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 24 May 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
24 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 181 215 132
Rank change year-on-year +34 -83 +36
Permanent jobs citing WAN 245 234 769
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.29% 1.60% 2.35%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.92% 12.41% 15.27%
Number of salaries quoted 176 163 607
10th Percentile £31,625 £31,250 £33,100
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £78,188 £63,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £86,250 £85,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.00% +5.26% -

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 2,055 1,886 5,037
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.86% 12.92% 15.40%
Number of salaries quoted 1,012 1,126 3,316
10th Percentile £29,775 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £86,250 £80,000
UK median annual salary £45,000 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% -5.47%

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 24 May 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 44 (17.96%) Microsoft Exchange
2 39 (15.92%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.82%) Confluence
4 1 (0.41%) Apache
4 1 (0.41%) IIS
4 1 (0.41%) nginx
4 1 (0.41%) OpenStack
Applications
1 13 (5.31%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.63%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.22%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.22%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.82%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.41%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 134 (54.69%) Azure
2 81 (33.06%) Microsoft 365
3 71 (28.98%) AWS
4 41 (16.73%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.53%) GCP
6 15 (6.12%) AWS Direct Connect
6 15 (6.12%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 14 (5.71%) Google Workspace
7 14 (5.71%) SaaS
8 13 (5.31%) OneDrive
9 5 (2.04%) Azure Sentinel
10 4 (1.63%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (1.63%) OCI
11 2 (0.82%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.82%) IaaS
11 2 (0.82%) PaaS
11 2 (0.82%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.82%) SuccessFactors
12 1 (0.41%) Datadog
12 1 (0.41%) OpenShift
Communications & Networking
1 175 (71.43%) LAN
2 118 (48.16%) Firewall
3 112 (45.71%) SD-WAN
4 97 (39.59%) VPN
5 73 (29.80%) DNS
6 59 (24.08%) DHCP
7 55 (22.45%) TCP/IP
8 52 (21.22%) Wi-Fi
9 46 (18.78%) WLAN
10 43 (17.55%) MPLS
11 42 (17.14%) BGP
12 38 (15.51%) Network Security
13 35 (14.29%) VLAN
14 34 (13.88%) Cisco Firepower
15 33 (13.47%) Cisco ISE
16 30 (12.24%) Wireless
17 28 (11.43%) OSPF
18 27 (11.02%) Cisco ASA
19 21 (8.57%) VoIP
20 20 (8.16%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.82%) Power BI
1 2 (0.82%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.41%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.41%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.41%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.41%) MySQL
2 1 (0.41%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.41%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.41%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.22%) JIRA
2 1 (0.41%) Jenkins
General
1 71 (28.98%) Social Skills
2 42 (17.14%) Finance
3 37 (15.10%) Public Sector
4 18 (7.35%) Retail
4 18 (7.35%) Telecoms
5 16 (6.53%) Banking
6 15 (6.12%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 11 (4.49%) Marketing
7 11 (4.49%) Organisational Skills
8 8 (3.27%) Manufacturing
9 7 (2.86%) Analytical Skills
10 6 (2.45%) Presentation Skills
11 4 (1.63%) Electronics
11 4 (1.63%) Law
12 3 (1.22%) Legal
12 3 (1.22%) Police
13 2 (0.82%) Local Government
13 2 (0.82%) Military
13 2 (0.82%) Retail Banking
14 1 (0.41%) Dutch Language
Job Titles
1 67 (27.35%) Network Engineer
2 54 (22.04%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 47 (19.18%) Senior
4 46 (18.78%) Architect
5 41 (16.73%) IT Engineer
6 33 (13.47%) Support Engineer
7 30 (12.24%) IT Support
8 26 (10.61%) Network Architect
9 24 (9.80%) IT Support Engineer
10 23 (9.39%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 21 (8.57%) 2nd Line Support
12 18 (7.35%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 18 (7.35%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 17 (6.94%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
13 17 (6.94%) Operations Engineer
14 16 (6.53%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
14 16 (6.53%) Solutions Architect
15 15 (6.12%) Senior Network Engineer
16 13 (5.31%) Network Manager
17 11 (4.49%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.67%) XMPP
2 4 (1.63%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.63%) LDAP
3 2 (0.82%) ARM Templates
3 2 (0.82%) OAuth
3 2 (0.82%) SAML
