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

 6 months to
23 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 194 190 127
Rank change year-on-year -4 -63 +54
Permanent jobs citing WAN 216 246 791
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.26% 1.83% 2.59%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.75% 14.41% 18.90%
Number of salaries quoted 146 188 671
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 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £51,800 £47,500
% change year-on-year -3.47% +9.05% -4.04%

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 1,839 1,707 4,186
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.76% 12.69% 13.68%
Number of salaries quoted 965 1,204 3,462
10th Percentile £28,250 £27,500 £30,513
25th Percentile £33,500 £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 £67,375
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £42,000 £52,500 £48,500
% change year-on-year -20.00% +8.25% -7.62%

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 23 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 50 (23.15%) Microsoft Exchange
2 42 (19.44%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.93%) Apache
3 2 (0.93%) Confluence
3 2 (0.93%) nginx
4 1 (0.46%) IIS
4 1 (0.46%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (5.56%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.85%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.85%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.39%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.39%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.46%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.93%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 124 (57.41%) Azure
2 78 (36.11%) Microsoft 365
3 56 (25.93%) AWS
4 42 (19.44%) Entra ID
5 18 (8.33%) Google Workspace
6 16 (7.41%) OneDrive
7 12 (5.56%) GCP
7 12 (5.56%) SaaS
8 11 (5.09%) AWS Direct Connect
9 9 (4.17%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 4 (1.85%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (1.39%) IaaS
11 3 (1.39%) OCI
12 2 (0.93%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.93%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.93%) Microsoft Purview
12 2 (0.93%) PaaS
12 2 (0.93%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.93%) SuccessFactors
13 1 (0.46%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 143 (66.20%) LAN
2 110 (50.93%) SD-WAN
3 94 (43.52%) Firewall
4 90 (41.67%) VPN
5 68 (31.48%) DNS
6 61 (28.24%) Wi-Fi
7 60 (27.78%) DHCP
8 57 (26.39%) TCP/IP
9 33 (15.28%) VLAN
10 32 (14.81%) MPLS
10 32 (14.81%) Wireless
11 30 (13.89%) BGP
11 30 (13.89%) WLAN
12 27 (12.50%) Network Security
13 25 (11.57%) VoIP
14 24 (11.11%) Cisco Firepower
15 22 (10.19%) Cisco ASA
16 20 (9.26%) Cisco ISE
16 20 (9.26%) OSPF
17 16 (7.41%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.93%) Power BI
2 1 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.46%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.46%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.46%) MySQL
2 1 (0.46%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.46%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.31%) JIRA
General
1 77 (35.65%) Social Skills
2 47 (21.76%) Finance
3 19 (8.80%) Public Sector
4 16 (7.41%) Telecoms
5 15 (6.94%) Retail
6 13 (6.02%) Banking
6 13 (6.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (6.02%) Manufacturing
7 12 (5.56%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (5.09%) Analytical Skills
9 5 (2.31%) Law
9 5 (2.31%) Marketing
9 5 (2.31%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.85%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.39%) Automotive
11 3 (1.39%) Police
12 2 (0.93%) Electronics
12 2 (0.93%) Military
12 2 (0.93%) Retail Banking
13 1 (0.46%) Legal
Job Titles
1 59 (27.31%) Network Engineer
2 55 (25.46%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 44 (20.37%) Senior
4 42 (19.44%) IT Engineer
5 29 (13.43%) IT Support
5 29 (13.43%) Support Engineer
6 26 (12.04%) Architect
7 24 (11.11%) IT Support Engineer
8 23 (10.65%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (9.72%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (9.26%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
10 20 (9.26%) Operations Engineer
11 18 (8.33%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (8.33%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 18 (8.33%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 18 (8.33%) Senior Network Engineer
12 14 (6.48%) Network Operations Engineer
13 10 (4.63%) Cisco Engineer
13 10 (4.63%) Cisco Network Engineer
13 10 (4.63%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.85%) XMPP
2 2 (0.93%) JSON
