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 15 October 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
15 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 193 193 166
Rank change year-on-year 0 -27 -51
Permanent jobs citing WAN 328 259 415
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.30% 1.57% 1.99%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.86% 15.03% 15.80%
Number of salaries quoted 191 163 256
10th Percentile £31,250 £31,500 £35,500
25th Percentile £37,625 £40,750 £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 £86,875 £72,500
90th Percentile £83,750 £97,500 £85,000
UK median annual salary £55,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +22.22% -14.29% +10.53%

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 2,208 1,723 2,627
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 8.78% 10.42% 12.61%
Number of salaries quoted 1,339 984 1,471
10th Percentile £29,000 £25,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £42,119
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £73,750 £70,000 £71,250
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £82,500
UK median annual salary £50,000 £38,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year +29.87% -26.67% +2.94%

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 15 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 32 (9.76%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (9.15%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.61%) Confluence
4 1 (0.30%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (1.83%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.61%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.30%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 182 (55.49%) Azure
2 106 (32.32%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (19.51%) Cloud Computing
4 53 (16.16%) Entra ID
5 47 (14.33%) AWS
6 31 (9.45%) Power Platform
7 13 (3.96%) OneDrive
8 10 (3.05%) GCP
9 7 (2.13%) Azure Sentinel
10 6 (1.83%) IaaS
10 6 (1.83%) OCI
10 6 (1.83%) PaaS
10 6 (1.83%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 5 (1.52%) Azure Monitor
11 5 (1.52%) Mimecast
11 5 (1.52%) SaaS
12 4 (1.22%) AWS Direct Connect
13 3 (0.91%) Azure DevOps
13 3 (0.91%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 3 (0.91%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 277 (84.45%) LAN
2 159 (48.48%) Firewall
3 92 (28.05%) Network Security
4 88 (26.83%) SD-WAN
5 80 (24.39%) VPN
6 66 (20.12%) DHCP
6 66 (20.12%) DNS
7 61 (18.60%) Wi-Fi
8 60 (18.29%) VLAN
9 58 (17.68%) Wireless
10 48 (14.63%) BGP
11 47 (14.33%) TCP/IP
12 45 (13.72%) WLAN
13 36 (10.98%) OSPF
14 32 (9.76%) MPLS
15 28 (8.54%) Cisco Nexus
16 20 (6.10%) Cisco ASA
17 19 (5.79%) Cisco ISE
18 16 (4.88%) Cisco Firepower
18 16 (4.88%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.74%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.61%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (0.61%) GIS
3 1 (0.30%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 7 (2.13%) JIRA
2 6 (1.83%) Git
3 5 (1.52%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.61%) GitLab
General
1 172 (52.44%) Social Skills
2 75 (22.87%) Finance
3 63 (19.21%) Presentation Skills
4 47 (14.33%) Telecoms
5 36 (10.98%) Public Sector
6 32 (9.76%) Law
7 23 (7.01%) Retail
8 17 (5.18%) Analytical Skills
8 17 (5.18%) Marketing
9 16 (4.88%) Banking
10 9 (2.74%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (2.13%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.83%) French Language
12 6 (1.83%) Manufacturing
13 3 (0.91%) Legal
14 2 (0.61%) Automotive
14 2 (0.61%) German Language
14 2 (0.61%) Influencing Skills
14 2 (0.61%) Local Government
14 2 (0.61%) Military
Job Titles
1 101 (30.79%) Network Engineer
2 97 (29.57%) Architect
3 58 (17.68%) Systems Architect
4 49 (14.94%) Senior
5 29 (8.84%) Network Architect
6 27 (8.23%) Senior Network Engineer
7 26 (7.93%) IT Support
7 26 (7.93%) Support Engineer
8 22 (6.71%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 22 (6.71%) Lead
9 20 (6.10%) IT Engineer
10 14 (4.27%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 13 (3.96%) Analyst
11 13 (3.96%) IT Support Engineer
12 12 (3.66%) Network Manager
13 11 (3.35%) IT Manager
13 11 (3.35%) Network Support
13 11 (3.35%) Network Support Engineer
13 11 (3.35%) Project Manager
13 11 (3.35%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (6.10%) Terraform
2 10 (3.05%) OAuth
2 10 (3.05%) SAML
3 8 (2.44%) 802.1X
4 5 (1.52%) XMPP
5 4 (1.22%) YAML
6 3 (0.91%) LDAP
7 2 (0.61%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.30%) Jinja
