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

6 months to
28 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 199 198 133
Rank change year-on-year -1 -65 +15
Permanent jobs citing WAN 262 273 783
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.27% 1.73% 2.33%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.47% 14.25% 15.67%
Number of salaries quoted 194 192 592
10th Percentile £31,553 £28,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £52,750
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -5.21% +0.48%
75th Percentile £77,500 £65,313 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £54,498 £48,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +13.54% +1.05% -

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 2,284 1,916 4,996
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.11% 12.17% 14.89%
Number of salaries quoted 1,191 1,161 3,197
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,000 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +13.68% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £86,250 £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 28 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 39 (14.89%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (12.60%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.38%) Confluence
3 1 (0.38%) IIS
3 1 (0.38%) OpenStack
Applications
1 10 (3.82%) Microsoft Office
2 3 (1.15%) AutoCAD
2 3 (1.15%) Microsoft Excel
2 3 (1.15%) MS Visio
2 3 (1.15%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.76%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.38%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 140 (53.44%) Azure
2 84 (32.06%) Microsoft 365
3 75 (28.63%) AWS
4 47 (17.94%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.11%) GCP
6 12 (4.58%) AWS Direct Connect
6 12 (4.58%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 11 (4.20%) OneDrive
7 11 (4.20%) SaaS
8 9 (3.44%) Google Workspace
9 6 (2.29%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.91%) OCI
11 3 (1.15%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (1.15%) IaaS
11 3 (1.15%) PaaS
12 2 (0.76%) Azure AKS
12 2 (0.76%) Datadog
12 2 (0.76%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.76%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.76%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 198 (75.57%) LAN
2 147 (56.11%) Firewall
3 104 (39.69%) SD-WAN
3 104 (39.69%) VPN
4 83 (31.68%) DNS
5 70 (26.72%) DHCP
6 59 (22.52%) Network Security
7 55 (20.99%) TCP/IP
8 54 (20.61%) Wi-Fi
9 50 (19.08%) MPLS
10 48 (18.32%) BGP
11 41 (15.65%) VLAN
12 39 (14.89%) WLAN
13 32 (12.21%) Wireless
14 31 (11.83%) Cisco Firepower
15 28 (10.69%) Cisco ISE
15 28 (10.69%) OSPF
16 24 (9.16%) Cisco ASA
17 22 (8.40%) IPsec
18 20 (7.63%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.91%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.76%) Power BI
3 1 (0.38%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.38%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.38%) MySQL
3 1 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.38%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.38%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.15%) JIRA
2 1 (0.38%) GitLab
2 1 (0.38%) Jenkins
General
1 87 (33.21%) Social Skills
2 35 (13.36%) Public Sector
2 35 (13.36%) Telecoms
3 34 (12.98%) Finance
4 16 (6.11%) Banking
5 15 (5.73%) Retail
6 14 (5.34%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 13 (4.96%) Marketing
8 12 (4.58%) Analytical Skills
9 9 (3.44%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (2.29%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (1.53%) Electronics
12 3 (1.15%) Legal
13 2 (0.76%) Law
13 2 (0.76%) Local Government
13 2 (0.76%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.76%) Military
13 2 (0.76%) Retail Banking
14 1 (0.38%) Dutch Language
14 1 (0.38%) French Language
Job Titles
1 71 (27.10%) Network Engineer
2 56 (21.37%) Architect
3 52 (19.85%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 48 (18.32%) Senior
5 37 (14.12%) IT Engineer
6 33 (12.60%) Network Architect
7 30 (11.45%) Support Engineer
8 27 (10.31%) IT Support
9 26 (9.92%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 22 (8.40%) IT Support Engineer
11 17 (6.49%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 17 (6.49%) 2nd Line Support
11 17 (6.49%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 17 (6.49%) Solutions Architect
12 14 (5.34%) Analyst
13 13 (4.96%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
13 13 (4.96%) Network Manager
14 12 (4.58%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
14 12 (4.58%) Operations Engineer
14 12 (4.58%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.44%) OAuth
1 9 (3.44%) SAML
1 9 (3.44%) XMPP
2 4 (1.53%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.53%) LDAP
3 3 (1.15%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.76%) Web Services
