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 4 April 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 168 85 61
Rank change year-on-year -83 -24 +22
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 761 857 1,437
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.69% 2.93% 3.26%
As % of the General category 3.01% 4.65% 5.60%
Number of daily rates quoted 480 473 796
10th Percentile £175 £303 £200
25th Percentile £350 £367 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +11.11% -7.60%
75th Percentile £575 £613 £588
90th Percentile £675 £700 £738
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £449
% change year-on-year -10.00% +11.36% -0.22%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 34 63
10th Percentile £18.93 £14.00 £12.15
25th Percentile £20.50 £18.20 £12.28
Median hourly rate £23.83 £25.26 £25.00
Median % change year-on-year -5.67% +1.03% -52.38%
75th Percentile £25.00 £60.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £57.70 £63.53 £76.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.83 £23.00 £14.00
% change year-on-year +3.59% +64.29% -73.33%

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 25,320 18,411 25,671
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.07% 62.99% 58.18%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,770 11,794 16,301
10th Percentile £303 £300 £270
25th Percentile £406 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £623 £643 £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 1,559 729 1,862
10th Percentile £13.72 £14.74 £12.78
25th Percentile £17.23 £18.51 £15.39
Median hourly rate £25.77 £29.00 £26.37
Median % change year-on-year -11.14% +9.97% -24.66%
75th Percentile £59.25 £57.62 £50.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £75.00 £65.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.55 £27.35 £25.22
% change year-on-year -10.24% +8.47% -21.57%

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 4 April 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 4 April 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 4 April 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 -82 662 £475 -5.47% 512
UK excluding London -77 424 £450 -10.00% 422
London -20 271 £475 -7.32% 139
Work from Home -63 175 £475 -5.00% 175
South East -56 165 £469 -6.20% 141
Midlands -48 63 £513 - 63
North of England -80 63 £450 -11.76% 94
South West -42 57 £525 - 50
West Midlands -42 45 £550 +7.32% 43
East of England -25 37 £475 +18.75% 56
Scotland +10 26 £275 -18.52% 27
North West -67 24 £438 -16.27% 46
North East -6 19 £500 +37.93% 11
Yorkshire -48 19 £481 -10.47% 42
East Midlands -22 18 £329 -47.40% 20
Wales -7 10 £160 -56.16% 10
Northern Ireland -2 8 £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%) Microsoft Exchange
2 8 (1.05%) OpenStack
2 8 (1.05%) SharePoint
3 7 (0.92%) Apache Spark
4 6 (0.79%) Appian
5 4 (0.53%) Apache
5 4 (0.53%) Apache Airflow
5 4 (0.53%) 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 40 (5.26%) Microsoft Office
2 24 (3.15%) Microsoft Excel
3 11 (1.45%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.31%) Microsoft Project
5 5 (0.66%) MS Visio
6 2 (0.26%) MicroStation
6 2 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
6 2 (0.26%) Trello
7 1 (0.13%) AutoCAD
7 1 (0.13%) Autodesk Inventor
7 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
7 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
Business Applications
1 17 (2.23%) SAP PSCD
2 16 (2.10%) SAP BRIM
2 16 (2.10%) SAP Hybris
3 10 (1.31%) Remedy ITSM
4 6 (0.79%) 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 IBP
7 1 (0.13%) SAP SRM
7 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 76 (9.99%) Azure
