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

6 months to
16 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 166 118 65
Rank change year-on-year -48 -53 +11
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 967 784 1,228
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.75% 2.36% 3.26%
As % of the General category 3.07% 3.73% 5.56%
Number of daily rates quoted 532 479 549
10th Percentile £263 £183 £248
25th Percentile £356 £350 £376
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £463 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.78% -10.00% -
75th Percentile £550 £575 £600
90th Percentile £669 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £447 £425 £500
% change year-on-year +5.18% -15.00% +8.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 55 53 71
10th Percentile £13.54 £14.15 £25.00
25th Percentile £14.68 £15.50 £37.50
Median hourly rate £17.50 £23.00 £67.50
Median % change year-on-year -23.91% -65.93% +28.57%
75th Percentile £31.00 £43.00 £72.50
90th Percentile £50.00 £75.05 £76.25
UK excluding London median hourly rate £17.50 £21.25 £70.00
% change year-on-year -17.65% -69.64% +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 31,467 21,032 22,075
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 56.89% 63.22% 58.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 18,284 13,119 13,034
10th Percentile £313 £275 £281
25th Percentile £420 £400 £410
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £525
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -4.55%
75th Percentile £638 £625 £647
90th Percentile £740 £738 £763
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £475 £480
% change year-on-year +5.26% -1.04% -4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2,870 1,259 912
10th Percentile £13.45 £13.57 £15.00
25th Percentile £16.00 £16.28 £17.06
Median hourly rate £26.84 £25.00 £32.00
Median % change year-on-year +7.36% -21.88% +7.56%
75th Percentile £53.75 £44.42 £59.96
90th Percentile £77.50 £67.25 £71.48
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.50 £21.30 £30.00
% change year-on-year +24.41% -29.00% +11.11%

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 16 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 16 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 16 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 -53 804 £469 +3.08% 280
UK excluding London -54 499 £447 +5.18% 252
London -28 361 £500 +9.89% 68
Work from Home -32 276 £475 -5.00% 112
South East -35 194 £469 -6.20% 94
East of England +31 94 £325 -35.64% 45
Scotland +7 67 £300 -2.83% 13
North of England -59 59 £475 +95.88% 30
South West -70 45 £494 -5.90% 28
Yorkshire -13 35 £475 +48.44% 8
Midlands -80 34 £475 +25.00% 39
West Midlands -68 32 £481 +26.64% 22
North West -55 21 £507 +118.06% 20
Wales -8 7 £200 +19.40% 7
Northern Ireland -2 5 £358 +110.29% 5
North East -42 3 £524 +199.43% 3
Channel Islands -3 2 £606 -
East Midlands -15 2 £475 +185.71% 17

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 27 (2.79%) Confluence
2 16 (1.65%) SharePoint
3 14 (1.45%) OpenStack
