Wireless Contract Job Trends

Wireless
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring Wireless skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 15 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 335 290 251
Rank change year-on-year -45 -39 -32
Contract jobs citing Wireless 353 287 403
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.67% 0.88% 0.94%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.06% 7.25% 7.52%
Number of daily rates quoted 226 172 236
10th Percentile £250 £263 £183
25th Percentile £399 £362 £256
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £400
Median % change year-on-year - +12.50% -5.88%
75th Percentile £529 £550 £533
90th Percentile £588 £588 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £453 £471 £396
% change year-on-year -3.98% +19.00% -1.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 32 35 39
10th Percentile £13.18 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £24.75 £21.23 £16.24
Median hourly rate £52.43 £25.15 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +108.45% +19.76% -58.00%
75th Percentile £60.00 £34.25 £24.90
90th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £54.80
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £30.00 £17.69
% change year-on-year +74.75% +69.59% -16.75%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

Wireless falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 5,000 3,956 5,360
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.50% 12.19% 12.54%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,037 2,407 3,158
10th Percentile £239 £235 £213
25th Percentile £400 £364 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £483 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.63% -3.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £490
% change year-on-year +3.16% -3.06% +5.95%
Number of hourly rates quoted 325 193 425
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.64
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.44 £47.50 £43.00
Median % change year-on-year -44.34% +10.47% +39.84%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £81.35 £73.55
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.22 £42.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year -38.31% -10.53% +5.56%

Wireless
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Wireless relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Wireless job vacancy trend in the UK

Wireless
Daily Rate Trend

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Wireless.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Wireless

Wireless
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing Wireless over the 6 months to 15 July 2026.

Daily rate histogram for Wireless in the UK

Wireless
Hourly Rate Trend

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Wireless.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing Wireless

Wireless
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing Wireless over the 6 months to 15 July 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Wireless in the UK

Wireless
Top 16 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing Wireless within the UK over the 6 months to 15 July 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 -47 318 £450 -3.74% 308
UK excluding London -62 231 £453 -3.98% 278
North of England -27 87 £499 +10.83% 56
London -66 86 £438 +2.94% 74
Work from Home -42 83 £475 - 123
North West +1 68 £520 +22.35% 29
South East -39 57 £513 +2.50% 112
Midlands -44 36 £450 +29.96% 26
West Midlands -52 35 £450 +76.47% 15
East of England -35 26 £325 -38.10% 33
Yorkshire -56 14 £450 - 21
Scotland -9 12 £381 -6.04% 11
South West -33 12 £510 +23.64% 33
North East -36 5 £420 -23.64% 7
Northern Ireland - 2 £245 - 5
East Midlands -13 1 £235 -46.29% 11

