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 4 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
4 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 338 293 276
Rank change year-on-year -45 -17 -82
Contract jobs citing Wireless 401 270 316
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.73% 0.81% 0.83%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.95% 7.09% 6.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 231 154 188
10th Percentile £250 £170 £220
25th Percentile £356 £259 £321
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £419 £450
Median % change year-on-year +7.46% -6.94% +4.65%
75th Percentile £525 £490 £551
90th Percentile £588 £588 £641
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £385 £413
% change year-on-year +16.88% -6.67% -2.94%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 47 13
10th Percentile £14.39 £16.87 £22.68
25th Percentile £28.81 £18.75 £23.80
Median hourly rate £52.43 £25.15 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year +108.45% -48.21% +67.45%
75th Percentile £60.00 £31.00 £52.25
90th Percentile £64.88 £85.65 £53.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £30.00 £48.56
% change year-on-year +74.75% -38.22% +125.86%

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 5,043 3,808 4,534
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.23% 11.47% 11.93%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,910 2,393 2,614
10th Percentile £231 £220 £225
25th Percentile £389 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £606
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £453 £485
% change year-on-year +4.86% -6.60% +6.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 432 205 202
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £21.25 £23.90
Median hourly rate £32.50 £41.94 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.51% -16.12% -11.49%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £74.20 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.66 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -37.27% -25.89% -0.26%

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 4 October 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 4 October 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Wireless in the UK

Wireless
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 Wireless within the UK over the 6 months to 4 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 -33 351 £450 +12.50% 703
UK excluding London -24 268 £450 +16.88% 539
North of England -10 97 £500 +29.03% 124
London -67 96 £463 +12.12% 184
Work from Home -42 86 £475 - 225
North West +13 74 £525 +61.54% 77
South East -53 54 £403 +93.98% 179
Midlands -47 43 £425 +11.84% 68
West Midlands -48 40 £425 +11.84% 40
East of England -1 37 £400 -28.89% 70
Yorkshire -40 20 £450 - 34
Scotland -15 19 £313 -26.47% 35
South West -21 14 £338 +87.50% 47
Wales - 5 £363 - 9
Northern Ireland +3 3 £425 -10.53% 13
East Midlands -10 3 £355 +125.40% 28
North East -39 3 £400 +10.34% 16

