WAN Engineer Contract Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Wide Area Network Engineer (WAN Engineer)
South East > Thames Valley

The median Wide Area Network Engineer (WAN Engineer) daily rate in the Thames Valley is £376, according to job vacancies posted in the 6 months leading up to 26 July 2026.

The table below compares current contractor rates and summary statistics with the previous two years.

6 months to
26 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 159 - 121
Rank change year-on-year - - +22
Contract jobs requiring a WAN Engineer 5 0 6
As % of all contract jobs in the Thames Valley 0.15% - 0.24%
As % of the Job Titles category 0.17% - 0.27%
Number of daily rates quoted 2 0 1
10th Percentile £342 - -
25th Percentile £353 - £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £376 - £375
75th Percentile £400 - £388
90th Percentile £411 - -
South East median daily rate £376 - £375
% change year-on-year - - +78.57%

All Contract IT Job Roles
Thames Valley

For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all contract IT job vacancies in the Thames Valley. Most job vacancies include a discernible job title that can be normalized. As such, the figures in the second row provide an indication of the number of contract jobs in our overall sample.

Contract vacancies in the Thames Valley with a recognized job title 3,007 1,545 2,253
% of contract IT jobs with a recognized job title 92.13% 92.35% 91.96%
Number of daily rates quoted 1,873 933 1,266
10th Percentile £317 £291 £256
25th Percentile £415 £400 £406
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £525 £500 £507
Median % change year-on-year +5.00% -1.28% +1.30%
75th Percentile £600 £598 £608
90th Percentile £700 £675 £688
South East median daily rate £525 £500 £520
% change year-on-year +5.00% -3.85% +4.00%
Number of hourly rates quoted 293 104 152
10th Percentile £16.35 £14.20 £16.00
25th Percentile £26.63 £15.13 £20.42
Median hourly rate £60.00 £25.15 £55.44
Median % change year-on-year +138.57% -54.63% +23.19%
75th Percentile £85.50 £64.69 £70.23
90th Percentile £103.70 £87.19 £87.50
South East median hourly rate £52.50 £25.30 £57.35
% change year-on-year +107.51% -55.88% +14.70%

WAN Engineer
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of contract IT job postings featuring 'WAN Engineer' in the job title relative to all contract IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

WAN Engineer job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

WAN Engineer
Daily Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for WAN Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for WAN Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley

WAN Engineer
Hourly Rate Trend in the Thames Valley

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for WAN Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley.

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for WAN Engineer job vacancies in the Thames Valley

WAN Engineer
Contract Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing WAN Engineer within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 26 July 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
Berkshire - 5 £376 -
WAN Engineer
South East

WAN Engineer Skill Set
Top 30 Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley

For the 6 months to 26 July 2026, WAN Engineer contract job roles required the following skills and capabilities in order of popularity. The figures indicate the absolute number of co-occurrences and as a proportion of all contract job ads across the Thames Valley region featuring WAN Engineer in the job title.

1 5 (100.00%) Cisco
1 5 (100.00%) SD-WAN
1 5 (100.00%) WAN
2 3 (60.00%) BGP
2 3 (60.00%) Firewall
2 3 (60.00%) LAN
2 3 (60.00%) OSPF
2 3 (60.00%) Wi-Fi
3 2 (40.00%) CCIE
3 2 (40.00%) CCNP
3 2 (40.00%) Cisco Certification
3 2 (40.00%) Firmware
3 2 (40.00%) ITSM
3 2 (40.00%) Kalman Filter
3 2 (40.00%) Risk Assessment
3 2 (40.00%) ServiceNow
4 1 (20.00%) 4G
4 1 (20.00%) 5G
4 1 (20.00%) 802.1X
4 1 (20.00%) Aruba
4 1 (20.00%) Azure
4 1 (20.00%) Azure DevOps
4 1 (20.00%) DevOps
4 1 (20.00%) DHCP
4 1 (20.00%) DNS
4 1 (20.00%) Fortinet
4 1 (20.00%) HP
4 1 (20.00%) Impact Analysis
4 1 (20.00%) Incident Management
4 1 (20.00%) Internet

WAN Engineer Skill Set
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities in the Thames Valley 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:

Cloud Services
1 1 (20.00%) Azure
1 1 (20.00%) Azure DevOps
Communications & Networking
1 5 (100.00%) SD-WAN
1 5 (100.00%) WAN
2 3 (60.00%) BGP
2 3 (60.00%) Firewall
2 3 (60.00%) LAN
2 3 (60.00%) OSPF
2 3 (60.00%) Wi-Fi
3 1 (20.00%) 4G
3 1 (20.00%) 5G
3 1 (20.00%) DHCP
3 1 (20.00%) DNS
3 1 (20.00%) Internet
3 1 (20.00%) MPLS
3 1 (20.00%) Network Security
3 1 (20.00%) TCP/IP
3 1 (20.00%) tcpdump
3 1 (20.00%) VLAN
3 1 (20.00%) VPN
3 1 (20.00%) Wireshark
3 1 (20.00%) WPA2
Development Applications
1 1 (20.00%) JIRA
General
1 1 (20.00%) Analytical Skills
1 1 (20.00%) Finance
1 1 (20.00%) Social Skills
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 1 (20.00%) 802.1X
Miscellaneous
1 2 (40.00%) Security Posture
2 1 (20.00%) Analytical Mindset
2 1 (20.00%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 1 (20.00%) Windows
Processes & Methodologies
1 2 (40.00%) ITSM
1 2 (40.00%) Kalman Filter
1 2 (40.00%) Risk Assessment
2 1 (20.00%) DevOps
2 1 (20.00%) Impact Analysis
2 1 (20.00%) Incident Management
2 1 (20.00%) ITIL
2 1 (20.00%) Manual Testing
2 1 (20.00%) Scenario Testing
2 1 (20.00%) Test Management
2 1 (20.00%) Trend Analysis
2 1 (20.00%) Validation
Programming Languages
1 1 (20.00%) SQL
Qualifications
1 2 (40.00%) CCIE
1 2 (40.00%) CCNP
1 2 (40.00%) Cisco Certification
2 1 (20.00%) SC Cleared
2 1 (20.00%) Security Cleared
System Software
1 2 (40.00%) Firmware
Vendors
1 5 (100.00%) Cisco
2 2 (40.00%) ServiceNow
3 1 (20.00%) Aruba
3 1 (20.00%) Fortinet
3 1 (20.00%) HP