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

6 months to
1 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 181 192 150
Rank change year-on-year +11 -42 -27
Permanent jobs citing WAN 319 261 549
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.37% 1.59% 2.26%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.82% 13.78% 14.55%
Number of salaries quoted 195 188 368
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,000 £34,404
25th Percentile £40,125 £38,813 £43,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £50,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -7.41% +8.00%
75th Percentile £76,476 £70,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £84,500 £90,000 £84,114
UK median annual salary £55,000 £42,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +29.41% -15.00% +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 2,309 1,894 3,774
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.90% 11.52% 15.53%
Number of salaries quoted 1,340 1,127 1,824
10th Percentile £29,000 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -12.04% -6.09%
75th Percentile £73,750 £67,500 £68,750
90th Percentile £86,250 £86,776 £81,250
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 1 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 27 (8.46%) Microsoft Exchange
2 23 (7.21%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.63%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) IIS
4 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 7 (2.19%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
2 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 185 (57.99%) Azure
2 104 (32.60%) Microsoft 365
3 62 (19.44%) Cloud Computing
4 61 (19.12%) AWS
5 46 (14.42%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.72%) Power Platform
7 18 (5.64%) GCP
8 9 (2.82%) OneDrive
9 8 (2.51%) OCI
10 7 (2.19%) Azure Sentinel
11 6 (1.88%) IaaS
11 6 (1.88%) PaaS
11 6 (1.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
12 5 (1.57%) SaaS
13 4 (1.25%) AWS Direct Connect
13 4 (1.25%) Mimecast
14 3 (0.94%) Azure Monitor
15 2 (0.63%) Azure AKS
15 2 (0.63%) Azure ExpressRoute
15 2 (0.63%) Azure Key Vault
Communications & Networking
1 273 (85.58%) LAN
2 160 (50.16%) Firewall
3 86 (26.96%) SD-WAN
4 81 (25.39%) Network Security
4 81 (25.39%) VPN
5 66 (20.69%) DNS
6 61 (19.12%) DHCP
7 57 (17.87%) VLAN
8 50 (15.67%) Wireless
9 48 (15.05%) BGP
9 48 (15.05%) Wi-Fi
10 43 (13.48%) TCP/IP
11 39 (12.23%) MPLS
12 38 (11.91%) WLAN
13 32 (10.03%) OSPF
14 21 (6.58%) Cisco Nexus
15 20 (6.27%) Cisco ISE
16 19 (5.96%) Cisco ASA
17 16 (5.02%) Cisco Firepower
18 15 (4.70%) Unified Communications
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.51%) SQL Server
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 5 (1.57%) JIRA
2 4 (1.25%) Git
3 3 (0.94%) Sonatype Nexus
4 2 (0.63%) GitLab
5 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
General
1 154 (48.28%) Social Skills
2 78 (24.45%) Finance
3 66 (20.69%) Presentation Skills
4 48 (15.05%) Telecoms
5 40 (12.54%) Public Sector
6 31 (9.72%) Law
7 19 (5.96%) Banking
7 19 (5.96%) Retail
8 18 (5.64%) Marketing
9 13 (4.08%) Analytical Skills
10 8 (2.51%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 8 (2.51%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.25%) Electronics
11 4 (1.25%) Manufacturing
12 3 (0.94%) Legal
12 3 (0.94%) Military
13 2 (0.63%) French Language
13 2 (0.63%) German Language
13 2 (0.63%) Local Government
14 1 (0.31%) Italian Language
Job Titles
1 105 (32.92%) Architect
2 87 (27.27%) Network Engineer
3 58 (18.18%) Systems Architect
4 49 (15.36%) Senior
5 35 (10.97%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 32 (10.03%) Network Architect
7 25 (7.84%) Support Engineer
8 22 (6.90%) IT Support
8 22 (6.90%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (6.58%) Senior Network Engineer
10 17 (5.33%) Analyst
10 17 (5.33%) IT Engineer
11 16 (5.02%) Lead
12 13 (4.08%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 13 (4.08%) 2nd Line Support
12 13 (4.08%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 13 (4.08%) IT Support Engineer
13 12 (3.76%) Network Manager
13 12 (3.76%) Solutions Architect
14 11 (3.45%) Network Support
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 21 (6.58%) Terraform
2 10 (3.13%) OAuth
2 10 (3.13%) SAML
3 8 (2.51%) XMPP
4 7 (2.19%) 802.1X
5 4 (1.25%) LDAP
6 3 (0.94%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.63%) YAML
8 1 (0.31%) Jinja
