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

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 191 195 129
Rank change year-on-year +4 -66 +22
Permanent jobs citing WAN 280 272 779
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.35% 1.70% 2.33%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.23% 14.17% 15.65%
Number of salaries quoted 201 191 588
10th Percentile £31,250 £28,000 £33,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £41,125
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £62,500 £50,000 £53,000
Median % change year-on-year +25.00% -5.66% +0.95%
75th Percentile £77,500 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £87,500 £84,919
UK median annual salary £55,000 £48,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +14.58% +1.05% -

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 2,290 1,919 4,978
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.00% 12.02% 14.88%
Number of salaries quoted 1,213 1,165 3,184
10th Percentile £29,750 £25,087 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,250 £39,750
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £54,000 £47,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +13.68% -9.52% -8.70%
75th Percentile £73,750 £67,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £85,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £47,500 £45,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.56% -5.26% -6.86%

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 2 July 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 39 (13.93%) Microsoft Exchange
2 33 (11.79%) SharePoint
3 1 (0.36%) Confluence
3 1 (0.36%) IIS
3 1 (0.36%) OpenStack
Applications
1 10 (3.57%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.43%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (1.07%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.07%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.07%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.36%) Microsoft Project
Business Applications
1 2 (0.71%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.36%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 155 (55.36%) Azure
2 99 (35.36%) Microsoft 365
3 73 (26.07%) AWS
4 51 (18.21%) Entra ID
5 16 (5.71%) GCP
5 16 (5.71%) Power Platform
6 15 (5.36%) Cloud Computing
7 11 (3.93%) AWS Direct Connect
7 11 (3.93%) OneDrive
7 11 (3.93%) Virtual Private Cloud
8 10 (3.57%) SaaS
9 9 (3.21%) Google Workspace
10 7 (2.50%) Azure Sentinel
11 5 (1.79%) OCI
12 3 (1.07%) Azure Monitor
12 3 (1.07%) IaaS
12 3 (1.07%) PaaS
13 2 (0.71%) Azure AKS
13 2 (0.71%) Datadog
13 2 (0.71%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 216 (77.14%) LAN
2 151 (53.93%) Firewall
3 105 (37.50%) VPN
4 103 (36.79%) SD-WAN
5 84 (30.00%) DNS
6 71 (25.36%) DHCP
7 61 (21.79%) Network Security
8 55 (19.64%) TCP/IP
9 54 (19.29%) Wi-Fi
10 49 (17.50%) MPLS
11 47 (16.79%) BGP
12 41 (14.64%) VLAN
13 38 (13.57%) WLAN
14 34 (12.14%) Wireless
15 30 (10.71%) Cisco Firepower
16 28 (10.00%) Cisco ISE
17 27 (9.64%) OSPF
18 23 (8.21%) Cisco ASA
19 21 (7.50%) IPsec
19 21 (7.50%) VoIP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 5 (1.79%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.71%) Power BI
3 1 (0.36%) InfluxDB
3 1 (0.36%) MariaDB
3 1 (0.36%) MySQL
3 1 (0.36%) PostgreSQL
3 1 (0.36%) RDBMS
3 1 (0.36%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 3 (1.07%) JIRA
2 1 (0.36%) GitLab
2 1 (0.36%) Jenkins
General
1 104 (37.14%) Social Skills
2 49 (17.50%) Finance
3 38 (13.57%) Telecoms
4 36 (12.86%) Public Sector
5 20 (7.14%) Presentation Skills
6 16 (5.71%) Banking
6 16 (5.71%) Law
7 14 (5.00%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 13 (4.64%) Marketing
8 13 (4.64%) Retail
9 12 (4.29%) Analytical Skills
10 9 (3.21%) Organisational Skills
11 4 (1.43%) Electronics
12 3 (1.07%) Legal
12 3 (1.07%) Manufacturing
13 2 (0.71%) Local Government
13 2 (0.71%) Military
13 2 (0.71%) Retail Banking
14 1 (0.36%) Aerospace
14 1 (0.36%) Fire and Rescue
Job Titles
1 71 (25.36%) Network Engineer
2 70 (25.00%) Architect
3 52 (18.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 48 (17.14%) Senior
5 39 (13.93%) IT Engineer
6 33 (11.79%) Network Architect
7 31 (11.07%) Support Engineer
8 28 (10.00%) IT Support
9 26 (9.29%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 23 (8.21%) IT Support Engineer
11 18 (6.43%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (6.43%) 2nd Line Support
11 18 (6.43%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 17 (6.07%) Solutions Architect
13 15 (5.36%) Analyst
14 14 (5.00%) Systems Architect
15 13 (4.64%) Network Manager
16 12 (4.29%) Lead
16 12 (4.29%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
