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 31 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
31 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 177 173 128
Rank change year-on-year -4 -45 +42
Permanent jobs citing WAN 227 311 675
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.44% 1.92% 2.57%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.04% 14.66% 18.96%
Number of salaries quoted 143 208 576
10th Percentile £35,000 £35,525 £30,000
25th Percentile £40,500 £45,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £58,099 £54,000 £48,500
Median % change year-on-year +7.59% +11.34% -7.62%
75th Percentile £77,500 £72,500 £62,500
90th Percentile £92,500 £90,000 £78,750
UK median annual salary £50,000 £54,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year -7.41% +13.68% -5.00%

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 1,509 2,122 3,560
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.54% 13.09% 13.53%
Number of salaries quoted 902 1,209 3,056
10th Percentile £27,540 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £32,125 £42,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.92% - -
75th Percentile £72,250 £72,500 £68,750
90th Percentile £87,500 £86,250 £83,750
UK median annual salary £40,000 £55,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -27.27% +10.00% -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 31 January 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 45 (19.82%) Microsoft Exchange
2 38 (16.74%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.64%) IIS
4 2 (0.88%) Apache
4 2 (0.88%) Confluence
4 2 (0.88%) nginx
Applications
1 7 (3.08%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (2.64%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.44%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.44%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.88%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 137 (60.35%) Azure
2 72 (31.72%) Microsoft 365
3 44 (19.38%) AWS
4 34 (14.98%) Entra ID
5 15 (6.61%) OneDrive
6 12 (5.29%) Google Workspace
7 9 (3.96%) AWS Direct Connect
7 9 (3.96%) GCP
7 9 (3.96%) SaaS
8 6 (2.64%) Azure Storage
8 6 (2.64%) Dynamics 365
8 6 (2.64%) Power Platform
8 6 (2.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 4 (1.76%) Azure DevOps
9 4 (1.76%) Azure Monitor
9 4 (1.76%) GitHub
10 3 (1.32%) IaaS
10 3 (1.32%) PowerApps
11 2 (0.88%) PaaS
11 2 (0.88%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 147 (64.76%) LAN
2 135 (59.47%) SD-WAN
3 108 (47.58%) Firewall
4 90 (39.65%) VPN
5 57 (25.11%) DNS
6 56 (24.67%) Wi-Fi
7 54 (23.79%) DHCP
8 48 (21.15%) TCP/IP
8 48 (21.15%) Wireless
9 30 (13.22%) VLAN
10 27 (11.89%) Network Security
10 27 (11.89%) Wireshark
11 26 (11.45%) BGP
12 25 (11.01%) MPLS
13 23 (10.13%) VoIP
13 23 (10.13%) WLAN
14 20 (8.81%) OSPF
15 17 (7.49%) Cisco ISE
16 15 (6.61%) Cisco ASA
17 13 (5.73%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.88%) Power BI
2 1 (0.44%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.44%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 4 (1.76%) Git
2 3 (1.32%) JIRA
General
1 85 (37.44%) Social Skills
2 64 (28.19%) Finance
3 34 (14.98%) Telecoms
4 14 (6.17%) Public Sector
5 13 (5.73%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (5.73%) Manufacturing
6 11 (4.85%) Retail
7 10 (4.41%) Law
8 9 (3.96%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (3.08%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (2.64%) Banking
11 4 (1.76%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (1.32%) Aerospace
12 3 (1.32%) Automotive
12 3 (1.32%) Police
13 1 (0.44%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.44%) Legal
13 1 (0.44%) Marketing
13 1 (0.44%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 70 (30.84%) Network Engineer
2 51 (22.47%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 40 (17.62%) Senior
4 30 (13.22%) IT Engineer
5 22 (9.69%) IT Support
6 21 (9.25%) Support Engineer
7 20 (8.81%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
8 19 (8.37%) Analyst
8 19 (8.37%) Senior Network Engineer
8 19 (8.37%) Support Analyst
9 18 (7.93%) Architect
10 16 (7.05%) IT Support Engineer
11 15 (6.61%) 2nd Line Support
11 15 (6.61%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 14 (6.17%) Cisco Engineer
13 13 (5.73%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
13 13 (5.73%) Operations Engineer
14 12 (5.29%) 2nd Line Engineer
14 12 (5.29%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
