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

6 months to
18 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 315 281 207
Rank change year-on-year -34 -74 +71
Contract jobs citing Wireless 292 272 512
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.79% 0.86% 1.18%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.50% 6.66% 8.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 184 181 346
10th Percentile £161 £220 £206
25th Percentile £190 £363 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £335 £450 £425
Median % change year-on-year -25.56% +5.88% -3.95%
75th Percentile £450 £550 £513
90th Percentile £588 £588 £636
UK excluding London median daily rate £335 £420 £423
% change year-on-year -20.24% -0.59% -0.59%
Number of hourly rates quoted 42 8 20
10th Percentile £13.48 £24.66 £15.18
25th Percentile £15.51 £29.60 £18.93
Median hourly rate £19.00 £48.56 £19.72
Median % change year-on-year -60.87% +146.31% -22.69%
75th Percentile £25.15 £52.81 £33.71
90th Percentile £34.23 £57.13 £38.24
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.71 £49.28 £24.50
% change year-on-year -66.10% +101.14% +10.06%

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 3,894 4,087 5,896
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.49% 12.87% 13.63%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,562 2,383 3,621
10th Percentile £204 £213 £210
25th Percentile £356 £363 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -2.44%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £688 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £470 £475
% change year-on-year -4.26% -1.05% +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 160 140 347
10th Percentile £15.50 £15.22 £17.72
25th Percentile £18.78 £21.46 £23.00
Median hourly rate £32.00 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -8.57% -38.04% +132.95%
75th Percentile £65.00 £57.81 £65.49
90th Percentile £74.33 £70.00 £74.40
UK excluding London median hourly rate £41.94 £32.50 £57.99
% change year-on-year +29.05% -43.96% +177.07%

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 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 18 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 18 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 -19 269 £300 -33.63% 357
UK excluding London -24 201 £335 -20.24% 354
London -25 77 £239 -51.13% 60
Work from Home -12 66 £425 -10.53% 90
South East +10 63 £263 -32.69% 96
Midlands -8 56 £363 -37.50% 51
West Midlands 0 47 £380 -34.48% 20
North of England -52 44 £180 -58.38% 71
North West -24 30 £275 -36.42% 31
East of England -16 22 £445 -6.32% 53
South West -17 9 £213 -48.48% 55
East Midlands -19 9 £158 -53.33% 30
Scotland +3 8 £425 +6.25% 15
North East -7 8 £175 -68.18% 11
Yorkshire -59 6 £209 -50.88% 31
Northern Ireland - 4 £475 - 5
Wales -5 2 £400 +40.35% 17

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 (4.11%) SharePoint
2 6 (2.05%) OpenStack
3 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.34%) Confluence
Applications
1 57 (19.52%) Microsoft Office
2 20 (6.85%) Microsoft Excel
3 19 (6.51%) MS Visio
4 17 (5.82%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.34%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 7 (2.40%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 61 (20.89%) Microsoft 365
2 45 (15.41%) AWS
3 36 (12.33%) Azure
4 16 (5.48%) SaaS
5 15 (5.14%) Sauce Labs
