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

6 months to
14 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 187 195 135
Rank change year-on-year +8 -60 -5
Permanent jobs citing WAN 324 277 579
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.43% 1.67% 2.33%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.67% 14.08% 15.13%
Number of salaries quoted 199 206 408
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,000 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £39,063 £42,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £50,000 £54,500
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -8.26% +9.00%
75th Percentile £76,476 £69,688 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £90,000 £82,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £42,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +29.41% -15.00% +3.54%

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 2,370 1,967 3,826
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.43% 11.84% 15.41%
Number of salaries quoted 1,309 1,199 2,011
10th Percentile £29,625 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,250
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 £68,750
90th Percentile £87,500 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £47,500 £41,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +14.46% -17.00% -4.76%

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 14 August 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 31 (9.57%) Microsoft Exchange
2 26 (8.02%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.31%) Confluence
3 1 (0.31%) IIS
3 1 (0.31%) OpenStack
Applications
1 9 (2.78%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.23%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.93%) AutoCAD
3 3 (0.93%) MS Visio
3 3 (0.93%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.31%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 188 (58.02%) Azure
2 107 (33.02%) Microsoft 365
3 67 (20.68%) AWS
4 62 (19.14%) Cloud Computing
5 47 (14.51%) Entra ID
6 31 (9.57%) Power Platform
7 19 (5.86%) GCP
8 9 (2.78%) OneDrive
9 7 (2.16%) Azure Sentinel
9 7 (2.16%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 6 (1.85%) SaaS
11 5 (1.54%) AWS Direct Connect
11 5 (1.54%) OCI
12 4 (1.23%) Google Workspace
12 4 (1.23%) Mimecast
13 3 (0.93%) Azure Monitor
13 3 (0.93%) IaaS
13 3 (0.93%) PaaS
14 2 (0.62%) Azure AKS
14 2 (0.62%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 276 (85.19%) LAN
2 165 (50.93%) Firewall
3 90 (27.78%) VPN
4 87 (26.85%) SD-WAN
5 78 (24.07%) Network Security
6 68 (20.99%) DNS
7 62 (19.14%) DHCP
8 54 (16.67%) VLAN
9 52 (16.05%) Wi-Fi
10 50 (15.43%) Wireless
11 49 (15.12%) BGP
12 44 (13.58%) TCP/IP
13 41 (12.65%) MPLS
13 41 (12.65%) WLAN
14 31 (9.57%) OSPF
15 23 (7.10%) Cisco Firepower
16 22 (6.79%) Cisco ASA
16 22 (6.79%) Cisco ISE
17 17 (5.25%) Cisco Nexus
17 17 (5.25%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (2.47%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
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 2 (0.62%) Git
1 2 (0.62%) GitLab
1 2 (0.62%) JIRA
2 1 (0.31%) Jenkins
2 1 (0.31%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 154 (47.53%) Social Skills
2 80 (24.69%) Finance
3 66 (20.37%) Presentation Skills
4 45 (13.89%) Telecoms
5 39 (12.04%) Public Sector
6 31 (9.57%) Law
7 19 (5.86%) Banking
8 16 (4.94%) Marketing
8 16 (4.94%) Retail
9 11 (3.40%) Analytical Skills
9 11 (3.40%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 7 (2.16%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.23%) Electronics
11 4 (1.23%) Military
12 3 (0.93%) Legal
12 3 (0.93%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.62%) French Language
13 2 (0.62%) German Language
13 2 (0.62%) Local Government
13 2 (0.62%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 109 (33.64%) Architect
2 85 (26.23%) Network Engineer
3 58 (17.90%) Systems Architect
4 51 (15.74%) Senior
5 40 (12.35%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 32 (9.88%) Network Architect
7 26 (8.02%) Support Engineer
8 23 (7.10%) IT Support
8 23 (7.10%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (6.48%) IT Engineer
9 21 (6.48%) Senior Network Engineer
10 17 (5.25%) Analyst
11 15 (4.63%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 15 (4.63%) 2nd Line Support
11 15 (4.63%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 15 (4.63%) IT Support Engineer
12 14 (4.32%) Lead
12 14 (4.32%) Solutions Architect
13 13 (4.01%) Network Manager
14 11 (3.40%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (3.09%) OAuth
1 10 (3.09%) SAML
1 10 (3.09%) XMPP