4 9 (0.93%) ArcGIS
5 6 (0.62%) Microsoft Exchange
6 4 (0.41%) Anypoint
7 2 (0.21%) Apache
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Airflow
7 2 (0.21%) Apache Spark
8 1 (0.10%) CMS
8 1 (0.10%) IIS
8 1 (0.10%) Oracle Collaboration Suite
Applications
1 40 (4.14%) Microsoft Excel
2 29 (3.00%) MS Visio
3 25 (2.59%) Microsoft Office
4 15 (1.55%) Microsoft Project
5 10 (1.03%) Microsoft PowerPoint
6 5 (0.52%) AutoCAD
7 3 (0.31%) Adobe Creative Suite
8 2 (0.21%) Revit
8 2 (0.21%) Spreadsheet
9 1 (0.10%) Adobe Illustrator
9 1 (0.10%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.10%) InDesign
9 1 (0.10%) MicroStation
9 1 (0.10%) Photoshop
9 1 (0.10%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 26 (2.69%) SAP PSCD
2 18 (1.86%) SAP BRIM
3 13 (1.34%) SAP Hybris
4 11 (1.14%) SAP FI
5 10 (1.03%) SAP FI-CA
5 10 (1.03%) SAP S/4HANA
6 6 (0.62%) Remedy ITSM
7 5 (0.52%) NetSuite
7 5 (0.52%) Sage X3
8 4 (0.41%) OpenText VIM for SAP
8 4 (0.41%) Salesforce CRM
8 4 (0.41%) SAP MM
9 3 (0.31%) Remedy AR System
9 3 (0.31%) SAP ERP
10 2 (0.21%) Dynamics CRM
11 1 (0.10%) Oracle BRM
11 1 (0.10%) Payment Gateway
11 1 (0.10%) SAP FS
11 1 (0.10%) SAP IS-U
11 1 (0.10%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 90 (9.31%) Azure
2 84 (8.69%) AWS
3 59 (6.10%) GCP
4 19 (1.96%) Entra ID
4 19 (1.96%) GitHub
4 19 (1.96%) Microsoft 365
5 17 (1.76%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 16 (1.65%) Power Platform
7 14 (1.45%) SaaS
8 12 (1.24%) Azure DevOps
9 10 (1.03%) Cloud Computing
9 10 (1.03%) Microsoft Purview
9 10 (1.03%) OneDrive
10 9 (0.93%) GitHub Actions
11 7 (0.72%) Miro
12 6 (0.62%) Cloud Functions
12 6 (0.62%) Snowflake
13 5 (0.52%) dbt
13 5 (0.52%) Fivetran
13 5 (0.52%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 118 (12.20%) WAN
2 97 (10.03%) 5G
3 90 (9.31%) LAN
3 90 (9.31%) MPLS
4 73 (7.55%) 4G
5 71 (7.34%) Radio Access Network
6 57 (5.89%) Wi-Fi
7 55 (5.69%) Firewall
8 54 (5.58%) Broadband
9 41 (4.24%) VoIP
10 36 (3.72%) SD-WAN
11 33 (3.41%) SDH
12 32 (3.31%) Wireshark
13 31 (3.21%) 3GPP
13 31 (3.21%) BGP
13 31 (3.21%) Network Security
13 31 (3.21%) TCP/IP
14 30 (3.10%) DNS
15 28 (2.90%) LTE
16 22 (2.28%) Wireless
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (1.34%) NoSQL
2 12 (1.24%) Data Warehouse
3 11 (1.14%) PostgreSQL
3 11 (1.14%) Power BI
4 10 (1.03%) GIS
5 9 (0.93%) BigQuery
5 9 (0.93%) Metadata
6 8 (0.83%) MongoDB
6 8 (0.83%) MySQL
7 7 (0.72%) Redis
8 6 (0.62%) Tableau
9 5 (0.52%) Amazon Redshift
10 4 (0.41%) SQL Server
11 3 (0.31%) Apache Cassandra
11 3 (0.31%) Big Data
11 3 (0.31%) BusinessObjects
11 3 (0.31%) Cloud Spanner
11 3 (0.31%) Hazelcast
11 3 (0.31%) SAP BW
11 3 (0.31%) SAP Data Services
Development Applications
1 56 (5.79%) JIRA
2 44 (4.55%) Git
3 26 (2.69%) GitLab
4 15 (1.55%) Jenkins
5 8 (0.83%) Selenium
6 5 (0.52%) Robot Framework
7 3 (0.31%) JMeter
7 3 (0.31%) Locust
7 3 (0.31%) TestCafe
8 2 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.10%) Bitbucket
9 1 (0.10%) JUnit
9 1 (0.10%) Maven
9 1 (0.10%) Mockito
9 1 (0.10%) Newman
9 1 (0.10%) Postman
