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

6 months to
1 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 322 274 200
Rank change year-on-year -48 -74 +71
Contract jobs citing Wireless 292 292 514
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.79% 0.88% 1.20%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.36% 6.91% 8.78%
Number of daily rates quoted 182 197 343
10th Percentile £159 £236 £211
25th Percentile £190 £375 £305
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £335 £450 £425
Median % change year-on-year -25.56% +5.88% -3.41%
75th Percentile £469 £550 £525
90th Percentile £588 £588 £637
UK excluding London median daily rate £330 £425 £425
% change year-on-year -22.35% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 50 7 20
10th Percentile £15.28 £28.61 £15.18
25th Percentile £15.62 £38.23 £18.93
Median hourly rate £21.46 £48.56 £22.00
Median % change year-on-year -55.81% +120.73% -11.11%
75th Percentile £25.15 £53.13 £34.63
90th Percentile £83.66 £58.25 £41.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £18.94 £49.28 £24.75
% change year-on-year -61.58% +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 3,970 4,228 5,851
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.70% 12.75% 13.62%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,600 2,480 3,605
10th Percentile £206 £220 £209
25th Percentile £356 £368 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% - -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £475 £473
% change year-on-year -5.26% +0.53% +5.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 179 138 329
10th Percentile £15.50 £14.86 £17.72
25th Percentile £20.00 £20.88 £23.00
Median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £56.49
Median % change year-on-year -2.86% -38.04% +68.63%
75th Percentile £65.50 £57.81 £65.98
90th Percentile £80.00 £70.38 £75.33
UK excluding London median hourly rate £42.50 £32.50 £57.99
% change year-on-year +30.77% -43.96% +50.62%

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 1 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 1 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 1 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 -35 266 £275 -38.89% 231
UK excluding London -27 198 £330 -22.35% 212
London -35 78 £239 -49.84% 45
South East +20 65 £208 -45.75% 91
Work from Home -21 61 £428 -5.00% 99
Midlands -7 51 £369 -13.24% 28
North of England -61 44 £178 -59.66% 33
West Midlands -1 42 £380 -34.48% 19
North West -27 29 £225 -50.98% 17
East of England -21 22 £445 -5.07% 22
North East +1 9 £175 -68.18% 6
East Midlands -18 9 £158 -58.00% 9
South West -23 9 £213 -49.40% 27
Scotland +8 8 £425 +6.25% 6
Yorkshire -66 6 £209 -50.88% 11
Northern Ireland - 4 £475 - 3
Wales -5 2 £400 +81.82% 7

