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 18 August 2026.

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

6 months to
18 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 126 300 165
Rank change year-on-year +174 -135 +26
Permanent jobs requiring a Network Engineer 1,105 289 885
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.41% 0.83% 1.49%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.50% 0.93% 1.57%
Number of salaries quoted 629 234 666
10th Percentile £35,000 £36,075 £31,250
25th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £40,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £51,693 £49,000
Median % change year-on-year +6.40% +5.50% +4.26%
75th Percentile £67,500 £58,750 £57,500
90th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £65,000
UK median annual salary £60,000 £53,408 £50,000
% change year-on-year +12.34% +6.82% -

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 73,779 31,098 56,419
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 94.35% 89.47% 95.02%
Number of salaries quoted 51,014 17,850 37,046
10th Percentile £30,000 £26,500 £28,500
25th Percentile £40,000 £32,500 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £52,500 £48,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +9.38% -4.00% -6.54%
75th Percentile £70,000 £65,000 £65,000
90th Percentile £85,000 £80,000 £80,000
UK median annual salary £56,950 £55,000 £55,000
% change year-on-year +3.55% - -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 18 August 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 18 August 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 +122 305 £50,000 -11.11% 66
South East +105 265 £55,000 +6.80% 61
Midlands +93 240 £55,000 +22.22% 52
West Midlands +53 152 £55,500 +23.33% 24
North West +109 141 £57,500 - 32
Yorkshire +57 134 £48,300 -27.09% 25
South West -11 95 £70,000 +24.73% 46
East Midlands +53 88 £53,750 +13.16% 28
East of England +36 80 £55,000 +10.00% 39
Scotland +52 67 £55,000 +4.87% 28
Wales -20 48 £50,000 -2.20% 20
North East -48 30 £52,788 +5.58% 10
Northern Ireland -70 13 £36,412 -36.67% 7
Network Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 18 August 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.

1 539 (48.78%) Cisco
2 462 (41.81%) Cisco Certification
3 395 (35.75%) Azure
4 384 (34.75%) CCNA
5 377 (34.12%) Microsoft
6 343 (31.04%) Network+ Certification
7 326 (29.50%) Azure Certification
8 324 (29.32%) ForeScout
9 226 (20.45%) Firewall
10 193 (17.47%) WAN
11 176 (15.93%) LAN
12 151 (13.67%) VPN
13 120 (10.86%) Security Cleared
14 118 (10.68%) Network Security
15 111 (10.05%) CCNP
16 103 (9.32%) Wireless
17 89 (8.05%) Infrastructure Engineering
18 88 (7.96%) Fortinet
19 86 (7.78%) BGP
19 86 (7.78%) Problem-Solving
20 84 (7.60%) Wi-Fi
21 77 (6.97%) OSPF
22 76 (6.88%) VLAN
23 67 (6.06%) SC Cleared
24 65 (5.88%) Python
25 58 (5.25%) DNS
26 53 (4.80%) Aruba
26 53 (4.80%) VMware
27 52 (4.71%) Palo Alto
28 51 (4.62%) DV Cleared

