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 9 October 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 164 122 67
Rank change year-on-year -42 -55 +9
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 943 786 1,220
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.73% 2.37% 3.21%
As % of the General category 3.07% 3.74% 5.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 518 482 543
10th Percentile £263 £198 £248
25th Percentile £360 £363 £378
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £467 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.78% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £574 £600
90th Percentile £669 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £500
% change year-on-year - -10.00% +6.38%
Number of hourly rates quoted 53 50 76
10th Percentile £13.60 £14.00 £22.72
25th Percentile £15.75 £14.75 £37.50
Median hourly rate £17.50 £23.00 £67.75
Median % change year-on-year -23.91% -66.05% +29.05%
75th Percentile £31.00 £42.37 £72.50
90th Percentile £50.00 £66.48 £81.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £21.00 £70.00
% change year-on-year -16.67% -70.00% +33.33%

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 30,744 20,991 22,266
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.41% 63.29% 58.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 17,856 13,060 13,158
10th Percentile £313 £275 £280
25th Percentile £420 £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 £740 £738 £765
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.04% -4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,727 1,245 961
10th Percentile £13.47 £13.51 £14.73
25th Percentile £16.01 £16.17 £17.00
Median hourly rate £27.50 £25.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -23.08% +18.18%
75th Percentile £53.75 £45.00 £59.95
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.00 £71.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.50 £21.35 £31.97
% change year-on-year +28.84% -33.23% +21.79%

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 9 October 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 9 October 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 9 October 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 -58 784 £470 +1.61% 1,707
UK excluding London -53 487 £450 - 978
London -38 350 £500 +7.53% 803
Work from Home -30 272 £478 -4.50% 552
South East -37 192 £469 -5.25% 291
East of England +31 86 £325 -35.64% 127
Scotland +7 63 £300 -11.76% 94
North of England -58 58 £475 +72.73% 183
South West -63 48 £494 -8.09% 88
Yorkshire -13 35 £475 +48.44% 53
Midlands -76 34 £475 +25.00% 155
West Midlands -70 32 £481 +26.64% 96
North West -61 21 £500 +73.16% 107
Wales -6 7 £200 +19.40% 20
Northern Ireland +1 5 £358 +116.67% 35
Channel Islands -4 2 £606 -
East Midlands -26 2 £475 +171.43% 59
North East -44 2 £298 +70.00% 26

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 25 (2.65%) Confluence
2 15 (1.59%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.48%) OpenStack
4 9 (0.95%) ArcGIS
5 7 (0.74%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.42%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.21%) Apache
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.11%) CMS
8 1 (0.11%) IIS
8 1 (0.11%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 39 (4.14%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (3.08%) MS Visio
3 25 (2.65%) Microsoft Office
4 14 (1.48%) Microsoft Project
5 9 (0.95%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.53%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.32%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.11%) Adobe Illustrator
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
Business Applications
1 26 (2.76%) SAP PSCD
2 18 (1.91%) SAP BRIM
3 13 (1.38%) SAP Hybris
4 11 (1.17%) SAP FI
5 10 (1.06%) SAP FI-CA
6 9 (0.95%) SAP S/4HANA
7 6 (0.64%) Remedy ITSM
8 5 (0.53%) NetSuite
8 5 (0.53%) Sage X3
9 4 (0.42%) OpenText VIM for SAP
9 4 (0.42%) Salesforce CRM
9 4 (0.42%) SAP MM
10 3 (0.32%) Remedy AR System
10 3 (0.32%) SAP ERP
11 2 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
12 1 (0.11%) Payment Gateway
12 1 (0.11%) Primavera
12 1 (0.11%) SAP CO
12 1 (0.11%) SAP FI/CO
12 1 (0.11%) SAP FS
Cloud Services
1 89 (9.44%) Azure
2 83 (8.80%) AWS
