WAN Contract Job Trends in the North West

Wide Area Network (WAN)
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the North West requiring WAN skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 25 March 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Mar 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 105 66 70
Rank change year-on-year -39 +4 +12
Contract jobs citing WAN 59 62 67
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 1.92% 3.15% 2.39%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.01% 17.82% 17.05%
Number of daily rates quoted 41 38 55
10th Percentile £300 £208 £313
25th Percentile £410 £325 £424
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £515 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +14.44% -8.72% +27.23%
75th Percentile £550 £517 £638
90th Percentile £613 £588 £672
England median daily rate £480 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +1.05% -5.00% +5.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 1 0 0
10th Percentile - - -
25th Percentile £17.92 - -
Median hourly rate £19.84 - -
75th Percentile £21.76 - -
90th Percentile - - -
England median hourly rate £22.50 £42.50 £23.50
% change year-on-year -47.06% +80.85% -28.79%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
North West

WAN falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in the North West.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 421 348 393
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 13.70% 17.69% 13.99%
Number of daily rates quoted 249 208 293
10th Percentile £298 £184 £199
25th Percentile £380 £300 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £493
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -8.72% -1.40%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £602
90th Percentile £646 £591 £710
England median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 19 3 13
10th Percentile £16.40 £20.00 -
25th Percentile £18.00 £21.12 £17.72
Median hourly rate £41.94 £24.59 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +70.59% -5.44% -5.45%
75th Percentile £74.26 £25.47 £45.88
90th Percentile - £25.90 £49.18
England median hourly rate £40.02 £35.00 £32.50
% change year-on-year +14.34% +7.69% +71.05%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings citing WAN relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West.

WAN job vacancy trend in the North West

WAN
Daily Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing WAN.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing WAN

WAN
Daily Rate Histogram in the North West

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing WAN in the North West over the 6 months to 25 March 2026.

Daily rate histogram for WAN in the North West

WAN
Hourly Rate Trend in the North West

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing WAN.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the North West citing WAN

WAN
Contract Job Locations in the North West

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing WAN within the North West region over the 6 months to 25 March 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Cumbria 0 25 £525 +12.60% 2
Cheshire -14 16 £420 -4.00%
Manchester -29 12 £509 +4.36% 11
Merseyside -14 6 £130 -39.53% 2
WAN
England

