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 10 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 319 284 202
Rank change year-on-year -35 -82 +80
Contract jobs citing Wireless 289 271 509
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.79% 0.85% 1.19%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.45% 6.65% 8.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 181 181 342
10th Percentile £158 £220 £210
25th Percentile £190 £375 £305
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £340 £450 £425
Median % change year-on-year -24.44% +5.88% -3.95%
75th Percentile £475 £550 £518
90th Percentile £588 £588 £635
UK excluding London median daily rate £335 £420 £425
% change year-on-year -20.24% -1.18% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 47 7 19
10th Percentile £14.60 £28.61 £14.85
25th Percentile £15.59 £38.23 £18.93
Median hourly rate £21.00 £48.56 £20.50
Median % change year-on-year -56.75% +136.88% -17.17%
75th Percentile £25.15 £53.13 £33.97
90th Percentile £77.00 £58.25 £38.43
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.87 £49.28 £24.75
% change year-on-year -61.71% +99.11% +47.50%

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 3,880 4,078 5,799
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.60% 12.78% 13.53%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,532 2,385 3,581
10th Percentile £205 £220 £210
25th Percentile £356 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -1.96%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £680 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £470 £475
% change year-on-year -4.26% -1.05% +4.40%
Number of hourly rates quoted 174 136 327
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.11 £17.90
25th Percentile £20.00 £21.19 £23.05
Median hourly rate £38.50 £33.75 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year +14.07% -40.25% +125.96%
75th Percentile £65.75 £54.06 £65.98
90th Percentile £79.25 £70.63 £75.10
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £32.50 £59.50
% change year-on-year +30.77% -45.38% +184.28%

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 10 January 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 10 January 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 10 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 -29 264 £275 -38.89% 253
UK excluding London -20 198 £335 -20.24% 238
London -28 77 £265 -44.21% 46
South East +9 65 £208 -46.79% 81
Work from Home -8 64 £430 -7.03% 110
Midlands -9 51 £369 -36.42% 28
North of England -43 43 £178 -58.96% 39
West Midlands -5 42 £380 -34.48% 18
North West -25 29 £225 -48.86% 21
East of England -26 22 £445 -6.32% 37
Scotland +3 9 £425 +6.25% 10
East Midlands -18 9 £158 -53.33% 10
South West -30 9 £213 -48.48% 35
North East +1 8 £175 -68.18% 7
Yorkshire -60 6 £209 -50.88% 13
Northern Ireland - 4 £475 - 4
Wales -4 2 £400 +81.82% 10

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 12 (4.15%) SharePoint
2 6 (2.08%) OpenStack
3 2 (0.69%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.35%) Confluence
Applications
1 58 (20.07%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (6.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 17 (5.88%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 15 (5.19%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.35%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 7 (2.42%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 62 (21.45%) Microsoft 365
2 46 (15.92%) AWS
3 37 (12.80%) Azure