5 1 (0.38%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 43 (16.41%) Data Centre
2 25 (9.54%) Hybrid Cloud
3 14 (5.34%) Security Posture
4 13 (4.96%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 12 (4.58%) PKI
6 11 (4.20%) Onboarding
7 10 (3.82%) Video Conferencing
8 9 (3.44%) Cloud Native
8 9 (3.44%) FlexPod
8 9 (3.44%) Replication
9 8 (3.05%) Driving Licence
10 7 (2.67%) Self-Motivation
11 6 (2.29%) Enterprise Software
11 6 (2.29%) Management Information System
12 4 (1.53%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (1.53%) Clustering
12 4 (1.53%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.53%) Cyber Threat
12 4 (1.53%) Virtual Team
13 3 (1.15%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 69 (26.34%) Windows
2 58 (22.14%) Windows Server
3 22 (8.40%) Linux
4 20 (7.63%) Mac OS
5 15 (5.73%) Windows 10
6 12 (4.58%) Windows Server 2016
7 11 (4.20%) Windows Server 2019
8 9 (3.44%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (1.91%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.53%) Unix
11 2 (0.76%) CentOS
11 2 (0.76%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.38%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.38%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.38%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (28.24%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (23.66%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 44 (16.79%) Continuous Improvement
3 44 (16.79%) Cybersecurity
4 43 (16.41%) Stakeholder Management
5 41 (15.65%) Disaster Recovery
6 31 (11.83%) Presales
7 30 (11.45%) Mentoring
8 28 (10.69%) ITIL
9 27 (10.31%) Incident Response
9 27 (10.31%) Zero Trust
10 25 (9.54%) Service Delivery
11 24 (9.16%) Technical Leadership
12 23 (8.78%) Project Delivery
13 22 (8.40%) Collaborative Culture
13 22 (8.40%) Network Segmentation
14 21 (8.02%) Network Architecture
15 19 (7.25%) Migration
16 18 (6.87%) Collaborative Working
16 18 (6.87%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 26 (9.92%) Python
2 16 (6.11%) PowerShell
3 3 (1.15%) SQL
4 2 (0.76%) Bash
5 1 (0.38%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.38%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 52 (19.85%) Cisco Certification
2 42 (16.03%) CCNP
3 31 (11.83%) CCNA
4 30 (11.45%) Security Cleared
5 23 (8.78%) SC Cleared
6 20 (7.63%) Degree
7 18 (6.87%) CCIE
8 14 (5.34%) Azure Certification
9 13 (4.96%) DV Cleared
10 11 (4.20%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (3.44%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (2.67%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.91%) CCSA
13 5 (1.91%) CCSE
14 4 (1.53%) DBS Check
14 4 (1.53%) JNCIE
14 4 (1.53%) PMP
15 3 (1.15%) AWS Certification
15 3 (1.15%) CCIE Security
15 3 (1.15%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (9.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 12 (4.58%) SLA
3 11 (4.20%) NIST
4 9 (3.44%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (2.67%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (1.53%) GDPR
6 4 (1.53%) QA
7 3 (1.15%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.38%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.38%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.38%) NCSC
8 1 (0.38%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 70 (26.72%) Active Directory
2 34 (12.98%) VMware Infrastructure
3 32 (12.21%) Hyper-V
4 14 (5.34%) vSphere
5 7 (2.67%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.29%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (2.29%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.53%) Firmware
7 4 (1.53%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.38%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.38%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.38%) Docker
8 1 (0.38%) KVM
8 1 (0.38%) QEMU
8 1 (0.38%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.38%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.38%) Xen
Systems Management
1 24 (9.16%) Ansible
1 24 (9.16%) FortiGate
1 24 (9.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 18 (6.87%) Terraform
3 10 (3.82%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 9 (3.44%) CASB
4 9 (3.44%) Cisco CUCM
4 9 (3.44%) Grafana
5 5 (1.91%) Endace
5 5 (1.91%) vCenter Server
6 4 (1.53%) Kubernetes
6 4 (1.53%) QRadar
7 3 (1.15%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.76%) Autotask
8 2 (0.76%) OpenView
8 2 (0.76%) SCCM
8 2 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
8 2 (0.76%) Tivoli
8 2 (0.76%) WhatsUp Gold
9 1 (0.38%) Puppet
Vendors
1 129 (49.24%) Cisco
2 113 (43.13%) Microsoft
3 60 (22.90%) Palo Alto
4 54 (20.61%) Fortinet
5 47 (17.94%) VMware
6 39 (14.89%) Meraki
7 24 (9.16%) Juniper
8 22 (8.40%) SolarWinds
9 18 (6.87%) CheckPoint
10 17 (6.49%) Splunk
11 12 (4.58%) Aruba
11 12 (4.58%) Dynatrace
11 12 (4.58%) Zscaler
12 9 (3.44%) F5
12 9 (3.44%) Google
13 7 (2.67%) ServiceNow
14 6 (2.29%) ArcSight
14 6 (2.29%) NetApp
15 4 (1.53%) EMC
16 3 (1.15%) Citrix