Hybrid/Remote Network Architecture Contract Job Trends

Network Architecture
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for remote or hybrid contract work requiring Network Architecture 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 258 257 271
Rank change year-on-year -1 +14 +181
Contract jobs citing Network Architecture 57 56 98
As % of all contract jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.56% 0.49% 0.60%
As % of the Processes & Methodologies category 0.61% 0.55% 0.68%
Number of daily rates quoted 26 32 67
10th Percentile £413 £413 £428
25th Percentile £509 £485 £525
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £536 £600 £625
Median % change year-on-year -10.67% -4.00% +3.95%
75th Percentile £600 £641 £684
90th Percentile £701 £674 £750
UK median daily rate £546 £625 £600
% change year-on-year -12.60% +4.17% -4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 0 4
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £91.25 - £86.25
Median hourly rate £92.50 - £90.00
75th Percentile £93.75 - £93.75
90th Percentile - - -
UK median hourly rate £92.50 £118.86 £88.75
% change year-on-year -22.18% +33.93% +136.67%

All Process & Methodology Skills
Work from Home

Network Architecture falls under the Processes and Methodologies category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with remote or hybrid options requiring process or methodology skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for process or methodology skills 9,269 10,143 14,496
As % of all contract jobs with a WFH option 90.54% 89.37% 88.47%
Number of daily rates quoted 6,114 6,359 9,898
10th Percentile £331 £325 £344
25th Percentile £413 £413 £425
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £513 £525 £525
Median % change year-on-year -2.38% - -4.55%
75th Percentile £617 £638 £638
90th Percentile £725 £750 £738
UK median daily rate £500 £525 £525
% change year-on-year -4.76% - -4.55%
Number of hourly rates quoted 321 202 366
10th Percentile £15.50 £18.29 £19.25
25th Percentile £20.25 £22.00 £26.25
Median hourly rate £45.46 £35.02 £53.00
Median % change year-on-year +29.83% -33.93% -7.83%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.19 £71.90
90th Percentile £70.00 £75.00 £87.00
UK median hourly rate £25.15 £32.50 £44.50
% change year-on-year -22.62% -26.97% +27.14%

Network Architecture
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing Network Architecture and offering remote or hybrid work options relative to all contract IT jobs advertised.

Network Architecture job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

Network Architecture
Daily Rate Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Network Architecture.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Network Architecture

Network Architecture
Daily Rate Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Daily rate distribution for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Network Architecture over the 6 months to 1 January 2026.

Network Architecture daily rate histogram for jobs with remote/hybrid work options

Network Architecture
Hourly Rate Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Network Architecture.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Network Architecture

