Network Engineer Salary UK: Entry Level to Senior in 2026

In this guide

How much does a network engineer earn in the UK?
What do entry level and graduate network engineers earn?
Network engineer salary by level
Do certifications increase network engineer pay?
What moves your salary up fastest?
How fast can you reach £40,000 or more?
How should you negotiate your first networking salary?
How Experiencely can help

A network engineer in the UK typically earns around £25,000 to £30,000 at entry level and £50,000 to £60,000 once experienced. Senior engineers usually sit between £55,000 and £80,000. Which number you see depends heavily on the source, so it's worth knowing what each one measures.

How much does a network engineer earn in the UK?

Start with the official figure. The National Careers Service gives a starter salary of £25,500 and an experienced salary of £52,000 a year for network engineers.

Job advert data runs higher. ITJobsWatch, which tracks salaries quoted in real UK adverts, shows a median of £60,000 for permanent network engineer roles in the six months to November 2026, from 1,213 adverts. The 10th percentile was £38,538 and the 90th percentile £80,000.

Robert Half's 2027 UK Salary Guide is close to ITJobsWatch: a median of £61,500, with £53,000 at the 25th percentile and £71,250 at the 75th.

Why the gap? Adverts skew towards experienced hires, because that's who most employers recruit externally. The National Careers Service figure covers the whole working population in the role, including people early in their careers and in lower-paying regions. Both are true. They're measuring different things.

What do entry level and graduate network engineers earn?

This is the number most people searching actually care about, and it's lower than the headlines.

Prospects, using salary data from recruiter Ashdown Group, puts entry level network roles at £22,000 to £28,000 depending on the employer, qualifications and experience. That sits neatly around the National Careers Service starter figure of £25,500.

If you're searching for a graduate network engineer salary, expect the same range for most employers. Graduate schemes at large telecoms firms, banks and consultancies can pay more, particularly in London, but they're competitive and limited in number.

ITJobsWatch shows a median of £30,000 for junior network engineer adverts and £32,000 for network technician adverts over six months to November 2026. Both samples were small (6 and 45 adverts), so treat them as a sense check rather than a benchmark.

Network engineer salary by level

Pulling the sources together gives a sensible picture.

Level	Typical UK salary	Source
Entry level / graduate	£22,000 to £28,000	Prospects (Ashdown Group)
Starter, all routes	£25,500	National Careers Service
Network engineer	£45,000 to £65,000	Prospects (Ashdown Group)
Network engineer, advert median	£60,000	ITJobsWatch
Senior network engineer	£55,000 to £75,000	Prospects (Ashdown Group)
Senior, advert median	£65,000	ITJobsWatch
Network manager	£65,000 to £85,000	Prospects (Ashdown Group)

Treat any single figure with care. Salaries vary a lot by sector, region and whether the role includes on-call. Use the ranges to sense-check offers, not to set your expectations to the pound.

The biggest jump is from entry level to network engineer. It's often a near doubling of salary, and it usually takes two to five years. How fast you get there depends far more on the work you've done than the certificates you hold.

Does London pay more?

Yes. ITJobsWatch shows a London median of £70,000 for network engineer adverts, against £60,000 for the UK overall.

Networking is less remote-friendly than cloud. Someone has to be on site to rack switches, run cables and deal with a dead access point. Many roles are hybrid, with site visits. That means where you live affects your options more than in some other IT jobs. If you're outside a big city, look at managed service providers, NHS trusts, councils, universities and manufacturers. They all run sizeable networks.

Do certifications increase network engineer pay?

They help you get into better-paid roles. They don't set the number on their own.

ITJobsWatch shows a median of £47,500 across UK permanent adverts citing CCNA in the six months to November 2026, from 325 adverts. The spread was wide, from £26,650 at the 10th percentile to £78,750 at the 90th. That range tells you the CCNA is asked for in both junior and senior jobs. It's the experience on top that decides where you land.

Further up, CCNP Enterprise and specialist security certifications matter more. Prospects notes that highly skilled consultants with top certifications can earn £100,000 to £135,000 basic, and that CCIE-certified contractors can charge £500 to £900 a day. That's the far end of a long career, not a target for year three.

For a closer look at which certificates to prioritise, see our CCNA guide.

What moves your salary up fastest?

Real troubleshooting experience. Engineers who've fixed live outages are worth more than engineers who've only built labs. Interviewers can tell within two questions.

Routing and switching depth. OSPF, BGP, VLANs, spanning tree. BGP in particular shows up in better-paid adverts.

Security. Firewalls (Palo Alto, Fortinet, Cisco), VPNs and segmentation. Network security roles tend to pay towards the top of each band.

Cloud networking. Azure and AWS networking is where a lot of enterprise work is heading. Engineers who can bridge on-premises and cloud are in a strong position.

Automation. Basic Python and Ansible for configuration. You don't need to be a developer. Being the person who automates the boring bits gets noticed.

How fast can you reach £40,000 or more?

For example, someone starting as a network technician or junior engineer at around £25,000 to £30,000, who earns the CCNA, gets hands-on with real outages and changes, and moves employer once, could reasonably be looking at £40,000-plus roles within two to three years. Not guaranteed, but common.

The slowest path is staying in a role where you never touch the network. If your job is all password resets and printer tickets, ask to shadow the network team or move. Our junior network engineer guide covers which first roles give you the most hands-on time.

How should you negotiate your first networking salary?

Know the range before the conversation. Use the entry level figures above and check what similar adverts in your area are offering.

Then look past base pay. Many network roles include on-call rotas, overtime for out-of-hours changes, and training budgets. A role offering £2,000 less but paying for your CCNP exams and giving you hands-on access to a large network can be the better deal over three years.

If you've got real project work behind you, say so specifically. "I configured VLANs and access lists on a live network and wrote the change documentation" gives an employer a reason to start you higher. Vague claims don't.

How Experiencely can help

Experiencely's network engineering programme combines training with real experience. Training covers A+, Network+, Security+, CCNA, ENCOR and ENARSI. You're placed on a live remote network project within 48 hours and work on it for about an hour a day over three months, so it fits around your current job and gives you real network work to point to. The programme costs £2,495. If you're not hired within 60 days of finishing, and you've met the conditions, you get your money back.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average network engineer salary in the UK?

It depends on the source. The National Careers Service gives £25,500 for starters and £52,000 for experienced engineers. ITJobsWatch shows a median of £60,000 in UK permanent adverts for the six months to November 2026, and Robert Half's 2027 guide gives £61,500.

What is a typical graduate network engineer salary?

Prospects, using Ashdown Group data, gives £22,000 to £28,000 for entry level network roles, and the National Careers Service gives £25,500 for starters. Graduate schemes at large employers can pay more, especially in London, but most first networking jobs start in the mid to high £20,000s.

How much does a senior network engineer earn in the UK?

ITJobsWatch shows a median of £65,000 for senior network engineer adverts in the six months to November 2026, with the 90th percentile at £80,000. Prospects gives £55,000 to £75,000 for senior engineers and £65,000 to £85,000 for network managers.

Does the CCNA increase your salary?

It helps you get into roles that pay more. ITJobsWatch shows a median of £47,500 for UK permanent adverts citing CCNA in the six months to November 2026. The certificate opens doors, but experience is what moves you from the bottom to the top of each band.

Sources

Figures are taken from the sources below. Salary ranges are indicative and individual offers vary. Last checked 9 November 2026.

Network engineer salary UK: entry level to senior in 2026