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

6 months to
16 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 143 69 65
Rank change year-on-year -74 -4 +16
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 782 1,017 1,391
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.96% 3.31% 3.11%
As % of the General category 3.34% 5.34% 5.29%
Number of daily rates quoted 498 478 811
10th Percentile £170 £280 £200
25th Percentile £315 £386 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £510 £475
Median % change year-on-year -11.76% +7.37% -
75th Percentile £560 £605 £613
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 59 25 41
10th Percentile £16.89 £18.32 £12.74
25th Percentile £20.50 £22.50 £22.50
Median hourly rate £23.75 £27.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.64% -50.00% +18.28%
75th Percentile £24.50 £60.00 £74.00
90th Percentile £41.60 £69.90 £95.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.66 £24.18 £60.00
% change year-on-year -2.14% -59.70% +79.10%

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 23,400 19,028 26,302
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 58.66% 62.02% 58.75%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,641 11,454 16,971
10th Percentile £294 £284 £265
25th Percentile £403 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £644 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £478 £500
% change year-on-year -0.52% -4.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,446 597 1,638
10th Percentile £13.72 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.39 £20.12 £15.00
Median hourly rate £22.83 £29.00 £25.50
Median % change year-on-year -21.28% +13.73% -4.60%
75th Percentile £50.00 £57.50 £53.75
90th Percentile £71.75 £75.00 £67.87
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.80 £27.13 £24.58
% change year-on-year -19.63% +10.38% -1.70%

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 16 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 16 February 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 16 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 -81 692 £475 -7.32% 517
UK excluding London -71 443 £450 -10.63% 465
London -36 280 £475 -9.52% 99
Work from Home -64 181 £475 -7.77% 188
South East -49 159 £475 -5.00% 178
North of England -46 76 £375 -21.05% 89
Midlands -44 71 £500 -2.44% 54
South West -44 61 £525 -7.89% 50
West Midlands -51 48 £550 +7.32% 35
East of England -28 37 £513 - 70
North West -28 36 £310 -37.06% 60
Scotland +22 25 £330 -37.14% 22
North East -1 23 £175 -51.72% 14
East Midlands -8 23 £158 -60.63% 19
Yorkshire -56 16 £447 -10.63% 18
Northern Ireland +6 11 £150 - 5
Wales 0 9 £160 -56.16% 16
Channel Islands -1 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 13 (1.66%) Confluence
2 12 (1.53%) Appian
2 12 (1.53%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.28%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.90%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.51%) IIS
5 4 (0.51%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.38%) Apache
6 3 (0.38%) JBoss
6 3 (0.38%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.38%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.38%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.26%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.26%) CMS
7 2 (0.26%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 56 (7.16%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (3.20%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.66%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (1.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.90%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.51%) Autodesk Inventor
7 3 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.26%) AutoCAD
8 2 (0.26%) 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 (2.30%) SAP BRIM
1 18 (2.30%) SAP Hybris
1 18 (2.30%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.28%) Remedy ITSM
3 6 (0.77%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 3 (0.38%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.38%) Primavera
5 2 (0.26%) SAP CO
5 2 (0.26%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
