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 2 September 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Sep 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 120 293 163
Rank change year-on-year +173 -130 +25
Permanent jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,120 290 884
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.39% 0.83% 1.52%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.48% 0.93% 1.60%
Number of salaries quoted 641 237 625
10th Percentile £35,000 £36,150 £31,250
25th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £52,000 £49,000
Median % change year-on-year +5.77% +6.12% +5.38%
75th Percentile £65,000 £58,750 £58,750
90th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £65,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £53,065 £50,000
% change year-on-year +13.07% +6.13% -

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 75,726 31,085 55,379
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.09% 89.42% 95.12%
Number of salaries quoted 52,623 17,936 34,751
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £29,000
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £47,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +15.79% -5.00% -4.76%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £57,500 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +4.55% - -8.33%

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 2 September 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 2 September 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 +119 304 £50,000 -8.26% 59
South East +100 272 £55,000 +4.76% 49
Midlands +86 234 £55,000 +18.92% 41
West Midlands +45 147 £55,000 +22.22% 22
North West +94 140 £57,500 +9.52% 30
Yorkshire +43 134 £48,300 -27.09% 21
South West -5 103 £65,000 +18.18% 48
East of England +51 87 £55,000 +10.00% 39
East Midlands +47 87 £55,000 +5.91% 19
Scotland +58 69 £55,000 +1.85% 21
Wales -28 46 £50,000 -2.20% 14
North East -44 30 £52,788 +5.58% 9
Northern Ireland -78 12 £36,412 -36.67% 5
Network Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 September 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.

1 548 (48.93%) Cisco
2 464 (41.43%) Cisco Certification
3 397 (35.45%) Azure
4 382 (34.11%) CCNA
5 377 (33.66%) Microsoft
6 343 (30.63%) Network+ Certification
7 326 (29.11%) Azure Certification
8 324 (28.93%) ForeScout
9 225 (20.09%) Firewall
10 195 (17.41%) WAN
11 178 (15.89%) LAN
12 152 (13.57%) VPN
13 126 (11.25%) Security Cleared
14 123 (10.98%) Network Security
15 113 (10.09%) CCNP
16 105 (9.38%) Wireless
17 95 (8.48%) Fortinet
18 93 (8.30%) Infrastructure Engineering
19 91 (8.13%) BGP
20 87 (7.77%) Problem-Solving
21 82 (7.32%) OSPF
21 82 (7.32%) Wi-Fi
22 76 (6.79%) VLAN
23 67 (5.98%) Python
24 63 (5.63%) DNS
24 63 (5.63%) SC Cleared
25 61 (5.45%) DV Cleared
26 59 (5.27%) Aruba
27 54 (4.82%) TCP/IP
28 53 (4.73%) SD-WAN

