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 2 July 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
2 Jul 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 178 168 126
Rank change year-on-year -10 -42 -7
Contract jobs citing WAN 756 500 781
As % of all contract jobs in the UK 1.47% 1.61% 1.80%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 15.43% 13.14% 14.40%
Number of daily rates quoted 492 323 437
10th Percentile £306 £239 £263
25th Percentile £400 £360 £363
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £475 £500
Median % change year-on-year +5.26% -5.00% +4.05%
75th Percentile £582 £585 £638
90th Percentile £673 £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% -56.62%
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% -14.29%

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 4,900 3,805 5,424
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 9.52% 12.29% 12.50%
Number of daily rates quoted 2,984 2,324 3,203
10th Percentile £250 £230 £213
25th Percentile £400 £363 £350
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £500 £480 £500
Median % change year-on-year +4.17% -4.00% -1.38%
75th Percentile £588 £588 £600
90th Percentile £675 £675 £688
UK excluding London median daily rate £483 £474 £490
% change year-on-year +1.95% -3.22% +3.05%
Number of hourly rates quoted 305 179 430
10th Percentile £16.01 £14.99 £13.87
25th Percentile £19.34 £23.37 £17.69
Median hourly rate £26.44 £45.00 £45.00
Median % change year-on-year -41.24% - +114.29%
75th Percentile £65.00 £62.38 £63.75
90th Percentile £74.00 £80.20 £73.30
UK excluding London median hourly rate £26.22 £36.50 £47.50
% change year-on-year -28.16% -23.16% +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 2 July 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 2 July 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 2 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
England -19 642 £500 +4.71% 272
UK excluding London -19 461 £490 +12.00% 232
London -42 214 £515 -3.92% 89
Work from Home +2 184 £510 +2.00% 121
South East +11 169 £513 +13.89% 60
North of England -31 113 £500 +17.65% 55
North West -33 66 £537 +26.35% 30
Midlands -42 57 £378 -5.63% 44
Scotland +14 55 £488 +13.04% 22
West Midlands -59 44 £340 -15.00% 31
Yorkshire -18 42 £450 -5.76% 22
East of England +3 41 £450 +5.26% 12
South West -41 23 £556 +23.56% 22
North East -21 11 £650 +73.33% 6
East Midlands -15 8 £475 -5.00% 13
Wales -18 7 £468 +133.75% 6
Northern Ireland - 2 £468 - 15
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 (3.97%) Microsoft Exchange
2 25 (3.31%) SharePoint
3 18 (2.38%) Confluence
4 11 (1.46%) OpenStack
5 7 (0.93%) Skype for Business
6 2 (0.26%) Apache Spark
6 2 (0.26%) IIS
7 1 (0.13%) CMS
7 1 (0.13%) Oracle Workflow
Applications
1 29 (3.84%) MS Visio
2 19 (2.51%) Microsoft Office
3 18 (2.38%) Microsoft Excel
4 10 (1.32%) Microsoft PowerPoint
4 10 (1.32%) Microsoft Project
5 3 (0.40%) AutoCAD
6 2 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
Business Applications
1 1 (0.13%) DELMIA
Cloud Services
1 221 (29.23%) Azure
2 119 (15.74%) AWS
3 73 (9.66%) Microsoft 365
4 48 (6.35%) Entra ID
5 36 (4.76%) SaaS
6 31 (4.10%) GCP
7 26 (3.44%) Azure ExpressRoute
8 23 (3.04%) OCI
9 18 (2.38%) Virtual Private Cloud
10 15 (1.98%) OneDrive
11 14 (1.85%) Azure Sentinel
11 14 (1.85%) PaaS
12 13 (1.72%) Serverless
13 12 (1.59%) Azure DevOps
14 11 (1.46%) AWS CloudFormation
14 11 (1.46%) AWS Direct Connect
15 9 (1.19%) Azure Monitor
16 8 (1.06%) Power Platform
17 7 (0.93%) Amazon CloudWatch
