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 9 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

 6 months to
9 Sep 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 192 192 156
Rank change year-on-year 0 -36 -36
Permanent jobs citing WAN 324 254 506
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.36% 1.57% 2.17%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.01% 13.82% 13.78%
Number of salaries quoted 197 177 321
10th Percentile £31,250 £30,575 £36,250
25th Percentile £39,000 £39,000 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +13.64% - +10.00%
75th Percentile £76,201 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £84,250 £92,000 £84,964
UK median annual salary £55,000 £42,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +29.41% -15.00% +5.26%

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 2,313 1,838 3,673
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.73% 11.35% 15.75%
Number of salaries quoted 1,346 1,072 1,652
10th Percentile £29,000 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £49,489 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +11.14% -10.02% -4.35%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,750 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £82,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £40,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +18.75% -20.00% -2.91%

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 9 September 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 27 (8.33%) Microsoft Exchange
2 25 (7.72%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.62%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) IIS
4 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 7 (2.16%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 186 (57.41%) Azure
2 104 (32.10%) Microsoft 365
3 62 (19.14%) Cloud Computing
4 58 (17.90%) AWS
5 49 (15.12%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.57%) Power Platform
7 17 (5.25%) GCP
8 9 (2.78%) OneDrive
9 8 (2.47%) OCI
10 7 (2.16%) Azure Sentinel
11 6 (1.85%) IaaS
11 6 (1.85%) PaaS
11 6 (1.85%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 5 (1.54%) SaaS
13 4 (1.23%) AWS Direct Connect
13 4 (1.23%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (1.23%) Mimecast
14 2 (0.62%) Azure AKS
14 2 (0.62%) Azure Key Vault
14 2 (0.62%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 275 (84.88%) LAN
2 163 (50.31%) Firewall
3 87 (26.85%) SD-WAN
4 83 (25.62%) VPN
5 81 (25.00%) Network Security
6 67 (20.68%) DNS
7 62 (19.14%) DHCP
8 58 (17.90%) VLAN
9 50 (15.43%) BGP
9 50 (15.43%) Wireless
10 49 (15.12%) Wi-Fi
11 45 (13.89%) TCP/IP
12 39 (12.04%) MPLS
13 38 (11.73%) WLAN
14 34 (10.49%) OSPF
15 24 (7.41%) Cisco Nexus
16 20 (6.17%) Cisco ISE
17 18 (5.56%) Cisco ASA
18 16 (4.94%) VXLAN
19 15 (4.63%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.78%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.31%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.31%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.31%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.31%) MySQL
2 1 (0.31%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.31%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.31%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 6 (1.85%) Git
1 6 (1.85%) JIRA
2 5 (1.54%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.62%) GitLab
4 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
General
1 158 (48.77%) Social Skills
2 78 (24.07%) Finance
3 66 (20.37%) Presentation Skills
4 49 (15.12%) Telecoms
5 41 (12.65%) Public Sector
6 32 (9.88%) Law
7 21 (6.48%) Retail
8 20 (6.17%) Banking
9 19 (5.86%) Marketing
10 14 (4.32%) Analytical Skills
11 8 (2.47%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (2.47%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (1.54%) Manufacturing
13 4 (1.23%) Electronics
13 4 (1.23%) Legal
14 3 (0.93%) Military
15 2 (0.62%) French Language
15 2 (0.62%) German Language
15 2 (0.62%) Local Government
16 1 (0.31%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 104 (32.10%) Architect
2 90 (27.78%) Network Engineer
3 58 (17.90%) Systems Architect
4 52 (16.05%) Senior
5 35 (10.80%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 31 (9.57%) Network Architect
7 24 (7.41%) Support Engineer
8 23 (7.10%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 23 (7.10%) Senior Network Engineer
9 22 (6.79%) IT Support
10 17 (5.25%) Analyst
10 17 (5.25%) IT Engineer
10 17 (5.25%) Lead
11 12 (3.70%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 12 (3.70%) 2nd Line Support
11 12 (3.70%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 12 (3.70%) IT Support Engineer
11 12 (3.70%) Network Manager
11 12 (3.70%) Solutions Architect
12 11 (3.40%) Network Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (7.10%) Terraform
2 10 (3.09%) OAuth
2 10 (3.09%) SAML
