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

6 months to
25 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 194 187 128
Rank change year-on-year -7 -59 +61
Permanent jobs citing WAN 212 240 791
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.26% 1.85% 2.59%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.57% 14.57% 18.91%
Number of salaries quoted 146 186 671
10th Percentile £35,642 £31,250 £29,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £77,500 £68,438 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £52,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year -3.85% +9.47% -3.23%

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 1,833 1,647 4,184
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.86% 12.67% 13.67%
Number of salaries quoted 951 1,196 3,460
10th Percentile £28,250 £27,500 £30,500
25th Percentile £33,750 £36,250 £39,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -7.72% - -8.70%
75th Percentile £72,500 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £42,500 £52,500 £48,500
% change year-on-year -19.05% +8.25% -6.73%

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 25 March 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 49 (23.11%) Microsoft Exchange
2 41 (19.34%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.94%) Apache
3 2 (0.94%) Confluence
3 2 (0.94%) nginx
4 1 (0.47%) IIS
4 1 (0.47%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (5.66%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.89%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.89%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.42%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.42%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.94%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 120 (56.60%) Azure
2 78 (36.79%) Microsoft 365
3 58 (27.36%) AWS
4 41 (19.34%) Entra ID
5 18 (8.49%) Google Workspace
6 16 (7.55%) OneDrive
7 14 (6.60%) GCP
8 12 (5.66%) SaaS
9 11 (5.19%) AWS Direct Connect
10 9 (4.25%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 4 (1.89%) Azure Monitor
11 4 (1.89%) OCI
12 2 (0.94%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.94%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.94%) IaaS
12 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Purview
12 2 (0.94%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.94%) SuccessFactors
13 1 (0.47%) Azure Storage
13 1 (0.47%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 141 (66.51%) LAN
2 107 (50.47%) SD-WAN
3 90 (42.45%) Firewall
3 90 (42.45%) VPN
4 68 (32.08%) DNS
5 59 (27.83%) DHCP
5 59 (27.83%) Wi-Fi
6 56 (26.42%) TCP/IP
7 33 (15.57%) VLAN
8 31 (14.62%) MPLS
9 29 (13.68%) BGP
9 29 (13.68%) WLAN
10 28 (13.21%) Wireless
11 26 (12.26%) Network Security
12 25 (11.79%) VoIP
13 24 (11.32%) Cisco Firepower
14 22 (10.38%) Cisco ASA
15 19 (8.96%) Cisco ISE
15 19 (8.96%) OSPF
16 16 (7.55%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.94%) Power BI
2 1 (0.47%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.47%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.47%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.47%) MySQL
2 1 (0.47%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.47%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.36%) JIRA
General
1 74 (34.91%) Social Skills
2 43 (20.28%) Finance
3 19 (8.96%) Public Sector
4 15 (7.08%) Retail
5 14 (6.60%) Banking
6 13 (6.13%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (6.13%) Manufacturing
6 13 (6.13%) Telecoms
7 12 (5.66%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (5.19%) Analytical Skills
9 5 (2.36%) Law
9 5 (2.36%) Marketing
9 5 (2.36%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.89%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.42%) Automotive
12 2 (0.94%) Electronics
12 2 (0.94%) Legal
12 2 (0.94%) Military
12 2 (0.94%) Police
12 2 (0.94%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 56 (26.42%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 53 (25.00%) Network Engineer
3 43 (20.28%) Senior
4 42 (19.81%) IT Engineer
5 29 (13.68%) Architect
5 29 (13.68%) IT Support
5 29 (13.68%) Support Engineer
6 24 (11.32%) IT Support Engineer
7 23 (10.85%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
8 21 (9.91%) 2nd Line Support
9 20 (9.43%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
9 20 (9.43%) Operations Engineer
10 19 (8.96%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 18 (8.49%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (8.49%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 16 (7.55%) Senior Network Engineer
13 14 (6.60%) Network Operations Engineer
14 11 (5.19%) Solutions Architect
