Network Engineer Job Trends in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
UK > UK excluding London

The median Network Engineer salary in the UK excluding London is £55,000 per year, according to job vacancies posted during the 6 months leading to 16 June 2026.

The table below compares current salary benchmarking and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
16 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 107 263 191
Rank change year-on-year +156 -72 +35
Permanent jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,008 316 1,077
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.50% 1.06% 1.37%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.59% 1.19% 1.44%
Number of salaries quoted 540 267 846
10th Percentile £35,000 £36,250 £30,375
25th Percentile £45,000 £43,799 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,000 £46,500
Median % change year-on-year +10.00% +7.53% +3.05%
75th Percentile £67,813 £57,500 £55,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £66,250 £65,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £52,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +14.29% +5.00% -

All Permanent IT Job Roles
UK excluding London

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent IT job vacancies in the UK excluding London. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of permanent jobs in our overall sample.

Permanent vacancies in the UK excluding London with a recognized job title 63,411 26,495 74,743
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.49% 88.99% 94.82%
Number of salaries quoted 43,940 14,354 53,488
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,750 £26,750
25th Percentile £37,000 £33,750 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year - - -6.54%
75th Percentile £70,000 £66,274 £63,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £76,250
UK median annual salary £55,000 £57,500 £52,500
% change year-on-year -4.35% +9.52% -12.50%

Network Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the UK excluding London

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings featuring 'Network Engineer' in the job title relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the UK excluding London.

Network Engineer job vacancy trend in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Salary Trend in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London.

Salary distribution trend for Network Engineer job vacancies in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Salary Histogram in the UK excluding London

Salary distribution for jobs citing Network Engineer in the UK excluding London over the 6 months to 16 June 2026.

Salary histogram for Network Engineer in the UK excluding London

Network Engineer
Job Locations in the UK excluding London

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing Network Engineer within the UK excluding London region over the 6 months to 16 June 2026. The 'Rank Change' column provides an indication of the change in demand within each location based on the same 6 month period last year.

Location Rank Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Matching
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
North of England +125 285 £50,000 -6.10% 56
South East +52 235 £55,000 +10.00% 47
Midlands +110 219 £60,000 +23.08% 32
West Midlands +78 160 £60,000 +21.35% 14
North West +112 137 £52,500 -0.71% 33
Yorkshire +32 119 £50,000 -13.04% 17
South West -2 94 £59,050 +7.36% 27
East of England +36 68 £50,000 +2.56% 21
East Midlands +23 59 £55,000 +15.79% 18
Scotland +43 56 £45,000 -25.23% 33
Wales -4 45 £50,000 +11.11% 12
North East -26 29 £55,000 +10.00% 6
Northern Ireland - 13 £40,000 - 15
Network Engineer
UK

Network Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London

For the 6 months to 16 June 2026, Network Engineer job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all permanent job ads across the UK excluding London region featuring Network Engineer in the job title.

1 521 (51.69%) Cisco
2 446 (44.25%) Cisco Certification
3 396 (39.29%) Azure
4 375 (37.20%) CCNA
5 361 (35.81%) Microsoft
6 336 (33.33%) Network+ Certification
7 326 (32.34%) Azure Certification
8 324 (32.14%) ForeScout
9 189 (18.75%) Firewall
10 164 (16.27%) WAN
11 140 (13.89%) LAN
12 128 (12.70%) Security Cleared
13 123 (12.20%) VPN
14 103 (10.22%) CCNP
14 103 (10.22%) Network Security
15 82 (8.13%) SC Cleared
16 75 (7.44%) BGP
17 70 (6.94%) Fortinet
17 70 (6.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
18 65 (6.45%) VLAN
18 65 (6.45%) Wireless
19 63 (6.25%) Problem-Solving
20 60 (5.95%) OSPF
21 58 (5.75%) SD-WAN
22 55 (5.46%) Python
23 54 (5.36%) AWS
24 47 (4.66%) DV Cleared
24 47 (4.66%) Network Monitoring
25 46 (4.56%) Cisco ASA
25 46 (4.56%) VMware