5 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
6 1 (0.13%) Remedy AR System
6 1 (0.13%) Salesforce CRM
6 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 64 (8.18%) Azure
2 54 (6.91%) Microsoft 365
3 47 (6.01%) AWS
4 31 (3.96%) GCP
5 18 (2.30%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 12 (1.53%) Power Platform
6 12 (1.53%) SaaS
7 10 (1.28%) Dynamics 365
7 10 (1.28%) GitHub
8 9 (1.15%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (1.02%) GitHub Actions
10 6 (0.77%) Tricentis Tosca
11 5 (0.64%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.51%) Miro
13 3 (0.38%) IaaS
13 3 (0.38%) Power Automate
13 3 (0.38%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 3 (0.38%) Slack
13 3 (0.38%) Smartsheet
14 2 (0.26%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 48 (6.14%) Firewall
2 45 (5.75%) WAN
3 40 (5.12%) LAN
4 39 (4.99%) Wireless
5 34 (4.35%) MPLS
6 26 (3.32%) 5G
7 25 (3.20%) Network Security
7 25 (3.20%) VPN
8 22 (2.81%) 4G
8 22 (2.81%) Radio Access Network
9 21 (2.69%) SD-WAN
10 20 (2.56%) BGP
11 19 (2.43%) LTE
11 19 (2.43%) VoIP
12 18 (2.30%) DNS
13 17 (2.17%) Broadband
14 16 (2.05%) SDH
14 16 (2.05%) VLAN
15 15 (1.92%) Wireshark
16 14 (1.79%) 3GPP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.41%) Power BI
2 10 (1.28%) MySQL
3 7 (0.90%) Oracle Database
4 6 (0.77%) GIS
4 6 (0.77%) Relational Database
4 6 (0.77%) SQL Server
4 6 (0.77%) Tableau
5 4 (0.51%) Big Data
5 4 (0.51%) Data Warehouse
6 3 (0.38%) Electronic Patient Records
6 3 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
6 3 (0.38%) RDBMS
7 2 (0.26%) BigQuery
7 2 (0.26%) Power Query
8 1 (0.13%) Data Lake
8 1 (0.13%) Geospatial Data
8 1 (0.13%) Hadoop
8 1 (0.13%) Looker
8 1 (0.13%) Metadata
8 1 (0.13%) Spatial Data
Development Applications
1 30 (3.84%) JIRA
2 16 (2.05%) GitLab
3 9 (1.15%) Jenkins
4 7 (0.90%) Selenium
5 6 (0.77%) Cucumber
5 6 (0.77%) Robot Framework
5 6 (0.77%) SonarQube
6 5 (0.64%) Git
7 4 (0.51%) JUnit
8 3 (0.38%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.38%) Storybook
9 2 (0.26%) Appium
9 2 (0.26%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.26%) Cypress.io
9 2 (0.26%) JMeter
10 1 (0.13%) Maven
10 1 (0.13%) Mockito
10 1 (0.13%) Rational Rhapsody
10 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.13%) TestRail
General
1 258 (32.99%) Finance
2 249 (31.84%) Social Skills
3 230 (29.41%) Public Sector
4 180 (23.02%) Marketing
5 169 (21.61%) Electronics
6 165 (21.10%) Manufacturing
7 87 (11.13%) Analytical Skills
8 36 (4.60%) Billing
9 23 (2.94%) Organisational Skills
10 22 (2.81%) Documentation Skills
11 15 (1.92%) Banking
12 13 (1.66%) Retail
13 12 (1.53%) Legal
14 9 (1.15%) Influencing Skills
15 8 (1.02%) Military
16 6 (0.77%) Law
17 5 (0.64%) Presentation Skills
18 4 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
19 3 (0.38%) Aviation
20 2 (0.26%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 83 (10.61%) Analyst
2 76 (9.72%) Architect
3 49 (6.27%) Business Analyst
4 45 (5.75%) Lead
5 43 (5.50%) IT Support
6 41 (5.24%) Senior
7 39 (4.99%) Project Manager
8 38 (4.86%) Consultant
9 36 (4.60%) Desktop Support
10 35 (4.48%) Network Engineer
11 26 (3.32%) 2nd Line Support
12 25 (3.20%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
12 25 (3.20%) Developer
12 25 (3.20%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
13 23 (2.94%) Solutions Architect
14 20 (2.56%) Coordinator
14 20 (2.56%) Migration Engineer
14 20 (2.56%) Support Engineer
15 19 (2.43%) IT Engineer
15 19 (2.43%) Network Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.32%) REST
2 22 (2.81%) SOAP
3 8 (1.02%) .NET
3 8 (1.02%) Web Services
3 8 (1.02%) XML
4 7 (0.90%) JSON
4 7 (0.90%) React
4 7 (0.90%) SailPoint
5 6 (0.77%) Jinja
5 6 (0.77%) NETCONF
5 6 (0.77%) RESTful
5 6 (0.77%) RFC 2544
6 5 (0.64%) Elastic Stack
6 5 (0.64%) Kafka
6 5 (0.64%) YANG
7 4 (0.51%) 802.1X
7 4 (0.51%) HTML
7 4 (0.51%) Node.js
7 4 (0.51%) Spring
7 4 (0.51%) Spring Boot
Miscellaneous
1 52 (6.65%) Data Centre
2 32 (4.09%) Driving Licence
3 29 (3.71%) Data Protection Act
4 26 (3.32%) Product Ownership
5 20 (2.56%) Onboarding
6 19 (2.43%) CMDB
7 17 (2.17%) NHS
8 15 (1.92%) IoT
9 14 (1.79%) Cloud Native
9 14 (1.79%) Legacy Systems