17 7 (0.93%) PowerApps
Communications & Networking
1 492 (65.08%) LAN
2 395 (52.25%) Firewall
3 285 (37.70%) SD-WAN
4 247 (32.67%) BGP
5 203 (26.85%) VPN
6 186 (24.60%) OSPF
7 170 (22.49%) Network Security
8 147 (19.44%) DNS
9 133 (17.59%) MPLS
10 129 (17.06%) Wi-Fi
11 115 (15.21%) Wireless
12 91 (12.04%) DHCP
12 91 (12.04%) VLAN
13 82 (10.85%) TCP/IP
14 79 (10.45%) VXLAN
15 71 (9.39%) IPsec
16 64 (8.47%) BIG-IP
17 63 (8.33%) WLAN
18 61 (8.07%) Ethernet VPN
19 54 (7.14%) Cisco Nexus
Database & Business Intelligence
1 8 (1.06%) SQL Server
2 5 (0.66%) Azure SQL Database
2 5 (0.66%) Data Lake
3 3 (0.40%) NoSQL
3 3 (0.40%) PostgreSQL
4 2 (0.26%) Apache Cassandra
4 2 (0.26%) Elasticsearch
4 2 (0.26%) Flink
4 2 (0.26%) InfluxDB
4 2 (0.26%) MongoDB
4 2 (0.26%) MySQL
4 2 (0.26%) TimescaleDB
5 1 (0.13%) Power BI
5 1 (0.13%) Tableau
Development Applications
1 33 (4.37%) JIRA
2 21 (2.78%) GitLab
3 14 (1.85%) Git
4 7 (0.93%) Sonatype Nexus
5 6 (0.79%) Jenkins
6 4 (0.53%) Browser DevTools
7 3 (0.40%) Chocolatey
8 2 (0.26%) Bitbucket
8 2 (0.26%) Robot Framework
9 1 (0.13%) Fiddler
9 1 (0.13%) MSI
9 1 (0.13%) Subversion
9 1 (0.13%) Visual Studio
General
1 174 (23.02%) Social Skills
2 72 (9.52%) Finance
3 70 (9.26%) Analytical Skills
3 70 (9.26%) Telecoms
4 63 (8.33%) Public Sector
5 45 (5.95%) Legal
6 31 (4.10%) Documentation Skills
7 19 (2.51%) Financial Institution
8 17 (2.25%) Manufacturing
9 14 (1.85%) Retail
10 12 (1.59%) Banking
11 11 (1.46%) Military
12 10 (1.32%) Organisational Skills
13 9 (1.19%) Billing
13 9 (1.19%) Inclusion and Diversity
14 8 (1.06%) Law
15 7 (0.93%) Influencing Skills
16 6 (0.79%) Police
17 3 (0.40%) German Language
17 3 (0.40%) Local Government
Job Titles
1 291 (38.49%) Network Engineer
2 122 (16.14%) Architect
3 105 (13.89%) Senior
4 72 (9.52%) Network Architect
5 46 (6.08%) Senior Network Engineer
6 42 (5.56%) Infrastructure Engineer
7 35 (4.63%) Cisco Engineer
8 34 (4.50%) SC Cleared Network Engineer
9 32 (4.23%) Cisco Network Engineer
10 30 (3.97%) Lead
11 26 (3.44%) Support Engineer
12 25 (3.31%) Project Manager
12 25 (3.31%) Security Engineer
13 23 (3.04%) IT Support
14 22 (2.91%) Consultant
14 22 (2.91%) Technical Architect
15 21 (2.78%) Network Manager
16 20 (2.65%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
17 19 (2.51%) IT Engineer
18 18 (2.38%) Network Security Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 54 (7.14%) 802.1X
2 15 (1.98%) REST
2 15 (1.98%) SAML
3 11 (1.46%) NETCONF
3 11 (1.46%) YANG
4 10 (1.32%) LDAP
4 10 (1.32%) Microsoft Graph
5 4 (0.53%) Django
5 4 (0.53%) Jinja
5 4 (0.53%) Middleware
5 4 (0.53%) OpenConfig
5 4 (0.53%) RESTCONF
6 3 (0.40%) ARM Templates
7 2 (0.26%) AWS CDK
7 2 (0.26%) GraphQL
7 2 (0.26%) gRPC
7 2 (0.26%) OpenAPI
7 2 (0.26%) RabbitMQ
7 2 (0.26%) RFC 2544
7 2 (0.26%) Swagger
Miscellaneous
1 203 (26.85%) Data Centre
2 55 (7.28%) Hybrid Cloud
3 37 (4.89%) PKI
4 27 (3.57%) Cloud Native
4 27 (3.57%) Clustering
5 21 (2.78%) Security Posture
6 18 (2.38%) Driving Licence
7 16 (2.12%) Onboarding
7 16 (2.12%) Operational Technology
8 15 (1.98%) Self-Motivation
9 12 (1.59%) Analytical Mindset
9 12 (1.59%) Data Protection Act
10 11 (1.46%) IoT
10 11 (1.46%) Public Cloud
11 10 (1.32%) Private Cloud
12 9 (1.19%) SCADA
12 9 (1.19%) Virtual Team
13 8 (1.06%) NHS
14 7 (0.93%) Linux Command Line
15 5 (0.66%) Distributed Denial-of-Service
Operating Systems
1 183 (24.21%) Windows
2 61 (8.07%) Windows Server
3 49 (6.48%) Linux
4 20 (2.65%) Windows Server 2019
5 17 (2.25%) Windows 10
6 10 (1.32%) Android
7 8 (1.06%) VMS
8 7 (0.93%) Apple iOS
