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 18 January 2026, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 136 64 68
Rank change year-on-year -72 +4 +15
Contract jobs citing Telecoms 776 1,086 1,311
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 2.09% 3.42% 3.03%
As % of the General category 3.48% 5.54% 5.14%
Number of daily rates quoted 507 514 790
10th Percentile £170 £278 £210
25th Percentile £315 £382 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £500 £475
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% -1.04%
75th Percentile £575 £600 £623
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £500 £450
% change year-on-year -10.00% +11.11% +3.09%
Number of hourly rates quoted 62 30 38
10th Percentile £17.39 £20.75 £14.78
25th Percentile £20.50 £22.50 £24.63
Median hourly rate £23.79 £33.75 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year -29.52% -43.75% +14.29%
75th Percentile £24.50 £59.38 £79.25
90th Percentile £42.83 £75.00 £95.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £23.75 £48.56 £67.50
% change year-on-year -51.09% -28.06% +12.50%

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 22,278 19,589 25,503
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 60.00% 61.71% 58.94%
Number of daily rates quoted 14,011 11,679 16,667
10th Percentile £284 £287 £272
25th Percentile £400 £413 £413
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £525 £540
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% -2.78% -1.82%
75th Percentile £625 £650 £650
90th Percentile £727 £763 £750
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £488 £500
% change year-on-year -2.56% -2.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 1,365 659 1,297
10th Percentile £13.80 £15.52 £13.42
25th Percentile £16.48 £20.00 £15.50
Median hourly rate £23.00 £27.50 £28.50
Median % change year-on-year -16.36% -3.51% +14.00%
75th Percentile £46.00 £53.75 £56.49
90th Percentile £70.00 £72.50 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £21.30 £26.50 £26.66
% change year-on-year -19.62% -0.60% +18.49%

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 18 January 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 18 January 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 18 January 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 -80 686 £470 -6.00% 663
UK excluding London -61 445 £450 -10.00% 627
London -25 273 £475 -10.38% 111
Work from Home -52 182 £475 -7.32% 254
South East -47 150 £475 -5.00% 235
South West -30 75 £525 -3.23% 73
Midlands -38 73 £395 -22.93% 90
North of England -44 72 £330 -30.53% 95
West Midlands -42 51 £520 +1.46% 58
East of England -26 37 £550 +22.22% 102
North West -27 35 £288 -41.62% 49
Scotland +10 25 £309 -28.41% 29
East Midlands -8 22 £158 -56.55% 31
North East -7 18 £175 -51.72% 14
Yorkshire -50 18 £481 -3.75% 34
Northern Ireland +5 12 £150 - 9
Wales +1 9 £160 -56.16% 19
Channel Islands -2 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 16 (2.06%) Confluence
