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 10 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 179 203 126
Rank change year-on-year +24 -77 +22
Permanent jobs citing WAN 302 273 761
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.42% 1.66% 2.35%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.74% 13.92% 15.73%
Number of salaries quoted 206 196 575
10th Percentile £31,756 £28,000 £34,000
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £54,500
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -8.26% +3.81%
75th Percentile £77,500 £66,250 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £55,000 £48,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +14.58% +1.05% -

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 2,371 1,961 4,837
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.17% 11.91% 14.96%
Number of salaries quoted 1,279 1,199 3,051
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,498 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +14.73% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £85,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -7.41%

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 10 July 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 37 (12.25%) Microsoft Exchange
2 32 (10.60%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.33%) Confluence
3 1 (0.33%) IIS
3 1 (0.33%) OpenStack
Applications
1 9 (2.98%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.99%) AutoCAD
3 3 (0.99%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.99%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.33%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.66%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.33%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 173 (57.28%) Azure
2 115 (38.08%) Microsoft 365
3 74 (24.50%) AWS
4 50 (16.56%) Entra ID
5 33 (10.93%) Cloud Computing
5 33 (10.93%) Power Platform
6 16 (5.30%) GCP
7 11 (3.64%) AWS Direct Connect
7 11 (3.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 10 (3.31%) SaaS
9 9 (2.98%) OneDrive
10 8 (2.65%) Google Workspace
11 7 (2.32%) Azure Sentinel
12 5 (1.66%) OCI
13 3 (0.99%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (0.99%) IaaS
13 3 (0.99%) PaaS
14 2 (0.66%) Datadog
14 2 (0.66%) Mimecast
14 2 (0.66%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 242 (80.13%) LAN
2 157 (51.99%) Firewall
3 106 (35.10%) VPN
4 101 (33.44%) SD-WAN
5 82 (27.15%) DNS
6 69 (22.85%) DHCP
7 66 (21.85%) Network Security
8 57 (18.87%) Wi-Fi
9 54 (17.88%) TCP/IP
10 52 (17.22%) MPLS
11 50 (16.56%) BGP
12 48 (15.89%) VLAN
13 42 (13.91%) WLAN
14 39 (12.91%) Wireless
15 30 (9.93%) Cisco Firepower
16 29 (9.60%) OSPF
17 28 (9.27%) Cisco ISE
18 23 (7.62%) Cisco ASA
19 22 (7.28%) IPsec
20 20 (6.62%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.66%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.66%) Power BI
3 1 (0.33%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.33%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.33%) MySQL
3 1 (0.33%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.33%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.33%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (0.99%) JIRA
2 1 (0.33%) GitLab
2 1 (0.33%) Jenkins
General
1 125 (41.39%) Social Skills
2 64 (21.19%) Finance
3 40 (13.25%) Telecoms
4 38 (12.58%) Public Sector
5 37 (12.25%) Presentation Skills
6 33 (10.93%) Law
7 18 (5.96%) Banking
8 15 (4.97%) Marketing
8 15 (4.97%) Retail
9 14 (4.64%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 12 (3.97%) Analytical Skills
11 9 (2.98%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.32%) Electronics
12 4 (1.32%) Military
13 3 (0.99%) Legal
13 3 (0.99%) Manufacturing
14 2 (0.66%) Local Government
14 2 (0.66%) Retail Banking
15 1 (0.33%) Dutch Language
15 1 (0.33%) French Language
Job Titles
1 89 (29.47%) Architect
2 74 (24.50%) Network Engineer
3 50 (16.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 50 (16.56%) Senior
4 35 (11.59%) IT Engineer
5 34 (11.26%) Network Architect
6 31 (10.26%) Systems Architect
7 30 (9.93%) Support Engineer
8 28 (9.27%) IT Support
9 24 (7.95%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 22 (7.28%) IT Support Engineer
11 17 (5.63%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 17 (5.63%) 2nd Line Support
11 17 (5.63%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 17 (5.63%) Solutions Architect
12 16 (5.30%) Senior Network Engineer
13 15 (4.97%) Analyst
14 13 (4.30%) Network Manager
15 12 (3.97%) Lead
15 12 (3.97%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (3.31%) OAuth
1 10 (3.31%) SAML
2 9 (2.98%) XMPP
3 4 (1.32%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.32%) LDAP
4 3 (0.99%) ARM Templates
5 2 (0.66%) Web Services
6 1 (0.33%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 46 (15.23%) Data Centre
