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

6 months to
26 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 164 103 69
Rank change year-on-year -61 -34 +8
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 900 844 1,172
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.68% 2.58% 3.02%
As % of the General category 3.05% 4.06% 5.26%
Number of daily rates quoted 504 495 561
10th Percentile £213 £280 £225
25th Percentile £396 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £468 £488
Median % change year-on-year +1.60% -4.10% -2.50%
75th Percentile £564 £575 £613
90th Percentile £675 £700 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £475
% change year-on-year - -5.26% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 48 49 104
10th Percentile £14.68 - £12.15
25th Percentile £16.25 £14.00 £18.11
Median hourly rate £21.00 £20.75 £51.25
Median % change year-on-year +1.20% -59.51% -21.15%
75th Percentile £50.00 £52.00 £72.50
90th Percentile £178.75 £67.70 £75.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.00 £15.75 £51.25
% change year-on-year +33.33% -69.27% -14.58%

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 29,505 20,771 22,278
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 55.01% 63.48% 57.37%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,438 12,920 13,838
10th Percentile £313 £275 £288
25th Percentile £415 £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 £745 £775
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £494
% change year-on-year +5.26% -3.89% -1.15%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,281 1,174 1,263
10th Percentile £13.81 £13.46 £14.06
25th Percentile £17.11 £16.17 £16.80
Median hourly rate £31.50 £25.15 £35.36
Median % change year-on-year +25.25% -28.87% +27.47%
75th Percentile £56.00 £50.00 £60.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £69.90 £70.36
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.00 £22.14 £35.00
% change year-on-year +44.53% -36.74% +34.62%

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 26 August 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 26 August 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 26 August 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 -75 742 £482 +0.44% 572
UK excluding London -75 441 £450 - 401
London -32 348 £513 +7.89% 216
Work from Home -23 267 £475 -0.52% 199
South East -51 199 £470 -6.10% 123
Scotland +11 60 £300 - 27
North of England -65 58 £463 -2.63% 72
East of England -5 46 £190 -49.33% 41
South West -82 43 £460 -12.48% 60
Yorkshire -18 33 £475 +72.73% 28
Midlands -74 30 £460 +21.05% 75
West Midlands -77 29 £460 +21.05% 43
North West -62 24 £463 -5.13% 28
Wales -10 8 £200 -6.98% 12
Northern Ireland -3 5 £290 +107.14% 2
East Midlands -18 1 - - 32
North East -41 1 - - 22

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 (2.11%) Confluence
2 18 (2.00%) OpenStack
3 14 (1.56%) SharePoint
4 10 (1.11%) ArcGIS
5 8 (0.89%) Microsoft Exchange
6 6 (0.67%) Apache Airflow
7 4 (0.44%) Anypoint
8 2 (0.22%) Apache Spark
8 2 (0.22%) CMS
9 1 (0.11%) Camunda
9 1 (0.11%) IIS
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
9 1 (0.11%) Smallworld
Applications
1 35 (3.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 30 (3.33%) Microsoft Office
3 24 (2.67%) MS Visio
4 12 (1.33%) Microsoft Project
5 10 (1.11%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.56%) 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
9 1 (0.11%) Trello
Business Applications
1 19 (2.11%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.11%) SAP BRIM
3 8 (0.89%) SAP FI
3 8 (0.89%) SAP Hybris
4 7 (0.78%) SAP FI-CA
5 6 (0.67%) Remedy ITSM
6 5 (0.56%) NetSuite
6 5 (0.56%) Sage X3
6 5 (0.56%) Salesforce CRM
6 5 (0.56%) SAP S/4HANA
7 4 (0.44%) BambooHR
8 3 (0.33%) Remedy AR System
8 3 (0.33%) SAP ERP
9 1 (0.11%) Oracle BRM
9 1 (0.11%) SAP CO
9 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