2 15 (1.93%) SharePoint
3 10 (1.29%) Appian
3 10 (1.29%) Microsoft Exchange
4 7 (0.90%) OpenStack
5 6 (0.77%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.26%) Apache
6 2 (0.26%) CMS
6 2 (0.26%) IIS
7 1 (0.13%) Headless CMS
7 1 (0.13%) JBoss
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle SOA Suite
7 1 (0.13%) Tomcat
7 1 (0.13%) WebLogic
Applications
1 49 (6.31%) Microsoft Office
2 22 (2.84%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.80%) Microsoft Project
4 13 (1.68%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 9 (1.16%) MS Visio
6 4 (0.52%) Autodesk Inventor
7 3 (0.39%) 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%) Trello
Business Applications
1 16 (2.06%) SAP BRIM
1 16 (2.06%) SAP Hybris
1 16 (2.06%) SAP PSCD
2 4 (0.52%) Oracle Procure-to-Pay
2 4 (0.52%) SAP ERP
3 3 (0.39%) Primavera
4 2 (0.26%) Dynamics CRM
4 2 (0.26%) Remedy ITSM
4 2 (0.26%) Salesforce CRM
4 2 (0.26%) SAP CO
4 2 (0.26%) SAP FI
4 2 (0.26%) SAP FI/CO
4 2 (0.26%) SAP S/4HANA
Cloud Services
1 58 (7.47%) Azure
2 53 (6.83%) Microsoft 365
3 43 (5.54%) AWS
4 27 (3.48%) GCP
5 16 (2.06%) SAP Commerce Cloud
6 13 (1.68%) GitHub
6 13 (1.68%) SaaS
7 12 (1.55%) Power Platform
8 10 (1.29%) Dynamics 365
9 9 (1.16%) Azure DevOps
10 8 (1.03%) Entra ID
10 8 (1.03%) GitHub Actions
11 7 (0.90%) Tricentis Tosca
12 5 (0.64%) Miro
13 4 (0.52%) Power Automate
14 3 (0.39%) Asana
14 3 (0.39%) IaaS
14 3 (0.39%) Salesforce Service Cloud
14 3 (0.39%) Slack
14 3 (0.39%) Smartsheet
Communications & Networking
1 49 (6.31%) Firewall
2 46 (5.93%) WAN
3 44 (5.67%) Wireless
4 36 (4.64%) LAN
5 27 (3.48%) MPLS
6 26 (3.35%) VPN
7 24 (3.09%) 5G
7 24 (3.09%) Network Security
8 21 (2.71%) 4G
8 21 (2.71%) DNS
8 21 (2.71%) Radio Access Network
9 20 (2.58%) Broadband
9 20 (2.58%) SD-WAN
10 19 (2.45%) VoIP
11 18 (2.32%) LTE
12 17 (2.19%) BGP
13 15 (1.93%) SDH
14 14 (1.80%) Wireshark
15 13 (1.68%) 3GPP
16 12 (1.55%) Internet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (1.29%) Power BI
2 9 (1.16%) MySQL
3 7 (0.90%) Tableau
4 5 (0.64%) Oracle Database
4 5 (0.64%) SQL Server
5 4 (0.52%) Big Data
5 4 (0.52%) Data Warehouse
5 4 (0.52%) Electronic Patient Records
5 4 (0.52%) GIS
5 4 (0.52%) PostgreSQL
5 4 (0.52%) SAP BW
6 3 (0.39%) Relational Database
7 2 (0.26%) BigQuery
7 2 (0.26%) NoSQL
7 2 (0.26%) Power Query
7 2 (0.26%) RDBMS
8 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
8 1 (0.13%) Looker
8 1 (0.13%) Oracle Exadata
8 1 (0.13%) Redis
Development Applications
1 28 (3.61%) JIRA
2 20 (2.58%) GitLab
3 10 (1.29%) Jenkins
4 8 (1.03%) Robot Framework
4 8 (1.03%) Selenium
5 7 (0.90%) Cucumber
5 7 (0.90%) SonarQube
6 6 (0.77%) Git
6 6 (0.77%) Postman
7 4 (0.52%) JUnit
8 3 (0.39%) Cypress.io
8 3 (0.39%) Rational DOORS
8 3 (0.39%) Storybook
9 2 (0.26%) Appium
9 2 (0.26%) CircleCI
9 2 (0.26%) JMeter
9 2 (0.26%) Maven
10 1 (0.13%) Browser DevTools
10 1 (0.13%) Sonatype Nexus
10 1 (0.13%) TestRail
General
1 276 (35.57%) Finance
