Software-Defined Wide Area Network (SD-WAN)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs requiring SD-WAN skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 9 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 430 373 361
Rank change year-on-year -57 -12 +153
Permanent jobs citing SD-WAN 316 315 732
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK 0.35% 0.72% 0.76%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 3.29% 5.03% 5.66%
Number of salaries quoted 230 227 485
10th Percentile £38,711 £41,250 £36,250
25th Percentile £52,508 £49,250 £46,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £70,000 £65,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.69% +18.18% -12.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £82,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £93,500 £97,350 £84,919
UK excluding London median annual salary £56,900 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +8.38% +5.00% -

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

SD-WAN falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 9,600 6,266 12,933
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the UK 10.59% 14.40% 13.41%
Number of salaries quoted 4,007 3,794 9,423
10th Percentile £27,500 £27,000 £26,250
25th Percentile £31,000 £32,750 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% -5.00%
75th Percentile £68,750 £68,750 £63,750
90th Percentile £86,250 £87,500 £77,715
UK excluding London median annual salary £40,000 £45,000 £43,500
% change year-on-year -11.11% +3.45% -3.33%

SD-WAN
Job Vacancy Trend

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing SD-WAN relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised.

SD-WAN job vacancy trend in the UK

SD-WAN
Salary Trend

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SD-WAN.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing SD-WAN

SD-WAN
Salary Histogram

Salary distribution for jobs citing SD-WAN over the 6 months to 9 May 2026.

Salary histogram for SD-WAN in the UK

SD-WAN
Top 16 Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing SD-WAN within the UK over the 6 months to 9 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
England -25 295 £70,000 +8.53% 88
London +57 155 £75,000 -9.09% 28
UK excluding London -93 141 £56,900 +8.38% 68
Work from Home +30 120 £74,250 +35.00% 50
Midlands -46 50 £55,500 +5.71% 10
North of England -60 39 £60,000 +4.35% 28
West Midlands -38 38 £56,900 +10.48% 10
North West -13 26 £52,500 -2.78% 12
South West -63 20 £54,498 +3.80% 3
South East -41 17 £75,000 +66.67% 22
Yorkshire -55 13 £62,500 -10.71% 11
East Midlands -29 12 £35,000 -46.15%
Scotland -6 6 £75,000 - 3
East of England -16 4 £49,000 -12.89% 2
Wales -27 4 £75,000 - 1
Northern Ireland - 1 £57,500 -

