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

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 174 91 64
Rank change year-on-year -83 -27 +21
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 721 817 1,327
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.50% 2.78% 3.11%
As % of the General category 2.80% 4.40% 5.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 447 460 661
10th Percentile £211 £312 £200
25th Percentile £400 £395 £325
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £481 £488 £450
Median % change year-on-year -1.28% +8.33% -9.09%
75th Percentile £575 £589 £594
90th Percentile £681 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £466 £484 £450
% change year-on-year -3.67% +7.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 37 96
10th Percentile £17.46 - £12.15
25th Percentile £20.81 £14.00 £13.25
Median hourly rate £23.83 £24.18 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -1.47% -56.04% +4.76%
75th Percentile £50.00 £57.50 £72.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £68.25 £85.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £23.00 £60.00
% change year-on-year +3.59% -61.67% +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 general skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for general skills 25,717 18,580 24,689
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 53.63% 63.23% 57.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,704 11,812 15,578
10th Percentile £310 £285 £275
25th Percentile £410 £406 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £505 £520 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.88% -0.95% -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £638 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £488 £475 £498
% change year-on-year +2.63% -4.62% -0.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,655 797 1,927
10th Percentile £13.95 £13.96 £12.75
25th Percentile £17.25 £17.25 £15.41
Median hourly rate £30.00 £27.50 £30.00
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% -8.33% -7.69%
75th Percentile £60.52 £55.93 £52.50
90th Percentile £80.00 £75.00 £66.45
UK excluding London median hourly rate £28.05 £24.50 £28.00
% change year-on-year +14.47% -12.50% -0.57%

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 18 May 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 18 May 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 18 May 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 -87 630 £478 -4.45% 575
UK excluding London -100 371 £466 -3.67% 466
London -20 274 £500 - 195
Work from Home -44 189 £500 +4.17% 247
South East -69 151 £453 -7.08% 164
North of England -66 71 £481 -8.33% 92
Midlands -40 54 £550 +7.32% 49
South West -50 44 £511 -2.67% 48
West Midlands -38 43 £550 +7.32% 28
North West -48 34 £463 -12.32% 52
East of England -26 32 £200 -50.00% 62
Yorkshire -47 23 £481 -12.50% 34
Scotland -11 14 £275 -18.52% 48
North East -13 14 £500 -0.25% 7
East Midlands -23 11 £500 +25.00% 20
Northern Ireland 0 6 £150 -58.04% 4
Wales -13 3 £160 -56.16% 17

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 9 (1.25%) OpenStack
2 8 (1.11%) Confluence
