WAN Job Trends in the Thames Valley

Wide Area Network (WAN)
South East > Thames Valley

The table below provides summary statistics and salary benchmarking for jobs advertised in the Thames Valley requiring WAN skills. It covers permanent job vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 August 2026, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Aug 2026
Same period 2025 Same period 2024
Rank 139 101 118
Rank change year-on-year -38 +17 +12
Permanent jobs citing WAN 49 106 86
As % of all permanent jobs in the Thames Valley 0.72% 2.81% 1.67%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 10.45% 17.94% 12.97%
Number of salaries quoted 40 97 54
10th Percentile £41,250 £22,750 £32,375
25th Percentile £46,250 £28,250 £37,813
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £57,500 £40,000 £45,096
Median % change year-on-year +43.75% -11.30% -9.81%
75th Percentile £73,750 £57,500 £63,750
90th Percentile - £77,250 £72,625
South East median annual salary £51,500 £40,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year +28.75% -20.00% +11.11%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
Thames Valley

WAN falls under the Communications and Computer Networking category. For comparison with the information above, the following table provides summary statistics for all permanent job vacancies requiring communications or computer networking skills in the Thames Valley.

Permanent vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 469 591 663
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 6.89% 15.68% 12.88%
Number of salaries quoted 359 287 442
10th Percentile £28,000 £26,800 £31,250
25th Percentile £31,250 £34,000 £37,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £47,166 £45,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year +4.81% -10.00% +0.50%
75th Percentile £63,750 £63,125 £62,500
90th Percentile £72,500 £74,250 £80,000
South East median annual salary £47,500 £41,500 £50,000
% change year-on-year +14.46% -17.00% +5.26%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Historical trend showing the proportion of permanent IT job postings citing WAN relative to all permanent IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

WAN job vacancy trend in the Thames Valley

WAN
Salary Trend in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing WAN.

Salary distribution trend for jobs in the Thames Valley citing WAN

WAN
Salary Histogram in the Thames Valley

Salary distribution for jobs citing WAN in the Thames Valley over the 6 months to 17 August 2026.

Salary histogram for WAN in the Thames Valley

WAN
Job Locations in the Thames Valley

The table below looks at the demand and provides a guide to the median salaries quoted in IT jobs citing WAN within the Thames Valley region over the 6 months to 17 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
Permanent
IT Job Ads
Median Salary
Past 6 Months
Median Salary
% Change
on Same Period
Last Year
Live
Jobs
Oxfordshire -38 20 £72,500 +74.70%
Buckinghamshire 0 15 £59,500 +32.22% 2
Berkshire -27 14 £57,500 +59.72% 9
WAN
South East

WAN
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:

