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

6 months to
3 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 125 60 72
Rank change year-on-year -65 +12 +12
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 818 1,252 1,325
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.26% 3.50% 2.94%
As % of the General category 3.63% 5.82% 4.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 532 582 849
10th Percentile £170 £266 £265
25th Percentile £325 £391 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - +4.17%
75th Percentile £575 £611 £623
90th Percentile £675 £688 £712
UK excluding London median daily rate £445 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -11.00% +11.11% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 68 44 33
10th Percentile £14.75 £21.08 £14.22
25th Percentile £17.26 £24.18 £24.25
Median hourly rate £22.00 £48.56 £52.50
Median % change year-on-year -54.70% -7.50% +5.00%
75th Percentile £25.00 £71.56 £80.00
90th Percentile £59.48 £75.00 £88.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £49.28 £63.75
% change year-on-year -55.36% -22.70% +6.25%

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 22,547 21,501 26,826
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 62.24% 60.03% 59.55%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,144 12,747 17,800
10th Percentile £275 £294 £283
25th Percentile £400 £413 £421
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 £490 £500
% change year-on-year -3.06% -2.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,440 788 1,114
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.21 £14.25
25th Percentile £16.71 £18.00 £17.00
Median hourly rate £24.00 £27.50 £32.00
Median % change year-on-year -12.73% -14.06% +28.00%
75th Percentile £45.46 £53.75 £59.00
90th Percentile £70.00 £70.08 £71.53
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.08 £26.23 £30.00
% change year-on-year -15.84% -12.57% +38.12%

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 3 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 3 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 3 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 -66 713 £464 -7.25% 660
UK excluding London -61 468 £445 -11.00% 620
London -34 277 £450 -14.29% 160
Work from Home -54 198 £500 - 266
South East -35 172 £500 -1.48% 233
South West -32 80 £550 +4.76% 80
Midlands -27 79 £380 -19.15% 105
North of England -47 62 £275 -32.10% 115
West Midlands -34 61 £438 -9.79% 83
North West -27 34 £225 -44.10% 65
East of England -35 32 £475 +8.57% 49
Scotland +10 30 £281 -34.78% 42
East Midlands -9 18 £158 -10.00% 22
Yorkshire -30 18 £365 -27.00% 39
Northern Ireland +1 11 £150 -18.92% 3
Wales -1 10 £160 -56.16% 14
North East -7 9 £175 -50.00% 14
Channel Islands -7 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 (1.96%) SharePoint
2 15 (1.83%) Confluence
3 12 (1.47%) Microsoft Exchange
4 11 (1.34%) Apache Spark
5 9 (1.10%) OpenStack
6 7 (0.86%) Appian
7 4 (0.49%) Apache Airflow
8 3 (0.37%) CMS
9 2 (0.24%) Apache
9 2 (0.24%) Smallworld
10 1 (0.12%) Drupal
10 1 (0.12%) Headless CMS
10 1 (0.12%) IIS
10 1 (0.12%) Jupyter
Applications
1 50 (6.11%) Microsoft Office
2 27 (3.30%) Microsoft Excel
3 16 (1.96%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (1.59%) 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%) Sketch
9 1 (0.12%) Trello
Business Applications
1 13 (1.59%) SAP BRIM
1 13 (1.59%) SAP Hybris
1 13 (1.59%) 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
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle Assets
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle EBS R12
5 1 (0.12%) Oracle ERP
Cloud Services
1 74 (9.05%) Azure
2 63 (7.70%) AWS
3 57 (6.97%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (5.26%) GCP
5 28 (3.42%) SaaS
6 21 (2.57%) Power Platform
