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 27 March 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 157 88 61
Rank change year-on-year -69 -27 +21
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 765 846 1,436
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.73% 2.91% 3.24%
As % of the General category 3.07% 4.63% 5.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 479 474 806
10th Percentile £170 £301 £200
25th Percentile £350 £380 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £470 £503 £450
Median % change year-on-year -6.56% +11.78% -7.69%
75th Percentile £575 £618 £588
90th Percentile £675 £700 £725
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% +0.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 57 32 60
10th Percentile £18.24 £14.00 £12.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.43 £12.28
Median hourly rate £23.83 £26.92 £26.75
Median % change year-on-year -11.49% +0.63% -49.05%
75th Percentile £25.00 £60.56 £65.25
90th Percentile £55.80 £63.68 £81.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £23.00 £24.50
% change year-on-year +3.59% -6.12% -53.33%

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 24,900 18,253 25,823
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.46% 62.89% 58.32%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,511 11,733 16,452
10th Percentile £301 £300 £266
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £625 £645 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £500
% change year-on-year - -5.00% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,539 698 1,835
10th Percentile £13.72 £15.00 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.03 £19.93 £15.16
Median hourly rate £25.15 £29.15 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.72% +12.12% -25.71%
75th Percentile £57.50 £58.75 £50.00
90th Percentile £77.50 £75.55 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £27.85 £25.00
% change year-on-year -14.45% +11.40% -20.05%

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 27 March 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 27 March 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 27 March 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 -81 667 £475 -6.86% 512
UK excluding London -75 431 £450 -10.00% 422
London -27 270 £475 -8.87% 139
Work from Home -64 176 £475 -5.00% 175
South East -56 163 £468 -6.40% 141
Midlands -37 70 £500 -2.44% 63
North of England -68 67 £419 -16.25% 94
South West -40 57 £525 -2.78% 50
West Midlands -41 48 £550 +7.32% 43
East of England -23 37 £475 +5.56% 56
Scotland +13 27 £281 -13.46% 27
North West -54 25 £375 -26.47% 46
North East -2 22 £175 -51.72% 11
East Midlands -18 22 £285 -54.40% 20
Yorkshire -45 19 £481 -8.33% 42
Wales -5 10 £160 -56.16% 10
Northern Ireland -2 7 £150 -72.73% 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 10 (1.31%) Confluence
1 10 (1.31%) SharePoint
2 9 (1.18%) Microsoft Exchange
3 7 (0.92%) Apache Spark
3 7 (0.92%) OpenStack
4 6 (0.78%) Appian
5 4 (0.52%) Apache
5 4 (0.52%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.52%) IIS
6 3 (0.39%) ArcGIS
6 3 (0.39%) JBoss
6 3 (0.39%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.39%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.39%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.26%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.13%) Camunda
8 1 (0.13%) CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
8 1 (0.13%) Smallworld
Applications
1 45 (5.88%) Microsoft Office
2 23 (3.01%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (1.57%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 12 (1.57%) Microsoft Project
4 7 (0.92%) MS Visio
5 2 (0.26%) Autodesk Inventor
5 2 (0.26%) MicroStation
5 2 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
5 2 (0.26%) Trello
6 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
6 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
6 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
Business Applications
1 17 (2.22%) SAP PSCD
2 16 (2.09%) SAP BRIM
2 16 (2.09%) SAP Hybris
3 10 (1.31%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.78%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