3 2 (0.82%) Web Services
4 1 (0.41%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 46 (18.78%) Data Centre
2 19 (7.76%) Hybrid Cloud
3 12 (4.90%) Driving Licence
4 11 (4.49%) Onboarding
4 11 (4.49%) PKI
4 11 (4.49%) Video Conferencing
5 10 (4.08%) Management Information System
6 9 (3.67%) FlexPod
6 9 (3.67%) Self-Motivation
7 8 (3.27%) Replication
8 7 (2.86%) Enterprise Software
9 6 (2.45%) Cloud Native
10 5 (2.04%) Cyber Kill Chain
10 5 (2.04%) Product Ownership
10 5 (2.04%) Security Posture
11 4 (1.63%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.63%) Public Cloud
11 4 (1.63%) Social Media
12 3 (1.22%) Cyber Defence
12 3 (1.22%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 72 (29.39%) Windows
2 60 (24.49%) Windows Server
3 26 (10.61%) Windows 10
4 23 (9.39%) Linux
5 21 (8.57%) Mac OS
6 13 (5.31%) Windows Server 2012
6 13 (5.31%) Windows Server 2016
7 12 (4.90%) Windows Server 2019
8 10 (4.08%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.63%) Unix
10 3 (1.22%) CentOS
11 2 (0.82%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.41%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.41%) Oracle Linux
12 1 (0.41%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.41%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.41%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 74 (30.20%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (25.31%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 43 (17.55%) Disaster Recovery
4 36 (14.69%) Continuous Improvement
5 35 (14.29%) ITIL
6 31 (12.65%) Mentoring
6 31 (12.65%) Zero Trust
7 29 (11.84%) Service Delivery
8 28 (11.43%) Stakeholder Management
9 25 (10.20%) Cybersecurity
9 25 (10.20%) Presales
10 23 (9.39%) Migration
11 22 (8.98%) Service Management
12 21 (8.57%) Cloud Security
12 21 (8.57%) Network Architecture
13 20 (8.16%) Technical Leadership
14 19 (7.76%) Roadmaps
15 17 (6.94%) Network Segmentation
16 16 (6.53%) Root Cause Analysis
17 15 (6.12%) Kalman Filter
Programming Languages
1 21 (8.57%) Python
2 12 (4.90%) PowerShell
3 4 (1.63%) SQL
4 1 (0.41%) Bash
4 1 (0.41%) Java
4 1 (0.41%) Perl
4 1 (0.41%) PL/SQL
4 1 (0.41%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 40 (16.33%) Cisco Certification
2 30 (12.24%) Security Cleared
3 28 (11.43%) CCNP
4 25 (10.20%) SC Cleared
5 20 (8.16%) CCNA
6 18 (7.35%) Degree
7 16 (6.53%) CCIE
7 16 (6.53%) Microsoft Certification
8 12 (4.90%) DV Cleared
9 9 (3.67%) Azure Certification
9 9 (3.67%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (3.67%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (2.04%) CCSA
10 5 (2.04%) CCSE
11 4 (1.63%) JNCIE
12 3 (1.22%) CCIE Security
12 3 (1.22%) JNCIP
12 3 (1.22%) MCSE
12 3 (1.22%) PMP
12 3 (1.22%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (7.35%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 15 (6.12%) SLA
3 10 (4.08%) Cyber Essentials
3 10 (4.08%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 4 (1.63%) NIST
4 4 (1.63%) QA
5 3 (1.22%) GDPR
5 3 (1.22%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 3 (1.22%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.41%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.41%) NCSC
System Software
1 61 (24.90%) Active Directory
2 32 (13.06%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (9.39%) Hyper-V
4 12 (4.90%) vSphere
5 7 (2.86%) Firmware
5 7 (2.86%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.45%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 5 (2.04%) VMware NSX
8 4 (1.63%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (1.22%) Virtual Machines
10 2 (0.82%) Docker
11 1 (0.41%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.41%) KVM
11 1 (0.41%) QEMU
11 1 (0.41%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.41%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.41%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.41%) Xen
Systems Management
1 24 (9.80%) Microsoft Intune
2 23 (9.39%) Ansible
3 20 (8.16%) FortiGate
4 16 (6.53%) Terraform
5 14 (5.71%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (3.67%) Cisco CUCM
6 9 (3.67%) Grafana
7 6 (2.45%) Endace
8 5 (2.04%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.63%) Kubernetes
10 3 (1.22%) QRadar
11 2 (0.82%) Autotask
11 2 (0.82%) CASB
11 2 (0.82%) Dell DRAC
11 2 (0.82%) Jamf Pro
11 2 (0.82%) OpenView
11 2 (0.82%) PaperCut
11 2 (0.82%) SCCM
11 2 (0.82%) Tivoli
12 1 (0.41%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 120 (48.98%) Cisco
2 92 (37.55%) Microsoft
3 53 (21.63%) Fortinet
4 41 (16.73%) Meraki
4 41 (16.73%) Palo Alto
4 41 (16.73%) VMware
5 23 (9.39%) SolarWinds
6 22 (8.98%) CheckPoint
6 22 (8.98%) Juniper
7 16 (6.53%) Splunk
8 15 (6.12%) Dynatrace
9 14 (5.71%) Google
10 10 (4.08%) ServiceNow
11 8 (3.27%) F5
12 7 (2.86%) Zscaler
13 6 (2.45%) NetApp
14 5 (2.04%) ArcSight
14 5 (2.04%) Aruba
15 4 (1.63%) Dell
15 4 (1.63%) Red Hat