10 12 (1.53%) Fibre Optics
10 12 (1.53%) Mobile App
11 8 (1.02%) Cyber Threat
11 8 (1.02%) Virtual Team
12 7 (0.90%) Analytical Mindset
12 7 (0.90%) Enterprise Cloud
12 7 (0.90%) Management Information System
12 7 (0.90%) SCADA
12 7 (0.90%) Self-Motivation
13 6 (0.77%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 39 (4.99%) Android
1 39 (4.99%) Windows
2 32 (4.09%) Mac OS
3 18 (2.30%) Linux
3 18 (2.30%) Windows 10
4 8 (1.02%) Apple iOS
5 7 (0.90%) Unix
5 7 (0.90%) Windows Server
6 4 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.38%) Debian
7 3 (0.38%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.38%) VMS
8 1 (0.13%) CentOS
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
8 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
8 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 171 (21.87%) Business Intelligence
2 169 (21.61%) Programme Management
3 165 (21.10%) Digital Marketing
4 117 (14.96%) Stakeholder Management
5 116 (14.83%) Problem-Solving
6 113 (14.45%) Agile
7 89 (11.38%) Migration
8 78 (9.97%) Continuous Improvement
9 69 (8.82%) ITIL
9 69 (8.82%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 56 (7.16%) Logistics
11 54 (6.91%) Customer Service
11 54 (6.91%) Workflow
12 48 (6.14%) Project Management
13 41 (5.24%) DevOps
14 40 (5.12%) Change Management
14 40 (5.12%) CI/CD
15 39 (4.99%) Decision-Making
15 39 (4.99%) Roadmaps
16 38 (4.86%) AI
Programming Languages
1 53 (6.78%) Python
2 33 (4.22%) JavaScript
2 33 (4.22%) SQL
3 18 (2.30%) Java
4 11 (1.41%) Bash
4 11 (1.41%) TypeScript
5 10 (1.28%) PowerShell
6 5 (0.64%) C++
6 5 (0.64%) Go
7 4 (0.51%) C
7 4 (0.51%) C#
7 4 (0.51%) Shell Script
8 3 (0.38%) PHP
8 3 (0.38%) PL/SQL
8 3 (0.38%) R
9 2 (0.26%) BeanShell
10 1 (0.13%) Bicep
10 1 (0.13%) Cypher
10 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
10 1 (0.13%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 192 (24.55%) Security Cleared
2 158 (20.20%) SC Cleared
3 58 (7.42%) Degree
4 25 (3.20%) DV Cleared
5 19 (2.43%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (2.43%) Cisco Certification
6 14 (1.79%) CCNP
7 12 (1.53%) PMP
8 10 (1.28%) ACCA
8 10 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
9 9 (1.15%) PMI Certification
10 8 (1.02%) CCIE
10 8 (1.02%) ITIL Certification
11 7 (0.90%) CCNA
11 7 (0.90%) CIMA
11 7 (0.90%) Microsoft Certification
12 6 (0.77%) ISTQB
13 5 (0.64%) Azure Certification
13 5 (0.64%) JNCIP
13 5 (0.64%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (4.09%) QA
2 31 (3.96%) SLA
3 20 (2.56%) PMO
4 18 (2.30%) GDPR
5 14 (1.79%) Data Quality
6 11 (1.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.15%) GRC
7 9 (1.15%) NCSC
8 8 (1.02%) Accessibility
9 7 (0.90%) NIST
9 7 (0.90%) RMADS
10 5 (0.64%) JSP 440
11 4 (0.51%) IFRS
11 4 (0.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
12 3 (0.38%) GAAP
13 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.26%) WCAG
14 1 (0.13%) COSO
14 1 (0.13%) IEC 61508
System Software
1 23 (2.94%) Active Directory
2 13 (1.66%) Docker
3 3 (0.38%) QEMU
3 3 (0.38%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.26%) Hyper-V
4 2 (0.26%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.13%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 20 (2.56%) Ansible
2 19 (2.43%) Kubernetes
3 9 (1.15%) Terraform
4 7 (0.90%) SCCM
5 5 (0.64%) Grafana
5 5 (0.64%) Iperf
5 5 (0.64%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.51%) Argo
6 4 (0.51%) Nmap
7 3 (0.38%) Cisco Prime
7 3 (0.38%) Podman
8 2 (0.26%) EMC NetWorker
8 2 (0.26%) Prometheus
8 2 (0.26%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.26%) vRealize
9 1 (0.13%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.13%) Consul
9 1 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
9 1 (0.13%) FortiGate
9 1 (0.13%) Rancher
Vendors
1 193 (24.68%) SAP
2 115 (14.71%) Cisco
3 95 (12.15%) Microsoft
4 44 (5.63%) ServiceNow
5 31 (3.96%) Nokia
6 27 (3.45%) Juniper
7 25 (3.20%) HP
7 25 (3.20%) Oracle
8 24 (3.07%) Apple
8 24 (3.07%) Dell
9 22 (2.81%) Fortinet
10 18 (2.30%) Salesforce
11 17 (2.17%) Remedy
12 16 (2.05%) Ericsson
13 15 (1.92%) CheckPoint
14 13 (1.66%) F5
14 13 (1.66%) Palo Alto
15 11 (1.41%) Meraki
16 9 (1.15%) BT
16 9 (1.15%) Google