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

6 months to
6 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 184 192 126
Rank change year-on-year +8 -66 +48
Permanent jobs citing WAN 230 264 731
As % of all permanent jobs with remote/hybrid work options 1.37% 1.82% 2.56%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.49% 14.35% 19.16%
Number of salaries quoted 147 177 633
10th Percentile £35,670 £36,000 £30,500
25th Percentile £42,000 £44,106 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £60,000 £55,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.09% +10.00% -9.09%
75th Percentile £77,500 £72,500 £65,000
90th Percentile £90,000 £88,250 £84,919
UK median annual salary £50,500 £54,000 £47,500
% change year-on-year -6.48% +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 1,705 1,840 3,816
As % of all permanent jobs with a WFH option 10.18% 12.67% 13.35%
Number of salaries quoted 952 1,150 3,314
10th Percentile £28,250 £29,000 £31,250
25th Percentile £32,500 £40,312 £39,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £48,445 £55,000 £54,000
Median % change year-on-year -11.92% +1.85% -4.00%
75th Percentile £71,250 £72,500 £67,500
90th Percentile £87,500 £86,025 £82,500
UK median annual salary £41,000 £55,000 £49,000
% change year-on-year -25.45% +12.24% -6.67%

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 6 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 49 (21.30%) Microsoft Exchange
2 44 (19.13%) SharePoint
3 4 (1.74%) IIS
4 2 (0.87%) Apache
4 2 (0.87%) Confluence
4 2 (0.87%) nginx
Applications
1 10 (4.35%) Microsoft Office
2 4 (1.74%) Microsoft Excel
2 4 (1.74%) MS Visio
2 4 (1.74%) Spreadsheet
3 3 (1.30%) AutoCAD
3 3 (1.30%) SOLIDWORKS
Business Applications
1 2 (0.87%) SAP HR
Cloud Services
1 138 (60.00%) Azure
2 79 (34.35%) Microsoft 365
3 53 (23.04%) AWS
4 42 (18.26%) Entra ID
5 16 (6.96%) Google Workspace
5 16 (6.96%) OneDrive
6 12 (5.22%) AWS Direct Connect
6 12 (5.22%) SaaS
7 10 (4.35%) GCP
8 9 (3.91%) Virtual Private Cloud
9 4 (1.74%) Azure Monitor
9 4 (1.74%) Azure Storage
10 3 (1.30%) Azure DevOps
10 3 (1.30%) IaaS
11 2 (0.87%) Azure Sentinel
11 2 (0.87%) Dynamics 365
11 2 (0.87%) Microsoft Purview
11 2 (0.87%) PaaS
11 2 (0.87%) Power Platform
11 2 (0.87%) SuccessFactors
Communications & Networking
1 149 (64.78%) LAN
2 130 (56.52%) SD-WAN
3 109 (47.39%) Firewall
4 95 (41.30%) VPN
5 65 (28.26%) DNS
6 63 (27.39%) Wi-Fi
7 58 (25.22%) DHCP
8 54 (23.48%) TCP/IP
9 41 (17.83%) Wireless
10 33 (14.35%) BGP
10 33 (14.35%) VLAN
11 31 (13.48%) MPLS
12 30 (13.04%) Network Security
13 29 (12.61%) WLAN
14 26 (11.30%) VoIP
15 24 (10.43%) OSPF
16 23 (10.00%) Cisco Firepower
17 22 (9.57%) Cisco ISE
18 21 (9.13%) Cisco ASA
18 21 (9.13%) Wireshark
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (0.87%) Power BI
