WAN Contract Job Trends

Wide Area Network (WAN)
UK

The table below provides summary statistics and contractor rates for jobs requiring WAN skills. It covers contract job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 7 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
7 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 206 177 144
Rank change year-on-year -29 -33 -33
Contract jobs citing WAN 736 526 658
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.38% 1.60% 1.69%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.71% 13.32% 13.92%
Number of daily rates quoted 470 341 397
10th Percentile £300 £225 £264
25th Percentile £400 £325 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £450 £500
Median % change year-on-year +11.11% -10.00% +4.05%
75th Percentile £588 £575 £638
90th Percentile £651 £688 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £500 £425 £475
% change year-on-year +17.65% -10.53% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 29 20 24
10th Percentile £12.71 £25.78 £14.53
25th Percentile £16.25 £28.50 £18.38
Median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £31.19
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% -3.80% -37.63%
75th Percentile £44.06 £40.81 £75.00
90th Percentile £78.75 £62.14 £75.17
UK excluding London median hourly rate £19.84 £30.00 £31.19
% change year-on-year -33.87% -3.80% -28.99%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

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.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 5,004 3,950 4,727
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.37% 12.02% 12.11%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,970 2,419 2,866
10th Percentile £250 £240 £220
25th Percentile £400 £375 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £488 £500
Median % change year-on-year +2.56% -2.50% -
75th Percentile £588 £600 £608
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £475 £500
% change year-on-year +3.16% -5.00% +9.89%
Number of hourly rates quoted 355 195 324
10th Percentile £16.00 £14.99 £14.16
25th Percentile £19.34 £25.15 £18.27
Median hourly rate £26.44 £47.50 £47.50
Median % change year-on-year -44.34% - -5.79%
75th Percentile £65.00 £65.00 £65.00
90th Percentile £74.70 £83.60 £73.75
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.55 £45.00 £54.88
% change year-on-year -41.00% -18.00% -4.42%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend

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

WAN job vacancy trend in the UK

WAN
Daily Rate Trend

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

Contractor daily rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing WAN

WAN
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing WAN over the 6 months to 7 August 2026.

Daily rate histogram for WAN in the UK

WAN
Hourly Rate Trend

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

Contractor hourly rate distribution trend for jobs in the UK citing WAN

WAN
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing WAN over the 6 months to 7 August 2026.

Hourly rate histogram for WAN in the UK

WAN
Top 18 Contract Job Locations

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median contractor rates quoted in IT jobs citing WAN within the UK over the 6 months to 7 August 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
England -31 622 £510 +13.33% 263
UK excluding London -7 449 £500 +17.65% 192
London -60 206 £525 +2.94% 109
Work from Home -8 174 £520 +4.00% 92
South East +8 160 £525 +16.67% 63
North of England -39 110 £500 +42.86% 54
North West -30 64 £527 +62.00% 24
Scotland +17 56 £400 -11.11% 20
Midlands -63 53 £413 +5.77% 34
Yorkshire -18 41 £450 -3.33% 28
East of England +4 37 £400 +30.61% 6
West Midlands -83 36 £406 +1.56% 23
South West -32 31 £550 +22.22% 16
East Midlands -3 12 £275 +66.67% 11
North East -33 11 £650 +225.00% 4
Wales -14 7 £468 +78.10% 3
Channel Islands -1 1 £575 -22.56%
Northern Ireland - 1 £550 -

