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 27 February 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
27 Feb 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 97 62 58
Rank change year-on-year -35 -4 +28
Contract jobs citing WAN 53 63 85
As % of all contract jobs in the North West 1.89% 3.05% 3.06%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 13.91% 16.80% 20.33%
Number of daily rates quoted 38 34 72
10th Percentile £300 £208 £360
25th Percentile £403 £375 £471
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £517 £463 £583
Median % change year-on-year +11.55% -20.54% +37.18%
75th Percentile £559 £534 £650
90th Percentile £617 £588 £672
England median daily rate £456 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -8.80% - +10.25%

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 381 375 418
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 13.62% 18.18% 15.07%
Number of daily rates quoted 212 214 297
10th Percentile £259 £182 £210
25th Percentile £380 £313 £375
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £499 £453 £495
Median % change year-on-year +10.22% -8.59% -1.00%
75th Percentile £588 £538 £600
90th Percentile £643 £616 £672
England median daily rate £500 £500 £475
% change year-on-year - +5.26% -9.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 22 4 13
10th Percentile £15.50 £20.37 -
25th Percentile £18.13 £22.05 £17.72
Median hourly rate £41.94 £24.67 £26.00
Median % change year-on-year +69.99% -5.11% +7.87%
75th Percentile £74.26 £32.39 £45.88
90th Percentile - £43.56 £49.18
England median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £45.00
% change year-on-year -2.86% -22.22% +133.16%

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 27 February 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 27 February 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 +2 24 £525 +12.30% 1
Cheshire -17 11 £420 -6.67%
Manchester -29 11 £520 +4.00% 8
Merseyside -17 6 £130 -39.53%
Lancashire -17 1 £335 +123.33% 5
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 (16.98%) Microsoft Exchange
1 9 (16.98%) Skype for Business
2 1 (1.89%) SharePoint
Applications
1 11 (20.75%) Microsoft Office
2 6 (11.32%) Microsoft Excel
3 4 (7.55%) Microsoft PowerPoint
3 4 (7.55%) MS Visio
Cloud Services
1 4 (7.55%) Microsoft 365
2 3 (5.66%) Azure
3 1 (1.89%) Entra ID
3 1 (1.89%) Google Ads
3 1 (1.89%) IBM Watson
Communications & Networking
1 31 (58.49%) LAN
2 28 (52.83%) Wi-Fi
3 27 (50.94%) Firewall
4 19 (35.85%) VPN
5 18 (33.96%) VLAN
6 12 (22.64%) SD-WAN
6 12 (22.64%) Wireless
7 11 (20.75%) MPLS
8 10 (18.87%) Cisco ISE
8 10 (18.87%) DHCP
8 10 (18.87%) DNS
8 10 (18.87%) NetScaler
9 9 (16.98%) Skype
10 7 (13.21%) Cisco ASA
11 6 (11.32%) BGP
11 6 (11.32%) OSPF
12 5 (9.43%) 802.11
12 5 (9.43%) EIGRP
12 5 (9.43%) IPsec
12 5 (9.43%) TCP/IP
Database & Business Intelligence
1 4 (7.55%) MS Access
Development Applications
1 1 (1.89%) Sonatype Nexus
General
1 12 (22.64%) Social Skills
2 9 (16.98%) Public Sector
3 8 (15.09%) Finance
4 6 (11.32%) Banking
5 5 (9.43%) Analytical Skills
6 4 (7.55%) Presentation Skills
7 1 (1.89%) Inclusion and Diversity
7 1 (1.89%) Telecoms
Job Titles
1 24 (45.28%) Network Engineer
2 13 (24.53%) Architect
3 9 (16.98%) Senior
4 7 (13.21%) Analyst
4 7 (13.21%) Technical Architect
5 6 (11.32%) Network Architect
6 5 (9.43%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 5 (9.43%) Senior Network Engineer
7 4 (7.55%) Support Analyst
8 3 (5.66%) Risk Analyst
8 3 (5.66%) Risk Management Specialist
8 3 (5.66%) Senior Architect
8 3 (5.66%) Senior Network Architect
9 2 (3.77%) Cisco Engineer
9 2 (3.77%) Field Engineer
9 2 (3.77%) Field Service Engineer
9 2 (3.77%) SCCM Architect
10 1 (1.89%) Consultant
10 1 (1.89%) Senior Analyst
10 1 (1.89%) Technical Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 18 (33.96%) 802.1X
2 1 (1.89%) Django
Miscellaneous
1 10 (18.87%) Data Centre
2 9 (16.98%) Onboarding
3 4 (7.55%) Security Posture
4 2 (3.77%) Hybrid Cloud
5 1 (1.89%) PKI
Operating Systems
1 13 (24.53%) Windows
2 12 (22.64%) Windows 10
3 9 (16.98%) Windows 7
4 3 (5.66%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (32.08%) Network Architecture
2 13 (24.53%) Network Design
3 10 (18.87%) Impact Assessments
3 10 (18.87%) Problem-Solving
3 10 (18.87%) Service Management
4 9 (16.98%) Disk Encryption
4 9 (16.98%) ITSM
5 8 (15.09%) Load Balancing
5 8 (15.09%) Network Management
5 8 (15.09%) Root Cause Analysis
5 8 (15.09%) Technical Leadership
6 7 (13.21%) Migration
7 6 (11.32%) Compliance Audit
8 5 (9.43%) Stakeholder Engagement
9 4 (7.55%) Analytical Thinking
9 4 (7.55%) Analytics
9 4 (7.55%) Computer Science
9 4 (7.55%) Data Analytics
9 4 (7.55%) Risk Assessment
9 4 (7.55%) Risk Management
Programming Languages
1 9 (16.98%) PowerShell
1 9 (16.98%) VB
1 9 (16.98%) VBScript
2 2 (3.77%) Python
Qualifications
1 29 (54.72%) Security Cleared
2 21 (39.62%) SC Cleared
3 10 (18.87%) Cisco Certification
4 7 (13.21%) CCNP
4 7 (13.21%) DV Cleared
5 6 (11.32%) CCNA
6 5 (9.43%) Degree
7 4 (7.55%) CCIE
7 4 (7.55%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (7.55%) SLA
2 1 (1.89%) PCI DSS
System Software
1 9 (16.98%) BitLocker
2 6 (11.32%) Active Directory
3 1 (1.89%) VMware NSX
Systems Management
1 9 (16.98%) SCCM
2 2 (3.77%) Ansible
2 2 (3.77%) FortiGate
3 1 (1.89%) Failover Clustering
3 1 (1.89%) Jamf Pro
3 1 (1.89%) Microsoft Intune
3 1 (1.89%) Nessus
Vendors
1 23 (43.40%) Cisco
2 19 (35.85%) Microsoft
2 19 (35.85%) Palo Alto
3 13 (24.53%) Meraki
4 9 (16.98%) ServiceNow
5 6 (11.32%) Aruba
5 6 (11.32%) CheckPoint
6 5 (9.43%) Ekahau
7 4 (7.55%) Fortinet
8 2 (3.77%) SAP
9 1 (1.89%) Citrix
9 1 (1.89%) Forcepoint
9 1 (1.89%) IBM
9 1 (1.89%) Juniper
9 1 (1.89%) McAfee
9 1 (1.89%) NetScout
9 1 (1.89%) Sophos
9 1 (1.89%) Splunk
9 1 (1.89%) Symantec
9 1 (1.89%) VMware