Network Architecture
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in Remote/Hybrid Jobs 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 1 (1.75%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (5.26%) Microsoft Project
2 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (1.75%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Business Applications
1 2 (3.51%) Primavera
2 1 (1.75%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 17 (29.82%) Azure
2 10 (17.54%) AWS
3 6 (10.53%) GCP
4 3 (5.26%) Azure Sentinel
4 3 (5.26%) Cloudflare
4 3 (5.26%) Entra ID
4 3 (5.26%) OpenDNS
5 2 (3.51%) Azure DevOps
5 2 (3.51%) Azure ExpressRoute
5 2 (3.51%) Microsoft 365
5 2 (3.51%) PaaS
6 1 (1.75%) Azure Stack
6 1 (1.75%) Cloud Computing
6 1 (1.75%) IaaS
6 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Purview
6 1 (1.75%) OpenShift
6 1 (1.75%) SaaS
6 1 (1.75%) Smartsheet
6 1 (1.75%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 27 (47.37%) Firewall
2 25 (43.86%) WAN
3 16 (28.07%) LAN
4 14 (24.56%) Network Security
5 12 (21.05%) Internet
6 11 (19.30%) SD-WAN
7 9 (15.79%) VPN
8 7 (12.28%) Wi-Fi
9 6 (10.53%) Intrusion Detection
10 5 (8.77%) Cisco ISE
11 4 (7.02%) BGP
11 4 (7.02%) DNS
11 4 (7.02%) MPLS
11 4 (7.02%) NetScaler
11 4 (7.02%) VXLAN
11 4 (7.02%) Wireless
11 4 (7.02%) WLAN
12 3 (5.26%) IPsec
12 3 (5.26%) NGFW
13 2 (3.51%) OSPF
Development Applications
1 1 (1.75%) JIRA
General
1 22 (38.60%) Social Skills
2 8 (14.04%) Telecoms
3 6 (10.53%) Analytical Skills
3 6 (10.53%) Finance
4 5 (8.77%) Presentation Skills
5 4 (7.02%) Public Sector
6 3 (5.26%) Manufacturing
7 2 (3.51%) Documentation Skills
8 1 (1.75%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 1 (1.75%) Influencing Skills
8 1 (1.75%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 21 (36.84%) Architect
2 14 (24.56%) Network Engineer
3 13 (22.81%) Network Architect
4 11 (19.30%) Lead
5 8 (14.04%) Project Manager
6 5 (8.77%) Lead Network Engineer
6 5 (8.77%) Security Architect
6 5 (8.77%) Solutions Architect
7 4 (7.02%) Analyst
7 4 (7.02%) Network Security Engineer
7 4 (7.02%) Security Engineer
8 3 (5.26%) Cybersecurity Architect
8 3 (5.26%) Operations Analyst
8 3 (5.26%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 3 (5.26%) Security Analyst
8 3 (5.26%) Security Manager
8 3 (5.26%) Security Operations Analyst
8 3 (5.26%) Security Project Manager
8 3 (5.26%) Security Solutions Architect
8 3 (5.26%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (7.02%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 12 (21.05%) Data Centre
2 8 (14.04%) Hybrid Cloud
3 6 (10.53%) Operational Technology
4 4 (7.02%) Data Protection Act
4 4 (7.02%) SCADA
4 4 (7.02%) Security Operations Centre
5 2 (3.51%) Legacy Systems
5 2 (3.51%) Life Science
5 2 (3.51%) Onboarding
5 2 (3.51%) Renewable Energy
6 1 (1.75%) Cloud Native
6 1 (1.75%) IoT
6 1 (1.75%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 2 (3.51%) Windows
2 1 (1.75%) VMS
Processes & Methodologies
1 21 (36.84%) Zero Trust
2 20 (35.09%) Network Design
3 11 (19.30%) Stakeholder Management
4 10 (17.54%) Incident Response
5 9 (15.79%) SIEM
6 8 (14.04%) Cybersecurity
7 7 (12.28%) Infrastructure Automation
7 7 (12.28%) Network Management
7 7 (12.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
7 7 (12.28%) Technical Leadership
8 6 (10.53%) Performance Tuning
8 6 (10.53%) Problem-Solving
8 6 (10.53%) Roadmaps
9 5 (8.77%) Change Control
9 5 (8.77%) Data Protection
9 5 (8.77%) Enterprise Architecture
9 5 (8.77%) Impact Assessments
9 5 (8.77%) Load Balancing
9 5 (8.77%) Programme Management
10 4 (7.02%) MITRE ATT&CK
Programming Languages
1 5 (8.77%) Python
2 4 (7.02%) Bash
3 3 (5.26%) Kusto Query Language
3 3 (5.26%) PowerShell
4 1 (1.75%) Bicep
4 1 (1.75%) C++
4 1 (1.75%) Perl
4 1 (1.75%) Shell Script
4 1 (1.75%) SQL
Qualifications
1 19 (33.33%) Cisco Certification
2 17 (29.82%) CCNP
3 15 (26.32%) Security Cleared
4 12 (21.05%) SC Cleared
5 8 (14.04%) Degree
6 6 (10.53%) CCIE
7 5 (8.77%) Azure Certification
7 5 (8.77%) CISSP
8 3 (5.26%) CCSE
8 3 (5.26%) DV Cleared
9 2 (3.51%) AWS Certification
9 2 (3.51%) Computer Science Degree
9 2 (3.51%) ITIL Certification
9 2 (3.51%) PMI Certification
9 2 (3.51%) PMP
10 1 (1.75%) CCIE Security
10 1 (1.75%) CCNA
10 1 (1.75%) CCSP
10 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Certification
10 1 (1.75%) TOGAF Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (7.02%) GDPR
2 3 (5.26%) NIST
3 2 (3.51%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 1 (1.75%) Cyber Essentials
4 1 (1.75%) ISO 31000
4 1 (1.75%) NCSC
4 1 (1.75%) NIST 800
4 1 (1.75%) PCI DSS
4 1 (1.75%) QA
System Software
1 3 (5.26%) Active Directory
1 3 (5.26%) Docker
1 3 (5.26%) Snort
1 3 (5.26%) Squid
2 2 (3.51%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (1.75%) Firmware
3 1 (1.75%) Virtual Machines
3 1 (1.75%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 5 (8.77%) Terraform
2 4 (7.02%) Ansible
2 4 (7.02%) Kubernetes
3 3 (5.26%) Nessus
3 3 (5.26%) Nexpose
3 3 (5.26%) Suricata
4 2 (3.51%) FortiGate
5 1 (1.75%) SCCM
Vendors
1 30 (52.63%) Cisco
2 22 (38.60%) Palo Alto
3 12 (21.05%) Zscaler
4 10 (17.54%) Meraki
5 9 (15.79%) Microsoft
6 8 (14.04%) Fortinet
7 7 (12.28%) CheckPoint
7 7 (12.28%) Juniper
8 3 (5.26%) Aruba
8 3 (5.26%) Blue Coat
8 3 (5.26%) Carbon Black
8 3 (5.26%) CrowdStrike
8 3 (5.26%) FireEye
8 3 (5.26%) Google
8 3 (5.26%) Okta
8 3 (5.26%) Qualys
8 3 (5.26%) Splunk
9 2 (3.51%) F5
9 2 (3.51%) Hitachi
9 2 (3.51%) VMware