4 17 (5.88%) SaaS
5 16 (5.54%) Sauce Labs
6 12 (4.15%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 10 (3.46%) GCP
8 6 (2.08%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 6 (2.08%) OpenShift
9 4 (1.38%) Google Workspace
10 3 (1.04%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (1.04%) Route 53
11 2 (0.69%) AWS Direct Connect
11 2 (0.69%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.69%) Entra ID
11 2 (0.69%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.69%) Slack
12 1 (0.35%) Amazon ELB
12 1 (0.35%) IaaS
12 1 (0.35%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 112 (38.75%) Firewall
2 75 (25.95%) WAN
3 65 (22.49%) LAN
4 60 (20.76%) VPN
5 47 (16.26%) BGP
6 42 (14.53%) DNS
7 38 (13.15%) OSPF
8 33 (11.42%) Network Security
9 30 (10.38%) Cisco Wireless
10 28 (9.69%) SD-WAN
11 26 (9.00%) DHCP
11 26 (9.00%) IPsec
12 25 (8.65%) Cisco ISE
12 25 (8.65%) MPLS
13 24 (8.30%) VLAN
14 23 (7.96%) TCP/IP
15 20 (6.92%) Cisco ASA
16 19 (6.57%) WLAN
17 18 (6.23%) NFC
17 18 (6.23%) RFID
Database & Business Intelligence
1 16 (5.54%) MySQL
1 16 (5.54%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.69%) Power BI
2 2 (0.69%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 16 (5.54%) Android Studio
1 16 (5.54%) Browser DevTools
1 16 (5.54%) Eclipse
1 16 (5.54%) Xcode
2 13 (4.50%) Burp Suite
3 12 (4.15%) Metasploit
4 5 (1.73%) JIRA
General
1 93 (32.18%) Social Skills
2 46 (15.92%) Public Sector
3 44 (15.22%) Telecoms
4 31 (10.73%) Finance
5 30 (10.38%) Manufacturing
6 24 (8.30%) Banking
6 24 (8.30%) Marketing
7 23 (7.96%) Electronics
8 20 (6.92%) Analytical Skills
9 18 (6.23%) Retail
10 12 (4.15%) Documentation Skills
11 8 (2.77%) Legal
12 7 (2.42%) Investment Banking
13 6 (2.08%) Local Government
13 6 (2.08%) Organisational Skills
14 4 (1.38%) Pharmaceutical
15 3 (1.04%) Aerospace
15 3 (1.04%) Influencing Skills
15 3 (1.04%) Military
16 1 (0.35%) Law
Job Titles
1 68 (23.53%) Network Engineer
2 38 (13.15%) Support Engineer
3 35 (12.11%) Desktop Support
4 31 (10.73%) IT Support
5 29 (10.03%) 2nd Line Support
6 25 (8.65%) Technical Support
7 24 (8.30%) Senior
8 23 (7.96%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
8 23 (7.96%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
9 17 (5.88%) Penetration Tester
9 17 (5.88%) Tester
10 16 (5.54%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
10 16 (5.54%) Security Engineer
10 16 (5.54%) Technical Engineer
10 16 (5.54%) Technical Support Engineer
10 16 (5.54%) UX Engineer
11 15 (5.19%) Analyst
11 15 (5.19%) Cisco Engineer
12 12 (4.15%) Support Analyst
13 11 (3.81%) Desktop Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (7.61%) 802.1X
2 16 (5.54%) Ajax
2 16 (5.54%) AngularJS
2 16 (5.54%) CSS
2 16 (5.54%) GraphQL
2 16 (5.54%) React
3 4 (1.38%) LDAP
4 3 (1.04%) SAML
5 1 (0.35%) Qt
5 1 (0.35%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 85 (29.41%) Data Centre
2 22 (7.61%) IoT
3 18 (6.23%) Driving Licence
4 17 (5.88%) Mobile App
5 12 (4.15%) Security Posture
6 11 (3.81%) Management Information System
7 9 (3.11%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (3.11%) Onboarding
8 8 (2.77%) NHS
9 7 (2.42%) CMDB
10 6 (2.08%) Life Science
10 6 (2.08%) Virtual Team
11 5 (1.73%) Operational Technology
11 5 (1.73%) Self-Motivation
11 5 (1.73%) Video Conferencing
12 4 (1.38%) Data Protection Act
13 3 (1.04%) PKI
14 2 (0.69%) Device Driver
14 2 (0.69%) FPGA
14 2 (0.69%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 72 (24.91%) Windows
2 61 (21.11%) Android
3 52 (17.99%) Mac OS