2 25 (8.28%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (4.97%) Security Posture
4 14 (4.64%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 12 (3.97%) Onboarding
5 12 (3.97%) PKI
6 10 (3.31%) Driving Licence
6 10 (3.31%) Video Conferencing
7 9 (2.98%) Cloud Native
7 9 (2.98%) FlexPod
7 9 (2.98%) Replication
8 7 (2.32%) Self-Motivation
9 6 (1.99%) Enterprise Software
10 5 (1.66%) Management Information System
11 4 (1.32%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.32%) Clustering
11 4 (1.32%) Cyber Defence
11 4 (1.32%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.32%) Virtual Team
12 3 (0.99%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 71 (23.51%) Windows
2 59 (19.54%) Windows Server
3 22 (7.28%) Linux
4 19 (6.29%) Mac OS
5 13 (4.30%) Windows Server 2016
6 12 (3.97%) Windows 10
6 12 (3.97%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (2.65%) Windows Server 2012
8 4 (1.32%) Unix
9 3 (0.99%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.66%) CentOS
10 2 (0.66%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.33%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.33%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.33%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (26.49%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (20.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 58 (19.21%) Project Delivery
4 52 (17.22%) Network Architecture
5 47 (15.56%) Cybersecurity
5 47 (15.56%) Infrastructure as Code
5 47 (15.56%) Roadmaps
6 45 (14.90%) Network Design
7 43 (14.24%) Continuous Improvement
8 41 (13.58%) Stakeholder Management
9 39 (12.91%) Disaster Recovery
10 37 (12.25%) Technical Architecture
11 36 (11.92%) Logistics
12 34 (11.26%) Information Security
13 33 (10.93%) Business Case
13 33 (10.93%) Risk Management
14 32 (10.60%) Business Strategy
14 32 (10.60%) Containerisation
14 32 (10.60%) Mentoring
14 32 (10.60%) Presales
Programming Languages
1 29 (9.60%) Python
2 19 (6.29%) PowerShell
3 3 (0.99%) SQL
4 2 (0.66%) Bash
5 1 (0.33%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.33%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 60 (19.87%) Cisco Certification
2 48 (15.89%) CCNP
3 35 (11.59%) CCNA
4 32 (10.60%) Security Cleared
5 25 (8.28%) SC Cleared
6 22 (7.28%) Degree
7 18 (5.96%) CCIE
8 16 (5.30%) Azure Certification
9 15 (4.97%) DV Cleared
10 12 (3.97%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (2.98%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (2.32%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.66%) CCSA
13 5 (1.66%) CCSE
13 5 (1.66%) PMP
14 4 (1.32%) DBS Check
14 4 (1.32%) JNCIE
15 3 (0.99%) CCIE Security
15 3 (0.99%) JNCIP
15 3 (0.99%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 31 (10.26%) GRC
2 25 (8.28%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (3.97%) NIST
4 10 (3.31%) SLA
5 9 (2.98%) Cyber Essentials
6 7 (2.32%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.32%) GDPR
7 4 (1.32%) QA
8 3 (0.99%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.33%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.33%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.33%) NCSC
9 1 (0.33%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 67 (22.19%) Active Directory
2 37 (12.25%) Hyper-V
2 37 (12.25%) VMware Infrastructure
3 15 (4.97%) vSphere
4 8 (2.65%) VMware NSX
5 7 (2.32%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (1.99%) Firmware
6 6 (1.99%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (1.99%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.33%) BitLocker
7 1 (0.33%) Citrix Hypervisor
7 1 (0.33%) Docker
7 1 (0.33%) KVM
7 1 (0.33%) QEMU
7 1 (0.33%) Slurm Workload Manager
7 1 (0.33%) Terminal Services
7 1 (0.33%) Xen
Systems Management
1 26 (8.61%) Ansible
2 25 (8.28%) FortiGate
2 25 (8.28%) Microsoft Intune
3 18 (5.96%) Terraform
4 10 (3.31%) CASB
5 9 (2.98%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 9 (2.98%) Cisco CUCM
5 9 (2.98%) Grafana
6 5 (1.66%) Endace
6 5 (1.66%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.32%) Kubernetes
7 4 (1.32%) QRadar
8 3 (0.99%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.66%) OpenView
9 2 (0.66%) SCCM
9 2 (0.66%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.66%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 2 (0.66%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.66%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.33%) Puppet
Vendors
1 146 (48.34%) Microsoft
2 139 (46.03%) Cisco
3 63 (20.86%) Palo Alto
4 52 (17.22%) Fortinet
4 52 (17.22%) VMware
5 38 (12.58%) Meraki
6 24 (7.95%) Juniper
7 21 (6.95%) SolarWinds
8 20 (6.62%) CheckPoint
9 17 (5.63%) Splunk
10 16 (5.30%) Aruba
11 12 (3.97%) F5
11 12 (3.97%) Zscaler
12 11 (3.64%) Dynatrace
13 8 (2.65%) Google
14 6 (1.99%) ArcSight
14 6 (1.99%) NetApp
14 6 (1.99%) ServiceNow
15 5 (1.66%) Citrix
16 4 (1.32%) EMC