SD-WAN
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 27 (8.54%) Microsoft Exchange
2 18 (5.70%) SharePoint
3 3 (0.95%) Confluence
Applications
1 14 (4.43%) MS Visio
2 8 (2.53%) Microsoft Excel
2 8 (2.53%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.32%) Oracle Payables
1 1 (0.32%) Shopify
Cloud Services
1 143 (45.25%) Azure
2 91 (28.80%) AWS
3 45 (14.24%) Microsoft 365
4 29 (9.18%) GCP
5 25 (7.91%) Entra ID
6 21 (6.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 18 (5.70%) Azure Monitor
8 17 (5.38%) AWS Direct Connect
8 17 (5.38%) Azure Sentinel
8 17 (5.38%) OneDrive
8 17 (5.38%) SaaS
9 15 (4.75%) Azure ExpressRoute
10 13 (4.11%) Datadog
11 10 (3.16%) Nutanix
12 9 (2.85%) OCI
13 8 (2.53%) GitHub
13 8 (2.53%) Google Workspace
14 4 (1.27%) IaaS
14 4 (1.27%) PaaS
15 3 (0.95%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 308 (97.47%) WAN
2 187 (59.18%) Firewall
3 147 (46.52%) LAN
4 127 (40.19%) VPN
5 88 (27.85%) Network Security
6 84 (26.58%) Wireless
7 80 (25.32%) BGP
8 68 (21.52%) Cisco ISE
9 65 (20.57%) OSPF
10 60 (18.99%) MPLS
11 58 (18.35%) DNS
12 56 (17.72%) VLAN
13 52 (16.46%) Wi-Fi
14 47 (14.87%) WLAN
15 45 (14.24%) DHCP
16 42 (13.29%) TCP/IP
17 35 (11.08%) Cisco Wireless
18 29 (9.18%) Cisco Firepower
18 29 (9.18%) VXLAN
19 23 (7.28%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (1.27%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.32%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.32%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.32%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 10 (3.16%) Git
2 8 (2.53%) LabVIEW
3 4 (1.27%) GitLab
4 2 (0.63%) JIRA
General
1 73 (23.10%) Social Skills
2 42 (13.29%) Finance
3 27 (8.54%) Analytical Skills
4 26 (8.23%) Public Sector
5 16 (5.06%) Retail
6 13 (4.11%) Presentation Skills
7 12 (3.80%) Telecoms
8 10 (3.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 9 (2.85%) Organisational Skills
10 8 (2.53%) Electronics
10 8 (2.53%) Influencing Skills
10 8 (2.53%) Legal
10 8 (2.53%) Manufacturing
10 8 (2.53%) Retail Banking
11 7 (2.22%) Banking
12 5 (1.58%) Documentation Skills
12 5 (1.58%) Law
13 3 (0.95%) Marketing
14 2 (0.63%) Advertising
14 2 (0.63%) Financial Institution
Job Titles
1 134 (42.41%) Network Engineer
2 65 (20.57%) Senior
3 45 (14.24%) Architect
4 41 (12.97%) Senior Network Engineer
5 33 (10.44%) Network Architect
6 28 (8.86%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 26 (8.23%) Cisco Engineer
7 26 (8.23%) Cisco Network Engineer
8 23 (7.28%) Consultant
9 21 (6.65%) IT Engineer
10 19 (6.01%) Network Consultant
11 18 (5.70%) Lead
12 17 (5.38%) Network Manager
12 17 (5.38%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 17 (5.38%) Solutions Architect
13 16 (5.06%) Firewall Engineer
13 16 (5.06%) IT Support
13 16 (5.06%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
14 15 (4.75%) Support Engineer
15 14 (4.43%) Network Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (4.11%) 802.1X
2 9 (2.85%) REST
3 8 (2.53%) pytest
4 4 (1.27%) ModSecurity
4 4 (1.27%) OpenTelemetry
5 3 (0.95%) ARM Templates
6 2 (0.63%) JSON
7 1 (0.32%) LDAP
7 1 (0.32%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 90 (28.48%) Data Centre
2 20 (6.33%) PKI
3 17 (5.38%) Security Posture
4 15 (4.75%) Driving Licence
5 12 (3.80%) Onboarding
5 12 (3.80%) Self-Motivation
6 11 (3.48%) Management Information System
7 8 (2.53%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
7 8 (2.53%) Self-Driving Car
8 7 (2.22%) Product Ownership
8 7 (2.22%) Public Cloud
9 5 (1.58%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.58%) Hybrid Cloud
10 4 (1.27%) Cloud Native
