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

6 months to
19 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 364 267 238
Rank change year-on-year -97 -29 -14
Contract jobs citing Wireless 279 274 396
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.58% 0.94% 0.93%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 6.10% 7.39% 7.34%
Number of daily rates quoted 182 180 247
10th Percentile £191 £220 £168
25th Percentile £313 £353 £252
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £438 £454 £400
Median % change year-on-year -3.63% +13.50% -5.88%
75th Percentile £523 £552 £538
90th Percentile £599 £600 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £438 £400
% change year-on-year +2.86% +9.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 18 35
10th Percentile £29.27 - £12.75
25th Percentile £43.10 £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 £67.50 £58.94 £23.80
90th Percentile £70.00 £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 4,577 3,706 5,394
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.53% 12.69% 12.67%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,833 2,291 3,215
10th Percentile £263 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £362 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £490
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -0.51% -4.85%
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 245 162 417
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £20.82 £17.30 £16.30
Median hourly rate £37.50 £36.57 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +2.54% -8.57% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £58.73 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.25 £25.00 £45.88
% change year-on-year +69.00% -45.51% +154.89%

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 19 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 19 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 19 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 -79 258 £436 -6.68% 257
UK excluding London -84 182 £450 +2.86% 246
London -78 70 £427 -10.04% 68
Work from Home -47 69 £450 -5.26% 68
South East -33 60 £502 +11.61% 79
North of England -53 55 £450 +15.32% 54
North West -27 43 £474 +21.41% 30
West Midlands -38 28 £390 +81.40% 19
Midlands -47 28 £390 +30.00% 31
East of England -45 20 £325 -33.67% 29
South West -27 14 £513 +29.01% 37
North East -16 6 £420 -23.64% 10
Yorkshire -55 6 £450 +104.55% 19
Scotland -12 5 £313 -21.78% 17
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 5 (1.79%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.72%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.36%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 20 (7.17%) Microsoft Office
2 19 (6.81%) Microsoft Excel
3 13 (4.66%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (4.30%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.36%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 3 (1.08%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 41 (14.70%) Azure
2 32 (11.47%) AWS
3 18 (6.45%) Microsoft 365
4 7 (2.51%) 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%) Cloudflare
9 1 (0.36%) Google Ads
9 1 (0.36%) IaaS
9 1 (0.36%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 132 (47.31%) Firewall
2 94 (33.69%) LAN
3 93 (33.33%) WAN
4 61 (21.86%) Network Security
4 61 (21.86%) Wi-Fi
5 54 (19.35%) VPN
6 47 (16.85%) DNS
7 43 (15.41%) VLAN
8 42 (15.05%) BGP
9 40 (14.34%) OSPF
10 37 (13.26%) DHCP
11 36 (12.90%) Cisco ISE
11 36 (12.90%) SD-WAN
12 35 (12.54%) WLAN
13 27 (9.68%) IPsec
14 25 (8.96%) 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
2 15 (5.38%) Documentation Skills
3 12 (4.30%) Finance
3 12 (4.30%) Public Sector
4 11 (3.94%) Retail
5 10 (3.58%) Aerospace
6 5 (1.79%) Banking
6 5 (1.79%) Legal
6 5 (1.79%) Telecoms
7 4 (1.43%) Law
7 4 (1.43%) Manufacturing
8 3 (1.08%) Billing
9 2 (0.72%) Investment Banking
9 2 (0.72%) Local Government
9 2 (0.72%) Presentation Skills
10 1 (0.36%) German Language
10 1 (0.36%) Greek Language
10 1 (0.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 1 (0.36%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 121 (43.37%) Network Engineer
2 28 (10.04%) Architect
3 18 (6.45%) Cisco Engineer
4 17 (6.09%) Senior
4 17 (6.09%) Software Engineer
5 16 (5.73%) Wireless Engineer
6 15 (5.38%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 15 (5.38%) Network Architect
6 15 (5.38%) Penetration Tester
6 15 (5.38%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 15 (5.38%) Tester
7 13 (4.66%) Wireless Network Engineer
8 12 (4.30%) Embedded Engineer
8 12 (4.30%) Embedded Software Engineer
8 12 (4.30%) IT Support
8 12 (4.30%) Senior Network Engineer
9 10 (3.58%) Security Engineer
10 9 (3.23%) Support Engineer
10 9 (3.23%) Technical Architect
11 8 (2.87%) Analyst
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 35 (12.54%) 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%) Virtual Team
10 4 (1.43%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.43%) iPad
10 4 (1.43%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 41 (14.70%) 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
8 5 (1.79%) Android
8 5 (1.79%) Apple iOS
8 5 (1.79%) Windows Server
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%) ITSM
3 28 (10.04%) Problem-Solving
4 27 (9.68%) Cybersecurity
5 25 (8.96%) Zero Trust
6 22 (7.89%) High Availability
6 22 (7.89%) Regulatory Compliance
7 20 (7.17%) ITIL
7 20 (7.17%) Migration
8 18 (6.45%) Change Management
8 18 (6.45%) Software Engineering
9 17 (6.09%) Cloud Security
9 17 (6.09%) Root Cause Analysis
10 16 (5.73%) Agile
10 16 (5.73%) Penetration Testing
10 16 (5.73%) Project Delivery
10 16 (5.73%) Validation
11 15 (5.38%) Digital Signal Processing
11 15 (5.38%) Network Design
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
Qualifications
1 83 (29.75%) Security Cleared
2 77 (27.60%) 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 30 (10.75%) 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 7 (2.51%) Microsoft Intune
5 7 (2.51%) Prometheus
5 7 (2.51%) SCCM
6 6 (2.15%) Grafana
7 5 (1.79%) Salt
7 5 (1.79%) Terraform
8 4 (1.43%) Cisco Prime
9 1 (0.36%) CASB
9 1 (0.36%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.36%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.36%) Nagios
9 1 (0.36%) Nessus
Vendors
1 151 (54.12%) Cisco
2 63 (22.58%) Palo Alto
3 60 (21.51%) Aruba
4 37 (13.26%) ServiceNow
5 35 (12.54%) CheckPoint
6 34 (12.19%) F5
7 33 (11.83%) Microsoft
8 29 (10.39%) Meraki
9 24 (8.60%) Fortinet
10 21 (7.53%) Ekahau
11 20 (7.17%) Juniper
12 17 (6.09%) ForeScout
12 17 (6.09%) VMware
13 10 (3.58%) Apple
13 10 (3.58%) Arista
13 10 (3.58%) Splunk
14 9 (3.23%) SolarWinds
15 8 (2.87%) HP
16 6 (2.15%) BigPanda
17 5 (1.79%) Infoblox