9 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
9 1 (0.11%) SAP IS-U
9 1 (0.11%) SAP SD
9 1 (0.11%) SAP SRM
Cloud Services
1 95 (10.56%) Azure
2 90 (10.00%) AWS
3 67 (7.44%) GCP
4 21 (2.33%) Microsoft 365
5 16 (1.78%) Entra ID
5 16 (1.78%) GitHub
5 16 (1.78%) Power Platform
6 14 (1.56%) SaaS
7 11 (1.22%) Azure DevOps
7 11 (1.22%) dbt
8 10 (1.11%) Cloud Computing
8 10 (1.11%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 10 (1.11%) Snowflake
9 9 (1.00%) GitHub Actions
10 6 (0.67%) Cloud Functions
10 6 (0.67%) Datadog
10 6 (0.67%) OneDrive
11 5 (0.56%) Fivetran
11 5 (0.56%) OpenShift
11 5 (0.56%) Serverless
Communications & Networking
1 117 (13.00%) WAN
2 90 (10.00%) LAN
3 87 (9.67%) 5G
4 83 (9.22%) MPLS
5 62 (6.89%) 4G
6 58 (6.44%) Radio Access Network
7 54 (6.00%) Firewall
8 35 (3.89%) SD-WAN
9 34 (3.78%) DNS
10 31 (3.44%) Wi-Fi
11 30 (3.33%) BGP
12 28 (3.11%) SDH
13 26 (2.89%) LTE
13 26 (2.89%) Network Security
14 25 (2.78%) TCP/IP
15 24 (2.67%) 3GPP
15 24 (2.67%) VPN
16 23 (2.56%) 3G
17 21 (2.33%) Structured Cabling
17 21 (2.33%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.00%) Data Warehouse
2 16 (1.78%) BigQuery
3 15 (1.67%) Power BI
4 14 (1.56%) NoSQL
5 11 (1.22%) Amazon Redshift
5 11 (1.22%) PostgreSQL
5 11 (1.22%) Tableau
6 10 (1.11%) GIS
7 8 (0.89%) Big Data
7 8 (0.89%) Looker
7 8 (0.89%) MongoDB
7 8 (0.89%) MySQL
8 6 (0.67%) Redis
9 5 (0.56%) Apache Cassandra
9 5 (0.56%) Metadata
10 4 (0.44%) InfluxDB
10 4 (0.44%) SQL Server
11 3 (0.33%) BusinessObjects
11 3 (0.33%) SAP BW
11 3 (0.33%) Star Schema
Development Applications
1 34 (3.78%) JIRA
2 27 (3.00%) Git
3 14 (1.56%) Jenkins
4 8 (0.89%) GitLab
5 7 (0.78%) Selenium
6 2 (0.22%) Robot Framework
6 2 (0.22%) Sonatype Nexus
7 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
7 1 (0.11%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.11%) TestRail
7 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
7 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 256 (28.44%) Social Skills
2 136 (15.11%) Finance
3 122 (13.56%) Analytical Skills
4 60 (6.67%) Public Sector
5 37 (4.11%) Billing
6 33 (3.67%) Documentation Skills
7 30 (3.33%) Retail
8 27 (3.00%) Organisational Skills
9 25 (2.78%) Legal
10 19 (2.11%) Marketing
11 18 (2.00%) Influencing Skills
12 16 (1.78%) Presentation Skills
13 15 (1.67%) Aerospace
14 13 (1.44%) Manufacturing
15 10 (1.11%) Inclusion and Diversity
15 10 (1.11%) Publishing
16 8 (0.89%) Police
17 7 (0.78%) Banking
18 4 (0.44%) Electronics
18 4 (0.44%) Games
Job Titles
1 137 (15.22%) Architect
2 80 (8.89%) Senior
3 68 (7.56%) Consultant
4 67 (7.44%) Lead
5 63 (7.00%) Analyst
5 63 (7.00%) Network Engineer
6 59 (6.56%) Project Manager
7 51 (5.67%) Field Engineer
8 48 (5.33%) Telecoms Engineer
9 43 (4.78%) Solutions Architect
10 38 (4.22%) Designer
11 35 (3.89%) Developer
12 32 (3.56%) Telecoms Manager
13 29 (3.22%) Enterprise Architect
13 29 (3.22%) ServiceNow Architect
14 25 (2.78%) Data Engineer
15 21 (2.33%) Business Analyst
15 21 (2.33%) Telecoms Architect
16 20 (2.22%) Network Field Engineer
16 20 (2.22%) SAP Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 57 (6.33%) REST
2 34 (3.78%) SOAP
3 21 (2.33%) Terraform
4 19 (2.11%) Kafka
5 15 (1.67%) RESTful
6 14 (1.56%) Elastic Stack
6 14 (1.56%) NETCONF
6 14 (1.56%) YANG
7 13 (1.44%) HTML
7 13 (1.44%) Middleware
7 13 (1.44%) ONVIF
8 12 (1.33%) CSS
8 12 (1.33%) XML
9 10 (1.11%) AngularJS
9 10 (1.11%) React
10 9 (1.00%) FastAPI
10 9 (1.00%) OpenAPI
10 9 (1.00%) Swagger
11 8 (0.89%) JSON
11 8 (0.89%) RabbitMQ
Miscellaneous
1 54 (6.00%) Data Centre
2 50 (5.56%) CMDB
3 44 (4.89%) Onboarding
4 42 (4.67%) Driving Licence
5 38 (4.22%) Cloud Native
6 23 (2.56%) Analytical Mindset
7 20 (2.22%) Product Ownership
8 19 (2.11%) Virtual Team
9 18 (2.00%) Management Information System
10 17 (1.89%) Data Protection Act
10 17 (1.89%) Self-Motivation
11 16 (1.78%) Hybrid Cloud
12 13 (1.44%) TM Forum
12 13 (1.44%) Video\Live Streaming
