Wide Area Network (WAN)
UK

The following table provides summary statistics for contract job vacancies with a requirement for WAN skills. Included is a benchmarking guide to the contractor rates offered in vacancies that have cited WAN over the 6 months to 20 May 2024 with a comparison to the same period in the previous 2 years.

6 months to
20 May 2024
Same period 2023 Same period 2022
Rank 125 126 184
Rank change year-on-year +1 +58 -3
Contract jobs citing WAN 782 1,157 1,359
As % of all contract jobs advertised in the UK 1.84% 2.02% 1.54%
As % of the Communications & Networking category 14.47% 16.23% 14.02%
Number of daily rates quoted 441 700 894
10th Percentile £256 £262 £225
25th Percentile £350 £350 £319
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £488 £475 £450
Median % change year-on-year +2.63% +5.56% +5.88%
75th Percentile £650 £588 £550
90th Percentile £738 £662 £650
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £428 £400
% change year-on-year +11.11% +6.88% -
Number of hourly rates quoted 36 41 59
10th Percentile £13.63 £18.50 £13.00
25th Percentile £17.88 £27.00 £19.88
Median hourly rate £24.87 £60.00 £35.00
Median % change year-on-year -58.55% +71.43% +66.67%
75th Percentile £40.00 £80.25 £53.23
90th Percentile £75.24 £85.05 £60.92
UK excluding London median hourly rate £24.87 £57.33 £22.50
% change year-on-year -56.62% +154.80% +12.50%

All Communications and Computer Networking Skills
UK

WAN is in the Communications and Computer Networking category. The following table is for comparison with the above and provides summary statistics for all contract job vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills.

Contract vacancies with a requirement for communications or computer networking skills 5,406 7,129 9,690
As % of all contract IT jobs advertised in the UK 12.71% 12.45% 10.97%
Number of daily rates quoted 3,227 4,606 6,336
10th Percentile £205 £235 £233
25th Percentile £350 £400 £388
Median daily rate (50th Percentile) £490 £518 £500
Median % change year-on-year -5.31% +3.50% +11.11%
75th Percentile £600 £638 £613
90th Percentile £690 £725 £700
UK excluding London median daily rate £475 £475 £450
% change year-on-year - +5.56% +11.52%
Number of hourly rates quoted 416 460 376
10th Percentile £13.50 £9.80 £15.25
25th Percentile £16.30 £10.63 £17.00
Median hourly rate £40.00 £18.50 £26.75
Median % change year-on-year +116.22% -30.84% +7.00%
75th Percentile £63.75 £59.09 £50.83
90th Percentile £70.00 £74.55 £65.77
UK excluding London median hourly rate £45.88 £18.22 £21.50
% change year-on-year +151.88% -15.28% -5.49%

WAN
Job Vacancy Trend

Job postings citing WAN as a proportion of all IT jobs advertised.

Job vacancy trend for WAN in the UK

WAN
Contractor Daily Rate Trend

3-month moving average daily rate quoted in jobs citing WAN.

Daily rate trend for WAN in the UK

WAN
Daily Rate Histogram

Daily rate distribution for jobs citing WAN over the 6 months to 20 May 2024.

Daily rate histogram for WAN in the UK

WAN
Contractor Hourly Rate Trend

3-month moving average hourly rates quoted in jobs citing WAN.

Hourly rate trend for WAN in the UK

WAN
Hourly Rate Histogram

Hourly rate distribution of jobs citing WAN over the 6 months to 20 May 2024.

Hourly rate histogram for WAN in the UK

WAN
Top 16 Contract 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 20 May 2024. 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 +17 730 £488 +2.63% 417
UK excluding London +3 511 £475 +11.11% 314
London +6 219 £500 -9.09% 146
South East -2 168 £438 -2.78% 68
Work from Home -50 152 £550 +10.00% 152
Midlands +20 146 £375 +7.14% 61
West Midlands +22 137 £375 +7.14% 45
South West +9 93 £650 +33.33% 31
North of England -21 69 £400 +6.67% 100
Yorkshire +38 37 £463 +42.31% 33
North West -48 30 £350 -17.65% 63
East of England -13 18 £525 +55.56% 27
Scotland +17 15 £550 +10.00% 16
East Midlands 0 8 £560 +75.00% 16
Wales -1 4 £263 -19.23% 11
North East +11 2 £400 +30.61% 4