Network Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the UK excluding London 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 5 (0.50%) Microsoft Exchange
1 5 (0.50%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.40%) Confluence
3 1 (0.099%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 7 (0.69%) MS Visio
2 1 (0.099%) Microsoft Excel
Cloud Services
1 396 (39.29%) Azure
2 54 (5.36%) AWS
3 25 (2.48%) Microsoft 365
4 23 (2.28%) Azure Sentinel
5 11 (1.09%) GCP
6 10 (0.99%) OpenShift
7 8 (0.79%) Cloudflare
8 7 (0.69%) Entra ID
9 5 (0.50%) Apigee
9 5 (0.50%) Kong
10 3 (0.30%) Mimecast
11 2 (0.20%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 2 (0.20%) GitHub
11 2 (0.20%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 189 (18.75%) Firewall
2 164 (16.27%) WAN
3 140 (13.89%) LAN
4 123 (12.20%) VPN
5 103 (10.22%) Network Security
6 75 (7.44%) BGP
7 65 (6.45%) VLAN
7 65 (6.45%) Wireless
8 60 (5.95%) OSPF
9 58 (5.75%) SD-WAN
10 46 (4.56%) Cisco ASA
11 37 (3.67%) TCP/IP
12 36 (3.57%) Wi-Fi
13 34 (3.37%) DNS
14 32 (3.17%) WLAN
15 28 (2.78%) EIGRP
16 25 (2.48%) DHCP
17 22 (2.18%) Cisco Firepower
17 22 (2.18%) MPLS
18 18 (1.79%) Cisco Nexus
Development Applications
1 10 (0.99%) GitLab
2 8 (0.79%) Git
3 4 (0.40%) JIRA
4 2 (0.20%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.20%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 401 (39.78%) Social Skills
2 66 (6.55%) Public Sector
3 40 (3.97%) Analytical Skills
3 40 (3.97%) Telecoms
4 19 (1.88%) Law
5 14 (1.39%) Finance
5 14 (1.39%) Inclusion and Diversity
5 14 (1.39%) Manufacturing
6 11 (1.09%) Documentation Skills
7 9 (0.89%) Retail
8 8 (0.79%) Marketing
9 7 (0.69%) Banking
10 5 (0.50%) Aerospace
10 5 (0.50%) Back Office
10 5 (0.50%) Military
10 5 (0.50%) Police
11 4 (0.40%) Welsh Language
12 3 (0.30%) Influencing Skills
13 2 (0.20%) Organisational Skills
14 1 (0.099%) Fire and Rescue
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (1.29%) Jinja
2 10 (0.99%) JSON
2 10 (0.99%) YAML
3 8 (0.79%) YANG
4 5 (0.50%) 802.1X
4 5 (0.50%) REST
4 5 (0.50%) XML
5 4 (0.40%) ModSecurity
6 3 (0.30%) Apache NiFi
6 3 (0.30%) gRPC
6 3 (0.30%) NETCONF
6 3 (0.30%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 62 (6.15%) Data Centre
2 24 (2.38%) Driving Licence
3 18 (1.79%) PKI
4 17 (1.69%) Hybrid Cloud
5 12 (1.19%) Self-Motivation
6 11 (1.09%) Security Posture
7 8 (0.79%) Operational Technology
8 7 (0.69%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
8 7 (0.69%) Public Cloud
9 6 (0.60%) CMDB
10 5 (0.50%) Linux Command Line
11 4 (0.40%) Enterprise Cloud
11 4 (0.40%) Enterprise Software
11 4 (0.40%) Fibre Optics
11 4 (0.40%) Onboarding
11 4 (0.40%) Private Cloud
11 4 (0.40%) Video Conferencing
12 3 (0.30%) CCTV
12 3 (0.30%) Life Science
12 3 (0.30%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 35 (3.47%) Linux
1 35 (3.47%) Windows
2 12 (1.19%) Windows Server
3 5 (0.50%) Unix
