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

6 months to
4 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 198 210 136
Rank change year-on-year +12 -74 +17
Permanent jobs citing WAN 248 258 780
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.29% 1.74% 2.33%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.70% 13.59% 15.41%
Number of salaries quoted 182 182 604
10th Percentile £31,325 £30,625 £33,875
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £78,000 £65,938 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £89,750 £84,919
UK median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.00% +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 2,119 1,898 5,062
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.01% 12.78% 15.10%
Number of salaries quoted 1,071 1,139 3,310
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 £75,000 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £87,500 £80,000
UK median annual salary £45,750 £47,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year -3.68% - -5.94%

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 4 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 44 (17.74%) Microsoft Exchange
2 37 (14.92%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.81%) Confluence
4 1 (0.40%) IIS
4 1 (0.40%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (4.84%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.61%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.61%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.21%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.21%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.81%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.40%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 136 (54.84%) Azure
2 82 (33.06%) Microsoft 365
3 72 (29.03%) AWS
4 44 (17.74%) Entra ID
5 17 (6.85%) GCP
6 14 (5.65%) AWS Direct Connect
6 14 (5.65%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 13 (5.24%) Google Workspace
7 13 (5.24%) SaaS
8 11 (4.44%) OneDrive
9 6 (2.42%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (2.02%) OCI
11 3 (1.21%) IaaS
11 3 (1.21%) PaaS
12 2 (0.81%) Azure AKS
12 2 (0.81%) Azure Monitor
12 2 (0.81%) Datadog
12 2 (0.81%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.81%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.81%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 178 (71.77%) LAN
2 123 (49.60%) Firewall
3 111 (44.76%) SD-WAN
4 100 (40.32%) VPN
5 76 (30.65%) DNS
6 62 (25.00%) DHCP
7 55 (22.18%) TCP/IP
8 50 (20.16%) Wi-Fi
9 45 (18.15%) WLAN
10 44 (17.74%) BGP
10 44 (17.74%) MPLS
11 43 (17.34%) Network Security
12 38 (15.32%) VLAN
13 33 (13.31%) Cisco Firepower
14 32 (12.90%) Cisco ISE
15 28 (11.29%) OSPF
16 27 (10.89%) Wireless
17 26 (10.48%) Cisco ASA
18 21 (8.47%) VoIP
19 20 (8.06%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.81%) Power BI
1 2 (0.81%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.40%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.40%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.40%) MySQL
2 1 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.40%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.40%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.21%) JIRA
2 1 (0.40%) GitLab
2 1 (0.40%) Jenkins
General
1 80 (32.26%) Social Skills
2 38 (15.32%) Finance
2 38 (15.32%) Public Sector
3 20 (8.06%) Telecoms
4 16 (6.45%) Retail
5 15 (6.05%) Banking
5 15 (6.05%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 11 (4.44%) Marketing
6 11 (4.44%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (3.23%) Analytical Skills
8 6 (2.42%) Presentation Skills
9 4 (1.61%) Electronics
9 4 (1.61%) Legal
9 4 (1.61%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.21%) Law
11 2 (0.81%) Local Government
11 2 (0.81%) Military
11 2 (0.81%) Police
11 2 (0.81%) Retail Banking
12 1 (0.40%) Fire and Rescue
Job Titles
1 67 (27.02%) Network Engineer
2 54 (21.77%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 51 (20.56%) Architect
4 44 (17.74%) Senior
5 41 (16.53%) IT Engineer
6 33 (13.31%) Support Engineer
7 29 (11.69%) IT Support
7 29 (11.69%) Network Architect
8 24 (9.68%) IT Support Engineer
8 24 (9.68%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (8.47%) 2nd Line Support
10 19 (7.66%) 2nd Line Engineer
10 19 (7.66%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 17 (6.85%) Solutions Architect
12 16 (6.45%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
12 16 (6.45%) Operations Engineer
13 15 (6.05%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
14 14 (5.65%) Network Manager
15 13 (5.24%) Senior Network Engineer
16 10 (4.03%) Network Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.63%) XMPP
2 4 (1.61%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.61%) OAuth
2 4 (1.61%) SAML
3 3 (1.21%) LDAP
4 2 (0.81%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.81%) Web Services