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 14 (3.49%) SharePoint
2 10 (2.49%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.50%) Confluence
4 1 (0.25%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 7 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.50%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.50%) Microsoft Project
2 6 (1.50%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.75%) Acrobat
4 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 66 (16.46%) Azure
2 53 (13.22%) Microsoft 365
3 31 (7.73%) Entra ID
4 23 (5.74%) AWS
5 11 (2.74%) GitHub
6 7 (1.75%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 5 (1.25%) GCP
7 5 (1.25%) OneDrive
8 3 (0.75%) Smartsheet
8 3 (0.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 2 (0.50%) SaaS
10 1 (0.25%) GitHub Actions
10 1 (0.25%) IaaS
10 1 (0.25%) IBM Watson
10 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Purview
10 1 (0.25%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 174 (43.39%) Firewall
2 141 (35.16%) WAN
3 124 (30.92%) LAN
4 116 (28.93%) VPN
5 102 (25.44%) Network Security
6 92 (22.94%) Wi-Fi
7 79 (19.70%) DNS
8 64 (15.96%) BGP
8 64 (15.96%) VLAN
9 58 (14.46%) DHCP
10 55 (13.72%) SD-WAN
11 50 (12.47%) OSPF
12 49 (12.22%) Cisco ISE
13 47 (11.72%) TCP/IP
14 46 (11.47%) WLAN
15 32 (7.98%) Cisco Nexus
15 32 (7.98%) Cisco Wireless
16 30 (7.48%) IPsec
17 28 (6.98%) Structured Cabling
18 26 (6.48%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.75%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 16 (3.99%) Git
2 12 (2.99%) JIRA
3 6 (1.50%) Rational DOORS
4 5 (1.25%) GitLab
5 3 (0.75%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 112 (27.93%) Social Skills
2 33 (8.23%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (7.48%) Finance
4 22 (5.49%) Public Sector
5 19 (4.74%) Telecoms
6 18 (4.49%) Documentation Skills
7 17 (4.24%) Aerospace
8 16 (3.99%) Legal
9 13 (3.24%) Retail
10 9 (2.24%) Banking
10 9 (2.24%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (1.75%) Manufacturing
12 6 (1.50%) Law
13 5 (1.25%) Investment Banking
13 5 (1.25%) Police
14 4 (1.00%) Front Office
14 4 (1.00%) Multimedia
14 4 (1.00%) Presentation Skills
15 3 (0.75%) Automotive
15 3 (0.75%) Electronics
Job Titles
1 216 (53.87%) Network Engineer
2 45 (11.22%) Senior
3 31 (7.73%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
4 30 (7.48%) Senior Network Engineer
5 29 (7.23%) Cisco Engineer
5 29 (7.23%) Software Engineer
6 26 (6.48%) Embedded Engineer
6 26 (6.48%) Embedded Software Engineer
7 25 (6.23%) Cisco Network Engineer
8 20 (4.99%) Wireless Engineer
9 19 (4.74%) Architect
9 19 (4.74%) Wireless Network Engineer
10 18 (4.49%) Analyst
11 16 (3.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
11 16 (3.99%) Security Engineer
12 15 (3.74%) IT Support
13 14 (3.49%) Support Engineer
14 12 (2.99%) Desktop Support
14 12 (2.99%) Implementation Engineer
14 12 (2.99%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (10.22%) 802.1X
2 12 (2.99%) JSON
2 12 (2.99%) REST
3 11 (2.74%) Terraform
4 9 (2.24%) Yocto
5 7 (1.75%) Django
5 7 (1.75%) Software Packaging
6 5 (1.25%) Flask
6 5 (1.25%) SAML
7 4 (1.00%) YAML
8 3 (0.75%) XML
9 2 (0.50%) LDAP
10 1 (0.25%) Middleware
10 1 (0.25%) ModSecurity
10 1 (0.25%) OpenEmbedded
Miscellaneous
1 62 (15.46%) Data Centre
2 23 (5.74%) Onboarding
3 21 (5.24%) Driving Licence
4 14 (3.49%) Digital Signage
4 14 (3.49%) Embedded Systems
4 14 (3.49%) PKI
4 14 (3.49%) Self-Motivation
5 10 (2.49%) Management Information System
6 9 (2.24%) Device Driver
7 8 (2.00%) Hybrid Cloud
7 8 (2.00%) MicroBlaze
7 8 (2.00%) RISC-V
8 7 (1.75%) Smartphone
9 6 (1.50%) FPGA
9 6 (1.50%) IoT
9 6 (1.50%) Operational Technology
9 6 (1.50%) PCIe
9 6 (1.50%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (1.25%) CCTV
11 4 (1.00%) NHS
Operating Systems
1 59 (14.71%) Windows
2 23 (5.74%) Linux
3 21 (5.24%) Windows Server
4 14 (3.49%) Mac OS
5 12 (2.99%) Windows 10
6 9 (2.24%) Embedded Linux
7 7 (1.75%) Apple iOS
8 6 (1.50%) FreeRTOS
8 6 (1.50%) VMS
9 5 (1.25%) Android
10 3 (0.75%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.75%) Windows XP
11 2 (0.50%) Unix
12 1 (0.25%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 66 (16.46%) Problem-Solving
2 46 (11.47%) Project Delivery
3 38 (9.48%) ITIL
4 36 (8.98%) Change Management
5 33 (8.23%) Load Balancing
6 30 (7.48%) Software Engineering
7 28 (6.98%) Agile
7 28 (6.98%) Migration
7 28 (6.98%) Stakeholder Management
8 27 (6.73%) ITSM
9 26 (6.48%) High Availability
9 26 (6.48%) Validation
10 23 (5.74%) Continuous Improvement
10 23 (5.74%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 22 (5.49%) Zero Trust
12 21 (5.24%) Infrastructure as Code
12 21 (5.24%) Network Segmentation
13 20 (4.99%) Network Design
14 19 (4.74%) Incident Management
14 19 (4.74%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 41 (10.22%) Python
2 18 (4.49%) C
3 13 (3.24%) PowerShell
4 9 (2.24%) C++
5 5 (1.25%) Search Processing Language
6 3 (0.75%) Embedded C
6 3 (0.75%) Lisp
6 3 (0.75%) SQL
6 3 (0.75%) VBScript
7 2 (0.50%) Bash
7 2 (0.50%) Perl
Qualifications
1 90 (22.44%) Cisco Certification
2 89 (22.19%) Security Cleared
3 74 (18.45%) SC Cleared
4 73 (18.20%) CCNP
5 50 (12.47%) CCNA
6 27 (6.73%) Degree
7 20 (4.99%) CCIE
8 17 (4.24%) Network+ Certification
9 9 (2.24%) Server+ Certification
10 7 (1.75%) A+ Certification
10 7 (1.75%) Computer Science Degree
10 7 (1.75%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (1.25%) CWNA
11 5 (1.25%) JNCIP
12 4 (1.00%) CCIE Wireless
12 4 (1.00%) CompTIA Security+
12 4 (1.00%) DV Cleared
12 4 (1.00%) JNCIS
12 4 (1.00%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 4 (1.00%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 8 (2.00%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 8 (2.00%) SLA
2 7 (1.75%) QA
3 6 (1.50%) NIST
4 5 (1.25%) Data Quality
5 2 (0.50%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.50%) GDPR
6 1 (0.25%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 57 (14.21%) Active Directory
2 15 (3.74%) Firmware
3 11 (2.74%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.24%) Embedded Firmware
5 7 (1.75%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.25%) Docker
6 5 (1.25%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (1.00%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (1.00%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.00%) vSphere
8 2 (0.50%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 26 (6.48%) FortiGate
2 22 (5.49%) Ansible
3 20 (4.99%) Microsoft Intune
4 13 (3.24%) Cisco Prime
5 9 (2.24%) SCCM
6 3 (0.75%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.50%) Nagios
7 2 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.50%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.25%) CASB
8 1 (0.25%) Iperf
8 1 (0.25%) MobiControl
8 1 (0.25%) Nessus
8 1 (0.25%) TrustSec
Vendors
1 211 (52.62%) Cisco
2 70 (17.46%) Microsoft
3 69 (17.21%) Palo Alto
4 51 (12.72%) Aruba
4 51 (12.72%) Meraki
5 46 (11.47%) F5
6 43 (10.72%) Fortinet
7 38 (9.48%) Juniper
8 30 (7.48%) CheckPoint
9 22 (5.49%) ServiceNow
10 18 (4.49%) VMware
11 17 (4.24%) SolarWinds
12 16 (3.99%) Zscaler
13 10 (2.49%) Citrix
14 9 (2.24%) Blue Coat
14 9 (2.24%) Ekahau
14 9 (2.24%) Splunk
15 8 (2.00%) ForeScout
16 7 (1.75%) Arista
17 6 (1.50%) Infoblox