WAN Contract Job Trends in the South East

Wide Area Network (WAN)
England > South East

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs advertised in the South East requiring WAN skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 28 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
28 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 112 85 69
Rank change year-on-year -27 -16 +9
Contract jobs citing WAN 76 91 161
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.72% 2.51% 3.22%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 12.18% 13.73% 14.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 41 70 88
10th Percentile £400 £217 £148
25th Percentile £431 £317 £180
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £456 £500 £413
Median % change year-on-year -8.80% +21.21% -13.16%
75th Percentile £500 £584 £550
90th Percentile £538 £638 £645
England median daily rate £456 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -8.80% - +9.41%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 1 7
10th Percentile £21.59 - £22.65
25th Percentile £25.47 £18.50 £24.63
Median hourly rate £34.36 £19.00 £40.00
Median % change year-on-year +80.84% -52.50% +70.21%
75th Percentile £44.69 £19.50 £56.25
90th Percentile £49.42 - £70.60
England median hourly rate £18.00 £70.00 £24.50
% change year-on-year -74.29% +185.71% +6.52%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
South East

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 South East.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 624 663 1,148
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 14.13% 18.31% 22.95%
Number of daily rates quoted 459 378 632
10th Percentile £204 £239 £200
25th Percentile £340 £400 £280
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.50% +11.11% -7.60%
75th Percentile £575 £593 £563
90th Percentile £639 £647 £650
England median daily rate £488 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -2.50% - -1.26%
Number of hourly rates quoted 18 21 71
10th Percentile £18.23 £31.25 £23.63
25th Percentile £24.94 £35.00 £30.00
Median hourly rate £71.08 £60.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +17.49% +0.83% +33.33%
75th Percentile £88.72 £63.75 £71.90
90th Percentile £90.87 £70.00 £76.53
England median hourly rate £34.00 £35.00 £56.49
% change year-on-year -2.86% -38.04% +50.64%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend in the South East

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

WAN job vacancy trend in the South East

WAN
Daily Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing WAN.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing WAN

WAN
Daily Rate Histogram in the South East

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing WAN in the South East over the 6 months to 28 December 2025.

Daily rate histogram for WAN in the South East

WAN
Hourly Rate Trend in the South East

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing WAN.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the South East citing WAN

WAN
Hourly Rate Histogram in the South East

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing WAN in the South East over the 6 months to 28 December 2025.

Hourly rate histogram for WAN in the South East

WAN
Contract Job Locations in the South East

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing WAN within the South East region over the 6 months to 28 December 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
Contract
IT Job Ads
Median
Daily Rate
Past 6 Months
Median Daily Rate
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Thames Valley -15 39 £450 -7.69% 32
Berkshire -5 33 £438 +38.89% 17
Hampshire -20 17 £500 +5.26% 25
Kent +11 12 £439 +35.00% 16
Surrey -18 6 £393 -25.24% 7
Oxfordshire -9 4 £463 -27.45% 11
East Sussex +5 3 £333 +104.62% 5
Buckinghamshire -10 2 - - 4
WAN
England

