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

6 months to
23 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 199 201 130
Rank change year-on-year +2 -71 +12
Permanent jobs citing WAN 258 273 801
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.27% 1.75% 2.32%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.42% 14.30% 15.75%
Number of salaries quoted 189 191 606
10th Percentile £32,059 £28,000 £33,000
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £40,188
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £53,750
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -6.98% +2.38%
75th Percentile £77,500 £65,625 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £54,068 £49,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +10.34% +3.16% -

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 2,260 1,909 5,085
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.11% 12.27% 14.71%
Number of salaries quoted 1,163 1,149 3,272
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.53% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £86,355 £80,000
UK median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -6.86%

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 23 June 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 38 (14.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 31 (12.02%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.39%) Confluence
3 1 (0.39%) IIS
3 1 (0.39%) OpenStack
Applications
1 10 (3.88%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.16%) AutoCAD
2 3 (1.16%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.16%) MS Visio
2 3 (1.16%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.78%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.39%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 136 (52.71%) Azure
2 78 (30.23%) Microsoft 365
3 74 (28.68%) AWS
4 43 (16.67%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.20%) GCP
6 13 (5.04%) AWS Direct Connect
6 13 (5.04%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 12 (4.65%) SaaS
8 10 (3.88%) Google Workspace
8 10 (3.88%) OneDrive
9 5 (1.94%) Azure Sentinel
9 5 (1.94%) OCI
10 3 (1.16%) IaaS
10 3 (1.16%) PaaS
11 2 (0.78%) Azure AKS
11 2 (0.78%) Azure Monitor
11 2 (0.78%) Datadog
11 2 (0.78%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.78%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.78%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 190 (73.64%) LAN
2 139 (53.88%) Firewall
3 107 (41.47%) SD-WAN
4 105 (40.70%) VPN
5 80 (31.01%) DNS
6 67 (25.97%) DHCP
7 55 (21.32%) Network Security
8 54 (20.93%) TCP/IP
9 52 (20.16%) Wi-Fi
10 50 (19.38%) MPLS
11 49 (18.99%) BGP
12 40 (15.50%) WLAN
13 39 (15.12%) VLAN
14 32 (12.40%) Cisco Firepower
15 30 (11.63%) OSPF
16 29 (11.24%) Cisco ISE
17 28 (10.85%) Wireless
18 25 (9.69%) Cisco ASA
19 22 (8.53%) IPsec
20 20 (7.75%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (1.16%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.78%) Power BI
3 1 (0.39%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.39%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.39%) MySQL
3 1 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.39%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.39%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.16%) JIRA
2 1 (0.39%) GitLab
2 1 (0.39%) Jenkins
General
1 83 (32.17%) Social Skills
2 35 (13.57%) Finance
3 34 (13.18%) Public Sector
4 32 (12.40%) Telecoms
5 16 (6.20%) Banking
6 15 (5.81%) Retail
7 14 (5.43%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (5.04%) Marketing
9 11 (4.26%) Analytical Skills
10 9 (3.49%) Organisational Skills
11 6 (2.33%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (1.55%) Electronics
13 3 (1.16%) Legal
14 2 (0.78%) Law
14 2 (0.78%) Local Government
14 2 (0.78%) Manufacturing
14 2 (0.78%) Military
14 2 (0.78%) Police
14 2 (0.78%) Retail Banking
15 1 (0.39%) Fire and Rescue
Job Titles
1 73 (28.29%) Network Engineer
2 54 (20.93%) Architect
3 51 (19.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 47 (18.22%) Senior
5 40 (15.50%) IT Engineer
6 32 (12.40%) Network Architect
7 30 (11.63%) Support Engineer
8 26 (10.08%) IT Support
9 24 (9.30%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 22 (8.53%) IT Support Engineer
11 17 (6.59%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 17 (6.59%) 2nd Line Support
11 17 (6.59%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 17 (6.59%) Solutions Architect
12 13 (5.04%) Analyst
12 13 (5.04%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
12 13 (5.04%) Network Manager
12 13 (5.04%) Operations Engineer
13 12 (4.65%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
13 12 (4.65%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.49%) XMPP
2 8 (3.10%) OAuth
2 8 (3.10%) SAML
3 4 (1.55%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.55%) LDAP
4 2 (0.78%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.78%) Web Services
