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

6 months to
23 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 182 185 132
Rank change year-on-year +3 -53 +48
Permanent jobs citing WAN 226 247 802
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.26% 1.85% 2.47%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.58% 14.92% 15.52%
Number of salaries quoted 159 193 655
10th Percentile £32,000 £31,250 £30,550
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £50,500
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% -0.99% -8.18%
75th Percentile £77,500 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,750 £86,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year - +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 1,952 1,656 5,167
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.90% 12.37% 15.91%
Number of salaries quoted 955 1,211 3,455
10th Percentile £29,175 £26,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £35,000 £33,250 £39,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £51,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +1.94% -1.90% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £89,200 £85,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £45,000 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year -10.00% +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 23 April 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 48 (21.24%) Microsoft Exchange
2 42 (18.58%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.88%) Apache
3 2 (0.88%) Confluence
3 2 (0.88%) nginx
4 1 (0.44%) IIS
4 1 (0.44%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (5.31%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.77%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.77%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.33%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.33%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.88%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.44%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 131 (57.96%) Azure
2 87 (38.50%) Microsoft 365
3 69 (30.53%) AWS
4 43 (19.03%) Entra ID
5 17 (7.52%) Google Workspace
6 16 (7.08%) OneDrive
7 15 (6.64%) SaaS
8 14 (6.19%) GCP
9 13 (5.75%) AWS Direct Connect
10 12 (5.31%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 6 (2.65%) Azure Monitor
12 4 (1.77%) Azure Sentinel
12 4 (1.77%) OCI
13 2 (0.88%) Dynamics 365
13 2 (0.88%) IaaS
13 2 (0.88%) Microsoft Purview
13 2 (0.88%) PaaS
13 2 (0.88%) Power Platform
13 2 (0.88%) SuccessFactors
14 1 (0.44%) Cloudflare
Communications & Networking
1 154 (68.14%) LAN
2 104 (46.02%) SD-WAN
3 101 (44.69%) Firewall
4 97 (42.92%) VPN
5 77 (34.07%) DNS
6 65 (28.76%) DHCP
7 61 (26.99%) TCP/IP
8 58 (25.66%) Wi-Fi
9 40 (17.70%) VLAN
10 35 (15.49%) BGP
10 35 (15.49%) MPLS
11 31 (13.72%) Cisco Firepower
12 30 (13.27%) WLAN
13 28 (12.39%) Network Security
14 25 (11.06%) Cisco ASA
14 25 (11.06%) VoIP
14 25 (11.06%) Wireless
15 23 (10.18%) Cisco ISE
16 22 (9.73%) OSPF
17 15 (6.64%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.88%) Power BI
1 2 (0.88%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.44%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.44%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.44%) MySQL
2 1 (0.44%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.44%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.44%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 4 (1.77%) JIRA
2 1 (0.44%) Jenkins
General
1 69 (30.53%) Social Skills
2 44 (19.47%) Finance
3 30 (13.27%) Public Sector
4 18 (7.96%) Retail
5 15 (6.64%) Banking
6 14 (6.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 14 (6.19%) Organisational Skills
7 13 (5.75%) Telecoms
8 12 (5.31%) Manufacturing
9 9 (3.98%) Analytical Skills
9 9 (3.98%) Marketing
10 6 (2.65%) Presentation Skills
11 5 (2.21%) Law
12 4 (1.77%) Electronics
13 3 (1.33%) Aerospace
13 3 (1.33%) Police
14 2 (0.88%) Automotive
14 2 (0.88%) Legal
14 2 (0.88%) Military
14 2 (0.88%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 61 (26.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 57 (25.22%) Network Engineer
3 52 (23.01%) Senior
4 42 (18.58%) IT Engineer
5 32 (14.16%) Support Engineer
6 29 (12.83%) Architect
6 29 (12.83%) IT Support
7 26 (11.50%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
8 25 (11.06%) IT Support Engineer
9 22 (9.73%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (8.85%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
11 19 (8.41%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 19 (8.41%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 18 (7.96%) Senior Network Engineer
13 17 (7.52%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
13 17 (7.52%) Operations Engineer
14 13 (5.75%) Analyst
15 11 (4.87%) Network Operations Engineer
15 11 (4.87%) Support Analyst
