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

6 months to
26 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 193 186 124
Rank change year-on-year -7 -62 +62
Permanent jobs citing WAN 211 237 792
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.25% 1.83% 2.58%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.48% 14.55% 18.69%
Number of salaries quoted 145 184 671
10th Percentile £35,614 £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 £67,813 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £52,000 £48,500
% change year-on-year -3.85% +7.22% -1.20%

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 1,838 1,629 4,237
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.90% 12.61% 13.78%
Number of salaries quoted 952 1,195 3,453
10th Percentile £28,275 £27,500 £30,500
25th Percentile £33,750 £36,250 £39,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -7.72% - -8.70%
75th Percentile £72,500 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £81,250
UK median annual salary £42,500 £52,500 £48,500
% change year-on-year -19.05% +8.25% -6.73%

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 26 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 (22.75%) Microsoft Exchange
2 41 (19.43%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.95%) Apache
3 2 (0.95%) Confluence
3 2 (0.95%) nginx
4 1 (0.47%) IIS
4 1 (0.47%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (5.69%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.90%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.90%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.42%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.42%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.95%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.47%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 119 (56.40%) Azure
2 78 (36.97%) Microsoft 365
3 57 (27.01%) AWS
4 41 (19.43%) Entra ID
5 18 (8.53%) Google Workspace
6 16 (7.58%) OneDrive
7 12 (5.69%) GCP
7 12 (5.69%) SaaS
8 11 (5.21%) AWS Direct Connect
9 9 (4.27%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 4 (1.90%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (1.90%) OCI
11 2 (0.95%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.95%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.95%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (0.95%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.95%) SuccessFactors
12 1 (0.47%) Azure DevOps
12 1 (0.47%) OpenShift
12 1 (0.47%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 141 (66.82%) LAN
2 106 (50.24%) SD-WAN
3 90 (42.65%) Firewall
4 89 (42.18%) VPN
5 68 (32.23%) DNS
6 59 (27.96%) DHCP
6 59 (27.96%) Wi-Fi
7 56 (26.54%) TCP/IP
8 32 (15.17%) VLAN
9 31 (14.69%) MPLS
10 29 (13.74%) BGP
10 29 (13.74%) WLAN
11 28 (13.27%) Wireless
12 27 (12.80%) Network Security
13 25 (11.85%) VoIP
14 24 (11.37%) Cisco Firepower
15 22 (10.43%) Cisco ASA
16 19 (9.00%) OSPF
17 18 (8.53%) Cisco ISE
18 16 (7.58%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.95%) Power BI
1 2 (0.95%) 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 (2.37%) JIRA
General
1 74 (35.07%) Social Skills
2 43 (20.38%) Finance
3 20 (9.48%) Public Sector
4 15 (7.11%) Retail
5 14 (6.64%) Banking
6 13 (6.16%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (6.16%) Manufacturing
6 13 (6.16%) Telecoms
7 12 (5.69%) Organisational Skills
8 11 (5.21%) Analytical Skills
9 5 (2.37%) Law
9 5 (2.37%) Marketing
9 5 (2.37%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.90%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.42%) Automotive
11 3 (1.42%) Police
12 2 (0.95%) Electronics
12 2 (0.95%) Legal
12 2 (0.95%) Military
12 2 (0.95%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 56 (26.54%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 53 (25.12%) Network Engineer
3 43 (20.38%) Senior
4 42 (19.91%) IT Engineer
5 29 (13.74%) IT Support
5 29 (13.74%) Support Engineer
6 28 (13.27%) Architect
7 24 (11.37%) IT Support Engineer
8 23 (10.90%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (9.95%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (9.48%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
10 20 (9.48%) Operations Engineer
11 19 (9.00%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 18 (8.53%) 2nd Line Engineer
12 18 (8.53%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
13 16 (7.58%) Senior Network Engineer
14 14 (6.64%) Network Operations Engineer
15 11 (5.21%) Solutions Architect
16 10 (4.74%) Cisco Engineer
