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 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 167 174 116
Rank change year-on-year +7 -58 +69
Permanent jobs citing WAN 222 319 566
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.47% 1.87% 2.77%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.99% 14.22% 20.06%
Number of salaries quoted 146 221 480
10th Percentile £35,000 £35,750 £29,850
25th Percentile £39,000 £46,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £54,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.48% +8.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £80,000 £72,500 £60,000
90th Percentile £97,500 £90,000 £75,000
UK median annual salary £50,000 £52,500 £49,000
% change year-on-year -4.76% +7.14% -2.00%

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 1,388 2,244 2,821
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.18% 13.17% 13.82%
Number of salaries quoted 908 1,281 2,383
10th Percentile £27,780 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £31,500 £42,238 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -9.09% - -
75th Percentile £71,250 £72,500 £72,433
90th Percentile £87,875 £86,000 £85,000
UK median annual salary £38,500 £54,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -28.70% +8.00% -4.76%

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 1 January 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 39 (17.57%) Microsoft Exchange
2 28 (12.61%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.70%) IIS
4 2 (0.90%) Apache
4 2 (0.90%) nginx
5 1 (0.45%) Confluence
Applications
1 6 (2.70%) Spreadsheet
2 4 (1.80%) Microsoft Office
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.45%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 137 (61.71%) Azure
2 66 (29.73%) Microsoft 365
3 41 (18.47%) AWS
4 26 (11.71%) Entra ID
5 10 (4.50%) Dynamics 365
5 10 (4.50%) OneDrive
6 9 (4.05%) GCP
6 9 (4.05%) Google Workspace
7 8 (3.60%) Power Platform
8 7 (3.15%) GitHub
8 7 (3.15%) SaaS
9 6 (2.70%) Azure Storage
10 5 (2.25%) AWS Direct Connect
10 5 (2.25%) Mimecast
10 5 (2.25%) PowerApps
11 4 (1.80%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (1.80%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (1.80%) IaaS
11 4 (1.80%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 3 (1.35%) Nutanix
Communications & Networking
1 158 (71.17%) LAN
2 125 (56.31%) SD-WAN
3 108 (48.65%) Firewall
4 90 (40.54%) VPN
5 54 (24.32%) Wireless
6 53 (23.87%) Wi-Fi
7 48 (21.62%) DNS
8 46 (20.72%) DHCP
9 41 (18.47%) TCP/IP
10 32 (14.41%) Wireshark
11 28 (12.61%) Network Security
12 27 (12.16%) VLAN
13 26 (11.71%) BGP
14 24 (10.81%) VoIP
15 23 (10.36%) WLAN
16 22 (9.91%) OSPF
17 19 (8.56%) MPLS
18 11 (4.95%) Cisco ISE
19 10 (4.50%) Cisco ASA
19 10 (4.50%) SAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
1 1 (0.45%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 7 (3.15%) Git
2 3 (1.35%) JIRA
General
1 83 (37.39%) Social Skills
2 56 (25.23%) Finance
3 39 (17.57%) Telecoms
4 16 (7.21%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (5.86%) Manufacturing
6 10 (4.50%) Public Sector
6 10 (4.50%) Retail
7 8 (3.60%) Law
8 6 (2.70%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 5 (2.25%) Banking
9 5 (2.25%) Organisational Skills
10 4 (1.80%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.35%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.35%) Automotive
11 3 (1.35%) Police
12 1 (0.45%) French Language
12 1 (0.45%) Influencing Skills
12 1 (0.45%) Legal
12 1 (0.45%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 65 (29.28%) Network Engineer
2 45 (20.27%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 37 (16.67%) Senior
4 22 (9.91%) Analyst
4 22 (9.91%) Senior Network Engineer
5 21 (9.46%) Support Analyst
6 18 (8.11%) IT Engineer
6 18 (8.11%) IT Support
6 18 (8.11%) Support Engineer
7 16 (7.21%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
8 14 (6.31%) Cisco Engineer
9 13 (5.86%) Architect
10 12 (5.41%) 2nd Line Support
10 12 (5.41%) IT Support Engineer
11 10 (4.50%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 9 (4.05%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 9 (4.05%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 9 (4.05%) Cloud Engineer
12 9 (4.05%) Network Manager
