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

6 months to
27 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 186 190 122
Rank change year-on-year +4 -68 +59
Permanent jobs citing WAN 214 237 800
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.27% 1.85% 2.59%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.58% 14.72% 18.58%
Number of salaries quoted 147 184 677
10th Percentile £34,100 £31,250 £29,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £38,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +20.00% - -9.09%
75th Percentile £77,500 £69,063 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £51,887 £47,500
% change year-on-year -3.64% +9.23% -3.23%

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 1,848 1,610 4,306
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.98% 12.55% 13.93%
Number of salaries quoted 955 1,190 3,473
10th Percentile £28,500 £27,500 £30,500
25th Percentile £33,750 £36,250 £38,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -7.72% - -8.70%
75th Percentile £72,500 £68,938 £67,000
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £42,500 £52,500 £48,000
% change year-on-year -19.05% +9.38% -7.69%

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 27 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 48 (22.43%) Microsoft Exchange
2 41 (19.16%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.93%) Apache
3 2 (0.93%) Confluence
3 2 (0.93%) nginx
4 1 (0.47%) IIS
4 1 (0.47%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (5.61%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.87%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.87%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.40%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.40%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.93%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.47%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 120 (56.07%) Azure
2 80 (37.38%) Microsoft 365
3 58 (27.10%) AWS
4 41 (19.16%) Entra ID
5 18 (8.41%) Google Workspace
6 16 (7.48%) OneDrive
7 12 (5.61%) GCP
7 12 (5.61%) SaaS
8 11 (5.14%) AWS Direct Connect
9 9 (4.21%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 4 (1.87%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (1.87%) OCI
11 2 (0.93%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.93%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.93%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (0.93%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.93%) SuccessFactors
12 1 (0.47%) IaaS
12 1 (0.47%) OpenShift
12 1 (0.47%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 144 (67.29%) LAN
2 106 (49.53%) SD-WAN
3 93 (43.46%) Firewall
4 90 (42.06%) VPN
5 69 (32.24%) DNS
6 60 (28.04%) DHCP
7 59 (27.57%) Wi-Fi
8 56 (26.17%) TCP/IP
9 34 (15.89%) VLAN
10 31 (14.49%) MPLS
11 29 (13.55%) BGP
11 29 (13.55%) WLAN
12 28 (13.08%) Wireless
13 27 (12.62%) Network Security
14 25 (11.68%) Cisco Firepower
14 25 (11.68%) VoIP
15 23 (10.75%) Cisco ASA
16 19 (8.88%) OSPF
17 18 (8.41%) Cisco ISE
18 16 (7.48%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.93%) Power BI
1 2 (0.93%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.47%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.47%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.47%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.47%) MySQL
2 1 (0.47%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.47%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.47%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 5 (2.34%) JIRA
General
1 75 (35.05%) Social Skills
2 43 (20.09%) Finance
3 21 (9.81%) Public Sector
4 16 (7.48%) Retail
5 15 (7.01%) Banking
6 14 (6.54%) Telecoms
7 13 (6.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 13 (6.07%) Manufacturing
7 13 (6.07%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (5.14%) Analytical Skills
9 6 (2.80%) Marketing
9 6 (2.80%) Presentation Skills
10 5 (2.34%) Law
11 4 (1.87%) Aerospace
12 3 (1.40%) Automotive
12 3 (1.40%) Electronics
12 3 (1.40%) Police
13 2 (0.93%) Legal
13 2 (0.93%) Military
13 2 (0.93%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 57 (26.64%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 53 (24.77%) Network Engineer
3 43 (20.09%) Senior
4 42 (19.63%) IT Engineer
5 29 (13.55%) IT Support
5 29 (13.55%) Support Engineer
6 28 (13.08%) Architect
7 24 (11.21%) IT Support Engineer
8 23 (10.75%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (9.81%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (9.35%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
10 20 (9.35%) Operations Engineer
11 19 (8.88%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 18 (8.41%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 18 (8.41%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 16 (7.48%) Senior Network Engineer
14 14 (6.54%) Network Operations Engineer
15 11 (5.14%) Solutions Architect