2 254 (32.73%) Public Sector
3 238 (30.67%) Social Skills
4 204 (26.29%) Marketing
5 194 (25.00%) Electronics
6 191 (24.61%) Manufacturing
7 85 (10.95%) Analytical Skills
8 30 (3.87%) Documentation Skills
9 29 (3.74%) Billing
10 22 (2.84%) Organisational Skills
11 16 (2.06%) Banking
12 12 (1.55%) Legal
13 11 (1.42%) Retail
14 8 (1.03%) Military
15 5 (0.64%) Law
16 4 (0.52%) General Ledger
16 4 (0.52%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 4 (0.52%) Influencing Skills
16 4 (0.52%) Presentation Skills
17 3 (0.39%) Health Technology
Job Titles
1 79 (10.18%) Architect
2 77 (9.92%) Analyst
3 46 (5.93%) Business Analyst
3 46 (5.93%) Project Manager
4 44 (5.67%) Senior
5 42 (5.41%) Consultant
5 42 (5.41%) IT Support
6 39 (5.03%) Lead
7 36 (4.64%) Desktop Support
8 34 (4.38%) Network Engineer
9 26 (3.35%) 2nd Line Support
10 25 (3.22%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
10 25 (3.22%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
11 23 (2.96%) Solutions Architect
12 22 (2.84%) Developer
13 21 (2.71%) Support Engineer
14 20 (2.58%) Migration Engineer
14 20 (2.58%) Network Specialist
14 20 (2.58%) SAP Consultant
15 19 (2.45%) Coordinator
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (2.96%) REST
2 18 (2.32%) SOAP
3 11 (1.42%) XML
4 9 (1.16%) JSON
4 9 (1.16%) RESTful
4 9 (1.16%) SailPoint
5 8 (1.03%) 802.1X
6 7 (0.90%) Jinja
6 7 (0.90%) NETCONF
6 7 (0.90%) React
6 7 (0.90%) Web Services
7 6 (0.77%) RFC 2544
7 6 (0.77%) YANG
8 5 (0.64%) Node.js
8 5 (0.64%) Spring
9 4 (0.52%) .NET
9 4 (0.52%) Elastic Stack
9 4 (0.52%) HTML
9 4 (0.52%) Spring Boot
10 3 (0.39%) PySpark
Miscellaneous
1 57 (7.35%) Data Centre
2 33 (4.25%) Driving Licence
3 28 (3.61%) Product Ownership
4 27 (3.48%) Data Protection Act
5 20 (2.58%) CMDB
5 20 (2.58%) Onboarding
6 18 (2.32%) Legacy Systems
6 18 (2.32%) NHS
7 17 (2.19%) Cloud Native
8 15 (1.93%) IoT
9 13 (1.68%) Fibre Optics
9 13 (1.68%) Mobile App
10 10 (1.29%) Self-Motivation
10 10 (1.29%) Virtual Team
11 9 (1.16%) Analytical Mindset
11 9 (1.16%) Cyber Threat
11 9 (1.16%) SCADA
12 8 (1.03%) Operational Technology
13 7 (0.90%) Management Information System
14 6 (0.77%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 43 (5.54%) Windows
2 39 (5.03%) Android
3 32 (4.12%) Mac OS
4 18 (2.32%) Windows 10
5 16 (2.06%) Linux
6 9 (1.16%) Windows Server
7 8 (1.03%) Apple iOS
8 4 (0.52%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (0.39%) Debian
9 3 (0.39%) Ubuntu
9 3 (0.39%) Unix
9 3 (0.39%) VMS
10 1 (0.13%) CentOS
10 1 (0.13%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.13%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 197 (25.39%) Business Intelligence
2 195 (25.13%) Programme Management
3 189 (24.36%) Digital Marketing
4 129 (16.62%) Agile
5 119 (15.34%) Problem-Solving
6 110 (14.18%) Stakeholder Management
7 92 (11.86%) Migration
8 74 (9.54%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 71 (9.15%) Continuous Improvement
10 67 (8.63%) ITIL
11 55 (7.09%) Logistics