5 3 (0.39%) BambooHR
5 3 (0.39%) SAP FI
6 2 (0.26%) Primavera
6 2 (0.26%) SAP CO
6 2 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
6 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
7 1 (0.13%) Dynamics CRM
7 1 (0.13%) Remedy AR System
7 1 (0.13%) SAP FI-CA
7 1 (0.13%) SAP SRM
7 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 74 (9.67%) Azure
2 58 (7.58%) AWS
3 44 (5.75%) Microsoft 365
4 43 (5.62%) GCP
5 18 (2.35%) Power Platform
6 17 (2.22%) SAP Commerce Cloud
7 14 (1.83%) SaaS
8 9 (1.18%) Azure DevOps
9 8 (1.05%) GitHub
10 7 (0.92%) Dynamics 365
11 6 (0.78%) GitHub Actions
12 5 (0.65%) Datadog
12 5 (0.65%) dbt
13 4 (0.52%) Entra ID
13 4 (0.52%) Figma
13 4 (0.52%) Miro
13 4 (0.52%) Slack
14 3 (0.39%) Dagster
14 3 (0.39%) Prefect
14 3 (0.39%) Snowflake
Communications & Networking
1 49 (6.41%) WAN
2 41 (5.36%) 5G
3 40 (5.23%) Firewall
4 38 (4.97%) LAN
4 38 (4.97%) MPLS
5 27 (3.53%) 4G
5 27 (3.53%) Network Security
5 27 (3.53%) SD-WAN
6 26 (3.40%) Wireless
7 25 (3.27%) Radio Access Network
8 21 (2.75%) BGP
9 20 (2.61%) VPN
10 19 (2.48%) DNS
10 19 (2.48%) Internet
11 18 (2.35%) LTE
11 18 (2.35%) SDH
12 17 (2.22%) Broadband
12 17 (2.22%) VoIP
13 15 (1.96%) 2G
14 14 (1.83%) OSPF
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (2.22%) Power BI
2 12 (1.57%) MySQL
3 11 (1.44%) Data Warehouse
3 11 (1.44%) Looker
4 10 (1.31%) Tableau
5 8 (1.05%) BigQuery
5 8 (1.05%) Oracle Database
5 8 (1.05%) Relational Database
6 7 (0.92%) Big Data
6 7 (0.92%) GIS
7 6 (0.78%) SQL Server
8 5 (0.65%) PostgreSQL
9 4 (0.52%) Amazon Redshift
10 3 (0.39%) Metadata
10 3 (0.39%) NoSQL
10 3 (0.39%) RDBMS
10 3 (0.39%) Semantic Layer
10 3 (0.39%) Star Schema
11 2 (0.26%) Apache Cassandra
11 2 (0.26%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 24 (3.14%) JIRA
2 7 (0.92%) Jenkins
3 6 (0.78%) Git
3 6 (0.78%) GitLab
4 4 (0.52%) JUnit
5 3 (0.39%) Storybook
6 2 (0.26%) Appium
6 2 (0.26%) CircleCI
6 2 (0.26%) JMeter
6 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
6 2 (0.26%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.13%) Maven
7 1 (0.13%) Mockito
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.13%) Selenium
7 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 231 (30.20%) Finance
2 226 (29.54%) Social Skills
3 189 (24.71%) Public Sector
4 142 (18.56%) Marketing
5 134 (17.52%) Electronics
6 128 (16.73%) Manufacturing
7 86 (11.24%) Analytical Skills
8 41 (5.36%) Billing
9 23 (3.01%) Organisational Skills
10 20 (2.61%) Legal
11 18 (2.35%) Documentation Skills
12 13 (1.70%) Retail
13 10 (1.31%) Influencing Skills
13 10 (1.31%) Military
14 8 (1.05%) Banking
15 6 (0.78%) Law
16 5 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
17 3 (0.39%) Financial Institution
17 3 (0.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 2 (0.26%) Aerospace
Job Titles
1 84 (10.98%) Architect
2 74 (9.67%) Analyst
3 46 (6.01%) Lead
4 45 (5.88%) Consultant
5 43 (5.62%) Project Manager
6 42 (5.49%) Business Analyst
7 41 (5.36%) Senior
8 35 (4.58%) Network Engineer
9 33 (4.31%) IT Support
10 29 (3.79%) Solutions Architect
11 27 (3.53%) Desktop Support
12 26 (3.40%) Telecoms Manager
13 25 (3.27%) Developer
14 18 (2.35%) Coordinator
14 18 (2.35%) ServiceNow Architect
14 18 (2.35%) Telecoms Engineer
15 17 (2.22%) 2nd Line Support
15 17 (2.22%) Field Engineer
15 17 (2.22%) IT Engineer
15 17 (2.22%) Programme Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 29 (3.79%) REST
2 19 (2.48%) SOAP
3 9 (1.18%) Kafka
4 8 (1.05%) .NET
4 8 (1.05%) Elastic Stack
5 6 (0.78%) Middleware
5 6 (0.78%) RabbitMQ
5 6 (0.78%) RESTful
6 5 (0.65%) Spring
6 5 (0.65%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.52%) HTML
7 4 (0.52%) React
7 4 (0.52%) Web Services
8 3 (0.39%) CSS
8 3 (0.39%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.39%) Node.js
8 3 (0.39%) PySpark
8 3 (0.39%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.39%) Swagger
8 3 (0.39%) Vitest
Miscellaneous
1 45 (5.88%) Data Centre
2 31 (4.05%) Driving Licence
3 28 (3.66%) Data Protection Act
4 27 (3.53%) Product Ownership
5 24 (3.14%) Onboarding
6 19 (2.48%) Cloud Native
7 18 (2.35%) CMDB
8 16 (2.09%) IoT
9 14 (1.83%) NHS
10 13 (1.70%) Legacy Systems
10 13 (1.70%) Mobile App
11 12 (1.57%) Virtual Team
