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

6 months to
17 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 196 196 132
Rank change year-on-year 0 -64 +18
Permanent jobs citing WAN 252 274 805
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.26% 1.78% 2.33%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.41% 14.29% 15.70%
Number of salaries quoted 184 192 608
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £40,938
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £78,000 £66,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £86,750 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £54,498 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +9.00% +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 2,209 1,917 5,129
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.06% 12.49% 14.84%
Number of salaries quoted 1,121 1,149 3,308
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £86,921 £80,000
UK median annual salary £47,500 £47,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year - - -7.50%

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 17 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 (15.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 30 (11.90%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.40%) Confluence
3 1 (0.40%) IIS
3 1 (0.40%) OpenStack
Applications
1 11 (4.37%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.59%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.59%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.19%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.19%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.79%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.40%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 132 (52.38%) Azure
2 76 (30.16%) Microsoft 365
3 74 (29.37%) AWS
4 40 (15.87%) Entra ID
5 17 (6.75%) GCP
6 13 (5.16%) AWS Direct Connect
6 13 (5.16%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 12 (4.76%) SaaS
8 11 (4.37%) Google Workspace
9 8 (3.17%) OneDrive
10 5 (1.98%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.98%) OCI
11 3 (1.19%) IaaS
11 3 (1.19%) PaaS
12 2 (0.79%) Azure AKS
12 2 (0.79%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.79%) Datadog
12 2 (0.79%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.79%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.79%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 183 (72.62%) LAN
2 131 (51.98%) Firewall
3 109 (43.25%) SD-WAN
4 104 (41.27%) VPN
5 77 (30.56%) DNS
6 64 (25.40%) DHCP
7 54 (21.43%) TCP/IP
8 50 (19.84%) MPLS
9 49 (19.44%) Network Security
10 48 (19.05%) Wi-Fi
11 47 (18.65%) BGP
12 41 (16.27%) WLAN
13 38 (15.08%) VLAN
14 32 (12.70%) Cisco Firepower
15 29 (11.51%) Cisco ISE
16 28 (11.11%) OSPF
16 28 (11.11%) Wireless
17 25 (9.92%) Cisco ASA
18 22 (8.73%) VoIP
19 21 (8.33%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.79%) Power BI
1 2 (0.79%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.40%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.40%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.40%) MySQL
2 1 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.40%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.40%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.19%) JIRA
2 1 (0.40%) GitLab
2 1 (0.40%) Jenkins
General
1 83 (32.94%) Social Skills
2 36 (14.29%) Finance
3 35 (13.89%) Public Sector
4 29 (11.51%) Telecoms
5 16 (6.35%) Banking
6 15 (5.95%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 15 (5.95%) Retail
7 13 (5.16%) Marketing
8 9 (3.57%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (3.57%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (2.38%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.59%) Electronics
11 3 (1.19%) Law
11 3 (1.19%) Legal
12 2 (0.79%) Local Government
12 2 (0.79%) Military
12 2 (0.79%) Police
12 2 (0.79%) Retail Banking
13 1 (0.40%) Fire and Rescue
13 1 (0.40%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 70 (27.78%) Network Engineer
2 53 (21.03%) Architect
3 50 (19.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 44 (17.46%) Senior
5 41 (16.27%) IT Engineer
6 31 (12.30%) Network Architect
6 31 (12.30%) Support Engineer
7 27 (10.71%) IT Support
8 23 (9.13%) IT Support Engineer
9 22 (8.73%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 19 (7.54%) 2nd Line Support
11 18 (7.14%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (7.14%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 17 (6.75%) Solutions Architect
13 14 (5.56%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
13 14 (5.56%) Operations Engineer
14 13 (5.16%) Network Manager
14 13 (5.16%) Senior Network Engineer
15 12 (4.76%) Analyst
15 12 (4.76%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.57%) XMPP
2 7 (2.78%) OAuth
2 7 (2.78%) SAML
3 4 (1.59%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.59%) LDAP
