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

6 months to
3 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 196 212 130
Rank change year-on-year +16 -82 +24
Permanent jobs citing WAN 247 258 784
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.29% 1.74% 2.34%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.69% 13.54% 15.43%
Number of salaries quoted 180 182 607
10th Percentile £31,250 £30,625 £34,250
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £53,500
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -6.54% +1.90%
75th Percentile £78,000 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,250 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.00% +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 2,113 1,906 5,080
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.02% 12.84% 15.13%
Number of salaries quoted 1,062 1,141 3,325
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £87,500 £80,000
UK median annual salary £45,500 £47,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year -4.21% - -5.94%

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 3 June 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 43 (17.41%) Microsoft Exchange
2 36 (14.57%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.81%) Confluence
4 1 (0.40%) IIS
4 1 (0.40%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (4.86%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.62%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.62%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.21%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.21%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.81%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.40%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 135 (54.66%) Azure
2 81 (32.79%) Microsoft 365
3 72 (29.15%) AWS
4 43 (17.41%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.48%) GCP
6 15 (6.07%) AWS Direct Connect
6 15 (6.07%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 14 (5.67%) SaaS
8 13 (5.26%) Google Workspace
9 11 (4.45%) OneDrive
10 6 (2.43%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (2.02%) OCI
12 3 (1.21%) IaaS
12 3 (1.21%) PaaS
13 2 (0.81%) Azure Monitor
13 2 (0.81%) Datadog
13 2 (0.81%) Dynamics 365
13 2 (0.81%) Power Platform
13 2 (0.81%) SuccessFactors
14 1 (0.40%) Azure AKS
Communications & Networking
1 178 (72.06%) LAN
2 124 (50.20%) Firewall
3 112 (45.34%) SD-WAN
4 100 (40.49%) VPN
5 75 (30.36%) DNS
6 61 (24.70%) DHCP
7 54 (21.86%) TCP/IP
8 51 (20.65%) Wi-Fi
9 46 (18.62%) WLAN
10 45 (18.22%) MPLS
11 44 (17.81%) BGP
12 43 (17.41%) Network Security
13 38 (15.38%) VLAN
14 34 (13.77%) Cisco Firepower
15 33 (13.36%) Cisco ISE
16 29 (11.74%) OSPF
17 27 (10.93%) Cisco ASA
17 27 (10.93%) Wireless
18 21 (8.50%) IPsec
18 21 (8.50%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.81%) Power BI
1 2 (0.81%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.40%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.40%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.40%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.40%) MySQL
2 1 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.40%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.40%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.21%) JIRA
2 1 (0.40%) Jenkins
General
1 78 (31.58%) Social Skills
2 38 (15.38%) Finance
2 38 (15.38%) Public Sector
3 20 (8.10%) Telecoms
4 16 (6.48%) Retail
5 15 (6.07%) Banking
5 15 (6.07%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 11 (4.45%) Marketing
6 11 (4.45%) Organisational Skills
7 8 (3.24%) Analytical Skills
8 6 (2.43%) Presentation Skills
9 4 (1.62%) Electronics
9 4 (1.62%) Legal
9 4 (1.62%) Manufacturing
10 3 (1.21%) Law
11 2 (0.81%) Local Government
11 2 (0.81%) Military
11 2 (0.81%) Police
11 2 (0.81%) Retail Banking
12 1 (0.40%) Fire and Rescue
Job Titles
1 68 (27.53%) Network Engineer
2 55 (22.27%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 51 (20.65%) Architect
4 43 (17.41%) Senior
5 40 (16.19%) IT Engineer
6 32 (12.96%) Support Engineer
7 29 (11.74%) Network Architect
8 28 (11.34%) IT Support
9 24 (9.72%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 23 (9.31%) IT Support Engineer
11 20 (8.10%) 2nd Line Support
12 18 (7.29%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 18 (7.29%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 17 (6.88%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
13 17 (6.88%) Operations Engineer
13 17 (6.88%) Solutions Architect
14 16 (6.48%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
15 14 (5.67%) Network Manager
16 13 (5.26%) Senior Network Engineer
17 11 (4.45%) Network Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.64%) XMPP
2 4 (1.62%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.62%) OAuth
2 4 (1.62%) SAML
3 3 (1.21%) LDAP