8 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 48 (15.05%) Data Centre
2 26 (8.15%) Hybrid Cloud
3 17 (5.33%) Onboarding
4 16 (5.02%) Security Posture
5 14 (4.39%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 11 (3.45%) Self-Motivation
7 9 (2.82%) Video Conferencing
8 8 (2.51%) FlexPod
8 8 (2.51%) Replication
9 7 (2.19%) Cloud Native
9 7 (2.19%) PKI
10 6 (1.88%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
11 4 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.25%) Clustering
11 4 (1.25%) Cyber Defence
11 4 (1.25%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.25%) Driving Licence
11 4 (1.25%) Enterprise Software
12 3 (0.94%) Enterprise Storage
13 2 (0.63%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 59 (18.50%) Windows
2 49 (15.36%) Windows Server
3 16 (5.02%) Linux
4 9 (2.82%) Mac OS
5 7 (2.19%) Windows Server 2016
5 7 (2.19%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (1.25%) Unix
7 2 (0.63%) CentOS
7 2 (0.63%) Ubuntu
7 2 (0.63%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.63%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (28.53%) Project Delivery
2 75 (23.51%) Infrastructure as Code
2 75 (23.51%) Network Architecture
2 75 (23.51%) Roadmaps
3 71 (22.26%) Network Design
4 68 (21.32%) Problem-Solving
5 64 (20.06%) Logistics
5 64 (20.06%) Technical Architecture
6 63 (19.75%) Information Security
7 59 (18.50%) Containerisation
7 59 (18.50%) Cybersecurity
8 58 (18.18%) Business Case
8 58 (18.18%) Business Strategy
8 58 (18.18%) Risk Management
9 49 (15.36%) Infrastructure Engineering
10 47 (14.73%) Continuous Improvement
11 38 (11.91%) Stakeholder Management
12 34 (10.66%) ITIL
12 34 (10.66%) Mentoring
13 33 (10.34%) IT Strategy
Programming Languages
1 33 (10.34%) Python
2 22 (6.90%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.63%) Bash
4 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
4 1 (0.31%) Ruby
4 1 (0.31%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 69 (21.63%) Cisco Certification
2 53 (16.61%) CCNP
3 35 (10.97%) CCNA
4 23 (7.21%) Security Cleared
5 20 (6.27%) Azure Certification
5 20 (6.27%) Degree
6 16 (5.02%) CCIE
7 13 (4.08%) DV Cleared
7 13 (4.08%) SC Cleared
8 9 (2.82%) Microsoft Certification
9 7 (2.19%) PMP
10 6 (1.88%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.25%) AWS Certification
11 4 (1.25%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (1.25%) DBS Check
11 4 (1.25%) JNCIE
12 3 (0.94%) CCSA
12 3 (0.94%) CCSE
12 3 (0.94%) Network+ Certification
12 3 (0.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.44%) GRC
2 23 (7.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (5.02%) SLA
4 15 (4.70%) NIST
5 11 (3.45%) GDPR
6 7 (2.19%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.25%) PCI DSS
8 3 (0.94%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
9 2 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 2 (0.63%) QA
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 60 (18.81%) Active Directory
2 40 (12.54%) VMware Infrastructure
3 39 (12.23%) Hyper-V
4 15 (4.70%) vSphere
5 10 (3.13%) VMware NSX
6 7 (2.19%) Firmware
7 6 (1.88%) Virtual Servers
7 6 (1.88%) VMware ESXi
8 5 (1.57%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.63%) BitLocker
10 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.31%) Docker
10 1 (0.31%) KVM
10 1 (0.31%) QEMU
10 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 28 (8.78%) Ansible
2 27 (8.46%) FortiGate
3 23 (7.21%) Microsoft Intune
4 14 (4.39%) CASB
5 8 (2.51%) Cisco CUCM
5 8 (2.51%) Grafana
6 5 (1.57%) Kubernetes
6 5 (1.57%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.25%) QRadar
7 4 (1.25%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (1.25%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 3 (0.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
8 3 (0.94%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.63%) SCCM
9 2 (0.63%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.31%) OpenView
10 1 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
10 1 (0.31%) Puppet
10 1 (0.31%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 162 (50.78%) Microsoft
2 137 (42.95%) Cisco
3 67 (21.00%) Palo Alto
4 55 (17.24%) VMware
5 39 (12.23%) Fortinet
6 23 (7.21%) Aruba
6 23 (7.21%) Meraki
7 20 (6.27%) Juniper
8 16 (5.02%) CheckPoint
8 16 (5.02%) Splunk
8 16 (5.02%) Zscaler
9 13 (4.08%) SolarWinds
10 6 (1.88%) F5
10 6 (1.88%) Netskope
11 5 (1.57%) ArcSight
11 5 (1.57%) Citrix
11 5 (1.57%) Dell
11 5 (1.57%) NetApp
12 4 (1.25%) Dynatrace
12 4 (1.25%) HP