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

 6 months to
6 Aug 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 188 192 139
Rank change year-on-year +4 -53 -6
Permanent jobs citing WAN 324 281 582
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.44% 1.71% 2.31%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.65% 14.21% 15.21%
Number of salaries quoted 202 202 413
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £39,563 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -9.09% +10.00%
75th Percentile £76,613 £68,438 £72,500
90th Percentile £84,875 £90,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £55,000 £42,750 £50,000
% change year-on-year +28.65% -14.50% +3.09%

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 2,373 1,977 3,826
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.53% 12.00% 15.15%
Number of salaries quoted 1,306 1,207 2,057
10th Percentile £29,625 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,250
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 £68,750
90th Percentile £86,250 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £47,500 £42,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +11.76% -15.00% -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 6 August 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 33 (10.19%) Microsoft Exchange
2 27 (8.33%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.31%) IIS
3 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 10 (3.09%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.93%) AutoCAD
3 3 (0.93%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.93%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 190 (58.64%) Azure
2 112 (34.57%) Microsoft 365
3 69 (21.30%) AWS
4 62 (19.14%) Cloud Computing
5 48 (14.81%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.57%) Power Platform
7 18 (5.56%) GCP
8 10 (3.09%) OneDrive
9 8 (2.47%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 7 (2.16%) Azure Sentinel
10 7 (2.16%) SaaS
11 6 (1.85%) AWS Direct Connect
11 6 (1.85%) Google Workspace
12 5 (1.54%) OCI
13 4 (1.23%) Mimecast
14 3 (0.93%) Azure Monitor
14 3 (0.93%) IaaS
14 3 (0.93%) PaaS
15 2 (0.62%) Azure AKS
15 2 (0.62%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 276 (85.19%) LAN
2 161 (49.69%) Firewall
3 89 (27.47%) VPN
4 87 (26.85%) SD-WAN
5 75 (23.15%) Network Security
6 74 (22.84%) DNS
7 65 (20.06%) DHCP
8 54 (16.67%) Wi-Fi
9 51 (15.74%) VLAN
10 48 (14.81%) TCP/IP
11 47 (14.51%) BGP
12 44 (13.58%) MPLS
12 44 (13.58%) Wireless
13 40 (12.35%) WLAN
14 28 (8.64%) OSPF
15 25 (7.72%) Cisco Firepower
16 21 (6.48%) Cisco ASA
16 21 (6.48%) Cisco ISE
17 19 (5.86%) VoIP
18 17 (5.25%) HTTP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.47%) 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 (0.93%) JIRA
2 1 (0.31%) Git
2 1 (0.31%) GitLab
2 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
General
1 157 (48.46%) Social Skills
2 80 (24.69%) Finance
3 67 (20.68%) Presentation Skills
4 45 (13.89%) Telecoms
5 37 (11.42%) Public Sector
6 31 (9.57%) Law
7 18 (5.56%) Banking
8 15 (4.63%) Marketing
8 15 (4.63%) Retail
9 11 (3.40%) Analytical Skills
9 11 (3.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (2.47%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.23%) Electronics
11 4 (1.23%) Military
12 3 (0.93%) Legal
12 3 (0.93%) 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
1 112 (34.57%) Architect
2 77 (23.77%) Network Engineer
3 58 (17.90%) Systems Architect
4 50 (15.43%) Senior
5 42 (12.96%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 32 (9.88%) Network Architect
7 30 (9.26%) Support Engineer
8 27 (8.33%) IT Support
9 25 (7.72%) IT Engineer
10 24 (7.41%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 20 (6.17%) Senior Network Engineer
12 19 (5.86%) IT Support Engineer
13 17 (5.25%) 2nd Line Engineer
13 17 (5.25%) 2nd Line Support
13 17 (5.25%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 17 (5.25%) Analyst
14 15 (4.63%) Solutions Architect
15 14 (4.32%) Lead
16 13 (4.01%) Network Manager
17 11 (3.40%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (3.09%) OAuth
1 10 (3.09%) SAML
1 10 (3.09%) XMPP
2 5 (1.54%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.23%) LDAP
4 3 (0.93%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.31%) Jinja
