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 22 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
22 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 173 200 124
Rank change year-on-year +27 -76 +14
Permanent jobs citing WAN 325 274 692
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.50% 1.66% 2.38%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.75% 13.95% 15.86%
Number of salaries quoted 205 198 514
10th Percentile £31,655 £28,000 £34,750
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -9.09% +7.32%
75th Percentile £77,500 £67,188 £72,500
90th Percentile £85,000 £90,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £48,500
% change year-on-year +19.57% -5.15% +2.11%

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 2,363 1,964 4,362
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.90% 11.92% 14.99%
Number of salaries quoted 1,291 1,201 2,614
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £67,500 £67,968
90th Percentile £86,250 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £47,500 £42,500 £48,000
% change year-on-year +11.76% -11.46% -7.69%

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 22 July 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 35 (10.77%) Microsoft Exchange
2 29 (8.92%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.31%) IIS
3 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 8 (2.46%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.92%) AutoCAD
3 3 (0.92%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.92%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 196 (60.31%) Azure
2 115 (35.38%) Microsoft 365
3 70 (21.54%) AWS
4 62 (19.08%) Cloud Computing
5 51 (15.69%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.54%) Power Platform
7 17 (5.23%) GCP
8 10 (3.08%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 9 (2.77%) AWS Direct Connect
9 9 (2.77%) SaaS
10 8 (2.46%) OneDrive
11 7 (2.15%) Google Workspace
12 6 (1.85%) Azure Sentinel
13 5 (1.54%) OCI
14 4 (1.23%) Mimecast
15 3 (0.92%) Azure Monitor
15 3 (0.92%) IaaS
15 3 (0.92%) PaaS
16 2 (0.62%) Azure AKS
16 2 (0.62%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 270 (83.08%) LAN
2 155 (47.69%) Firewall
3 98 (30.15%) VPN
4 94 (28.92%) SD-WAN
5 80 (24.62%) DNS
6 69 (21.23%) Network Security
7 68 (20.92%) DHCP
8 58 (17.85%) Wi-Fi
9 51 (15.69%) TCP/IP
10 50 (15.38%) VLAN
11 49 (15.08%) MPLS
12 48 (14.77%) BGP
13 43 (13.23%) WLAN
14 41 (12.62%) Wireless
15 27 (8.31%) Cisco Firepower
15 27 (8.31%) OSPF
16 24 (7.38%) Cisco ISE
17 21 (6.46%) Cisco ASA
18 20 (6.15%) IPsec
19 19 (5.85%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.54%) SQL Server
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 3 (0.92%) JIRA
2 1 (0.31%) Git
2 1 (0.31%) GitLab
2 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
General
1 158 (48.62%) Social Skills
2 86 (26.46%) Finance
3 65 (20.00%) Presentation Skills
4 39 (12.00%) Telecoms
5 36 (11.08%) Public Sector
6 31 (9.54%) Law
7 17 (5.23%) Banking
8 14 (4.31%) Marketing
8 14 (4.31%) Retail
9 12 (3.69%) Analytical Skills
9 12 (3.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (2.46%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.23%) Electronics
11 4 (1.23%) Military
12 3 (0.92%) Legal
12 3 (0.92%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.62%) French Language
13 2 (0.62%) German Language
13 2 (0.62%) Local Government
13 2 (0.62%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 116 (35.69%) Architect
2 70 (21.54%) Network Engineer
3 58 (17.85%) Systems Architect
4 50 (15.38%) Senior
5 47 (14.46%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 33 (10.15%) Network Architect
7 31 (9.54%) IT Engineer
8 30 (9.23%) IT Support
8 30 (9.23%) Support Engineer
9 23 (7.08%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 22 (6.77%) IT Support Engineer
11 18 (5.54%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (5.54%) 2nd Line Support
11 18 (5.54%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 17 (5.23%) Analyst
12 17 (5.23%) Senior Network Engineer
13 16 (4.92%) Solutions Architect
14 13 (4.00%) Network Manager
15 12 (3.69%) Lead
16 11 (3.38%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (3.08%) OAuth
1 10 (3.08%) SAML
2 9 (2.77%) XMPP
3 4 (1.23%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.23%) LDAP
4 3 (0.92%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.31%) Jinja
5 1 (0.31%) JSON
5 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 43 (13.23%) Data Centre
2 24 (7.38%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (4.62%) Onboarding
