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

6 months to
12 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 329 321 273
Rank change year-on-year -8 -48 -82
Contract jobs citing Wireless 394 260 331
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.72% 0.79% 0.86%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.71% 6.77% 7.24%
Number of daily rates quoted 239 149 197
10th Percentile £250 £204 £217
25th Percentile £356 £313 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £425 £425
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% - -
75th Percentile £525 £500 £538
90th Percentile £588 £588 £630
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £380 £420
% change year-on-year +18.42% -9.52% +1.82%
Number of hourly rates quoted 38 43 18
10th Percentile £14.39 £15.66 £17.07
25th Percentile £32.50 £18.50 £17.69
Median hourly rate £52.43 £25.15 £23.80
Median % change year-on-year +108.45% +5.67% -30.45%
75th Percentile £60.00 £33.00 £51.91
90th Percentile £70.00 £81.00 £52.33
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £30.00 £35.48
% change year-on-year +74.75% -15.45% +57.69%

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 5,113 3,839 4,570
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.37% 11.63% 11.85%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,984 2,363 2,663
10th Percentile £235 £235 £230
25th Percentile £390 £363 £380
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £481 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.95% -3.80% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £610
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £463 £500
% change year-on-year +2.70% -7.50% +10.50%
Number of hourly rates quoted 402 201 266
10th Percentile £14.35 £15.33 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £21.37
Median hourly rate £27.11 £42.50 £52.00
Median % change year-on-year -36.21% -18.27% -7.95%
75th Percentile £65.88 £63.75 £65.00
90th Percentile £80.00 £73.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.14 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -38.49% -25.89% +1.52%

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 September 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 September 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 12 September 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 -31 350 £450 +9.09% 415
UK excluding London -13 264 £450 +18.42% 335
North of England -6 105 £492 +49.09% 60
London -57 96 £450 +5.88% 118
Work from Home -34 85 £450 -2.70% 220
North West +19 79 £525 +61.54% 42
South East -48 55 £403 +93.98% 144
Midlands -50 40 £425 +11.84% 39
West Midlands -50 38 £425 +11.84% 20
East of England 0 37 £377 -15.34% 45
Yorkshire -43 20 £450 - 13
Scotland -19 15 £381 -4.45% 12
South West -37 10 £350 -30.00% 36
North East -41 6 £420 -23.64% 8
Wales - 5 £363 - 4
Northern Ireland +2 2 £265 -44.32% 3
East Midlands -16 2 £235 -46.29% 19

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 15 (3.81%) SharePoint
2 8 (2.03%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.25%) Confluence
3 1 (0.25%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 10 (2.54%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.03%) Microsoft Excel
3 6 (1.52%) Microsoft Project
3 6 (1.52%) MS Visio
4 3 (0.76%) Acrobat
5 1 (0.25%) Simulink
5 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 60 (15.23%) Azure
2 48 (12.18%) Microsoft 365
3 29 (7.36%) Entra ID
