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

6 months to
28 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 321 272 200
Rank change year-on-year -49 -72 +69
Contract jobs citing Wireless 294 277 508
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.77% 0.88% 1.15%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 7.34% 6.81% 8.41%
Number of daily rates quoted 185 187 340
10th Percentile £163 £220 £200
25th Percentile £190 £366 £300
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £340 £454 £425
Median % change year-on-year -25.11% +6.82% -5.56%
75th Percentile £450 £556 £513
90th Percentile £579 £588 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £340 £425 £420
% change year-on-year -20.00% +1.19% -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 41 9 24
10th Percentile £13.25 - £12.78
25th Percentile £15.50 £24.66 £16.25
Median hourly rate £19.00 £48.56 £18.93
Median % change year-on-year -60.87% +156.52% -42.64%
75th Percentile £25.15 £52.50 £25.25
90th Percentile £35.00 £56.00 £37.13
UK excluding London median hourly rate £16.71 £48.56 £23.00
% change year-on-year -65.60% +111.13% +8.85%

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 4,007 4,068 6,044
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 10.44% 13.00% 13.69%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,631 2,361 3,669
10th Percentile £204 £213 £207
25th Percentile £356 £363 £359
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £475 £500 £495
Median % change year-on-year -5.00% +1.01% -3.88%
75th Percentile £588 £600 £600
90th Percentile £675 £685 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £450 £467 £475
% change year-on-year -3.64% -1.68% +2.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 164 139 388
10th Percentile £15.50 £17.76 £16.25
25th Percentile £18.97 £21.46 £22.00
Median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £51.65
Median % change year-on-year -14.29% -32.24% +149.47%
75th Percentile £65.00 £58.69 £65.00
90th Percentile £75.00 £70.00 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £40.54 £31.79 £56.45
% change year-on-year +27.52% -43.68% +186.89%

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 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 28 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 28 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 -48 270 £300 -35.14% 297
UK excluding London -15 204 £340 -20.00% 283
London -52 74 £200 -60.00% 67
Work from Home -22 67 £440 -7.37% 67
South East +7 59 £263 -33.54% 80
Midlands -10 56 £363 -37.50% 44
West Midlands 0 47 £380 -34.48% 18
North of England -57 44 £180 -59.09% 57
North West -26 30 £275 -37.50% 27
East of England -17 22 £445 -6.32% 41
South West -28 14 £516 +25.03% 42
Scotland +5 9 £425 +6.25% 13
East Midlands -29 9 £158 -53.33% 26
North East -8 8 £175 -68.18% 9
Yorkshire -58 6 £209 -50.88% 24
Northern Ireland - 5 £475 - 3
Wales -9 2 £400 +39.13% 12

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 (4.08%) SharePoint
2 6 (2.04%) OpenStack
3 2 (0.68%) Microsoft Exchange
4 1 (0.34%) Confluence
Applications
1 56 (19.05%) Microsoft Office
2 21 (7.14%) Microsoft Excel
3 20 (6.80%) MS Visio
