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

6 months to
28 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 343 306 262
Rank change year-on-year -37 -44 -57
Contract jobs citing Wireless 371 259 344
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.69% 0.79% 0.89%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.29% 6.68% 7.38%
Number of daily rates quoted 230 149 210
10th Percentile £250 £204 £213
25th Percentile £380 £313 £313
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £425 £413
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% +3.03% -2.94%
75th Percentile £525 £515 £525
90th Percentile £588 £588 £626
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £380 £394
% change year-on-year +18.42% -3.49% -1.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 42 28
10th Percentile £13.99 £14.20 £14.60
25th Percentile £34.19 £20.13 £17.69
Median hourly rate £52.43 £25.15 £21.50
Median % change year-on-year +108.45% +16.98% -35.71%
75th Percentile £60.00 £35.88 £51.91
90th Percentile £70.00 £82.00 £52.88
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £30.00 £35.48
% change year-on-year +74.75% -15.45% +84.31%

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 5,090 3,878 4,662
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.47% 11.85% 12.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,997 2,363 2,784
10th Percentile £250 £243 £220
25th Percentile £400 £365 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £485 £500
Median % change year-on-year +3.09% -3.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £476 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +0.21% -5.00% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 374 204 302
10th Percentile £15.18 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.33 £25.15 £20.50
Median hourly rate £26.00 £45.00 £50.00
Median % change year-on-year -42.22% -10.00% -11.49%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £80.71 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £25.81 £42.50 £54.88
% change year-on-year -39.28% -22.55% -4.57%

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 28 August 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 28 August 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 28 August 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 -31 331 £450 +9.09% 465
UK excluding London -19 248 £450 +18.42% 379
North of England -3 101 £475 +35.71% 69
London -79 91 £475 +11.76% 133
Work from Home -24 90 £450 -2.70% 146
North West +12 75 £509 +56.54% 41
South East -43 58 £425 +104.82% 156
Midlands -49 35 £438 +15.13% 52
East of England -5 34 £400 -14.44% 48
West Midlands -56 33 £450 +18.42% 33
Yorkshire -41 20 £450 - 19
Scotland -6 13 £381 +1.67% 18
South West -30 6 £375 -25.00% 41
North East -35 6 £420 -23.64% 12
Wales -16 4 £409 - 3
Northern Ireland +4 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 13 (3.50%) SharePoint
2 6 (1.62%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.27%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 10 (2.70%) Microsoft Office
2 8 (2.16%) Microsoft Excel
3 7 (1.89%) MS Visio
4 5 (1.35%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.81%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.27%) Simulink
6 1 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 55 (14.82%) Azure
2 41 (11.05%) Microsoft 365
