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

6 months to
1 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 335 310 278
Rank change year-on-year -25 -32 -85
Contract jobs citing Wireless 404 274 319
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.74% 0.83% 0.84%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.90% 7.22% 7.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 233 161 189
10th Percentile £250 £200 £220
25th Percentile £356 £263 £321
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £450 £425 £450
Median % change year-on-year +5.88% -5.56% +4.65%
75th Percentile £525 £492 £553
90th Percentile £588 £588 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £380 £420
% change year-on-year +18.42% -9.52% -1.18%
Number of hourly rates quoted 39 47 13
10th Percentile £14.60 £16.87 £22.68
25th Percentile £29.63 £18.75 £23.80
Median hourly rate £52.43 £25.15 £48.56
Median % change year-on-year +108.45% -48.21% +67.45%
75th Percentile £61.63 £31.00 £52.25
90th Percentile £70.00 £85.65 £53.50
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £30.00 £48.56
% change year-on-year +74.75% -38.22% +125.86%

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 5,111 3,796 4,510
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.31% 11.48% 11.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,952 2,381 2,593
10th Percentile £235 £219 £225
25th Percentile £390 £362 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% -
75th Percentile £588 £588 £608
90th Percentile £675 £680 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £450 £488
% change year-on-year +5.56% -7.69% +5.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 428 204 206
10th Percentile £14.10 £15.50 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.50 £23.94 £24.18
Median hourly rate £32.75 £42.50 £51.00
Median % change year-on-year -22.94% -16.67% -9.72%
75th Percentile £68.75 £63.38 £65.00
90th Percentile £92.11 £72.15 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £27.36 £42.50 £57.35
% change year-on-year -35.62% -25.89% -0.26%

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 October 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 October 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 October 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 -24 354 £450 +12.50% 711
UK excluding London -24 271 £450 +18.42% 548
North of England -15 98 £500 +42.86% 107
London -68 96 £463 +8.82% 200
Work from Home -34 89 £475 - 237
North West +10 75 £525 +61.54% 66
South East -55 54 £403 +93.98% 191
Midlands -52 42 £425 +11.84% 68
East of England -2 41 £400 -17.53% 72
West Midlands -40 40 £425 +11.84% 37
Yorkshire -39 20 £450 - 27
Scotland -15 19 £313 -24.15% 34
South West -25 13 £338 +87.50% 52
Wales - 5 £363 - 14
Northern Ireland +6 3 £425 -10.53% 14
North East -37 3 £400 +10.34% 16
East Midlands -16 2 £235 +49.21% 31

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 (3.71%) SharePoint
2 10 (2.48%) Microsoft Exchange
3 2 (0.50%) Confluence
4 1 (0.25%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 7 (1.73%) Microsoft Excel
2 6 (1.49%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (1.49%) Microsoft Project
2 6 (1.49%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.74%) Acrobat
4 1 (0.25%) Simulink
