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 19 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
19 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 176 184 131
Rank change year-on-year +8 -53 +45
Permanent jobs citing WAN 229 287 693
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.39% 1.85% 2.52%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.11% 14.49% 18.69%
Number of salaries quoted 144 183 603
10th Percentile £35,500 £36,250 £30,000
25th Percentile £42,000 £45,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,800 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.09% +10.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £77,500 £72,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £91,750 £91,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £52,000 £54,000 £48,500
% change year-on-year -3.70% +11.34% -3.00%

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 1,623 1,981 3,707
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.87% 12.76% 13.49%
Number of salaries quoted 945 1,166 3,215
10th Percentile £28,000 £30,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £32,500 £41,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £56,810 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -14.73% +3.29% -0.90%
75th Percentile £70,000 £72,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,253 £87,500 £82,500
UK median annual salary £40,000 £55,000 £49,000
% change year-on-year -27.27% +12.24% -6.67%

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 19 February 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 48 (20.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 43 (18.78%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.62%) IIS
4 2 (0.87%) Apache
4 2 (0.87%) Confluence
4 2 (0.87%) nginx
Applications
1 9 (3.93%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (2.62%) Spreadsheet
3 2 (0.87%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.87%) MS Visio
4 1 (0.44%) AutoCAD
4 1 (0.44%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.87%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 142 (62.01%) Azure
2 80 (34.93%) Microsoft 365
3 51 (22.27%) AWS
4 42 (18.34%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.99%) OneDrive
6 15 (6.55%) Google Workspace
7 12 (5.24%) AWS Direct Connect
7 12 (5.24%) SaaS
8 10 (4.37%) GCP
9 9 (3.93%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 6 (2.62%) Azure Storage
11 4 (1.75%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (1.75%) Azure Monitor
12 3 (1.31%) IaaS
13 2 (0.87%) AWS CloudFormation
13 2 (0.87%) Dynamics 365
13 2 (0.87%) GitHub
13 2 (0.87%) PaaS
13 2 (0.87%) Power Platform
13 2 (0.87%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 148 (64.63%) LAN
2 132 (57.64%) SD-WAN
3 109 (47.60%) Firewall
4 94 (41.05%) VPN
5 66 (28.82%) DNS
6 63 (27.51%) Wi-Fi
7 60 (26.20%) DHCP
8 53 (23.14%) TCP/IP
9 43 (18.78%) Wireless
10 31 (13.54%) VLAN
11 30 (13.10%) BGP
12 29 (12.66%) MPLS
13 27 (11.79%) Network Security
14 26 (11.35%) WLAN
15 25 (10.92%) VoIP
15 25 (10.92%) Wireshark
16 23 (10.04%) OSPF
17 20 (8.73%) Cisco ISE
18 19 (8.30%) Cisco ASA
19 18 (7.86%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.87%) Power BI
2 1 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.44%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.18%) JIRA
2 2 (0.87%) Git
General
1 88 (38.43%) Social Skills
2 62 (27.07%) Finance
3 30 (13.10%) Telecoms
4 15 (6.55%) Public Sector
5 13 (5.68%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 13 (5.68%) Manufacturing
6 12 (5.24%) Analytical Skills
6 12 (5.24%) Retail
7 10 (4.37%) Organisational Skills
8 9 (3.93%) Law
9 8 (3.49%) Banking
10 4 (1.75%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.31%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.31%) Automotive
11 3 (1.31%) Police
12 2 (0.87%) Marketing
12 2 (0.87%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.44%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.44%) Legal
13 1 (0.44%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 70 (30.57%) Network Engineer
2 58 (25.33%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 39 (17.03%) IT Engineer
3 39 (17.03%) Senior
4 27 (11.79%) IT Support
4 27 (11.79%) Support Engineer
5 23 (10.04%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
6 21 (9.17%) IT Support Engineer
7 20 (8.73%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
7 20 (8.73%) Operations Engineer
8 19 (8.30%) Architect
9 18 (7.86%) 2nd Line Support
10 17 (7.42%) Senior Network Engineer
11 16 (6.99%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 15 (6.55%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 15 (6.55%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 15 (6.55%) Cisco Engineer
13 14 (6.11%) Analyst