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 10 (0.89%) Microsoft Exchange
1 10 (0.89%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.36%) Confluence
3 1 (0.089%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 3 (0.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (0.54%) Raiser’s Edge
Cloud Services
1 397 (35.45%) Azure
2 50 (4.46%) AWS
3 32 (2.86%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (1.52%) Azure Sentinel
5 10 (0.89%) GCP
6 9 (0.80%) Cloudflare
7 8 (0.71%) Entra ID
8 6 (0.54%) OpenShift
9 4 (0.36%) Mimecast
10 3 (0.27%) Apigee
10 3 (0.27%) Kong
10 3 (0.27%) OCI
11 2 (0.18%) Azure ExpressRoute
12 1 (0.089%) IBM Watson
Communications & Networking
1 225 (20.09%) Firewall
2 195 (17.41%) WAN
3 178 (15.89%) LAN
4 152 (13.57%) VPN
5 123 (10.98%) Network Security
6 105 (9.38%) Wireless
7 91 (8.13%) BGP
8 82 (7.32%) OSPF
8 82 (7.32%) Wi-Fi
9 76 (6.79%) VLAN
10 63 (5.63%) DNS
11 54 (4.82%) TCP/IP
12 53 (4.73%) SD-WAN
13 46 (4.11%) DHCP
14 43 (3.84%) WLAN
15 37 (3.30%) Cisco ASA
16 34 (3.04%) EIGRP
17 33 (2.95%) Cisco Nexus
18 27 (2.41%) Cisco Firepower
19 21 (1.88%) Internet
Development Applications
1 9 (0.80%) Git
2 6 (0.54%) GitLab
3 4 (0.36%) JIRA
3 4 (0.36%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 410 (36.61%) Social Skills
2 59 (5.27%) Public Sector
3 49 (4.38%) Telecoms
4 40 (3.57%) Analytical Skills
5 21 (1.88%) Finance
6 17 (1.52%) Law
7 13 (1.16%) Documentation Skills
8 12 (1.07%) Retail
9 11 (0.98%) Organisational Skills
10 10 (0.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
11 9 (0.80%) Manufacturing
11 9 (0.80%) Marketing
12 8 (0.71%) Banking
13 5 (0.45%) Aerospace
13 5 (0.45%) Back Office
14 2 (0.18%) Influencing Skills
14 2 (0.18%) Military
14 2 (0.18%) Police
14 2 (0.18%) Welsh Language
15 1 (0.089%) Digital Health
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 32 (2.86%) Terraform
2 11 (0.98%) YAML
3 9 (0.80%) Jinja
3 9 (0.80%) JSON
4 6 (0.54%) 802.1X
5 4 (0.36%) ModSecurity
5 4 (0.36%) XMPP
6 3 (0.27%) Apache NiFi
6 3 (0.27%) gRPC
6 3 (0.27%) REST
6 3 (0.27%) XML
6 3 (0.27%) YANG
Miscellaneous
1 64 (5.71%) Data Centre
2 40 (3.57%) Driving Licence
3 18 (1.61%) Hybrid Cloud
3 18 (1.61%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (1.52%) PKI
5 11 (0.98%) CCTV
5 11 (0.98%) Onboarding
6 10 (0.89%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 10 (0.89%) Linux Command Line
7 8 (0.71%) CMDB
7 8 (0.71%) Fibre Optics
7 8 (0.71%) Life Science
8 7 (0.63%) Clustering
8 7 (0.63%) Operational Technology
8 7 (0.63%) Security Posture
9 6 (0.54%) Video Conferencing
10 5 (0.45%) Cloud Native
10 5 (0.45%) Public Cloud
11 4 (0.36%) Enterprise Cloud
11 4 (0.36%) FlexPod
Operating Systems
1 50 (4.46%) Windows
2 40 (3.57%) Linux
3 31 (2.77%) Windows Server
4 3 (0.27%) Unix
5 2 (0.18%) Embedded Linux
6 1 (0.089%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.089%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.089%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 93 (8.30%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 87 (7.77%) Problem-Solving
3 51 (4.55%) Continuous Improvement
4 48 (4.29%) High Availability
5 45 (4.02%) Mentoring
6 44 (3.93%) Network Monitoring
7 40 (3.57%) Project Delivery
8 37 (3.30%) Disaster Recovery
9 36 (3.21%) Cybersecurity
10 35 (3.13%) Network Design
11 33 (2.95%) ITIL
12 27 (2.41%) SIEM
13 26 (2.32%) Customer Service
13 26 (2.32%) Load Balancing
14 25 (2.23%) Technical Leadership
15 24 (2.14%) Business Continuity
15 24 (2.14%) Root Cause Analysis
16 23 (2.05%) Change Management
17 22 (1.96%) Infrastructure as Code
17 22 (1.96%) Vulnerability Management
Programming Languages
1 67 (5.98%) Python
2 25 (2.23%) PowerShell
3 9 (0.80%) Bash
3 9 (0.80%) SQL
4 3 (0.27%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.18%) Go
6 1 (0.089%) Bicep
6 1 (0.089%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 464 (41.43%) Cisco Certification
2 382 (34.11%) CCNA
3 343 (30.63%) Network+ Certification
4 326 (29.11%) Azure Certification
5 126 (11.25%) Security Cleared
6 113 (10.09%) CCNP
7 63 (5.63%) SC Cleared
8 61 (5.45%) DV Cleared
9 22 (1.96%) Degree
10 19 (1.70%) CCIE
11 13 (1.16%) DBS Check
12 10 (0.89%) Computer Science Degree
13 6 (0.54%) JNCIP
14 4 (0.36%) CompTIA Security+
15 3 (0.27%) AWS Certification
15 3 (0.27%) CCDP
15 3 (0.27%) CISSP
15 3 (0.27%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 2 (0.18%) HNC
17 1 (0.089%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (1.61%) SLA
2 15 (1.34%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (0.98%) GDPR
4 8 (0.71%) ISO/IEC 20000
5 7 (0.63%) NIST
6 5 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
7 4 (0.36%) QA
8 2 (0.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.18%) PMO
9 1 (0.089%) Data Quality
9 1 (0.089%) ISO 14001
9 1 (0.089%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 43 (3.84%) VMware Infrastructure
2 29 (2.59%) Active Directory
3 28 (2.50%) Hyper-V
4 18 (1.61%) VMware NSX
5 14 (1.25%) Firmware
5 14 (1.25%) vSphere
6 9 (0.80%) KVM
7 3 (0.27%) Docker
8 2 (0.18%) iptables
8 2 (0.18%) ProxySG
8 2 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
9 1 (0.089%) Microsoft Virtual Server
9 1 (0.089%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 37 (3.30%) Ansible
2 31 (2.77%) FortiGate
3 13 (1.16%) Proxmox
4 10 (0.89%) Stealthwatch
5 9 (0.80%) ZABBIX
6 8 (0.71%) Graylog
6 8 (0.71%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (0.63%) Failover Clustering
7 7 (0.63%) Grafana
8 6 (0.54%) Microsoft Clustering
9 5 (0.45%) Kubernetes
10 4 (0.36%) Cisco CUCM
11 3 (0.27%) Nagios
12 2 (0.18%) Cisco Prime
12 2 (0.18%) Dell DRAC
12 2 (0.18%) Prometheus
13 1 (0.089%) Cilium
13 1 (0.089%) Istio
13 1 (0.089%) Single Sign-On
13 1 (0.089%) vRealize
Vendors
1 548 (48.93%) Cisco
2 377 (33.66%) Microsoft
3 324 (28.93%) ForeScout
4 95 (8.48%) Fortinet
5 59 (5.27%) Aruba
6 51 (4.55%) Palo Alto
6 51 (4.55%) VMware
7 30 (2.68%) Juniper
8 24 (2.14%) F5
9 19 (1.70%) Meraki
10 18 (1.61%) SolarWinds
11 13 (1.16%) Veeam
12 11 (0.98%) Avaya
12 11 (0.98%) CheckPoint
13 10 (0.89%) Dell
13 10 (0.89%) ServiceNow
14 9 (0.80%) Infoblox
15 8 (0.71%) HP
15 8 (0.71%) Qualys
15 8 (0.71%) Zscaler