2 62 (8.15%) AWS
3 45 (5.91%) GCP
4 40 (5.26%) Microsoft 365
5 20 (2.63%) Power Platform
6 17 (2.23%) SAP Commerce Cloud
7 14 (1.84%) SaaS
8 8 (1.05%) Azure DevOps
8 8 (1.05%) GitHub
9 6 (0.79%) Dynamics 365
9 6 (0.79%) GitHub Actions
10 5 (0.66%) Datadog
10 5 (0.66%) dbt
11 4 (0.53%) Entra ID
11 4 (0.53%) Figma
11 4 (0.53%) Serverless
11 4 (0.53%) Slack
12 3 (0.39%) Asana
12 3 (0.39%) AWS Lambda
12 3 (0.39%) Salesforce Service Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 48 (6.31%) WAN
2 43 (5.65%) Firewall
3 42 (5.52%) 5G
4 38 (4.99%) MPLS
5 36 (4.73%) LAN
6 29 (3.81%) 4G
7 28 (3.68%) SD-WAN
8 26 (3.42%) Network Security
9 25 (3.29%) Radio Access Network
10 22 (2.89%) DNS
11 21 (2.76%) BGP
11 21 (2.76%) VPN
11 21 (2.76%) Wireless
12 20 (2.63%) Internet
12 20 (2.63%) LTE
13 17 (2.23%) VoIP
14 16 (2.10%) Broadband
14 16 (2.10%) SDH
15 15 (1.97%) 2G
16 14 (1.84%) 3GPP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 19 (2.50%) Power BI
2 11 (1.45%) Data Warehouse
2 11 (1.45%) Looker
2 11 (1.45%) MySQL
3 10 (1.31%) Tableau
4 8 (1.05%) Big Data
4 8 (1.05%) BigQuery
4 8 (1.05%) Relational Database
5 7 (0.92%) GIS
5 7 (0.92%) Oracle Database
6 6 (0.79%) SQL Server
7 5 (0.66%) Amazon Redshift
7 5 (0.66%) PostgreSQL
8 3 (0.39%) Metadata
8 3 (0.39%) NoSQL
8 3 (0.39%) RDBMS
8 3 (0.39%) Semantic Layer
8 3 (0.39%) Star Schema
9 2 (0.26%) Elasticsearch
9 2 (0.26%) MongoDB
Development Applications
1 24 (3.15%) JIRA
2 6 (0.79%) GitLab
2 6 (0.79%) Jenkins
3 5 (0.66%) Git
4 4 (0.53%) 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%) Robot Framework
7 1 (0.13%) Maven
7 1 (0.13%) Mockito
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Forms
7 1 (0.13%) Rational DOORS
7 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 223 (29.30%) Social Skills
2 217 (28.52%) Finance
3 177 (23.26%) Public Sector
4 130 (17.08%) Marketing
5 123 (16.16%) Electronics
6 117 (15.37%) Manufacturing
7 88 (11.56%) Analytical Skills
8 40 (5.26%) Billing
9 22 (2.89%) Organisational Skills
10 19 (2.50%) Documentation Skills
11 18 (2.37%) Legal
12 13 (1.71%) Retail
13 12 (1.58%) Influencing Skills
14 10 (1.31%) Military
15 8 (1.05%) Banking
16 6 (0.79%) Presentation Skills
17 5 (0.66%) Law
18 3 (0.39%) Financial Institution
18 3 (0.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
19 2 (0.26%) Aviation
Job Titles
1 82 (10.78%) Architect
2 72 (9.46%) Analyst
3 48 (6.31%) Lead
4 45 (5.91%) Consultant
5 44 (5.78%) Senior
6 42 (5.52%) Project Manager
7 39 (5.12%) Business Analyst
8 33 (4.34%) Network Engineer
9 28 (3.68%) IT Support
9 28 (3.68%) Solutions Architect
9 28 (3.68%) Telecoms Manager
10 27 (3.55%) Developer
11 22 (2.89%) Desktop Support
12 19 (2.50%) Data Engineer
12 19 (2.50%) Programme Manager
13 18 (2.37%) Coordinator
13 18 (2.37%) Designer
13 18 (2.37%) SAP Consultant
13 18 (2.37%) ServiceNow Architect
13 18 (2.37%) Telecoms Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.42%) REST
2 17 (2.23%) SOAP
3 9 (1.18%) Kafka
4 8 (1.05%) .NET
4 8 (1.05%) Elastic Stack
5 6 (0.79%) Middleware
5 6 (0.79%) RabbitMQ
5 6 (0.79%) RESTful
6 5 (0.66%) Spring
6 5 (0.66%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.53%) HTML
7 4 (0.53%) React
8 3 (0.39%) CSS
8 3 (0.39%) GraphQL
8 3 (0.39%) Node.js
8 3 (0.39%) OpenAPI
8 3 (0.39%) PySpark
8 3 (0.39%) RFC 2544
8 3 (0.39%) Swagger
8 3 (0.39%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 39 (5.12%) Data Centre
2 29 (3.81%) Driving Licence
3 28 (3.68%) Data Protection Act
4 26 (3.42%) Onboarding
5 25 (3.29%) Product Ownership
6 20 (2.63%) Cloud Native
7 18 (2.37%) CMDB
8 16 (2.10%) IoT
9 14 (1.84%) NHS
10 13 (1.71%) Mobile App
11 12 (1.58%) Legacy Systems
12 11 (1.45%) Distributed Systems
