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 12 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
12 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 362 288 272
Rank change year-on-year -74 -16 -54
Contract jobs citing Wireless 306 257 385
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.61% 0.87% 0.88%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 6.40% 6.98% 7.09%
Number of daily rates quoted 200 157 239
10th Percentile £233 £220 £178
25th Percentile £372 £325 £254
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £450 £400
Median % change year-on-year - +12.50% -5.88%
75th Percentile £531 £550 £525
90th Percentile £600 £588 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £450 £400
% change year-on-year - +12.50% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 24 24 35
10th Percentile £12.98 £14.20 £12.75
25th Percentile £46.79 £14.89 £16.00
Median hourly rate £52.43 £24.83 £21.00
Median % change year-on-year +111.14% +18.24% -58.00%
75th Percentile £60.94 £41.13 £23.80
90th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £59.90
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £24.66 £17.69
% change year-on-year +112.59% +39.40% -16.28%

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 4,779 3,681 5,433
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.56% 12.51% 12.45%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,930 2,266 3,221
10th Percentile £263 £220 £208
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £482 £495
Median % change year-on-year +3.73% -2.63% -3.41%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £480 £469 £481
% change year-on-year +2.27% -2.47% +1.32%
Number of hourly rates quoted 287 165 420
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £18.13 £16.30
Median hourly rate £27.50 £44.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year -37.50% +10.00% +113.73%
75th Percentile £65.00 £60.13 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.26 £80.61 £71.31
UK excluding London median hourly rate £32.50 £31.79 £47.50
% change year-on-year +2.23% -33.07% +156.76%

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 12 June 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 12 June 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 12 June 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 -64 279 £450 -5.26% 237
UK excluding London -52 197 £450 - 225
London -70 79 £438 -4.11% 55
Work from Home -42 75 £450 -2.70% 71
North of England -41 65 £474 +45.77% 48
South East -38 57 £514 +2.75% 91
North West -5 52 £515 +58.46% 32
Midlands -55 30 £425 +66.67% 26
West Midlands -49 29 £425 +66.67% 13
East of England -39 22 £325 -37.80% 34
South West -23 13 £516 +25.03% 15
Scotland -13 9 £313 -21.78% 9
Yorkshire -52 8 £450 +104.55% 12
North East -30 5 £420 -23.64% 6
Northern Ireland - 2 £245 - 2
East Midlands -23 1 £235 -46.29% 13

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 9 (2.94%) SharePoint
2 2 (0.65%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.33%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 15 (4.90%) Microsoft Office
2 13 (4.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 12 (3.92%) MS Visio
4 5 (1.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.33%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 48 (15.69%) Azure