12 10 (1.31%) Distributed Systems
13 9 (1.18%) Analytical Mindset
14 8 (1.05%) Algorithms
14 8 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
15 7 (0.92%) Enterprise Cloud
15 7 (0.92%) Fibre Optics
16 6 (0.78%) Management Information System
16 6 (0.78%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 38 (4.97%) Windows
2 31 (4.05%) Android
3 24 (3.14%) Mac OS
4 21 (2.75%) Linux
5 19 (2.48%) Windows 10
6 7 (0.92%) Unix
7 6 (0.78%) Apple iOS
8 5 (0.65%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 5 (0.65%) Windows Server
9 3 (0.39%) Debian
9 3 (0.39%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.39%) VMS
10 2 (0.26%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.13%) CentOS
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
11 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 145 (18.95%) Business Intelligence
2 133 (17.39%) Programme Management
3 127 (16.60%) Digital Marketing
4 117 (15.29%) Stakeholder Management
5 108 (14.12%) Agile
6 97 (12.68%) Problem-Solving
7 81 (10.59%) Migration
8 79 (10.33%) Continuous Improvement
9 67 (8.76%) ITIL
9 67 (8.76%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 54 (7.06%) Logistics
10 54 (7.06%) Project Management
11 51 (6.67%) Workflow
12 48 (6.27%) Customer Service
13 47 (6.14%) Decision-Making
14 43 (5.62%) Roadmaps
15 42 (5.49%) DevOps
16 41 (5.36%) Analytics
16 41 (5.36%) Project Delivery
17 40 (5.23%) CI/CD
Programming Languages
1 54 (7.06%) Python
2 40 (5.23%) SQL
3 21 (2.75%) JavaScript
4 20 (2.61%) Java
5 10 (1.31%) PowerShell
6 9 (1.18%) Bash
7 6 (0.78%) C++
7 6 (0.78%) TypeScript
8 5 (0.65%) Go
8 5 (0.65%) R
9 4 (0.52%) C#
9 4 (0.52%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.39%) C
10 3 (0.39%) LookML
11 2 (0.26%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.26%) BeanShell
11 2 (0.26%) PHP
11 2 (0.26%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.13%) Bicep
12 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 174 (22.75%) Security Cleared
2 143 (18.69%) SC Cleared
3 66 (8.63%) Degree
4 25 (3.27%) DV Cleared
5 20 (2.61%) BPSS Clearance
6 17 (2.22%) Cisco Certification
7 16 (2.09%) PMP
8 13 (1.70%) Computer Science Degree
9 12 (1.57%) CCNP
9 12 (1.57%) PMI Certification
10 11 (1.44%) ITIL Certification
11 10 (1.31%) ACCA
12 9 (1.18%) Azure Certification
13 7 (0.92%) AWS Certification
13 7 (0.92%) CCIE
13 7 (0.92%) CIMA
13 7 (0.92%) Microsoft Certification
14 6 (0.78%) CCNA
15 5 (0.65%) ISTQB
15 5 (0.65%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 30 (3.92%) SLA
2 25 (3.27%) GDPR
3 21 (2.75%) PMO
4 19 (2.48%) QA
5 17 (2.22%) ISO/IEC 27001
6 16 (2.09%) Data Quality
7 11 (1.44%) GRC
7 11 (1.44%) NIST
8 9 (1.18%) NCSC
9 7 (0.92%) RMADS
10 5 (0.65%) JSP 440
10 5 (0.65%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 4 (0.52%) IFRS
12 3 (0.39%) Accessibility
12 3 (0.39%) GAAP
13 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
13 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
13 2 (0.26%) PCI DSS
14 1 (0.13%) EU AI Act
14 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 42001
System Software
1 20 (2.61%) Active Directory
2 14 (1.83%) Docker
3 3 (0.39%) QEMU
4 2 (0.26%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.13%) Firmware
5 1 (0.13%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 28 (3.66%) Kubernetes
2 14 (1.83%) Ansible
3 12 (1.57%) Grafana
4 9 (1.18%) Prometheus
4 9 (1.18%) Terraform
5 6 (0.78%) SCCM
6 5 (0.65%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.52%) Argo
8 3 (0.39%) Amdocs OSS
8 3 (0.39%) Cisco Prime
8 3 (0.39%) Iperf
8 3 (0.39%) Podman
9 2 (0.26%) EMC NetWorker
9 2 (0.26%) Nmap
9 2 (0.26%) vRealize
10 1 (0.13%) Consul
10 1 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle RMAN
10 1 (0.13%) Rancher
10 1 (0.13%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 152 (19.87%) SAP
2 95 (12.42%) Cisco
3 91 (11.90%) Microsoft
4 54 (7.06%) ServiceNow
5 35 (4.58%) Nokia
6 25 (3.27%) Juniper
7 23 (3.01%) Oracle
8 21 (2.75%) Fortinet
9 18 (2.35%) Dell
10 17 (2.22%) Ericsson
10 17 (2.22%) HP
11 16 (2.09%) Apple
12 15 (1.96%) Google
13 14 (1.83%) Salesforce
14 12 (1.57%) BT
14 12 (1.57%) F5
14 12 (1.57%) Huawei
14 12 (1.57%) Remedy
15 11 (1.44%) CheckPoint
15 11 (1.44%) Meraki