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 29 June 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
29 Jun 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 180 168 127
Rank change year-on-year -12 -41 -9
Contract jobs citing WAN 747 495 780
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.46% 1.62% 1.80%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.42% 13.14% 14.39%
Number of daily rates quoted 491 317 434
10th Percentile £308 £238 £263
25th Percentile £400 £362 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +5.26%
75th Percentile £588 £585 £638
90th Percentile £675 £675 £713
UK excluding London median daily rate £490 £438 £475
% change year-on-year +12.00% -7.89% +11.76%
Number of hourly rates quoted 25 19 40
10th Percentile £17.74 £22.07 £14.00
25th Percentile £18.50 £28.00 £19.59
Median hourly rate £26.72 £30.00 £24.87
Median % change year-on-year -10.93% +20.63% -53.66%
75th Percentile £42.38 £41.63 £40.25
90th Percentile £76.05 £63.03 £75.00
UK excluding London median hourly rate £22.50 £30.00 £37.50
% change year-on-year -25.00% -20.00% -10.45%

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 4,844 3,768 5,421
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.48% 12.33% 12.48%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,966 2,296 3,192
10th Percentile £250 £225 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -1.43%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £472 £490
% change year-on-year +2.28% -3.62% +3.16%
Number of hourly rates quoted 300 179 433
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.87
25th Percentile £19.34 £21.99 £17.69
Median hourly rate £27.11 £45.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -39.76% - +114.29%
75th Percentile £65.00 £61.75 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.03 £80.20 £73.18
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.55 £36.57 £47.50
% change year-on-year -27.40% -23.01% +115.91%

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 29 June 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 29 June 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 29 June 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 -21 632 £500 +5.26% 191
UK excluding London -14 460 £490 +12.00% 177
London -32 211 £520 -2.99% 54
Work from Home +1 181 £510 +2.00% 92
South East +11 169 £509 +13.06% 49
North of England -29 112 £498 +17.06% 36
North West -26 65 £536 +26.12% 21
Scotland +16 57 £500 +15.94% 13
Midlands -52 54 £378 -5.63% 36
West Midlands -60 43 £339 -15.31% 26
East of England -3 42 £438 +2.34% 10
Yorkshire -22 42 £450 -5.76% 13
South West -43 23 £556 +23.56% 20
North East -27 11 £650 +73.33% 4
Wales -22 7 £468 +133.75% 5
East Midlands -11 6 £488 -2.50% 10
Northern Ireland - 2 £468 - 12
Channel Islands -2 1 £575 -22.56%

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 30 (4.02%) Microsoft Exchange
2 25 (3.35%) SharePoint
3 18 (2.41%) Confluence
4 11 (1.47%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.94%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.27%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.27%) IIS
7 1 (0.13%) CMS
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 29 (3.88%) MS Visio
2 18 (2.41%) Microsoft Office
3 15 (2.01%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.34%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.34%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.40%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.27%) Acrobat
6 2 (0.27%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 224 (29.99%) Azure
2 118 (15.80%) AWS
3 73 (9.77%) Microsoft 365
4 49 (6.56%) Entra ID
5 38 (5.09%) SaaS
6 30 (4.02%) GCP
7 26 (3.48%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 23 (3.08%) OCI
9 18 (2.41%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 15 (2.01%) OneDrive
11 14 (1.87%) Azure Sentinel
11 14 (1.87%) PaaS
12 13 (1.74%) Serverless
13 12 (1.61%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (1.47%) AWS CloudFormation