2 1 (0.43%) Azure SQL Database
2 1 (0.43%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 5 (2.17%) JIRA
General
1 86 (37.39%) Social Skills
2 57 (24.78%) Finance
3 26 (11.30%) Telecoms
4 18 (7.83%) Public Sector
5 14 (6.09%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 14 (6.09%) Retail
6 13 (5.65%) Manufacturing
7 12 (5.22%) Analytical Skills
8 11 (4.78%) Banking
9 10 (4.35%) Organisational Skills
10 7 (3.04%) Law
11 4 (1.74%) Marketing
12 3 (1.30%) Aerospace
12 3 (1.30%) Automotive
12 3 (1.30%) Documentation Skills
12 3 (1.30%) Police
13 2 (0.87%) Presentation Skills
13 2 (0.87%) Retail Banking
14 1 (0.43%) Influencing Skills
14 1 (0.43%) Military
Job Titles
1 73 (31.74%) Network Engineer
2 55 (23.91%) Infrastructure Engineer
3 43 (18.70%) Senior
4 40 (17.39%) IT Engineer
5 28 (12.17%) Support Engineer
6 27 (11.74%) IT Support
7 24 (10.43%) Architect
8 23 (10.00%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
9 22 (9.57%) IT Support Engineer
10 20 (8.70%) Infrastructure Operations Engineer
10 20 (8.70%) Operations Engineer
11 19 (8.26%) 2nd Line Support
11 19 (8.26%) Senior Network Engineer
12 17 (7.39%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
13 16 (6.96%) 2nd Line Engineer
13 16 (6.96%) 2nd Line Support Engineer
14 14 (6.09%) Network Operations Engineer
15 13 (5.65%) Cisco Engineer
15 13 (5.65%) Cisco Network Engineer
16 11 (4.78%) Technical Manager
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 3 (1.30%) JSON
1 3 (1.30%) XMPP
2 2 (0.87%) LDAP
2 2 (0.87%) Web Services
Miscellaneous
1 60 (26.09%) Data Centre
2 28 (12.17%) Management Information System
3 17 (7.39%) Driving Licence
4 10 (4.35%) Self-Motivation
5 9 (3.91%) Onboarding
6 7 (3.04%) Cloud Native
6 7 (3.04%) Enterprise Software
6 7 (3.04%) Video Conferencing
7 6 (2.61%) CMDB
7 6 (2.61%) Hybrid Cloud
7 6 (2.61%) Social Media
8 5 (2.17%) PKI
8 5 (2.17%) Public Cloud
8 5 (2.17%) Replication
9 4 (1.74%) GNSS
9 4 (1.74%) iPad
9 4 (1.74%) iPhone
9 4 (1.74%) Mobile App
9 4 (1.74%) Product Ownership
9 4 (1.74%) Self-Driving Car
Operating Systems
1 79 (34.35%) Windows
2 66 (28.70%) Windows Server
3 33 (14.35%) Windows 10
4 19 (8.26%) Mac OS
5 17 (7.39%) Linux
6 16 (6.96%) Windows Server 2016
7 14 (6.09%) Windows Server 2012
7 14 (6.09%) Windows Server 2019
8 12 (5.22%) Apple iOS
9 3 (1.30%) OpenWrt
10 2 (0.87%) CentOS
10 2 (0.87%) Oracle Linux
10 2 (0.87%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
11 1 (0.43%) Mac OS X
11 1 (0.43%) Windows 7
11 1 (0.43%) Windows Server 2008
Processes & Methodologies
1 78 (33.91%) Problem-Solving
2 58 (25.22%) Infrastructure Engineering
3 44 (19.13%) Customer Service
4 42 (18.26%) Disaster Recovery
4 42 (18.26%) ITIL
5 40 (17.39%) Change Management
6 35 (15.22%) Continuous Improvement