3 23 (6.20%) Entra ID
4 20 (5.39%) AWS
5 9 (2.43%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 9 (2.43%) GitHub
6 7 (1.89%) OneDrive
7 4 (1.08%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 3 (0.81%) GCP
8 3 (0.81%) SaaS
9 2 (0.54%) Smartsheet
10 1 (0.27%) Amazon EC2
10 1 (0.27%) Amazon GuardDuty
10 1 (0.27%) Amazon S3
10 1 (0.27%) Google Workspace
10 1 (0.27%) IBM Watson
10 1 (0.27%) OCI
10 1 (0.27%) PaaS
10 1 (0.27%) Route 53
Communications & Networking
1 165 (44.47%) Firewall
2 134 (36.12%) WAN
3 123 (33.15%) LAN
4 104 (28.03%) VPN
5 103 (27.76%) Network Security
6 87 (23.45%) Wi-Fi
7 74 (19.95%) DNS
8 72 (19.41%) BGP
9 64 (17.25%) VLAN
10 61 (16.44%) OSPF
11 56 (15.09%) DHCP
12 53 (14.29%) Cisco ISE
13 50 (13.48%) SD-WAN
14 47 (12.67%) WLAN
15 43 (11.59%) TCP/IP
16 32 (8.63%) Cisco Wireless
17 31 (8.36%) IPsec
18 30 (8.09%) Cisco ASA
19 29 (7.82%) Structured Cabling
20 27 (7.28%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.54%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 9 (2.43%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (1.62%) JIRA
3 4 (1.08%) Git
4 1 (0.27%) Burp Suite
4 1 (0.27%) Metasploit
4 1 (0.27%) MSI
4 1 (0.27%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 107 (28.84%) Social Skills
2 33 (8.89%) Analytical Skills
3 29 (7.82%) Finance
4 18 (4.85%) Aerospace
4 18 (4.85%) Documentation Skills
4 18 (4.85%) Public Sector
5 16 (4.31%) Retail
6 15 (4.04%) Legal
7 13 (3.50%) Telecoms
8 10 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (1.89%) Banking
9 7 (1.89%) Law
10 5 (1.35%) Manufacturing
10 5 (1.35%) Police
11 4 (1.08%) Investment Banking
12 3 (0.81%) Front Office
12 3 (0.81%) Influencing Skills
12 3 (0.81%) Multimedia
12 3 (0.81%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.54%) Billing
Job Titles
1 205 (55.26%) Network Engineer
2 40 (10.78%) Senior
3 30 (8.09%) Senior Network Engineer
4 28 (7.55%) Software Engineer
5 27 (7.28%) Cisco Engineer
6 24 (6.47%) Embedded Engineer
6 24 (6.47%) Embedded Software Engineer
7 23 (6.20%) Cisco Network Engineer
8 22 (5.93%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 20 (5.39%) Architect
9 20 (5.39%) Wireless Engineer
10 18 (4.85%) Analyst
10 18 (4.85%) Wireless Network Engineer
11 13 (3.50%) Security Engineer
12 11 (2.96%) Desktop Support
12 11 (2.96%) Implementation Engineer
12 11 (2.96%) Network Implementation Engineer
13 10 (2.70%) Network Security Engineer
13 10 (2.70%) Support Engineer
14 9 (2.43%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 42 (11.32%) 802.1X
2 11 (2.96%) Yocto
3 10 (2.70%) Terraform
4 7 (1.89%) REST
4 7 (1.89%) Software Packaging
5 6 (1.62%) SAML
6 5 (1.35%) JSON
7 4 (1.08%) Django
8 3 (0.81%) LDAP
8 3 (0.81%) XML
9 2 (0.54%) Flask
10 1 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
10 1 (0.27%) Middleware
10 1 (0.27%) ModSecurity
10 1 (0.27%) OpenEmbedded
Miscellaneous
1 56 (15.09%) Data Centre
2 22 (5.93%) Onboarding
3 16 (4.31%) Driving Licence
3 16 (4.31%) Embedded Systems
4 15 (4.04%) PKI
5 11 (2.96%) Device Driver
6 10 (2.70%) Digital Signage
6 10 (2.70%) MicroBlaze
6 10 (2.70%) RISC-V
6 10 (2.70%) Self-Motivation
7 9 (2.43%) FPGA
7 9 (2.43%) Management Information System
7 9 (2.43%) PCIe
8 7 (1.89%) Hybrid Cloud
8 7 (1.89%) Smartphone
9 6 (1.62%) IoT
10 5 (1.35%) CCTV
10 5 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
10 5 (1.35%) iPad
