.49%) Argo
5 4 (0.49%) Puppet
5 4 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.37%) Cisco CUCM
6 3 (0.37%) vCenter Server
6 3 (0.37%) vRealize
7 2 (0.24%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (0.24%) HP ALM
7 2 (0.24%) Iperf
7 2 (0.24%) Nmap
8 1 (0.12%) Istio
8 1 (0.12%) Kubeflow
8 1 (0.12%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.12%) SCOM
Vendors
1 239 (29.18%) SAP
2 135 (16.48%) Cisco
3 97 (11.84%) Microsoft
4 44 (5.37%) ServiceNow
5 32 (3.91%) Juniper
6 31 (3.79%) Salesforce
7 29 (3.54%) Nokia
8 26 (3.17%) HP
9 25 (3.05%) Dell
10 24 (2.93%) Apple
11 22 (2.69%) Fortinet
12 20 (2.44%) Ericsson
12 20 (2.44%) F5
13 16 (1.95%) CheckPoint
14 15 (1.83%) Oracle
15 14 (1.71%) Google
15 14 (1.71%) Remedy
16 11 (1.34%) Meraki
16 11 (1.34%) VMware
17 10 (1.22%) Palo Alto