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 7 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 195 195 125
Rank change year-on-year 0 -70 +21
Permanent jobs citing WAN 287 273 772
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.36% 1.68% 2.34%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.25% 14.05% 15.75%
Number of salaries quoted 201 194 581
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £50,000 £54,500
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -8.26% +4.45%
75th Percentile £77,500 £66,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £55,000 £48,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year +13.40% +2.11% -

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 2,342 1,943 4,901
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.11% 11.97% 14.88%
Number of salaries quoted 1,251 1,187 3,111
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,300 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +14.32% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £85,000 £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 7 July 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 (13.24%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (11.50%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.35%) Confluence
3 1 (0.35%) IIS
3 1 (0.35%) OpenStack
Applications
1 9 (3.14%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.39%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.05%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.05%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.05%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.35%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.70%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.35%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 163 (56.79%) Azure
2 106 (36.93%) Microsoft 365
3 73 (25.44%) AWS
4 51 (17.77%) Entra ID
5 23 (8.01%) Cloud Computing
5 23 (8.01%) Power Platform
6 16 (5.57%) GCP
7 11 (3.83%) AWS Direct Connect
7 11 (3.83%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 10 (3.48%) OneDrive
8 10 (3.48%) SaaS
9 8 (2.79%) Google Workspace
10 7 (2.44%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (1.74%) OCI
12 3 (1.05%) Azure Monitor
12 3 (1.05%) IaaS
12 3 (1.05%) PaaS
13 2 (0.70%) Datadog
13 2 (0.70%) Mimecast
13 2 (0.70%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 225 (78.40%) LAN
2 154 (53.66%) Firewall
3 106 (36.93%) VPN
4 102 (35.54%) SD-WAN
5 83 (28.92%) DNS
6 70 (24.39%) DHCP
7 62 (21.60%) Network Security
8 54 (18.82%) TCP/IP
9 53 (18.47%) Wi-Fi
10 51 (17.77%) MPLS
11 49 (17.07%) BGP
12 42 (14.63%) VLAN
13 38 (13.24%) WLAN
14 35 (12.20%) Wireless
15 30 (10.45%) Cisco Firepower
16 28 (9.76%) Cisco ISE
16 28 (9.76%) OSPF
17 23 (8.01%) Cisco ASA
18 22 (7.67%) IPsec
19 20 (6.97%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.74%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.70%) Power BI
3 1 (0.35%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.35%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.35%) MySQL
3 1 (0.35%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.35%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.35%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.05%) JIRA
2 1 (0.35%) GitLab
2 1 (0.35%) Jenkins
General
1 111 (38.68%) Social Skills
2 55 (19.16%) Finance
3 39 (13.59%) Telecoms
4 37 (12.89%) Public Sector
5 27 (9.41%) Presentation Skills
6 23 (8.01%) Law
7 17 (5.92%) Banking
8 14 (4.88%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 14 (4.88%) Marketing
8 14 (4.88%) Retail
9 12 (4.18%) Analytical Skills
10 9 (3.14%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.39%) Electronics
12 3 (1.05%) Legal
12 3 (1.05%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.70%) Local Government
13 2 (0.70%) Military
13 2 (0.70%) Retail Banking
14 1 (0.35%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.35%) Fire and Rescue
Job Titles
1 79 (27.53%) Architect
2 70 (24.39%) Network Engineer
3 51 (17.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 47 (16.38%) Senior
5 36 (12.54%) IT Engineer
6 34 (11.85%) Network Architect
7 30 (10.45%) Support Engineer
8 28 (9.76%) IT Support
9 25 (8.71%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 22 (7.67%) IT Support Engineer
11 21 (7.32%) Systems Architect
12 17 (5.92%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 17 (5.92%) 2nd Line Support
12 17 (5.92%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 17 (5.92%) Solutions Architect
13 15 (5.23%) Analyst
14 13 (4.53%) Network Manager
15 12 (4.18%) Lead
15 12 (4.18%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
15 12 (4.18%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (3.48%) OAuth
1 10 (3.48%) SAML
2 9 (3.14%) XMPP
3 4 (1.39%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.39%) LDAP
4 3 (1.05%) ARM Templates
5 2 (0.70%) Web Services
6 1 (0.35%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 45 (15.68%) Data Centre