14 11 (1.47%) AWS Direct Connect
15 9 (1.20%) Azure Monitor
16 8 (1.07%) Power Platform
17 7 (0.94%) Amazon CloudWatch
17 7 (0.94%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 485 (64.93%) LAN
2 389 (52.07%) Firewall
3 289 (38.69%) SD-WAN
4 243 (32.53%) BGP
5 204 (27.31%) VPN
6 184 (24.63%) OSPF
7 161 (21.55%) Network Security
8 145 (19.41%) DNS
9 132 (17.67%) MPLS
10 131 (17.54%) Wi-Fi
11 107 (14.32%) Wireless
12 91 (12.18%) VLAN
13 89 (11.91%) DHCP
14 80 (10.71%) TCP/IP
14 80 (10.71%) VXLAN
15 69 (9.24%) IPsec
16 63 (8.43%) BIG-IP
17 62 (8.30%) Ethernet VPN
18 61 (8.17%) WLAN
19 52 (6.96%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.07%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.67%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.67%) Data Lake
3 3 (0.40%) NoSQL
3 3 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.27%) Apache Cassandra
4 2 (0.27%) Elasticsearch
4 2 (0.27%) Flink
4 2 (0.27%) InfluxDB
4 2 (0.27%) MongoDB
4 2 (0.27%) MySQL
4 2 (0.27%) TimescaleDB
5 1 (0.13%) Power BI
5 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 33 (4.42%) JIRA
2 21 (2.81%) GitLab
3 12 (1.61%) Git
4 7 (0.94%) Sonatype Nexus
5 6 (0.80%) Jenkins
6 4 (0.54%) Browser DevTools
7 3 (0.40%) Chocolatey
8 2 (0.27%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.27%) Robot Framework
9 1 (0.13%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.13%) MSI
9 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
General
1 166 (22.22%) Social Skills
2 74 (9.91%) Finance
3 69 (9.24%) Analytical Skills
4 66 (8.84%) Telecoms
5 61 (8.17%) Public Sector
6 49 (6.56%) Legal
7 30 (4.02%) Documentation Skills
8 18 (2.41%) Financial Institution
9 16 (2.14%) Manufacturing
10 13 (1.74%) Retail
11 11 (1.47%) Law
11 11 (1.47%) Military
12 10 (1.34%) Banking
12 10 (1.34%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (1.20%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 8 (1.07%) Billing
15 7 (0.94%) Influencing Skills
16 5 (0.67%) Police
17 3 (0.40%) German Language
17 3 (0.40%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 288 (38.55%) Network Engineer
2 122 (16.33%) Architect
3 103 (13.79%) Senior
4 71 (9.50%) Network Architect
5 45 (6.02%) Senior Network Engineer
6 43 (5.76%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 35 (4.69%) Cisco Engineer
8 34 (4.55%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 31 (4.15%) Cisco Network Engineer
9 31 (4.15%) Lead
10 26 (3.48%) Support Engineer
11 25 (3.35%) Security Engineer
12 24 (3.21%) Project Manager
13 23 (3.08%) IT Support
13 23 (3.08%) Technical Architect
14 21 (2.81%) Consultant
14 21 (2.81%) Network Manager
15 20 (2.68%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
16 19 (2.54%) IT Engineer
17 18 (2.41%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (7.23%) 802.1X
2 15 (2.01%) SAML
3 14 (1.87%) REST
4 11 (1.47%) NETCONF
4 11 (1.47%) YANG
5 10 (1.34%) LDAP
5 10 (1.34%) Microsoft Graph
6 4 (0.54%) Jinja
6 4 (0.54%) Middleware
6 4 (0.54%) OpenConfig
6 4 (0.54%) RESTCONF
7 3 (0.40%) ARM Templates
7 3 (0.40%) Django
8 2 (0.27%) GraphQL
8 2 (0.27%) gRPC
8 2 (0.27%) Kafka
8 2 (0.27%) OpenAPI
8 2 (0.27%) RabbitMQ
8 2 (0.27%) RFC 2544
8 2 (0.27%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 201 (26.91%) Data Centre
2 54 (7.23%) Hybrid Cloud
3 36 (4.82%) PKI
4 27 (3.61%) Cloud Native
4 27 (3.61%) Clustering
5 23 (3.08%) Security Posture
6 18 (2.41%) Onboarding
7 17 (2.28%) Driving Licence
8 16 (2.14%) Operational Technology
9 14 (1.87%) Self-Motivation
10 12 (1.61%) Analytical Mindset
11 11 (1.47%) IoT
11 11 (1.47%) Public Cloud
12 10 (1.34%) Data Protection Act
12 10 (1.34%) Private Cloud
13 9 (1.20%) SCADA
14 8 (1.07%) NHS
15 7 (0.94%) Enterprise Software
15 7 (0.94%) Linux Command Line
16 5 (0.67%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 185 (24.77%) Windows
2 61 (8.17%) Windows Server
3 47 (6.29%) Linux
4 20 (2.68%) Windows Server 2019
5 17 (2.28%) Windows 10
6 10 (1.34%) Android
