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

6 months to
9 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 194 196 177
Rank change year-on-year +2 -19 -63
Permanent jobs citing WAN 320 262 427
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.29% 1.56% 1.97%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.58% 15.04% 13.55%
Number of salaries quoted 188 164 263
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% +11.68%
75th Percentile £76,201 £86,563 £71,563
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 2,195 1,742 3,152
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 8.86% 10.37% 14.54%
Number of salaries quoted 1,340 991 1,490
10th Percentile £29,000 £25,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,313
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £74,750 £70,000 £70,531
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 9 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 (9.69%) Microsoft Exchange
2 29 (9.06%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.63%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (1.88%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.56%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 183 (57.19%) Azure
2 104 (32.50%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (20.00%) Cloud Computing
4 53 (16.56%) Entra ID
5 47 (14.69%) AWS
6 31 (9.69%) Power Platform
7 12 (3.75%) OneDrive
8 10 (3.13%) GCP
9 7 (2.19%) Azure Sentinel
10 6 (1.88%) Azure Monitor
10 6 (1.88%) IaaS
10 6 (1.88%) OCI
10 6 (1.88%) PaaS
10 6 (1.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 5 (1.56%) Mimecast
11 5 (1.56%) SaaS
12 4 (1.25%) AWS Direct Connect
13 3 (0.94%) Azure DevOps
13 3 (0.94%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 3 (0.94%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 270 (84.38%) LAN
2 154 (48.13%) Firewall
3 89 (27.81%) Network Security
4 85 (26.56%) SD-WAN
5 79 (24.69%) VPN
6 63 (19.69%) DHCP
6 63 (19.69%) DNS
7 56 (17.50%) Wi-Fi
8 55 (17.19%) VLAN
8 55 (17.19%) Wireless
9 48 (15.00%) BGP
10 45 (14.06%) TCP/IP
11 44 (13.75%) WLAN
12 36 (11.25%) OSPF
13 32 (10.00%) MPLS
14 26 (8.13%) Cisco Nexus
15 19 (5.94%) Cisco ISE
16 17 (5.31%) Cisco ASA
17 16 (5.00%) VXLAN
18 15 (4.69%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.81%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.63%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (0.63%) GIS
3 1 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 7 (2.19%) JIRA
2 6 (1.88%) Git
3 5 (1.56%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.63%) GitLab
General
1 164 (51.25%) Social Skills
2 75 (23.44%) Finance
3 63 (19.69%) Presentation Skills
4 45 (14.06%) Telecoms
5 34 (10.63%) Public Sector
6 32 (10.00%) Law
7 22 (6.88%) Retail
8 16 (5.00%) Analytical Skills
8 16 (5.00%) Marketing
9 15 (4.69%) Banking
10 9 (2.81%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (2.19%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.88%) Manufacturing
13 4 (1.25%) French Language
14 3 (0.94%) Legal
15 2 (0.63%) Automotive
15 2 (0.63%) German Language
15 2 (0.63%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.63%) Local Government
15 2 (0.63%) Military
Job Titles
1 97 (30.31%) Architect
1 97 (30.31%) Network Engineer
2 58 (18.13%) Systems Architect
3 48 (15.00%) Senior
4 29 (9.06%) Network Architect
5 25 (7.81%) Senior Network Engineer
5 25 (7.81%) Support Engineer
6 24 (7.50%) IT Support
7 23 (7.19%) Infrastructure Engineer
8 21 (6.56%) Lead
9 20 (6.25%) IT Engineer
10 15 (4.69%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 14 (4.38%) Analyst
12 13 (4.06%) IT Support Engineer
13 12 (3.75%) Network Manager
14 11 (3.44%) 2nd Line Support
14 11 (3.44%) IT Manager
14 11 (3.44%) Network Support
14 11 (3.44%) Network Support Engineer
14 11 (3.44%) Project Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (6.25%) Terraform
2 10 (3.13%) OAuth
2 10 (3.13%) SAML
3 8 (2.50%) 802.1X
4 4 (1.25%) XMPP
4 4 (1.25%) YAML
5 3 (0.94%) ARM Templates
5 3 (0.94%) LDAP
6 1 (0.31%) Jinja
6 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 57 (17.81%) Data Centre
2 24 (7.50%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (5.63%) Security Posture
