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 25 February 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 145 71 65
Rank change year-on-year -74 -6 +19
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 784 984 1,360
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.90% 3.23% 3.08%
As % of the General category 3.25% 5.20% 5.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 496 485 787
10th Percentile £170 £282 £200
25th Percentile £323 £376 £356
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £510 £460
Median % change year-on-year -11.76% +10.87% -4.17%
75th Percentile £551 £613 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £727
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £504 £450
% change year-on-year -10.63% +11.89% +3.17%
Number of hourly rates quoted 59 27 42
10th Percentile £17.38 £18.20 £12.33
25th Percentile £20.50 £21.88 £22.69
Median hourly rate £23.83 £27.50 £55.00
Median % change year-on-year -13.36% -50.00% +10.00%
75th Percentile £24.50 £58.75 £72.69
90th Percentile £44.40 £67.35 £94.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.75 £24.18 £60.00
% change year-on-year -1.78% -59.70% +43.71%

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 24,158 18,931 25,966
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 58.49% 62.15% 58.88%
Number of daily rates quoted 15,124 11,563 16,699
10th Percentile £300 £290 £265
25th Percentile £404 £408 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £621 £650 £650
90th Percentile £738 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £478 £495
% change year-on-year -0.52% -3.54% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,472 617 1,704
10th Percentile £13.58 £15.62 £13.00
25th Percentile £16.47 £20.75 £15.23
Median hourly rate £23.00 £30.00 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year -23.33% +15.38% -8.77%
75th Percentile £52.20 £58.27 £51.25
90th Percentile £73.46 £75.00 £65.83
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.00 £27.50 £25.00
% change year-on-year -20.00% +10.00% -2.04%

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 25 February 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 25 February 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 25 February 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 -74 691 £469 -8.04% 456
UK excluding London -72 448 £450 -10.63% 414
London -45 274 £463 -11.48% 107
Work from Home -60 182 £475 -7.32% 143
South East -47 158 £469 -6.20% 144
Midlands -39 79 £500 -2.44% 46
North of England -51 74 £381 -23.75% 86
South West -46 61 £525 -7.08% 45
West Midlands -49 55 £550 +7.32% 27
East of England -24 38 £513 +2.76% 59
North West -39 34 £311 -38.97% 47
Scotland +25 27 £330 -26.67% 28
East Midlands -14 24 £158 -60.63% 19
North East -4 23 £175 -51.72% 10
Yorkshire -58 16 £447 -10.63% 32
Wales +1 9 £160 -56.16% 11
Northern Ireland +1 9 £150 - 6

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 12 (1.53%) Confluence
2 11 (1.40%) Appian
2 11 (1.40%) SharePoint