15 11 (4.85%) Network Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.32%) JSON
2 2 (0.88%) LDAP
2 2 (0.88%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 63 (27.75%) Data Centre
2 35 (15.42%) Management Information System
3 18 (7.93%) Driving Licence
4 8 (3.52%) Cloud Native
4 8 (3.52%) Self-Motivation
5 7 (3.08%) CMDB
5 7 (3.08%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (2.64%) Onboarding
7 5 (2.20%) Public Cloud
7 5 (2.20%) Social Media
8 4 (1.76%) CCTV
8 4 (1.76%) GNSS
8 4 (1.76%) iPad
8 4 (1.76%) iPhone
8 4 (1.76%) Mobile App
8 4 (1.76%) Operational Technology
8 4 (1.76%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.76%) Self-Driving Car
8 4 (1.76%) Video Conferencing
8 4 (1.76%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 75 (33.04%) Windows
2 54 (23.79%) Windows Server
3 32 (14.10%) Windows 10
4 19 (8.37%) Mac OS
5 18 (7.93%) Apple iOS
6 16 (7.05%) Linux
7 13 (5.73%) Windows Server 2016
8 11 (4.85%) Windows Server 2019
9 10 (4.41%) Windows Server 2012
10 6 (2.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 3 (1.32%) OpenWrt
12 2 (0.88%) Android
12 2 (0.88%) CentOS
12 2 (0.88%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 67 (29.52%) Problem-Solving
2 50 (22.03%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 46 (20.26%) Change Management
3 46 (20.26%) Customer Service
4 43 (18.94%) ITIL
5 41 (18.06%) Disaster Recovery
6 40 (17.62%) Problem Management
7 37 (16.30%) Continuous Improvement
8 33 (14.54%) Capacity Planning
8 33 (14.54%) Service Delivery
9 31 (13.66%) Migration
10 30 (13.22%) Coaching
10 30 (13.22%) Load Balancing
10 30 (13.22%) Mentoring
11 29 (12.78%) Network Virtualisation
12 28 (12.33%) Network Monitoring
13 24 (10.57%) Asset Management
13 24 (10.57%) Network Planning
14 23 (10.13%) Zero Trust
15 22 (9.69%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 18 (7.93%) Python
2 14 (6.17%) PowerShell
3 11 (4.85%) SQL
4 5 (2.20%) Bash
5 3 (1.32%) C
5 3 (1.32%) C++
6 2 (0.88%) Java
6 2 (0.88%) Perl
Qualifications
1 44 (19.38%) Cisco Certification
2 29 (12.78%) CCNP
3 24 (10.57%) Degree
4 19 (8.37%) CCNA
5 16 (7.05%) Security Cleared
6 15 (6.61%) Azure Certification
6 15 (6.61%) SC Cleared
7 14 (6.17%) Microsoft Certification
8 9 (3.96%) CCIE
9 7 (3.08%) AWS Certification
10 6 (2.64%) DBS Check
10 6 (2.64%) ITIL Certification
10 6 (2.64%) Master's Degree
11 5 (2.20%) BPSS Clearance
11 5 (2.20%) DV Cleared
11 5 (2.20%) MCSA
12 4 (1.76%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (1.76%) Network+ Certification
12 4 (1.76%) PMI Certification
12 4 (1.76%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (6.61%) SLA
2 8 (3.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (3.08%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (3.08%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 5 (2.20%) NIST
5 4 (1.76%) QA
6 3 (1.32%) NCSC
6 3 (1.32%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.88%) GRC
7 2 (0.88%) PMO
8 1 (0.44%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.44%) Basel III
8 1 (0.44%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.44%) MiFID
System Software
1 60 (26.43%) Active Directory
2 30 (13.22%) Hyper-V
3 27 (11.89%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (4.85%) Firmware
5 9 (3.96%) Virtual Machines
5 9 (3.96%) Virtual Servers
6 5 (2.20%) vSphere
7 4 (1.76%) Docker
7 4 (1.76%) NFS
7 4 (1.76%) VMware NSX
8 1 (0.44%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.44%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 41 (18.06%) Microsoft Intune
2 26 (11.45%) Terraform
3 17 (7.49%) Ansible
4 14 (6.17%) FortiGate
5 10 (4.41%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (3.96%) Jamf Pro
6 9 (3.96%) Kubernetes
7 6 (2.64%) Autotask
8 5 (2.20%) Dell DRAC
8 5 (2.20%) Endace
9 4 (1.76%) PaperCut
10 2 (0.88%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.88%) Red Hat Spacewalk
11 1 (0.44%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.44%) Kibana
11 1 (0.44%) OpenView
11 1 (0.44%) Proxmox
11 1 (0.44%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 116 (51.10%) Cisco
2 78 (34.36%) Microsoft
3 49 (21.59%) Meraki
4 48 (21.15%) Fortinet
5 43 (18.94%) CheckPoint
6 41 (18.06%) Palo Alto
7 40 (17.62%) SolarWinds
8 39 (17.18%) VMware
9 15 (6.61%) Google
9 15 (6.61%) Juniper
10 9 (3.96%) Apple
10 9 (3.96%) Dell
11 8 (3.52%) Dynatrace
12 7 (3.08%) Aruba
12 7 (3.08%) F5
13 6 (2.64%) Red Hat
13 6 (2.64%) ServiceNow
13 6 (2.64%) SonicWALL
14 5 (2.20%) HP
14 5 (2.20%) Zscaler