7 13 (1.59%) SAP Commerce Cloud
8 12 (1.47%) GitHub
9 10 (1.22%) Dynamics 365
10 9 (1.10%) Entra ID
11 8 (0.98%) Azure DevOps
11 8 (0.98%) GitHub Actions
12 7 (0.86%) Miro
12 7 (0.86%) Tricentis Tosca
13 6 (0.73%) IaaS
14 5 (0.61%) Cloud Computing
14 5 (0.61%) OpenShift
15 4 (0.49%) dbt
15 4 (0.49%) Power Automate
15 4 (0.49%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 57 (6.97%) Firewall
2 54 (6.60%) WAN
3 50 (6.11%) LAN
4 49 (5.99%) Wireless
5 31 (3.79%) VPN
6 28 (3.42%) SD-WAN
7 27 (3.30%) 5G
8 26 (3.18%) DNS
9 25 (3.06%) 4G
10 24 (2.93%) Broadband
10 24 (2.93%) Radio Access Network
11 22 (2.69%) MPLS
12 21 (2.57%) Network Security
13 20 (2.44%) Wi-Fi
14 18 (2.20%) BGP
14 18 (2.20%) VoIP
14 18 (2.20%) Wireshark
15 16 (1.96%) LTE
16 14 (1.71%) SDH
17 13 (1.59%) 3GPP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (2.32%) Power BI
2 14 (1.71%) Tableau
3 9 (1.10%) Data Warehouse
4 8 (0.98%) Big Data
4 8 (0.98%) GIS
4 8 (0.98%) MySQL
5 7 (0.86%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.73%) MongoDB
7 5 (0.61%) PostgreSQL
7 5 (0.61%) Relational Database
8 4 (0.49%) BigQuery
8 4 (0.49%) Electronic Patient Records
8 4 (0.49%) SAP BW
9 2 (0.24%) Geospatial Data
9 2 (0.24%) Hadoop
9 2 (0.24%) NoSQL
9 2 (0.24%) Oracle Database 12c
9 2 (0.24%) Power Query
9 2 (0.24%) QGIS
9 2 (0.24%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 26 (3.18%) 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 (0.86%) Cucumber
6 7 (0.86%) Git
6 7 (0.86%) SonarQube
7 4 (0.49%) Clang
7 4 (0.49%) Cypress.io
7 4 (0.49%) GCC
7 4 (0.49%) JUnit
8 3 (0.37%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.37%) Storybook
9 2 (0.24%) Appium
9 2 (0.24%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.24%) Maven
9 2 (0.24%) Mercurial
9 2 (0.24%) Subversion
General
1 315 (38.51%) Finance
2 272 (33.25%) Public Sector
3 265 (32.40%) Social Skills
4 217 (26.53%) Marketing
5 209 (25.55%) Manufacturing
6 206 (25.18%) Electronics
7 97 (11.86%) Analytical Skills
8 29 (3.55%) Documentation Skills
9 27 (3.30%) Legal
10 20 (2.44%) Billing
11 13 (1.59%) Law
11 13 (1.59%) Organisational Skills
12 11 (1.34%) Automotive
12 11 (1.34%) Retail
13 10 (1.22%) Banking
14 7 (0.86%) Back Office
14 7 (0.86%) French Language
14 7 (0.86%) Military
14 7 (0.86%) Presentation Skills
15 6 (0.73%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 95 (11.61%) Architect
2 78 (9.54%) Analyst
3 53 (6.48%) Project Manager
4 52 (6.36%) Consultant
5 47 (5.75%) IT Support
6 43 (5.26%) Business Analyst
6 43 (5.26%) Desktop Support
7 39 (4.77%) Senior
8 36 (4.40%) Lead
9 34 (4.16%) Network Engineer
10 28 (3.42%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
10 28 (3.42%) 2nd Line Support
10 28 (3.42%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
11 26 (3.18%) Network Architect
11 26 (3.18%) Solutions Architect
12 24 (2.93%) Support Engineer
13 23 (2.81%) Network Specialist
13 23 (2.81%) Telecoms Manager
14 22 (2.69%) Developer
15 20 (2.44%) Delivery Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (2.93%) REST
2 16 (1.96%) 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
6 8 (0.98%) Node.js
7 7 (0.86%) Jinja
7 7 (0.86%) NETCONF
7 7 (0.86%) Web Services
8 6 (0.73%) PySpark
8 6 (0.73%) RFC 2544
8 6 (0.73%) YANG
9 5 (0.61%) CSS
9 5 (0.61%) HTML
9 5 (0.61%) Kafka
9 5 (0.61%) Spring
9 5 (0.61%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 70 (8.56%) Data Centre
2 33 (4.03%) Driving Licence
3 29 (3.55%) Cloud Native
4 26 (3.18%) Legacy Systems
4 26 (3.18%) Product Ownership
5 20 (2.44%) Data Protection Act
6 19 (2.32%) Onboarding
7 18 (2.20%) CMDB
8 17 (2.08%) Fibre Optics
9 16 (1.96%) Mobile App
10 15 (1.83%) NHS
11 14 (1.71%) Analytical Mindset
11 14 (1.71%) IoT
12 11 (1.34%) Virtual Team
13 10 (1.22%) Self-Motivation
14 9 (1.10%) Algorithms
14 9 (1.10%) Cyber Threat