3 9 (1.15%) Microsoft Exchange
4 8 (1.02%) Apache Spark
5 4 (0.51%) Apache
5 4 (0.51%) IIS
5 4 (0.51%) OpenStack
6 3 (0.38%) JBoss
6 3 (0.38%) Oracle SOA Suite
6 3 (0.38%) Tomcat
6 3 (0.38%) WebLogic
7 2 (0.26%) ArcGIS
7 2 (0.26%) CMS
7 2 (0.26%) Oracle Spatial
8 1 (0.13%) Apache Airflow
8 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
Applications
1 54 (6.89%) Microsoft Office
2 25 (3.19%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (1.66%) Microsoft Project
4 12 (1.53%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 7 (0.89%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.51%) Autodesk Inventor
7 3 (0.38%) Spreadsheet
8 2 (0.26%) AutoCAD
8 2 (0.26%) Chatbot
9 1 (0.13%) FrameMaker
9 1 (0.13%) MadCap Flare
9 1 (0.13%) MicroStation
9 1 (0.13%) Trello
Business Applications
1 18 (2.30%) SAP BRIM
1 18 (2.30%) SAP Hybris
1 18 (2.30%) SAP PSCD
2 10 (1.28%) Remedy ITSM
3 6 (0.77%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
4 3 (0.38%) Dynamics CRM
4 3 (0.38%) Primavera
5 2 (0.26%) SAP CO
5 2 (0.26%) SAP FI
5 2 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
5 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
6 1 (0.13%) Remedy AR System
6 1 (0.13%) SmartPlant
Cloud Services
1 64 (8.16%) Azure
2 51 (6.51%) Microsoft 365
3 47 (5.99%) AWS
4 31 (3.95%) GCP
5 18 (2.30%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 15 (1.91%) Power Platform
7 13 (1.66%) SaaS
8 10 (1.28%) Dynamics 365
9 9 (1.15%) Azure DevOps
9 9 (1.15%) GitHub
10 7 (0.89%) GitHub Actions
11 5 (0.64%) Tricentis Tosca
12 4 (0.51%) Entra ID
12 4 (0.51%) Miro
13 3 (0.38%) IaaS
13 3 (0.38%) Salesforce Service Cloud
13 3 (0.38%) Slack
13 3 (0.38%) Smartsheet
14 2 (0.26%) BlazeMeter
14 2 (0.26%) Dialogflow
Communications & Networking
1 48 (6.12%) Firewall
2 46 (5.87%) WAN
3 38 (4.85%) LAN
3 38 (4.85%) Wireless
4 34 (4.34%) MPLS
5 29 (3.70%) 5G
6 26 (3.32%) Network Security
7 25 (3.19%) VPN
8 23 (2.93%) 4G
8 23 (2.93%) Radio Access Network
8 23 (2.93%) SD-WAN
9 20 (2.55%) BGP
9 20 (2.55%) VoIP
10 19 (2.42%) Broadband
10 19 (2.42%) DNS
10 19 (2.42%) LTE
11 16 (2.04%) SDH
12 15 (1.91%) 3GPP
12 15 (1.91%) VLAN
13 14 (1.79%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 14 (1.79%) Power BI
2 10 (1.28%) MySQL
3 7 (0.89%) Oracle Database
4 6 (0.77%) GIS
4 6 (0.77%) Relational Database
4 6 (0.77%) SQL Server
4 6 (0.77%) Tableau
5 5 (0.64%) Data Warehouse
5 5 (0.64%) Looker
6 4 (0.51%) Big Data
7 3 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
7 3 (0.38%) RDBMS
8 2 (0.26%) BigQuery
8 2 (0.26%) Data Lake
8 2 (0.26%) Electronic Patient Records
8 2 (0.26%) Metadata
9 1 (0.13%) Amazon Athena
9 1 (0.13%) Geospatial Data
9 1 (0.13%) Power Query
9 1 (0.13%) Redshift Spectrum
Development Applications
1 28 (3.57%) JIRA
2 14 (1.79%) GitLab
3 8 (1.02%) Jenkins
4 6 (0.77%) Git
4 6 (0.77%) Selenium
5 5 (0.64%) Cucumber
5 5 (0.64%) Robot Framework
5 5 (0.64%) SonarQube
6 4 (0.51%) JUnit
7 3 (0.38%) Storybook
8 2 (0.26%) Appium
8 2 (0.26%) CircleCI
8 2 (0.26%) Cypress.io
8 2 (0.26%) JMeter