9 1 (0.10%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.10%) TestRail
9 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio
9 1 (0.10%) Visual Studio Code
General
1 264 (27.30%) Social Skills
2 149 (15.41%) Finance
3 116 (12.00%) Analytical Skills
4 61 (6.31%) Public Sector
5 41 (4.24%) Billing
6 34 (3.52%) Documentation Skills
6 34 (3.52%) Organisational Skills
7 25 (2.59%) Retail
8 24 (2.48%) Legal
8 24 (2.48%) Manufacturing
9 22 (2.28%) Influencing Skills
10 16 (1.65%) Aerospace
11 15 (1.55%) Marketing
12 14 (1.45%) Banking
12 14 (1.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 12 (1.24%) Presentation Skills
14 9 (0.93%) Publishing
15 8 (0.83%) Police
16 6 (0.62%) Aviation
16 6 (0.62%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 145 (14.99%) Architect
2 77 (7.96%) Senior
3 76 (7.86%) Lead
4 70 (7.24%) Consultant
5 67 (6.93%) Network Engineer
6 62 (6.41%) Analyst
7 58 (6.00%) Field Engineer
8 57 (5.89%) Project Manager
9 55 (5.69%) Telecoms Engineer
10 37 (3.83%) Developer
10 37 (3.83%) Solutions Architect
11 35 (3.62%) Designer
12 28 (2.90%) ServiceNow Architect
13 27 (2.79%) Business Analyst
14 26 (2.69%) Enterprise Architect
14 26 (2.69%) SAP Consultant
14 26 (2.69%) Telecoms Manager
15 25 (2.59%) Test Engineer
16 22 (2.28%) Delivery Manager
16 22 (2.28%) Network Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 53 (5.48%) REST
2 31 (3.21%) SOAP
3 19 (1.96%) Terraform
4 18 (1.86%) Kafka
5 16 (1.65%) NETCONF
5 16 (1.65%) RESTful
5 16 (1.65%) YANG
6 14 (1.45%) HTML
7 13 (1.34%) CSS
7 13 (1.34%) JSON
7 13 (1.34%) ONVIF
7 13 (1.34%) XML
8 10 (1.03%) AngularJS
8 10 (1.03%) Elastic Stack
9 9 (0.93%) FastAPI
9 9 (0.93%) Middleware
9 9 (0.93%) React
10 8 (0.83%) OpenAPI
10 8 (0.83%) Swagger
11 7 (0.72%) Flask
Miscellaneous
1 58 (6.00%) Data Centre
2 48 (4.96%) Driving Licence
3 44 (4.55%) CMDB
4 41 (4.24%) Onboarding
5 35 (3.62%) Cloud Native
6 23 (2.38%) Product Ownership
7 22 (2.28%) Management Information System
8 18 (1.86%) Analytical Mindset
9 17 (1.76%) Data Protection Act
10 15 (1.55%) Fibre Optics
10 15 (1.55%) Video\Live Streaming
11 14 (1.45%) Enterprise Software
12 13 (1.34%) Operational Technology
13 12 (1.24%) AI Agents
13 12 (1.24%) Data Structures
13 12 (1.24%) Legacy Systems
13 12 (1.24%) TM Forum
14 11 (1.14%) Social Media
14 11 (1.14%) Video Conferencing
15 10 (1.03%) IoT
Operating Systems
1 56 (5.79%) Linux
2 54 (5.58%) Windows
3 13 (1.34%) Windows Server
4 11 (1.14%) macOS
5 10 (1.03%) Unix
6 9 (0.93%) VMS
6 9 (0.93%) Windows 10
7 4 (0.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.31%) CentOS
9 2 (0.21%) Android
9 2 (0.21%) Apple iOS
9 2 (0.21%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.21%) OpenVMS
10 1 (0.10%) OpenWrt
10 1 (0.10%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 228 (23.58%) Stakeholder Management
2 131 (13.55%) Problem-Solving
3 128 (13.24%) Agile
4 93 (9.62%) AI
5 89 (9.20%) ITIL
6 86 (8.89%) Project Delivery
7 84 (8.69%) Migration
8 81 (8.38%) Continuous Improvement
9 78 (8.07%) Stakeholder Engagement
10 75 (7.76%) Validation
11 72 (7.45%) Roadmaps
11 72 (7.45%) Service Management
