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

 6 months to
31 Mar 2026		 Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 190 190 122
Rank change year-on-year 0 -68 +62
Permanent jobs citing WAN 213 240 805
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.28% 1.87% 2.59%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 11.27% 14.90% 18.75%
Number of salaries quoted 147 187 674
10th Percentile £34,100 £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 £68,125 £67,188
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,000 £51,500 £47,500
% change year-on-year -2.91% +8.42% -

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 1,890 1,611 4,294
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 11.33% 12.56% 13.83%
Number of salaries quoted 961 1,196 3,460
10th Percentile £28,500 £27,000 £30,613
25th Percentile £34,750 £36,250 £39,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £52,500 £52,500
Median % change year-on-year -7.72% - -8.53%
75th Percentile £72,500 £68,750 £66,741
90th Percentile £88,750 £85,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £42,500 £52,500 £48,392
% change year-on-year -19.05% +8.49% -6.04%

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 31 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 (22.54%) Microsoft Exchange
2 41 (19.25%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.94%) Apache
3 2 (0.94%) Confluence
3 2 (0.94%) nginx
4 1 (0.47%) IIS
4 1 (0.47%) OpenStack
Applications
1 12 (5.63%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.88%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.88%) MS Visio
3 3 (1.41%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.41%) SOLIDWORKS
4 1 (0.47%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 2 (0.94%) SAP HR
2 1 (0.47%) Oracle Payables
Cloud Services
1 121 (56.81%) Azure
2 79 (37.09%) Microsoft 365
3 58 (27.23%) AWS
4 41 (19.25%) Entra ID
5 18 (8.45%) Google Workspace
6 16 (7.51%) OneDrive
7 12 (5.63%) GCP
7 12 (5.63%) SaaS
8 11 (5.16%) AWS Direct Connect
9 9 (4.23%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 4 (1.88%) Azure Monitor
10 4 (1.88%) OCI
11 3 (1.41%) Azure Sentinel
12 2 (0.94%) Dynamics 365
12 2 (0.94%) Microsoft Purview
12 2 (0.94%) Power Platform
12 2 (0.94%) SuccessFactors
13 1 (0.47%) Azure DevOps
13 1 (0.47%) Azure Storage
13 1 (0.47%) Power Automate
Communications & Networking
1 143 (67.14%) LAN
2 105 (49.30%) SD-WAN
3 94 (44.13%) Firewall
4 91 (42.72%) VPN
5 70 (32.86%) DNS
6 61 (28.64%) DHCP
7 58 (27.23%) Wi-Fi
8 55 (25.82%) TCP/IP
9 35 (16.43%) VLAN
10 31 (14.55%) BGP
11 30 (14.08%) MPLS
11 30 (14.08%) WLAN
12 29 (13.62%) Wireless
13 28 (13.15%) Network Security
14 25 (11.74%) Cisco Firepower
15 24 (11.27%) VoIP
16 23 (10.80%) Cisco ASA
17 20 (9.39%) OSPF
18 19 (8.92%) Cisco ISE
19 16 (7.51%) NX-OS
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.94%) Power BI
1 2 (0.94%) 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 (2.35%) JIRA
General
1 73 (34.27%) Social Skills
2 44 (20.66%) Finance
3 22 (10.33%) Public Sector
4 15 (7.04%) Banking
4 15 (7.04%) Retail
5 14 (6.57%) Telecoms
6 13 (6.10%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 13 (6.10%) Manufacturing
6 13 (6.10%) Organisational Skills
7 10 (4.69%) Analytical Skills
8 6 (2.82%) Marketing
9 5 (2.35%) Law
9 5 (2.35%) Presentation Skills
10 4 (1.88%) Aerospace
11 3 (1.41%) Automotive
11 3 (1.41%) Electronics
11 3 (1.41%) Police
12 2 (0.94%) Legal
12 2 (0.94%) Military
12 2 (0.94%) Retail Banking
Job Titles
1 58 (27.23%) Infrastructure Engineer
2 55 (25.82%) Network Engineer
3 45 (21.13%) Senior
4 42 (19.72%) IT Engineer
5 29 (13.62%) IT Support
5 29 (13.62%) Support Engineer
6 27 (12.68%) Architect
7 24 (11.27%) IT Support Engineer
8 23 (10.80%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
9 21 (9.86%) 2nd Line Support
10 20 (9.39%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
10 20 (9.39%) Operations Engineer
10 20 (9.39%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
11 18 (8.45%) 2nd Line Engineer
11 18 (8.45%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
12 17 (7.98%) Senior Network Engineer
13 14 (6.57%) Network Operations Engineer
14 10 (4.69%) Cisco Engineer
14 10 (4.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
14 10 (4.69%) IT Infrastructure Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 5 (2.35%) XMPP
2 2 (0.94%) LDAP