8 2 (0.26%) Rational DOORS
9 1 (0.13%) Maven
9 1 (0.13%) Mockito
9 1 (0.13%) Postman
9 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
9 1 (0.13%) TestRail
General
1 249 (31.76%) Finance
2 239 (30.48%) Social Skills
3 217 (27.68%) Public Sector
4 172 (21.94%) Marketing
5 159 (20.28%) Electronics
6 154 (19.64%) Manufacturing
7 84 (10.71%) Analytical Skills
8 36 (4.59%) Billing
9 22 (2.81%) Organisational Skills
10 20 (2.55%) Documentation Skills
11 12 (1.53%) Retail
12 11 (1.40%) Banking
12 11 (1.40%) Legal
13 9 (1.15%) Influencing Skills
14 7 (0.89%) Military
15 6 (0.77%) Law
16 5 (0.64%) Presentation Skills
17 4 (0.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
18 2 (0.26%) Aviation
18 2 (0.26%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 81 (10.33%) Analyst
2 78 (9.95%) Architect
3 48 (6.12%) Business Analyst
4 43 (5.48%) Lead
5 42 (5.36%) Consultant
6 41 (5.23%) IT Support
7 40 (5.10%) Senior
8 38 (4.85%) Network Engineer
8 38 (4.85%) Project Manager
9 35 (4.46%) Desktop Support
10 25 (3.19%) 2nd Line Support
10 25 (3.19%) Developer
10 25 (3.19%) Solutions Architect
11 24 (3.06%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
11 24 (3.06%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
12 21 (2.68%) Telecoms Manager
13 20 (2.55%) Coordinator
13 20 (2.55%) Migration Engineer
13 20 (2.55%) Support Engineer
14 19 (2.42%) IT Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 26 (3.32%) REST
2 22 (2.81%) SOAP
3 8 (1.02%) .NET
4 7 (0.89%) React
4 7 (0.89%) Web Services
4 7 (0.89%) XML
5 6 (0.77%) JSON
5 6 (0.77%) Kafka
5 6 (0.77%) RESTful
6 5 (0.64%) 802.1X
6 5 (0.64%) Elastic Stack
6 5 (0.64%) Jinja
6 5 (0.64%) NETCONF
6 5 (0.64%) RFC 2544
6 5 (0.64%) SailPoint
7 4 (0.51%) HTML
7 4 (0.51%) Node.js
7 4 (0.51%) Spring
7 4 (0.51%) Spring Boot
7 4 (0.51%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 53 (6.76%) Data Centre
2 31 (3.95%) Data Protection Act
2 31 (3.95%) Driving Licence
3 26 (3.32%) Product Ownership
4 20 (2.55%) Onboarding
5 18 (2.30%) CMDB
6 15 (1.91%) IoT
6 15 (1.91%) NHS
7 14 (1.79%) Cloud Native
7 14 (1.79%) Legacy Systems
8 13 (1.66%) Mobile App
9 11 (1.40%) Fibre Optics
10 7 (0.89%) Analytical Mindset
10 7 (0.89%) Enterprise Cloud
10 7 (0.89%) SCADA
10 7 (0.89%) Virtual Team
11 6 (0.77%) Management Information System
11 6 (0.77%) NB-IoT
11 6 (0.77%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (0.77%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 39 (4.97%) Android
2 38 (4.85%) Windows
3 31 (3.95%) Mac OS
4 18 (2.30%) Linux
4 18 (2.30%) Windows 10
5 7 (0.89%) Apple iOS
5 7 (0.89%) Unix
6 5 (0.64%) Windows Server
7 4 (0.51%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 3 (0.38%) Debian
8 3 (0.38%) Ubuntu
8 3 (0.38%) VMS
9 1 (0.13%) CentOS
9 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
9 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 163 (20.79%) Business Intelligence
2 159 (20.28%) Programme Management
3 154 (19.64%) Digital Marketing
4 118 (15.05%) Stakeholder Management
5 114 (14.54%) Agile