7 33 (14.35%) Migration
8 32 (13.91%) Problem Management
9 30 (13.04%) Service Delivery
10 29 (12.61%) Mentoring
10 29 (12.61%) Zero Trust
11 25 (10.87%) Stakeholder Management
12 24 (10.43%) Capacity Planning
12 24 (10.43%) Cloud Security
13 23 (10.00%) Coaching
13 23 (10.00%) Load Balancing
14 22 (9.57%) Network Monitoring
14 22 (9.57%) Network Virtualisation
15 21 (9.13%) Service Management
Programming Languages
1 16 (6.96%) Python
2 14 (6.09%) PowerShell
3 9 (3.91%) SQL
4 4 (1.74%) Bash
5 3 (1.30%) C
5 3 (1.30%) C++
6 2 (0.87%) Java
6 2 (0.87%) Perl
Qualifications
1 39 (16.96%) Cisco Certification
2 26 (11.30%) CCNP
3 22 (9.57%) Security Cleared
4 21 (9.13%) SC Cleared
5 19 (8.26%) Degree
5 19 (8.26%) Microsoft Certification
6 18 (7.83%) CCNA
7 13 (5.65%) Azure Certification
8 9 (3.91%) BPSS Clearance
8 9 (3.91%) CCIE
9 7 (3.04%) DV Cleared
10 6 (2.61%) DBS Check
11 5 (2.17%) AWS Certification
11 5 (2.17%) Computer Science Degree
11 5 (2.17%) MCSA
12 4 (1.74%) Master's Degree
12 4 (1.74%) Network+ Certification
12 4 (1.74%) PMP
13 3 (1.30%) MCSE
14 2 (0.87%) PMI Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 14 (6.09%) ISO/IEC 27001
1 14 (6.09%) SLA
2 12 (5.22%) Cyber Essentials
2 12 (5.22%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 4 (1.74%) NIST
3 4 (1.74%) QA
4 3 (1.30%) NCSC
4 3 (1.30%) PCI DSS
5 2 (0.87%) GRC
5 2 (0.87%) PMO
6 1 (0.43%) Accessibility
6 1 (0.43%) Basel III
6 1 (0.43%) ISO/IEC 20000
6 1 (0.43%) MiFID
System Software
1 58 (25.22%) Active Directory
2 33 (14.35%) Hyper-V
3 25 (10.87%) VMware Infrastructure
4 10 (4.35%) Firmware
5 9 (3.91%) Virtual Machines
6 8 (3.48%) Virtual Servers
7 4 (1.74%) VMware NSX
7 4 (1.74%) vSphere
8 3 (1.30%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 2 (0.87%) Docker
10 1 (0.43%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 38 (16.52%) Microsoft Intune
2 19 (8.26%) Terraform
3 15 (6.52%) FortiGate
4 14 (6.09%) Active Directory Federation Services
5 13 (5.65%) Ansible
6 6 (2.61%) Endace
7 5 (2.17%) Jamf Pro
8 4 (1.74%) Autotask
8 4 (1.74%) Dell DRAC
8 4 (1.74%) PaperCut
9 3 (1.30%) Cisco CUCM
9 3 (1.30%) Grafana
9 3 (1.30%) Kubernetes
10 2 (0.87%) OpenView
10 2 (0.87%) Red Hat Satellite
10 2 (0.87%) Red Hat Spacewalk
10 2 (0.87%) Tivoli
11 1 (0.43%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.43%) Kibana
11 1 (0.43%) Proxmox
Vendors
1 119 (51.74%) Cisco
2 84 (36.52%) Microsoft
3 53 (23.04%) Fortinet
4 50 (21.74%) Meraki
5 41 (17.83%) Palo Alto
6 39 (16.96%) CheckPoint
6 39 (16.96%) VMware
7 36 (15.65%) SolarWinds
8 18 (7.83%) Google
9 13 (5.65%) Juniper
10 11 (4.78%) Dynatrace
11 10 (4.35%) F5
12 9 (3.91%) ServiceNow
13 8 (3.48%) Aruba
14 6 (2.61%) Dell
15 5 (2.17%) Apple
15 5 (2.17%) Zscaler
16 4 (1.74%) HP
16 4 (1.74%) SonicWALL
17 3 (1.30%) NetApp