4 28 (9.69%) Linux
5 19 (6.57%) Unix
5 19 (6.57%) Windows Server
6 18 (6.23%) Windows 10
7 3 (1.04%) Embedded Linux
8 2 (0.69%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.69%) CatOS
8 2 (0.69%) Debian
8 2 (0.69%) VMS
8 2 (0.69%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.35%) Kali Linux
9 1 (0.35%) Windows 7
9 1 (0.35%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 36 (12.46%) Cybersecurity
2 35 (12.11%) Problem-Solving
3 28 (9.69%) Customer Service
4 26 (9.00%) Programme Management
4 26 (9.00%) User Experience
5 24 (8.30%) ITIL
6 23 (7.96%) Business Intelligence
6 23 (7.96%) Digital Marketing
7 20 (6.92%) Network Management
8 18 (6.23%) Incident Response
8 18 (6.23%) Penetration Testing
9 17 (5.88%) Stakeholder Management
10 16 (5.54%) Change Management
10 16 (5.54%) Cloud Security
10 16 (5.54%) Computer Science
10 16 (5.54%) Migration
10 16 (5.54%) Mobile Application Development
10 16 (5.54%) Network Monitoring
10 16 (5.54%) OO
11 15 (5.19%) ITSM
Programming Languages
1 36 (12.46%) Python
2 20 (6.92%) Perl
3 16 (5.54%) Java
3 16 (5.54%) JavaScript
4 8 (2.77%) Lisp
5 5 (1.73%) C++
6 2 (0.69%) Bash
6 2 (0.69%) C
7 1 (0.35%) Embedded C
7 1 (0.35%) Embedded C++
7 1 (0.35%) PowerShell
7 1 (0.35%) Ruby
7 1 (0.35%) SQL
Qualifications
1 91 (31.49%) Security Cleared
2 82 (28.37%) SC Cleared
3 62 (21.45%) Cisco Certification
4 45 (15.57%) CCNP
5 29 (10.03%) Degree
6 23 (7.96%) CCNA
7 15 (5.19%) DV Cleared
8 14 (4.84%) CCIE
9 12 (4.15%) CHECK Team Member
10 10 (3.46%) CREST Certified
10 10 (3.46%) Cyber Scheme
10 10 (3.46%) Postgraduate
11 9 (3.11%) AWS Certification
12 8 (2.77%) Computer Science Degree
12 8 (2.77%) JNCIE
13 7 (2.42%) CISSP
14 6 (2.08%) A+ Certification
14 6 (2.08%) Azure Certification
14 6 (2.08%) ECDL
15 5 (1.73%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.92%) GDPR
1 20 (6.92%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 16 (5.54%) PCI DSS
3 15 (5.19%) SLA
4 10 (3.46%) PMO
4 10 (3.46%) QA
5 5 (1.73%) NIST
6 2 (0.69%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (0.69%) GxP
7 1 (0.35%) COBIT
7 1 (0.35%) DICOM
7 1 (0.35%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.35%) HL7
7 1 (0.35%) JTAG
7 1 (0.35%) NCSC
System Software
1 29 (10.03%) Active Directory
2 19 (6.57%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (4.50%) VMware NSX
4 8 (2.77%) Firmware
5 4 (1.38%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (1.04%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.69%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.69%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.35%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 20 (6.92%) FortiGate
2 14 (4.84%) Ansible
2 14 (4.84%) Nmap
3 12 (4.15%) Terraform
4 7 (2.42%) SCCM
5 4 (1.38%) Microsoft Intune
5 4 (1.38%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.04%) Nessus
7 2 (0.69%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.69%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.35%) Cisco Prime
8 1 (0.35%) Grafana
8 1 (0.35%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.35%) Salt
Vendors
1 152 (52.60%) Cisco
2 53 (18.34%) Microsoft
3 47 (16.26%) Apple
4 46 (15.92%) Dell
5 43 (14.88%) HP
6 42 (14.53%) ServiceNow
7 36 (12.46%) F5
7 36 (12.46%) Fortinet
7 36 (12.46%) Palo Alto
8 35 (12.11%) Juniper
9 25 (8.65%) CheckPoint
10 24 (8.30%) SAP
11 20 (6.92%) Splunk
11 20 (6.92%) VMware
12 19 (6.57%) Meraki
12 19 (6.57%) Oracle
13 18 (6.23%) Aruba
14 15 (5.19%) Remedy
15 14 (4.84%) SolarWinds
16 12 (4.15%) Blue Coat