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

6 months to
27 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 175 194 128
Rank change year-on-year +19 -66 +50
Permanent jobs citing WAN 233 273 703
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.42% 1.82% 2.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.89% 14.45% 18.88%
Number of salaries quoted 148 175 610
10th Percentile £35,500 £36,000 £30,450
25th Percentile £42,000 £45,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £77,500 £72,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,750 £92,767 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £54,000 £48,500
% change year-on-year -7.41% +11.34% -3.00%

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 1,678 1,889 3,724
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.20% 12.60% 13.43%
Number of salaries quoted 943 1,146 3,240
10th Percentile £28,050 £30,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £32,500 £41,250 £39,375
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,000 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year -12.73% +1.85% -3.57%
75th Percentile £71,250 £72,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £86,250 £82,500
UK median annual salary £40,000 £55,000 £49,000
% change year-on-year -27.27% +12.24% -6.67%

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 February 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 49 (21.03%) Microsoft Exchange
2 43 (18.45%) SharePoint
3 5 (2.15%) IIS
4 2 (0.86%) Apache
4 2 (0.86%) Confluence
4 2 (0.86%) nginx
Applications
1 10 (4.29%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (2.15%) Spreadsheet
3 3 (1.29%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.29%) MS Visio
4 2 (0.86%) AutoCAD
4 2 (0.86%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.86%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 141 (60.52%) Azure
2 81 (34.76%) Microsoft 365
3 54 (23.18%) AWS
4 42 (18.03%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.87%) Google Workspace
5 16 (6.87%) OneDrive
6 12 (5.15%) AWS Direct Connect
6 12 (5.15%) SaaS
7 10 (4.29%) GCP
8 9 (3.86%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 5 (2.15%) Azure Storage
10 4 (1.72%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (1.29%) Azure DevOps
11 3 (1.29%) IaaS
12 2 (0.86%) AWS CloudFormation
12 2 (0.86%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.86%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.86%) PaaS
12 2 (0.86%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.86%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 152 (65.24%) LAN
2 131 (56.22%) SD-WAN
3 110 (47.21%) Firewall
4 96 (41.20%) VPN
5 66 (28.33%) DNS
6 63 (27.04%) Wi-Fi
7 60 (25.75%) DHCP
8 55 (23.61%) TCP/IP
9 42 (18.03%) Wireless
10 32 (13.73%) BGP
10 32 (13.73%) MPLS
10 32 (13.73%) VLAN
11 29 (12.45%) Network Security
12 27 (11.59%) WLAN
13 26 (11.16%) VoIP
14 23 (9.87%) OSPF
14 23 (9.87%) Wireshark
15 22 (9.44%) Cisco Firepower
16 21 (9.01%) Cisco ISE
17 20 (8.58%) Cisco ASA
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.86%) Power BI
2 1 (0.43%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.43%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.15%) JIRA
2 1 (0.43%) Git
General
1 88 (37.77%) Social Skills
2 60 (25.75%) Finance
3 28 (12.02%) Telecoms
4 17 (7.30%) Public Sector
5 14 (6.01%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (5.58%) Manufacturing
6 13 (5.58%) Retail
7 12 (5.15%) Analytical Skills
8 10 (4.29%) Banking
8 10 (4.29%) Organisational Skills
9 9 (3.86%) Law
10 3 (1.29%) Aerospace
10 3 (1.29%) Automotive
10 3 (1.29%) Documentation Skills
10 3 (1.29%) Marketing
10 3 (1.29%) Police
11 2 (0.86%) Presentation Skills
11 2 (0.86%) Retail Banking
12 1 (0.43%) Legal
12 1 (0.43%) Military
Job Titles
1 72 (30.90%) Network Engineer
2 57 (24.46%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 41 (17.60%) Senior
4 40 (17.17%) IT Engineer
5 28 (12.02%) IT Support
5 28 (12.02%) Support Engineer
6 23 (9.87%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
7 22 (9.44%) IT Support Engineer
8 21 (9.01%) Architect
9 20 (8.58%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
9 20 (8.58%) Operations Engineer
10 19 (8.15%) 2nd Line Support
11 18 (7.73%) Senior Network Engineer
12 16 (6.87%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 16 (6.87%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 16 (6.87%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 14 (6.01%) Network Operations Engineer
14 13 (5.58%) Cisco Engineer
