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 18 September 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
18 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 189 196 164
Rank change year-on-year +7 -32 -49
Permanent jobs citing WAN 322 257 490
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.32% 1.58% 2.09%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.25% 14.26% 13.11%
Number of salaries quoted 194 170 297
10th Percentile £31,250 £31,500 £35,000
25th Percentile £38,063 £39,438 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% - +15.79%
75th Percentile £76,201 £80,000 £72,500
90th Percentile £83,375 £95,000 £84,964
UK median annual salary £55,000 £45,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +22.22% -10.00% +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 2,259 1,802 3,737
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.28% 11.05% 15.93%
Number of salaries quoted 1,342 1,037 1,613
10th Percentile £29,000 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £73,750 £69,750 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £82,500
UK median annual salary £48,445 £40,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +21.11% -20.00% -0.99%

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 18 September 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 28 (8.70%) Microsoft Exchange
2 27 (8.39%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.62%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) IIS
4 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 6 (1.86%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (0.62%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 188 (58.39%) Azure
2 104 (32.30%) Microsoft 365
3 63 (19.57%) Cloud Computing
4 54 (16.77%) AWS
5 52 (16.15%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.63%) Power Platform
7 14 (4.35%) GCP
8 10 (3.11%) OneDrive
9 7 (2.17%) Azure Sentinel
9 7 (2.17%) OCI
10 6 (1.86%) IaaS
10 6 (1.86%) PaaS
10 6 (1.86%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 5 (1.55%) Azure Monitor
11 5 (1.55%) SaaS
12 4 (1.24%) AWS Direct Connect
12 4 (1.24%) Mimecast
13 2 (0.62%) Azure DevOps
13 2 (0.62%) Datadog
13 2 (0.62%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 271 (84.16%) LAN
2 161 (50.00%) Firewall
3 85 (26.40%) SD-WAN
4 82 (25.47%) Network Security
4 82 (25.47%) VPN
5 65 (20.19%) DNS
6 61 (18.94%) DHCP
7 56 (17.39%) VLAN
8 51 (15.84%) BGP
9 50 (15.53%) Wi-Fi
9 50 (15.53%) Wireless
10 45 (13.98%) TCP/IP
11 40 (12.42%) WLAN
12 37 (11.49%) MPLS
13 35 (10.87%) OSPF
14 25 (7.76%) Cisco Nexus
15 20 (6.21%) Cisco ISE
16 17 (5.28%) Cisco ASA
17 16 (4.97%) VXLAN
18 15 (4.66%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 10 (3.11%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.62%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
3 1 (0.31%) GIS
3 1 (0.31%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.31%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.31%) MySQL
3 1 (0.31%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.31%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.31%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 6 (1.86%) Git
1 6 (1.86%) JIRA
2 5 (1.55%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.62%) GitLab
4 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
General
1 155 (48.14%) Social Skills
2 78 (24.22%) Finance
3 63 (19.57%) Presentation Skills
4 47 (14.60%) Telecoms
5 41 (12.73%) Public Sector
6 32 (9.94%) Law
7 22 (6.83%) Retail
8 18 (5.59%) Banking
8 18 (5.59%) Marketing
9 14 (4.35%) Analytical Skills
10 9 (2.80%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 6 (1.86%) Manufacturing
11 6 (1.86%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.24%) Legal
13 2 (0.62%) Automotive
13 2 (0.62%) Electronics
13 2 (0.62%) French Language
13 2 (0.62%) German Language
13 2 (0.62%) Local Government
13 2 (0.62%) Military
Job Titles
1 101 (31.37%) Architect
2 93 (28.88%) Network Engineer
3 58 (18.01%) Systems Architect
4 53 (16.46%) Senior
5 34 (10.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 30 (9.32%) Network Architect
7 24 (7.45%) Senior Network Engineer
7 24 (7.45%) Support Engineer
8 23 (7.14%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 22 (6.83%) IT Support
10 18 (5.59%) IT Engineer
10 18 (5.59%) Lead
11 17 (5.28%) Analyst
12 12 (3.73%) IT Support Engineer
12 12 (3.73%) Network Manager
13 11 (3.42%) 2nd Line Support
13 11 (3.42%) IT Manager
13 11 (3.42%) Network Support
13 11 (3.42%) Network Support Engineer
13 11 (3.42%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 22 (6.83%) Terraform
2 10 (3.11%) OAuth
2 10 (3.11%) SAML
3 7 (2.17%) 802.1X
4 6 (1.86%) XMPP
5 4 (1.24%) LDAP
5 4 (1.24%) YAML
6 3 (0.93%) ARM Templates