Application Platforms
1 1 (2.04%) Microsoft Exchange
1 1 (2.04%) SharePoint
Cloud Services
1 28 (57.14%) Azure
2 20 (40.82%) AWS
3 5 (10.20%) GCP
3 5 (10.20%) Microsoft 365
4 3 (6.12%) Entra ID
5 1 (2.04%) Azure Stack
5 1 (2.04%) IaaS
5 1 (2.04%) PaaS
Communications & Networking
1 38 (77.55%) VPN
2 33 (67.35%) LAN
3 31 (63.27%) Network Security
4 30 (61.22%) Firewall
4 30 (61.22%) SD-WAN
5 24 (48.98%) DNS
6 21 (42.86%) VLAN
7 19 (38.78%) DHCP
8 15 (30.61%) Wi-Fi
9 13 (26.53%) BGP
10 12 (24.49%) FTP
10 12 (24.49%) HTTP
11 11 (22.45%) Wireless
12 10 (20.41%) ICMP
12 10 (20.41%) Internet
12 10 (20.41%) IPsec
12 10 (20.41%) MPLS
12 10 (20.41%) SNMP
12 10 (20.41%) SSH
12 10 (20.41%) SSL
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (4.08%) SQL Server
Development Applications
1 1 (2.04%) JIRA
General
1 11 (22.45%) Social Skills
2 8 (16.33%) Documentation Skills
3 5 (10.20%) Analytical Skills
3 5 (10.20%) Presentation Skills
4 4 (8.16%) Telecoms
5 3 (6.12%) Finance
6 2 (4.08%) Organisational Skills
6 2 (4.08%) Public Sector
7 1 (2.04%) Manufacturing
Job Titles
1 18 (36.73%) Architect
2 15 (30.61%) Network Architect
3 13 (26.53%) Senior
4 10 (20.41%) Network Security Architect
4 10 (20.41%) Security Architect
5 9 (18.37%) Infrastructure Engineer
6 8 (16.33%) Senior Architect
6 8 (16.33%) Senior Infrastructure Engineer
7 6 (12.24%) Network Engineer
8 5 (10.20%) Consultant
8 5 (10.20%) Network Consultant
8 5 (10.20%) Senior Network Architect
9 4 (8.16%) Analyst
10 3 (6.12%) Infrastructure Architect
10 3 (6.12%) Lead
10 3 (6.12%) Presales Consultant
10 3 (6.12%) Senior Infrastructure Architect
11 2 (4.08%) IT Engineer
11 2 (4.08%) Network Manager
11 2 (4.08%) SOC Analyst
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 10 (20.41%) OAuth
1 10 (20.41%) SAML
2 2 (4.08%) LDAP
Miscellaneous
1 12 (24.49%) Cyber Kill Chain
2 6 (12.24%) Hybrid Cloud
3 5 (10.20%) Data Centre
3 5 (10.20%) Private Cloud
4 4 (8.16%) Security Posture
5 2 (4.08%) Analytical Mindset
5 2 (4.08%) Cyber Defence
5 2 (4.08%) Cyber Threat
6 1 (2.04%) Product Ownership
6 1 (2.04%) Self-Motivation
Operating Systems
1 10 (20.41%) Windows
2 8 (16.33%) Windows Server
3 2 (4.08%) Linux
3 2 (4.08%) Windows 10
4 1 (2.04%) Android
4 1 (2.04%) Apple iOS
4 1 (2.04%) Mac OS
4 1 (2.04%) Windows Server 2016
4 1 (2.04%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 17 (34.69%) Continuous Improvement
1 17 (34.69%) Cybersecurity
2 13 (26.53%) Disaster Recovery
2 13 (26.53%) Stakeholder Management
3 12 (24.49%) Technical Leadership
4 10 (20.41%) MITRE ATT&CK
4 10 (20.41%) Network Segmentation
4 10 (20.41%) Problem-Solving
5 9 (18.37%) Infrastructure Engineering
5 9 (18.37%) Presales
6 8 (16.33%) Mentoring
7 6 (12.24%) High Availability
7 6 (12.24%) Network Architecture
8 5 (10.20%) Business Continuity
8 5 (10.20%) Commercial Awareness
8 5 (10.20%) Enterprise Architecture
8 5 (10.20%) Network Monitoring
8 5 (10.20%) Performance Tuning
8 5 (10.20%) Risk Management
8 5 (10.20%) TOGAF
Programming Languages
1 4 (8.16%) PowerShell
Qualifications
1 15 (30.61%) Cisco Certification
2 12 (24.49%) CCNP
3 10 (20.41%) CCNA
4 7 (14.29%) Security Cleared
5 6 (12.24%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
6 5 (10.20%) Degree
6 5 (10.20%) DV Cleared
7 3 (6.12%) Microsoft Certification
7 3 (6.12%) Network+ Certification
8 2 (4.08%) MCSE
9 1 (2.04%) Azure Certification
9 1 (2.04%) Computer Science Degree
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 12 (24.49%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 10 (20.41%) NIST
3 5 (10.20%) NCSC
4 2 (4.08%) Cyber Essentials
4 2 (4.08%) GDPR
5 1 (2.04%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
5 1 (2.04%) QA
System Software
1 8 (16.33%) Active Directory
2 6 (12.24%) Hyper-V
3 5 (10.20%) VMware NSX
4 3 (6.12%) Virtual Machines
5 1 (2.04%) Firmware
Systems Management
1 13 (26.53%) FortiGate
2 10 (20.41%) CASB
3 3 (6.12%) Microsoft Intune
4 2 (4.08%) QRadar
Vendors
1 34 (69.39%) Microsoft
2 32 (65.31%) Cisco
3 24 (48.98%) Palo Alto
4 16 (32.65%) Fortinet
5 14 (28.57%) VMware
6 12 (24.49%) Aruba
7 5 (10.20%) Juniper
8 4 (8.16%) BT
9 2 (4.08%) ArcSight
9 2 (4.08%) Meraki
9 2 (4.08%) Ruckus Wireless
9 2 (4.08%) Splunk
9 2 (4.08%) WatchGuard
10 1 (2.04%) Apple
10 1 (2.04%) EMC