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 vacancies from the 6 months leading up to 17 September 2025, with comparisons to the same periods in the previous two years.

6 months to
17 Sep 2025
Same period 2024 Same period 2023
Rank 108 110 115
Rank change year-on-year +2 +5 +64
Permanent jobs citing WAN 93 91 84
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 2.40% 1.88% 2.24%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 16.34% 14.29% 12.46%
Number of salaries quoted 86 46 70
10th Percentile £22,750 £31,250 £35,360
25th Percentile £28,000 £36,563 £36,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £37,000 £44,636 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -17.11% -10.73% -1.96%
75th Percentile £47,813 £62,813 £60,000
90th Percentile £73,125 £70,625 £65,250
South East median annual salary £37,500 £48,750 £46,500
% change year-on-year -23.08% +4.84% -7.00%

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 569 637 674
As % of all permanent jobs advertised in the Thames Valley 14.71% 13.15% 18.01%
Number of salaries quoted 263 339 478
10th Percentile £27,250 £31,250 £27,500
25th Percentile £34,500 £37,500 £32,500
Median annual salary (50th Percentile) £45,000 £50,000 £50,000
Median % change year-on-year -10.00% - -0.99%
75th Percentile £63,750 £64,375 £61,250
90th Percentile £70,000 £80,000 £74,825
South East median annual salary £41,500 £50,000 £50,000
% change year-on-year -17.00% - +5.26%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend in the Thames Valley

Job postings citing WAN as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised in the Thames Valley.

Job vacancy trend for WAN 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 September 2025.

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 September 2025. 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
Berkshire +4 53 £31,750 -28.13% 13
Oxfordshire +36 32 £41,500 -7.97% 5
Buckinghamshire -25 11 £48,000 +16.36% 1
WAN
South East

WAN
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities in the Thames Valley by Category

The follow tables expand on the table above by listing co-occurrences grouped by category. The same employment type, locality and period is covered with up to 20 co-occurrences shown in each of the following categories:

Application Platforms
1 17 (18.28%) Microsoft Exchange
2 14 (15.05%) Exchange Server 2013
3 5 (5.38%) SharePoint
Applications
1 21 (22.58%) Microsoft Office
2 2 (2.15%) Simulink
Cloud Services
1 37 (39.78%) Azure
2 22 (23.66%) Microsoft 365
3 21 (22.58%) AWS
4 7 (7.53%) Entra ID
5 5 (5.38%) Mimecast
6 4 (4.30%) GCP
7 2 (2.15%) Azure AI
7 2 (2.15%) Azure DevOps
7 2 (2.15%) Azure ExpressRoute
7 2 (2.15%) Azure Key Vault
7 2 (2.15%) Azure Monitor
7 2 (2.15%) Azure Sentinel
7 2 (2.15%) Azure Service Bus
7 2 (2.15%) IaaS
7 2 (2.15%) PaaS
7 2 (2.15%) Power Automate
7 2 (2.15%) Power Platform
7 2 (2.15%) SaaS
8 1 (1.08%) OCI
Communications & Networking
1 77 (82.80%) LAN
2 26 (27.96%) Firewall
3 25 (26.88%) Internet
4 24 (25.81%) Wi-Fi
5 16 (17.20%) SD-WAN
6 15 (16.13%) VPN
7 14 (15.05%) SAN
7 14 (15.05%) VLAN
8 11 (11.83%) DNS
9 8 (8.60%) Wireless
10 5 (5.38%) DHCP
10 5 (5.38%) TCP/IP
11 4 (4.30%) Network Security
12 3 (3.23%) 5G
12 3 (3.23%) Cisco IOS
13 2 (2.15%) Junos
13 2 (2.15%) MQTT
13 2 (2.15%) Software-Defined Networking
13 2 (2.15%) VoIP
13 2 (2.15%) WLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 2 (2.15%) Data Lake
1 2 (2.15%) MySQL
1 2 (2.15%) Power BI
Development Applications
1 4 (4.30%) Git
General
1 31 (33.33%) Social Skills
2 11 (11.83%) Inclusion and Diversity
3 9 (9.68%) Analytical Skills
4 5 (5.38%) Advertising
4 5 (5.38%) Telecoms
5 2 (2.15%) Finance
5 2 (2.15%) Games
5 2 (2.15%) Manufacturing
5 2 (2.15%) Retail
6 1 (1.08%) Presentation Skills
Job Titles
1 21 (22.58%) IT Support
2 20 (21.51%) 3rd Line Support
3 16 (17.20%) Support Technician
4 14 (15.05%) 3rd Line Support Technician
4 14 (15.05%) Trainee
4 14 (15.05%) Trainee IT Support
5 11 (11.83%) Analyst
6 10 (10.75%) Support Analyst
7 9 (9.68%) Lead
8 7 (7.53%) WAN Engineer
9 6 (6.45%) 2nd Line Support
9 6 (6.45%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 6 (6.45%) Senior
10 5 (5.38%) 1st Line Support
10 5 (5.38%) 1st Line Support Analyst
10 5 (5.38%) 2nd Line Support Analyst
10 5 (5.38%) Architect
10 5 (5.38%) Junior
10 5 (5.38%) Support Engineer
11 4 (4.30%) Network Engineer
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 2 (2.15%) 802.1X
1 2 (2.15%) gRPC
Miscellaneous
1 14 (15.05%) Replication
2 7 (7.53%) Hybrid Cloud
3 6 (6.45%) CCTV
4 5 (5.38%) Analytical Mindset
4 5 (5.38%) Data Centre
4 5 (5.38%) IoT
5 4 (4.30%) Driving Licence
5 4 (4.30%) Social Media
6 3 (3.23%) Video Conferencing
7 2 (2.15%) Algorithms
7 2 (2.15%) BYOD
7 2 (2.15%) NHS
7 2 (2.15%) Security Posture
8 1 (1.08%) Greenfield Project
8 1 (1.08%) Virtual Team
Operating Systems
1 62 (66.67%) Windows
2 17 (18.28%) Windows Server
3 9 (9.68%) Linux
4 8 (8.60%) Android
4 8 (8.60%) Mac OS
5 5 (5.38%) Apple iOS
6 3 (3.23%) Windows Server 2016
7 1 (1.08%) Windows 10
7 1 (1.08%) Windows Server 2019
Processes & Methodologies
1 40 (43.01%) ITIL
2 19 (20.43%) Migration
3 16 (17.20%) Agile
4 15 (16.13%) Business Continuity
5 14 (15.05%) Information Security
5 14 (15.05%) Knowledge Transfer
6 13 (13.98%) Problem-Solving
7 11 (11.83%) Infrastructure as Code
8 10 (10.75%) Customer Service
9 9 (9.68%) Cybersecurity
10 8 (8.60%) Network Virtualisation
10 8 (8.60%) Roadmaps
11 7 (7.53%) CI/CD
11 7 (7.53%) DevOps
12 6 (6.45%) Artificial Intelligence
12 6 (6.45%) Business Strategy
12 6 (6.45%) Customer-Centricity
12 6 (6.45%) GTM Strategy
12 6 (6.45%) Infrastructure Engineering
12 6 (6.45%) Strategic Roadmap
Programming Languages
1 8 (8.60%) Python
2 2 (2.15%) Bicep
2 2 (2.15%) MATLAB
2 2 (2.15%) PowerShell
2 2 (2.15%) SQL
Qualifications
1 10 (10.75%) SC Cleared
1 10 (10.75%) Security Cleared
2 7 (7.53%) Cisco Certification
3 6 (6.45%) DBS Check
4 5 (5.38%) A+ Certification
4 5 (5.38%) CCNP
4 5 (5.38%) MCP
5 4 (4.30%) CCNA
6 3 (3.23%) Degree
6 3 (3.23%) MCSE
6 3 (3.23%) Microsoft Certification
6 3 (3.23%) VMware Certified Professional (VCP)
7 2 (2.15%) Azure Certification
7 2 (2.15%) JNCIA
8 1 (1.08%) CCIE
8 1 (1.08%) CEH
8 1 (1.08%) CISSP
8 1 (1.08%) CompTIA Security+
8 1 (1.08%) Master's Degree
8 1 (1.08%) MBA
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 15 (16.13%) Cyber Essentials
1 15 (16.13%) ISO/IEC 27001
2 14 (15.05%) Cyber Essentials PLUS
3 1 (1.08%) GDPR
3 1 (1.08%) ISO 9000
3 1 (1.08%) SLA
System Software
1 26 (27.96%) VMware Infrastructure
2 14 (15.05%) Hyper-V
3 11 (11.83%) Active Directory
4 3 (3.23%) VMware ESXi
5 2 (2.15%) Docker
5 2 (2.15%) Virtual Machines
6 1 (1.08%) Microsoft Virtual Server
6 1 (1.08%) Virtual Servers
Systems Management
1 24 (25.81%) Microsoft Intune
2 14 (15.05%) SCCM
3 7 (7.53%) Ansible
3 7 (7.53%) Terraform
4 2 (2.15%) Single Sign-On
4 2 (2.15%) ZENworks
Vendors
1 54 (58.06%) Microsoft
2 30 (32.26%) VMware
3 21 (22.58%) Cisco
4 14 (15.05%) arcserve
5 10 (10.75%) Palo Alto
5 10 (10.75%) Sophos
6 7 (7.53%) Aruba
7 6 (6.45%) Fortinet
7 6 (6.45%) HP
7 6 (6.45%) Juniper
7 6 (6.45%) Mellanox
7 6 (6.45%) NVIDIA
8 5 (5.38%) Barracuda Networks
8 5 (5.38%) Datto
8 5 (5.38%) Dell
8 5 (5.38%) Meraki
8 5 (5.38%) Ubiquiti
8 5 (5.38%) WatchGuard
9 3 (3.23%) ADVA
10 2 (2.15%) Databricks