16 12 (4.29%) Senior Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.21%) OAuth
1 9 (3.21%) SAML
1 9 (3.21%) XMPP
2 4 (1.43%) 802.1X
2 4 (1.43%) LDAP
3 3 (1.07%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.71%) Web Services
5 1 (0.36%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 44 (15.71%) Data Centre
2 25 (8.93%) Hybrid Cloud
3 15 (5.36%) Security Posture
4 13 (4.64%) Cyber Kill Chain
5 12 (4.29%) Onboarding
5 12 (4.29%) PKI
6 10 (3.57%) Video Conferencing
7 9 (3.21%) Cloud Native
7 9 (3.21%) FlexPod
7 9 (3.21%) Replication
8 8 (2.86%) Driving Licence
9 7 (2.50%) Self-Motivation
10 6 (2.14%) Enterprise Software
11 5 (1.79%) Management Information System
12 4 (1.43%) Analytical Mindset
12 4 (1.43%) Clustering
12 4 (1.43%) Cyber Defence
12 4 (1.43%) Cyber Threat
12 4 (1.43%) Virtual Team
13 3 (1.07%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 72 (25.71%) Windows
2 60 (21.43%) Windows Server
3 22 (7.86%) Linux
4 20 (7.14%) Mac OS
5 15 (5.36%) Windows 10
6 12 (4.29%) Windows Server 2016
7 11 (3.93%) Windows Server 2019
8 9 (3.21%) Windows Server 2012
9 5 (1.79%) Apple iOS
10 4 (1.43%) Unix
11 2 (0.71%) CentOS
11 2 (0.71%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.36%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.36%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.36%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 76 (27.14%) Problem-Solving
2 63 (22.50%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 44 (15.71%) Cybersecurity
4 43 (15.36%) Continuous Improvement
5 41 (14.64%) Disaster Recovery
5 41 (14.64%) Stakeholder Management
6 39 (13.93%) Project Delivery
7 35 (12.50%) Network Architecture
8 31 (11.07%) Presales
9 30 (10.71%) Infrastructure as Code
10 29 (10.36%) Roadmaps
11 28 (10.00%) ITIL
11 28 (10.00%) Mentoring
12 27 (9.64%) Incident Response
13 26 (9.29%) Network Design
13 26 (9.29%) Zero Trust
14 24 (8.57%) Technical Leadership
15 23 (8.21%) Service Delivery
16 21 (7.50%) Network Segmentation
17 20 (7.14%) Collaborative Culture
Programming Languages
1 27 (9.64%) Python
2 18 (6.43%) PowerShell
3 3 (1.07%) SQL
4 2 (0.71%) Bash
5 1 (0.36%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.36%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 53 (18.93%) Cisco Certification
2 42 (15.00%) CCNP
3 32 (11.43%) CCNA
4 30 (10.71%) Security Cleared
5 23 (8.21%) SC Cleared
6 20 (7.14%) Degree
7 18 (6.43%) CCIE
8 14 (5.00%) Azure Certification
9 13 (4.64%) DV Cleared
10 11 (3.93%) Microsoft Certification
11 9 (3.21%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (2.50%) BPSS Clearance
13 5 (1.79%) CCSA
13 5 (1.79%) CCSE
13 5 (1.79%) PMP
14 4 (1.43%) DBS Check
14 4 (1.43%) JNCIE
15 3 (1.07%) CCIE Security
15 3 (1.07%) JNCIP
15 3 (1.07%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 24 (8.57%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (5.00%) GRC
3 11 (3.93%) NIST
4 10 (3.57%) SLA
5 9 (3.21%) Cyber Essentials
6 7 (2.50%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 4 (1.43%) GDPR
7 4 (1.43%) QA
8 3 (1.07%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.36%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.36%) ISO 9001
9 1 (0.36%) NCSC
9 1 (0.36%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 70 (25.00%) Active Directory
2 35 (12.50%) VMware Infrastructure
3 34 (12.14%) Hyper-V
4 14 (5.00%) vSphere
5 7 (2.50%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.14%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 6 (2.14%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.43%) Firmware
7 4 (1.43%) VMware ESXi
8 1 (0.36%) BitLocker
8 1 (0.36%) Citrix Hypervisor
8 1 (0.36%) Docker
8 1 (0.36%) KVM
8 1 (0.36%) QEMU
8 1 (0.36%) Slurm Workload Manager
8 1 (0.36%) Terminal Services
8 1 (0.36%) Xen
Systems Management
1 26 (9.29%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (8.57%) Ansible
2 24 (8.57%) FortiGate
3 18 (6.43%) Terraform
4 10 (3.57%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 9 (3.21%) CASB
5 9 (3.21%) Cisco CUCM
5 9 (3.21%) Grafana
6 5 (1.79%) Endace
6 5 (1.79%) vCenter Server
7 4 (1.43%) Kubernetes
7 4 (1.43%) QRadar
8 3 (1.07%) Failover Clustering
9 2 (0.71%) OpenView
9 2 (0.71%) SCCM
9 2 (0.71%) Single Sign-On
9 2 (0.71%) Systems Management Server (SMS)
9 2 (0.71%) Tivoli
9 2 (0.71%) WhatsUp Gold
10 1 (0.36%) Dell DRAC
Vendors
1 129 (46.07%) Cisco
2 127 (45.36%) Microsoft
3 60 (21.43%) Palo Alto
4 53 (18.93%) Fortinet
5 48 (17.14%) VMware
6 38 (13.57%) Meraki
7 24 (8.57%) Juniper
8 21 (7.50%) SolarWinds
9 18 (6.43%) CheckPoint
10 17 (6.07%) Splunk
11 12 (4.29%) Aruba
11 12 (4.29%) Zscaler
12 11 (3.93%) Dynatrace
13 10 (3.57%) F5
14 9 (3.21%) Google
15 6 (2.14%) ArcSight
15 6 (2.14%) NetApp
15 6 (2.14%) ServiceNow
16 4 (1.43%) EMC
17 3 (1.07%) Citrix