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

6 months to
15 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 184 214 130
Rank change year-on-year +30 -84 +45
Permanent jobs citing WAN 236 250 772
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.27% 1.71% 2.38%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.68% 13.08% 15.25%
Number of salaries quoted 167 178 615
10th Percentile £31,700 £31,250 £32,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £41,250 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £65,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +30.00% -4.76% -
75th Percentile £78,000 £65,000 £70,000
90th Percentile £87,500 £88,250 £84,919
UK median annual salary £52,500 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year +5.00% +5.26% -

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 2,020 1,912 5,061
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.90% 13.07% 15.61%
Number of salaries quoted 985 1,170 3,344
10th Percentile £29,850 £25,267 £31,250
25th Percentile £36,250 £31,750 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% -4.76% -8.70%
75th Percentile £75,000 £68,750 £67,500
90th Percentile £88,750 £86,250 £80,000
UK median annual salary £45,000 £50,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% -5.00%

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 15 May 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 43 (18.22%) Microsoft Exchange
2 39 (16.53%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.85%) Confluence
4 1 (0.42%) Apache
4 1 (0.42%) IIS
4 1 (0.42%) nginx
4 1 (0.42%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (5.08%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.69%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.69%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.27%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.27%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.85%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.42%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 133 (56.36%) Azure
2 81 (34.32%) Microsoft 365
3 72 (30.51%) AWS
4 41 (17.37%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.78%) GCP
6 15 (6.36%) AWS Direct Connect
6 15 (6.36%) Virtual Private Cloud
7 14 (5.93%) Google Workspace
7 14 (5.93%) OneDrive
7 14 (5.93%) SaaS
8 5 (2.12%) Azure Monitor
8 5 (2.12%) OCI
9 4 (1.69%) Azure Sentinel
10 2 (0.85%) Dynamics 365
10 2 (0.85%) Power Platform
10 2 (0.85%) SuccessFactors
11 1 (0.42%) Azure DevOps
11 1 (0.42%) Cloudflare
11 1 (0.42%) OpenShift
11 1 (0.42%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 166 (70.34%) LAN
2 115 (48.73%) Firewall
3 112 (47.46%) SD-WAN
4 97 (41.10%) VPN
5 70 (29.66%) DNS
6 56 (23.73%) DHCP
7 55 (23.31%) TCP/IP
8 52 (22.03%) Wi-Fi
9 41 (17.37%) BGP
9 41 (17.37%) MPLS
9 41 (17.37%) WLAN
10 36 (15.25%) Network Security
10 36 (15.25%) VLAN
11 34 (14.41%) Cisco Firepower
12 32 (13.56%) Cisco ISE
13 31 (13.14%) Wireless
14 28 (11.86%) Cisco ASA
15 27 (11.44%) OSPF
16 20 (8.47%) VoIP
17 19 (8.05%) VXLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.85%) Power BI
1 2 (0.85%) SQL Server
2 1 (0.42%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.42%) InfluxDB
2 1 (0.42%) MariaDB
2 1 (0.42%) MySQL
2 1 (0.42%) PostgreSQL
2 1 (0.42%) RDBMS
2 1 (0.42%) Relational Database
Development Applications
1 2 (0.85%) JIRA
2 1 (0.42%) Jenkins
General
1 68 (28.81%) Social Skills
2 44 (18.64%) Finance
3 37 (15.68%) Public Sector
4 18 (7.63%) Retail
5 17 (7.20%) Banking
6 16 (6.78%) Telecoms
7 15 (6.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 12 (5.08%) Organisational Skills
9 11 (4.66%) Marketing
10 10 (4.24%) Manufacturing
11 7 (2.97%) Analytical Skills
12 6 (2.54%) Presentation Skills
13 5 (2.12%) Law
14 4 (1.69%) Electronics
15 3 (1.27%) Police
16 2 (0.85%) Legal
16 2 (0.85%) Military
16 2 (0.85%) Retail Banking
17 1 (0.42%) Aerospace
17 1 (0.42%) Fire and Rescue
Job Titles
1 66 (27.97%) Network Engineer
2 54 (22.88%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 46 (19.49%) Senior
4 40 (16.95%) IT Engineer
5 39 (16.53%) Architect
6 32 (13.56%) Support Engineer
7 28 (11.86%) IT Support
8 23 (9.75%) IT Support Engineer
9 22 (9.32%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
10 20 (8.47%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (8.47%) Network Architect
11 17 (7.20%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 17 (7.20%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
11 17 (7.20%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
11 17 (7.20%) Operations Engineer
12 16 (6.78%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
13 15 (6.36%) Network Manager
13 15 (6.36%) Senior Network Engineer
