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

6 months to
10 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 196 192 151
Rank change year-on-year -4 -41 -28
Permanent jobs citing WAN 326 255 506
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.36% 1.57% 2.17%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.97% 13.90% 13.75%
Number of salaries quoted 198 177 321
10th Percentile £31,250 £30,575 £36,250
25th Percentile £39,250 £39,000 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +13.64% - +10.00%
75th Percentile £76,201 £71,250 £72,500
90th Percentile £84,125 £92,000 £84,964
UK median annual salary £55,000 £42,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +29.41% -15.00% +4.17%

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 2,334 1,834 3,679
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.75% 11.30% 15.74%
Number of salaries quoted 1,353 1,071 1,659
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 £68,750 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £82,500
UK median annual salary £47,500 £40,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +18.75% -20.00% -2.91%

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 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 (8.59%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (7.98%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.61%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) IIS
4 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 7 (2.15%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (0.61%) Microsoft Project
3 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 188 (57.67%) Azure
2 105 (32.21%) Microsoft 365
3 62 (19.02%) Cloud Computing
4 59 (18.10%) AWS
5 50 (15.34%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.51%) Power Platform
7 17 (5.21%) GCP
8 9 (2.76%) OneDrive
9 8 (2.45%) OCI
10 7 (2.15%) Azure Sentinel
11 6 (1.84%) IaaS
11 6 (1.84%) PaaS
11 6 (1.84%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 5 (1.53%) SaaS
13 4 (1.23%) AWS Direct Connect
13 4 (1.23%) Azure Monitor
13 4 (1.23%) Mimecast
14 2 (0.61%) Azure AKS
14 2 (0.61%) Azure Key Vault
14 2 (0.61%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 276 (84.66%) LAN
2 164 (50.31%) Firewall
3 88 (26.99%) SD-WAN
4 83 (25.46%) VPN
5 82 (25.15%) Network Security
6 67 (20.55%) DNS
7 62 (19.02%) DHCP
8 58 (17.79%) VLAN
9 50 (15.34%) BGP
9 50 (15.34%) Wi-Fi
9 50 (15.34%) Wireless
10 47 (14.42%) TCP/IP
11 39 (11.96%) MPLS
11 39 (11.96%) WLAN
12 34 (10.43%) OSPF
13 24 (7.36%) Cisco Nexus
14 20 (6.13%) Cisco ISE
15 18 (5.52%) Cisco ASA
16 16 (4.91%) VXLAN
17 15 (4.60%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.76%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.31%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
2 1 (0.31%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.31%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.31%) MySQL
2 1 (0.31%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.31%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.31%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 6 (1.84%) Git
1 6 (1.84%) JIRA
2 5 (1.53%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.61%) GitLab
4 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
General
1 159 (48.77%) Social Skills
2 78 (23.93%) Finance
3 66 (20.25%) Presentation Skills
4 49 (15.03%) Telecoms
5 42 (12.88%) Public Sector
6 32 (9.82%) Law
7 22 (6.75%) Retail
8 20 (6.13%) Banking
9 19 (5.83%) Marketing
10 14 (4.29%) Analytical Skills
11 8 (2.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (2.45%) Organisational Skills
12 5 (1.53%) Manufacturing
13 4 (1.23%) Electronics
13 4 (1.23%) Legal
14 3 (0.92%) Military
15 2 (0.61%) Automotive
15 2 (0.61%) French Language
15 2 (0.61%) German Language
15 2 (0.61%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 104 (31.90%) Architect
2 90 (27.61%) Network Engineer
3 58 (17.79%) Systems Architect
4 53 (16.26%) Senior
5 35 (10.74%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 31 (9.51%) Network Architect
7 24 (7.36%) Support Engineer
8 23 (7.06%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 23 (7.06%) Senior Network Engineer
9 22 (6.75%) IT Support
10 18 (5.52%) IT Engineer
11 17 (5.21%) Analyst
11 17 (5.21%) Lead
12 12 (3.68%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 12 (3.68%) 2nd Line Support
12 12 (3.68%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 12 (3.68%) IT Support Engineer
12 12 (3.68%) Network Manager
12 12 (3.68%) Solutions Architect
13 11 (3.37%) Network Support Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 23 (7.06%) Terraform
2 10 (3.07%) OAuth
2 10 (3.07%) SAML
3 7 (2.15%) 802.1X
3 7 (2.15%) XMPP
4 4 (1.23%) LDAP
4 4 (1.23%) YAML
5 3 (0.92%) ARM Templates
