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

6 months to
1 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 195 194 130
Rank change year-on-year -1 -64 +18
Permanent jobs citing WAN 264 272 779
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.27% 1.71% 2.33%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.63% 14.18% 15.66%
Number of salaries quoted 198 191 588
10th Percentile £31,958 £28,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £63,750 £50,000 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year +27.50% -5.66% +0.95%
75th Percentile £77,500 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £55,000 £48,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +14.58% +1.05% -

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 2,270 1,918 4,973
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.95% 12.07% 14.87%
Number of salaries quoted 1,204 1,161 3,178
10th Percentile £29,663 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £39,563
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,000 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +13.68% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,114 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £85,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -6.86%

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 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 39 (14.77%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (12.50%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.38%) Confluence
3 1 (0.38%) IIS
3 1 (0.38%) OpenStack
Applications
1 10 (3.79%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.52%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.14%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.14%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.14%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.38%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.76%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.38%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 141 (53.41%) Azure
2 84 (31.82%) Microsoft 365
3 74 (28.03%) AWS
4 49 (18.56%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.06%) GCP
6 12 (4.55%) AWS Direct Connect
6 12 (4.55%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 11 (4.17%) OneDrive
7 11 (4.17%) SaaS
8 9 (3.41%) Google Workspace
9 6 (2.27%) Azure Sentinel
10 5 (1.89%) OCI
11 3 (1.14%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (1.14%) IaaS
11 3 (1.14%) PaaS
12 2 (0.76%) Azure AKS
12 2 (0.76%) Datadog
12 2 (0.76%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.76%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.76%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 200 (75.76%) LAN
2 149 (56.44%) Firewall
3 106 (40.15%) VPN
4 103 (39.02%) SD-WAN
5 84 (31.82%) DNS
6 71 (26.89%) DHCP
7 61 (23.11%) Network Security
8 55 (20.83%) TCP/IP
9 54 (20.45%) Wi-Fi
10 50 (18.94%) MPLS
11 48 (18.18%) BGP
12 41 (15.53%) VLAN
13 39 (14.77%) WLAN
14 34 (12.88%) Wireless
15 31 (11.74%) Cisco Firepower
16 29 (10.98%) Cisco ISE
17 28 (10.61%) OSPF
18 24 (9.09%) Cisco ASA
19 22 (8.33%) IPsec
20 20 (7.58%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.89%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.76%) Power BI
3 1 (0.38%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.38%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.38%) MySQL
3 1 (0.38%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.38%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.38%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.14%) JIRA
2 1 (0.38%) GitLab
2 1 (0.38%) Jenkins
General
1 88 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 36 (13.64%) Public Sector
2 36 (13.64%) Telecoms
3 35 (13.26%) Finance
4 16 (6.06%) Banking
5 14 (5.30%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (4.92%) Marketing
6 13 (4.92%) Retail
7 12 (4.55%) Analytical Skills
8 9 (3.41%) Organisational Skills
9 6 (2.27%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.52%) Electronics
11 3 (1.14%) Legal
12 2 (0.76%) Law
12 2 (0.76%) Local Government
12 2 (0.76%) Manufacturing
12 2 (0.76%) Military
12 2 (0.76%) Retail Banking
13 1 (0.38%) Dutch Language
13 1 (0.38%) French Language
Job Titles
1 72 (27.27%) Network Engineer
2 56 (21.21%) Architect
3 53 (20.08%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 48 (18.18%) Senior
5 39 (14.77%) IT Engineer
6 33 (12.50%) Network Architect
7 31 (11.74%) Support Engineer
8 28 (10.61%) IT Support
9 26 (9.85%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 23 (8.71%) IT Support Engineer
11 18 (6.82%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (6.82%) 2nd Line Support
11 18 (6.82%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 17 (6.44%) Solutions Architect
13 15 (5.68%) Analyst
14 13 (4.92%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
14 13 (4.92%) Network Manager
15 12 (4.55%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
15 12 (4.55%) Operations Engineer
15 12 (4.55%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.41%) OAuth
1 9 (3.41%) SAML
1 9 (3.41%) XMPP
2 4 (1.52%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.52%) LDAP