4 1 (0.25%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 67 (16.58%) Azure
2 53 (13.12%) Microsoft 365
3 32 (7.92%) Entra ID
4 23 (5.69%) AWS
5 11 (2.72%) GitHub
6 7 (1.73%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 6 (1.49%) OneDrive
8 5 (1.24%) GCP
9 3 (0.74%) Smartsheet
9 3 (0.74%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 2 (0.50%) SaaS
11 1 (0.25%) GitHub Actions
11 1 (0.25%) IaaS
11 1 (0.25%) IBM Watson
11 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Purview
11 1 (0.25%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 176 (43.56%) Firewall
2 141 (34.90%) WAN
3 124 (30.69%) LAN
4 117 (28.96%) VPN
5 103 (25.50%) Network Security
6 92 (22.77%) Wi-Fi
7 80 (19.80%) DNS
8 66 (16.34%) VLAN
9 64 (15.84%) BGP
10 59 (14.60%) DHCP
11 55 (13.61%) SD-WAN
12 50 (12.38%) Cisco ISE
12 50 (12.38%) OSPF
13 47 (11.63%) TCP/IP
13 47 (11.63%) WLAN
14 33 (8.17%) Cisco Wireless
15 32 (7.92%) Cisco Nexus
16 30 (7.43%) IPsec
17 29 (7.18%) Structured Cabling
18 27 (6.68%) Cisco IOS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (0.74%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 16 (3.96%) Git
2 12 (2.97%) JIRA
3 9 (2.23%) Rational DOORS
4 5 (1.24%) GitLab
5 3 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.25%) MSI
General
1 114 (28.22%) Social Skills
2 34 (8.42%) Analytical Skills
3 30 (7.43%) Finance
4 22 (5.45%) Public Sector
5 19 (4.70%) Documentation Skills
5 19 (4.70%) Telecoms
6 18 (4.46%) Aerospace
7 16 (3.96%) Legal
8 13 (3.22%) Retail
9 9 (2.23%) Banking
9 9 (2.23%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (1.73%) Law
11 6 (1.49%) Manufacturing
12 5 (1.24%) Investment Banking
12 5 (1.24%) Police
13 4 (0.99%) Front Office
13 4 (0.99%) Multimedia
13 4 (0.99%) Presentation Skills
14 3 (0.74%) Influencing Skills
14 3 (0.74%) Organisational Skills
Job Titles
1 217 (53.71%) Network Engineer
2 46 (11.39%) Senior
3 31 (7.67%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
3 31 (7.67%) Software Engineer
4 30 (7.43%) Senior Network Engineer
5 29 (7.18%) Cisco Engineer
6 27 (6.68%) Embedded Engineer
6 27 (6.68%) Embedded Software Engineer
7 25 (6.19%) Cisco Network Engineer
8 20 (4.95%) Architect
8 20 (4.95%) Wireless Engineer
9 19 (4.70%) Wireless Network Engineer
10 18 (4.46%) Analyst
11 17 (4.21%) Infrastructure Engineer
12 16 (3.96%) Security Engineer
13 15 (3.71%) IT Support
14 14 (3.47%) Support Engineer
15 12 (2.97%) Implementation Engineer
15 12 (2.97%) Network Implementation Engineer
15 12 (2.97%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 41 (10.15%) 802.1X
2 12 (2.97%) JSON
2 12 (2.97%) REST
3 11 (2.72%) Terraform
4 9 (2.23%) Yocto
5 7 (1.73%) Django
5 7 (1.73%) Software Packaging
6 5 (1.24%) Flask
6 5 (1.24%) SAML
7 4 (0.99%) YAML
8 3 (0.74%) XML
9 2 (0.50%) LDAP
10 1 (0.25%) Microsoft Graph
10 1 (0.25%) Middleware
10 1 (0.25%) ModSecurity
10 1 (0.25%) OpenEmbedded
Miscellaneous
1 63 (15.59%) Data Centre
2 23 (5.69%) Onboarding
3 21 (5.20%) Driving Licence
4 15 (3.71%) Embedded Systems
4 15 (3.71%) PKI
5 14 (3.47%) Digital Signage
5 14 (3.47%) Self-Motivation
6 10 (2.48%) Management Information System
7 9 (2.23%) Device Driver
7 9 (2.23%) FPGA
7 9 (2.23%) PCIe
8 8 (1.98%) Hybrid Cloud
8 8 (1.98%) MicroBlaze
8 8 (1.98%) RISC-V
9 7 (1.73%) Smartphone
10 6 (1.49%) IoT
10 6 (1.49%) Operational Technology