WAN
Co-Occurring Skills & Capabilities 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 17 (2.31%) SharePoint
2 16 (2.17%) Microsoft Exchange
3 11 (1.49%) OpenStack
4 10 (1.36%) Confluence
5 3 (0.41%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.27%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.27%) IIS
7 1 (0.14%) CMS
7 1 (0.14%) FactoryTalk
7 1 (0.14%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 29 (3.94%) MS Visio
2 21 (2.85%) Microsoft Office
3 19 (2.58%) Microsoft Excel
4 11 (1.49%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 8 (1.09%) Microsoft Project
6 3 (0.41%) AutoCAD
7 2 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Cloud Services
1 199 (27.04%) Azure
2 112 (15.22%) AWS
3 61 (8.29%) Microsoft 365
4 44 (5.98%) Entra ID
5 31 (4.21%) GCP
6 27 (3.67%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 26 (3.53%) SaaS
8 24 (3.26%) OCI
9 16 (2.17%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 15 (2.04%) Azure DevOps
11 13 (1.77%) Azure Sentinel
11 13 (1.77%) Serverless
12 10 (1.36%) AWS Direct Connect
13 9 (1.22%) AWS CloudFormation
13 9 (1.22%) Azure Monitor
13 9 (1.22%) GitHub
13 9 (1.22%) OneDrive
13 9 (1.22%) PaaS
14 6 (0.82%) Azure Functions
14 6 (0.82%) IaaS
Communications & Networking
1 486 (66.03%) LAN
2 397 (53.94%) Firewall
3 260 (35.33%) SD-WAN
4 237 (32.20%) BGP
5 195 (26.49%) VPN
6 183 (24.86%) Network Security
7 167 (22.69%) OSPF
8 146 (19.84%) MPLS
9 137 (18.61%) DNS
10 124 (16.85%) Wi-Fi
11 122 (16.58%) Wireless
12 89 (12.09%) TCP/IP
13 88 (11.96%) DHCP
14 86 (11.68%) VLAN
15 80 (10.87%) VXLAN
16 73 (9.92%) IPsec
17 64 (8.70%) WLAN
18 62 (8.42%) Ethernet VPN
19 58 (7.88%) BIG-IP
20 53 (7.20%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 11 (1.49%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.68%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.68%) Data Lake
3 2 (0.27%) Apache Cassandra
3 2 (0.27%) Elasticsearch
3 2 (0.27%) Flink
3 2 (0.27%) InfluxDB
3 2 (0.27%) MongoDB
3 2 (0.27%) MySQL
3 2 (0.27%) NoSQL
3 2 (0.27%) PostgreSQL
3 2 (0.27%) TimescaleDB
4 1 (0.14%) BigQuery
4 1 (0.14%) Cloud Spanner
4 1 (0.14%) Power BI
4 1 (0.14%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 24 (3.26%) JIRA
2 23 (3.13%) GitLab
3 16 (2.17%) Git
4 8 (1.09%) Jenkins
5 7 (0.95%) Sonatype Nexus
6 5 (0.68%) Browser DevTools
7 2 (0.27%) Robot Framework
8 1 (0.14%) Bitbucket
8 1 (0.14%) Fiddler
8 1 (0.14%) MSI
8 1 (0.14%) Subversion
8 1 (0.14%) Visual Studio
General
1 178 (24.18%) Social Skills
2 95 (12.91%) Telecoms
3 70 (9.51%) Analytical Skills
4 65 (8.83%) Public Sector
5 57 (7.74%) Finance
6 25 (3.40%) Documentation Skills
7 24 (3.26%) Legal
8 21 (2.85%) Retail
9 17 (2.31%) Financial Institution
10 15 (2.04%) Banking
11 13 (1.77%) Organisational Skills
12 9 (1.22%) Billing
12 9 (1.22%) Influencing Skills
13 8 (1.09%) Manufacturing
14 7 (0.95%) Law