2 6 (1.85%) 802.1X
3 4 (1.23%) LDAP
4 3 (0.93%) ARM Templates
5 1 (0.31%) Jinja
5 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 42 (12.96%) Data Centre
2 25 (7.72%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (5.56%) Onboarding
4 16 (4.94%) Security Posture
5 14 (4.32%) Cyber Kill Chain
6 11 (3.40%) Video Conferencing
7 10 (3.09%) FlexPod
7 10 (3.09%) Replication
8 8 (2.47%) PKI
9 7 (2.16%) Cloud Native
10 6 (1.85%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
10 6 (1.85%) Driving Licence
10 6 (1.85%) Self-Motivation
11 4 (1.23%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.23%) Clustering
11 4 (1.23%) Cyber Defence
11 4 (1.23%) Cyber Threat
11 4 (1.23%) Enterprise Software
12 2 (0.62%) Client/Server
12 2 (0.62%) Private Cloud
Operating Systems
1 64 (19.75%) Windows
2 53 (16.36%) Windows Server
3 19 (5.86%) Linux
4 11 (3.40%) Mac OS
5 9 (2.78%) Windows Server 2016
5 9 (2.78%) Windows Server 2019
6 4 (1.23%) Unix
6 4 (1.23%) Windows 10
6 4 (1.23%) Windows Server 2012
7 2 (0.62%) CentOS
7 2 (0.62%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 87 (26.85%) Project Delivery
2 77 (23.77%) Infrastructure as Code
3 76 (23.46%) Network Architecture
4 74 (22.84%) Roadmaps
5 73 (22.53%) Problem-Solving
6 67 (20.68%) Network Design
7 64 (19.75%) Technical Architecture
8 63 (19.44%) Logistics
9 62 (19.14%) Information Security
10 59 (18.21%) Containerisation
10 59 (18.21%) Risk Management
11 58 (17.90%) Business Case
11 58 (17.90%) Business Strategy
12 56 (17.28%) Cybersecurity
13 54 (16.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 46 (14.20%) Continuous Improvement
15 42 (12.96%) Stakeholder Management
16 35 (10.80%) Presales
17 34 (10.49%) ITIL
17 34 (10.49%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 31 (9.57%) Python
2 22 (6.79%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.62%) Bash
4 1 (0.31%) PL/SQL
4 1 (0.31%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 68 (20.99%) Cisco Certification
2 51 (15.74%) CCNP
3 32 (9.88%) CCNA
4 27 (8.33%) Security Cleared
5 22 (6.79%) Azure Certification
6 21 (6.48%) Degree
7 17 (5.25%) CCIE
7 17 (5.25%) SC Cleared
8 14 (4.32%) DV Cleared
9 10 (3.09%) Microsoft Certification
10 7 (2.16%) Computer Science Degree
11 4 (1.23%) AWS Certification
11 4 (1.23%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (1.23%) DBS Check
11 4 (1.23%) JNCIE
11 4 (1.23%) PMP
12 3 (0.93%) CCSA
12 3 (0.93%) CCSE
12 3 (0.93%) JNCIP
12 3 (0.93%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.14%) GRC
2 26 (8.02%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 16 (4.94%) NIST
3 16 (4.94%) SLA
4 11 (3.40%) GDPR
5 9 (2.78%) Cyber Essentials
6 5 (1.54%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.23%) PCI DSS
8 2 (0.62%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 2 (0.62%) QA
9 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 61 (18.83%) Active Directory
2 42 (12.96%) VMware Infrastructure
3 41 (12.65%) Hyper-V
4 17 (5.25%) vSphere
5 10 (3.09%) VMware NSX
6 8 (2.47%) Virtual Servers
7 7 (2.16%) Firmware
7 7 (2.16%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 6 (1.85%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.31%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.31%) Citrix Hypervisor
9 1 (0.31%) Docker
9 1 (0.31%) KVM
9 1 (0.31%) QEMU
9 1 (0.31%) Slurm Workload Manager
9 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
9 1 (0.31%) Virtual Desktop
9 1 (0.31%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.31%) Xen
Systems Management
1 28 (8.64%) Ansible
1 28 (8.64%) FortiGate
2 24 (7.41%) Microsoft Intune
3 20 (6.17%) Terraform
4 14 (4.32%) CASB
5 10 (3.09%) Cisco CUCM
5 10 (3.09%) Grafana
6 5 (1.54%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 5 (1.54%) Kubernetes
6 5 (1.54%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.23%) QRadar
7 4 (1.23%) Single Sign-On
7 4 (1.23%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 3 (0.93%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.62%) OpenView
9 2 (0.62%) SCCM
9 2 (0.62%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.62%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.31%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 166 (51.23%) Microsoft
2 141 (43.52%) Cisco
3 72 (22.22%) Palo Alto
4 58 (17.90%) VMware
5 43 (13.27%) Fortinet
6 27 (8.33%) Meraki
7 24 (7.41%) Aruba
8 21 (6.48%) Juniper
9 18 (5.56%) Splunk
10 17 (5.25%) CheckPoint
10 17 (5.25%) Zscaler
11 14 (4.32%) SolarWinds
12 7 (2.16%) F5
12 7 (2.16%) NetApp
12 7 (2.16%) Netskope
13 6 (1.85%) ArcSight
14 5 (1.54%) Citrix
14 5 (1.54%) Dell
14 5 (1.54%) Dynatrace
14 5 (1.54%) HP