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 9 December 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
9 Dec 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 132 78 62
Rank change year-on-year -54 -16 +16
Contract jobs citing WAN 57 105 173
As % of all contract jobs in the South East 1.34% 2.65% 3.31%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 9.22% 14.58% 14.86%
Number of daily rates quoted 29 80 91
10th Percentile £299 £198 £148
25th Percentile £400 £309 £228
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £443 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -11.50% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £488 £590 £558
90th Percentile £508 £646 £638
England median daily rate £450 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -10.00% - +11.11%
Number of hourly rates quoted 2 3 8
10th Percentile £21.59 £17.80 £23.05
25th Percentile £25.47 £18.06 £24.44
Median hourly rate £34.36 £19.00 £32.50
Median % change year-on-year +80.84% -41.54% +41.30%
75th Percentile £44.69 £20.95 £50.63
90th Percentile £49.42 £21.82 £69.83
England median hourly rate £30.00 £72.50 £24.50
% change year-on-year -58.62% +195.92% +7.69%

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 618 720 1,164
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the South East 14.57% 18.18% 22.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 446 405 625
10th Percentile £204 £221 £203
25th Percentile £329 £400 £294
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £486 £500 £450
Median % change year-on-year -2.75% +11.11% -5.26%
75th Percentile £575 £606 £575
90th Percentile £638 £650 £650
England median daily rate £483 £500 £500
% change year-on-year -3.45% - -
Number of hourly rates quoted 20 33 73
10th Percentile £18.41 £32.00 £21.20
25th Percentile £29.89 £45.00 £27.50
Median hourly rate £70.16 £62.50 £60.00
Median % change year-on-year +12.26% +4.17% +33.33%
75th Percentile £86.91 £71.25 £75.25
90th Percentile £90.04 £75.00 £77.71
England median hourly rate £30.00 £48.56 £56.49
% change year-on-year -38.22% -14.04% +25.53%

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 9 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 9 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 9 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 -21 30 £425 -19.05% 27
Berkshire -1 27 £411 +24.62% 17
Hampshire -11 13 £469 -10.71% 17
Kent +3 7 £440 +181.97% 22
Surrey -13 5 £393 -25.24% 9
East Sussex +5 3 £333 +104.62% 4
Oxfordshire -11 3 £475 -25.49% 9
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 (21.05%) OpenStack
2 1 (1.75%) SharePoint
Applications
1 2 (3.51%) Microsoft Excel
1 2 (3.51%) Microsoft Office
1 2 (3.51%) Microsoft PowerPoint
1 2 (3.51%) MS Visio
2 1 (1.75%) Microsoft Project
Cloud Services
1 14 (24.56%) AWS
2 12 (21.05%) Azure
3 6 (10.53%) OpenShift
4 3 (5.26%) Microsoft 365
5 2 (3.51%) Google Ads
Communications & Networking
1 41 (71.93%) LAN
2 22 (38.60%) BGP
3 21 (36.84%) MPLS
4 16 (28.07%) Firewall
5 14 (24.56%) OSPF
6 10 (17.54%) Wireless
7 9 (15.79%) SNMP
7 9 (15.79%) VPN
8 8 (14.04%) DNS
8 8 (14.04%) IPsec
8 8 (14.04%) SD-WAN
8 8 (14.04%) TACACS
9 7 (12.28%) Network Security
9 7 (12.28%) TCP/IP
10 6 (10.53%) Structured Cabling
11 4 (7.02%) CATAPAN
11 4 (7.02%) IPv6
12 3 (5.26%) Broadband
12 3 (5.26%) DHCP
12 3 (5.26%) Intranet
Database & Business Intelligence
1 1 (1.75%) SQL Server
General
1 21 (36.84%) Social Skills
2 12 (21.05%) Documentation Skills
3 5 (8.77%) Public Sector
3 5 (8.77%) Telecoms
