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

6 months to
13 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 370 270 247
Rank change year-on-year -100 -23 -23
Contract jobs citing Wireless 271 275 407
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 0.57% 0.95% 0.95%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 6.01% 7.44% 7.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 174 182 251
10th Percentile £190 £220 £169
25th Percentile £308 £362 £257
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £425 £455 £413
Median % change year-on-year -6.49% +10.18% -2.94%
75th Percentile £519 £555 £538
90th Percentile £588 £599 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £425 £438 £400
% change year-on-year -2.86% +9.38% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 18 36
10th Percentile £18.92 - £12.75
25th Percentile £37.50 £14.20 £16.12
Median hourly rate £52.43 £24.66 £19.97
Median % change year-on-year +112.59% +23.52% -60.07%
75th Percentile £67.50 £58.94 £24.04
90th Percentile £70.00 £65.00 £58.63
UK excluding London median hourly rate £52.43 £15.25 £17.69
% change year-on-year +243.77% -13.79% -20.53%

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 4,508 3,694 5,429
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.55% 12.75% 12.70%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,786 2,274 3,239
10th Percentile £261 £213 £205
25th Percentile £400 £360 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £495 £488 £490
Median % change year-on-year +1.54% -0.51% -4.99%
75th Percentile £588 £590 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £696
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £463 £475
% change year-on-year +2.70% -2.63% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 240 164 417
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.50
25th Percentile £21.25 £17.92 £16.30
Median hourly rate £40.54 £34.50 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.51% -13.75% +116.22%
75th Percentile £65.88 £58.70 £63.75
90th Percentile £75.00 £75.00 £70.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.10 £24.71 £45.88
% change year-on-year +82.53% -46.14% +148.47%

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 13 May 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 13 May 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for Wireless in the UK

Wireless
Top 16 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 13 May 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 -95 248 £425 -10.53% 258
UK excluding London -83 172 £425 -2.86% 240
London -82 71 £425 -10.53% 82
Work from Home -46 70 £450 -5.32% 69
South East -26 59 £502 +11.61% 84
North of England -70 46 £420 +6.33% 47
North West -33 34 £418 +5.82% 29
West Midlands -40 27 £380 +76.74% 16
Midlands -40 27 £380 +26.67% 25
East of England -46 20 £325 -33.67% 30
South West -32 14 £513 +29.01% 37
North East -14 6 £420 -23.64% 7
Yorkshire -55 6 £450 +104.55% 14
Scotland -3 5 £313 -21.78% 17
Wales -23 1 £550 +48.65% 7
Northern Ireland - 1 £385 - 1