2 30 (9.80%) AWS
3 21 (6.86%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (4.25%) Entra ID
5 7 (2.29%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 5 (1.63%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 5 (1.63%) GitHub
7 4 (1.31%) GCP
7 4 (1.31%) Route 53
7 4 (1.31%) SaaS
8 3 (0.98%) Google Workspace
9 2 (0.65%) Azure Sentinel
9 2 (0.65%) Cloud Computing
9 2 (0.65%) OneDrive
9 2 (0.65%) PaaS
9 2 (0.65%) Slack
10 1 (0.33%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.33%) Amazon S3
10 1 (0.33%) IaaS
10 1 (0.33%) Rubrik
Communications & Networking
1 136 (44.44%) Firewall
2 103 (33.66%) LAN
3 99 (32.35%) WAN
4 75 (24.51%) Network Security
5 72 (23.53%) Wi-Fi
6 57 (18.63%) VPN
7 52 (16.99%) DNS
8 47 (15.36%) VLAN
9 45 (14.71%) BGP
9 45 (14.71%) DHCP
10 44 (14.38%) SD-WAN
11 41 (13.40%) OSPF
12 40 (13.07%) Cisco ISE
12 40 (13.07%) WLAN
13 30 (9.80%) Cisco Wireless
14 26 (8.50%) Structured Cabling
15 24 (7.84%) IPsec
15 24 (7.84%) TCP/IP
16 21 (6.86%) Cisco IOS
17 20 (6.54%) Cisco Nexus
Development Applications
1 9 (2.94%) Rational DOORS
2 7 (2.29%) Burp Suite
3 6 (1.96%) JIRA
3 6 (1.96%) Metasploit
4 2 (0.65%) Sonatype Nexus
5 1 (0.33%) MSI
General
1 90 (29.41%) Social Skills
2 16 (5.23%) Analytical Skills
2 16 (5.23%) Documentation Skills
3 14 (4.58%) Aerospace
4 13 (4.25%) Finance
5 11 (3.59%) Public Sector
6 9 (2.94%) Retail
7 6 (1.96%) Legal
8 4 (1.31%) Law
8 4 (1.31%) Manufacturing
8 4 (1.31%) Telecoms
9 3 (0.98%) Banking
9 3 (0.98%) Billing
9 3 (0.98%) Investment Banking
10 2 (0.65%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 2 (0.65%) Presentation Skills
11 1 (0.33%) German Language
11 1 (0.33%) Greek Language
11 1 (0.33%) Influencing Skills
11 1 (0.33%) Polish Language
Job Titles
1 141 (46.08%) Network Engineer
2 33 (10.78%) Architect
3 22 (7.19%) Cisco Engineer
4 21 (6.86%) Senior
4 21 (6.86%) Software Engineer
5 20 (6.54%) Wireless Engineer
6 18 (5.88%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 17 (5.56%) Network Architect
7 17 (5.56%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 17 (5.56%) Wireless Network Engineer
8 16 (5.23%) Embedded Engineer
8 16 (5.23%) Embedded Software Engineer
9 13 (4.25%) Senior Network Engineer
10 11 (3.59%) Technical Architect
11 10 (3.27%) Desktop Support
11 10 (3.27%) Security Engineer
11 10 (3.27%) Support Engineer
12 9 (2.94%) Analyst
12 9 (2.94%) IT Support
12 9 (2.94%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 56 (18.30%) 802.1X
2 11 (3.59%) SAML
3 6 (1.96%) LDAP
3 6 (1.96%) X-Windows
3 6 (1.96%) Yocto
4 5 (1.63%) Software Packaging
5 2 (0.65%) A2A Protocol
5 2 (0.65%) Model Context Protocol
6 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Graph
6 1 (0.33%) Qt
6 1 (0.33%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 47 (15.36%) Data Centre
2 15 (4.90%) Onboarding
3 12 (3.92%) Embedded Systems
3 12 (3.92%) IoT
4 10 (3.27%) Security Posture
5 9 (2.94%) FPGA
5 9 (2.94%) PCIe
5 9 (2.94%) Self-Motivation
6 7 (2.29%) PKI
7 6 (1.96%) Device Driver
7 6 (1.96%) Driving Licence
7 6 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (1.96%) iPad
7 6 (1.96%) MicroBlaze
7 6 (1.96%) RISC-V
8 5 (1.63%) BYOD
8 5 (1.63%) Public Cloud
8 5 (1.63%) Smartphone
8 5 (1.63%) Virtual Team
9 4 (1.31%) Hybrid Cloud
Operating Systems