14 7 (0.95%) Local Government
14 7 (0.95%) Military
15 6 (0.82%) Inclusion and Diversity
16 5 (0.68%) Police
17 3 (0.41%) German Language
Job Titles
1 301 (40.90%) Network Engineer
2 115 (15.63%) Senior
3 107 (14.54%) Architect
4 68 (9.24%) Network Architect
5 57 (7.74%) Senior Network Engineer
6 41 (5.57%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 35 (4.76%) Cisco Engineer
8 34 (4.62%) Consultant
9 32 (4.35%) Cisco Network Engineer
10 30 (4.08%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
11 28 (3.80%) IT Support
12 26 (3.53%) Security Engineer
13 25 (3.40%) Support Engineer
14 24 (3.26%) Lead
14 24 (3.26%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
15 23 (3.13%) Project Manager
16 21 (2.85%) Telecoms Engineer
17 20 (2.72%) Field Engineer
18 19 (2.58%) Developer
18 19 (2.58%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 58 (7.88%) 802.1X
2 14 (1.90%) REST
3 13 (1.77%) SAML
4 12 (1.63%) NETCONF
5 11 (1.49%) YANG
6 7 (0.95%) RESTCONF
7 6 (0.82%) LDAP
7 6 (0.82%) OpenConfig
8 4 (0.54%) Jinja
8 4 (0.54%) Middleware
9 3 (0.41%) ARM Templates
9 3 (0.41%) Java RMI
9 3 (0.41%) JSON
10 2 (0.27%) GraphQL
10 2 (0.27%) gRPC
10 2 (0.27%) Kafka
10 2 (0.27%) Microsoft Graph
10 2 (0.27%) OpenAPI
10 2 (0.27%) RabbitMQ
10 2 (0.27%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 189 (25.68%) Data Centre
2 59 (8.02%) Hybrid Cloud
3 35 (4.76%) PKI
4 33 (4.48%) Driving Licence
5 27 (3.67%) Clustering
6 26 (3.53%) Cloud Native
7 21 (2.85%) Security Posture
8 19 (2.58%) Onboarding
9 17 (2.31%) Operational Technology
9 17 (2.31%) Self-Motivation
10 14 (1.90%) Analytical Mindset
11 12 (1.63%) Private Cloud
11 12 (1.63%) Public Cloud
12 9 (1.22%) Data Protection Act
13 8 (1.09%) IoT
13 8 (1.09%) Management Information System
13 8 (1.09%) NHS
13 8 (1.09%) SCADA
14 7 (0.95%) Virtual Team
15 6 (0.82%) Linux Command Line
Operating Systems
1 154 (20.92%) Windows
2 49 (6.66%) Windows Server
3 46 (6.25%) Linux
4 11 (1.49%) Windows Server 2019
5 9 (1.22%) Mac OS
5 9 (1.22%) Windows 10
6 8 (1.09%) Unix
7 7 (0.95%) VMS
8 6 (0.82%) Android
8 6 (0.82%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
9 4 (0.54%) Apple iOS
9 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2012
9 4 (0.54%) Windows Server 2016
10 1 (0.14%) CatOS
10 1 (0.14%) CentOS
10 1 (0.14%) Data ONTAP
10 1 (0.14%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 125 (16.98%) Problem-Solving
2 108 (14.67%) High Availability
2 108 (14.67%) ITIL
2 108 (14.67%) Load Balancing
3 93 (12.64%) Zero Trust
4 76 (10.33%) Project Delivery
5 73 (9.92%) Migration
6 69 (9.38%) Infrastructure as Code
7 68 (9.24%) Infrastructure Engineering
8 67 (9.10%) Roadmaps
8 67 (9.10%) Stakeholder Management
9 66 (8.97%) Network Architecture
10 61 (8.29%) Network Design
11 59 (8.02%) Change Management
12 57 (7.74%) Continuous Improvement
13 56 (7.61%) Technical Leadership