4 4 (7.02%) Analytical Skills
4 4 (7.02%) Manufacturing
5 2 (3.51%) Finance
5 2 (3.51%) Military
6 1 (1.75%) Organisational Skills
6 1 (1.75%) Police
6 1 (1.75%) Retail
Job Titles
1 18 (31.58%) Network Engineer
2 15 (26.32%) Architect
3 8 (14.04%) IP Specialist
4 6 (10.53%) Designer
4 6 (10.53%) IP Architect
4 6 (10.53%) IP Designer
5 4 (7.02%) Installations Engineer
5 4 (7.02%) Network Architect
6 3 (5.26%) DV Cleared Network Engineer
6 3 (5.26%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
6 3 (5.26%) Senior
6 3 (5.26%) Technical Architect
7 2 (3.51%) Cisco Engineer
7 2 (3.51%) Cisco Network Engineer
7 2 (3.51%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 2 (3.51%) Project Manager
7 2 (3.51%) Security Engineer
7 2 (3.51%) Support Engineer
7 2 (3.51%) Telecoms Architect
7 2 (3.51%) Telecoms Specialist
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 8 (14.04%) NETCONF
1 8 (14.04%) YANG
2 6 (10.53%) REST
3 3 (5.26%) Middleware
4 2 (3.51%) OpenConfig
4 2 (3.51%) RESTCONF
5 1 (1.75%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 15 (26.32%) Data Centre
2 14 (24.56%) Hybrid Cloud
3 9 (15.79%) Cloud Native
4 3 (5.26%) Public Cloud
4 3 (5.26%) SCADA
4 3 (5.26%) Virtual Team
5 2 (3.51%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (3.51%) Self-Motivation
6 1 (1.75%) CCTV
6 1 (1.75%) Cyber Defence
6 1 (1.75%) Data Protection Act
6 1 (1.75%) Driving Licence
6 1 (1.75%) Enterprise Cloud
6 1 (1.75%) Fat Client
6 1 (1.75%) Management Information System
6 1 (1.75%) Onboarding
6 1 (1.75%) Thin Client
6 1 (1.75%) TM Forum
Operating Systems
1 5 (8.77%) Windows
2 4 (7.02%) Linux
3 1 (1.75%) Windows Server
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (29.82%) Network Design
2 15 (26.32%) Network Virtualisation
3 10 (17.54%) Problem-Solving
4 8 (14.04%) Network Segmentation
5 7 (12.28%) Incident Response
5 7 (12.28%) Migration
5 7 (12.28%) Network Architecture
5 7 (12.28%) Roadmaps
5 7 (12.28%) Validation
6 6 (10.53%) DevOps
6 6 (10.53%) Enterprise Architecture
6 6 (10.53%) Microservices
6 6 (10.53%) Strategic Thinking
6 6 (10.53%) TOGAF
7 5 (8.77%) Cybersecurity
7 5 (8.77%) Presales
7 5 (8.77%) Stakeholder Management
8 4 (7.02%) Customer Requirements
8 4 (7.02%) ITIL
8 4 (7.02%) Project Delivery
Programming Languages
1 14 (24.56%) Python
2 1 (1.75%) SQL
Qualifications
1 24 (42.11%) Cisco Certification
2 22 (38.60%) Security Cleared
3 17 (29.82%) SC Cleared
4 15 (26.32%) CCIE
5 14 (24.56%) JNCIE
6 9 (15.79%) CCNP
7 6 (10.53%) AWS Certification
8 5 (8.77%) Degree
8 5 (8.77%) DV Cleared
9 4 (7.02%) CCNA
10 3 (5.26%) BPSS Clearance
11 1 (1.75%) BC Cleared
11 1 (1.75%) MCP
11 1 (1.75%) PMP
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 4 (7.02%) SLA
2 1 (1.75%) JSP 440
System Software
1 8 (14.04%) VMware Infrastructure
2 7 (12.28%) VMware NSX
3 3 (5.26%) Active Directory
4 1 (1.75%) Firmware
4 1 (1.75%) Virtual Desktop
Systems Management
1 14 (24.56%) Ansible
2 6 (10.53%) Terraform
3 1 (1.75%) Amdocs OSS
3 1 (1.75%) Backup Exec
3 1 (1.75%) Norton AntiVirus
3 1 (1.75%) SCCM
3 1 (1.75%) SCOM
3 1 (1.75%) WhatsUp Gold
3 1 (1.75%) WSUS
Vendors
1 26 (45.61%) Cisco
2 17 (29.82%) Juniper
3 14 (24.56%) Fortinet
4 10 (17.54%) F5
5 9 (15.79%) Palo Alto
5 9 (15.79%) VMware
6 8 (14.04%) CheckPoint
7 6 (10.53%) Aruba
8 5 (8.77%) Microsoft
9 3 (5.26%) MuleSoft
10 2 (3.51%) Pegasus
11 1 (1.75%) Blue Coat
11 1 (1.75%) Ciena
11 1 (1.75%) Citrix
11 1 (1.75%) Cramer
11 1 (1.75%) McAfee
11 1 (1.75%) Nokia
11 1 (1.75%) Qualys
11 1 (1.75%) Symantec
11 1 (1.75%) Wyse