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

6 months to
12 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 189 190 125
Rank change year-on-year +1 -65 +53
Permanent jobs citing WAN 219 255 772
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.31% 1.84% 2.58%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.65% 14.44% 19.45%
Number of salaries quoted 145 185 665
10th Percentile £35,614 £33,200 £29,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £77,500 £68,750 £65,500
90th Percentile £90,000 £85,000 £83,750
UK median annual salary £51,250 £52,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year -2.38% +10.53% -5.00%

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 1,731 1,766 3,970
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.32% 12.72% 13.28%
Number of salaries quoted 949 1,182 3,441
10th Percentile £28,250 £28,050 £30,750
25th Percentile £33,375 £37,500 £39,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £55,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -11.92% +4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £72,500 £71,000 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £40,500 £53,300 £48,500
% change year-on-year -24.02% +9.90% -7.62%

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 12 March 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 49 (22.37%) Microsoft Exchange
2 42 (19.18%) SharePoint
3 3 (1.37%) IIS
4 2 (0.91%) Apache
4 2 (0.91%) Confluence
4 2 (0.91%) nginx
Applications
1 11 (5.02%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.83%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.83%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.37%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.37%) SOLIDWORKS
3 3 (1.37%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.91%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 129 (58.90%) Azure
2 78 (35.62%) Microsoft 365
3 53 (24.20%) AWS
4 42 (19.18%) Entra ID
5 17 (7.76%) Google Workspace
6 16 (7.31%) OneDrive
7 12 (5.48%) AWS Direct Connect
7 12 (5.48%) SaaS
8 9 (4.11%) GCP
8 9 (4.11%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 4 (1.83%) Azure Monitor
10 3 (1.37%) Azure Storage
10 3 (1.37%) IaaS
11 2 (0.91%) Azure DevOps
11 2 (0.91%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.91%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.91%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (0.91%) PaaS
11 2 (0.91%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.91%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 141 (64.38%) LAN
2 118 (53.88%) SD-WAN
3 99 (45.21%) Firewall
4 92 (42.01%) VPN
5 66 (30.14%) DNS
6 62 (28.31%) Wi-Fi
7 59 (26.94%) DHCP
8 55 (25.11%) TCP/IP
9 35 (15.98%) Wireless
10 32 (14.61%) BGP
10 32 (14.61%) MPLS
10 32 (14.61%) VLAN
11 29 (13.24%) WLAN
12 28 (12.79%) Network Security
13 27 (12.33%) VoIP
14 23 (10.50%) Cisco Firepower
14 23 (10.50%) OSPF
15 21 (9.59%) Cisco ASA
15 21 (9.59%) Cisco ISE
16 16 (7.31%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.91%) Power BI
2 1 (0.46%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.46%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.28%) JIRA
General
1 80 (36.53%) Social Skills
2 50 (22.83%) Finance
3 19 (8.68%) Telecoms
4 18 (8.22%) Public Sector
5 14 (6.39%) Retail
6 13 (5.94%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (5.94%) Manufacturing
7 12 (5.48%) Analytical Skills
8 11 (5.02%) Banking
8 11 (5.02%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (2.74%) Law
10 4 (1.83%) Marketing
10 4 (1.83%) Presentation Skills
11 3 (1.37%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.37%) Automotive
11 3 (1.37%) Police
12 2 (0.91%) Documentation Skills
12 2 (0.91%) Military
12 2 (0.91%) Retail Banking
13 1 (0.46%) Influencing Skills
Job Titles
1 66 (30.14%) Network Engineer
2 54 (24.66%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 43 (19.63%) Senior
4 41 (18.72%) IT Engineer
5 28 (12.79%) IT Support
5 28 (12.79%) Support Engineer
6 23 (10.50%) Architect
6 23 (10.50%) IT Support Engineer
6 23 (10.50%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
7 20 (9.13%) 2nd Line Support
7 20 (9.13%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
7 20 (9.13%) Operations Engineer
8 19 (8.68%) Senior Network Engineer
9 17 (7.76%) 2nd Line Engineer
9 17 (7.76%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
9 17 (7.76%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 14 (6.39%) Network Operations Engineer
11 12 (5.48%) Cisco Engineer
11 12 (5.48%) Cisco Network Engineer