WAN
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the North West 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 9 (15.25%) Microsoft Exchange
1 9 (15.25%) Skype for Business
2 1 (1.69%) IIS
2 1 (1.69%) SharePoint
Applications
1 11 (18.64%) Microsoft Office
2 5 (8.47%) Microsoft Excel
3 3 (5.08%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 3 (5.08%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 6 (10.17%) Microsoft 365
2 4 (6.78%) Azure
3 1 (1.69%) AWS
3 1 (1.69%) Azure ExpressRoute
3 1 (1.69%) Entra ID
3 1 (1.69%) Google Ads
3 1 (1.69%) IBM Watson
Communications & Networking
1 34 (57.63%) LAN
2 31 (52.54%) Firewall
3 30 (50.85%) Wi-Fi
4 23 (38.98%) VPN
5 20 (33.90%) VLAN
6 15 (25.42%) SD-WAN
7 14 (23.73%) Wireless
8 12 (20.34%) DNS
9 11 (18.64%) DHCP
10 10 (16.95%) Cisco ISE
10 10 (16.95%) MPLS
10 10 (16.95%) NetScaler
11 9 (15.25%) Skype
12 8 (13.56%) Network Security
13 7 (11.86%) BGP
13 7 (11.86%) OSPF
13 7 (11.86%) TCP/IP
14 6 (10.17%) Cisco ASA
15 5 (8.47%) EIGRP
15 5 (8.47%) IPsec
Database & Business Intelligence
1 3 (5.08%) MS Access
General
1 15 (25.42%) Social Skills
2 9 (15.25%) Finance
2 9 (15.25%) Public Sector
3 7 (11.86%) Banking
4 4 (6.78%) Analytical Skills
5 3 (5.08%) Presentation Skills
6 1 (1.69%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (1.69%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 24 (40.68%) Network Engineer
2 17 (28.81%) Architect
3 10 (16.95%) Network Architect
4 8 (13.56%) Senior
5 7 (11.86%) Technical Architect
6 6 (10.17%) Analyst
7 5 (8.47%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
8 4 (6.78%) Senior Network Engineer
8 4 (6.78%) Support Analyst
9 3 (5.08%) IT Support
9 3 (5.08%) Risk Management Specialist
9 3 (5.08%) Senior Architect
9 3 (5.08%) Senior Network Architect
9 3 (5.08%) Support Engineer
10 2 (3.39%) Field Engineer
10 2 (3.39%) Field Service Engineer
10 2 (3.39%) IT Engineer
10 2 (3.39%) IT Support Engineer
10 2 (3.39%) Risk Analyst
10 2 (3.39%) SCCM Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (30.51%) 802.1X
2 1 (1.69%) Django
2 1 (1.69%) Software Packaging
Miscellaneous
1 11 (18.64%) Data Centre
2 9 (15.25%) Onboarding
3 3 (5.08%) Hybrid Cloud
3 3 (5.08%) Security Posture
4 1 (1.69%) iPhone
4 1 (1.69%) PKI
4 1 (1.69%) Public Cloud
Operating Systems
1 17 (28.81%) Windows
2 13 (22.03%) Windows 10
3 9 (15.25%) Windows 7
4 4 (6.78%) Windows Server
5 1 (1.69%) Windows Server 2012
Processes & Methodologies
1 16 (27.12%) Network Architecture
2 13 (22.03%) Load Balancing
2 13 (22.03%) Network Design
3 10 (16.95%) Impact Assessments
4 9 (15.25%) Disk Encryption
4 9 (15.25%) ITSM
4 9 (15.25%) Service Management
4 9 (15.25%) Technical Leadership
5 8 (13.56%) Network Management
5 8 (13.56%) Problem-Solving
5 8 (13.56%) Root Cause Analysis
6 7 (11.86%) Migration
6 7 (11.86%) Network Monitoring
7 6 (10.17%) Zero Trust
8 5 (8.47%) Change Management
8 5 (8.47%) Compliance Audit
8 5 (8.47%) Network Segmentation
8 5 (8.47%) Performance Optimisation
8 5 (8.47%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 4 (6.78%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (15.25%) PowerShell
1 9 (15.25%) VB
1 9 (15.25%) VBScript
2 2 (3.39%) Python
3 1 (1.69%) SQL
Qualifications
1 30 (50.85%) Security Cleared
2 22 (37.29%) SC Cleared
3 10 (16.95%) Cisco Certification
4 7 (11.86%) CCNA
4 7 (11.86%) CCNP
4 7 (11.86%) DV Cleared
5 6 (10.17%) Degree
6 4 (6.78%) Computer Science Degree
7 3 (5.08%) CCIE
8 1 (1.69%) ITIL Certification
8 1 (1.69%) JNCIA
8 1 (1.69%) JNCIS
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 7 (11.86%) SLA
System Software
1 9 (15.25%) BitLocker
2 8 (13.56%) Active Directory
3 1 (1.69%) Firmware
3 1 (1.69%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 11 (18.64%) SCCM
2 2 (3.39%) Ansible
3 1 (1.69%) AirWatch
3 1 (1.69%) Failover Clustering
3 1 (1.69%) FortiGate
3 1 (1.69%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (1.69%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (1.69%) Nessus
3 1 (1.69%) Terraform
Vendors
1 22 (37.29%) Cisco
1 22 (37.29%) Microsoft
2 18 (30.51%) Palo Alto
3 13 (22.03%) Meraki
4 11 (18.64%) ServiceNow
5 8 (13.56%) Aruba
6 6 (10.17%) CheckPoint
6 6 (10.17%) Ekahau
7 4 (6.78%) Fortinet
8 2 (3.39%) Juniper
8 2 (3.39%) SAP
9 1 (1.69%) Bloomberg
9 1 (1.69%) Citrix
9 1 (1.69%) Forcepoint
9 1 (1.69%) HP
9 1 (1.69%) IBM
9 1 (1.69%) McAfee
9 1 (1.69%) NetScout
9 1 (1.69%) Sophos
9 1 (1.69%) Symantec