8 1 (0.30%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 59 (17.99%) Data Centre
2 24 (7.32%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (5.49%) Security Posture
3 18 (5.49%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (5.18%) Onboarding
5 13 (3.96%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 12 (3.66%) Driving Licence
7 7 (2.13%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.83%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 6 (1.83%) Replication
8 6 (1.83%) Video Conferencing
9 5 (1.52%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.52%) FlexPod
10 4 (1.22%) Clustering
10 4 (1.22%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (0.91%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.91%) Cyber Defence
11 3 (0.91%) Enterprise Storage
11 3 (0.91%) PKI
11 3 (0.91%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 54 (16.46%) Windows
2 38 (11.59%) Windows Server
3 8 (2.44%) Linux
4 7 (2.13%) macOS
5 5 (1.52%) Windows Server 2016
5 5 (1.52%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (0.91%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.61%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (29.57%) Project Delivery
2 81 (24.70%) Network Design
2 81 (24.70%) Problem-Solving
3 73 (22.26%) Infrastructure as Code
3 73 (22.26%) Network Architecture
3 73 (22.26%) Roadmaps
4 72 (21.95%) Cybersecurity
5 66 (20.12%) Logistics
6 65 (19.82%) Information Security
7 64 (19.51%) Technical Architecture
8 62 (18.90%) Risk Management
9 60 (18.29%) Business Strategy
10 59 (17.99%) Containerisation
11 58 (17.68%) Business Case
12 54 (16.46%) Continuous Improvement
13 38 (11.59%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 38 (11.59%) ITIL
13 38 (11.59%) Stakeholder Management
14 37 (11.28%) Mentoring
15 33 (10.06%) IT Strategy
Programming Languages
1 29 (8.84%) Python
2 22 (6.71%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.61%) Bash
3 2 (0.61%) SQL
4 1 (0.30%) Bicep
4 1 (0.30%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 73 (22.26%) Cisco Certification
2 58 (17.68%) CCNP
3 44 (13.41%) CCNA
4 19 (5.79%) Azure Certification
4 19 (5.79%) Security Cleared
5 17 (5.18%) Degree
6 12 (3.66%) CCIE
7 9 (2.74%) Microsoft Certification
7 9 (2.74%) PMP
7 9 (2.74%) SC Cleared
8 7 (2.13%) DBS Check
9 6 (1.83%) DV Cleared
9 6 (1.83%) Network+ Certification
10 5 (1.52%) PMI Certification
11 4 (1.22%) CompTIA Security+
12 3 (0.91%) A+ Certification
12 3 (0.91%) CCDP
13 2 (0.61%) HNC
13 2 (0.61%) HND
13 2 (0.61%) JNCIE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (18.90%) GRC
2 23 (7.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (5.18%) SLA
4 14 (4.27%) NIST
5 11 (3.35%) GDPR
6 9 (2.74%) Cyber Essentials
7 5 (1.52%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 4 (1.22%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.30%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.30%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.30%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.30%) QA
System Software
1 60 (18.29%) Active Directory
2 37 (11.28%) Hyper-V
3 34 (10.37%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.44%) Firmware
4 8 (2.44%) vSphere
5 6 (1.83%) Virtual Servers
5 6 (1.83%) VMware NSX
6 5 (1.52%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 3 (0.91%) BitLocker
7 3 (0.91%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.61%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.61%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.30%) Docker
9 1 (0.30%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 33 (10.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (7.93%) FortiGate
3 19 (5.79%) Ansible
4 14 (4.27%) CASB
5 6 (1.83%) Cisco CUCM
5 6 (1.83%) Grafana
5 6 (1.83%) Single Sign-On
6 4 (1.22%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 3 (0.91%) Failover Clustering
7 3 (0.91%) Kubernetes
7 3 (0.91%) QRadar
8 2 (0.61%) Autotask
8 2 (0.61%) Jamf Pro
8 2 (0.61%) N-central
8 2 (0.61%) WhatsUp Gold
9 1 (0.30%) Check_MK
9 1 (0.30%) Cisco Prime
9 1 (0.30%) Cisco UCCE
9 1 (0.30%) Packer
9 1 (0.30%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 164 (50.00%) Microsoft
2 145 (44.21%) Cisco
3 60 (18.29%) Palo Alto
4 45 (13.72%) VMware
5 41 (12.50%) Fortinet
6 29 (8.84%) Aruba
7 21 (6.40%) Juniper
8 20 (6.10%) Meraki
9 18 (5.49%) CheckPoint
10 14 (4.27%) Zscaler
11 12 (3.66%) SolarWinds
12 10 (3.05%) F5
13 8 (2.44%) Splunk
14 6 (1.83%) Infoblox
15 5 (1.52%) Citrix
15 5 (1.52%) Dell
15 5 (1.52%) Dynatrace
15 5 (1.52%) YouTube
16 4 (1.22%) N-able
16 4 (1.22%) SonicWALL