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 13 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
13 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 192 199 128
Rank change year-on-year +7 -71 +22
Permanent jobs citing WAN 255 274 805
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.29% 1.80% 2.34%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.71% 14.32% 15.68%
Number of salaries quoted 188 192 611
10th Percentile £31,775 £28,000 £34,750
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -9.09% +4.76%
75th Percentile £78,000 £66,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,750 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £53,784 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +7.57% +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 2,178 1,914 5,134
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.03% 12.56% 14.93%
Number of salaries quoted 1,111 1,146 3,327
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £74,750 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £87,500 £80,000
UK median annual salary £47,500 £47,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year - - -6.86%

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 13 June 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 41 (16.08%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (12.55%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.78%) Confluence
4 1 (0.39%) IIS
4 1 (0.39%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (4.71%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.57%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.57%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.18%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.18%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.78%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.39%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 136 (53.33%) Azure
2 79 (30.98%) Microsoft 365
3 75 (29.41%) AWS
4 43 (16.86%) Entra ID
5 18 (7.06%) GCP
6 13 (5.10%) AWS Direct Connect
6 13 (5.10%) Google Workspace
6 13 (5.10%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 12 (4.71%) SaaS
8 9 (3.53%) OneDrive
9 6 (2.35%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.96%) OCI
11 3 (1.18%) IaaS
11 3 (1.18%) PaaS
12 2 (0.78%) Azure AKS
12 2 (0.78%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.78%) Datadog
12 2 (0.78%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.78%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.78%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 186 (72.94%) LAN
2 130 (50.98%) Firewall
3 112 (43.92%) SD-WAN
4 105 (41.18%) VPN
5 80 (31.37%) DNS
6 66 (25.88%) DHCP
7 56 (21.96%) TCP/IP
8 50 (19.61%) MPLS
8 50 (19.61%) Network Security
9 49 (19.22%) Wi-Fi
10 47 (18.43%) BGP
11 43 (16.86%) WLAN
12 41 (16.08%) VLAN
13 32 (12.55%) Cisco Firepower
14 30 (11.76%) Cisco ISE
15 29 (11.37%) Wireless
16 28 (10.98%) OSPF
17 25 (9.80%) Cisco ASA
18 22 (8.63%) IPsec
18 22 (8.63%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.78%) Power BI
1 2 (0.78%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.39%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.39%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.39%) MySQL
2 1 (0.39%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.39%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.39%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.18%) JIRA
2 1 (0.39%) GitLab
2 1 (0.39%) Jenkins
General
1 83 (32.55%) Social Skills
2 38 (14.90%) Public Sector
3 36 (14.12%) Finance
4 26 (10.20%) Telecoms
5 16 (6.27%) Banking
6 15 (5.88%) Retail
7 14 (5.49%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 12 (4.71%) Marketing
9 10 (3.92%) Organisational Skills
10 8 (3.14%) Analytical Skills
11 6 (2.35%) Presentation Skills
12 4 (1.57%) Electronics
12 4 (1.57%) Legal
13 3 (1.18%) Law
14 2 (0.78%) Local Government
14 2 (0.78%) Military
14 2 (0.78%) Police
14 2 (0.78%) Retail Banking
15 1 (0.39%) Dutch Language
15 1 (0.39%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 70 (27.45%) Network Engineer
2 54 (21.18%) Architect
3 49 (19.22%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 44 (17.25%) Senior
5 41 (16.08%) IT Engineer
6 33 (12.94%) Support Engineer
7 32 (12.55%) Network Architect
8 28 (10.98%) IT Support
9 24 (9.41%) IT Support Engineer
10 22 (8.63%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 21 (8.24%) 2nd Line Support
12 20 (7.84%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 20 (7.84%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 17 (6.67%) Solutions Architect
14 14 (5.49%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
14 14 (5.49%) Operations Engineer
14 14 (5.49%) Senior Network Engineer
15 13 (5.10%) Network Manager
16 12 (4.71%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
17 11 (4.31%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.53%) XMPP
2 7 (2.75%) OAuth
2 7 (2.75%) SAML