4 17 (5.78%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 1 (0.34%) OmniGraffle
Business Applications
1 7 (2.38%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 59 (20.07%) Microsoft 365
2 45 (15.31%) AWS
3 35 (11.90%) Azure
4 14 (4.76%) SaaS
5 13 (4.42%) Sauce Labs
6 12 (4.08%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 11 (3.74%) GCP
8 6 (2.04%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 6 (2.04%) OpenShift
9 4 (1.36%) Google Workspace
10 3 (1.02%) Cloud Computing
10 3 (1.02%) 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%) IaaS
12 1 (0.34%) OCI
12 1 (0.34%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 111 (37.76%) Firewall
2 80 (27.21%) WAN
3 73 (24.83%) LAN
4 59 (20.07%) VPN
5 48 (16.33%) BGP
6 39 (13.27%) OSPF
7 37 (12.59%) DNS
7 37 (12.59%) Network Security
8 34 (11.56%) Cisco Wireless
9 29 (9.86%) SD-WAN
10 28 (9.52%) Cisco ISE
10 28 (9.52%) IPsec
11 25 (8.50%) MPLS
11 25 (8.50%) VLAN
11 25 (8.50%) WLAN
12 24 (8.16%) Cisco ASA
12 24 (8.16%) DHCP
13 20 (6.80%) Wi-Fi
14 18 (6.12%) RFID
14 18 (6.12%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 13 (4.42%) MySQL
1 13 (4.42%) Relational Database
2 2 (0.68%) Power BI
2 2 (0.68%) QlikView
Development Applications
1 14 (4.76%) Burp Suite
2 13 (4.42%) Android Studio
2 13 (4.42%) Browser DevTools
2 13 (4.42%) Eclipse
2 13 (4.42%) Xcode
3 12 (4.08%) Metasploit
4 1 (0.34%) JIRA
General
1 85 (28.91%) Social Skills
2 46 (15.65%) Public Sector
3 43 (14.63%) Telecoms
4 32 (10.88%) Finance
5 29 (9.86%) Manufacturing
6 24 (8.16%) Marketing
7 23 (7.82%) Electronics
8 22 (7.48%) Banking
9 18 (6.12%) Retail
10 17 (5.78%) Analytical Skills
11 13 (4.42%) Documentation Skills
12 7 (2.38%) Investment Banking
12 7 (2.38%) Legal
13 6 (2.04%) Local Government
14 4 (1.36%) Influencing Skills
14 4 (1.36%) Pharmaceutical
15 3 (1.02%) Military
16 2 (0.68%) Organisational Skills
17 1 (0.34%) French Language
17 1 (0.34%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 72 (24.49%) Network Engineer
2 34 (11.56%) Desktop Support
3 33 (11.22%) IT Support
3 33 (11.22%) Support Engineer
4 29 (9.86%) 2nd Line Support
5 24 (8.16%) Senior
6 23 (7.82%) 2nd Line Desktop Support
6 23 (7.82%) SC Cleared Desktop Support
7 21 (7.14%) Technical Support
8 18 (6.12%) Penetration Tester
8 18 (6.12%) Tester
9 16 (5.44%) Cisco Engineer
10 15 (5.10%) Security Engineer
11 14 (4.76%) Analyst
12 13 (4.42%) Front-End Engineer (Client-Side Engineer)
12 13 (4.42%) Technical Engineer
12 13 (4.42%) Technical Support Engineer
12 13 (4.42%) UX Engineer
13 12 (4.08%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 12 (4.08%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 27 (9.18%) 802.1X
2 13 (4.42%) Ajax
2 13 (4.42%) AngularJS
2 13 (4.42%) CSS
2 13 (4.42%) GraphQL
2 13 (4.42%) React
3 6 (2.04%) LDAP
3 6 (2.04%) SAML
4 2 (0.68%) X-Windows
5 1 (0.34%) Qt
5 1 (0.34%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 86 (29.25%) Data Centre
2 27 (9.18%) IoT
3 16 (5.44%) Driving Licence
4 14 (4.76%) Mobile App
5 13 (4.42%) Security Posture
6 10 (3.40%) Management Information System
6 10 (3.40%) Onboarding
7 9 (3.06%) Hybrid Cloud
7 9 (3.06%) NHS
8 7 (2.38%) CMDB
9 6 (2.04%) Life Science
9 6 (2.04%) Self-Motivation
9 6 (2.04%) Virtual Team
10 5 (1.70%) Operational Technology