15 10 (4.72%) Cisco Engineer
15 10 (4.72%) Technical Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.89%) XMPP
2 2 (0.94%) JSON
2 2 (0.94%) LDAP
2 2 (0.94%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 43 (20.28%) Data Centre
2 16 (7.55%) Driving Licence
3 14 (6.60%) Management Information System
4 10 (4.72%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (4.25%) Onboarding
6 8 (3.77%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (3.30%) Enterprise Software
7 7 (3.30%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (2.83%) PKI
8 6 (2.83%) Social Media
9 5 (2.36%) Cloud Native
9 5 (2.36%) Replication
10 4 (1.89%) FlexPod
10 4 (1.89%) iPad
10 4 (1.89%) iPhone
10 4 (1.89%) Mobile App
10 4 (1.89%) Private Cloud
10 4 (1.89%) Product Ownership
11 3 (1.42%) GNSS
11 3 (1.42%) Self-Driving Car
Operating Systems
1 80 (37.74%) Windows
2 67 (31.60%) Windows Server
3 35 (16.51%) Windows 10
4 21 (9.91%) Linux
4 21 (9.91%) Mac OS
5 18 (8.49%) Windows Server 2016
6 16 (7.55%) Windows Server 2012
6 16 (7.55%) Windows Server 2019
7 12 (5.66%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.42%) CentOS
8 3 (1.42%) OpenWrt
9 2 (0.94%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.47%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.47%) Unix
10 1 (0.47%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.47%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (37.26%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (27.83%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 40 (18.87%) ITIL
4 36 (16.98%) Continuous Improvement
4 36 (16.98%) Disaster Recovery
5 31 (14.62%) Zero Trust
6 29 (13.68%) Customer Service
6 29 (13.68%) Mentoring
6 29 (13.68%) Migration
7 28 (13.21%) Service Delivery
8 26 (12.26%) Change Management
9 23 (10.85%) Stakeholder Management
10 22 (10.38%) Cloud Security
11 21 (9.91%) Presales
11 21 (9.91%) Service Management
12 20 (9.43%) Kalman Filter
13 18 (8.49%) Root Cause Analysis
14 17 (8.02%) Roadmaps
15 16 (7.55%) Project Delivery
15 16 (7.55%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 18 (8.49%) Python
2 12 (5.66%) PowerShell
3 6 (2.83%) SQL
4 4 (1.89%) Bash
5 3 (1.42%) C
5 3 (1.42%) C++
6 2 (0.94%) Java
6 2 (0.94%) Perl
Qualifications
1 38 (17.92%) Cisco Certification
2 25 (11.79%) Security Cleared
3 24 (11.32%) SC Cleared
4 23 (10.85%) CCNP
5 20 (9.43%) Microsoft Certification
6 18 (8.49%) CCNA
6 18 (8.49%) Degree
7 12 (5.66%) CCIE
8 10 (4.72%) Azure Certification
8 10 (4.72%) DV Cleared
9 9 (4.25%) BPSS Clearance
10 7 (3.30%) Computer Science Degree
11 6 (2.83%) DBS Check
12 5 (2.36%) MCSA
13 4 (1.89%) AWS Certification
13 4 (1.89%) CCSA
13 4 (1.89%) CCSE
13 4 (1.89%) MCSE
13 4 (1.89%) Network+ Certification
14 3 (1.42%) Master's Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (6.60%) SLA
2 13 (6.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (5.19%) Cyber Essentials
3 11 (5.19%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 3 (1.42%) PCI DSS
4 3 (1.42%) QA
5 2 (0.94%) NCSC
6 1 (0.47%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.47%) Basel III
6 1 (0.47%) GRC
6 1 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.47%) MiFID
6 1 (0.47%) NIST
6 1 (0.47%) PMO
System Software
1 61 (28.77%) Active Directory
2 33 (15.57%) Hyper-V
3 26 (12.26%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (4.25%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (3.77%) Firmware
6 6 (2.83%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.83%) vSphere
7 4 (1.89%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 3 (1.42%) VMware NSX
9 2 (0.94%) Docker
10 1 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.47%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 34 (16.04%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (7.55%) Active Directory Federation Services
2 16 (7.55%) Ansible
2 16 (7.55%) Terraform
3 13 (6.13%) FortiGate
4 6 (2.83%) Endace
5 5 (2.36%) Jamf Pro
6 4 (1.89%) Autotask
6 4 (1.89%) Cisco CUCM
6 4 (1.89%) Grafana
6 4 (1.89%) Kubernetes
6 4 (1.89%) PaperCut
7 3 (1.42%) OpenView
7 3 (1.42%) Tivoli
8 2 (0.94%) Dell DRAC
8 2 (0.94%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.94%) Red Hat Spacewalk
9 1 (0.47%) Kibana
9 1 (0.47%) Proxmox
9 1 (0.47%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 100 (47.17%) Cisco
2 84 (39.62%) Microsoft
3 52 (24.53%) Fortinet
4 40 (18.87%) VMware
5 39 (18.40%) Meraki
6 27 (12.74%) Palo Alto
7 25 (11.79%) CheckPoint
8 19 (8.96%) Google
9 17 (8.02%) SolarWinds
10 14 (6.60%) Juniper
11 11 (5.19%) Dynatrace
12 9 (4.25%) ServiceNow
13 8 (3.77%) F5
14 5 (2.36%) Apple
14 5 (2.36%) Aruba
14 5 (2.36%) HP
14 5 (2.36%) Splunk
14 5 (2.36%) Zscaler
15 4 (1.89%) Dell
15 4 (1.89%) NetApp