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

6 months to
8 Oct 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 194 190 171
Rank change year-on-year -4 -19 -59
Permanent jobs citing WAN 319 263 433
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.29% 1.57% 1.98%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.49% 15.09% 13.60%
Number of salaries quoted 190 165 266
10th Percentile £31,250 £31,500 £35,500
25th Percentile £37,750 £41,000 £46,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £57,500 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.35% +4.55% +11.68%
75th Percentile £76,201 £86,250 £70,531
90th Percentile £83,750 £97,500 £84,964
UK median annual salary £55,000 £45,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +22.22% -14.29% +9.38%

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 2,202 1,743 3,184
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 8.88% 10.38% 14.56%
Number of salaries quoted 1,343 988 1,505
10th Percentile £29,000 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £41,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -9.09% -4.35%
75th Percentile £74,613 £70,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £86,000 £87,500 £82,500
UK median annual salary £50,000 £39,000 £52,500
% change year-on-year +28.21% -25.71% +1.94%

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 8 October 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 (9.72%) Microsoft Exchange
2 29 (9.09%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.63%) Confluence
4 1 (0.31%) IIS
Applications
1 6 (1.88%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (1.57%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 2 (0.63%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 1 (0.31%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 184 (57.68%) Azure
2 104 (32.60%) Microsoft 365
3 64 (20.06%) Cloud Computing
4 53 (16.61%) Entra ID
5 48 (15.05%) AWS
6 31 (9.72%) Power Platform
7 12 (3.76%) OneDrive
8 11 (3.45%) GCP
9 7 (2.19%) Azure Sentinel
10 6 (1.88%) Azure Monitor
10 6 (1.88%) IaaS
10 6 (1.88%) OCI
10 6 (1.88%) PaaS
10 6 (1.88%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 5 (1.57%) Mimecast
11 5 (1.57%) SaaS
12 4 (1.25%) AWS Direct Connect
13 3 (0.94%) Azure DevOps
13 3 (0.94%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 3 (0.94%) GitHub
Communications & Networking
1 268 (84.01%) LAN
2 153 (47.96%) Firewall
3 86 (26.96%) Network Security
4 83 (26.02%) SD-WAN
5 79 (24.76%) VPN
6 63 (19.75%) DNS
7 62 (19.44%) DHCP
8 54 (16.93%) Wi-Fi
9 53 (16.61%) VLAN
9 53 (16.61%) Wireless
10 49 (15.36%) BGP
11 44 (13.79%) WLAN
12 43 (13.48%) TCP/IP
13 36 (11.29%) OSPF
14 33 (10.34%) MPLS
15 24 (7.52%) Cisco Nexus
16 19 (5.96%) Cisco ISE
17 16 (5.02%) VXLAN
18 15 (4.70%) Cisco ASA
18 15 (4.70%) Cisco Firepower
Database & Business Intelligence
1 9 (2.82%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.63%) Azure SQL Database
2 2 (0.63%) GIS
3 1 (0.31%) Electronic Patient Records
Development Applications
1 6 (1.88%) Git
1 6 (1.88%) JIRA
2 5 (1.57%) Sonatype Nexus
3 2 (0.63%) GitLab
General
1 161 (50.47%) Social Skills
2 76 (23.82%) Finance
3 63 (19.75%) Presentation Skills
4 45 (14.11%) Telecoms
5 35 (10.97%) Public Sector
6 32 (10.03%) Law
7 22 (6.90%) Retail
8 16 (5.02%) Marketing
9 15 (4.70%) Analytical Skills
9 15 (4.70%) Banking
10 9 (2.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 7 (2.19%) Organisational Skills
12 6 (1.88%) Manufacturing
13 3 (0.94%) Legal
14 2 (0.63%) Automotive
14 2 (0.63%) French Language
14 2 (0.63%) German Language
14 2 (0.63%) Influencing Skills
14 2 (0.63%) Local Government
14 2 (0.63%) Military
Job Titles
1 97 (30.41%) Architect
2 95 (29.78%) Network Engineer
3 58 (18.18%) Systems Architect
4 50 (15.67%) Senior
5 29 (9.09%) Network Architect
6 25 (7.84%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 25 (7.84%) Senior Network Engineer
6 25 (7.84%) Support Engineer
7 24 (7.52%) IT Support
8 21 (6.58%) Lead
9 20 (6.27%) IT Engineer
10 17 (5.33%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 14 (4.39%) Analyst
12 13 (4.08%) IT Support Engineer
13 12 (3.76%) Network Manager
14 11 (3.45%) 2nd Line Support
14 11 (3.45%) IT Manager
14 11 (3.45%) Network Support
14 11 (3.45%) Network Support Engineer
14 11 (3.45%) Security Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 20 (6.27%) Terraform