WAN
Co-occurring Skills and Capabilities 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 27 (3.45%) Microsoft Exchange
2 13 (1.66%) SharePoint
3 2 (0.26%) Confluence
3 2 (0.26%) OpenStack
3 2 (0.26%) Skype for Business
4 1 (0.13%) Apache
4 1 (0.13%) IIS
Applications
1 38 (4.86%) Microsoft Office
2 15 (1.92%) Microsoft Excel
3 14 (1.79%) MS Visio
4 8 (1.02%) Microsoft PowerPoint
5 2 (0.26%) Microsoft Project
5 2 (0.26%) Spreadsheet
6 1 (0.13%) Acrobat
6 1 (0.13%) Chatbot
Business Applications
1 3 (0.38%) Remedy ITSM
2 1 (0.13%) Dynamics NAV
2 1 (0.13%) Sparx Enterprise Architect
Cloud Services
1 115 (14.71%) Azure
2 64 (8.18%) AWS
3 59 (7.54%) Microsoft 365
4 39 (4.99%) IaaS
5 38 (4.86%) Cloud Computing
6 36 (4.60%) PaaS
7 34 (4.35%) SaaS
8 23 (2.94%) GCP
9 12 (1.53%) Entra ID
10 6 (0.77%) Cloudflare
11 5 (0.64%) GitHub
11 5 (0.64%) OneDrive
11 5 (0.64%) Virtual Private Cloud
11 5 (0.64%) WhatsApp
12 3 (0.38%) Google Workspace
12 3 (0.38%) iPaaS
12 3 (0.38%) Mimecast
12 3 (0.38%) Nutanix
13 2 (0.26%) Azure Key Vault
13 2 (0.26%) GitHub Actions
Communications & Networking
1 511 (65.35%) LAN
2 251 (32.10%) Firewall
3 217 (27.75%) VPN
4 192 (24.55%) MPLS
5 176 (22.51%) BGP
6 162 (20.72%) SD-WAN
7 126 (16.11%) Wi-Fi
8 114 (14.58%) Wireless
9 102 (13.04%) IPsec
10 95 (12.15%) DNS
11 87 (11.13%) OSPF
12 77 (9.85%) DHCP
13 72 (9.21%) Network Security
14 59 (7.54%) WLAN
15 58 (7.42%) Junos
16 43 (5.50%) Cisco ASA
17 42 (5.37%) Cisco Nexus
17 42 (5.37%) VoIP
18 39 (4.99%) TCP/IP
19 38 (4.86%) VLAN
Database & Business Intelligence
1 18 (2.30%) SQL Server
2 2 (0.26%) MySQL
3 1 (0.13%) Amazon RDS
3 1 (0.13%) Azure SQL Database
3 1 (0.13%) PostgreSQL
Development Applications
1 7 (0.90%) Rational DOORS
2 6 (0.77%) Sonatype Nexus
3 5 (0.64%) JIRA
4 3 (0.38%) Git
5 1 (0.13%) GitLab
5 1 (0.13%) Hudson
5 1 (0.13%) Jenkins
5 1 (0.13%) Katalon Studio
General
1 184 (23.53%) Social Skills
2 110 (14.07%) Public Sector
3 103 (13.17%) Finance
4 61 (7.80%) Telecoms
5 52 (6.65%) Analytical Skills
6 18 (2.30%) Presentation Skills
7 15 (1.92%) Aerospace
8 14 (1.79%) Banking
9 12 (1.53%) Documentation Skills
10 11 (1.41%) Mandarin Language
11 9 (1.15%) Influencing Skills
11 9 (1.15%) Legal
11 9 (1.15%) Manufacturing
11 9 (1.15%) Military
12 8 (1.02%) Inclusion and Diversity
13 7 (0.90%) Aeronautics
14 6 (0.77%) Back Office
14 6 (0.77%) Financial Institution
14 6 (0.77%) Pharmaceutical
15 5 (0.64%) Retail
Job Titles
1 221 (28.26%) Network Engineer
2 207 (26.47%) Architect
3 153 (19.57%) Network Architect
4 63 (8.06%) Senior
5 55 (7.03%) WAN Engineer
6 49 (6.27%) Support Engineer
