Hybrid/Remote WAN Job Trends

Wide Area Network (WAN)
UK > Work from Home

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for remote or hybrid work requiring WAN skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 10 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 199 187 177
Rank change year-on-year -12 -10 -62
Permanent jobs citing WAN 323 262 425
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.30% 1.57% 1.96%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.66% 15.07% 13.54%
Number of salaries quoted 189 164 262
10th Percentile £31,250 £32,550 £36,000
25th Percentile £37,750 £41,000 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% +13.40%
75th Percentile £76,201 £87,500 £70,531
90th Percentile £83,750 £97,500 £84,964
UK median annual salary £55,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +22.22% -14.29% +9.38%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
Work from Home

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 with remote or hybrid options requiring communications or computer networking skills.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 2,204 1,739 3,138
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 8.87% 10.43% 14.49%
Number of salaries quoted 1,346 993 1,478
10th Percentile £29,000 £25,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £74,475 £70,000 £70,188
90th Percentile £86,250 £87,500 £82,500
UK median annual salary £50,000 £39,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +28.21% -25.71% +1.94%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

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

WAN job vacancy trend for remote/hybrid jobs

WAN
Salary Trend for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing WAN.

Salary distribution trend for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing WAN

WAN
Salary Histogram for Remote/Hybrid Jobs

Salary distribution for jobs with remote/hybrid work options citing WAN over the 6 months to 10 October 2026.

