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

6 months to
12 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 182 177 128
Rank change year-on-year -5 -49 +48
Permanent jobs citing WAN 223 294 691
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.37% 1.87% 2.51%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.36% 14.48% 18.68%
Number of salaries quoted 140 189 595
10th Percentile £35,450 £36,200 £30,000
25th Percentile £42,000 £46,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,800 £54,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +7.04% +8.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £77,500 £72,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £92,500 £90,250 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £54,000 £48,000
% change year-on-year -7.41% +12.50% -4.00%

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 1,553 2,031 3,699
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.54% 12.91% 13.46%
Number of salaries quoted 912 1,174 3,200
10th Percentile £27,910 £30,625 £31,250
25th Percentile £32,000 £41,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,750 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -13.18% - -0.72%
75th Percentile £70,000 £72,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,253 £86,250 £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 12 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 46 (20.63%) Microsoft Exchange
2 41 (18.39%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.69%) IIS
4 2 (0.90%) Apache
4 2 (0.90%) Confluence
4 2 (0.90%) nginx
Applications
1 8 (3.59%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (2.69%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.45%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.90%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 138 (61.88%) Azure
2 76 (34.08%) Microsoft 365
3 46 (20.63%) AWS
4 39 (17.49%) Entra ID
5 16 (7.17%) OneDrive
6 14 (6.28%) Google Workspace
7 11 (4.93%) AWS Direct Connect
7 11 (4.93%) SaaS
8 9 (4.04%) GCP
9 8 (3.59%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 6 (2.69%) Azure Storage
11 4 (1.79%) Azure DevOps
11 4 (1.79%) Azure Monitor
12 3 (1.35%) Dynamics 365
12 3 (1.35%) IaaS
12 3 (1.35%) Power Platform
13 2 (0.90%) AWS CloudFormation
13 2 (0.90%) GitHub
13 2 (0.90%) PaaS
13 2 (0.90%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 143 (64.13%) LAN
2 133 (59.64%) SD-WAN
3 106 (47.53%) Firewall
4 88 (39.46%) VPN
5 61 (27.35%) DNS
6 59 (26.46%) Wi-Fi
7 57 (25.56%) DHCP
8 51 (22.87%) TCP/IP
9 45 (20.18%) Wireless
10 30 (13.45%) VLAN
11 28 (12.56%) BGP
12 27 (12.11%) MPLS
12 27 (12.11%) Wireshark
13 26 (11.66%) Network Security
14 25 (11.21%) WLAN
15 24 (10.76%) VoIP
16 22 (9.87%) OSPF
17 19 (8.52%) Cisco ISE
18 17 (7.62%) Cisco ASA
19 15 (6.73%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.90%) Power BI
2 1 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.45%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (1.79%) JIRA
2 2 (0.90%) Git
General
1 88 (39.46%) Social Skills
2 63 (28.25%) Finance
3 32 (14.35%) Telecoms
4 14 (6.28%) Public Sector
5 13 (5.83%) Manufacturing
6 12 (5.38%) Analytical Skills
7 11 (4.93%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 11 (4.93%) Retail
8 9 (4.04%) Law
8 9 (4.04%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (2.69%) Banking
10 4 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
11 3 (1.35%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.35%) Automotive
11 3 (1.35%) Police
12 2 (0.90%) Presentation Skills
13 1 (0.45%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.45%) Legal
13 1 (0.45%) Marketing
Job Titles
1 68 (30.49%) Network Engineer
2 53 (23.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 38 (17.04%) Senior
4 35 (15.70%) IT Engineer
5 25 (11.21%) IT Support
5 25 (11.21%) Support Engineer
6 22 (9.87%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
7 19 (8.52%) Architect
7 19 (8.52%) IT Support Engineer
8 17 (7.62%) 2nd Line Support
8 17 (7.62%) Analyst
8 17 (7.62%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
8 17 (7.62%) Operations Engineer
8 17 (7.62%) Senior Network Engineer
8 17 (7.62%) Support Analyst
9 15 (6.73%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 14 (6.28%) 2nd Line Engineer
10 14 (6.28%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
10 14 (6.28%) Cisco Engineer
11 13 (5.83%) Network Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.35%) JSON
2 2 (0.90%) LDAP