4 2 (0.79%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.79%) Web Services
5 1 (0.40%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 45 (17.86%) Data Centre
2 23 (9.13%) Hybrid Cloud
3 12 (4.76%) Security Posture
4 11 (4.37%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 11 (4.37%) Driving Licence
4 11 (4.37%) PKI
5 10 (3.97%) Onboarding
6 9 (3.57%) Cloud Native
6 9 (3.57%) FlexPod
6 9 (3.57%) Replication
6 9 (3.57%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (2.78%) Management Information System
7 7 (2.78%) Self-Motivation
8 5 (1.98%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.59%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.59%) Cyber Threat
9 4 (1.59%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.59%) Virtual Team
10 3 (1.19%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 66 (26.19%) Windows
2 56 (22.22%) Windows Server
3 23 (9.13%) Linux
4 22 (8.73%) Mac OS
5 19 (7.54%) Windows 10
6 12 (4.76%) Windows Server 2016
7 11 (4.37%) Windows Server 2012
7 11 (4.37%) Windows Server 2019
8 7 (2.78%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.59%) Unix
10 2 (0.79%) CentOS
10 2 (0.79%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.40%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.40%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 69 (27.38%) Problem-Solving
2 58 (23.02%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 42 (16.67%) Disaster Recovery
4 39 (15.48%) Cybersecurity
5 38 (15.08%) Continuous Improvement
5 38 (15.08%) Stakeholder Management
6 30 (11.90%) Mentoring
7 29 (11.51%) Presales
8 28 (11.11%) ITIL
8 28 (11.11%) Service Delivery
9 26 (10.32%) Zero Trust
10 24 (9.52%) Technical Leadership
11 22 (8.73%) Collaborative Culture
12 21 (8.33%) Network Architecture
13 20 (7.94%) Incident Response
13 20 (7.94%) Network Segmentation
14 19 (7.54%) Cloud Security
14 19 (7.54%) Migration
14 19 (7.54%) Service Management
15 17 (6.75%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 26 (10.32%) Python
2 14 (5.56%) PowerShell
3 3 (1.19%) SQL
4 2 (0.79%) Bash
5 1 (0.40%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.40%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 50 (19.84%) Cisco Certification
2 39 (15.48%) CCNP
3 31 (12.30%) Security Cleared
4 28 (11.11%) CCNA
5 24 (9.52%) SC Cleared
6 21 (8.33%) Degree
7 17 (6.75%) CCIE
8 13 (5.16%) DV Cleared
9 12 (4.76%) Azure Certification
10 11 (4.37%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (3.57%) Computer Science Degree
12 8 (3.17%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.98%) CCSA
13 5 (1.98%) CCSE
14 4 (1.59%) JNCIE
15 3 (1.19%) AWS Certification
15 3 (1.19%) CCIE Security
15 3 (1.19%) JNCIP
15 3 (1.19%) PMP
15 3 (1.19%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 23 (9.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (4.37%) Cyber Essentials
2 11 (4.37%) SLA
3 9 (3.57%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 9 (3.57%) NIST
4 4 (1.59%) QA
5 3 (1.19%) GDPR
5 3 (1.19%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.40%) ISO 14001
6 1 (0.40%) ISO 9001
6 1 (0.40%) NCSC
6 1 (0.40%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 64 (25.40%) Active Directory
2 34 (13.49%) VMware Infrastructure
3 27 (10.71%) Hyper-V
4 13 (5.16%) vSphere
5 7 (2.78%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.38%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (2.38%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.59%) Firmware
7 4 (1.59%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.40%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.40%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.40%) Docker
8 1 (0.40%) KVM
8 1 (0.40%) QEMU
8 1 (0.40%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.40%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.40%) Xen
Systems Management
1 25 (9.92%) Ansible
2 22 (8.73%) FortiGate
3 18 (7.14%) Microsoft Intune
4 17 (6.75%) Terraform
5 12 (4.76%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (3.57%) Cisco CUCM
6 9 (3.57%) Grafana
7 7 (2.78%) CASB
8 5 (1.98%) Endace
8 5 (1.98%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.59%) Kubernetes
9 4 (1.59%) QRadar
10 2 (0.79%) Autotask
10 2 (0.79%) OpenView
10 2 (0.79%) SCCM
10 2 (0.79%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.79%) Tivoli
10 2 (0.79%) WhatsUp Gold
11 1 (0.40%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.40%) Puppet
Vendors
1 127 (50.40%) Cisco
2 102 (40.48%) Microsoft
3 57 (22.62%) Fortinet
4 54 (21.43%) Palo Alto
5 46 (18.25%) VMware
6 39 (15.48%) Meraki
7 23 (9.13%) Juniper
8 22 (8.73%) SolarWinds
9 20 (7.94%) CheckPoint
10 17 (6.75%) Splunk
11 13 (5.16%) Dynatrace
12 11 (4.37%) Aruba
12 11 (4.37%) Google
13 9 (3.57%) F5
14 8 (3.17%) ServiceNow
15 7 (2.78%) Zscaler
16 6 (2.38%) ArcSight
16 6 (2.38%) NetApp
17 4 (1.59%) EMC
17 4 (1.59%) Huawei