13 10 (1.11%) Data Structures
13 10 (1.11%) Video Conferencing
14 9 (1.00%) Algorithms
14 9 (1.00%) Enterprise Software
14 9 (1.00%) Private Cloud
14 9 (1.00%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 50 (5.56%) Windows
2 42 (4.67%) Linux
3 14 (1.56%) Windows 10
4 11 (1.22%) Unix
4 11 (1.22%) Windows Server
5 8 (0.89%) Mac OS
6 3 (0.33%) Android
6 3 (0.33%) VMS
7 2 (0.22%) Apple iOS
7 2 (0.22%) Embedded Linux
7 2 (0.22%) OpenVMS
7 2 (0.22%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 1 (0.11%) Mac OS X
8 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Linux
8 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
8 1 (0.11%) Windows 7
Processes & Methodologies
1 187 (20.78%) Stakeholder Management
2 126 (14.00%) Agile
3 119 (13.22%) Problem-Solving
4 91 (10.11%) Project Delivery
5 86 (9.56%) ITIL
6 83 (9.22%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 78 (8.67%) AI
8 76 (8.44%) Roadmaps
9 74 (8.22%) Project Management
10 73 (8.11%) CI/CD
10 73 (8.11%) Service Management
11 70 (7.78%) Continuous Improvement
11 70 (7.78%) Migration
12 66 (7.33%) Validation
13 65 (7.22%) Decision-Making
14 56 (6.22%) Change Management
14 56 (6.22%) CRM
14 56 (6.22%) Technical Leadership
15 54 (6.00%) ITSM
16 53 (5.89%) Customer Service
Programming Languages
1 81 (9.00%) Python
2 46 (5.11%) SQL
3 32 (3.56%) JavaScript
4 23 (2.56%) Bash
5 14 (1.56%) Java
6 10 (1.11%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.89%) Apex Code
7 8 (0.89%) C#
8 7 (0.78%) R
9 6 (0.67%) Shell Script
10 5 (0.56%) C++
10 5 (0.56%) SOQL
11 4 (0.44%) ABAP
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
1 166 (18.44%) Security Cleared
2 104 (11.56%) SC Cleared
3 91 (10.11%) Degree
4 65 (7.22%) Cisco Certification
5 45 (5.00%) CCNA
6 27 (3.00%) DV Cleared
7 24 (2.67%) Computer Science Degree
7 24 (2.67%) Microsoft Certification
7 24 (2.67%) PMP
8 23 (2.56%) CCNP
9 22 (2.44%) A+ Certification
10 19 (2.11%) BPSS Clearance
11 18 (2.00%) PMI Certification
12 13 (1.44%) MCSA
13 11 (1.22%) Azure Certification
13 11 (1.22%) CCIE
14 9 (1.00%) AWS Certification
14 9 (1.00%) CISSP
14 9 (1.00%) Master's Degree
14 9 (1.00%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (3.44%) QA
2 29 (3.22%) SLA
3 28 (3.11%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 23 (2.56%) GDPR
5 22 (2.44%) PMO
6 21 (2.33%) GRC
7 18 (2.00%) NCSC
8 14 (1.56%) Data Quality
9 9 (1.00%) NIST
10 3 (0.33%) Accessibility
10 3 (0.33%) Actionable Recommendations
10 3 (0.33%) Cyber Essentials
10 3 (0.33%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 2 (0.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
11 2 (0.22%) EU AI Act
11 2 (0.22%) PCI DSS
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 (3.11%) Docker
2 23 (2.56%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.33%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (0.89%) VMware NSX
5 5 (0.56%) VMware ESXi
5 5 (0.56%) 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 51 (5.67%) Kubernetes
2 21 (2.33%) Ansible
3 18 (2.00%) Grafana
3 18 (2.00%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.89%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.56%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.44%) Cilium
6 4 (0.44%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.44%) Istio
7 3 (0.33%) Amdocs OSS
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%) NSN NetAct
8 2 (0.22%) QRadar
9 1 (0.11%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.11%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 124 (13.78%) Microsoft
2 116 (12.89%) Cisco
3 90 (10.00%) ServiceNow
4 63 (7.00%) Nokia
5 48 (5.33%) Salesforce
6 35 (3.89%) VMware
7 29 (3.22%) Ericsson
7 29 (3.22%) SAP
8 26 (2.89%) Google
9 23 (2.56%) BT
10 21 (2.33%) Juniper
11 19 (2.11%) F5
11 19 (2.11%) MuleSoft
12 17 (1.89%) Fortinet
13 15 (1.67%) Huawei
14 13 (1.44%) Palo Alto
15 12 (1.33%) BMC
16 10 (1.11%) Arista
16 10 (1.11%) Zscaler
17 9 (1.00%) Oracle