2 2 (0.90%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 63 (28.25%) Data Centre
2 35 (15.70%) Management Information System
3 17 (7.62%) Driving Licence
4 9 (4.04%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (3.59%) Cloud Native
5 8 (3.59%) CMDB
6 7 (3.14%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (2.69%) Onboarding
7 6 (2.69%) Social Media
8 5 (2.24%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.79%) GNSS
9 4 (1.79%) iPad
9 4 (1.79%) iPhone
9 4 (1.79%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.79%) Product Ownership
9 4 (1.79%) Self-Driving Car
9 4 (1.79%) Video Conferencing
9 4 (1.79%) Virtual Team
10 3 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
10 3 (1.35%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 76 (34.08%) Windows
2 60 (26.91%) Windows Server
3 32 (14.35%) Windows 10
4 17 (7.62%) Mac OS
5 16 (7.17%) Linux
6 14 (6.28%) Windows Server 2016
7 13 (5.83%) Apple iOS
8 12 (5.38%) Windows Server 2012
8 12 (5.38%) Windows Server 2019
9 4 (1.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 3 (1.35%) OpenWrt
11 2 (0.90%) CentOS
11 2 (0.90%) Oracle Linux
12 1 (0.45%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.45%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.45%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (32.29%) Problem-Solving
2 54 (24.22%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 49 (21.97%) Customer Service
4 45 (20.18%) Change Management
5 43 (19.28%) Disaster Recovery
6 41 (18.39%) ITIL
7 39 (17.49%) Problem Management
8 36 (16.14%) Continuous Improvement
9 33 (14.80%) Migration
10 32 (14.35%) Capacity Planning
11 30 (13.45%) Service Delivery
12 29 (13.00%) Coaching
12 29 (13.00%) Load Balancing
13 28 (12.56%) Mentoring
13 28 (12.56%) Network Virtualisation
14 26 (11.66%) Network Monitoring
15 25 (11.21%) Zero Trust
16 24 (10.76%) Asset Management
16 24 (10.76%) Network Planning
17 22 (9.87%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (7.17%) PowerShell
2 15 (6.73%) Python
3 11 (4.93%) SQL
4 4 (1.79%) Bash
5 3 (1.35%) C
5 3 (1.35%) C++
6 2 (0.90%) Java
6 2 (0.90%) Perl
Qualifications
1 38 (17.04%) Cisco Certification
2 25 (11.21%) CCNP
3 19 (8.52%) Degree
4 18 (8.07%) Security Cleared
5 17 (7.62%) CCNA
5 17 (7.62%) SC Cleared
6 16 (7.17%) Microsoft Certification
7 13 (5.83%) Azure Certification
8 7 (3.14%) BPSS Clearance
8 7 (3.14%) CCIE
9 6 (2.69%) AWS Certification
9 6 (2.69%) DBS Check
10 5 (2.24%) DV Cleared
10 5 (2.24%) Master's Degree
10 5 (2.24%) MCSA
11 4 (1.79%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.79%) Network+ Certification
11 4 (1.79%) PMP
12 3 (1.35%) AWS Certified Solutions Architect
12 3 (1.35%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (6.73%) SLA
2 11 (4.93%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 10 (4.48%) Cyber Essentials
3 10 (4.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 4 (1.79%) NIST
4 4 (1.79%) QA
5 3 (1.35%) NCSC
5 3 (1.35%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.90%) GRC
6 2 (0.90%) PMO
7 1 (0.45%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.45%) Basel III
7 1 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 1 (0.45%) MiFID
System Software
1 59 (26.46%) Active Directory
2 33 (14.80%) Hyper-V
3 25 (11.21%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (4.93%) Firmware
5 9 (4.04%) Virtual Machines
5 9 (4.04%) Virtual Servers
6 4 (1.79%) Docker
6 4 (1.79%) VMware NSX
7 3 (1.35%) vSphere
8 2 (0.90%) NFS
9 1 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 39 (17.49%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (10.31%) Terraform
3 14 (6.28%) Ansible
4 13 (5.83%) FortiGate
5 12 (5.38%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 7 (3.14%) Kubernetes
7 6 (2.69%) Jamf Pro
8 5 (2.24%) Autotask
8 5 (2.24%) Dell DRAC
8 5 (2.24%) Endace
9 4 (1.79%) PaperCut
10 2 (0.90%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.90%) Red Hat Spacewalk
11 1 (0.45%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.45%) Kibana
11 1 (0.45%) OpenView
11 1 (0.45%) Proxmox
11 1 (0.45%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 113 (50.67%) Cisco
2 78 (34.98%) Microsoft
3 52 (23.32%) Meraki
4 48 (21.52%) Fortinet
5 44 (19.73%) CheckPoint
6 42 (18.83%) SolarWinds
7 41 (18.39%) Palo Alto
8 37 (16.59%) VMware
9 16 (7.17%) Google
10 13 (5.83%) Juniper
11 10 (4.48%) Dynatrace
12 8 (3.59%) F5
12 8 (3.59%) ServiceNow
13 7 (3.14%) Aruba
13 7 (3.14%) Dell
14 6 (2.69%) Apple
14 6 (2.69%) SonicWALL
15 5 (2.24%) Zscaler
16 4 (1.79%) Red Hat
17 3 (1.35%) HP