2 2 (0.93%) LDAP
2 2 (0.93%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 46 (21.30%) Data Centre
2 18 (8.33%) Management Information System
3 17 (7.87%) Driving Licence
4 10 (4.63%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (4.17%) Onboarding
6 8 (3.70%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (3.24%) Enterprise Software
7 7 (3.24%) Hybrid Cloud
8 6 (2.78%) PKI
8 6 (2.78%) Replication
8 6 (2.78%) Social Media
9 5 (2.31%) Cloud Native
10 4 (1.85%) FlexPod
10 4 (1.85%) iPad
10 4 (1.85%) iPhone
10 4 (1.85%) Mobile App
10 4 (1.85%) Private Cloud
10 4 (1.85%) Product Ownership
11 3 (1.39%) GNSS
11 3 (1.39%) Self-Driving Car
Operating Systems
1 80 (37.04%) Windows
2 67 (31.02%) Windows Server
3 35 (16.20%) Windows 10
4 21 (9.72%) Linux
4 21 (9.72%) Mac OS
5 18 (8.33%) Windows Server 2016
6 16 (7.41%) Windows Server 2012
6 16 (7.41%) Windows Server 2019
7 12 (5.56%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.39%) CentOS
8 3 (1.39%) OpenWrt
9 2 (0.93%) Oracle Linux
9 2 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 1 (0.46%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.46%) Unix
10 1 (0.46%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.46%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (36.57%) Problem-Solving
2 58 (26.85%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 39 (18.06%) ITIL
4 36 (16.67%) Continuous Improvement
4 36 (16.67%) Disaster Recovery
5 33 (15.28%) Customer Service
6 30 (13.89%) Zero Trust
7 29 (13.43%) Change Management
7 29 (13.43%) Mentoring
7 29 (13.43%) Migration
8 28 (12.96%) Service Delivery
9 23 (10.65%) Cloud Security
10 21 (9.72%) Stakeholder Management
11 20 (9.26%) Kalman Filter
11 20 (9.26%) Presales
11 20 (9.26%) Problem Management
11 20 (9.26%) Service Management
12 18 (8.33%) Root Cause Analysis
13 16 (7.41%) Roadmaps
13 16 (7.41%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.87%) Python
2 12 (5.56%) PowerShell
3 6 (2.78%) SQL
4 4 (1.85%) Bash
5 3 (1.39%) C
5 3 (1.39%) C++
6 2 (0.93%) Java
6 2 (0.93%) Perl
Qualifications
1 36 (16.67%) Cisco Certification
2 25 (11.57%) Security Cleared
3 24 (11.11%) SC Cleared
4 22 (10.19%) CCNP
5 20 (9.26%) Microsoft Certification
6 18 (8.33%) CCNA
7 17 (7.87%) Degree
8 11 (5.09%) CCIE
9 10 (4.63%) DV Cleared
10 9 (4.17%) Azure Certification
10 9 (4.17%) BPSS Clearance
11 7 (3.24%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (2.78%) DBS Check
13 5 (2.31%) MCSA
14 4 (1.85%) MCSE
14 4 (1.85%) Network+ Certification
15 3 (1.39%) CCSA
15 3 (1.39%) CCSE
15 3 (1.39%) Master's Degree
15 3 (1.39%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (6.48%) SLA
2 13 (6.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (5.56%) Cyber Essentials
3 12 (5.56%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 3 (1.39%) NCSC
4 3 (1.39%) PCI DSS
4 3 (1.39%) QA
5 2 (0.93%) GRC
6 1 (0.46%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.46%) Basel III
6 1 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.46%) MiFID
6 1 (0.46%) NIST
6 1 (0.46%) PMO
System Software
1 61 (28.24%) Active Directory
2 33 (15.28%) Hyper-V
3 26 (12.04%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (4.17%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (3.70%) Firmware
6 6 (2.78%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.78%) vSphere
7 4 (1.85%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 3 (1.39%) VMware NSX
9 2 (0.93%) Docker
10 1 (0.46%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.46%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.46%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 35 (16.20%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (7.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 15 (6.94%) Ansible
3 15 (6.94%) Terraform
4 14 (6.48%) FortiGate
5 6 (2.78%) Endace
6 5 (2.31%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.85%) Autotask
7 4 (1.85%) Cisco CUCM
7 4 (1.85%) Grafana
7 4 (1.85%) Kubernetes
7 4 (1.85%) PaperCut
8 3 (1.39%) OpenView
8 3 (1.39%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.93%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.93%) Red Hat Satellite
9 2 (0.93%) Red Hat Spacewalk
10 1 (0.46%) Kibana
10 1 (0.46%) Proxmox
10 1 (0.46%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 104 (48.15%) Cisco
2 84 (38.89%) Microsoft
3 53 (24.54%) Fortinet
4 40 (18.52%) Meraki
5 39 (18.06%) VMware
6 29 (13.43%) CheckPoint
6 29 (13.43%) Palo Alto
7 22 (10.19%) SolarWinds
8 19 (8.80%) Google
9 14 (6.48%) Juniper
10 11 (5.09%) Dynatrace
11 9 (4.17%) ServiceNow
12 8 (3.70%) F5
13 5 (2.31%) Apple
13 5 (2.31%) Aruba
13 5 (2.31%) HP
13 5 (2.31%) Splunk
14 4 (1.85%) Dell
14 4 (1.85%) NetApp
14 4 (1.85%) Zscaler
65 hybrid/remote WAN jobs