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 26 May 2026.

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

6 months to
26 May 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 125 263 206
Rank change year-on-year +138 -57 +24
Permanent jobs requiring a Network Engineer 953 306 966
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.42% 1.08% 1.36%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.51% 1.21% 1.44%
Number of salaries quoted 488 267 802
10th Percentile £35,000 £36,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £45,000 £46,250 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £51,500 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +6.80% +8.42% +5.56%
75th Percentile £66,250 £57,500 £55,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £63,750
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 62,970 25,190 67,231
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.78% 88.98% 94.85%
Number of salaries quoted 41,929 13,343 48,972
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,250 £26,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £35,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £51,500 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -2.91% +3.00% -6.43%
75th Percentile £70,000 £67,500 £63,750
90th Percentile £85,000 £81,250 £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 26 May 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 26 May 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 +124 271 £50,000 -9.09% 55
South East +40 225 £50,000 -1.48% 74
Midlands +83 207 £58,450 +19.90% 33
West Midlands +51 150 £60,000 +21.35% 23
North West +98 130 £52,500 -4.55% 26
Yorkshire +26 112 £50,000 -0.50% 18
South West -11 90 £59,050 +7.36% 27
East of England +28 64 £52,500 +23.53% 19
East Midlands +16 57 £55,000 +22.22% 10
Scotland +37 49 £45,000 -14.20% 28
Wales +3 43 £50,000 +0.50% 13
North East -20 29 £55,000 -4.35% 11
Northern Ireland - 11 £50,000 - 4
Network Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 26 May 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.

1 503 (52.78%) Cisco
2 428 (44.91%) Cisco Certification
3 396 (41.55%) Azure
4 364 (38.20%) CCNA
5 361 (37.88%) Microsoft
6 332 (34.84%) Network+ Certification
7 325 (34.10%) Azure Certification
8 324 (34.00%) ForeScout
9 165 (17.31%) Firewall
10 144 (15.11%) WAN
11 122 (12.80%) Security Cleared
12 119 (12.49%) LAN
13 107 (11.23%) VPN
14 92 (9.65%) Network Security
15 91 (9.55%) CCNP
16 77 (8.08%) SC Cleared
17 65 (6.82%) BGP
17 65 (6.82%) Infrastructure Engineering
18 58 (6.09%) Wireless
19 57 (5.98%) VLAN
20 56 (5.88%) AWS
20 56 (5.88%) Fortinet
20 56 (5.88%) Python
21 54 (5.67%) SD-WAN
22 52 (5.46%) Problem-Solving
23 49 (5.14%) OSPF
24 46 (4.83%) DV Cleared
24 46 (4.83%) VMware
25 45 (4.72%) Cisco ASA
25 45 (4.72%) Network Monitoring