16 10 (4.67%) Cisco Engineer
16 10 (4.67%) Firewall Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.34%) XMPP
2 2 (0.93%) LDAP
2 2 (0.93%) Web Services
3 1 (0.47%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 42 (19.63%) Data Centre
2 16 (7.48%) Driving Licence
3 14 (6.54%) Management Information System
4 10 (4.67%) Onboarding
4 10 (4.67%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (4.21%) Video Conferencing
6 8 (3.74%) Enterprise Software
7 7 (3.27%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (3.27%) Replication
8 6 (2.80%) PKI
8 6 (2.80%) Social Media
9 5 (2.34%) FlexPod
9 5 (2.34%) Product Ownership
10 4 (1.87%) Cloud Native
10 4 (1.87%) iPad
10 4 (1.87%) iPhone
10 4 (1.87%) Mobile App
10 4 (1.87%) Private Cloud
11 3 (1.40%) CMDB
11 3 (1.40%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 80 (37.38%) Windows
2 67 (31.31%) Windows Server
3 35 (16.36%) Windows 10
4 22 (10.28%) Linux
5 21 (9.81%) Mac OS
6 18 (8.41%) Windows Server 2016
7 16 (7.48%) Windows Server 2012
8 15 (7.01%) Windows Server 2019
9 12 (5.61%) Apple iOS
10 3 (1.40%) CentOS
10 3 (1.40%) OpenWrt
11 2 (0.93%) Oracle Linux
11 2 (0.93%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.47%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.47%) Unix
12 1 (0.47%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.47%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (37.38%) Problem-Solving
2 61 (28.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 41 (19.16%) ITIL
4 38 (17.76%) Continuous Improvement
5 35 (16.36%) Disaster Recovery
6 30 (14.02%) Zero Trust
7 29 (13.55%) Customer Service
7 29 (13.55%) Mentoring
8 28 (13.08%) Migration
8 28 (13.08%) Service Delivery
9 26 (12.15%) Change Management
10 23 (10.75%) Stakeholder Management
11 22 (10.28%) Cloud Security
12 21 (9.81%) Presales
12 21 (9.81%) Service Management
13 20 (9.35%) Kalman Filter
14 19 (8.88%) Root Cause Analysis
15 17 (7.94%) Project Delivery
15 17 (7.94%) Roadmaps
16 16 (7.48%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.94%) Python
2 11 (5.14%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.27%) SQL
4 4 (1.87%) Bash
5 3 (1.40%) C
5 3 (1.40%) C++
6 2 (0.93%) Java
6 2 (0.93%) Perl
7 1 (0.47%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.47%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 37 (17.29%) Cisco Certification
2 24 (11.21%) Security Cleared
3 23 (10.75%) SC Cleared
4 22 (10.28%) CCNP
5 20 (9.35%) Microsoft Certification
6 19 (8.88%) Degree
7 18 (8.41%) CCNA
8 12 (5.61%) CCIE
9 10 (4.67%) DV Cleared
10 9 (4.21%) Azure Certification
10 9 (4.21%) BPSS Clearance
11 8 (3.74%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (2.80%) DBS Check
13 5 (2.34%) MCSA
14 4 (1.87%) CCSA
14 4 (1.87%) CCSE
14 4 (1.87%) MCSE
14 4 (1.87%) Network+ Certification
15 3 (1.40%) AWS Certification
15 3 (1.40%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (6.54%) SLA
2 13 (6.07%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (5.14%) Cyber Essentials
3 11 (5.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 3 (1.40%) PCI DSS
4 3 (1.40%) QA
5 2 (0.93%) NCSC
6 1 (0.47%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.47%) Basel III
6 1 (0.47%) GRC
6 1 (0.47%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.47%) MiFID
6 1 (0.47%) NIST
6 1 (0.47%) PMO
System Software
1 62 (28.97%) Active Directory
2 33 (15.42%) Hyper-V
3 26 (12.15%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (4.21%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (3.74%) Firmware
6 7 (3.27%) Virtual Servers
7 6 (2.80%) vSphere
8 5 (2.34%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.93%) VMware NSX
10 1 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.47%) Docker
10 1 (0.47%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.47%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 34 (15.89%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (7.94%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 15 (7.01%) Ansible
3 15 (7.01%) Terraform
4 12 (5.61%) FortiGate
5 6 (2.80%) Endace
6 5 (2.34%) Cisco CUCM
6 5 (2.34%) Grafana
6 5 (2.34%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.87%) Autotask
7 4 (1.87%) PaperCut
8 3 (1.40%) Kubernetes
8 3 (1.40%) OpenView
8 3 (1.40%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.93%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.93%) Red Hat Satellite
9 2 (0.93%) Red Hat Spacewalk
10 1 (0.47%) Kibana
10 1 (0.47%) Proxmox
10 1 (0.47%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 100 (46.73%) Cisco
2 85 (39.72%) Microsoft
3 53 (24.77%) Fortinet
4 39 (18.22%) Meraki
4 39 (18.22%) VMware
5 28 (13.08%) Palo Alto
6 24 (11.21%) CheckPoint
7 18 (8.41%) Google
8 17 (7.94%) SolarWinds
9 14 (6.54%) Juniper
10 11 (5.14%) Dynatrace
11 9 (4.21%) ServiceNow
12 7 (3.27%) F5
13 6 (2.80%) Splunk
14 5 (2.34%) Apple
14 5 (2.34%) Aruba
14 5 (2.34%) HP
14 5 (2.34%) NetApp
14 5 (2.34%) Zscaler
15 4 (1.87%) Dell