4 16 (5.00%) Onboarding
4 16 (5.00%) Self-Motivation
5 13 (4.06%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 9 (2.81%) Driving Licence
7 7 (2.19%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.88%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 6 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.56%) Replication
9 5 (1.56%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (1.25%) Clustering
10 4 (1.25%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (1.25%) FlexPod
11 3 (0.94%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.94%) Cyber Defence
11 3 (0.94%) Enterprise Storage
11 3 (0.94%) PKI
11 3 (0.94%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 53 (16.56%) Windows
2 38 (11.88%) Windows Server
3 7 (2.19%) Linux
3 7 (2.19%) Mac OS
4 5 (1.56%) Windows Server 2016
4 5 (1.56%) Windows Server 2019
5 3 (0.94%) Windows 10
6 2 (0.63%) Android
Processes & Methodologies
1 94 (29.38%) Project Delivery
2 80 (25.00%) Network Design
3 76 (23.75%) Problem-Solving
4 73 (22.81%) Infrastructure as Code
4 73 (22.81%) Network Architecture
4 73 (22.81%) Roadmaps
5 67 (20.94%) Cybersecurity
6 66 (20.63%) Logistics
7 65 (20.31%) Information Security
8 64 (20.00%) Technical Architecture
9 62 (19.38%) Risk Management
10 60 (18.75%) Business Strategy
11 59 (18.44%) Containerisation
12 58 (18.13%) Business Case
13 53 (16.56%) Continuous Improvement
14 39 (12.19%) Infrastructure Engineering
15 37 (11.56%) Stakeholder Management
16 35 (10.94%) ITIL
16 35 (10.94%) Mentoring
17 33 (10.31%) IT Strategy
Programming Languages
1 29 (9.06%) Python
2 23 (7.19%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.63%) Bash
3 2 (0.63%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) Bicep
4 1 (0.31%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 70 (21.88%) Cisco Certification
2 57 (17.81%) CCNP
3 41 (12.81%) CCNA
4 19 (5.94%) Azure Certification
5 18 (5.63%) Security Cleared
6 17 (5.31%) Degree
7 12 (3.75%) CCIE
8 9 (2.81%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (2.81%) PMP
9 8 (2.50%) SC Cleared
10 6 (1.88%) DBS Check
10 6 (1.88%) DV Cleared
10 6 (1.88%) Network+ Certification
11 5 (1.56%) PMI Certification
12 4 (1.25%) CompTIA Security+
13 3 (0.94%) A+ Certification
13 3 (0.94%) CCDP
14 2 (0.63%) HNC
14 2 (0.63%) HND
14 2 (0.63%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.38%) GRC
2 24 (7.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (5.31%) SLA
4 14 (4.38%) NIST
5 11 (3.44%) GDPR
6 8 (2.50%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.25%) 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 60 (18.75%) Active Directory
2 37 (11.56%) Hyper-V
3 32 (10.00%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.50%) Firmware
5 7 (2.19%) vSphere
6 6 (1.88%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.25%) Virtual Servers
8 3 (0.94%) BitLocker
8 3 (0.94%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.63%) Virtual Desktop
9 2 (0.63%) Virtual Machines
9 2 (0.63%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.31%) Docker
10 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 32 (10.00%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (8.44%) FortiGate
3 18 (5.63%) Ansible
4 14 (4.38%) CASB
5 6 (1.88%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.56%) Cisco CUCM
6 5 (1.56%) Grafana
7 4 (1.25%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 3 (0.94%) Failover Clustering
8 3 (0.94%) Kubernetes
8 3 (0.94%) QRadar
9 2 (0.63%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.31%) Autotask
10 1 (0.31%) Check_MK
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco UCCE
10 1 (0.31%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.31%) N-central
10 1 (0.31%) Packer
Vendors
1 161 (50.31%) Microsoft
2 140 (43.75%) Cisco
3 59 (18.44%) Palo Alto
4 43 (13.44%) VMware
5 37 (11.56%) Fortinet
6 27 (8.44%) Aruba
7 21 (6.56%) Juniper
8 19 (5.94%) Meraki
9 16 (5.00%) CheckPoint
10 14 (4.38%) Zscaler
11 13 (4.06%) SolarWinds
12 8 (2.50%) F5
13 7 (2.19%) Splunk
14 5 (1.56%) Citrix
14 5 (1.56%) Dell
14 5 (1.56%) Dynatrace
14 5 (1.56%) YouTube
15 4 (1.25%) Acronis
15 4 (1.25%) N-able
15 4 (1.25%) Netskope