WAN
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the South East 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 12 (15.79%) OpenStack
2 1 (1.32%) SharePoint
Applications
1 3 (3.95%) MS Visio
2 2 (2.63%) Microsoft Excel
2 2 (2.63%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.63%) Microsoft PowerPoint
2 2 (2.63%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 19 (25.00%) AWS
2 16 (21.05%) Azure
3 6 (7.89%) OpenShift
4 2 (2.63%) Google Ads
4 2 (2.63%) Microsoft 365
5 1 (1.32%) GCP
5 1 (1.32%) Virtual Private Cloud
Communications & Networking
1 58 (76.32%) LAN
2 33 (43.42%) BGP
3 31 (40.79%) Firewall
4 25 (32.89%) OSPF
4 25 (32.89%) VPN
5 23 (30.26%) MPLS
6 14 (18.42%) Network Security
6 14 (18.42%) SD-WAN
7 12 (15.79%) IPsec
8 11 (14.47%) DNS
9 10 (13.16%) Structured Cabling
9 10 (13.16%) TCP/IP
9 10 (13.16%) Wireless
10 9 (11.84%) SNMP
11 8 (10.53%) TACACS
12 6 (7.89%) DHCP
13 5 (6.58%) IPv6
14 4 (5.26%) Intrusion Detection
14 4 (5.26%) VLAN
14 4 (5.26%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.32%) SQL Server
General
1 26 (34.21%) Social Skills
2 19 (25.00%) Documentation Skills
3 8 (10.53%) Analytical Skills
4 7 (9.21%) Manufacturing
5 5 (6.58%) Public Sector
5 5 (6.58%) Telecoms
6 3 (3.95%) Finance
7 2 (2.63%) Military
8 1 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
8 1 (1.32%) Police
8 1 (1.32%) Retail
Job Titles
1 31 (40.79%) Network Engineer
2 20 (26.32%) Architect
3 8 (10.53%) IP Specialist
3 8 (10.53%) Network Architect
4 7 (9.21%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
5 6 (7.89%) Designer
5 6 (7.89%) IP Architect
5 6 (7.89%) IP Designer
5 6 (7.89%) Senior
6 5 (6.58%) Lead
7 4 (5.26%) Cisco Engineer
7 4 (5.26%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 4 (5.26%) Installations Engineer
7 4 (5.26%) Technical Architect
8 3 (3.95%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
8 3 (3.95%) Project Manager
8 3 (3.95%) Senior Architect
9 2 (2.63%) DV Cleared Project Manager
9 2 (2.63%) Telecoms Architect
9 2 (2.63%) Telecoms Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (10.53%) NETCONF
1 8 (10.53%) YANG
2 6 (7.89%) REST
3 4 (5.26%) Middleware
4 2 (2.63%) OpenConfig
4 2 (2.63%) RESTCONF
5 1 (1.32%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 25 (32.89%) Data Centre
2 15 (19.74%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (11.84%) Cloud Native
4 4 (5.26%) Public Cloud
5 3 (3.95%) SCADA
6 2 (2.63%) Analytical Mindset
6 2 (2.63%) Linux Command Line
6 2 (2.63%) Self-Motivation
7 1 (1.32%) CCTV
7 1 (1.32%) Cyber Defence
7 1 (1.32%) Driving Licence
7 1 (1.32%) Enterprise Cloud
7 1 (1.32%) Fat Client
7 1 (1.32%) Life Science
7 1 (1.32%) Management Information System
7 1 (1.32%) Onboarding
7 1 (1.32%) Thin Client
7 1 (1.32%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 7 (9.21%) Linux
2 6 (7.89%) Windows
3 1 (1.32%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (22.37%) Network Design
2 15 (19.74%) Network Virtualisation
3 10 (13.16%) Incident Response
4 9 (11.84%) ITIL
4 9 (11.84%) Problem-Solving
5 8 (10.53%) Network Segmentation
6 7 (9.21%) Migration
6 7 (9.21%) Network Architecture
6 7 (9.21%) Validation
7 6 (7.89%) Customer Requirements
7 6 (7.89%) Cybersecurity
7 6 (7.89%) DevOps
7 6 (7.89%) Enterprise Architecture
7 6 (7.89%) Microservices
7 6 (7.89%) Roadmaps
7 6 (7.89%) Strategic Thinking
7 6 (7.89%) TOGAF
8 5 (6.58%) ITSM
8 5 (6.58%) Stakeholder Management
8 5 (6.58%) Technical Leadership
Programming Languages
1 14 (18.42%) Python
2 1 (1.32%) SQL
Qualifications
1 37 (48.68%) Security Cleared
2 36 (47.37%) Cisco Certification
3 29 (38.16%) SC Cleared
4 21 (27.63%) CCNP
5 15 (19.74%) CCIE
6 14 (18.42%) JNCIE
7 10 (13.16%) DV Cleared
8 9 (11.84%) Degree
9 7 (9.21%) CCNA
10 6 (7.89%) AWS Certification
11 4 (5.26%) Network+ Certification
12 3 (3.95%) BPSS Clearance
13 2 (2.63%) PMP
14 1 (1.32%) BC Cleared
14 1 (1.32%) CCSE
14 1 (1.32%) Computer Science Degree
14 1 (1.32%) JNCIA
14 1 (1.32%) JNCIS
14 1 (1.32%) MCP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (5.26%) SLA
2 1 (1.32%) JSP 440
System Software
1 9 (11.84%) VMware Infrastructure
2 7 (9.21%) VMware NSX
3 3 (3.95%) Active Directory
4 1 (1.32%) Firmware
4 1 (1.32%) KVM
4 1 (1.32%) RHEV
4 1 (1.32%) Virtual Desktop
4 1 (1.32%) Xen
Systems Management
1 16 (21.05%) Ansible
2 8 (10.53%) Terraform
3 4 (5.26%) Nagios
4 2 (2.63%) Endace
5 1 (1.32%) Amdocs OSS
5 1 (1.32%) Backup Exec
5 1 (1.32%) FortiGate
5 1 (1.32%) Norton AntiVirus
5 1 (1.32%) Proxmox
5 1 (1.32%) SCCM
5 1 (1.32%) SCOM
5 1 (1.32%) WhatsUp Gold
5 1 (1.32%) WSUS
Vendors
1 39 (51.32%) Cisco
2 24 (31.58%) Juniper
3 16 (21.05%) Fortinet
4 15 (19.74%) Palo Alto
5 13 (17.11%) CheckPoint
6 11 (14.47%) Aruba
6 11 (14.47%) F5
7 10 (13.16%) VMware
8 5 (6.58%) Microsoft
8 5 (6.58%) SolarWinds
9 4 (5.26%) MuleSoft
10 3 (3.95%) Zscaler
11 2 (2.63%) Mellanox
11 2 (2.63%) NVIDIA
11 2 (2.63%) Pegasus
12 1 (1.32%) Citrix
12 1 (1.32%) Cramer
12 1 (1.32%) McAfee
12 1 (1.32%) Nokia
12 1 (1.32%) Symantec