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 12 April 2026.

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

6 months to
12 Apr 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 168 189 203
Rank change year-on-year +21 +14 +44
Permanent jobs requiring a Network Engineer 658 378 943
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.08% 1.46% 1.44%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.16% 1.64% 1.52%
Number of salaries quoted 342 348 802
10th Percentile £31,150 £36,250 £29,138
25th Percentile £44,250 £45,000 £36,250
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £51,843 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +6.09% +9.14% +1.06%
75th Percentile £65,000 £57,500 £54,750
90th Percentile £75,000 £65,565 £62,500
UK median annual salary £57,250 £53,000 £49,000
% change year-on-year +8.02% +8.16% -2.00%

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 56,526 23,072 62,145
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 92.74% 88.89% 94.69%
Number of salaries quoted 36,163 14,484 46,046
10th Percentile £29,000 £28,822 £26,750
25th Percentile £35,000 £37,746 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £52,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -4.76% +5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £67,500 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £83,750 £82,500 £77,500
UK median annual salary £55,000 £60,000 £54,000
% change year-on-year -8.33% +11.11% -10.00%

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 12 April 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 12 April 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
South East -39 182 £50,000 -5.66% 72
North of England +30 158 £46,000 -3.16% 53
Midlands +42 143 £55,250 +9.26% 53
West Midlands +35 98 £56,900 +11.02% 31
North West +15 71 £50,000 -5.44% 31
South West -14 62 £50,000 -10.91% 31
Yorkshire -17 62 £45,000 +0.67% 16
East Midlands -10 45 £55,000 +29.41% 22
East of England -1 44 £62,500 +25.00% 25
Scotland +13 42 £45,000 -16.67% 19
North East -14 25 £50,000 +12.36% 6
Wales -13 24 £75,000 +74.42% 10
Northern Ireland - 8 £45,162 - 5
Network Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 12 April 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.

1 374 (56.84%) Cisco
2 297 (45.14%) Cisco Certification
3 280 (42.55%) Azure
4 245 (37.23%) Microsoft
5 242 (36.78%) CCNA
6 221 (33.59%) Network+ Certification
7 219 (33.28%) Azure Certification
8 216 (32.83%) ForeScout
9 127 (19.30%) Firewall
10 107 (16.26%) WAN
11 84 (12.77%) LAN
12 78 (11.85%) Security Cleared
13 67 (10.18%) CCNP
14 59 (8.97%) VPN
15 56 (8.51%) BGP
16 55 (8.36%) Network Security
17 53 (8.05%) Wireless
18 49 (7.45%) Fortinet
19 48 (7.29%) VLAN
20 46 (6.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
21 45 (6.84%) SD-WAN
22 44 (6.69%) SC Cleared
23 42 (6.38%) AWS
24 41 (6.23%) Python
25 38 (5.78%) DV Cleared
26 36 (5.47%) OSPF
26 36 (5.47%) SolarWinds
27 34 (5.17%) Cisco ASA
27 34 (5.17%) Palo Alto
28 33 (5.02%) Juniper