14 14 (5.93%) Solutions Architect
15 12 (5.08%) Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 9 (3.81%) XMPP
2 4 (1.69%) LDAP
3 3 (1.27%) 802.1X
4 2 (0.85%) ARM Templates
4 2 (0.85%) Web Services
5 1 (0.42%) JSON
5 1 (0.42%) OAuth
5 1 (0.42%) SAML
Miscellaneous
1 44 (18.64%) Data Centre
2 19 (8.05%) Hybrid Cloud
3 14 (5.93%) Driving Licence
4 12 (5.08%) Onboarding
4 12 (5.08%) Video Conferencing
5 11 (4.66%) PKI
6 10 (4.24%) Management Information System
7 9 (3.81%) FlexPod
8 8 (3.39%) Enterprise Software
8 8 (3.39%) Self-Motivation
9 7 (2.97%) Replication
10 5 (2.12%) Cloud Native
10 5 (2.12%) Product Ownership
10 5 (2.12%) Social Media
11 4 (1.69%) Analytical Mindset
11 4 (1.69%) Cyber Kill Chain
11 4 (1.69%) Public Cloud
11 4 (1.69%) Security Posture
12 3 (1.27%) Cyber Defence
12 3 (1.27%) Cyber Threat
Operating Systems
1 73 (30.93%) Windows
2 60 (25.42%) Windows Server
3 29 (12.29%) Windows 10
4 22 (9.32%) Linux
5 20 (8.47%) Mac OS
6 13 (5.51%) Windows Server 2012
6 13 (5.51%) Windows Server 2016
7 12 (5.08%) Windows Server 2019
8 11 (4.66%) Apple iOS
9 4 (1.69%) Unix
10 3 (1.27%) CentOS
11 2 (0.85%) Ubuntu
12 1 (0.42%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.42%) Oracle Linux
12 1 (0.42%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
12 1 (0.42%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.42%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (29.66%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (26.27%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 43 (18.22%) Disaster Recovery
4 36 (15.25%) Continuous Improvement
5 35 (14.83%) ITIL
6 31 (13.14%) Mentoring
6 31 (13.14%) Zero Trust
7 29 (12.29%) Service Delivery
8 25 (10.59%) Stakeholder Management
9 24 (10.17%) Cybersecurity
9 24 (10.17%) Migration
10 23 (9.75%) Presales
11 22 (9.32%) Cloud Security
11 22 (9.32%) Service Management
12 20 (8.47%) Technical Leadership
13 19 (8.05%) Network Architecture
13 19 (8.05%) Roadmaps
14 18 (7.63%) Root Cause Analysis
15 16 (6.78%) Change Management
15 16 (6.78%) Network Segmentation
Programming Languages
1 22 (9.32%) Python
2 11 (4.66%) PowerShell
3 4 (1.69%) SQL
4 2 (0.85%) Bash
5 1 (0.42%) Java
5 1 (0.42%) Perl
5 1 (0.42%) PL/SQL
5 1 (0.42%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 37 (15.68%) Cisco Certification
2 30 (12.71%) Security Cleared
3 27 (11.44%) CCNP
4 25 (10.59%) SC Cleared
5 19 (8.05%) Degree
6 18 (7.63%) CCNA
7 16 (6.78%) Microsoft Certification
8 14 (5.93%) CCIE
9 12 (5.08%) DV Cleared
10 10 (4.24%) Computer Science Degree
11 9 (3.81%) Azure Certification
11 9 (3.81%) BPSS Clearance
12 5 (2.12%) CCSA
12 5 (2.12%) CCSE
13 4 (1.69%) DBS Check
14 3 (1.27%) AWS Certification
14 3 (1.27%) CCIE Security
14 3 (1.27%) JNCIE
14 3 (1.27%) JNCIP
14 3 (1.27%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (6.78%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (5.93%) SLA
3 10 (4.24%) Cyber Essentials
3 10 (4.24%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
4 4 (1.69%) QA
5 3 (1.27%) GDPR
5 3 (1.27%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 3 (1.27%) NIST
5 3 (1.27%) PCI DSS
6 1 (0.42%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.42%) Basel III
6 1 (0.42%) MiFID
6 1 (0.42%) NCSC
System Software
1 57 (24.15%) Active Directory
2 31 (13.14%) VMware Infrastructure
3 23 (9.75%) Hyper-V
4 11 (4.66%) vSphere
5 7 (2.97%) Firmware
5 7 (2.97%) Virtual Servers
6 6 (2.54%) Microsoft Virtual Server
7 5 (2.12%) VMware NSX
8 4 (1.69%) Virtual Machines
8 4 (1.69%) VMware ESXi
9 2 (0.85%) Docker
10 1 (0.42%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.42%) KVM
10 1 (0.42%) QEMU
10 1 (0.42%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.42%) Terminal Services
10 1 (0.42%) Virtual Desktop
10 1 (0.42%) Xen
Systems Management
1 26 (11.02%) Microsoft Intune
2 24 (10.17%) Ansible
3 20 (8.47%) FortiGate
4 17 (7.20%) Terraform
5 14 (5.93%) Active Directory Federation Services
6 9 (3.81%) Cisco CUCM
6 9 (3.81%) Grafana
7 6 (2.54%) Endace
8 5 (2.12%) vCenter Server
9 4 (1.69%) Kubernetes
10 3 (1.27%) Jamf Pro
10 3 (1.27%) PaperCut
10 3 (1.27%) QRadar
11 2 (0.85%) Autotask
11 2 (0.85%) Dell DRAC
11 2 (0.85%) OpenView
11 2 (0.85%) SCCM
11 2 (0.85%) Tivoli
12 1 (0.42%) CASB
12 1 (0.42%) Oracle RMAN
Vendors
1 115 (48.73%) Cisco
2 88 (37.29%) Microsoft
3 52 (22.03%) Fortinet
4 41 (17.37%) Meraki
5 40 (16.95%) VMware
6 39 (16.53%) Palo Alto
7 22 (9.32%) CheckPoint
7 22 (9.32%) SolarWinds
8 18 (7.63%) Juniper
9 16 (6.78%) Splunk
10 15 (6.36%) Dynatrace
11 14 (5.93%) Google
12 10 (4.24%) ServiceNow
13 8 (3.39%) F5
14 7 (2.97%) Zscaler
15 6 (2.54%) NetApp
16 5 (2.12%) ArcSight
16 5 (2.12%) Aruba
17 4 (1.69%) Dell
17 4 (1.69%) Red Hat