3 58 (6.15%) GCP
4 19 (2.01%) Entra ID
4 19 (2.01%) GitHub
4 19 (2.01%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (1.80%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 15 (1.59%) Power Platform
6 15 (1.59%) SaaS
7 11 (1.17%) Azure DevOps
8 10 (1.06%) Cloud Computing
9 9 (0.95%) GitHub Actions
9 9 (0.95%) Microsoft Purview
9 9 (0.95%) OneDrive
10 7 (0.74%) Miro
11 6 (0.64%) Cloud Functions
11 6 (0.64%) dbt
11 6 (0.64%) Snowflake
12 5 (0.53%) Fivetran
12 5 (0.53%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 119 (12.62%) WAN
2 96 (10.18%) 5G
3 91 (9.65%) LAN
4 90 (9.54%) MPLS
5 72 (7.64%) 4G
6 70 (7.42%) Radio Access Network
7 56 (5.94%) Firewall
8 54 (5.73%) Wi-Fi
9 49 (5.20%) Broadband
10 38 (4.03%) VoIP
11 37 (3.92%) SD-WAN
12 32 (3.39%) BGP
12 32 (3.39%) SDH
12 32 (3.39%) Wireshark
13 31 (3.29%) 3GPP
13 31 (3.29%) DNS
14 30 (3.18%) Network Security
14 30 (3.18%) TCP/IP
15 27 (2.86%) LTE
16 23 (2.44%) VPN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.38%) NoSQL
2 12 (1.27%) Data Warehouse
3 11 (1.17%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (1.17%) Power BI
4 10 (1.06%) GIS
5 9 (0.95%) BigQuery
5 9 (0.95%) Metadata
6 8 (0.85%) MongoDB
6 8 (0.85%) MySQL
7 7 (0.74%) Redis
7 7 (0.74%) Tableau
8 5 (0.53%) Amazon Redshift
9 4 (0.42%) SQL Server
10 3 (0.32%) Apache Cassandra
10 3 (0.32%) Big Data
10 3 (0.32%) BusinessObjects
10 3 (0.32%) Cloud Spanner
10 3 (0.32%) Hazelcast
10 3 (0.32%) SAP BW
10 3 (0.32%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 52 (5.51%) JIRA
2 42 (4.45%) Git
3 24 (2.55%) GitLab
4 15 (1.59%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.85%) Selenium
6 5 (0.53%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.32%) JMeter
7 3 (0.32%) Locust
7 3 (0.32%) TestCafe
8 2 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.11%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.11%) JUnit
9 1 (0.11%) Maven
9 1 (0.11%) Mockito
9 1 (0.11%) Newman
9 1 (0.11%) Postman
9 1 (0.11%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.11%) TestRail
9 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.11%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 258 (27.36%) Social Skills
2 147 (15.59%) Finance
3 117 (12.41%) Analytical Skills
4 62 (6.57%) Public Sector
5 40 (4.24%) Billing
6 34 (3.61%) Documentation Skills
7 33 (3.50%) Organisational Skills
8 25 (2.65%) Retail
9 22 (2.33%) Legal
9 22 (2.33%) Manufacturing
10 21 (2.23%) Influencing Skills
11 16 (1.70%) Aerospace
12 15 (1.59%) Marketing
13 14 (1.48%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 13 (1.38%) Banking
15 12 (1.27%) Presentation Skills
16 9 (0.95%) Publishing
17 7 (0.74%) Police
18 6 (0.64%) Aviation
19 5 (0.53%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 143 (15.16%) Architect
2 77 (8.17%) Senior
3 74 (7.85%) Lead
4 70 (7.42%) Consultant
5 69 (7.32%) Network Engineer
6 61 (6.47%) Analyst
7 58 (6.15%) Field Engineer
8 56 (5.94%) Project Manager
9 54 (5.73%) Telecoms Engineer
10 37 (3.92%) Developer
10 37 (3.92%) Solutions Architect
11 34 (3.61%) Designer
12 28 (2.97%) ServiceNow Architect
13 27 (2.86%) Business Analyst
14 26 (2.76%) Enterprise Architect
14 26 (2.76%) SAP Consultant
15 25 (2.65%) Telecoms Manager
16 23 (2.44%) Test Engineer
17 22 (2.33%) Field Telecoms Engineer
17 22 (2.33%) Telecoms Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (5.73%) REST
2 31 (3.29%) SOAP
3 19 (2.01%) Terraform
4 18 (1.91%) Kafka
5 17 (1.80%) RESTful
6 16 (1.70%) NETCONF
6 16 (1.70%) YANG
7 14 (1.48%) HTML
8 13 (1.38%) CSS
8 13 (1.38%) JSON
8 13 (1.38%) ONVIF
8 13 (1.38%) XML
9 11 (1.17%) Elastic Stack
10 10 (1.06%) AngularJS
10 10 (1.06%) FastAPI
10 10 (1.06%) React
11 9 (0.95%) Middleware
12 8 (0.85%) OpenAPI
12 8 (0.85%) Swagger
13 7 (0.74%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 56 (5.94%) Data Centre
2 46 (4.88%) Driving Licence
3 44 (4.67%) CMDB
4 39 (4.14%) Onboarding
5 32 (3.39%) Cloud Native
6 22 (2.33%) Management Information System
6 22 (2.33%) Product Ownership
7 19 (2.01%) Analytical Mindset
8 17 (1.80%) Data Protection Act
9 15 (1.59%) Video\Live Streaming
10 14 (1.48%) Enterprise Software
11 13 (1.38%) Data Structures
12 12 (1.27%) Fibre Optics
12 12 (1.27%) TM Forum
13 11 (1.17%) AI Agents
13 11 (1.17%) Legacy Systems
13 11 (1.17%) Social Media
13 11 (1.17%) Video Conferencing