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 (0.52%) Microsoft Exchange
1 5 (0.52%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.42%) Confluence
3 1 (0.10%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 9 (0.94%) MS Visio
2 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 396 (41.55%) Azure
2 56 (5.88%) AWS
3 25 (2.62%) Microsoft 365
4 24 (2.52%) Azure Sentinel
5 11 (1.15%) GCP
6 10 (1.05%) OpenShift
7 8 (0.84%) Cloudflare
8 7 (0.73%) Entra ID
9 5 (0.52%) Apigee
9 5 (0.52%) Kong
10 3 (0.31%) Mimecast
11 2 (0.21%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 2 (0.21%) GitHub
11 2 (0.21%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 165 (17.31%) Firewall
2 144 (15.11%) WAN
3 119 (12.49%) LAN
4 107 (11.23%) VPN
5 92 (9.65%) Network Security
6 65 (6.82%) BGP
7 58 (6.09%) Wireless
8 57 (5.98%) VLAN
9 54 (5.67%) SD-WAN
10 49 (5.14%) OSPF
11 45 (4.72%) Cisco ASA
12 32 (3.36%) DNS
13 31 (3.25%) TCP/IP
14 25 (2.62%) WLAN
15 23 (2.41%) Cisco Firepower
15 23 (2.41%) DHCP
15 23 (2.41%) Wi-Fi
16 22 (2.31%) EIGRP
17 19 (1.99%) MPLS
18 18 (1.89%) Cisco Nexus
Development Applications
1 10 (1.05%) GitLab
2 8 (0.84%) Git
3 4 (0.42%) JIRA
4 2 (0.21%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 391 (41.03%) Social Skills
2 58 (6.09%) Public Sector
3 38 (3.99%) Analytical Skills
4 37 (3.88%) Telecoms
5 18 (1.89%) Law
6 14 (1.47%) Finance
6 14 (1.47%) Manufacturing
7 13 (1.36%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (1.15%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (1.15%) Retail
9 8 (0.84%) Marketing
10 7 (0.73%) Aerospace
10 7 (0.73%) Banking
10 7 (0.73%) Police
11 5 (0.52%) Back Office
12 4 (0.42%) Welsh Language
13 3 (0.31%) Influencing Skills
13 3 (0.31%) Military
14 1 (0.10%) Digital Health
14 1 (0.10%) Fire and Rescue
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (1.36%) Jinja
2 10 (1.05%) JSON
2 10 (1.05%) YAML
3 8 (0.84%) YANG
4 5 (0.52%) REST
4 5 (0.52%) XML
5 4 (0.42%) 802.1X
5 4 (0.42%) ModSecurity
6 3 (0.31%) Apache NiFi
6 3 (0.31%) gRPC
6 3 (0.31%) NETCONF
6 3 (0.31%) XMPP
Miscellaneous
1 59 (6.19%) Data Centre
2 20 (2.10%) Driving Licence
3 17 (1.78%) PKI
4 14 (1.47%) Hybrid Cloud
5 10 (1.05%) Self-Motivation
6 9 (0.94%) Security Posture
7 8 (0.84%) Operational Technology
8 7 (0.73%) Public Cloud
9 6 (0.63%) CMDB
10 4 (0.42%) Enterprise Cloud
10 4 (0.42%) Enterprise Software
10 4 (0.42%) Fibre Optics
10 4 (0.42%) Private Cloud
10 4 (0.42%) Video Conferencing
11 3 (0.31%) FlexPod
11 3 (0.31%) Linux Command Line
11 3 (0.31%) Onboarding
11 3 (0.31%) Social Media
12 2 (0.21%) Clustering
12 2 (0.21%) Life Science
Operating Systems
1 33 (3.46%) Windows
2 32 (3.36%) Linux
3 12 (1.26%) Windows Server
4 5 (0.52%) Unix
5 1 (0.10%) Windows 10
5 1 (0.10%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (6.82%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 52 (5.46%) Problem-Solving
3 45 (4.72%) Network Monitoring
4 36 (3.78%) High Availability
5 34 (3.57%) Continuous Improvement
6 33 (3.46%) ITIL
7 29 (3.04%) Cybersecurity
7 29 (3.04%) Load Balancing
7 29 (3.04%) Network Design
8 27 (2.83%) Service Management
9 26 (2.73%) ITSM
9 26 (2.73%) Mentoring
10 25 (2.62%) Project Delivery
11 23 (2.41%) Customer Service
12 20 (2.10%) CI/CD
12 20 (2.10%) Infrastructure as Code
12 20 (2.10%) Technical Leadership
13 19 (1.99%) Computer Science
13 19 (1.99%) Stakeholder Engagement
14 18 (1.89%) Root Cause Analysis
Programming Languages
1 56 (5.88%) Python
2 15 (1.57%) PowerShell
3 8 (0.84%) Bash
4 5 (0.52%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.21%) SQL
6 1 (0.10%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 428 (44.91%) Cisco Certification
2 364 (38.20%) CCNA
3 332 (34.84%) Network+ Certification
4 325 (34.10%) Azure Certification
5 122 (12.80%) Security Cleared
6 91 (9.55%) CCNP
7 77 (8.08%) SC Cleared
8 46 (4.83%) DV Cleared
9 27 (2.83%) CCIE
10 20 (2.10%) Degree
11 16 (1.68%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (0.73%) DBS Check
13 6 (0.63%) JNCIP
14 4 (0.42%) BPSS Clearance
15 3 (0.31%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
16 2 (0.21%) AWS Certification
16 2 (0.21%) CCIE Data Center
17 1 (0.10%) CCSE
17 1 (0.10%) CCSM
17 1 (0.10%) CCSP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (1.68%) ISO/IEC 20000
2 13 (1.36%) SLA
3 10 (1.05%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (0.84%) PMO
5 7 (0.73%) QA
6 6 (0.63%) NIST
7 5 (0.52%) GDPR
8 1 (0.10%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.10%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.10%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 36 (3.78%) VMware Infrastructure
2 22 (2.31%) VMware NSX
3 14 (1.47%) Active Directory
4 13 (1.36%) Hyper-V
5 10 (1.05%) Firmware
6 8 (0.84%) KVM
6 8 (0.84%) ProxySG
7 5 (0.52%) vSphere
8 4 (0.42%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.31%) Docker
10 1 (0.10%) iptables
Systems Management
1 17 (1.78%) Ansible
2 16 (1.68%) Terraform
3 10 (1.05%) FortiGate
4 9 (0.94%) Proxmox
5 8 (0.84%) Graylog
5 8 (0.84%) ZABBIX
6 6 (0.63%) Grafana
7 5 (0.52%) Nagios
8 4 (0.42%) vCenter Server
9 3 (0.31%) Cisco CUCM
10 2 (0.21%) Microsoft Intune
10 2 (0.21%) Prometheus
10 2 (0.21%) vRealize
11 1 (0.10%) Cisco Prime
11 1 (0.10%) Dell DRAC
11 1 (0.10%) OpenView
11 1 (0.10%) Tivoli
Vendors
1 503 (52.78%) Cisco
2 361 (37.88%) Microsoft
3 324 (34.00%) ForeScout
4 56 (5.88%) Fortinet
5 46 (4.83%) VMware
6 40 (4.20%) Palo Alto
7 29 (3.04%) F5
7 29 (3.04%) Juniper
7 29 (3.04%) SolarWinds
8 26 (2.73%) CheckPoint
9 20 (2.10%) Aruba
10 15 (1.57%) Zscaler
11 14 (1.47%) Avaya
12 12 (1.26%) Infoblox
12 12 (1.26%) Veeam
13 10 (1.05%) Blue Coat
13 10 (1.05%) Dell
13 10 (1.05%) Meraki
13 10 (1.05%) Red Hat
14 9 (0.94%) ServiceNow