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 6 (2.21%) SharePoint
2 3 (1.11%) Microsoft Exchange
3 1 (0.37%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 22 (8.12%) Microsoft Office
2 20 (7.38%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (5.17%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 12 (4.43%) MS Visio
5 1 (0.37%) Simulink
Business Applications
1 3 (1.11%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 42 (15.50%) Azure
2 32 (11.81%) AWS
3 20 (7.38%) Microsoft 365
4 8 (2.95%) Entra ID
5 5 (1.85%) GCP
5 5 (1.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
6 4 (1.48%) Azure ExpressRoute
6 4 (1.48%) Route 53
7 3 (1.11%) Google Workspace
7 3 (1.11%) SaaS
8 2 (0.74%) Azure Sentinel
8 2 (0.74%) Cloud Computing
8 2 (0.74%) GitHub
8 2 (0.74%) OneDrive
8 2 (0.74%) PaaS
8 2 (0.74%) Slack
9 1 (0.37%) Amazon EC2
9 1 (0.37%) Amazon S3
9 1 (0.37%) Cloudflare
9 1 (0.37%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 124 (45.76%) Firewall
2 92 (33.95%) LAN
3 91 (33.58%) WAN
4 59 (21.77%) Wi-Fi
5 56 (20.66%) Network Security
6 52 (19.19%) VPN
7 45 (16.61%) DNS
8 41 (15.13%) BGP
8 41 (15.13%) OSPF
9 39 (14.39%) SD-WAN
9 39 (14.39%) VLAN
10 36 (13.28%) Cisco ISE
10 36 (13.28%) WLAN
11 35 (12.92%) DHCP
12 27 (9.96%) IPsec
13 24 (8.86%) Cisco Wireless
14 22 (8.12%) Cisco Nexus
15 20 (7.38%) Cisco ASA
16 19 (7.01%) TCP/IP
17 17 (6.27%) HTTPS
Development Applications
1 15 (5.54%) Burp Suite
2 14 (5.17%) Metasploit
3 9 (3.32%) Rational DOORS
4 6 (2.21%) JIRA
5 2 (0.74%) Sonatype Nexus
6 1 (0.37%) MSI
General
1 74 (27.31%) Social Skills
2 16 (5.90%) Analytical Skills
3 13 (4.80%) Public Sector
4 12 (4.43%) Finance
5 11 (4.06%) Documentation Skills
5 11 (4.06%) Retail
6 10 (3.69%) Aerospace
7 6 (2.21%) Telecoms
8 5 (1.85%) Banking
8 5 (1.85%) Law
8 5 (1.85%) Manufacturing
9 4 (1.48%) Legal
10 3 (1.11%) Billing
10 3 (1.11%) Local Government
11 2 (0.74%) Investment Banking
11 2 (0.74%) Presentation Skills
12 1 (0.37%) German Language
12 1 (0.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
12 1 (0.37%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.37%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 114 (42.07%) Network Engineer
2 23 (8.49%) Architect
3 17 (6.27%) Senior
4 16 (5.90%) Cisco Engineer
4 16 (5.90%) Software Engineer
5 15 (5.54%) Penetration Tester
5 15 (5.54%) Tester
5 15 (5.54%) Wireless Engineer
6 13 (4.80%) Cisco Network Engineer
6 13 (4.80%) IT Support
6 13 (4.80%) Network Architect
7 12 (4.43%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
7 12 (4.43%) Senior Network Engineer
7 12 (4.43%) Wireless Network Engineer
8 11 (4.06%) Embedded Engineer
8 11 (4.06%) Embedded Software Engineer
9 10 (3.69%) Security Engineer
9 10 (3.69%) Support Engineer
10 9 (3.32%) Analyst
11 8 (2.95%) DSP Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 50 (18.45%) 802.1X
2 11 (4.06%) SAML
3 9 (3.32%) LDAP
4 6 (2.21%) X-Windows
4 6 (2.21%) Yocto
5 2 (0.74%) A2A Protocol
5 2 (0.74%) Model Context Protocol
6 1 (0.37%) Microsoft Graph
6 1 (0.37%) Qt
6 1 (0.37%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 34 (12.55%) Data Centre
2 17 (6.27%) IoT
3 14 (5.17%) Onboarding
3 14 (5.17%) Security Posture
4 12 (4.43%) Embedded Systems
5 9 (3.32%) FPGA
5 9 (3.32%) PCIe
6 8 (2.95%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (2.58%) PKI
8 6 (2.21%) Device Driver
8 6 (2.21%) Driving Licence
8 6 (2.21%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (2.21%) MicroBlaze
8 6 (2.21%) RISC-V
8 6 (2.21%) Virtual Team
