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 June 2026.

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

6 months to
2 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 120 251 197
Rank change year-on-year +131 -54 +31
Permanent jobs requiring a Network Engineer 975 327 1,014
As % of all permanent jobs in the UK excluding London 1.45% 1.12% 1.38%
As % of the Job Titles category 1.54% 1.26% 1.45%
Number of salaries quoted 509 281 827
10th Percentile £35,000 £36,250 £31,250
25th Percentile £45,000 £45,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £55,000 £50,890 £47,500
Median % change year-on-year +8.08% +7.14% +5.56%
75th Percentile £67,500 £57,500 £55,000
90th Percentile £75,000 £65,000 £64,150
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 63,341 26,001 69,927
% of permanent jobs with a recognized job title 93.87% 89.03% 94.92%
Number of salaries quoted 42,359 13,849 50,656
10th Percentile £30,000 £27,000 £26,750
25th Percentile £36,250 £35,000 £35,000
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £50,000 £50,967 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -1.90% +1.93% -6.54%
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 2 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 2 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 +117 278 £50,000 -9.09% 65
South East +37 232 £50,000 - 89
Midlands +98 211 £60,000 +23.08% 41
West Midlands +65 155 £60,000 +20.27% 25
North West +99 132 £52,500 -3.00% 29
Yorkshire +29 115 £50,000 -16.67% 24
South West -8 91 £60,000 +9.09% 38
East of England +42 64 £50,000 +5.26% 28
East Midlands +17 56 £55,000 +15.79% 16
Scotland +47 52 £45,000 -11.57% 29
Wales +1 43 £50,000 +0.50% 15
North East -20 31 £55,000 +10.00% 12
Northern Ireland - 11 £50,000 - 10
Network Engineer
UK

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

For the 6 months to 2 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.

