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 18 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 364 278 244
Rank change year-on-year -86 -34 -14
Contract jobs citing Wireless 279 275 396
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.94% 0.93%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 6.09% 7.38% 7.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 180 181 247
10th Percentile £190 £220 £168
25th Percentile £313 £362 £252
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £436 £454 £400
Median % change year-on-year -3.91% +13.50% -5.88%
75th Percentile £523 £556 £538
90th Percentile £600 £600 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £438 £400
% change year-on-year +2.86% +9.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 17 18 35
10th Percentile £26.94 - £12.75
25th Percentile £41.25 £14.20 £16.00
Median hourly rate £52.43 £24.66 £18.93
Median % change year-on-year +112.59% +30.27% -62.14%
75th Percentile £70.00 £58.94 £23.80
90th Percentile - £65.00 £59.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £15.25 £17.69
% change year-on-year +243.77% -13.79% -20.53%

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 4,578 3,725 5,393
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.55% 12.68% 12.66%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,829 2,299 3,215
10th Percentile £262 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £362 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £490
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -0.51% -5.50%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £694
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 247 165 417
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.04 £17.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £37.50 £32.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +15.38% -18.75% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £58.69 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £24.71 £45.88
% change year-on-year +70.98% -46.14% +158.48%

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 18 May 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 18 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Wireless in the UK

Wireless
Top 15 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 18 May 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 -75 258 £432 -8.26% 251
UK excluding London -83 179 £450 +2.86% 237
London -71 73 £425 -10.53% 67
Work from Home -36 69 £450 -5.32% 65
South East -34 59 £502 +11.61% 73
North of England -61 55 £450 +15.32% 52
North West -26 43 £474 +21.41% 29
West Midlands -40 26 £378 +75.58% 17
Midlands -49 26 £378 +25.83% 28
East of England -46 20 £325 -33.67% 30
South West -25 14 £513 +29.01% 39
North East -15 6 £420 -23.64% 10
Yorkshire -62 6 £450 +104.55% 18
Scotland -7 5 £313 -21.78% 16
Northern Ireland - 1 £385 - 1