3 15 (4.62%) Security Posture
4 14 (4.31%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 12 (3.69%) PKI
6 10 (3.08%) Video Conferencing
7 9 (2.77%) Driving Licence
7 9 (2.77%) FlexPod
7 9 (2.77%) Replication
8 7 (2.15%) Cloud Native
8 7 (2.15%) Self-Motivation
9 4 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.23%) Clustering
9 4 (1.23%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.23%) Cyber Threat
9 4 (1.23%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 4 (1.23%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.23%) Management Information System
10 3 (0.92%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 71 (21.85%) Windows
2 59 (18.15%) Windows Server
3 22 (6.77%) Linux
4 17 (5.23%) Mac OS
5 12 (3.69%) Windows Server 2016
6 11 (3.38%) Windows Server 2019
7 10 (3.08%) Windows 10
8 7 (2.15%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.23%) Unix
10 2 (0.62%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.62%) CentOS
10 2 (0.62%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.31%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.31%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 85 (26.15%) Project Delivery
2 84 (25.85%) Problem-Solving
3 75 (23.08%) Infrastructure as Code
3 75 (23.08%) Network Architecture
4 74 (22.77%) Roadmaps
5 70 (21.54%) Network Design
6 64 (19.69%) Technical Architecture
7 63 (19.38%) Logistics
8 61 (18.77%) Information Security
8 61 (18.77%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 60 (18.46%) Risk Management
10 59 (18.15%) Business Strategy
10 59 (18.15%) Containerisation
11 58 (17.85%) Business Case
12 46 (14.15%) Cybersecurity
13 42 (12.92%) Continuous Improvement
13 42 (12.92%) Stakeholder Management
14 37 (11.38%) Disaster Recovery
15 35 (10.77%) Presales
16 33 (10.15%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 29 (8.92%) Python
2 22 (6.77%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.62%) Bash
4 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
4 1 (0.31%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 62 (19.08%) Cisco Certification
2 49 (15.08%) CCNP
3 31 (9.54%) CCNA
4 30 (9.23%) Security Cleared
5 23 (7.08%) SC Cleared
6 21 (6.46%) Degree
7 19 (5.85%) Azure Certification
8 18 (5.54%) CCIE
9 15 (4.62%) DV Cleared
10 13 (4.00%) Microsoft Certification
11 8 (2.46%) Computer Science Degree
12 5 (1.54%) BPSS Clearance
12 5 (1.54%) PMP
13 4 (1.23%) CCSA
13 4 (1.23%) CCSE
13 4 (1.23%) DBS Check
13 4 (1.23%) JNCIE
14 3 (0.92%) AWS Certification
14 3 (0.92%) CCIE Security
14 3 (0.92%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 60 (18.46%) GRC
2 25 (7.69%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 14 (4.31%) NIST
4 10 (3.08%) SLA
5 8 (2.46%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (1.85%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 6 (1.85%) GDPR
7 3 (0.92%) QA
8 2 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.62%) PCI DSS
9 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 67 (20.62%) Active Directory
2 41 (12.62%) Hyper-V
2 41 (12.62%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (4.92%) vSphere
4 8 (2.46%) VMware NSX
5 7 (2.15%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (1.85%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (1.85%) VMware ESXi
7 5 (1.54%) Firmware
8 1 (0.31%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.31%) Docker
8 1 (0.31%) KVM
8 1 (0.31%) QEMU
8 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 27 (8.31%) Ansible
2 26 (8.00%) Microsoft Intune
3 25 (7.69%) FortiGate
4 17 (5.23%) Terraform
5 12 (3.69%) CASB
6 9 (2.77%) Cisco CUCM
6 9 (2.77%) Grafana
7 8 (2.46%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 5 (1.54%) Endace
8 5 (1.54%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.23%) Kubernetes
9 4 (1.23%) QRadar
9 4 (1.23%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
10 3 (0.92%) Failover Clustering
10 3 (0.92%) Single Sign-On
11 2 (0.62%) OpenView
11 2 (0.62%) SCCM
11 2 (0.62%) Tivoli
11 2 (0.62%) WhatsUp Gold
12 1 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 173 (53.23%) Microsoft
2 136 (41.85%) Cisco
3 64 (19.69%) Palo Alto
4 56 (17.23%) VMware
5 49 (15.08%) Fortinet
6 33 (10.15%) Meraki
7 22 (6.77%) Juniper
8 20 (6.15%) Aruba
9 18 (5.54%) CheckPoint
9 18 (5.54%) SolarWinds
10 17 (5.23%) Splunk
11 13 (4.00%) Zscaler
12 11 (3.38%) F5
13 9 (2.77%) Dynatrace
14 7 (2.15%) Google
15 6 (1.85%) ArcSight
15 6 (1.85%) NetApp
16 5 (1.54%) Citrix
16 5 (1.54%) Netskope
16 5 (1.54%) ServiceNow