Hybrid/Remote Software-Defined Networking Contract Job Trends

Software-Defined Networking
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for remote or hybrid contract work requiring Software-Defined Networking skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 29 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 304 289 372
Rank change year-on-year -15 +83 +139
Contract jobs citing Software-Defined Networking 11 21 4
As % of all contract jobs with remote/hybrid work options 0.10% 0.19% 0.024%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 1.01% 1.78% 0.20%
Number of daily rates quoted 8 5 3
10th Percentile £530 - £440
25th Percentile £532 £450 £472
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £596 £500 £550
Median % change year-on-year +19.20% -9.09% -6.38%
75th Percentile - £575 £660
90th Percentile £600 £695 £711
UK median daily rate £575 £575 £706
% change year-on-year - -18.58% +8.65%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
Work from Home

Software-Defined Networking 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 with remote or hybrid options requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 1,087 1,181 2,043
As % of all contract jobs with a WFH option 10.34% 10.88% 12.43%
Number of daily rates quoted 700 700 1,312
10th Percentile £300 £313 £313
25th Percentile £400 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £511 £500
Median % change year-on-year -2.20% +2.25% -4.76%
75th Percentile £600 £625 £600
90th Percentile £688 £725 £675
UK median daily rate £475 £500 £495
% change year-on-year -5.00% +1.01% -3.88%
Number of hourly rates quoted 33 30 82
10th Percentile £19.45 £18.11 £13.03
25th Percentile £33.00 £36.50 £19.99
Median hourly rate £57.50 £43.75 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year +31.43% -7.89% -26.92%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £69.38
90th Percentile £67.40 £73.88 £76.25
UK median hourly rate £30.00 £35.00 £51.65
% change year-on-year -14.29% -32.24% +149.47%

Software-Defined Networking
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

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

Software-Defined Networking job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

Software-Defined Networking
Daily Rate Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Software-Defined Networking.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Software-Defined Networking

Software-Defined Networking
Hourly Rate Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Software-Defined Networking.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing Software-Defined Networking

Software-Defined Networking
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 (9.09%) Confluence
1 1 (9.09%) Oracle Coherence
Applications
1 1 (9.09%) Microsoft Office
Cloud Services
1 9 (81.82%) Azure
2 2 (18.18%) AWS
2 2 (18.18%) GCP
3 1 (9.09%) Azure ExpressRoute
3 1 (9.09%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 2 (18.18%) BGP
2 1 (9.09%) Cisco ASA
2 1 (9.09%) DHCP
2 1 (9.09%) DNS
2 1 (9.09%) EIGRP
2 1 (9.09%) Firewall
2 1 (9.09%) IPv4
2 1 (9.09%) IPv6
2 1 (9.09%) LAN
2 1 (9.09%) MPLS
2 1 (9.09%) OSPF
2 1 (9.09%) SD-WAN
2 1 (9.09%) VLAN
2 1 (9.09%) VPN
2 1 (9.09%) VXLAN
2 1 (9.09%) WAN
2 1 (9.09%) Wireless
2 1 (9.09%) WLAN
Development Applications
1 1 (9.09%) Bitbucket
1 1 (9.09%) Git
1 1 (9.09%) Jenkins
1 1 (9.09%) JIRA
General
1 10 (90.91%) Social Skills
2 2 (18.18%) Analytical Skills
2 2 (18.18%) Documentation Skills
3 1 (9.09%) Influencing Skills
3 1 (9.09%) Presentation Skills
3 1 (9.09%) Public Sector
3 1 (9.09%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 6 (54.55%) Azure Consultant
1 6 (54.55%) Consultant
1 6 (54.55%) Hyper-V Consultant
1 6 (54.55%) PowerShell Consultant
1 6 (54.55%) VMware Consultant
2 4 (36.36%) Architect
3 2 (18.18%) Solutions Architect
4 1 (9.09%) Azure Architect
4 1 (9.09%) Developer
4 1 (9.09%) Network Architect
4 1 (9.09%) Product Architect
4 1 (9.09%) VMware Architect
Miscellaneous
1 2 (18.18%) Data Centre
2 1 (9.09%) Data Protection Act
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (18.18%) Computer Science
1 2 (18.18%) Data Protection
1 2 (18.18%) Network Architecture
1 2 (18.18%) Network Design
2 1 (9.09%) Cybersecurity
2 1 (9.09%) DevOps
2 1 (9.09%) Identity Access Management
2 1 (9.09%) Infrastructure Monitoring
2 1 (9.09%) IT Strategy
2 1 (9.09%) Mentoring
2 1 (9.09%) Network Management
2 1 (9.09%) Network Virtualisation
2 1 (9.09%) Performance Monitoring
2 1 (9.09%) Privileged Access Management
2 1 (9.09%) Problem-Solving
2 1 (9.09%) Security Architecture
2 1 (9.09%) Server Management
2 1 (9.09%) Stakeholder Engagement
2 1 (9.09%) Strategic Thinking
2 1 (9.09%) Task Automation
Programming Languages
1 9 (81.82%) Python
2 7 (63.64%) JavaScript
2 7 (63.64%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 8 (72.73%) SC Cleared
1 8 (72.73%) Security Cleared
2 7 (63.64%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
3 2 (18.18%) Degree
4 1 (9.09%) (ISC)2 CCSP
4 1 (9.09%) AWS Certification
4 1 (9.09%) Azure Certification
4 1 (9.09%) CCIE
4 1 (9.09%) CCIE Security
4 1 (9.09%) CCNP
4 1 (9.09%) CCSP
4 1 (9.09%) Cisco Certification
4 1 (9.09%) CISSP
4 1 (9.09%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (9.09%) GDPR
1 1 (9.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 1 (9.09%) NIST
1 1 (9.09%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 8 (72.73%) Hyper-V
2 2 (18.18%) VMware Infrastructure
3 1 (9.09%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 7 (63.64%) Failover Clustering
1 7 (63.64%) vRealize
2 2 (18.18%) Ansible
2 2 (18.18%) Terraform
3 1 (9.09%) Dell DRAC
3 1 (9.09%) Puppet
Vendors
1 9 (81.82%) VMware
2 2 (18.18%) Cisco
2 2 (18.18%) Meraki
3 1 (9.09%) Atlassian
3 1 (9.09%) Dell
3 1 (9.09%) F5
3 1 (9.09%) Fortinet
3 1 (9.09%) HP
3 1 (9.09%) Oracle
3 1 (9.09%) Palo Alto
3 1 (9.09%) SolarWinds