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 6 (2.15%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.08%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.36%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 21 (7.53%) Microsoft Office
2 20 (7.17%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (5.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (4.30%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.36%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 3 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 42 (15.05%) Azure
2 32 (11.47%) AWS
3 19 (6.81%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (2.87%) Entra ID
5 5 (1.79%) GCP
5 5 (1.79%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 4 (1.43%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 4 (1.43%) Route 53
7 3 (1.08%) Google Workspace
7 3 (1.08%) SaaS
8 2 (0.72%) Azure Sentinel
8 2 (0.72%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (0.72%) GitHub
8 2 (0.72%) OneDrive
8 2 (0.72%) PaaS
8 2 (0.72%) Slack
9 1 (0.36%) Amazon EC2
9 1 (0.36%) Amazon S3
9 1 (0.36%) IaaS
9 1 (0.36%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 132 (47.31%) Firewall
2 97 (34.77%) LAN
3 95 (34.05%) WAN
4 61 (21.86%) Network Security
5 60 (21.51%) Wi-Fi
6 56 (20.07%) VPN
7 48 (17.20%) DNS
8 43 (15.41%) VLAN
9 42 (15.05%) BGP
10 40 (14.34%) OSPF
11 38 (13.62%) DHCP
11 38 (13.62%) SD-WAN
12 36 (12.90%) Cisco ISE
12 36 (12.90%) WLAN
13 27 (9.68%) IPsec
14 24 (8.60%) Cisco Wireless
15 22 (7.89%) Cisco Nexus
16 19 (6.81%) Cisco ASA
17 18 (6.45%) Structured Cabling
17 18 (6.45%) TCP/IP
Development Applications
1 15 (5.38%) Burp Suite
2 14 (5.02%) Metasploit
3 9 (3.23%) Rational DOORS
4 6 (2.15%) JIRA
5 2 (0.72%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.36%) MSI
General
1 77 (27.60%) Social Skills
2 15 (5.38%) Analytical Skills
3 14 (5.02%) Documentation Skills
4 13 (4.66%) Public Sector
5 12 (4.30%) Finance
6 11 (3.94%) Retail
7 9 (3.23%) Aerospace
8 6 (2.15%) Telecoms
9 5 (1.79%) Banking
9 5 (1.79%) Law
10 4 (1.43%) Legal
10 4 (1.43%) Manufacturing
11 3 (1.08%) Billing
11 3 (1.08%) Local Government
12 2 (0.72%) Investment Banking
12 2 (0.72%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.36%) German Language
13 1 (0.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 1 (0.36%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.36%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 120 (43.01%) Network Engineer
2 27 (9.68%) Architect
3 17 (6.09%) Cisco Engineer
3 17 (6.09%) Senior
4 16 (5.73%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
4 16 (5.73%) Software Engineer
5 15 (5.38%) Penetration Tester
5 15 (5.38%) Tester
5 15 (5.38%) Wireless Engineer
6 14 (5.02%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 14 (5.02%) Network Architect
7 13 (4.66%) IT Support
8 12 (4.30%) Senior Network Engineer
8 12 (4.30%) Wireless Network Engineer
9 11 (3.94%) Embedded Engineer
9 11 (3.94%) Embedded Software Engineer
10 10 (3.58%) Security Engineer
11 9 (3.23%) Analyst
11 9 (3.23%) Support Engineer
11 9 (3.23%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (17.92%) 802.1X
2 11 (3.94%) SAML
3 9 (3.23%) LDAP
4 6 (2.15%) X-Windows
4 6 (2.15%) Yocto
5 2 (0.72%) A2A Protocol
5 2 (0.72%) Model Context Protocol
6 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Graph
6 1 (0.36%) Qt
6 1 (0.36%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 36 (12.90%) Data Centre
2 17 (6.09%) IoT
3 14 (5.02%) Onboarding
3 14 (5.02%) Security Posture
4 12 (4.30%) Embedded Systems
5 9 (3.23%) FPGA
5 9 (3.23%) PCIe
6 8 (2.87%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (2.51%) PKI
8 6 (2.15%) Device Driver
8 6 (2.15%) Driving Licence
8 6 (2.15%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (2.15%) MicroBlaze
8 6 (2.15%) RISC-V
9 5 (1.79%) BYOD
9 5 (1.79%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.79%) Video Conferencing
9 5 (1.79%) Virtual Team
10 4 (1.43%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.43%) iPad
Operating Systems
1 42 (15.05%) Windows
2 19 (6.81%) Linux
3 17 (6.09%) Windows 10
4 9 (3.23%) FreeRTOS
4 9 (3.23%) Unix
5 8 (2.87%) Embedded Linux
6 7 (2.51%) Mac OS
7 6 (2.15%) Mac OS X
7 6 (2.15%) Windows Server
8 5 (1.79%) Android
8 5 (1.79%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.43%) CatOS
10 3 (1.08%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.36%) Debian
11 1 (0.36%) Kali Linux
11 1 (0.36%) VMS
11 1 (0.36%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 32 (11.47%) Network Segmentation
2 29 (10.39%) Technical Leadership
3 28 (10.04%) Cybersecurity
3 28 (10.04%) ITSM
3 28 (10.04%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (9.68%) Zero Trust
5 22 (7.89%) High Availability
5 22 (7.89%) Regulatory Compliance
6 20 (7.17%) ITIL
7 19 (6.81%) Migration
8 18 (6.45%) Change Management
9 17 (6.09%) Cloud Security
9 17 (6.09%) Root Cause Analysis
9 17 (6.09%) Software Engineering
10 16 (5.73%) Agile
10 16 (5.73%) Network Design
10 16 (5.73%) Penetration Testing
10 16 (5.73%) Project Delivery
10 16 (5.73%) Validation
11 15 (5.38%) Digital Signal Processing
Programming Languages
1 17 (6.09%) C
2 14 (5.02%) Python
3 8 (2.87%) C++
4 4 (1.43%) Embedded C
5 1 (0.36%) Bash
5 1 (0.36%) Korn
5 1 (0.36%) Lisp
5 1 (0.36%) MATLAB
5 1 (0.36%) Perl
5 1 (0.36%) PowerShell
5 1 (0.36%) Ruby
5 1 (0.36%) SQL
Qualifications
1 84 (30.11%) Security Cleared
2 78 (27.96%) SC Cleared
3 71 (25.45%) Cisco Certification
4 63 (22.58%) CCNP
5 43 (15.41%) CCNA
6 27 (9.68%) Degree
7 18 (6.45%) Network+ Certification
8 15 (5.38%) CCIE
9 14 (5.02%) CHECK Team Member
10 13 (4.66%) Server+ Certification
11 12 (4.30%) CREST Certified
11 12 (4.30%) Cyber Scheme
12 11 (3.94%) Postgraduate
13 6 (2.15%) Computer Science Degree
13 6 (2.15%) DV Cleared
14 4 (1.43%) CompTIA Security+
14 4 (1.43%) CWNA
14 4 (1.43%) JNCIA
14 4 (1.43%) JNCIS
15 3 (1.08%) CWSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (6.45%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 16 (5.73%) QA
3 14 (5.02%) GDPR
3 14 (5.02%) PCI DSS
4 10 (3.58%) PMO
5 7 (2.51%) SLA
6 5 (1.79%) NIST
7 3 (1.08%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (1.08%) NCSC
8 1 (0.36%) DICOM
8 1 (0.36%) HL7
8 1 (0.36%) JTAG
System Software
1 31 (11.11%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.02%) VMware Infrastructure
3 11 (3.94%) Firmware
3 11 (3.94%) VMware NSX
4 7 (2.51%) Embedded Firmware
5 3 (1.08%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.72%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.36%) Virtual Machines
7 1 (0.36%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 18 (6.45%) Ansible
2 16 (5.73%) Nmap
3 12 (4.30%) FortiGate
4 10 (3.58%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (2.87%) Microsoft Intune
5 8 (2.87%) SCCM
6 7 (2.51%) Prometheus
7 6 (2.15%) Grafana
8 5 (1.79%) Salt
8 5 (1.79%) Terraform
9 4 (1.43%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.36%) CASB
10 1 (0.36%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.36%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.36%) Nagios
10 1 (0.36%) Nessus
Vendors
1 150 (53.76%) Cisco
2 63 (22.58%) Palo Alto
3 58 (20.79%) Aruba
4 37 (13.26%) ServiceNow
5 35 (12.54%) CheckPoint
5 35 (12.54%) F5
6 33 (11.83%) Microsoft
7 29 (10.39%) Meraki
8 24 (8.60%) Fortinet
9 21 (7.53%) Ekahau
9 21 (7.53%) Juniper
10 17 (6.09%) ForeScout
10 17 (6.09%) VMware
11 10 (3.58%) Apple
11 10 (3.58%) Arista
11 10 (3.58%) Splunk
12 9 (3.23%) SolarWinds
13 8 (2.87%) HP
14 6 (2.15%) BigPanda
15 5 (1.79%) Zscaler