10 5 (1.35%) Video Conferencing
Operating Systems
1 48 (12.94%) Windows
2 17 (4.58%) Linux
3 12 (3.23%) Windows Server
4 11 (2.96%) Embedded Linux
5 10 (2.70%) Windows 10
6 9 (2.43%) FreeRTOS
7 8 (2.16%) Apple iOS
8 7 (1.89%) Mac OS
9 5 (1.35%) Android
10 3 (0.81%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.81%) Windows XP
11 2 (0.54%) Unix
12 1 (0.27%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 61 (16.44%) Problem-Solving
2 43 (11.59%) ITIL
3 42 (11.32%) Project Delivery
4 36 (9.70%) Change Management
5 34 (9.16%) Migration
6 32 (8.63%) High Availability
7 31 (8.36%) ITSM
8 29 (7.82%) Software Engineering
9 28 (7.55%) Load Balancing
10 27 (7.28%) Continuous Improvement
10 27 (7.28%) Stakeholder Management
11 25 (6.74%) Agile
12 23 (6.20%) Network Segmentation
12 23 (6.20%) Validation
13 22 (5.93%) User Experience
14 21 (5.66%) Zero Trust
15 20 (5.39%) Digital Signal Processing
15 20 (5.39%) Signal Processing
16 19 (5.12%) Root Cause Analysis
16 19 (5.12%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 29 (7.82%) Python
2 21 (5.66%) C
3 11 (2.96%) C++
4 7 (1.89%) PowerShell
5 4 (1.08%) Embedded C
5 4 (1.08%) Search Processing Language
6 3 (0.81%) Lisp
6 3 (0.81%) SQL
6 3 (0.81%) VBScript
7 2 (0.54%) Perl
8 1 (0.27%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 99 (26.68%) Cisco Certification
2 85 (22.91%) Security Cleared
3 82 (22.10%) CCNP
4 71 (19.14%) SC Cleared
5 55 (14.82%) CCNA
6 27 (7.28%) Degree
7 22 (5.93%) CCIE
8 19 (5.12%) Network+ Certification
9 11 (2.96%) Server+ Certification
10 7 (1.89%) A+ Certification
10 7 (1.89%) Computer Science Degree
10 7 (1.89%) Microsoft Certification
11 6 (1.62%) CWNA
12 5 (1.35%) CCIE Wireless
12 5 (1.35%) JNCIP
12 5 (1.35%) JNCIS
13 4 (1.08%) City & Guilds
13 4 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
13 4 (1.08%) CWDP
13 4 (1.08%) CWSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 10 (2.70%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 7 (1.89%) SLA
3 5 (1.35%) NIST
3 5 (1.35%) QA
4 4 (1.08%) Data Quality
5 3 (0.81%) GDPR
6 2 (0.54%) Cyber Essentials
6 2 (0.54%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 46 (12.40%) Active Directory
2 16 (4.31%) Firmware
3 13 (3.50%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (2.96%) Embedded Firmware
5 6 (1.62%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.35%) Virtual Desktop
6 5 (1.35%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.08%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
8 1 (0.27%) vSphere
Systems Management
1 25 (6.74%) FortiGate
2 24 (6.47%) Ansible
3 20 (5.39%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (3.77%) Cisco Prime
5 7 (1.89%) SCCM
6 4 (1.08%) Single Sign-On
7 3 (0.81%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.54%) Nagios
9 1 (0.27%) CASB
9 1 (0.27%) MobiControl
9 1 (0.27%) Nessus
9 1 (0.27%) Nmap
9 1 (0.27%) TrustSec
9 1 (0.27%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 204 (54.99%) Cisco
2 76 (20.49%) Palo Alto
3 61 (16.44%) Aruba
4 57 (15.36%) Microsoft
5 48 (12.94%) F5
6 41 (11.05%) Meraki
7 39 (10.51%) Fortinet
8 31 (8.36%) CheckPoint
9 30 (8.09%) Juniper
9 30 (8.09%) ServiceNow
10 19 (5.12%) VMware
11 17 (4.58%) SolarWinds
12 15 (4.04%) Ekahau
13 14 (3.77%) Zscaler
14 11 (2.96%) Splunk
15 10 (2.70%) ForeScout
16 9 (2.43%) Citrix
17 7 (1.89%) Arista
18 6 (1.62%) Apple
18 6 (1.62%) Infoblox