14 52 (7.07%) Network Monitoring
15 50 (6.79%) Mentoring
16 49 (6.66%) DevOps
17 48 (6.52%) Identity Access Management
Programming Languages
1 108 (14.67%) Python
2 43 (5.84%) PowerShell
3 19 (2.58%) SQL
4 17 (2.31%) Bash
5 4 (0.54%) C++
5 4 (0.54%) Java
6 2 (0.27%) C
6 2 (0.27%) Groovy
6 2 (0.27%) Perl
7 1 (0.14%) Bicep
7 1 (0.14%) Kusto Query Language
7 1 (0.14%) Search Processing Language
7 1 (0.14%) Shell Script
7 1 (0.14%) VBScript
Qualifications
1 229 (31.11%) Security Cleared
2 202 (27.45%) Cisco Certification
3 135 (18.34%) SC Cleared
4 127 (17.26%) CCNP
5 77 (10.46%) DV Cleared
6 76 (10.33%) CCNA
7 52 (7.07%) CCIE
8 43 (5.84%) Degree
9 15 (2.04%) PMP
10 14 (1.90%) Azure Certification
10 14 (1.90%) Computer Science Degree
11 13 (1.77%) JNCIP
11 13 (1.77%) JNCIS
12 12 (1.63%) JNCIE
13 11 (1.49%) BPSS Clearance
14 10 (1.36%) PMI Certification
15 9 (1.22%) AWS Certification
15 9 (1.22%) JNCIA
16 8 (1.09%) CISSP
16 8 (1.09%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 27 (3.67%) SLA
2 18 (2.45%) NIST
3 16 (2.17%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 15 (2.04%) QA
5 10 (1.36%) NCSC
6 5 (0.68%) GDPR
6 5 (0.68%) PCI DSS
7 4 (0.54%) Disclosure Scotland
7 4 (0.54%) PMO
8 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
8 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
8 2 (0.27%) Data Quality
8 2 (0.27%) GRC
8 2 (0.27%) JSP 440
8 2 (0.27%) NIST 800
9 1 (0.14%) Actionable Recommendations
9 1 (0.14%) DICOM
9 1 (0.14%) ISO/IEC 20000
System Software
1 84 (11.41%) Active Directory
2 62 (8.42%) VMware Infrastructure
3 33 (4.48%) VMware NSX
4 17 (2.31%) Virtual Machines
5 16 (2.17%) Firmware
6 13 (1.77%) Hyper-V
6 13 (1.77%) vSphere
7 8 (1.09%) Virtual Desktop
8 2 (0.27%) Docker
8 2 (0.27%) NFS
8 2 (0.27%) Squid
8 2 (0.27%) Virtual Servers
9 1 (0.14%) BitLocker
9 1 (0.14%) FreeRADIUS
9 1 (0.14%) ProxySG
9 1 (0.14%) Samba
9 1 (0.14%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 88 (11.96%) Ansible
2 81 (11.01%) Terraform
3 73 (9.92%) FortiGate
4 20 (2.72%) Microsoft Intune
5 17 (2.31%) Grafana
6 16 (2.17%) Prometheus
6 16 (2.17%) Single Sign-On
7 9 (1.22%) SCCM
8 8 (1.09%) Kubernetes
9 6 (0.82%) Nagios
9 6 (0.82%) Puppet
10 5 (0.68%) Cisco Prime
10 5 (0.68%) Jamf Pro
10 5 (0.68%) Progress Chef
11 4 (0.54%) CASB
11 4 (0.54%) Cisco CUCM
11 4 (0.54%) Packer
11 4 (0.54%) vRealize Orchestrator
12 3 (0.41%) vCenter Server
13 2 (0.27%) VxRail
Vendors
1 366 (49.73%) Cisco
2 174 (23.64%) Palo Alto
3 149 (20.24%) Microsoft
4 119 (16.17%) F5
5 112 (15.22%) Fortinet
6 97 (13.18%) Juniper
7 85 (11.55%) VMware
8 79 (10.73%) Aruba
9 68 (9.24%) SolarWinds
10 55 (7.47%) Arista
11 54 (7.34%) Zscaler
12 51 (6.93%) CheckPoint
13 38 (5.16%) Meraki
13 38 (5.16%) Splunk
14 28 (3.80%) Extreme Networks
15 25 (3.40%) ServiceNow
16 18 (2.45%) Nokia
17 13 (1.77%) Ekahau
18 12 (1.63%) HP
19 10 (1.36%) Infoblox