13 14 (6.11%) Network Operations Engineer
13 14 (6.11%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.31%) JSON
2 2 (0.87%) LDAP
2 2 (0.87%) Web Services
3 1 (0.44%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 63 (27.51%) Data Centre
2 34 (14.85%) Management Information System
3 18 (7.86%) Driving Licence
4 10 (4.37%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (3.49%) Cloud Native
5 8 (3.49%) CMDB
6 7 (3.06%) Enterprise Software
6 7 (3.06%) Onboarding
7 6 (2.62%) Social Media
8 5 (2.18%) Public Cloud
8 5 (2.18%) Video Conferencing
9 4 (1.75%) GNSS
9 4 (1.75%) Hybrid Cloud
9 4 (1.75%) iPad
9 4 (1.75%) iPhone
9 4 (1.75%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.75%) PKI
9 4 (1.75%) Product Ownership
9 4 (1.75%) Self-Driving Car
9 4 (1.75%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 79 (34.50%) Windows
2 64 (27.95%) Windows Server
3 32 (13.97%) Windows 10
4 18 (7.86%) Linux
4 18 (7.86%) Mac OS
5 15 (6.55%) Windows Server 2016
6 13 (5.68%) Windows Server 2012
6 13 (5.68%) Windows Server 2019
7 12 (5.24%) Apple iOS
8 4 (1.75%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 3 (1.31%) OpenWrt
10 2 (0.87%) CentOS
10 2 (0.87%) Oracle Linux
11 1 (0.44%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.44%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.44%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (34.06%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (25.76%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 48 (20.96%) Customer Service
4 46 (20.09%) Disaster Recovery
5 44 (19.21%) ITIL
6 43 (18.78%) Change Management
7 37 (16.16%) Continuous Improvement
7 37 (16.16%) Problem Management
8 35 (15.28%) Migration
9 32 (13.97%) Service Delivery
10 30 (13.10%) Capacity Planning
11 28 (12.23%) Mentoring
12 27 (11.79%) Coaching
12 27 (11.79%) Load Balancing
13 26 (11.35%) Network Virtualisation
13 26 (11.35%) Zero Trust
14 24 (10.48%) Cloud Security
14 24 (10.48%) Network Monitoring
15 22 (9.61%) Asset Management
15 22 (9.61%) Network Planning
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.99%) PowerShell
1 16 (6.99%) Python
2 11 (4.80%) SQL
3 4 (1.75%) Bash
4 3 (1.31%) C
4 3 (1.31%) C++
5 2 (0.87%) Java
5 2 (0.87%) Perl
Qualifications
1 38 (16.59%) Cisco Certification
2 26 (11.35%) CCNP
3 20 (8.73%) Security Cleared
4 19 (8.30%) Microsoft Certification
4 19 (8.30%) SC Cleared
5 18 (7.86%) Degree
6 17 (7.42%) CCNA
7 13 (5.68%) Azure Certification
8 9 (3.93%) BPSS Clearance
9 7 (3.06%) CCIE
10 6 (2.62%) AWS Certification
10 6 (2.62%) DBS Check
11 5 (2.18%) DV Cleared
11 5 (2.18%) Master's Degree
11 5 (2.18%) MCSA
11 5 (2.18%) PMP
12 4 (1.75%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (1.75%) Network+ Certification
13 3 (1.31%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
13 3 (1.31%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (6.55%) SLA
2 13 (5.68%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (5.24%) Cyber Essentials
3 12 (5.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 4 (1.75%) NIST
4 4 (1.75%) QA
5 3 (1.31%) NCSC
5 3 (1.31%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.87%) GRC
6 2 (0.87%) PMO
7 1 (0.44%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.44%) Basel III
7 1 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 1 (0.44%) MiFID
System Software
1 60 (26.20%) Active Directory
2 34 (14.85%) Hyper-V
3 26 (11.35%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (4.80%) Firmware
5 10 (4.37%) Virtual Servers
6 9 (3.93%) Virtual Machines
7 4 (1.75%) Docker
7 4 (1.75%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.75%) vSphere
8 2 (0.87%) NFS
9 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 1 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 40 (17.47%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (10.48%) Terraform
3 15 (6.55%) Ansible
4 13 (5.68%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 13 (5.68%) FortiGate
5 7 (3.06%) Kubernetes
6 5 (2.18%) Autotask
6 5 (2.18%) Dell DRAC
6 5 (2.18%) Endace
6 5 (2.18%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.75%) PaperCut
8 2 (0.87%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.87%) Red Hat Spacewalk
9 1 (0.44%) Cisco CUCM
9 1 (0.44%) Cisco Prime
9 1 (0.44%) Grafana
9 1 (0.44%) Kibana
9 1 (0.44%) OpenView
9 1 (0.44%) Proxmox
9 1 (0.44%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 117 (51.09%) Cisco
2 83 (36.24%) Microsoft
3 53 (23.14%) Meraki
4 50 (21.83%) Fortinet
5 43 (18.78%) CheckPoint
6 41 (17.90%) Palo Alto
6 41 (17.90%) SolarWinds
7 39 (17.03%) VMware
8 17 (7.42%) Google
9 13 (5.68%) Juniper
10 11 (4.80%) Dynatrace
11 9 (3.93%) F5
11 9 (3.93%) ServiceNow
12 7 (3.06%) Aruba
12 7 (3.06%) Dell
13 6 (2.62%) SonicWALL
14 5 (2.18%) Apple
14 5 (2.18%) Zscaler
15 4 (1.75%) Red Hat
16 3 (1.31%) HP