10 4 (1.27%) CMDB
10 4 (1.27%) iPad
10 4 (1.27%) iPhone
10 4 (1.27%) Mobile App
10 4 (1.27%) Video Conferencing
11 3 (0.95%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 47 (14.87%) Windows
2 26 (8.23%) Windows Server
3 21 (6.65%) Windows 10
4 12 (3.80%) Apple iOS
5 8 (2.53%) Unix
6 7 (2.22%) Linux
6 7 (2.22%) Windows 7
6 7 (2.22%) Windows 8
7 2 (0.63%) AIX
8 1 (0.32%) Data ONTAP
8 1 (0.32%) VMS
8 1 (0.32%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 66 (20.89%) Problem-Solving
2 54 (17.09%) ITIL
3 52 (16.46%) Service Management
4 50 (15.82%) Zero Trust
5 46 (14.56%) Network Monitoring
6 43 (13.61%) Service Delivery
7 41 (12.97%) Roadmaps
8 40 (12.66%) Root Cause Analysis
9 39 (12.34%) Continuous Improvement
9 39 (12.34%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 39 (12.34%) Network Segmentation
10 36 (11.39%) Technical Leadership
11 35 (11.08%) Stakeholder Management
12 34 (10.76%) Network Architecture
13 32 (10.13%) Migration
13 32 (10.13%) Presales
14 31 (9.81%) Disaster Recovery
14 31 (9.81%) High Availability
15 30 (9.49%) ITSM
15 30 (9.49%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 51 (16.14%) Python
2 18 (5.70%) PowerShell
3 8 (2.53%) MATLAB
4 5 (1.58%) Bash
4 5 (1.58%) SQL
5 4 (1.27%) Bicep
6 1 (0.32%) JavaScript
6 1 (0.32%) PL/SQL
6 1 (0.32%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 112 (35.44%) Cisco Certification
2 92 (29.11%) CCNP
3 49 (15.51%) Security Cleared
4 41 (12.97%) Degree
5 39 (12.34%) CCIE
6 34 (10.76%) SC Cleared
7 25 (7.91%) CCNA
8 21 (6.65%) Azure Certification
9 18 (5.70%) DV Cleared
10 12 (3.80%) Computer Science Degree
11 11 (3.48%) CISSP
12 9 (2.85%) AWS Certification
13 8 (2.53%) CCSA
13 8 (2.53%) CCSE
13 8 (2.53%) CISA
13 8 (2.53%) CISM
13 8 (2.53%) HND
14 6 (1.90%) CCIE Security
14 6 (1.90%) JNCIE
14 6 (1.90%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 33 (10.44%) NIST
2 28 (8.86%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 22 (6.96%) PCI DSS
4 19 (6.01%) SLA
5 18 (5.70%) GDPR
6 15 (4.75%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 11 (3.48%) Cyber Essentials
8 9 (2.85%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 8 (2.53%) QA
10 4 (1.27%) PMO
11 2 (0.63%) NCSC
12 1 (0.32%) Basel III
12 1 (0.32%) MiFID
12 1 (0.32%) SOC 2
System Software
1 40 (12.66%) Active Directory
2 33 (10.44%) VMware Infrastructure
3 18 (5.70%) Hyper-V
4 11 (3.48%) VMware NSX
5 7 (2.22%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (2.22%) VMware Workstation
6 6 (1.90%) vSphere
7 5 (1.58%) Firmware
7 5 (1.58%) VMware ESXi
8 3 (0.95%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.32%) Docker
Systems Management
1 45 (14.24%) Ansible
2 40 (12.66%) FortiGate
3 26 (8.23%) Microsoft Intune
4 23 (7.28%) Terraform
5 14 (4.43%) SCCM
6 9 (2.85%) Autotask
6 9 (2.85%) Check_MK
6 9 (2.85%) Cisco Prime
7 8 (2.53%) CASB
8 5 (1.58%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 4 (1.27%) WSUS
10 2 (0.63%) Kubernetes
10 2 (0.63%) Nagios
10 2 (0.63%) Netcool
10 2 (0.63%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.32%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.32%) Microsoft Data Protection Manager
11 1 (0.32%) Oracle RMAN
11 1 (0.32%) VxRail
Vendors
1 197 (62.34%) Cisco
2 88 (27.85%) Fortinet
3 71 (22.47%) Microsoft
4 70 (22.15%) SolarWinds
5 65 (20.57%) Palo Alto
6 62 (19.62%) Meraki
7 37 (11.71%) VMware
8 32 (10.13%) CheckPoint
9 23 (7.28%) Aruba
10 21 (6.65%) Juniper
11 20 (6.33%) Zscaler
12 18 (5.70%) F5
13 16 (5.06%) Arista
13 16 (5.06%) Splunk
14 15 (4.75%) Dynatrace
15 14 (4.43%) Avaya
16 13 (4.11%) Infoblox
17 12 (3.80%) Google
17 12 (3.80%) ServiceNow
17 12 (3.80%) SevOne