9 5 (1.85%) BYOD
9 5 (1.85%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.85%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (1.48%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.48%) iPad
Operating Systems
1 43 (15.87%) Windows
2 20 (7.38%) Linux
3 18 (6.64%) Windows 10
4 9 (3.32%) Embedded Linux
4 9 (3.32%) FreeRTOS
4 9 (3.32%) Unix
5 8 (2.95%) Mac OS
6 7 (2.58%) Windows Server
7 6 (2.21%) Android
7 6 (2.21%) Mac OS X
8 5 (1.85%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.48%) CatOS
10 3 (1.11%) Windows 7
11 2 (0.74%) Debian
12 1 (0.37%) Kali Linux
12 1 (0.37%) VMS
12 1 (0.37%) Windows XP
Processes & Methodologies
1 29 (10.70%) Network Segmentation
1 29 (10.70%) Problem-Solving
1 29 (10.70%) Technical Leadership
2 28 (10.33%) Cybersecurity
2 28 (10.33%) Zero Trust
3 25 (9.23%) ITSM
4 22 (8.12%) High Availability
4 22 (8.12%) Regulatory Compliance
5 20 (7.38%) ITIL
6 19 (7.01%) Migration
7 18 (6.64%) Change Management
7 18 (6.64%) Root Cause Analysis
8 17 (6.27%) Cloud Security
8 17 (6.27%) Software Engineering
8 17 (6.27%) Validation
9 16 (5.90%) Customer Service
9 16 (5.90%) Penetration Testing
10 15 (5.54%) Agile
10 15 (5.54%) Information Security
10 15 (5.54%) Network Design
Programming Languages
1 17 (6.27%) C
2 15 (5.54%) Python
3 9 (3.32%) C++
4 4 (1.48%) Embedded C
5 1 (0.37%) Bash
5 1 (0.37%) Korn
5 1 (0.37%) Lisp
5 1 (0.37%) MATLAB
5 1 (0.37%) Perl
5 1 (0.37%) PowerShell
5 1 (0.37%) Ruby
5 1 (0.37%) SQL
Qualifications
1 77 (28.41%) Security Cleared
2 71 (26.20%) SC Cleared
3 63 (23.25%) Cisco Certification
4 59 (21.77%) CCNP
5 36 (13.28%) CCNA
6 27 (9.96%) Degree
7 15 (5.54%) CCIE
7 15 (5.54%) Network+ Certification
8 14 (5.17%) CHECK Team Member
9 12 (4.43%) CREST Certified
9 12 (4.43%) Cyber Scheme
10 11 (4.06%) Postgraduate
11 10 (3.69%) Server+ Certification
12 6 (2.21%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (2.21%) DV Cleared
13 4 (1.48%) CompTIA Security+
13 4 (1.48%) CWNA
13 4 (1.48%) JNCIA
13 4 (1.48%) JNCIS
14 3 (1.11%) CWSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (6.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 16 (5.90%) QA
3 14 (5.17%) GDPR
3 14 (5.17%) PCI DSS
4 10 (3.69%) PMO
5 7 (2.58%) SLA
6 5 (1.85%) NIST
7 3 (1.11%) Cyber Essentials
7 3 (1.11%) NCSC
8 1 (0.37%) DICOM
8 1 (0.37%) HL7
8 1 (0.37%) JTAG
System Software
1 31 (11.44%) Active Directory
2 14 (5.17%) VMware Infrastructure
3 12 (4.43%) Firmware
4 11 (4.06%) VMware NSX
5 8 (2.95%) Embedded Firmware
6 3 (1.11%) Hyper-V
7 2 (0.74%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.37%) Virtual Machines
8 1 (0.37%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 18 (6.64%) Ansible
2 16 (5.90%) Nmap
3 12 (4.43%) FortiGate
4 10 (3.69%) Single Sign-On
5 8 (2.95%) Microsoft Intune
5 8 (2.95%) SCCM
6 7 (2.58%) Prometheus
7 6 (2.21%) Grafana
8 5 (1.85%) Salt
8 5 (1.85%) Terraform
9 4 (1.48%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.37%) CASB
10 1 (0.37%) Cisco CUCM
10 1 (0.37%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.37%) Nagios
10 1 (0.37%) Nessus
Vendors
1 142 (52.40%) Cisco
2 63 (23.25%) Palo Alto
3 59 (21.77%) Aruba
4 35 (12.92%) CheckPoint
5 34 (12.55%) F5
5 34 (12.55%) ServiceNow
6 33 (12.18%) Microsoft
7 29 (10.70%) Meraki
8 24 (8.86%) Fortinet
9 21 (7.75%) Ekahau
9 21 (7.75%) Juniper
10 17 (6.27%) ForeScout
10 17 (6.27%) VMware
11 11 (4.06%) Apple
12 10 (3.69%) Arista
12 10 (3.69%) Splunk
13 9 (3.32%) HP
13 9 (3.32%) SolarWinds
14 6 (2.21%) BigPanda
14 6 (2.21%) Infoblox