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

 6 months to
20 Jul 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 175 193 124
Rank change year-on-year +18 -69 +16
Permanent jobs citing WAN 319 274 710
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.48% 1.66% 2.36%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.48% 14.00% 15.74%
Number of salaries quoted 205 197 529
10th Percentile £32,261 £28,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -9.09% +10.00%
75th Percentile £77,500 £67,500 £72,500
90th Percentile £84,500 £89,250 £84,919
UK median annual salary £55,000 £46,000 £48,500
% change year-on-year +19.57% -5.15% +2.11%

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 2,367 1,957 4,511
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.00% 11.84% 14.99%
Number of salaries quoted 1,292 1,198 2,751
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,044 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £86,250 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £47,500 £42,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year +11.76% -10.53% -7.83%

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 20 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 36 (11.29%) Microsoft Exchange
2 29 (9.09%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.31%) IIS
3 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 9 (2.82%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.25%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.94%) AutoCAD
3 3 (0.94%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.94%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 189 (59.25%) Azure
2 114 (35.74%) Microsoft 365
3 71 (22.26%) AWS
4 54 (16.93%) Cloud Computing
5 50 (15.67%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.72%) Power Platform
7 16 (5.02%) GCP
8 10 (3.13%) AWS Direct Connect
8 10 (3.13%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 9 (2.82%) SaaS
10 8 (2.51%) Google Workspace
10 8 (2.51%) OneDrive
11 6 (1.88%) Azure Sentinel
12 5 (1.57%) OCI
13 3 (0.94%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (0.94%) IaaS
13 3 (0.94%) Mimecast
13 3 (0.94%) PaaS
14 2 (0.63%) Azure AKS
14 2 (0.63%) Datadog
Communications & Networking
1 265 (83.07%) LAN
2 155 (48.59%) Firewall
3 100 (31.35%) VPN
4 94 (29.47%) SD-WAN
5 81 (25.39%) DNS
6 69 (21.63%) DHCP
6 69 (21.63%) Network Security
7 61 (19.12%) Wi-Fi
8 52 (16.30%) TCP/IP
9 51 (15.99%) MPLS
9 51 (15.99%) VLAN
10 49 (15.36%) BGP
11 44 (13.79%) WLAN
12 43 (13.48%) Wireless
13 29 (9.09%) Cisco Firepower
14 28 (8.78%) OSPF
15 26 (8.15%) Cisco ISE
16 22 (6.90%) Cisco ASA
17 21 (6.58%) IPsec
18 20 (6.27%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.57%) SQL Server
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 3 (0.94%) JIRA
2 1 (0.31%) GitLab
2 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
General
1 148 (46.39%) Social Skills
2 81 (25.39%) Finance
3 57 (17.87%) Presentation Skills
4 40 (12.54%) Telecoms
5 38 (11.91%) Public Sector
6 32 (10.03%) Law
7 18 (5.64%) Banking
8 15 (4.70%) Marketing
8 15 (4.70%) Retail
9 12 (3.76%) Analytical Skills
10 11 (3.45%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 8 (2.51%) Organisational Skills
12 4 (1.25%) Electronics
12 4 (1.25%) Military
13 3 (0.94%) Legal
13 3 (0.94%) Manufacturing
14 2 (0.63%) Local Government
14 2 (0.63%) Retail Banking
15 1 (0.31%) Dutch Language
15 1 (0.31%) French Language
Job Titles
1 108 (33.86%) Architect
2 74 (23.20%) Network Engineer
3 52 (16.30%) Senior
4 51 (15.99%) Systems Architect
5 47 (14.73%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 33 (10.34%) IT Engineer
6 33 (10.34%) Network Architect
7 31 (9.72%) Support Engineer
8 30 (9.40%) IT Support
9 23 (7.21%) IT Support Engineer
9 23 (7.21%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 19 (5.96%) 2nd Line Engineer
10 19 (5.96%) 2nd Line Support
10 19 (5.96%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
10 19 (5.96%) Senior Network Engineer
11 17 (5.33%) Analyst
12 16 (5.02%) Solutions Architect
13 13 (4.08%) Network Manager
14 12 (3.76%) Lead
15 11 (3.45%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (3.13%) OAuth
1 10 (3.13%) SAML
2 9 (2.82%) XMPP
3 4 (1.25%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.25%) LDAP
4 3 (0.94%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.31%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 45 (14.11%) Data Centre
2 24 (7.52%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (4.70%) Security Posture