12 9 (4.05%) Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.35%) JSON
2 2 (0.90%) LDAP
3 1 (0.45%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 57 (25.68%) Data Centre
2 35 (15.77%) Management Information System
3 18 (8.11%) Driving Licence
4 8 (3.60%) Self-Motivation
5 7 (3.15%) CMDB
5 7 (3.15%) Operational Technology
6 6 (2.70%) CCTV
6 6 (2.70%) Onboarding
7 5 (2.25%) Cloud Native
7 5 (2.25%) Enterprise Software
7 5 (2.25%) Public Cloud
7 5 (2.25%) Social Media
8 4 (1.80%) GNSS
8 4 (1.80%) iPad
8 4 (1.80%) iPhone
8 4 (1.80%) Mobile App
8 4 (1.80%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.80%) Self-Driving Car
8 4 (1.80%) Video Conferencing
9 3 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 75 (33.78%) Windows
2 46 (20.72%) Windows Server
3 28 (12.61%) Windows 10
4 22 (9.91%) Linux
5 21 (9.46%) Mac OS
6 20 (9.01%) Apple iOS
7 12 (5.41%) Windows Server 2016
8 9 (4.05%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
8 9 (4.05%) Windows Server 2019
9 7 (3.15%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (2.25%) Android
11 3 (1.35%) OpenWrt
12 2 (0.90%) CentOS
12 2 (0.90%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (31.53%) Problem-Solving
2 50 (22.52%) ITIL
3 46 (20.72%) Change Management
4 45 (20.27%) Customer Service
5 42 (18.92%) Infrastructure Engineering
6 40 (18.02%) Problem Management
7 38 (17.12%) Disaster Recovery
8 34 (15.32%) Capacity Planning
8 34 (15.32%) Continuous Improvement
8 34 (15.32%) Load Balancing
9 32 (14.41%) Service Delivery
10 31 (13.96%) Network Monitoring
11 30 (13.51%) Coaching
11 30 (13.51%) Migration
11 30 (13.51%) Network Virtualisation
12 28 (12.61%) Mentoring
13 24 (10.81%) DevOps
13 24 (10.81%) High Availability
13 24 (10.81%) Infrastructure as Code
13 24 (10.81%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 27 (12.16%) Python
2 17 (7.66%) PowerShell
3 9 (4.05%) SQL
4 8 (3.60%) Bash
5 3 (1.35%) C
5 3 (1.35%) C++
6 2 (0.90%) Java
6 2 (0.90%) Perl
Qualifications
1 50 (22.52%) Cisco Certification
2 32 (14.41%) Degree
3 31 (13.96%) CCNP
4 20 (9.01%) Azure Certification
5 19 (8.56%) CCNA
6 12 (5.41%) Microsoft Certification
7 11 (4.95%) Security Cleared
8 10 (4.50%) AWS Certification
8 10 (4.50%) ITIL Certification
8 10 (4.50%) SC Cleared
9 9 (4.05%) CCIE
9 9 (4.05%) Master's Degree
10 7 (3.15%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
10 7 (3.15%) PMI Certification
10 7 (3.15%) PMP
11 6 (2.70%) DBS Check
12 5 (2.25%) MCSA
13 4 (1.80%) Network+ Certification
14 3 (1.35%) DV Cleared
15 2 (0.90%) CCDE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (6.76%) SLA
2 8 (3.60%) NIST
3 5 (2.25%) Cyber Essentials
3 5 (2.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 5 (2.25%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 2 (0.90%) GRC
4 2 (0.90%) NCSC
4 2 (0.90%) PCI DSS
4 2 (0.90%) PMO
4 2 (0.90%) QA
5 1 (0.45%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.45%) Basel III
5 1 (0.45%) MiFID
System Software
1 58 (26.13%) Active Directory
2 29 (13.06%) Hyper-V
2 29 (13.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 9 (4.05%) Firmware
3 9 (4.05%) Virtual Machines
3 9 (4.05%) Virtual Servers
4 8 (3.60%) vSphere
5 6 (2.70%) NFS
6 4 (1.80%) Docker
6 4 (1.80%) VMware NSX
7 3 (1.35%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 44 (19.82%) Microsoft Intune
2 32 (14.41%) Terraform
3 28 (12.61%) Ansible
4 14 (6.31%) FortiGate
5 13 (5.86%) Jamf Pro
6 12 (5.41%) Kubernetes
7 7 (3.15%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 6 (2.70%) Autotask
9 4 (1.80%) Dell DRAC
9 4 (1.80%) PaperCut
10 3 (1.35%) Endace
11 2 (0.90%) Red Hat Satellite
11 2 (0.90%) Red Hat Spacewalk
12 1 (0.45%) Cisco Prime
12 1 (0.45%) Failover Clustering
12 1 (0.45%) Kibana
12 1 (0.45%) OpenView
12 1 (0.45%) Proxmox
12 1 (0.45%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 115 (51.80%) Cisco
2 76 (34.23%) Microsoft
3 48 (21.62%) Palo Alto
4 43 (19.37%) Meraki
5 42 (18.92%) VMware
6 40 (18.02%) SolarWinds
7 39 (17.57%) CheckPoint
8 37 (16.67%) Fortinet
9 13 (5.86%) Apple
10 12 (5.41%) Google
10 12 (5.41%) Juniper
11 11 (4.95%) Dell
12 10 (4.50%) Aruba
13 9 (4.05%) F5
13 9 (4.05%) Red Hat
14 8 (3.60%) HP
15 7 (3.15%) Commvault
15 7 (3.15%) Pure Storage
16 6 (2.70%) SonicWALL
16 6 (2.70%) Sophos