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 12 (1.09%) Microsoft Exchange
1 12 (1.09%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.36%) Confluence
3 1 (0.090%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 3 (0.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 6 (0.54%) Raiser’s Edge
Cloud Services
1 395 (35.75%) Azure
2 49 (4.43%) AWS
3 33 (2.99%) Microsoft 365
4 17 (1.54%) Azure Sentinel
5 11 (1.00%) Entra ID
6 10 (0.90%) GCP
7 9 (0.81%) Cloudflare
8 8 (0.72%) OpenShift
9 5 (0.45%) Mimecast
10 4 (0.36%) Apigee
10 4 (0.36%) Kong
11 3 (0.27%) OCI
12 2 (0.18%) Azure ExpressRoute
13 1 (0.090%) IBM Watson
Communications & Networking
1 226 (20.45%) Firewall
2 193 (17.47%) WAN
3 176 (15.93%) LAN
4 151 (13.67%) VPN
5 118 (10.68%) Network Security
6 103 (9.32%) Wireless
7 86 (7.78%) BGP
8 84 (7.60%) Wi-Fi
9 77 (6.97%) OSPF
10 76 (6.88%) VLAN
11 58 (5.25%) DNS
12 51 (4.62%) SD-WAN
12 51 (4.62%) TCP/IP
13 43 (3.89%) DHCP
14 41 (3.71%) WLAN
15 38 (3.44%) Cisco ASA
16 32 (2.90%) EIGRP
17 30 (2.71%) Cisco Nexus
18 24 (2.17%) Cisco Firepower
19 21 (1.90%) MPLS
Development Applications
1 8 (0.72%) Git
1 8 (0.72%) GitLab
2 4 (0.36%) JIRA
3 2 (0.18%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 412 (37.29%) Social Skills
2 59 (5.34%) Public Sector
3 46 (4.16%) Telecoms
4 39 (3.53%) Analytical Skills
5 18 (1.63%) Law
6 17 (1.54%) Finance
7 14 (1.27%) Documentation Skills
8 11 (1.00%) Organisational Skills
9 10 (0.90%) Inclusion and Diversity
10 9 (0.81%) Retail
11 8 (0.72%) Manufacturing
12 7 (0.63%) Marketing
13 6 (0.54%) Banking
14 5 (0.45%) Aerospace
14 5 (0.45%) Back Office
15 3 (0.27%) Military
15 3 (0.27%) Police
15 3 (0.27%) Welsh Language
16 2 (0.18%) Influencing Skills
17 1 (0.090%) Fire and Rescue
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 11 (1.00%) Jinja
1 11 (1.00%) JSON
1 11 (1.00%) YAML
2 6 (0.54%) 802.1X
3 4 (0.36%) ModSecurity
3 4 (0.36%) REST
3 4 (0.36%) XML
3 4 (0.36%) XMPP
3 4 (0.36%) YANG
4 3 (0.27%) Apache NiFi
4 3 (0.27%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 61 (5.52%) Data Centre
2 40 (3.62%) Driving Licence
3 19 (1.72%) Self-Motivation
4 17 (1.54%) Hybrid Cloud
4 17 (1.54%) PKI
5 11 (1.00%) CCTV
6 10 (0.90%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
6 10 (0.90%) Linux Command Line
7 9 (0.81%) Onboarding
8 8 (0.72%) Clustering
8 8 (0.72%) Fibre Optics
8 8 (0.72%) Life Science
8 8 (0.72%) Operational Technology
9 7 (0.63%) Security Posture
10 6 (0.54%) CMDB
10 6 (0.54%) Video Conferencing
11 5 (0.45%) Cloud Native
11 5 (0.45%) Public Cloud
12 4 (0.36%) Enterprise Cloud
12 4 (0.36%) FlexPod
Operating Systems
1 50 (4.52%) Windows
2 42 (3.80%) Linux
3 31 (2.81%) Windows Server
4 4 (0.36%) Unix
5 2 (0.18%) Embedded Linux
6 1 (0.090%) Windows 10
6 1 (0.090%) Windows Server 2016
6 1 (0.090%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 89 (8.05%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 86 (7.78%) Problem-Solving
3 50 (4.52%) High Availability
4 49 (4.43%) Continuous Improvement
5 45 (4.07%) Network Monitoring
6 41 (3.71%) Mentoring
7 38 (3.44%) Project Delivery
8 35 (3.17%) ITIL
9 34 (3.08%) Cybersecurity
9 34 (3.08%) Disaster Recovery
10 32 (2.90%) Customer Service
11 31 (2.81%) Network Design
12 26 (2.35%) SIEM
13 25 (2.26%) Load Balancing
14 24 (2.17%) Technical Leadership
15 22 (1.99%) Root Cause Analysis
16 21 (1.90%) Business Continuity
17 20 (1.81%) Vulnerability Management
18 19 (1.72%) Change Management
18 19 (1.72%) Infrastructure as Code
Programming Languages
1 65 (5.88%) Python
2 26 (2.35%) PowerShell
3 10 (0.90%) SQL
4 9 (0.81%) Bash
5 4 (0.36%) JavaScript
6 2 (0.18%) Go
7 1 (0.090%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 462 (41.81%) Cisco Certification
2 384 (34.75%) CCNA
3 343 (31.04%) Network+ Certification
4 326 (29.50%) Azure Certification
5 120 (10.86%) Security Cleared
6 111 (10.05%) CCNP
7 67 (6.06%) SC Cleared
8 51 (4.62%) DV Cleared
9 21 (1.90%) Degree
10 20 (1.81%) CCIE
11 12 (1.09%) DBS Check
12 11 (1.00%) 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 (0.090%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 18 (1.63%) SLA
2 14 (1.27%) ISO/IEC 27001
3 11 (1.00%) GDPR
4 8 (0.72%) ISO/IEC 20000
4 8 (0.72%) NIST
5 5 (0.45%) Cyber Essentials
6 4 (0.36%) QA
7 2 (0.18%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.18%) PMO
8 1 (0.090%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.090%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.090%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 45 (4.07%) VMware Infrastructure
2 31 (2.81%) Active Directory
3 29 (2.62%) Hyper-V
4 18 (1.63%) VMware NSX
5 14 (1.27%) vSphere
6 12 (1.09%) Firmware
7 9 (0.81%) KVM
8 3 (0.27%) Docker
9 2 (0.18%) iptables
9 2 (0.18%) ProxySG
9 2 (0.18%) VMware ESXi
10 1 (0.090%) Microsoft Virtual Server
10 1 (0.090%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 32 (2.90%) Ansible
2 28 (2.53%) Terraform
3 26 (2.35%) FortiGate
4 13 (1.18%) Proxmox
5 9 (0.81%) ZABBIX
6 8 (0.72%) Graylog
6 8 (0.72%) Microsoft Intune
7 7 (0.63%) Failover Clustering
7 7 (0.63%) Grafana
8 6 (0.54%) Microsoft Clustering
8 6 (0.54%) Stealthwatch
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 (0.090%) Cilium
13 1 (0.090%) Istio
13 1 (0.090%) Single Sign-On
Vendors
1 539 (48.78%) Cisco
2 377 (34.12%) Microsoft
3 324 (29.32%) ForeScout
4 88 (7.96%) Fortinet
5 53 (4.80%) Aruba
5 53 (4.80%) VMware
6 52 (4.71%) Palo Alto
7 30 (2.71%) Juniper
8 25 (2.26%) F5
9 16 (1.45%) SolarWinds
10 15 (1.36%) Meraki
11 14 (1.27%) CheckPoint
11 14 (1.27%) Veeam
12 10 (0.90%) Dell
13 9 (0.81%) Avaya
13 9 (0.81%) HP
14 8 (0.72%) Red Hat
14 8 (0.72%) ServiceNow
14 8 (0.72%) Zscaler
15 7 (0.63%) SonicWALL