12 10 (4.57%) Technical Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.37%) XMPP
2 2 (0.91%) JSON
2 2 (0.91%) LDAP
2 2 (0.91%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 51 (23.29%) Data Centre
2 22 (10.05%) Management Information System
3 17 (7.76%) Driving Licence
4 10 (4.57%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (3.65%) Onboarding
6 7 (3.20%) Enterprise Software
6 7 (3.20%) Video Conferencing
7 6 (2.74%) Cloud Native
7 6 (2.74%) Hybrid Cloud
7 6 (2.74%) Social Media
8 5 (2.28%) CMDB
8 5 (2.28%) PKI
8 5 (2.28%) Replication
9 4 (1.83%) GNSS
9 4 (1.83%) iPad
9 4 (1.83%) iPhone
9 4 (1.83%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.83%) Product Ownership
9 4 (1.83%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.83%) Self-Driving Car
Operating Systems
1 79 (36.07%) Windows
2 65 (29.68%) Windows Server
3 34 (15.53%) Windows 10
4 20 (9.13%) Mac OS
5 18 (8.22%) Linux
6 17 (7.76%) Windows Server 2016
7 15 (6.85%) Windows Server 2012
7 15 (6.85%) Windows Server 2019
8 12 (5.48%) Apple iOS
9 3 (1.37%) OpenWrt
10 2 (0.91%) CentOS
10 2 (0.91%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.91%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.46%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.46%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.46%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (36.07%) Problem-Solving
2 57 (26.03%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 40 (18.26%) Disaster Recovery
3 40 (18.26%) ITIL
4 37 (16.89%) Customer Service
5 35 (15.98%) Continuous Improvement
6 34 (15.53%) Change Management
7 32 (14.61%) Migration
8 30 (13.70%) Mentoring
9 29 (13.24%) Service Delivery
10 28 (12.79%) Zero Trust
11 25 (11.42%) Problem Management
12 24 (10.96%) Cloud Security
13 23 (10.50%) Stakeholder Management
14 20 (9.13%) Kalman Filter
14 20 (9.13%) Service Management
15 18 (8.22%) Presales
15 18 (8.22%) Root Cause Analysis
16 17 (7.76%) Capacity Planning
16 17 (7.76%) Coaching
Programming Languages
1 15 (6.85%) Python
2 13 (5.94%) PowerShell
3 8 (3.65%) SQL
4 4 (1.83%) Bash
5 3 (1.37%) C
5 3 (1.37%) C++
6 2 (0.91%) Java
6 2 (0.91%) Perl
Qualifications
1 38 (17.35%) Cisco Certification
2 25 (11.42%) CCNP
3 22 (10.05%) Security Cleared
4 21 (9.59%) SC Cleared
5 19 (8.68%) CCNA
5 19 (8.68%) Degree
5 19 (8.68%) Microsoft Certification
6 11 (5.02%) Azure Certification
7 10 (4.57%) CCIE
8 9 (4.11%) BPSS Clearance
9 7 (3.20%) DV Cleared
10 6 (2.74%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (2.74%) DBS Check
11 5 (2.28%) MCSA
12 4 (1.83%) AWS Certification
12 4 (1.83%) Master's Degree
12 4 (1.83%) Network+ Certification
13 3 (1.37%) MCSE
13 3 (1.37%) PMP
14 2 (0.91%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (6.39%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 14 (6.39%) SLA
2 12 (5.48%) Cyber Essentials
2 12 (5.48%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 3 (1.37%) NCSC
3 3 (1.37%) NIST
3 3 (1.37%) PCI DSS
3 3 (1.37%) QA
4 2 (0.91%) GRC
5 1 (0.46%) Accessibility
5 1 (0.46%) Basel III
5 1 (0.46%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 1 (0.46%) MiFID
5 1 (0.46%) PMO
System Software
1 59 (26.94%) Active Directory
2 33 (15.07%) Hyper-V
3 24 (10.96%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (4.11%) Firmware
4 9 (4.11%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (3.20%) Virtual Servers
6 4 (1.83%) vSphere
7 3 (1.37%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 3 (1.37%) VMware NSX
8 2 (0.91%) Docker
9 1 (0.46%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 37 (16.89%) Microsoft Intune
2 16 (7.31%) Terraform
3 15 (6.85%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 14 (6.39%) FortiGate
5 12 (5.48%) Ansible
6 6 (2.74%) Endace
7 5 (2.28%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (1.83%) Autotask
8 4 (1.83%) PaperCut
9 3 (1.37%) Cisco CUCM
9 3 (1.37%) Dell DRAC
9 3 (1.37%) Grafana
9 3 (1.37%) Kubernetes
9 3 (1.37%) OpenView
9 3 (1.37%) Tivoli
10 2 (0.91%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.91%) Red Hat Spacewalk
11 1 (0.46%) Kibana
11 1 (0.46%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 109 (49.77%) Cisco
2 83 (37.90%) Microsoft
3 52 (23.74%) Fortinet
4 43 (19.63%) Meraki
5 37 (16.89%) VMware
6 33 (15.07%) Palo Alto
7 32 (14.61%) CheckPoint
8 28 (12.79%) SolarWinds
9 18 (8.22%) Google
10 13 (5.94%) Juniper
11 11 (5.02%) Dynatrace
12 9 (4.11%) F5
12 9 (4.11%) ServiceNow
13 6 (2.74%) Aruba
14 5 (2.28%) Apple
14 5 (2.28%) Dell
14 5 (2.28%) HP
15 4 (1.83%) Zscaler
16 3 (1.37%) ExtraHop
16 3 (1.37%) Extreme Networks