7 8 (1.07%) VMS
8 7 (0.94%) Apple iOS
9 6 (0.80%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.80%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.67%) Unix
10 5 (0.67%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.67%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (0.54%) Windows 7
12 3 (0.40%) CatOS
13 1 (0.13%) CentOS
13 1 (0.13%) Data ONTAP
13 1 (0.13%) Ubuntu
Processes & Methodologies
1 107 (14.32%) ITIL
1 107 (14.32%) Load Balancing
2 106 (14.19%) Problem-Solving
3 105 (14.06%) High Availability
4 85 (11.38%) Zero Trust
5 76 (10.17%) Migration
6 75 (10.04%) Network Design
7 73 (9.77%) Network Architecture
8 71 (9.50%) Stakeholder Management
9 67 (8.97%) Infrastructure as Code
10 61 (8.17%) Change Management
10 61 (8.17%) Roadmaps
11 60 (8.03%) Infrastructure Engineering
11 60 (8.03%) Project Delivery
12 58 (7.76%) Agile
13 54 (7.23%) Network Monitoring
14 51 (6.83%) Technical Leadership
15 48 (6.43%) DevOps
16 46 (6.16%) Identity Access Management
16 46 (6.16%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 114 (15.26%) Python
2 58 (7.76%) PowerShell
3 22 (2.95%) SQL
4 12 (1.61%) Bash
5 5 (0.67%) VBScript
6 4 (0.54%) C++
6 4 (0.54%) VB
7 3 (0.40%) Java
8 2 (0.27%) C
8 2 (0.27%) Groovy
8 2 (0.27%) JavaScript
8 2 (0.27%) Perl
9 1 (0.13%) Bicep
9 1 (0.13%) Kusto Query Language
9 1 (0.13%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 226 (30.25%) Security Cleared
2 217 (29.05%) Cisco Certification
3 154 (20.62%) SC Cleared
4 140 (18.74%) CCNP
5 74 (9.91%) CCNA
6 65 (8.70%) DV Cleared
7 56 (7.50%) CCIE
8 51 (6.83%) Degree
9 21 (2.81%) PMP
10 15 (2.01%) PMI Certification
11 14 (1.87%) Azure Certification
11 14 (1.87%) JNCIE
12 13 (1.74%) AWS Certification
12 13 (1.74%) JNCIP
13 12 (1.61%) JNCIS
14 11 (1.47%) JNCIA
15 10 (1.34%) BPSS Clearance
15 10 (1.34%) Computer Science Degree
16 8 (1.07%) CISSP
17 7 (0.94%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 22 (2.95%) SLA
2 18 (2.41%) QA
3 16 (2.14%) NIST
4 12 (1.61%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 12 (1.61%) NCSC
5 5 (0.67%) GDPR
5 5 (0.67%) PCI DSS
6 4 (0.54%) Disclosure Scotland
6 4 (0.54%) PMO
7 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.27%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.27%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 2 (0.27%) JSP 440
8 1 (0.13%) Actionable Recommendations
8 1 (0.13%) Data Quality
8 1 (0.13%) DICOM
8 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 42001
8 1 (0.13%) NIST 800
8 1 (0.13%) RMADS
8 1 (0.13%) Sarbanes-Oxley
System Software
1 103 (13.79%) Active Directory
2 72 (9.64%) VMware Infrastructure
3 35 (4.69%) VMware NSX
4 21 (2.81%) vSphere
5 18 (2.41%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (2.01%) Firmware
7 14 (1.87%) Hyper-V
8 11 (1.47%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.54%) BitLocker
10 3 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.27%) Squid
12 1 (0.13%) Docker
12 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.13%) VMware ESXi
Systems Management
1 93 (12.45%) Ansible
2 83 (11.11%) Terraform
3 82 (10.98%) FortiGate
4 28 (3.75%) Microsoft Intune
5 22 (2.95%) Grafana
6 19 (2.54%) Prometheus
7 16 (2.14%) Single Sign-On
8 15 (2.01%) SCCM
9 8 (1.07%) Jamf Pro
10 6 (0.80%) Cisco Prime
11 5 (0.67%) Kubernetes
12 4 (0.54%) CASB
12 4 (0.54%) Cisco CUCM
12 4 (0.54%) Packer
12 4 (0.54%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.54%) Puppet
12 4 (0.54%) vRealize Orchestrator
13 3 (0.40%) Endace
13 3 (0.40%) Nagios
14 2 (0.27%) AirWatch
Vendors
1 380 (50.87%) Cisco
2 173 (23.16%) Palo Alto
3 158 (21.15%) Microsoft
4 120 (16.06%) F5
5 102 (13.65%) Fortinet
6 92 (12.32%) VMware
7 91 (12.18%) Juniper
8 87 (11.65%) Aruba
9 69 (9.24%) SolarWinds
10 62 (8.30%) CheckPoint
11 59 (7.90%) Arista
12 48 (6.43%) Zscaler
13 41 (5.49%) Meraki
14 36 (4.82%) ServiceNow
14 36 (4.82%) Splunk
15 28 (3.75%) Extreme Networks
16 16 (2.14%) Dell
17 13 (1.74%) Ekahau
18 10 (1.34%) Veeam
19 9 (1.20%) Nokia