3 6 (0.83%) Appian
4 5 (0.69%) Apache Airflow
4 5 (0.69%) Apache Spark
4 5 (0.69%) Microsoft Exchange
5 4 (0.55%) Anypoint
5 4 (0.55%) SharePoint
6 3 (0.42%) ArcGIS
6 3 (0.42%) IIS
6 3 (0.42%) JBoss
6 3 (0.42%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.42%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.42%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.28%) Apache
7 2 (0.28%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.14%) Camunda
8 1 (0.14%) CMS
8 1 (0.14%) Smallworld
Applications
1 24 (3.33%) Microsoft Office
2 14 (1.94%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (0.97%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 5 (0.69%) MS Visio
5 4 (0.55%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.42%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.28%) MicroStation
8 1 (0.14%) Autodesk Inventor
8 1 (0.14%) FrameMaker
8 1 (0.14%) MadCap Flare
8 1 (0.14%) Revit
8 1 (0.14%) SOLIDWORKS
8 1 (0.14%) Trello
Business Applications
1 13 (1.80%) SAP PSCD
2 12 (1.66%) SAP BRIM
3 11 (1.53%) SAP Hybris
4 10 (1.39%) Remedy ITSM
5 6 (0.83%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
6 4 (0.55%) BambooHR
7 2 (0.28%) SAP FI
8 1 (0.14%) Dynamics CRM
8 1 (0.14%) Remedy AR System
8 1 (0.14%) Salesforce CRM
8 1 (0.14%) SAP CO
8 1 (0.14%) SAP FI/CO
8 1 (0.14%) SAP FI-CA
8 1 (0.14%) SAP IBP
8 1 (0.14%) SAP S/4HANA
8 1 (0.14%) SAP SD
8 1 (0.14%) SAP SRM
8 1 (0.14%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 66 (9.15%) Azure
2 59 (8.18%) AWS
3 34 (4.72%) GCP
4 26 (3.61%) Microsoft 365
5 19 (2.64%) Power Platform
6 13 (1.80%) SaaS
7 12 (1.66%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 8 (1.11%) dbt
9 6 (0.83%) Azure DevOps
10 5 (0.69%) Datadog
10 5 (0.69%) Salesforce Service Cloud
10 5 (0.69%) Serverless
11 4 (0.55%) AWS Lambda
11 4 (0.55%) Boomi
11 4 (0.55%) Dagster
11 4 (0.55%) Entra ID
11 4 (0.55%) Figma
11 4 (0.55%) GitHub
11 4 (0.55%) Prefect
11 4 (0.55%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 44 (6.10%) 5G
2 41 (5.69%) Firewall
3 37 (5.13%) MPLS
4 34 (4.72%) WAN
5 26 (3.61%) Network Security
6 25 (3.47%) LAN
7 24 (3.33%) 4G
8 23 (3.19%) Radio Access Network
9 22 (3.05%) DNS
10 21 (2.91%) BGP
10 21 (2.91%) Internet
10 21 (2.91%) SD-WAN
11 19 (2.64%) VoIP
12 17 (2.36%) 3GPP
12 17 (2.36%) LTE
13 15 (2.08%) VPN
14 14 (1.94%) Broadband
15 13 (1.80%) HTTP
15 13 (1.80%) OSPF
16 12 (1.66%) Ethernet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.50%) Power BI
2 12 (1.66%) Data Warehouse
2 12 (1.66%) Looker
3 11 (1.53%) Tableau
4 9 (1.25%) BigQuery
5 8 (1.11%) Big Data
6 7 (0.97%) Amazon Redshift
6 7 (0.97%) Relational Database
7 6 (0.83%) SQL Server
8 5 (0.69%) MySQL
8 5 (0.69%) Oracle Database
9 3 (0.42%) Amazon Athena
9 3 (0.42%) Data Lake
9 3 (0.42%) GIS
9 3 (0.42%) PostgreSQL
9 3 (0.42%) Semantic Layer
9 3 (0.42%) Star Schema
10 2 (0.28%) Flink
10 2 (0.28%) InfluxDB
10 2 (0.28%) TimescaleDB
Development Applications
1 21 (2.91%) JIRA
2 9 (1.25%) Git
3 4 (0.55%) GitLab
4 3 (0.42%) Jenkins
5 2 (0.28%) JMeter
5 2 (0.28%) Robot Framework
6 1 (0.14%) Appium
6 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
6 1 (0.14%) CircleCI