7 1 (0.31%) Jinja
7 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 53 (16.46%) Data Centre
2 26 (8.07%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (5.28%) Onboarding
3 17 (5.28%) Security Posture
4 14 (4.35%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 13 (4.04%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (2.48%) Driving Licence
7 7 (2.17%) Cloud Native
7 7 (2.17%) PKI
7 7 (2.17%) Video Conferencing
8 6 (1.86%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 6 (1.86%) Enterprise Software
8 6 (1.86%) FlexPod
8 6 (1.86%) Replication
9 4 (1.24%) Analytical Mindset
9 4 (1.24%) Clustering
9 4 (1.24%) Cyber Defence
9 4 (1.24%) Cyber Threat
10 3 (0.93%) Enterprise Storage
11 2 (0.62%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 58 (18.01%) Windows
2 45 (13.98%) Windows Server
3 14 (4.35%) Linux
4 7 (2.17%) Mac OS
5 5 (1.55%) Windows Server 2016
5 5 (1.55%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (1.24%) Unix
7 2 (0.62%) Android
7 2 (0.62%) CentOS
7 2 (0.62%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.62%) Windows 10
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (28.26%) Project Delivery
2 75 (23.29%) Network Design
3 74 (22.98%) Infrastructure as Code
3 74 (22.98%) Network Architecture
4 72 (22.36%) Problem-Solving
5 71 (22.05%) Roadmaps
6 65 (20.19%) Cybersecurity
6 65 (20.19%) Logistics
7 64 (19.88%) Technical Architecture
8 63 (19.57%) Information Security
9 60 (18.63%) Containerisation
10 58 (18.01%) Business Case
10 58 (18.01%) Business Strategy
10 58 (18.01%) Risk Management
11 50 (15.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 49 (15.22%) Continuous Improvement
13 39 (12.11%) Stakeholder Management
14 34 (10.56%) ITIL
15 33 (10.25%) IT Strategy
15 33 (10.25%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 32 (9.94%) Python
2 26 (8.07%) PowerShell
3 3 (0.93%) SQL
4 2 (0.62%) Bash
5 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.31%) Ruby
5 1 (0.31%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 66 (20.50%) Cisco Certification
2 52 (16.15%) CCNP
3 36 (11.18%) CCNA
4 23 (7.14%) Degree
5 21 (6.52%) Azure Certification
5 21 (6.52%) Security Cleared
6 12 (3.73%) CCIE
7 11 (3.42%) DV Cleared
8 10 (3.11%) SC Cleared
9 9 (2.80%) Microsoft Certification
10 8 (2.48%) PMP
11 6 (1.86%) Computer Science Degree
12 5 (1.55%) Network+ Certification
13 4 (1.24%) CompTIA Security+
13 4 (1.24%) DBS Check
13 4 (1.24%) PMI Certification
14 3 (0.93%) AWS Certification
14 3 (0.93%) CCDP
14 3 (0.93%) JNCIE
15 2 (0.62%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.25%) GRC
2 23 (7.14%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (4.97%) SLA
4 15 (4.66%) NIST
5 11 (3.42%) GDPR
6 7 (2.17%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.24%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.93%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.62%) QA
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 63 (19.57%) Active Directory
2 39 (12.11%) VMware Infrastructure
3 37 (11.49%) Hyper-V
4 13 (4.04%) vSphere
5 10 (3.11%) VMware NSX
6 7 (2.17%) Firmware
7 6 (1.86%) VMware ESXi
8 4 (1.24%) Virtual Servers
9 3 (0.93%) BitLocker
9 3 (0.93%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 2 (0.62%) Docker
10 2 (0.62%) Virtual Machines
11 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
11 1 (0.31%) KVM
11 1 (0.31%) QEMU
11 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
11 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
11 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
11 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 28 (8.70%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (8.39%) Ansible
2 27 (8.39%) FortiGate
3 14 (4.35%) CASB
4 7 (2.17%) Cisco CUCM
5 6 (1.86%) Grafana
5 6 (1.86%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.55%) Kubernetes
6 5 (1.55%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.24%) QRadar
7 4 (1.24%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 3 (0.93%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.62%) SCCM
9 2 (0.62%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.31%) Check_MK
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco UCCE
10 1 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
10 1 (0.31%) Packer
10 1 (0.31%) Puppet
Vendors
1 165 (51.24%) Microsoft
2 141 (43.79%) Cisco
3 65 (20.19%) Palo Alto
4 53 (16.46%) VMware
5 38 (11.80%) Fortinet
6 23 (7.14%) Aruba
7 21 (6.52%) Meraki
8 20 (6.21%) Juniper
9 15 (4.66%) CheckPoint
9 15 (4.66%) Zscaler
10 14 (4.35%) SolarWinds
10 14 (4.35%) Splunk
11 6 (1.86%) Citrix
11 6 (1.86%) Dell
11 6 (1.86%) F5
12 5 (1.55%) Netskope
13 4 (1.24%) Acronis
13 4 (1.24%) ArcSight
13 4 (1.24%) Dynatrace
13 4 (1.24%) SonicWALL