4 20 (5.08%) AWS
5 11 (2.79%) GitHub
6 9 (2.28%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 7 (1.78%) OneDrive
8 4 (1.02%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 3 (0.76%) GCP
9 3 (0.76%) Smartsheet
10 2 (0.51%) SaaS
11 1 (0.25%) Amazon EC2
11 1 (0.25%) Amazon GuardDuty
11 1 (0.25%) Amazon S3
11 1 (0.25%) GitHub Actions
11 1 (0.25%) Google Workspace
11 1 (0.25%) IaaS
11 1 (0.25%) IBM Watson
11 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Purview
11 1 (0.25%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 173 (43.91%) Firewall
2 138 (35.03%) WAN
3 119 (30.20%) LAN
4 113 (28.68%) VPN
5 104 (26.40%) Network Security
6 95 (24.11%) Wi-Fi
7 80 (20.30%) DNS
8 69 (17.51%) BGP
8 69 (17.51%) VLAN
9 60 (15.23%) DHCP
10 56 (14.21%) OSPF
11 52 (13.20%) SD-WAN
12 47 (11.93%) Cisco ISE
12 47 (11.93%) WLAN
13 44 (11.17%) TCP/IP
14 31 (7.87%) Cisco Wireless
15 30 (7.61%) Cisco Nexus
15 30 (7.61%) IPsec
16 29 (7.36%) Structured Cabling
17 26 (6.60%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.76%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 11 (2.79%) JIRA
2 10 (2.54%) Git
3 9 (2.28%) Rational DOORS
4 3 (0.76%) GitLab
5 2 (0.51%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.25%) MSI
General
1 112 (28.43%) Social Skills
2 34 (8.63%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (7.61%) Finance
4 18 (4.57%) Aerospace
4 18 (4.57%) Documentation Skills
4 18 (4.57%) Public Sector
5 16 (4.06%) Legal
5 16 (4.06%) Telecoms
6 14 (3.55%) Retail
7 10 (2.54%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 8 (2.03%) Banking
9 7 (1.78%) Law
10 5 (1.27%) Manufacturing
10 5 (1.27%) Police
11 4 (1.02%) Investment Banking
11 4 (1.02%) Multimedia
12 3 (0.76%) Front Office
12 3 (0.76%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.76%) Organisational Skills
12 3 (0.76%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 211 (53.55%) Network Engineer
2 42 (10.66%) Senior
3 29 (7.36%) Cisco Engineer
3 29 (7.36%) Software Engineer
4 28 (7.11%) Senior Network Engineer
5 26 (6.60%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 25 (6.35%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 25 (6.35%) Embedded Engineer
6 25 (6.35%) Embedded Software Engineer
7 22 (5.58%) Architect
8 20 (5.08%) Wireless Engineer
9 19 (4.82%) Analyst
10 18 (4.57%) Wireless Network Engineer
11 16 (4.06%) Security Engineer
12 14 (3.55%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 14 (3.55%) Support Engineer
13 13 (3.30%) IT Support
14 12 (3.05%) Implementation Engineer
14 12 (3.05%) Network Implementation Engineer
14 12 (3.05%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (10.41%) 802.1X
2 12 (3.05%) Terraform
3 11 (2.79%) Yocto
4 9 (2.28%) REST
5 8 (2.03%) JSON
6 7 (1.78%) Software Packaging
7 6 (1.52%) Django
8 5 (1.27%) SAML
9 4 (1.02%) Flask
10 3 (0.76%) XML
11 2 (0.51%) LDAP
12 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Graph
12 1 (0.25%) Middleware
12 1 (0.25%) ModSecurity
12 1 (0.25%) OpenEmbedded
12 1 (0.25%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 63 (15.99%) Data Centre
2 23 (5.84%) Onboarding
3 18 (4.57%) Driving Licence
4 16 (4.06%) Embedded Systems
5 15 (3.81%) PKI
6 14 (3.55%) Digital Signage
7 13 (3.30%) Self-Motivation
8 11 (2.79%) Device Driver
9 10 (2.54%) MicroBlaze
9 10 (2.54%) RISC-V
10 9 (2.28%) FPGA
10 9 (2.28%) Management Information System
10 9 (2.28%) PCIe
11 8 (2.03%) Hybrid Cloud
12 7 (1.78%) Smartphone
13 6 (1.52%) IoT