4 1 (0.099%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.099%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 70 (6.94%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 63 (6.25%) Problem-Solving
3 47 (4.66%) Network Monitoring
4 44 (4.37%) High Availability
5 40 (3.97%) Continuous Improvement
6 35 (3.47%) Mentoring
7 34 (3.37%) Cybersecurity
8 32 (3.17%) ITIL
8 32 (3.17%) Network Design
9 28 (2.78%) Load Balancing
9 28 (2.78%) Project Delivery
10 24 (2.38%) Customer Service
11 23 (2.28%) ITSM
11 23 (2.28%) Service Management
12 21 (2.08%) Network Architecture
12 21 (2.08%) Technical Leadership
13 20 (1.98%) CI/CD
13 20 (1.98%) Infrastructure as Code
14 18 (1.79%) SIEM
14 18 (1.79%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 55 (5.46%) Python
2 15 (1.49%) PowerShell
3 8 (0.79%) Bash
4 5 (0.50%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.20%) SQL
6 1 (0.099%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 446 (44.25%) Cisco Certification
2 375 (37.20%) CCNA
3 336 (33.33%) Network+ Certification
4 326 (32.34%) Azure Certification
5 128 (12.70%) Security Cleared
6 103 (10.22%) CCNP
7 82 (8.13%) SC Cleared
8 47 (4.66%) DV Cleared
9 26 (2.58%) CCIE
10 21 (2.08%) Degree
11 15 (1.49%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (0.69%) DBS Check
13 6 (0.60%) JNCIP
14 4 (0.40%) BPSS Clearance
15 3 (0.30%) AWS Certification
15 3 (0.30%) CompTIA Security+
15 3 (0.30%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 2 (0.20%) CCIE Data Center
16 2 (0.20%) CISSP
17 1 (0.099%) CompTIA CySA+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (1.49%) ISO/IEC 20000
1 15 (1.49%) SLA
2 12 (1.19%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 7 (0.69%) NIST
3 7 (0.69%) QA
4 6 (0.60%) PMO
5 5 (0.50%) GDPR
6 2 (0.20%) Cyber Essentials
7 1 (0.099%) ISO 14001
7 1 (0.099%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 36 (3.57%) VMware Infrastructure
2 23 (2.28%) VMware NSX
3 15 (1.49%) Active Directory
4 14 (1.39%) Hyper-V
5 11 (1.09%) Firmware
6 8 (0.79%) KVM
7 6 (0.60%) ProxySG
8 5 (0.50%) vSphere
9 4 (0.40%) VMware ESXi
10 3 (0.30%) Docker
11 1 (0.099%) iptables
Systems Management
1 20 (1.98%) Ansible
2 19 (1.88%) Terraform
3 11 (1.09%) FortiGate
4 9 (0.89%) Proxmox
5 8 (0.79%) Graylog
5 8 (0.79%) ZABBIX
6 6 (0.60%) Grafana
7 5 (0.50%) Nagios
8 4 (0.40%) vCenter Server
9 3 (0.30%) Cisco CUCM
10 2 (0.20%) Cisco Prime
10 2 (0.20%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.20%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.20%) vRealize
11 1 (0.099%) Dell DRAC
11 1 (0.099%) Failover Clustering
11 1 (0.099%) OpenView
11 1 (0.099%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 521 (51.69%) Cisco
2 361 (35.81%) Microsoft
3 324 (32.14%) ForeScout
4 70 (6.94%) Fortinet
5 46 (4.56%) VMware
6 43 (4.27%) Palo Alto
7 28 (2.78%) Aruba
7 28 (2.78%) Juniper
8 27 (2.68%) SolarWinds
9 26 (2.58%) F5
10 25 (2.48%) CheckPoint
11 14 (1.39%) Zscaler
12 13 (1.29%) Avaya
12 13 (1.29%) Veeam
13 12 (1.19%) Meraki
14 10 (0.99%) Dell
14 10 (0.99%) Infoblox
14 10 (0.99%) Red Hat
15 8 (0.79%) Blue Coat
15 8 (0.79%) HP