6 1 (0.31%) Jinja
6 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 53 (16.26%) Data Centre
2 26 (7.98%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (5.21%) Onboarding
3 17 (5.21%) Security Posture
4 14 (4.29%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 13 (3.99%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (2.45%) Video Conferencing
7 7 (2.15%) Cloud Native
7 7 (2.15%) Driving Licence
7 7 (2.15%) FlexPod
7 7 (2.15%) PKI
7 7 (2.15%) Replication
8 6 (1.84%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 5 (1.53%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.23%) Clustering
10 4 (1.23%) Cyber Defence
10 4 (1.23%) Cyber Threat
11 3 (0.92%) Enterprise Storage
12 2 (0.61%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 61 (18.71%) Windows
2 48 (14.72%) Windows Server
3 16 (4.91%) Linux
4 8 (2.45%) Mac OS
5 6 (1.84%) Windows Server 2016
5 6 (1.84%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (1.23%) Unix
7 3 (0.92%) Windows 10
8 2 (0.61%) Android
8 2 (0.61%) CentOS
8 2 (0.61%) Ubuntu
9 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 92 (28.22%) Project Delivery
2 75 (23.01%) Infrastructure as Code
2 75 (23.01%) Network Architecture
3 74 (22.70%) Network Design
3 74 (22.70%) Roadmaps
4 71 (21.78%) Problem-Solving
5 64 (19.63%) Cybersecurity
5 64 (19.63%) Logistics
5 64 (19.63%) Technical Architecture
6 63 (19.33%) Information Security
7 60 (18.40%) Containerisation
8 58 (17.79%) Business Case
8 58 (17.79%) Business Strategy
8 58 (17.79%) Risk Management
9 50 (15.34%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 49 (15.03%) Continuous Improvement
11 40 (12.27%) Stakeholder Management
12 35 (10.74%) ITIL
13 33 (10.12%) IT Strategy
13 33 (10.12%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 34 (10.43%) Python
2 24 (7.36%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.61%) Bash
3 2 (0.61%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
4 1 (0.31%) Ruby
4 1 (0.31%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 69 (21.17%) Cisco Certification
2 54 (16.56%) CCNP
3 36 (11.04%) CCNA
4 25 (7.67%) Degree
5 22 (6.75%) Security Cleared
6 21 (6.44%) Azure Certification
7 15 (4.60%) CCIE
8 12 (3.68%) DV Cleared
8 12 (3.68%) SC Cleared
9 10 (3.07%) Microsoft Certification
10 8 (2.45%) PMP
11 7 (2.15%) Computer Science Degree
12 5 (1.53%) Network+ Certification
13 4 (1.23%) AWS Certification
13 4 (1.23%) CompTIA Security+
13 4 (1.23%) DBS Check
13 4 (1.23%) JNCIE
13 4 (1.23%) PMI Certification
14 3 (0.92%) CCDP
14 3 (0.92%) CCIE Security
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.02%) GRC
2 23 (7.06%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (4.91%) SLA
4 15 (4.60%) NIST
5 11 (3.37%) GDPR
6 7 (2.15%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.23%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.92%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.61%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.61%) QA
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 63 (19.33%) Active Directory
2 40 (12.27%) VMware Infrastructure
3 38 (11.66%) Hyper-V
4 14 (4.29%) vSphere
5 10 (3.07%) VMware NSX
6 7 (2.15%) Firmware
7 6 (1.84%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (1.53%) Virtual Servers
9 4 (1.23%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 3 (0.92%) BitLocker
11 2 (0.61%) Docker
11 2 (0.61%) Virtual Machines
12 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
12 1 (0.31%) KVM
12 1 (0.31%) QEMU
12 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
12 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
12 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
12 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 29 (8.90%) Ansible
2 27 (8.28%) FortiGate
2 27 (8.28%) Microsoft Intune
3 14 (4.29%) CASB
4 7 (2.15%) Cisco CUCM
4 7 (2.15%) Grafana
5 5 (1.53%) Kubernetes
5 5 (1.53%) Single Sign-On
5 5 (1.53%) vCenter Server
6 4 (1.23%) QRadar
6 4 (1.23%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
7 3 (0.92%) Failover Clustering
8 2 (0.61%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 2 (0.61%) SCCM
8 2 (0.61%) WhatsUp Gold
9 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
9 1 (0.31%) OpenView
9 1 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
9 1 (0.31%) Puppet
9 1 (0.31%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 165 (50.61%) Microsoft
2 143 (43.87%) Cisco
3 67 (20.55%) Palo Alto
4 55 (16.87%) VMware
5 40 (12.27%) Fortinet
6 23 (7.06%) Aruba
6 23 (7.06%) Meraki
7 20 (6.13%) Juniper
8 16 (4.91%) CheckPoint
8 16 (4.91%) Zscaler
9 15 (4.60%) Splunk
10 13 (3.99%) SolarWinds
11 6 (1.84%) Citrix
11 6 (1.84%) Dell
11 6 (1.84%) F5
11 6 (1.84%) Netskope
12 5 (1.53%) ArcSight
13 4 (1.23%) Acronis
13 4 (1.23%) Dynatrace
13 4 (1.23%) NetApp