2 25 (8.71%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (5.23%) Security Posture
4 14 (4.88%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 12 (4.18%) Onboarding
5 12 (4.18%) PKI
6 10 (3.48%) Video Conferencing
7 9 (3.14%) Cloud Native
7 9 (3.14%) FlexPod
7 9 (3.14%) Replication
8 8 (2.79%) Driving Licence
9 7 (2.44%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (2.09%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.74%) Management Information System
12 4 (1.39%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (1.39%) Clustering
12 4 (1.39%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.39%) Cyber Threat
12 4 (1.39%) Virtual Team
13 3 (1.05%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 70 (24.39%) Windows
2 58 (20.21%) Windows Server
3 22 (7.67%) Linux
4 19 (6.62%) Mac OS
5 13 (4.53%) Windows 10
6 11 (3.83%) Windows Server 2016
7 10 (3.48%) Windows Server 2019
8 8 (2.79%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.39%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.39%) Unix
10 2 (0.70%) CentOS
10 2 (0.70%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.35%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.35%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.35%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (26.48%) Problem-Solving
2 63 (21.95%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 47 (16.38%) Project Delivery
4 46 (16.03%) Cybersecurity
5 43 (14.98%) Continuous Improvement
6 42 (14.63%) Network Architecture
7 41 (14.29%) Stakeholder Management
8 40 (13.94%) Disaster Recovery
9 37 (12.89%) Infrastructure as Code
9 37 (12.89%) Roadmaps
10 34 (11.85%) Network Design
11 32 (11.15%) Presales
12 28 (9.76%) ITIL
12 28 (9.76%) Mentoring
13 27 (9.41%) Incident Response
13 27 (9.41%) Technical Architecture
14 26 (9.06%) Zero Trust
15 25 (8.71%) Logistics
16 24 (8.36%) Information Security
16 24 (8.36%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 28 (9.76%) Python
2 19 (6.62%) PowerShell
3 3 (1.05%) SQL
4 2 (0.70%) Bash
5 1 (0.35%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.35%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 54 (18.82%) Cisco Certification
2 43 (14.98%) CCNP
3 33 (11.50%) CCNA
4 30 (10.45%) Security Cleared
5 23 (8.01%) SC Cleared
6 20 (6.97%) Degree
7 18 (6.27%) CCIE
8 16 (5.57%) Azure Certification
9 13 (4.53%) DV Cleared
10 12 (4.18%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (3.14%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (2.44%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.74%) CCSA
13 5 (1.74%) CCSE
13 5 (1.74%) PMP
14 4 (1.39%) DBS Check
14 4 (1.39%) JNCIE
15 3 (1.05%) AWS Certification
15 3 (1.05%) JNCIP
15 3 (1.05%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 25 (8.71%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 21 (7.32%) GRC
3 12 (4.18%) NIST
4 10 (3.48%) SLA
5 9 (3.14%) Cyber Essentials
6 7 (2.44%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.39%) GDPR
7 4 (1.39%) QA
8 3 (1.05%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.35%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.35%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.35%) NCSC
9 1 (0.35%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 68 (23.69%) Active Directory
2 36 (12.54%) VMware Infrastructure
3 35 (12.20%) Hyper-V
4 15 (5.23%) vSphere
5 7 (2.44%) Virtual Servers
5 7 (2.44%) VMware NSX
6 6 (2.09%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 4 (1.39%) Firmware
7 4 (1.39%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.35%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.35%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.35%) Docker
8 1 (0.35%) KVM
8 1 (0.35%) QEMU
8 1 (0.35%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.35%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.35%) Xen
Systems Management
1 26 (9.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (8.71%) Ansible
2 25 (8.71%) FortiGate
3 18 (6.27%) Terraform
4 10 (3.48%) CASB
5 9 (3.14%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 9 (3.14%) Cisco CUCM
5 9 (3.14%) Grafana
6 5 (1.74%) Endace
6 5 (1.74%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.39%) Kubernetes
7 4 (1.39%) QRadar
8 3 (1.05%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.70%) OpenView
9 2 (0.70%) SCCM
9 2 (0.70%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.70%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 2 (0.70%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.70%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.35%) Dell DRAC
Vendors
1 135 (47.04%) Microsoft
2 132 (45.99%) Cisco
3 62 (21.60%) Palo Alto
4 52 (18.12%) Fortinet
5 50 (17.42%) VMware
6 38 (13.24%) Meraki
7 24 (8.36%) Juniper
8 21 (7.32%) SolarWinds
9 19 (6.62%) CheckPoint
10 17 (5.92%) Splunk
11 12 (4.18%) Aruba
11 12 (4.18%) Zscaler
12 11 (3.83%) Dynatrace
12 11 (3.83%) F5
13 8 (2.79%) Google
14 6 (2.09%) ArcSight
14 6 (2.09%) NetApp
14 6 (2.09%) ServiceNow
15 4 (1.39%) Citrix
15 4 (1.39%) EMC