4 14 (4.39%) Cyber Kill Chain
4 14 (4.39%) Onboarding
5 12 (3.76%) PKI
6 10 (3.13%) Video Conferencing
7 9 (2.82%) Driving Licence
7 9 (2.82%) FlexPod
7 9 (2.82%) Replication
8 8 (2.51%) Cloud Native
9 7 (2.19%) Self-Motivation
10 4 (1.25%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.25%) Clustering
10 4 (1.25%) Cyber Defence
10 4 (1.25%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (1.25%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.25%) Management Information System
11 3 (0.94%) Public Cloud
11 3 (0.94%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 71 (22.26%) Windows
2 59 (18.50%) Windows Server
3 21 (6.58%) Linux
4 18 (5.64%) Mac OS
5 13 (4.08%) Windows Server 2016
6 12 (3.76%) Windows Server 2019
7 11 (3.45%) Windows 10
8 8 (2.51%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (1.25%) Unix
10 2 (0.63%) Apple iOS
10 2 (0.63%) CentOS
10 2 (0.63%) Ubuntu
11 1 (0.31%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.31%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.31%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 84 (26.33%) Problem-Solving
2 78 (24.45%) Project Delivery
3 70 (21.94%) Network Architecture
4 67 (21.00%) Infrastructure as Code
4 67 (21.00%) Roadmaps
5 64 (20.06%) Network Design
6 62 (19.44%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 57 (17.87%) Technical Architecture
8 56 (17.55%) Logistics
9 54 (16.93%) Information Security
10 53 (16.61%) Risk Management
11 52 (16.30%) Business Strategy
11 52 (16.30%) Containerisation
12 51 (15.99%) Business Case
13 47 (14.73%) Cybersecurity
14 42 (13.17%) Continuous Improvement
15 41 (12.85%) Stakeholder Management
16 37 (11.60%) Disaster Recovery
17 34 (10.66%) Mentoring
18 32 (10.03%) Presales
Programming Languages
1 29 (9.09%) Python
2 22 (6.90%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.63%) Bash
4 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
4 1 (0.31%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 63 (19.75%) Cisco Certification
2 51 (15.99%) CCNP
3 34 (10.66%) CCNA
4 30 (9.40%) Security Cleared
5 23 (7.21%) SC Cleared
6 22 (6.90%) Degree
7 18 (5.64%) Azure Certification
7 18 (5.64%) CCIE
8 15 (4.70%) DV Cleared
9 12 (3.76%) Microsoft Certification
10 9 (2.82%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (1.57%) BPSS Clearance
11 5 (1.57%) CCSA
11 5 (1.57%) CCSE
11 5 (1.57%) PMP
12 4 (1.25%) DBS Check
12 4 (1.25%) JNCIE
13 3 (0.94%) AWS Certification
13 3 (0.94%) CCIE Security
13 3 (0.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 51 (15.99%) GRC
2 23 (7.21%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (3.76%) NIST
4 10 (3.13%) SLA
5 8 (2.51%) Cyber Essentials
6 6 (1.88%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.25%) GDPR
8 3 (0.94%) QA
9 2 (0.63%) ISO/IEC 20000
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
10 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 67 (21.00%) Active Directory
2 41 (12.85%) Hyper-V
3 40 (12.54%) VMware Infrastructure
4 16 (5.02%) vSphere
5 8 (2.51%) VMware NSX
6 7 (2.19%) Virtual Servers
7 6 (1.88%) Firmware
7 6 (1.88%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 6 (1.88%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.31%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.31%) Docker
8 1 (0.31%) KVM
8 1 (0.31%) QEMU
8 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 26 (8.15%) Ansible
1 26 (8.15%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (7.84%) FortiGate
3 17 (5.33%) Terraform
4 10 (3.13%) CASB
5 9 (2.82%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 9 (2.82%) Cisco CUCM
5 9 (2.82%) Grafana
6 5 (1.57%) Endace
6 5 (1.57%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.25%) Kubernetes
7 4 (1.25%) QRadar
7 4 (1.25%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 3 (0.94%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.63%) OpenView
9 2 (0.63%) SCCM
9 2 (0.63%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.63%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.63%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 165 (51.72%) Microsoft
2 138 (43.26%) Cisco
3 63 (19.75%) Palo Alto
4 55 (17.24%) VMware
5 50 (15.67%) Fortinet
6 35 (10.97%) Meraki
7 23 (7.21%) Juniper
8 20 (6.27%) Aruba
9 19 (5.96%) CheckPoint
9 19 (5.96%) SolarWinds
10 17 (5.33%) Splunk
11 12 (3.76%) F5
12 11 (3.45%) Zscaler
13 10 (3.13%) Dynatrace
14 8 (2.51%) Google
15 6 (1.88%) ArcSight
15 6 (1.88%) NetApp
16 5 (1.57%) Citrix
16 5 (1.57%) ServiceNow
17 4 (1.25%) EMC
74 hybrid/remote WAN jobs