5 1 (0.39%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 44 (17.05%) Data Centre
2 24 (9.30%) Hybrid Cloud
3 14 (5.43%) Security Posture
4 12 (4.65%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 12 (4.65%) PKI
5 10 (3.88%) Onboarding
6 9 (3.49%) Cloud Native
6 9 (3.49%) Driving Licence
6 9 (3.49%) FlexPod
6 9 (3.49%) Replication
6 9 (3.49%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (2.71%) Management Information System
7 7 (2.71%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.94%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.55%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.55%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.55%) Cyber Threat
9 4 (1.55%) Virtual Team
10 3 (1.16%) Public Cloud
10 3 (1.16%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 67 (25.97%) Windows
2 56 (21.71%) Windows Server
3 22 (8.53%) Linux
4 21 (8.14%) Mac OS
5 17 (6.59%) Windows 10
6 12 (4.65%) Windows Server 2016
7 11 (4.26%) Windows Server 2019
8 10 (3.88%) Windows Server 2012
9 6 (2.33%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.55%) Unix
11 2 (0.78%) CentOS
11 2 (0.78%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.39%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.39%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.39%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (26.74%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (22.87%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 42 (16.28%) Cybersecurity
3 42 (16.28%) Stakeholder Management
4 41 (15.89%) Continuous Improvement
5 40 (15.50%) Disaster Recovery
6 30 (11.63%) Mentoring
6 30 (11.63%) Presales
7 27 (10.47%) Zero Trust
8 26 (10.08%) ITIL
8 26 (10.08%) Service Delivery
9 25 (9.69%) Incident Response
10 24 (9.30%) Technical Leadership
11 22 (8.53%) Collaborative Culture
12 21 (8.14%) Network Architecture
12 21 (8.14%) Network Segmentation
13 19 (7.36%) Project Delivery
14 18 (6.98%) Service Management
15 17 (6.59%) Cloud Security
15 17 (6.59%) Migration
Programming Languages
1 25 (9.69%) Python
2 13 (5.04%) PowerShell
3 3 (1.16%) SQL
4 2 (0.78%) Bash
5 1 (0.39%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.39%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 50 (19.38%) Cisco Certification
2 40 (15.50%) CCNP
3 30 (11.63%) Security Cleared
4 29 (11.24%) CCNA
5 23 (8.91%) SC Cleared
6 20 (7.75%) Degree
7 18 (6.98%) CCIE
8 13 (5.04%) DV Cleared
9 12 (4.65%) Azure Certification
10 10 (3.88%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (3.49%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (2.71%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.94%) CCSA
13 5 (1.94%) CCSE
14 4 (1.55%) JNCIE
15 3 (1.16%) AWS Certification
15 3 (1.16%) CCIE Security
15 3 (1.16%) DBS Check
15 3 (1.16%) JNCIP
15 3 (1.16%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (8.53%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (4.26%) SLA
3 10 (3.88%) NIST
4 9 (3.49%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (2.71%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (1.55%) QA
7 3 (1.16%) GDPR
7 3 (1.16%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.39%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.39%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.39%) NCSC
8 1 (0.39%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 67 (25.97%) Active Directory
2 32 (12.40%) VMware Infrastructure
3 29 (11.24%) Hyper-V
4 13 (5.04%) vSphere
5 7 (2.71%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.33%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (2.33%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.55%) Firmware
7 4 (1.55%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.39%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.39%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.39%) Docker
8 1 (0.39%) KVM
8 1 (0.39%) QEMU
8 1 (0.39%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.39%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.39%) Xen
Systems Management
1 24 (9.30%) Ansible
2 22 (8.53%) FortiGate
3 19 (7.36%) Microsoft Intune
4 17 (6.59%) Terraform
5 11 (4.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (3.49%) Cisco CUCM
6 9 (3.49%) Grafana
7 8 (3.10%) CASB
8 5 (1.94%) Endace
8 5 (1.94%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.55%) Kubernetes
9 4 (1.55%) QRadar
10 2 (0.78%) Autotask
10 2 (0.78%) Failover Clustering
10 2 (0.78%) OpenView
10 2 (0.78%) SCCM
10 2 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.78%) Tivoli
10 2 (0.78%) WhatsUp Gold
11 1 (0.39%) Puppet
Vendors
1 128 (49.61%) Cisco
2 107 (41.47%) Microsoft
3 58 (22.48%) Fortinet
3 58 (22.48%) Palo Alto
4 45 (17.44%) VMware
5 39 (15.12%) Meraki
6 24 (9.30%) Juniper
7 23 (8.91%) SolarWinds
8 20 (7.75%) CheckPoint
9 17 (6.59%) Splunk
10 13 (5.04%) Dynatrace
11 12 (4.65%) Aruba
12 10 (3.88%) Google
12 10 (3.88%) Zscaler
13 9 (3.49%) F5
14 8 (3.10%) ServiceNow
15 6 (2.33%) ArcSight
15 6 (2.33%) NetApp
16 4 (1.55%) EMC
17 3 (1.16%) Citrix