11 4 (1.36%) Data Protection Act
12 3 (1.02%) PKI
12 3 (1.02%) Video Conferencing
13 2 (0.68%) CCTV
13 2 (0.68%) Device Driver
13 2 (0.68%) Enterprise Software
Operating Systems
1 64 (21.77%) Windows
2 56 (19.05%) Android
3 46 (15.65%) Mac OS
4 26 (8.84%) Linux
5 20 (6.80%) Windows 10
6 18 (6.12%) Windows Server
7 16 (5.44%) Unix
8 4 (1.36%) CatOS
9 3 (1.02%) Embedded Linux
9 3 (1.02%) Windows 7
10 2 (0.68%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.68%) Debian
10 2 (0.68%) Kali Linux
10 2 (0.68%) Mac OS X
10 2 (0.68%) Windows Server 2012
11 1 (0.34%) VMS
11 1 (0.34%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 38 (12.93%) Cybersecurity
2 28 (9.52%) Problem-Solving
3 26 (8.84%) Programme Management
4 25 (8.50%) Customer Service
5 23 (7.82%) Business Intelligence
5 23 (7.82%) Digital Marketing
5 23 (7.82%) User Experience
6 21 (7.14%) Network Management
7 19 (6.46%) Regulatory Compliance
8 17 (5.78%) Cloud Security
8 17 (5.78%) Incident Response
8 17 (5.78%) ITIL
8 17 (5.78%) Network Monitoring
8 17 (5.78%) Penetration Testing
8 17 (5.78%) Stakeholder Management
9 16 (5.44%) Migration
9 16 (5.44%) Zero Trust
10 15 (5.10%) Change Management
10 15 (5.10%) Network Segmentation
10 15 (5.10%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 33 (11.22%) Python
2 17 (5.78%) Perl
3 13 (4.42%) Java
3 13 (4.42%) JavaScript
4 8 (2.72%) Lisp
5 5 (1.70%) 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%) Korn
7 1 (0.34%) PowerShell
7 1 (0.34%) Ruby
7 1 (0.34%) SQL
Qualifications
1 89 (30.27%) Security Cleared
2 82 (27.89%) SC Cleared
3 60 (20.41%) Cisco Certification
4 45 (15.31%) CCNP
5 26 (8.84%) Degree
6 22 (7.48%) CCNA
7 17 (5.78%) CCIE
8 12 (4.08%) CHECK Team Member
8 12 (4.08%) DV Cleared
9 10 (3.40%) CREST Certified
9 10 (3.40%) Cyber Scheme
9 10 (3.40%) Postgraduate
10 9 (3.06%) AWS Certification
11 8 (2.72%) Computer Science Degree
11 8 (2.72%) JNCIE
12 7 (2.38%) CISSP
13 6 (2.04%) ECDL
13 6 (2.04%) JNCIA
13 6 (2.04%) JNCIP
13 6 (2.04%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 20 (6.80%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 16 (5.44%) GDPR
2 16 (5.44%) PCI DSS
3 10 (3.40%) PMO
3 10 (3.40%) QA
3 10 (3.40%) SLA
4 5 (1.70%) NIST
5 2 (0.68%) Cyber Essentials
5 2 (0.68%) GxP
6 1 (0.34%) DICOM
6 1 (0.34%) Disclosure Scotland
6 1 (0.34%) HL7
6 1 (0.34%) JTAG
6 1 (0.34%) NCSC
System Software
1 31 (10.54%) Active Directory
2 22 (7.48%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (5.44%) VMware NSX
4 8 (2.72%) Firmware
5 3 (1.02%) 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 19 (6.46%) FortiGate
2 15 (5.10%) Ansible
2 15 (5.10%) Nmap
3 12 (4.08%) Terraform
4 7 (2.38%) SCCM
4 7 (2.38%) Single Sign-On
5 4 (1.36%) Microsoft Intune
6 3 (1.02%) 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
1 156 (53.06%) Cisco
2 48 (16.33%) Microsoft
3 45 (15.31%) Apple
4 44 (14.97%) Dell
5 41 (13.95%) HP
6 40 (13.61%) Palo Alto
7 39 (13.27%) F5
8 36 (12.24%) Fortinet
9 35 (11.90%) ServiceNow
10 32 (10.88%) Juniper
11 26 (8.84%) CheckPoint
12 23 (7.82%) Meraki
12 23 (7.82%) SAP
13 22 (7.48%) VMware
14 20 (6.80%) Aruba
15 17 (5.78%) Splunk
16 15 (5.10%) Oracle
16 15 (5.10%) Remedy
17 14 (4.76%) SolarWinds
18 12 (4.08%) Blue Coat