6 1 (0.14%) JUnit
6 1 (0.14%) Maven
6 1 (0.14%) Mockito
6 1 (0.14%) Oracle Forms
6 1 (0.14%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.14%) TestRail
General
1 195 (27.05%) Social Skills
2 139 (19.28%) Finance
3 99 (13.73%) Public Sector
4 89 (12.34%) Analytical Skills
5 61 (8.46%) Marketing
6 51 (7.07%) Electronics
7 47 (6.52%) Manufacturing
8 41 (5.69%) Billing
9 25 (3.47%) Retail
10 20 (2.77%) Organisational Skills
11 17 (2.36%) Legal
12 15 (2.08%) Documentation Skills
13 14 (1.94%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (0.97%) Banking
14 7 (0.97%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.83%) Military
16 5 (0.69%) Publishing
17 3 (0.42%) Aerospace
17 3 (0.42%) Financial Institution
17 3 (0.42%) Police
Job Titles
1 95 (13.18%) Architect
2 64 (8.88%) Analyst
3 55 (7.63%) Lead
4 50 (6.93%) Senior
5 43 (5.96%) Solutions Architect
6 38 (5.27%) Network Engineer
6 38 (5.27%) Telecoms Manager
7 37 (5.13%) Consultant
8 36 (4.99%) Project Manager
9 27 (3.74%) Business Analyst
10 26 (3.61%) Designer
10 26 (3.61%) Developer
11 24 (3.33%) ServiceNow Architect
12 21 (2.91%) Data Engineer
13 19 (2.64%) Programme Manager
14 18 (2.50%) Sales Manager
15 15 (2.08%) Enterprise Architect
16 14 (1.94%) Delivery Manager
16 14 (1.94%) Design Engineer
16 14 (1.94%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 34 (4.72%) REST
2 19 (2.64%) SOAP
3 11 (1.53%) Kafka
3 11 (1.53%) Middleware
4 9 (1.25%) Elastic Stack
5 8 (1.11%) .NET
5 8 (1.11%) XML
6 7 (0.97%) JSON
6 7 (0.97%) OpenAPI
6 7 (0.97%) Swagger
7 5 (0.69%) ONVIF
7 5 (0.69%) RESTful
8 4 (0.55%) RabbitMQ
8 4 (0.55%) RAML
9 3 (0.42%) .NET Framework
9 3 (0.42%) 802.1X
9 3 (0.42%) GraphQL
9 3 (0.42%) RFC 2544
9 3 (0.42%) Spring
9 3 (0.42%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 30 (4.16%) Onboarding
2 28 (3.88%) Data Centre
3 27 (3.74%) Data Protection Act
4 21 (2.91%) Product Ownership
5 19 (2.64%) Driving Licence
6 17 (2.36%) Cloud Native
7 16 (2.22%) CMDB
7 16 (2.22%) Virtual Team
8 12 (1.66%) Distributed Systems
9 10 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
9 10 (1.39%) Self-Motivation
9 10 (1.39%) TM Forum
10 8 (1.11%) EPoS
10 8 (1.11%) Legacy Systems
10 8 (1.11%) Management Information System
11 7 (0.97%) Hybrid Cloud
11 7 (0.97%) NHS
12 6 (0.83%) IoT
12 6 (0.83%) Mobile App
12 6 (0.83%) Web Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 34 (4.72%) Windows
2 24 (3.33%) Linux
3 17 (2.36%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.53%) Unix
5 7 (0.97%) Android
6 4 (0.55%) Apple iOS
6 4 (0.55%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.42%) Debian
7 3 (0.42%) Ubuntu
7 3 (0.42%) VMS
7 3 (0.42%) Windows Server
8 2 (0.28%) Mac OS
9 1 (0.14%) Embedded Linux
9 1 (0.14%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.14%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.14%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 111 (15.40%) Stakeholder Management
2 97 (13.45%) Agile
3 91 (12.62%) Problem-Solving
4 66 (9.15%) Continuous Improvement
5 65 (9.02%) ITIL
6 62 (8.60%) Business Intelligence
7 57 (7.91%) Migration
8 55 (7.63%) Project Management
9 54 (7.49%) Decision-Making