9 6 (0.79%) Mac OS
9 6 (0.79%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
10 5 (0.66%) Unix
10 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2012
10 5 (0.66%) Windows Server 2016
11 4 (0.53%) 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
1 108 (14.29%) Load Balancing
2 107 (14.15%) ITIL
3 106 (14.02%) High Availability
4 102 (13.49%) Problem-Solving
5 85 (11.24%) Zero Trust
6 77 (10.19%) Migration
7 74 (9.79%) Network Architecture
8 73 (9.66%) Network Design
8 73 (9.66%) Stakeholder Management
9 70 (9.26%) Infrastructure as Code
10 63 (8.33%) Project Delivery
10 63 (8.33%) Roadmaps
11 62 (8.20%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 59 (7.80%) Change Management
13 57 (7.54%) Agile
14 53 (7.01%) Network Monitoring
15 52 (6.88%) Technical Leadership
16 49 (6.48%) DevOps
17 47 (6.22%) CI/CD
18 46 (6.08%) Mentoring
Programming Languages
1 116 (15.34%) Python
2 59 (7.80%) PowerShell
3 21 (2.78%) SQL
4 13 (1.72%) Bash
5 5 (0.66%) VBScript
6 4 (0.53%) C++
6 4 (0.53%) Java
6 4 (0.53%) VB
7 2 (0.26%) C
7 2 (0.26%) Groovy
7 2 (0.26%) JavaScript
7 2 (0.26%) Perl
8 1 (0.13%) Bicep
8 1 (0.13%) Kusto Query Language
8 1 (0.13%) Shell Script
Qualifications
1 234 (30.95%) Security Cleared
2 222 (29.37%) Cisco Certification
3 158 (20.90%) SC Cleared
4 145 (19.18%) CCNP
5 78 (10.32%) CCNA
6 67 (8.86%) DV Cleared
7 57 (7.54%) CCIE
8 54 (7.14%) Degree
9 20 (2.65%) PMP
10 14 (1.85%) AWS Certification
10 14 (1.85%) Azure Certification
10 14 (1.85%) JNCIE
10 14 (1.85%) PMI Certification
11 13 (1.72%) JNCIP
12 12 (1.59%) JNCIS
13 11 (1.46%) Computer Science Degree
13 11 (1.46%) JNCIA
14 10 (1.32%) BPSS Clearance
15 8 (1.06%) CISSP
16 7 (0.93%) Microsoft Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 21 (2.78%) SLA
2 18 (2.38%) QA
3 15 (1.98%) NIST
4 12 (1.59%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 12 (1.59%) NCSC
5 5 (0.66%) GDPR
5 5 (0.66%) PCI DSS
6 4 (0.53%) Disclosure Scotland
6 4 (0.53%) PMO
7 2 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials
7 2 (0.26%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
7 2 (0.26%) ISO/IEC 20000
7 2 (0.26%) 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
System Software
1 105 (13.89%) Active Directory
2 75 (9.92%) VMware Infrastructure
3 36 (4.76%) VMware NSX
4 21 (2.78%) vSphere
5 18 (2.38%) Virtual Machines
6 15 (1.98%) Firmware
7 14 (1.85%) Hyper-V
8 11 (1.46%) Virtual Desktop
9 4 (0.53%) BitLocker
10 3 (0.40%) Virtual Servers
11 2 (0.26%) NFS
11 2 (0.26%) Squid
11 2 (0.26%) VMware ESXi
12 1 (0.13%) Docker
12 1 (0.13%) Microsoft Virtual Server
12 1 (0.13%) ProxySG
12 1 (0.13%) Samba
Systems Management
1 95 (12.57%) Ansible
2 85 (11.24%) Terraform
3 79 (10.45%) FortiGate
4 25 (3.31%) Microsoft Intune
5 22 (2.91%) Grafana
6 20 (2.65%) Prometheus
7 16 (2.12%) Single Sign-On
8 15 (1.98%) SCCM
9 8 (1.06%) Jamf Pro
10 6 (0.79%) Kubernetes
11 5 (0.66%) Cisco Prime
11 5 (0.66%) Puppet
12 4 (0.53%) CASB
12 4 (0.53%) Cisco CUCM
12 4 (0.53%) Nagios
12 4 (0.53%) Packer
12 4 (0.53%) Progress Chef
12 4 (0.53%) vRealize Orchestrator
13 3 (0.40%) Endace
13 3 (0.40%) vCenter Server
Vendors
1 378 (50.00%) Cisco
2 171 (22.62%) Palo Alto
3 157 (20.77%) Microsoft
4 122 (16.14%) F5
5 104 (13.76%) Fortinet
6 94 (12.43%) Juniper
6 94 (12.43%) VMware
7 85 (11.24%) Aruba
8 69 (9.13%) SolarWinds
9 63 (8.33%) CheckPoint
10 59 (7.80%) Arista
11 48 (6.35%) Zscaler
12 38 (5.03%) Meraki
12 38 (5.03%) ServiceNow
13 36 (4.76%) Splunk
14 28 (3.70%) Extreme Networks
15 17 (2.25%) Dell
16 13 (1.72%) Ekahau
17 9 (1.19%) Nokia
18 8 (1.06%) Citrix