6 12 (4.11%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 10 (3.42%) GCP
8 6 (2.05%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 6 (2.05%) OpenShift
9 4 (1.37%) Google Workspace
10 3 (1.03%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (1.03%) Route 53
11 2 (0.68%) AWS Direct Connect
11 2 (0.68%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.68%) Entra ID
11 2 (0.68%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.68%) Slack
12 1 (0.34%) Amazon ELB
12 1 (0.34%) IaaS
12 1 (0.34%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 110 (37.67%) Firewall
2 82 (28.08%) WAN
3 72 (24.66%) LAN
4 60 (20.55%) VPN
5 49 (16.78%) BGP
6 40 (13.70%) DNS
6 40 (13.70%) OSPF
7 32 (10.96%) Network Security
8 30 (10.27%) Cisco Wireless
8 30 (10.27%) SD-WAN
9 29 (9.93%) IPsec
10 28 (9.59%) Cisco ISE
11 25 (8.56%) MPLS
11 25 (8.56%) VLAN
12 24 (8.22%) Cisco ASA
13 22 (7.53%) WLAN
14 21 (7.19%) DHCP
15 19 (6.51%) SSL
15 19 (6.51%) TCP/IP
15 19 (6.51%) Wi-Fi
Database & Business Intelligence
1 15 (5.14%) MySQL
1 15 (5.14%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.68%) Power BI
2 2 (0.68%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 15 (5.14%) Android Studio
1 15 (5.14%) Browser DevTools
1 15 (5.14%) Eclipse
1 15 (5.14%) Xcode
2 14 (4.79%) Burp Suite
3 12 (4.11%) Metasploit
4 1 (0.34%) JIRA
General
1 89 (30.48%) Social Skills
2 47 (16.10%) Public Sector
3 44 (15.07%) Telecoms
4 32 (10.96%) Finance
5 29 (9.93%) Manufacturing
6 24 (8.22%) Marketing
7 23 (7.88%) Banking
7 23 (7.88%) Electronics
8 18 (6.16%) Retail
9 17 (5.82%) Analytical Skills
10 13 (4.45%) Documentation Skills
11 7 (2.40%) Investment Banking
11 7 (2.40%) Legal
12 6 (2.05%) Local Government
13 4 (1.37%) Pharmaceutical
14 3 (1.03%) Influencing Skills
14 3 (1.03%) Military
15 2 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
16 1 (0.34%) French Language
16 1 (0.34%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 73 (25.00%) Network Engineer
2 35 (11.99%) Support Engineer
3 34 (11.64%) Desktop Support
4 32 (10.96%) IT Support
5 29 (9.93%) 2nd Line Support
6 24 (8.22%) Senior
7 23 (7.88%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
7 23 (7.88%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
7 23 (7.88%) Technical Support
8 18 (6.16%) Penetration Tester
8 18 (6.16%) Tester
9 16 (5.48%) Cisco Engineer
10 15 (5.14%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
10 15 (5.14%) Security Engineer
10 15 (5.14%) Technical Engineer
10 15 (5.14%) Technical Support Engineer
10 15 (5.14%) UX Engineer
11 14 (4.79%) Analyst
12 12 (4.11%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 12 (4.11%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (7.53%) 802.1X
2 15 (5.14%) Ajax
2 15 (5.14%) AngularJS
2 15 (5.14%) CSS
2 15 (5.14%) GraphQL
2 15 (5.14%) React
3 7 (2.40%) LDAP
4 6 (2.05%) SAML
5 1 (0.34%) Qt
5 1 (0.34%) Software Packaging
5 1 (0.34%) X-Windows
Miscellaneous
1 87 (29.79%) Data Centre
2 22 (7.53%) IoT
3 17 (5.82%) Driving Licence
4 16 (5.48%) Mobile App
5 13 (4.45%) Security Posture
6 11 (3.77%) Management Information System
7 10 (3.42%) Onboarding
8 9 (3.08%) Hybrid Cloud
8 9 (3.08%) NHS
9 7 (2.40%) CMDB
9 7 (2.40%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (2.05%) Life Science
10 6 (2.05%) Virtual Team
11 5 (1.71%) Operational Technology
12 4 (1.37%) Data Protection Act
12 4 (1.37%) Video Conferencing
13 3 (1.03%) PKI