16 10 (4.42%) Solutions Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (3.54%) XMPP
2 4 (1.77%) LDAP
3 2 (0.88%) ARM Templates
3 2 (0.88%) Web Services
4 1 (0.44%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 40 (17.70%) Data Centre
2 15 (6.64%) Driving Licence
3 14 (6.19%) Hybrid Cloud
4 13 (5.75%) Onboarding
5 12 (5.31%) Video Conferencing
6 10 (4.42%) Enterprise Software
6 10 (4.42%) Management Information System
6 10 (4.42%) PKI
7 9 (3.98%) Self-Motivation
8 8 (3.54%) FlexPod
9 7 (3.10%) Replication
10 6 (2.65%) Social Media
11 5 (2.21%) Product Ownership
12 4 (1.77%) Cloud Native
12 4 (1.77%) iPad
12 4 (1.77%) iPhone
12 4 (1.77%) Mobile App
13 3 (1.33%) Analytical Mindset
13 3 (1.33%) Public Cloud
13 3 (1.33%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 86 (38.05%) Windows
2 72 (31.86%) Windows Server
3 35 (15.49%) Windows 10
4 25 (11.06%) Linux
5 22 (9.73%) Mac OS
6 18 (7.96%) Windows Server 2016
7 16 (7.08%) Windows Server 2012
8 15 (6.64%) Windows Server 2019
9 12 (5.31%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.77%) CentOS
10 4 (1.77%) Unix
11 2 (0.88%) OpenWrt
11 2 (0.88%) Oracle Linux
11 2 (0.88%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.88%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.44%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.44%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.44%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (34.51%) Problem-Solving
2 69 (30.53%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 43 (19.03%) ITIL
4 41 (18.14%) Disaster Recovery
5 40 (17.70%) Continuous Improvement
6 32 (14.16%) Zero Trust
7 30 (13.27%) Service Delivery
8 28 (12.39%) Mentoring
9 27 (11.95%) Migration
10 23 (10.18%) Cloud Security
10 23 (10.18%) Customer Service
10 23 (10.18%) Service Management
10 23 (10.18%) Stakeholder Management
11 19 (8.41%) Change Management
11 19 (8.41%) Cybersecurity
11 19 (8.41%) Presales
11 19 (8.41%) Root Cause Analysis
12 18 (7.96%) Roadmaps
13 17 (7.52%) Kalman Filter
13 17 (7.52%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 22 (9.73%) Python
2 15 (6.64%) PowerShell
3 6 (2.65%) SQL
4 4 (1.77%) Bash
5 2 (0.88%) C
5 2 (0.88%) C++
5 2 (0.88%) Java
5 2 (0.88%) Perl
6 1 (0.44%) PL/SQL
6 1 (0.44%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 39 (17.26%) Cisco Certification
2 29 (12.83%) Security Cleared
3 26 (11.50%) SC Cleared
4 24 (10.62%) CCNP
5 21 (9.29%) Degree
6 20 (8.85%) Microsoft Certification
7 19 (8.41%) CCNA
8 12 (5.31%) DV Cleared
9 11 (4.87%) Azure Certification
9 11 (4.87%) CCIE
9 11 (4.87%) Computer Science Degree
10 9 (3.98%) BPSS Clearance
11 6 (2.65%) DBS Check
12 5 (2.21%) MCSA
13 4 (1.77%) CCSA
13 4 (1.77%) CCSE
13 4 (1.77%) Network+ Certification
14 3 (1.33%) Master's Degree
14 3 (1.33%) MCSE
14 3 (1.33%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (6.64%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (6.19%) SLA
3 11 (4.87%) Cyber Essentials
3 11 (4.87%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 5 (2.21%) QA
5 3 (1.33%) GDPR
5 3 (1.33%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 3 (1.33%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.88%) NCSC
6 2 (0.88%) NIST
7 1 (0.44%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.44%) Basel III
7 1 (0.44%) GRC
7 1 (0.44%) MiFID
7 1 (0.44%) PMO
System Software
1 67 (29.65%) Active Directory
2 32 (14.16%) Hyper-V
2 32 (14.16%) VMware Infrastructure
3 10 (4.42%) vSphere
4 9 (3.98%) Virtual Machines
5 7 (3.10%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.65%) Firmware
7 5 (2.21%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 5 (2.21%) VMware NSX
8 4 (1.77%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.88%) Docker
10 1 (0.44%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.44%) KVM
10 1 (0.44%) QEMU
10 1 (0.44%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.44%) Xen
Systems Management
1 32 (14.16%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (9.73%) Ansible
3 17 (7.52%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 16 (7.08%) Terraform
5 14 (6.19%) FortiGate
6 8 (3.54%) Cisco CUCM
6 8 (3.54%) Grafana
7 6 (2.65%) Endace
8 5 (2.21%) Jamf Pro
8 5 (2.21%) Kubernetes
8 5 (2.21%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.77%) PaperCut
10 3 (1.33%) Autotask
11 2 (0.88%) Dell DRAC
11 2 (0.88%) OpenView
11 2 (0.88%) QRadar
11 2 (0.88%) Red Hat Satellite
11 2 (0.88%) Red Hat Spacewalk
11 2 (0.88%) SCCM
11 2 (0.88%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 102 (45.13%) Cisco
2 94 (41.59%) Microsoft
3 52 (23.01%) Fortinet
4 46 (20.35%) VMware
5 38 (16.81%) Meraki
6 29 (12.83%) Palo Alto
7 20 (8.85%) SolarWinds
8 19 (8.41%) CheckPoint
9 17 (7.52%) Google
10 15 (6.64%) Juniper
11 14 (6.19%) Splunk
12 13 (5.75%) Dynatrace
13 10 (4.42%) ServiceNow
14 7 (3.10%) F5
14 7 (3.10%) Zscaler
15 6 (2.65%) Aruba
16 5 (2.21%) Apple
16 5 (2.21%) Dell
16 5 (2.21%) NetApp
16 5 (2.21%) Red Hat