12 70 (7.24%) CI/CD
13 67 (6.93%) Project Management
14 64 (6.62%) Test Automation
15 58 (6.00%) Change Management
16 55 (5.69%) Decision-Making
17 53 (5.48%) DevOps
17 53 (5.48%) Service Delivery
18 52 (5.38%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 85 (8.79%) Python
2 38 (3.93%) SQL
3 30 (3.10%) JavaScript
4 25 (2.59%) Bash
5 23 (2.38%) Java
6 9 (0.93%) PowerShell
7 8 (0.83%) Shell Script
8 6 (0.62%) Apex Code
8 6 (0.62%) C#
9 5 (0.52%) SOQL
10 4 (0.41%) ABAP
10 4 (0.41%) DataWeave
10 4 (0.41%) R
11 3 (0.31%) C
11 3 (0.31%) C++
11 3 (0.31%) TypeScript
12 2 (0.21%) DCL
13 1 (0.10%) Ada
13 1 (0.10%) Bicep
13 1 (0.10%) Rust
Qualifications
1 165 (17.06%) Security Cleared
2 98 (10.13%) SC Cleared
3 92 (9.51%) Degree
4 76 (7.86%) Cisco Certification
5 50 (5.17%) CCNA
6 32 (3.31%) BPSS Clearance
7 28 (2.90%) CCNP
8 27 (2.79%) DV Cleared
9 20 (2.07%) Microsoft Certification
9 20 (2.07%) PMP
10 19 (1.96%) PMI Certification
11 18 (1.86%) A+ Certification
12 17 (1.76%) CCIE
13 15 (1.55%) CISSP
14 14 (1.45%) Computer Science Degree
14 14 (1.45%) Master's Degree
15 13 (1.34%) MCSA
16 12 (1.24%) JNCIE
17 9 (0.93%) HNC
18 8 (0.83%) CISM
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 52 (5.38%) QA
2 22 (2.28%) SLA
3 21 (2.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 20 (2.07%) GRC
5 19 (1.96%) PMO
6 16 (1.65%) NCSC
7 15 (1.55%) GDPR
8 14 (1.45%) Data Quality
9 6 (0.62%) Actionable Recommendations
10 5 (0.52%) NIST
10 5 (0.52%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 4 (0.41%) Accessibility
12 3 (0.31%) Cyber Essentials
12 3 (0.31%) PCI DSS
13 2 (0.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
14 1 (0.10%) EU AI Act
14 1 (0.10%) GAAP
14 1 (0.10%) ISO 22301
14 1 (0.10%) ISO 31000
14 1 (0.10%) ISO/IEC 15288
System Software
1 36 (3.72%) Docker
2 21 (2.17%) Active Directory
3 19 (1.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (1.14%) VMware NSX
5 8 (0.83%) Firmware
6 5 (0.52%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.31%) vSphere
8 2 (0.21%) Hyper-V
8 2 (0.21%) NDS
8 2 (0.21%) NetIQ eDirectory
9 1 (0.10%) Ceph
9 1 (0.10%) KVM
9 1 (0.10%) Virtual Machines
Systems Management
1 40 (4.14%) Kubernetes
2 22 (2.28%) Ansible
3 12 (1.24%) Grafana
3 12 (1.24%) Prometheus
4 8 (0.83%) Microsoft Intune
5 5 (0.52%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (0.41%) Cilium
6 4 (0.41%) Cisco Prime
6 4 (0.41%) Istio
6 4 (0.41%) Kibana
6 4 (0.41%) SolarWinds Orion
7 3 (0.31%) Check_MK
7 3 (0.31%) NSN NetAct
7 3 (0.31%) Podman
7 3 (0.31%) vCenter Server
7 3 (0.31%) vRealize
8 2 (0.21%) QRadar
9 1 (0.10%) Amdocs OSS
9 1 (0.10%) Proxmox
9 1 (0.10%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 130 (13.44%) Microsoft
2 121 (12.51%) Cisco
3 77 (7.96%) ServiceNow
4 69 (7.14%) Nokia
5 42 (4.34%) Salesforce
6 39 (4.03%) SAP
7 33 (3.41%) Ericsson
7 33 (3.41%) VMware
8 21 (2.17%) Juniper
9 20 (2.07%) Google
10 18 (1.86%) Fortinet
10 18 (1.86%) MuleSoft
11 16 (1.65%) BT
12 14 (1.45%) F5
13 13 (1.34%) Palo Alto
14 12 (1.24%) BMC
15 11 (1.14%) Arista
15 11 (1.14%) Oracle
15 11 (1.14%) Zscaler
16 10 (1.03%) Adobe