1 37 (12.09%) Windows
2 17 (5.56%) Linux
3 14 (4.58%) Windows 10
4 9 (2.94%) Apple iOS
4 9 (2.94%) FreeRTOS
4 9 (2.94%) Unix
5 7 (2.29%) Embedded Linux
6 6 (1.96%) Android
6 6 (1.96%) Mac OS X
6 6 (1.96%) Windows 7
7 5 (1.63%) Windows Server
8 4 (1.31%) Windows XP
9 3 (0.98%) Mac OS
10 2 (0.65%) CatOS
11 1 (0.33%) Kali Linux
11 1 (0.33%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (12.09%) Network Segmentation
2 32 (10.46%) Problem-Solving
2 32 (10.46%) Technical Leadership
3 29 (9.48%) ITSM
4 26 (8.50%) Migration
5 25 (8.17%) High Availability
6 24 (7.84%) ITIL
6 24 (7.84%) Zero Trust
7 22 (7.19%) Change Management
7 22 (7.19%) Software Engineering
8 21 (6.86%) Continuous Improvement
9 20 (6.54%) Cybersecurity
9 20 (6.54%) Project Delivery
10 19 (6.21%) Agile
10 19 (6.21%) Validation
11 18 (5.88%) Root Cause Analysis
11 18 (5.88%) User Experience
12 17 (5.56%) Incident Management
13 16 (5.23%) Network Monitoring
13 16 (5.23%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 17 (5.56%) C
2 13 (4.25%) Python
3 7 (2.29%) C++
4 4 (1.31%) Embedded C
5 3 (0.98%) Lisp
6 2 (0.65%) PowerShell
7 1 (0.33%) Korn
7 1 (0.33%) MATLAB
7 1 (0.33%) Perl
Qualifications
1 86 (28.10%) Cisco Certification
2 85 (27.78%) Security Cleared
3 77 (25.16%) CCNP
4 73 (23.86%) SC Cleared
5 51 (16.67%) CCNA
6 23 (7.52%) Degree
7 22 (7.19%) Network+ Certification
8 21 (6.86%) CCIE
9 17 (5.56%) Server+ Certification
10 6 (1.96%) CHECK Team Member
10 6 (1.96%) CREST Certified
10 6 (1.96%) Cyber Scheme
11 5 (1.63%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.63%) CWNA
11 5 (1.63%) Postgraduate
12 4 (1.31%) CWNE
12 4 (1.31%) CWSP
12 4 (1.31%) JNCIA
12 4 (1.31%) PMI Certification
12 4 (1.31%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 11 (3.59%) QA
2 10 (3.27%) SLA
3 9 (2.94%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (2.61%) GDPR
5 7 (2.29%) PCI DSS
6 5 (1.63%) NIST
6 5 (1.63%) PMO
7 3 (0.98%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (0.98%) NCSC
8 1 (0.33%) DICOM
8 1 (0.33%) HL7
System Software
1 36 (11.76%) Active Directory
2 11 (3.59%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (2.94%) Firmware
4 8 (2.61%) VMware NSX
5 6 (1.96%) Embedded Firmware
6 3 (0.98%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.65%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.33%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.33%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 23 (7.52%) Ansible
2 17 (5.56%) FortiGate
3 14 (4.58%) Microsoft Intune
4 7 (2.29%) Nmap
4 7 (2.29%) Prometheus
4 7 (2.29%) Single Sign-On
5 6 (1.96%) Grafana
6 5 (1.63%) Salt
6 5 (1.63%) Terraform
7 4 (1.31%) Cisco Prime
7 4 (1.31%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.31%) SCCM
8 2 (0.65%) CASB
9 1 (0.33%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.33%) Nagios
9 1 (0.33%) Nessus
Vendors
1 168 (54.90%) Cisco
2 69 (22.55%) Aruba
3 63 (20.59%) Palo Alto
4 40 (13.07%) ServiceNow
5 34 (11.11%) Microsoft
6 33 (10.78%) F5
6 33 (10.78%) Meraki
7 31 (10.13%) CheckPoint
8 28 (9.15%) Fortinet
9 20 (6.54%) Ekahau
10 18 (5.88%) Juniper
11 17 (5.56%) ForeScout
12 14 (4.58%) VMware
13 11 (3.59%) SolarWinds
13 11 (3.59%) Splunk
14 10 (3.27%) Apple
14 10 (3.27%) Arista
15 6 (1.96%) BigPanda
16 5 (1.63%) Infoblox
16 5 (1.63%) Zscaler