6 111 (14.16%) Problem-Solving
7 89 (11.35%) Migration
8 77 (9.82%) Continuous Improvement
9 67 (8.55%) ITIL
10 66 (8.42%) Stakeholder Engagement
11 57 (7.27%) Logistics
12 54 (6.89%) Customer Service
13 52 (6.63%) Workflow
14 45 (5.74%) Project Management
15 40 (5.10%) Change Management
15 40 (5.10%) DevOps
16 39 (4.97%) CI/CD
17 38 (4.85%) Roadmaps
18 37 (4.72%) Decision-Making
19 36 (4.59%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 53 (6.76%) Python
2 33 (4.21%) SQL
3 32 (4.08%) JavaScript
4 17 (2.17%) Java
5 11 (1.40%) Bash
5 11 (1.40%) TypeScript
6 10 (1.28%) PowerShell
7 5 (0.64%) C#
7 5 (0.64%) Go
8 4 (0.51%) C++
8 4 (0.51%) Shell Script
9 3 (0.38%) C
9 3 (0.38%) PHP
9 3 (0.38%) R
10 2 (0.26%) BeanShell
10 2 (0.26%) PL/SQL
11 1 (0.13%) Bicep
11 1 (0.13%) Cypher
11 1 (0.13%) Kotlin
Qualifications
1 189 (24.11%) Security Cleared
2 158 (20.15%) SC Cleared
3 58 (7.40%) Degree
4 24 (3.06%) DV Cleared
5 19 (2.42%) BPSS Clearance
5 19 (2.42%) Cisco Certification
6 14 (1.79%) CCNP
7 11 (1.40%) PMP
8 10 (1.28%) ACCA
8 10 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
9 8 (1.02%) CCIE
9 8 (1.02%) ITIL Certification
9 8 (1.02%) PMI Certification
10 7 (0.89%) CCNA
10 7 (0.89%) CIMA
10 7 (0.89%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (0.77%) ISTQB
12 5 (0.64%) Azure Certification
12 5 (0.64%) JNCIP
13 4 (0.51%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 32 (4.08%) QA
2 31 (3.95%) SLA
3 20 (2.55%) PMO
4 18 (2.30%) GDPR
5 15 (1.91%) Data Quality
6 12 (1.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
7 9 (1.15%) GRC
7 9 (1.15%) NCSC
8 7 (0.89%) Accessibility
8 7 (0.89%) NIST
8 7 (0.89%) RMADS
9 5 (0.64%) JSP 440
10 4 (0.51%) IFRS
10 4 (0.51%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.38%) GAAP
12 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.26%) PCI DSS
12 2 (0.26%) WCAG
13 1 (0.13%) COBIT
System Software
1 20 (2.55%) Active Directory
2 12 (1.53%) Docker
3 3 (0.38%) QEMU
4 2 (0.26%) Virtual Machines
4 2 (0.26%) VMware Infrastructure
5 1 (0.13%) Firmware
5 1 (0.13%) Hyper-V
Systems Management
1 19 (2.42%) Ansible
1 19 (2.42%) Kubernetes
2 9 (1.15%) Terraform
3 6 (0.77%) SCCM
4 5 (0.64%) Grafana
4 5 (0.64%) Iperf
4 5 (0.64%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (0.51%) Argo
5 4 (0.51%) Nmap
6 3 (0.38%) Cisco Prime
6 3 (0.38%) Podman
7 2 (0.26%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (0.26%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.26%) vRealize
8 1 (0.13%) Amdocs OSS
8 1 (0.13%) Consul
8 1 (0.13%) Failover Clustering
8 1 (0.13%) FortiGate
8 1 (0.13%) HAProxy
8 1 (0.13%) Rancher
Vendors
1 181 (23.09%) SAP
2 116 (14.80%) Cisco
3 93 (11.86%) Microsoft
4 44 (5.61%) ServiceNow
5 31 (3.95%) Nokia
6 29 (3.70%) Juniper
7 25 (3.19%) HP
8 24 (3.06%) Dell
8 24 (3.06%) Oracle
9 23 (2.93%) Apple
9 23 (2.93%) Fortinet
10 16 (2.04%) CheckPoint
11 15 (1.91%) Ericsson
11 15 (1.91%) Remedy
11 15 (1.91%) Salesforce
12 14 (1.79%) F5
13 13 (1.66%) Palo Alto
14 11 (1.40%) Meraki
15 9 (1.15%) BT
16 8 (1.02%) Google