10 53 (7.35%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 49 (6.80%) Programme Management
12 47 (6.52%) Analytics
13 46 (6.38%) Project Delivery
14 45 (6.24%) Customer Service
15 43 (5.96%) Digital Marketing
16 42 (5.83%) Data Protection
16 42 (5.83%) Roadmaps
17 40 (5.55%) CRM
18 38 (5.27%) CI/CD
18 38 (5.27%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 52 (7.21%) Python
2 37 (5.13%) SQL
3 17 (2.36%) Java
4 14 (1.94%) JavaScript
5 12 (1.66%) Bash
6 9 (1.25%) C#
7 8 (1.11%) C++
8 6 (0.83%) PowerShell
8 6 (0.83%) R
9 4 (0.55%) DataWeave
9 4 (0.55%) Go
10 3 (0.42%) Apex Code
10 3 (0.42%) C
10 3 (0.42%) LookML
10 3 (0.42%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.42%) TypeScript
11 2 (0.28%) PHP
11 2 (0.28%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.14%) ABAP
12 1 (0.14%) SOQL
Qualifications
1 128 (17.75%) Security Cleared
2 98 (13.59%) SC Cleared
3 66 (9.15%) Degree
4 26 (3.61%) Cisco Certification
5 23 (3.19%) DV Cleared
6 18 (2.50%) Computer Science Degree
7 17 (2.36%) Microsoft Certification
8 15 (2.08%) A+ Certification
8 15 (2.08%) CCNP
8 15 (2.08%) PMP
9 14 (1.94%) CCNA
10 13 (1.80%) BPSS Clearance
11 9 (1.25%) Network+ Certification
11 9 (1.25%) PMI Certification
12 8 (1.11%) Master's Degree
13 7 (0.97%) ACCA
13 7 (0.97%) AWS Certification
13 7 (0.97%) Azure Certification
13 7 (0.97%) CIMA
14 6 (0.83%) CCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (3.05%) SLA
2 20 (2.77%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 18 (2.50%) GDPR
4 17 (2.36%) QA
5 16 (2.22%) PMO
6 13 (1.80%) Data Quality
7 11 (1.53%) NCSC
8 9 (1.25%) NIST
9 8 (1.11%) GRC
10 7 (0.97%) RMADS
11 5 (0.69%) JSP 440
12 2 (0.28%) Accessibility
12 2 (0.28%) Sarbanes-Oxley
13 1 (0.14%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 1 (0.14%) EU AI Act
13 1 (0.14%) HIPAA
13 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 42001
13 1 (0.14%) PCI DSS
13 1 (0.14%) SOC 1
13 1 (0.14%) WCAG
System Software
1 16 (2.22%) Active Directory
2 10 (1.39%) Docker
3 8 (1.11%) VMware Infrastructure
4 4 (0.55%) vSphere
5 3 (0.42%) Hyper-V
5 3 (0.42%) QEMU
6 2 (0.28%) VMware ESXi
6 2 (0.28%) VMware NSX
7 1 (0.14%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 35 (4.85%) Kubernetes
2 14 (1.94%) Ansible
3 13 (1.80%) Grafana
4 12 (1.66%) Prometheus
5 9 (1.25%) Terraform
6 4 (0.55%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.55%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (0.55%) SCCM
7 3 (0.42%) Iperf
7 3 (0.42%) Podman
8 2 (0.28%) Amdocs OSS
8 2 (0.28%) Argo
8 2 (0.28%) FortiGate
8 2 (0.28%) Kibana
8 2 (0.28%) Nmap
8 2 (0.28%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.28%) vCenter Server
8 2 (0.28%) vRealize
9 1 (0.14%) Data Guard
9 1 (0.14%) SolarWinds Orion
Vendors
1 83 (11.51%) Microsoft
2 63 (8.74%) SAP
3 62 (8.60%) Cisco
4 60 (8.32%) ServiceNow
5 37 (5.13%) Nokia
6 25 (3.47%) Salesforce
7 21 (2.91%) Oracle
8 20 (2.77%) BT
9 19 (2.64%) Ericsson
10 17 (2.36%) Fortinet
11 16 (2.22%) Juniper
12 15 (2.08%) Google
13 14 (1.94%) CheckPoint
13 14 (1.94%) Huawei
14 12 (1.66%) Palo Alto
14 12 (1.66%) Remedy
15 11 (1.53%) F5
15 11 (1.53%) MuleSoft
15 11 (1.53%) VMware
16 10 (1.39%) Meraki