5 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 40 (12.35%) Data Centre
2 25 (7.72%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (5.56%) Onboarding
4 15 (4.63%) Security Posture
5 14 (4.32%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 11 (3.40%) Video Conferencing
7 10 (3.09%) FlexPod
7 10 (3.09%) PKI
7 10 (3.09%) Replication
8 7 (2.16%) Self-Motivation
9 6 (1.85%) Cloud Native
9 6 (1.85%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 6 (1.85%) Driving Licence
10 4 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.23%) Clustering
10 4 (1.23%) Cyber Defence
10 4 (1.23%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (1.23%) Enterprise Software
11 3 (0.93%) Social Media
12 2 (0.62%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 70 (21.60%) Windows
2 59 (18.21%) Windows Server
3 21 (6.48%) Linux
4 14 (4.32%) Mac OS
5 11 (3.40%) Windows Server 2016
6 10 (3.09%) Windows Server 2019
7 7 (2.16%) Windows 10
8 6 (1.85%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.23%) Unix
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 87 (26.85%) Project Delivery
2 79 (24.38%) Problem-Solving
3 76 (23.46%) Infrastructure as Code
4 75 (23.15%) Network Architecture
5 74 (22.84%) Roadmaps
6 68 (20.99%) Network Design
7 64 (19.75%) Technical Architecture
8 63 (19.44%) Logistics
9 61 (18.83%) Information Security
10 59 (18.21%) Business Strategy
10 59 (18.21%) Containerisation
10 59 (18.21%) Risk Management
11 58 (17.90%) Business Case
12 55 (16.98%) Infrastructure Engineering
13 52 (16.05%) Cybersecurity
14 45 (13.89%) Continuous Improvement
15 42 (12.96%) Stakeholder Management
16 36 (11.11%) Presales
17 34 (10.49%) Mentoring
18 32 (9.88%) IT Strategy
Programming Languages
1 28 (8.64%) Python
2 22 (6.79%) 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 64 (19.75%) Cisco Certification
2 49 (15.12%) CCNP
3 30 (9.26%) CCNA
4 26 (8.02%) Security Cleared
5 20 (6.17%) Azure Certification
5 20 (6.17%) Degree
6 17 (5.25%) CCIE
6 17 (5.25%) SC Cleared
7 15 (4.63%) DV Cleared
8 11 (3.40%) Microsoft Certification
9 7 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (1.54%) PMP
11 4 (1.23%) DBS Check
11 4 (1.23%) JNCIE
11 4 (1.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
12 3 (0.93%) AWS Certification
12 3 (0.93%) CCIE Security
12 3 (0.93%) CCSA
12 3 (0.93%) CCSE
12 3 (0.93%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.14%) GRC
2 25 (7.72%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (4.94%) NIST
3 16 (4.94%) SLA
4 10 (3.09%) GDPR
5 7 (2.16%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (1.23%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (1.23%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 2 (0.62%) QA
8 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 65 (20.06%) Active Directory
2 43 (13.27%) Hyper-V
3 42 (12.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 17 (5.25%) vSphere
5 9 (2.78%) VMware NSX
6 8 (2.47%) Virtual Servers
7 7 (2.16%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 6 (1.85%) Firmware
8 6 (1.85%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.31%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
9 1 (0.31%) Docker
9 1 (0.31%) KVM
9 1 (0.31%) QEMU
9 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 27 (8.33%) Ansible
1 27 (8.33%) FortiGate
2 24 (7.41%) Microsoft Intune
3 17 (5.25%) Terraform
4 14 (4.32%) CASB
5 10 (3.09%) Cisco CUCM
5 10 (3.09%) Grafana
6 7 (2.16%) Active Directory Federation Services
7 5 (1.54%) vCenter Server
8 4 (1.23%) Kubernetes
8 4 (1.23%) QRadar
8 4 (1.23%) Single Sign-On
8 4 (1.23%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 3 (0.93%) Endace
9 3 (0.93%) Failover Clustering
10 2 (0.62%) OpenView
10 2 (0.62%) SCCM
10 2 (0.62%) Tivoli
10 2 (0.62%) WhatsUp Gold
11 1 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 170 (52.47%) Microsoft
2 137 (42.28%) Cisco
3 70 (21.60%) Palo Alto
4 59 (18.21%) VMware
5 44 (13.58%) Fortinet
6 27 (8.33%) Meraki
7 22 (6.79%) Juniper
8 21 (6.48%) Aruba
9 18 (5.56%) Splunk
10 17 (5.25%) Zscaler
11 16 (4.94%) CheckPoint
12 15 (4.63%) SolarWinds
13 8 (2.47%) F5
14 7 (2.16%) NetApp
14 7 (2.16%) Netskope
15 6 (1.85%) ArcSight
15 6 (1.85%) Dynatrace
16 5 (1.54%) Citrix
16 5 (1.54%) Google
16 5 (1.54%) HP
91 hybrid/remote WAN jobs