10 6 (1.49%) Video Conferencing
11 5 (1.24%) CCTV
12 4 (0.99%) Wiki
Operating Systems
1 60 (14.85%) Windows
2 23 (5.69%) Linux
3 21 (5.20%) Windows Server
4 14 (3.47%) Mac OS
5 12 (2.97%) Windows 10
6 9 (2.23%) Embedded Linux
6 9 (2.23%) FreeRTOS
7 7 (1.73%) Apple iOS
8 6 (1.49%) VMS
9 5 (1.24%) Android
10 3 (0.74%) Windows 7
10 3 (0.74%) Windows XP
11 2 (0.50%) Unix
12 1 (0.25%) OpenWrt
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (16.58%) Problem-Solving
2 46 (11.39%) Project Delivery
3 39 (9.65%) ITIL
4 36 (8.91%) Change Management
5 33 (8.17%) Load Balancing
6 32 (7.92%) Software Engineering
7 29 (7.18%) ITSM
8 28 (6.93%) Agile
8 28 (6.93%) Migration
8 28 (6.93%) Stakeholder Management
9 27 (6.68%) High Availability
10 25 (6.19%) Continuous Improvement
10 25 (6.19%) Validation
11 24 (5.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 23 (5.69%) Network Segmentation
13 22 (5.45%) Zero Trust
14 21 (5.20%) Infrastructure as Code
15 20 (4.95%) Network Design
16 19 (4.70%) CI/CD
16 19 (4.70%) Incident Management
Programming Languages
1 41 (10.15%) Python
2 20 (4.95%) C
3 14 (3.47%) PowerShell
4 9 (2.23%) C++
5 5 (1.24%) Search Processing Language
6 4 (0.99%) Embedded C
7 3 (0.74%) Lisp
7 3 (0.74%) SQL
7 3 (0.74%) VBScript
8 2 (0.50%) Bash
8 2 (0.50%) Perl
9 1 (0.25%) MATLAB
Qualifications
1 91 (22.52%) Cisco Certification
1 91 (22.52%) Security Cleared
2 75 (18.56%) SC Cleared
3 74 (18.32%) CCNP
4 51 (12.62%) CCNA
5 27 (6.68%) Degree
6 20 (4.95%) CCIE
7 18 (4.46%) Network+ Certification
8 10 (2.48%) Server+ Certification
9 7 (1.73%) A+ Certification
9 7 (1.73%) Computer Science Degree
9 7 (1.73%) Microsoft Certification
10 5 (1.24%) CWNA
10 5 (1.24%) JNCIP
11 4 (0.99%) CCIE Wireless
11 4 (0.99%) City & Guilds
11 4 (0.99%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (0.99%) DV Cleared
11 4 (0.99%) JNCIS
11 4 (0.99%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 9 (2.23%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 8 (1.98%) SLA
3 7 (1.73%) QA
4 6 (1.49%) NIST
5 5 (1.24%) Data Quality
6 3 (0.74%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.50%) GDPR
8 1 (0.25%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 57 (14.11%) Active Directory
2 14 (3.47%) Firmware
3 11 (2.72%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (2.23%) Embedded Firmware
5 7 (1.73%) Hyper-V
6 5 (1.24%) Docker
6 5 (1.24%) Virtual Desktop
7 4 (0.99%) VMware ESXi
7 4 (0.99%) VMware NSX
7 4 (0.99%) vSphere
8 2 (0.50%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.25%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 26 (6.44%) FortiGate
2 22 (5.45%) Ansible
3 21 (5.20%) Microsoft Intune
4 13 (3.22%) Cisco Prime
5 9 (2.23%) SCCM
6 3 (0.74%) Jamf Pro
7 2 (0.50%) Nagios
7 2 (0.50%) Single Sign-On
7 2 (0.50%) vCenter Server
8 1 (0.25%) CASB
8 1 (0.25%) Iperf
8 1 (0.25%) MobiControl
8 1 (0.25%) Nessus
8 1 (0.25%) TrustSec
Vendors
1 213 (52.72%) Cisco
2 71 (17.57%) Microsoft
3 70 (17.33%) Palo Alto
4 51 (12.62%) Aruba
4 51 (12.62%) Meraki
5 46 (11.39%) F5
6 43 (10.64%) Fortinet
7 39 (9.65%) Juniper
8 30 (7.43%) CheckPoint
9 24 (5.94%) ServiceNow
10 18 (4.46%) VMware
11 17 (4.21%) SolarWinds
12 16 (3.96%) Zscaler
13 10 (2.48%) Citrix
14 9 (2.23%) Blue Coat
14 9 (2.23%) Ekahau
14 9 (2.23%) Splunk
15 8 (1.98%) ForeScout
16 7 (1.73%) Arista
17 6 (1.49%) Infoblox