14 2 (0.68%) CCTV
14 2 (0.68%) Device Driver
14 2 (0.68%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 68 (23.29%) Windows
2 59 (20.21%) Android
3 47 (16.10%) Mac OS
4 29 (9.93%) Linux
5 19 (6.51%) Unix
5 19 (6.51%) Windows 10
5 19 (6.51%) Windows Server
6 4 (1.37%) CatOS
7 3 (1.03%) Embedded Linux
8 2 (0.68%) Apple iOS
8 2 (0.68%) Debian
8 2 (0.68%) Kali Linux
8 2 (0.68%) VMS
8 2 (0.68%) Windows 7
8 2 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
9 1 (0.34%) Mac OS X
9 1 (0.34%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 38 (13.01%) Cybersecurity
2 31 (10.62%) Problem-Solving
3 26 (8.90%) Customer Service
3 26 (8.90%) Programme Management
3 26 (8.90%) User Experience
4 23 (7.88%) Business Intelligence
4 23 (7.88%) Digital Marketing
5 21 (7.19%) Network Management
6 19 (6.51%) ITIL
7 18 (6.16%) Incident Response
7 18 (6.16%) Penetration Testing
7 18 (6.16%) Stakeholder Management
8 16 (5.48%) Change Management
8 16 (5.48%) Cloud Security
8 16 (5.48%) Migration
8 16 (5.48%) Network Monitoring
9 15 (5.14%) Incident Management
9 15 (5.14%) Mobile Application Development
9 15 (5.14%) OO
9 15 (5.14%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 34 (11.64%) Python
2 19 (6.51%) Perl
3 15 (5.14%) Java
3 15 (5.14%) JavaScript
4 8 (2.74%) Lisp
5 5 (1.71%) C++
6 2 (0.68%) Bash
6 2 (0.68%) C
7 1 (0.34%) Embedded C
7 1 (0.34%) Embedded C++
7 1 (0.34%) PowerShell
7 1 (0.34%) Ruby
7 1 (0.34%) SQL
Qualifications
1 91 (31.16%) Security Cleared
2 82 (28.08%) SC Cleared
3 62 (21.23%) Cisco Certification
4 47 (16.10%) CCNP
5 26 (8.90%) Degree
6 23 (7.88%) CCNA
7 17 (5.82%) CCIE
8 14 (4.79%) DV Cleared
9 12 (4.11%) CHECK Team Member
10 10 (3.42%) CREST Certified
10 10 (3.42%) Cyber Scheme
10 10 (3.42%) Postgraduate
11 9 (3.08%) AWS Certification
12 8 (2.74%) Computer Science Degree
12 8 (2.74%) JNCIE
13 7 (2.40%) CISSP
14 6 (2.05%) ECDL
14 6 (2.05%) JNCIA
14 6 (2.05%) JNCIP
14 6 (2.05%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 16 (5.48%) GDPR
2 16 (5.48%) PCI DSS
3 14 (4.79%) SLA
4 10 (3.42%) PMO
4 10 (3.42%) QA
5 5 (1.71%) NIST
6 2 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (0.68%) GxP
7 1 (0.34%) DICOM
7 1 (0.34%) Disclosure Scotland
7 1 (0.34%) HL7
7 1 (0.34%) JTAG
7 1 (0.34%) NCSC
System Software
1 32 (10.96%) Active Directory
2 22 (7.53%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (5.48%) VMware NSX
4 8 (2.74%) Firmware
5 3 (1.03%) Embedded Firmware
6 2 (0.68%) Hyper-V
6 2 (0.68%) Virtual Machines
6 2 (0.68%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.34%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 20 (6.85%) FortiGate
2 15 (5.14%) Nmap
3 14 (4.79%) Ansible
4 12 (4.11%) Terraform
5 7 (2.40%) SCCM
5 7 (2.40%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.37%) Microsoft Intune
6 4 (1.37%) Nessus
7 2 (0.68%) Grafana
7 2 (0.68%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.68%) Prometheus
7 2 (0.68%) Salt
8 1 (0.34%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 155 (53.08%) Cisco
2 51 (17.47%) Microsoft
3 46 (15.75%) Apple
4 45 (15.41%) Dell
5 42 (14.38%) HP
6 39 (13.36%) F5
7 38 (13.01%) ServiceNow
8 36 (12.33%) Fortinet
8 36 (12.33%) Palo Alto
9 34 (11.64%) Juniper
10 25 (8.56%) CheckPoint
11 23 (7.88%) SAP
11 23 (7.88%) VMware
12 21 (7.19%) Aruba
13 20 (6.85%) Meraki
13 20 (6.85%) Splunk
14 17 (5.82%) Oracle
15 15 (5.14%) Remedy
15 15 (5.14%) SolarWinds
16 12 (4.11%) Blue Coat