15 12 (5.15%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 12 (5.15%) Support Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.29%) JSON
2 2 (0.86%) LDAP
2 2 (0.86%) Web Services
2 2 (0.86%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 61 (26.18%) Data Centre
2 31 (13.30%) Management Information System
3 18 (7.73%) Driving Licence
4 10 (4.29%) Self-Motivation
5 8 (3.43%) Onboarding
6 7 (3.00%) Cloud Native
6 7 (3.00%) CMDB
6 7 (3.00%) Enterprise Software
7 6 (2.58%) Social Media
7 6 (2.58%) Video Conferencing
8 5 (2.15%) Hybrid Cloud
8 5 (2.15%) PKI
8 5 (2.15%) Public Cloud
9 4 (1.72%) iPad
9 4 (1.72%) iPhone
9 4 (1.72%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.72%) Product Ownership
9 4 (1.72%) Replication
9 4 (1.72%) Self-Driving Car
9 4 (1.72%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 81 (34.76%) Windows
2 65 (27.90%) Windows Server
3 33 (14.16%) Windows 10
4 19 (8.15%) Linux
4 19 (8.15%) Mac OS
5 16 (6.87%) Windows Server 2016
6 14 (6.01%) Windows Server 2012
6 14 (6.01%) Windows Server 2019
7 12 (5.15%) Apple iOS
8 3 (1.29%) OpenWrt
8 3 (1.29%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 2 (0.86%) CentOS
9 2 (0.86%) Oracle Linux
10 1 (0.43%) Mac OS X
10 1 (0.43%) Windows 7
10 1 (0.43%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 81 (34.76%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (25.32%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 46 (19.74%) Customer Service
4 44 (18.88%) Disaster Recovery
5 43 (18.45%) ITIL
6 42 (18.03%) Change Management
7 37 (15.88%) Continuous Improvement
8 34 (14.59%) Migration
8 34 (14.59%) Problem Management
9 31 (13.30%) Service Delivery
10 29 (12.45%) Mentoring
11 27 (11.59%) Capacity Planning
11 27 (11.59%) Zero Trust
12 25 (10.73%) Coaching
12 25 (10.73%) Load Balancing
13 24 (10.30%) Cloud Security
13 24 (10.30%) Network Monitoring
13 24 (10.30%) Network Virtualisation
13 24 (10.30%) Stakeholder Management
14 21 (9.01%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.87%) Python
2 15 (6.44%) PowerShell
3 10 (4.29%) SQL
4 4 (1.72%) Bash
5 3 (1.29%) C
5 3 (1.29%) C++
6 2 (0.86%) Java
6 2 (0.86%) Perl
Qualifications
1 38 (16.31%) Cisco Certification
2 26 (11.16%) CCNP
3 22 (9.44%) Security Cleared
4 21 (9.01%) SC Cleared
5 19 (8.15%) Microsoft Certification
6 18 (7.73%) CCNA
6 18 (7.73%) Degree
7 12 (5.15%) Azure Certification
8 9 (3.86%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (3.86%) CCIE
9 6 (2.58%) DBS Check
9 6 (2.58%) DV Cleared
10 5 (2.15%) AWS Certification
10 5 (2.15%) Computer Science Degree
10 5 (2.15%) MCSA
11 4 (1.72%) Master's Degree
11 4 (1.72%) Network+ Certification
11 4 (1.72%) PMP
12 3 (1.29%) MCSE
13 2 (0.86%) A+ Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (6.44%) SLA
2 14 (6.01%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 12 (5.15%) Cyber Essentials
3 12 (5.15%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 4 (1.72%) NIST
4 4 (1.72%) QA
5 3 (1.29%) NCSC
5 3 (1.29%) PCI DSS
6 2 (0.86%) GRC
6 2 (0.86%) PMO
7 1 (0.43%) Accessibility
7 1 (0.43%) Basel III
7 1 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 1 (0.43%) MiFID
System Software
1 61 (26.18%) Active Directory
2 34 (14.59%) Hyper-V
3 25 (10.73%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (4.29%) Firmware
4 10 (4.29%) Virtual Servers
5 9 (3.86%) Virtual Machines
6 4 (1.72%) Docker
6 4 (1.72%) VMware NSX
6 4 (1.72%) vSphere
7 2 (0.86%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 1 (0.43%) NFS
8 1 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 39 (16.74%) Microsoft Intune
2 22 (9.44%) Terraform
3 15 (6.44%) Ansible
4 14 (6.01%) Active Directory Federation Services
4 14 (6.01%) FortiGate
5 6 (2.58%) Endace
5 6 (2.58%) Kubernetes
6 5 (2.15%) Autotask
6 5 (2.15%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.72%) Dell DRAC
7 4 (1.72%) PaperCut
8 2 (0.86%) Cisco CUCM
8 2 (0.86%) Grafana
8 2 (0.86%) OpenView
8 2 (0.86%) Red Hat Satellite
8 2 (0.86%) Red Hat Spacewalk
8 2 (0.86%) Tivoli
9 1 (0.43%) Cisco Prime
9 1 (0.43%) Kibana
9 1 (0.43%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 120 (51.50%) Cisco
2 84 (36.05%) Microsoft
3 52 (22.32%) Fortinet
4 51 (21.89%) Meraki
5 42 (18.03%) Palo Alto
6 41 (17.60%) CheckPoint
7 38 (16.31%) SolarWinds
7 38 (16.31%) VMware
8 18 (7.73%) Google
9 14 (6.01%) Juniper
10 11 (4.72%) Dynatrace
11 10 (4.29%) F5
12 9 (3.86%) ServiceNow
13 7 (3.00%) Aruba
14 6 (2.58%) Dell
15 5 (2.15%) Apple
15 5 (2.15%) SonicWALL
16 4 (1.72%) HP
16 4 (1.72%) Zscaler
17 3 (1.29%) Extreme Networks