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 10 January 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
10 Jan 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 94 63 51
Rank change year-on-year -31 -12 +35
Contract jobs citing WAN 56 58 89
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 2.26% 2.79% 3.34%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 16.00% 17.68% 21.04%
Number of daily rates quoted 38 29 74
10th Percentile £129 £212 £360
25th Percentile £206 £413 £464
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £450 £578
Median % change year-on-year +8.33% -22.08% +28.33%
75th Percentile £538 £525 £650
90th Percentile £571 £588 £672
England median daily rate £450 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -10.00% - +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 0 0
10th Percentile £29.98 - -
25th Percentile £35.94 - -
Median hourly rate £46.75 - -
75th Percentile £57.44 - -
90th Percentile £63.33 - -
England median hourly rate £18.00 £72.50 £23.00
% change year-on-year -75.17% +215.22% -4.17%

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 350 328 423
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 14.11% 15.80% 15.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 196 175 307
10th Percentile £170 £195 £302
25th Percentile £339 £350 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £473 £459 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.94% -8.20% +1.73%
75th Percentile £550 £545 £626
90th Percentile £672 £616 £672
England median daily rate £492 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -1.60% - -2.44%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 4 8
10th Percentile £15.50 £20.90 -
25th Percentile £18.50 £23.38 £17.72
Median hourly rate £34.47 £36.88 £42.49
Median % change year-on-year -6.53% -13.20% +40.57%
75th Percentile £67.25 £51.38 £47.66
90th Percentile £74.26 £52.05 £65.00
England median hourly rate £38.50 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year +10.00% -38.04% +125.96%

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 10 January 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
Hourly Rate Histogram in the North West

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing WAN in the North West over the 6 months to 10 January 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for WAN in the North West

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 10 January 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 +7 19 £525 +11.41% 3
Cheshire -15 13 £420 -6.67% 2
Merseyside -8 12 £133 -38.37%
Manchester -17 9 £520 +15.56% 12
Lancashire -13 2 £255 -24.44% 6
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 6 (10.71%) Microsoft Exchange
2 5 (8.93%) Skype for Business
3 2 (3.57%) SharePoint
Applications
1 8 (14.29%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (10.71%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (7.14%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (7.14%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 5 (8.93%) Azure
1 5 (8.93%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (1.79%) Entra ID
2 1 (1.79%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 33 (58.93%) LAN
2 28 (50.00%) Firewall
3 24 (42.86%) Wi-Fi
4 13 (23.21%) Cisco ISE
4 13 (23.21%) NetScaler
4 13 (23.21%) VPN
5 10 (17.86%) SD-WAN
6 9 (16.07%) MPLS
6 9 (16.07%) VLAN
7 8 (14.29%) BGP
8 7 (12.50%) DHCP
8 7 (12.50%) DNS
8 7 (12.50%) Wireless
9 6 (10.71%) Cisco ASA
9 6 (10.71%) Network Security
9 6 (10.71%) TCP/IP
10 5 (8.93%) Cisco IOS
10 5 (8.93%) OSPF
10 5 (8.93%) Skype
11 4 (7.14%) EIGRP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (7.14%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 1 (1.79%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 11 (19.64%) Public Sector
2 8 (14.29%) Social Skills
3 7 (12.50%) Finance
4 6 (10.71%) Analytical Skills
4 6 (10.71%) Banking
5 4 (7.14%) Presentation Skills
6 1 (1.79%) Documentation Skills
6 1 (1.79%) Inclusion and Diversity
6 1 (1.79%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 25 (44.64%) Network Engineer
2 8 (14.29%) Architect
2 8 (14.29%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
2 8 (14.29%) Senior
3 7 (12.50%) Analyst
3 7 (12.50%) IT Technician
4 5 (8.93%) Network Architect
4 5 (8.93%) Senior Network Engineer
5 4 (7.14%) Support Analyst
6 3 (5.36%) Risk Analyst
6 3 (5.36%) Risk Management Specialist
6 3 (5.36%) Technical Architect
7 2 (3.57%) Cisco Engineer
7 2 (3.57%) Field Engineer
7 2 (3.57%) Field Service Engineer
7 2 (3.57%) Senior Architect
7 2 (3.57%) Senior Network Architect
8 1 (1.79%) Consultant
8 1 (1.79%) Technical Consultant
8 1 (1.79%) Technical Design Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 16 (28.57%) 802.1X
2 1 (1.79%) Middleware
Miscellaneous
1 14 (25.00%) Data Centre
2 7 (12.50%) Onboarding
3 1 (1.79%) Hybrid Cloud
3 1 (1.79%) PKI
3 1 (1.79%) Security Posture
Operating Systems
1 9 (16.07%) Windows
1 9 (16.07%) Windows 10
2 6 (10.71%) Windows 7
3 4 (7.14%) Windows Server
4 1 (1.79%) Windows 8
4 1 (1.79%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 19 (33.93%) Network Architecture
2 14 (25.00%) Network Design
3 13 (23.21%) Impact Assessments
4 12 (21.43%) Service Management
5 11 (19.64%) Load Balancing
5 11 (19.64%) Network Management
6 8 (14.29%) Problem-Solving
7 7 (12.50%) Customer Service
8 6 (10.71%) Compliance Audit
8 6 (10.71%) Migration
9 5 (8.93%) Disk Encryption
9 5 (8.93%) ITSM
9 5 (8.93%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 5 (8.93%) Technical Leadership
10 4 (7.14%) Analytical Thinking
10 4 (7.14%) Analytics
10 4 (7.14%) Collaborative Working
10 4 (7.14%) Data Analytics
10 4 (7.14%) Root Cause Analysis
10 4 (7.14%) Task Automation
Programming Languages
1 6 (10.71%) PowerShell
2 5 (8.93%) Python
2 5 (8.93%) VB
2 5 (8.93%) VBScript
3 3 (5.36%) Perl
Qualifications
1 26 (46.43%) Security Cleared
2 18 (32.14%) SC Cleared
3 8 (14.29%) Cisco Certification
4 7 (12.50%) CCNP
5 5 (8.93%) DV Cleared
6 3 (5.36%) CCDP
6 3 (5.36%) CCIE
7 2 (3.57%) CCNA
8 1 (1.79%) BPSS Clearance
8 1 (1.79%) Computer Science Degree
8 1 (1.79%) Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 3 (5.36%) SLA
2 1 (1.79%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 7 (12.50%) Active Directory
2 5 (8.93%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 5 (8.93%) SCCM
2 2 (3.57%) FortiGate
3 1 (1.79%) Ansible
3 1 (1.79%) Failover Clustering
3 1 (1.79%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (1.79%) Microsoft Intune
Vendors
1 27 (48.21%) Cisco
2 22 (39.29%) Palo Alto
3 20 (35.71%) Meraki
4 16 (28.57%) Microsoft
5 5 (8.93%) ServiceNow
6 4 (7.14%) F5
6 4 (7.14%) Fortinet
6 4 (7.14%) SolarWinds
7 2 (3.57%) Aruba
7 2 (3.57%) CheckPoint
8 1 (1.79%) Broadcom
8 1 (1.79%) Citrix
8 1 (1.79%) Forcepoint
8 1 (1.79%) Juniper
8 1 (1.79%) LogicMonitor
8 1 (1.79%) McAfee
8 1 (1.79%) Netskope
8 1 (1.79%) SAP
8 1 (1.79%) Symantec
8 1 (1.79%) VMware