7 41 (5.24%) Network Support
8 39 (4.99%) Infrastructure Engineer
9 38 (4.86%) 3rd Line Engineer
10 32 (4.09%) 2nd Line Support
10 32 (4.09%) Consultant
10 32 (4.09%) Senior Network Engineer
11 31 (3.96%) 3rd Line Support
12 30 (3.84%) Analyst
13 29 (3.71%) Lead
14 23 (2.94%) Project Manager
15 21 (2.69%) Cisco Engineer
15 21 (2.69%) Cisco Network Engineer
15 21 (2.69%) Solutions Architect
15 21 (2.69%) Technical Architect
Libraries, Frameworks & Software Standards
1 12 (1.53%) Web Services
2 11 (1.41%) Middleware
3 6 (0.77%) 802.1X
3 6 (0.77%) JSON
3 6 (0.77%) LDAP
4 5 (0.64%) XML
5 4 (0.51%) .NET
5 4 (0.51%) EDI
6 3 (0.38%) J2EE
6 3 (0.38%) Jinja
6 3 (0.38%) NETCONF
6 3 (0.38%) RESTful
6 3 (0.38%) XMPP
6 3 (0.38%) YANG
7 2 (0.26%) XSLT
8 1 (0.13%) ARM Templates
8 1 (0.13%) HTML
8 1 (0.13%) LAMP
8 1 (0.13%) libvirt
8 1 (0.13%) YAML
Miscellaneous
1 127 (16.24%) Data Centre
2 92 (11.76%) PKI
3 25 (3.20%) Video Conferencing
4 22 (2.81%) Public Cloud
5 21 (2.69%) Clustering
6 19 (2.43%) Driving Licence
6 19 (2.43%) Self-Motivation
7 16 (2.05%) NHS
8 15 (1.92%) Data Protection Act
8 15 (1.92%) Operational Technology
9 14 (1.79%) Management Information System
10 13 (1.66%) Client/Server
11 12 (1.53%) Hybrid Cloud
12 9 (1.15%) CMDB
13 8 (1.02%) CCTV
14 6 (0.77%) Replication
15 5 (0.64%) Product Ownership
15 5 (0.64%) SCADA
16 4 (0.51%) Cloud Native
16 4 (0.51%) Onboarding
Operating Systems
1 156 (19.95%) Windows
2 69 (8.82%) Windows Server
3 64 (8.18%) Linux
4 28 (3.58%) Windows 10
5 25 (3.20%) Mac OS
6 17 (2.17%) Unix
7 14 (1.79%) Windows Server 2012
8 10 (1.28%) Windows Server 2019
9 9 (1.15%) Windows Server 2016
10 8 (1.02%) Android
11 7 (0.90%) Ubuntu
12 5 (0.64%) Red Hat Enterprise Linux
13 4 (0.51%) CentOS
14 3 (0.38%) Debian
14 3 (0.38%) Windows 7
15 2 (0.26%) Apple iOS
15 2 (0.26%) Mac OS X
15 2 (0.26%) Windows Server 2008
15 2 (0.26%) zOS
16 1 (0.13%) Windows 8
Processes & Methodologies
1 97 (12.40%) Problem-Solving
2 88 (11.25%) Network Design
3 85 (10.87%) ITIL
4 80 (10.23%) Network Management
5 72 (9.21%) Load Balancing
6 64 (8.18%) Infrastructure Engineering
7 62 (7.93%) Migration
8 56 (7.16%) Project Management
9 55 (7.03%) Project Delivery
10 53 (6.78%) Change Management
11 52 (6.65%) Network Architecture
12 51 (6.52%) Cybersecurity
13 48 (6.14%) Customer Service
14 45 (5.75%) Business Strategy
14 45 (5.75%) Customer Requirements
15 42 (5.37%) Zero Trust
16 39 (4.99%) Agile
17 38 (4.86%) Stakeholder Management
17 38 (4.86%) Technical Leadership
18 32 (4.09%) Cloud Security
Programming Languages
1 39 (4.99%) PowerShell
2 27 (3.45%) Python
3 14 (1.79%) SQL