1 513 (52.62%) Cisco
2 437 (44.82%) Cisco Certification
3 398 (40.82%) Azure
4 370 (37.95%) CCNA
5 362 (37.13%) Microsoft
6 334 (34.26%) Network+ Certification
7 325 (33.33%) Azure Certification
8 324 (33.23%) ForeScout
9 176 (18.05%) Firewall
10 153 (15.69%) WAN
11 128 (13.13%) LAN
12 126 (12.92%) Security Cleared
13 116 (11.90%) VPN
14 97 (9.95%) Network Security
15 96 (9.85%) CCNP
16 80 (8.21%) SC Cleared
17 70 (7.18%) BGP
18 65 (6.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
19 64 (6.56%) Wireless
20 63 (6.46%) Fortinet
21 62 (6.36%) VLAN
22 58 (5.95%) Problem-Solving
23 57 (5.85%) Python
23 57 (5.85%) SD-WAN
24 56 (5.74%) AWS
24 56 (5.74%) OSPF
25 47 (4.82%) Cisco ASA
25 47 (4.82%) DV Cleared
25 47 (4.82%) Network Monitoring
26 46 (4.72%) 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 (0.51%) Microsoft Exchange
1 5 (0.51%) SharePoint
2 4 (0.41%) Confluence
3 1 (0.10%) Skype for Business
Applications
1 9 (0.92%) MS Visio
2 3 (0.31%) Microsoft Excel
3 2 (0.21%) Microsoft PowerPoint
Cloud Services
1 398 (40.82%) Azure
2 56 (5.74%) AWS
3 25 (2.56%) Microsoft 365
4 24 (2.46%) Azure Sentinel
5 11 (1.13%) GCP
6 10 (1.03%) OpenShift
7 8 (0.82%) Cloudflare
8 7 (0.72%) Entra ID
9 5 (0.51%) Apigee
9 5 (0.51%) Kong
10 3 (0.31%) Mimecast
11 2 (0.21%) Azure ExpressRoute
11 2 (0.21%) GitHub
11 2 (0.21%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 176 (18.05%) Firewall
2 153 (15.69%) WAN
3 128 (13.13%) LAN
4 116 (11.90%) VPN
5 97 (9.95%) Network Security
6 70 (7.18%) BGP
7 64 (6.56%) Wireless
8 62 (6.36%) VLAN
9 57 (5.85%) SD-WAN
10 56 (5.74%) OSPF
11 47 (4.82%) Cisco ASA
12 36 (3.69%) TCP/IP
13 33 (3.38%) DNS
14 30 (3.08%) Wi-Fi
15 28 (2.87%) WLAN
16 26 (2.67%) EIGRP
17 24 (2.46%) DHCP
18 23 (2.36%) Cisco Firepower
19 20 (2.05%) MPLS
20 19 (1.95%) Cisco Nexus
Development Applications
1 10 (1.03%) GitLab
2 8 (0.82%) Git
3 4 (0.41%) JIRA
4 2 (0.21%) Jenkins
4 2 (0.21%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 395 (40.51%) Social Skills
2 61 (6.26%) Public Sector
3 40 (4.10%) Analytical Skills
4 39 (4.00%) Telecoms
5 19 (1.95%) Law
6 14 (1.44%) Finance
6 14 (1.44%) Manufacturing
7 13 (1.33%) Inclusion and Diversity
8 11 (1.13%) Documentation Skills
9 10 (1.03%) Retail
10 8 (0.82%) Marketing
11 7 (0.72%) Aerospace
11 7 (0.72%) Banking
12 5 (0.51%) Back Office
12 5 (0.51%) Police
13 4 (0.41%) Military
13 4 (0.41%) Welsh Language
14 3 (0.31%) Influencing Skills
15 2 (0.21%) Organisational Skills
16 1 (0.10%) Fire and Rescue
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 13 (1.33%) Jinja
2 10 (1.03%) JSON
2 10 (1.03%) YAML
3 8 (0.82%) YANG
4 5 (0.51%) REST
4 5 (0.51%) XML
5 4 (0.41%) 802.1X
5 4 (0.41%) 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 (6.05%) Data Centre
2 22 (2.26%) Driving Licence
3 17 (1.74%) PKI
4 15 (1.54%) Hybrid Cloud
5 10 (1.03%) Security Posture
5 10 (1.03%) Self-Motivation
6 8 (0.82%) Operational Technology
7 7 (0.72%) Public Cloud
8 6 (0.62%) CMDB
9 4 (0.41%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
9 4 (0.41%) Enterprise Cloud
9 4 (0.41%) Enterprise Software
9 4 (0.41%) Fibre Optics
9 4 (0.41%) Linux Command Line
9 4 (0.41%) Onboarding
9 4 (0.41%) Private Cloud
9 4 (0.41%) Video Conferencing
10 3 (0.31%) FlexPod
10 3 (0.31%) Life Science
10 3 (0.31%) Social Media
Operating Systems
1 34 (3.49%) Linux
1 34 (3.49%) Windows
2 13 (1.33%) Windows Server
3 5 (0.51%) Unix
4 1 (0.10%) Windows 10
4 1 (0.10%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 65 (6.67%) Infrastructure Engineering
2 58 (5.95%) Problem-Solving
3 47 (4.82%) Network Monitoring
4 38 (3.90%) High Availability
5 35 (3.59%) Continuous Improvement
6 34 (3.49%) ITIL
7 32 (3.28%) Cybersecurity
8 30 (3.08%) Network Design
9 29 (2.97%) Load Balancing
9 29 (2.97%) Mentoring
10 27 (2.77%) Project Delivery
11 24 (2.46%) ITSM
11 24 (2.46%) Service Management
12 23 (2.36%) Customer Service
13 20 (2.05%) CI/CD
13 20 (2.05%) Infrastructure as Code
13 20 (2.05%) Technical Leadership
14 19 (1.95%) Computer Science
14 19 (1.95%) Root Cause Analysis
14 19 (1.95%) Stakeholder Engagement
Programming Languages
1 57 (5.85%) Python
2 15 (1.54%) PowerShell
3 8 (0.82%) Bash
4 5 (0.51%) JavaScript
5 2 (0.21%) SQL
6 1 (0.10%) Bicep
Qualifications
1 437 (44.82%) Cisco Certification
2 370 (37.95%) CCNA
3 334 (34.26%) Network+ Certification
4 325 (33.33%) Azure Certification
5 126 (12.92%) Security Cleared
6 96 (9.85%) CCNP
7 80 (8.21%) SC Cleared
8 47 (4.82%) DV Cleared
9 28 (2.87%) CCIE
10 20 (2.05%) Degree
11 16 (1.64%) Computer Science Degree
12 7 (0.72%) DBS Check
13 6 (0.62%) JNCIP
14 4 (0.41%) 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%) CompTIA Security+
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 16 (1.64%) ISO/IEC 20000
2 14 (1.44%) SLA
3 10 (1.03%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 8 (0.82%) PMO
5 7 (0.72%) QA
6 6 (0.62%) NIST
7 5 (0.51%) GDPR
8 1 (0.10%) Cyber Essentials
8 1 (0.10%) ISO 14001
8 1 (0.10%) ISO 9001
System Software
1 37 (3.79%) VMware Infrastructure
2 22 (2.26%) VMware NSX
3 15 (1.54%) Active Directory
4 14 (1.44%) Hyper-V
5 10 (1.03%) Firmware
6 8 (0.82%) KVM
6 8 (0.82%) ProxySG
7 5 (0.51%) vSphere
8 4 (0.41%) VMware ESXi
9 3 (0.31%) Docker
10 1 (0.10%) iptables
Systems Management
1 18 (1.85%) Ansible
2 17 (1.74%) Terraform
3 10 (1.03%) FortiGate
4 9 (0.92%) Proxmox
5 8 (0.82%) Graylog
5 8 (0.82%) ZABBIX
6 6 (0.62%) Grafana
7 5 (0.51%) Nagios
8 4 (0.41%) 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
1 513 (52.62%) Cisco
2 362 (37.13%) Microsoft
3 324 (33.23%) ForeScout
4 63 (6.46%) Fortinet
5 46 (4.72%) VMware
6 41 (4.21%) Palo Alto
7 29 (2.97%) F5
7 29 (2.97%) Juniper
7 29 (2.97%) SolarWinds
8 26 (2.67%) CheckPoint
9 25 (2.56%) Aruba
10 15 (1.54%) Zscaler
11 14 (1.44%) Avaya
12 13 (1.33%) Veeam
13 12 (1.23%) Infoblox
14 11 (1.13%) Meraki
15 10 (1.03%) Blue Coat
15 10 (1.03%) Dell
15 10 (1.03%) Red Hat
16 9 (0.92%) ServiceNow