12 11 (1.45%) Virtual Team
13 10 (1.31%) Analytical Mindset
14 9 (1.18%) Algorithms
15 8 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
16 7 (0.92%) Fibre Optics
17 6 (0.79%) Enterprise Cloud
17 6 (0.79%) Hybrid Cloud
17 6 (0.79%) NB-IoT
Operating Systems
1 40 (5.26%) Windows
2 24 (3.15%) Android
3 22 (2.89%) Linux
4 20 (2.63%) Windows 10
5 19 (2.50%) Mac OS
6 8 (1.05%) Unix
7 6 (0.79%) Apple iOS
7 6 (0.79%) Windows Server
8 5 (0.66%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
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
1 136 (17.87%) Business Intelligence
2 122 (16.03%) Programme Management
3 117 (15.37%) Stakeholder Management
4 116 (15.24%) Digital Marketing
5 105 (13.80%) Agile
6 93 (12.22%) Problem-Solving
7 83 (10.91%) Migration
8 77 (10.12%) Continuous Improvement
9 67 (8.80%) ITIL
10 65 (8.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 55 (7.23%) Project Management
12 52 (6.83%) Logistics
13 49 (6.44%) Workflow
14 46 (6.04%) Analytics
14 46 (6.04%) Customer Service
15 45 (5.91%) Decision-Making
16 43 (5.65%) Project Delivery
16 43 (5.65%) Roadmaps
17 41 (5.39%) CI/CD
17 41 (5.39%) DevOps
Programming Languages
1 56 (7.36%) Python
2 43 (5.65%) SQL
3 21 (2.76%) JavaScript
4 19 (2.50%) Java
5 9 (1.18%) Bash
5 9 (1.18%) PowerShell
6 7 (0.92%) C++
6 7 (0.92%) R
7 6 (0.79%) TypeScript
8 5 (0.66%) C#
8 5 (0.66%) Go
9 4 (0.53%) Shell Script
10 3 (0.39%) C
10 3 (0.39%) LookML
11 2 (0.26%) Apex Code
11 2 (0.26%) PHP
11 2 (0.26%) PL/SQL
12 1 (0.13%) BeanShell
12 1 (0.13%) Bicep
12 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 171 (22.47%) Security Cleared
2 138 (18.13%) SC Cleared
3 64 (8.41%) Degree
4 29 (3.81%) DV Cleared
5 19 (2.50%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (2.50%) PMP
6 17 (2.23%) Cisco Certification
7 14 (1.84%) Computer Science Degree
8 13 (1.71%) PMI Certification
9 12 (1.58%) CCNP
10 11 (1.45%) ITIL Certification
11 10 (1.31%) ACCA
12 9 (1.18%) Azure Certification
13 8 (1.05%) Microsoft Certification
14 7 (0.92%) AWS Certification
14 7 (0.92%) CCIE
14 7 (0.92%) CIMA
15 6 (0.79%) CCNA
15 6 (0.79%) Network+ Certification
16 5 (0.66%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 28 (3.68%) SLA
2 22 (2.89%) GDPR
3 20 (2.63%) PMO
4 19 (2.50%) QA
5 16 (2.10%) Data Quality
6 15 (1.97%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 10 (1.31%) GRC
7 10 (1.31%) NCSC
8 9 (1.18%) NIST
9 7 (0.92%) RMADS
10 5 (0.66%) JSP 440
11 4 (0.53%) 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
13 2 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
14 1 (0.13%) IFRS 9
14 1 (0.13%) WCAG
System Software
1 21 (2.76%) Active Directory
2 14 (1.84%) Docker
3 3 (0.39%) QEMU
3 3 (0.39%) VMware Infrastructure
4 2 (0.26%) Hyper-V
5 1 (0.13%) Firmware
5 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 29 (3.81%) Kubernetes
2 14 (1.84%) Ansible
3 12 (1.58%) Grafana
4 9 (1.18%) Prometheus
4 9 (1.18%) Terraform
5 6 (0.79%) SCCM
6 5 (0.66%) Microsoft Intune
7 4 (0.53%) Argo
8 3 (0.39%) Cisco Prime
8 3 (0.39%) Iperf
8 3 (0.39%) Podman
9 2 (0.26%) Amdocs OSS
9 2 (0.26%) EMC NetWorker
9 2 (0.26%) Nmap
9 2 (0.26%) vRealize
10 1 (0.13%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.13%) Data Guard
10 1 (0.13%) FortiGate
10 1 (0.13%) HAProxy
10 1 (0.13%) Kibana
Vendors
1 141 (18.53%) SAP
2 93 (12.22%) Microsoft
3 90 (11.83%) Cisco
4 54 (7.10%) ServiceNow
5 35 (4.60%) Nokia
6 23 (3.02%) Juniper
7 22 (2.89%) Oracle
8 20 (2.63%) Fortinet
9 19 (2.50%) Ericsson
10 16 (2.10%) Google
11 14 (1.84%) Salesforce
12 13 (1.71%) BT
12 13 (1.71%) Dell
12 13 (1.71%) F5
12 13 (1.71%) Huawei
13 12 (1.58%) CheckPoint
13 12 (1.58%) HP
13 12 (1.58%) Remedy
14 11 (1.45%) Apple
14 11 (1.45%) Meraki