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

6 months to
1 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 174 173 131
Rank change year-on-year -1 -42 +39
Permanent jobs citing WAN 223 311 683
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.41% 1.93% 2.55%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.87% 14.80% 18.68%
Number of salaries quoted 141 208 584
10th Percentile £35,000 £35,525 £30,000
25th Percentile £42,000 £45,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £54,000 £49,250
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% +9.64% -6.19%
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 1,500 2,102 3,657
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 9.50% 13.02% 13.63%
Number of salaries quoted 898 1,192 3,153
10th Percentile £27,780 £31,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £31,625 £42,375 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £55,000 £55,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.92% - -
75th Percentile £71,250 £72,500 £67,968
90th Percentile £87,500 £87,375 £82,500
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 1 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 44 (19.73%) Microsoft Exchange
2 38 (17.04%) SharePoint
3 6 (2.69%) IIS
4 2 (0.90%) Apache
4 2 (0.90%) Confluence
4 2 (0.90%) nginx
Applications
1 7 (3.14%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (2.69%) Spreadsheet
3 1 (0.45%) Microsoft Excel
3 1 (0.45%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 2 (0.90%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 136 (60.99%) Azure
2 71 (31.84%) Microsoft 365
3 44 (19.73%) AWS
4 34 (15.25%) Entra ID
5 15 (6.73%) OneDrive
6 12 (5.38%) Google Workspace
7 9 (4.04%) AWS Direct Connect
7 9 (4.04%) GCP
7 9 (4.04%) SaaS
8 6 (2.69%) Azure Storage
8 6 (2.69%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 5 (2.24%) Dynamics 365
9 5 (2.24%) Power Platform
10 4 (1.79%) Azure DevOps
10 4 (1.79%) Azure Monitor
11 3 (1.35%) GitHub
11 3 (1.35%) IaaS
12 2 (0.90%) Mimecast
12 2 (0.90%) PaaS
12 2 (0.90%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 143 (64.13%) LAN
2 134 (60.09%) SD-WAN
3 106 (47.53%) Firewall
4 88 (39.46%) VPN
5 57 (25.56%) DNS
6 56 (25.11%) Wi-Fi
7 54 (24.22%) DHCP
8 48 (21.52%) Wireless
9 47 (21.08%) TCP/IP
10 30 (13.45%) VLAN
11 27 (12.11%) Network Security
11 27 (12.11%) Wireshark
12 26 (11.66%) BGP
13 24 (10.76%) MPLS
14 23 (10.31%) VoIP
14 23 (10.31%) WLAN
15 20 (8.97%) OSPF
16 17 (7.62%) Cisco ISE
17 15 (6.73%) Cisco ASA
18 13 (5.83%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.90%) Power BI
2 1 (0.45%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.45%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 3 (1.35%) Git
1 3 (1.35%) JIRA
General
1 84 (37.67%) Social Skills
2 63 (28.25%) Finance
3 33 (14.80%) Telecoms
4 14 (6.28%) Public Sector
5 13 (5.83%) Analytical Skills
5 13 (5.83%) Manufacturing
6 11 (4.93%) Retail
7 10 (4.48%) Law
8 9 (4.04%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (3.14%) Organisational Skills
10 6 (2.69%) Banking
11 4 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (1.35%) Aerospace
12 3 (1.35%) Automotive
12 3 (1.35%) Police
13 1 (0.45%) Influencing Skills
13 1 (0.45%) Legal
13 1 (0.45%) Marketing
13 1 (0.45%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 70 (31.39%) Network Engineer
2 50 (22.42%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 40 (17.94%) Senior
4 30 (13.45%) IT Engineer
5 22 (9.87%) IT Support
6 21 (9.42%) Support Engineer
7 20 (8.97%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
8 19 (8.52%) Senior Network Engineer
9 18 (8.07%) Analyst
9 18 (8.07%) Architect
9 18 (8.07%) Support Analyst
10 16 (7.17%) IT Support Engineer
11 15 (6.73%) 2nd Line Support
11 15 (6.73%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
12 13 (5.83%) Cisco Engineer
12 13 (5.83%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
12 13 (5.83%) Operations Engineer
13 12 (5.38%) 2nd Line Engineer
13 12 (5.38%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
14 11 (4.93%) Network Operations Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.35%) JSON
2 2 (0.90%) LDAP