WAN salary histogram for jobs with remote/hybrid work options

WAN
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 31 (9.60%) Microsoft Exchange
2 29 (8.98%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.62%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (1.86%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.55%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.62%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 183 (56.66%) Azure
2 105 (32.51%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (19.81%) Cloud Computing
4 53 (16.41%) Entra ID
5 47 (14.55%) AWS
6 31 (9.60%) Power Platform
7 12 (3.72%) OneDrive
8 10 (3.10%) GCP
9 7 (2.17%) Azure Sentinel
10 6 (1.86%) IaaS
10 6 (1.86%) OCI
10 6 (1.86%) PaaS
10 6 (1.86%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 5 (1.55%) Azure Monitor
11 5 (1.55%) Mimecast
11 5 (1.55%) SaaS
12 4 (1.24%) AWS Direct Connect
13 3 (0.93%) Azure DevOps
13 3 (0.93%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 3 (0.93%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 273 (84.52%) LAN
2 156 (48.30%) Firewall
3 90 (27.86%) Network Security
4 85 (26.32%) SD-WAN
5 78 (24.15%) VPN
6 63 (19.50%) DHCP
6 63 (19.50%) DNS
7 57 (17.65%) Wi-Fi
8 56 (17.34%) VLAN
8 56 (17.34%) Wireless
9 48 (14.86%) BGP
10 44 (13.62%) TCP/IP
10 44 (13.62%) WLAN
11 36 (11.15%) OSPF
12 32 (9.91%) MPLS
13 26 (8.05%) Cisco Nexus
14 19 (5.88%) Cisco ISE
15 18 (5.57%) Cisco ASA
16 16 (4.95%) Cisco Firepower
16 16 (4.95%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.79%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.62%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (0.62%) GIS
3 1 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 7 (2.17%) JIRA
2 6 (1.86%) Git
3 5 (1.55%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.62%) GitLab
General
1 167 (51.70%) Social Skills
2 75 (23.22%) Finance
3 63 (19.50%) Presentation Skills
4 46 (14.24%) Telecoms
5 36 (11.15%) Public Sector
6 32 (9.91%) Law
7 23 (7.12%) Retail
8 17 (5.26%) Marketing
9 16 (4.95%) Analytical Skills
9 16 (4.95%) Banking
10 9 (2.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (2.17%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.86%) Manufacturing
13 4 (1.24%) French Language
14 3 (0.93%) Legal
15 2 (0.62%) Automotive
15 2 (0.62%) German Language
15 2 (0.62%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.62%) Local Government
15 2 (0.62%) Military
Job Titles
1 98 (30.34%) Network Engineer
2 97 (30.03%) Architect
3 58 (17.96%) Systems Architect
4 48 (14.86%) Senior
5 29 (8.98%) Network Architect
6 26 (8.05%) Senior Network Engineer
7 25 (7.74%) Support Engineer
8 24 (7.43%) IT Support
9 22 (6.81%) Infrastructure Engineer
10 21 (6.50%) Lead
11 20 (6.19%) IT Engineer
12 14 (4.33%) Analyst
12 14 (4.33%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 13 (4.02%) IT Support Engineer
14 12 (3.72%) Network Manager
15 11 (3.41%) IT Manager
15 11 (3.41%) Network Support
15 11 (3.41%) Network Support Engineer
15 11 (3.41%) Project Manager
15 11 (3.41%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (6.19%) Terraform
2 10 (3.10%) OAuth
2 10 (3.10%) SAML
3 8 (2.48%) 802.1X
4 5 (1.55%) XMPP
5 4 (1.24%) YAML
6 3 (0.93%) LDAP
7 2 (0.62%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.31%) Jinja
8 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 57 (17.65%) Data Centre
2 24 (7.43%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (5.57%) Security Posture
4 17 (5.26%) Onboarding
5 16 (4.95%) Self-Motivation
6 13 (4.02%) Cyber Kill Chain
7 10 (3.10%) Driving Licence
8 7 (2.17%) Cloud Native
9 6 (1.86%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 6 (1.86%) Replication
9 6 (1.86%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (1.55%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.55%) FlexPod
11 4 (1.24%) Clustering
11 4 (1.24%) Cyber Threat
12 3 (0.93%) Analytical Mindset
12 3 (0.93%) Cyber Defence
12 3 (0.93%) Enterprise Storage
12 3 (0.93%) PKI
12 3 (0.93%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 53 (16.41%) Windows
2 38 (11.76%) Windows Server
3 8 (2.48%) Linux
4 7 (2.17%) Mac OS
5 5 (1.55%) Windows Server 2016
5 5 (1.55%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (0.93%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.62%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 95 (29.41%) Project Delivery
2 80 (24.77%) Network Design
3 79 (24.46%) Problem-Solving
4 73 (22.60%) Infrastructure as Code
4 73 (22.60%) Network Architecture
4 73 (22.60%) Roadmaps
5 68 (21.05%) Cybersecurity
6 66 (20.43%) Logistics
7 65 (20.12%) Information Security
8 64 (19.81%) Technical Architecture
9 62 (19.20%) Risk Management
10 60 (18.58%) Business Strategy
11 59 (18.27%) Containerisation
12 58 (17.96%) Business Case
13 53 (16.41%) Continuous Improvement
14 39 (12.07%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 37 (11.46%) Stakeholder Management
16 36 (11.15%) ITIL
16 36 (11.15%) Mentoring
17 33 (10.22%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 29 (8.98%) Python
2 22 (6.81%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.62%) Bash
3 2 (0.62%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) Bicep
4 1 (0.31%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 70 (21.67%) Cisco Certification
2 56 (17.34%) CCNP
3 41 (12.69%) CCNA
4 19 (5.88%) Azure Certification
4 19 (5.88%) Security Cleared
5 17 (5.26%) Degree
6 12 (3.72%) CCIE
7 9 (2.79%) Microsoft Certification
7 9 (2.79%) PMP
7 9 (2.79%) SC Cleared
8 6 (1.86%) DBS Check
8 6 (1.86%) DV Cleared
8 6 (1.86%) Network+ Certification
9 5 (1.55%) PMI Certification
10 4 (1.24%) CompTIA Security+
11 3 (0.93%) A+ Certification
11 3 (0.93%) CCDP
12 2 (0.62%) HNC
12 2 (0.62%) HND
12 2 (0.62%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.20%) GRC
2 23 (7.12%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (5.26%) SLA
4 14 (4.33%) NIST
5 10 (3.10%) GDPR
6 8 (2.48%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.24%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.31%) QA
System Software
1 59 (18.27%) Active Directory
2 37 (11.46%) Hyper-V
3 34 (10.53%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.48%) Firmware
4 8 (2.48%) vSphere
5 6 (1.86%) VMware NSX
6 5 (1.55%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (1.24%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 3 (0.93%) BitLocker
8 3 (0.93%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.62%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.62%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.31%) Docker
10 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 32 (9.91%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (8.05%) FortiGate
3 19 (5.88%) Ansible
4 14 (4.33%) CASB
5 6 (1.86%) Cisco CUCM
5 6 (1.86%) Grafana
5 6 (1.86%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.24%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 3 (0.93%) Failover Clustering
7 3 (0.93%) Kubernetes
7 3 (0.93%) QRadar
8 2 (0.62%) WhatsUp Gold
9 1 (0.31%) Autotask
9 1 (0.31%) Check_MK
9 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
9 1 (0.31%) Cisco UCCE
9 1 (0.31%) Jamf Pro
9 1 (0.31%) N-central
9 1 (0.31%) Packer
9 1 (0.31%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 162 (50.15%) Microsoft
2 142 (43.96%) Cisco
3 60 (18.58%) Palo Alto
4 45 (13.93%) VMware
5 39 (12.07%) Fortinet
6 27 (8.36%) Aruba
7 21 (6.50%) Juniper
8 19 (5.88%) Meraki
9 16 (4.95%) CheckPoint
10 14 (4.33%) Zscaler
11 12 (3.72%) SolarWinds
12 8 (2.48%) F5
12 8 (2.48%) Splunk
13 5 (1.55%) Citrix
13 5 (1.55%) Dell
13 5 (1.55%) Dynatrace
13 5 (1.55%) YouTube
14 4 (1.24%) N-able
14 4 (1.24%) Netskope
14 4 (1.24%) SonicWALL