12 54 (6.96%) Workflow
13 51 (6.57%) Project Management
14 50 (6.44%) Customer Service
15 46 (5.93%) CI/CD
16 45 (5.80%) Change Management
17 44 (5.67%) DevOps
17 44 (5.67%) Roadmaps
18 43 (5.54%) Service Delivery
19 41 (5.28%) Workshop Facilitation
Programming Languages
1 57 (7.35%) Python
2 34 (4.38%) JavaScript
3 29 (3.74%) SQL
4 15 (1.93%) Java
5 14 (1.80%) PowerShell
6 11 (1.42%) TypeScript
7 8 (1.03%) Bash
8 7 (0.90%) C
8 7 (0.90%) C++
9 5 (0.64%) C#
9 5 (0.64%) Go
10 4 (0.52%) ABAP
11 3 (0.39%) BeanShell
11 3 (0.39%) PHP
12 2 (0.26%) R
12 2 (0.26%) Shell Script
13 1 (0.13%) Groovy
13 1 (0.13%) PL/SQL
13 1 (0.13%) Scala
13 1 (0.13%) Tcl
Qualifications
1 205 (26.42%) Security Cleared
2 167 (21.52%) SC Cleared
3 59 (7.60%) Degree
4 28 (3.61%) DV Cleared
5 20 (2.58%) Cisco Certification
6 18 (2.32%) BPSS Clearance
7 14 (1.80%) CCNP
8 11 (1.42%) Computer Science Degree
8 11 (1.42%) PMP
9 9 (1.16%) ITIL Certification
10 8 (1.03%) ACCA
10 8 (1.03%) CCIE
10 8 (1.03%) CCNA
10 8 (1.03%) PMI Certification
11 6 (0.77%) CIMA
11 6 (0.77%) CISSP
11 6 (0.77%) JNCIP
11 6 (0.77%) Master's Degree
11 6 (0.77%) Microsoft Certification
12 5 (0.64%) Azure Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 29 (3.74%) QA
1 29 (3.74%) SLA
2 19 (2.45%) PMO
3 18 (2.32%) GDPR
4 13 (1.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
5 11 (1.42%) Data Quality
6 9 (1.16%) GRC
7 8 (1.03%) Accessibility
8 7 (0.90%) JSP 440
9 6 (0.77%) NCSC
9 6 (0.77%) RMADS
10 5 (0.64%) NIST
10 5 (0.64%) Sarbanes-Oxley
11 3 (0.39%) GAAP
11 3 (0.39%) IFRS
12 2 (0.26%) Actionable Recommendations
12 2 (0.26%) California Consumer Privacy Act
12 2 (0.26%) HIPAA
12 2 (0.26%) ISO 26262
12 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
System Software
1 27 (3.48%) Active Directory
2 19 (2.45%) Docker
3 6 (0.77%) Virtual Machines
4 3 (0.39%) QEMU
4 3 (0.39%) VMware Infrastructure
5 2 (0.26%) Hyper-V
6 1 (0.13%) Firmware
6 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
6 1 (0.13%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 24 (3.09%) Ansible
2 19 (2.45%) Kubernetes
3 11 (1.42%) Terraform
4 7 (0.90%) SCCM
5 5 (0.64%) Argo
5 5 (0.64%) Grafana
5 5 (0.64%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (0.39%) Podman
6 3 (0.39%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (0.39%) vRealize
7 2 (0.26%) EMC NetWorker
7 2 (0.26%) Iperf
7 2 (0.26%) Nmap
7 2 (0.26%) Puppet
8 1 (0.13%) Cisco Prime
8 1 (0.13%) Data Guard
8 1 (0.13%) FreeIPA
8 1 (0.13%) Kibana
8 1 (0.13%) SCOM
8 1 (0.13%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
Vendors
1 218 (28.09%) SAP
2 122 (15.72%) Cisco
3 92 (11.86%) Microsoft
4 42 (5.41%) ServiceNow
5 33 (4.25%) Juniper
6 32 (4.12%) Nokia
7 25 (3.22%) HP
8 24 (3.09%) Apple
8 24 (3.09%) Dell
9 21 (2.71%) Salesforce
10 20 (2.58%) F5
11 17 (2.19%) Ericsson
11 17 (2.19%) Oracle
12 16 (2.06%) CheckPoint
13 14 (1.80%) Fortinet
13 14 (1.80%) Remedy
14 13 (1.68%) Google
15 11 (1.42%) Meraki
15 11 (1.42%) Palo Alto
16 8 (1.03%) Actix