Wireless
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 11 (3.12%) SharePoint
2 3 (0.85%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.28%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 13 (3.68%) Microsoft Office
2 9 (2.55%) Microsoft Excel
2 9 (2.55%) MS Visio
3 2 (0.57%) Acrobat
4 1 (0.28%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 1 (0.28%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 53 (15.01%) Azure
2 25 (7.08%) AWS
3 21 (5.95%) Microsoft 365
4 19 (5.38%) Entra ID
5 10 (2.83%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 9 (2.55%) GitHub
7 5 (1.42%) GCP
7 5 (1.42%) OneDrive
8 4 (1.13%) SaaS
8 4 (1.13%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 2 (0.57%) PaaS
10 1 (0.28%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.28%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 1 (0.28%) Amazon S3
10 1 (0.28%) AWS Direct Connect
10 1 (0.28%) Azure Sentinel
10 1 (0.28%) Google Workspace
10 1 (0.28%) IBM Watson
10 1 (0.28%) OCI
10 1 (0.28%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 163 (46.18%) Firewall
2 118 (33.43%) LAN
3 115 (32.58%) WAN
4 95 (26.91%) Network Security
5 88 (24.93%) VPN
6 82 (23.23%) Wi-Fi
7 60 (17.00%) DNS
8 57 (16.15%) BGP
9 54 (15.30%) VLAN
10 53 (15.01%) DHCP
11 50 (14.16%) OSPF
12 46 (13.03%) Cisco ISE
13 45 (12.75%) SD-WAN
14 44 (12.46%) WLAN
15 34 (9.63%) Cisco Wireless
16 33 (9.35%) Structured Cabling
17 31 (8.78%) TCP/IP
18 25 (7.08%) IPsec
19 23 (6.52%) Cisco IOS
20 20 (5.67%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.28%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 9 (2.55%) Rational DOORS
2 5 (1.42%) JIRA
3 3 (0.85%) Burp Suite
4 2 (0.57%) Git
4 2 (0.57%) Metasploit
4 2 (0.57%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.28%) MSI
General
1 100 (28.33%) Social Skills
2 26 (7.37%) Analytical Skills
3 19 (5.38%) Finance
3 19 (5.38%) Public Sector
4 17 (4.82%) Aerospace
4 17 (4.82%) Documentation Skills
5 15 (4.25%) Retail
6 10 (2.83%) Legal
7 6 (1.70%) Law
8 4 (1.13%) Banking
8 4 (1.13%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.13%) Telecoms
9 3 (0.85%) Billing
9 3 (0.85%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 3 (0.85%) Influencing Skills
9 3 (0.85%) Investment Banking
9 3 (0.85%) Police
9 3 (0.85%) Presentation Skills
10 2 (0.57%) Organisational Skills
11 1 (0.28%) German Language
Job Titles
1 178 (50.42%) Network Engineer
2 33 (9.35%) Architect
3 23 (6.52%) Senior
3 23 (6.52%) Software Engineer
3 23 (6.52%) Wireless Engineer
4 21 (5.95%) Cisco Engineer
5 20 (5.67%) Wireless Network Engineer
6 19 (5.38%) Embedded Engineer
6 19 (5.38%) Embedded Software Engineer
7 18 (5.10%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 17 (4.82%) Cisco Network Engineer
8 17 (4.82%) Network Architect
9 16 (4.53%) Senior Network Engineer
10 12 (3.40%) Analyst
11 11 (3.12%) Technical Architect
12 10 (2.83%) IT Support
12 10 (2.83%) Security Engineer
13 9 (2.55%) Network Security Engineer
14 8 (2.27%) Desktop Support
14 8 (2.27%) Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 52 (14.73%) 802.1X
2 8 (2.27%) SAML
3 6 (1.70%) X-Windows
3 6 (1.70%) Yocto
4 4 (1.13%) Software Packaging
5 3 (0.85%) LDAP
5 3 (0.85%) REST
6 2 (0.57%) Django
6 2 (0.57%) JSON
6 2 (0.57%) XML
7 1 (0.28%) Microsoft Graph
7 1 (0.28%) ModSecurity
Miscellaneous
1 53 (15.01%) Data Centre
2 16 (4.53%) IoT
2 16 (4.53%) Onboarding
3 12 (3.40%) Driving Licence
3 12 (3.40%) PKI
4 11 (3.12%) Embedded Systems
5 9 (2.55%) FPGA
5 9 (2.55%) PCIe
6 8 (2.27%) Hybrid Cloud
6 8 (2.27%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (1.98%) Management Information System