5 1 (0.40%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 44 (17.74%) Data Centre
2 20 (8.06%) Hybrid Cloud
3 12 (4.84%) Driving Licence
4 11 (4.44%) PKI
5 9 (3.63%) Cloud Native
5 9 (3.63%) FlexPod
5 9 (3.63%) Onboarding
5 9 (3.63%) Replication
5 9 (3.63%) Video Conferencing
6 8 (3.23%) Management Information System
6 8 (3.23%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (2.82%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 6 (2.42%) Security Posture
9 5 (2.02%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.61%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.61%) Product Ownership
10 4 (1.61%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.61%) Social Media
10 4 (1.61%) Virtual Team
11 3 (1.21%) Cyber Defence
Operating Systems
1 70 (28.23%) Windows
2 58 (23.39%) Windows Server
3 23 (9.27%) Linux
3 23 (9.27%) Windows 10
4 22 (8.87%) Mac OS
5 12 (4.84%) Windows Server 2012
5 12 (4.84%) Windows Server 2016
6 11 (4.44%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (3.23%) Apple iOS
8 4 (1.61%) Unix
9 2 (0.81%) CentOS
9 2 (0.81%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.40%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.40%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (29.44%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (25.00%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 44 (17.74%) Disaster Recovery
4 37 (14.92%) Continuous Improvement
5 34 (13.71%) Stakeholder Management
6 33 (13.31%) ITIL
6 33 (13.31%) Mentoring
7 30 (12.10%) Cybersecurity
8 29 (11.69%) Zero Trust
9 28 (11.29%) Presales
9 28 (11.29%) Service Delivery
10 24 (9.68%) Migration
11 22 (8.87%) Service Management
11 22 (8.87%) Technical Leadership
12 21 (8.47%) Network Architecture
13 20 (8.06%) Cloud Security
14 18 (7.26%) Collaborative Culture
14 18 (7.26%) Network Segmentation
14 18 (7.26%) Roadmaps
15 17 (6.85%) Agile
Programming Languages
1 21 (8.47%) Python
2 12 (4.84%) PowerShell
3 4 (1.61%) SQL
4 2 (0.81%) Bash
5 1 (0.40%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.40%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 44 (17.74%) Cisco Certification
2 32 (12.90%) CCNP
3 31 (12.50%) Security Cleared
4 25 (10.08%) SC Cleared
5 23 (9.27%) CCNA
6 17 (6.85%) CCIE
6 17 (6.85%) Degree
7 15 (6.05%) Microsoft Certification
8 13 (5.24%) DV Cleared
9 10 (4.03%) Azure Certification
10 9 (3.63%) BPSS Clearance
10 9 (3.63%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (2.02%) CCSA
11 5 (2.02%) CCSE
12 4 (1.61%) JNCIE
13 3 (1.21%) AWS Certification
13 3 (1.21%) CCIE Security
13 3 (1.21%) JNCIP
13 3 (1.21%) PMP
13 3 (1.21%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (8.47%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 13 (5.24%) SLA
3 11 (4.44%) Cyber Essentials
4 10 (4.03%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 6 (2.42%) NIST
6 4 (1.61%) QA
7 3 (1.21%) GDPR
7 3 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 3 (1.21%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.40%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.40%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.40%) NCSC
System Software
1 64 (25.81%) Active Directory
2 34 (13.71%) VMware Infrastructure
3 24 (9.68%) Hyper-V
4 13 (5.24%) vSphere
5 7 (2.82%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.42%) Firmware
6 6 (2.42%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 5 (2.02%) VMware NSX
8 4 (1.61%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.81%) Docker
10 1 (0.40%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.40%) KVM
10 1 (0.40%) QEMU
10 1 (0.40%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.40%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.40%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.40%) Xen
Systems Management
1 23 (9.27%) Ansible
2 22 (8.87%) FortiGate
2 22 (8.87%) Microsoft Intune
3 17 (6.85%) Terraform
4 13 (5.24%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 9 (3.63%) Cisco CUCM
5 9 (3.63%) Grafana
6 5 (2.02%) Endace
6 5 (2.02%) Kubernetes
6 5 (2.02%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.61%) CASB
8 3 (1.21%) QRadar
9 2 (0.81%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.81%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.81%) OpenView
9 2 (0.81%) PaperCut
9 2 (0.81%) SCCM
9 2 (0.81%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.81%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.81%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 123 (49.60%) Cisco
2 98 (39.52%) Microsoft
3 55 (22.18%) Fortinet
4 46 (18.55%) Palo Alto
5 44 (17.74%) VMware
6 40 (16.13%) Meraki
7 23 (9.27%) Juniper
8 22 (8.87%) SolarWinds
9 20 (8.06%) CheckPoint
10 16 (6.45%) Splunk
11 14 (5.65%) Dynatrace
12 13 (5.24%) Google
13 9 (3.63%) ServiceNow
14 8 (3.23%) F5
15 7 (2.82%) Aruba
15 7 (2.82%) Zscaler
16 6 (2.42%) NetApp
17 5 (2.02%) ArcSight
18 4 (1.61%) EMC
18 4 (1.61%) Huawei