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 11 (3.77%) SharePoint
2 6 (2.05%) OpenStack
3 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.34%) Confluence
Applications
1 58 (19.86%) Microsoft Office
2 17 (5.82%) Microsoft Excel
3 15 (5.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 15 (5.14%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.34%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 7 (2.40%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 63 (21.58%) Microsoft 365
2 44 (15.07%) AWS
3 34 (11.64%) Azure
4 18 (6.16%) SaaS
5 17 (5.82%) 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
1 112 (38.36%) Firewall
2 76 (26.03%) WAN
3 66 (22.60%) LAN
4 61 (20.89%) VPN
5 47 (16.10%) BGP
6 44 (15.07%) DNS
7 38 (13.01%) OSPF
8 35 (11.99%) Network Security
9 31 (10.62%) Cisco Wireless
10 28 (9.59%) DHCP
10 28 (9.59%) SD-WAN
11 26 (8.90%) Cisco ISE
11 26 (8.90%) IPsec
11 26 (8.90%) VLAN
12 25 (8.56%) MPLS
13 24 (8.22%) TCP/IP
14 20 (6.85%) Cisco ASA
14 20 (6.85%) WLAN
15 18 (6.16%) NFC
15 18 (6.16%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 17 (5.82%) MySQL
1 17 (5.82%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.68%) Power BI
2 2 (0.68%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 17 (5.82%) Android Studio
1 17 (5.82%) Browser DevTools
1 17 (5.82%) Eclipse
1 17 (5.82%) Xcode
2 11 (3.77%) Burp Suite
3 10 (3.42%) Metasploit
4 5 (1.71%) JIRA
General
1 92 (31.51%) Social Skills
2 46 (15.75%) Public Sector
3 43 (14.73%) Telecoms
4 32 (10.96%) Finance
5 31 (10.62%) Manufacturing
6 26 (8.90%) Banking
7 24 (8.22%) Marketing
8 23 (7.88%) Electronics
9 21 (7.19%) Analytical Skills
10 18 (6.16%) Retail
11 12 (4.11%) Documentation Skills
12 8 (2.74%) Legal
13 7 (2.40%) Investment Banking
14 6 (2.05%) Local Government
14 6 (2.05%) Organisational Skills
15 4 (1.37%) Pharmaceutical
16 3 (1.03%) Aerospace
16 3 (1.03%) Influencing Skills
16 3 (1.03%) Military
17 1 (0.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
Job Titles
1 68 (23.29%) Network Engineer
2 39 (13.36%) Support Engineer
3 34 (11.64%) Desktop Support
4 32 (10.96%) IT Support
5 29 (9.93%) 2nd Line Support
6 26 (8.90%) Technical Support
7 25 (8.56%) Senior
8 23 (7.88%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
8 23 (7.88%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
9 17 (5.82%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
9 17 (5.82%) Technical Engineer
9 17 (5.82%) Technical Support Engineer
9 17 (5.82%) UX Engineer
10 16 (5.48%) Security Engineer
11 15 (5.14%) Analyst
11 15 (5.14%) Cisco Engineer
11 15 (5.14%) Penetration Tester
11 15 (5.14%) Tester
12 13 (4.45%) IT Engineer
13 12 (4.11%) Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 24 (8.22%) 802.1X
2 17 (5.82%) Ajax
2 17 (5.82%) AngularJS
2 17 (5.82%) CSS
2 17 (5.82%) GraphQL
2 17 (5.82%) React
3 4 (1.37%) LDAP
4 3 (1.03%) SAML
5 1 (0.34%) Qt
Miscellaneous
1 88 (30.14%) Data Centre
2 22 (7.53%) IoT
3 19 (6.51%) Driving Licence
4 18 (6.16%) Mobile App
5 11 (3.77%) Management Information System
5 11 (3.77%) Security Posture
6 10 (3.42%) Onboarding
7 9 (3.08%) Hybrid Cloud
8 8 (2.74%) CMDB
8 8 (2.74%) NHS
9 6 (2.05%) Life Science
9 6 (2.05%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.71%) Operational Technology
10 5 (1.71%) Self-Motivation
10 5 (1.71%) Video Conferencing
11 4 (1.37%) Data Protection Act
12 3 (1.03%) PKI
13 2 (0.68%) CCTV
13 2 (0.68%) Device Driver
13 2 (0.68%) VHDL
Operating Systems
1 72 (24.66%) Windows
2 63 (21.58%) Android
3 54 (18.49%) Mac OS
4 29 (9.93%) Linux
5 20 (6.85%) Unix
6 19 (6.51%) Windows Server
7 18 (6.16%) Windows 10
8 3 (1.03%) Embedded Linux
9 2 (0.68%) CatOS
9 2 (0.68%) Debian
9 2 (0.68%) VMS
9 2 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
10 1 (0.34%) Apple iOS
10 1 (0.34%) Kali Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 37 (12.67%) Problem-Solving
2 35 (11.99%) Cybersecurity
3 28 (9.59%) Customer Service
4 27 (9.25%) User Experience
5 26 (8.90%) Programme Management
6 24 (8.22%) ITIL
7 23 (7.88%) Business Intelligence
7 23 (7.88%) Digital Marketing
8 20 (6.85%) Network Management
9 18 (6.16%) Incident Response
10 17 (5.82%) Mobile Application Development
10 17 (5.82%) OO
10 17 (5.82%) Stakeholder Management
11 16 (5.48%) Computer Science
11 16 (5.48%) Migration
11 16 (5.48%) Network Monitoring
11 16 (5.48%) Penetration Testing
12 15 (5.14%) Change Management
12 15 (5.14%) ITSM
13 14 (4.79%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 37 (12.67%) Python
2 21 (7.19%) Perl
3 17 (5.82%) Java
3 17 (5.82%) 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 63 (21.58%) Cisco Certification
4 45 (15.41%) CCNP
5 28 (9.59%) Degree
6 23 (7.88%) CCNA
7 17 (5.82%) DV Cleared
8 15 (5.14%) CCIE
9 10 (3.42%) CHECK Team Member
9 10 (3.42%) Computer Science Degree
10 9 (3.08%) AWS Certification
11 8 (2.74%) CREST Certified
11 8 (2.74%) Cyber Scheme
11 8 (2.74%) JNCIE
11 8 (2.74%) Postgraduate
12 7 (2.40%) CISSP
13 6 (2.05%) A+ Certification
13 6 (2.05%) Azure Certification
13 6 (2.05%) ECDL
14 5 (1.71%) Network+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.85%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 18 (6.16%) GDPR
3 16 (5.48%) PCI DSS
4 15 (5.14%) SLA
5 8 (2.74%) PMO
5 8 (2.74%) QA
6 6 (2.05%) NIST
7 2 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.68%) GxP
8 1 (0.34%) COBIT
8 1 (0.34%) DICOM
8 1 (0.34%) Disclosure Scotland
8 1 (0.34%) HL7
8 1 (0.34%) JTAG
8 1 (0.34%) NCSC
System Software
1 30 (10.27%) Active Directory
2 20 (6.85%) VMware Infrastructure
3 13 (4.45%) VMware NSX
4 8 (2.74%) Firmware
5 4 (1.37%) VMware ESXi
6 3 (1.03%) Embedded Firmware
7 2 (0.68%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.68%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.34%) VMware Workstation
8 1 (0.34%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 20 (6.85%) FortiGate
2 15 (5.14%) Ansible
3 12 (4.11%) Nmap
3 12 (4.11%) Terraform
4 8 (2.74%) SCCM
5 4 (1.37%) Single Sign-On
6 3 (1.03%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.03%) Nessus
7 2 (0.68%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.34%) Cisco Prime
8 1 (0.34%) Grafana
8 1 (0.34%) Jamf Pro
8 1 (0.34%) Prometheus
8 1 (0.34%) Salt
Vendors
1 156 (53.42%) Cisco
2 55 (18.84%) Microsoft
3 48 (16.44%) Apple
3 48 (16.44%) Dell
4 45 (15.41%) HP
5 43 (14.73%) ServiceNow
6 36 (12.33%) F5
6 36 (12.33%) Fortinet
6 36 (12.33%) Palo Alto
7 35 (11.99%) Juniper
8 25 (8.56%) CheckPoint
9 24 (8.22%) SAP
10 22 (7.53%) VMware
11 21 (7.19%) Splunk
12 20 (6.85%) Meraki
12 20 (6.85%) Oracle
13 18 (6.16%) Aruba
14 15 (5.14%) Remedy
15 14 (4.79%) SolarWinds
16 12 (4.11%) Blue Coat