3 4 (1.57%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.57%) LDAP
4 2 (0.78%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.78%) Web Services
5 1 (0.39%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 45 (17.65%) Data Centre
2 22 (8.63%) Hybrid Cloud
3 12 (4.71%) Driving Licence
4 11 (4.31%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 11 (4.31%) PKI
5 10 (3.92%) Onboarding
5 10 (3.92%) Security Posture
6 9 (3.53%) Cloud Native
6 9 (3.53%) FlexPod
6 9 (3.53%) Replication
6 9 (3.53%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (2.75%) Management Information System
8 6 (2.35%) Self-Motivation
9 5 (1.96%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.57%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.57%) Cyber Defence
10 4 (1.57%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (1.57%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.57%) Virtual Team
11 3 (1.18%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 68 (26.67%) Windows
2 58 (22.75%) Windows Server
3 23 (9.02%) Linux
3 23 (9.02%) Mac OS
4 21 (8.24%) Windows 10
5 13 (5.10%) Windows Server 2016
6 12 (4.71%) Windows Server 2012
6 12 (4.71%) Windows Server 2019
7 7 (2.75%) Apple iOS
8 4 (1.57%) Unix
9 2 (0.78%) CentOS
9 2 (0.78%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.39%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.39%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.39%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 72 (28.24%) Problem-Solving
2 57 (22.35%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 43 (16.86%) Disaster Recovery
4 38 (14.90%) Continuous Improvement
4 38 (14.90%) Cybersecurity
5 37 (14.51%) Stakeholder Management
6 33 (12.94%) Mentoring
7 30 (11.76%) ITIL
8 29 (11.37%) Presales
9 28 (10.98%) Service Delivery
9 28 (10.98%) Zero Trust
10 24 (9.41%) Technical Leadership
11 22 (8.63%) Collaborative Culture
11 22 (8.63%) Migration
11 22 (8.63%) Network Architecture
12 21 (8.24%) Service Management
13 20 (7.84%) Incident Response
13 20 (7.84%) Network Segmentation
14 19 (7.45%) Cloud Security
15 18 (7.06%) Roadmaps
Programming Languages
1 25 (9.80%) Python
2 14 (5.49%) PowerShell
3 3 (1.18%) SQL
4 2 (0.78%) Bash
5 1 (0.39%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.39%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 50 (19.61%) Cisco Certification
2 38 (14.90%) CCNP
3 31 (12.16%) Security Cleared
4 28 (10.98%) CCNA
5 24 (9.41%) SC Cleared
6 20 (7.84%) Degree
7 17 (6.67%) CCIE
8 13 (5.10%) DV Cleared
9 12 (4.71%) Microsoft Certification
10 11 (4.31%) Azure Certification
11 9 (3.53%) Computer Science Degree
12 8 (3.14%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.96%) CCSA
13 5 (1.96%) CCSE
14 4 (1.57%) JNCIE
15 3 (1.18%) AWS Certification
15 3 (1.18%) CCIE Security
15 3 (1.18%) JNCIP
15 3 (1.18%) PMP
15 3 (1.18%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (9.41%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 13 (5.10%) SLA
3 11 (4.31%) Cyber Essentials
4 9 (3.53%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 9 (3.53%) NIST
5 4 (1.57%) QA
6 3 (1.18%) GDPR
6 3 (1.18%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 3 (1.18%) PCI DSS
7 1 (0.39%) ISO 14001
7 1 (0.39%) ISO 9001
7 1 (0.39%) NCSC
System Software
1 67 (26.27%) Active Directory
2 34 (13.33%) VMware Infrastructure
3 29 (11.37%) Hyper-V
4 13 (5.10%) vSphere
5 7 (2.75%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.35%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (2.35%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.57%) Firmware
7 4 (1.57%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.39%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.39%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.39%) Docker
8 1 (0.39%) KVM
8 1 (0.39%) QEMU
8 1 (0.39%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.39%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.39%) Xen
Systems Management
1 25 (9.80%) Ansible
2 23 (9.02%) FortiGate
3 20 (7.84%) Microsoft Intune
4 18 (7.06%) Terraform
5 13 (5.10%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (3.53%) Cisco CUCM
6 9 (3.53%) Grafana
7 7 (2.75%) CASB
8 5 (1.96%) Endace
8 5 (1.96%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.57%) Kubernetes
9 4 (1.57%) QRadar
10 2 (0.78%) Autotask
10 2 (0.78%) OpenView
10 2 (0.78%) SCCM
10 2 (0.78%) Single Sign-On
10 2 (0.78%) Tivoli
10 2 (0.78%) WhatsUp Gold
11 1 (0.39%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.39%) Dell DRAC
Vendors
1 128 (50.20%) Cisco
2 103 (40.39%) Microsoft
3 57 (22.35%) Fortinet
4 53 (20.78%) Palo Alto
5 47 (18.43%) VMware
6 40 (15.69%) Meraki
7 23 (9.02%) Juniper
8 22 (8.63%) SolarWinds
9 20 (7.84%) CheckPoint
10 17 (6.67%) Splunk
11 13 (5.10%) Dynatrace
11 13 (5.10%) Google
12 11 (4.31%) Aruba
13 9 (3.53%) F5
14 8 (3.14%) ServiceNow
15 7 (2.75%) Zscaler
16 6 (2.35%) ArcSight
16 6 (2.35%) NetApp
17 4 (1.57%) EMC
17 4 (1.57%) Huawei