2 10 (3.13%) OAuth
2 10 (3.13%) SAML
3 8 (2.51%) 802.1X
4 4 (1.25%) XMPP
4 4 (1.25%) YAML
5 3 (0.94%) ARM Templates
5 3 (0.94%) LDAP
6 1 (0.31%) Jinja
6 1 (0.31%) REST
Miscellaneous
1 54 (16.93%) Data Centre
2 24 (7.52%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (5.64%) Security Posture
4 16 (5.02%) Onboarding
5 13 (4.08%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 13 (4.08%) Self-Motivation
6 9 (2.82%) Driving Licence
7 7 (2.19%) Cloud Native
8 6 (1.88%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 6 (1.88%) Enterprise Software
9 5 (1.57%) Replication
9 5 (1.57%) Video Conferencing
10 4 (1.25%) Clustering
10 4 (1.25%) Cyber Threat
10 4 (1.25%) FlexPod
10 4 (1.25%) PKI
11 3 (0.94%) Analytical Mindset
11 3 (0.94%) Cyber Defence
11 3 (0.94%) Enterprise Storage
11 3 (0.94%) Product Ownership
Operating Systems
1 55 (17.24%) Windows
2 40 (12.54%) Windows Server
3 8 (2.51%) Linux
4 7 (2.19%) Mac OS
5 5 (1.57%) Windows Server 2016
5 5 (1.57%) Windows Server 2019
6 3 (0.94%) Windows 10
7 2 (0.63%) Android
8 1 (0.31%) Unix
Processes & Methodologies
1 91 (28.53%) Project Delivery
2 79 (24.76%) Network Design
3 75 (23.51%) Problem-Solving
4 73 (22.88%) Infrastructure as Code
4 73 (22.88%) Network Architecture
4 73 (22.88%) Roadmaps
5 66 (20.69%) Logistics
6 65 (20.38%) Cybersecurity
6 65 (20.38%) Information Security
7 64 (20.06%) Technical Architecture
8 62 (19.44%) Risk Management
9 60 (18.81%) Business Strategy
10 59 (18.50%) Containerisation
11 58 (18.18%) Business Case
12 53 (16.61%) Continuous Improvement
13 41 (12.85%) Infrastructure Engineering
14 37 (11.60%) Stakeholder Management
15 35 (10.97%) Mentoring
16 33 (10.34%) IT Strategy
16 33 (10.34%) ITIL
Programming Languages
1 29 (9.09%) Python
2 24 (7.52%) PowerShell
3 2 (0.63%) Bash
3 2 (0.63%) SQL
4 1 (0.31%) Bicep
4 1 (0.31%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 67 (21.00%) Cisco Certification
2 54 (16.93%) CCNP
3 38 (11.91%) CCNA
4 19 (5.96%) Azure Certification
4 19 (5.96%) Security Cleared
5 18 (5.64%) Degree
6 12 (3.76%) CCIE
7 9 (2.82%) Microsoft Certification
7 9 (2.82%) SC Cleared
8 8 (2.51%) PMP
9 7 (2.19%) DV Cleared
10 6 (1.88%) DBS Check
10 6 (1.88%) Network+ Certification
11 4 (1.25%) CompTIA Security+
11 4 (1.25%) PMI Certification
12 3 (0.94%) A+ Certification
12 3 (0.94%) CCDP
13 2 (0.63%) HNC
13 2 (0.63%) HND
13 2 (0.63%) PRINCE2 Practitioner
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 62 (19.44%) GRC
2 24 (7.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 17 (5.33%) SLA
4 14 (4.39%) NIST
5 11 (3.45%) GDPR
6 8 (2.51%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (1.25%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.25%) PCI DSS
8 1 (0.31%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.31%) ISO 9001
8 1 (0.31%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.31%) QA
System Software
1 61 (19.12%) Active Directory
2 37 (11.60%) Hyper-V
3 33 (10.34%) VMware Infrastructure
4 8 (2.51%) Firmware
4 8 (2.51%) vSphere
5 7 (2.19%) VMware NSX
6 4 (1.25%) Virtual Servers
7 3 (0.94%) BitLocker
7 3 (0.94%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 3 (0.94%) VMware ESXi
8 2 (0.63%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.63%) Virtual Machines
9 1 (0.31%) Docker
9 1 (0.31%) Terminal Services
Systems Management
1 32 (10.03%) Microsoft Intune
2 27 (8.46%) FortiGate
3 19 (5.96%) Ansible
4 14 (4.39%) CASB
5 6 (1.88%) Single Sign-On
6 5 (1.57%) Cisco CUCM
6 5 (1.57%) Grafana
7 4 (1.25%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
8 3 (0.94%) Failover Clustering
8 3 (0.94%) Kubernetes
8 3 (0.94%) QRadar
9 2 (0.63%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.31%) Autotask
10 1 (0.31%) Check_MK
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco Prime
10 1 (0.31%) Cisco UCCE
10 1 (0.31%) Jamf Pro
10 1 (0.31%) N-central
10 1 (0.31%) Packer
10 1 (0.31%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 163 (51.10%) Microsoft
2 137 (42.95%) Cisco
3 59 (18.50%) Palo Alto
4 45 (14.11%) VMware
5 35 (10.97%) Fortinet
6 25 (7.84%) Aruba
7 21 (6.58%) Juniper
8 19 (5.96%) Meraki
9 14 (4.39%) CheckPoint
9 14 (4.39%) Zscaler
10 13 (4.08%) SolarWinds
11 8 (2.51%) Splunk
12 6 (1.88%) F5
13 5 (1.57%) Citrix
13 5 (1.57%) Dell
13 5 (1.57%) Dynatrace
13 5 (1.57%) YouTube
14 4 (1.25%) N-able
14 4 (1.25%) Netskope
14 4 (1.25%) SonicWALL