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 3 (0.46%) Microsoft Exchange
1 3 (0.46%) SharePoint
Applications
1 9 (1.37%) MS Visio
2 4 (0.61%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (0.46%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 280 (42.55%) Azure
2 42 (6.38%) AWS
3 15 (2.28%) Microsoft 365
4 13 (1.98%) Azure Sentinel
5 10 (1.52%) OpenShift
6 9 (1.37%) GCP
7 6 (0.91%) Entra ID
8 5 (0.76%) Apigee
8 5 (0.76%) Kong
9 3 (0.46%) Amazon CloudWatch
10 2 (0.30%) GitHub
10 2 (0.30%) Mimecast
Communications & Networking
1 127 (19.30%) Firewall
2 107 (16.26%) WAN
3 84 (12.77%) LAN
4 59 (8.97%) VPN
5 56 (8.51%) BGP
6 55 (8.36%) Network Security
7 53 (8.05%) Wireless
8 48 (7.29%) VLAN
9 45 (6.84%) SD-WAN
10 36 (5.47%) OSPF
11 34 (5.17%) Cisco ASA
12 24 (3.65%) Cisco ISE
12 24 (3.65%) EIGRP
12 24 (3.65%) Wi-Fi
13 22 (3.34%) Cisco Firepower
14 21 (3.19%) Cisco Nexus
14 21 (3.19%) MPLS
15 17 (2.58%) DNS
16 15 (2.28%) Cisco IOS
16 15 (2.28%) TCP/IP
Development Applications
1 10 (1.52%) GitLab
2 8 (1.22%) Git
3 2 (0.30%) Jenkins
3 2 (0.30%) JIRA
3 2 (0.30%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 268 (40.73%) Social Skills
2 32 (4.86%) Public Sector
3 31 (4.71%) Analytical Skills
4 22 (3.34%) Telecoms
5 16 (2.43%) Law
6 13 (1.98%) Retail
7 12 (1.82%) Manufacturing
8 9 (1.37%) Inclusion and Diversity
9 7 (1.06%) Finance
9 7 (1.06%) Police
10 6 (0.91%) Documentation Skills
10 6 (0.91%) Marketing
11 5 (0.76%) Banking
12 4 (0.61%) Aerospace
12 4 (0.61%) Welsh Language
13 3 (0.46%) Military
14 2 (0.30%) Back Office
14 2 (0.30%) Influencing Skills
15 1 (0.15%) Electronics
15 1 (0.15%) Fire and Rescue
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (1.98%) Jinja
2 10 (1.52%) JSON
2 10 (1.52%) YAML
3 8 (1.22%) YANG
4 5 (0.76%) REST
4 5 (0.76%) XML
5 4 (0.61%) ModSecurity
6 3 (0.46%) 802.1X
6 3 (0.46%) NETCONF
7 2 (0.30%) Apache NiFi
8 1 (0.15%) gRPC
8 1 (0.15%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 41 (6.23%) Data Centre
2 10 (1.52%) PKI
3 9 (1.37%) Driving Licence
4 8 (1.22%) Security Posture
5 7 (1.06%) Public Cloud
5 7 (1.06%) Self-Motivation
6 6 (0.91%) CMDB
6 6 (0.91%) Operational Technology
7 5 (0.76%) Hybrid Cloud
8 4 (0.61%) Data Protection Act
8 4 (0.61%) Enterprise Software
8 4 (0.61%) Fibre Optics
8 4 (0.61%) Private Cloud
8 4 (0.61%) Product Ownership
9 3 (0.46%) CCTV
9 3 (0.46%) Linux Command Line
9 3 (0.46%) Social Media
10 2 (0.30%) Algorithms
10 2 (0.30%) Cyber Defence
10 2 (0.30%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 22 (3.34%) Windows
2 21 (3.19%) Linux
3 12 (1.82%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.76%) Unix
5 1 (0.15%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.15%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 46 (6.99%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 32 (4.86%) Service Management
3 31 (4.71%) Network Monitoring
4 30 (4.56%) Problem-Solving
5 27 (4.10%) ITSM
6 25 (3.80%) Cybersecurity
7 23 (3.50%) Continuous Improvement
7 23 (3.50%) Customer Service
8 21 (3.19%) Load Balancing
8 21 (3.19%) Network Design
9 20 (3.04%) ITIL
10 19 (2.89%) Project Delivery
11 18 (2.74%) Change Management
11 18 (2.74%) High Availability
12 17 (2.58%) Root Cause Analysis
13 16 (2.43%) CI/CD
14 15 (2.28%) Stakeholder Engagement
15 14 (2.13%) Computer Science
16 13 (1.98%) Collaborative Working
17 12 (1.82%) Containerisation
Programming Languages
1 41 (6.23%) Python
2 9 (1.37%) PowerShell
3 5 (0.76%) JavaScript
4 1 (0.15%) SQL
Qualifications
1 297 (45.14%) Cisco Certification
2 242 (36.78%) CCNA
3 221 (33.59%) Network+ Certification
4 219 (33.28%) Azure Certification
5 78 (11.85%) Security Cleared
6 67 (10.18%) CCNP
7 44 (6.69%) SC Cleared
8 38 (5.78%) DV Cleared
9 23 (3.50%) CCIE
10 18 (2.74%) Degree
11 14 (2.13%) Computer Science Degree
12 4 (0.61%) BPSS Clearance
13 2 (0.30%) CCIE Data Center
13 2 (0.30%) DBS Check
13 2 (0.30%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
14 1 (0.15%) A+ Certification
14 1 (0.15%) CCSE
14 1 (0.15%) CCSP
14 1 (0.15%) JNCIP
14 1 (0.15%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 13 (1.98%) ISO/IEC 20000
2 10 (1.52%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 8 (1.22%) PMO
4 6 (0.91%) NIST
4 6 (0.91%) QA
5 4 (0.61%) GDPR
5 4 (0.61%) SLA
6 1 (0.15%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 21 (3.19%) VMware NSX
2 19 (2.89%) VMware Infrastructure
3 16 (2.43%) Active Directory
4 12 (1.82%) Firmware
5 8 (1.22%) ProxySG
6 4 (0.61%) Hyper-V
6 4 (0.61%) VMware ESXi
7 1 (0.15%) Docker
7 1 (0.15%) iptables
Systems Management
1 14 (2.13%) Ansible
2 11 (1.67%) Terraform
3 9 (1.37%) FortiGate
3 9 (1.37%) vCenter Server
4 5 (0.76%) Grafana
5 3 (0.46%) Nagios
5 3 (0.46%) Prometheus
6 2 (0.30%) vRealize
7 1 (0.15%) Cisco CUCM
7 1 (0.15%) Dell DRAC
7 1 (0.15%) OpenView
7 1 (0.15%) Proxmox
7 1 (0.15%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 374 (56.84%) Cisco
2 245 (37.23%) Microsoft
3 216 (32.83%) ForeScout
4 49 (7.45%) Fortinet
5 36 (5.47%) SolarWinds
6 34 (5.17%) Palo Alto
7 33 (5.02%) Juniper
8 30 (4.56%) VMware
9 29 (4.41%) CheckPoint
10 28 (4.26%) F5
11 18 (2.74%) Meraki
12 12 (1.82%) Infoblox
12 12 (1.82%) Zscaler
13 11 (1.67%) Avaya
13 11 (1.67%) ServiceNow
14 10 (1.52%) Aruba
14 10 (1.52%) Blue Coat
14 10 (1.52%) Red Hat
15 9 (1.37%) Broadcom
16 8 (1.22%) Motorola