8 6 (1.70%) Device Driver
8 6 (1.70%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.70%) iPad
8 6 (1.70%) MicroBlaze
8 6 (1.70%) RISC-V
8 6 (1.70%) Security Posture
8 6 (1.70%) Smartphone
9 5 (1.42%) BYOD
9 5 (1.42%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 37 (10.48%) Windows
2 16 (4.53%) Linux
3 12 (3.40%) Windows 10
4 9 (2.55%) Apple iOS
4 9 (2.55%) FreeRTOS
5 7 (1.98%) Unix
5 7 (1.98%) Windows Server
6 6 (1.70%) Embedded Linux
6 6 (1.70%) Mac OS X
7 5 (1.42%) Android
7 5 (1.42%) Windows 7
8 4 (1.13%) Mac OS
9 3 (0.85%) Windows XP
10 1 (0.28%) Kali Linux
10 1 (0.28%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 49 (13.88%) Problem-Solving
2 37 (10.48%) ITIL
2 37 (10.48%) Network Segmentation
3 34 (9.63%) ITSM
4 33 (9.35%) Migration
5 31 (8.78%) Change Management
5 31 (8.78%) Project Delivery
6 29 (8.22%) Zero Trust
7 28 (7.93%) High Availability
8 25 (7.08%) Continuous Improvement
8 25 (7.08%) Validation
9 24 (6.80%) Software Engineering
9 24 (6.80%) Technical Leadership
10 22 (6.23%) Load Balancing
11 21 (5.95%) User Experience
12 20 (5.67%) Cybersecurity
13 18 (5.10%) Agile
13 18 (5.10%) Network Design
13 18 (5.10%) Service Management
13 18 (5.10%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 21 (5.95%) Python
2 16 (4.53%) C
3 6 (1.70%) C++
4 4 (1.13%) Embedded C
4 4 (1.13%) PowerShell
5 3 (0.85%) Lisp
6 2 (0.57%) Perl
7 1 (0.28%) Korn
7 1 (0.28%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 105 (29.75%) Cisco Certification
2 88 (24.93%) CCNP
3 87 (24.65%) Security Cleared
4 75 (21.25%) SC Cleared
5 64 (18.13%) CCNA
6 25 (7.08%) Degree
7 24 (6.80%) CCIE
7 24 (6.80%) Network+ Certification
8 17 (4.82%) Server+ Certification
9 7 (1.98%) Microsoft Certification
10 6 (1.70%) A+ Certification
10 6 (1.70%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.42%) CCIE Wireless
11 5 (1.42%) CWNA
11 5 (1.42%) JNCIP
11 5 (1.42%) JNCIS
11 5 (1.42%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 4 (1.13%) CWNE
12 4 (1.13%) CWSP
12 4 (1.13%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (3.40%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 7 (1.98%) NIST
2 7 (1.98%) QA
3 6 (1.70%) SLA
4 4 (1.13%) Cyber Essentials
4 4 (1.13%) GDPR
5 3 (0.85%) NCSC
5 3 (0.85%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.28%) Data Quality
6 1 (0.28%) PMO
System Software
1 40 (11.33%) Active Directory
2 10 (2.83%) Firmware
2 10 (2.83%) VMware Infrastructure
3 6 (1.70%) Embedded Firmware
4 5 (1.42%) VMware NSX
5 4 (1.13%) Hyper-V
6 3 (0.85%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.28%) Virtual Desktop
7 1 (0.28%) Virtual Servers
7 1 (0.28%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 28 (7.93%) Ansible
2 22 (6.23%) FortiGate
3 15 (4.25%) Microsoft Intune
4 10 (2.83%) Terraform
5 7 (1.98%) Cisco Prime
6 5 (1.42%) Prometheus
6 5 (1.42%) SCCM
7 4 (1.13%) Grafana
7 4 (1.13%) Single Sign-On
8 3 (0.85%) Jamf Pro
8 3 (0.85%) Nmap
8 3 (0.85%) Salt
9 2 (0.57%) CASB
9 2 (0.57%) Nessus
10 1 (0.28%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.28%) Nagios
10 1 (0.28%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 200 (56.66%) Cisco
2 77 (21.81%) Palo Alto
3 74 (20.96%) Aruba
4 40 (11.33%) F5
4 40 (11.33%) Meraki
4 40 (11.33%) Microsoft
4 40 (11.33%) ServiceNow
5 35 (9.92%) CheckPoint
6 33 (9.35%) Fortinet
7 27 (7.65%) Juniper
8 21 (5.95%) Ekahau
9 17 (4.82%) ForeScout
10 15 (4.25%) VMware
11 12 (3.40%) Arista
11 12 (3.40%) SolarWinds
12 10 (2.83%) Splunk
12 10 (2.83%) Zscaler
13 8 (2.27%) Citrix
14 7 (1.98%) Apple
15 5 (1.42%) HP