2 2 (0.94%) Web Services
3 1 (0.47%) JSON
Miscellaneous
1 42 (19.72%) Data Centre
2 16 (7.51%) Driving Licence
3 14 (6.57%) Management Information System
4 10 (4.69%) Onboarding
4 10 (4.69%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (4.23%) Video Conferencing
6 8 (3.76%) Enterprise Software
7 7 (3.29%) Hybrid Cloud
7 7 (3.29%) PKI
7 7 (3.29%) Replication
8 6 (2.82%) Social Media
9 5 (2.35%) FlexPod
9 5 (2.35%) Product Ownership
10 4 (1.88%) Cloud Native
10 4 (1.88%) iPad
10 4 (1.88%) iPhone
10 4 (1.88%) Mobile App
11 3 (1.41%) CMDB
11 3 (1.41%) Private Cloud
11 3 (1.41%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 80 (37.56%) Windows
2 68 (31.92%) Windows Server
3 35 (16.43%) Windows 10
4 22 (10.33%) Linux
5 21 (9.86%) Mac OS
6 18 (8.45%) Windows Server 2016
7 16 (7.51%) Windows Server 2012
8 15 (7.04%) Windows Server 2019
9 12 (5.63%) Apple iOS
10 3 (1.41%) CentOS
10 3 (1.41%) OpenWrt
11 2 (0.94%) Oracle Linux
11 2 (0.94%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 2 (0.94%) Unix
12 1 (0.47%) Mac OS X
12 1 (0.47%) Windows 7
12 1 (0.47%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 79 (37.09%) Problem-Solving
2 62 (29.11%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 41 (19.25%) ITIL
4 38 (17.84%) Continuous Improvement
5 35 (16.43%) Disaster Recovery
6 29 (13.62%) Customer Service
6 29 (13.62%) Zero Trust
7 28 (13.15%) Migration
7 28 (13.15%) Service Delivery
8 27 (12.68%) Mentoring
9 26 (12.21%) Change Management
10 22 (10.33%) Cloud Security
11 21 (9.86%) Service Management
11 21 (9.86%) Stakeholder Management
12 20 (9.39%) Kalman Filter
13 19 (8.92%) Presales
13 19 (8.92%) Root Cause Analysis
14 16 (7.51%) Problem Management
14 16 (7.51%) Project Delivery
14 16 (7.51%) Runbook
Programming Languages
1 17 (7.98%) Python
2 12 (5.63%) PowerShell
3 7 (3.29%) SQL
4 4 (1.88%) Bash
5 3 (1.41%) C
5 3 (1.41%) C++
6 2 (0.94%) Java
6 2 (0.94%) Perl
7 1 (0.47%) PL/SQL
7 1 (0.47%) T-SQL
Qualifications
1 36 (16.90%) Cisco Certification
2 24 (11.27%) SC Cleared
2 24 (11.27%) Security Cleared
3 21 (9.86%) CCNP
4 20 (9.39%) Microsoft Certification
5 19 (8.92%) Degree
6 17 (7.98%) CCNA
7 11 (5.16%) CCIE
8 10 (4.69%) Azure Certification
8 10 (4.69%) DV Cleared
9 9 (4.23%) BPSS Clearance
9 9 (4.23%) Computer Science Degree
10 6 (2.82%) DBS Check
11 5 (2.35%) MCSA
12 4 (1.88%) CCSA
12 4 (1.88%) CCSE
12 4 (1.88%) MCSE
12 4 (1.88%) Network+ Certification
13 3 (1.41%) Master's Degree
13 3 (1.41%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (6.10%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 13 (6.10%) SLA
2 11 (5.16%) Cyber Essentials
2 11 (5.16%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 4 (1.88%) QA
4 3 (1.41%) PCI DSS
5 2 (0.94%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 2 (0.94%) NCSC
6 1 (0.47%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.47%) Basel III
6 1 (0.47%) GRC
6 1 (0.47%) MiFID
6 1 (0.47%) NIST
6 1 (0.47%) PMO
System Software
1 62 (29.11%) Active Directory
2 33 (15.49%) Hyper-V
3 27 (12.68%) VMware Infrastructure
4 9 (4.23%) Virtual Machines
5 8 (3.76%) Firmware
6 7 (3.29%) Virtual Servers
6 7 (3.29%) vSphere
7 5 (2.35%) Microsoft Virtual Server
8 3 (1.41%) VMware NSX
9 2 (0.94%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.47%) Citrix Hypervisor
10 1 (0.47%) Docker
10 1 (0.47%) Slurm Workload Manager
10 1 (0.47%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 34 (15.96%) Microsoft Intune
2 17 (7.98%) Active Directory Federation Services
3 16 (7.51%) Ansible
4 15 (7.04%) Terraform
5 13 (6.10%) FortiGate
6 6 (2.82%) Endace
7 5 (2.35%) Cisco CUCM
7 5 (2.35%) Grafana
7 5 (2.35%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (1.88%) PaperCut
9 3 (1.41%) Autotask
9 3 (1.41%) Kubernetes
10 2 (0.94%) Dell DRAC
10 2 (0.94%) OpenView
10 2 (0.94%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.94%) Red Hat Spacewalk
10 2 (0.94%) Tivoli
10 2 (0.94%) vCenter Server
11 1 (0.47%) Oracle RMAN
11 1 (0.47%) SCCM
Vendors
1 100 (46.95%) Cisco
2 85 (39.91%) Microsoft
3 52 (24.41%) Fortinet
4 40 (18.78%) VMware
5 39 (18.31%) Meraki
6 29 (13.62%) Palo Alto
7 24 (11.27%) CheckPoint
8 18 (8.45%) Google
8 18 (8.45%) SolarWinds
9 14 (6.57%) Juniper
10 11 (5.16%) Dynatrace
11 9 (4.23%) ServiceNow
12 7 (3.29%) F5
12 7 (3.29%) Splunk
13 6 (2.82%) Zscaler
14 5 (2.35%) Apple
14 5 (2.35%) Aruba
14 5 (2.35%) NetApp
15 4 (1.88%) Dell
15 4 (1.88%) HP
67 hybrid/remote WAN jobs