4 2 (0.81%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.81%) Web Services
5 1 (0.40%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 45 (18.22%) Data Centre
2 20 (8.10%) Hybrid Cloud
3 12 (4.86%) Driving Licence
4 11 (4.45%) PKI
5 9 (3.64%) Cloud Native
5 9 (3.64%) FlexPod
5 9 (3.64%) Management Information System
5 9 (3.64%) Onboarding
5 9 (3.64%) Replication
5 9 (3.64%) Video Conferencing
6 8 (3.24%) Self-Motivation
7 7 (2.83%) Cyber Kill Chain
8 6 (2.43%) Security Posture
9 5 (2.02%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (1.62%) Analytical Mindset
10 4 (1.62%) Product Ownership
10 4 (1.62%) Public Cloud
10 4 (1.62%) Social Media
10 4 (1.62%) Virtual Team
11 3 (1.21%) Cyber Defence
Operating Systems
1 69 (27.94%) Windows
2 57 (23.08%) Windows Server
3 23 (9.31%) Linux
3 23 (9.31%) Windows 10
4 21 (8.50%) Mac OS
5 12 (4.86%) Windows Server 2012
5 12 (4.86%) Windows Server 2016
6 11 (4.45%) Windows Server 2019
7 8 (3.24%) Apple iOS
8 4 (1.62%) Unix
9 2 (0.81%) CentOS
9 2 (0.81%) Ubuntu
10 1 (0.40%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.40%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.40%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 73 (29.55%) Problem-Solving
2 63 (25.51%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 43 (17.41%) Disaster Recovery
4 35 (14.17%) Continuous Improvement
5 34 (13.77%) Stakeholder Management
6 33 (13.36%) ITIL
6 33 (13.36%) Mentoring
7 30 (12.15%) Zero Trust
8 29 (11.74%) Cybersecurity
9 28 (11.34%) Presales
10 27 (10.93%) Service Delivery
11 24 (9.72%) Migration
12 22 (8.91%) Service Management
13 21 (8.50%) Cloud Security
13 21 (8.50%) Network Architecture
13 21 (8.50%) Technical Leadership
14 19 (7.69%) Network Segmentation
15 18 (7.29%) Roadmaps
16 17 (6.88%) Agile
16 17 (6.88%) Collaborative Culture
Programming Languages
1 21 (8.50%) Python
2 12 (4.86%) PowerShell
3 4 (1.62%) SQL
4 2 (0.81%) Bash
5 1 (0.40%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.40%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 44 (17.81%) Cisco Certification
2 32 (12.96%) CCNP
3 30 (12.15%) Security Cleared
4 24 (9.72%) SC Cleared
5 23 (9.31%) CCNA
6 17 (6.88%) CCIE
6 17 (6.88%) Degree
7 15 (6.07%) Microsoft Certification
8 13 (5.26%) DV Cleared
9 9 (3.64%) Azure Certification
9 9 (3.64%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (3.64%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (2.02%) CCSA
10 5 (2.02%) CCSE
11 4 (1.62%) JNCIE
12 3 (1.21%) AWS Certification
12 3 (1.21%) CCIE Security
12 3 (1.21%) JNCIP
12 3 (1.21%) PMP
12 3 (1.21%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (8.50%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 12 (4.86%) SLA
3 11 (4.45%) Cyber Essentials
4 10 (4.05%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 6 (2.43%) NIST
6 4 (1.62%) QA
7 3 (1.21%) GDPR
7 3 (1.21%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 3 (1.21%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.40%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.40%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.40%) NCSC
System Software
1 63 (25.51%) Active Directory
2 33 (13.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (9.31%) Hyper-V
4 13 (5.26%) vSphere
5 7 (2.83%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.43%) Firmware
6 6 (2.43%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 5 (2.02%) VMware NSX
8 4 (1.62%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.81%) Docker
10 1 (0.40%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.40%) KVM
10 1 (0.40%) QEMU
10 1 (0.40%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.40%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.40%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.40%) Virtual Machines
10 1 (0.40%) Xen
Systems Management
1 23 (9.31%) Ansible
2 22 (8.91%) FortiGate
2 22 (8.91%) Microsoft Intune
3 16 (6.48%) Terraform
4 13 (5.26%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 9 (3.64%) Cisco CUCM
5 9 (3.64%) Grafana
6 5 (2.02%) Endace
6 5 (2.02%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.62%) CASB
7 4 (1.62%) Kubernetes
8 3 (1.21%) QRadar
9 2 (0.81%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.81%) Jamf Pro
9 2 (0.81%) OpenView
9 2 (0.81%) PaperCut
9 2 (0.81%) SCCM
9 2 (0.81%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.81%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.81%) WhatsUp Gold
Vendors
1 124 (50.20%) Cisco
2 96 (38.87%) Microsoft
3 56 (22.67%) Fortinet
4 46 (18.62%) Palo Alto
5 43 (17.41%) VMware
6 41 (16.60%) Meraki
7 23 (9.31%) Juniper
7 23 (9.31%) SolarWinds
8 21 (8.50%) CheckPoint
9 16 (6.48%) Splunk
10 15 (6.07%) Dynatrace
11 13 (5.26%) Google
12 10 (4.05%) ServiceNow
13 8 (3.24%) F5
14 7 (2.83%) Aruba
14 7 (2.83%) Zscaler
15 6 (2.43%) NetApp
16 5 (2.02%) ArcSight
17 4 (1.62%) EMC
17 4 (1.62%) Huawei