14 10 (1.06%) Hybrid Cloud
14 10 (1.06%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 56 (5.94%) Windows
2 54 (5.73%) Linux
3 14 (1.48%) Windows Server
4 10 (1.06%) Mac OS
4 10 (1.06%) Unix
4 10 (1.06%) Windows 10
5 8 (0.85%) VMS
6 4 (0.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
7 3 (0.32%) CentOS
8 2 (0.21%) Android
8 2 (0.21%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.21%) Embedded Linux
8 2 (0.21%) OpenVMS
9 1 (0.11%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.11%) OpenWrt
9 1 (0.11%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 220 (23.33%) Stakeholder Management
2 128 (13.57%) Problem-Solving
3 127 (13.47%) Agile
4 92 (9.76%) AI
5 90 (9.54%) ITIL
6 84 (8.91%) Project Delivery
7 80 (8.48%) Migration
8 78 (8.27%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 76 (8.06%) Continuous Improvement
10 75 (7.95%) Validation
11 73 (7.74%) Service Management
12 70 (7.42%) CI/CD
12 70 (7.42%) Roadmaps
13 67 (7.10%) Project Management
14 61 (6.47%) Test Automation
15 57 (6.04%) Change Management
16 52 (5.51%) Technical Leadership
17 51 (5.41%) DevOps
18 50 (5.30%) Decision-Making
18 50 (5.30%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 84 (8.91%) Python
2 38 (4.03%) SQL
3 31 (3.29%) JavaScript
4 25 (2.65%) Bash
5 22 (2.33%) Java
6 9 (0.95%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.85%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.64%) Apex Code
8 6 (0.64%) C#
9 5 (0.53%) SOQL
10 4 (0.42%) ABAP
10 4 (0.42%) DataWeave
10 4 (0.42%) R
10 4 (0.42%) TypeScript
11 3 (0.32%) C
11 3 (0.32%) C++
12 2 (0.21%) DCL
13 1 (0.11%) Ada
13 1 (0.11%) Bicep
13 1 (0.11%) Rust
Qualifications
1 166 (17.60%) Security Cleared
2 100 (10.60%) SC Cleared
3 91 (9.65%) Degree
4 77 (8.17%) Cisco Certification
5 50 (5.30%) CCNA
6 32 (3.39%) BPSS Clearance
7 29 (3.08%) CCNP
8 27 (2.86%) DV Cleared
9 21 (2.23%) Microsoft Certification
10 19 (2.01%) A+ Certification
10 19 (2.01%) PMP
11 17 (1.80%) CCIE
11 17 (1.80%) PMI Certification
12 15 (1.59%) CISSP
12 15 (1.59%) Computer Science Degree
13 13 (1.38%) Master's Degree
13 13 (1.38%) MCSA
14 12 (1.27%) JNCIE
15 8 (0.85%) CISM
16 7 (0.74%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 49 (5.20%) QA
2 22 (2.33%) SLA
3 21 (2.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (2.12%) GRC
4 20 (2.12%) PMO
5 16 (1.70%) NCSC
6 15 (1.59%) GDPR
7 14 (1.48%) Data Quality
8 6 (0.64%) Actionable Recommendations
9 5 (0.53%) NIST
9 5 (0.53%) Sarbanes-Oxley
10 4 (0.42%) Accessibility
11 3 (0.32%) Cyber Essentials
11 3 (0.32%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
13 1 (0.11%) EU AI Act
13 1 (0.11%) GAAP
13 1 (0.11%) ISO 22301
13 1 (0.11%) ISO 31000
13 1 (0.11%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 35 (3.71%) Docker
2 23 (2.44%) Active Directory
3 21 (2.23%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.17%) VMware NSX
5 7 (0.74%) Firmware
6 5 (0.53%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.42%) vSphere
8 3 (0.32%) Hyper-V
9 2 (0.21%) NDS
9 2 (0.21%) NetIQ eDirectory
10 1 (0.11%) Ceph
10 1 (0.11%) KVM
10 1 (0.11%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.11%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 41 (4.35%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.33%) Ansible
3 12 (1.27%) Grafana
3 12 (1.27%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.85%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.53%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.42%) Cilium
6 4 (0.42%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.42%) Istio
6 4 (0.42%) Kibana
6 4 (0.42%) SolarWinds Orion
7 3 (0.32%) Check_MK
7 3 (0.32%) NSN NetAct
7 3 (0.32%) Podman
7 3 (0.32%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.32%) vRealize
8 2 (0.21%) QRadar
9 1 (0.11%) AirWatch
9 1 (0.11%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.11%) FortiGate
Vendors
1 127 (13.47%) Microsoft
2 124 (13.15%) Cisco
3 78 (8.27%) ServiceNow
4 69 (7.32%) Nokia
5 43 (4.56%) Salesforce
6 38 (4.03%) SAP
7 35 (3.71%) VMware
8 33 (3.50%) Ericsson
9 21 (2.23%) Juniper
10 19 (2.01%) Fortinet
11 18 (1.91%) Google
11 18 (1.91%) MuleSoft
12 17 (1.80%) BT
13 15 (1.59%) F5
14 14 (1.48%) Palo Alto
15 12 (1.27%) BMC
16 11 (1.17%) Arista
16 11 (1.17%) Oracle
16 11 (1.17%) Zscaler
17 10 (1.06%) Adobe