3 7 (2.16%) 802.1X
3 7 (2.16%) XMPP
4 4 (1.23%) LDAP
4 4 (1.23%) YAML
5 3 (0.93%) ARM Templates
6 1 (0.31%) Jinja
6 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 52 (16.05%) Data Centre
2 26 (8.02%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (5.25%) Onboarding
3 17 (5.25%) Security Posture
4 14 (4.32%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 13 (4.01%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (2.47%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (2.16%) Cloud Native
7 7 (2.16%) FlexPod
7 7 (2.16%) PKI
7 7 (2.16%) Replication
8 6 (1.85%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 6 (1.85%) Driving Licence
9 5 (1.54%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.23%) Clustering
10 4 (1.23%) Cyber Defence
10 4 (1.23%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (0.93%) Enterprise Storage
12 2 (0.62%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 59 (18.21%) Windows
2 48 (14.81%) Windows Server
3 15 (4.63%) Linux
4 8 (2.47%) Mac OS
5 6 (1.85%) Windows Server 2016
5 6 (1.85%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (1.23%) Unix
7 2 (0.62%) CentOS
7 2 (0.62%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.62%) Windows 10
8 1 (0.31%) Android
8 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (28.09%) Project Delivery
2 75 (23.15%) Infrastructure as Code
2 75 (23.15%) Network Architecture
3 74 (22.84%) Network Design
3 74 (22.84%) Roadmaps
4 70 (21.60%) Problem-Solving
5 64 (19.75%) Logistics
5 64 (19.75%) Technical Architecture
6 63 (19.44%) Cybersecurity
6 63 (19.44%) Information Security
7 59 (18.21%) Containerisation
8 58 (17.90%) Business Case
8 58 (17.90%) Business Strategy
8 58 (17.90%) Risk Management
9 49 (15.12%) Continuous Improvement
9 49 (15.12%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 40 (12.35%) Stakeholder Management
11 35 (10.80%) ITIL
12 33 (10.19%) IT Strategy
12 33 (10.19%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 34 (10.49%) Python
2 23 (7.10%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.62%) Bash
3 2 (0.62%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
4 1 (0.31%) Ruby
4 1 (0.31%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 69 (21.30%) Cisco Certification
2 54 (16.67%) CCNP
3 36 (11.11%) CCNA
4 23 (7.10%) Degree
5 22 (6.79%) Security Cleared
6 21 (6.48%) Azure Certification
7 15 (4.63%) CCIE
8 12 (3.70%) DV Cleared
8 12 (3.70%) SC Cleared
9 10 (3.09%) Microsoft Certification
10 8 (2.47%) PMP
11 6 (1.85%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (1.23%) AWS Certification
12 4 (1.23%) CompTIA Security+
12 4 (1.23%) DBS Check
12 4 (1.23%) JNCIE
12 4 (1.23%) Network+ Certification
12 4 (1.23%) PMI Certification
13 3 (0.93%) CCSA
13 3 (0.93%) CCSE
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.14%) GRC
2 23 (7.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (4.94%) SLA
4 15 (4.63%) NIST
5 11 (3.40%) GDPR
6 7 (2.16%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.23%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.93%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.62%) QA
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 62 (19.14%) Active Directory
2 39 (12.04%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (11.73%) Hyper-V
4 14 (4.32%) vSphere
5 10 (3.09%) VMware NSX
6 7 (2.16%) Firmware
7 6 (1.85%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (1.54%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (1.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 3 (0.93%) BitLocker
11 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.31%) Docker
11 1 (0.31%) KVM
11 1 (0.31%) QEMU
11 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 29 (8.95%) Ansible
2 27 (8.33%) FortiGate
3 26 (8.02%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (4.32%) CASB
5 7 (2.16%) Cisco CUCM
5 7 (2.16%) Grafana
6 5 (1.54%) Kubernetes
6 5 (1.54%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.54%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.23%) QRadar
7 4 (1.23%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 3 (0.93%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.62%) Active Directory Federation Services
9 2 (0.62%) SCCM
9 2 (0.62%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.31%) OpenView
10 1 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
10 1 (0.31%) Puppet
10 1 (0.31%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 164 (50.62%) Microsoft
2 141 (43.52%) Cisco
3 67 (20.68%) Palo Alto
4 54 (16.67%) VMware
5 39 (12.04%) Fortinet
6 23 (7.10%) Aruba
6 23 (7.10%) Meraki
7 20 (6.17%) Juniper
8 16 (4.94%) CheckPoint
8 16 (4.94%) Zscaler
9 15 (4.63%) Splunk
10 13 (4.01%) SolarWinds
11 6 (1.85%) F5
11 6 (1.85%) Netskope
12 5 (1.54%) ArcSight
12 5 (1.54%) Citrix
12 5 (1.54%) Dell
13 4 (1.23%) HP
13 4 (1.23%) NetApp
13 4 (1.23%) SonicWALL
164 hybrid/remote WAN jobs