16 10 (4.74%) Cisco Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 4 (1.90%) XMPP
2 2 (0.95%) LDAP
2 2 (0.95%) Web Services
3 1 (0.47%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 42 (19.91%) Data Centre
2 16 (7.58%) Driving Licence
3 14 (6.64%) Management Information System
4 10 (4.74%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (4.27%) Onboarding
6 8 (3.79%) Enterprise Software
6 8 (3.79%) Video Conferencing
7 6 (2.84%) Hybrid Cloud
7 6 (2.84%) PKI
7 6 (2.84%) Replication
7 6 (2.84%) Social Media
8 5 (2.37%) Product Ownership
9 4 (1.90%) Cloud Native
9 4 (1.90%) FlexPod
9 4 (1.90%) iPad
9 4 (1.90%) iPhone
9 4 (1.90%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.90%) Private Cloud
10 3 (1.42%) CMDB
10 3 (1.42%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 79 (37.44%) Windows
2 66 (31.28%) Windows Server
3 35 (16.59%) Windows 10
4 21 (9.95%) Linux
4 21 (9.95%) Mac OS
5 18 (8.53%) Windows Server 2016
6 16 (7.58%) Windows Server 2012
7 15 (7.11%) Windows Server 2019
8 12 (5.69%) Apple iOS
9 3 (1.42%) CentOS
9 3 (1.42%) OpenWrt
10 2 (0.95%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.95%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.47%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.47%) Unix
11 1 (0.47%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.47%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 80 (37.91%) Problem-Solving
2 59 (27.96%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 41 (19.43%) ITIL
4 37 (17.54%) Continuous Improvement
5 35 (16.59%) Disaster Recovery
6 30 (14.22%) Zero Trust
7 29 (13.74%) Customer Service
7 29 (13.74%) Mentoring
8 28 (13.27%) Migration
8 28 (13.27%) Service Delivery
9 26 (12.32%) Change Management
10 23 (10.90%) Stakeholder Management
11 22 (10.43%) Cloud Security
12 21 (9.95%) Presales
12 21 (9.95%) Service Management
13 20 (9.48%) Kalman Filter
14 19 (9.00%) Root Cause Analysis
15 17 (8.06%) Project Delivery
15 17 (8.06%) Roadmaps
16 16 (7.58%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 16 (7.58%) Python
2 11 (5.21%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.32%) SQL
4 4 (1.90%) Bash
5 3 (1.42%) C
5 3 (1.42%) C++
6 2 (0.95%) Java
6 2 (0.95%) Perl
7 1 (0.47%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.47%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 37 (17.54%) Cisco Certification
2 24 (11.37%) Security Cleared
3 23 (10.90%) SC Cleared
4 22 (10.43%) CCNP
5 20 (9.48%) Microsoft Certification
6 19 (9.00%) Degree
7 18 (8.53%) CCNA
8 12 (5.69%) CCIE
9 10 (4.74%) DV Cleared
10 9 (4.27%) Azure Certification
10 9 (4.27%) BPSS Clearance
11 8 (3.79%) Computer Science Degree
12 6 (2.84%) DBS Check
13 5 (2.37%) MCSA
14 4 (1.90%) CCSA
14 4 (1.90%) CCSE
14 4 (1.90%) MCSE
14 4 (1.90%) Network+ Certification
15 3 (1.42%) Master's Degree
15 3 (1.42%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (6.64%) SLA
2 13 (6.16%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (5.21%) Cyber Essentials
3 11 (5.21%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 3 (1.42%) PCI DSS
4 3 (1.42%) QA
5 2 (0.95%) 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 (29.38%) Active Directory
2 33 (15.64%) Hyper-V
3 25 (11.85%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (4.27%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (3.79%) Firmware
6 6 (2.84%) Virtual Servers
7 5 (2.37%) vSphere
8 4 (1.90%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.95%) 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 (16.11%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (8.06%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 14 (6.64%) Ansible
3 14 (6.64%) Terraform
4 12 (5.69%) FortiGate
5 6 (2.84%) Endace
6 5 (2.37%) Jamf Pro
7 4 (1.90%) Autotask
7 4 (1.90%) Cisco CUCM
7 4 (1.90%) Grafana
7 4 (1.90%) PaperCut
8 3 (1.42%) Kubernetes
8 3 (1.42%) OpenView
8 3 (1.42%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.95%) Dell DRAC
9 2 (0.95%) Red Hat Satellite
9 2 (0.95%) Red Hat Spacewalk
10 1 (0.47%) Kibana
10 1 (0.47%) Proxmox
10 1 (0.47%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 99 (46.92%) Cisco
2 84 (39.81%) Microsoft
3 52 (24.64%) Fortinet
4 39 (18.48%) Meraki
5 38 (18.01%) VMware
6 27 (12.80%) Palo Alto
7 24 (11.37%) CheckPoint
8 18 (8.53%) Google
9 17 (8.06%) SolarWinds
10 14 (6.64%) Juniper
11 11 (5.21%) Dynatrace
12 9 (4.27%) ServiceNow
13 7 (3.32%) F5
14 5 (2.37%) Apple
14 5 (2.37%) Aruba
14 5 (2.37%) HP
14 5 (2.37%) Splunk
14 5 (2.37%) Zscaler
15 4 (1.90%) Dell
15 4 (1.90%) Oracle