3 3 (1.14%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.76%) Web Services
5 1 (0.38%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 45 (17.05%) Data Centre
2 25 (9.47%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (5.68%) Security Posture
4 13 (4.92%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 12 (4.55%) Onboarding
5 12 (4.55%) PKI
6 10 (3.79%) Video Conferencing
7 9 (3.41%) Cloud Native
7 9 (3.41%) FlexPod
7 9 (3.41%) Replication
8 8 (3.03%) Driving Licence
9 7 (2.65%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (2.27%) Enterprise Software
10 6 (2.27%) Management Information System
11 4 (1.52%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.52%) Clustering
11 4 (1.52%) Cyber Defence
11 4 (1.52%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.52%) Virtual Team
12 3 (1.14%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 71 (26.89%) Windows
2 59 (22.35%) Windows Server
3 22 (8.33%) Linux
4 20 (7.58%) Mac OS
5 15 (5.68%) Windows 10
6 12 (4.55%) Windows Server 2016
7 11 (4.17%) Windows Server 2019
8 9 (3.41%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (1.89%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.52%) Unix
11 2 (0.76%) CentOS
11 2 (0.76%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.38%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.38%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.38%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 75 (28.41%) Problem-Solving
2 64 (24.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 44 (16.67%) Cybersecurity
4 43 (16.29%) Continuous Improvement
5 41 (15.53%) Disaster Recovery
5 41 (15.53%) Stakeholder Management
6 31 (11.74%) Presales
7 28 (10.61%) ITIL
7 28 (10.61%) Mentoring
8 27 (10.23%) Incident Response
8 27 (10.23%) Zero Trust
9 24 (9.09%) Project Delivery
9 24 (9.09%) Technical Leadership
10 23 (8.71%) Service Delivery
11 22 (8.33%) Network Segmentation
12 21 (7.95%) Network Architecture
13 20 (7.58%) Collaborative Culture
14 18 (6.82%) Agile
14 18 (6.82%) Collaborative Working
14 18 (6.82%) High Availability
Programming Languages
1 27 (10.23%) Python
2 18 (6.82%) PowerShell
3 3 (1.14%) SQL
4 2 (0.76%) Bash
5 1 (0.38%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.38%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 53 (20.08%) Cisco Certification
2 42 (15.91%) CCNP
3 32 (12.12%) CCNA
4 30 (11.36%) Security Cleared
5 23 (8.71%) SC Cleared
6 20 (7.58%) Degree
7 18 (6.82%) CCIE
8 14 (5.30%) Azure Certification
9 13 (4.92%) DV Cleared
10 11 (4.17%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (3.41%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (2.65%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.89%) CCSA
13 5 (1.89%) CCSE
14 4 (1.52%) DBS Check
14 4 (1.52%) JNCIE
14 4 (1.52%) PMP
15 3 (1.14%) AWS Certification
15 3 (1.14%) CCIE Security
15 3 (1.14%) JNCIP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (9.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 11 (4.17%) NIST
3 10 (3.79%) SLA
4 9 (3.41%) Cyber Essentials
5 7 (2.65%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
6 4 (1.52%) GDPR
6 4 (1.52%) QA
7 3 (1.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.38%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.38%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.38%) NCSC
8 1 (0.38%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 69 (26.14%) Active Directory
2 35 (13.26%) VMware Infrastructure
3 33 (12.50%) Hyper-V
4 14 (5.30%) vSphere
5 7 (2.65%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.27%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (2.27%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.52%) Firmware
7 4 (1.52%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.38%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.38%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.38%) Docker
8 1 (0.38%) KVM
8 1 (0.38%) QEMU
8 1 (0.38%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.38%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.38%) Xen
Systems Management
1 25 (9.47%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (9.09%) Ansible
2 24 (9.09%) FortiGate
3 18 (6.82%) Terraform
4 10 (3.79%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 9 (3.41%) CASB
5 9 (3.41%) Cisco CUCM
5 9 (3.41%) Grafana
6 5 (1.89%) Endace
6 5 (1.89%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.52%) Kubernetes
7 4 (1.52%) QRadar
8 3 (1.14%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.76%) OpenView
9 2 (0.76%) SCCM
9 2 (0.76%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.76%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 2 (0.76%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.76%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.38%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 130 (49.24%) Cisco
2 113 (42.80%) Microsoft
3 60 (22.73%) Palo Alto
4 54 (20.45%) Fortinet
5 48 (18.18%) VMware
6 39 (14.77%) Meraki
7 24 (9.09%) Juniper
8 22 (8.33%) SolarWinds
9 19 (7.20%) CheckPoint
10 17 (6.44%) Splunk
11 12 (4.55%) Aruba
11 12 (4.55%) Dynatrace
11 12 (4.55%) Zscaler
12 10 (3.79%) F5
13 9 (3.41%) Google
14 7 (2.65%) ServiceNow
15 6 (2.27%) ArcSight
15 6 (2.27%) NetApp
16 4 (1.52%) EMC
17 3 (1.14%) Citrix