15 8 (0.98%) Renewable Energy
15 8 (0.98%) SCADA
16 7 (0.86%) Cyber Defence
Operating Systems
1 55 (6.72%) Windows
2 40 (4.89%) Android
3 32 (3.91%) Mac OS
4 23 (2.81%) Linux
5 15 (1.83%) Windows 10
6 10 (1.22%) Windows Server
7 9 (1.10%) Apple iOS
8 6 (0.73%) Unix
9 1 (0.12%) CentOS
9 1 (0.12%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.12%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 1 (0.12%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 227 (27.75%) Business Intelligence
2 210 (25.67%) Programme Management
3 204 (24.94%) Digital Marketing
4 144 (17.60%) Problem-Solving
5 134 (16.38%) Agile
6 118 (14.43%) Stakeholder Management
7 93 (11.37%) Migration
8 84 (10.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 75 (9.17%) Continuous Improvement
10 73 (8.92%) ITIL
11 54 (6.60%) Customer Service
11 54 (6.60%) DevOps
12 53 (6.48%) AI
12 53 (6.48%) CI/CD
12 53 (6.48%) Logistics
12 53 (6.48%) Service Delivery
12 53 (6.48%) Workflow
13 52 (6.36%) Change Management
13 52 (6.36%) Project Management
14 48 (5.87%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 74 (9.05%) Python
2 41 (5.01%) SQL
3 37 (4.52%) JavaScript
4 19 (2.32%) PowerShell
5 18 (2.20%) Java
6 14 (1.71%) Bash
7 12 (1.47%) TypeScript
8 10 (1.22%) C
8 10 (1.22%) C++
9 8 (0.98%) C#
10 7 (0.86%) Go
11 6 (0.73%) PHP
12 4 (0.49%) ABAP
13 3 (0.37%) BeanShell
13 3 (0.37%) PL/SQL
13 3 (0.37%) R
14 2 (0.24%) Kotlin
14 2 (0.24%) Shell Script
15 1 (0.12%) Bicep
15 1 (0.12%) Groovy
Qualifications
1 228 (27.87%) Security Cleared
2 181 (22.13%) SC Cleared
3 75 (9.17%) Degree
4 44 (5.38%) DV Cleared
5 27 (3.30%) Cisco Certification
6 16 (1.96%) CCNP
6 16 (1.96%) CISSP
6 16 (1.96%) Master's Degree
7 14 (1.71%) BPSS Clearance
7 14 (1.71%) CCNA
8 13 (1.59%) PMP
9 11 (1.34%) CCIE
9 11 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
10 10 (1.22%) PMI Certification
11 9 (1.10%) ITIL Certification
12 8 (0.98%) Azure Certification
12 8 (0.98%) CESG Certified Professional
12 8 (0.98%) CISM
13 7 (0.86%) ACCA
14 6 (0.73%) AWS Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 37 (4.52%) QA
2 34 (4.16%) SLA
3 20 (2.44%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 17 (2.08%) GDPR
5 16 (1.96%) PMO
6 13 (1.59%) Data Quality
7 10 (1.22%) Accessibility
7 10 (1.22%) GRC
7 10 (1.22%) NIST
8 8 (0.98%) NCSC
8 8 (0.98%) RMADS
9 6 (0.73%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.73%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 3 (0.37%) GAAP
10 3 (0.37%) IFRS
10 3 (0.37%) WCAG
11 2 (0.24%) HIPAA
11 2 (0.24%) IEC 61508
11 2 (0.24%) ISO 26262
11 2 (0.24%) NEBOSH
System Software
1 30 (3.67%) Active Directory
2 26 (3.18%) 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
5 2 (0.24%) Oracle RAC
5 2 (0.24%) vSphere
6 1 (0.12%) BitLocker
6 1 (0.12%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 30 (3.67%) Ansible
2 26 (3.18%) Kubernetes
3 20 (2.44%) Terraform
4 6 (0.73%) Grafana
4 6 (0.73%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.61%) SCCM
6 4 (0.49%) Argo
6 4 (0.49%) Data Guard
6 4 (0.49%) Puppet
6 4 (0.49%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.37%) HP ALM
7 3 (0.37%) NSN NetAct
7 3 (0.37%) Oracle Enterprise Manager
7 3 (0.37%) Oracle RMAN
7 3 (0.37%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.37%) vRealize
8 2 (0.24%) Cisco Prime
8 2 (0.24%) EMC NetWorker
8 2 (0.24%) Nmap
8 2 (0.24%) OpenView
Vendors
1 241 (29.46%) SAP
2 132 (16.14%) Cisco
3 96 (11.74%) Microsoft
4 43 (5.26%) ServiceNow
5 33 (4.03%) Salesforce
6 31 (3.79%) Juniper
7 27 (3.30%) HP
8 26 (3.18%) Nokia
9 25 (3.06%) Dell
10 24 (2.93%) Apple
11 21 (2.57%) F5
11 21 (2.57%) Fortinet
11 21 (2.57%) Oracle
12 18 (2.20%) Ericsson
13 16 (1.96%) Google
14 15 (1.83%) CheckPoint
15 14 (1.71%) Remedy
16 11 (1.34%) Meraki
16 11 (1.34%) VMware
17 10 (1.22%) Actix