WAN Contracts in the North West

Wide Area Network (WAN)
England > North West

The table below provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies advertised in the North West requiring WAN skills. It includes a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that cited WAN over the 6 months leading up to 25 August 2025, comparing them to the same period in the previous two years.

6 months to
25 Aug 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 90 77 64
Rank change year-on-year -13 -13 +30
DemandTrendContract jobs citing WAN 44 49 86
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the North West 1.98% 2.00% 3.00%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.57% 16.33% 20.72%
Number of daily rates quoted 34 32 47
10th Percentile - £313 £288
25th Percentile £129 £350 £381
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £325 £438 £475
Median % change year-on-year -25.71% -7.89% +11.76%
75th Percentile £470 £508 £575
90th Percentile £535 £634 £588
England median daily rate £450 £500 £475
% change year-on-year -10.00% +5.26% +5.56%
Number of hourly rates quoted 3 1 1
10th Percentile £33.95 - -
25th Percentile £45.88 £18.03 -
Median hourly rate £66.50 £18.07 £47.83
Median % change year-on-year +268.12% -62.23% +17.88%
75th Percentile £68.71 £18.10 -
90th Percentile £69.58 - -
England median hourly rate £30.00 £24.87 £40.00
% change year-on-year +20.63% -37.83% +63.27%

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.

DemandTrendContract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 302 300 415
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the North West 13.60% 12.24% 14.46%
Number of daily rates quoted 176 198 275
10th Percentile £147 £250 £300
25th Percentile £325 £400 £400
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £442 £515 £475
Median % change year-on-year -14.13% +8.42% -
75th Percentile £538 £675 £575
90th Percentile £675 £833 £636
England median daily rate £492 £505 £500
% change year-on-year -2.57% +1.00% -0.70%
Number of hourly rates quoted 5 9 10
10th Percentile £22.40 £24.61 £15.72
25th Percentile £26.00 £35.00 £15.75
Median hourly rate £66.50 £48.56 £16.68
Median % change year-on-year +36.94% +191.13% -47.57%
75th Percentile £67.25 £51.91 £46.88
90th Percentile £69.00 £62.80 £49.35
England median hourly rate £42.50 £55.75 £56.49
% change year-on-year -23.76% -1.32% +43.01%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend in the North West

Job postings citing WAN as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the North West.

Job vacancy trend for WAN 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 August 2025.

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 25 August 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for WAN in the North West

WAN
DemandTrendContract 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 August 2025. 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
DemandTrendContract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Merseyside +7 14 £133 -41.11% 1
Cheshire -23 13 £325 -31.58% 5
Cumbria +17 9 £520 -22.96% 2
Manchester -17 5 £438 +20.69% 12
Lancashire -6 2 £175 -66.67% 13
WAN
England