13 6 (1.52%) Video Conferencing
14 5 (1.27%) CCTV
14 5 (1.27%) Data Protection Act
14 5 (1.27%) iPad
Operating Systems
1 55 (13.96%) Windows
2 22 (5.58%) Linux
3 19 (4.82%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.79%) Embedded Linux
4 11 (2.79%) Mac OS
4 11 (2.79%) Windows 10
5 9 (2.28%) FreeRTOS
6 8 (2.03%) Apple iOS
7 5 (1.27%) Android
8 3 (0.76%) VMS
8 3 (0.76%) Windows 7
8 3 (0.76%) Windows XP
9 2 (0.51%) Unix
10 1 (0.25%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 62 (15.74%) Problem-Solving
2 41 (10.41%) ITIL
3 40 (10.15%) Project Delivery
4 38 (9.64%) Change Management
5 31 (7.87%) Migration
6 30 (7.61%) ITSM
6 30 (7.61%) Software Engineering
7 29 (7.36%) Load Balancing
8 28 (7.11%) Agile
9 27 (6.85%) High Availability
10 26 (6.60%) Stakeholder Management
11 25 (6.35%) Continuous Improvement
11 25 (6.35%) Validation
12 24 (6.09%) Network Segmentation
13 22 (5.58%) Zero Trust
14 21 (5.33%) User Experience
15 20 (5.08%) Digital Signal Processing
15 20 (5.08%) Root Cause Analysis
15 20 (5.08%) Signal Processing
16 19 (4.82%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 37 (9.39%) Python
2 21 (5.33%) C
3 11 (2.79%) C++
3 11 (2.79%) PowerShell
4 5 (1.27%) Search Processing Language
5 4 (1.02%) Embedded C
6 3 (0.76%) Lisp
6 3 (0.76%) SQL
6 3 (0.76%) VBScript
7 2 (0.51%) Perl
8 1 (0.25%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 98 (24.87%) Cisco Certification
2 89 (22.59%) Security Cleared
3 81 (20.56%) CCNP
4 74 (18.78%) SC Cleared
5 55 (13.96%) CCNA
6 29 (7.36%) Degree
7 22 (5.58%) CCIE
8 19 (4.82%) Network+ Certification
9 11 (2.79%) Server+ Certification
10 7 (1.78%) A+ Certification
10 7 (1.78%) Computer Science Degree
10 7 (1.78%) Microsoft Certification
11 5 (1.27%) CWNA
11 5 (1.27%) JNCIP
11 5 (1.27%) JNCIS
12 4 (1.02%) CCIE Wireless
12 4 (1.02%) City & Guilds
12 4 (1.02%) CompTIA Security+
12 4 (1.02%) Microsoft Certified Professional
12 4 (1.02%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (2.54%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 8 (2.03%) SLA
3 6 (1.52%) NIST
4 5 (1.27%) Data Quality
4 5 (1.27%) QA
5 3 (0.76%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (0.51%) GDPR
7 1 (0.25%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 54 (13.71%) Active Directory
2 18 (4.57%) Firmware
3 11 (2.79%) Embedded Firmware
4 10 (2.54%) VMware Infrastructure
5 8 (2.03%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.27%) Virtual Desktop
6 5 (1.27%) VMware ESXi
7 3 (0.76%) Docker
8 2 (0.51%) Virtual Machines
8 2 (0.51%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.51%) vSphere
9 1 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 26 (6.60%) FortiGate
2 25 (6.35%) Ansible
3 20 (5.08%) Microsoft Intune
4 16 (4.06%) Cisco Prime
5 8 (2.03%) SCCM
6 3 (0.76%) Jamf Pro
6 3 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.51%) Nagios
7 2 (0.51%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.25%) CASB
8 1 (0.25%) MobiControl
8 1 (0.25%) Nessus
8 1 (0.25%) TrustSec
Vendors
1 213 (54.06%) Cisco
2 72 (18.27%) Palo Alto
3 65 (16.50%) Microsoft
4 57 (14.47%) Aruba
5 48 (12.18%) Meraki
6 47 (11.93%) F5
7 40 (10.15%) Fortinet
8 35 (8.88%) Juniper
9 32 (8.12%) CheckPoint
10 28 (7.11%) ServiceNow
11 17 (4.31%) Zscaler
12 16 (4.06%) SolarWinds
13 15 (3.81%) VMware
14 12 (3.05%) Ekahau
14 12 (3.05%) Splunk
15 10 (2.54%) ForeScout
16 9 (2.28%) Blue Coat
16 9 (2.28%) Citrix
17 7 (1.78%) Arista
17 7 (1.78%) Infoblox