2 2 (0.90%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 63 (28.25%) Data Centre
2 34 (15.25%) Management Information System
3 17 (7.62%) Driving Licence
4 8 (3.59%) Cloud Native
4 8 (3.59%) Self-Motivation
5 7 (3.14%) CMDB
5 7 (3.14%) Enterprise Software
6 6 (2.69%) Onboarding
7 5 (2.24%) Public Cloud
7 5 (2.24%) Social Media
8 4 (1.79%) GNSS
8 4 (1.79%) iPad
8 4 (1.79%) iPhone
8 4 (1.79%) Mobile App
8 4 (1.79%) Operational Technology
8 4 (1.79%) Product Ownership
8 4 (1.79%) Self-Driving Car
8 4 (1.79%) Video Conferencing
8 4 (1.79%) Virtual Team
9 3 (1.35%) Data Protection Act
Operating Systems
1 74 (33.18%) Windows
2 54 (24.22%) Windows Server
3 31 (13.90%) Windows 10
4 18 (8.07%) Mac OS
5 17 (7.62%) Apple iOS
6 15 (6.73%) Linux
7 13 (5.83%) Windows Server 2016
8 11 (4.93%) Windows Server 2019
9 10 (4.48%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (2.24%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 3 (1.35%) OpenWrt
12 2 (0.90%) Android
12 2 (0.90%) CentOS
12 2 (0.90%) Oracle Linux
Processes & Methodologies
1 66 (29.60%) Problem-Solving
2 50 (22.42%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 46 (20.63%) Change Management
3 46 (20.63%) Customer Service
4 42 (18.83%) ITIL
5 41 (18.39%) Disaster Recovery
6 40 (17.94%) Problem Management
7 37 (16.59%) Continuous Improvement
8 33 (14.80%) Capacity Planning
9 32 (14.35%) Service Delivery
10 31 (13.90%) Migration
11 30 (13.45%) Load Balancing
11 30 (13.45%) Mentoring
12 29 (13.00%) Coaching
12 29 (13.00%) Network Virtualisation
13 28 (12.56%) Network Monitoring
14 24 (10.76%) Asset Management
14 24 (10.76%) Network Planning
15 23 (10.31%) Zero Trust
16 22 (9.87%) Stakeholder Management
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.62%) Python
2 14 (6.28%) PowerShell
3 11 (4.93%) SQL
4 5 (2.24%) Bash
5 3 (1.35%) C
5 3 (1.35%) C++
6 2 (0.90%) Java
6 2 (0.90%) Perl
Qualifications
1 42 (18.83%) Cisco Certification
2 28 (12.56%) CCNP
3 23 (10.31%) Degree
4 18 (8.07%) CCNA
5 16 (7.17%) Security Cleared
6 15 (6.73%) Azure Certification
6 15 (6.73%) SC Cleared
7 14 (6.28%) Microsoft Certification
8 8 (3.59%) CCIE
9 7 (3.14%) AWS Certification
10 6 (2.69%) DBS Check
10 6 (2.69%) Master's Degree
11 5 (2.24%) BPSS Clearance
11 5 (2.24%) DV Cleared
11 5 (2.24%) ITIL Certification
11 5 (2.24%) MCSA
12 4 (1.79%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (1.79%) Network+ Certification
12 4 (1.79%) PMI Certification
12 4 (1.79%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (6.73%) SLA
2 8 (3.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (3.14%) Cyber Essentials
3 7 (3.14%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 5 (2.24%) NIST
5 4 (1.79%) QA
6 3 (1.35%) NCSC
6 3 (1.35%) PCI DSS
7 2 (0.90%) GRC
7 2 (0.90%) PMO
8 1 (0.45%) Accessibility
8 1 (0.45%) Basel III
8 1 (0.45%) ISO/IEC 20000
8 1 (0.45%) MiFID
System Software
1 59 (26.46%) Active Directory
2 30 (13.45%) Hyper-V
3 26 (11.66%) VMware Infrastructure
4 11 (4.93%) Firmware
5 9 (4.04%) Virtual Machines
5 9 (4.04%) Virtual Servers
6 4 (1.79%) Docker
6 4 (1.79%) VMware NSX
6 4 (1.79%) vSphere
7 3 (1.35%) NFS
8 1 (0.45%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.45%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 40 (17.94%) Microsoft Intune
2 25 (11.21%) Terraform
3 16 (7.17%) Ansible
4 14 (6.28%) FortiGate
5 10 (4.48%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 8 (3.59%) Jamf Pro
6 8 (3.59%) Kubernetes
7 6 (2.69%) Autotask
8 5 (2.24%) Dell DRAC
8 5 (2.24%) Endace
9 4 (1.79%) PaperCut
10 2 (0.90%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.90%) Red Hat Spacewalk
11 1 (0.45%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.45%) Kibana
11 1 (0.45%) OpenView
11 1 (0.45%) Proxmox
11 1 (0.45%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 114 (51.12%) Cisco
2 77 (34.53%) Microsoft
3 49 (21.97%) Meraki
4 48 (21.52%) Fortinet
5 43 (19.28%) CheckPoint
6 41 (18.39%) Palo Alto
7 40 (17.94%) SolarWinds
8 38 (17.04%) VMware
9 15 (6.73%) Google
9 15 (6.73%) Juniper
10 9 (4.04%) Dell
11 8 (3.59%) Apple
11 8 (3.59%) Dynatrace
12 7 (3.14%) Aruba
12 7 (3.14%) F5
13 6 (2.69%) ServiceNow
13 6 (2.69%) SonicWALL
14 5 (2.24%) HP
14 5 (2.24%) Red Hat
14 5 (2.24%) Zscaler