WAN
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the North West by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 3 (6.82%) Microsoft Exchange
2 2 (4.55%) Skype for Business
3 1 (2.27%) SharePoint
Applications
1 4 (9.09%) Microsoft Office
2 1 (2.27%) MS Visio
Business Applications
1 3 (6.82%) Remedy ITSM
Cloud Services
1 4 (9.09%) Azure
2 1 (2.27%) Microsoft 365
2 1 (2.27%) OneDrive
Communications & Networking
1 30 (68.18%) LAN
2 17 (38.64%) Wi-Fi
3 15 (34.09%) Firewall
4 9 (20.45%) WLAN
5 8 (18.18%) BGP
5 8 (18.18%) SD-WAN
6 7 (15.91%) MPLS
6 7 (15.91%) Network Security
6 7 (15.91%) Wireless
7 6 (13.64%) Cisco ISE
7 6 (13.64%) NetScaler
8 5 (11.36%) OSPF
8 5 (11.36%) TCP/IP
8 5 (11.36%) VPN
9 4 (9.09%) Cisco IOS
9 4 (9.09%) DNS
10 3 (6.82%) DHCP
10 3 (6.82%) EIGRP
10 3 (6.82%) IPv4
10 3 (6.82%) NX-OS
Development Applications
1 1 (2.27%) JIRA
General
1 6 (13.64%) Public Sector
2 4 (9.09%) Analytical Skills
3 3 (6.82%) Telecoms
4 2 (4.55%) Documentation Skills
4 2 (4.55%) Inclusion and Diversity
4 2 (4.55%) Social Skills
5 1 (2.27%) Banking
5 1 (2.27%) Finance
5 1 (2.27%) Law
5 1 (2.27%) Legal
5 1 (2.27%) Presentation Skills
5 1 (2.27%) Social Housing
Job Titles
1 23 (52.27%) Network Engineer
2 14 (31.82%) IT Technician
3 6 (13.64%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
4 3 (6.82%) Infrastructure Engineer
4 3 (6.82%) IP Engineer
5 2 (4.55%) Cisco Engineer
5 2 (4.55%) Cisco Network Engineer
5 2 (4.55%) Network Infrastructure Engineer
5 2 (4.55%) Senior
5 2 (4.55%) Senior Network Engineer
5 2 (4.55%) Transmission Engineer
6 1 (2.27%) Deployment Consultant
6 1 (2.27%) Head of Digital
6 1 (2.27%) Head of Networks
6 1 (2.27%) ICT Engineer
6 1 (2.27%) ICT Infrastructure Engineer
6 1 (2.27%) IT Engineer
6 1 (2.27%) SCCM Consultant
6 1 (2.27%) Telecoms Engineer
6 1 (2.27%) Windows Consultant
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 7 (15.91%) 802.1X
2 1 (2.27%) Middleware
2 1 (2.27%) Node.js
Miscellaneous
1 9 (20.45%) Data Centre
2 5 (11.36%) CMDB
2 5 (11.36%) Management Information System
2 5 (11.36%) Video Conferencing
3 1 (2.27%) Security Posture
3 1 (2.27%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 3 (6.82%) Windows
1 3 (6.82%) Windows 10
1 3 (6.82%) Windows 7
2 1 (2.27%) Windows 8
2 1 (2.27%) Windows Server
2 1 (2.27%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (38.64%) Service Management
2 14 (31.82%) Customer Service
3 11 (25.00%) ITIL
4 8 (18.18%) Load Balancing
4 8 (18.18%) Network Architecture
4 8 (18.18%) Network Design
4 8 (18.18%) Network Management
5 7 (15.91%) Impact Assessments
6 6 (13.64%) Change Management
6 6 (13.64%) Performance Metrics
6 6 (13.64%) Problem Management
7 5 (11.36%) Asset Management
7 5 (11.36%) Problem-Solving
8 4 (9.09%) Collaborative Working
8 4 (9.09%) Task Automation
9 3 (6.82%) Disaster Recovery
9 3 (6.82%) Infrastructure Engineering
9 3 (6.82%) Network Planning
9 3 (6.82%) Project Delivery
9 3 (6.82%) Service Delivery
Programming Languages
1 6 (13.64%) Python
2 4 (9.09%) Perl
2 4 (9.09%) PowerShell
3 2 (4.55%) VB
3 2 (4.55%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 14 (31.82%) Cisco Certification
2 11 (25.00%) SC Cleared
2 11 (25.00%) Security Cleared
3 9 (20.45%) CCNP
4 7 (15.91%) CCNA
4 7 (15.91%) Degree
5 3 (6.82%) CCDP
6 2 (4.55%) CCIE
7 1 (2.27%) BPSS Clearance
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 1 (2.27%) California Consumer Privacy Act
1 1 (2.27%) GDPR
System Software
1 2 (4.55%) Active Directory
1 2 (4.55%) BitLocker
Systems Management
1 2 (4.55%) Ansible
1 2 (4.55%) SCCM
2 1 (2.27%) Cisco Prime
Vendors
1 25 (56.82%) Cisco
2 13 (29.55%) Palo Alto
3 11 (25.00%) Meraki
4 5 (11.36%) SolarWinds
5 4 (9.09%) F5
5 4 (9.09%) Microsoft
6 3 (6.82%) BMC
6 3 (6.82%) Fortinet
6 3 (6.82%) Huawei
6 3 (6.82%) Remedy
6 3 (6.82%) ServiceNow
7 2 (4.55%) Aruba
8 1 (2.27%) Arista
8 1 (2.27%) HP
8 1 (2.27%) McAfee
8 1 (2.27%) Splunk
8 1 (2.27%) VMware