4 6 (0.77%) Bash
5 5 (0.64%) Kusto Query Language
6 4 (0.51%) Java
7 2 (0.26%) Perl
8 1 (0.13%) Bicep
8 1 (0.13%) C
8 1 (0.13%) C#
8 1 (0.13%) Ruby
Qualifications
1 314 (40.15%) Security Cleared
2 150 (19.18%) Cisco Certification
3 128 (16.37%) SC Cleared
4 97 (12.40%) CCNP
5 88 (11.25%) Degree
6 86 (11.00%) DV Cleared
7 77 (9.85%) CCNA
8 40 (5.12%) CCIE
9 16 (2.05%) Microsoft Certification
10 14 (1.79%) JNCIA
11 13 (1.66%) BPSS Clearance
12 10 (1.28%) Computer Science Degree
13 9 (1.15%) CCIE Data Center
14 8 (1.02%) HND
14 8 (1.02%) Network+ Certification
15 6 (0.77%) BC Cleared
15 6 (0.77%) JNCIS
16 5 (0.64%) CCDP
16 5 (0.64%) CCSA
16 5 (0.64%) ITIL Certification
Quality Assurance & Compliance
1 40 (5.12%) SLA
2 23 (2.94%) QA
3 20 (2.56%) ISO/IEC 27001
4 10 (1.28%) ISO 9000
4 10 (1.28%) ISO/IEC 27002 (supersedes ISO/IEC 17799)
4 10 (1.28%) NCSC
5 6 (0.77%) GDPR
6 5 (0.64%) PCI DSS
7 3 (0.38%) COBIT
8 2 (0.26%) Sarbanes-Oxley
9 1 (0.13%) Cyber Essentials
9 1 (0.13%) Disclosure Scotland
9 1 (0.13%) ISO 22301
9 1 (0.13%) ISO/IEC 20000
9 1 (0.13%) JSP 440
9 1 (0.13%) NEBOSH
9 1 (0.13%) NIST
9 1 (0.13%) PMO
9 1 (0.13%) RMADS
System Software
1 93 (11.89%) Active Directory
2 81 (10.36%) VMware Infrastructure
3 28 (3.58%) Hyper-V
4 26 (3.32%) VMware NSX
5 21 (2.69%) Virtual Servers
6 17 (2.17%) VMware ESXi
7 10 (1.28%) Firmware
7 10 (1.28%) Virtual Desktop
8 8 (1.02%) VMware Workstation
8 8 (1.02%) vSphere
9 7 (0.90%) Virtual Machines
10 4 (0.51%) VMware Server
11 3 (0.38%) Microsoft Virtual Server
11 3 (0.38%) XenApp
12 2 (0.26%) Terminal Services
13 1 (0.13%) Ceph
13 1 (0.13%) KVM
13 1 (0.13%) NFS
13 1 (0.13%) Samba
13 1 (0.13%) Slurm Workload Manager
Systems Management
1 37 (4.73%) SCCM
2 29 (3.71%) FortiGate
3 26 (3.32%) Endace
4 19 (2.43%) Ansible
5 18 (2.30%) Terraform
6 13 (1.66%) Microsoft Intune
7 10 (1.28%) Microsoft Clustering
7 10 (1.28%) vCenter Server
8 8 (1.02%) Failover Clustering
8 8 (1.02%) Jamf Pro
8 8 (1.02%) Kubernetes
8 8 (1.02%) Nagios
8 8 (1.02%) NetBackup
8 8 (1.02%) SCOM
9 6 (0.77%) Autotask
9 6 (0.77%) VxRail
10 5 (0.64%) Nessus
10 5 (0.64%) OpenView
11 4 (0.51%) Single Sign-On
12 3 (0.38%) CASB
Vendors
1 375 (47.95%) Cisco
2 207 (26.47%) Juniper
3 115 (14.71%) Microsoft
4 105 (13.43%) VMware
5 98 (12.53%) Palo Alto
6 81 (10.36%) F5
7 62 (7.93%) Fortinet
8 50 (6.39%) CheckPoint
9 45 (5.75%) Aruba
10 43 (5.50%) Meraki
11 30 (3.84%) Citrix
12 24 (3.07%) Zscaler
13 20 (2.56%) HP
13 20 (2.56%) SolarWinds
14 18 (2.30%) Infoblox
15 14 (1.79%) ServiceNow
16 13 (1.66%) Dell
17 12 (1.53%) Google
18 11 (1.41%) Brocade
18 11 (1.41%) Veeam